81.   Dodgers bullpen coach Rick Dempsey was pitching batting practice the other day from behind a protective screen when Green stepped to the plate and took a few cuts.

82.   Each time Vaughn stepped to the plate Sunday he was showered with a mixture of cheers and boos, the same greeting heard throughout the three-game series.

83.   Egas stopped, stepped to the edge of the sidewalk to allow the flow of people to carry on uninterrupted and began a brief history.

84.   Ella Fitzgerald stepped to the mike as only she could and delivered a glass-shattering note.

85.   Ernie Young, the first hitter in the seventh for the Royals, stepped to the plate.

86.   Even when the ball raced a few feet past, Watson smugly stepped to the ball, knocked it in.

87.   Everyone must step to the plate.

88.   Fans still let out a deafening roar, and the organist kicks into gear, every time he steps to the plate.

89.   Finally he stepped to the ball.

90.   Everett said he heard third-base coach Mike Cubbage tell him that a squeeze play was on as pinch hitter Matt Mieske stepped to the plate.