Former Star lends a hand to 51s

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

It has only been seven years, but Brian Johnson says a lot has changed since his last minor league assignment in Las Vegas.

"They were just building that needle or whatever that thing is called," Johnson said, referring to the Stratosphere hotel-casino. "It's been a long time."

Indeed, the 33-year-old former Stanford quarterback has been on six big league teams, including the Dodgers earlier this season, since playing for Russ Nixon's Stars in 1994.

San Diego, Detroit, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Kansas City have been the other stops for Johnson, who sports a career .248 average in his seven big league seasons.

Johnson, who started 35 games at catcher for the Kansas City Royals last season, signed a free agent contract with the Dodgers in December. He splits his time at catcher and first base for Rick Sofield's 51s and drove in the winning run in Monday night's 2-1 victory over Tucson at Cashman Field with a sacrifice fly.

"He's a real pro," Sofield said. "He's a tremendous athlete. He's very mature and a hard worker. He's been a positive influence here."

Johnson, a former prep basketball teammate of Gary Payton and Greg Foster at Oakland's Skyline High School, said he signed with the Dodgers last winter because he felt he had a good opportunity to eventually make the major league roster.

"Every year you evaluate and see what the best catching situation is," Johnson said. "I thought it was pretty good here. I've had a lot of success against the Dodgers in my career. They know me pretty well.

"I still feel pretty good about my decision. They're delaying a decision on Angel Pena. (Ex-Dodger GM) Kevin Malone told me before (he was fired) that Pena was going to be gone. But regardless of that, I feel good with the guys here. Given a chance to compete, I think I can do pretty well. And I have."

Victor Alvarez, who was the organization's pitcher of the month for April after starring at double-A Jacksonville, hurled the best game of the year for the 51s (20-24). The 24-year-old lefty kept a good hitting Sidewinder lineup in check, allowing just three hits and one run over eight innings.

Alvarez retired 20 of the final 23 batters he faced. He struck out six and registered 13 ground ball outs.

Meanwhile, hard-throwing right-hander Kris Foster, who also was recently called up from Jacksonville, notched his second save in two tries with a 1-2-3 ninth. His fastball clocked 98 miles per hour on several pitches.

Yep, Tim Bogar.

Bogar played just three innings and was limited to two at-bats. He went 0-for-2 and hit into a double play.

"We didn't push the hamstring as we had before," Sofield said. "We talked about it. He was going to give us a good effort but we were going to be more mindful of the hamstring than the game to be quite frank with you. ... I didn't need that 2,000-percent effort that he has traditionally given us. One of the reasons he's staying hurt is because he plays so cotton-pickin' hard all the time. We'll see how he bounces back tomorrow."

Meanwhile, X-rays revealed no fractures to the ribs of center fielder Chris Prieto, who was still given the night off by Sofield.