Thursday, April 8, 1971 Page Seven THE MICHIGAN DAILY Poae Seven the Upper deck The Birds can be caught . . if.. but.. By ELLIOT LEGOW FOR THE last two years the Baltimore Orioles have complete- ly dominated the American League. They have twice swept to easy Eastern Division titles and twice blitzed the Minnesota Twins in three games to capture the American League flag. This season things should be no different as the Oriole dynasty looms tougher to topple. The Orioles will be starting the same lineup; that last year rolled to a fifteen game margin over the second place New York Yankees in the Eastern Divis- ion race, and now with a deeper pitching staff and more solid bench may be able to increase that margin. The first American League team in fourteen seasons with three 20 game winners, Baltimore wasn't satisfied and picked up Pat Dobson a 14 game winner with the weak San Diego Padres. Now with four potential 20 game winners, exceptional field- ing, and the big bats of Frank and Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, Paul Blair and Merv Rettunmund the Orioles should be able to fly even higher above the pack in the East. While the Orioles have b e e n strengthening themselves through trades and a productive farm system, the other five teams in the East have desperately searched for ways to catch the Birds, and nearly all their managers claim that his is the team that will abort another dynasty-in-the-bud. However, none of the other teams in the East has any- thing like the overall strength and depth that marks the Orioles. In particular there is a lack of pitching In the di- vision and injuries and springtime failures are causing more headaches around the league. Each team has pursued a particular strategy in trying to catch the Birds, some standing pat, others trading wildly, or relying on an upsurge of superstars from the farm system. ' Last year's runners-up to the O's, New York's rebuilt Yank- ees will be going with a team generally akin to last year's. New York's plan has been to cultivate the products of its farm sys- tem and hopes that Thurman Munson, Jim Lyttle, Frank Te- pedino, John Ellis, and Frank Baker may be today's (or tomor- row's) Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Bobby Richardson, But, (and one thing these five other teams share is once or more major but) only Munson has made it as a starter so far, and chances are good that none of the young Yankees will be real superstars. One, thing in the Yankee's favor in the race for second place is a solid starting pitching trio of Stan Bahnsen, Mel Stotlemyre, and Fritz Peterson with youngsters Steve Kline a possible fourth, and the division's best bullpen next to (of course) Baltimore. Boston Manager Eddie Kasko wasn't satisfied that the talent he had on hand or in the Red Sox farm system was good enough to give the Beantowners a pennant so he went out and traded and traded some more. As a result the Red Sox will be fielding a far different team this year, with a completely re-arranged infield, a new catcher, but the same uninspiring pitching staff. Doug Griffin and Luis Aparicio will give the Red Sox a good keystone combo, but not necessarily better than last year's pair of Mike Andrews and Rico Petrocelli. No other aspects of the Bosox attack are any stronger and the loss of Tony Coni- gliaro could hurt both the offense and the box office. Detroit and Washington are both basing their hopes in '71 on the trade which saw Denny McLain, Aurelio Rodriguez, and Eddie Brinkman, among others, swap uniforms. The Tigers probably came off better from the trade and figure to have one of the league's strongest fielding and hitting ensembles as a re- sult. But, Detroit, like Boston, does not h a v e first place pitching material. Mickey Lolich is Detroit's only dependa- ble 15 game winner and Les Cain, Joe Coleman, Joe Nekro, Mike Kilkenny, and Bill Zepp are all uncertain quantities. The springtime miseries of Cain and Coleman make it even more unlikely that Billy Martin's first season in Tigertown will be a repeat of 1968. Washington and Cleveland have even more buts clouding their paths to the top of the A.L. East. The Senators may live to regret their deal with Detroit although Denny McLain paired up with Dick Bosman may give the Senators two of the leag- * ues' strongest right arms. But the rest of Washington's pitching staff is thin and their infield, a strongpoint a year ago, will suffer without Brinkman and Rodriguez. Cleveland also has two good starters, in Sam McDowell and Steve Hargan, and a fairly potent offensive outfield. The In- dians' infield should be more solid, defensively, than Washing- ton's but Alvin Dark's young team suffers from a lack of super- stars, and will need a good deal more improvement to move into contention and bring some fans into the vast cavern of Munic- ipal Stadium. Rangers, Hawks grab playoff rl By The Associated Press NEW YORK - Third period goals by Vic Hadfield and Walt Tkaczuk rallied the New Yor k Rangers to a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in the opening game of their Na- tional Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoff. The victory gave the Rangers, second place finishers in the East Division, a 1-0 edge in the best-of- 7 series. The second game is scheduled here tonight. The Leafs jumped in front on two goals apiece by veterans Dave Keon in th first period and Paul Henderson in the second, and led 4-2 with time running out in the middle period. But Bob Nevin's close in shot Baun's skate and passed L e a f Skinner new captain J u n i o r defenseman Brian Skinner has been voted captain of the 1971-72 Michigan hockey team. Skinner also shared the Most Valuable Player Award wit retiring captain Paul Gams- by. The Dekers Club named sophomore Gary Connelly as the Most Colorful Rookie. Coach Al Renfrew cited sophomore for- ward Rick Mallette as the Most Improved Player. ' i I a I SPORTS NIGHTr EDITOR: BOB ANDREWS Hawks scored three power-play goals, two of them by Bobby Hull, to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 last night in the opener of their National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bobby slapped in a 20-foot shot while the Flyers' Larry Hale was in the box and Pat Stapleton fol- lowed with another long shot as the Hawks went ahead to stay 2-0 in the first seven minutes of the game. The Flyers, who haven't won on Chicago Stadium ice since joining the NHL in 1967, cut the margin to 2-1 before the first period end- ed on Bill Lesuk's power-play goal. With Ed Van Impe serving time, the Hawks' Golden Jet hit the corner on another power-play at 6:24 of the second period, but the Flyers kept within range at 11:06 when rookie Bob Kelly planted a short shot through goalie Tony Esposito. * * * Bruins breeze treal's John Ferguson and then had uncomplimentary remarks for Ashley. After receiving the misconduct, the Boston star pushed past a linesman and had to be physically restrained by teammates from go- ing after the referee. Ashley earlier had given 10- minute misconduct penalties to Montreal's Pete Mahovlich and Phil Roberto. and Boston's Dallas Smith. The Bruins capitalized on a two- man advantage at 3:57 of the first period as Orr connected on a long slap shot. Montreal, which tried to out- muscle the Bruins at times, tied the score on a power play at 1:34 of the second period, Ferguson received credit for the goal as the puck trickled into the net while Orr and goalie Gerry Cheevers were tangled on the ice. Midway through the period Orr fed Smith, whose long shot was tipped in by Wayne Cashman, putting the Bruins in front to stay. glanced off defe] Baun's skate and p goalie Jacques Plan three seconds left i period. Hadfield, who ha York's opening goa period power play,t in the opening minut period, grabbing his and lifting it past P Then Tkaczuk tur] ular individual effort ning goal. Hawks claw CHICAGO-The C nseman Bob gassed L e a f m te with only BOSTON - The Boston Bruins Fred Stanfield added an insur- tn the second overcame Montreal's clutch-and- ance goal at 8:47 of the final grab tactics and withstood the period.s d scored New loss of Bobby Orr in the final t on a first period to defeat the Canadiens tied the score 3-1 last night in the opener of CARDS SKI(N CUBS: es of the final their National Hockey League own rebound playoff series. 'lance. Orr,- the highest scoring 'de- ned a spectac- fenseman in NHL history, scored into the win- once and assisted on Boston's sec- ond goal before we was given holding and misconduct penalties by referee John Ashley with 10:55 By The Associated Press ly left in the final period. BALTIMORE - Frank Robin- thi hicago Black Orr was called for holding Mon- son's slicing double to right field snapped a fifth-inning tie and CU gave, the world champion Balti- more Orioles a 3-2 victory over the Washington Senators yester- ye :{ es day in their 1971 home opener. nal Robinson's hit scored Dave err r> Y Johnson, who had singled off los- er Casey Cox and moved to third Ca f~i . a". ':;::>< :i; y: > } on a single by Boog Powell. Coxth xx retired the side after issuing a i =5'{ one-out intentional walk to Merv i . ,; Rettenmund, loading the bases. on Dave McNally, who won 66 oth . . . . . . . . . .. :r . . . " gam es the past three seasons, in- ,:" cluding 24 last year, went the dis- 19- tance for the Oriolesafter a shaky ed ..fstart. Pe The Baltimore left-hander re- inn .~tired Elliott Maddox with the bas- run t t as-rur " =es loaded to thwart a first inning eig =Jthreat and then yielded two runs f in the third on four consecutive ror two-out hits. th Singles by Frank Howard, Mike ru .Epstein and Joe Foy - the last Ha : two off infielders gloves - pro- G :...::,;,:>-:::: :;.:.";i:i::;::f: ;.rr>: duced one run and Maddox sing- pe led home another beforeMcNally fo fu retired Paul Casanova. um Washington rapped n i n e hits on ::off McNally, who ran his lifetime of record over the Senators to 20-4. otr .. He has beaten them 13 times in wa 14 decisions since the start of the ha] 1968 season. AssociatedP ress WITH GLOVE POISED and stick uplifted, Montreal goalie Ken Dryden makes a sliding skate save on a drive off the stick of Boston Bruin forward Johnny McKenzie as Canadlen Pete Mahovlich (20) sooks on. The Bruins went on to take a 3-1 victory to draw first blood in their best-of-seven playoff series. top Nuts in trying to cut down Reese at rd. * * * cbs clubbed CHICAGO - Jose Cardenal and e Hague each drove in four runs sterday as the St. Louis Cardi- Is, capitalizing on five Chicago ors, battered the Cubs, 14-3. The -fumbling Cubs handed the rdinals nine unearned runs, rd baseman Ron Santo a n d st baseman Joe Pepitone corn- tting two errors apiece and sec- A baseman Glenn Beckert an- ier miscue. Left-hander Steve Carlton, a game loser last season, blank- the Cubs on three hits until vitone homered in the seventh ping. Billy Williams hit a two- n homer for the Cubs in the hth. The Cards, helped by three er- s, scored five unearned runs in third, with Cardenal's two- n single off losing pitcher Bill nds the key blow. Carlton's two-run double cap-' d a six-run explosion in t h e urth, with the last three tallies earned following Pepitone's sec- d error. Hague delivered two the runs with a single and an- her scored on a bases-loaded lk by rookie reliever Bill Bon- M. x sweep DAKLAND - The Chicago White' slugged five home runs yes- day-not counting a blast into seats by Carlos May which be- me a triple when he failed to ch the plate-and opened their American League season by sweep- ing a doubleheader from the Oak- land A's 6-5 and 12-4. Bill Melton had two of the Chi- cago homers, including a grand slam in the sixth inning of the sec- ond game, as the Sox gained the double victory for new manager Chuck Tanner. May's mistake appeared costly when the A's tied the score 3-3 in the fourth, but the Sox went ahead Stickmen win The Michigan Lacrosse Club completed a sweep of their sea- son series with Michigan State yesterday as they defeated the Spartans 9-4 in Spartan Stadium. Michigan jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the first period and were never headed. The top scorer for Michigan was Skip Flanagan who netted two goals and added three assists. Other scorers for the Wolverines were Dennis Burdziak, Phil Powers, Dan Lamble, and Don Dworsky and Dick Dean with two apiece. Michigan's next game will be at Chicago on Saturday. on Mike Andrews' two-run double in the fifth and scored five times in the sixth, four coming on Mel- ton's grand slam off reliever Bob Locker. Melton and Walt Williams hom- ered in the first game for Chicago and Jay Johnstone and Andrews added homers in the second game of the first opening day double- header in major league history. The penera twin bill drew 23,823 to the Oak- land Coliseum. Bart Johnson went all the way to earn the victory in the second game. Tommy John, who lasted six innings, was the first game winner. Chicago, trailing 5-4 in the sev- enth inning of the first game, won on pinch hitter Rich McKinney's two-out single to center. Williams scored from second and Ed Herr- man came all the way around from first when the ball went through center fielder Rick Monday. Reds burn CINCINNATI - Hank Aaron drilled his first home run of the season on the first pitch of the seventh inning and Clete Boyer knocked in another run with a sin- gle, lifting Atlanta over/ Cincinnati 2-1 last night. Until Atlanta's two-run seventh, the Braves had been able to reach Cincinnati starter Jim McGlothlin for only one hit-Sonny Jackson's sixth-inning single. Aaron belted McGlothlin's pitch over the left centerfield wall for his 593rd career homer and the Braves scored their go-ahead run on a single by Harold King, a walk to Felix Milan and Boyer's safety to left center. The Reds, who had 10 hits off Ron Reed and Cecil Upshaw, scored their run in the sixth on a double by Johnny Bench, a walk to Ber- nie 'Carbo and a run-scoring single by Hal McRae. Upshaw choked off a Cincinnati rally in the ninth, shutting the door with one out and a man on second. -Associated Press CAUGHT IN THE act is Chicago White Sox baserunner Rich Reichardt. Reichardt was cut down trying to steal second in yes- terday's first game with the Oakland Athletics. Receiving the throw is A's second baseman Dick Green. Twins spin ST. P A U L-MINNEAPOLIS - Bert Blyleven dazzled Milwaukee with a four-hitter and Harmon Killebrew unloaded his 488th ca- reer home run as the Minnesota Twins trimmed the Brewers 4-0 yesterday. Blyleven, who turned 20 Tues- day at the start of his second sea- son in the majors, gave up a first inning infield single by Mike He- gan. After Milwaukee catcher Phil Roof was struck on the ear flap of his batting helmet in the second, Blyleven r e t i r e d 13 traight before Dave May and Ber-; So C Six ter the car tou Ruggers close regular season, prepare for Big Ten tourney HOOSIERS, MSU TOUGH Improved league beckons netters By CHUCK DRUKIS :S By RANDY -PHILLIPS "The overall conference is very strong this year. There are more good teams than ever before," contemplated Michigan Ten- nis Coach Brian Eisner on the upcoming Big Ten Tennis season. In contrast with previous years when the Wolverines romped away with the confer- ence crown, this year's battle appears to be a multi-team race with Michigan the slim favorite. Michigan -has managed to cop the last four trophies and 11 of the last 16 titles. Indiana and Michigan State look much stronger this season and are considered to be serious threats to Michigan's continued tennis dominance. Indiana returns six lettermen including one of the toughest two-somes in the con- ference at number one and two singles, The Hoosiers could have conference champs at both those positions which are held down by junior Mark Bishop and senior veteran Geoff Hodson. In'diana coach Bill Landin is confident. "We're shooting for the top this year. We should be tougher at the top of our line- tin nrhieli wirll h.,ln tice nncidjao.hln " be tough to beat. The number one team will have Hodsdon and Bishop together. Landin calls this pairing "the best team I've had since 1965." Sophomore Tom Dunker gave Indiana its only individual title last year at No. 5 singles, and he is back this season playing at the third spot. The Spartans wallowed in third place last season, but they should be strong this season all the way down their line-up. Tom Gray, 1970 Big Ten runner-up to Michigan's Jon Hainline, will move into the lead post for MSU. DeArmond Briggs moves up to the second spot from last year's fourth seeding. Briggs advanced to the conference semifinals last season. Michigan State coach Stan Drobeck says "the title's wide open." He added that all the teams in contention are "looking to see what Michigan's line-up w ill be." Drobeck considers the race to have five contenders including Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. He even gives Minnesota a slight chance to come through and take it all. Drobeck is happy with the progress of the conference and is "impressed by the will help any team decidedly, Drobeck an- swered, "only perhaps the home team." None of the Big Ten teams except North- western have much experience on slow surfaces so the disadvantages will be felt equally by all the contending clubs. T h e Spartan mentor however, thinks that the title will be decided at the tourn- ament and not during the dual meet sea- son. "The conference championships are still the determining factor." He added that "every match counts" and a good dual meet season will build the necessary mo- mentum for the championships. Illinois and Iowa could prove tough for the conference crown or at least could prove to be spoilers. The Illini have a lot .f strength at the top of their line-up with Chip Clements at No. 3. Clements played No. 1 last season. Eisner evaluates them as having four real fine singles play- ers and two real f i n e doubles teams." Michigan had to struggle to beat the Illi- ni, 6-3 in the Irish Invitational. I o w a could be the dark horse contender, as they have a deep team. Veterans Jim Esser, Rod Kubat, Craig Sandvig, and the addition of highly touted freshman Bruce Nagel should 1r.r lte a lnzrkc. in n. fi. i,,cinn coneI nie Smith slapped singles in the seventh.j Roof was taken to a hospital for observation but was believed to have escaped major injury. j The Twins jumped on Milwau- kee starter Lew Krausse for three runs after two were out in the first. Tony Oliva singled and Kill- ebrew cracked a 2-2 offering 391 feet into the left field seats. Rich Reese singled and scored when A n d y Kosco fielded Jim Holt's hit to left and threw wild- Senior athletes receive honors Several awards were presented to senior athletes at the first an- nual M-Club awards banquet last night in Crisler Arena. Receiving the Doctor Hazel Losh Award was diver Dick Rydze. The George Canamare Award went to basketball captain Dan Fife. Rydze also received the Big Ten swim- ming award. Nineteen recipients received the Fielding H. Yost award. They were: Ramon Almonte, Phil Sey- mour, Pete Newell, Don Moor- head, Henry Hill, Jim Burton, The Michigan Rugby Club Sat- urday completed their regular sea- son. The Blue squad finished 3-0-1. The Gold team ended 2-0-1. The Big Ten tournament begins Saturday. Unfortunately, in spite of an undefeated season, the poten- tial of the ruggers remains cloudy. The spring season was regret- tably short. The players didn't have an ample chance to develop tech- nical skills. Furthermore, the brev- ity of the season also meant an ab- breviated number of practice ses- sions. Since rugby requires exten- sive running, perhaps some of the lackluster second half showings can be attributed to pre-mature fatigue. Michigan did have several classic moments. But, they never develop- ed consistency. Too often after jumping off to an early lead through brilliant manuvering, the team, losing its aggressiveness and hustle, sat on their lead. Even with quick backs, until the team has a good scrum, it's going to have difficulty winning. Captain Terry Larrimer said, "Our scrum are strong, but they can't seem to work together. They're having trouble handling the ball. We need the scrum to get the loose ball be- fore the opposition has had a chance to set up. I'd say our one The Blue beat Windsor 17-6 the following week, as an early lead proved detrimental to the rugger's attack. All of a sudden, the players started picking up bad habits, such as no teamwork. In the rugger's only home game, they shellacked Detroit 17-3. De- troit had a poor team, and were really no match for the Blue. After building an early 14-0 lead through teamwork and good passing, they slackened off. "It's unfortunate," Larrimer said, "We needed a bet- ter opponent to test our potential." There is a difference between city rugby teams and college teams. A city team plays more intelligently while. a college team tries to over- power its opponents. A college team is quicker, younger, and usu- ally stronger. Michigan's last opponent, Chi- cago, was the only college opponent they faced. With six new men in the Blue lineup because of injuries and a shuffling of players between the Blue and Gold "B" team, the ruggers struggled to a 0-0 tie. "Chicago turned into our first real opposition," said Larrimer, "It took us by surprise. We actually had to play defense for the first time, which took our concentration 'off our offense." Professional League Standings Baltim Boston Detroit Washin New Yi Clevela Chicagc Kansas Minnesi Milwau 'Califori Oaklan AMERICANsLEAGUE East W L Pct ore 1 01.0 1 0 1.00 1 0 1.00 1gton 1 1 .50 ork 0 1 .000 nd 0 1 .0 West 0 2 0 1.00 City 1 0 1.00 iota t 1 1 .50d kee 1 1 .50 ,ia 0 1 .00 d 0 3 .00 x. 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 00 GB i 1 ^1 1/ I/2 .1 1 New York Pittsburgh Chicago St. Louis Montreal Philadelphia Atlanta San Francisco Houston San Diego Los Angeles W I 1 1 1 0 West 2 a 0 1 L 01 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 Pct. 1.000 1.000 .500 .500 .000 .000 1.000 1.000 .500 .000 .333 .000 NATIONAL LEAGUE GB 1 1 1 1 2 o I CinciRnsuits - - I