Page 10-Friday, March 31, 1978-The Michigan Daily WILL RANGER ARMS SILENCE KC BATS? Texas picked tQ dethrone Royals NNW THE SPORTING VIEWS I ,. By LIZ MAC "Gentlemen, choose your weapons. "You may keep the ones you have, try, something new, or pick up a used model that no longer belongs to its ,original owner. "AT THE. SIGNAL, take 162 steps forward, turn, and fire." And the Texas Rangers will be left standing at the top of the American League West. The Kansas City Royals will finish second in a close contest which probably won't be decided until fall. Trailing Kansas City will be California, Chicago, Minnesota, Seattle, and Oakland. THE RANGERS have the power and the pitching to take it all in the division.. Winter trading and free agent signing have added depth to an already strong roster, and the result is a team which should outduel the reigning Royals. From the re-entry draft Texas picked up former White Sox slugger Richie Zisk. Zisk, who hit .290 with 30 homers and 101 RBI as an outfielder, will probably take over the designated hitter role. ;Ln a major off-season deal that in- olved four teams and 11 players, the Rangers acquired former Pirate Al Oliver, a .308 batter in 1977. Oliver, Juan Beniquez, and Claudell Washington make for a solid-hitting outfield, and the Rangers also have ~some good back-up talent. The Texas infield also boasts some hot hitters. Mike Hargrove is at first (.405). Bump Wills, with a .287 batting' ayrage as a rookie last year, will man second base. Veteran Bert Campaneris will be at short and Toby Harrah at hird. %JIM SUNDBERG will do the cat- shing, coming off a .291 season. Manager Billy Hunter's pitching staff ,rovides the bullet that will fell Kansas kCity: Doyle Alexander, Doe Medich, Dock Ellis, and Jon Matlack. Alexander leads the crew after posting a 17-11 record in '77. Medich, signed as a free agent, had a 12-7 season overall, while Dock Ellis contributed a 10-6, 2.60 ERA season as a Ranger. Matlack came from the Mets in the same trade that brought Oliver. The bullpen could be a sore spot. Hun- ter is counting on Len Barker and Paul Linblad to fill the gap left by winter deals. THE KANSASCITY Royals will give the Rangers a run for their money. Two With the Rangers and the Royals fighting it out, injuries could be a deciding factor. The California Angels can attest to that. Bobby Grich and Joe Rudi, the million dollar babies who sat out last season, are presumably healthy. And Lyman Bostock, the league's second leading hitter, is a new catch from the free agent field. RUD.I AND BOSTOCK form the basis of the California outfield. It's up to Manager Dave Garcia to decide who Mac's AL West Picks 1. Texas 2. Kansas City 3. California 4. Chicago 5. Minnesota 6. Seattle 7. Oakland Gamble and Richie Zisk in the free agent departure. CHET LEMON, Ron Blomberg, and Lamar Johnson are possible big bats. Eric Soderholm at third comes off a .280, 25 homerun season. But the hurlers are unexceptional, and Chicago will fall a notch from last season to fourth place. Oh, what a team Minnesota Manager Gene Mauch would have if Rod Carew could magically become a one-man team. Carew has reported to be having con- tract problems. Nonetheless he is baseball's leading hitter' right now, having tucked away his sixth batting crown with a .388 performance. OTHER BRIGHT SPOTS on the Twins' roster are catcher Bruce Wynegar, reliever Tom Johnson, and 20 game winner Dave Goltz. But these won't be enough for Minnesota, also hurt by the loss of free agents, to pose a threat in the division. Give the Seattle Mariners credit for trying. Free agent Bruce Bochte (.301), first baseman Danny Meyer (.273), and DH Lee Stanton (.275, 27 home runs) will bring some excitement to the Kingdome, but just enough to keep the Mariners out of the cellar. That leaves the Oakland A's. Except in the base stealing category, the team is simply short on proven talent and Charlie's A's will 'sit in last place once again. IU 1 1 k divisional titles in a row say the foun- dation is there, so K.C. Manager Whitey 3Herzog's crew will be back looking for number three. But even though the Royal starting rotation is far from weak, it is not sharp enough to catch the Rangers. Twenty game winner Dennis Leonard heads the staff, with Jim Colburn and Paul Splittorff taking the second and third spots. The fourth spot, however, is up for grabs, and as of yet the Royals do not have a strong pitcher to take it. THE BULLPEN is well stocked with the likes of Al Hrabosky, acquired in a trade with St. Louis over the winter, and bullpen ace, Doug Bird, 11-4 last year. Handling these pitchers will be Darrell Porter (.275) at catcher. Speed and hitting will be the trademark of the Royal infield this season with first baseman John Mayberry (23 home runs) and George Brett (.312, 22 HR) leading the way. In addition, the Royal lineup will in- clude the double-play combination of Freddie Patek, who stole 53 bases last year, and second baseman Frank White, another speedster. SLUGGER AL COWENS (.312, 112 RBI) will take right and Amos Otis cen- ter. Left is a toss-up between Joe Zdeb and Tom Poquette, who shared the job last season. Herzog also has strong reserves in Willie Wilson and Clint Hurdle. The DH role is more than adequately handled by Hal McRae (.281). will take over the third slot: Gil Flores, Don Baylor (who may move to DH), or minor league standout Ken Landreaux. Besides Grich at second, the infield includes newly acquired Ron Fairly at first (Rudi can also fill in here), Rance Mulliniks at short, and Dave Chalk at third. Perennial superstars Frank Tanana and Nolan Ryan head the pitching staff. Tanana's 2.54 ERA was tops in the league and Ryan repeated as strikeout -king. Help comes from Don Aase and Chris Knapp thanks to a couple of con- troversial trades. One of those trades sent hard hitting Bobby Bonds to Chicago White Sox. Although Bonds hit 37 homers last year, it doesn't make up for the loss of Oscar Multi -player deal puts I B I 0 b II Eckersley 1 WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP)-The Boston Red Sox, admittedly going all out to dethrone the New York Yankees as American League champions, lan- ded a top-shelf prize Thursday by acquiring right-hander Dennis Ecker- sley in a multi-player trade with the Cleveland Indians. The Red Sox also received catcher Fred Kendall in exchange for right- Where Else * Afrique-Asie * Oceans * Croft H orizons * DUdalus * Africa Report * Jazz JoUrnal * Aicheringa * New Left Review * Der Spiegel Anthropology e Byte S *Fine Woodworking' e Chicagos * Runners World * Black Scholar Foreign Affairs * Seven Days Cinefantastique * Dance Magazine " Film comment AnthooCog LET'S BE HONEST! A Pirgim study of Ann Arbor leases found that 95% contain misleading clauses ... HELP CLEAN UP YOUR LEASE THIS MONDAY VOTE YES ON Housing Proposals A & B iFenway handed pitchers Rick Wise and Mike Paxton and two rookie prospects, in- fielder Ted Cox and catcher Bo Diaz. ECKERSLEY HAD a 14-13 record and 3.53 earned-run average with the lowly Indians last season, including a 1- 0 no-hitter against the California Angels last May 30. He struck out 12 in that game. Only 23, he has a major league record of 40-32. "I'm delighted," Boston Manager Don Zimmer said. "We gave up an awful lot, but we felt we needed Ecker- sley. I compare what Eckersley will do for us to what Tom Seaver will do for Cincinnati." Wise,a 32-year-old veteran and owner of two no-hitters in the National League, pitched four years with the Red Sox, where he had a 47-32 record including 1-5 and a 4.77 ERA last season. COX, 23, PLAYS both third base and first base. He was the International League's' Most Valuable Player when he hit .334 with 14 homers and 81 runs batted in for Pawtucket last season. Called up to Boston in September, he batted .362 in 13 games and set a major league record for rookies with hits in his first six at bats. IDiaz, 25, batted .263 with seven homers and 54 RBI at Pawtucket last season but is considered an outstanding receiver with a rifle arm. Pressure in spor's.. . .. an unjust ingredient By BILLY NEFF A LL THE INGREDIENTS were there-the drama, the excitement, and the pageantry of a true championship game. And the two teams generated even more interest. They provided quite a contrast-it was power against finesse, strength versus quickness, youth matched with experience. On the one hand, you had the classic underdog and on the other, the un- beatable foe, ranked number one for almost the entire season. All in all, this NCAA championship game between Duke and Kentucky would make anyone a believer in the true competition of college athletics, everyone, that is, but me. Sure, the contest had all the earmarks of a superb championship game and I enjoyed it immensely, but two items reduced my satisfaction substan- tially. First, there was the threat on the life of Duke freshman sensation Gene Banks and the pressure to win placed on Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall. Duke, the cinderella team of the final four, was quite a human interest story. They did not have a senior among their first eight or nine players. Their starters included two freshmen, two sophomores (one was a transfer and the other graduated early from high school and should have been a freshman) and a junior, who served as the captain. In the previous year, the Blue Devils from Durham, North Carolina, had completed'a shaky 14-13 season, finishing dead last in their conference. The school had built up quite a basketball tradition in years gone by but had not entered an NCAA tournament since 1966. Academics are the prime concern for the fine institution that likes to call itself the "Harvard of the South." Dick Enberg of NBC toldus there were four honors students on the Duke squad. In fact, star center Mike Gminski, the early graduate from high school, has straight A's in their intense medical program. Thus, basketball may have been the farthest thing from most Duke students' minds, until Gene Banks arrived on campus. Banks enchanted the Duke student body so much that when they held their first practice in Oc- tober, the arena virtually sold out. Before the finals, they packed Cameron Indoor Stadium for practice. According to Dan Michaels, the photo editor for the Duke Daily Chronicle, "people would crowd around the bus for at least a half hour before the team was to leave the arena after practice. The band would be like the pied piper-everyone would just follow them." Banks was the key though. Rated the premier high school basketball star in the nation last season ahead of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, he just drew crowds aroud him. People just loved watching him and even more so, meeting him. The Duke student body was no exception. "They just love him and think he's an outstanding guy; they respect him for what he is," noted Dke assistant basketball coach Bob Wenzel. Banks' high school team won over 50 straight games and was the num- ber one prep cage quintet in the' entire country. Interestingly enough, most observers would have expected Banks, the star of that team, to choose a high powered basketball institution. Nope, he was a little more farsighted than that-he chose Duke because of carefully thought out reasons-its academics and especially its atmosphere.'"There is a genuine realness about the people here," said Banks. So these youngsters came to St. Louis with the spirit and enthusiasp that college athletes and athletics are supposed to have. However, some'crazy and very nearsighted prankster tried to blunt that enthusiasm with his threat on Banks. Why pick on this particular individual, obviously a fine young man. Or better yet, why threaten or add pressure to any collegiate athlete's life-they are just amateurs. That is why I often question why Crisler Arena fans boo the Michigan basketball teams. So if you can't boo or pressure a player, the next best person to attack is the coach, right? Well. indeed, that was the situation that Joe B. Hal faced at Kentucky this season.He may even resign dueto this pressure. His Wildcats were rated at the top of the nation throughout the year. And in Kentucky, it was a foregone conclusion that.Hall's- five would capture the NCAA title this time around. They had better or else, since their entire front- court would be graduating. Ever since Hall had taken over the reins at Kentucky from the legendary Adolph Rupp, he was expected to win and more importantly, to deliver championships to Lexington. Well he did deliver, but not an NCAA cham- pionship. However, he has produced one NIT title, and in each of his other four years at Kentucky, his teams made the NCAA tournament. In 1975, they ended up in the finals but they have never been victorious. Partisan Kentucky fans forget that it wasn't Joe Hall who missed clutch shots in the final game against UCLA in 1975, but instead Kevin Grevey and his cohorts. Joe Hall, unfortunately, couldn't stop Marques Johnson then either. Whenever a coach takes over a pressure cooker like Hall did, or Dan Devine at Notre Dame, or Gene Bartow at UCLA, he can't possibly perform up to expectations. But why should he have to perform to any expectations, or even, why should there be any expectations? Joe Hall and Gene Banks had pressure on them that was totally uncalled for and extremely frightening. They are both involved in college athletics, amateur sports, fun and games. Although there is certainly more to it than that, no one should ever take the fun away from these games or students by putting pressure on them. Remember games really are just games! But it had all the ingredients. DON'T LET THE UNIVERSITY SCREW YOU AGAIN! YOU TOO CAN LET IT FLY ON THE FOLLOWING COM- MITTEES: PLATIG NU M ITALIC SET l, i. Contains afountain en, fivc 9talic nis, and instruction manualiad forony y$6oo... At art materia(&'pen shot's, college Iook stores..or send check to ?entafic' Corp. 132 West 22 St., N.y, N.y. 10011 Addi5o cents for fianding. i 4Quditia0 - ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE BUDGET PRIORITIES CIVIL LIBERTIES BOARD OFFICE OF STUDENT SERVICES POLICY BOARD STUDENT RELATIONS UNION BOARD OF DIRECTORS PLUS MANY MORE Apply at MSA Office - 3909 Michigan Union Deadline: April 5, 1978, 5 PM i.. There's No Business Like.. . the exciting world of Show Business in our Theme Parks: KINGS ISLAND - Cincinnati, Ohio KINGS DOMINION - Richmond, Va. CARO WINDS - Charlotte, N.C.. Shows are presented with complete scenery, costumes, staging and choreography in fully equipped theatres and on modern outdoor stages for the summer. There are openings for: SINGER/DANCERS AND MUSICIANS $155 to $200 a week (Plus round trip airfare to the park) 11 The Center for Japanese studies Announces a ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM on Religio In ModernJapan Monday, April 3, 19 78 The Michigan le. gue-9:00 -5:00 INTRODUCTION Luis 0. Gomez. The University of Michigan INOUE ENRYO: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL THROUGH A MODERN TRADITIONALISM Alan Grapard, The University of Colorado I i