Wednesday, May 17, 1972
THE MICHIGAN DAIUY
Page Fifteer
Orioles maul slumping Tigers
From Wire Service Reports lar with one out in the first Tribe stalled Texas blanked three consecutive home runs,
DETROIT - A two-run double inning after Cuellar had given driving in five runs to back the
by rookie John Oates and a up two Tiger runs. From then CLEVELAND-Bobby Mu Rooker tossed a four-hitter and three-hit pitching of rookie
towering solo homer by Boog on, Alexander gave up just three first hit in 23 at-bats touched the Kansas City Royals capi- Burt Hooten as the Cubs crush-
Powell, plus a long, stellar re- hits, including a solo homer by off a three-run uprising in the talized on a pair of Texas er- ed the Philadelphia Phillies 8-1
lief job by Doyle Alexander, led Norm Cash in the fourth, -to fifth inning that enabled the rors for a 5-0 victory over the last night.
the Baltimore Orioles to an 8-3 even his record at 1-1. New York Yankees to beat t Rangers last night. ** h
CleelanIdiancis 3-11 otice Ragr last n ight o
victory over the Detroit Tigers
last night.
The loss was the third straight
for Billy Martin's pennant-bound
Tigers. Coupled with the Cleve-
land Indians' defeat to the resur-
gent New York Yankees, 3-1, De-
troit remained one game out of
first.
Alexander relieved Mike Cuel-
Baltimore scored three runs in
the fourth off Tom Timmerman,
2-3, on consecutive doubles by
Powell and Brooks Robinson, a
walk to Paul Blair and Oates'
double.
Cash's homer tied the score
3-3 before Powell blasted a 415-
foot homer off the upper deck
facade in right-center field.
tokens
subway
Bob Andrews
N. Y. C. sports .. .
... the new Triple Crown?'
IN THE world of professional sports, one of the greatest
honors that can be bestowed is the coveted Triple Crown.
In major league baseball, the player talented enough to lead
his league in batting average, runs batted in, and home runs,
will cop the rare distinction. However more often than not,
the leadership in one of these categories can' be quite elusive.
In the field of horse racing, the words Triple Crown have
become more of a legend than a reality as the task for a three-
year old of pacing the field in the Big Three of racing (the
Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes)
can only be described as overwhelming.
Citation, in 1948, was the last of the equine species to per-
form the trick.
There is however, a new type of Triple Crown, just as
rare or even more so than the above two, that might be
presented to the massive populace of the city of New York.
That's right fans, the possibility exists that Fun City could
earn the dubious honor of seeing three of the professional
teams it so dearly supports and loves fall by the wayside
in'their respective championship finals.
Indeed, May 1972 will not be the talk of the town as far as
sports goes in the Big Apple.
First, the New York Knicks put on a valient show against
the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the greatest powerhouses the
NBA has ever witnessed. Startling enough, the initial battle was
all the Knicks as they made the Lakers wonder if this champ-
ionship series would end up as they usually did for them.
But awesome Wilt Chamberlain and the rest of the Laker.
squad proved to be too much for the injury-riddled hoopers from
New York (no Willis Reed and, after game one, no Dave De-
buschere) and they swept the next four games to capture a
long deserved title, especially for a guy named West.
Now that the cage scene was over, anxious New York
eyes turned their attention upon the beloved New York
Rangers, who were in the unfamiliar role of competing in
the finals to determine the Stanley Cup winners.
Only the most veteran Ranger disciples could remember the
glory days when a member of the Broadway Blue would skate
around displaying the supreme symbol as the Rangers had not
won the cup for approximately 30 years.
This time, their opponents were to be the bruising Boston
Bruins, a team they never really seemed to get along well with.
Nevertheless, even with the motive of terminating this long
agonizing drought in the Rangers' favor the big breaks were
to fall for the ,bang-bang Bruins and before a praying SRO
crowd at Madison Square Garden, Boston blanked the Rangers,
3-0 to take the series 4 games to 2.
For the Rangers, it means more unbearable frustrations
and hope that next season the Messiah would finally arrive. For
Boston, thanks to a little help from B. Orr, they received a
heroes' welcome when they returned to Beantown.
So the action finally ended at the arena on 7th Avenue
and 33rd street and the fans who came hoping to witness
a joyous event in a normally dreary city, had to depart
with a feeling that could best be described as empty pride.
Now that all matters were decided in the NBA and the
NHL, New York support shifted to the suburbs (Uniondale, Long
Island) where the New York Nets are currently battling the
Indiana Pacers for the championship of the ABA.
As mentioned at the start, one category usually proves very
tough in the quest for the "Crown" and this series might be
the toughest for New York.
The amazing Nets, the Cinderella team of one of the younger
professional leagues in America, defeated the Pacers Monday
night, 110-105 to even their best-of-seven series, 2-2. This feat
is greater than that accomplished by both the Knicks or Rang-
ers. With the momentum slightly on their side, there is a
slight chance that the Nets will prevail and spoil New York's
shot at the "Big Three".
However, two of the remaining three games still to be
played will take place at Indiana, where the Pacers are usually
tough, and if the ball continues to bounce as it has all through
this infamous month for the New Yorkers, odds are that the
Nets too will succumb and the first Triple Crown for losing will
belong to N. Y. C.
behind the four-hit pitching of
Mike Kekich and Sparky Lyle.
The Yankees scored their runs
at the expense of Steve Hargan,
making his first start after
pitching only two innings all
season.
After Murcer singled with one
out, Roy White walked and Ron
Blomberg drove in one run with
a double.
Thurman Munson drove .in the
second run with a grounder to
third baseman Graig Nettles,
whose throw to the plate was too
late to get White. Rich McKin-
ney's single made it 3-0.
Kekich, 3-2, allowed four hits
but only one runner got past first
base through the first seven
innings.
When Kekich walked Adolf-a
Phillips to lead off the eighth,
Lyle came oni.The relieverwalk-
ed Del Unser but retired he
next three batters, although
Phillips scored on a long fly and
an infield out.
(Akisox roll
CHICAGO - Stan Bahnsen,
Vicente Romo and Terry Fors-
ter combined to hurl the Chi-
cago White Sox to their sixth
straight victory, a 2-1 decision
over the Minnesota Twins last
night.
BoSOX breeze
MILWAUKEE - Danny Ca-
ter, a seventh-inning defensive
replacement, singled in the tie-
breaking run in the 10th 'and
rookie Rick Miller followed
with a three-run homer, pow-
ering Ray Culp and the Boston
Red Sox to a 5-1 victory over
the Milwaukee Brewers last
night.
Yesterday's scheduled home Mets streak
baseball contest between Michi- NEW YORK - Bud Harrel-
gan and Western Michigan was son broke out of a batting
cancelled due to wet grounds, slump with a two-run double in
The game will not be made up. a four-run second inning and
Tom Seaver became the Na-
tion League's first six-game
Cubs explode winner asgthe New York Mets
PHILADELPHIA - Chicago beat the Montreal Expos 7-3
Cubs' Rick Monday crashed last night.
CHICAGO CUB JOSE CARDENAL (1) sneaks in past Phillies'
catcher Tim McCarver to score in the fourth inning of last night's
game in Philadelphia. The heroics however belonged to Chicago's
Rick Monday, who smashed three consecutive homers to clinch
the 8-1 win.
SPORT SHORTS:
Schaus named Purdue mentor
By The Associated Press
* WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.
--George King, Purdue basket-
ball coach and athletic director,
announced his retirement as
coach yesterday and named
Fred Schaus, general manager
of the Los Angeles Lakers, to
succeed him.
King will continue as athletic
director. He has been Boiler-
maker basketball coach seven
years and athletic director 15
months.
Schaus, 40. was akmoving
force behind the Lakers this
year as they won their first
National Basketball Association
championship.
. CHICAGO-Owner Charles
0. Finley of the Oakland A's
said last night that pitcher
Denny McLain would decide to-
day whether to accept a demo-
tion to the A's Birmingham
farm club or be placed on the
voluntary retired list.
"McLain wasn't pitching too
well," said Finley, "and we
thought the way he was going
it would be better to send him
down to Birmingham where he
could pitch according to his feel-
ings."
"Both Williams and myself
have faith and confidence in
McLain and feel if he pitches
regularly in the warm weather,
he can make it back to the A's."
The decision to demote Mc-
Lain, whose stormy career also
included a stop with the Wash-
ington Senators before he came
to the A's this year, was dis-
closed Monday by Williams with
the comment, "He just wasn't
throwing the ball as hard as we
know he can."
. BUFFALO, N.Y. - George
"Punch" Imlach, 51, on the
mend after suffering a heart
attack, called it quits as coach * DETROIT - Defenseman
of the Buffalo Sabres yesterday, 'Gary Bergman has come to
but said he would continue as terms with the Detroit Red
general manager of the Nation- Wings on a three-year contract
al Hockey League club. he described as "a good one-no,
No successor was named, but .nefecr asrato -n
Imlach said the coaching job m fact, a great one.
had been offered to Jos Crozier, Ned Harkness, general man-
who filled in for Imlach after ager of the National Hockey
his heart attack Jan. 6. League team, announced the
"Joe Crozier is our choice," contract signing yestrday -but
Imlach said. "He deserves the
job. He had been approached neither he nor Bergman would
and we now are awaiting his say how much money was in-
answer." volved.
a Professional League Standings
American League
East
National League
East
Cleveland
Detroit
Baltimore
Boston
New York
Milwaukee
w L Pet. G6,
14 9 .609 -- New York
13 10 .565 1 Philadelphia
13 11 .542 1! Pittsbuurgh
9 12 .429 4 Montreal
9 14 .391 5 Chicago
6 15 .286 7 St. Louis
w L Pet. GB
19 7 .731 --
15 11 .577 4
13 12 .520 511
13 13 .500 6
12 13 .480 61l
50 108 .357 10
Minnesota 16 7 .696 -
Oakland 14 7 .667 1
Chicago 15 9 .62.5 1r/
ansas City 1r 15 .42361
Texas 10 15 .400 7
California 9 15 .375 7%
Yesterday's Results
New York 3, Cleveland 1
Boston 5, Milwaukee 1, 10 innings
Kansas City 5, Texas 0
Baltimore 8, Detroit 3
Chicago 2, Minnesota 1
(Oakland at California, inc.
Today's Games
Oakland (Holtzman, 4-2) at California
(May, 0-2), night
Minnesota (Blyleven, 4-2) at Chicago
(Bradley, 4-1)
Baltimore (Dobson, 3-3) at Detroit
(Lolich, 6-1), night
New York (Kline, 2-1) at Cleveland,
(Tidrow, 3-2), night
Boston (Siebert, 2-1) at Milwaukee
(Brett, 2-3), night
Texas (Bosman, 2-4) at Kansas City
(Drago, 2-2), night
Los Angeles 17 10 .630 --
Houston 16 10 .615 '!
Cncinnati 13 13 .500O3/
San Diego 12 15 .4445
Atlanta 10 17 .370x'
San Francisco 9 20 .310 9
Yesterday'sResults
Chicago 8, Philadelphia 1
New York 7, Montreal 3
Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3
Holuston 6, Atlanta 5
Los Angeles at san Diego, inc.
Cincin ti 4, San Francisco 3, 1s.
Citncinnati at San Feancisco 2nd, inc.
Today's Cames*
Montreal (MeAnkily, 0-2) a New York
{Gentry, 2-1), night
Chicago (Hands, 2-1) at Philadelphia
(Carlton, 5-2), night
St. Louis (Spinks, 2-1) at Pittsburgh
(Blass, 3-1), night
Atlanta (Reed, 1-4) at Houston
(Dierker, 2-2), night
Los Angeles (John, 3-2) at San Diego
(Norman, 2-2) night
Cincinnati (Grimsley, 1-0) at San
Francisco (Marichal, 1-6)