Page Sixteen
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tiger pitching surfaces
bt bats silenced N
By DON M\TacLAUGIILAN
and PAUL CAMPBELL
special To TheD aily
DETROIT--The Detroit Tigers
are amidst their worst slaomp of
the year, losing six straight
games at home. But the Bengal
losing skid is not dne to a lack
of good pitching.
"These last two weeks we've
received pretty good pitching,"
said Detroit pitching coach Fred
Gladding h e f o r e last night's
gime against Oakland. "If we
can put it all together and get
some vans, we'll be OK."
TIlE TIGERS, whose bats
were smoking the latter half
of a recent road trip, have sud-
denly lost their offensive punch.
On the other hand, the young
pitchers have been performing
admirably during the dry spell.
"Mark Fidrych is back now
p-4 ejthe tZa4
From Wire Service Reports
Al slips into third ring
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Heavyweight boxing champion
Muhammad Ali will marry Veronica Porche, the mother of his
year-old daughter, Hana, on June 19 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel,
a hotel spokesman said Tuesday.
For Ali, who failed to go the distance in his first two attempts,
it will be the third marriage. It will be the first for Miss Porche,
a fashion model in her mid 20s. Ali also has four other children by
his second wife, Kalalah Alti.
0
Frazier out-Torre to manage Mets
NEW YORK-Saying that "The time has come for a change,"
and that "You only have to look at the standings," New York
Mets general manager Joe McDonald, along with board-chairman
M. Donald Grant, announced Tuesday the firing of field manager
Joe Frazier less than two full months into the current baseball
season
The Mets, struggling with a 15-29 record, losers of six straight
ball games and fading fast in the National League East, broke
the camel's back, and the manager's contract, by dropping a
Memorial Day doubleheader to the Montreal Expos.
Quickly forgotten is the Mets' 86-76 record of a year ago,
their second-best ever, and their first under Frazier's guidance.
Frazier, a ballplayer for 20 years and a manager for the last
10 (in the Mets' organization since 1968), becomes the second
managerial casualty of the young season. John McNamara
was dismissed by the San Diego Padres last Saturday.
Joe Torre replaced Fraizer just 90 minutes before the Mets'
scheduled game last night, and the Mets' first baseman becomes
baseball's only active player-manager.
Torre, whose new contract covers the remainder of this and
the next two seasons, joined the Mets in 1974, coming form St.
Louis where he won the League's Most Valuable Player award in
1971. Torre is 37.
"
More fame for Wilt and O.J.
NEW YORK-O.J. Simpson and Wilt Chamberlain are among
eight athletes who will be inducted into the Black Hall of Fame at
the fourth annual awards dinner June 16.
Bill Cosby, television personality and honorary chairman,
will host the event to be attended by prominent sports and
business personaliies as well as previous inductees.
In addition to Chamberlain, one of the all-time greats of pro
basketball, and Simpson, record-setting running back of the Buf-
falo Bills, the latest honorees include Richard "Night Train"
Lane, former star pro football defensive back; Nell Jackson,
Olympic track competitor and administrator; Wendell Scott, aut
race driver; Ed Temple, coach of the 1960-64 Olympic women's
track and field team; Larry Doy, first black player in the
American League, and Ike Williams, former world lightweight
boxing champion.
Purdue gets Walker brothers
RALEIGH, N.C.-More brothers for the Big Ten. Steve and
Brian Walker, formerly of the North Carolina State basketball
team, and following the acts of Wisconsin's Hughes, Michigan's
Robinsons and Bodnars, and Indiana's Van Arsdales, will join the
Purdue Boilermakers this coming year.
The transfer was accompanied by bitter parting shots
aimed at N.C. State Coach Norm Sloan, whom the brothers
accuse of breaking promises (the old "play me or transfer
sie" routine), ridiculing the brothers and finally losing their
respect entirely.
Lack of playing time, and frustrated attempts to try new
positions were cited by sophomore forward Steve and freshman
guard Brian. The Walkers commented in an interview with the
Charlotte Observer. Perhaps most bitter was father Bob Walker,
who moved the family from Indiana and bought a house in Raleigh
to watch his sons play.
Ngt without rebuttal was coach Sloan, who said "an athlete's
unhappiness can start with his parents," who wish their children
"to be special people."
and those other guys are start-
ing to get their feet on the
ground," Gladding noted. "Guys
like Dave Rozema and Fer-
nando Arroy."
Tigers win!
Detroit beat Oakland 5-2 last
night to snap its six game los-
ing streak. RBI singles by Ron
LeFlore and Phil Mankowsk in
the seventh off loser Vida Blue Dave Rozema .. .
gave the Tigers their margin of
victory. ... feet on the ground
Eighth inning homers by
Milt May and Mickey Stanley During the homestand, Detroit
secured the victory for Detroit has received s oa1 i d complete
starter John Hiller, who raised games from Fidrych, Rozema,
his record to 2-5 with ninth in. and John Hiller, who has emer-
ning relief help from Steve ged from the bullpen as the Ben-
Foucault gals' fifth starter.
Major League Standings
AMERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE
East East
w L Pet. GO W L Pet. GO
Baltimore 26 17 .605 - Chicago 25 16 .636 -
New York 26 21 .553 2 St. Louis 25 aa 1.6091
Boston 24 21 .533 3 Pittsburgh 26 17 .605 Y>>
Milwaukee 25 25 .500 4% Philadelphia 25 19 .568 3
Cleveland 1 22 463 6 Montreal 18 26 .40 1.
Detroit 17 26 .3915 9 New York 16 29 .356 12
Toronto 128 2.391 9 west
Los Angeles 33 14 .702 -
west Cincinnati 21 23 .477 10'
w L Pet. GB San Diego 23- 28 .451 12
Minnesota 28 17 .622 - San Francisco 20 26 .435 1295
Chicago 25 19 .568 2% Houston 19 27 43 13t/
Texas 21 21 .500 5% Atlanta 17 31 .354 164
California 23 23 .500 5% Yesterday's Games
Oakland 22 23 .489 6 Philadelphia 6, Pittsburgh 5
Kansas City 21 23 A477 6 New York 6, Montreal 2
Seattle 21 30 .412 10 St. Louis 5, Chicago 0
Late games not included
Yesterday's Games San Diego at San Francisco,
noston 3, New York 1 10:30 PM,
Lategames not included Today's Games
Today's Games San Diego (Shirley 4-5) at San
Cleveland (Bibby 3-2) at Detroit Francisco (Haicki 3-5), 4 p.m.
(Fdrych 0-1), 8 p.m. New York (Seaver 4-3) at Mon-
Kansas City (Leonard 2-5) at To- treal (Brown 1-3), 7:30 p.m.
ronto (Singer 2-6), 7:30 p.m. Pittsburgh (Candelaria 6-1) at
Boston (Tiant 2-4) at Texas Philadelphia (Christenson 4-4),
(Alexander 6-1), 2:30 p.m. 7:30 .m.
New York (Guidry 3-1) at Min- Atlanta (Easterly 2-1) at Cincin-
nesota (Zahn 6-3), 8:30 p.m. nati (Zachary 2-6), 8 p.m.
Baltimore (Palmer 7-1) at Chi- Chicago (Rick Reusehel 6-2) at
cago (arett 5-3), 8::30 p.m. St. Louis (ierker 1-1), 8:30 p.m.
Oakland (Medich 4-2) at Seattle Los Angeles (Hahn 5-2) at Hous-
(Abbott 2-4), 10:30 p.m. ton (McLaughlin 1-1), 1 30 p.m.
Portland
demolishesz
limp lbers,
130-98
Bill Walton jams the ball
home, ignoring the defensive ef-
forts of Philadelphia's Caldwell
Jones last night in the fourth
game of the NBA finals. An in-
spired Portland team, fueled by
the rabid cheering of nearly
13,000 hometowno fans, took the
lead at the onset and continued
to build it right up to the buzzer
as the Trailblazers vanquisheda
the Sixers 130 to 98.
Walton and Maurice Lucas led
Portland to an 11 point halftime
lead, but it was in the third
quarter, with the big redheaded
center on the bench with five
fouls, that the Trailblazers turn-
ed it into a rout.
By the beginning of the final
period, the margin had balloon-
ed to 37 points, and Sixer coach
Gene Shue pulled his starters,
and offered the second team as
a sacrifice to the Trailblazer
juggernaut.
Aurelio Rodriguez
... a try at shortstop
DAVE ROBERTS has l
twice during the skid, but Ga
ding points out that the vetera
lefty has been victimized mo
by bad luck than bad pitching
Above all, the Tigers bigge
problem has been getting rn
across the plate. They has
scored only ten runs in the
losses,
Part of the Detroit hitti
problems stem from recent i
juries. Although rightfielder B
Oglivie has returned to the lini
up after recovering from
shoulder injury, designated ii
ter Rusty Staub is still out
action after fouling a pitch
his foot in Sunday's loss
Seattle.
FIRST BASEMAN Jan
Thompson, who leads the cl
in home runs and RBIs with
and 27 respectively, is combi
ing the effects of a bad hip.
The Tigers solved a rost
problem yesterday when the
optioned rookie shortstop Ma
Wagner to their AAA farm chi
in Evansville. Wagner had bei
struggling at the plate, hittis
only .146 in 22 games.
The demotion of Wagn
makes room for the return
third baseman Aurelio Rodt
guez, who-has been on the di
abled list since April 27 oil
sprained ligaments in his ritI
ankle.