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.