Page Twelve

THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PENNANT RACES RESUME

Thursday, July 21, 1977

Surprise AL leaders like chances

NEW YORK (5'-The Baltimore Orioles and Chicago
White Sox, overlooked in pre-season pennant predic-
tions, will attempt to keep fooling the experts when the
American League division races resume today.
"I don't see anybody running off and hiding in either
division," said Chicago Manager Bob Lemon whose
White Sox led the defending champion Kansas City
Royals by 2% games in the AL West, with the Minne-
sota Twins five games behind.
THIRD BASEMAN George Brett of the Royals, for
one, doesn't think the White Sox can hold on.
"I'd have to say we're favored even though we're 2 1
games back," said Brett, buoyed by a six-game winning
streak which the Royals hoped to continue now that the
All-Star break was over.
"I'd have to say we're coming. We've come a long
way since the start of the season and we're playing the
best baseball we have all year. It seems like when the
trading deadline passed last month we started playing
better.
"IT WAS LIKE we were waiting for the club to make
some kind of move, and when they didn't, we realized
we'd have to sink or swim with the players we had

and we decided to all swim together.
"If we did it last year, we can do it again. There are
a lot of ifs, ands, and buts, but lately they have all been
good. Our pitching is more stable than Chicago's. We
open in Detroit, and if we play good there, the momen-
tum should stay with us."
Pitching apparently will be the decisive factor, in
both the AL West and in the East, where the Orioles
led the Boston Red Sox by one-half game and the New
York Yankees by three games.
"Whoever gets the pitching will win," said Lemon,
a Hall of Fame pitcher.
"NO ONE IN the West has had outstanding pitching,"
added Chicago outfielder Richie Zisk. "You can't expect
us or Kansas City or Minnesota to go out and keep
scoring five or six runs a game. You've got to win the
2-1 games."
Minnesota's Rod Carew agreed.
"There's no sense scoring five and six runs a game
if your pitching isn't going to hold the other team," said
the Twins' first baseman, the major league's leading
batter with a .394 average. "Our pitching has been, a

little slack. We have to be more consistent."
In many quarters, the White Sox and Orioles weren't
even picked to finish in the first division, but Lemon
said he "thinks everybody takes us seriously now." And
Baltimore outfielder Ken Singleton said the Orioles
"are playing a lot better than the last two years when
we supposedly had a better team.
"NOBODY PICKED US, and in a way that eliminat-
ed a lot of pressure. We've won a lot of close games
with timely hittitig, good pitching and good defense. I
hope we continue surprising people."
The Red Sox have relied thus far on the home run
bats of George Scott, Jim Rice, Butch Hobson, Carl
Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk. But Yastrzemski said:
"If we get pitching like we had on our last road trip,
good consistent pitching, we'll be okay. We got to play
good solid, mistake free baseball and we have a cou-
ple of real tough months coming up."
Manager Billy Martin of the crisis ridden Yankees
said: "We have to be a little more consistent in our
pitching and our over-all play . . . and I think we're
capable of both."

Reds, Phillies play

NEW YORK QP) - Having
disposed of the American
League in another All-Star
Game, all the National League
stars get back today to the
more important business of set-
tling the divisional races.
"Noboody knows what the fu-
ture holds," said Los Angeles
Dodgers Manager Tom La-
sorda. But if the last 70 games
arz anything like the first 92,
Lasorda won't have any com-
plaints. In the only major
league race that isn't close, the
Dodgers hold a commanding
9 -game lead over the two-
time world champion Cincinnati
Reds in the National League
West.'
"I'm hoping we can main-
tain it, but there's still a long
way to go," said Lasorda,
who has seen previous Dodg-
ers' teams succumb to the
persistent patter of Cincin-
nall footsteps.
"I'm not surprised by our big
lead because we have a good
ball club. Our guys worked
hard in spring training and it's
been a tremendous 25-man ef-
fort."
Since their blazing 22-4 start,
however, the Dodgers have
been merely a 37-29 team, a
.561 nace. "We haven't hit re-
centls and I've been unable to
giO Steve Garvev, Rn 'Cey,
Bill n?"ssell ndc shnsty aker a
rest die to the fact that sn'ne
of or other tgvs have been
hurt." Lasorda noted.

The Reds wouldn't mind
seeing the Dodgers play .561
baseball the rest of the way.
"I FIGURE THAT if they
play .600, we've got to play
over .70(0" said Cincinnati
Manager Sparky Anderson.
"We've got to play like heck. I
think we have to win 50 of our
73 games, and that's not an
easy chore when you're only
48-41. We're capable of it, but'
I think that they're going to
have to stagger a little for us
to catch them,
"They are catchable, but you
have to face reality-they are
catchable. if we put on a barn-
burner of our own."
Despite the recent addition of
Tom Seaver, the Reds' pitching
has to be the biggest disap-
pointment, Anderson said,
"There's no way else it could
be. We're doing everytyhing we
did offensively and we're a bet-
ter defensive teamtthan before.
I've tried to look at every other
thing, but when your defense is
improved a n d offensively
yott're doing everything you
were doing before .
In the NL East, the lead of
the surprising Chicago Cubs
has dwindled from 8 to two
games over defending cham-
nion Philadelphia in the last
few weeks.
"We haven't been playing too
good," admitted pitcher Rick

catch up
Sports
NIGHT EDITOR: }
PAUL B. CAMPBELL
.4$
Reunschel, one of the NL's top
winners with 12 victories. "But
we're still in first place and
that's a pretty good indication
that if we can ride through this
slump we should .be okay.
"Our pitching hasn't been as
good as it was and we're not
scoring many runs. It seems
like we're getting behind in the
first inning in two out of three
games, and we're always play-
ing come from behind. I think
maybe it depends on which
team can sustain a streak the
longest."
"I THINK IT will be as close
as it was in the first half, all
jumbled up. I stillsthink four
clubs will be in it pretty much,"
said Phillies Manager Danny
Ozark, noting that the Pitts-
burgh Pirates were only five
games off the pace with the
St. Louis Cardinals eight back.
"We have to go out on a
sustained drive and win six or
seven games in a row," said
Ozark. "Pittsburgh has sur-
prised me because their pitch-
ing went sour a little bit. St.
Louis has a lot of young play-
ers who haven't been through
this before and a lot depends
on Ted Simmons, Keith Her-
nandez and. Ken Reitz staying
away from injuries.
"Our club got a lot of
things settled in the last few
weeks, especially now that
Tug McGraw is off the dis-
abled list and back in the
bullpen, The Cubs - haven't
really surprised me,
"The only question is whe-
ther the summer heat will wear
them out playing only day
games in their park. Their
starting pitchers have always
kept them in the game pretty
good, but when you have to
rely on pitching and defense in
tha' park, it's tough to say
you're going to contain the op-
position to three or four runs.".
Dist Rhodes of the New
York Giants had six RBlIs as
a pinch-hitter in the 1954 World
Series, a record for the classic.

Tpv't4 (0tie ( ail;
ny The Associated Press
Michigan loses women's AD
Ginny Hunt, Michigan's Director of Women's Athletics, has
resigned from her post and accepted a similar job at Montana
State University.
Phyllis Okker, who coaches the women's field hockey team,
was immediately named as an interim replacement for Hunt.
There were rumors that Hunt resigned because of a grow-
ing dissatisfaction with Michigan's policies regarding women's
sports. More specifically, she was said to be displeased with
the low compensation being given to the women's coaches.
Hunt was unavailable for comment.
U.S. tops Israel games
TEL AVIV-The Maccabiah Games competition ended yester-
day with the United States winning 83 gold medals, by far the
highest total in the Jewish Olympics.
U.S. athletes also won 65 silver medals and 47 bronze. Israel
was second with 60 goalds, 70 silvers and 60 bronze, and South
Africa third with 16, seven and nine.
The Americans won the last gold medal of the games in a
close basketball game with Israel that kept 8,000 fans on
their feet most of the game. The Americans won 92-91, and
there never was more than a nine-point difference between
the teams.
Other outstanding sportsmen at the games were Hilary Berg-
man of Tuscaloosa, Ala., who won six golds in swimming, and
petite Sharon Shapiro of Arleta, Calif., winner of five gymnastics
golds and the hearts of Israeils.
In track, Dov Djerassi of New York was outstanding in the
shot put, and Ken Kring of Atherton, Calif., won the decathlon,
beating his brother Buddy, who took the bronze medal.
Pro 'ootball' gains fans
NEW YORK-The North American Soccer League has set a
season attendance record, passing the 2.5 million mark with three
weeks to go in the season.
Through games of Sunday, July 17, the NASL had drawn a
total of 2,565,153 spectators, breaking the previous record of
2,474,078 set last year. The NASL is averaging 13,501 fans per
game, an increase of 31 per cent over a comparable period
last season.
The New York Cosmos remain the top drawing team in lbs
league with an average attendance of 33,024, although the Min-
nesota Kicks are close behind at 32,133.
Reds bolster pitching staff
INDIANAPOLIS-Pitchers Mario Soto and Manny SarmientO
were recalled to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday from the Reds'
Triple A farm team.
Soto, 11-5, has pitched in 18 games and has a 3.01 earned
run average. e's struck Aut 108 batters in 122 iNd1 u S'
miento, 3-4, has pitched I 25 games, all but one in ref-
His ERA is 4.69. Both are right-handed.
The Reds sent Joe Henderson back to the Indianapolis Idi"s-

Major League Standings
AMERicAN LEAGUE NATIONAL, LEAGUE
East East
w L Pet. GB w L Pct. GB
nalinore 53 39 .576 - chicago 53 35 .642 -
Bston 51 38 .573 '. Philadetphia 52 38 .578 2
New York 50 42 .543 3 Pittsburgh 55 42 .543 5
Cleveland 41 47 .466 10 St. Louis 47 45 .511 8
Milwankee 41 49 .456 11 Montreal 42 47 .472 11 
Detroit 41 50 .451 114 New York 37 54 .407 17?
Toronto 34 58 .370 19' west '
west Los Angeles 59 33 .641 -
Chieago 54 36 .00 - cincinnati 48 41 .539 9!^/
Kansas city 51 38 .573 21' Houston 43 50 .462 16%
Minnesota 50 42 .543 5 san Francisco 43 53 .457 17
Texas 46 44 .511 8 san Diego 40 55 .421 20/_
California 42 46 .477 11 Atlanta 34 57 .374 24V>
Oakland 39 51 .433 15
Seattle 41 54 .31512 Today's Games
Today's Games
Milwaukee (Slaton 6-8 and Au- Atlanta (Niekro 9-11) at Chicago
gustine 18-10) at New York (Hunt- (Bonham 9-9)
er 5-3 and Figueroa 9-7), 2, to Cincinnati (Norman 9-5) at
Cleveland (Garland 7-9 and Pittsburgh (Reunss 4-10 or Rooker
Bibby 8-7) at Boston. (Tiant 5-7 7-5), n
and Stanley 6-4), 2, d-n Houston (Richard 9-6) at St.
Kansas City (Splitorff 7-5) at Dte- Louis (Forseh 11-4), n.
trot (Rorema 8-4), a New York (Zachrpy 4-10) at San
California (Ryan 13-8) at Minne- Diego (Fresleben 2-5). n
eOta (Golto 9-6), a Montreal (Rogers 9-7) at Los
Oakland. (Medleb 5-4), at Seattle Angeles (Hooten 8-3), n -
(Abbott 4-7 and Pole 6-5), a Piladelpli (Lonborg 3-3) at
Only gamie:,scheduled San Frantisos (Halicki 548), ao