Page Twelve
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, July 21, 1977
PENNANT RACES RESUME
Surprise AL leaders like chances
NEW YORK (P-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/
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 kindtof 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 mote 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 f 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 hitting, good pitching and good defense.1
hope we continue surprising people."
The Red Sox Pave 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 (P) - ,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.
"Noboedy knows what the fu-
ture holds," said Los Angeles
Dodgers Manager Tom. La-
sorda. But if the last 70 games
are 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-
nati 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 'ace. "We haven't hit re-
centl' and l've been enable to
gi'-e Steve Garvey, Ran Cey,
Bili "ssell and T)sty Baker a
rest due to the fact tht some
of or other f's 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 .700," 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 cat6h 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 team than before.
I've tried to look at every other
thing, but when your defense is
improved a n d offensively
you'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
NIGHT EDITOR:
PAUL B. CAMPBELL !
Reuschel, 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 still think 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 o's pitching and defense in
tha' park, it's tough to say
you're going to contain the op-
position to three or four runs."
Dusty Rhodes of the New
York Giants had, six RBI's as
a plsch-hitter in the 1954 World
Serie, a reord for -the classic.
gp,,t.4 e Me tai4;
By The Associated Press
Michigan loses women's AtD
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 'football' 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 the
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, He's struck out 108 batters ia 122 innings. Sar-
miento, 3-4, has pitched in 25 games, all but ne in relef-
His ERA is 6.69. Both are right-handed. :
The Reds sent Joe Henderson back to the Indianiapolis Indiats
Major League Standings
"MERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE
East East
W L eet. GB W L Pet. Ga
Baltimore 53 39 576 - Chicago 53 35 .602 -
Boston 51 38 .573 V Philadelphia 52 38 .578 2
New York 50 42 .543 3 Pittsburgh 50 42 .543 5
Cleveland 41 47 .466 10 St. Lots 47 45 .511 8
Mlwankee 41 49 .456 11 Montreal 42 47 .472 11 2
Detroit 41 50 .451 11J New York 37 54 .407 171
Toronto 34 58 .370 19 west
West Los Angeles 59 33 .641 -
Chicago 54 36 .600 -- cincinatis 841. 53 9%
Kansas city 51 38 .573 2it Houston 43 50 .462 16_
Minnesota 50 42 .543 5 San Francisco 43 51 .457 17
Texas 46 44 .511 8 San Diego' 40 55 .421 B.A
Caltfornla 42 46 .477 11 Atlanta 34 57 .374 24':
Oakland 39 -51 .433 15
seatntle 41 54 .432 151Today's Games
Today's Games
Milwaukee (Slaton 6-8 and Au- Atlanta (Niekro 9-11) at Chicago
gustlne 10-10) at New York (Hunt- (Bonham 9-9)
er 5-3 and Figueroa 9-7), 2, ta Cincianati (Norman 95) at
Cleveland (Garland 7-9 and Pittsburgh (Reuss 4-10 or Rooker
Bibby 8-1) at Boston (Tiant 5-7 7-5), n
and Stanley 6-4), 2, d-n Houston (Richard 9-6) at St.
Kansas City (Splitoerff 7-5) at De- Louis (Forsh 41-4), .10
trait (Rasensa 8-4), a New York (Zsebry. 4-10) at San
Caoernia (Ryan 13-8) at Artnne- Diego (Friesleben 2-5), n
Sota (Golts 9-6), a Montreal (Rogers 9-7) at . Los
oakland (Medieh 5-4) at seattle Angeles (9ootown -3), n
(Abbott 4-7 ansP ole 6-5),s Piladelpia (Lonoa-a3-3) at
Oaly gamss seheduled San Francisco (Halck6-), a