Lednesday, August J, 'l "V 7
AHE MICHIGAN DAILY
-uf tleven
Reds' pitchers reeling
By The Associated Press
CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati pitching staff
is becoming a textbook example of Murphy's
Law: Anything that can go wrong, will.
And, for the defending world champions, it has.
"IF PEOPLE read about all these things in a
book, they'd laugh," moaned pitching coach
Larry Shepard.
"I've never seen so many things go wrong
at the same time," said bewildered Sparky An-
derson.
Cincinnati's pitching woes are mounting almost
as fast as the staff earned run average. For
example:
*Superstar Tom Seaver is only 3-2 since ar-
riving in a celebrated trade six weeks ago. He
has recently been hampered by what Anderson
called the "old zippety-doo" an intestinal ail-
ment.
. Rubber armed reliever Pedro Borbon is
favoring a sore knee suffered when his son slam-
ed a car door on it.
" Untried rookies Paul Moskau, Doug Capilla
and Mario Soto compose 60 per cent of the Red's
five man rotation.
* Moskau, 22, re-aggravates a groin injury
every time he pitches, but Anderson said, "I've
got to pitch him. There's nothing else I can do."
* Veteran 37 year old lefthander Woodie Fry-
man, demoted to the bullpen after a slow start
this season, asked to be traded. le was pressed
into the starting lineup again and responded
with three straight victories - then promptly
retired to his Kentucky farm.
Y Veterans Jack Billingham and Dale Murray
are suffering through their worst ever seasons.
"At least I hope they've never had no worse,"
said Anderson.
Desperate for a seasoned reliefer, the Reds
picked tip Joe Hoerner, released this spring by
the Texas Rangers. Hoerner has yielded the
first two grand slam home runs of his career
and is saddled with a 14.40 ERA.
Some have tried to add humor to the situation.
Sore-armed Tom Carroll, a former Cincinnati
pitcher now studying philosophy in Washington,
sent president Bob Howsam a prank telegram
offering his pitching services.
AT LEAST ONE sports writer has jokingly
urged the team to activate batting practice pitch-
er Joe Nuxhall, who also serves as a Reds broad-
caster.
As the pitching problems have mounted, the
defending world champions have slipped further
behind the division leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
The problem has become as much psychologi-
cal as physical, Anderson said.
"There's no question that after a certain point,
a lot of it becomes mental," the manager said.
CINCINNATI REDS pitcher Tom Seaver wipes sweat from his
face and ponders his pitching problems which are emblematic
sf the woes encountered by the entire Reds staff. Seaver is
only 3-2 since he was traded to the Reds, who are currently
13 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Is Big Ten in financial distress?
By The Associated Pres
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The
g Ten football conference is
n the road to self destruc-
n fisancially," accordingrto
diana Coach Lee Corso.
"Ohio State and Michigan
on't die," said Corso, "but
here's no question in my
sind that the conference is
trouble. The majority of
ears depend on game day
icket sales, and those fans
on't come when you're
liminated from the confer-
nee championship race with
ttle hope of a bowl bid."
Csrso suggests the league
tit a schedule , which in-
tdes six conference games.
asebrll's leaders
AMFERICAN LEAGUE
G AB R B Pet.
rew Min 102 398 03 152 382
tk m tn 101 397 75 136 .343
eu 05n 4106 031.320
L'10031 Bat 55 331 54 104 .314
tr tr 90 361 49 113 .313
rgWe ke 93 321 47 100 .312
Oal'k t9 310 55 99 .3tt
ens KC 100 392 60 122 .311
ers NY 90 362 43 112 .309
e Cie 84262 40 81 .309
Homne Ruas
JBe, Boston, 27; GScott, Boston,
Settles, New York, 24; Hisle,
nnesota. 23; Bonds, California,
Zisk, Chicago, 21.
Runs Batted In
Bile, Minnesota, 87; Zisk, Chi-
Thompson, Detroit, 73;
isn, New York, 72.
Pitching (10 Decisions)
OJohnson, Minnesota, 12-3, .800;
ett, New York, 10-3, .769; Bar-
-Chicato, 11-4, 733; Lyle, New
rk, 8-3, .727; Bird, Kansas City,
.727; Rozema, Detroit, 10-4,
(; Wtz, Minnesota, 12-6, .667;
'eoander, Texas, 11-6, .647.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
G AB K B Pet.
ertt Ph 98 385 47 130 .338
er Pg 103 427 71 143 .335
10si Phi 92 347 60 110 .334
nleton 5tL 0 840067 133 .326
oale, Chi 200 360 44 117 .325
fey Cia 201 400 78 130 .325
50s StL i6 337, 56 109 .323
bhey StL 89 258 43 82 .318
shon Pgh 04 293 42 93 .317
se Cn 102 307 80 126 .317
Foster, Cincinnati, 34; Schmidt,
iadephia, 28; Luzinski, Phila-
1ia, 26; Burroughs, Atlanta, 26;
ey, Los Angeles, 25.
Runs Batted In
oster, Cincinnati, 102; Cey,
Angeles, 8$; Garvey, Los An-
; Luzinski, Philadelphia,
11"Ch, Cilteinnatf, 76.
ItchIng (10 Decisions)
,Pittsburgh, 9-1, .900;
Los Angeles, 12-2, 857;RRen
l,,Chirago, 15-3, .833; Candi-
Pithbrghk 11-4, .733; John,
Asgeles, 11-4, .733; RForsch, St.
13-5,.722; Carlton, Philadel-
14-6, .700; 3 Tied With .667.
The other five games would be
against "natural rivals."
"We'd play Notre Dame and
Kentuckywhenever webcould,"
Corso said. "And I'd bet we'd
have little trouble filling the
stadium against either.
"If the Big Ten adopted this
method, more teams from the
league would receive bowl
bids," Corso said. "Look at the
Southeastern Conference. Most
of the teams in it play six con-
ference games. Some of their
non-conference games are
against weak opposition, and
they produce the type of record
which attracts a bowl bid. Now'
that the conference allows
more than one team to partici-
pate in bowl games, we should
do everything we can to get the
invitations."
The conference requires
eight Big 10 games and three
non-conference games which
must be played duringfhe first
four weeks of the season.
"We're just eating each other
up, and our last four games
usually mean little," Corso
said. "People aren't inter-
ested in seeing a team play
that's battling for third
place."
A quick check of the record
book proves Corso's claim. In
the last decade, only three
teams have had winning sea-
sons in six of the years. Four
teams were over .500 twice,
and in the other two years there
were five teams above .500.
"I raised my point at the
league meetings," said Corso.
"But instead of making the con-
ference schedule shorter, the
league decided to require nine
conference games starting in
1980."
Another Big Ten policy
which Corso would change is
requiring the Big Ten Rose
Bowl representative to go to
California 10 days before the
game.
"At that point of the season,
there isn't much you can do,
and I think you wind up spend- so I think a change is needed.
ing a lot of time sitting The conference is evaluated on
around," Corso said. "The its performance in that game,
game officials really don't need so why should we do something
the team around to sell tickets, that hurts that performance?"
Braves to announce
signing of Fitzsimmon
By The Associated Press
BUFFALO-If the Buffalo Braves have their way, Cotton Fitz-
simmons will be named coach of the NBA club today.
"My hope is it will be tomorrow, that it will be over this week.
I've ben shooting for Wednesday," Braves President Norman Sonju
said yesterday of his efforts to find a coach.
SONJU AND Fitzsimmons' lawyer, Jerry Davis, have agreed
to contract terms, Sonju said. The pact reportedly gives Fitz-
simmons two years at the agreed-upon coaching salary, with a
guarantee of two years at another job in the Braves -organization
if the club should hire a new pilot.
Fitzsimmons, 45, was director of player personnel for the
Golden State Warriors last year. He coached the Atlanta Hawks
to a 140-180 record in the 1972 through 1975 seasons and led the
Phoenix Suns to a 97-67 record in the 1970 and 1971 seasons.
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