Page 12-Wednesday, August 9, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Express get by
on Francis goal
By PAUL CAMPBELL
Special toThe Daily
PONTIAC - One of the banners
displayed at the Silverdome said it all.
"TGIF," it proclaimed on bold blue
letters. "Thank God it's Francis."
Thank you, indeed. Trevor Francis;
the 24-year-old English star who has
turned the Detroit Express into one of
the best teams in the NASL, scored the
only goal as his team disposed of the
Philadelphia Fury 1-0 last night in first
round playoff action.
So the team that stood at 5-6 and had
only scored 12 goals in its first 11 games
now moves into the second round of the
playoffs, a home-and-home series
which will begin Sunday at either
California, San Diego, or Fort Lauder-
dale.
Francis dominated the game, as he
has so many since he crossed the ocean.
He took ten shots and only alert
goaltending by Keith MacRae kept the
super striker from piling up more
playoff points. .
The one goal he did score came to him
rather easily. Late in the first half, Ian
Davies came up with the ball out of a
scramble at the Philly 35 yard line.
When Davies leaked the ball through
two Fury defenders to Francis in the
penalty are, Francis strolled in alone
and casually pumped the ball into the
lower left corner, giving 22,456 fans a
chance to see him and be amazed at
least one more time.
"I think the ball hit a Philadelphia
defender," said Francis after the
game. "I thought I was a bit offsides
but I wasn't about to stop."
Both linesmen and the umpire
disagreed with Francis, seeing at least
one Fury man between Francis and
MacRae when the goal scorer received
the ball. I
The rest of the- game consisted of
Detroit defensive tactics and oc- Gone Fiskin- AP Photo
casional Fury flurries in the direction
of Detroit goalie Steve Hardwick, who These Boston fans saw Red Sox catcher Carleton Fisk in an up close and personal
turned aside thirteen shots in racking manner, although it seemed to surprise a good many of them. Fisk was fran-
up his tenth shutout of the season. tically chasing a popup in the third inning of last night's game when he leaped
The victory moves Detroit into the over the retaining wall and landed amidst the -front row spectators. This confirms
American Conference semifinals. the theory that Fenway Park brings fans closer to the action.
ENDS FIVE GAME STREAK
Texas stops Tiger machine, 9-4
By GARY KICINSKI
Special to The Daily
DETROIT - It looked more like an
exhibition of quality carpentry than a
baseball game last night, as the Texas
Rangers hammered the Tigers, 9-4.
The loss snapped the Tigers five-
game winning streak, but kept them in
fourth place as fifth place Baltimore
also lost.
THE RANGERS counted starter
Dave Rozema with line shot after line
shot, forcing Rozema's exit in the fifth
inning after giving four runs and seven
hits.
At that point, Detroit trailed 5-1, but
the Rangers continued to nail even
deeper into the open Tiger wound by
pounding reliefer Jack Morris for three
more runs in the seventh, and added a
solo run in the ninth.
When the sawdust finally settled, the
Rangers had drilled fourteen hits off
Rozema, Morris, and Ed Glynn. Bump
Wills collected four singles to lead the
Ranger assault.
ROZEMA (5-6) didn't have it from
the start, as the Lumberjacks - I mean
the Rangers - had two men on in every
inning except the second.
The Tigers gave Rozema a run to
work with in the first, as a walk to Lou
Whitaker and a Rusty Staub single set
up Steve Kemp's RBI hit, a liner to
right center.
Texas tallied a single run in the four-
th on Rozema's wild pitch with
American League batting leader Al
Oliver on third base.
But the Ranger's put away the ham-
mer and brought out the buzz saw for
the fifth, cutting up the Tiger field for
four runs.
AAFTER LOADING the bases with
nobody out, Wills lashed a single good
for two runs to make it 3-1.
That brought in Morris, who even-
tually gave up a two-run double to Bob-
by Bonds to give Texas a 5-1 lead.
The Tigers retaliated with a single
run in the fifth off starter and rookie
Paul Mirabella.
With two outs, Ron LeFlore singled,
advanced on Whitaker's walk and
scored his major league-leading 86th
run on Rusty Staub's major league-
leading 90th RBI.
BUT THREE Rangers paid no heed
to the Tiger white hankies and cracked
home three more runs in the seventh
and a single run in the ninth.
Three of the four runs came on upper
deck blasts by Jim Sundberg and Bon-
ds.
Trailing 9-2 in thelast of the ninth, the
Tigers made one last stab against
reliever Doc Medich. Doubles by Lance
Parrish, Milt May and LeFlore scored
two runs to make the final score 9-4.
IKicj. eague S ading
AMERICAN LEAGUE
EAST
W L Pct. GB
Boston...............70 40 .636 -
Milwaukee...........61 47 .565 8
New York ............ 62 49.556 81/
Detroit..... ... ...... 60 50 .545 10
Baltimore ....... ..... 60 51 .541 10 /
Cleveland ...........51 58 .468 18%/
Toronto.............42 69 .378 28 /
WEST
Kansas City ...........60 48 .556 -
California ............. 61 53 .535 2
Oakland .............. 60 54 .526 3
Texas ............. ..53 56 .486 8
Chicago ............... 46 63 .422 14 1
Minnesota............46 63 .422 14%
Seattle ..... .....41 72 .363 21 ,
Late games not included
Yesterday's Results
Toronto 5, Baltimore 3
New York 3,.MilwaukeeO
Boason 9,Cleveland 7
Texas 9 etroitl
NATIONAL LEAGUE
EAST
W L Pct. GB
Philadelphia .......... 59 49 .546 -
Chicago .............. 57 54 .514 31/2
Pittsburgh ..... ...... 51 57 .472 8
Montreal...............54 60 .474 8
New York ............. 47 66 .416 14 /
St. Louis ............. 44 68 .393 17
WEST
San Francisco ......... 66 46 .589 -
Cincinnati............65 47 .580 1
Los Angeles ........4... 48 .571 2
San Diego ............ 57 55 .509 9
Atlanta ..............53 59 .473 13
Houston............. 51 59 .464 14
Late games not included
s esterday's Results
Pittsburgh 9, Chicgo 5
St. Louis 2, Philadelphia 0. 1st game
Montreal6, New York 1
Atlanta 5, Cincinnati 5
Red Wings acquire
free agent Vachon
By The Associated Press
DETROIT-Rogie Vachon, seven-year veteran goaltender of the Los Angeles
Rings, has signed a multi-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings, the team an-
nounced yesterday.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Vachon, 32, joined the National Hockey League in 1971 after winninga place on
the Vezina Trophy with the Montreal Canadiens. He averaged 2.77 goals-against in
six full seasons with the Kings.
He became a free agent on June 1. The Detroit-LA deal will go to arbitration, of-
ficials said, because Ted Lindsay, Red Wings general manger, and Los Angeles
owner Jack Kent Cooke were unable to agree on compensation.
Vachon said ina statement that he was pleased with his new team.
"I have alot of good years left in the NHL," Vachon said in the announcement.
"I really feel that this team is going somewhere, and I'm glad to be a part of it."