Page 8-Sunday, April 6,1980-The Michigan Daily
STRONGEST DIVISION A DOGFIGHT:
Brewers look strong in AL East
By JON MORELAND
A Daily Sports Analysis
In 1979; the New York Yankees won
89 games while the California Angels
won a total of 88. Funny thing, though.
The Angels won their division, the
American League West, while the
Yankees' 89 wins were only good for
fourth in theirs, the AL East.
Six Eastern teams finished above .500
last year, with only the Toronto Blue
Jays failing to clean up on Western
teams enough to win more games than
they lost.
Last year, the Milwaukee Brewers
won 95 games while finishing eight
games behind division-leading
Baltimore. In 1980, the Brewers should
be able to win a few more while the
Orioles will win a few less.
This combination of plusses and
minuses should add up to the first
division title for the Brewers since they
joined the league as the Seattle Pilots in
1969.
Depth will be the key to the Brewers'
success in 1980. Manager George
Bamberger always has liked to platoon
his players, and with a team like this
one, the Brewers may go until the
proposed player strike, May 22, without
fielding the same line-up twice.
For starters in the outfield, the
Brewers have Ben Oglivie, Gorman
Thomas, and Sixto Lezcano. These
three players combined for 105 home
runs and 305 runs batted in. Thomas led
the league in home runs with 45, while
Oglivie and Lezcano hit .282 and .321
respectively.
In the infield on the right side, Cecil
Cooper on first, and Paul Molitor at
second, hit .322 and .300 respectively.
The left side of Robin Yount and Sal
Bando round out an infield as good as
any around.
On the mound, the Brewers have
their share of quality starters, but the
bullpen could present a weak spot. Mike
Caldwell has led the starters with a 38-
15 record over the last two years.
Last season, the Oriole pitching staff
established itself as the best in
baseball. Mike Flanagan led the star-
ters with a 23-9 record and a 3.08 earned
run average en route to the Cy Young
Award in the American League. Scott
McGregor (13-6), 3.34), Dennis Mar-
tinez (15-16, 3.67) and ageless Jim
Palmer (3.29, 10-6) along with Steve
Stone 11-7) provide one of the best star-
ting nucleae in the majors.
In the bullpen, the Orioles are led by
right-handed Dan Stanhouse and lefty
Tippy Martinez.
As outstanding as their defense and
pitching are, with the exception of Ken
Singleton (.295, 35 HR, 111 RBI) and
Eddie Murray (.295, 25, 99), the Orioles
simply do not have the offensive man-
power they need to retain their title.
In December the Detroit Tigers sent
centerfield fixture Ron LeFlore to Mon-
treal for left-handed pitcher Dan Schat-
zeder. Schatzeder led National League
lefthanders with 2.83 ERA while win-
ning ten of fifteen decisions.
He will be the lefthanded starter the
Tigers have lacked for the past half-
decade; and will be counted on to reach
well into double figures in wins.
The ace of the starters is Jack Morris
who won 17 games last year, and should
Thompson, trying to rebound from a
down year, newly acquired Richie Heb-
ner, leadoff man Lou Whitaker, and
Champ Summers all join standout
Steve Kemp (.318, 26 HR, 105 RBD on
the left side of the plate. The Tigers'
ability to win consistently against left-
handed pitching will be the key to their
chances of remaining in the pennant
race.
The New York Yankees have more
talent and bigger salaries than any
team in baseball, but when Thurman
Munson died in a plane crash last
August, the Yankees lost more than just
a catcher. Munson was the team leader
and the one responsible for trying to
maintain harmony amongst the team's
superstars.
In the off-season, the Yankees picked
many highly priced free agents, which
Moreland's Mistakes
1. Milwaukee 4. New York 6. Cleveland
2. Baltimore 5. Boston 7. Toronto
3. Detroit
With the likes of Jim Rice, Fred Lynn,
Butch Hobson, Carl Yastrzemski and
Carlton Fisk in the lineup, it's easy to
see the Sox won't have any trouble
scoring runs.
Boston's pitching.is a big question
mark, despite the presence of.
righthanders Dennis Eckersley, Bob
Stanley, and Mike Torrez, who were 49,
35 between them. Boston's Fenway
Park is not exactly conducive to right-
handed pitching, but the fact that no lef-
ty won a game for Boston until Septem-
ber when they were out of the pennants
race is a glaring shortcoming that
manager Don Zimmer cannot overlook.
When Dave Garcia took over for Jeff
Torborg as manager of Cleveland, the
Indians proceeded to complete the
season 38-28. Garcia's pitching staff is
his main problem, partly because
righty Rick Wise has departed in favor
of the megabucks offered by the San
Diego Padres.
Mike Hargrove and Toby Harrah led
the respectable offensive output in 1979,
and the Indians shelled out some cash
of their own in signing free-agent Jorge
Orta to bolster their attack.
The Toronto Blue Jays led the Majors
in losses with 109 last year and their
realistic goal is to keep that number
under 100 this year.
BULLETIN
Steve Howe, former Michigan hurler,
has made the Los Angeles Dodgers I
regular season 25-man roster after a
strong spring training performance.
The'22-year-old Howe, who skipped his
senior year of eligibility at Michigan
last year and was the 16th player
chosen in last summer's free agent
draft, will join Jerry Reuss as the only
left handed pitchers on the Dodgers
staff. Veteran LA lefties Doug Rau and
Terry Forster are currently disabled.
-K; '.
win at least that many this year.
Veteran Jack Billingham along with
Pat Underwood and Milt Wilcox will fill
in the rest of the starting rotation, while
comebacks from Mark Fidrych or Dave
Rozema would be helpful, but unexpec-
ted.
Elsewhere, the Tigers are solid with
the possible exception of the position
vacated by LeFlore. Manager Sparky
Anderson is counting heavily on left-
handed hitting rookie Kirk Gibson, who
will platoon with another rookie, Dave
Stegman, until one of them either wins
the job permanently or proves himself
unworthy.
Against right-handed pitching, the
Tigers will be extremely tough. Jason
Netters
demolish
Purdue
BY MIKE WERNER
The Michigan men's tennis team is
having no trouble proving they are the
class of the Big Ten this season. Pur-
due, certainly, will not argue. Not after
yesterday's debacle at the hands of the,
Wolverines, as Michigan crushed the
Boilermakers 9-0 at the Track and Ten-
nis Building.
In fact, Coach Brian Eisner's squad
so dominated the play, they won the fir-
st five singles matches, and therefore
the entire match, in about one hour.
TOP-SEEDED Michael Leach
remained undefeated in Big Ten play
this year by defeating Bro Ballentine 6-
1, 6-1. The sophomore used vicious ser-
ves and crisp ground strokes to
devastate his opponent. Number two
seed Matt Horwich had some trouble
early, but settled down to whip Steve
Prueter 6-2,6-2.
In other singles matches, freshman
Mark Mees used his -whip-like
backhand to crush John Cochran 6-1, 6-
1. Jud Shaufler defeated Paul Cantrall
6-2, 6-0, Tom Haney knocked off Dan
O'Connell 6-1, 6-1, and Jack Neinken
destroyed Felix Amaya 6-0, 6-0.
In the doubles matches, the un-
defeated team of Leach and Horwich
continued to bowl opponents over,
whipping Ballantine and Cochran 6-2, 6-
2.
"THEY KEEP rolling along," Eisner
commented of his star tandem.
"They're probably one of the top four
teams in the country." i
The second-seeded doubles pair for
Michigan yesterday, Jack Neinken and
Tom Haney had little trouble and won
their match 6-3, 6-3.
The only match that was in doubt was
the number three doubles where
freshmen Louis McKee and Dan
McLaughlin struggled to a 7-5, 7-5 vic-
tory.
"FROM PAGE TO STAGE"
nineoriginal plays
will add much talent to the Yankees on
the field, but even more conflicts off of
it.
In addition the Yankees still have
Reggie Jackson, Lou Piniella, and Bob-
by Murcer in the outfield. These
players, with the talented infield (in-
cluding Willie Randolf, Graig Nettles,
and Bucky Dent) along with the spec-
tacular pitching staff (Ron Guidry,
Tommy John, Luis Tiant; Ed
Figueroa), would be enough for first
year manager Dick Howser to win an
all-star game: Unfortunately, Howser
will have trouble getting his team to
win the day-to-day games.
The Boston Red Sox led the 'league
with a team batting average of .283.
Thinclads impressive
in outdoor opener
By JOHN FITZPATRICK
In their first outdoor meet of the season, the Michigan tracksters scored an
unexpected victory over Kansas and Arkansas in a triangular meet held at Fayet-
tesville, Arkansas yesterday.
"We figured that we'd be better than Kansas, but not this early in the season.
Both Kansas and Arkansas have already had three meets outdoors, but this was
our first one," said assistant coach Ron Warhurst. A measure bf revenge was
gained over the Jayhawks, as they had finished ahead of Michigan in last month's
NCAA indoor meet.
The Wolverines dominated every event they entered, as manyof the day's
winners were from Michigan. In the 3,000 meter steeplechase, Dan Heikkinen
cruised to a stadium record of 8:49.5, bettering the old mark of 8:52 set by Tony
Staynings of Western Kentucky several years ago. Blue runners had strong
showings in the other distance events, as 'Dave Lewis (14:16.9), Brian Diemer
(14:27), and Bill Weidenbach (14:33.8) went 1-2-3 in the 5,000 and Dan Beck (3:48.8)
and Diemer (3:49.8) went 1-2 in the 1500.
Tim Thomas cruised to a 1:50.8 win in the 800, Gary Hicks (52.2) and Cal
Williams (52.7) went 1-3 in the 400 meter low hurdles, Andrew Bruce galloped to a
21.0 victory in the 200, and Butch Woolfolk dashed to a first place in the 100 meters
(10.8), to round out the wins chalked up by Michigan runners.
The field and weight events saw good performances registered by Michigan
competitors. Freshman Phil Wells won the shotput with a toss of 53'6", James
Ross (25') and James Henry (24'8") finished 1-2 in the long jump, Mike Lattany
easily took the high jump with a leap of 6'10/4", and Mike Boehmer captured
second in the discus with a 161'4" throw.
The 400 (40.9) and 1600 (3:12.8) meter relay teams each placed second in their
respective events, recording fast times despite the absence of Butch Woolfolk from
the 4x100 squad and speedster Ron Affoon from the 4x400 foursome. "We were
pretty impressed with those relays," noted Warhurst, as the 400 team's time was
only .9 off of the school record. In the 4x400, Ted Dobson ran what Warhurst
described as an "excellent race," as he ran the anchor leg in 46.8, but was nipped
at the tape by Kansas' Deon Hogan, shoes torrid 45.4 final circuit proved too much
for the Wolverine.
Other point scorers included Marshall Parks, second in the 110 hurdles in 14.5,
and Dobson, who came in third in the 400 with a 47.4
In light of the manner in which many of the runners doubled (ran in more than
one race), the victory proved a pleasant surprise to the thinclads and testified to
their strength and versatility. The runners were competing in 75 degree heat and
at the end of a tough week of workouts but still ran well.
"We doubled a lot of them to get them accustomed to the warm weather and
running outdoors, said Warhurst. "We were also a little tired; we had a tough week
of training and we weren't that rested."
In contrast to the relatively casual attitude the tracksters seemed to take
towards this meet, a more sharply competitive atmosphere is likely to prevail at
the upcoming Dogwood Relays at Knoxville, Tenn. on April 11 and 12. Heikkinen
and Bruce in particular might be ready to run fast races to prep for the important
meets ahead, such as the Penn Relays, to be held only two weeks after the
Dogwoods. Warhurst indicated that Bruce might be able to run "around 20.6", and
the Trinidad sprinter has the ability to run even faster as the season progresses.
Michigan had been thought to be a strong team before this year's season
began, and after the impressive results of yesterday's meet, they seem sure to put
a scare into perennial conference track power Indiana at May's Big 10 meet.
prices 'M' tailback
calls it quits
Michigan tailback Mike Cade, a
highly-regarded sophomore who was
expected to play behind All-Big Ten
A Nreturning starter Butch Woolfolk next
season, has left the team, several team
members told the Daily yesterday.
- ?Those same players said Cade's
discouragement with his non-starting
: CIE Astatus was the major reason the Eloy,
MAGAZINE Ariz. native quit the squad during the
my: UBESthird week of spring practice.
y CU Cade could not be reached for com-
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