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- THE INC EDIL LE > Alaskan King Crab ONLY $7.95 Complete Alaskan King Crab Leg Dinner Served with a crisp green salad, vegetable, bread and your choice of baked potato, V French fries, or long grain and wild rice. 1 . . . I I i'-~ ~ 1