THE SPORTING VIEWS
By MICHAEL SALINSKY
The Mets should win the NL East - everyone
says so - but the matter is by no means certain.
Good teams can have great years and great teams can
have off years. That's what happened last year. This
year any one of three teams must be considered good
teams capable of a great year, capable of beating out a
great team like the Mets.
NEW YORK METS - You just can't not
pick these guys for first place. The Metropolitans had
more bad luck with their pitching staff than can be
imagined and still managed to win 92 games in '87.
This year's team will be.
similar to last year's, except the
pitching will be there and the
shortstop position will be
improved. Rookie phenom Kevin"
Elster replaces Rafael Santana who was exiled to that
other New York team.
Sure the skills of Gary Carter and Keith Hernan-
dez will deteriorate a little and Darryl (You Can Quote
Me On That) Strawberry will continue to make head-
lines, but hey, these guys can play - better than
anybody else.

lets are the class of
to 0
a very good division
son will be if the 'Pos don't malge a bid for the top of
the division.
Mitch Webster, Casey Candaele and Andres
Galarraga all proved last year that they're here to stay.
Galarraga and Webster should be stars.
The Tims, Wallach and Raines, may be the best
at their positions in the major leagues. Raines is ar-
guably the best player in baseball (I'll argue it). He
missed spring training and the month of April last
season, a free-agent victim of owner collusion, and
still hit .330, with 18 homers, 52 stolen bases, and
125 runs scored.

The Michigan Daily-Friday, April 1, 1988-Page 9
Women look to net tennis wins

.East.

Another Tim, Burke that is,
out of the bullpen is one of the
most underrated pitchers in
baseball.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES - Bradley,
Samuel, Hayes, Schmidt, Parrish, Young.... Wow,
this team should hit. The Bradley is Phil, formerly of
Seattle, and Young is Mike, late of Baltimore, and
both should hit better with some support around them
in the lineup.
The pitching staff is suspect but not without
hope. Shane Rawley and Don Carman both showed
they are good pitchers last year, Rawley in the first
half, Carman in the second half. Bruce Ruffin showed
flashes of goodness. And this may be the year Kevin
Gross becomes as good as people think he is. David
Palmer was acquired from Atlanta and he's, well -
not bad.
Bedrosian and Tekulve out of the bullpen are top-
notch.
MONTREAL EXPOS - Sacre bleu, the
Expos, they can play!
The city of Montreal and, indeed, the whole
baseball world may have been surprised last season by
the boys in baby blue, but the only surprise this sea-

The starting pitching all fell into place last year,
with Pascual Perez and Dennis Martinez coming out
of nowhere to combine for an 18-4 record. If they
come even close to that the Expos could be a force.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS - The problem
here is there are just too many question marks. Can
Ozzie Smith and Terry Pendleton match career-years at
the plate? Will Willie McGee and Tommy Herr be the
players they were in 1987, or the lesser players they
were in 1986? Can the pitching stay healthy? Can
Bob Horner hit without his daily dose of sushi?
PITTSBURGH PIRATES - With all the
talk that the National League hasn't &velcped any
young talent the past few years, the Pirates, forced to
by a complete lack of talent, became a dumping and
proving ground for a crop of fine youngsters.
The Bucs brought in Andy VanSlyke and Mike
LaVallierre from the Cards, R.J. Reynolds and Sid
Bream from the Dodgers, Bobby Bonilla from the
White Sox, and Al Pedrique from the Mets, where
they've all emerged into fine players. Add Barry
Bonds, Mike Diaz, and a plethora of pitchers from
their own farm system and you have a team to watch
out for - in the future
CHICAGO CUBS - I have a solution for
Wrigley Field. Don't install lights but play night
games anyway. It will save the fans from the misery
of actually seeing the games.

By STEVE SCHLUSSEL
Last year the University of
Michigan's women's tennis team
struggled to reach its final record of
11-16, finishing last in the Big Ten
championships.
Just one year later, on the day be-
fore the Big Ten opener against arch-
rival Ohio State, the picture is look-
ing better. This year's tennis team
has already rampaged through a non-
conference slate that has left its
record standing at 10-4, one victory
short of last year's total. The Big
Ten, though, offers challenges that
their non-conference foes do not -
challenges Saturday against Ohio St.,
and Sunday against Indiana.
Ohio State split with Michigan
last year and finished eighth in the
Big Ten tourney. It is a squad that
coach Bitsy Ritt feels her team
should be able to beat.
"They are improved," said Ritt.
"They're already one and two in the
Big Ten with a victory over Illinois,
but I expect a close match. We have
just as much stuff as they do."
THE WOLVERINES have
also improved. With the influx of
new talent at the singles position,
the women nettersghave adopted a
new attitude that has the team
believing they can beat any team.
Whether they have improved enough
to handle Sunday's opponent Indiana,
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is an unanswered question.
If there is a sports dynasty in the
Big Ten conference, the Indiana
Hoosiers women's tennis team is it.
They captured the conference tourna-
ment five years in a row (1980-
1984), and after a brief Northwestern
hold on the top, the Hoosiers have
come back strong.
After winning the championship
last year, they seem ready to repeat.
The only Big Ten team with a na-
tional ranking (#11), the women
Hoosiers are looking stronger than
ever.

"They have a very strong pro-
gram," said coach Ritt. "They are
nationally ranked and they have a lot
of depth. They will be tough."
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