4
Page 14 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 14, 1988
THE SPORTING VIEWS
Can
the
A's dodge
L.A.
BY.ADAM BENSON
The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics
will play a best of seven series to claim the title of
World Champions.
I have a better idea.
Move the games from the diamond to the squared
circle. Take this series out of California and stick it in
New York City's Madison Square Garden. Give NBC
broadcasters Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola the boot, and
bring in Vince McMahon and Jesse "the Body" Ventura.
It's time for Prime Time
Wrestling! A steel-cage tag team
match featuring Oakland's Jose
Canseco and Mark McGwire vs.
Dodger big men Kirk Gibson and
Tommy Lasorda. The first team to
escape alive wins this year's World
Series.
This way, the series could be over in one night. The
nation could concentrate on the more exciting
Presidential elections. Michigan students can focus on
their midterms, and NBC can show the season premiere
of Rags to Riches one week earlier. It also might be the
only way Oakland can take the series title.
Los Angeles will win the series in seven games. The
Dodgers have better pitching and more guts than the
Athletics, even without Lasorda in the dugout.
Oakland may struggle against Los Angeles. Their top
offensive player, Canseco, has trouble hitting off-speed
pitchers, like the Dodgers' Orel Hershiser and John
Tudor. If the Dodgers can stop Canseco, they can slow
down the Athletics' offense.
Oakland has power, but it's not easy to knock the
ball out of Dodger Stadium, the site of four of the series'
seven games.
The Athletics are the quicker team, but stealing on
Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia is tougher than running on
Oakland's platoon of Terry Steinbach and Ron Hassey.
The Dodgers will try a lot of running and bunting,
hoping to manufacture runs. Meanwhile, Oakland will
have to score on the top pitching staff in baseball.
The Dodgers have the killer instinct. In the NLCS,
when the Mets made mistakes, the Dodgers took
advantage. And Los Angeles also was able to create
opportunities of their own.
Los Angeles is a worthy champion, winning a tough
division and the NLCS against a great Mets team. In the
American League, only the Minnesota Twins could
compete with Oakland. In the ALCS, Boston proved to
be no challenge for the colossus from the Bay. The
Dodgers are the first real team the Athletics will play
this season.
BY LORY KNAPP
I must apologize to those friends of mine who bleed
Dodger Blue.
I am apologizing because I feel bad that all of your
ranting, raving and rooting will not eliminate the fact
that the Oakland Athletics will win this west-coast
battle.
This at least may be a challenge for the A's, who have
yet to play any real competition. Oakland cruised to the
American League West division title 13 games ahead of
second place Minnesota.
toll on a Dodger team that had to play six intensive
games, one which went 12 innings, while the A's only
played four easy games.
Dodger slugger Kirk Gibson is ailing. Having reinjured
his hamstring in the sixth game, his abilities will not be
up to their usual standard of a .154 playoff batting
average.
And then there is Oakland. The Almighty Athletics
young, strong and well-rested.
Jose Canseco continues to swing his powerful stick,
hitting three playoff homeruns in four games, while
batting .313. Dave Henderson leads the team with a .375
playoff batting average. And Mark McGwire's .333
average is nothing to laugh at either.
Oakland's outstanding offense is not its only strength.
The A's relief ace, Dennis Eckersly maintained his
regular-season consistency by recording all four saves in
the ALCS with an amazing 0.00 ERA. Starter Dave
Stewart compiled a 1.35 playoff ERA.
I
I
l A4 N
0r f i
Boston proved to be no more of a
challenge, as Oakland swept the
Red Sox for the A.L. pennant.
What these easy victories add up
to is a well-rested, injury-free,
Oakland team.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, is weary after their
seven game series with the Mets. Dodger ace Orel
Hershiser, the National League Championship Series
Most Valuable Player has to be tired after setting a new
playoff record for innings pitched (24 2/3).
In fact, with the exception of suspended pitcher Jay
Howell (pine tar on the mitt), the entire Dodger pitching
staff is tired. The rigorous playoff schedule is taking its
An
Oakland has all the necessary factors for fielding a
World Series Championship team, while the Dodgers do
not. A healthy, young, and all-around strong team will
come out ahead of a weary, injured team. The A's will
come out ahead of the Dodgers.
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Continued from Page 1
As if in preparation for
Michigan, both Hartlieb and Cook
had big games against Wisconsin
last weekend. Hartlieb threw for
297 yards, and Cook hauled in
seven passes.
"(Cook) is the premier pass-
catching tight end in the league,"
"Literary Football
is Here."
at Borders Bookstore
Schembechler said.
And about the Big Ten's second
leading quarterback in passing
efficiency, Schembechler said,
"Hartlieb is too good for us to sit
back and let him pick them out and
throw them."
The current Big Ten leader in
passing efficiency is Michigan's
Michael Taylor.
Besides the game's showing off
the Big Ten's two leaders in
passing efficiency, the game also
features two runners averaging over
100 yards per game, Michigan's
Tony Boles (137 yards per game)
and Iowa's Tony Stewart (106 yards
per game).
Iowa leads the conference in
scoring defense, allowing only 13.3
points per game, while Michigan is
second at 15.2 points per game.
Wings reinstate
troubled Klima,.
DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit
Red Wings reinstated left wing Petr
Klima yesterday. Klima was
suspended for disciplinary reasons
last month by coach Jacques Demers
and arrested this week for drunken
driving.
Klima will report to the club's
Adirondack farm club in the
American Hockey League, General
Manager Jimmy Devellano said in a
written statement. The move is
effective Sunday.
Klima was suspended without
pay September 23 after he missed
practices and team planes, including
one that was to have taken him to
Adirondack.
On Sunday, Klimna was arrested
in Royal Oak and charged a day later
with operating a vehicle under the
influence of alcohol. It was his
second alcohol-related* arrest in 17
months. His first stemmed from a
May 1987 traffic incident in
Birmingham.
Klima was involved in a
drinking incident in Edmonton the
night before the Red Wings were
eliminated from the playoffs last
season.
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