The Michigan Daily -Wednesday, September 12, 1990 - Page 11 tsportiV~ng te potig ies " y ;A Ottina V14 OWS lp.'\ spotn lw Division leaders face last-minute surges by Eric Sklar Daily Sports Contributor As the baseball season enters its final month and two division title contenders per division remain, one question persists concerning the di- vision champions. Will the front- runners be able to maintain their leads? The best race by far is in the NL East. The Pirates lead the Mets by three-and-a-half games, with two se- ries left between the two teams. Al- ough the Pirates face an easier schedule down the stretch, the Mets will end up winning the division. Darryl Strawberry becomes a free .agent at the end of the season and a .big September will help in contract negotiations, so he will catch fire again. Howard Johnson has solidified since assuming the shortstop duties. However, the Mets pitching will de- throne the Pirates. Frank Viola leads * formidable staff with pennant race texperience to spare. The staff also fatures the league's best stopper, John Franco. '- Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla wve carried the Pirates of late, but Andy Van Slyke has been injured. If Pittsburgh is to hold off the Mets, it will need his leadership and ability. Doug Drabek and Neal Heaton are having career years for Pittsburgh, *ombining for the Pirates' only premier pitching displays this sea- son. v The Reds have stood atop the NL 'West for the entire season, and al- though their lead has evaporated, no team has been able to assume first place. The only club with a chance to win the division is the L.A. Dodgers, who pose a small threat, if jny. The season is likely to end be- ,ore the streaking Dodgers can catch the Reds. Eddie Murray continues to sparkle for Los Angeles, while Kal Daniels and Hubie Brooks have fol- lowed his example. But Ramon Mar- tinez's arm can only catapult the Dodgers so far. The Reds boast a better lineup. Chris Sabo and Barry Larkin remain the best offensive infield duo in the division. Eric Davis' season-long slump appears to have ended, which would give any team an edge in mid- September. The American League's only race is in the Eastern division. Toronto will win the division, despite trail- ing Boston by four games, a team which blanked the Blue Jays in three straight meetings. Roger Clemens' injury, and a weak supporting cast give Toronto the edge in pitching. Fred McGriff provides the advantage for the Jays at the plate. In the AL West there is no con- test. The Oakland A's will take the division. The recent acquisitions of Harold Baines and Willie McGee make a great team better, while Rickey Henderson is the top MVP candidate. The White Sox are too young and inexperienced to erase the A's nine-and-a-half game lead. Be- sides, the A's pitching is too good to collapse. IRISH Continued from page 1 kicking the ball away from Ismail. "Ismail has the ability to go over and get it. There's a point when your can't kick it away from him," he said. Moeller's view is that kicking the ball toward the sidelines runs the risk of the ball going out of bounds, giving Notre Dame better field position than Michigan can afford. Murray said the team has approached the special teams situa- tion by watching more films than it has in the past and by concentrating more on technique in covering kickoffs. "We have (worked on the kicking game)," Moeller said. "I think yott do as much mentally as you do physically. We have practiced awful- ly hard on kickoffs. But see a kickoff is a hard thing to practice, because if you practice a kickoff too many- times, half your team might not bii able to make it. I mean to run that distance over and over and have all that blocking and tackling going on, you're risking injury there. Kickoffs are a thing you have to practice mentally. I don't know if many teams practice kickoffs very often.";, Traditionally, the special teams have been a haven for younger players to prove their worth to the coaching staff. But with so much at stake Saturday, a change might be in order (read: look for a few more veterans on the field while the two teams are switching possession). Said Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz: "I don't think there's any doubt he'll (Ismail) be a marked man, but we're not going to do anything different." SPSIN IFOR~MAIOLNP Explosive Irish tailback Ricky Watters is just one of the many worries for head coach Gary Moeller and the Wolverines. Two years ago in South Bend, Watters ran away from Michigan, returning a punt 81 yards for Notre Dame's only touchdown in a 19-17 victory. . i. 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