THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1979 Page 11 the sports stros have to beat respect into teams and Cosell ■r Carter >e the t people. s question is: YVhrit famous I i\ W e W0l| H say, "I don't get no 1 If ton said one was comedian ’• • Hey Dangerfield, yon were right sed his su(jH e j s no t alone. In fact, com- s hopes for|B| f} le other group of people e treatyby&BL^U honestly say they get no rials added Dangerfield would rank ■rs agreedthere with a saintly guy like hold a w%n| Lan d r y. Ian a nucletlyyL) is this lowly, unrespected lot scuss stepriLJsk? on in t^Mne other than the Houston As- ■Thafs right. The very same As- on offi js that sit atop the powerful Na- torespondjl League Western Division ut were it en the coi a.m. (If a Fiumick played Montreal, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. At the time, those three teams had the best records in the National League. What happened? The Astros won eight of nine, sweeping Montreal and Philadel phia. If you turn to your sports page, you might expect to see at least one Houston batter in the top ten in the National League. Nope, sorry. Well then, how about the leading home-run hitter, or one Astro lead ing in RBI, or in runs scored, or maybe even stolen bases? No, no, sorry. The only leading performer the Astros have is J.R. Richard who leads the National League in strike outs and uh, wild pitches. Houston also has two pitchers in the top ten: red-hot knuckler Joe Niekro (11-3, 2.89 ERA) who has the most wins of any National League pitcher and Joaquin Andujar (8-4, 2.80 ERA) who has been both a reliever and starter this year. In fact, although the Astros have led the West most of the season, only one of their players is even mentioned in the All-Star voting. Third baseman, Enos Cabell is eighth among the vote-getters at that position. So how are the Astros winning without so-called superstars? The secret is, the Astros are leading the league in statistics that aren’t put in the newspaper and the ones, if they keep leading them, that will put them in the playoffs. The sneaky Astros lead the league in stolen bases as a team, sacrifices, lowest earned run average, com plete games pitched and shutouts. Shortstop Craig Reynolds leads in sacrifice bunts, relief pitcher Joe Sambito hasn’t allowed an earned run in 30% innings while recording seven saves and pinch-hitting stud Dennis Walling is nine of 17 pinch- hitting, including six in the past seven trips to the plate. < What it all adds up to is that the Astros are getting great pitching. Astros win again, ers top Angels >aid crew were ed aboard ,nd Annamij ivitaved i. Other (j ^sh in 8 1 H United Press International I HOUSTON — Dennis Walling MPftrmed a three-run homer and ^ ^ 'nch-hitter Jesus Alou hit a two- . idouble Tuesday night to high- 'StS ’^i a fi ve ‘ run eighth inning that Hd the Houston Astros to a 6-5 ttory over the Cincinnati Reds. L / (.VCesar Cedeno started the upris- Ihvith a one-out single off starter s internatoiil Moskau. Jose Cruz walked and LY — Tlfpj Cabell struck out but Walling m’s higtiesPnied a 2-1 pitch into the right- narriagi Nter field seats to chase Moskau. e of themlH 5 falling’s third homer of the rrs was l)isH n - iments i|With Doug Bair, 4-3, pitching, e Rota reiP Ashby singled, Rafael Landes- :s in 66 f walked and Alou, hitting for nneinw " c hcr Bert Roberge, hit a line jsed the f ve °ff left-field wall, itism, feftil^ eur g e Foster blasted his 13th y Hl4th homers of this month to H in two runs. He hit a three- ts showed I® ^ omer on t ^ le fi rs t pitch to him p Joe Niekro in the first inning, jithr fifth, he hit his 19th of the upared iol^i gi vin g him 63 runs batted in | season. While the Astros were busy beat- )he Reds, the Texas Rangers sed on annul fhe 207 a* inq Fo Tax. 7:00 PI SDAY SPECIAL led Steal Gravy :atoes and ine other able ad and Bi' ir Tea J eased by the California Angels who lead the American League Western Division. A two-out, eighth-inning home run by Bill Sample snapped a tie Tuesday night and gave the Texas Rangers a 2-1 victory over the Angels. The victory moved the Rangers within one game of the Angels. The Angels tied the game 1-1 in the third inning on Jim Anderson’s first homer of the season, but Sam ple broke the deadlock with his sec ond homer of the year, a line drive over the left-field fence. Matlack, 5-4, fanned six men in the first three innings and finished with nine strikeouts, equalling his most ever as a Ranger. The stylish southpaw allowed only seven hits but was replaced by relief ace Jim Kern when Bobby Grich lashed a two-out double in the ninth. Kern retired Joe Rudi on a groundout in recording his 12th save. Texas took a 1-0 lead off hard-luck loser Don Aase, 6-6, in the second inning on Pat Putnam’s double, a single by Sample and a sacrifice fly by John Grubb. SPECIAL EVENII EY DINI with Sauce Dressing ■ad - Bui* r Tea ravy ice of etable BAIXROOM Snook, Texas DANCE 3'e4i£44/u*vp ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL TUESDAY, JULY 3rd 8:00 to Midnight Advance tickets are available at all three Court’s Western Wear locations. Only 15-minutes from Bryan-College Station. 3 miles west of Snook on FM 60 (intersection FM 60 & FM 3058). viewpoint By SEAN PETTY Battalion Sports Editor speed on the basepaths and solid de fense. Now let’s see, aren’t those all the ingredients of a championship team? Isn’t that how the New York Mets won the world championship in 1969? Yes, writers have compared the 1979 Astros with the 69 Amazin’ Mets and yes they have compared them with the no-name Miami Dol phin football teams that won the 1973 and ’74 Super Bowls. It’s true you probably don’t go around talking about Puhl, Reynolds, Ashby, Howe, Leonard, Cruz, Cabell, Walling, Niemann, Williams, etc. But it’s time those names — put together known as the Astros — get the respect they have fought for since opening day. Since that opening day, they have led the West for 56 days. There is an eight- game gap between the Astros and the third place San Francisco Giants and even more unbelievable, last year’s division champion Los Angeles Dodgers can barely see Houston’s tail lights a distant 12 games back. Some say the Western Division isn’t that strong this year and that the teams are rebuilding. Bunk. How can the Reds be rebuilding with names like Concepcion, Morgan, Seaver, Geronimo, Foster, Bench, Griffey and Driessen? How can the Dodgers be rebuilding with players like Garvey, Gey, Baker, Lopes, Russell, Hooton, and Smith? Those are some rebuilding teams. But the ultimate blow to the As tros’ respectability came on national television Monday night during their televised game with the Reds. And as could be expected, the lack of respect came from none other than the maligning mouth of ABC’s Monday Night Baseball, Howard Cosell. Cosell had a tough time even pronouncing Astros. “Those Astos,” Cosell said at one point then laughed at his error. To give you an idea of what the Astros must overcome, here is how the night with Howard, Keith Jackson and Don Drysdale went: —The game started with Cincin nati catcher Johnny Bench talking about what the Reds must do to win the division. Nothing about the first place Astros. —Then Howard started giving his spiel on the Astrodome instead of the men who call it their home field. He talked about how Roger Maris and Rusty Staub stood at home plate at the first Major League game there, trying to hit the Dome ceiling with a baseball hit with a fungo bat. Oh great. Who cares? —The game was filled with mini interviews with the Reds and one with Houston manager, Bill Virdon. And the evening got worse. There was no mention of the Astros’ 5%- game lead. Cosell even said, “If Cincinnati wins this series, we must have our doubts about these Hous ton Astros.” Well, Howard, the Reds did not win the series. That’s right, the As tros took two of three and won both games the way they’ve done it all year — late in the game and after Reds pitchers had stifled them all night. Now what do you say How ard? Maybe we should have our doubts about the Reds or further in crease our doubts about Cosell. Of course Howard had excuses for the Reds being almost six games out going into the series with Houston. He noted the injuries that plagued many of the Reds players all year but that most were still bravely play ing despite injury. Mr. Cosell did not say a word about Houston’s injuries. He didn’t mention that pitcher Ken Forsch who pitched a no-hitter the second game of the season had been out. He didn’t mention that Cabell, Howe, Puhl and pitcher Tom Dixon had been hurt. He didn’t say how the young players had to come on and do the job in pressure situations night after night. What did Howard talk about all night? The New York Yankees, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson. That’s right, you would have thought the Yankees were playing instead of Houston and Cincinnati. Besides, the Yankees lost their game to To ronto, the last place team in the American League East. Maybe the Astros won’t win the pennant and maybe they won’t win anymore games this season. But even if that’s so, they still deserve the respect and admiration of every team in baseball for their present and past accomplishments this sea son. Which reminds me, at one point in the televised game, the camera focused on a sign that read, "Hous ton Loves You Howard.” Keith Jackson asked Cosell, “Do you think it’s true?’’ T doubt it,” Cosell said. “You’re right,’ I said. And I doubt that anyone will catch the As tros this season. drive FOR A NATURALLY LIGHT LUNCH Come to the Sbisa Dining Center Basement. The fresh crisp salad items are almost unlimit-^ ed and the superb sandwiches are made with big loaves of bread baked daily for this special purpose. If you are dieting you may also wish to try a bowl of natural freestone peaches. No sugar has been added to these beautiful peaches. Q ua | jt y Fjrst Mon.-Fri. HEADHUNTERS A&M Students $ 2.00 off on all services (with I.D. card) CALL TODAY 822-2225 “Let our talent go to your head” under new ownership offer end July 31, 1979 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiii Open 10:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. 3Q rt/Niro MEEDllWm 846-7785 THE PREMIERE PLAYERS PRESENT JSemWiH t yfirji&r C-B» By Susan Slade RUDDER FORUM 8 P.M. STUDENTS $1 JUNE 28, 29, 30 OTHERS $2 TICKETS AT THE MSC BOX OFFICE OR AT THE DOOR SPONSORED BY TAMU THEATER ARTS Barcelona APARTMENTS NEWLY REMODELED ! ALL UTILITIES PAID and... Individual Heating and Air, Cable T.V., 3 Laundry Rooms, Swimming Pool, Security Guard, Party Room, and Close to Campus. 693-0261 700 Dominik, College Station Now in Two Locations No Hassle” Hairstyles 707 SHOPPING VILLAGE 696-6933 CULPEPPER PLAZA 693-0607 9.000% Interest and some nice people Homestead offers both. 9.000% Interest... Money market certificates. These short term, high yield certificates mature in only 182 days. The rate shown above is the annual yield for this week. Minimum deposit is $10,000. Fed eral regulations require an interest penalty for early withdrawal. Some nice people... Really. You won’t find more friendly, profes sional people. That’s why ,we say “You’re at home with Homestead”. Homestead Savings Association of Toxas 1063 S. Texas Avenue (across from the main entrance to A&M) Phone: 693-1063