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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1980)
-Royals picked in AL West f Rangers may pose threat THE BATTALION THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1980 Page 15 "'y™* By RICHARD OLIVER , "I Staff Writer I ° U .? l B re di c ting the American League r ‘ Vestern Division race is like pre- (jcting when Muhammad Ali will ealh retire. ™ ru - t'Thc division is tough, the players y l"; je excellent and the teams each II 0 Sv6 a claim at the title. Hast year’s Cinderella story, the nakes i*Bf orn i a Angels, rode the wings of a id ™®Hant hitting corps and Gene Au- 1 tlt ' pocketbook to a division title, nsomKjjiy to be manhandled by the Balti- J 0 Orioles in the playoffs. Js and ;^ l j s y ear w j]l show an Angel team 'w; jlr ^ rom ^ ast year’s pennant scrap :s ‘ li: 8d the loss of their ace pitcher, Hg with numerous injuries, he Teuim e winner this year will be the 1111 ihsas City Royals, and here’s why: et-Wj KANSAS CITY ROYALS — he Royals enter the 1980 season wgetaijth a new manager, a new attitude, ostotbfljjd some brilliant new, young faces rhem.:, rejuvenate their lineup. The ellofa jiyals ceremoniously dumped Al Owens to the Angels for Willie lays Aikens, a player who in just H short years jumped from the ow-defunct Texas Gulf Coast "jue to the majors, hit 21 homers Hknocked in 81 runs for the gels last year. His acquisition, along with Willie llson, George Brett, Darrell Por- {, Hal McRae and Amos Otis form e-Dirty Half-Dozen, enough to He fear in even the best pitchers. Bison terrorized the base paths 1979, stealing 83 bases while hit- ne, tlie|g,315. Brett, who is the best hit- I lead ity in the major leagues, hit an unbe- gie baticjvable .329, with 23 home runs, 20 jesfeiples, and 42 doubles. He is only ins in ti#fifth major leaguer in history to js. Sairj more than 20 of each, iteint -McRae (.288,74 RBI), Porter (112 [runs ir,SI, 101 runs scored and 121 walks) s, Becond baseman Frank White a jum olden Glove) will lead a formid- the hide offensive and defensive attack. ewentdDennis Leonard leads a Royals ;n Guei hi Wart!:’ staff that couldn’t get its act together long enough to stay in the race last year. Leonard finished only 14-12, a disappointing showing, considering he had won 41 games over the pre vious two years. Larry Gura, Paul Splittorf, Rich Gale, Renie Martin and Gary Christenson will have to have consistent years to take up the slack for the Royals. Their showings will determine whether they will take on Baltimore in the American League playoffs or watch someone else get plastered once again. 2) TEXAS RANGERS — The baseball world has watched for years now as one man has destroyed poten tially the finest team in baseball. Brad Corbett, the now-defunct own er of the Texas Rangers, fumbled, bumbled and stumbled through his six-year tenure as owner. He shuf fled his lineup, fired and hired mana gers, ridiculously fouled up a trade which cost his team a chance at the pennant, and was an all-round base ball gambler whose dice were loaded against him. The Rangers, now owned by Eddie “I’m Mad” Chiles, can now hopefully concentrate on playing baseball. Golden Glover Buddy Bell (.299, 18 HR, 101 RBI) will once again lead the Rangers to a better- than-mediocre season, and perhaps a division title. The best defensive catcher in the game, Jim Sundberg, will bring his bat to life this season, making him the best-balanced ball player on the team. Richie Zisk (.262), Al Oliver, Bump Wills, and Mickey Rivers will round out the offense, with young Pat Putnam (18 HR, 64 RBI) filling in a once-gigantic hole at first base. The question mark will once again be pitching. The old-timers heading up the staff will determine the Ran gers’ success. Gaylord Perry, 41, dis satisfied with the San Diego Padres last year, walked out and ended up in Arlington. Ferguson Jenkins, 36, comes off a 16-14 season in which he ae .j„ THE ALLIGATOR HAS LANDED: IZODs for him and her in 20 colors. gave up an incredible 40 home runs. Jon Matlack, 30; Doc Medich,31 and Dock Ellis, 35, round out the veter ans. Steve Comer, 26, was 17-12 last year, and the bearded wonder, Jim Kern, 31, was 13-5 with 29 saves. The pitchers are experienced, the batters are tuned and ready, but the Rangers have no depth, and will fall just short, as usual. 3) CALIFORNIA ANGELS- Don Baylor, the first DH ever to be a league MVP, is back in that spot again, but the Angels have prob lems. Star outfielder Joe Rudi is hurt, Dan Ford is hurt, and Rod Carew, who hit a paltry .318 last year, is also hurt. It makes for a difficult time for the Cosmic Cowboys this year. Baylor (120 runs scored, 139 RBI, .296), Second baseman Bobby Grich (. 294, 30 HR, 101 RBI), and third baseman Carney Lansford, 23, (.287, 19 HR, 79 RBI, 20 stolen bases) make up a superb offensive team, but the pitch ing looks dismal. Angels’ ace Nolan Ryan took off for Houston, leaving a staff that com piled a 4.34 season ERA last year, and that same staff is back this year to amaze American League batters. Sorry, Mr. Autry, but money isn’t everything, and you can’t buy a divi sion title every year. 4) MINNESOTA TWINS — Gene Mauch is a brilliant manager, but even brilliance won’t help here. 5) CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Maybe. 6) SEATTLE MARINERS — Really, now. 7) OAKLAND A’S — Ha, ha, ha, giggle, snicker. Good luck, Billy. Swim trials cancelled United Press International AUSTIN — The U.S. Olympic International Swimming Com mittee has decided to cancel the Olympic trials scheduled for Texas Swimming Center this summer, and instead to pick an honorary Olympic team at the AAU National Championships July 27-Aug. 1 in Irvine, Calif. The diving trials remain sche duled for June 27-July 1 at Texas Swimming Center, however. “Naturally we would have liked to have had the swimming trials here, it’s something we’ve waited on for over a year and a half,” said Steve Berizzi, director of the center. “But as a former coach, I can understand the viewpoint of the swimmers. 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