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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1980)
Sports THE BATTALION Page 9 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1980 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ } SKYWAY TWIN} Astros rally to take tough Dodgers in playoff igs United Press International LOS ANGELES — If the good m P‘ice insit^] l iac l operated under the same i'.uropeanu^Josophy as the Houston Astros, ‘‘deration, would have gone to the beach for I renchgovfljyj Jays and created the world in a Kaliansamj urr y-up job on the sixth day. scallercUB , . , tn ultra-rip Entering a three-game weekend h denie : ? ril ’ s with the D odgers owning a r said theBe-game lead, the Astros needed :o thg mJBin just one of the three games to before I Ij'T'h the National League West invasion , ® 11 P* ons h i P- ^ter losing the first ng war ac 1 f 6 10th innin g> th ey had to win 5 * of the next two. oup, thet j os t ^e second game, 2-1. •"ANE was ir ell > there was always Sunday, anonynxttB fi g ured ' Win the game, take a oeue W >y ° ff and S( l uare off against the NL anient champion Philadelphia Phillies backed "Tuesday. sitionandtli ' Wrong - Thc Dc, dgers won Game No. 3 on Ron Gey’s two-run homer in the eighth inning. And so the title was suddenly to be decided in a one-game playoff. All the marbles, no tomorrow, backs to the wall, all that stuff. But the Astros, apparently not wanting to have their team picture appear in the dictionary beside the word “choke,” were ready for Mon day’s playoff game. They scored two runs in the first inning after a pair of Los Angeles errors, two more in the third on Art Howe’s two-run homer and three in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Jose Cruz and Howe’s bases-loaded sing le en route to a 7-1 victory. The win gave Houston its first title in the team’s 19-year history. But if battling back to avoid one of the worst collapses in league history wasn’t enough, the Astros had to board a coast-to-coast flight to arrive in Philadelphia for tonight’s opening game of the National League cham pionship series against the rested Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Sta dium. Houston’s title came after a season that was marked by near-tragedy. The Astros succeeded this season de spite the loss of star right-hander J.R. Richard with a near-fatal stroke on July 30. Refusing to give in, however, Houston proceeded to post a 36-24 record entering the final series of the regular season. And it was the much- vaunted pitching that did it. The heroes were many. Right hander Vern Ruble, showing a com plete recovery from back surgery last year, delivered one clutch perform ance after another and posted four victories beginning with Sept. 6. Nolan Ryan, the high-priced free agent, earned the money with a 6-2 record down the stretch. Niekro, 11- 8 when Richard suffered his stroke, finished at 20-12. Joe Sambito and Dave Smith gave Houston a bullpen that took control of close games. Niekro said he wasn t sure whether or not his teammates were ready to throw in the towel following the three straight losses to the Dod gers — but he never even thought of surrendering. “Maybe some of them were so dis appointed in losing those three in a row that they thought it might be four in a row,” said Niekro. “Before the game, I told them just to get me a few runs and I’d take care of the rest. I told them I wasn’t going to lose the game. I went out there to win. “The first two innings, the knuck- leball was getting over and moving,” the 35-year-old right-hander said. “Right then I knew I could handle the Dodgers.” “There are positives and negatives about them playing today, ” Philadel phia manager Dallas Green said Monday. “The adrenalin should be flowing for them but they’ll also be tired from flying all night and ex pending that energy.” Opposing the Phillies’ silent ace, Steve Carlton, who was 2-0 against Houston this year, will be righthand er Ken Forsch, 12-13 and 0-2 against Philadelphia with a 5.79 ERA. Astros’ Manager Bill Virdon feels any disadvantage his team may face because of exhaustion can be hand led by his pitching staff. “The Phillies are well-balanced 2000 PAQT JE. 29th 3300 J } DON’T GO IN } THE HOUSE * * AT * } 9:25 } J 5th FLOOR * * and tough, but we can handle them, ” he said. “The pitching will be the key, as it usually is. They may have more rest than we do, but I’m confi dent we can match them on the mound.” J0MSC AGGIE CINEMAWmWIfc. WED. 7:30 i * * * * * * * WEST 7:45 BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS * AT * * 9:30 * } STARCRASH 5 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★★★★★★★ ★★★★★★★★★£ 1 MANOR EAST 3 * * MANOR EAST MALL J + 823-8300 * L-sday to pro Rejuvenated Ags looking ahead to Coogs By KURT ALLEN Battalion Staff F*/^TViffh e surprising 41-21 Texas Aggie L v/ ijwin over Texas Tech may have rekin- 1 p|M dreams of cotton in College Sta- I H lion but Texas A&M Head Coach i\oil i' ; i 11 W dson knows the road to a arms as d^ampionship will still be a rocky one. cally djM® 116 of the hi 8g est hurdles the /new™ Jp 5 ^ ave yet to c * ear in f he South- bombed ^ C5t Conference race is Saturday’s I I janu: with the University of Hous- i' :on. Wilson said Monday he recog- icloar mbm* S thc Cougars ma y he wounded, o are still dangerous, h talk’s awfhl hard to tell people how .i S 00 '! Houston is with their record ndicated Jr’” said WiIson ’ “They’ve still got t , jjj^. Hot of awesome talent. I think their 1 ■Bn problem so far has been turnov- il since the* stopping their offcnse fr om get- . ., r ing going. ” " 5 ° jfr 111 * s ^e exact opposite of the > coItpnfnff'‘ tuation at Texas A&M. The Aggie S * 1 (VlilB nse never looked better and Wil- * 01 iiinn A sa id quarterback David Beal cer- ^(■("frornEfffly deserved a lot of the credit for J$t. However, there were others , ° j 7. Jose play he felt had helped the II Vgs turn the corner offensively. .TlOne of the biggest differences * that our line performed much ' . IIU 'l ft!™ rc solidly in the past. There was 1 11 lll jch better protection of the passer. nought David Bandy did well at Golan Hci i the IS rs .. pimlf n t er ' hte' 5 very intelligent and C \' T1 .pm^ es great offort as far as blocking. ” ^“Wehiv® dson sa ' d he thought Tommy hompson had done a good job in his 11 sta rt at quick tackle and general- C W 'i ‘ ld P™ 56 for the entire line. He iT 6 ’ thin 0 , credited fullback David Hill ,.' S making “ a bunch of good c l(,n!> which helped free Aggie run- ., i J ers for several good gains. S,1,m, U Asked why Tech defenders an to he unable to contain Beal aca 1 '! n1 (!r his scoring runs, Wilson said the ' r CC m nn ure °f the Red Raider defense had / four mort, l ot todo ^ . t 11 r J® c h depends to a great extent on e occup ie blitz, said Wilson. At the same j|e, they were also trying to stop |ir sweep with the linebackers. f n £ e the Tech line committed itself f the blitz, there was no one to back . up. So all David had to do was get Btheir front line and he had clear ■igsofth ei,,moain g from there.” ofSoviet^ be Aggie boss also said he was aff had eas( ; d with the play of tailback Ear- -y to useg® Jackson. Wilson said Jackson tter the r |r ] | ( f u ite a bit to the offense espe- crew. ThB y “ter starter Johnny Hector got /er given# ded - . charjt Wensively, Wilson said the big ■prence 1° the squad’s perform- pce was it put more pressure on the , asM r and it showed up in four inter- ||P ions, three of which were made w Throng safety Leandrew Brown. V R,- 1 S ° n ’ Y as course pleased with I |j Vvn s heads-up play but also sing- I..,| 0U / weakside linebacker Mike ^ttle for praise. d In ight have gone un- , , Ce }hat Mike Little played an ^erv ail n' ng S ame - He is playing I lad r 11 at the new Position (Little ir>r.L e , en s hifte d from strongside idapung >’ nd HaS d ° ne a g0 ° d j ° b l^h 6 kicking game and special Wilt S WCre one area whose progress 0n ( ,° n Was fspocially pleased with. T a J°r change he had made was battalion CLASSIFIED PULLS! fall 845-2611 Number One ^Sgieland Mike Little to replace sophomore David Hardy with freshman Alan Smith on not only kickoffs but field goals and extra points as well. Smith responded by hitting both his field goal attempts from 46 and 35 yards. “I thought Alan added a lot to our kicking game. The two field goals he made came at very good times when we needed a little extra on the board. They certainly were not chip shots either.” As for the punting, Wilson said while his two punters (Kyle Stuard and Rock King) didn’t put on a show, at least there was no breakdown similar to what happened in the Georgia and Penn State games. He added Stuard came in during the middle of the game and made two good punts. Wilson said he feels Stuard now has a better idea of what the coaches want from him as far as kicking the ball. One surprise move made on the special teams against Tech came when Wilson inserted quarterback Mike Mosley on the receiving squad during a Red Raider kickoff. Asked if Mosley might be doing more of that in the future, Wilson was non committal. “The only reason Mosley was in on the special team at that time was we thought they were going to use an onside kick,” said Wilson. I really thought they would do it but it didn’t happen. Yes, there has been some thought given to using him on the special teams in the future, but any decision on that for the Houston game would have to come later in the week.” As for other changes on the special teams, Wilson said he would con tinue trying to use different players in the kicking game, looking for the right combination. He did say that middle linebacker Doug Carr would be a natural for the special teams. After the wholesale changes that took place before the Tech game, it now looks like the starting lineup has settled down. The only change ex pected would be if cornerback Greg Williams can’t play because of an in jury. Also, Bernie Simon is being looked at for a backup role some where in the secondary. Sizing up Houston as far as talent, Wilson pointed out the Cougar de fense is dominated by two outstand ing tackles in seniors Leonard Mitch ell (6-7, 271) and Hosea Taylor (6-5, 265). The Cougars are also blessed with some speed in their secondary. Offensively, Houston Head Coach Bill Yeoman is faithfully sticking with the veer formation. Wilson said quarterback Brent Chinn, who has taken over from the injured Terry Elston (Elston has a broken wrist), is small, but quick. He added the Cougar backfield also has two outstanding running backs in Terald Clark and David Bar rett. There had been some question as to when the Aggies would play Hous- DO YOU HAVE YOUR ARMADILLO YET? ARMADILLO — a book, illustrated with drawings, for anyone interested in that lively anachronism, the armadillo, a com pendium of odd armadillo facts that really pulls that eccentric animal out of his burrow by the tail! Softcover only, $3.95 + 5% sales tax. — Compiled by The Stevenson Press with Terry Peters. Write to The Stevenson Press, P.O. 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Texas 77801 or call (713)779-2991 We d like to see a live demonstration ol Micom Word Processing Equipment Name Title Company Address City Phone Number State _ .. ton in the Dome since the kickoff hinged on whether the Astros would make the National League playoffs. That question has apparently solved itself and the Aggies will like ly face Houston at 10:30 p.m. Satur day, unless the Astros lose three straight games to the Phillies, or vice hiiHuLima l cgnter/AcfQSS from A&M Call 846-6714 for corract times! Adult $2.00 for first 30 minutes from opening. Times & Discounts for today onlyl Open 5:30. A story of natural love. BROOKE SHIELDS 5:55, 7:55, 9:55 And lo, there was another movie. OH, GOD! BOOK II GEORGE BURNS 5:45, 7:45, 9:45 Even so, Wilson doesn’t think the kickoff time will pose any monumen tal problems. “Playing that late doesn’t bother me and I don’t think it’ll hurt our team since it’s ready to play. The people really affected by all this are the fans. I can imagine the mess it’ll be for them.” ooooooooooooooooo CAMPUS THEATRE 210 University 846-6512 NOW SHOWING '“Caddyshack 7:40 9:50 MIDNIGHT MOVIE OCTOBER 10 & 11 AGGIE FROLIC: ‘Debbie Does Dallas and “EMMANUEL” Q ooooooooooooooooo CO-OP OPPORTUNITY IN CANCER RESEARCH On Wednesday afternoon, October 8, and Thursday morning, October 9, representatives from the Stehlin Cancer Research Foundation (Associated with St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston), will interview students interested in beginning Co-op in January. They want to interview students majoring in any of the sciences (including ANSC), pre-med, and BIMs, or BE, and plan to hire 3-6 co-op students for the Spring work term. The pay is $850 per month for the first work term, and the positions are in Houston. You must see your College Co-op Coordinator for an orientation and to receive an application before you inter view. Call the Director of Cooperative Education, Mr. Steve Yates (845-7725) for further information. NOTE: In the past, the Stehlin Cancer Research Foundation only employed summer students. All students who worked for them were accepted into medical school. They are now changing their student employment program to a formal Cooperative Education Program and hope to attract quality students. Aggie Blood Drive KEG CONTEST 1st prize - 3 kegs 2nd prize - 2 kegs 3rd prize -1 keg Get your group signed up! Oct 6-10 in Student Govt Office. *any group is eligible *any group that donates 25 pints or more can win! MAKE FREE TIME PayOff Help Supply Critically needed Plasma While You Earn Extra CASH Plasma Products, Inc. 313 College Main in College Station Relax or Study in Our Comfortable Beds While You Donate — Great Atmosphere^- $1 o Per Donation v HOURS Mon.-Fri. 8-4 Call for more information 846-4611 mu mi mu