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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1983)
Page 10/The Battalion/Tuesday, October 4, 1983 Oiler coach Ed Biles unconcerned with speculation about job security United Press International HOUSTON — Houston Oil ers coach Ed Biles, whose team has now lost 12 straight games, said Monday he wasn’t con cerned about speculation on his job security, and happy not to be receiving any votes of confi dence. “By management not coming out with that kind of stuff (votes of confidence), that’s an indica tion of what they think about our rebuilding program,” he said, referring to Oilers owner K.S. “Bud” Adams Jr.’s hands- off approach this year. But some Houston media as the losses have continued has fo cused on Biles and speculated he will be fired any day now. The Oilers, 0-5, host the Denver Broncos, 1-4, Sunday. Biles reacted sarcastically to the reports. “Maybe we can get a pool up,” he told sports reporters at his regular weekly news confer ence. “Let’s all put up $5 and pick the game, the round (of the firing). “I can’t concern myself with that. I’m concerned with hold ing this team together. That’s ATTENTION CORPS Do you need your senior boots before Christmas? If so, Guaranteed delivery if you order before October 5th. Bring your deposit now. VICTORS II JUST BOOTS 3601 TXAve. 846-4114 my basic job, making sure the good morale, hustle and enthu siasm are there,” he said. He said he thinks Adams and General Manager Ladd Herzeg, who along with Biles were prom oted when Bum Phillips was fired as coach and general man ager in 1980, appreciate the job being done. “I think they recognize the pitfalls we are going through weren’t created by me,” Biles said, referring to Phillips. He said one day “people are going to marvel” at the job the Oilers are doing rebuilding. He said the young team did every thing but win Sunday in a 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oilers linebacker Gregg Bingham, who in 1980 was a vocal critic of Phillips’ philoso phy, praised the job Biles is doing. “I’ve been seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for a cou ple of weeks now. We’re on the right road. We’re hanging tight, from the top donw and from the bottom up. We’vejust got to play through this,” he said. Oilers coach Biles says management backs him 693-3380 807 Texas Avenue ■a 0 Biles disclosed it was a coaches decision in the fourth quarter and with the Oilers lead ing 10-7 to fake a punt and run for a first down. “We called the play going in,” he said. Punter John James was stop ped at the line of scrimmage, turning the ball over to the Steel ers at the Pittsburgh 38-yard line. The Steelers promptly scored 10 points. “I find it hard to second-guess ourselves on that play,” Biles said. At Dallas, Cowboys’ wide re ceiver Tony Hill and center Tom Rafferty have been listed as questionable for next Sun day’s game with Tampa Bay, but running back Tony Dorsett sus tained no new injuries during his 141-yard rushing perform ance against Minnesota. Hill has missed the last two games with a sprained foot and doctors originally thought he might be available for the Vik ings’ game. But Hill apparently worked too much on the injured foot during practice last week and was unavailable for duty. Rafferty, meanwhile, suf fered a bruised big toe on his left foot and was replaced during the Minnesota game by second- year backup offensive lineman Brian Baldinger. Dorsett went into the Minne sota game with a soft cast on his right wrist to protect a small fracture and also played with bruised ribs. “The ribs hurt worse than the wrist,” Dorsett said. 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TAM104, Advanced Micro Devices, 901 Thompson Place, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. An equal opportunity employer. Advanced Micro Devices T 'ft' •“ , the wave '¥■1 United Press International BALTIMORE — The Chica go White Sox earned a trip to this fishing capital by finally learning to make a catch. Despite rivaling the Orioles in power and pitching and out- racing them on the bases, the White Sox actually captured their first American League West title by patching up the second-worst defense in the league. Their gloves as well as their bats and track shoes will be on display Wednesday when right- handed Gy Young Award favo rite LaMarr Hoyt, 24-10, faces Baltimore left-hander Scott McGregor, 18-7, in Game 1 of the best-of-five AL playoff series. “Year-in and year-out the strength of Baltimore has been that it doesn’t beat itself,” said Chicago manager Tony LaRus- sa. “This year, we haven’t done it either.” “This is a game of pitching, hitting and defense and you win with all three,” said Baltimore manager Joe Altobelli. “The stats show they’ve made 119 errors to our 121 so we look even or almost even on paper.” Last season, while the Orioles finished first in team defense, making only 101 errors, the White Sox committed 154. This year, earning a post-season berth for the first time since they went to the 1959 World Series, they cut the figure by 35. More significantly, the White Sox drastically improved their error-double play ratio. Last year, they made only 19 more double plays than errors. This season the ratio improved to plus 39. “We’ve gotten the big double play but we’ve also gotten the routine double play all year long,” said LaRussa. After the All-Star game, the White Sox defense went from 13th in the league to fifth. Chi cago had the second tightest de fense in the league over the second half, much of the credit going to the keystone combina tion of shortstop Scott Fletcher and second baseman Julio Cruz. Fletcher was re-inserted after an early-season benching and Cruz was acquired at the trading deadline. “Julio has as much range as anyone in the league and he turns the double play as well as anyone in the league,” said LaRussa. “I don’t think you can (single out) the keystone com bination without talking about the corners. Part of the reason we have done so well is because (Tom) Paciorek and (Mike) Squires and even Greg Walker have made the plays at first base and Vance Law has played super at third.” LaRussa said it was no coinci dence that LaMarr Hoyt, Floyd Bannister and Richard Dotson, who combined for a 42-5 record in the second half, began win ning when Fletcher and Cruz became the steady double play combination. “Good team defense is a vital component of good pitching,” said LaRussa, who also praised his outfield. “Rudy Law has been running them down all year long. Harold Baines plays a very good right field and (Ron) Kittle has played a good left field. I judge an outfield by how they r QB controversy hurts offensive performanti Football, football, who’ll get the football? Either Mazur or Murray, but nobody’s saying forsure.Noi even Jackie Sherrill, who told reporters at his Monday pres conference that he might wait until Saturday before deciding! Mazur, (John, the defender), or Murray (Kevin, the chalb ger), will start against the Houston Cougars. Welcome to a bona fide, real-live, honest-to-goodnessquar terback controversy. Haven’t had one of these around Aggieland since Tom Wilson benched Mike Mosley back in 1980. Mosley’s quick feel weren’t enough to keep him out of Wilson’s doghouse, am back-to-back losses to Georgia and Penn State sealed Mosley 1 fate faster than Elmer’s glue. Wilson yanked him in favorol senior David Beal. It made quite a few headlines back then especially after Beal led the Aggies to what’s becoming a rare victory over Texas Tech the next weekend. LIKE MOSELY BEFORE him, Mazur was expected to lea! the Aggie offense to bigger and better things — a Moses in turf shoes. That hasn’t happened. Pre-season predictions of Aggif offensive Firepower have slipped away like so many scoring chances, leaving behind only frustration and a 1-3 record.But! press clippings were points ... A totally ineffective offensive line and Mazur’s own iinmobil ity have kept the Aggies not only from reaching their potential, but from moving the ball at all. Against Oklahoma State: 28) yards of total offense. Against Texas Tech: 130 yardsoftotal offense. Neither Mazur nor Murray has been able to generate yar dage and/or points. At times, it seems the Aggies need a pan medic more than a quarterback. Are they alive? Are you sure A&M has scored only one touchdown in the last two garnet And Sherrill’s insistence on replacing Mazur with Murrayhai everyone wondering who’ll be under center — and how long he’ll stay there — when the Cougars hit town. MAZUR OR MURRAY, Murray or Mazur? Sherrill wont say. “I don’t know when I’ll make up my mind,” Sherrill sai! Monday. "I’ll decide on which one gives our offense themosl spark." Spark? Who needs spark? The Aggies need to decide oni quarterback, and let him be. Mazur’s had his problems, ki then, Murray hasn’t exactly lit up the scoreboard. If you’re going to replace quarterbacks, shouldn’t John Elkins, Craig Stump and Jay Hess get a chance to play, also? There’s an unwritten law in football that forbids pullingyour starting quarterback on a whim. It leads to bad feelings, name calling, hair-pulling — all sorts of nasty reactions. But Sherrill has used Murray as a type of relief pitcher- when things get bad, go to the bullpen. It’s not working. And time is running out. Will the real Aggie quarterback stand up? Please? TTs ted They w opportu which n electron They w; TL That’s w campus gives the dozens c meet yoi sites in a grams, ai invite yo often they make a mistake that beats you and ours has made very few this year.” Baltimore continued its de fensive excellence this year even though its errors soared by 20. The error-double play ratio was a plus 38 with shortstop Cal Ripken emerging as an MVP candidate. Longhorns power past young Aggies “I’m proud of our defense, which has always arose to the occasion for us in big games all year,” said Altobelli. Second baseman Rich Dauer is Ripken’s dependable double play partner, with potential Gold Glove winner Eddie Mur ray at first and Todd Cruz at third. Catcher Rick Dempsey ranks among the best at contain ing runners, which could be a key against a club that stole 165 bases, compared to 62 for Balti more. Rudy Law alone stole 77 and Cruz added 57. 02 NEW! Breaded Shrimp Platter s 2.99 THRU OCT. 30 You’ll feast on more than lb. of lightly breaded shrimp, 2 hushpuppies, fresh cole slaw and golden fryes. (ADDRESS) CVXfJc0>*** ? “We’ve been stealing more bases than Baltimore but Balti more is the best in the league al taking away the steal,” said LaRussa. “On paper it’s an edge for us but I don’t think you can predict it.” Altobelli agreed that pre vious results, such as Baltimore’s 7-5 edge in the season series, won’t mean much. “Those are just statistics and history,” said Altobelli. “We’re just going to have to see what happens.” iUIII by Scott Griffin Battalion Staff Texas A&M volleyball coach Terry Condon said before Mon day’s match with the University of Texas that inexperience might hamper her team’s chances in this year’s conference race. And for the time being, UT proved her right — they rolled to an easy three-game victory over the Ags Monday in Greg ory Gymnasium by scores of 15- 4, 15-8 and 15-8. Texas dominated the match from the beginning with power spiking and blocking at the front line. A&M looked young and inex perienced, while Texas appeared confident and over powering. But Condon said after the match that A&M still has the ability to compete with the ’Horns. “Our capabilities and skills are as good as anybody’s — we’re just not playing smart ball.” Condon said. “We didn’t do any of the things that we worked on in practice right,” she added. “If we would have, we could’ve got ten Texas in trouble.” Still, Condon admitted that Texas was overpowering on lll[£ ‘We didn’t do any the things that worked on in practict right. If we w have, we could’ve ten Texas in trouble — Aggie coach Terii Condon after Texfl A&M’s loss to Texas t t If you’re; Compute won’t wa SUNDAY L *hru THURSDAY r i 500 DRf'KS, BEER & WINE i? all night COVER: $2.00 for Ladies $3.00 for Guys iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiNiMiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiimimimimi^ Monday. “Texas played Condon said. “They did a to things better than we thouf they could — especially p sing.” Texas was on a roll, Sha* and Laura Neugebauer Kim Larson accounted forac al of 20 spikes on the evenif In the first game Sharer, junior middle blocker, early 7-0 Texas spurt A&M struggled on defense#! poor serve receiving and shod passing. The Aggies managed a W ger four points as sopho# blocker Larson and theNe»i bauers blasted the frontlineif cruised to an east 15-4 win And after UT got off quick 9-4 lead in the second® test, A&M did put up some#' of a better fight. They closed# gap to 11-8 and had a the serve at one point, but again the UT front linedo®* ated action. Texas coach Mick Haley# pleased with his team’s perto ance. “Sharon played tonight,” Haley said. “Sh Kim Larson are a good con tion. 1 would have liked ford* to finesse the ball at theft line more, but they just dot ated at the net.” Indeed they did. Larsont over in the final game with# eral powerful spikes toboosi to an early 9-1 lead. The Aggies were never * to recover, as Texas flat® 1 them again, 15-8. UT is now ranked lOthifl nation — and it looks could have a very successful#' son. “I’m pretty excited ah this team,” Haley said. The Aggies next match be against the University Houston Wednesday night! Rollie White Coliseum. TALK PROI GROt Equipm< governme high-speei °Ptics, rac guidance: systems in ^•S. Citizt Semicon leading su P°nents, r ^formal s tate-of-th< vices to TI ed Copyrj ri ght © 198;