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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1985)
Thursday, April 4, 1985/The Battalion/Page 13 stbal iget hess :k destroys nan's gams lL bock i.s- Sports Writer ant overachievtt ipril Fool's jokej :town the otl« tothing compaw er college' it tee has pi r one ofthegret [ame's histor)’,i| ed to moveaeaia s with legit llanova-type st® : to achieve, s that it was of the populate le college coaclis irvey results st ■, the NCAA I the college gam lie last tiling il w a team will thin 4,1 seconds :> option forotlt le. Taking the keep a racehon g iipanddownt longer a coachi i must shoot vant to or not. o, coach of via bought the W subdued ver of their earit ; season had it it East Confera. d his team to cularly want. it’s no-dock ton option was all\i ssimino’s cout e most of it. Mets, Padres favorites in NL the rule chatij s to eliminate tit a team in over £ on to the I i the other t action, howevtt rdogs from whit ley might have destiny agait le perfect exa» lid not freezeih vn. They simfli )o, shooting whs eing selective ot mpted. Hadtta ; within the c» you can be ad a much ] lieving that is ent accuracy, minutes reniaif ' and Georgeto* lint lead, Villa® rd, Gary McbJ. rn mates tospreil icats went forest ed the ba It was thinkisj lutes left in ih ig by a poist the same S| red with a lompson goneii /ith nine n eorgetown coat* 1 get them nd counterpoint That is part of it 11. Forcing the® obs the game vputer, 64K, 1 :p/m, MBASIC )RDSTAR& iriginal box& 5 fterSp.m. j imber One in ^ggieland x the Battalion HE AK7 Associated Press NL East Gary Carter and Steve Rogers spent more than 10 seasons to gether as batterymates on the Montreal Expos. Now that they will face each other from opposite sides of the field, they still agree .on one thing — the New York Mets have an excellent chance of winning the National League East ,iii 1985. In 1984, the Cubs won the divi sion by (i'/i games over the Mets, who were followed by St. Louis, •Philadelphia, Montreal and Pitts burgh. This season, it will look more like this: New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Montreal. The Longshot: Philadelphia, those jackrabbits. New York Mets Garter gives the Mets not only that extra offense they needed, but he brings defense and a qual ity that will be hard to measure — his ability to handle New York’s young pitching staff. Led by right-hander Dwight Gooden, the 1984 NL. Rookie ol the Year, the Mets’ starting pitch ing may be the only question mark on a club that should be sol idly favored in the East. Chicago Cubs Age and the law of avera Astros' pennant chances riding on Then's recovery rages s this may catch up with the Cubs season. Larry Bowa is 39, Ron Cey is 37, and Gary Matthews will turn 35 in July. Rookie Shawon Dunston has been given the starting job at shortstop, despite front-office pressure to keep Bowa there. Cey, Matthews, Leon Durham, Keith Moreland and Jody Davis give the Cubs the ability to score a lot of runs. The question, as it was a year ago, is how will the Cubs pitching staf f perform? There’s no reason Cy Young winner Rick Sutcliffe, 16-1 last year with the Cubs, can’t have an other fine season, but he’ll proba bly lose more than one game. Pittsburgh Pirates The Pirates have improved, hut probably not enough to win the division this year. George Hendrick came over from St. Louis to play right field. Dale Berra went to the New York Yankees for Steve Kemp, who will play left field if he’s healthy. T hat gives the Pirates potential to he a better scoring club than they were in ’84, when they were 10th in the NL in run production. Philadelphia Phillies Rookie Manager John Felske has a big job in front of him, melding role players and getting the maximum out of the speed iest club in the National League. He can rely on one thing, how ever — the play of 35-year-old Mike Schmidt, who has one fine season after another. St. Louis Cardinals The Cards may be coming apart at the seams, although Manager Whitey Herzog can put a decent starting nine on the field. In the past two seasons, they have lost Keith Hernandez, George Hendrick and Bruce Sut ter. St. Louis got Jack Clark from San Francisco to take Hendrick’s spot, and that was a positive move. But there’s no way they can replace Sutter’s 45 saves. Montreal Expos The Expos have undergone a radical change, perhaps nec essary for the club’s future, but it’s going to take several years to rebuild. Carter is gone, and Montreal must replace the entire middle of its defense. Three of the replace ments — catcher Mike Fitzgerald, center fielder Herm Winning- ham and shortstop Hubie Brooks — came from the Mets, and the Expos got the other one, second baseman Vance Law, from the Chicago White Sox. NL West When a division champion stands pat, the result usually is predictable. There’s a new divi sion champion next year. San Diego General Manager Jack McKeon understands this axiom of baseball. So, if the Padres fall in 1985, it won’t be be cause they stood pat. In 1984, Atlanta and Houston tied for second behind the Padres, followed by Los Angeles, Cincinnati and San Francisco. This year, they’ll finish this way: San Diego, Atlanta, Los An geles, Houston, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The Longshot: Houston, if Dickie Thon returns healthy at shortstop. San Diego Padres Manager Dick Williams’ short men are right-hander Rich Cos- sage and left-hander Craig Lef- ferts, who had 35 saves between them last year. Williams’ biggest concern is in the outfield, where both Kevin McReynolds and Carmelo Marti nez are coming back from injury. His healthy outfielder, Tony Gwynn, led the NL last year with a.351 batting average. Atlanta Braves The Braves made two major additions to their roster — re liever Bruce Sutter and catcher Rick Cerone — and changed managers, Eddie Haas for Joe Torre. Despite the acquisition of 1 ree- agent Sutter, who tied the major league record with 45 saves, At lanta has at least one major prob lem. Third baseman Bob Horner probably won’t start the season after suffering another injurv. Los Angeles Dodgers It sounds strange to say it, but the Dodgers made very few changes after a 79-83 campaign in ’84. Their sole acquisition brought A1 Oliver over from Phil adelphia. With the personnel they have — like pitchers Fernando Valen zuela and Orel Hershiser, and sluggers Pedro Guerrero and Mike Marshall — it’s hard to be lieve the Dodgers can’t finish at least .500. Houston Astros The Astros are the sleeper of the division. Plagued by poor starts the past two seasons, they have been unable to contend. Bob Lillis returns a team this year that made few changes. The key to Houston’s success is the comeback bid by shortstop Dickie Thon, sidelined for all but five games of the ’84 season with vision problems after he was struck in the face with a pitch. Cincinnati Reds Buoyed by the enthusiasm of player-manager Pete Rose, the Reds could get off to a fast start this year, and that could save them from the cellar. Late in the spring, the Reds still were trying to pick a catcher from among four so-so candi dates. Cesar Cedeno could help if he can maintain some intensity over the long season, but much of the Reds’ attack will be predicated upon the success of Gary Redus. San Francisco Giants New Manager Jim Davenport faces some rather grim prospects in his major league managerial debut. Jack Clark, who has led the Giants in RBI four times since 1978, was traded to St. Louis, leaving Jeff Leonard to shoulder the burden. Ags, track world focus attention on Texas Relays By CINDY GAY Sports Writer T he eyes of track fans across the nation are focusing on the University of Texas this weekend. The Texas Relays entice the fastest and the strongest from the running ranks of America’s high schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities for four days of heats in the hear of Austin. The Texas Relays are high on the priority list for the A&M track team, bowing only to the Southwest Conference and NCAA Championships in importance, said A&M Assistant Track Coach Ted Nelson. While most athletes are delighted simply to qualify for the Texas Relays, the Aggies can boast that a couple of their runners were personally invited. A&M’s Rod Richardson will lean for the tape in the 100-meter invitatio nal sprint and the 5,000-meter invitational run will be journeyed by Arturo Barrios. “This meet should be the one to qualify,” Barrios said about his chances for making the time needed to run at the 1985 NCAAs. Barrios’ best in the 5,000 is a two-week old clocking of 14 minutes, .03 seconds and he’s looking for 13:50 this weekend. However, Barrios believes his most assured success at the NCAA cham pionships lies in the 10,000-meters rather that the 5,000 because the longer the race, the more the runner must be able to handle the humidity. Since both the Texas Relays and the NCAAs are taking place in Austin, Barrios said he owns a climatic advantage over athletes from the northern states. In the relay events, the Aggies should also fare well. Nelson said both the 400-meter relay team of Darrell Austin, Tony Jones, Tommy Alsbrooks and Richardson and the mile relay team of Tony Tolson, Kyle Harggett, Maurice Holt and Kendric Wesley are expected to turn agile exchanges into pay dirt. T he Aggie sprint medley relay will be guided by Austin, Alsbrooks, Tol son and Wesley, while the 800-meter relay features Austin, Jones, Alsbrooks and Bill Shelton. Single-handedly maneuvering through a medley of events, Kurt Thome had a strong hold of third place in the decathlon at the end of Wednesday’s competition with 3,937 points, 20 points behind second place. But the hurdle events still loom in the future for David Henzler in the 400-meters , Rickey Alexander and Harry Johnson in ihe 110-meters. For this Aggie team, track events are only half the story. “Most people pick their poison,” Nelson said about teams that concen trate on either track or field events. “We’ve tried to keep ours at a balance.” Nelson said Ethan Class and Ernie Mendez should have good sight of the highest bars in the high jump, while Chris Walker and Johnson are slotted for the long jump. Desmand Kidd and Mark Bruce will compete in the pole vault, and for Francisco Olivares, three isn’t a crowd in the triple jump. In weightier matters, Todd Howard and Dana Baptiste are throwing the discus, and Howard will round his endeavors out with the shot pul competi tion. Nelson said the track team’s spring recruitment is maintaining a com mittment toward a balanced program, but this year the sought-after tra- cksters have more renowned talents. “We’re recruiting some of the top high school athletes in the US," Nel son said. He added that not having attack the last two years has hurt A&M’s recruiting successes. The new track is currently under construction, west of Olsen Field. S. • 'V '' '' ‘ ' " ■' -- ■'■T'V SWAylLW/CE Tfte Ballet eveiyone should set tiOUSTOyt ‘BALLET Ben Stevenson Artistic Director The company everyone wants to see "MixedRepertoire" Aprif 10 8 p.m. Rudder Auditorium "SWAN LAKE" ApriC 11 8 p.m Rudder Auditorium Tickets avaiiabte MSC Box Office 845-1234 and ad Ticketron outlets Grant recieivedfrom Texas Commission on the Arts MSC OPAS XII JJu Tied 845-2611