Wednesday, June 12, 1985/The Battalion/Page 7 WELSH REFLECTIONS 1812 WELSH etieciiOYi^ Cook aw Iter Tea ^’hen Cool din in aubled aat ed Johnsoi to trimik 1 Texas b- fiarniintlt .ed onem nter scoreii run of lie ripled aal lit. Ellena'i iught Fiore ie anolhei before tie starterKt ■ee runs it ked, Bale led. Kerlif Jenny’s sat' and Dotii strike on to pop of. nd third it Batting National League averages slumping dramatically in '85 Associated Press There’s a hitting slump in the National League this season, and it’s being attributed to speed, de fense and better overall pitching. “Everybody’s trying to analyze it, and it’s all guesswork,” said Jim Frey, manager of the Chicago Cubs. “But there’s no question hitting is down throughout the league.” Besides more speed and better defense. Chuck Tanner, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, cites pitchers who have developed fork balls and slip pitches. The current campaign is at the one-third mark. And with the ex ception of the St. Louis Cardinals, averages throughout the league are down sharply from the final totals of 1984. The Cardinals, a team built for speed because of the big park and artificial turf at home, are batting .272. The second team is San Diego with a .253 average. Hous ton, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Mon treal are the only other teams hit ting above .250. Chicago is sixth in the league at "Everybody's trying to analyze it, and ids all gues swork, But there's no question hitting is down throughout the league/’ — Chicago Cubs Manager Jim Frey .240. The figures then plunge to San Francisco’s low of .210. The averages were based on perfor mances going into Tuesday night’s games. Philadelphia led the league in hitting last year with a .266 aver age, but nine other teams had av erages above .250. Cincinnati and Los Angeles finished at .244, a figure that would place those teams in seventh place or the middle of the pack this season. “It used to be that having a short man in relief was all that most teams felt they needed,” said Frey. “But now teams are de veloping a whole bullpen. In ad dition to the short man, there are two righties and two lefties and the managers flip-flop pitchers and pinch batters without giving it a thought.” Frey also believes there are bet ter defenses in the outfield. “Because of the Astro-turf sur faces you need more outfield speed and every team has two or three burners in the outfield who can fly,” he said. “Where you once wanted big power hitters in right and left fields, you now have speedsters. They cut down on run produc tion with their defense and don’t provide as much batting punch. “And at some point, you have to start believing the pitching is better. Years ago, when I played, it was a generalization that when the count went to 3-and-l or 2- and-() or even 3-and-2, the hitter could expect a fastball. “But the pitchers today are not giving in to the hitters as much,” he said. “Not as many pitchers live with the fastball. They just as soon go with a sinker, a slider, a curve, a fork ball or any kind of off-speed pitch they can throw.” Cards' Herr making a name for himself in NL hitting circle By JOHN NELSON AP Sports Writer What’s gotten into Tommy Herr lately? It was a pertinent question, rather innocently posed to St. Louis Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog. “He’s an intelligent, young bal lplayer who’s always been under rated,” Herzog replied. “He’s just hit 70 points under his average all his life.” Herr, 29 years old, came into the 1985 season with a .276 ca reer batting average, precisely what he hit last year. After Mon day night’s 6-1 victory at Pitts burgh, Heir led the National League with a .373 average. He also had a league-leading 51 RBI, two more than his season-high of 1984, and was a big part of the reason the Cardinals were lead ing the NL in hitting and runs scored. The question, then, deserves a better answer than what Herzog offered, especially in light of some of the physical problems Herr has encountered in the past two years. Beginning in November 1982 with an operation on his right knee, Flerr underwent surgery three times on his knees in less than a year. He had surgery on the left knee on March 25, 1983, began the season with the Cardi nals, then had another operation on the same knee on Aug. 17, missing the rest of the season. After 313 at-bats in 1983, how ever, Herr was leading the league with a .323 average, perhaps an inkling of what we were to see when he was whole again. Herr has made a minor change in his batting style, moving far ther up in the batter’s box and closer to the pitcher to try to pick up the ball quicker. But even he admits this change can’t account for the difference in his average. At least “it shouldn’t improve my average by 100 points.” It may, however, have helped his on-hase percentage, since he has walked 26 times this season. In fact, in 54 games, Herr has failed only twice to get on base via a walk or nit. The improvement in his aver age, however, probably results from a combination of factors. One is his position in the batting order, No. 3 behind basestealers Vince Coleman and Willie McGee and in front of Jack Clark. “Tommy’s always been a good ballplayer, very intelligent,” Her zog says. “He knows the strike zone, and he’s become a better hitter. But he’s also hitting be hind the two jackrabbits and in front of Jack Clark, and he’s tak ing advantage of it.” Herr wholeheartedly agrees with Herzog. “Those are pretty accurate as sessments,” he says. “I’m a better situation hitter. I’m better at looking for certain pitches in cer tain locations.” With the exception of last year, the switch-hitting Herr always has been a bit better hitter from the left side. One of the most interest ing results of his newfound bat ting prowess is that he is hitting more than 100 points better right-handed this year. His aver age left-handed is .331; right- handed it’s .456. | < ^VfSC Recreation * c Presents-- ‘Tfoe ^Ed cffloese c Memorial "JBilliaf ds tournament (£A4SC Bowling- and Games ‘Area Fri - June 21 "6 ; 00 p.m. Sat - June 22“9*00 a.m. * + e. * •§* * * * * * * * * $ * * * *£« * * * * * * * * * Entry fee - $ 3.00 Register Friday at Site trouble Elimination tournament c Men and tadies tDivisions Everyone G Welcome! #• * »§• * * * * * * * 4* 4* 4- 4* 4» 4» 4* 4* * 4* 4» 4* 4- 4* 4* 4» * * 4* 4* 4» 4* ^ Elease Sign-up in Eowling & Qames £ «* • • • • • • «•••••••• • • •••••• All You Can Eat - Daily Specials 4-10 p.m. Sunday Pancakes $1.99 All You Can Eat Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. 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