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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1988)
Ul, <l-raisiiii 1 ttlliij WfeJClu'i alt a,” le oae »| ilont, iedio* nersolR®. sli. And« Sports The Battalion Friday, Oct. 14, 1988 Page 11 Dodgers vs. A’s: The World Series aiwlfotjj efeatGe® n state sea ncumhi lican Nit i Court of A' ice 3 sea aul Goih.^ is to wins it; Reptit, nember d nd Um Repute and Dero , afonnet from Veit Republ and Deim aersonal u and Cook ats. lillipsatid A-case for rtroom. ch of his it if and i» m is baclti yers. m also k electing joi l «l ; a chat® to trtisan de®l ielcction. it of the cial disci three it gam tot- ; l 52, despiti* i individtul Step right up to get answers to all your baseball questions , it’s that time of year again. The weaters are nomine out of the Well, as we all know, it’s that time of year again. The leaves are falling, the sweaters are coming out of the closet, and the seemingly infinite baseball season has been shaved to a best-of-seven confrontation of league champions. The World Series is here. The Oakland Athletics finally pinned the Boston Red Sox to the mat after four body slams. And, as at least 396 Battalion readers out there know, the Los Angeles Dodgers blasted the New York Mets Wednesday night to qualify as the National League representative. I say “at least 396” because that’s how many people have told me about it. I got endless ribbing from Batt staffers as the game mercifully wound down to a close. I got a phone call in the sixth inning, obviously a Dodger fan, asking what the score was. I got a note on my desk that read, “Dodgers 6, Mets 0.” Enough already. I was wrong, OK? I admit it. It’s not like I’ve never gotten a prediction wrong. A quick glance over at the “Battalion Football Pics” graphic should prove that point. With that said, I can proceed to the purpose of this column. To wit: Many people out there, it must be said, are somewhat less than enthusiastic baseball fans. They might glance at the Astros or Rangers scores from time to time, but for the most part they consider themselves pretty well versed if they keep track of how many divisions there are. And this is their prerogative. But trouble arises come World Series time. Suddenly thousands of people who didn’t watch an inning all year turn on the tube to view what is probably the greatest spectacle in American sports. Some are armchair jocks wanting to look knowledgeable at the sports bar. Some are women who’ll be forced to spend evening after evening in front of the tube with their boyfriends or husbands. Some are boyfriends or husbands who are worried their counterparts will think they are dating idiots who know nothing about baseball and, consequently, anything else even remotely masculine. Such people bombard The Battalion with questions pertaining to the basics of the sport, and this seems like a good time to answer a few of them. And since I don’t seem like much of a baseball expert, I’ve referred them to my friend Spazmo. He helps me out occasionally with his . . . well, shall we say, different perspective. He’s the sports enthusiast, Aggie nut and all- around fanatic we all have seen in one form or another. I’ve taken the liberty of re-addressing the queries to him: Hal L. Hammons Sports Editor Dear Spazmo, It seems all I ever hear about when I watch baseball is balks. What is a balk? Signed, Curious Dear Curious, Balks are called on pitchers when they have allowed a runner to reach base. A balk is called when a pitcher doesn’t have a full stop in his delivery, when he gives too strong an indication he is going to throw the ball in one direction and then throws it somewhere else, or when in some other way he does too good a job of keeping the runner from trying to steal a base. Dear Spazmo, At Aggie baseball games, the batters use aluminum bats. The pros use wooden ones. Why is this? Signed, Wondering Dear Wondering, Aluminum bats supposedly can send a ball farther and faster than wood, and they are broken very infrequently. Colleges consider the advantages of aluminum to outweigh the disadvantages, while the pros think the metal bats give the batters an unnecessary leg up. Translation: The colleges are cheap, and the pros are chicken. Dear Spazmo, Baseball games are so loooong! Sitting for nine whole innings makes my rear ache. Why do they have to play nine? Signed, Fain-in-the-behind Dear Pain, How selfish we all are. If we shaved an inning or two off the game, we’d have to change all those scoreboards! Not only that, but the American vocabulary would need major revisions. “Two out in the ninth inning” is a universal metaphor. What kind of oomph do you hear in “bottom of See Spazmo, page 12 A’s have strengths in series, Dodgers depend on emotion Associated Press The cool and efficient Oakland Athlet ics, a team on a mission. The can-do Los Angeles Dodgers, the scrappers who don’t quit. The Athletics are a baseball machine without a weakness, and are strong fa vorites in the World Series. The Dodgers are emotional favorites, not nearly as powerful — but they have Orel Hershiser. Oakland led the American League in pitching, was second in scoring and made only 105 errors. The four-game sweep against Boston in the playoffs was no big surprise. The Dodgers’ seven-game playoff vic tory over the Mets was a shock, although if forecasters had forseen Hershiser working four times, maybe it wouldn’t have been. Los Angeles was second in pitching, in the middle offensively and made 142 errors. A position-by-position look at the teams: First Base Mark McGwire, Oakland His 81 home runs are the most ever in the majors for the first two years. Hit 32 homers, just 12 in Oakland, this season. Homered again in the AL playoffs and batted .333. Adequate fielder. Mickey Hatcher or Franklin Stubbs, Los Angeles Hatcher, a right-handed batter, is a contact hitter who averaged .293. Led team with 12 pinch hits. Stubbs, a left hander, has power but is prone to strike out. Neither player is good with the glove. Oakland has a big advantage. Second Base Glenn Hubbard or Mike Gallego, Oak land Hubbard will start if his hamstring is healed. Solid fielder, especially good at turning double plays. Hit respectable .255. Gallego was 1-for-12 against Bos ton but made all the plays. Steve Sax, Los Angeles Leads off and is Dodgers’ sparkplug. Tied playoff record with five stolen bases. Stole 42 during the year. Hit .277 in the season. Made only one error in fi nal 38 games and none in playoffs. Los Angeles gets the edge. Shortstop Walt Weiss, Oakland Good rookie season and great play offs. A switch-hitter, he batted .333 against Boston after .250 in regular sea son. Consistently got timely hits and made key plays in the playoffs. Alfredo Griffin, Los Angeles Excellent glove, weak bat. Solidified poor Dodger infield. Batted .199 and dipped to .160 in the playoffs. Com mitted 15 errors this year, the same as Weiss. Oakland gets the edge because of Weiss’ bat. Third Base Carney Lansford, Oakland Started season batting over .400 in June, finished at .279 and hit .294 in the playoffs. Led league in fielding for sec ond successive year, making seven er rors each season. Stole career-high 29 bases. Jeff Hamilton, Los Angeles Became starter in first full season, al though nothing exceptional. Hit .236 and batted .217 in playoffs. Walked 10 times in 309 at-bats. Average fielder. Oakland gets a solid edge. Left Field Dave Parker or Luis Polonia or Stan Javier, Oakland Parker batted .257 in first AL season after 14 years in the NL, six as an All- Star. Hit 12 homers with 55 RBI, but was not a factor in the playoffs. A de fensive liability. Polonia and Javier are faster, lighter hitters with better de fensive skills. Kirk Gibson, Los Angeles Which Captain Kirk will play? The hamstring-hurting version, who batted .154 in the playoffs, or the MVP of the 1984 World Series when he batted .333 and drove in seven runs for Detroit. Gibson will be rested, giving Los An geles the edge. Center Field Dave Henderson, Oakland Best season of his 10-year career and more postseason heroics. Hit .304 with 24 home runs and 92 RBI, along with strong defense. Hit .375 in the playoffs against his former team. John Shelby, Los Angeles His 24-game hitting streak was longest in the majors and he batted .263 with 10 homers and 64 RBI. Struck out 128 times. Covers a lot of ground, but some times does not make the play. Henderson is more volatile and likely to be more help. Edge to Oakland. Right Field Jose Canseco, Oakland First player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in same season. Led ma jors with 42 homers and 124 RBI. Batted .304. Outstanding arm and had 11 as sists. Hit three big homers in playoffs and batted .313. Mike Marshall, Los Angeles Overcame injuries and played career- high 144 games. Hit 20 home runs. Bat ted just .233 in playoffs but drove in five runs, one behind Gibson’s team-leading total. Adequate fielder. Oakland has a big edge. Catcher Ron Hassey or Terry Steinbach, Oak land Hassey, a left-handed batter, is a bet ter hitter with more power. Steinbach, the All-Star Game MVP, is better de fensively. Hassey went 4-for-8 with three RBI in the playoffs. He threw out 31 percent of opposing basestealers this season. Steinbach was l-for-4 against Boston. He threw out 40 percent of run ners. Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Scioscia’s ninth-inning home run off Dwight Gooden in Game 4 was the turn ing point of the playoffs; he’d hit only three homers in regular season. Led Los Angeles regulars with .364 average against the Mets. Contact hitter. Great at blocking plate. See Matchups, page 13 k ; e I catitM 11 ot be sect jeal prolil® ducaliori John Pa* 1 ; ic and f this sit# 1 he would ^ : notfo 1 ^ "I do w 1 ss<i Beta Theta Pi/The Aggie Cowboys Presents The Bourbon Street Bash Oct. 15 6:30-12a.ru. Brazos Courtly Pavillion Olympic Sponsers Silver Southwest Printing Jay’s Gym Hullalallo’s Gold Budweiser The Edge The ZephyrClub Dirty Juan’s Life Styles U-Rent-M All proceeds will be donated to the local chapter of Special Olympics. The Bash is Back ! Bronze Texas Aggie Bookstore On The Double A&sM Steakhouse Aggie University Flowers Music Express Pop’s Com & More Triangle Bowl Chimney Hill Bowling Center Starships & Dragons Aggieland Florist Bryan Radiation Shop " The Bug Clinic Joe Maren Service Center