jesday, September 19,1989
The Battalion
Page 11
* * * A
stros must find wins, luck to catch
iant in crucial, NL weekend series
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omewhere in the Houston Astros’ dugout,
re’s a short guy with glasses and a big nose
ng, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
bgi’s is good advice to give to a team
desperately trying to claw its way back into the
National League West race.
BWith 12 games to go in the season, the Astros
Hd themselves tied for second place with the
Diego Padres, five games behind the San
nsisco Giants.
he Giants’ magpie number to eliminate the
ros is now down to eight. But what nobody’s
icing is that the Astros aren’t exactly out of it
4
Richard
%: ' W
Tijerina
Tl—
Assistant Sports Editor
ix of their last games are against the lowly
lanta Braves, a team that has won just 58
cent of its games this season,
he Astros also have three games left with San
>as Statflransico, and will have two of their best pitchers
on the mound for the series: Mike Scott (20-8)
“d, “OlfSjd Mark Portugal (6-1).
all teairNHouston has won its last five games and eight
Theyifbf its last 10. It’s the kind of streak that the Astros
indthe l |l ve lacked at this time the last two years, where
:y’ve been in the heat of the division race up
til the last month only to fizzle at the end and
ish with consecutive division-cellar finishes.
But this year has been a little different from
ist years.
It almost makes one think back to 1986, when
eak-hitting Astros team that was supposed to
ish near the bottom of the division, found
If battling the New York Mets for the
Idonal League Pennant.
There are more than just a few similarities.
P passe
thebi
netoo.
re speet
• Mike Scott emerged as the Cy Young
winner in 1986, totalling an 18-10 record and
leading the league with a 2.22 ERA and 306
strikeouts. He pitched one no-hittter to clinch the
division championship, ironically against the
Giants, and was nearly unhittable in the playoffs
against New York.
Scott became baseball’s first 20-game winner
of the season last week. With three scheduled
starts left in the season, including today against
the Braves, Scott needs two more wins to become
the Astros’ all-time leader for victories in a season
and he is one of the top two contenders for the
Cy Young again.
• The 1986 Astros were a team that led the
majors in one-run wins at home.
In 1989, Houston again leads the league in
one-run wins, including Sunday’s 1-0 victory
over Cincinnati. What they need to do is discover
how to win close games on the road, as they have
the crucial series against the Giants coming up
this weekend in San Fransisco.
• The ’86 Astros were led by Hal Lanier, a
rookie manager who preached speed baseball
and spired his players to be fierce competitors.
Lanier went on to grab the ’86 National League
Manager of the Year Award.
First-year manager Art Howe has made his
Houston Astros successful by being patient with
them. A player’s manager, Howe stuck by the
team during its dismal start of the season and has
groomed them into a legitimate division
contender. Like Lanier, Howe too will be one of
the top candidates for NL Manager of the Year.
The Astros have already extended his contract
through next year.
The Astros, who had a miserable month of
August, have turned it up a notch and are
playing well in September.
It may be a case of too little, too late for the
Astros, but at least they’re giving the Giants a run
for their money going into the final 12 games.
It’s a welcome sight after the last two years.
With a little help from the Dodgers, who start
a three-game series in San Fransisco today, the
Astros have a slight chance of finding themselves
in a position of sneaking away with the division
title this weekend.
Granted, a lot of things have to occur for that
scenario to exist, but stranger things have
happened. Keep your eyes on NL games this
week. It could get interesting.
You’re right. The Astros have a lot of ground
to gain and don’t have a lot of time to do it in.
But it ain’t over ’til it’s over.
300-yard game doesn’t always guarantee
FL QB’s, teams a notch in the win column
When you throw a football in the
it may come to earth you know
ot where.
|A fitting parable for Week 2 of
NFL season, when quarterbacks
oved that throwing for bundles of
)ds doesn’t always produce wins,
pe 26 teams who played Sunday
paged a considerable 24 points
• game; they also produced a con-
|erable 36 interceptions.
Seven quarterbacks went over the
Imark Sunday, and three of them
OSL
hat makes eight 300-yard games
ir the season, four by losers, just
ut the same 50 percent average
last season. On the other hand,
: New York Giants have surren-
red more than 300 yards passing
both their games this year ... and
m both.
In other words, for every Randall
Cunningham, whose 447 yards ral
lied Philadelphia from a 20-0 deficit
to a “That’s Incredible!” 42-37 vic
tory over the Washington Redskins,
there’s a Jim McMahon, who has
thrown for 300 yards twice in his ca-
for 354 yards as Green Bay rallied
from 21 points down to beat New
Orleans 35-34, there’s a Tony Eason,
who had 341 yards for New En
gland, but was sacked seven times in
a 24-10 loss to Miami.
tt
It
It wasn’t fun to play that way and it wasn’t fun to
come back from behind. But a lot of us have been in
these situations before and we don’t get rattled.”
— Joe Montana
reer — and lost. Sunday, McMahon
passed for 389 yards — but with
three interceptions — as he and his
new San Diego teammates lost 34-27
to Houston.
And for every Don Majkowski,
who hit 18 straight passes and threw
Then there was Wade Wilson of
Minnesota.
He didn’t throw for 300 yards, but
he did throw interceptions on three
consecutive fourth-quarter pos-
essions (and four in all), helping Chi
cago break open a 10-7 game and
beat the Vikings 38-7 in the first half
of the battle of the NFC Central
powerhouses.
Moreover, you don’t have to be
prolific to be good, as three former
Super Bowl quarterbacks demon
strated.
Joe Montana, who engineered the
92-yard drive that gave San Fran
cisco its 20-16 win over Cincinnati
last January, saved his best for last
against Tampa Bay, engineering a
70-yard drive capped by his 5-yard
touchdown run with 50 seconds left.
That gave the 49ers the win by a
score of... you guessed it, 20-16.
“It wasn’t fun to play that way and
it wasn’t fun to come back from be
hind,” Montana said. “But a lot of us
have been in these situations before
and we don’t get rattled.”
The same goes for Phil Simms of
the Giants, who completed 12 of 14
passes in the second half as New
York rallied from an 11-point deficit
and beat Detroit 24-14.
brmer Cowboy disappointed he’s not ’Bama AD
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Lee
Icy Jordan, former Dallas Cowboy
|nd all-American linebacker at Ala
bama, said Monday he was disap-
bointed at not being chosen athletic
director, but he pleaded for a halt to
what he termed fragmented support
by fans.
fiLast week, the school named Cecil
I “Hootie” Ingram, also a former
imson Tide player and the athletic
Srector at Florida State, to succeed
ve Sloan, who resigned in mid
gust under pressure,
ordan, whose three years as a
Tide player included 1961 when Al
abama won the first of its five na
tional titles under the late Bear Bry-
ant, and Ingram, who played in the
tly 1950s, were the only ones in-
pviewed to succeed Sloan.
liSome Alabama fans, upset since
the school in 1987 hired Bill Curry,
who was not a Bryant man, as the
football coach, also thought that Jor
dan, with his Bryant training, should
have been chosen over Ingram.
I “Hootie has the same great love
for the university that I have,” Jor
dan said at a news conference. “My
support is for the university ... and
Hootie has my full support in all he
does.”
Jordan, now a Dallas business
man, also said that Curry and the
other coaches at Alabama have his
full backing.
He said he applied for the athletic
directorship because he felt there
were some areas where he could
contribute, but that now he feels it is
TANK M‘ NAM \RA
his job “to gt everyone back in sup
port of the program. We are too
fragmented. There are too many
people who don’t have the commit
ment they should.
“I am asking all Alabama support
ers to make the same commitment I
have to the university.”
Jordan said he is “tired of picking
up the little bones that have been
tossed our way, and I think we ought
to do something about it.”
Alabama plays at Auburn this
year for the first time, and after
1992, will play at Auburn every
other year.
“In my 14 years with the Dallas
Cowboys, I never came close to the
experiences I had here in four
years,” Jordan said.
by Jeff Millar & Bill Hinds
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Today through Friday from 9:00 AM
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Thousands of movie posters, prints, and rock
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Are you a senior with a 3.75 + average? If so
you may be eligible for a Rhodes Scholarship.
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Contact Professor J.F. Reading
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WALT DISNEY WORLD
COLLEGE
PROGRAM
Walt Disney World Co. representatives will present an information session on the
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A&M, 7:00 p.m. (location Is to be announced). Attendance at this presentation is
required to interview for the SPRING ’90 COLLEGE PROGRAM. Interviews are
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Eligible majors include: Business/Marketing, Communications, Recreation and
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Contact:
Cooperative Education
845-7725
World Co.
C1989 The Walt Dianey Company An Equal Opportunity Employer
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Delivery areas limited to ensure safe driving. Drivers not
penalized for late deliveries. Our drivers carry less than $20.
©1989 Domino's Pizza, Inc.
©1989 Domino's Pizza, Inc.