Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2002)
SPORTS THE battalion Octobe (Art Howe takes new job with Mets (Price must ;onal Possession o doesn't sell, ’I'fyfor the 5 ed early, WANTED wilh StudentCity'^ °d & Drinks and rantee! Reps ^ VIP treatmenifi 93-1445 or salesgr. i FOUND sh-blonde solid sr® te under neck. Fena 7 Tuesday, October 29, 2002 NEW YORK (AP) — The York Mets officially ntroduced Art Howe as their , ew manager Monday, con- irming- the worst-kept secret n baseball. Howe agreed to a four-year :ontract worth $9.4 million !fter being released from the year of his deal with the Oakland Athletics. “I see the Mets as a tremen- us opportunity,” Howe said. The ownership is committed to mining, and the nucleus of ilayers is there to turn things round from last season.” News of Howe’s signing eaked last Wednesday night, ow-m* Earss^liihouph the Mets refused any smi have on loose bow, and lags ferii : Call Ron or Stay* 905(c) anytime dajj LANEOUS rd books, cotecatfe es. 2100CavittBre RCYCLE >X-750F, Gold, a msong/bike.liliri Sir ;onfirmation or announcement lil the World Series was over. Howe succeeds Bobby Valentine, who was fired Oct. 1 one year remaining on his contract. The Mets owe him $2.7 million for that final year. Howe took Oakland to 103 victories and the American ia VF750, red, en ries, SSSOOr'neyxadi ssones. 979-777®! ia, 250-cc. MS 54-6402 x .runs grei 691-8065 KI 3S, I400mi., pqie.it 15-8328. 1 JSIC sunk band. Muses i> n. New Found Gm. px, etc. Call 695-! ETS is. Cats. Puppies ■eds. Brazos kri www.shelterpels:'! supples. 1-female. > ed, dewdawed to 1-0012 junters, viewpopsii 39-2786 League West championship this season, but his team was elimi nated from the playoffs in the first round for the third straight year. In 12 years as a manager with Houston and Oakland, he has a record of 992-951. “Art has a presence that’s going to be great for our team,” Mets general manager Steve Phillips said. “He’s a tremen dous motivator who put together an outstanding record at Oakland. Art is the man who can take us back to the playoffs.” The Mets fired Valentine after finishing last in the NL East despite a $95 million pay roll. The team interviewed sev eral candidates for the vacancy including Buck Showalter, who took the job in Texas, bat ting coach Chris Chambliss, New York Yankees coach Willie Randolph, ex- Philadelphia manager Terry Francona and Oakland bench coach Ken Macha, who now is expected to succeed Howe Howe heads east The New York Mets named Art Howe as their new manager Monday. The former Oakland A’s skipper is coming off two- straight 100-win seasons and three-straight division titles. Year Team Record Finish ’89 Astros 86-76 3rd ’90 Astros 75-87 5th ’91 Astros 65-97 6th ’92 Astros 81-81 4th ’93 Astros 85-77 3rd ’96 A’s 78-84 3rd ’97 A’s 65-97 4th ’98 A’s 74-88 4th ’99 A’s 87-75 2nd ’00 A’s 91-70 1st ’01 A’s 102-60 1 St ’02 A’s 103-59 1 St Career record: 992-951 SOURCE: Major League Baseball with the Athletics. Owner Fred Wilpon said from the start he wanted a high-profile name with a win ning background as the team’s next manager. Early in their search, the Mets settled on Seattle manager Lou Piniella as their prime candidate. Piniella, who took the Mariners to a record 1 16 victo- AP ries in 2001, had one year remaining on his contract and the teams were unable to agree on compensation to allow the Mets to talk with him. Seattle gave permission only to Tampa Bay, and Piniella was expected to sign a multiyear contract to manage the Devil Rays. The Athletics asked no com pensation for Howe. World Series ratings set a new record low ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco wasn’t the only World Series loser. Television ratings for the all-California matchup against Anaheim set record lows. The Angels’ seven-game victory over the Giants averaged an 11.9 rating and 20 share, Nielsen Media Research said Monday. That rating is 24 percent below Arizona’s seven-game victory over the New York Yankees last year, which got a 15.7/25, and is 4 percent below the previous record, the Yankees’ five-game win over the Mets in the 2000 Subway Series (12.4/21). In the past 11 years, the rating for the Series has gone down by 50 percent. Minnesota’s seven-game victory over Atlanta in 1991 got a 24.0 rating and 39 share. The top Series rating was a 32.8/56 for Philadelphia’s six-game victory over Kansas City in 1980. at Purrs! 5-afc the v 'ewership was not as high as ng adults foradopd w had hoped, the fact is that Fox won six of Cat s Cradle | the seven nights World Series games were played, won the week in households and adults 28-49, and will finish ahead of our jhusiness forecast,” Fox Sports president Ed Goren said in a statement. Anaheim's 4-1 victory Sunday night got a 179 preliminary rating and 28 share, down 24percent from Arizona’s 3-2 win in Game 7 tyear, which received a 23.5/34. With the Yankees not in the World Series ESTATE e- net market at'- r pad )nline.com or cal* oker IMATES sap for abdun i, water paid, oosV ols, 846-8351. sap for 2bdntv :ric/ phone, on sk* -643-3434. ><; needed in Jai^i ,bypa' for the first time since 1997, the all- California matchup set record lows for an opener (9.4), Game 2 (11.9), Game 3 (10.8), Game 4 (11.8), Game 5 (10.0), Game 6 (11.8) and Game 7. Still, Fox estimated the seventh game was seen by 57.9 million viewers, the most- watched program of the television season. « Baseball's got to be concerned about its future. I would imagine they'll read the writing on the wall at the very highest levels and get their house in order. — David Hill Fox Sports chairman The World Series averaged only one-third the rating of the most recent Super Bowl (40.4/61) and was less than this year’s NCAA basketball championship game between Maryland and Indiana (15.0/24) and Miami’s national football championship-winning Rose Bowl victory over Nebraska (13.8). Still, it was higher than this year’s Daytona 500 (10.9/26), the NBA Finals (10.2) and the NHL’s Stanley Cup finals (3.6/7). Baseball commissioner Bud Selig did not return a telephone call seeking comment. His spokesman. Rich Levin, called the ratings drop part of a cycle that included an increase last season. “While there were a lot of unknown faces and that hurt in the short term, we put a lot of new faces on the national stage, and that bodes well for the future,” Levin said. On Saturday, Fox Sports chairman David Hill said baseball’s labor strife this year was partly responsible for the decrease. “Once again, baseball managed to turn off its loyal fans,” he said. “I hoped it would pick up when we got to the postseason. It certain ly hasn’t been what I hoped it would be. “Our ratings had been terrific all year. They went in the bucket when all the bristling and saber rattling started.” News Corp., Fox’s parent, took a $909 million charge against earnings in February, saying it had overpaid for its sports deals: $4.5 billion for the NFL, $2.4 billion for baseball and $1.9 billion for NASCAR. Fox is in the second year of its six-year baseball contract. “Baseball’s got to be concerned about its future,” Hill said. “I would imagine they’ll read the writing on the wall at the very high est levels and get their house in order.” Column: America misses excellent series ICES Repair- j/EL $, Get Spring ink Sun (1-888 )RS through Calculi ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — °y Percival fantasized a thou sand times about throwing the nnal pitch in Game 7 of the World Series. Strikeout, groundout or pop he always won. Scott Spiezio was only 3 when e started imagining himself at , at ' n a Game 7. He fell asleep at gnt listening to subliminal mes- ages on tapes his father played to bu| ldhis confidence. Darin Erstad envisioned fly- g through the air, snaring the s out. He had already made a ' Mn g catch in the game and / ee ln Series. So when the ! e carne for the final out, he Hy waved his arms in cen- wi settled under the ball his legs pumping in place, „ Y , n , cau §ht it and leapt in one tthilarating motion. , Anaheim Angels, the nevp i tlat Disne y bought but ih P ; r * ove< L took a short trip to Serf^u Fantas yland in a World baseband u h0Wed how good “seball can be and how little the T 0 /. ,he country cared. mnm 1S Was . a team that deserved attpnf acc * a ‘ rn an d a lot more San 1 c 1 tFan § ot in beating the recor/ rancisco Giants - Th e tereH ^ ^ rat ' n gs really mat ers ,n°m y t0 Fox anc * sharehold- !hev, n lr P arent company, but Y eflected the apathy for this World Series outside California. Which is too bad. The Angels were the kind of team that is everything good about sports. A team that emphasized clubhouse camaraderie over star power. A team that believed in itself when nobody did. A team that produced more sur prise endings than Hollywood comes up with in 10 years. Baseball is a notoriously parochial game. Root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame, and to heck with everyone else. Californians were riveted by the Series, ardent baseball fans nationwide stayed with it, but a lot of others watched “The Sopranos” or football or went bowling. Maybe that’s what baseball gets for turning people off with all the strike talk this summer. Or maybe that’s what happens when the biggest star, Barry Bonds, is walked 13 times. But true baseball fans know that the game, especially in the compressed span of a World Series, is more than the sum of its stars. It’s about clutch hitting by unexpected players, pitchers who step up and do the job. In Game 7, it was struggling Bengie Molina and Garret Anderson lunging out of their socks on doubles that scored all the Angels’ runs, and it was three rookie pitchers who handed off the ball to each other as smoothly as a relay team passing a baton. John Lackey, five days after turning 24, had been a major lea guer for all of 125 days. Brendan Donnelly, 31, was pitching in Puerto Rico a year ago. Francisco Rodriguez, 20, started the season in Double A. Together, they combined for eight innings of one-run, five-hit ball and watched the bullpen ace, Percival, finish it up the way he had always dreamed. In truth, there was far less drama in Game 7 than there had been the night before. How could it be otherwise? The Giants led 5-0 in the sev enth inning of Game 6 and seemed to be closing in on their first World Series championship since 1954. Then amid the tumult of clat tering Thunderstix by fans in a sea of red, the Angels mounted the biggest comeback by any team facing elimination in the Series. Three runs in the seventh, three more in the eighth, a close out in the ninth. Right there, the Angels cut the heart out of the Giants and set up the finish. Percival saved that game, too, which was the best save of the Series after J.T. Snow’s res cue of Dusty Baker’s 3-year- old batboy son at home plate FED ji Learn aw® 501 ! gth and hapj 979)268-3838 affirmative SOUND RECORDINGS Full Service Studio Featuring Monthly Music Business Seminars by ar k Gooden, MBA - Music Business Emphasis Achieve Your Dreams? Affirmative. for more info, scheduling, or studio tour. ^05 Ranger Drive • Bryan • 979-846-1857 TEXAS A&M coupon redeem and receive $9 twilight rate 2 hours early, good only Mon.-Thurs. Coupon has no cash value. Photo copies not valid. Coupon expires 10/31/02. Tee times: 845.1723 BIRKENSTOCKS Save $$$ Order online at www.clubcloseout.com Where the smart people buy jfm Ska AKCH Tuesday Night Extravaganza Steak and Lobster for 2 $ 29." Best deal in town! *3.00 Lava Lamp Martini’s LIVE BLUES/JAZZ BAND Happy Hour from 4-8 with 99<t Drafts & Rita’s Hours: 520 Harvey Rd. . . Mon-Thurs llam-lOpm Fri Mam-llpm (979) 694-461 8 Sat Uam-llpm Sun llam-9pm o'* CLASSICS ill ms. ^ «8hP' Tuesday's BUY ONE REG. or LARGE COMBO GET ONE FREE Of equal or lesser value - all day long Not valid with any other offer or coupon. Dine in only. 110 College Main • 846-7000 This store not affiliated with Texas Avenue location. in San Francisco. This was a Series that had the precious little moments and the big ones. It had Bonds erasing any doubts that he could perform on the grand stage. He batted .417, the highest in a seven-game Series by anyone in 23 years. He homered four times, one shy of Reggie Jackson’s record but in the company of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Duke Snider. He had a .700 on-base percentage, the highest in a World Series that went more than four games, and he broke Jackson’s 1977 slugging percentage record by going 1.294. Bonds probably would have been the Series MVP if the Giants had finished it off in Game 6 or come back in Game 7. As it turned out, the Angels succeeded in minimizing his impact, which is about all they could do. Troy Glaus, who hit .385 with three homers and eight RBIs, won the MVP, though he didn’t think he deserved it. The real winner, he believed, was the team as a whole. That’s all Glaus talked about when the cameras were on him and the microphones were in his face. The team. The shared victory. In the end, that’s what this World Series was all about and what so many people missed. Thou Shalt H Bear false Witne Against Tlty [Muslim) No Dr. Mokhtar Maghraoui Member of the Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) Council of North America Oct. 31, 6pm @ MSC 201 For more information, ptcasc visit http://msa.tamu.edu www.icbcs.ora: m JL ___ Sponsored by ihc Islamic Como*art*ty o( Bryan/CoUcge Station and the Muslim Student^. /prmg break ’03 721 Texas Ave. S. (979) 696.5077 www.stadnavel.com MULl onLine » on the pnone » on enmpu/ TRAVEL on THE /TREET it