The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 8

The Courier-Journal, Tuesday morning, September 20, 1S83 WITS Classified Comics Sports results, 582-4871 JLLVJ-L eries needs Birds, has eball To fly high, eopie say Billv Reed Courier-Journal L'X-wJ sports editor of it, but we have to be practical. And, as we all know, there has to be more cooperation with the big-league clubs." Reese, former shortstop and captain of th'j Brooklyn Dodgers: "You've got to get the home club in there. That would be a tremendous boost. Of course, then it does become a sort of exhibition. "I've not been too unhappy with the crowds.

We're getting around 7,000 or 8,000 without the home team in there, and that's not bad. Entertainment-wise, what they've done for the people coming in town, I think has been great. It's the first time, so there have to be a few bugs." Dan Ulmer, bank president and co-chairman of the committee to re turn professional baseball to Louisville: "I think that, for the first time, it's gone well. There are changes that probably have to be made. I think it's the league playoffs that need work more than the World Series.

We need to get them played a little sooner, if possible. Otherwise, the format is good. "I wouldn't be totally against a wild-card team. And maybe five years in Louisville is too much. Maybe we need to move it to another city so we can get the cities to compete for it." Dave Johnson, ex-major-league second-baseman and manager of the Tidewater Tides: "Well, first, I'd have the Universi- See TO FLY PAGE 3, col.

1, this section sociation title, then the "wild card" would go to be best qualified team from the three leagues. There seemed to be no particular sentiment in favor of holding the Triple-A World Series before the Labor Day weekend. And the feeling seemed to be that, if the Redbirds are in the field, large crowds will turn out despite the opening of school, the start of football, and call ups from the major leagues. The last, especially, became a last-minute problem this year when the Chicago White Sox, parent of the American Association champion Denver Bears, called up four starters and two top pitchers after the Bears had swept the Louisville Red-birds to win the league title. That seemed to bother the fans more than the minor-league offi cials, who have been around long enough to understand that some big-league teams have callous disregard for the Triple-A leagues and are jealous of the the success enjoyed by the Redbirds and owner A.

Ray Smith. At the golf tournament, held at Louisville's Audubon Country Club under the auspices of host pro Phil Krick, here were some of the comments: Bob Feller, Hall-of-Fame pitcher with the Cleveland Indians: "We've got to work out some way to have the host team, that's No. 1. That's the fairest thing to do. It's important to the Redbird fans that their team have the chance to compete.

We all know this (the Triple-A World Series) is.i't World War III. I don't want to belittle the importance The renewal of the Triple-A World Series has gotten high marks from most of the baseball people who have come to Louisville to watch the round-robin tournament among the champions of the nation's three Class AAA leagues. Asked yesterday at the inaugural Pee Wee Reese Celebrity Golf Tournament what might be done to improve the Series, the consensus was that the home team the Louisville Redbirds has to be an automatic participant as long as the Series is held in Cardinal Stadium. And that, under the agreement between the Triple-A leagues and the ESPN cable television network, will be for at least four more years. Last night's game between Portland and Denver was televised live by ESPN, as was Sunday night's double-header.

Most of the knowledgeable baseball people seemed to favor expansion to a four-team format with a "wild card" team joining the champs of the American Association, Pacific Coast League and International League. And in the event the Redbirds qualify by winning the American As Denver wins, gives Tidewater Series title WWBWMWIPPMIMWHUIUJUIW iniiunuiLin! iiiu. iiijii iyi- iiij -1 MfWJmii.n iii i i i mm ill 'f' 1 I i XV i tw, l- i Jf'- t'h' By MIKE SULLIVAN Courier-Journal Staff Writtr It may be the most fitting monument to Denver's Bad News Bears that, when push came to shove, they proved to be Bad News unto themselves. "As far as money was concerned, it hurt us to win this game," Denver left-hander Bob Fallon pointed out last night. "We lose tomorrow night's gate, and the players get a share of the profits." Indeed.

And if there is one certainty from last night's 5-4 Denver victory over Portland in the final game of the Triple-A World Series at Cardinal Stadium, it is that the event's organizers will profit from their experience. The format of the inaugural World Series was such that the championship team did its celebrating in hush puppies, loafers, sneakers, polo shirts, shorts and slacks. Champagne may have flowed, but there was no sweat to be seen. The International League champion Tides resembled a fifth-year high school reunion as they gathered around the pitcher's mound for post-game ceremonies televised by ESPN. Tidewater (3-1), which had concluded its chores in the round-robin format with a sweep of Sunday night's double-header, won the title while sitting in the stands watching Denver (1-3) prevent Portland (2-2) from forcing a winner-take-all faceoff tonight.

"Tonight was like the windup of a pennant race where somebody got rained out and had to play one day Staff Photo by Koith Williams Fran Mullins reached back to tag the plate after sliding in with Denver's first run last night. Denver beat Portland 5-4, giving Tidewater the Triple-A World Series title. it all we had. Nobody really gave up porch' for me, I'll tell you that," Fo-at any time." ley said. but they won it without being on the field." Until last night, Denver had encountered nothing but frustration after (1) sweeping four games from Louisville to capture the American Association playoff championship and (2) losing four everyday players and two starting pitchers to the parent Chicago White Sox.

Two of the Bears' three losses had after the season ended," Tidewater manager Dave Johnson said. Added Portland manager John Felske, whose Pacific Coast League champions took themselves out contention last night with some Loo-ney Tunes baserunning: "If there was one bad feature, I'd have to say that it was Tidewater not being on the field when the thing was decided. They deserved it, come by a single run, and they had held a 1-0 lead and a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning before dropping the other contest 7-1. "Every game we played could have turned out like this one, and nobody would argue that we were legitimately six men short," said Denver veteran Marv Foley, a University of Kentucky product. "But we were going out there and giving Foley, hitting his second home run of the Triple-A series, lifted the Bears into a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning with a rainbow of a line drive that shot over the screen near the foul pole in right field.

"I do believe they built that 'short However, something else that happened in the third inning said a lot more about how the Beavers managed to miss another date with Tidewater, which had lost to Portland See DENVER PAGE 3, col. 1, this section Weiler out for season IU's Wyche sees silver lining Raiders kick Dolphins from ranks of unbeaten Russ Brown C-J Indiana i. cnnrtc pHitnr tn 1 BLOOMINGTON, Ind. Injuries are taking their toll and Indiana's offense still hasn't gotten untracked, but coach Sam Wyche is encouraged nonetheless. Encouraged? After last Saturday's 24-13 loss to Kentucky that also cost the Hoosiers one of their top defensive players? True.

Wyche contends he sees evidence that IU is headed In the right direction and if he knows north from south there's no reason to question his analysis "I didn't feel good after the win over Duke," Wyche said yesterday. "But after Kentucky, I honestly had more confidence in the future of this ballclub." A major reason is the performance of sophomore quarterback Steve Bradley, who, Wyche believes, continues to show steady improvement. "He made enormous strides over the Duke game," Wyche said. clench our fists and live with some things he won't be doing three weeks from now. He's moving along a little faster than I thought." However, IU's ratio of touchdowns to yards gained has been poor because of breakdowns in key situations.

The Hoosiers compiled 408 yards against UK, but managed only one touchdown. And that came on one 74-yard pass, so 334 yards were essentially wasted. "You can drive the ball all day and move it and move it, but it only takes one short-yardage inefficiency and the whole drive stops," Wyche said. "We've got to do a better job in the scoring zone and on third-down conversions we made only four of 19 against Kentucky. "We're not executing our offense in detail all the way yet.

What I mean by that is that three or four See WYCHE PAGE 6, col. 1, this section "That's why I said I have more confidence about where we're going after a loss than I did after a victory. "Steve did a good job and he threw to the right guy more times than not. He's clearly the guy who can do it for us. He's still making errors, but a quarterback is more vulnerable because he's standing there with the ball in his hands more times.

"We knew before the season that we'd have to bite our tongues and jj i i Yi 'J A jfi UK cut its hedges too soon Assoclattd Prtss LOS ANGELES The Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Raiders, two of the NFL's three unbeaten teams, squared off last night at the Los Angeles Coliseum. And when it was over the Raiders had improved their record in Mon- day night games to 20-2-1 with a 27-14 victory. That left the Dolphins with a 0-9 record against the Raiders in California. The Raiders thoroughly dominated the first period, but led only 7-0 on a two-yard run by Frank Haw-1 kins with 2:53 remaining. Los Angeles drove 61 yards in nine plays for the touchdown.

After a 20-yard pass from quarterback Jim Plunkett to Malcolm Barnwell, the Raiders used their running game to get to the Miami 13. On third-and-four, Plunkett threw for tight end Todd Christensen. The pass was incomplete, but Blackwood was called for interference and the ball was placed at the Miami two. Hawkins scored on the next play. Miami didn't get its initial first down until quarterback David Woodley teamed with wide receiver Mark Clayton on a 31-yard pass play to the Los Angeles 47 with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

The Raiders extended their ad- vantage to 13-0 on a 14-yard pass from Plunkett to Christensen just nine seconds before the interims- sion. Los Angeles moved 80 yards on nine plays after Uwe von Schamann 1 missed a 37-yard field goal for Ml- ami with 1:44 remaining in the half, Von Schamann had made 1 1 straight field-goal attempts, six of them this season. Big plays in the Los Angeles scor- ing drive were passes by Plunkett of See RAIDERS PAGE 2, col. 4, this section i SfCox Courier-Journal sports columnist Some people would call it gamesmanship the practice of winning games by questionable expedients without actually violating the rules while less kind souls would say it's outright cheating. At any rate, Jerry Claiborne may have picked a bad time to get the shrubs trimmed around his practice field at the University of Kentucky.

Before practice started this fall, Claiborne asked UK's plant personnel to trim the shrubs that keep people from viewing the Wildcats as they practice at Shively Sports Center. Trim them they did to just six inches above the ground. Now they hide nothing. And who is the coach of this week's UK foe? Louisvillian Wally English. You know, Wally English, the former University of Louisville quarterback and first head coach at fore the Tulane-Mississippi State opener.

Campus police found the assistant coach from Tulane hiding in the bushes around Mississippi State's practice field. A chagrined English accepted his too-eager assistant's resignation, the Tulane athletic director wrote a letter of apology to Mississippi State and, after the game, English visited the victorious Mississippi State dressing room to apologize to the Bulldogs and their coaches. The incident has spawned a humorous poster, according to M.L. Lagarde, Tulane's sports information director. A fellow with binoculars and a Tulane hat is hiding in the bushes.

Behind him are two po- See UK PAGE 6, col. 1, this section Bishop David High School. He's now the head coach of Tulane University, UK's foe in a CBS-televised game that will start at 3:47 p.m. Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium. English, of course, has nothing to do with the UK shrubbery that hides nothing, but one of his graduate assistants just happened to be in the neighborhood of Mississippi State's football practice field a few days be Auociattd PrtM Los Angeles Raiders running back Frank Hawkins ran over players for a two-yard touchdown In last night's game with the Miami Dolphins.

The Raiders won and are now 3-0. i i- I-- i- i A i1 i 0 it.