Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 33

REPUBLIC The Arizona Republic MAIL Tuesday, July 2, 1985 Leisure AArts Dr. Michel Pijoan, a 76-year-old physician, has written Game Fish of the Rocky Mountains: A Guide to Identification and Habitat, "a small book, one that you can rest on your belly while reading in bed. I took out all the romance. This book deals entirely with fish. C7.

Baseball Scoreboard Update NFL draft C2-3 Confident Becker rallies, lowers boom on Nystrom I By STEVE GOLDSTEIN Philadelphia Inquirer WIMBLEDON, England Af. ter his win Monday, West Germany's Boris "Boom Boom" Becker was asked about the two times Joakim Nystrom had served for the match. Did he think that he was about to lose? "Nie," Becker said. Never. That is an extraordinary statement for a 17-year-old, much less one playing in his second Wimbledon and against the tournament's seventh seed.

But then Hank Pfis-ter, Becker's first victim, said he-never had played a 17-year-old quite like Becker. And, Nystrom said: "He's going to keep improving all the time. Maybe he'll be in the top five by next year." Sweden's Nystrom also said he did not believe that the panzerlike hulk with the booming serve was ready to win Wimbledon this year. But don't tell that to the other players in Becker's half of the draw. Having won two weeks ago on the grass at Queen's Club for his first Grand Prix tournament victory, Becker is the hottest thing to hit Wimbledon since an American high school student named John Patrick McEnroe Jr.

Nystrom was not the only seeded player to go out as Wimbledon began its second week with sunshine and warm temperatures. Yan-nick Noah, the 11th was beaten by Vijay Amritraj in four sets. Third-seeded Hana Mandli-kova, an equal threat to win a tournament or go out in the first round, lost to Liz Smylie of Australia in straight sets. France's Pascale Paradis ended the 14th Wimbledon for Australia's Wendy Turnbull, who was seeded 14th. A day late and many seeds short, Wimbledon finally has weeded out all but the final 16.

On the men's side, the pairings are McEnroe vs. Andreas Maurer, Stefan Edbcrg vs. Kevin Curren, Jimmy Connors vs. Acuna), a half-dozen Americans and one Frenchman. Leconte's presence in the round of 16 is unusual.

The last Frenchman to reach that point was Patrice Dominguez in 1974. If Leconte beats Lendl, he will be the first from across the English Channel to get to the quarterfinals in 38 years. Yvon Petra did it in 1947, one year after he won. The women's pairings are Chris Evert Lloyd vs. Anne Smith, Barbara Potter vs.

Jo Durie, Smylie vs. Kathy Rinaldi, Paradis vs. Helena Sukova, Zina Garrison vs. Catherine Tanvier, Molly Van Nostrand vs. Manuela Maleeva, Pam Shriver vs.

Steffi Graf and Renee Uys vs. Martina Navratilova. Van Nostrand had to qualify for the tournament Smith, who returned to the game last year after a brief retirement, was given a discretionary wild card into the main draw. Much of the anticipation over the weekend concerned the prospect of McEnroe's having to play on Court No. 2, not one of the two show courts, Centre and No.

1. McEnroe had not played on No. 2 since when he lost to Tim Gullikson and became another in a line of seeded players to fall on that court Bad bounces often have been given as the reason for Court No. 2 being such a Bermuda Triangle for top seeds. But extensive improvements have been made, including a new grandstand that cuts out much of the outside noise.

As a result, McEnroe made little noise, except to berate himself occasionally for mediocre serving and spotty play against Christo Steyn, a South African qualifier. "Court No. 2 is not as good as the other courts, but not as bad as it was five or six years ago," McEnroe said. He had questioned referee Alan Mills about the necessity of his Wimbledon, C5 AP Chris Evert Lloyd easily beat Aussie Jenny Byrne, 6-2, 6-1 Sammy Giammalva, Robert Seguso. vs.

Ricardo Acuna, Anders Jarryd vs. Danie Visser, Amritraj vs. Heinz Gucnthardt, Becker vs. Tim Ma-yottc and Henri Leconte vs. Ivan Lendl.

The lineup includes two West Germans (Becker and Maurer), two Swedes (Jarryd and Edberg), three qualifiers (Maurer, Seguso and AP Becker. 17, twice faced match point before defeating Nystrom, 3-6. 7-6, 6-1, 4-6, 9-7. 8oris Becker makes a diving attempt to return a shot by Sweden's Joakim Nystrom at Wimbledon. Pt nl old-timers JXlairHxairo Cubs' 13-game swoon is statistical tombstone crack 4 HRs, shuffle by AL Republic Sports Wires WASHINGTON Hank Aaron, Bill Mazeroski, Joe Torre and Tommy Davis slugged home runs as the National League beat the American League, 7-3, in the third edition of the Cracker Jack Old-Timers' Classic at RFK Stadium Monday night.

The five-inning game, which featured 20 Hall of Famers, was played in front of 26,770 fans including former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn. The AL, winless in the series, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a bases-loaded single by Frank Robinson that scored Chuck Stevens. Aaron, the former Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves star who crashed a record 755 home runs, drove an Early Wynn pitch into the left-field seats, giving the NL a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Mazeroski and Torre hit consecutive homers off Whitey Ford in the second inning. Jim Lemon, who played for the Washington Senators, cut the deficit to 4-2 with a solo homer off Mike McCormick in the fourth.

Tony Oliva doubled later in the inning and came home with the third run on John Roseboro's sacrifice fly. Davis' two-run homer in the fifth iced the win for Nationals. Although the emphasis was on the past, many of the old-timers talked about the state of today's game. New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden was the most popular choice as the player the old-timers would pay to see play today. Here is a sampling of old-timers' responses, when asked what everyday player and pitcher they would pay to watch: Willie McCovey: "I like (Dave) Winfield.

I was with him his first year in San Diego and I saw him blossom and develop in to what he is today, so I probably like him the best of anyone around. "The pitcher, without a doubt, would be Gooden. I've seen a lot of guys that have as good a stuff or throw as hard as he does. (Bob) Gibson and (Sandy) Koufax Old-timers, C3 Chicago Tribune The Chicago Cubs will not win a division title in 1985. Serious doubt exists that they will finish above .500.

This reasoning is based on their 13-game losing streaky Over the last 10 seasons, 13 teams have lost 12 or more consecutive games. Those 13 teams went on to compile a collective .387 winning percentage. None had a winning record. Since 1969, when the major leagues began divisional play, no team has lost 12 straight, let alone 13, and won its division. The 1984 Cubs won 96 games, a .596 percentage, and their, longest losing streak was five games.

Slumps of that length are almost meaningless. A slump of 13 games docs have meaning. It signals a serious decline in a team that made the playoffs a year earlier. The odds against a .596 team losing 13 straight are 131,580 to 1. The conclusion is the Cubs are something less than a .596 team.

Since 1969, the division champion with the longest losing streak has been the 1982 Atlanta Braves, who lost 1 1 in a row. But the '82 Braves were able to take the NL West with a .549 winning percentage. The odds against a .549 tear losing 11 straight are 6,370 to 1, not good but still about 21 times better than the Cubs' chances of duplicating their 1984 record. Those '82 Braves are the only team in 10 years to lose as many as 11 straight and still post a winning record. The collective winning percentage for the 19 teams with 11 or more consecutive losses is .403.

Losing streaks of any length just don't jibe with winning championships. The 64 division winners since '69 include 23 teams (36 percent) that didn't lose more than four straight during their championship seasons; 51 (80 percent) lost no more than six in a row. Honochick during the Cracker Jack Old-Timers' Classic on Monday night et RFK Stadium. Former Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell offers his glasses in jest to umpire Jim Vanos has future but no promises from Suns TO RiFlToday Sports broadcasts Suns have committed to carrying him for two years. "That is incorrect," Colangelo said.

It would be unprecedented. But the Suns are rebuilding and they need a big man, even if it takes two years for him to develop, MacLeod said. "I know John was quoted as saying Nick is a project, but not to the point we're ready to make an announcement about guaranteeing him a spot," Colangelo said. "That is premature, to say the least." Vanos missed five of six pract ices in the Suns' rookie-free agent camp NBA caliber. Vanos is expected to battle veteran Rick Robey for the backup center spot behind starter James Edwards.

Robey (6-10) is recovering from knee and foot injuries. His status is questionable. "Yes, we would like to make him a project," Colangelo of Vanos. "We'd be inclined to talk to him in those terms. "But we're not involved in negotiations yet.

We had one brief discussion with Nick's agent (Bob LaMonte of San Jose, Calif.) last Friday. We'll pick it up again this week. But no deal has been made." last week after spraining his left thumb. He was the 11th leading re-bounder in the NCAA last season (10.8 rebounds, 16.8 points a game) at Santa Clara, but Vanos and MacLeod agree the youngster is a long way away from being ready to play in the NBA. Vanos is listed at 260 pounds, but he said last week he weighs 248 and needs more upper-body strength.

MacLeod said last week Vanos had a flair for the faster-paced style the Suns will play this year. But he said Vanos needs to improve virtually every facet of his game to be of By LEE SHAPPELL Arizona Republic Staff The Phoenix Suns do, indeed, have big plans for 7-foot-2 center Nick Vanos, but have not promised him a spot on the roster as was reported Monday, general manager Jerry Colangelo said. In fact, they have not yet entered into negotiations to promise him anything, Colangelo said later Monday. Suns coach John MacLeod was quoted Monday as saying that Vanos would be placed on the team's active roster as soon as Vanos signs a contract, and that the Radio Major league baseball Cincinnati at Los Angeles, KTAR (620), 7:30 p.m. Chicago at Philadelphia, KCKY (1150).

4:05 p.m. California at Texas, KIKO-FM (100.3). 5:15 p.m.; KCKY (1150), 7 p.m. (joined in progress). Timei luppUed by network! and station Television Major league baseball Atlanta at San Francisco, WTBS, 12:05 p.m.

Chicago at Philadelphia, WGN. 4:30 p.m. Tennis Wimbledon, rBO, 5 p.m..