The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 37

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1992 The Palm Beach Post SECTION POM Toronto loses 4th in 5 games Daseball Inside The mouths that roar: Deion, Mac share that flair for the obnoxious Jose Canseco had four RBI, and reliever Dennis Eck-ersley became the first major-leaguer to get 40 saves in four different seasons, as the Oakland A's defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-3. STORY, 'Anytime you hold the Blue Jays down to zippo, TWINS MANAGER TOM KELLY Only one topic seemed appropriate for today big, blustery bags of wind and persistent stormy conditions. We give you, then, John McEnroe and Deion Sanders, and issue this warning. For the remainder of this column, a Blowhard Watch is in effect. Remain seated, knees locked and teeth firmly clenched and soon the danger will pass.

AL ROUNDUP, 7C The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS Scott Erickson pitched a four-hitter and outdueled Jimmy Key as the Minnesota Twins beat Toronto 2-0 Sunday, the fourth loss in five games for the AL East-leading Blue Jays. Erickson (9-10) stopped his three-game losing streak with his third shutout of the season. His previous two victories also were shutouts. Erickson, who struck out four and walked two, took a suggestion from teammate John Smiley to raise his leg kick. "I don't know what it does, but it worked," said Erickson, whose last three victories have been shutouts.

"Smiles suggested it and I used it today. The guys said they didn't notice it, but I felt good." and did not allow another hit until the eighth. Key (8-11) allowed four hits in seven innings. "I'm pitching just good enough to lose," Key said. Lenny Webster, who starts in place of regular catcher Brian Harper when Erickson pitches, broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with his first home run since last Sept.

9. Webster's solo homer atoned for his base-running mistake in the third inning. He led off the inning with a single and took third on a one-out error by right fielder Joe Carter. Scott Leius then popped out, and second baseman Roberto Alomar's throw surprised Webster and doubled him off third base. Twins manager Tom Kelly did not see Erickson's shift, either.

"I wasn't aware of it, but if that's what he said did it, then yes, it was the leg kick," Kelly said. "He pitched a fabulous game. Anytime you hold the Blue Jays down to zippo, wow!" Erickson gave up singles in the second inning to John Olerud and Kelly Gruber, Jose Rijo allowed five hits over seven innings, and the Cincinnati Reds used an unearned run to defeat the Montreal Expos 1 -0 and pull within 6'2 games of first-place Atlanta. ROUNDUP, 6C mm I The tough part is that I like what these guys add to their sports, namely tennis, baseball andor football and, who knows, perhaps someday bobsled. Their capacity for sending great surges of inspiration and exasperation through the masses is unmatched in the sports world and rivaled outside by only Michael Jackson, another tortured artist with a seeming desire to crawl right out of his HEADFIRST, BUT STILL LAST Dave George 4.

f' own skin. If only Big Mac and Neon Deion weren't such jerks, cheering their astounding skills would be more fun, not as involuntary as a cough. These guys wear their fame like a live mink, alternately warmed and wounded by it. All the money and acclaim in the world don't satisfy. They want our sympathy, too.

Batten down the hatches, boys. Here comes another big gust from Mad Mac. "If you can't channel your energies in a more positive way and enjoy it, it's just kind of ridiculous to go out there and put myself in a position where I end up doing something stupid," said McEnroe the meek. These introspective thoughts followed an ugly appearance by Mac the malevolent, who engaged in some aerobic channel-flipping at the Volvo International last week. McEnroe deliberately tipped over a courtside ESPN camera, nearly pinning the cameraman underneath.

"Sometimes I make it more difficult for la. mr. i myself," McEnroe said. "It's just not necessary don't need it and tennis doesn't need it." Film flam 1 1 i 1 i K4 y-v ft VSrc THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK The Yankees' Pat Kelly beats California catcher Ron ning Sunday. The run didn't help New York, which lost 7-3 in 10 in-Tingley's tag to score on a wild pitch by Mark Langston in the fifth in- nings and remained tied for last in the AL East.

ROUNDUP, 7C Andrew forces Shula to cancel practice Storm preparations supercede events The TV camera operators' union wishes to make it unanimous. The poor guy at the Volvo event, for instance, will carefully consider McEnroe's pain as soon as somebody lifts several hundred pounds of expensive equipment out of his own lap. Mac's magic, in part, is that he has the ability on a given day to make his greatest supporters hate him and his surliest critics love him. It is a trait he shares with two other noted left-handers Bill Clinton and George Bush. Speaking of windbags, Sanders has this to say about the Atlanta Falcons and their silly notion that contracts are valid even when wrinkled.

"The Falcons know the solution to their problem," said Sanders, who seeks a part-time millionaire's football contract written in the crayon of his childish dreams. "Let me play both (sports). This goes way back, and it's way beyond money." A "plantation" mentality on the part of the inhuman Falcons, that's what Deion calls it, as if an underground railroad were needed to deliver him from his travails. On the night he made these angry comments, the heir to Bo Jackson's two-sport marketing empire arrived at a Braves game in a limo on loan from rap star Hammer. He picks his friends as carefully and successfully as he does his sports.

And so the drama builds, just like when Sanders waits to receive a punt or takes a big lead off first base. It is impossible to pry the eyes away, to wish for anything but the unforgettable. He's a one-man Atlanta Olympics, triple-cast on the networks of the Braves and Falcons and a local cable show of his very own. And he has yet to give any of it his full attention. Business senseless Get this.

The Falcons, who had him first, pay Sanders $600,000 for effort that can only be described as occasional. Even so, they offered to pay him a $1 million bonus for snowing up at the start of training camp Aug. 1. How many bosses speak this language? Sorry I can't give you that raise you wanted but I am prepared to offer you a Christmas bonus that's more than your annual salary. Meanwhile, we're holding your job and praying you'll return.

Sanders was insulted, accusing the Braves and Falcons of collusion. He works for the Braves on a pro-rata basis now. Piece work. Stolen bases and triples, our specialty. If and when Deion reports to the Falcons, he will do so under the threat of returning to the Braves for the playoffs.

In the plantation of Sanders' imagining, emancipation is never more than a news conference away. Hurricane Andrew rules the headlines for a few days but it seems McEnroe and Sanders never subside. The most we can promise from this end is that these annoying advisories will be kept to a minimum. By ARMANDO SALGUERO Palm Beach Post Staff Writer MIAMI The Miami Dolphins went to a sort of prevent defense Sunday as Hurricane Andrew gained ground on South Florida. Falcons open dome by beating Eagles 3C Tagliabue wants settlement in suit 3C Even when there was no hint of the storm's existence at the team's St.

Thomas University facility early in the day, coach Don Shula canceled film meetings, a one-hour practice and his weekly post-game news conference. Players reported to camp at 1 p.m. and were told to leave. Most were gone by 1:15 p.m. Later, as menacing black clouds and winds began to sweep across the area, nearly two dozen players and several staff personnel met at Joe Robbie Stadium, where they planned to ride out the storm.

The team's immediate plans for announcing the 10 cuts it must make by Tuesday to trim the roster to 60 players is on hold. Wednesday's planned departure for Baltimore where Miami is scheduled to play the New Orleans Saints Thursday evening also is in limbo. "At this point the players' primary concern should be their families, and I am sending them home early and telling them to remain there until further notice," said Dolphins coach Don Shula, who had to prepare his Miami Lakes home for Andrew. "We will monitor the situation to determine when the players will report back to camp, but right now their responsibility to their family is the most important priority," Shula said. With a few exceptions, players were late in preparing for the Please see DOLPHINS3C because of Hurricane Andrew.

The games will be made up if they affect the playoffs. The first-place Mets lead the Expos by Vz games in the FSL's East Division and must win the second-half division title to reach the playoffs. The Expos qualified for the playoffs by winning the first-half championship and could eliminate St. Lucie from the playoffs by winning the second-half title. The 12-race card at Calder in Miami was canceled to give patrons and horsemen time to prepare for any immediate threat from the appraoching storm.

Sunday's races are expected to be run Wednesday. The matinee racing at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach also was canceled. The kennel club is closed today and Tuesday but is expected to be open for its regular matinee and evening races Wednesday. Palm Beach Post Staff and Wire Reports The approach of Hurricane Andrew forced cancellations and postponements of several South Florida sporting events Sunday. The University of Miami canceled its Family Day football scrimmage at the Greentree Practice Field in Coral Gables.

The Hurricanes are scheduled to scrimmage for the final time during the preseason Wednesday. The Hurricanes, ranked No. 1 by The Associated Press and the USA Today-CNN coaches' poll, open the regular season Sept. 5 at Iowa. The Florida State League baseball game between the West Palm Beach Expos and St.

Lucie Mets was postponed because of heavy rain at Municipal Stadium. Expos officials said tonight's game with the Mets also has been postponed Vicario upsets Seles to take Canadian Open Clearwater wins double no-hitter "5. munir" 5 1- SCORELINE: (407) 820-4567 (Code 4000) The Associated Press MONTREAL Arantxa Sanchez Vicario overcame 10 consecutive losses to Monica Seles Sunday, upsetting the world's No. 1 women's player in the championship of the Matinee International Canadian Open. Houston 3 Phila.

1 Chicago 4 L.A. 2 San Diego 4 N.Y. 3 San Fran. 5 Pitt. 2 St.

Louis at Atl late FLA. STATE LEAGUE STL at WPB ppd. NFL 3C Atlanta 20 Phila. 10 Pitt, at Chicago late AMERICAN LEAGUE 7C Seattle 9 Boston 3 Calif. 7 York 3 (10) Oakland 7 Bait.

3 Texas 14 Cleve. 4 Minn. 2 Toronto Chicago 3 K.C. 1 Detroit 3 Milw. 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE 6C Cine.

1 Montreal 0 Sanchez, the second seed from Spain, turned in a dogged performance on a hot, windy day on the hardcourts at Jarry Stadium to win fi-4 S-fi her once, I know I can beat her again." Sanchez, ranked fifth in the world, earned $110,000 to increase her prize money for the season to $816,255. For Seles, 18, the loss was another reminder that her game has slipped a notch with the U.S. Open just over a week away. Seles lost a final for the third tournament in a row the first time she's done that in more than two years. "I'd just like to get my game back by next week," Seles said.

"It's not so much the losses, because I lost each time for different reasons." Seles, who has reached the final of every tournament but one the Key Biscayne last March in the last two years, continues in what by her standards is a slump. She lost to Steffi Graf in the Wimbledon final in July, then lost the final to Martina Navratilova last week in Los Angeles. The Associated Press CLEARWATER There were no big hits in Clearwater's 1-0 victory over Winter Haven Sunday in the Class A Florida State League. In fact, there were no hits at In what appeared to be the first professional baseball game in 40 years without a hit, Andy Carter and the Clearwater Phillies managed to beat Scott Bakkum and the Winter Haven Red Sox. The only run scored in the seventh inning on a pair of walks and a pair of sacrifice bunts.

"It's disappointing to lose, but it was a great game," Bakkum said. Minor league records are Incomplete, and it was uncertain ho many times there had been a game without any hits. But there was at least one such game without a hit: On Aug. 20, 1952, in the New York-Penn League, Frank Echtberger of Pleafee see NO-HI7TER6C 5 I FAXON WINS INTERNATIONAL Brad Faxon played first, then had to sit back and wait to see whether his points total would hold up in the International, which it did, giving him the fourth victory of his career. STORY, 4C Seles 6.4, "I didn't give up," said Sanchez, 20, who had not beaten Seles in 10 matches since 1989.

"I kept fighting and it worked. "I'm happy and proud because it was a great victory. It will give me confidence the next time I play her. I beat the jinx. Now I beat THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Champion Again INDIANAPOLIS Pete Sampras exults after beating Jim Courier 6-4, 6-4 Sunday in the U.S.

Hardcourts Championship. It was Sampras' third straight title. STORY, 3C JL.