Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 25

Business i i In back of this section PORTS SECTION TV, FACES IN SPORTS 2D 4D BASEBALL BOB MATTHEWS 3D 6D HORSES SATURDAY, JULY 18,1998 DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE Leading Off McGwire launches 2 more for 42 RDGAWIRE TO WIRE? Cardinals slugger breaks record for most held by Ruth, Foxx. "You're not going to see a more beautiful swing on a home run than that first one," St. Louis manager Tony LaRus-sa said. "It was just classic. I'd replay that over and over again for people if they want to know how Mark does it." The homer off -Bohanon was the fourth-longest since they started measuring them at Busch Stadium in 1988.

McGwire also hit the other three, including the record 545 feet vs. Florida on May 16. It was the fifth multi-homer game this year and 48th of his career for McGwire, who moved within one homer of the Cardinals' team record set by Johnny Mize in 1940. McGwire walked in his other two plate appearances, giving him a major league-leading 99 for the season. St.

Louis starter Juan Acevedo (5-2) shut the. Dodgers out for six innings on three hits. Acevedo has a 1.41 ERA in his last four starts, allowing five earned runs in 32 innings in those appearances. John Frascatore worked a perfect seventh, and Rick Croushore went the last two innings to pick up his fifth save. 1 home runs through July THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ST.

LOUIS Mark McG wire hit two home runs his 41st and 42nd to set a major- INSIDE: recSd for RANDY JOHNSON most home STAYING PUT runs by the 4D end of July as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 last night. McGwire hit a 511-foot solo homer into the upper deck off I I Li 1 Tape measure Mark McGwire accepts a playful punch from Brian Jordan after drilling a 511-foot solo shot. km ft irodld I 3 I Courtesy of Finger Lakes Race Track Win No. 1 Mandy McKeever gets her first career win aboard Dubs First at Finger Lakes Race Track.

Mandy McKeever, like most of her family, loves the life of a jockey. Brian Bohanon (2-6) with two out in the first inning, his first in five games. McGwire hit another solo shot in the eighth off Antonio Osuna to break the July mark held by Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx. "I kept telling myself tonight to be aggressive, and if saw a pitch I could take a whack at to take a whack at it," McGwire said. "I swung the bat twice tonight.

I saw two strikes and hit two home runs." 3 The McKeever file Age 23. Children Mercadi, Jessica, stepson Jason Smith, 10. first ride Finished fourth on June 12. first win Aboard Dub's First on June 16. All in the family Mother, Glenda, and father, Billy, were jockeys, as was an uncle, Bobby, and aunt, Maureen.

Grandfather, Robert McKeever, works in the jockeys' room and uncle, Billy Newkirk, is a valet. and won the first time she ever climbed into the saddle. Still, Glenda McKeever kept telling herself it didn't have to be that way, that her daughter, Mandy, didn't have to ride horses. Oh yes she did. And mom knew it before Mandy was 2.

"She was probably a year and a half old the first time I took her to the barn and I al- New blood Brian Watts, left, 32, an obscure Oklahoman who plays the Japan PGA Tour. He went out early and carded a l-under-par 69 when it was wet but not nearly as windy as it would get. No one was more surprised than he. "Before I got here, I was playing quite well," Watts said. "Unfortunately, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday didn't give .1 SHAWN DOWD staff photographer Jason Piurkoski, waving at his putt to break at the 15th hole, still holds a 3-shot lead in the RDGA tourney.

He'll play the final round today at Ontario Golf Club. STORY, page5D Manning, Leaf the real bonus babies Fretting over the $8.5 million signing bonus the Bills gave untested veteran quar terback Rob Johnson? It's peanuts. The word around the NFL is that Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, the first and second overall picks in the draft, are seeking bonuses of $10 million from Indianapolis and $11 million from San Diego. i i. Leaf Manning "The contracts are going to be big," said one NFL executive.

"You have the egos of two big-time agents who have big-time quarterbacks who are going to start from the outset. The teams can't afford to have the players (hold) out." The agents would be Tom Condon for Manning and Leigh Steinberg, who swung Johnson's deal, for Leaf. Konerko happy to be out of LA. Paul Konerko no longer wears Dodger Blue and he couldn't be happier about his trade to the Cincinnati Reds. "I'm grateful that I got out of there with only half the season lost," he said.

Konerko grew up in Los Angeles and dreamed of playing for the Dodgers, but the recent sale of the team to Fox soured his outlook. "That's not the Los Angeles Dodgers now," Konerko said. "They might as well give them a different name, because it's not the same." Room for two? The Dallas Cowboys are fighting for the team trade' mark blue star. The Cowboys intend to begin shipping Cowboys' themed footwear, which will bear the five-pomted stars that are prominent in the logos of both the Cowboys and Converse Inc. So the Cowboys and the NFL sued Converse because they believed that Converse intended to file suit to stop distribution of the new shoes, The Cowboys struck first, tak ing the position that the two stars can coexist.

The heat is on Want a challenge? Try running in the Hi-Tech Badwater run, a race that covers 135 miles in the 127-degree heat of Death Valley National Park in California. Oh yeah, there's an mountain to cross too. Gabriel Flores, 33, finished first in 28 hours, 9 minutes. His only loss: a toenail. Twenty-nine invited run' ners started and were given 60 hours to finish.

There were no serious injuries, although one runner did throw up his stomach lining. "TV's Best Bet Phillies at Mets, 1 p.m., Fox: The Phillies will try to solve Al Lieter and his 1.86 ERA. BY STAFF WRITER KEVIN OKLOBZIJA FARMINGTON In the game of thoroughbred racing, bloodlines mean everything. A foal sired by Deputy Minister or Holy Bull is expected to be a champion, and Kentucky Derby aspirations aren't just fantasies. Find the name Belong To Me or Theatrical in the family tree of a young colt and there's no doubt he was born to run fast.

The same goes for people. Find the name McKeever in a family tree and chances are the kid was born to ride fast. In 1969, Billy McKeever became the youngest jockey to ride in the Preakness. He was 16 when he finished third aboard Nodouble. His sister, Maureen, and brother, Bobby, were jockeys.

Bobby won back-to-back riding titles at Finger Lakes Race Track in 1971 and 72. Billy's wife, Glenda, also was a jockey The Associated Press Converse earns his first win for Wings BY STAFF WRITER JIM MANDELARO When Jim Converse won his first two decisions for Triple-A Omaha last year, he inrcinF. never envi" INSIDE- sioned the BOWIESENDSUP nightmare TWO PLAYERS that, would 5D follow. The righthander would make 44 more appearances over 15 months including three with the Kansas City Royals last year without another victory. Until last night.

"It's been on my mind," Converse said after the Wings beat Indianapolis 5-3 before 7,782 fans at Frontier Field. "You think about it when you go home: 'I'm just never going to get a Converse, who started the season 0-8, relieved a flu-stricken Steve Ontiveros with no outs in the fifth inning and was awarded the win after allowing only an unearned run in three innings. Ontiveros was not eligible for the victory because he didn't pitch the five innings required of a starter. Converse walked the first two batters in the fifth to load the bases but then shut the door. He allowed an unearned run in the sixth, then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.

Three innings, two hits, one very big win. "I haven't been in position to get many wins this year because I've been coming in out of the bullpen, said Converse, who lowered his earned-run average to 5.85. "This gets the monkey off my back." Newcomer Jesse Garcia tripled and drove in two runs RED WINGS, PAGE 5D said Doell, who practices at Webster Golf Club. "I'm not in very good shape, but it feels great to win." Although Doell won the Women's Rochester District Golf Association title last year at Irondequoit and placed in the top eight of the Ladies Amateur Championship last year at River Oaks Country Club in Niagara Falls, she didn't feel like her game was up to par until this year. "I really worked hard this summer and it paid off for me," said Doell.

"Last summer I struggled a little bit with my game but now I try to play at least six days per week. It's definitely made a big improvement." Doell, a semifinalist three years ago at the amateur championship, won 2-up over Mary Evnin in Thursday's semifinal. Doell will travel to Pittsburgh to play Thursday at the U.S. Amateur Qualifier, then return to Rochester to defend her title in the Women's Rochester District Golf Association Championship at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford.0 BURR LEWIS staff photographer Let's go Mandy McKeever works out Cannon Music yesterday morning at Finger Lakes Race Track, where she regularly exercises horses for Bill Strange's stable. most had a heart attack," Glen- "I knew then I was in trou- victory for trainer Bill Strange da McKeever said recently.

"I ble." at Finger Lakes, turned my back and the next Mom knew only pride on An assistant trainer at thing I knew, she was in the June 12 when Mandy, riding in Rockingham Park in New horse's stall swinging from his just her second race, guided tail. Dub's First to a 2-length McKEEVER, PAGE 6D Weather turns British wide Open Doell shrugs off cold, wins State Amateur 1 I "i 7 jJ I 7 C' i Brutal conditions help obscure Watts take a 1 -stroke lead witha3-under69. KNIGHT RIPPER SOUTHPORT, England -The rains came yesterday morning. Later, as the skies cleared, the breezes arrived. By midafternoon, the winds were howling like a hungry wolf at midnight.

It was not golf weather, and the second round of the 127th British Open was suspended for 30 minutes because balls were rolling on the greens as players reached down to mark them. It was more like regatta weather and nothing most of the players had ever seen. "It looked like the world was coming to an end out there for a while," a nearly dumbstruck Nick Price said. When it was over, the scores, like the wind, had blown north, south and every which way in between. And, at the midway point of the tournament, there was a new name alone atop the leader board.

It belonged to Brian Watts, STAFF REPORT HASTINGS ON HUDSON Sara Doell battled a summer cold and a four-hole deficit to win the New York State Women's Amateur yesterday at the St. Andrews Country Club in Westch- Doell ester County. Doell, a 1996 graduate of Gates Chili High School, defeated Chowdi Ropothong 2-and-i in the 36-hole, match-play final. She was four down with eight holes left, but rallied to win six of the last eight. "I said to myself, 'Sara, you have to do this said Doell from the clubhouse after winning the championship.

"I knew that I could pull together and win this." The Penn State junior was burdened with a serious cold during the final match. "I have had major allergies and a real bad cold and my throat is killing me right now," shot 69 and 17-year-old amateur Justin Rose a 66. The Associated Press Open leaderboard Brian Watts Justin Rose Tiger Woods Nick Price Thomas Bjorn Davis Love Mark O'Meara Fred Couples S. Ames Jim Furyk 69- 137 66138 73138 72 138 71 139 73 140 68140 74 140 72 140 70 140 me any belief in the world that I could even make a birdie on this golf course." Yesterday's round, remarkable under the conditions, when added to his opening-round 68, put Watts at 3 under through 36 holes and left him 1 stroke ahead of Tiger Woods, sNick Price and a 17-year-old BRITISH, PAGE 30.