St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 35

SPORTS ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1 989 3C DQaiD0CdS 1 .78 ERA Helps Ease Prospect's Pain SPORTS SHORTS GOLF Sandy Lyle has declined an offer of an at-large berth on the 12-man European Ryder Cup team announced in Frankfurt, West Germany. Lyle has missed the cut in seven tournaments this season. tmm" irti.i.iiltfcrt,.,.,ii dropped way down. That's how the Cards got me.

Otherwise, I would have been gone when they picked." The pick that delivered Ericks came from the Yankees as compensation for Jack Clark, who fled to New York when the Cardinals failed to resign him before the '88 season. When Ericks says his arm hurt, he's talking big-league pain. He needed three painkillers to fall asleep at night. Eventually, the pain would throb again and awaken him. He would take three more pills.

Near morning, the pain would beat him awake again, and he'd take three more pills. This was hardly a prescription for good health. Ericks never connected the agony with the absent exercises, not even when his arm bothered him last year at Johnson City in the Rookie League. At the Cardinals' suggestion, he is back on the weights. The program was designed by Dr.

Frank Jobe of Los Angeles, and it probably has saved Ericks from an early entry into the non-baseball world at the age of 21. "I attribute my fastball and my strength to the weights," he said. "The program's designed to strengthen the muscles around the rotator cuff." Ericks has a so-so 10-9 record, but his earned-run average is a skimpy 1.78 and he has struck out 196 hitters in 156 innings. Earlier this year, he ran off 31 consecutive scoreless innings. He had a hand in four consecutive shutouts.

And he gave up one earned run or fewer in 12 of his first 16 starts. So why is he still in Class That's what Ericks wanted to know. In a word, or three, the answer is: Bases on balls. "I understand now," Ericks said. "But they didn't say anything to me before then." Ericks has hit a dry spell lately.

Champion thinks the long season, Ericks' first full marathon in pro ball, is the culprit. "But we're still getting him at 91, 94 and 97 on the radar gun here in August," Champion said. "That's a sign that we made a good draft. In spring training, everybody comes out with some pop in their arm. But what happens when you hit the dog days of August? "And believe me, a dog day is a dog day in Savannah.

It's hot, and you have maybe 500 people in the stands and you're playing 144 games for the first time. But his arm didn't go south on him." Ericks is a coachable, confident, down-to-earth youngster. On his questionnaire on file in the Cardinals' offices, he lists his father's occupation as garbage man, not sanitation engineer or some other self-conscious euphemism. His major at Illinois was kinesiology, which sounds impressive. But he says, "That's P.E., physical education.

That's all it is. I guess it could help you run a health club or something. But school isn't my major concern. Baseball is." The major concern in baseball, of course, is his arm. "I'm not pooping out on them," Ericks said.

"My arm is strong. I blow it out every start, then let it air out, then blow it out again next time. "I quit throwing between starts because it was starting to get tired. And I do my exercises. I have to save my arm.

If I don't have my fastball, what do I have?" By Tom Wheatley Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Last year, John Ericks had a right arm so sore that it jabbed him awake at night. The cure was a weight program that has taken a load off his arm, and his mind. Luckily for the Cardinals, Ericks didn't heal himself until after the June draft in 1988. Now, after the agony and the exercises, he is doing robust work for Class A Savannah of the South Atlantic League. "He's probably the top prospect in this league," Savannah manager Keith Champion, of Granite City, said.

"That's the way I feel. Definitely. And that's the way other managers feel. He's got a very impressive arm' For one thing, it's impressive because it hangs on a 6-foot-7, 220-pound frame. Moreover, that long arm can heave a baseball up to 97 miles an hour.

"On the average, he's at 91," Champion said. "He's been clocked at 91, 94 late in the game, so he's not losing anything." Ericks, who is from the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, once had the cure for his sore arm in his hand. He just didn't know it. He had started pumping iron in his freshman and sophomore years at the University of Illinois. "We had to do these arm exercises," Ericks said by phone from Savannah.

"I hated them. I never knew what they were for. But I never missed a day. Then that coach got fired and we got a new coach. "He didn't make us do the exercises, so I never did them.

My junior year, my arm hurt and my stock John Ericks Bom: Sept 16, 1967, in Oaklawn, III. Height 6-7. Weight: 220. Throws: Right. Bats: Right.

Team W-L ERA IP SO John. City 3-2 3.73 41 41 Savannh 10-9 1.78 156 196 Ericks has walked 91 batters in his 156 innings. That's more than five per nine innings. That's too many. Ericks learned this in a midseason powwow with Champion, Savannah pitching coach Jay North and George Kissell, the Cardinals' minor-league troubleshooter.

"I think he was getting antsy," Champion said. "People were putting a bug in his ear, fans and TV guys and writers down here, saying, 'Why are you It was itching at him." "I was putting up the numbers and wondering what was going on," Ericks said. "When I came, they said I'd Springfield's Standout Pitcher No. 679 In By Tom Wheatley Of the Post-Dispatch Staff In the June 1988 amateur draft, the Cardinals had back-to-back selections in the first round. They chose pitchers John Ericks and Brad DuVall.

A year later, the winningest pitcher from that draft is not Ericks, who is 10-9 for Class A Savannah. It's not DuVall, either. He left Class A Springfield with a 2-5 record after midseason back surgery. It's a third righthander, Cory Satter-field, who is 14-8 for Springfield. Ericks was the 22nd player taken in the '88 draft.

DuVall was No. 23. Satterfield went in the 26th round, the 679th player taken. However, Satterfield, 23, is tied with Dave Osteen, who pitches for Class AA Arkansas, for most victories in the Cardinals' farm system. CARDINALS FOOTBALL The National Football League has refused reinstatement this season for former Green Bay Packers defensive back Mossy Cade.

Cade served 15 months in prison for second-degree sexual assault and was paroled Oct. 21, 1988. AUTO RACING Brazilian world champion Ayrton Senna won the Belgian Grand Prix in 1 hour 40 minutes 54.196 seconds, 1.304 seconds ahead of Alain Prost of France. OLYMPICS Tennis players who have competed in South Africa since last year's Olympics would be banned from future Games under a proposal adopted by the International Olympic Committee's ruling body in San Juan, Puerto Rico. South Africa was thrown out of the IOC in 1970 for apartheid policies.

American Brad Gilbert would be among those affected. The IOC agreed to drop demonstration sports from the Games beginning in 1996. BOWLING Warren Hay averaged 234.5 and took the first-round lead in the $75,000 Professional Bowlers Association Hammer Senior Open in Texas City, Texas. Hay knocked down 1,407 pins in his first six qualifying games to take a 33-pin lead over Darrel Curtis. Doug Johnson was third with 1,336, 10 pins ahead of St.

Loui-san Del Boice. Another St. Loui-san, Gus Marsala, is tied for 24th with 1,254 pins. Glenn Allison, a six-time champion and PBA Hall of Famer, rounded out the top five with 1,320. Allison, a former St.

Louisan, is best known for a perfect three-game series of 900 in 1982. The 128 pros, all 50 or older, are competing for a top prize of $8,000. TRACK AND FIELD Dave Johnson of the United States overtook Mikhail Medved of the Soviet Union on the meet's final event to win the decathlon at the World University Games in Duisburg, West Germany. Johnson's time of 4 minutes 32.72 seconds gave him 8,216 points, 154 more than Medved. Batter From page one right.

We got Whitey and Howe together and we said we will disregard Ramirez's at-bat. It's our fault that we put Ramirez in there. "If they had hit Ramirez on their own, then the proper batter the next inning would have been Glenn Davis." Froemming said Herzog could have protested that Ramirez's flyout should have counted as an out for Bass because Ramirez, too, was batting out of turn. "But because you're dealing with pros on both sides," Froemming said, "they knew we messed up but they went along with it and we straightened it out right there." Umpire Terry Tata said Froemming was going to make the right call but "the other three of us convinced him the other way." Froemming said, "This doesn't come into the rulebook, but we used common sense. It wasn't good umpiring not to find the proper rule.

Everybody makes mistakes and obviously we made one today. Nobody feels worse about it than we do." Federally Insured 837-9100 Brad DuVall Born: May 17, 1966, in Oxford, Miss. Height: 6-0. Weight 180. Throws: Right.

Bats: Right Team W-L ERA IP SO Hamilton 3-3 3.54 76 56 Springfield 2-5 3.95 66 49 make three or four starts, and then they'd move me out of there. Bo Milli-ken told me that." Milliken Is the Redbirds' minor-league pitching instructor. "Once he gets his control, he's going to move to a higher level," Champion said. "With a power pitcher, you want him under four walks per nine innings. He's got a lot of K's, but he's got a lot of them on bad pitches.

The higher he goes up, the more they're going to be taking those pitches. "Then he's going to be more frustrated, pitching before bigger crowds, and his confidence is going to suffer." righties I drop down and go sidearm. I'm like Doyle Alexander." Satterfield was born in Queens, N.Y., and lives in Hollingboro, N.J. As an amateur, his biggest thrill was the two-hitter he pitched in March 1988 for Campbell University against No. 16 South Carolina.

Radison, who also managed Satterfield last year at Hamilton, sees him as a setup man in the majors. "He's got a lot of confidence in me," Satterfield said. "He's more of a friend than a coach." Satterfield said his arm is sound after 170 innings and 26 starts. "I haven't missed a start yet," he said. "They told me to go home and rest my arm over the winter and I'd have a shot to make the Double A roster next spring." He knows he does not compare to supposed to." Davis went to third and then scored on what would have been the third out, a sacrifice fly by Caminiti.

Milt Thompson singled in the sixth, stole his 23rd base and Walling then singled to put Cardinals ahead 3-2. The Astros, however, went ahead 4-3 in the sixth on Caminiti's two-out, two-run double. With one out, Davis poked a grounder past Pendleton and was able to beat shortstop Ozzie Smith's throw to first. This time, Pendleton was playing closer to the line. Pendleton, who stopped after making a break for the ball, said, "I didn't think I could get to the ball because I was playing the line.

It was some mis-communication. I was hollering and he thought I was saying, 'I got and he gave up on the ball. "Lack of communication. Unfortunately, they scored a couple of runs off that." Power got Wilson to pop up but walked Puhl on four pitches before Caminiti knocked the next pitch off the right-field wall. "He made a terrible pitch to Caminiti," Herzog said.

"When he gets hurt, he gets hurt with his breaking ball. I guess that's been his history. He shakes the catcher off an awful lot. He always wants to throw that thing. But he's pitched well enough for us." Power had had a 1.64 earned-run average for his previous seven starts 4-1 with two no-decisions.

"I thought he had a little gimpy shoulder," Herzog said. "I was worried about him being able to start." Power, who gave way to John Cos- Ericks, whose fastball is nearly 15 mph quicker. But the comparison is not as one-sided as one might think. "I'm more fortunate than John," Satterfield said. "He throws a lot more pitches than I do, because he's a strikeout guy.

I try to use the fielders." Satterfield is definitely more fortunate than DuVall, a 6-foot, 180-pound-er from Virginia Tech. DuVall was disabled on June 29 after going 2-5 with a 3.95 ERA for Springfield. DuVall is recuperating at home in Maryland. "He went home for the whole second half," Radison said. "He had a disc operated on in his back.

There were no problems, and they expect no future problems. He's started to swim now. He can't run or anything, but they said he should be ready to go in spring training." tello in the sixth, said he had no problem with his arm Sunday. But Costello had problems in the seventh. With two out, Rafael Ramirez singled off the glove of Smith, who had flashed to his left.

After Bass singled to right, Herzog went to the mound to see if Costello had injured himself. "I thought he had hurt his knee," Herzog said. "And I think he did hurt his knee. But I couldn't do anything. "He said, 'I'm I said, 'You're limping.

I don't want you to pitch if you've got a bad Then he ended up giving up two runs." Costello walked Davis on four pitches and Herzog had Dan Quisenberry ready to face Wilson. "I was going to give Costello one pitch," Herzog said. "Then he got a strike. If he had thrown a ball, I would have switched him." Wilson hit what was scored as a double to left, although Thompson could have been charged with an error for bobbling the ball. No matter the scoring, it was 6-3 Houston.

Cincinnati vs. Cards at Busch Stadium Time: 7:35 p.m. Radio, TV: KMOX, 1120 AM; Cardinals cable network. Born: April 23, 1966, in Queens, N.Y. Height: 6-5.

Weight: 190. Throws: Right. Bats: Right Team W-L ERA IP SO Hamilton 5-4 3.28 82 80 Springfield 14-8 2.99 162V3 111 Cardinals 26th-round choice in the June 1 988 amateur draft. Radison laughed and said, "Well, I'd call it a sinker. He throws around 83 miles an hour." Satterfield, like most pitchers, reads the radar gun more liberally.

"I throw about 84, 85," he said. "I've got a pretty hard slider and a change-up, and I move them all around to keep the hitters off balance. I can come over the top to lefties, and with Cards From page one Eric Yelding at secfond and Yelding made a high off-balance relay that pulled first baseman Davis off the bag. Brunansky was safe, but Walling had rounded third too far and was run down between third and home. Then his own fielding lapse hurt Power in the fourth.

Kevin Bass singled and Davis doubled past Pendleton. "We shoud have played him closer to the line," Herzog said. 'You just can't concede a double in that situation." Pendleton thought he should have been closer to the line, too. "I thought I could have made the play," he said. "But the ball took a funny, quirky hop on me.

I could easily play him over there, but every time I play him over there, he hits the ball in the hole. I can't win for losing." After Glenn Wilson's short fly kept the runners at their respective bases, Terry Puhl grounded to first baseman Walling, who ranged to his right and made a good stop. When Walling turned to throw to first, however, Power was not at the bag. Puhl had a hit and Bass scored. Power said he should have been at the bag "without a doubt." "I hesitated," he said.

"The first thought that went through my mind was that Walling would go home. But we were ahead 2-0. 1 made the mistake. It was all my mistake. I should have gone on over there like I was '88 Draft Is At Springfield in the Midwest League, he began the weekend with a 2.99 earned-run average and 111 strikeouts in 162 innings.

He had walked only 43 batters. "He's an All-Star pitcher here," said Springfield manager Dan Radison, who attended Columbia I11.) High and Southern Illinois University-Car-bondale. "He's a long, lanky kid, about 6-foot-4. He has a low three-quarters delivery and sinks the ball real well. "He's got good movement on his fastball, and he throws a lot of ground-balls.

He's just a tenacious kid on the mound. He's improved this year at holding runners on, and he's a little bit quicker to the plate with men on "He's a good athlete, a good fielder. But he needs to develop his changeup to go with his sinker and slider." What about his fastball? REPORT ask for the ball as a souvenir. But when he achieved that plateau Saturday night with a ninth-inning, run-scoring single, he chickened out. "I was going to start getting the ball for every five pinch-hits after 90," Walling said.

"I yelled at umpire Bruce Froemming when I was at second and he said, I said, 'Uh, how many outs are I didn't have the nerve." Walling, shooting now for 100 career pinch-hits, said, "Somewhere I'm going to get it and play a lot more." He has batted only 47 times this year but Herzog said he would like to have Walling back and Walling would come back under the right circumstances. "This is the most talented club I've ever been on," Walling said. "I said that in spring training." When Walling came to bat against former teammate Dave Smith, whom he was facing for the first time in a regular-season game, Houston manager Art Howe went to the mound to ask Smith which batter he would prefer to face, Walling or Guerrero. "I would have done the same Walling said. "Pete hits .400 with men in scoring position." Reliever Frank DiPino, another former Houston player, likes what he sees in the Cardinals clubhouse.

"There's a very loose feeling in here," he said. "As long as we play fundamental baseball, there's no reason we should lose." Rookie catcher Todd Zeile has bounced two throws to second on the first two steal attempts against him. "He's rushing," Herzog said. "He's got to remember these guys run and not fly." Zeile's second throw Saturday bounced closer to the base than his first one had in Cincinnati. "Next time," he said, "it will be on the bag." While Walling wants to come back next year, reliever Dan Quisenberry is not so sure.

"I'm not looking past the scoreboard," Quisenberry said. "I'm not looking past our nine innings and the nine innings for the Cubs, the Mets and Montreal. Rick Hummel CARDINALS' THIRD With one Pena singled to center. With two out, McGee homered to right. TWO RUNS.

Cardinals led 2-0. ASTROS' FOURTH Bass singled to left. Davis doubled to left. With one out, Puhl beat out an infield hit, scoring Bass. Caminiti's sacrifice fly scored Davis.

TWO RUNS. Score tied 2-2. CARDINALS' SIXTH With two out, Thompson singled to center and stole second. Walling singled to center, scoring Thompson. ONE RUN.

Cardinals led 3-2. ASTROS' SIXTH With one out, Davis beat out an infield hit. With two out, Puhl walked. Caminiti doubled to right, scoring Davis and Puhl. TWO RUNS.

Astros led 4-3. ASTROS' SEVENTH With two out, Ramirez singled off the glove of shortstop Smith. Bass singled to right. Davis walked. Wilson doubled to left, scoring Ramirez and IJass.

TWO RUNS. Astros won 6-3. THE BEST MONEY MARKET CASS FEDERAL Pedro Guerrero's quest to play every game for the Cardinals this season ended Sunday as a result of severe abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhea. Guerrero was taken to a Houston hospital and was examined by the Houston team physician, Dr. Bill Bryan.

He then was released to join the Cardinals on their flight back to St. Louis. The first baseman had played in each of the first 129 games. "I would say he'll be all right" by today, manager Whitey Herzog said. "But, boy, he looks bad." Guerrero said on Saturday night he ate some fish that had disagreed with him.

He was not disappointed over ending his ironman streak. I'm not going for that record," he said. "I'm going for the championship series." Willie McGee, who hit his third home run of the season Sunday, finished the three-game series here with four hits in 14 at-bats. He hit the ball hard enough to have three or four more hits. "We need him," Herzog said "We've needed him all year." McGee said, "I've been swinging the bat pretty well." Though he has only three homers, he hit them in 413 fewer at-bats than last year when he finished with three.

"Last year, I got to the point where I was just using my hands. I wasn't striding. I wasn't swinging hard," McGee said. Batting coach Johnny Lewis told McGee "to cock my leg and just swing," McGee said. "That was what I was doing this spring.

"I just wish I had been healthy all year to see what would have happened. I was driving the ball better than lever had." Denny Walling, who was a last-minute replacement Sunday for Guerrero, had decided that when he reached 90 career pinch-hits, he would CARDINALS HOUSTON ob bl ob bl McGee cf 4 1 1 2 Yeldlng 2b 4 0 0 0 O. Smith ss 4 0 0 0 Ramirez ss 4 110 Thompson If 4 12 0 Bass If 4 2 2 0 Walling lb 3 0 11 Davis lb 3 2 2 0 Pendleton 3b 3 0 0 0 Wilson rf 4 0 12 Brunansky rf 4 0 0 0 Puhl cf 2 111 Oauendo2b 3 0 0 0 Camlnlti 3b 3 0 13 Penac 3 110 Trevlnoc 3 0 10 Power 2 0 0 0 Meyer 0 0 0 0 Costello 0 0 0 0 Spllman ph 1000 DIPino 0 0 0 0 D. Smith 0 0 0 0 Morris ph lOOOForschp 1000 Quisenberryp 0 0 0 0 Blggloc 10 0 0 Totals 31 3 5 3 Totals 30 1 1 i CARDINALS 002 001 000 -3 HOUSTON 000 202 20x DP Cardinals 1, Houston 1. LOB Cardinals 3, Houston 6.

2B Davis, Camlnlti, Wilson. HR McGee (3). SB Thompson (23). Forsch. SF Camlnlti.

IP ER BB SO Cardinals Power (U 5-4) 5tt 6 4 4 2 4 Costello 1 3 2 2 2 0 DIPino VI 0 0 0 0 0 Quisenberry 1 0 0 0 0 0 Houston Forsch (W, 4-4) 4 3 3 2 2 Meyer 2 0 0 0 0 2 D. Smith (S, 23) 1 1 0 0 0 1 Umpires Home, Rlppley; First, Froem- mlng; Second, Tata Third, DeMuth. 2:53. A 20,697. Deposits To $100,000 CALL fmemWm live! on pay-per-view II TCI HULK HOCAN 0 wrecking machine BRUTUS VS "MACHO MAN" 1 "THE BARBER" RANDY SAVAGE I CONTRARY TO SOME PEOPLE'S BELIEFS TO ORDER CALL CABLE OPERATOR TODAY! CENCOM CABLE TELEVISION 997-1777 (In MO) 800-231-2317 (In II); UNITED VIDEO CABLEVISION 314-576-6868: FALCON CABLE TV 239-4992 SBC CABLE CO.

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