St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 21

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH PORT: SECTION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1991 BERNIE MIKLASZ COMMENTARY UDDET1 Off-Year Made First Baseman 1 'i A Live Arm For Dead Bat? Expendable; Expos Get Hi According to one prominent language expert, "Galarraga" is a word derived from an old Venezuelan expression meaning, "He needs to go on a diet and stop chasing outside sliders." OK, so maybe that's not 100 percent accurate. But the Cardinals are taking a risk, sending pitcher Ken Hill's live arm to Montreal for Andres Galarraga's dead bat. But remember, spending a large sum of money to sign a free agent is prohibited by Anheuser-Busch policy. So it's Galarraga or nothing.

And that's just it. The Cardinals have Galarraga. Or nothing. The Cardinals have custody of a burly first By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The Cardinals, who bowed out of consideration last week for free agents Bobby Bonilla, Wally Joyner and Danny Tartabull, acquired a player Monday who a year or two ago was mentioned in the same breath as that trio. Andres Galarraga averaged 24 home runs and 87 runs Catted in between 1988-1990.

But last year, Galarraga slumped to nine homers, 33 RBIs and a .219 average for the Montreal Expos. But Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvlll said, "If Galarraga has a normal year, we don't get him for Ken Hill." The Cardinals acquired Galarraga, 30, a first baseman, for Hill, 25, a righthanded pitcher, in a one-for-one deal Monday. Maxvill wasn't referring disparagingly to Hill when he made his remark. But teams rarely acquire a regular player for just one pitcher, especially a pitcher who has a 23-32 career record, including 11-10 last season. PLAYERS HAPPY with Cards' new first baseman Page 4C HILL NOT EXCITED about going to Mon-treal Page 4C Maxvill said the trade had "nothing to do" with the decision upper management made last week not to pursue free agents who might cost them $4 million or more a year for four or five years.

"We've been trying to make this deal for two months," Maxvill said, "ever since the Expos were here in September. This wasn't determined by the free-agent posture." Montreal general manager Dan Duquette, making his first trade, indicated that he didn't exactly get what he wanted. Duquette, who took over when Dave Dombrowski left to head the Florida Marlins franchise, wanted French-Canadian Rheal Cormier, a lefthanded pitcher. See TRADE, Page 4 lyaijg MssitMMaiilltls'' -B AP AP The Cardinals hope that Andres Galarraga brings a big bat to the lineup. Ken Hill was one of the NL's toughest pitchers to hit last season.

iK.UJI.... OS, ''If baseman who Is either: (A) completely finished; or (B) on the verge of a booming revival in a positive environment Opinions vary. Wildly. I called a scout who works for a National League team. He believes the Cardi-nals are fooling themselves.

"Galarraga's career just dropped dead," said the scout, who requested anonymity. "He's lost It, and I don't know if anybody can repair him. He's a good kid, but he's backed up in a big way, and most guys never get the form back. Montreal's been offering him to everybody, so what does that say? The Cardinals just got a guy who might not hit any better than Pete Incaviglia. And Hill can dominate." I Montreal pitcher Dennis Martinez offered a pointed rebuttal: "They made Gallaraga a scapegoat here," he said.

"Is Ken Hill all we got for him? I bet you right now Andres will bounce back in St. Louis. Hopefully, they will let him go his own way. The Expos wouldn't let him do that" In 1988, when be selected Galarraga to the National League All-Star team, then-Cardinals manager Whitey til i AhV, 1 1 1 -J Herzog called him one of the best righthanded-hltting first baseman in this league since Gil Hodges, and a sure Hall of Famer unless he has a career-threatening injury." That's quite an endorsement, Coo- perstown isn't exactly waiting. Herzog 1 if i Trailing 1 6-0, Penn State Beats Illinois Henson Bemoans Team's Lack Of Aggressiveness By Dave Dorr Of the Post-Dispatch Staff CHAMPAIGN, 111.

Penn State jumped into a basketball briar patch Monday night but wriggled free In the last half to defeat Illinois 65-60 with a marvelous comeback that Nittany Lions coach Bruce Parkhill said "takes the cake." The Nittany Lions" were left for dead by many in the crowd of 12,183 at Assembly Hall when they missed their 1 first 13 shots and fell behind 16-0. When it was over, Penn State could look back and thank its edge in experience in the season opener for both teams. The Nittany Lions would not fold. They drew on that experience and stepped up the pressure. Instead, Jt was the Illtnl who folded because down the stretch they committed one of the game's cardinal sins.

They failed to take care of the ball. Illinois coach Lou Henson refused to point to his team's lack of battle-tested players as the difference, saying: "Anyone ought to be able to jump, be in shape and play hard. I don't like the way we caved in in the second half. You've got to be tough and mean to play this game. We didn't show any toughness.

We've been telling the guys the entire fall the thing the coaching staff fears the most is 'that you're not aggressive. You're not tough It came to pass tonight. As long as we stand around and let people beat us to death, not going to win many ballgames." Penn State scored eight consecutive points at the close of the first half, capping the run on a 3-polnter by guard Freddie Barnes. His shot whittled the Illtnl lead to 30-22 at halftime, and both coaches agreed later that the shot pushed the momentum in Penn State's direction. The Nittany Lions kept the pressure on early In the second half by scoring the first six points.

They tied it at 33-33 with 16 minutes 36 seconds to play and took their first lead at 48-47 on a steal by guard Monroe Brown, who then fed Barnes for a fastbreak layup. Suddenly, Parkhill was breathing easier. From a start he described as scary, the Nittany Lions had come a long way back. "I never sensed we were out of It," Parkhill said. "What I was worried about was our focus.

We've been in tough situations before. The one thing we had going for us was that we had experienced players on the floor." Barnes and Brown, a slick guard combination, and 6-foot-9 Dave Degitz, who got the assignment of guarding Illini ace Deon Thomas, are seniors. They were an Important part of last season when Penn State went 21-11, won the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament title and shocked UCLA 74-69 in the NCAA Tournament. Illinois started five sophomores Monday night. Penn State was ahead 54-53 when Illinois committed See ILLINI, Page 12 SKI Missouri's Jevon Crudup and Ed Book of Canisius going after a loose ball in Monday night's game.

MU Sluggish Despite 30-Point Win offered his rave-up nearly four years ago, when Galarraga was still capable of making contact with a baseball. Galarraga's nickname is "The Big Cat" We must assume that, in this instance, cat is spelled with a because Galarraga led the league in strikeouts in 1988, 1989 and 1990. And last season he fanned 86 times in only 375 at-bats. Galarraga is a fascinating, perplex- lng case, a rising-then-falling star who averaged 21 home runs and 88 RBIs from 1987-1990, only to lose it last season when he batted .219 with nine homers and 33 RBIs in 107 games. Pedro Guerrero exceeded those statistics, and the Cardinals tossed him out with their old uniforms.

Cardinals "general manager" Dal Maxvlll might be shuffling bodies here. Galarraga, 30, is five years younger than Guerrero, but his power outage is similar. And although Galarraga surely will provide nimble feet and a soft glove down at first base, unless he hits, the defense means nothing. The Cardinals already have one slick-fielding, slap-hitting first baseman, Rod Brewer. They could have planted Brewer without discarding Ken Hill, one of their few pitchers capable of blowing hitters away.

In 1991, NL batsmen hit only .224 against Hill, who allowed only 147 hits in 181 innings. We all have been impatient with Hill's progress, but he's young and capable of rolling up a sequence of monster seasons. This is the danger: Hill is still on the way up; Galarraga has been on the way down. Why has Galarraga's career tumbled? The theories: He got fat. He swings at too many bad pitches, especially sliders away.

He can't catch up with a fastball in on his fists. A procession of meddling Montreal batting instructors destroyed his swing and confidence. He is a sensitive, emotional person who couldn't cope with the criticism in gloomy Montreal the place where careers go to die. Some solid instruction combined with the tender loving care he'll receive in the most affectionate baseball town In North America might By Vahe Gregorian Of the Post-Dispatch Staff COLUMBIA, Mo. All practice and no play makes Missouri a rusty team.

That underscored Mizzou's opening 72-42 college basketball victory over Canisius before a paid crowd of 13,300 Monday night at the Hearnes Center, despite the Tigers' comfortable margin of victory. Mizzou, beginning its 25th season under coach Norm Stewarts and its 20th season at Hearnes, had not been permitted to play its usual two preseason exhibition games be good to win the opener and get started on the season. "But I think our guys understand there's a lot of work to do." He added, "We never had any rhythm tonight. We were Just kind of out of sync." Mizzou, which plays its next game Saturday against visiting Texas was led by Anthony Peeler's 18 points. Jevon Crudup had 12 points, and Melvin Booker added 10.

Canisius was led by Ed Book, a 6-foot-U senior who scored 20 points before fouling out with just under five minutes to play. Although Mizzou led 31-11 at halftime, the Tigers were anything but crisp in the first 20 -minutes. Their lead was forged less of their merits than of Canisius' ineptitude, such as handing an inbounds pass to Peeler and clanging several shots off the backboard, bricks that didn't even graze the rtm. The Golden Griffins, who turned the ball over 16 times in the half, shot a school-record low of 14.3 percent in the half, making just five of 35 shots. For the game, the Griffins made just 18 of 73 a school-record low of 24.7 percent Their previous school record also had been achieved at Hearnes, where Canisius had shot just 25.4 percent in a loss to Wyoming in the 1981 Show-Me Classic.

"It was a combination of our nerves and the Missouri defense," Canisius coach Marty See MIZZOU, Page 12 cause of NCAA sanctions. It showed. "It's the opener," Stewart said. "It's always Blues Go For Goal, Beat Team USA Bono Leads 49ers To Win Over Rams ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) With Steve Bono passing for 274 yards and a touchdown in the first half, the San Francisco 49ers coasted to a National Football League victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

The score was 33-10. The 49ers, trying to stay in the play FOOTBALL AiknianOut Dallas quarterback Troy Alk-man could miss the rest of the season because of a torn ligament In his right knee 2 BASKETBALL Coleman Resigns Ron Coleman resigns as head coach at Lincoln University in Jefferson City 2 SOCCER. Net Gain DeSmet goalie Paul Buzzetta learns that giving up personal goals for team goals leads to success ...2 ALSO College Basketball Previews: UMSL, Washington University 3 REGULARS Sports Shorts 2 Eye Openers 2 College Basketball 3 Pro Hockey 4 Pro Basketball 4 Outdoors 4 For The Record 5 Off And Running 5 By Tom Wheatley Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Even at half speed, the Blues had too many golden scoring chances to let the 1992 U.S. Olympic team steal an exhibition victory. After a sluggish start, the Blues whipped Team USA 6-4 Monday night before 13,308 fans at The Arena.

The Americans looked quick and slick and at least for two periods much better defensively than their 1988 edition. "We turned it up in the third period," said Blues winger Dave Lowry. The Americans gave up three third-period goals as the game degenerated into a run-and-shoot affair. "There's no doubt they can skate," said Blues winger Dave Christian, a member of the 1980 U.S. gold medal Miracle on Ice crew.

"I think they're headed in the right direction." But do they have a shot at the gold? "You've always got a shot," Christian said. It was a relaxing night for the Blues. Captain Garth Butcher took the night off, working behind the bench in suit and tie as a fantasy assistant to Brian Sutter. The Blues also scratched regulars Brendan Shanahan, Lee Norwood and Brett Hull, who seized the press box microphone to utter various profundities. See BLUES, Page 12 put the life back in Galarraga's bat.

Might. That is what makes this trade so difficult to analyze. Impossible, really, until Galarraga logs some at-bats. Maxvlll might have pulled off a steal. The Cardinals have an Impressive track record of rescuing players who come here and renew themselves (Jack Clark, John Tudor, Or, Maxvlll might have given up a terrific young pitcher for no reason.

And that would be sad, for the Cardinals could have filled the gaping hole In the lineup by pouring money into it. They could have signed Wally Joy-ner to play first base. They could have signed Bobby Bonilla to play left field, then taken a shot at resurrecting Galarraga. Surely, this team could use more than one new hitter. But that's not how the Cardinals do business.

They prefer to part with prospects instead of profits. Welcome to St Louis, Big Cat (Big Kat?) And bring your bat, if you still can find It off picture, scored on 1-yard runs by Harry Sydney and Tom Rathman In the first quarter and on a 2-yard pass from Bono to Sydney and a 3-yard run by Dexter Carter in the second. After Rathman's scoring run, which came with 2 minutes 50 seconds left in the opening period, David Lang fumbled the kickoff in his own zone and the ball rolled over the goal line, onto the field of play. Vernon Turner picked it up at about the 1-yard line and scrambled back Into the end zone, where he was pinned by San Francisco's Darin Jordan for a safety, making it 16-0. The 49ers increased the lead to 30-0 before Tony Zendejas kicked a 37-yard field goal on the final play of the half to get the Rams on the scoreboard.

The 49ers went 67 yards on six plays and 80 yards on five plays for their first-period touchdowns and 77 yards Wes PazPost-Dispatch Team USA goalie Ray LeBlanc taking a swing at the puck in Monday night's game against the Blues at Trie Arena..