St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 32

C6 ST, LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPORTS MONDAY, MAY 4, 1998 http: www.stlnet.com Ambush Notebook McAvin is called as Doran looks for reinforcements i Cardinals Notebook Painter turns around bad start game next week but I think it might be tough," Doran said. "He played great killing the penalty and he had to make some tough stops." McAvin brings an aggressive and well-rested look on the field. He had no points in two games against the Wave in the regular season. "This will help us, I think, with some guys who have trouble going back-to-back," Doran said. "Matt has played really well against them in the past." The Wave scratched forward Michael Richardson (abdominal strain), who had three goals and seven points in Game 1.

He was replaced by Scott Kreitmeier. Delino DeShields forces out Chicago's Jeff Blauser at second base in By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch CHICAGO Lefthanded reliever Lance Painter, a star-crossed sort earlier this season, has put together five straight scoreless outings, including getting five consecutive outs Sunday, three of them when the Chicago Cubs had two runners on base and nobody out in the seventh. "Painter is throwing the ball well," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "It's unfair to think Painter is not doing an adequate, if not better job. "You've got to take into consideration how much time this guy missed (with injuries) last year and the year before.

The more he pitches, the more effective he is. "When the season is over, we're going to look at Painter and say, 'This guy's We've just got to have the same patience with him as we did with some of the other guys who are coming off injuries." Painter relieved Kent Botten-field with the Cardinals up 8-5 and runners at first and third. They stayed there as Brant Brown Cardinals Homers by Jordan, Mabry key Cardinals comeback Continued from Page Cl Lachemann, and even more aggressive running by Jordan and Delino DeShields, set up a four-run burst. With two out in the seventh, Jordan singled to center and DeShields hustled to third. When center fielder Brown fumbled the ball, DeShields scored easily when waved in by Lachemann.

Jordan pulled into second and scored on Gary Gaetti's double. "I saw that Delino kept going to third," Jordan said. "I thought (Brown) was going to rush and try to throw Delino out. So, I was going to go to second. And he bobbled it.

"We needed that. That was big. We're going to do that all year. We're going to be aggressive and make the other team make mistakes." Jordan has four homers, and his average is up to .349. When Jordan had back and wrist problems last season, he hit no home runs.

"I'm back," Jordan said. "I'm not 100 percent, but I'm close." Jordan also has a sore hamstring. After Politte failed, John Frasca-tore, Mark Petkovsek, Lance Painter and Jeff Brantley shut down the Cubs. The only glitch was Kent Bot-tenfield allowing three straight hits in the seventh. But Painter stranded two runners by retiring Brown, Mickey Morandini and Sammy Sosa.

Key Plays By Keith Schildroth Special to the Post-Dispatch MILWAUKEE The Ambush, looking for fresh legs at midfield and forward, flew in Matt McAvin on Sunday afternoon for Game 2 of the championship series that evening against the Milwaukee Wave. Ambush player-coach Daryl Doran went with only one goalie, Jamie Swanner, who has played well in the playoffs, and scratched backup goalie Nando Hernandez. Hernandez played well Saturday night when Swanner was called for a handball outside the box. He stopped Wave forward Michael King twice inside the box and stuffed Peter Hattrup on a shootout attempt. "I would like to get Nando a I The Ambush's Dan Donigan (left) ball in the first quarter Sunday in Ambush St.

Louis trails 2-0 after 18-10 loss to Milwaukee Continued from Page Cl Moser's goal that made it 16-8 came after Nogueira made a great save on his first shot. King scored twice in the third quarter. His far post goal from the left corner beat Swanner at 4:45. Nogueira stopped Steve Kuntz twice in the quarter on good chances. "Victor played huge for them in the first half," Ambush defender Mike LaPosha said.

"We just made too many mistakes. It's going to take a better effort this weekend." The Ambush picked up the pace, outshooting the Wave 16-3 in the quarter. The Ambush continued to make mistakes in the backfield, and the result was a 12-0 lead for the Wave. Todd Dusosky scored at 10:50 of Miklasz Marrero shows La Russa he can catch two in a row Continuedfrorn Page Cl pretty well," Marrero said. "At the beginning, it was tough trying to get my body back to normal energy lev els.

But if I had to play five, six games in a row, I could. I know I'm going to feel sore, so I take my Ad-vils, and I'm ready to go. Once I get in shape, no problem." Pagnozzi much to the chagrin of talk-show callers will be retained in case of emergency. "We are not real deep at catcher," La Russa said. "If something hap Iri lutjn mi mnrf and 1 "You wonder sometimes if they're going to lose faith in you," he said.

"But I knew I hadn't lost faith in myself. And I knew I was going to get opportunities because I'm the only lefty (reliever) here." NBC TV star Jay Leno threw out the ceremonial first pitch and then sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch. Leno is taping his show in Chicago this week. Before his performance, Leno said he had not practiced his version. "If you practice, you defeat the whole purpose," he said.

"This isn't school. You're supposed to come, eat a lot of stuff, get drunk and then sing." Fans were nearly crazed at Bean Cardinals CARDINALS 8, CUBS 5 Cardinals AB Bl Avg. Clayton ss 5 1 2 0 0 0 .250 DeShields 2b 4 1 1 0 1 1 .350 Brantley 0 0 0 0 0 0 McGwire 1b 3 0 0 0 2 3 .309 Lankford cl 5 0 1 1 0 1 .359 Jordan rf 5 2 3 1 0 0 .347 Gaetti 3b 4 1 1 1 1 0 .301 Gant If 2 2 1 0 2 1 .225 Bottenfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Painter 0 0 0 0 0 0 Howard 2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .245 Marrero 4 0 1 1 0 0 .273 Politte 1 0 0 0 0 1 .091 a-Lampkinph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250 Frascatore 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b-Mabry ph 1 1 1 2 0 0 .275 Petkovsek 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 c-McGeeph-lf 1 0 1 1 0 0 .315 Totals 37 8 1 2 7 8 7 Chicago AB Bl Avg. Brown cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .344 Morandini 2b 4 1 1 1 0 2 .308 Sosart 3 2 1 1 1 1 .353 Grace 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0 .316 Rodriguez If 4 0 1 1 0 1 .248 Blauser ss 2 0 0 0 1 1 .235 Mulhollandp 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Telemacop 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 d-Mieskeph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .071 Patterson 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hernandez 3b 4 1 1 0 0 0 .227 Servaisc 3 0 1 0 0 0 .200 e-Houstonph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .194 Tapani 2 0 0 0 0 1 .063 Alexander ss 2 0 1 1 0 0 .355 Totals 33 5 8 5 2 8 Cardinals 001 003 400 8 12 1 Chicago 103 000 100 5 8 1 a-grounded into double play for Politte in the 4th. b-homered tor Frascatore in the 6th.

c-singled for Petkovsek in the 7th. d-flied out for Telemaco in the 8th. e-grounded out for Servais in the 9th. Politte (1). Brown (1).

LOB Cardinals 8, Chicago 4. 2B DeShields (8). Gaetti (9), Gant (5). 3B Morandini (2). HR Mabry (3) off Tapani; Jordan (4) off Tapani; Sosa (7) off Politte.

RBIs Lankford (16), Jordan (16), Gaetti (10), Marrero (2), Mabry 2 (11), McGee (13), Morandini (19), Sosa (20), Grace (14), Rodriguez (20), Alexander (4). SB Clayton (9). SF Grace. GIDP Lampkin, Servais. Runners left in scoring position Cardinals 3 (Lankford.

Jordan 2); Chicago 1 (Sosa). DP Cardinals 1, Chicago 1. Cardinals IP ER NP ERA Politte 3 54 3 2 2 63 420 Frascatore 2 0 0 0 0 2 25 7.41 Petkovsek ..1 0 0 0 0 0 9 8.36 Bottenfield ..0 3 1 1 0 0 12 6.35 Painter 1 0 0 0 0 2 24 5.40 Brantley 1Va 0 0 0 0 0 13 216 Chicago IP ER NP ERA Tapani 6 7 4 4 4 4 123 4 40 Mulholland 3 4 4 2 1 29 3 86 Telemaco 1V4 1 0 0 0 1 13 3.28 Patterson 1 1 0 0 0 1 13 3 86 Winner Petkovsek (2-1). Loser Mulholland (1-1). Save Brantley (6).

Bottenfield pitched to 3 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored Painter 2-0, Telprnano 2-1. IBB off Mulholland (Gant) 1. Umpires Home, Schrieber; First, Montague; Second, DeMuth; Third, Relitord.T 3:01. A 38,571.

HOW THEY SCORED Cubs' first: Sosa homered to center. ONE RUN. Cubs led 1-0 Cardinals' third: Clayton bunt single to third. De-Shields flied out to center, Clayton to second. McGwire walked.

Lankford singled to left, Clayton scored. ONE RUN. Game tied 1-1. an ex-Blue, recorded the fifth playoff shutout of his career Saturday in sending the series back to Denver for Game 7. "Edmonton is getting the goaltending," Pleau said.

"They're getting a jump on Colorado, and they're playing with the attitude, 'We're the underdog. We're going to beat you. We have nothing to Edmonton is a young team that plays with speed and size; they have a lot of talent, but their talent isn't ripe yet. Whereas Colorado has talent that's ripe, but they seem to be lacking that little bit of chemistry. Colorado hasn't gotten all its guns going, and they're questioning themselves.

You can see it." Plus, the Avalanche and coach V.V, X'' if 1., vis ASSOCIATED PRESS" Milwaukee's Pat White go after a Milwaukee. the second quarter when LaPosha and Swanner got mixed up on a ball to the near post. Rusty Troy hit a 3-; pointer off Brandon Ward and past Swanner at 9:15 and Emeka Moneme beat Doran between his legs and a screened Swanner for a 3-pointer at 8:37. The Ambush wasted a Wave pen-' alty for too many men on the field and had only two good shots on goal, by Moser and Matt McAvin, that Nogueira punched wide. "Luck was on our side again tonight," Wave coach Keith Tozer said.

"Our 16 guys worked hard tonight, and so did they." Nogueira made 10 saves for the half and Swanner was credited with six. The Wave led 4-0 after one quarter. White beat LaPosha to a ball of the boards and scored at 4:53. White beat Doran and hit Obi Moneme inside the box and he beat Swanner at 12:35. Swanner had King's number in the first quarter, stopping him three times to keep the Ambush in the game.

pens to Lampkin or Marrero, we really don't have a lot of protection at Class AAA. So, does anybody have a crystal ball to know that Lampkin or Marrero will be injury free the rest of the season? The answer is no. So Pagnozzi is good protection. "And if we can find a way to get Pagnozzi into a good rhythm, he brings the most to the defensive position, calling a game. The problem is, he needs some games to play himself in shape.

And this is a tough league to get into shape. I think he's close but it's going to be tough to play him." Marrero can handle the job. He's already handled cancer and adversity, so there's nothing wrong with his heart. Or his appetite. He's feeling stronger every day.

1 mruiiiriiii vrt rm "In I ASSOCIATED PRESS the second inning Sunday. ie Babies giveaway day. Players, too. Bottenfield, who has a collec tion, apparently paid a Chicago fan he knows $200 for a Beanie Baby The autographed bat Mark McGwire gave the Duchess of York was not up for bid Saturday night at the ALS auction chaired by Sarah Ferguson. Apparently Fergie has kept her favorite red head's bat for herself.

La Russa yanked up a rubber mat on the top step of the dugout after several players, notably Delino De- Shields and John Mabry, had slipped entering the dugout. "Just superhuman strength, said La Russa, who revealed that the, mat was actually loose in four places. report Cubs' third: Brown singled to center. Morandini tripled to right, Brown scored. Sosa walked.

Grace nit a sacritice tiy to lett, Morandini scored, un co-line's error on a pickoff attempt, Sosa to second. Rodriguez singled to center, Sosa scored. THREE RUNS. Cubs 4, Cardinals 1. Cardinals' sixth: Jordan homered to left.

Gant doubled to left. Pinch-hitter Mabry homered to right on the first pitch. THREE RUNS. Game tied 4-4. Cardinals' seventh: DeShields walked.

Jordan singled to center, DeShields to third. On Brown's field error, DeShields scored, Jordan to second. Gaetti doubled to right, Jordan scored Gant was intentionally walked. Marrero singled to left. Gaetti scored, Gant to second Gant to third, Marrero to second.

Pinch-hitter McGee reached on an infield single. Gant scored. FOUR RUNS. Cardinals led 8- Cubs' seventh: Hernandez singled to center. Servais singled to right, Hernandez to third.

Alexander singled to right, Hernandez scored. ONE RUN. Car-dinals won 8-5. AVERAGES BATTERS Avg. AB 2B 3B HR RBI Acevedo 1.000 11 1 0 0 0 0 Petkovsek .667 3 2 2 1 0 0 0 Lankford 359 78 11 28 7 0 1 16 .350 103 19 36 8 5 0 13 Jordan 347 98 20 34 7 2 4 16 McGee 315 76 10 25 3 0 1 13 McGwire 309 94 23 29 7 0 12 38 Gaetti 301 93 18 28 9 1 2 10 Mabry 275 51 8 14 2 0 3 11 Marrero 273 33 6 9 1 1 1 2 Lampkin 250 76 13 19 5 1 4 16 Clayton 250 108 24 27 7 0 0 11 Howard 245 49 7 12 0 0 1 7 Hunter 237 38 4 9 4 1 1 5 Gant 225 71 12 16 5 0 5 15 Mercker 167 12 0 2 0 0 0 0 Stottlemyre .150 20 0 3 0 0 0 0 Osborne 143 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 Pagnozzi .125 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 Poiitte 091 11 0 1 0 0 0 0 Stolen Bases: Clayton 9, DeShields 8, Jordan 3.

Gant 2, Lampkin 2, Lankford 2, Howard, Hunter, McGee. PITCHERS ERA IP BB SO Brantley 0 0 2.16 8 1 7 3 6 Busby 3 0 2 70 20.0 16 7 15 Osborne 1 1 3 28 24 2 27 5 19 x-Morris 0 0 3 60 50 8 2 3 3 2 3.70 48 2 37 18 42 Politte 2 1 4.20 30.0 31 13 17 Acevedo 1 0 5.14 14.0 8 8 4 Painter 0 0 5 40 10 0 11 4 10 Bottenfield 1 2 6 35 17.0 22 7 17 Mercker 2 1 6.40 32.1 35 14 12 Frascatore 0 2 7.41 17.0 25 8 14 Petkovsek 2 1 8.36 14.0 16 9 6 Saves: Brantley 6, Bottenfield 3, Acevedo. STATISTICS BY THE NUMBERS Won Lost Day 10 8 Night 7 5 Shutouts 2 0 1-Run Decisions 4 5 Extra Innings 1 1 Vs. RH Starters 12 10 Vs. LH Starters 5 3 Grass fields 15 9 Artificial fields 2 4 Cards Opp.

Double Plays 20 13 Stolen Bases 28 18 Home Runs (Home) 16 18 Home Runs (Away) 19 13 Left On Bases 230 225 ATTENDANCE Home Road Totals 398,766 429,330 Marc Crawford seem to be self-destructing, as evidenced by the post-game histrionics between Crawford and Edmonton coach Ron Low on the bench. All of this is good for the Blues, who have been watching on the sideline and recuperating physically since sweeping Los Angeles in Game 4 on Wednesday. They'll play Dallas or Detroit in the second round, depending on whether Colorado or Edmonton wins Monday. If the Avalanche win, the Blues will play Dallas; with a victory by the Oilers, the Blues will meet the Red Wings. Pleau has no preference.

"I don't think it matters," he said. "The guys are really focused." MFNI'S MEDICAL 4 1 tK nmmmmm popped up, Mickey Morandini struck out and Sammy Sosa, fooled on a changeup, tapped to the mound. "You'd have to be challenged to come up with any more of a clutch situation than that," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "No advances and no scoring." Earlier, John Frascatore, who had been troubled like Painter, had worked two scoreless innings. "If you want to pat the pitching coach on the back, I think it's appropriate," La Russa said.

Painter has shriveled his earned-run average from 21.56 to 5.40. "If you look at what I've done this year, I've done my job the majority of the time," Painter said. Polittc's problems continue vs. Cubs By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch Cardinals starter Cliff Politte experienced his third consecutive poor outing and has allowed 13 runs in his last 13'3 innings. "It was not what I would want anybody to go through," Politte said after giving up four runs in three innings Sunday.

"In two years, I don't think I've left the ball up as much as I have my last three starts. All of a sudden, there's got to be an adjustment made or I don't know what's going to happen." La Russa said nothing will happen the Vianney High product will stay in the rotation. Pitching coach Dave Duncan said, "I want to tell Politte that 'You were around when (John) Frascatore was going through it and you were around when (Lance) Painter went through it. There's going to be some adversity. The guys who survive are the guys who can deal with "And we won without the Big Man," La Russa said, referring to Mark McGwire, "so that shows you something else about our club," McGwire, with 399 career homers, sent one long drive foul across the street behind the left-field wall.

He walked twice and struck out three times. He was walked nine times in the last three games of the series. chemistry and they had inconsistent goaltending from Day One," Pleau said, noting that goaltending wasn't a problem for Buffalo with Dominik Hasek. "Let's face it, Buffalo has the best goalie in the world. He's outstanding.

He doesn't give up a lot." Which gives the Sabres an edge. They play an aggressive game and take chances because of Hasek. "Buffalo is a good example of a team that plays with so much confidence because they don't have to worry about making a mistake," Pleau said. "There's someone to cover up. They know Hasek is going to make the save." Edmonton has that same feeling with Curtis Joseph in goal.

Joseph, Only fftHAlA fAZtUL Mill? LUUIil II A IV IK CUSTOM FITTED RONS mm mmxi shafts! HUM I hlhJ tflJID IIVUU Only $100.00 )Club SUNDAY GOLF 427-2002 4438 Woodson Rd. ot Airport Exit At the plate: John Mabry's first pinch-hit at-bat of the season turned into his first career pinch-homer. It tied the game in the sixth inning and the Cardinals went on to win from there. On the mound: Kent Bottenfield gave up three straight hits, but John Frascatore, Mark Petkovsek, Lance Painter and Jeff Brantley held the Cubs hitless in 523 innings of relief. On the bases: Delino DeShields streaked to third on Brian Jordan's single with two out in the seventh and, when center fielder Brant Brown fumbled the ball, DeShields scored the go-ahead run and Jordan put himself into scoring position in what became a four-run inning.

Playoffs Pleau says MIL upsets are no surprise to him Continued from Page Dl Ottawa and Buffalo are good examples. While New Jersey battled with Dallas and Detroit for first place overall, Ottawa battled just to make the playoffs. But once the playoffs began, Pleau said, the Senators "hardly gave New Jersey a chance." "They got the momentum, and they got good goaltending from Da-mian Rhodes," Pleau said. "Once they won the first game in New Jersey, they got the momentum going in their direction and smothered them. "Ottawa was right on them.

(Goalie Martin) Brodeur played well, but New Jersey couldn't get its offense going. They never got a sniff." At least New Jersey pushed the series to six games. Philadelphia went down in five to Buffalo, which finished only six points behind the Flyers in the regular season. The Flyers "won games on their talent during the season, but. they never smothered people with their If IMMH Men's Medical Center wants you to know there's a new oral medication, Viagra, for treating impotence.

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