Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 193

I Sept. 15, 1985 Asbury Park Press 2 Baseball 7 College Football 14 John Geiser Expos knock Mets out of first Elliott DDJMAN The Associated Press trying to nibble at the corners." The Mets dropped out of first MONTREAL If it weren't for place in the National League East with the chill in the air, David Palmer the loss. St. Louis, which beat Chicago might have thought he was in spring 5-4, moved one-half game ahead of training again. New York.

"It felt like I was pitching for the Palmer, 7-9, who spent nearly a first time this year," said Palmer, who month on the disabled list with a stiff made his first start in seven weeks a shoulder, gave up five hits and walked successful one yesterday as the Mon- three in five innings to win his first treal Expos defeated the New York game since June 27. Jeff Reardon Mets, 5-1. finished up to earn his league-leading "I just tried to do what I always 35th save- do, go after the hitters instead of "That was a very solid outing," ond throwing error of the game. Mets and Expos conclude their four-game series today. Mets will send Ron Darling (15-5), aiming for his sixth consecutive victory, to the mound in a 1:35 start.

John Dobson (0-1) will pitch for the Expos. Dwight Gooden (20-4) makes his third attempt for No. 21 tomorrow night as the Mets open up two-game series with the Phillies at Shea Stadium (while the Cards move on to Pittsburgh). The Cubs follow the Phils into Shea. said Expos manager Buck Rodgers of Palmer.

"His fastball was actually about two or three miles an hour faster than his last time out." Tim Raines and Tim Wallach each had two hits and a pair of runs scored to pace the Montreal attack. Raines led off the first inning with a double to left field off Mets starter Sid Fernandez, 6-9. He went to third on a groundout and scored on Hubie Brooks' slow roller to shortstop. The Mets tied the game in the third inning on a double by Mookie Wilson and an RBI single by Keith Hernandez. The Expos took the lead for good in their half of the third as Raines hit a drive off Fernandez' leg and went all the way to third when third baseman Howard Johnson picked up the ball and threw wildly past first.

Vance Law followed with a sacrifice fly. The Expos scored in the fifth on Jim Wohlford's RBI single, in the sixth on Mike Fitzgerald's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and in the eighth when Tim Wallach, who doubled, stole third and continued around on catcher Gary Carter's sec A'4 4 Rmtgers ties third-ramked Gators, 28-28 St it -A A. 7 St "It's better than a loss but it's not a win." Rutgers coach Dick Anderson By ELLIOTT DENMAN Press Staff Writer GAINESVILLE, Fla. The catch of Albert Albert Smith's lifetime slithered through his grasp. Mere inches kept him from launching the Rutgers football celebration of the decade.

Instead, the toss from backup quarterback Joe Gagliardi dropped to the Florida Field artificial turf late yesterday afternoon. As most of the 71,708 crowd sighed in relief, Smith muttered a silent oath to his misfortune. Ten yards from the end zone with 35 seconds left, three-touchdown underdog Rutgers had blown the opporu-nityof all opportunities to score the upset of all upsets. The Scarlet Knights had rallied from a 28-7 deficit and had this, and several other last-minute chances to take the lead against the team many ranked as America's finest, and no poll-taker rated below third. But now they'd settle for a 28-28 tie.

"A pass like that you dream about," Smith said later. "It literally slipped though my hands." "I saw Albert open over the middle," said Gagliardi. "I just laid it up there, but it was just a little off. Ajbert just couldn't get to it." It was Rutgers' 1985 opener and the Knights' first tie in 119 games, going all the way back to the 6-6 7 1 vL LjfAU. 1.

4 ltt' 1: Princeton tie of 1974. Florida extended its unbeaten streak to 12 games, and counted itself fortunate not to lose. This was Game One of the second season of The New Era in Rutgers football under Dick Anderson and while it did all kinds of good things to the Knights' outlook on the rest of the season, it didn't do that much to Anderson's own outlook. "It's better than a loss but it's not a win," said the non-smiling Anderson. "I can't even remember being in a tie game before, either as a player or a coach.

It may have happened once, but I don't remember. I'm proud of the team, they came back, but even then they couldn't win the game." Might-have-beens aside, it was further proof the Rutgers program had advanced to the National Collegiate big time. See RUTGERS, page J12 Associated Press Maris is fighting big battle While the Gainesville, Fla. telephone directory is not officially subtitled "Who's WhoWho's Can Be Reached Where in Sports, Southeast Division" it should be. Even if Southern Bell doesn't, it should be noted that its 193 pages, devoted to the souls who dwell in this North Florida university city, are filled with the names of the folks who have done it all (and haven't yet gone unlisted.) A is for Athletic Attic National Headquarters, 5331 NW 34th Street, (904) 377-5289, where New Jersey transplant Marty Liquori tends to the daily business of building his sport-shoe empire between jet-setting off to ABC-TV assignments around the planet.

is for Keith Brantly, 4400 SW 20th 373-1610, America's next impact distance runner, winner of both the TAC National 10-Kilometer in Asbury Park and the World University Games 10-K in Kobe, Japan in a championship-studded summer. is for Jimmy Carnes, 2719 NW 24th Way, 376-0132, the man who partnered Marty Liquori in Athletic Attic's rise to the top of the sports-store charts, and who (Americans trust) will be forever recognized as the head coach of the finest track and field team (1980 model) Americans failed to send to an Olympic Games. is also for Tracy Caulkins, 3643 SW 20th 378-1612, the multi-- medaled swim star who moved here from Nashville and turned the sound of this town into the splish-splash of water-sprite after water-sprite hitting the touch-plates in record time. is for Byron Dyce, 7717 SW 19th Place, 378-2858, the Brooklyn-reared, globe-trotting, Jamaica Olympian who (as NCAA 800-meter record-setter) was there at the demise of one great collegiate program (NYU) and is now here building another j(at Santa Community College. is for Ray Graves, 5005 NW 41 377-1976, who coached U.

of Florida football teams (1960-69) to 70 vjctories in 105 tries, including four bowl titles in five post-season trips, and is one of the select few who can say "I coached (Steve Spurrier, 1966) a lleisman Trophy winner." I of course, is for Roger The Maris Distributing 3820 NE 49th Road, 378-2431, isn't easily arrived at. It takes a visitor at least three sets of directions, and five wrong turns, and a half-hour of inadvertent sightseeing, to get here. It's out by the Gainesville Regional Airport, tucked away in an industrial area. Maris Distributing Co. apparently prospers.

A fleet of trucks stands ready to deliver instant relief to Gainesvillers' thirst for Bud and Michelob and Busch beers, and a whole lot more. A visitor presents himself, tells the receptionist he had once reveled in the proprietor's feats as a New York Yankee, had seen him in April at the Stadium opening daywelcome home party co-starring Mickey Mantle, and would like nothing better than to extend his updated greetings. The Maris who emerges from beyond the glass panel, however, is Rudy. Rudy Maris is Roger's slightly (by 18 months) bigger brother and partner. The word from Rudy is that "Roger is inaccessible." No, he assures, this has nothing to do with The Great Slugger's long-run, long-unhappy relationship with the working press.

Yes, he says, it's true that Roger's just not up to greeting anyone these days. The visitor is told that the leukemia Roger Maris has been battling for a while took a more severe turn just after his return from New York in April. "But Roger's doing much better now," assures Rudy. "You know he's fighting it." North Dakota-born Roger Maris came here 1 8 years ago and set up shop. He dug roots and found happiness in a community that is not a fishbowl and is no New York.

The visitor had hoped to ask Roger Maris of Pete Rose and Mickey Mantle and Casey Stengel and George Steinbrenner and Cooperstown voters and that peculiar piece of typography called an asterisk. Roger Maris' old battle with newspaper men is long over. It peaked out through that season of special achievement (61 homers in '61) and special pressure. The Great Slugger now battles a far tougher foe. The visitor took it from Rudy that his brother is doing well at it.

He was thanked for coming all that way, and assured that brother Roger would not be "inaccessible" next time. The Good Lord willing. Elliott Denman is an Asbury Park Press staff writer. His column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. University of Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell (12) is dropped by Rutgers linebacker Tyronne Stowe in the first quarter yesterday in Gainesville, Fla.

The Scarlet Knights tied the third-ranked Gators, 28-28. 5 5, 1 Giants' Adams a real 'honker' "I think he's a more powerful runner than we've had. Bill Parcells 1 1 5 Baseball's image is suffering The Associated Press PITTSBURGH Baseball's image took a beating as the prosecution made its case in the trial of Curtis Strong, the former Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse caterer accused of dealing drugs to players. The tarnish could deepen as the defense takes over this week and presents "two or three days' worth" of players as witnesses. "What kind of affect will this have on America's young baseball fans?" asked defense attorney Adam O.

Renf-roe Jr. "These people are supposed to be their heroes. But these heroes are criminals. These heroes are junkies. These heroes bought and sold drugs like the criminal element you find on street corners in any city." He was talking about two-time National League batting champion Dave Parker, Keith Hernandez, a co-winner of the National League's Most Valuable Player Award, and five other present or former big league ballplayers who told how they and their teammates snorted cocaine.

"Dave Parker said enough on the witness stand that he'd being going to jail for 150 years if he didn't have immunity," said Renfroe of the Cincinnati Reds outfielder. Thus far, 30 players have been linked to drug use, and in some instances not very far from the playing field where they earned the big money that enabled them to spend big money for the drug one player was said to have spent $100,000. Former Pirate John Milner told of one drug transaction taking place in the Pittsburgh lockerroom while a game was being played. The Pirates also were tied to use of ampethamines, a stimulant whose purchase by law requires a prescription. Parker and New York Yankees infielder Dale Berra both said former Pirates captains Willie Stargell and See BASEBALL, page J2 By JUDSON HAND JR.

Press Staff Writer When George Adams was 10 years old in Lexington, he decided to try an indoor version of tackle football. He put on his older brother Earl's jersey and pads. Then he began driving his mother crazy. Adams climbed into his bunk bed, dove off, got up and ran into the side of the bed. Then he lay down and pulled the pillows and covers over his head.

He wanted to see if football players could still breathe after people piled on top of them. They could, he learned. "George, you're gonna kill yourself!" warned Ruth Adams, mother of nine. "No, I'm not," young George replied. "I'm gonna play football!" Adams did that and more.

He not only played football, he became a fine running back on the playing fields of Lafayette High School and the University of Kentucky. He grew into a 6-1 and 225-pound halfback with 4.6 speed and a golden future in the NFL. The Giants believed in that future strongly enough to make him their No. 1 pick in this year's college draft. Even as a pro rookie, Adams still has the rare what-the-heck spirit that once made him crash into bunk beds and dump pillows over his head.

"He really honks it up in there," is how Giant head coach Bill Parcells describes that spirit. "That's a car term. When you honk your horn in traffic in New York City and you don't worry about it and just keep on going. That's what I mean." Once Adams set his mind on football he just, well, honked his horn and kept going. But there was plenty else to worry about, most of it right in his back yard.

His father had a drinking problem. It was all Ruth Adams could do, to keep George and the rest of the family on an even keel. Friends say George used to cross the street in disgust when he saw his father stagger past. "My father was an alcoholic," Adams said frankly in an interview this week. "He's been over his problem for the last two years.

I'm real proud of him. I was really on him and I'm glad I was a big influence in his life." An elder brother and sister haven't fared as well. Earl, whom he'd so admired as a football player, dropped out of high school and drew a first-degree robbery conviction at age 19. He's been in and out of Kentucky prisons since 1979. The sister, Eva, got her first conviction (on a forgery charge) when she was 18.

She's still in prison and has been for much of the past nine years on forgery, robbery and kidnapping charges. George moved in the opposite direction. He never developed a liking for smoking or drinking, friends and family say. He goes out of his way to help others. He's friendly to everyone.

"He doesn't meet no strangers," his mother explained. When the family took in a blind man when he was a boy, George shined his shoes, ran errands for him, took him for walks. "I guess he saw how I worried about the two children," said Mrs. Adams. "He said, 'Momma, I know what my brother and sister did.

But I don't want you to worry about me." Back in junior high, George promised his mother he'd buy her a big, new house if he made it big. In late July, See ADAMS, page J6 Hi Bob BielkAsbury Park Press Giants rookie George Adams watches action from the sidelines last week.