The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 27

row Section Horse racing C2 College roundup C5 The Beacon Journal Thursday, May 21, 1987 Twins have a grand time at CandiottiY expense Actually, Candiotti showed a little too much reverence for the straight, in this case a straight fastball that Brunansky delivered into the left-field seats in the sixth inning to give Minnesota a 6-2 lead. "I talked to Candiotti after the game," Corrales said. "I told him, 'You know what got you here. The knuckleball. And you know what's going to keep you here.

The knuckleball. "You don't want to walk a guy with the bases loaded, but you don't want to throw a fastball, either. What you throw in that situation is your best pitch, and that is the knuckleball. "Maybe you can throw a fastball to (Steve) Lombardozzi, or whatever his name is. But they pay those big guys like Brunansky a lot of money to drive in runs.

When you throw an 82 mile-per- By Sheldon Ocker Beacon Journal staff writer Tom Candiotti looked a little sheepish explaining why he threw a fastball on a 3-2 pitch to Tom Brunansky Wednesday night at the Stadium. Like Candiotti, we all would have been humiliated to be stung for a grand slam, especially one that turned a tie into almost certain defeat. But in this case, there was more to Candiotti's humility than an 8-2 loss to the Twins. He apparently had just been chewed out by manager Pat Corrales, whose tongue lashings have a way of lingering with the lashee. Corrales didn't say he yelled at Candiotti, or otherwise caused his pitcher embarrassment.

But he did admit telling Candiotti exactly how he had strayed from the straight and narrow. hour fastball, you're not going to get it past that kind of hitter." Brunansky graciously defended Candiotti. And why not? His hit won the game. "He threw me everything that at-bat: fastballs, curveballs and knuckleballs," Brunansky said. "With that 3-2 count, he really needed a strike, and the best pitch to throw for a strike is a fastball." That also happens to be the easiest pitch for Brunansky to hit.

He even admitted that he hadn't had much luck making solid contact with a knuckleball. "I haven't hit knuckleballs (well)," he said. "I think I only hit one tonight." Candiotti, whose record dipped to 1-6, proved he was listening when Corrales delivered his soliloquy. "Now that I look at it, I definitely should have thrown a knuckleball," he said. "I don't want to walk a run in, but a guy like Brunansky can really hurt you.

The game was lost on one pitch." But Candiotti defended his decision to throw a fastball, sort of. "I had a good knuckleball tonight, but the pitch can vary from inning to inning," he said. "Unless I throw it right over the plate, a hitter is going to take it. And if it's close, the umpire probably won't call it a strike. But that's what got me here, so I should have stayed with it." Speaking of the umpire, he took a run away from the Indians when it mattered, when Cleveland led 1-0 in the third inning.

Brett Butler tried to score from first on Julio See BRUNANSKY, page CI NHL FINALS Saving their best for last Oilers top Flyers 3-2 in overtime life'' s'''' Beacon Journal photoMichael Good Bumpy ride Hoban's Lee Langford pots his whole body into this tagged out Smlthville's Brent Campbell at second to a 4-0 victory against the Smithies. The Knights play Wednesday afternoon in the Barbertoii Class AA base and then fell over him. Hoban, behind Kenny meet the Canfield District winner In the Barberton District championship baseball game. Langford Robinson's no-hitter and 15-strikeout effort, went on Regional on Wednesday. Story on page C3.

Wolstein has everything except Blast Baltimore six times in eight tries. But Wolstein, bottom-line man that he is, surely would prefer Baltimore. The Blast sells tickets more readily than do the Sidekicks, this having to do with the long and rancorous relationship of the Force and Blast. Before last season's playoffs, Baltimore had eliminated Cleveland four times, creating great psychic pain in the process. The Force eliminated Baltimore in last year's first round, but getting even can require a lot of uh getting even.

There never may be enough in the Wolstein view because it can be merchandised like the rest of the Force soccer operation. Whichever team visits the Coliseum this weekend, road dates will be the same for the Force. Games 3 and 4 in the best-of-7 set would be played Wednesday and May 29 in Baltimore or Dallas. The tentative dates would be May 31 in Cleveland, June 3 in Baltimore or Dallas, and June 6 back in Richfield. Cleveland came out of the tough Minnesota series By Dick Snippy Beacon Journal staff writer When you're the man who has everything, including a professional indoor soccer team in the league playoff semifinals, you concern yourself with the folks who aspire to take some of that everything away from you.

Accordingly, Force owner Bart Wolstein will be directing a lot of attention toward the Chesapeake Bay area tonight. Two Force rivals, including the archest of arch-enemies, are involved in MISL business tonight. Baltimore and Dallas, tied at two games each in their playoff series, play at Baltimore Arena to decide which will spend the weekend in Cleveland. The Force completed a bumpy journey through its first playoff round Tuesday night when it erased Minnesota 7-3, setting up Saturday and Sunday night games (8:05) at the Coliseum with tonight's winner. On the surface, it should not matter much to the Force which team advances.

Cleveland whipped Dallas in 5-of-6 games during the regular season, and defeated relatively intact. Defender Pasquale DeLuca suffered a fractured toe in Tuesday's game (a hairline crack), but if trainer Aaron Galpert can fashion some protective shield, DeLuca will play this weekend. Craig Allen, who played four games against the Strikers before his chronic foot miseries sidelined him Tuesday, is back in a cast. It will be removed Friday, making him available for the weekend. Bernie James was treated for turf toe Monday (i.e., a stubbed toe), and AH Kazemaini for a tender ankle.

Both should be on the practice field for drills today and Friday. For the record, Timo Liekoski says he likes the back-to-back games for his club. "Baltimore-Dallas has been a war. Whichever wins, it will have to travel Friday and fatigue might be a factor." The Cleveland front office likes those dates because they fall during the holiday weekend. And gate receipts are what playoffs are all about, right? Associated Press EDMONTON, Alberta Overtime seems to bring out the best in the Edmonton Oilers, and they have the record to prove it.

"We knew we could score if we kept playing the same type of hockey we did in the last 10 minutes of the third period," said right wing Jarri Kurri, who scored the winning goal in Wednesday night's 3-2 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 2 of the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup final series. The victory was Edmonton's fifth consecutive in overtime dating to the regular season. They have won their last six overtime playoff games in a span of three years. The dramatic victory before 17,502 roaring fans at the Northlands Coliseum gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series, which resumes with Game 3 in Philadelphia on Friday night. "We have a very good record in overtime, so we felt good going into overtime," Kurri said.

"We felt pumped up." The Oilers got a big lift from Glenn Anderson's third-period goal that tied the score and set the stage for Kurri's textbook goal 6:50 into overtime. Anderson scored the winning goal in Edmonton's previous three overtime victories. Anderson scored his goal just about single-handedly after taking a cross-rink pass from Randy Gregg at center ice. The rugged, 5-foot-ll, 185-pound left wing skated through three Flyers in the slot before sweeping the puck past goal-tender Ron Hextall from an off-balance position at 11:40 of the third period. "He swooped in and made that play," Edmonton coach Glen Sather said.

"He's a great skater. He can do things out of control. I don't think anyone else could have made that play." The goal was Anderson's 12th of the post-season, a playoff high later matched by Kurri's winner. Kuri's goal was a classic play that involved Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey, two players largely responsible for Stanley Cup championships in 1984 and '85. Gretzky passed across the slot to Coffey and the defenseman laid a perfect pass on Kurri's stick.

Gretzky had started things for the Oilers with a goal 45 seconds into the second period. But Derrick Smith tied it for Philadelphia with a goal at 13:20, and then the Flyers went ahead on a goal by Brian Propp at 16:23. The Flyers continued to play well throughout the second period and wound up with a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. At that point, they were outshooting the Oilers 27-16. "We took over, and (Edmonton goal-tender) Grant Fuhr kept them in the game," Flyers defenseman Mark Howe said.

Fuhr also was there in the third period for the Oilers, only this time he didn't have to work as hard. The Oilers out shot the Flyers 15-5, and finally got Anderson's spectacular goal to tie it at 2-2. "I thought we had to play a better forechecking game and we did, except for the first 15 minutes of the third period," Flyers coach Mike Keenan said. "We let down and gave them too many scoring opportunities then, and they got a goal out of it." SPORTS TODAY Basketball: The Dallas Mavericks' Dick Motta doesn 't head for New York or Los Angeles, but instead resigns from coaching. Page C2.

Football: University of Pittsburgh running back and former Garfield High star Charles Gladman denies having ties with sports agents. Page C4. Baseball: The Milwaukee Brewers finally have won after 12 consecutive defeats. Page C4. Soccer: Branko Segota leads San Diego to an MISL semifinal victory against Kansas City, Page C4.

Shanley is leading Sportsline candidate Franklin continues to improve By Ed Meyer Beacon Journal staff writer Sports talk show host Pete Franklin is "getting a little stronger every day" but remained in critical condition Wednesday in the coronary intensive care unit of the Cleveland Clinic, said a close associate of Franklin at radio station WWWE. Dave Dombrowski, who produces Sportsline, said Franklin was alert and communicating by eye and hand signals and some writing. "With each day he hangs in there, the doctors are saying his chances for recovery improve," he said. "I guess we're calling it cautious optimism. It looks like it's going to be a long recovery that's up to him.

He's come this far. There's no reason to believe he won't come back all the way." A hospital spokeswoman said Franklin has made "a great deal of improvement" and might be released from intensive care in a few days if his condition continues to improve. Franklin underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery Friday after suffering a heart attack May 12. Four days before the heart attack, Franklin, 59, made a difficult career week will not begin before 10:35 p.m., enabling WWWE executives to monitor Shanley for Spbrtsline's full four hours per evening. The station is not likely to make any decisions about Sportsline until the sale of WWWE to Jacor Inc.

has been consummated. The Cincinnati corporation is in the process of buying WWWE, thus adding another property to its collection of big-power stations, which includes KOA in Denver and WLW in Cincinnati, both of which generate 50,000 watts. Other personalities already have expressed interest in the Sportsline job if it becomes open. The first to do so was Bruce Dren-nan, who conducted his own call-in show when he came to Cleveland several years ago from Aurora, 111. He also was Joe Tait's partner on Indians telecasts for three seasons.

Others are Lee Hamilton, who has a call-in show on KTAR in Phoenix, and formerly hosted a talk show in Akron and did play-by-play of Cleveland Crusaders hockey games, and Greg Brinda, who has a Saturday morning talk show on WERE. At the moment, Drennan and Brinda are considered longshots for the posi-tion on Sportsline. By Sheldon Ocker Beacon Journal staff writer It is too early to know whether Pete Franklin ever will return to the air, either in New York or Cleveland. Nevertheless, candidates already are lining up to take over his Sportsline call-in in show on WWWE, which must be prepared in the event Franklin no longer desires or is unable to continue as host of the program. Franklin suffered a severe heart attack May 12 and underwent emergency bypass surgery last Friday.

He remains in critical condition at the Cleveland Clinic. According to sources in close contact with the station, the current front-runner to succeed Franklin on Sportsline is Gib Shanley, former weeknight sports anchor on WEWS-TV (Cn. 5) and long-time Browns broadcaster. Shanley moved to the Los Angeles area three years ago but has failed to find a steady position, either as an anchor or in play-by-play. He will return here as Franklin's substitute host for five nights beginning June 8.

The timing of Shanley's return is significant inasmuch as the station airs Indians baseball. Except for an 8:10 p.m. start June 8, Tribe games that Pete Franklin 'getting stronger' decision by accepting a job with a powerful radio station in New York. The move, set for July 1, would have tripled Franklin's salary to $600,000 for two years but also would have meant he would have to leave his beloved Cleveland, where he has dominated radio airwaves for 21 years. Franklin's wife Pat issued a statement of appreciation this morning: "Our entire family has been greatly moved by all the concern and the cards and letters and phone calls we have received from Pete's fans.

We appreciate the fact that people have taken the time to write and pray for Pete.".