The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 35

Sports Today D2 NFL D2 NHLNBA D4 Horse racing D5 Local sports D5.6 FORT ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1987 Dl LATEST (9. belief that the 11-time All-Star is not a clutch player caused him to label Winfield "Mr. May" a couple of years ago. Although age is becoming a factor with Winfield, he has never played fewer than 140 games in a full season with the Yankees, and Anderson has long admired him. Anderson praised Winfield Tuesday as a "defensive weapon." The right handed-hitting Win-Please see YANKEES, D3 owner George Steinbrenner said Winfield, who has the right to block any trade and has said in previous years he would do so, had submitted a letter to the club naming eight teams for which he would play.

Detroit is one of those teams, according to Steinbrenner. Winfield could not be reached for comment. The 30-year-old Gibson is six years younger than Winfield but has proven to be less durable and is not as accomplished. Gibson has played more than 128 games in a season just twice. "In Gibson's case, I think he's too strong for his own body," Anderson said of the former All-America flanker at Michigan State.

"He runs so hard he tears up his body." Steinbrenner has long regretted signing Winfield to a 10-year free-agent contract in December 1980. Winfield went 1 for 22 in the 1981 World Series, and Steinbrenner's cussed was at least intriguing. A highly placed Yankees source said his club finds Gibson most attractive and wished to fully explore any chance there might be to obtain him. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson confirmed that a Win-field-for-Gibson trade had been discussed. "I can't say that wasn't talked about," Anderson said.

Meanwhile, Yankees principal By Tom Pedulla Staff Writer DALLAS The Yankees, hav-ing lost the Dave Parker sweepstakes to Oakland, discussed a blockbuster trade with Detroit on Tuesday in which they would swap Dave Winfield for Kirk Gibson. While a deal involving players of that magnitude would seem unlikely, neither team would rule it out, and the fact it was even dis- SCORES NBA TUESDAY'S RESULTS KNICKS 116 Washington 92 LA Lakers 98 NETS 81 Detroit 127 Portland 117 Indiana 103 Milwaukee 101 Houston 106 Sacramento 97 Philadelphia 109 Chicago 96 San Antonio 105 Utah 100 Atlanta 90 LA Clippers 79 Seattle 107 Cleveland 96 NHL TUESDAY'S RESULTS Montreal 3 ISLANDERS 2 Philadelphia 5 Boston 2 Hartford 5 Quebec 4 Calgary 5 Washington 4 Minnesota 3 Vancouver 2 Mets waiting for big call from Dodgers X' i. 1 7 A in mi By Jim Corbett Staff Writer DALLAS The Mets' pursuit of Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Bob Welch intensified Tuesday, but without capture. But a proposed three-for-one deal that would send Jesse Orosco, Mookie Wilson and Rafael Santana to Los Angeles for Welch is as close as a phone call away from becoming reality. It is the Dodgers' call.

"We're waiting for a phone call," said Joe Mcllvaine, the Mets' vice president of baseball operations, who huddled with the Dodgers and four other teams Tuesday. "We've made our offer, they're considering it. It's still alive. "They put it off for tonight (Tuesday night). But we're going to make another trade before we leave here.

We could make one on a big scale (today)." The Mets have stiff competition for Welch from the Toronto Blue Jays. AVI off -W I i. Munoz to sign with Red Sox Rockland: JOE LOMBARDI of North Rockland included his name in Rockland County sports lore by becoming the first county high school basketball player to score a three-point field goal. Story D6. ST.

THOMAS Aquinas College passed it first big test Tuesday night with a 62-57 win over visiting Bloomfield (N.J.) in an NAIA District 31 women's basketball game. Story D5. DOMINICAN made a valiant comeback, but fell short Tuesday night in a 75-69 men's college basketball loss to Division I Brooklyn College. Story D5. National: THE SEVEN highest rated sports programs, according to Arbitron Ratings of 14 metered markets, for the period from Nov.

30-Dec. 6 with network, rating and share (the rating is a percentage of households with televisions tuned into a program and the share is the percentage of households with televisions in use tuned in): 1. Nov. 30, Monday Night Football (Los Angeles Raiders vs. Seattle), ABC, 17.8, 27.

2. Dec. 6, NFL Football, (1-4 p.m., EST), CBS, 16.6, 39. 3. Dec.

6, NFL Football, (New England vs. Denver), NBC, 14.0, 28. 4. Dec. 5, College Football (Army vs.

Navy), CBS, 7.0, 19. 5. Dec. 5, College Basketball (Kentucky vs. Indiana), ABC, 4.2, 9.

6. Dec. 5, College Basketball (Louisville vs. Notre Dame), ABC, 3.0, 8. 7.

Dec. 5, PGA Fall Tour, NBC, 2.9, 9. 8. Dec. 6, J.C.

Penney Golf Tournament, ABC, 1.9, 4. Trivia: TODAY'S QUESTION: Who is the only major-ltague baseball player ever to hit 50 home runs and strike out less than 50 times in the same season? Yesterday's question: Remember Reggie Jackson's three home runs in the sixth and deciding game of the 1977 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Who were the three pitchers that surrendered the home runs? Answer: Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough. The Jays are offering Dave Stieb and shortstop Manny Lee for the 31-year-old Welch, who has a 115-86 career record as tribute to his 90-plus mph fastball. It could be simply a bargaining ploy being played by the Dodgers to drive up Welch's price with the Mets.

"A lot of times clubs let out these rumors to raise what they can get in return," Tigers manager Sparky Anderson said. That doesn't seem to be the case in the Dodgers-Jays negotiations. Reportedly, the stumbling block is the Dodgers' preference on the pitcher they would receive in return for Welch. The Dodgers value left-hander John Cerruti over the injury-prone and big salaried Stieb. They also prefer Lee over Santana.

The Jays want to unload Stieb and his huge contract, reportedly $1 million next season escalating to $1.5 million in 1989 with yearly increases thereafter of $100,000 through 1995. Please see METS, D3 Lou Munoz at South Florida police officer in Tampa. He passed the entrance exam and said he was "going through the steps" to join the police force. But that was before Lefebvre's call came Tuesday morning. "Lou just wants a chance to play baseball and I'm going to give him a chance," said Lefebvre.

"We're going to sign him up and send him to spring training. He's got some tools." Munoz said Tuesday that his career as a Tampa police officer "would be put on hold" for the time being and he would begin training for spring training. Angel GannettKathy Kmonicek THROUGH THE HOLE Washington's Darrell Walker finds the opening between the defensive efforts of the Knicks' Gerald Wilkins, left, and Mark Jackson in Tuesday night's game at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing scored 29 points to power the Knicks to a 116-92 victory. Story D4.

onfreal oufscores improving Islanders goalie Patrick Roy. "Now, we're seven points ahead, and they have five games in hand, so they've got to win just about all of them. It's going to be tough." It's rather early to be talking about first place, and games in hand. But that's the way the Canadiens have always operated. "Right now," said Islanders coach Terry Simpson, "I'd have to say they are (the better team), yes.

I don't know to what degree. But they've got four balanced lines, good goaltending and solid defense. We want to, and we're starting to, emerge as that type of team." And while that may surprise a lot of people who follow hockey, it try to doesn't surprise the Islanders a bit. "I think everybody in the media has to sit back and re-evaluate their evaluations of ourselves," said Islanders goalie Kelly Hrudey. "You seem to think our goal is to be No.

1, and we're devastated if we're not. "Our goal is, first, to get a playoff spot, and to play as well as we can. This is only the second year we've been together, and we're trying to build a team. We're going to have good times, and we're going to have bad times. We've got to build on this and go on.

We just want to go out and play well, whether it's the Montreal Canadiens or the Muskegon Mohawks we're Piease see ISLANDERS, D4 restore By Bill Madden Sports Editor Lou Munoz hopes his career as a professional baseball player lasts longer than his career as a police officer. Munoz, a former baseball star at Suffern High School and Rockland Community College, agreed verbally Tuesday to sign a free-agent contract with the Boston Red Sox. He will officially sign within the next seven days, said Boston scout Lefty Lefebvre Tuesday. Lefebvre said that Munoz would be invited to spring training and his future with the franchise would be determined based on his performance there. "I had a feeling someone would take me to spring training," said Munoz, 21 and now living in Tampa, Fla.

"That's all I wanted. I'm a little surprised that I got the call because I was just about ready to hang it up. I had almost given up hope." Munoz caught Lefebvre's attention while playing for the University of South Florida, where Munoz played the last two years. Munoz batted .388 last season with a team-leading eight home runs. A third baseman, Munoz was named to the Sun Belt Conference all-star team.

Munoz was not picked in last June's amateur free-agent draft and, consequently, moved to Florida with ambitions of becoming a a fallen By Rick Carpiniello Staff Writer UNIONDALE, N.Y. The Montreal Canadiens want to be the best. Period. The New York Islanders just want to be the best they can be. On Tuesday night, the Canadiens were a little bit better than the Islanders, in a 3-2 victory that pitted the NHL's two best records.

The Islanders entered the game with the league's top winning percentage and the Canadiens, who had played five games more than the Islanders, had the top point total (40). "We just said, 'We want to stay first, and we've got to win this game to stay said Canadiens The Tigers will DALLAS What about Gary Pettis? How good is he? Can a .208 hitter catch enough balls to make him a worthwhile addition to the Detroit Tigers? This is sort of mystery trade because nobody knows how much help Pettis can give the Tigers next season. He will be the center fielder. That much is sure. He will start the season out there and probably bat in the ninth position.

Chet Lemon will move to right These are the nuts and bolts of the deal for never been quite the same in the field. He has been good, even sensational at times, but he lost the edge he had in the beginning. Last season, Pettis was involved in two violent collisions with Brian Downing, the Mack truck who plays left field for the Angels. Pettis was badly shaken up in both collisions and lost a little more luster off his game. Then, this past season, he played with a hurt hand and became a pathetic figure at the plate.

He had trouble knocking the ball past the pitcher's box. He struck out 124 times in 394 trips and the whole process of trying to make contract with the ball became so futile that the Angeles sent him back to the minor leagues for two weeks. They did it for his own sanity, if nothing else. Please see FALLS, D3 But Pettis excited a lot of people because he was making so many great plays in the field and he could run fast. The feeling was that if he could just hit .260 or so, he would be valuable beyond imagination.

Well, things haven't worked out so well for him, as proven by the fact the California Angeles gave up on him. This is an important item. They did not want him anymore and don't have anyone in mind to take his place on a steady basis. What the Tigers have is some damaged goods. It will be their job to mend the broken parts.

Pettis batted reasonably well in 1985 and 1986, compiling averages of .257 and .258, respectively. Any team could live with those numbers on the basis of his defensive abilities and his speed on the bases. But Pettis hurt his hand making a sliding catch near the end of the 1984 season and some say he has WEDNESDAY'S COLUMN BY JOE FALLS catching everything in sight and some balls that were out of sight. He made plays that some had never seen veteran pitcher Dan Petry. What about the realities? Talking to scouts, managers and other writers at these baseball meetings, you get a sense that Pettis is a very fine fielder but not as good as he was in his rookie season in 1984.

That year he was phenomenal, before and there was talk he had the makings of a superstar. They had to hold back on their praise because of a .227 batting average..