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

section Tuesday October 18, 1994 Rockland Journal-News Today's TV tip Artonto p.m., Rockland D3 NFL D4 Classified D5-10 Sports editor: John Humenn, 578-2464 SDorts -Jl- MOM anaoer of year Nobody deserves an award sv 1 wW i Without the strike, Montreal may've been playing in the NL playoffs this week. The Expos have never reached a World Series. Alou, 59, whose even-handed style has made him a fa Baseball awards Schedule of release dates (all awards announced at 6 p.m.) Today AL Manager of Year Tomorrow AL Rookie of Year Thursday NL Rookie of Year Oct 24 NL Cy Young Award Oct 25 AL Cy Young Award Oct 26 AL MVP Oct 27 NL MVP Last night, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced that Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos was the National League's manager of the year. Tonight, the BBWAA will announce that Buck Showalter of the Yankees has won the American League's honor. Over the rest ALOU: Led Montreal to 74-40 mark Mets' Green gets one vote as top skipper The Associated Press Felipe Alou, who guided the young Montreal Expos to the best record in the majors before the strike, was a near-unanimous choice yesterday as National League manager of the year.

Alou received 27 of 28 first-place votes, with Dallas Green of the Mets getting the other one. "This is very gratifying," Alou said from his home in the Dominican Republic. "But I would trade this for a playoff spot. The one The writers' voting, D4 regret I have is that we didn't complete the regular season." The Expos, who have shown steady improvement in Alou's two-plus seasons, may have exceeded even their own high expectations this year by going 74-40. Montreal led Atlanta by six games in the NL East when the players went on strike Aug.

12. Led by Moises Alou, the manager's son, and several rookies and up-and-coming players such as reliever Mel Rojas, Felipe's nephew Montreal rebounded from a slow start in which it fell Vz games behind Atlanta in "After three years of a good, solid program, it produced," said Alou, who listed player development as his favorite part of managing. Alou received one second-place vote and finished with 138 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Alou, the first Dominican manager in the majors, is the second Montreal manager to win the award. Buck Rodgers was NL manager of the year in 1987.

Alou, a three-time All-Star outfielder, played briefly for the Expos in 1973. He joined the Montreal organization as an instructor in 1976, managed successful Expos' teams in Class Double-A and Triple-A, and has vorite of his players, was hired as manager May 22, 1992, after Tom Runnells was fired. He led the Expos to a 70-55 mark for the rest of the 1992 season finishing second in NL manager of the year voting and a 94-68 record and second place in 1993 finishing third in the voting. managed in the winter leagues. Alou played 17 seasons in the majors with San Francisco, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, Oakland, the 'Yankees, the Milwaukee Brewers and Montreal.

of this week and the next, the writers will hand out their rookie of the year, Cy Young and most valuable player awards. Just as if there had been an actual baseball season this year. Hey, fellas! BARRY STANTON On Baseball 'tw4 i 1 A. 1 i if i 1 I -ttb r. ir.

I 1 cv i Aw The Associated Press HAULED DOWN: The Chiefs' Willie Davis is tackled by Denver's Elijah Alexander in the first quarter of last night 's game. Montana does it again! Chiefs stun Broncos, 31-28 The Associated Press DENVER Even battered and bruised, Joe Montana is still the best. Montana threw his third touchdown pass of the game, a 5-yarder to Willie Davis with eight seconds left, lifting the Kansas City Chiefs over the Denver Broncos 31-28 last night. The score, which ended the Chiefs' 11-game losing streak in Mile High Stadium, capped a wild finish that saw the two teams exchange fumbles with less than three minutes left and Denver's John Elway run 4 yards for a touchdown, putting Denver ahead 28-24 with 1:29 left. Elway's scoring run, on a quarterback draw out of the shotgun formation, came one play after his apparent TD pass to Cedric Tillman was nullified when the officials said Tillman had gone out of bounds before making the catch.

Elway then scored even though the Broncos had only 10 men on the field. But Montana, who missed significant practice time because of sore ribs and a bruised hip this past week, completed 7-of-8 passes to drive the Chiefs (4-2) to the winning score. The last four plays on the 75-yard, nine-play drive were all completions 11 yards to Kimble Anders, 12 yards to Derrick Walker, 19 yards to Tracy Greene and, finally, the 5-yarder to Davis. Elway, who threw for 116 yards and a touchdown in the first half, was a perfect 4-of-4 for 65 yards on a 73-yard game-tying drive in the third period. Glyn Milburn accounted for 27 of those yards as he caught two short passes and turned them into big gains.

I've been a BBWAA member since 1985 and I hate to question my colleagues. But did any of you hear about the strike? It's been in all the papers. Were you too busy getting misty over Ken Burns' "Baseball" on PBS to notice that this season ended early? Saw it coming I know the scribes saw it coming. At the all-star game in July, they voted to give out their coveted prizes regardless of a player strike. The seamheads who are obsessed with their game decided the continuity of their awards, given out since 1931, was of paramount importance.

I don't think any of the writers at that meeting really believed that the World Series could be canceled. When it was, they should have reworked their position. In 1981, when a 50-day strike chewed up a chunk of the season, baseball still came back with pennant races and playoffs. The Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series, and the BBWAA gave its MVPs to Rollie Fingers and Mike Schmidt, its Cy Youngs to Fingers and Fernando Valenzuela, and its rookies of the year to Dave Righetti and Valenzuela. The 1994 season is different.

A game that's been rained out in the top of the fourth inning is not an official game. And a season that stops short of a pennant race is not an official season. Seymour Siwoff of the Elias Sports Bureau, official statisticians for Major League Baseball, already put this season's numbers in limbo. When the World Series was canceled, BBWAA president Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch should have contacted his chapter chairmen and polled the rhembers.

Instead, the group ostriched, putting its head in the sand. When several writers including Tom Pedulla and Kit Stier, who cover the New York teams for this newspaper submitted blank balkdiin their award categories, replacement voters were brought in. Tainted honors The BBWAA wants to pretend this is business as usual when clearly it is not. Even the players in line for the honors know that they would have been decided in the final months of the season. Matt Williams or Ken Griffey Jr.

might have hit 62 home runs. Think that would have swung a few MVP votes away from Jeff Bagwell or Albert Belle? Yankee pitcher Jimmy Key, who was a Cy Young candidate in the American League in a tight race with Kansas City's David Cone and Baltimore's Mike Mussina, said, "I think it would be tarnished. I'm not saying I don't deserve it. I just don't think it should be given out unless we play the whole season." Continuity is a wonderful thing. But every time a seamhead opens his Baseball Encyclopedia to the MVP and Cy Young pages, there should be a reminder that this season was not a season at all.

There should be a reminder that this season nobody deserves tS win anything at all. Barry Stanton is a staff columnist. Write him at: Gannett Suburban Newspapers, I Gannett Drive, White Plains, N.Y., 10604. The Associated Press BATTLE FOR THE BALLi A'. Rockland's Bill Losquadro (left) battles Clarkstown North David Pearlman in yesterday's game.

The Raiders won. 2-0, for their 10th shutout of the season. They are 7-0 in League l-B. 12-1 overall, and seventh ranked in the state. Story, D3.

Rockland teams making their mark By Mark Alan Teirstein Staff Writer H.S. GRID POiLS or at least Complete listing, D3 Rockland rules it's trying to. Rockland's finest Team, rank, conference N. Rockland, No. 1 Conf.

I Nyack, No. 2 Conf. II Nanuet, No. 2 Conf. Ill "The kids are getting better each week and the younger kids are gaining confidence," North Rockland head coach Joe Casarel-la said.

Casarella endorses the theory that it's not easy being No. 1. "We're under a lot of pressure each week," he said. "Everyone's always out to get you. Everybody wants to knock us off.

It's a difficult situation for a high school kid. But our kids have responded well to it." Along the way, the Raiders ROCKLAND continues D3 has been closing ground quickly, and is now just one voting point behind the top-ranked Panthers. In Conference II, Nyack, a 22-8 winner over Harrison last Friday, moved up a spot and is ranked No. 2 behind Yorktown. In Conference New Rochelle moved into No.

2 after beating Roosevelt 20-13, but there was no change atop the poll and there hasn't been for quite some time. Teams from Rockland County are ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in all three conferences of this week's Gannett Suburban Newspapers' high school football poll. With its 28-7 win over Rye last Saturday, Nanuet knocked the Garnets out of a share of the top spot in Conference III, leaving No.

1 in that conference all alone to Pleasantville. But Nanuet, which wasn't ranked in the preseason, North Rockland, which won its 31st consecutive game by beating Ramapo 33-7 last Saturday, has finished No. 1 in the poll the last nine years in a row. The Raiders started this season where they finished last year and are showing no signs of letting up. 1 Mrf lJ bJ.

1 'it Surgery for Key Yankees ace Jimmy Key is set to undergo exploratory arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder tomorrow in Birmingham, Ala. Key, the major-league leader in victories with a 17-4 record and 3.27 ERA, opted for the surgery after a magnetic resonance imaging examination last week revealed an inflamed shoulder and rotator cuff tendinitis. Story, D4 On the NHL trail NHL vice president Brian Burke continued his tour of NHL cities, stopping in Edmonton and Vancouver yesterday to present the owners' case. In Vancouver, Burke reiterated a position of some in management that NHL owners would be willing to cancel the season if there's no contract agreement. Story, D2 A Giants concern Now that the Giants have stalled with three straight losses after their 3-0 start, coach Dan Reeves said yesterday that Dave Brown's job is not stable.

Brown will start Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to Reeves, but the quarterback may be benched in favor of reserve Kent Graham if Brown and the Giants don't improve. Story, D4 Jets injury report Second-year running back Adrian Murrell will miss between four and six weeks with a sprained right knee suffered in Sunday's victory over New England. Right tackle Siupeli Malamala aggravated a sprained left knee and will be lost for four weeks. But Kyle Clifton had successful surgery on his knee. Story, D4 The Associated Press fl -f -f.