The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 35

section SportsPeople 2 Baseball roundup 3 Horse racing 4 Sports in brief 6 Television 20 sports Thursday, June 22, 1978 By FRANK DOLSON iiuiiaiiu 111 llllcll again Meets Argentina JiSJP jf Sports 'jC Editor Associated Press shot into the net after scoring Argentina's decisive fourth goal iM CA -4 v. V- '1 Ail 1 I I- it Pfeife- are sure Wright will fly They talk about the pitching staff of the future on the Phillies, about the young men with the strong arms who are expected to be in the starting rotation after the Steve Carltons, the Jim Kaats, the Jim Lonborgs are gone. Some of those young men are here already: Larry Christenson Dick Ruthven Randy Lerch. One of them, the youngest and in the minds of some observers the most promisee of them all has spent the last five weeks living with the Phillies, traveling with the Phillies and watching the Philles while he rehabilitates his right arm. rehabilitation period ended last night.

Early this morning 23-year-old Jim Wright will board a plane for Oklahoma City to resume pitching. If all goes well, the big, quiet, talented kid from Missouri may be back at the Vet before the summer ends. How good is Jim Wright? So good that the Phillies wouldn't let him out of their sight once they discovered he had a stress fracture in his right forearm this spring. Strong and motivated So good that Dallas Green, the organization's scouting and farm director, says simply: "He'll be back. We know he can pitch in the big leagues if he's sound." Strong words, but then Jim Wright is a strong young man who seems to have that rare combination of natural ability and high motivation.

How good is Jim Wright? Dallas Green considered the question a few seconds, then he said: "Jim is much better prepared (to pitch successfully in the big leagues) than Randy Lerch, and you know how much ability Randy has. I think Jim will put Lerch in his back pocket because of attitude and drive. If you give Jim Wright the same opportunity to pitch here (that Lerch has had), you just watch him." He was given a chance not many 23-year-olds get, a chance to be with a big league club a contender, no less; a chance to find out, first hand, what life in the big leagues is like. Father-son project "I've really enjoyed it," Wright said. "I've had a great time.

I know now this is the place to be. I want to go back to Oklahoma City and pitch, and then I want to get back here and win. I want to win for Ruly (owner Ruly Carpenter), and for guys like (Larry) Bowa, who want to win so bad. The Phillies showed me they're concerned about me, that they're going to watch over me. They showed me they think I'm the pitcher they want here in the future.

I want to pay them back in victories. Next time I come to Philadelphia I don't want to com' for medical reasons, I want to come to pitch." The person responsible for much of his desire was Jim Wright's father. He had never been sick in his life and then suddenly, two years ago, he died. "He was 38," Jim said. "We were close.

Very close. Even now, I think about it and I get so depressed. Imagine how tough it was the year it happened. Jim was just making the jump to Double at the time it seemed like a very big jump. Plans round trip "Sometimes I'd lay in bed and I'd think about it and I'd feel so bad," he said.

"I prayed a lot. I groped for the answer. I kept wondering, 'Why did this I had so many things to do for my father. He made all this possible for me. "He had a 10-hour (a day) job as a beef boner.

It was hard work, but he'd come home and any time I'd want to play catch he'd take me to the park. I remember as a little kid, and bat. I owe it all to him, that's for sure. Never once did he turn me down, and I know now he must've been really tired some of those days. "I remember the last time I talked to him.

I was nervous about going to Double A. He said, 'I know you're going to make it. I know you "To me, he's involved with it all. He's the one that gave me the desire. We'd sit up and talk all night about baseball, about hunting, fishing, everything; we'd talk about right and wrong." The kid listened, and he remembered.

Jim Wright's father would be proud of his son now. Chances are, a lot of people are going tc be proud of him before very long. Bill Lyon is on vacation. His column uill resume next Thursday. Leopoldo Luque follows his Double trouble for Phils By Larry Eichel Innuirer 8taff Writer On the first night of summer, the Phillies trotted out one of their favorite acts of the spring the rainout creating yet another doubleheader on down the road.

The Phils waited an hour and 52 minutes to start this one and actually came within five minutes of a first pitch during a lull in the precipitation. But they finally gave up and rescheduled the game against the St. Louis Cardinals as part of a twi-night doubleheader Sept. 8. The rainout, the third of the season here after two seasons without even one, means that the Phils, who have played one doubleheader, have 12 more scheduled in a period that starts tomorrow and ends Sept.

8. They have three in five days at one point in early August, three in six days in early September which explains why Paul Owens and Danny Ozark were so insistent about adding a 10th pitcher. Besides adding to the list of double-headers, the rainout at least raised some uncertainty about who will be pitching when in the next few days. Steve Carlton, the scheduled pitcher last night, got most of the way through his warmup before the rains started falling. "He was half ready to pitch," Ozark said.

"He'll try to pitch tomorrow. We'll have Randy Lerch (who would have pitched tonight had there been no rainout) ready in case Lefty's stiff and can't go. Otherwise, I'll hold Lerch out for long relief. "If Lefty's not ready, he (Carlton) will go Friday in one of the games of the doubleheader." Got that? Assuming Carlton does pitch tonight; the pitching matchups for the four-game weekend series with the first-place Chicago Cubs will be as follows: Friday night, Dick Ruthven and Jim Lonborg vs. Dennis Lamp and Dave Roberts; Saturday night, Jim Kaat vs.

Ken Koltzman; Sunday, Larry Christenson vs. Rick Reuschel. And, of course, all that assumes no more rainouts. In their idleness, the Phils did something they have done rarely in the last few weeks. They gained ground a half-game on the Cubs, who lost in Pittsburgh.

They now trail Chicago by 214 games. From Inquirer Wire Services BIIF.NOS AIRES Argentina and Holland qualified yesterday for Sunday's championship game of the World Cup soccer finals, marking the second consecutive World Cup in which the Dutch have met the host nation in the title game. Holland gained its place in the final by coming back from an early deficit to defeat Italy, 2-1, on second-half goals by Ernie Brandts and Arie Haan and finish atop Group A. Argentina advanced on goal-difference after tying on points with Brazil in Group B. Brazil's 3-1 afternoon win over Poland gave it an overall goal-difference in the group of plus five, but Argentina finished with plus eight as a result of its 6-0 evening rout of Peru.

In the day's only other match, defending champion West Germany, which had a chance to reach the final if Italy and Holland tied and it beat Austria by four goals or more, instead lost, 3-2, to the Austrians at Cordoba. The day's big showdown was the Italy-Holland clash at Buenos Aires' River Plate Stadium, but it was played in rough and somewhat disappointing fashion by both teams. Italy could have beaten Holland for a while, it had them badly beaten, but it failed to take a tight enough hold on the game and then let it be taken away. The Italians came out in full attack at the start of the game and had the Dutch defense bewildered and themselves frustrated by a series of narrow misses in more than 20 minutes worth of repeated scoring chances. In the second minute of play, Roberto Bettega headed just wide from a free kick by Franco Causio.

In the 8th, Paolo Rossi headed far over the bar from point-blank range. Causio barely -failed to reach a pass from Romeo Benetti at the post with the goal wide open. Antonio Cabrini shot over the bar from an open position. Several other times, Dutch keeper Piet Schrijvers was forced to come out and dive at the ball to stop attacks. Finally, in the 20th minute, Italy scored.

Bettega and defender Ernie Brandts reached a pass into the front edge of the penalty area simultaneously, but Bettega got more foot on it and slipped it into the left side of the goal under the right arm of the again onrushing Schrijvers. Since Bettega's shot hit Brandts' foot, however, Brandts was charged with an own-goal. Schrijvers was carried off after colliding with Brandts on the play, and his replacement, Jan Jongbloed, immediately had to make a good save on a long shot by Benetti. By the 30th minute, however, the Italians had pulled back, the game became rough, and Italy never did regain its attacking momentum. Instead, it was the Dutch who came out and grabbed the initiative right from the opening seconds of the (See WORLD CUP on S-D) again, 2-0 Ball set up a play to midfielder Tony Glavin, who worked the ball to Fidelia on a breakaway.

The play was whistled dead on an offsides call. The halftime changes did not improve matters for the Fury, as California pulled back with as many as six defenders and was content with the 2-point win before a crowd of The next stop for the 6-11 Fury is Oakland, and a match with the Stompers Saturday. -1 Terr- Pancho Carter raps Philadelphia, too 'ft 'J 4 1-5. I in its victory over Peru United Press International in Holland's 2-1 win over Italy That was the 21st goal the Fury has allowed in the first half this season as the Surf outshot Philadelphia, 10-1, in the half. Fury Coach Alan Ball, who conducted a rare game-day practice for 45 minutes yesterday, replaced Fidelia with Martin Henderson in the second half and sent midfielder Peter Mannino in for defender Pierce O'Leary.

Fidelia had been involved in the most promising Fury effort of the evening. Shortly before intermission, has not talked to me. I have talked to several drivers about it, but not Pancho. He couldn't do this job and it's vicious to criticize if you can't do the job yourself." Dr. Mattioli flatly rejected Carter's criticism.

"Anybody who says it's worse now (than in previous years) doesn't know what he's talking about," he said. Cagle backed up his position, saying, "If I thought the track was that dangerous, I'd close this place down in a minute regardless of what Dr. (See POCONO on 5-D) Dutch teammates swarm over Furyous they're not-for they lose Ernie Brandts after his tying goal 13th minute when winger Les Barrett scored off assists by Malcolm Lord from George Graham. Eight minutes later, newly acquired Steve David, the North American Soccer League's leading scorer in 1977 who came from Detroit Monday for cash and a draft choice, scored his 66th career goal and first for California. It was a solo effort as he dribbled in from 35 yards out, beat a defender as he swung wide and fired past Fury goalie Keith MacRae into the far corner.

lis Motor Speedway for more than a quarter of a century and is the recognized expert in race track construction and maintenance, took it as a personal affront. "I'm insulted and I guarantee in the next 24 hours I'll have a talk with him," said Cagle, who oversaw the repaving of the second turn six weeks ago and worked late into Tuesday night in an attempt to make it as smooth as possible. "You should ask questions before you go shooting off your mouth," Cagle continued. "As of now, Pancho Special to The Inquirer ANAHEIM The California Surf raised its record to 10-9 last night by defeating the Fury, 2-0, on the first stop of a two-game West Coast trip for Philadelphia. It was the fifth loss in a row for the Fury, the seventh in the last eight games, and it ran the Fury's scoreless streak to 422 minutes.

And it was over in a hurry. The Surf, which had at one point this season a streak of 442 minutes fiithout a goal, broke the ice in the 28, said about Pocono Raceway, which used to be a spinach farm. That was the nicest thing he had to say. "That second turn is so bad that they're probably growing spinach in there," he said. "It's like going down an expressway and you hit a two-inch overlay.

The car just goes up in the air." Dr. Joseph Mattioli, Pocono's chairman of the board and chief operating officer, was at a loss to understand Carter's reasoning. Clarence Cagle, who was superintendent of Indianapo Criticism grows in 'spinach 9 land Driver Pancho Carter pans the track at Pocono Raceway By Bill Simmons Inquirer Auto dtor LONG POND, Pa. Pancho Carter, a former champion in the sprint and midget car divisions of the United States Auto Club who is still trying to rise above journeyman status in the premier Indianapolis cars, tried his hand at criticism yesterday. Pocono International Raceway in general and a recent repaving of the twin tunnels in the second turn in particular were his targets.

"This country lost a lot when they took the spinach out of here," Carter,.