Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 47

TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1998 PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS PAGE 47 Tlllefe(0)ini ddDq (BlhieirMifii oufi aft 29 by Ellen Gray He's taking over as sports director after two-year morning show stint World Series. In addition to the nightly newscast, Tollefson will be doing the Flyers' postgame show and "Eagles Game Day Live," which goes on the road with the team. In 1990, it was his health he has Crohn's disease and the desire to set up a nonprofit motivational program for youngsters that caused him to leave. Drawn to Channel 29 in April 1995 by a job that would still give him time for his program, Winning Ways, Tollefson soon found himself embroiled in the startup for "Good Day," rising every morning at 3:30. He's hoping his new schedule will actually give him more time to visit schools during the day, he said.

No replacement's been announced for Tollefson, who marked his last appearance on "Good Day" yesterday by smashing a Dallas Cowboys doll with a sledgehammer. Director John Mussoni said Donya Archer and Jennifer Ward Daily News Staff Writer Eight years after bowing out as sports director at top-rated WPVT (Channel 6), Don Tollefson is headed back to the locker room. Starting tonight, Tollefson will replace Carl Cherkin as shorts anchor on "The Ten O'clock News" on WTXF (Channel 29), ending a two-year run as co-host of the station's morning show, "Good Day Philadelphia." Cherkin's last night on the air was last Wednesday. Preceding him out the door at 4th and Market streets was Bill Perry, Channel 29's longtime weekend sports anchor. Perry left after the NFL season ended.

Tollefson will -work with Bill Vargas, recently hired to replace Perry. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to come home and work," said Cherkin, a Northeast High and Temple graduate. "The thing I'm most proud of in my seven years at Channel 29 is, I was nominated seven different times for Emmys. I was nominated in 17 different categories. That shows the consistency and quality of my work." Cherkin, 47, "said he plans to stay in the area and seek work in or out of the media.

He seemed to take his dismissal in stride. When he was informed of the decision last Thursday, he said he told station officials, "I would have brought my playbook if I had one." If landing the same job at a smaller station eight years later doesn't exactly sound like career growth, don't try telling it to the relentlessly upbeat Tollefson. "I really believe it's a totally different job" than the one he left behind at Channel 6, Tollefson said yesterday. When he was last on the air at Channel 6, he said, "just having scores was considered advanced sportscasting." Changing technology and the availability of footage of nearly every play has improved the business, he said. In addition, he expects Channel 29 to give him more on-air "I don't want to criticize what is still the most successful local station in America," he said, referring to his old employer, "but when I was there, I did three minutes a night." With Channel 29's hourlong newscast and flexible format, he expects to have enough time for segments on high school sports and personal fitness.

Another lure was the chance to work with Fox Sports, which now has rights to the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup and the Don Tollefson: back to sports formerly a KYW (Channel 3) anchor will take turns co-hosting with Ttacey Matisak until a replacement is named. "We're looking outside," Mussoni said. Asked about Cherkin, whose contract option was not picked up, Tollefson said, "I have tremendous compassion for people in this business but I never lobbied for this job." Sports writer Bill Fleischman contributed to this article. In other games: DEVIL RAYS 13, TWINS 12 At St. Petersburg, Robert Smith homered in the 141 and Esteban Yan (2-0) closed with five perfect innings as Tampa Bay overcame a six-run deficit.

At 7-4, Tampa Bay is off to the best start by an expansion team. Smith, 4-for-7 in the game, connected off Mike Trombley (0-1) to end the longest game in the Devil Rays' young history at 4 hours, 54 minutes. Quinton McCracken drove in four runs and had three of Tampa Bay's 19 hits. Minnesota, which wasted 7-1 and 10-6 leads, had 22 hits. RANGERS 10, TIGERS At Arlington, Texas, Lee Stevens hit three home runs and Bobby Witt (1-0) got his 100th career victory as the Rangers pounded Detroit.

RED SOX 6, ATHLETICS 3 At Boston, Bret Saberhagen (2-0) continued his comeback and Mo Vaughn homered to lead the Red Sox over Oakland, which lost its fourth straight game. Saberhagen struck out six and walked two. He threw 97 pitches in six innings and allowed two runs on two hits. ROYALS 11, BLUE JAYS At Kansas City, rookie Larry Sutton, Shane Mack and Mike Swenney all homered off Pat Hentgen as the Royals routed Toronto. Loss spoils Griffey's 300th HR Daily News Wire Services Ken Griffey Jr.

paused to watch his 300th homer soar into the stands, wasted in another Seattle loss. With his mother and younger brother in the stadium, Griffey homered twice and became the second-youngest player with 300 homers, but the Mariners' bullpen wasted another lead as the visiting Cleveland Indians won, 6-5. "I just don't like losing," Griffey said after the Mariners dropped to 3-9 for the second-worst start in franchise history. "No matter what happened, a loss is a loss." Griffey, who had his 31st career mul-tihomer game, hit two-run shots in the first against Dave Burba (2-1) and the seventh against Jose Mesa. His first homer and a solo shot in the sixth by David Segui gave Seattle a 3-0 lead.

But the Indians scored six in the sixth, taking a 6-3 lead on Brian Giles's three-run homer off Bobby Ayala. "That's one of the reasons we made a pitching coach change," Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "That's what we're going to work on. We're going to work hard at it." The Mariners fired pitching coach Nardi Contreras yesterday, replacing him -with Stan Williams. Griffey, who has hit at least 40 homers in a season four times, is 28 years, 143 days old.

Jimmie Foxx was 27 years, 328 days when he hit his 300th. Foxx. hit 534 homers during his Hall of Fame career. his first homer of the season, breaking a 59 at-bat homerless drought, and Kirk Rueter (2-1) pitched six scoreless innings to beat St. Louis.

Bonds, lined the first pitch of the fifth inning off the scoreboard below the upper deck in right field, his first homer since Sept. 23 at Colorado. ROCKIES 8, REDS 4 At Denver, Colorado won its first home game this season, rallying behind Vinny Castilla's three-run homer in the seventh and a four-run eighth to beat Cincinnati. The Rockies snapped an eight-game losing streak overall by winning their seventh game at Coors Field this year. PADRES 1, DIAMONDBACKS 0 At San Diego, Archi Cianfrocco homered and Andy Ashby (2-1) defeated Arizona by earning the Padres' first complete game of the year.

The Padres improved to 11-2, the best start in franchise history. DODGERS 3, ASTROS 1 At Los Angeles, Hideo Nomo (1-1) scattered five hits in seven innings to beat Houston, and Wilton Guerrero hit a two-run single to break a seventh-inning tie. POSTPONED: Mets-Brewers The New York Mets' game at Milwaukee was postponed by rain. A makeup date wasn't set, but will be during the Mets' final visit to County Stadium.n July 22 and 23. In other news: DODGERS: GM set to go home Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Fred Claire, hospitalized Sunday night after becoming ill at the ballpark, is expected to be discharged tomorrow from a Los Angeles hospital.

The Marlins break their 0- or-April Daily News Wire Services The Florida Marlins did something hadn't yet done this month. They won. Florida, which hadn't won since Opening Day, March 31, ended an 11-game losing streak by beating host Pittsburgh, 7-2, behind rookie Derrek Lee's second grand slam in a week. Lee's homer and Cliff Floyd's two-run double highlighted a six-run Marlins third that helped rookie Andy Larkin (1-0) to his first major league victory. He gave up one run and six hits in six innings in his second career start, his first since 1996.

"It's great to win. We've been scuffling," Marlins manager Jim Leyland said. "Some guys have probably been trying too hard. The key was one simple thing: Larkin. You get a good-pitched ballgame and you've got a chance to win." Lee also hit a slam off the Garrett Stephenson at the Phillies' home opener.

The losing streak was the longest in the six-year history of the franchise and gave them the worst start ever 1- 11 for a defending World Series champion. The streak also tied as the longest at any stage of the season for a team the year after it won the Series. In other games: GIANTS 8, CARDINALS 2 At San Francisco, Barry Bonds hit In other news: MARINERS: Buhner to PL Seattle placed outfielder Jay Buhner, who missed five games with a swollen left knee, on the 15-day disabled list..