Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 24

D-2 THE STATE JOURNAL Aug. 14. 1978 MVP didn't like medical treatment at Portland Mrf 1 Walton wants to play for Golden State 4-year-old team that entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1970, but Portland fans had to wait for their championship while Walton matured and overcame injuries. The big center's seemingly never-ending string of injuries limited him to just 35 games in 1975 and 51 in 1976. Portland's record continued to be dismal, 38-45 and 37-45 in those years, respectively.

But in 1977, Coach Jack Ramsay arrived and Blazer fortunes changed. RAMSAY LET Walton know that he was the key to the club, designed a complicated pattern offense built upon Walton's passing talents and structured Portland's defense around Walton clogging the middle. With Walton at the hub, Portland roared through the playoffs, beating Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and then favored Philadelphia. Last season, the Blazers were rolling along with a 50-10 record, when they were crippled by a streak of injuries. Walton, hobbling on injured feet, made only a brief appearance against the Seattle SuperSonics, who eliminated the Blazers in six games.

THE BLAZERS have steadfastly refused to comment on Scott's claims of mistreatment of Walton's foot. Almost forgotten in the Walton furor is the status of unsigned Mychal Thompson, whom the Blazers took as the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. They had the best season in the NBA, but gave up another first-round pick and guard Johnny Davis to Indiana for the first choice. Portland in giving up Walton's services.

John White, spokesman for the Blazers, said any talk of where Walton might be going is premature. "He's not going anywhere until we make a deal," White said. "And we haven't made a deal." BLAZER GENERAL manager Harry Glickman said, "They've still got to make a deal with us. They've got some good players we would be interested in, but certainly no centers. "We would be looking at other players, both guards and forwards.

We'll have to go out and acquire a center." Walton led the Trail Blazers to the NBA championship in 1977 and was named Most Valuable Player in 1977-78 despite injuries that kept him out of action much of the second half of the season. HE INDICATED he decided to leave the Trail Blazers because he was unhappy over medical treatment of a foot injury sustained during last season's playoffs. Any new Walton employer is getting damaged merchandise. His foot was placed in a cast Friday and he is walking on crutches. Scott has said Walton won't be mended in time for preseason practice.

The news of Walton's defection from Portland hit the city Aug. 4. The Blazers announced tersely that Walton wanted out and they would do their best to accomodate him. WALTON'S ACQUISTION by the Blazers in 1974 was expected to bring instant success to the languishing SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Bill Walton, the injury-prone Most Valuable Player who didn't like the medical treatment he got with the Portland Trail Blazers, has decided he wants to play for the Golden State Warriors. "Bill has determined that if he is going to play in the NBA, (Golden State) is where he is going to play." said Jack Scott, the sports activist, author and Walton's friend and adviser.

WARRIORS GENERAL Manager Scotty Stirling, who met with the 6-foot-ll center last week in Portland, also confirmed Sunday night that Walton wanted to play for Golden State. "That's essentially the story. We have agreed in principal. I won't comment beyond that." The San Francisco Chronicle reported in today's edition that Walton preferred the Warriors over other National Basketball Association teams because he liked the Bay area, the team, its fans and management. SCOTT SAID, "We felt it was one area of the country that he would get support from the fans The New York Knicks reportedly offered Walton more money but the Warriors offer was large enough, the Chronicle said.

The Philadelphia 76ers and the new NBA franchise in San Diego also sought Walton. Scott said, "If finances were a problem. Bill wouldn't have chosen Golden State. But I think we've said before money isn't the issue. Bill's health is." STILL TO be worked out is the compensation for mm Connors made point clear after victory Connors, Gilbert win Heavens intervene, turning victory into defeat Somebody up there doesn't like the Yankees clay titles utes," said Yankees Manager Bob Lemon, who walked into the umpire's dressing room to voice his displeasure.

Lemon knew he had as much chance of winning the protest as the field had of drying completely before tonight's seriesending game. "I've never won one," he said. "It's like arguing with my wife." ELSEWHERE, TEXAS swept Cleveland 3-2 and 6-5; Minnesota swept Oakland 3-1 and 2- Toronto trimmed Kansas City 3-2 in 10 innings; Boston edged Milwaukee 4-3 in 10 innings; Detroit routed Chicago 10-2, and Seattle beat California 4-1. Orioles Manager Earl Weaver argued with the umpires Friday night, when the situation was reversed, but found a silver lining in the clouds that had handed him a victory. "The big thing was the umpires were consistent.

Thank goodness we had the same crew," he said. On July 31. the same group waited 2 hours, 20 minutes before resuming play in an Orioles' game against the Brewers. ter by Gary Serum and an unearned third-inning run. Rod Carew bunted for a hit, took second when catcher Jim Essian threw wildly past first and scored on the second of Mike Cubbage's three singles.

Blue Jays 3 Royals 2 Bob Bailor went four-for-five, drove in one run and scored the game- winner from second base on a lOth-inning forceout to send Toronto past Kansas City. Bailor opened the 10th with a single and advanced on Rico Carty's single. One out later Otto Velez grounded to third baseman Jamie Quirk, whose throw to second forced Carty. But second baseman U.L. Washington hesitated on the play and Bailor never stopped running.

He narrowly beat the throw to the plate. Red Sox 4 Brewers 3 Carlton Fisk slapped a basesloaded single past third baseman Sal Bando in the 10th inning to help Boston hand Milwaukee its eighth loss in nine games. Jerry Remy opened the 10th with a grounder Bando couldn't handle. Jim Rice beat out a single that also gave Bando trouble, then Dwight Evans was walked to load the bases for Fisk. Earlier, Evans had hit his 22nd homer.

Mariners 4, Angels 1 Craig Reynolds had a two-run second-in- -ning double to lead Seattle. Lyman Bostock went four-for-four and drove in California's run. No better, no worse." UMPIRE DON Denkinger added, "It was just like it was Friday night. The field was unplayable. It was soaked before the game even started and the rain made it 10 times worse." Rangers 3-6 Indians 2-5 Kurt Bevacqua's seventh-inning homer helped Doc Medich win the opener and Bobby Bonds RBI triple highlighted a four-run second inning in the nightcap to power the Texas sweep.

The Rangers have won nine of their last 10 while the Indians have lost nine of 10. "They caught us at the right time," said Cleveland Manager Jeff Torborg. "When we get runs we get no pitching and when we get pitching, we get no runs." Texas, meanwhile, is enjoying a pleasant blend of both. "We're getting decent pitching, clutch hitting and good defense," said Manager Billy Hunter. "We're playing very well right now." Twins 3-2, A's 1-1 Butch Wynegar's eighth-inning singe delivered the deciding run, backed a five-hitter by Roger Erickson and capped Minnesota's sweep of Oakland.

The A's wasted a seven-hitter by Mike Norris, recently promoted from the minors. "I really wanted this game because it was my first start and (A's owner) Charley Finley was in the stands," said Norris. "I've had hassles with Charley before and I wanted him to see me pitch well." The Twins took the opener on a seven-hit By FRANK BROWN AP Sports Writer The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles spent 9 hours, 31 minutes playing 5 hours, 12 minutes of baseball and completing 20'i of the 27 innings they were supposed to have played this weekend. They managed some of those innings Sunday before the heavens intervened, converting a five-run Yankee seventh into so much extra batting practice and turning an apparent 5-3 New York triumph into a 3-0 Baltimore shutout. A 2-HOUR, 27-minute rain delay shortened Friday night's 2-1 Yankees victory to 5'4 innings and made a swamp of what ordinarily was the Memorial Stadium outfield.

The clubs got help from the 'weatherman Saturday, but none from the electricians as three power failures delayed the Orioles' 6-4 victory by 76 minutes. Sunday, forsaking the scuba gear and miner's hats that might have been more appropriate, the teams tried again. Baltimore scored three times in the sixth, the Yanks tallied five in the seventh. But since scores revert to the last complete inning when rain halts official games and play was stopped with the Birds batting in the seventh New York came out on the short end. OF COURSE, they protested.

"They waited a couple of hours at night (Friday), but today when we had all kinds of time they called it after just 36 min INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Jimmy Connors, a perennial championship contender, and unknown Dana Gilbert, who hopes to become one, have captured individual honors in the 68th U.S. Open Clay Court Tennis Championships. "Just getting to the finals isn't good enough for me, it never has been," said Connors Sunday after winning the men's singles title at the Indianapolis Racquet Club for the third time in five years. "I FIGURE if I get that far I should go all the way," he said. Connors, who has won 30 of 34 matches in seven tournament appearances here, defeated seventh-seeded Jose Higueras of Spain 75, 6-1 in the title match.

Earlier in the day, he defeated defending champion Manuel Orantes of Spain by the same score in a match that was halted Saturday by darkness. GILBERT, AN 18-year-old UCLA student, won the women's crown by defeating Argentina's Vi-viana Gonzalez 6-2, 6-3. Scandavians Helena Anliot of Sweden and Helle Sparre-Viragh of Denmark combined to claim the women's doubles title with a 6-3, 6-1, decision over University of Southern California amateurs Barbara Hallquist and Shelia Mclneriney. Gene Mayer and Hank Pfister teamed for a 6-3, 6-1, victory over Jeff Borowiak and Chris Lewis in men's doubles. "I'M NOT supposed to lose and everybody loses once in a while," Connors remarked after earning the $24,000 winner's check on national tel-evison.

"If I didn't lose once in a while it wouldn't give me anything to work for." The victory was Connors' eighth in a Grand Prix event this year. "It's a national title. No. 1. Anytime you have a chance to win national titles, it's important for me.

It's also improved my patience. So I know I can play on the stuff (clay)," he said. "I THINK my clay court game has improved tremendously this week and over the past couple of weeks. It's got me in very good condition not only for now but for the next couple of weeks. "I've had a real strong year.

If you look back. I've won every major U.S. title." The women's champion, on the other hand, has-had little success this year. The second-year UCLA student from Piedmont, who got in the tournament as a wild-card entry at the invitation of tournament director Stan Malless, was rated No. 134 in the latest world rankings by the Women's Tennis Association.

THAT CONTEST was suspended by curfew and completed two days later, a fact duly noted by Lemon. The manager proposed that games like Sunday's be treated the same way. "When you have a curfew game, it's treated as a suspended game and you pick it up from there," he said. "What's the difference?" There was no difference in the field, said Weaver. "It was the same as the other night.

Shade Dodgers in 1 1 innings, 7-6 Giants return to first in West Earvin paces U.S. DENVER, Colo. Michigan State sophomore Earvin "Magic" Johnson' of Lansing paced a United States collegiate all-star team to victory here Sunday over a team of professionals. Johnson scored 12 points and dished out 14 assists as the collegians posted a 106-96 victory. It was the final tuneup for the all-stars before taking off Wednesday for a tournament in Russia.

"Magic" is a starting guard along with Kansas sophomore Darnell in two weeks, relieved and Marc Hill greeted him with a two-run single. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th with none out as Steve Garvey and pinch-hitter Vic Davalillo singled and Rick Monday walked. Joe Ferguson bounced into a double play with Garvey scoring, then jdayey Lopes' routine grounder to second took a bad hop over the head of Bill Madlock, scoring Davalillo with the tying run. BACK CAME the Giants as Larry Hern-don doubled leading off the top of the 11th and Clark singled him home against loser Charlie Hough. 3-3.

But the Dodgers weren't through. John Curtis, 4-5, surrendered a single to Bill Russell to start the inning and, after Smith flied deep to center, Ron Cey reached on an error by shortstop Johnny LeMaster. Ed Halicki then came on to earn the first save of his career. "Halicki told me he'd go in and change his shoes if I wanted him to," said Giants Manager Joe Altobello. "I wanted him to." B.

F. Goodrich Belted TA white letters By The Associated Press If the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers keep up their wild battles in the National League West, they both may drop from exhaustion before the season ends. The latest installment in baseball's hottest rivalry was an epic 11-inning affair Sunday in which the Giants defeated the Dodgers 7-6 and moved back into first place in the division. Los Angeles fell a game back and Cincinnati is l'2games out after losing to San Diego 3-2. "A GAME like this could only happen between the Dodgers and the Giants," said Jack Clark, San Francisco's hero with a run-scoring single in the 11th inning.

"Maybe now people will believe San Francisco is the real thing. Maybe we haven't convinced everybody but. out of 20 people, I'd say we've convinced 15." One of those convinced was Dodgers outfielder Reggie Smith. "Give them credit." said Smith. "They battled back.

They wouldn't have been on top for so long without being a good club." SMITH HIT two homers and Lee Lacy had one for the Dodgers in regulation play while the Giants got four runs in the second on Jim Dwyers two-run double and RBI singles by Clark and Willie McCovey. Then the fun began. The Giants moved ahead 6-4 in the top of the 10th. McCovey singled leading off and. with Darrell Evans on second after a force out and groundout, Mike Ivie was walked intentionally and John Tamargo drew an unintentional walk from Terry Forster.

Rick Rhoden, pitching for the first time at home last week before the Dodgers came back to take the next two. In Los Angeles this weekend, the Dodgers were victors in the opening pair of contests and the Giants took the final two pa(jres 3 Reds 2 Eric Rasmussen won his 11th game in 20 decisions with relief help from Bob Shirley, who gained his third save and extended to seven straight games his scoreless pitching streak. San Diego scored all three runs in the first inning, two on RBI singles by Dave Winfield and Oscar Gamble. The loss dropped the Reds to third place in the Wild West scramble, and San Diego is nine games back in fourth place. Cubs 2, Expos 1 Dave Kingman's solo homer in the sixth inning boosted Rick Reuschel to his 11th victory in 21 decisions and handed Montreal rookie pitcher Scott Sanderson a defeat in his first major-league decision.

Kingman's home run. No. 18 on the season, was his first since Aug. 4 and second since June 30. He spent most of July on the disabled list.

Pirates 7, Phillies 3 After surrendering 29 hits and 25 runs to division-leading Philadelphia in the last two games, Pittsburgh woke cup with some timely hitting ana pitching. Don Robinson hurled a six-hitter and struck out six, and the Pirates got 12 hits, including a three-run homer by Dave Parker. The Phillies had won the first three games of the series. during our blem sale fl iMaslowas G-60-14 $39 F-60-15 939" G-60-15 $40 L-60-15 S90 prices effective through Saturday, August 19. 1978 B-70-13 PLUS F.E.T.

Tax to HALICKI, WHO started against Los Angeles Friday, became the seventh pitcher in the game for San Francisco. He got Steve Garvey on a fly to center and Dusty Baker to pop to first to end the game. Elsewhere in the NL. San Diego beat Cincinnati 3-2, Houston blanked Atlanta 34), Chicago edged Montreal 2-1, Pittsburgh subdued Philadelphia 7-3 and St. Louis topped New York 6-1.

The Dodgers and Giants thus split eight games in the last 11 days. San Francisco won the first two games of a four-game set Front End ALIGNMENT Heavy Duty AIR SHOCKS 100 pound. $5995 200 pound 65 Installed Lifetime Warranty Indy passer too much for Capitals Most American cars We Have Good Used Tire Values 00 Call Jim demons 487-0621 $5 AND UP Passenger Truck Tires i We accept Master Charge. BankAmericard (VISA) Local Financing Available. combined with Steve Hill on an eight yard scoring pass.

Craig Hamlet was successful on one extra point Kick. Gillin completed 16 of 24 passes for 197 yards. GIL DERATH quarterbacked the Capitals and completed 13 of 24 passes for 208 yards. He had three intercepted. Ted Forrest caught three of DeRath's passes for 113 yards and Bo Newberry hauled in six for 60 yards, but neither was able to score, although Forrest did catch a 68-yard pass.

In other MFL games Saturday, Kalama zoo ran its win streak to six with a 20-6 win over Wyoming. Columbus was awarded a forfeit decision when Michigan was unable to provide a field for the game. THE MFL owners also decided to dispense with a playoff between division winners. The top four teams with the best records at the end the season will participate in a playoff. The three South Division teams Kalamazoo (6-0), Columbus (4-1) and Indianapolis (4-2) all have better records than any of the North Division teams.

Lansing's 2-4 record is tops in the North. Mike Gillin is the Midwest Football League's top passer, and the Indianapolis Kaps quarterback riddled the Lansing Capitals' secondary Saturday for three touchdown passes en route to a 19-6 triumph. The loss, fourth in six games, kept the Capitals in first place in the MFL's North Division. LANSING'S TOUCHDOWN came in the fourth quarter when Greg Dalton cracked over from three yards out. Gillin fired TD strikes to Joe Adams for 22 yards and to Tom Martin for 25 yards in the first quarter.

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