The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 11

She Shrcneport dimes Sports of The Times i Sports Classified Markets Friday May 5, 1978 Page One The Derby From Aly dar to Dr. Valeri he has shown brilliant speed in winning three allowance races, the Hutcheson Stakes and the Fountain of Youth. "Raymond Earl probably will lead for the first half mile, then Sensitive Prince will take over," said Rondinello. "Once he gets the lead, these other horses could have trouble getting by him. Jerkens is hard to pass.

He's a gi eat speed trainer." Believe It will be one of those coming from off the pace to make a one-run shot for victory as he did in the Wood Memorial. "I want to be lying fourth or fifth, not too far back," said Woody Stephens, who trains Believe It for the Hickory Tree Farm of Mr. and Mrs. James P. Mills.

"The race will start at the three-eighths pole." by ABC from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. are Darby Creek Road, Esops Foibles, Chief of Dixieland, Hoist the Silver and Special Honor. If 11 start, the purse will be $239,400, with $186,900 to the winner. Alydar, trailing 4-2 in head-to-head competition with Affirmed, blew out three-eighths of a mile Friday morning and gave trainer John Veitch a little scare.

"I was concerned down the backside when Alydar tried to run off with Jorge Velasquez, his regular rider) three or four times," said Veitch. "He had a nice easy blowout and he's ready." Alydar was timed in 37 2-5 seconds after a first quarter in :24 2-5. He pulled up a half mile in :52 4-5 on a track that was very sloppy. An off-track for the -Derby was probable. impressive fashion, each winning an allowance race and three stakes.

Alydar's stakes wins were in the Flamingo at Hialeah, the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and the Blue Grass at Keeneland. Affirmed 's stakes victories were in the San Felipe Handicap and Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita and Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park. Should Sensitive Prince spoil the anticipated duel between Alydar and Affirmed, he would duplicate the feat of his sire, Majestic Prince, in 1969. Majestic Prince made the Derby his seventh victory in as many starts and so could Sensitive Prince. Owned by Joseph Taub and Dr.

Dennis Milne, and trained by Allen Jerkens, Senstive Prince won his only start as a 2-year-old. This year The weather forecast called for considerable cloudiness with a good chance of showers at post time and temperatures near 65 degrees. "He's ready to go two miles," trainer Laz Barrera said after Harbor View Farm's Affirmed was schooled in the starting gate and then galloped Wi miles. Barrera and Veitch feel their colts are improved over last year when they were the top two 2-year-olds in the nation. Lou Rondinello, the trainer of Darby Creek Road, has not seen Affirmed this year but thinks that Alydar is better as a 3-year-old.

"He's more mature," said Rondinello. "He knows what he's doing out there now." Alydar and Affirmed have marched toward the most important match of their exciting rivalry in Baird will ride Raymond Earl, a long shot who is expected to set the early pace. Cauthen appeared in the Churchill Downs stable area and immediately became the center of media attention. "I'm glad to be here," the Walton, native said simply. He also called Affirmed "a very good horse, very intelligent," and when asked which of 10 rival 3-year-old he' was most concerned about, said: "I'm thinking about all of them." It appears that Affirmed will have three major challengers when the field leaves the starting gate at 4:38 p.m., CDT.

They are Alydar, Sensitive Prince and Believe It. Contesting the Big Four, besides Dr. Valeri and Raymond Earl, in the 104th Derby, which will be televised Dandridge leads Bullets to win By ED SCHUYLER JR. AP Sports Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Alydar goes after Calumet Farm's ninth Kentucky Derby victory Saturday in a field that includes Affirmed, a proven champion, and Dr.

Valeri, whose last victory was worth a Fort Knox payoff of $235.40. Steve Cauthen, the winner of numerous awards and millions of dollars at the age of 18, will make his Derby debut aboard Affirmed, who ranks with Alydar as the top contender for the blanket of roses and the glory that await the winner at the end of the testing IV4 miles. One of Caut hen's jockey rivals will be 57-year-old Robert Baird who has ridden in four Derbys, the last one four years before Cauthen was born. Calumet hopeful Alydar, a cofavorit'e with Affirmed in today's Kentucky Derby, carries the hopes of Calumet Farms for a ninth garland of roses which symbolizes victory in the first gem of the Triple Crown. The handsome chestnut has run four times against Affirmed and is on the losing end, 4-2.

A field of 11 will contest the Derby over ly. miles with posttime just after 4:30 p.m. (CST) today from Churchill Downs. (UPI color photo) 5 1 I-. t' -it 1 -v.

"v- Tl v4 I 4-, munches sweet grass in a quiet Carew-Twins romance souring? their shots while falling behind 62-45 at halftime. They cut the deficit to 92-81 at the end of three quarters, aided by a perfect 18-for-18 from the foul line. Washington played without center Wes Unseld for the second consecutive game as he nursed a sprained ankle. Grevey played only 18 minutes of the second game because of his sore neck. LSU baseball mentor fired BATON ROUGE (AP) Jim Smith, head baseball coach at Louisiana State University for 13 years, was fired Friday because his team didn't win enough games.

This year, LSU's baseball team finished 12-34 overall and 6-18 in the Southeastern Conference. "I regret having to take this action," said Athletic Director Carl Maddox, who fired Smith. "But after two successive years of finishing last in the Southeastern Conference, I believe the action is necessary for the good of the LSU baseball program. "I certainly hope that Jim will decide to continue with the department as supervisor of athletic equipment," Maddox said. Smith already held that job, in addition to his coaching duties.

Smith, 44, had a career won-lost record of 238-251 at LSU. However, in the last two years, his teams won only 10 of 42 Southeastern Conference games Maddox said he would ask that a committee be selected to recommend a replacement for Smith "by the end of this month." ju -i it 1 Jl a By GORDON BEARD AP Sports Writer LANDOVER, Md. (AP) Bob Dandridge scored 30 points for Washington while Julius Erving managed only eight for Philadelphia as the Bullets whipped the 76ers 123-108 in a rough National Basketball Association playoff game Friday night. The victory gave the Bullets a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals, with the fourth game to be played on Washington's home court Sunday afternoon. Erving, reported to be suffering from swollen right hand, hit only four of 14 shots and scored 12 points while being guarded by Dandridge.

An 11-point string by Washington gave the Bullets a 57-39 lead with 3:07 remaining in the second quarter. Philadelphia rallied with Erring on the bench to pull within 94-85 when "Dr. returned with 9:28 remaining. But a 9-2 spurt by the Bullets, including four points and two steals by Charles Johnson, stretched the lead to 103-87 and finished the comeback by the 76ers. Dandridge hit 14 of 20 shots and had seven assists.

Kevin Grevey, suffering from a strained neck, scored 21 points. Elvin Hayes had 16, and Greg Ballard 12 while pulling down 15 rebounds for Washington. George McGinnis, who spent eight minutes of the second half on the bench with five fouls, led Philadelphia with 16 points, and Doug Collins had 15. The officials called 71 fouls, including 12 in the first three minutes against the two teams who have been engaged in considerable contact throughout the series. The 76ers hit only 30 percent of 1 A 1 r.

5- 1 moment was took a .352 batting average into the game. Minnesota finished fourth in the division with an 84-77 mark a year ag, then were hit hard by free-agent defections over the winter. Hisle and Bostock, both .300 hitters in 1977, were among those signing with other teams. Carew said he doubted that Twins President Calvin Griffith would keep him if the club doesn't start winning. himself out of it.

The 48-year-old Palmer, a single stroke out of the lead at the end of the first 18 holes over the Preston Trail Golf Club course, blew to a 77 and a 143 total. He opened the day's play with five consecutive 5s and 3-putted four times. "My short game went berserk," he said. Jay Haas, the winner of the San Diego Open earlier in the season, was a single stroke off the lead at 3-under-par 137 after a 66, the best round of the day. He was tied with Ed Sneed, who had a 67, including birdies on two of his last three holes.

Larry Nelson, no relation to the Hall of Famer who has lent his name to the tournament, matched par 70 and was two shots off the lead at 138. Lee Trevino, with a 69, and Tom Purtzer, 68, were at 139. Defending champion Ray Floyd had a 75 and was well back at 143. Ben Crenshaw, who chased him to this title a year ago, was 72-144. Some other scores: Johnny Miller 73-142, PGA champ Lanny Wadkins 69-142.

Hale irwin 70-145. Tom Weiskopf 73-147. si-' i looking at baseball as a job. I'm swinging at pitches that I used to take. "I want to hit the ball out of the park because we need the runs to win.

I swung at some of Luis Tiant's pitches (in Boston) Wednesday night that I would have let go in other years when we had Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostock in the lineup." The six-time AL batting champion added that he was carrying too heavy a load trying to make the Twins a winning team. National East 13 12 12 10 11 10 8 8 11 12 15 14 Pet. GB Vi 2 3'i 4Vi 4V Montreal Philadelphia Chicago Pittsburgh New York St. Louis Los Angeles Cincinnati San Francisco San Diego Houston .619 .600 .522 .455 .423 .417 .667 .583 .521 .434 .417 West 16 8 10 11 13 14 15 14 12 10 10 9 2 3V 5V 6 7 Atlanta .375 Friday's Results San Francisco at Chicago, rain Atlanta Houston 2 Montreal 4, Cincinnati 3 Philadelphia 9, New York 4 Los Angeles 7, Pittsburgh 2 San Diego 2, St. Louis 1 San FramijcoWiSWltf'ago (Lm 1-3), 1.T5 m.

Los Angeles (Sutton 1-3) at Pitt tour gn (Roaker 1- 1). 1:15 Montreal (May 1-1) Cincinnati ISeaver 0-3), 1:15 om Htm York (Zachrv 3-0) at Pniladeipnta (Larch 2- 1). 35 p.m Houston (Anduiar 1-3) at Atlanta (Henna 34), 0 35 San Diego (Perry 2-0) at St. latin) (Denny Ml. 7 05 o.m.

j' i' if Alydar Carew's comments were made in Boston, where Minnesota was beaten 8-1 by the Red Sox Thursday night. The comments were reported Friday by Minneapolis Tribune columnist Sid Hartman. Carew, here as the Twins opened a weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles, was unavailable Friday. Going into Friday night's game the Twins were 8-18 and next-to-last in the AL West, HMs games out of first. Carew who hit .388 a year ago Watson shares lead in Nelson BALTIMORE (AP) Rod Carew collected a lot of hits for Minnesota last season, enough to win the American League's Most Valuable Player award and flirt with a .400 average most of the way.

But the veteran first baseman says things are much different this year with the Twins and that he expects to be playing elsewhere by June 15. "It would be a lot more fun for me playing with a winning team," Carew said. "For the first time, I'm American East 1 15 14 14 11 12 Pet. .750 .609 .583 .478 .476 .434 .348 GB Vh 3 5Vj 8Vj Detroit New York Boston Milwaukee Cleveland Baltimore Toronto Oakland Kansas City California Texas Chicago 10 11 10 13 IS West 18 5 14 14 9 10 1 .783 .609 .609 .476 .350 .290 .286 4 4 7 9Vj 12 12V 7 8 8 13 Minnesota 8 19 Seattle Late games not included Friday's Results Chicago at Boston, pod. rain Baltimore 2, Minnesota 1 New York 4, Texas 2 Milwaukee 9, Kansas City 0 Detroit at Oakland, (n) Cleveland at California, (n) Toronto at Seattle, (n) TODAY'S GAMES Kansas City (Sputter 4-2) MilwauM (Sorenson 30 Chicago (Barrios 1-1) at Boston (Torraz 3-1), 1 m.

Teas (Umbarger 0-1) al Yorli (Guidrv Ml. 1pm Detroit (Ronma 2-0) at Oakland (Langford 0-1), 3.30 p.m Minnesota (Erickson 3-3) at Baltimora ID Martinei 3-D. 30 pm Toronto 2 1) at Seattle (Mitcnell (1-3). Cleveland (Paxton 0-t) at California (Kn 3-2) STAND By BOB GREEN A P. Golf Writer DALLAS (AP) Tom Watson scrambled his way to a windblown, 3-under-par 67 that lifted him into a three-way tie for the lead Friday in the second round of the $200,000 Byron Nelson Golf Classic.

Watson, the 1977 Player of the Year, a two-time winner this season and former Nelson champion, shared the top spot at 136 with Jim Dent and Steve Melnyk. Dent, the hulking first-round leader, shot a 71 and Melnyk had a 69. "I don't like the way I'm striking the ball, but I sure like the way I'm scoring," said Watson, who played when the whipping winds were at their worst. He didn't make a bogey, but holed four putts in the 6-8 foot range to save par and salvaged another with a 15-footer. "With the wind, today was an exercise in patience," said Melnyk, who holed a 12-foot, downhill putt on the last hole for a piece of the lead.

"I feel real confident," said Dent who, like Melnyk, has yet to win a PGA tour "I hit a lot of good shots. I just didn't make the putts I made yesterday (when he shot Palmer, meanwhile, took Baseball on Page 2-C Tout Vk H(MI1 tltH'Ml'l likf lit on No. HP- I i ill ne mmmmtmmmm.