The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 17

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2002 www.theTimesHerald.com TIMES HERALD, PORT HURON, MICHIGAN 1C FOR SPORTS SCORES PORTS I Jim Whymer, sports editor (810) 989-6267 Tigers to bring in fences at Comerica will remain the same: 345 feet down the left-field line, 420 feet in center, 365 feet to the right-center fence and 330 feet The Associated Press DETROIT Comerica Park will not be quite so cavernous next season. The Detroit Tigers announced Thursday the organization will bring in the fences at Comerica Park. The distance from home plate to the left-center wall will be 370 feet, instead of the 395 feet it has been in the first three seasons of the venue. "That's cool," outfielder Robert Fick said. "It was too deep out there and the fence needed to come in.

It's hard to put up numbers in there, unless you're Jim gives the hitter an opportunity to hit the longbalL" Tigers president and general manager David Dombrowski said. "Even though the left-field wall will be moved, Comerica Park will still be considered a pitchers park. Center field remains big, thus giving our pitchers many places to pitch." The Tigers have ranked in the bottom tier of American League teams in home runs hit at home since the park's opening. The most home runs hit by the club at Comerica Park came in that first year (62, 12th in AL). They dropped in 2001 with 58 hit (tied for last in AL).

Last season, the Tigers hit a league-worst 61 home runs at home, 12 of which were hit to left field. In 1999, the last season at Tiger Stadium, Detroit hit 118 home runs at home. The team record is 125 home runs, set in 1987. Pac Bell Park in San Francisco (114 home runs) was the only major league ballpark that saw fewer home runs last season than Comerica Park (122). The Tigers, who are not expected to sign any major free agents, still have one decision of interest to make before spring training GLAVINE TO JOIN METS begins hiring broadcasters to replace Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell, who retired after last season.

"There hasn't been a decision on anything," Tigers spokesman Jim Anderson said Thursday night. Dan Dickerson and Jim Price, who joined Harwell in the radio booth last season, did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. 'People don't like change overall, but they'll get used to it' mm Eipte sjsJ3 1 MxE3hzz '-r Detroit continues mastery over Phoenix with 5-3 win By TONY PITTS, Times Herald UP MY ALLEY: Frank Brady of Lexington bowls during league play Wednesday at Kautz Shore Lanes. The alley has a new type of flooring for bowling alleys which wears better than wood, owner Fred Kautz said. Lanes get makeover Thome.

Maybe Juan Gonzalez would've stayed if this happened before. They offered him a bunch of money to stay, but I don't think he liked the ballpark" The Tigers hoped Gonzalez would be the star they desperately needed as they began their first season in Comerica Park in 2000. But he turned down a $143 million, eight-year deal to stay in Detroit in part because the right-handed power hitter found it frustrating to clear the left-center fences. Gonzalez currently plays for the Texas Rangers. The rest of the distances synthetic surface over the quickly-corroding wood on each of the alley's 12 lanes.

The six-man crew started Nov. 18th and finished Nov. 27th. They worked on two lanes a night from midnight-8 a.m., so the lanes were never closed to the public. Kautz, who has been owner and manager for the past 23 years, said the lanes were getting old and the nails were beginning to show.

On some lanes, the wood was worn down to the nails. "It's something I've been thinking of doing for the past two or three years," Kautz said. "It shows our bowlers that we're willing to spend Rogers made his mark in Michigan State's record books. He finished first with 27 TDs and 12 100-yard receiving games, second with 2,821 receiving yards and third with 135 receptions. Rogers and former Spartan Plaxico Burress, who plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, are the only receivers in school history with consecutive seasons.

He is the first Spartan to make the AFCA team since 1989 when linebacker Percy Snow and offensive tackle Bob Kula were on it. The AFCA, which has selected teams since 1945, uses a panel of 28 NCAA Division I-A head coaches to assemble its team. On Thursday, Rogers also was named college football's Receiver of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus. He will be honored at the 48th annual Touchdown Club of Columbus All-Sports Banquet in February. Dave Dombrowski down the right-field line.

The flagpole, which was in play in center, will now be out of of the new configuration will begin early next year. "Our goal is to create an exciting environment that money to maintain the lanes." Some of his bowlers were surprised at how nice the new lanes are. "They hold the line a lot better," said Chris Allen, 16, of Lexington, who bowls in the Saturday morning league. "I was skeptical at first because it was different, but I've been able to throw some good games." Kautz said synthetic lanes is what bowling alleys everywhere have been switching to in recent years. But lilce most things in life, the regulars at Kautz Shore Lanes might need a little time getting used to them.

"There's mixed emotions about them," Kautz By Oj if am mm OUTDOORS Muzzleloader will get one more chance OK, I admit it. I've avoided December deer hunting the past few years. It doesn't really seem to work. I have all sorts of explanations. And it's cold.

Too cold. Even colder than the rain-turning-to-snow that I sat through during the firearm deer season. Unsuccessfully, I'll add, unnecessarily. Oh, I had a chance one. First, I decided to stay down here during the Nov.

15-30 firearm season, rather than travel to the Upper Peninsula as I have the past few years. I remember reading that all the deer are down here, anyway. And since I was hunting in the shotgun zone, I decided to use my muzzle-loader. I had two reasons for that choice: First, I still haven't taken a deer with it. And second, it's more accurate and more powerful than my smoothbore.

So after days when all I got was cold and wet, I'm stillhunting along an edge of the Black River. Just in front of me, a deer leaps up from behind a fallen tree. It goes half a dozen steps and stops on the other side of two trees. The deer seems to know exactly what it's doing. The two trees are each about a foot thick.

The space between them forms a narrow through which the deer watches me with one eye. About all I can see through the 5-inch gap are the deer's head and its tail. First, I consider which direction the deer should move to give me a shot at something vital. Then, I plot out where I should move to get a look at its lungs. It's a patient deer.

After what seems like a long time, I decide the shot through the gap in the trees is not a big deal. Usually, head and neck shots are to be discouraged. But this deer, I had to remind myself, was just standing right there. Right there couldn't have been more than about 25 feet away. "At this range, this maxi-ball will take that deer's head off," was the last argument in my mental debate.

So I took careful aim at the vertebra holding the deer's head on and carefully squeezed the trigger. "Pop." The deer stood still. So did the bullet. The capper's in my right jacket pocket. Let's try that again.

I couldn't get the first cap loose with my gloved fingers. I wedged the glove under my left arm and started to tug it loose. It's about then that the deer decided it had seen enough and took off running for Metamora. When it was about half way there, I got the second cap on. "Boom." The question, then, is whether I should stick to bow and arrow for the rest of the month, or should I give the muzzleloader another chance.

Maybe it'll depend on the weather. Contact Michael Eckert at 989-6264 or at eckertic.net The Associated Press PHOENIX Darren McCarty can't explain the Detroit Red Wings' almost three-year dominance of the Phoenix Coyotes. McCarty and Brendan Shanahan scored in the game's first 97 seconds, and the Red Wings beat the Coyotes 5-3 victory Thursday Darren McCarty night to extend their unbeaten streak against Phoenix to 10 games. "There have been a lot of close games, but things have been bouncing our way," McCarty said. "I like playing in this place.

A lot of the guys do." Detroit is 6-0-4 against Phoenix dating back to Jan. 23, 2000, when the Coyotes beat the Red Wings 5-3. "Streaks like that don't mean much year to year because the personnel changes," McCarty said. Tomas Holstrom, Kirk Maltby and Nicklas Lid-strom also scored for the Red Wings, unbeaten in their last 10 games against WOOCH THURSDAY: Wings 5, Coyotes 3 RECORD: 15-7-3-1 STANDINGS: First place in the Central Division, two points ahead of St. Louis NEXT GAME: 8:30 p.m.

today at Dallas Phoenix (6-0-4). Andrei Nazarov scored his second goal in as many games, and Tony Amonte and Shane Doan added goals for the Coyotes, win-less in eight of their last nine games (1-3-4-1) and 11 of 13 (2-6-4-1). "The guys should hold their heads up high tonight," said Phoenix goalie Brian Boucher. "I thought we played a really hard game, a good game. If anyone didn't really pull the load tonight, I think it was me.

I had an off-night." McCarty's sixth goal came 18 seconds into the game on the Red Wings' first shot. Shanahan followed 79 seconds later with his eighth goal on Detroit's second shot, a blast from the left faceoff circle. See WINGS, 20 Lexington alley adds new surface By TOM MOOR Times Herald LEXINGTON Regulars at Kautz Shore Lanes didn't get a lot of time to say goodbye to the wooden lanes that have been a staple at the bowling alley since 1967. "One day there was wood, the next day it was synthetic," said Fred Kautz, owner and manager. Well, it was almost that quick.

It took Brunswicks of Muskegon six working days to lay a light brown said. "People don't like change overall, but they'll get used to it. "It's a lot easier to slide on them, and you don't have to sand them." That's a big plus for Kautz and his staff. Having a synthetic surface means less work. Each year the staff would have to shut the lanes down for four days.

One year it would sand and put on a new coat, the next year it would screen the lanes and put on two more new coats. That cost $6,500 every two years. Brunswicks put the synthetic lanes in for $75,000, and said they -should last as long as 35 years. See BOWL, 50 Rogers hauls in national honor Final games to clear BCS picture 7 r. The Associated Press Notre Dame's biggest game of the season is Saturday when Washington State plays UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

While the outcome decides the Pac-10 champion, it's also likely to determine whether the Fighting Irish are in or out of a lL Larry Coker lucrative Bowl Championship Series game. Notre Dame (10-2) completed its season last week with a 44-13 loss to USC, but a UCLA upset of Washington State could land the Irish in the Orange Bowl. Before that drama plays out in the late afternoon, No. 1 Miami (11-0) needs to beat No. 18 Virginia Tech (9-3) to advance to the BCS national title game in the Fiesta Bowl to play No.

2 Ohio State (13-0) on Jan. 3. "It's a one-game season The Associated Press EAST LANSING Charles Rogers, who caught a school-record 68 passes for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns for Michigan State this season, was named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team on Thursday. "It's a great honor," Rogers said. Rogers announced last week that he was skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

The 6- Charles Rogers foot-4, 205-pound native of Saginaw, is one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, which recognizes college football's top receiver. He set NCAA and Big Ten records by catching TD passes in 13 straight regular season games and 14 consecutive games overall. In just two seasons, now," says Miami coach Larry Coker. Indeed. If UCLA (7-4) upsets No.

7 Washington State (9-2) on the final day of the regular season, Notre Dame is all but set for the Orange and a $13 million payday. The opponent would likely be the winner of Saturday's Big 12 title game between No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2) and No. 12 Colorado (9-3). A Washington State win drops the Irish from the BCS picture and into the Gator Bowl, which pays each team $1.6 million.

North Carolina State (10-3) would be the opponent. Also, No. 4 Georgia (11-1) plays No. 22 Arkansas (9-3) for the Southeastern Conference title and an automatic BCS bid, probably to the Sugar BowL The final BCS standings will be released Sunday, fol-lowed by bowl matchups for the Fiesta, Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls. Three of the six league See BCS, 2C MELISSA WAWZYSKO, Times Herald Leader of the pack Croswell-Lexington freshman Chelsea McVay, shown at the Marysville Invitational, was named the Times Herald girls cross country Runner of the Year.

Cros-Lex's Lisa Shaw was named the area's top coach. Stories, team, 3C..