Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • Page 10

rv i A. The Evening Press Binghamton, N.Y Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1 9B5 7-B Commentary McEnroe-Becker must wait i i i i "Becker, who had flounced around the court dropping his racquet and acting like a 17-year-old for much of the match, was an absolutely gracious loser. "You have to say well done to Joaky," Becker said. "He played good tennis.

For the first two sets, I wasn even on the court. The last two sets I played much better, but it was not good enough." Nystrom's twilight victory puts him into tomorrow's quarterfinals against McEnroe, who defeated Tomas Smid, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, in a match notable only because McEnroe was as tempestuous as he has been all year. The other men's winner was sixth-seeded Anders Jarryd, who saved three set points, in the first set, five set points in the second set and went on to a 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Tim Mayotte. But that was the sideshow. Yesterday was when McEnroe and Becker were to be formally paired.

The warm, sunny day began with McEnroe hot. His tennis was hot he won the first four games of the match and so was his temper. McEnroe feuded with the line judges, feuded with chair umpire Herb Kosten, called for tournament referee Bob Howe to complain about the way the service line machine was malfunctioning and argued with several spec-t3tors See TENNIS, 10B Becker had Nystrom, 0-40, with three chances to even the set. But he could not convert. And, finally on his sixth chance, Nystrom did.

He hit a topspin forehand that landed on the base line. Becker thought the ball was going out and didn't play it. When it landed on the line, Becker, who had been fighting back tears for much of the fourth set, dropped his racket in anguish. Nystrom, usually a placid individual, leaped in the air and shook his fist with joy. "At Wimbledon, I played the best grass court match of my life and he still beat me," Nystrom said.

"Because of that, this really feels great. I think Boris felt the pressure. It was very difficult for him." By JOHN FEINSTEIN The Washington Post NEW YORK There will be a time for Boris Becker and John McEnroe. But it will not be this year at the U.S. Open.

The dream match become nothing more than an apparition last night when Joakim Nystrom, the Swede who twice served for the match against Becker at Wimbledon only to lose in five sets, knocked Becker out of the Open. Nystrom's stunning, three-hour, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, victory hardly could have been more dramatic. In the final two games, Nystrom had six match points. In the last game of the match, v- ti A. i 2 4 Wk tit 't Rose is people's champion By JOHN NELSON The Associated Press PETE Rose is the greatest baseball player of our time.

Not because he can hit the ball longer. Not because he can throw it farther. Not because he can run faster. He can do none of those things, and that is the greatest part of the reason that he is the greatest player of our time. Pete Rose embodies the spirit of the game, not so much in his hustling style as in his commonality.

Mickey Mantle could outslug him any day of the week. Roberto Clem-ente could throw a ball in a way Rose never dreamed of. And Lou Brock on his hands and knees could outrun Rose. Rose's stature is rooted not so much in his records, even in the ultimate record of 4,191 career hits by Ty Cobb (Rose is six hits short of breaking that mark). No, it is rooted more in the reasons for the popularity of baseball itself.

He is a living example of why baseball holds the love of the American public for its sheer entertainment value like no other professional sport. Different people have chosen different reasons why they believe baseball endures. One might conjure up images of a counting-house clerk poring over the thousands of statistics the game keeps, a sort of numerical permanence. Another might point to the game's timelessness, a game played to its logical conclusion without the capricious influence of a clock, purifying its escape value in this mad-dash, tick-tock world. They are good reasons, but not the most pervasive ones.

The chief reason is that this game can be played by 9-year-olds as well as 44-year-olds. Beginning with his, or her, first introduction to organized baseball, even the youngest player can understand and appreciate the skills of the game. By the age of 12, the Little Leaguer may have caught hundreds of ground balls, hit dozens of doubles and even thrown out a runner or two at home with average skills and a little practice. When and if a player reaches major-league level, there is virtually no difference in the way the game is played a few mechanical improvements, more consistency to be sure, some physical maturation. But the game looks and feels the same.

A child can stand in front of a television set, watching the game of the week on Saturday, and imagine what it feels like to be Dwight Gooden on the mound, or George Brett at third base or Pete Rose at bat. These are essentially average-sized, average-looking people, not unlike their dads or uncles or bigger brothers. How could that same youngster imagine being 7-foot-l in the pivot for the Boston Celtics, or a 320-pound defensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, much less understand how it feels? "Pete will tell you this," says his high school coach, Paul Nohr. "He was an average ballplayer. He was not exceptional." It is this connection between the athlete and the everyman between baseball and John Doe that makes Rose the game's greatest player.

He took those average skills the same ones present in many 9-year-old Little Leaguers and made one of the game's most storied careers out of them. "A self-made person," as Nohr calls him, and perhaps the most consistent hitter the game has known. At 5-foot-ll, not too pretty, unable to leap tall buildings at a single bound, Pete is the ultimate common man not so much "Charlie Hustle" as "Pete the Plebe." As he nears an incomprehensible record, the player Rose can still be understood because he is not so different from us. And that he took all these common abilities and made an uncommon career out of them makes him the greatest of our time. Perhaps not the best, but surely the greatest.

Diving Lake Cubs catcher Steve Lake dives for the ball as Houston's Mark Bailey slides safely home in the seventh inning of an NL game yesterday at Chicago. Bailey scored on a single by Craig Reynolds, who also scored when the ball went through center fielder Bob Dernier legs for an error. Details on Page 8B. Hernandez lights Mets' flame Louis Cardinals, who lost at home to the Cincinnati Reds for their fourth loss in five games. Hernandez was the cornerstone of the victory.

He showed he did not leave his bat in San Francisco, where on Sunday he emerged as the matinee See METS, 10B victory over the San Diego Padres. The Mets also ended their star search as Keith Hernandez buried his slump amid a collection of high-fives for his five-hit game. "The race is on," center fielder Darryl Strawberry said. "We got something going." The Mets are just one game behind the first-place St. By STEVE MARCUS Newsday SAN DIEGO The hopes and dreams of the New York Mets returned in full force last night.

On a cool, California night, they fanned the flames of the National League East Division race by breaking out of their batting slump with a 12-4 9-ball champ is i unyielding By VIV BERNSTEIN i Reduced to a spectator in the biggest match of his 37-year career, Mike Lebron stared blankly at the pool table as the kid sank ball after ball. Lebron didn't even flinch when the kid made perhaps the best shot of his lifetime, though the crowd of 300 or so at the Holiday Inn-Arena ballroom cheered wildly. Compact Keith McCready, who says he's 28, looks like 18 and "acts like 14," Lebron said, hit shots last night worthy of the wisest old pro in beating Lebron, 9-3, for the B.C. Open 9-Ball tournament championship. The match lasted only a naif-hour.

McCready of Oceanside, earned $25,000 and the national 9-ball title. Lebron took home to Philadelphia the second-place prize of $10,000. It was the largest prize either had won in any one tournament. Still, there remained an air of triumph for Puerto Rican-born Lebron, who quit playing from 1968-1980. Only after being layed off from a factory job did he return to pool.

i "He's a good player, one of the best I've ever played," Lebron said of McCready. "(But) I played the best player in the world and him twice." Jl(, Lebron was referring to Wade Crane, the reigning world 9-ball champion who Lebron beat twice in the tournament, including yesterday afternoon's semifinal. In advancing to the final, Lebron defeated Jimmy Mataya, Larry Hubbart, Mike Wallace, Danny Dil-iberto and Jim Rempe ranked third by Pool and Billiards Magazine in addition to Crane. Lebron isn't ranked. But he has come a long way from those early days in the 1940s, when Lebron said he was just another hustler.

He can remember taking a bus to hustle a pool game in the late '50s, since he couldn't pay a speeding fine and the police took the car. He had plenty to pay the fine'wifh when he was done. Lebron had won $3,200. "A lot of people had the impres) sion that pool was a low game' Lebron said in his lingering Spanish cent. "It was like on the dark California cool McCready, clean cut and cocky, arrived when pool came out of the dark ages.

Tournament-tested tough, sixth-ranked Me: Cready beat Larry Nelson, Ernesto Dominguez, Danny Medina, Jeff Carter and Kim Davenport. He did with a verve, which included shouts of encouragement to the ball and to himself. "That's just the way I play," Cready said. "I don't really care. I'm just up there trying to intimidate him." i Exact opposites, they added intrigue to last night's final.

McCready gave Lebron one chance to win the match after taking a 4-0 lead and Lebron miscued trying to pocket the 8-ball when he could have tied it at 4-4. McCready, playing with a borrowed pool cue because his disappeared from his hotel room Sunday night, won the last five games without missing a ball. In the final game, he hit a three-rail shot that tournament director Gary Pinkowski equated with Joey Sindelar's hole-in-one on the 14th hole Sunday at En Joie ti) win the B.C. Open golf tournament. "Heck no," McCready said when asked if he planned the shot.

"I was just lucky." i How lucky? lj McCready hit the cue ball, (stucjc behind the corner of the side pocket) it off the opposite side rail, against the back rail, to the original side rail and into the object 5-baH, which dropped into the upper side pocket McCready pumped his arm in tri- -umph. The kid had won. En Joie holes lose mean look 7 How En Joie played Double Triple Hole Par Avo, Eagles BMes Pas Bogeys Bogeys Bogeys Mm. Max. Rank 1.

4 4.298 0 37 258 110 21 4 3 8 1 2. 4 4.021 0 80 281 50 18 1 3 7 13 3. 5 4.888 2 1C7 267 47 5 2 3 8 16 4. 3 3.095 0 27 337 64 2 0 2 5 8 5. 5 4.888 0 100 282 44 4 0 4 7 16 6.

4 4.079 0 60 282 83 4 1 3 7 10 7. 3 3.137 0 55 295 52 24 4 2 7 5 8. 5 4.921 0 82 306 36 6 0 4 7 15 9. 4 4.093 0 67 267 86 9 1 3 7 9 out 37 37.421 2 615 2575 572 93 13 32 48 Double Tnple Hole Par Avg. Eagles Birdies Pars Bogeys Bogeys Bogeys Mil.

Max. Rank 10. 4 4.035 0 70 291 56 10 3 3 7 11 11. 4 4.128 0 37 305 84 4 0 3 6 7 12. 5 4.819 2 116 272 38 1 0 3 7 18 13.

4 4.212 0 33 281 110 4 2 3 7 3 14. 3 3.165 1 43 280 97 8 1 1 6 4 15. 4 4.288 0 26 268 122 14 0 3 6 2 16. 3 3.028 0 55 311 61 3 0 2 5 12 17. 3 3.012 1 58 309 59 3 0 1 5 14 18.

4 4.135 0 52 283 81 13 1 3 7 6 in 34 34.821 4 490 2600 708 61 7 29 45 tot 71 72.242 6 1105 5175 1280 154 20 62 91 Explanation of some columns: Minimum denotes lowest score on a hole; maximum denotes highest score on hole; rank denotes degree of difficulty based on scores. Round Number 111 Mil Rounds below 70 27 28 12 16 83 Rounds below par 42 41 24 27 134 Rounds par and below 57 55 30 38 180 Rounds at even par 15 14 6 11 46 Roundsoverpar 84 82 46 38 250 Rounds of 80 and over 5 4 0 0 9 B.C. Open golfers were better last weekend than last year, if you go by the 430 rounds posted the PGA Tour statistical computer. The pros were more than twice as good at breaking par. And as a result, none of En Joie Golf Club's holes are going to make the PGA Tour's "Mean 18" list.

Or close to it. The 388-yard first hole ranked 13th toughest in the Tour last year, averaging 4.422 strokes. It dropped to 4.298 this year, still the toughest in the B.C. Open, but a figure that would have been only 70th on last year's final Tow list. The par-4 15th, which a year ago was 17th toughest for the Tour season, eased up from 4.405 to 4.288.

The tournament's third tough every round than last year's 72.971 average. Scores were better on every hole except the par-5 eighth and despite champion Joey Sindelar's decisive hole-in-one there in Sunday's final round the par-3 14th. The average score on 14 was 3.165, compared to 3.145 last year and 3.087 two years ago. The hole's 105 bogeys and worse were by far the high for any of the five par-3s. Eagles dropped from last year's 14 to only six two of which were holes-in-one.

Last year there were eight on the 12th hole alone, but the Thursday rain made the par-5s play much longer this time. Backtrackers The New York Daily News' lead on Sam Randolph's Sunday victory in the U.S. teur at Montclair, N.J., was pegged on him being accompanied around the course by a SeeB.ClOB est tnis time was No. 13, at 4.212, after siip- ung trom being the No. 2 meame in 1983 to i o.e last year.

The 29 golfers who broke par (284) for the four rounds compared to just 14 who did it a year The average score this year was 72.242, almost three-qjarters of a stroke better in Yankees9 manager is quick to the punch Tomorrow Lighter sidi of sports Keep an eye on the pennant races with details of all the games. Sax, reminded that Hendrick has been accused of dogging it this season, said, "I think he wanted to get out of Pittsburgh. It looked like all of them wanted to get out of Pittsburgh. I've learned never to call a player a dog any more." And why not? "Because a dog is friendly, very understanding, and he listens to all your problems. A dog will never answer you back.

A dog loves you." From Press wire services Notes, quotes and anecdotes from the world of sports that may tickle your funny bone: Mickey Mantle, asked why Billy Martin is such a good fighter: "Well, he don't argue too long." His fondness for food has caused Los Angeles Dodger manager Tom Lasorda to be the target of more "Manager Tommy Lasorda, whose mouth opens and closes more times a day than all the refrigerator doors in Los Angeles Steve Sax of the Los Angeles Dodgers, talking about the California Angels' trade in which they ac-quired pitchers John Candelaria and Al Holland and outfielder George Hendrick from Pittsburgh: "I think they made a helluva a deal. Hendrick can help them a lot." than a few jokes and jibes, but Phil Elderkin of the Christian Science Monitor might have provided the, uh, icing on the cake with this If you have a story idea, question or comment regarding sports news, call Executive Sports Editor Charlie Jaworski or Sports Editor John Fox at 798-1191 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m..