The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 15

THE SUNDAY DISPATCH, Moline, Illinois Apr. 12, 1981 15 1 Cards drop opener, despite triple play 4 ft i i 4 umpires ruled he had caught the ball. "He told me he trapped it," said. St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog.

"I've seen a lot of triple plays, but I've never seen one where both teams were confused. "There were two coaches, three runners' and my whole infield who didn't know what was going on." Schmidt and Philadelphia starter Dick Ruthven, however, made sure the play had no bearing on the world champions collecting their first victory of the year and snapping the Cardinals' string of five straight opening-day victories. SCHMIDT'S HOMER, a towering 400-foot drive over the wagon gate in left field, came after Pete Rose opened the game with a double and Manny Trillo worked BobForsch, 0-1, for a walk. "I still don't feel comfortable," Schmidt said. "I'm still not happy with the way I'm swinging the bat." Ruthven, however, was overjoyed as he pitched a complete game, limiting the Cardinals to five hits while striking out five and not issuing a walk.

"Everything I threw was over the plate," said Ruthven, 1-0. "That's my game. I have to change speeds and spot my fastball. In spring training I threw the ball well but I was getting it up." Bob Boone also homered off Forsch, a solo shot in the seventh, and the Phillies scored their final run before the triple play in the eighth on back-to-back singles by Rose and Trillo and an error by reliever Jim Kaat fielding a bunt by McBride. The Cardinals' only runs came In the fourth when Templeton and Hernandez doubled and Porter grounded into a bases-loaded double play.

ST. LOUIS (UPI) Mike Schmidt hit the game-winning home run, but even he was talking about something else after Saturday's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals. Schmidt's three-run homer in the first inning his first hit of the season carried the Phillies to a 5-2 victory over the Cardinals but the play that captured all of the attention came seven innings later. THE CARDINALS, who were playing their season opener, pulled off the first triple play of the season in the eighth in what Schmidt and everyone else called a freak play.

With the bases loaded, Gary Matthews hit a low line drive that St. Louis shortstop Garry Templeton appeared to have trapped. But the umpires ruled Templeton caught the ball for the first out of the inning. Templeton, however, threw to the plate in an effort to force the lead runner. Catcher Darrell Porter in turn threw to first baseman Keith Hernandez, who was trying to catch Schmidt off base for the second out.

Schmidt, however, had tagged at first after Templeton's catch. Hernandez threw the ball to second baseman Tom Herr, who tagged Schmidt for the second out. Herr then threw to third baseman Ken Oberkfell, who tagged Bake McBride for the third out. "IT WAS A freak play," Schmidt said. "I'm sure it was fun to watch for the fans but it wasn't a big deal.

The good thing about it was that it didn't have any effect on the game." The confusion on the play started when Templeton threw home, even thouph two 5 1 ft united PflS international American League Yanks unleash power NEW YORK (UPI) Graig Nettles and Oscar Gamble socked two-run homers and Willie Randolph added a solo shot Saturday to back Rudy May's strong eight-Inning performance and power the New York Yankees to a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers. Nettles slammed his homer off starter Danny Darwin, 0-1, in the second inning after Bobby Murcer walked to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. The Rangers scored their only run in the third on a triple by Pat Putanam and a single by Jim Sundberg. In the bottom of the third, Randolph lined his homer Into the right-field stands for 3-1 lead, and after Jerry Mumphrey bounced out, Dave Winfield singled and stole second. Gamble then followed with his homer into the upper deck in right field.

May, 1-0 and the AL's ERA leader last season with a 2.47, walked two and struck out three before being relieved by Rich Gossage to start the ninth. The Yankees now have six homers in their first two games. A win third in row BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (UPI) Wayne Gross singled in two runs in the third inning and Matt Keough threw a six-hitter Saturday to help the Oakland A's post a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Keough struck out six and walked four while recording the A's first shutout of the season and third straight victory over the Twins.

The right-hander did not allow a Twin to reach third base after the fourth. Loser Al Williams gave up all three runs on seven hits in 6 2-3 Innings. The A's scored all the runs they needed when Gross' sharp single to right scored Rickey Henderson and Dwayne Murphy. Henderson and Murphy had each walked and advanced a base on Dave Revering's groundout. In the seventh, Revering drove in Rob Picciolo with a two-out single for an insurance run.

Picciolo had singled and gone to second when Henderson walked. The Twins threatened in the second, when John Castino led off with a triple, and again in the fourth, when a wild pitch allowed runners to reach second and third with one out. Keough, 16-13 last year, pitched the third straight complete game for the A's, after victories by Mike Norris and Rick Langford. Hisle is back CLEVELAND (UPI) Larry Hisle, playing In his first major-league game since May 19 of last year, belted a two-run homer and Gorman Thomas added a solo shot to highlight a three-run sixth inning Saturday, lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians in the season opener for both teams before a crowd of 71,067. An RBI double by Paul Molitor staked Milwaukee starter and winner Mike Caldwell to a 1-0 lead in the third and Hisle and Thomas gave the Brewers a 4-1 lead against starter and loser Bert Blyleven.

With one out in the Milwaukee sixth, Ben Oglivie singled. One out later, Hisle drilled a 2-2 pitch over the 387-foot mark in left. Thomas then sent Blyleven's next pitch into the left field stands. Caldwell, who has defeated the Indians five straight times, gave up an RBI single to Tom Veryzer In the fifth but was chased in the sixth after giving up a single to Rick Manning and an RBI double to Mike Hargrove. Reggie Cleveland took over and walked Joe Char-boneau.

After a double steal, Hargrove scored the final Cleveland run when Toby Harrah grounded out. Jamie Easterly took over for Reggie Cleveland and blanked the Indians over the next two innings and Rollie Fingers hurled the final 1 2-3 innings to pick up his first AL save since 1976. Wilcox tames Jays DETROIT (UPI) Steve Kemp collected three hits and two RBI and Milt Wilcox pitched a two-hitter for 7 1-3 innings Saturday to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Rick Peters doubled in the third, was bunted over to third and scored when Kemp squibbed a hit to the right of the mound that starter Dave Stieb was unable to handle. That broke a scoreless tie and Lance Parrish hit a solo home run in the fourth to give Detroit a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers scored four runs in the seventh with Kemp tripling home the first run and scoring the next on Richie Hebner's single. Mick Kelleher and Lou Whitaker also singled in runs in the inning. Knocking the ball loose, New York Met Alex Trevino collides with Chicago Cub second baseman Joe Strain while stealing second in the third inning of Saturday's ballgame in Chicago. The Cubs went on to win 3-1 for their first victory of the season. Lit tell missing again Two-strike triple pleases Henderson on a sprinkler in Florida and tore a ligament in his ankle.

"THE ONLY WORD to describe last year is frustrating," the 28-year-old Littell said. "I didn't help the team at all. I have to go out and prove my arm is sound. I want to be able to help this year." One person who has noticed the difference in Littell is Darrell Porter, a former Kansas City teammate who joined the Cardinals as a free agent over the winter. "He used to be kind of herky-jerky in his motion and he really seems to have smoothed that out," Porter said.

"He looks a lot more fluid." Porter also thinks the addition of the fork ball will help Littell, who is working on completing a physical education degree at Missouri-St. Louis during the off-season. "It's hard for you to win consistently with only two pitches," Porter said. "Both his pitches were hard, a fastball and a slider. He didn't have much of an off-speed pitch to keep hitters off balance." Once Littell comes off the disabled list, he is designated to become the Cardinals' middle-inning reliever, setting the stage for Sutter to come in in the late innings.

"I've done it before," he said. "Any place. Any place is fine. I just want to be able to pitch." hitter. We didn't lose that game today.

Steve beat us. He's going to do alot of that for that team." Dick Tidrow, the third Cub pitcher, was credited with the victory. Tidrow and Bill Caudill, who relieved starter Lynn McGlothen in the sixth, shut the Mets out to temporarily ease concern about the status of the Chicago bullpen with the trade of ace reliefer Bruce Sutter to the St. Louis Cardinals. "I KNOW A LOT of people were concerned in the spring about our bullpen, but I've maintained that spring training is deceiving in that regard," said Chicago manager Joey Amalfitano.

"Dick is experienced and can do the job. Our pitching has been good in the first two games." Tidrow gave up two singles in the ninth as New York had runners on second and third with one out, but got the final two batters to preserve the win. The Cubs scored their first run of the season in the first when DeJesus singled, stole second and went to third on catcher Alex Trevino's throwing error. An infield out by Buckner scored DeJesus. Randy Jones, making his first start for the Mets after being acquired from San Diego, shut the Cubs out until he tired after the sixth.

"HE DID A very good job. The weather, it was kinda cool, may have bothered him," Torre said. The Mets tied it in the fifth when Trevino, who was 3-for-3, singled and scored on Doug Flynn's double to left. CHICAGO (UPI) Chicago Cub outfielder Steve Henderson conceded he would be lying if he did not admit his game-winning triple in the eighth inning off his former New York Mets' teammates did not give him some extra satisfaction. Henderson, acquired by the Cubs in the deal that sent slugger Dave Kingman to the Mets, capped a perfect 3-for-3 day by lining his two-out, two-run triple that snapped a 1-1 tie and gave his new club its first win of the year, 3-1.

"SURE, IT MEANS something, I'd be lying if I said it didn't," said Henderson, whose triple came with two strikes off New York reliever Jeff Reardon, 0-1. Henderson said he hit a fastball off his former teammate, noting he had missed contact on Reardon's first two "I guess I was expecting a fastball," Henderson said. "He got me with them on the first two pitches." Reardon had relieved Tom Hausman after Ivan DeJesus had got his third hit of the day, a single, and stole second. The Mets decided to intentionally walk Bill Buckner, who his hitless thus far this season, to get to Henderson. Did the strategy bother Henderson? "THAT'S BASEBALL.

Buckner led the National League in hitting last season, it makes sense," Henderson said. New York manager Joe Torre said he would make the same move again. "Listen, Buckner leads the league in hitting last year, so it's the move to make," Torre said. "Steve is an excellent fastball MARK LITTELL just wants to pitch really be an advantage for me. "I might lose some of my velocity, but I think I might gain some more movement.

I think I might become more of a pitcher. That's the main thing I want." Littell is hoping, however, going on the disabled list is not a sign that the 1981 season is going to be a repeat of 1980. In addition to the elbow operation, he had more than his share of medical problems. First came a head-on automobile collision in April that left him with a four-inch gash in his knee. After the elbow operation, he tripped ST.

LOUIS (UPI) The St. Louis Cardinals open their home season this weekend but Mark Littell will be missing from his customary spot in the bullpen. Littell, whom the Cardinals were hoping would relieve some of the pressure from Bruce Sutter, is beginning this season the same way he spent much of last year: on the disabled list. "I could probably go out there and be able to do it (pitch)," he said. "But it gives me a little more time." LITTELL IS attempting to recover from surgery to remove bone chips in his right elbow.

He pitched in only 14 games last year before undergoing his second elbow operation in seven years. Littell, who had a 9-4 record and a 2.20 earned run average with 13 saves two years ago, was placed on the 21-day disabled list, retroactive to April 1. He will be eligible to come off the list April 22. "He knows it's best for him," said Whitey Herzog, the Cardinals' manager and general manager. "He's only been throwing 82 miles an hour.

Somewhere, he has to see if he can cut his fastball." Littell is pleased with his recovery, even if the start of his season will be delayed. "MY ARM'S FINE," he' said. "It feels good. I'm starting to kind of wake up and come out of my shell. Every time I'm going out I've improved.

Everything keeps getting better. I don't see any reason why I can't do what I'm capable of doing." But the elbow operation has changed what Littell will be capable of doing. Instead of relying on a hard slider, Littell is developing a slower forkball that will not put as much pressure on his arm. "I didn't count on him for this season," said Herzog, who at one time was considering leaving Littell in Florida. "I saw him in the Instructional League (last fall) and he wasn't throwing that hard." Littell still isn't throwing that hard, but with the addition of the forkball, he said he doesn't believe he will have to blow the ball past hitters this season to be effective.

"Now they will have to be looking for the third pitch," he said. "The main thing will be if I can get it over. It will Study shows aluminum bats as good as wood WEi mm UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (UPI) Major league sluggers like Reggie Jackson or Mike Schmidt who smack home runs in the future may do so because they "got some good alloy on it," a Pennsylvania State University professor of physical education says. Dr.

Chauncey A. Morehouse claims that a series of studies shows there is no difference between the way wooden bats and aluminum alloy bats perform. "IT'S DIFFICULT to comprehend that the two different types of bats could have the same performance, but that's what our studies, and most of the similar studies by others, have shown," Morehouse said. Morehouse said aluminum bats are more popular in college, high school and recreational baseball programs because they are less costly. "Most people feel that aluminum bats are more durable and therefore they cut down on costs," Morehouse said.

"They are willing to use these bats despite the fact that many coaches and players claim there are differences in performance. Our studies show that they don't have to make any concessions in the trade. PENN STATE RESEARCHERS built a pneumatic device capable of "throwing" baseballs at speed of up to 120 mph, and hitting them with a rotating bat moving at about 80 mph. Morehouse said the tests were filmed and analyzed to determine effects of impact and the bat and ball speeds. From the information, Morehouse said he determined that there was no significant difference in the performance of the two types of bats if the same size and weight were used.

Another advantage of an aluminum bat is safety, Morehouse claims. "It is a well known fact that the wooden bats break fairly often, presenting a danger to both the batter and those in the field, "he said. it When it comes to auto insurance, making easier lor you is our policy. Call one of us soon. In Molina 797-41 1 1 In Rock Island 788-7678 We talk your language.

National League Dodgers beat ex-mate LOS ANGELES (UPI) Ron Cey collected three hits and Davey Lopes crashed a two-run single against former teammate Don Sutton Saturday night to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-4 victory over the Houston Astros. In his first outing against Los Angeles after 15 years as a Dodger, Sutton, 0-1, was tagged for four runs on five hits in the second inning. Lopes' single capped the rally, with Pedro Guerrero and Bill Russell also contributing RBI singles. A triple by Dusty Baker, a walk, an RBI single by Cey and Mike Scioscia's sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers two more runs in the fifth. Reds nip Braves in eighth ATLANTA (UPI) George Foster drove in two runs with a home run and a single Saturday night, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

With the game tied 1-1 in the eighth, the Reds scored twice against reliever Gene Garber, 1-1. Dave Collins led off with a single and went to second on a balk by Garber. One out later, Dave Concepcion followed with an RBI single and went to second on the throw home. Foster then singled in Concepcion, knocking out Garber and giving reliever Doug Bair, 1-0, the victory. The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the fourth off starter Gaylord Perry when Foster belted a 1-1 pitch into the left field seats.

Atlanta tied the game 1-1 in the fifth. With two out, Claudell Washington doubled off starter Mike LaCoss and Glenn Hubbard follwed with an RBI single. The Braves drew within one in the eighth on an RBI double by Chris Chambliss. Giants walk by Padres SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) Enos Cabell and Joe Morgan drew bases-loaded walks to account for the only runs and Doyle Alexander and Greg Minton combined on a nine-hitter Saturday to lead the San Francisco Giants to their first victory of the season, a 2-0 decision over the San Diego Padres. Juan Eichelberger had the Giants shut out on two hits until two out in the fifth when San Francisco finally broke through.

Johnny LeMaster started the winning rally with a single to left and scored on consecutive walks to Alexander, Chili Davis and Cabell. That finished Eichelberger, 0-1, and reliever Dan Boone walked Morgan to force across the second run. Alexander went 7 1-3 innings to gain the victory and Minton was credited with a save. Rain no game tor Dues PITTSBURGH (UPI) The game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos was postponed Saturday after an hour and 20-minute rain delay. The game was halted after one inning of play and will be rescheduled at a later date.

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