The Evening Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 19

MONEY: FORTS' TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1983 THE EVENING SUN Orioles' Stefero another Wins one By Jim Henneman Evening Sun Staff DETROIT Just in case the home folks thought John Stefero's act on Sunday was improbable, the kid from Odenton gave them an instant replay. Not that he did it all by himself. Far from it. The really big hit was a ringing line drive off the bat of Ken Singleton, who has reclaimed his title of "Mr. Reliable." That, in turn, was set up by Gary Roenicke's two-out single.

And the play which made it all possible was a high bouncer in front of the plate that turned out to be Cal Ripken's fourth hit of the night. But, in the bottom of the 11th inning, after a 6-4 lead had evaporated three innings earlier, Stefero stood at the plate with the winning run in scoring position, just as he had done in the ninth inning the day before. And, for the second straight game, the catcher they cali "Stumpy" for obvious reasons, lined a single to right field to drive in the winning run as the Orioles officially buried the Milwaukee Brewers with a stunning 8-7 victory that left an audience of 39,462 limp from the excitement of yet another emotionally charged victory. The Orioles' sixth straight win in extra-innings was the 10th in their last 11 games. Since July 10, the Orioles' record is a phenomenal 50-20 and they now lead the Detroit Tigers by 7'A games, the New York Yankees by 9V2.

They face the Tigers here tonight (5:30, WFBR) in a double-header with the magic number now only seven, and the clinching could be imminent if the Orioles can survive a temporary pitching crisis because of a bullpen shortage. "I'm pumped up," Stefero admitted in the clubhouse after the game, basking in the afterglow of a second straight curtain call in his home town. "It's kind of a one-in-a-million chance to get to do something like this to come up here, and help a team like this in front of my family and friends. It makes it very special." As recently as a year ago, this kind of setting was nothing more than a continuation of a childhood dream for Stefero. "I always dreamed of playing in the big leagues, but I didn't think it would be with the Orioles," said the Mount St.

Joseph gruaduate. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 1979, he was given a crash course in the art of catching, something he still is trying to perfect. "The catching still needs work," he said. "I've only been doing it for three years. But this year I wanted to prove I could hit." Perhaps as an incentive, perhaps because of his proximity to Memorial Stadium, the Orioles gave Stefero a seat in the bullpen in 1980, after his first full season, letting him watch games when he wasn't warming up pitchers.

But last year, after his minor league season was over, it was different. "I had a bad year at Charlotte," Stefero said, "and when the season was over and I came home, I came out to the park quite a few times with my girl friend. I never told anybody I was coming, I just came out and paid for my tickets." Perhaps he could get a refund, now that he has returned a couple of dividends on the Orioles very modest investment in him. "The last five years have been tough," Stefero said. "It's very hard to get up here." Sometimes it's even more difficult to make a return trip, as he found out the hard way.

Summoned as a replacement when Joe Nolan suffered a broken toe just before the All-Star break, Stefero brought impressive credentials with him from the organization's Class AA Charlotte farm club. He made a quick, favorable impression on Manager Joe Altobelli, but when he was sent back to the minors, this time to Triple A Rochester, Stefero got a jolt. He hit only .196, which can put anybody in serious jeopardy. "When I went back down, I thought about the possibility of coming up in September," he recalled. "But I thought I blew it.

I didn't hit, and I had a couple of injuries that bothered me." But Altobelli remembered something. "He opened my eyes when he got that double off Goose Gossage," Altobelli said, recalling Stefero's opposite-field line drive in the ninth inning that drove in two runs to tie a game the Orioles eventually lost on June 30 in Yankee Stadium. "That kid can hit, and he's going to get a few more runs batted in before his career is over." But .196 doesn't earn too many recalls, just ask Leo Hernandez, who opened the season with the Orioles, went to Rochester and hit around .300 the second half of the season, but was given a message when the parent club decided not to bring him back for the final month. See ORIOLES, C3, Col. 1 ii in i linn i -w imii i I nam -th to 1 By Gene Sweeney Jr.

Evening Sun Staff Rookie John Stefero, right, is all smiles after his second straight game-winning hit for Orioles. Altobelli runs Orioles own way I I i Kevin Cowherd but talking about the playoffs and the World Series is not my favorite topic of conversation right how." The Orioles made life easy for Joe Altobelli this season. Easy in the major leagues has always been a 7'A game lead in September with but 13 games to go. Weaver with his 1,354 wins, his .596 won-lost percentage, his six AL East titles, four pennants and one world championship, is gone. But a funny thing happened when Earl Weaver left: the Orioles kept on winning.

They even made it look easy. The Orioles were a team that could win a ballgame five different ways between Monday and Friday. Each time they did, Joe Altobelli would shake his head and marvel at the flinty character of this team he had inherited. "Up to this point, I couldn't have written the script any better," he said softly. "But, see, I'm like a manager going through what a rookie player goes through.

This year has gone fine. Let's see wTiat happens next year, with the sophomore jinx. "I don't worry about it, though. I don't lay awake at night for three or four hours, I don't sit behind this desk and think about it. I know I'm capable." Altobelli knew he was capable the last time they let him manage a major league team.

That was in San Francisco back in 1977, when he replaced Bill Rigney and the Giants finished fourth in the National League West. See COWHERD, C6, Col. 1 They went to dinner in Miami during spring training, the new Orioles' manager and the old one. The new manager had been on the job just a few days, long enough to shake hands once again with Oriole tradition. Oriole tradition was simple, he knew: Win 90 games with a veteran ball-club or else quietly place a gun to your temple.

The old manager had no such pressures following him around on this warm Florida evening. The old manager's biggest concern was a nasty slice that had begun to creep into his golf game. His second biggest concern was how to avoid the traffic at Hialeah the following morning. As the cocktails were being served, Earl Weaver leaned over to Joe Altobelli. In a voice that sounded like a vacuum cleaner gargling, the old manager proceeded to dispense some advice.

"Joe, I can tell you all about this club," said Earl Weaver. "But do it your way. Do it the way you know how." "Best advice I got all year," Joe Altobelli was saying yesterday at Memorial Stadium. "See, Earl's lived it. Earl's been through it He knows.

Best advice I got." Doing it his way, Josesph Salvatore Altobelli has finally stepped away from the considerable shadow of Earl Weaver, no small feat if you are the manager of the Orioles. Weaver's way was all thunder and lightening, a tornado swooping down on a Kansas farmhouse. Altobelli's way is far more subtle, a whisper floating across the lawn on a summer's evening. He is still the Great Diplomat of the Dugout, Joe Altobelli is. Altobelli looking after a baseball team is still Churchill looking after wartime London.

This year it has all come together for Joe Altobelli, of course. The subtle method of managing is working. The Orioles have the best record in baseball, 92-56; with it they have turned the American League East title race into something of a cruel joke. But this Altobelli is a cautious man. While the rest of Baltimore gazes to Chicago and dreams of an Oriole-White Sox AL championship series, Altobelli taps his players on the shoulder and quietly reminds them: Gentlemen, could we please win our own division first? "It's not that I'm superstitious," he said.

"Everyone knows the magic number, but we can't play next week's games tonight. Everyone wants to go off half-cocked; I prefer not to. "I mean, some people already want to talk to me about using the designated hitter in the World Series. That's looking a little far ahead, isn't it? I understand the writers need something to write By Gene Sweeney Jr. Evening Sun Staff JOE ALTOBELLI HAS HIS OWN STYLE Less flamboyant than Earl Weaver, but just as effective umw'.

jjiiiijiinwn-tinwi LA defense overwhelms Dolphins i -a fl MM A- j. LOS ANGELES (AP) By his own admittance, Lyle Alzado is a little different, as are his teammates on the Los Angeles Raiders' defense. Different, perhaps, but very, very good. If the Miami Dolphins didn't know how good, they do now. The Raiders blanked Miami until the issue was no longer in doubt last night as Los Angeles joined the Dallas Cowboys as the National Football League's only unbeaten teams with a decisive 27-14 victory over the Dolphins.

"Each of the guys on the defense is a little off-center and there's a great deal of pride," said Alzado, a 34-year-old defensive end. "Your teammates beat you up trying to get to the ball. It's a very overpowering defense." Indeed, it is. The Raiders have given up only three touchdowns and just 30 points overall in beating Cincinnati, Houston and Miami. All three of those TDs came after Los Angeles had assured itself of victory.

The Dolphins, who had only nine first downs until the final few minutes Monday night, got their touchdowns on a 6-yard pass from rookie quarterback Dan Marino to tight end Joe Rose with 2:29 remaining and a 2-yard pass from Marino to Mark Duper with 20 seconds left. Before that, nothing. As a result, the defending American Football Conference champion Dolphins fell to 2-1 and the Raiders improved their incredible Monday night record to 20-2-1 since prime-time football came into being in 1970. "Whenever you see the highlights to a game or anything written, it's usually what we do offensively," said Alzado. "They say offense sells tickets and defense wins championships, and that's basically true.

How much excitement is there in seeing someone knock the stuffing out of a ballcarrier? For violent people, it might be exciting, but for the average person, it's not." Probably key play occurred late in the third quarter. Naturally, it was provided by the Los Angeles defense. The Raiders led 13-0, but the Dolphins were in a third-and-six situation at the Los Angeles 21-yard line. Miami quarterback David Woodley See RAIDERS, Page C5, Col. 1 All HXk ff.y i frank Kush tries to make light of Colts' woes, C5 Associated Press ers romped, 2714.

Swarming Raiders stop Dolphins' Andra Franklin for short gain latt night. Rai.