Hartford Courant du lieu suivant : Hartford, Connecticut • 171

gty Jiartfoft Mutant E20N THE AIR E2 MAIN EVENTS E5 RACING, JAI A LAI E6 OUTDOORS E7 BOATING CLASSIFIED E9 SCOREBOARD SECTION FRIDAY' JULY 15. 1988 amara' fired. by the Red. SPORTS PiUWH I 1.1 ILIIL Ill Sox Move also signals change in power By STEVE FAINARU Courant Staff Writer The man who fired John McNamara was not at the news conference announcing the change. Instead, the announcement was left to minority partner Haywood Sullivan and General Manager Lou Gorman.

Sullivan said he got outvoted. Gorman said he didn't get a vote; his role was messenger after the decision was made in a meeting he was not allowed to attend. Players surprised by timing of move Associated Press BOSTON Red Sox players reacted Thursday with surprise at the timing of the firing of Manager John McNamara, whose job status had been shaky for much of the season. Relief pitcher Bob Stanley said he was shocked at "the way it happened. They had three days to do it and they don't do it until the last minute.

"I don't think that's fair to the man, Thursday's move signified just how much the Red Sox have changed since 1986, when McNamara was named Manager of the Year, to Thursday, when he walked into Fenway Park, put on his uniform and then was told he didn't have a job. but they did it." At a news conference 2Vz hours before Boston's scheduled game with the Kansas City Royals (which was rained out), the Red Sox announced that McNamara had been fired and replaced on an interim basis by third-base coach Joe Morgan. The Sox had the previous three days off because of the All-Star break. in i th Analysis -A 4 A McNamara's record, Page E8. Morgan profile, Page E8.

rum ninliil nlr nm The change was the most public acknowledgement yet that John Harrington and not Sullivan is in power. And it was a concession that McNamara was not as well-suited to this team as he was the veteran-laden team that came within a strike of winning the World Series. A close friend of McNamara who once managed against him in the minor leagues, Sullivan denied in spring training that he had lost power to Harrington, president of Jean Yawkey's JRY which last year became majority partner by buying out longtime rival Buddy LeRoux. Yawkey made the decision, the club announced, but team sources have said for months that Harrington "When you have three days off and you come back from the All-Star break and Mac walks in with a smile on his face, you think he's still here," third baseman Wade Boggs said. "I'm happy I survived another deadline," McNamara said 15 minutes before Red Sox officials told him he was fired.

He left Fenway Park soon after. A popular preseason choice to contend in the American League East, the Red Sox lost six of their last 10 games before the All-Star break. They are 43-42, tied for fourth place and trailing division leader Detroit Michael McAndrews The Hartford Courant "I'm happy I survived another deadline," John McNamara said 15 minutes before Sox officials told him he was fired. had been given the responsibility of running the team on Yawkey's behalf. The only other person at the meeting besides Yawkey, Sullivan and Harrington was team attorney John Donovan, who according to sources often acts as an intermediary between the opposing factions.

Harrington and Joe Morgan, who was named McNa-mara's replacement, attended Boston College together. Morgan is not expected to be rehired next year unless he See McNamara, Page E8 by nine games. McNamara, 56, was named the team's 36th manager Oct. 18, 1984, and compiled a 297-273 record. "I was shocked by the way it happened," said right fielder Dwight Evans, one of McNamara's strong supporters.

"I care about the person. He's a good person, one of the finest persons I ever played for." "I am shocked," said Boggs, the subject of a palimony See Players, Page E8 321 Associated Press Morgan's Dwight Evans passes Joe Morgan as the Red Sox' field Thursday night at Fenway Park, new manager watches the grounds crew cover the debut was postponed until today. John McNamara's short season Surprised? I was shocked I figured if there was going to be a change it would have been made earlier in the week. John didn't expect a thing. Joe Morgan John did a good job, but it became clear to ownership that something had to be done right away We had to bring the matter to a head.

Lou Gorman Feb. 21: John Harrington, President of JRY says McNamara's job could be in jeopardy unless the Red Sox are in first or second place, three or four games out, by Memorial Day. April 30: Sox finish the month with a 14-6 record, their best start in 36 years and the most victories in the month of April by any team in franchise history. May 31: Sox go 11-16 in the month. When asked for comment on McNamara's status, Harrington says: "Nothing is imminent, but that only goes for the next 24 hours.

It's subject to change, like the New England weather." May 31: The rift between the young and old players is made public when Dwight Evans and Jim Rice blast Todd Benzinger for not getting his injuries treated. "You can't count on the guy," Evans says. July 6: Lou Gorman, accompanying the team on its road trip in Minnesota, has this to say about McNamara's status: "I think if the team is 10 or 12 games out at the All-Star break the pressure to fire the manager is going to be back." July 10: The Red Sox lose 4-1 to the White Sox to go to the All-Star break at 43-42, nine games behind the first-place Tigers. "It would come as a surprise to me," McNamara says about speculation that he would be fired during the All-Star break. July 14: "I'm happy I survived another day," McNamara says upon arriving at Fenway Park.

Fifteen minutes later, Red Sox officials fire their manager and install Joe Morgan as interim manager. Ballesteros leads with first-round 67 Mattingly homers to lift Yankees, 7-5 Candelaria beats White Sox for 10th victory Faxon, Grady next with 69s after windy, cold round British Open Par 71 Leaders Seve Ballesteros 30-37 67 Brad Faxon 34-35 69 Wayne Grady 33-3669 Peter Senior 34-3670 Noel Ratcliffe 33-3770 Nick Price 34-3670 Don Pooley 34-36 70 Others Nick Faldo 33-38-71 PaulAzinger 36-36 72 Fuzzy Zoeller 35-37 72 Gary Player 34-38 72 Larry Nelson 33-40 73 Ben Crenshaw 34-39 73 Tom Watson 34-40 74 Lee Trevino 37-38 75 Jack Nicklaus 36-39 75 Johnny Miller 36-3975 Raymond Floyd 37-3976 Curtis Strange 36-4379 Complete scores, Pag E9 I if jbi. -r fv 1 Oi' ft i 1 By STEVE BUCKLEY Courant Staff Writer NEW YORK Don Mattingly could have reacted to all that screaming by George Steinbrenner the other day by doing some screaming of his own. Instead, Mattingly simply went about the business of playing baseball, and never mind that his boss said something about his play being "awful." Mattingly's rebuttal came in the form of a towering home run Friday night in the Yankees' 7-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mattingly's shot, coming off lefthander Bill Long in the fourth inning and landing in the third deck, was his seventh of the season and, as anyone who listened to all the Georgespeak the past couple of days will tell you, only his third in his last 25 games.

Mattingly also had an RBI single in the first inning, scoring another of the Yankees' maligned All-Stars, Rickey Henderson. Yankees starter John Candelaria won his 10th game, but he struggled. He lasted only six-plus innings, dur- Boss has meeting, Page E3. ing which he gave up three home runs. Randy Velarde, whose error at third base in the second inning helped the White Sox to three unearned runs, hit a solo home run off.

Long leading off the sixth inning. Dave Righetti got Charles Hudson out of the eighth inning by getting pinch hitter Harold Baines on a grounder to second. Following a 25-minute rain delay, righthander Ceci-lio Guante finished, earning his 10th save. That this was not going to be a career night for Candelaria became evident in the first inning, when Steve Lyons drilled a home run off the facing of the second deck in right field. It was the 13th home run Candelaria has allowed this season, but only the third to a left-handed hitter.

George Brett and Alvin Davis also have taken the Candy Man deep, and Lyons' homer was a monster shot. When Greg Walker homered in the sixth, he became the fifth left-hand-See Mattingly's, Page E3 Associated Press LYTHAM, England Seve Ballesteros put up an early 67 then let the howling winds sweep away the hopes of any would-be challengers Thursday in the first round of the 117th British Open Golf Championship. "Terrific. A fantastic score," Jack Nicklaus said of Ballesteros' four-under-par effort in dreadful conditions at the Royal Lytham and St. Annes Golf Club.

"Incredible," Nick Price said. "A great round," said defending champion Nick Faldo of England. "The best I can play," Ballesteros said. Only a couple of longshots, Wayne Grady of Australia and Brad Faxon, could keep Ballesteros in sight Each had a 69. "I'm thrilled to death," said Faxon, in his fifth year on the American tour and still seeking his first victory.

Faxon's effort included a 1-under-par 35' on the back. He was one of only two men in the field of 153 able to break par on that side, described by Michael Bonallack, secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, as "probably the most difficult finish we have" on British Open courses. It was all of that With the exception of Faxon, that back nine along with the wind and rain and cqld destroyed the hopes of any other contenders. There was Faldo, the defending champion. He was tied for the lead with five holes to play.

But he played them four over including a double bogey on the 17th where he visited two bunkers and finished at par 71. There was Gary Koch, one off the lead with five to play. He bogeyed three of the last five and finished at PGA champion Larry Nelson was making a run at the lead at 2 under par through IS. But he bogeyed four of the last five those long par-4s dead into the wind and shot 73 And there was Curtis Strange. The i See Ballesteros, age INSIDE U.S.

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ii i Associated Press Seve Ballesteros battled the wind, rain and cold to a 67 and a two-shot ilead after one round of the British Opn..