Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 49

Section 4 ChicafloJTribune Wednesday, June 1, 197-7 National League American League Dark wants Sutter penned up EAST West I Pet. CB I Pet. CB CHICAGO 28 It .636 Minnesota 29 17 .630 St. Louis 28 18 .609 I CHICAGO 25 19 .568 3 Pittsburgh 26 17 .605 I 'a Texas 21 21 .500 6 Philadelphia 25 19 .568 3 California 24 23 .511 5i Montreal 18 26 .409 10 Oakland 22 24 .478 7 New York 16 29 .356 l2'a Kansas City 21 23 .477 7 WEST 21 30 -412 l0 I Pet. CB East Los Angeles 33 15 .688 Pet.

GB Cincinnati 22 23 .489 9i Baltimore 26 18 .591 San Diego 24 28 .462 II New York 26 21 .553 I 'a San Francisco 20 27 .426 l2'i Boston 24 21 .533 tf'a Houston 20 27 ..426 I2'j Milwaukee 25 25 .500 4 Atlanta 17 32 .347 l6'i Cleveland 19 23 .452 6 Tuesday's results 18 26 .409 8 St. Louis 6, Cubs 0 Tonn, 28 .391 9 Philadelphia 6, Pittsburgh 5 Tuesday's results New York 6, Montreal 2 Boston 5, New York I Cincinnati 5, Atlanta 3 Detroit 5, Oakland 2 Houston 5, Los Angeles 2 Minnesota 8, Baltimore 3 San Diego 4, San Francisco 2 California 7, Cleveland 6 (10 Innings) ing toward his fifth big-league managing job, he said wistfully, "Maybe I'll take Sutter with me." "Good luck, Alvin," Sutter responded. "But we're going to whup your butt'" Sutter's gaudy statistics show why Dark respects him so much. Just past the one-quarter mark in the season, Sutter has earned 14- saves in the Cubs' 28 victories. His ERA is 0.88.

He has struck out 42 batters in 41 innings and walked only two. BEFORE DARK left the Cubs, he evaluated Sutter's contributions to the team's surprising start. "The players know what to do," Dark said. "They have confidence. And they have Sutter.

Sutter is the key. He gives them confidence." By Bill Jauss ALVIN DARK'S San Diego managing debut was predictably unusual. Dark used 41 Padres, a double-header record, on Memorial Day. But for far-out innovation, wait two weeks until "Mad Scientist" Dark manages against the Cubs and Bruce Sutter. Why, Dark might even send in a latc-inning pinch-hittcr for a pitcher throwing a shutout if he thinks this would keep Sutter off the mound.

Dark, a major league player or man- -ager fqr 30 years, contends, "I've never seen anyone like Sutter before. No relief pitcher like him. Ever." SUNDAY NIGHT, when Dark was leaving his job as Cubs coach and head pitcher is due to bat," Dark said, "you I have to think seriously about pulling him for a pinch-hitter, no matter how well he's been pitching. The key is getting ahead by two runs." Manager Herman Franks prefers to use Sutter to preserve a lead from the seventh inning on or when trailing by just one run. If the Cubs trail by two, he's likely to withhold Sutter from the game." What if your pitcher is working on a shutout? What if he leads the Cubs 1-0 in the sixth or seventh? Dark's idea sounds far-fetched.

But he's been known to stray from normal managerial strategy and gamble before. And, as Dark says, "I never saw anybody like Sutter before. Nobody." Dark then dropped a hint of what the Cubs may see when they play June 13-15 in San Diego perhaps even before then. "I imagine some managers will start managing around Sutter," Dark said. "When he comes in, you're not going to get any more runs, so the idea is try to stop him from coming in." How do you keep Sutter in the bullpen? Get two runs ahead of the Cubs, even if it requires some unorthodox moves.

FOR EXAMPLE, Dark said, take a Cub opponent getting fine pitching from its starter and leading by one run in the sixth inning. "If you get a runner to second and the Sports BRIEFING Cubs9 run drought continues LA Cards9 Denny wins 7th in row on five-hitter A Brian Bascrinagel Norm Sloan Brothers blast Norm Sloan i -i 7 p-v Tribune Photos bv Arthur 7elKer Chicago Storm's Ron Olesiak, obviously enraged because he failed" Caesars' pitcher's serve. Things got back to normal on the next to hit the last pitch over-the Windy City complex's fence, takes pitch, however, and Ron hit one of his six homers for the weekend, issue with umpire Chuck Schideman on legality of the Detroit The Storm lost a double-header to Detroit Monday night. Homers may kill pros' slow-pitch "V'V TEAM HARMONY is difficult to attain and even tougher to retain. Ask Coaches Bobby Knight of Indiana or Norm Sloan of North Carolina State.

The basketball-playing Walker brothers, who had announced they were quitting N.C. State to enroll at Purdue, took a few parting shots at Sloan. The boys' father joined in the rancor. "I learned that, with him Sloan, if you weren't a starter, you were nothing," said Steve Walker, a sophomore forward who played sparingly for the Wolfpack last season. "He didn't treat me fair." Brian, a freshman guard, said he was so frustrated be cursed Sloan during a game.

But Pop is even more peeved. "I hate Norm Sloan with a said Bob Walker, who moved his family from Lebanon, to Raleigh, N.C. so he could watch his sons play. "For him to lead us to believe what he did and let us go down there and establish a whole new life, was a lie." "An athlete's unhappiness can start with his parents," said Sloan. "It's often a buildup from birth.

I'm a parent. I wanted my children to be special people. It's unnatural to tear up roots and follow your children. But they had a dream. They wanted to see their boys play together.

Coaches complicate the picture." Local desk Bears' receiver Brian Baschnagcl was released from South Suburban Hospital Tuesday. He was injured and a woman companion killed in an automobile accident near Tinley Park last Thursday. Baschnagel plans to attend the Brian Piccolo golf outing Monday in Lake Geneva, where he will receive the Piccolo award as the Bears' top rookie. Black Hawks' left wing Darcy Rota has signed a multiyear contract with the club. "Darcy could have been a free agent June 1, and he could have gone to any club in either league," said his attorney, Bob Woolf of Boston.

"But he likes Chicago, he likes the Black Hawks and he is happy with their offer." Terms were hot disclosed, naturally. Rick Talley LlMM y. z. By Bob Verdi Chicago Tribune Press Service ST. LOUIS Clay Carroll, who never smiled like this with the White Sox, was laughing at his joke even before he told it.

"Hey, what do John Denny and cheap panty hose have in common?" he chortled. "Give up? They both get the runs." Give that man a cigar. And give Denny, his seventh victory without defeat the best record in the National League after the cerebral right hander flung a five-hitter Tuesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-0 waltz over the wheezing Cubs. Support? Denny couldn't be better cared for by a dozen rich aunts.

In his 10 starts this season, the Cardinals' fearsome bats have provided him 86 runs. In his seven triumphs, they've provided him 68 runs. In his last conquest of Chicago, they provided 21 runs. "I CERTAINLY can't complain," said the second pitcher to beat the Cubs twice this season New York's Tom Seaver is the other). "I don't think about getting a lot of runs before I go out to pitch, but somehow I get them.

I certainly can't complain." Support? Cub pitchers can complain, because Cub hitters are 0-for-St. Louis so far. "Can't win if you can't score," moaned Manager Herman Franks, just to coin a cliche. But he gets more interesting. "I sure would like to have a left-handed pitcher to throw against that St.

Louis club. But where can you get one? Everybody wants to take a front-line ballplayer away from you, and give you nothing back. I can't see any IcfLjes around that are available." TUESDAY night's loser was Bill Bun-ham, who throws right, but wasn't throwing right. "It was the first time this year he hasn't been able to put the ball where he wants it," said catcher George Mit-terwald. "He was here, there, all over the place." So were the Cardinals in the first inning.

Bake McBride singled, and went to second on a deep fly to left by Jerrv Mumphrey. Ted Simmons walked. Keith Hernandez walked, and when ball four skipped wide for a wild pitch, McBride came home, Simmons went to third, McBride to second. Ken Reitz, who has been asking when the Cubs come to town next, followed with a two-run single. The Cardinals led 3-0 and were well on their way to second place.

"THEY'RE like we were a few days ago," noticed Bobby Murcer. "Everything they do is coming up roses." Everything the Cubs did came up empty. They managed only five singles, advanced nobody as far as third, and only one person to second. They may also have managed to renew Jose Cardenal's blue funk. After starting his second game in a row, the veteran left fielder was instructed to take 3-0 and 3-1 pitches in the sixth.

Greg Gross, who batted for Bonham earlier in the Inning, showed up in left field when the Cardinals came to bat. "I think Jose is upset again," said a teammate after Cardenal exited the clubhouse with the dispatch of Clark Kent. WITH SIMILAR speed did ex-Cub Lou Brock run a step closer to history in the fifth. He walked, then stole nis seventh base of the season and 872d of his career. He is just 20 shy of the major "IT WAS unbelievable.

We must have gone through 10 or 12 dozen balls," said Lou Knudt-son, owner of the Chicago Storm. The scores were 28-21, 27-25, 31-18, and 46-24. The sport was Softball. The Detroit Caesars hit 49 home runs. The Storm hit 38 home runs.

That adds up to 87 home runs in four games. Professional, 12-inch slow-pitch Softball has arrived. But nobody expected it to be like this. "They buried moaned ex-Cub Milt Pappas, manager of the Storm, which lost three of those holiday weekend games. "Detroit loaded up with a bunch of gorillas," said Knudtson, who invested $25,000 into this pro franchise and already has a sore neck watching seftballs soar into the stratosphere.

THEY WERE landing on the other side of 300-foot fences, and right there you nave the problem. The kids on the other side of the fences claimed so many softballs that they finally went back to owner Knudtscn and, out of the kindness of their little hearts, sold him 20 balls for $14. Obviously, some readjustments must be made if the American Professional Slo-Pitch Softball League expects to attract spectators. Watching the Caesars-Storm double-headers must have been like watching Peanuts Low-rey hit fungoes. The games at the Windy City complex, Bridgeview, attracted approximately 2,000 fans on Sunday evening, then perhaps another 1.0C0 to watch Monday nights home-run display.

"WE GOT killed, said Manager Pappas, who found the whole evening so exasperating that he got himself ejected for arguing with an umpire perhaps he was complaining that the last homer hadn't headed for the moon in the right Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't buy tickets to see the Storm. Certainly I'm not suggesting that this new pro game, 12-inch slow-pitch the pitcher must deliver an arching pitch which cannot exceed 12 feet in height is doomed. But it will be unless some changes are made. "RIGHT NOW, I'd have to agree," said owner Knudtson.

"But so far, Detroit is the only team to exhibit this kind of power. Other scores are coming in like 12-10, 14-9, and things like that but they really loaded up in Detroit. "They've got a bunch of guys who stand 6-4 and weigh about 280, and they walk up there and whack it out of sight." Some of the Chicagoans didn't do so badly themselves. Storm powerman Benny Holt slugged nine homers in the four-game series at that rate he'll hit 126 or so this season. Then there was Stormer Ron Olesiak, product of Chicago's 16-inch Softball cult, who belted six homers.

NORM Cash, formerly of the Detroit Tigers, found the Softball groove and hit his first homer. Another ex-Tiger, Jim North-up, went 1-for-ll against the blooper pilches, and ex-Cub Gene Hiser was l-for-5 Soon, however, those guys will also find the Continued on page 3, col. 1 Briefly 1 I The Indians have halted talks with Edward DeBartolo on the possible sale of the team. "The way he ignored us is a slap in the face," said team president Ted Bonda of the Youngs-town, Ohio, businessman who owns three race tracks, part of the NHL Penguins, and the NFL 49crs. Mike Burke, president of Madison Square Garden, says the Garden "has an ironclad contract with Muhammad AH to fight Ear-nie Shavers" on Sept.

20 Former Jazz Coach Butch van Breda Kolff reportedly will be named basketball coach at the University of New Orleans. Arl Dunn Somehow, you nave the gut feeling that physical conditioning is not high1 on the list of priorities for players in the American Professional Slo-Pitch Softball League. Right, Tex Collins of Detroit? 76ers humbled 130-98 Tense Mets fire Frazier Blazers perfectly devastating NEW YORK lL'PIl Joe Frazier, who was criticized for being too calm in a tense atmosphere, was fired and replaced as manager of the New York Mets Tuesday night by Joe Torre. "I'm not at all surprised by the move," said Frazier. "I don't blame the Mets for what they did.

I probably would have done the same thing if I were in their position. If Joe Torre can do better with the team, more power to him. I mean that with all my heart because I certainly have nothing against him or the Mets." "We arc here to announce Joe Torre is our new manager succeeding Joe Frazier," Mets General Manager Joe McDonald said prior to Frazier's farewell remarks. "Torre has signed a two-year contract meaning to manage the remainder of this year and the 1978 and 1979 seasons. "We felt Joe Frazier did a good job for us and he is going to remain with us as one of our superscouts at the major league level.

Frazier simply was placed in a situation with some of our players where it was impossible for him to get the best out of them. You have only to look at the standings to see why the change league record established by Ty Cobb. "Will I be glad when it's all over?" he said. "Heck, no. I'm going to play a couple more years after this.

Needed 299 hits for 3,000 entering this season. I want to reach that before I call it quits." There was no way Denny would retire from Tuesday night's bliss not even after Larry Biittner's liner dinged him on the left forearm in the seventh. After all, Denny hadn't completed a game all season, and this one required only 90 pitches. In three different innings, he required only five pitches. At no lime did he require more ains, which lie got anyway when Reitz pumped his fourth homer in five days a right-field rocket off Willie Hernandez in the eighth.

"I WANTED this one real bad," said Denny. "I'm the type of pitcher who can get a little lackadaisical if I get a big lead in a game. And I've been getting a lot of those." that, there was nothing we could do to get back in it." An admission that the game was over after a minute and 59 seconds would sound weird under normal circumstances, especially from a point machine like Erving. What happened here Tuesday added up to extraordinary all-court excellence by the 12-man Portland roster. Nothing illustrated that fact more than what happened in the third quarter, when center Bill Walton was benched by foul trouble.

Without the 6-11 keystone cf their explosive offense, the Trail Blazers played even better, if that's possible. With Lloyd Noal in the pivot, they rocked the 76ers for a 13-2 spree, pushing the margin to an insurmountable 81-57. Things got even worse when Jack Ramsay's junior varsity, running and scoring at will, led by an astounding 41 pcints at 126-85 in the closing minutes. "I thought we had a chance to come back when Walton drew his fifth foul," said Philadelphia Coach Gene Shue. "Everybody they put in played so much better than we did.

It was a super performance. "They threw us out of our offense, prevented us Vs. By Bob Logan Chicago Tribune Preu Service PORTLAND, Ore. The Trail Blazers went Dennis Eckersley one better Tuesday night. The Indians' right hander pitched a mere no-hit baseball game Monday.

Portland unleashed a perfect basketball game, murdering the Philadelphia 76ers ISO-SB. So the National Basketball Association's championship series is deadlocked 2-2, with the teams returning to Philadelphia for the fifth game Friday night. But the Trail Blazers' total dominance was so evident in' every phase of this massacre it appeared they could overcome the Julius Erving menace even on the other end of the country. Ervine scoffed at that notion as soon as it was suggested in the losers' dressing room. ''IT'S EMBARRASSING to get beat that badly, but those things happen in the pro game," Dr.

said. "The thing is not to let it happen too often. "We were ready to play tonight. Portland came right out and made nine points witlj perfect execution. After Bill Walton Continued on page cot, Continued on page 3, Col.

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