The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 36

SPORTS San Diego County Thursday, August 21, 1980 Cos Anfletes Slimes CCt Part HI JIM MURRAY Let's Not Fowl It Up Chargers1 Tight End Confirms Retirement PADRES DEFEAT PHILLIES, 7-5, ON 6-RUN FIFTH By RALPH BERNSTEIN Auoclattd Pnu PHILADELPHIA "It's like playing tennis. If you keep the ball in play long enough he (the opponent) will beat himself sooner or later." Such was the reaction Wednesday night from San Diego Manager Jerry Coleman after his Padres ended an eight-game losing streak with the help of four errors and four unearned runs in a 7-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Gene Richards and Louis Salazar keyed a six-run fifth inning in which 11 men batted for San Diego. Coleman, whose team had lost 11 of the last 24 games and 16 of the previous 23, wasn't exactly doing cartwheels over the Padres' victo Always Wanted to Quit on Top Bob Klein Says By DAVE DISTEL Timot Stiff Wrtttr SAN DIEGO Unable to come to terms after a Wednesday morning meeting with Charger owner Eugene V. Klein, tight end Bob Klein decided later in the afternoon to confirm his retirement from professional football.

"I've always wanted to quit when I was on top," he said. "Last year was a great year for me and for the Chargers. It's a good time to stop." Klein had talked previously of retiring and, on a couple of occasions, said emphatically that he was retired. But it was always as if he was trying to persuade himself. It remained obvious that Bob Klein wanted to play, if not in San Diego then perhaps elsewhere in California.

But the gap between what he sought and what the Chargers offered could not be bridged. Owner vs. Agent The final meeting was Wednesday in owner Klein's Los Angeles home. "It was not unpleasant," said Bob Harris, Bob Klein's agent. "We told him what our numbers were.

And he didn't respond." Harris and Gene Klein had not met face-to-face during the pre- ry. Please Turn to Page 19, Col. 1 vious weeks of the stalemate, and there had been a reason why. They do not send each other valentines. Their feelings for each other might best be described as distaste.

But they went to the table one more time Wednesday, and came away empty. As Bob Harris said: "We didn't have any altercations or fights." Please Turn to Page 19, Col. 1 REUSS GOES TO WORK SICK AND GETS WELL By MIKE LITTWIN Timw Staff Writer "BprtJJMOillil A juij BUMP AND RUN PLAY San Diego's Hugo collide in pursuit of ball during North American Sanchez (7) and San Jose's Andries Maseko Soccer League game won by Earthquakes, 3-2. Times photo by Robert Lachmin EVEN JACKSON, HOWSER Steinbrenner Rips Yanks, Joins Team on the Road "In my opinion, Jerry was our best pitcher the second half of last season. If I'm the manager, he's a starter right away.

"You can't win with five righthanders unless you have five like J.R. (Richard). But I'm not the manager." The manager, Tom Lasorda, put Reuss, the left-hander, in the bullpen, where he was 3-0 with three saves and a 1.40 ERA. Then when Dave Goltz and Rick Sutcliffe faltered, he put him in the rotation, beginning May 16, where he's 12-4 with a 2.21 ERA. "He's a godsend, a savior," Lasorda said.

He's whatever you want to call him as long as it's a superlative. Reuss has not only won the All-Star game and pitched a no-hitter, he's been one very big reason the Dodgers are still in the National League West race. The Dodgers got him two runs in the first, a Dusty Baker triple the big blow, two in the fourth and one in the fifth all against Steve Ro- Please Turn to Page 18, Col. 2 MONTREAL-When Davey Lopes compared Jerry Reuss to Tommy John (remember it was no left-handed compliment. "Reuss is our stopper, our main man," Lopes said.

"He's our TJ (Tommy John). Every time he goes out there, we think he's going to win." Wednesday night was one of those times, the 15th this season. He pitched a six-hitter to lead the Dodgers past Montreal, 5-1. And he did all that with a 24-hour bug. He's 15-4, leads the league in earned -run average, and started the season in the bullpen.

Lopes Has His Opinion Nobody said a word then about the bullpen, except maybe Reuss. And his words were usually few, something like, "I'm disappointed, but what can I do about it?" But now many of the Dodgers are talking, with Reuss a prominent exception. He says something like, "It's over and done with now." Lopes, for one, hasn't forgotten. "Everybody said we didn't have a left-handed pitcher," Lopes said. Lots of people are upset over the choice of the 1984 Olympic "mascot." Sam the Eagle looks too much like a piece of Disney poultry to them.

It is at once reminiscent of a cartoonish Jose Carioca, a parrot, or the San Diego guy who dresses up like a chicken. People think the U.S. is ill served by such a barnyard image. You might say it's a fowl-up. Well, I personally would rather have seen, say, Bambi the Disney deer as a symbol of our Olympics.

For one thing, it gets rid of the bellicose nature of the mascot. No matter how cutesy -pie the illustrators make him, the eagle, according to the encyclopedia, has been "since ancient times the symbol of empire, of courage, of military prowess." Caesar's legions carried eagles as standards, Hitler's symbol was an eagle carrying a swastika and the flag of czarist Russia was the double eagle. But a mascot, however infelicitous it may be perceived, is just a gimmick to be put on ties and watch faces. Sam the Eagle or non-eagle if you prefer will hardly be the biggest problem the 1984 Olympics face. The 1984 Olympics has to start with two articles of faith: 1 If the Russians and the socialist bloc of nations boycott our Olympics, they will leave a bigger hole in them athletically than our boycott did to their Olympics.

Countries will be missing that supplied, among others, the high jump champion, the pole vault, discus, javelin, hammer, long jump, triple jump, 10 of 11 women swim champions, 8 of 11 men swimming champions, and any hurdles. The symbol of these Olympics would indeed be a chicken. Or even a turkey. 2 Like it or not, the United States of America, not just Los Angeles, is going to be judged by our conduct of the Games. You may be able to convince the IOC or Lloyd's of London that the Games are the product of ABC, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and the private sector, generally, but the TV viewer in Leipzig is going to say "So that is America and This means the profound embarrassments of Lake Placid should be avoided, because we might not have a U.S.

hockey team to redeem our national image. To shore up Article not much really can be done. The Russians will seek punitive sanctions against our Olympic committee for not standing up to President Carter and defying our government as the Olympic committees of England, Australia and Italy did to their respective governments. The Russians may seek punishment up to and including withdrawal of the Games from the U.S. But the Russians otherwise appear delighted with their marriage to the International Olympic movement.

They seem to consider it is as much a part of the Soviet sphere now as Estonia. The new president of the IOC, Juan Samaranch, is as well connected in Moscow as the premier of Poland. He was the ambassador there for years. It is doubtful that the Russians will want to dissolve this lucrative partnership with the IOC. In fact, they may want to send in troops if anybody tries to break it up.

Look for the Russians, then, to be here unless somebody commits a tremendous diplomatic gaffe between now and then. Article 2 may be the even bigger challenge. While it's all very laudable for the private sector to want to stage the Games without government help, the undertaking transcends corporate advertising budgets, even if they intend to sell individual athletes' chemises to advertise local beers. The fact is, the present administration in Washington, if it gets back in, owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Olympic movement. Those in it were the only casualties of Mr.

Carter's Cold War. Economic deprivation as well as athletic was therefore imposed on them. Repayment can take two Please Turn to Page 16, Col. 1 From Tim! Wirt Sorvkn "Sixty-seven percent of the times we have failed to deliver, it has been the fifth hitter who has failed," Steinbrener said. Watson batted fifth against Seattle Tuesday night and went 3 for 3 with a home run.

As for Jackson, who had two hits, both homers, in 17 at-bats in the five games in Baltimore, Steinbrenner said he "has carried us all year, but he was neutralized by (Orioles Manager Earl) Weaver. Reggie hit .120 in the Baltimore series. If that isn't tanking, I've never seen tanking. But he'll snap out of it and come back now that he's out of Orioles Defeat Angels in the 10th Inning, 6-5 By ROSS NEWHAN Tlm Staff Wrtttr INSIDE: Sockers' Chance for First Place Evaporates, 3-2 By MATT MITCHELL Timo Stiff Wrltw SAN DIEGO-The best thing that can happen to the playoff-bound Sockers is that they'll be performing against the better teams in the North American Soccer League. Otherwise, next week's playoff games predictably would be a disaster.

All season, the Sockers have managed to play down to the level of their competition. And so it was Wednesday night when they lost to hapless San Jose, 3-2, before their second-best crowd this season at San Diego Stadium, 15,724. Completely lacking the sharpness that had carried them from near-oblivion to their third straight playoff berth, the Sockers gave a desu-latory performance. But it wasn't much different than the ones they had given in losing to all the last-place teams, except Atlanta, in the NASL's six divisions. Sanchez Scores Twice Only a pair of penalty-kick goals by Hugo Sanchez in the final 15 minutes kept the score respectable and left the Sockers in second place in the division.

San Diego, the first team in the league to complete the regular season, finished with a 16-16 record. But of those losses, five came to Philadelphia, San Jose, Portland, Rochester, Detroit and Memphis-all last-place teams. Faced with a must-win situation in order to have a chance to salvage a third consecutive American Conference Western Division title, the Sockers couldn't do it. One early break might have helped, when goalkeeper Volkmar Gross blocked a George Best penalty-kick attempt 16:46 into the game. Bush, Sanon Miss But three minutes later, a header by San Diego's Rodney Bush clanged off the crossbar and a quick follow by Manu Sanon failed.

After that, the Earthquakes got three scores, taking advantage of an injury removal of Terry Moore, who was cut on the head and replaced by Doc Lawson. Please Turn to Page 20, Col. 1 then summoned from the bullpen to face Bert Campaneris, who 24 hours earlier broke up Steve Stone's no-hit bid in the eighth inning and this time deprived Flanagan of his 13th win with a single to left, scoring Clark and Miller with the tying runs. Campaneris took second on the futile throw to the plate, but the Angels couldn't get him home. Martinez retired Stan Cliburn on a grounder to short and Dickie Thon on a grounder to the mound.

Righthander Tim Stoddard was then brought in to face Corney Lansford, who struck out to send the game Please Turn to Page 18, Col. 2 NEW YORK-Manager Dick Howser and some of his high-priced New York Yankees, notably Reggie Jackson and Bob Watson, have come under a verbal barrage from owner George Steinbrenner. Following the Yankees' 6-5 defeat by Baltimore Monday night their sixth loss to the Orioles in eight games spread over 10 days Steinbrenner summoned the Yankee brass, with the exception of Howser, to Florida. Steinbrenner was scheduled to make a cross-country trip from Florida to Seattle Wednesday to talk with Howser and his players. Steinbrenner was upset by How-ser's decision to let Eric Soderholm hit away after Bob Watson opened the ninth inning Monday night with a single.

The Yankees trailed, 6-5. Owner Wanted Bunt "Here's Soderholm hitting .147 and he lets him hit away with a runner at first base," Steinbrenner said by telephone from Ocala, Fla. "Bunt him over and then you tie the game. I don't go for the old axiom that you don't play for a tie on the road. You have to tie the game first before you win.

But our guy is a freshman manager and he made some mistakes. "He knows his job rests on the bottom line, which is winning." "There's not much I can say," Howser said in Seattle, where the Yankees beat the Mariners, 3-1, Tuesday night. "He's the owner and I'm the manager. He's entitled to his opinion and I'm entitled to mine." Asked about Steinbrenner's comment on the bottom line, Howser said, "I knew that when I took the job." Soderholm Criticized Much of Steinbrenner's criticism was aimed at Soderholm, platooned as a designated hitter most of the season but now filling in for third baseman Graig Nettles, who has heptatitis. Steinbrenner claimed Soderholm left 11 runners stranded in scoring position during a 12-game stretch.

"He's been ridiculously bad. He's killed us," Steinbrenner said of Soderholm. He also blasted Watson and Jim Spencer, who, with Soderholm, often bats in the No. 5 spot behind Jackson. ANAHEIM Baltimore remained 2V6 games behind New York in the American League East Wednesday night by defeating the Angels, 6-5, in 10 innings.

It was a familiar story in more ways than one for the Angels, who have now lost five in a row. They beat themselves again, enabling Baltimore to beat them for the seventh time in seven games this season. The Orioles converted a pair of lOth-inning walks from Mark Clear into the decisive run when Doug DeCinces hit a two-out, looping liner to left that Don Baylor approached hesitantly, reached for at the last minute and was unable to glove, the ball trickling off his fingertips for an RBI single. The game went overtime when the Angels staged an improbable, three-run rally in the ninth, com'ng back from a 5-2 deficit against tike Flanagan, who had allowed only four hits after the Angels scored a quick two runs in the first inning. The Orioles were three outs from their 15th win in 19 games this month, their 28th win in 40 games since the All-Star break and their 42nd win in 60 games since June 15 when Bobby Grich singled to open the ninth.

Bobby Clark followed with a single, leaving the left-handed Flanagan to face the left-handed Rick Miller, who doubled to left-center, making it 5-3 with runners at second and third and still no out Southpaw Tippy Martinez, who had retired five straight batters to save Tuesday night's game, was Marcel Dionne A KINGS' RANSOM Marcel Dionne signed a six -year Kings' contract, reportedly worth $600,000 per year. Stor; on Fife 6 WEAVER WILL APPEAL 3-GAME SUSPENSION NEW YORK (UPD-Baltimore Orioles Manager Earl Weaver was suspended Wednesday for three games and fined an unspecified amount for his actions in a game against the New York Yankees Saturday night, but immediately said he would appeal the suspension. American League President Lee MacPhail said Weaver, team is games behind the leading Yankees in the American League East, would begin serving his suspension Friday night when the Orioles visit Oakland, if there was no appeal. Brett Goes 3 for 3 and Is Hitting .406 Story ob Fife 8 Astros Beat Bibby and Pirates, 5- Story ob Fife 8.