The Los Angeles Times du lieu suivant : Los Angeles, California • 30

Co Angele met -j- May 23, 1979-Parl III 3 AFTER TRAINING IN U.S. SUNBELTS JOHN HALL 1979 ELDORADO CONVERTIBLE I Tokyo Teams Yakult, Seibu Struggling OUpCT Vrpn6n BY DAVID SMOLLAR "They just don't seem to have the sharpness or the spirit "They just don't seem to have the sharpness or the spirit TlmM Stiff Writ that they had last year." In addition, the ever-fickle Japanese sports media has voiced displeasure at Hirooka for not being more modest in assessing his team's chances for "V2," or a repeat championship, i This customized convertible la now on display at Caaa da Cadillac. Hirooka expressed great confidence in Yakult's chances Dial Toll Free 24 hrsdayl upon returning to Japan in the face of the traditional Japanese penchant for seeking vagueness in predictions, particularly in self-assessment. "That hasn't sat well with either the other teams or the fans," said one writer. "In fairness to Hirooka, two of his mainstay hitters and 7 dayswk Gary Adams, tbe UCLA baseball coach, says he got the message early that it was going to be a pretty hot season.

It was last Oct. 23 during the Malibu fire as he stood helplessly by and watched his home burn to the dirt. Hot, to say the least. "That's the most helpless feeling in the said. "All you can do is watch.

I was at the ballpark when my wife called with the warning. I got through the roadblocks. I ran through the smoke and got home before the fire. But it was too late. The fire spread so fast "All we could do was clear out, stand back and watch it go." His collection of souvenirs and trophies as a ballplayer (UCLA 1959-60-62, captain and MVP) and award-winning Call CRI CASA DE CADILLAC 14401 Ventura Bl S.O.

phone (213) 681-2000 Please Turn to Page 4, Col. 1 I MODEL 1113 1 QDEL 2158 SAVE DESK SPACE WITH THIS COMPACT, FULL -FEATURE TOKYO-A funny thing happened to the Yakult Swallows and the Seibu Lions on the way back to Japan from baseball spring training camp in the United States. Both Tokyo-area teams seemingly forgot how to play the game. Yakult, the confident champion of Japanese professional baseball last year, lost its first seven games and since has languished around last place in the Central League, unable yet to put together a winning streak and climb back into contention. Seibu, newly purchased and outfitted by one of Japan's largest railway and department store owners, lost its first 10 games and is firmly mired in the Pacific League cellar with a record when last checked-of 7-25.

Even a brand-new baseball park built along the lines of Dodger Stadium-a beautiful rarity when compared with other Japanese grounds-has failed to inspire Seibu to rally with back-to-back wins. The Japanese sports wags have punned their own explanation for the poor performance by the two teams. "Yakult and Seibu worked and sweated so hard in the Florida and Arizona sun that the only present they returned with was a baked charcoal brick ('tadon' in Japanese)," the story runs. "Tadon" is used in Japanese sports slang to mean a habitual loser. Seibu, which trained with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Florida for two months, admittedly is not yet a contender despite its fancy ballpark and new uniforms.

Yakult's failure to get untracked is harder to explain. Its no-nonsense manager, Tatsuro Hirooka, felt the team had a good spring training at the San Diego Padres grounds in Yuma, Arizona. Yakult first trained with the Padres in 1978, after the team finished second-its highest finish in 28 years of competition-and the owner rewarded players with the U.S.trip. Then the young team won both its league pennant and the championship last year, which resulted in a second trip to Yuma, the decision by Seibu to go to Florida and a growing confidence in the value of overseas training. But some Japanese observers and some Yakult players believe now that the team may have worked too hard in the Arizona sun with Hirooka's daily six-hour sessions.

"They looked tired," said one Japanese sportswriters. A Low Profile Desk -Top Calculator You Can Use Anywhere, Because It Operates On Battery, or AC Power. CfiLCILATOO 12-Diait coach (UC Irvine, Division II national champions, 1973-74) went, too. All the scrapbooks and mementos going back to his childhood in Riverside. All his plaques and pictures and bats and baseballs through his 39 years.

"Actually, we were very lucky," he said. "Only things were destroyed. Not' people. That's the way we put it. Things.

We managed to evacuate everything that breathes." The box score of evacuated "breathers" included wife Jane and their three daughters-plus "three Desk-Top Printing Calculator with Large, easy-to-read 10-dlglt display with commas. Compact, low profile design with full-size keyboard. Independently addressable 4-key memory. Percent and constant (K) keys. Operates on battery, or AC power.

Includes Instruction book, battery, AC cord and dust cover Memory lirss esavsalsal ksytssri Is till CMSSCt MM. Psrcssl kiy. ItSMS tSHtST. Gary Adams FREEWAY NM-SM, sis-stil kiy. AM bus.

ChiIisI. FIsitlsifixMl (0.2.3) SttlMl. CsHSset: 2" VhriV. PRICE 99 6 39 Tax SHARP hi FREEWAY PRICE horses, three dogs, three cats, two goats and 16 rabbits." "I'm afraid the goldfish didn't make it," he said. Some might say the experience Was typical Gary Adams.

The worst things always seem to happen to the places Adams tries to call home. After the fire he leased another house in the area-at the top of Big Rock Road. You got it, right in the middle of the slipping and sliding that has terrorized the neighborhood. "Most nights, I can't drive my car home," Adams said. "I have to park it outside the roadblocks and bicycle the rest of the way." LOS AKCELES HOLLYWOOD (mm PASADENA 3651 Foothill Blvd.

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Main St. (714) 972-9180 GET THE snrerv OF A CADILLAC FOR YOUR LIFE'S use SsjYitrtMtUt Safer COSTA MESA 2706 Harbor Blvd. (714) 556-0363 ban, a. of to fwy. CADILLAC COSTS SO LITTLE MORE (Z13) 331-0576 LOCK BEACH StattoMfy Mora 5th Pine Ave.

(213) 435-6601 DOIYKEY 9447 Firestone Blvd. (213) 869-1141 next to RB Furn. TORRANCE 3611 Torrance Blvd. (213) 370-4528 Sn Yoir CADILLAC Dulir This is tbe way it goes for Adams. At UCLA, of course, his club doesn't even have a home, which is one of the reasons the Bruins, who should be hosting the tournament, will be in Fresno this weekend for the Far West regionals with Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State and Portland.

Winner of the double-elimination play goes to Omaha for the College World Series. Bruin baseball, as you may remember, hasn't had a home of its own since 1965 when Pauley Pavilion, the basketball house, went up on Joe E. Brown Field. The Bruins have since played home games at Sawtelle, which the NCAA regards as unsuitable (and that's being rather kind) for postseason action. UCLA even tried to borrow USC's Dedeaux Field for the regionals, but the idea was rejected.

The Adams crusade for a "suitable" facility has been pretty well documented here through the five seasons he's been head man at the alma mater. Gary has spent as much time patching up Sawtelle and begging for a new park as he has building one of the finest college programs. That it is one of the finest is a tribute to the tenacity of the little 5-8 fireball and his refusal to buckle in the face of adversity. And the success this year of his young Cinderella team is at least some reward. Still, a long way to go-as they usually say rounding first base.

UCLA has been burned before by not having a ballpark. Under a different system in 1976, when the conference champion didn't automatically qualify for the NCAA playoffs, the Bruins, down to the final out, won it all with the most thrilling of finishes against perennial kingpin USC It was only UCLA's third such title in 32 years, well scattered, but the celebration was cut short by the news it wouldn't be invited to the district playoffs. That colossal snub was followed by total despair. Last season, when the Bruins got into a special at-large playoff with Washington State, they lost in a showdown in an empty house at Stanford. Down again.

But, in typical Adams fashion, the Bruins kept scrambling and at this particular moment, for goodness sakes, there are no sad songs from any Bruins, especially the coach. VicSVj SANYO ----Ll N-V JfV ySt-M FIHFR CASSETTE TAPE DEcAf PORTABLE CASSETTE fSSSSi rnMToni 1 Wireless. remote pause. acdc opniiM I mi Kr I AttJrW CONTflOJ 1 Rtrori fro. am ONLY 1 I if Vv Dolby noise reduction.

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I I Full Time Ouaiti-Locked DC Servo Direct Drive Motor Exclusive I I I I I "Looking back now, I actually tbink the fire, as grim as it was, inspired me," Adams said. "It taught me a good lesson. My 'memory aids' may have been destroyed, but not my memories. The team got together and the players helped me clear the land. Only the chimney was left standing.

'It was pretty depressing and everybody got pretty low. But out of the disaster came a philosophy. I realized it really isn't so important how much you have lost It's more important how much you have left I started telling that to the players. "Our ballclub was in much the same boat We had only two starting regulars coming back. We lost a lot of really good people like our biggest hitters, Craig Johnson and Dave Baker and our all-league catcher, Dennis Delany.

"But I kept telling the returning players we still had a lot left and when we had our last team meeting before the season started, I told them again. What counts is what you've got That was sort of our motto." Now, 41 wins, 57 games and a No. 3 national ranking later, it is more obvious that "what was left" was truly hot II Maranlz Low Distortion Tonearm 0 025 Wow and Flutter (WRMS) I I ZZ AKAI Auto-Reverse THE BEST! 4 Track 2 Channel Stereo 7" Deck AutoManual Reverse Playback, AC Servo Direct Drive Capstan Motor and 2 Reel Motors, 3 GX Heads (4 Head Function), Direct Function Change Controls. Dual Monitoring, MicLine Mixing, Tape Speed ips. 'mmmjWA I AMFM music system 'fi a0 I 'wr I cassette recorder nri IQIiyn 17Q95 f-svvi, ir vj xr, v.

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1 CHARGER DRAFTEE, SIGNS Prtm i TIims Staff Writer SAN DIEGO-Tight end Kellen Winslow of the University of Missouri has been signed to a series of one-year contracts by the San Diego Chargers. Winslow was San Diego's first-round choice and the 13th player selected in the NFL draft May 3. The 6-5, 250-pound All-America will report with other rookies, some veterans and free agents when the Chargers open their summer camp July 16 at UC San Diego. 1 I Jolby Noise Reduction, ADR" System, Memory Rewind. Limiter.

Tape Selector, Auto-Stop. Pause. Solenoid ONLY QlQSS werwm.u.i Assisted Pull Function Change Controls. A 299" I 229 Mcrwm Musm un ma a "Kellen's a big strong man who has great potential and thousands of Items to choose trom custom car installation on premises all locations ARCADIA IKEA CCSTA MESA COVINA ELTON) HAWTHORNE HUNTINGTON BEACH auuujr, Buu vucu gci uuu wijcu aibci wau.111115 Winslow perform at two workouts in which he consistently ran the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds during time "He is going to help us both as a tight end and as a wide i receiver." The Chargers also announced the signing of their No. 3 draft pick, Cliff Thrift a middle linebacker from East Cen- tral Oklahoma, and No.

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