The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 12

SCOREBOARD Statistical lowdown on all the sports SPORTSUNE Page B-6 MONTREAL, FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1982 awso TIM BURKE 0 helps I 1 if 1 4 ,1 Western football remains superior Disparities in leagues, in conferences, in divisions, are the bane of professional sports. When one grouping of teams is consistently superior to another, it gnaws relentlessly at the credibility of the whole sport. Those of us who followed the NFL from the minute it was put on TV New York Giants our favorites, later replaced by the Green Bay Packers were so vehement about the superiority of the u4 1 vAi'f 1: V' 4 Si AY A 7 H', NFL, Vis-a-vis the AFL, that we had a collective nervous breakdown when Joe Namath and the Jets beat the Baltimore Colts 16-9 in 1969. Then, when the two leagues merged, it took Several years for us to adjust to the fact that the AFC division (made up "mostly of AFL rancises) dominated our erstwhile heroes in the NFC. Indeed, our faith in our former beloveds was only restored last season when (Coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana i iV.

tlx 4.. tf i I TOM CLEMENTS Lone Eastern threat Expos 4, Cardinals 3 (10 innings) By BRIAN KAPPLER of The Gazette saw the ball coming in to second, and I just kept running." Andre Dawson Through much of this season, visiting teams have been taking advantage of Expo mistakes at the Olympic Stadium. Last night, it was the visitors' turn to make a key error, and the Expos surged from behind to beat the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in 10 innings. Dawson, who'd been hitting just .154 against the Redbirds this season, lashed two doubles and scored two runs in a happy-ending battle in front of almost 49,000 fans.

Fighting back The first of those doubles came in the eighth as the Expos fought back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game. The second one came in the 10th: Leading off, Dawson ripped a pitch by reliever Doug Bair, now 3-2, into left-centre. It was an easy double, but just as Dawson was gearing down and pulling into second, he saw Card centre-fielder Willie McGee, a rookie, throwing the ball in to second. "I was slowing up. (Cardinal second baseman Tom) Herr was over between short and third.

The pitcher was backing up third. There wasn't anybody at second. If (first baseman Keith) Hernandez had been trailing (up near second base to back up the play) I could have made a mistake, but I didn't think they'd have a trick play like that in that situation." Wrong base Shortstop Ozzie Smith, meanwhile, was right where he should have been, in short left-centre to take the throw and relay it. But McGee flung the ball to second, where nobody was home, and Dawson sailed into third base. With the winning run perched there, the Cards quickly walked Al Oliver and Gary Carter on purpose.

Warren Cromartie' popped out, but Tim Wallach's flyout to deepish centre was enough to score Dawson and 'jfo s'sVS nun iiiiiin ill I Hi tHnatW in irn ni i UPC Expos' Tim Wallach, left, holds on to the ball after tagging out St. Louis Cardinals' Tom Herr in rundown. out, but the tying run scored, setting up Dawson's lOth-inning heroics. Fryman was full of praise for Sutter: "He's the best in either league, but you get tired. You can't throw every day no matter who you are." Sutter went two innings Wednesday.

"And he's the kind of guy who won't ever ast for a rest." Starter Palmer allowed just six hits through his eight innings, but allowed three lead-off walks and had only two one-two-three innings. Palmer has become the most walk-prone of Expo starters, allowing 4.6 walks per nine innings, more than double his 1980 figure. off the inning, wds moved down to No. 8 on the road trip, and Fanning served notice then that he might hit for the rookie in some cases. Enter Mills, then White to hit for Palmer.

That was all for Forsch and Sutter came in. McGee made a good running catch on a gentle fly by Tim Raines, but then Dawson smashed the ball to the base of the fence in left, scoring the first Expo run. Sutter walked Oliver on purpose, loading the bases, but then Carter was walked, not intentionally at all, on four pitches, and it was 3-2. Ancient southpaw Jim Kaat came in to face the left-hand-hitting Cromartie, and Kaat made a good fielding play on Cro's chopper to the right side. Cromartie was son," if it had gone badly, he said.

Dawson noted that the Cards had "held me in check pretty well" this season, until last night. And he said that Bruce Sutter who leads the league with 21 saves is "without a doubt" tougher to hit than Bob Forsch, who started for the Cardinals. But Dawson's first double, in that come-from-behind eighth, came off Sutter. Eighth-inning rally The eighth-inning rally started with back-to-back pinch hits by Brad Mills and Jerry White. "Our pinch-hittcrs haven't done all that well lately," Fanning said, but trailing by three runs in the eighth, it was time for some moves.

Mike Gates, due to lead win the game easily. "That's something you learn," said Dawson, "which base to throw to." Woodie Fryman (5-2) got the win with two innings of meticulous relief of starter David Palmer. It was the seventh of 18 games between the two teams, (Expos lead the series 4-3) and the fifth one-run decision. The win pushes the Expo record to 9-4 since the all-star break, quite a change from the 5-15 spell right, before the break. "That was a championship-style game," said Manager Jim Fanning.

"Contenders are supposed to play like that." Dawson suggested that the turnabout in Expo fortunes took place on the recent 8-4 road trip. "That could have broken our sea Rookie Isaac sets passing record as Riders thrash Concordes 55-5 of the San Francisco 49ers wrested control from he AFC division with a wide-open, devil-may-care offence. ii "And you know where they (49ers) got that kind of an offence?" Joe Galat said to me this week. "They got it from the CFL. The CFL pioneers all the things that are implemented by the NFL.

Every American coach who comes up here can't get over what excitement that big field generates." Joe Galat must have been thinking of the CFL West, where the most exciting football in the world tas always been played. But since we're in the East, and have to follow our lads for more than half the time, the dullness and incompetence of CFL East ieams have become topics almost as popular as the exodus of Anglos from this province. Is the disparity between East and West that bad, you ask yourself? Well, you have it in all pro sports. The AFC has run roughshod over the NFC for years. The American League West in baseball has, since the hegemony of the Oakland A's in the early 70s, been a laughingstock.

Superiority goes in cycles Even the National League East in the early 70s appeared to be a hopeless case. Before the Mets, who had won the NL East with a .503 record, were to meet the Cincinnati Reds, who ran away with a better division, I asked Sparky Anderson if there was any justice. "This kind of superiority goes in cycles," said Sparky, whose Reds promptly went out and lost to the Mets. In hockey, the Conn Smythe division included such a wretched lot of hockey teams that I once suggested that Smythe, then still alive, sue the NHL ior libelling his honored name. But now that the division includes the Edmonton Oilers, with Wayne Gretzky, the Smythe division scintillates.

But all that said, you still have to worry about the disparity between the CFL East and CFL West. tThe West is so much superior to the East that it's become a national embarassment. Bob Geary says It's" because they've got the quarterbacks and we liayen't. "The only team in our league who can go get 'em is Hamilton because they've got (Tom) Clements," he says. They use the big field But I say it's a lot more than that.

The West is better because of their high-rolling approach to the 'game, taking advantage of the big field and the three downs. As Head Coach Hughie Campbell of the Eskimos told me a couple of years ago: "If Jim Germany wasn't such a good running back, I'd lift him and put in another receiver." Out West football is king. It is the best spawning ground of hockey players right now, but hockey out there is still No. 2. All the clubs in the West are community-owned, and football is the pivotal function of the social life west of the Lakehead.

means that players enjoy a prestige they'll lever know in the East, and also that they must comport themselves accordingly. The reason the Canadiens won so many championships until recently, was the fact that most of them lived here ind were subject to the criticism of their neighbors. In Toronto and Montreal, imported athletes can "hide" and get into all kinds of jackpots the public will be unaware of. But let the same guy have two too many in Regina or Edmonton, and he be tarred and feathered. More exciting game jv In Grey Cup competition, there isn't that much to choose between the twain.

The East has won 17 Grey Cups of the 32 since 1950, which makes them much like the American League vs. the National league in baseball But let's face it, like the National League in baseball, the CFL West plays a far more exciting brand of football, and always has. We're only in the fourth week of the CFL season, but the disparity in the two conferences is coming close to being scandalous. Bern Brophy, 79, who played on the 1926 Maroons Stanley Cup champions, and also played fly- ihg wing on the Queen's University Grey Cup cham- pions of 1922, died recently in Collingwood, Ont. He was a roomie of ageless Archie Wilcox while on the Maroons, a guy who is still one of the livest wires in this town Best line of the week goes to former football star Vaughan McVey: "Any time five English guys get together in Montreal any more, they "call it a reunion." TV feast for Expos Fans of Expos' baseball are in for a television feast for the next week as Nos Amours take on two of their toughest divisonal rivals.

Tomorrow night's game with the St. Louis Cardinals at Olympic Stadium will be on Radio-Canada (channel 2) at 7:30. Three of the four games between the Expos and the Phillies in Philadelphia next week will be televised. Monday's 8:30 start is on ABC's Monday Night Baseball (channels 8 and 22). Tuesday's game is one of several special prime time (8:30) Tuesday night games selected by NBC and will be on channel 5.

Wednesday's 7:35 game will be covered by Radio-Canada and CBC (6). And next Saturday's evening game (8:30) in St. Louis will be on Radio-Canada. The Concordes lost guard Bill Norton with a separated shoulder, centre Glenn Keeble with an ankle and knee injury and linebacker Prassas with an ankle injury. All are expected to miss at least the next game and more.

CONTRAILS Since 1961 Ottawa holds a 40-26 avantage over Montreal with three games ending in ties. The average score was Ottawa 22-8. The lowest scoring game was a 1-0 Montreal victory in 1966, while the highest scoring contest was a 47-22 affair three years later in favor of the Riders. The only other time (since interlocking play was introduced in 1958) a game ended 1-0 was in 1949 when Winnipeg blanked Calgary Veteran Montreal players can't recall ever seeing the Landsowne Park turf in better shape, though some felt the natural grass was a trifle long Brancato said Isaac made only one mistake an interception by Concordes' middle linebacker John Prassas "but he made some fantastic calls at the line of scrimmage." Isaac admitted to being nervous for the first series which ended in a 31 -yard Gerry Organ field goal. And the second time he was in possession Organ was called in to boot a 43-yarder.

And it was Barden who actually gave the Riders their first touchdown, scooping up Over-street's second lost fumble in three games and scooting in for the TD. It wasn't until the second quarter that Isaac produced a major score. But once he got the hang of it there was no stopping him. The Riders were on top 13-4 when Dickie Harris fumbled an Organ punt and Greg Clarke recovered for Ottawa at the Montreal 37. To that point, Isaac had hit on seven of nine passes for 81 yards but no scores.

This time he found Stenerson in the right flat and the slotback broke loose from Phil Jones to score. Still confident "We felt we still were in the game starting the second half (down 27-4)," said Galat, "but when Skip scored on that 96-yarder it took the wind out of our sails." Four minutes later he set up Reid's two-yardcr with a bomb to Avery. And the Riders were off on another scoring binge. Kirk made a great fingertip grab down the middle to score an 88-yarder. And earlier, Isaac had caught Montreal in a safety blitz and found Kirk all alone down the middle for still another major.

yarder and Skip Walker got the longest of the night on a 96-yard pass-and-run bomb on the first play of the third quarter. Jim Reid punched one over from the two after Isaac had hit Jeff Avery for 39 yards to the Montreal two. Picks up loose ball Defensive back Ricky Barden got the other Ottawa touchdown, picking up a loose ball after Mike Raines had separated David Overstreet from the ball at the Montreal 30. Montreal Coach Joe Galat had no idea how prophetic his comments on Isaac would be during his press conference Wednesday when told the Riders would start the rookie signal caller. "I don't consider him a rookie," Galat said.

"He played two games against us (preseason) and he was responsible for winning one of them. "He seemed like a player today. He could teach J.C. Watts how to play." The latter was in reference to the reluctant hero of Ottawa's late-season charge last year and his heroics that almost upset the Edmonton Eskimos in the Grey Cup Game. Watts has been holding out, insisting he be paid in U.S.

dollars. Isaac booster Perry Moss, who guided the Alouettcs for three years beginning in 1960 and now is the offensive coach of the Riders, has been an Isaac booster from the start. He had scouted him in school before coming here, "I knew he was capable of having a good game, but not a super effort like this one tonight. When he had receivers open he got the ball to them and that's been our trouble all along." Rough Riders 55, Concordes 5 By DICK BACON of The Gazette OTTAWA Rookie quarterback Chris Isaac, operating with the cool of an old hand, bombed the Concordes with five touchdown passes last night in leading the Ottawa Rough Riders to a shocking 55-5 victory. The 158-pound kid from Eastern Kentucky, getting his first start after the Riders went 0-2 with Jordan Case at the controls, was simply fantastic, according to his-coach, George Brancato.

"Four of the five touchdown passes were audibles at the line of scrimmage," Brancato said. Isaac, just as collected in the dressing room as he was under centre, said "we worked very hard all week studying the Montreal defences." 17 completions The 22-year-old pivot completed 17 of 28 passes for a whopping 471 yards. His total yards left him only eighth best in the CFL record book and even his five touchdown passes as a rookie fell far short of the eight Joe Zuger of the Hamilton Tiger Cats threw in 1962 against the Saskatchewan Roughridcrs. But none of the Riders were worried about records, just that his performance appears to have turned things around for the Riders who had lost their first two games. 4 "I knew we always had a good defence," Brancato said, "but this gives our guys a helluva lift." Isaac threw scoring passes of 66, 37, 96, 88 and four yards.

Kelvin Kirk caught three of them (66, 88 and four) while Peter Stcnerson got the 37- Newest Expo confident cuits were busy and I couldn't get through. I had to wait an hour and it was driving me crazy. I just wanted to tell somebody. I was calling numbers I've never heard before." Little was shifted from shortstop to second base for the last couple of weeks at Wichita, a move which has created some uncertainty about his role with the big club. Expo second baseman Mike Gates is usually rested against southpaw pitching.

At short Chris Speier has been backed up by Frank Taveras. Last night, Little entered the game in the eighth inning as a pinch runner, scored a run and stayed in at second base. He grounded out in his only time at bat. For a 22-ycar-old with only a year-and-a-half in the minors behind him, Bryan Little sounded pretty confident last spring. He'd had a good 1981 as shortstop for AA Memphis, but the Texas native was just a "non-roster player" in spring training.

But Little, who lives down to his name at 155 pounds, was predicting confidently that he'd be "up there before the season's over, maybe by July." His prediction came true yesterday when "Twig" reported to the Expos. When he got the word from Wichita Aero Manager Felipe Alou, says Little, "I tried to call my Mom and Dad back home in Hoarne, (Texas) but all the cir.