The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 152

S-4 THE SUNDAY RECORD BASEBALLSOCCERTENNIS SEPTEMBER 25, 1994 FLASHBACK! 1969 and 1978 Compiled by Paul Dottino Two leagues must hook up Mets are champs for the first time denon had two homers and four IIP WJKKtfm iiL J- Jlssssssw em FRANK GIASE SOCCER NOTEBOOK NEW YORK Break out the champagne. The Mets are the NL Eastern Division champions for the first time. Gary Gentry (12-12) fired a four-hitter and Donn Clen-Mets 6, Cardinals 0 SEPT. 24, 1969 ST. LOUIS METS abrhbi abrhbi Brock If 4 0 2 0 Harrelson ss 3 110 Flood cf 1 0 0 0 Agee cf 3 10 0 Davallllo cf 3 0 10 Jones 4 0 0 0 Plnson rf 4 0 0 0 Clendenon lb 3 2 2 4 Torre lb 4 0 0 0 Swoboda rf 3 10 0 McCarver 3 0 0 0 Charles 3b 4 12 2 Shannon 3b 3 0 10 Grole 4 0 2 0 Javier 2b 3 0 0 0 Wels 2b 4 0 0 0 ss 1 0 0 0 Gentry 4 0 0 0 While ph 0 0 0 0 Davanon ss 0 0 0 0 Carlton 0 0 0 0 Glusll 10 0 0 Hague ph 10 0 0 Camplsl 0 0 0 0 Simmons ph 10 0 0 Grant 0 0 0 0 Totals rt 0 4 0 Totals 32 7 a St.

Louis 000 000 000 0 METS 500 010 00X 4 DeVanon. DP METS 2. LOB SI. Louis 4, METS 6. 2B-Grole.

HR Clendenon 2 (15), Charles (3). IP REP. BB SO St. Louis Carlton 17-11 1-3 3 5 5 2 1 Glusll 12-3 2 1 1 2 2 Camplsl 2 10 0 0 Grant 1 1 0 0 0 1 Gentry 12-12 9 4 0 0 2 5 T-2A2. runs batted in as the Mets shutout the St.

Louis Cardinals, 6-0. The victory allowed the Mets to complete a miraculous comeback which had them trailing the first-place Chicago Cubs by 9V4 games in mid-August. "They're a great bunch of guys," said manager Gil Hodges. "They showed confidence, maturity, togetherness and pitching. They proved it could be done.

Oh, yes, I'm excited, thrilled, and very happy." The Mets chased Steve Carlton (17-11) after six batters by scoring five runs on three hits in the first. Clendenon smacked a three-run homer and Ed Charles ripped a two-run blast to put the Mets ahead, 5-0. Clendenon added a solo shot in the fifth to close it out. Gentry closed the game by inducing Joe Torre to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. STANDING: 96-61, first place, six games ahead of Chicago.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Ken Boswell, left, and Bud Harrelson the Keystone Combination celebrating after the Mets clinched the National League East title. Guidry comes to Yankees' rescue Yankees YANKEES CLEVELAND abrhbi Rivers cf 4 0 10 Manning cf 4 0 0 0 Blair cf 1 0 0 0 Bell 3b 4 0 0 0 Randolph 2b 5 13 0 Thornton lb 4 0 0 0 Munson 5 12 1 Alexander 3 0 0 0 Jackson dh 5 12 1 Cage dh 2 0 0 0 Nettles 3b 4 0 11 Prultt rf 3 0 0 0 Piniella rf 4 0 2 1 Cox If 3 0 0 0 Chambliss lb 4 0 0 0 Speed If 0 0 0 0 Thomasson If 4 12 0 Kuiper 2b 3 0 2 0 Dent ss 4 12 0 Veryzer ss 2 0 0 0 Totals 40 4 IS 4 Totals 28 0 2 0 YANKEES 000 200 200 4 Cleveland 000 000 000 0 E-Thornlon. LOB-YANKEES 9, Cleveland 3. 2B Randolph. SB Randolph.

Veryzer. IP RER BB SO added run-scoring singles in the seventh. "I can keep going, but I need rest," said Munson, who is battling sore knees, an aching shoulder, and painful ribs. "I've had injury problems all year, and they're bound to take their toll. I feel slow and worn down." Meanwhile, the Yankees are are 24-8 in the last 31 days.

"I'd like us to win it, and win it before the last day so we can take a couple of days off," Munson said. STANDING: 94-62, one game ahead of Boston. CLEVELAND The Yankees knew just whom to call upon after losing two consecutive games to the Cleveland Indians. And Ron Guidry answered with a two-hitter en route to a 4-0 victory. Guidry (23-3) struck out eight and walked one.

He limited the Indians to two singles from Duane Kuiper. The Yankees got two runs off Mike Paxton (12-10) in the first on RBI singles by Graig Nettles and Lou Piniella. Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson So far, the people running Majpr League Soccer have done everything they said they weren't going to do. They were supposed to name the 12 charter franchises two days before the World Cup began. They announced seven and haven't said a word since.

They said they were going to play in smaller facilities with grass fields. When the announcement came, they chose several cavernous stadiums, a few of which have artificial turf, including Giants Stadium. They said major sponsors would be announced by the end of the summer. Only one is in the fold. They said MLS would be the Division One league, with the American Professional Soccer- League designated as Division Two.

But last week, according to APSL commissioner Richard Groff, MLS officials invited the seven APSL franchises to join the league in its debut season. Unless all seven APSL owners want to surrender control of their franchises, this merger doesn't stand a chance of happening. The MLS is based on a single-entity system, which means the league owns the teams. How is the APSL supposed to fit in unless one of the two leagues undergoes a total structural upheaval? With all the uncertainty and all the unprofessionalism we've seen over the past year, are we really supposed to believe that a professional league in whatever capacity will kick off as scheduled in April? Maybe it will, but the league has already lost the momentum created by the World Cup. And now, without baseball and possibly hockey, it would be a perfect time for soccer to wedge its way into regular newspaper coverage.

But where are the announcements? The only publicity soccer has received lately has been about the sport's political infighting. The ugly election campaign for U.S. Soccer Federation president last month left a lot of bad feeling within soccer's infrastructure, and the uncertainty over whether incumbent Alan Rothenberg would be reelected caused major delays in MLS planning. Groff, the former USSF treasurer who lost to Rothenberg for president by the slimmest of margins, said he is considering the invitation, and that the offer deserves an immediate reply. Considering the fallout between Rothenberg and Groff the two men often failed to acknowledge each other's presence in the same room in the months preceding the election the offer and the response were surprisingly civil.

The APSL, which has always been on shaky ground, should jump at the MLS opportunity. The APSL has nearly folded several times, and only the infusion of teams after the demise of the Canadian Soccer League a few years ago kept the struggling league alive. 0 0 1 YANKEES Guidry 23-3 Cleveland Paxton 12-10. Monge Spilner Hood 2:23. 6 2-3 11 2-3 3 11-3 1 1-3 0 RON GUIDRY Tosses two-hitter for 23rd victory Yet the APSL continues to talk expansion.

Teams in Atlanta and Detroit, who are currently members of the U.S. Interregional Soccer League, have applied for admission for the 1995 season. But if those franchises are anything like Houston's attempt this year, the league is doomed for sure. Earlier this year, the APSL made a big deal about the expansion Houston Force. The excitement lasted for all of three weeks.

The Force lost their opening game, 3-0, and then had their membership revoked and were tossed out of the league for various improprieties. The APSL concludes its regular season today. Four of the seven teams the Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles Salsa, Colorado Foxes, and Montreal Impact have made the playoffs. It would be pretty embarrassing if the Salsa win the championship because the second-year franchise has already applied for membership to the Mexican first division next season. Stay tuned.

The next few weeks could be very interesting. Just when you thought you might go a whole month without seeing, hearing, or reading anything about Alexl Lalas. the redhead strikes again. Apparently, the U.S. national team defender and former Rutgers University All-Ameri-can wasn't satisfied to be merely the first American to play in the Italian first division.

Now he's become the first American to score a goal there, too. Lalas scored the only goal of Wednesday's match when his team, Padova, defeated Inter-nazionale, 1-0, in Milan, in the second leg of the first round of the Italian Cup. Padova, which is currently last in the 18-team league with an 0-3 record, had not scored a goal all season. Inter won the first leg, 3-0, three weeks ago, and will advance to the second round on aggregate score, 3-1, in the home-and-home, total-goals tournament format. In between the two legs of the Italian Cup, Padova lost regular-season games by scores of 3-0, 5-0, and 2-0.

It's going to be a long year for Padova, and relegation to the second division is all but a certainty, but give Lalas credit. He's excelled at every level he's played at, and there may not be a greater challenge in club soccer then to score a goal in the Italian League, which is considered the best in the world. Clauses to give players pause Of course, if Tony La Russa were to be available BOB HERTZEL BASEBALL NOTEBOOK The salary cap proposal advanced by owners in the negotiations with striking baseball players is unacceptable to them not only because of the effect the cap would have on salaries but because the proposal contains little-publicized clauses that would cost the players millions of dollars. Consider this: The owners offer a minimum of $1 billion to go to the players in a 50-50 split of revenues. This has generally been presented as money to be used for salaries.

Not so. Off the top of this billion dollars the players must finance their pension fund (now done through revenues from the All-Star game and from ownership), pay their medical insurance, their unemployment insurance, pay their meal money, their spring training allowances "They even want us to pay for our medical supplies in the training room," Yankees player representative Paul Gibson said. The owners' plan would have only 40 percent or so of the rev- I a 1 McRae's firing came as something of a surprise as the Royals had won 14 games in a row toward the end of the abbreviated season, forced their way into contention, and seemed to be a team on the rise. "They told me that guys who were playing good for me weren't coming back, that they were getting rid of the high-salaried players and going with kids," said McRae. That meant Gary Gaettl, gone.

Felix Jose, gone. Vlnce Coleman, gone. Stan Belinda, gone. "And either David Cone or Jeff Montgomery," said McRae, talking about the probable Cy Young Award winner in Cone and one of the game's top relief pitchers. "They said they were going to cut $8 million off the payroll and since they were going with kids, they wanted a younger manager," said McRae.

That sounds good, but at mid-season they offered the job to Whltey Herzog. He turned it down. Don't be surprised if Gene Lament, last year's Manager of the Year in the American League and manager of a division leader again this year, doesn't wind up with the Kansas City job. Lamont's contract is up at the end of this season and it appears the White Sox won't renew it. If they had planned to do so, why haven't they? Now, with the strike, general manager Ron Schueler asks: "Do you want to pay a manager for sitting?" La Russa's contract is up at the season's end.

The only thing that could keep him in Oakland would be his friendship with Walter Haas, the owner. Haas, however, has the team up for sale, so he may let La Russa walk without offering him a new contract. If so, both the Sox would be interested, the White Sox and the Red Sox, who just fired Butch Hobson. The firings are not over yet. Look for Tom Trebelhorn to be fired from the Cubs and, probably, general manager Larry Himes as Andy MacPhall takes full control of that organization The biggest victims of the strike are the little people, office workers who have been fired throughout baseball.

Among them is San Diego public relations director Jim Ferguson, who has been a baseball PR man for 22 years after a career as an outstanding newspaper reporter. PR people and traveling secretaries all over are being axed as clubs cut costs. No owner has stepped up and offered to give up his salary so 20 or so people earning $25,000 a year can keep their jobs With Hobson fired in Boston, does his replacement have to serve his suspension whenever baseball plays again? Quiz answer: William "Buck" Showalter, Carl "Stump" Merrill, Russell "Bucky" Dent, and George "Dallas" Green. fered free agency with a right of first refusal belonging to the club they were leaving. What effect would this have? If players were not credited with a full season this year, such players as Jim Abbott and Randy Velarde of the Yankees would lose their right to total free agency.

The Yankees would have a right to match the offer they get to keep them. This week's quiz: What is the given name of the Yankees' last four managers. Hint: It's not Buck, Stump, Bucky, or Dallas. Answer at end. Before the Kansas City Royals called Hal McRae and told him he was fired as manager, they called one of his players and told him what was to come.

That player was Brian McRae, the manager's son. "I said Hal McRae. "He's valuable to the organization. I'm not." eilue gu iuwuiu aaiasscs. Another problem is the elimination of arbitration, which would be replaced by a sliding minimum salary for the first four years in the league.

While St. Johnstone 1 Hamilton 1 SI. Mlrren 1 Rallh 2 Division Two Dumbarton 2 Clyde 1 Easl Fife 1 Greenock Morton 2 Meadowbank 1 Stirling 2 Queen ol South 0 Brechin 2 Slenhousemulr 1 Berwick I Division Throe Albion 2 Cowdenbeath 4 Alloa I Caledonian Thistle I Easl Stirling 3 Forfar Montrose 1 Queen's Pork Ross County 1 Arbroath 4 those numbers are not public, it would be something like $150,000 for a rookie, $180,000 after one year, $250,000 after two years, $350,000 after three years, and $450,000 after four years. Then, players with four-plus and five-plus years would be of- Gorman League Bavern Munich 3 I MO Munich 1 Elntrachl Franklurl 0 Beyer Uerdlngen 3 M5V Dulsburg 0 mSH JSHHH I Borusslo Dortmund 5 VIB Stuttgart 0 FC Mmt 3 Karlsruhe SC 4 FC Kalsorslautorn 3 2 Hamburg SV 2 Dynamo Dresden I Moenchengledbech 7 VfL Bochum I SC Freiburg I Beyer Leverkusen I US. Davis Cup doubles disappoint STANDINGS I BnoHH League Premier League Blackburn 3 Ailon Villa 1 Coventry 1 Southampton 3 Crystal Palace 0 Cheliea I Everlon 1 Leicester I Ipswich 3 Manchester United 2 Manchester City 2 Norwich 0 Newcastle I Liverpool I Queens Park Rangers 0 Wimbledon I Tottenham I Nottingham Forest 4 Division One Bristol Cllv 0 Middlesbrough 1 Mlllwall 0 Lulon 0 Notts County 3 Charlton 3 Oldham 1 Barnslev 0 Port Vale 0 Shellleld United 2 Portsmouth 1 Wolverhampton 2 Southend 2 Bolton I Swindon 3 Grlmsbv 2 Tranmer 1 Sunderland 0 Watford 2 Reeding 2 West Bromwlch Albion I Burnley 0 Division Two Birmingham 2 Hull 2 Blackpool 2 Wrexhem I Bournemouth 3 Cardltl 2 Bradford 3 Huddorslleid 4 Brighten 3 Cambridge United Crewe 0 Brentford 2 Oxford United 3 Levlon Orient 2 Peterborough 2 Rotherham 2 Plymouth 1 Chesler 0 Shrewsbury I Bristol Rovers 0 Stockport 4 Wycombe Swansea 0 Vork 0 Division Three Bury 2 Chesterfield I Darlington 2 Colchester 3 Doncaster 2 Preston I Fulham I Hereford I Hartlepool 0 Lincoln 3 Manslleld I Exeter 1 Northampton 2 Carlisle 1 Scarborough 2 Rochdale 4 Scunthorpe 3 Wlgen I Tornuav I Barnel 2 Walsall 2 GIMnohem I Scottish League I Premier Division Aberdeen 2 Rangers 2 Cattle 2 Hibernian 0 Dundee United 1 i Fetklrk 0 Hearts 3 Kilmarnock 0 Partlck 2 Motherwell Division One Dunfermline I Stranraer 0 JL The Associated Press GOTEBQRG, Sweden The failure of former college teammates Jared Palmer and Jonathan Stark to win their doubles match Saturday left the United States one victory shy of clinching a berth in the Davis Cup finals.

Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden applied the pressure from the start in defeating Palmer and Stark, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. That still left the United States with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series entering today's two singles matches. Pete Sampras, the world's top-ranked player, faces former No. 1 Stefan Edberg in the first match, followed by Todd Martin against Magnus Larsson. Sampras and Martin won their singles matches Friday to give the United States a 2-0 lead over Sweden.

Palmer and Stark teamed at Stanford for two seasons, but hadn't played together since last year's U.S. Open. It showed. Stark, making his Davis Cup debut, faced three break points in the first game, and was broken three times in the match. "I think he felt the pressure," said Apell, unbeaten in Davis Cup play with Bjorkman.

"I felt the pressure in my first Davis Cup match." Stark, who faced the Swedes with his regular partner, Byron Black of Zimbabwe, in the Australian and French Opens this year, was impressed by Bjorkman. "The guy must love my serve!" Stark said. "It was disappointing to lose). It would have been nice to clinch it. The only thing we can do now is cheer on Pete tomorrow." The winner of this series faces Russia for the Davis Cup.

The Russians advanced to the final for the first time by upsetting defending champion Germany at Hamburg. Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andrei Olhovskiy provided the clinching point Saturday when they outlasted Michael Stich and Karsten Braasch, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8. That gave the Russians an unbeatable 3-0 lead. Frazler advances to final in Tokyo TOKYO American Amy Frazier took advantage of Gabriela Sabatini's serving problems to upset the fourth-seeded Argentine, 6-1, 6-3, Saturday and gain the final of the Nichirei International Ladies Championship against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. The top-seeded Sanchez Vicario defeated Japan's Nana Miyagi, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, in the other semifinal on Ariake Colosseum's hard court.

Sabatini served five double faults in the first set, including three in a row in the third game. Frazier broke four times in the first set, and gained the decisive break of the second set in the eighth game. Jr- JLnglHh Msu Premier League OP OA Pit Newcotna I 0 123 I It Blackburn 0 3M 3 17 Noltlnghom Forotl SO 2 14 17 Monchottor Untied 4 I I 13 4 13 Chelsea 4 I 13 I 13 Liverpool I I 13 4 II Monchottor City 3 3 2 11 I 11 Leeds 1 3 I I 7 14 Atlon VUta 1 3 I I Wimbledon 3 3 7 Norwich 1 3 3 3 1 I'Tofionham 1 4 I 13 IS Southampton 3 3 It Ipswich I 4 1 I It 7 Queens Perk Rangers I 3 3 13 4 Arsenal 3 3 7 Shefflriit Wednesday I 3 3 I It Lokottar I 4 7 It Wotl Ham 3 1 3 Coventry 4 14 Crytlel Potace I 3 4 4 11 4 Everlon 4 3 7 14 3 i-wW have six points deducted from lis tolol at conclusion of season ft.