Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 27

TIMES-ADVOCATE, ESCOSD.DO, CA MON SEPTEMBER 8, 19a0 D-3 YANKEES OPEN A 44-GAME BULGE A's bionic arms give Orioles that i sinking feeling earned run average to 2.29, best in the league. Doug Bird and Rich Gossage finished up, with Gossage earning his 24th save. Held hitless by rookie Jim Dorsey, 0-2, through three innings, the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the fourth on Spencers shot. Royals 6, Indians 4 Willie Aikens hit a home run' and two singles and drove in three runs to pace Kansas City over Cleveland. Aikens three RBI helped the Royals build a 5-1 lead through six innings, enough to withstand a late flurry by the Indians.

Winner Dennis. Leonard, 17-9, survived a shaky first inning, then retired 15 men in a row before being Anderson, who was pulled after giving up two singles and a walk in the first inning. Rangers 7, Brewers 2 Mike Riehardt socked three singles and drove in three runs, leading Texas over Milwaukee to spoil George Bambergers fmal game as the Brewers manager. Winner Doc Medich, 12-9, scattered 13 hits before needing last-out relief help from John Henry Johnson. The Rangers took a 2-1 lead in the second inning on Richardts two-run single off Bob McClure, 2-7, and were never headed.

Twins 3, Tigers 1 Roy Smalley belted a two-run homer to back the combined four -hit I I 1 i Major League Roundup Giants before Darrell Evans run-sconng double ignited a three-run fourth inning off Montreal starter Charlie Lea. A pair of Andre Dawson homers off winner Vida Blue, 13-7, helped Montreal pull into a 3-3 tie. But the Giants scored a pair of unearned runs without a hit in the sixth to go ahead for good. Greg Minton preserved the lead for Blue and picked up his 18th save. The Giants came up with the decisive runs off reliever John DAcquis-to, 2-5.

Evans and Jim Wohlford opened the inning with walks, bringing on Fred Norman to replace DAc-quisto. After a sacrifice bunt by Milt May, Evans scored the go-ahead run on a fielders choice by Guy Sularz. Evans was trapped between third and home, scored when third baseman Larry dropped a throw for an error, hitter Max Venable made it 5-3 Aik. a sacrifice fly. Braves 6, Pirates 5 tlanta came from behind again, this time on a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth by Dale Murphy, to continue its mystifying mastery over the world champion Pirates.

The victory ended the season series between the two with Atlanta holding an 11-1 edge. The triumph also gave the Braves a 24-6 record over the past 30 games, which is the best in baseball. And some people think the once forlorn Braves, now 74 games behind, have a real shot at catching NL West leader Los Angeles. Pirates manager Chuck Tanner is one of those wary of Atlanta. They have a harder road to climb than we do.

Tanner said. But nothing is impossible in baseball. If they keep winning, something has got to give. All teams will be playing teams in their own division now, and every game will count for two. Dodgers 6, Phillies 0 Los Angeles starter Dave Goltz sprained an ankle and had to be removed after allowing just one hit through the first three innings, but Bobby Castillo, 6-6, came on to limit the Phillies to just two more hits over the last six frames.

Meanwhile, Dave Lopes drove in two runs and the Dodgers collected 10 hits off five Philadelphia pitchers. Starter Dick Ruth-ven, 14-9, took the loss. The victory was the 17th in the last 20 games for the Dodgers and ended current homestand with a 10-1 mark. Cardinals 2, Astros 0 Pete Vuckovich, 10-9, scattered eight hits for his third shutout of the season as the second-place Astros fell two games behind the Dodgers. Vuckovich struck out six and walked one, twice retiring Cesar Cedeno on By Associated Press The Oakland As set a pitching record yesterday at the expense of the Baltimore Orioles.

It turned out to be pretty eipensive, too. It may cost the Orioles the Ameri-! can League East title. Throwing 150 pitches, including 73 -iq the first three innings, Steve McCatty hurled a record 78th com- plete game for Oakland as the As de- feated the Orioles 5-2 and seriously damaged their hopes for the East 2 1 The loss coincided with New Yorks -Ad victory over the California Angels 1 and gave the Yankees a 44-game lead over the second-place Orioles. Its ironic that I pitched the 'record-breaking game, said McCat- ty, because I have the least amount of complete games on the staff. It would have been nice if Mike Norris or Rick Langford had done it, but I feel I contributed, too.

The complete game was the fifth in his last seven starts and the ninth this season for McCatty. It enabled Oakland to break a tie for a 162-game schedule they shared with the 1968 San Francisco Giants, and is the most in the major leagues since the 1953 Cleveland recorded 81 for a 154-game schedule. The all-. time mark is 106 by the 1941 Chicago White Sox. Elsewhere in the AL, Kansas City defeated Cleveland, 6-4, Seattle out-scored Boston, 12-6, Texas turned back Milwaukee, 7-2, Minnesota stopped Detroit, 3-1, and Toronto took a doubleheader from Chicago, 3-1 and 7-6.

McCatty credited manager Billy Martin and pitching coach Art Fowler for giving him confidence- on the mound. Next to my father, theres no one I appreciate more than Art Fowler, said McCatty, 11-13, who allowed just six yesterday. Hed do anything for us, and we want to try as hard as we can for him. I gave him the game ball. The complete game, incidentally, was the 19th in the last 28 games for Oakland pitchers.

The As scored all the runs they needed with three in the first inning I off Steve Stone, 22-6. A single by Dwayne Murphy, a double by Dave and a single by Wayne Gross drove in the runs. Yankees 4, Angels 1 Jim Spencer slammed a three-run homer and left-hander Rudy May combined with two relievers on a sev-T; en-hitter to lead New York over Cali-Tfomia. 1l May, 13-5, pitched seven innings, al-' lowing just four hits and lowering his Associated Press Photo HIGH-FLYING PHIL Philadelphia Phillie second baseman Manny Trillo goes high to avoid the sliding Rudy Law, who successfully broke up double play attempt as Los Angeles went on to post a 6-0 triumph to extend their lead in the NL West to two games over Houston. driven from the mound in the seventh, when the Indians scored three times.

Ken Brett and Dan Quisenberry finished up, with Quisenberry gaining his 32nd save. Royal third baseman George Brett, who missed 25 games earlier this year after injuring his foot in a game in Cleveland, has left the city in less than perfect health once again. The hot-hitting Brett, whose average stands at .396, sat out yesterdays 6-4 victory over the Indians after injuring his right hand Saturday night. The hand was to be X-rayed today in Anaheim, where the Royals were scheduled to open a four-game series against the California Angels. I hope' it isnt going to slow me down, said Brett.

I hope it isnt going to keep me out of the lineup for too long. He hurt the hand while reaching to swing at an outside fast ball fired by Clevelands Len Barker in Saturday nights 8-3 Indians victory. He said he felt a twinge in it when he swung, said Royals Manager Jim Frey. I didnt really think much about it at the time, Brett said. I could still swing and I could still throw.

But when I woke up this morning (yesterday), I couldnt do anything with it. I dont know what it is. Mariners 12, Red Sox 6 Larry Milbourne, Leon Roberts and Rodney Craig each collected three hits and two RBI as Seattle routed Boston. The Mariners struck for eight runs in the second inning, putting the game out of reach and completing the four-game series with a 31 edge. Winner Byron- McLaughlin, 2-6, pitched 54 innings in relief, giving up six hits arfd one run.

He replaced Rick groundouts after getting in jams by allowing two-out singles to Terry Puhl and Jose Cruz. Ted Simmons and Vuckovich provided the runs with RBI singles off Houston starter Ken Forsch, 10-12, in the first two innings. Cubs 6, Reds 4 Pinch-runner Carlos Lezcano raced home from first on Jerry Martins two-out double in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 deadlock and send Chicago to its victory. Cliff Johnson started the rally with a single and Lezcano ran for him. Then, with one out, right fielder Ken Griffey tried for a shoestring catch on Martins liner to right, but the ball bounded off his glove, enabling Lezcano to score.

Griffey recovered quickly and his throw went to second. Dave Concepcion caught it and made a swipe at the sliding Martin, but just missed as Lezcano scored. I almost screwed it up, said Martin. I figured Griffey would throw to the plate. I should have stopped, but as I went sliding into second, it flashed in my mind that if Concepcion tagged me, the run wouldnt count (because Lezcano had not yet scored).

Instead of the inning being over with the score still tied, Steve Dillard followed with a single to score Martin with an insurance run as Bruce Sutter, 5-7, picked up the victory and Doug Bair, 1-6, took the loss. pitching of Darrell Jackson and Dou Corbett as Minnesota defeated Detroit Jackson, 9-8, gave up all four Detroit hits and one unearned run over the first seven innings before Corbett finished up. Mark Fidrych, 1-3, who Tuesday night won his first major league game in two years, had a four-hitter going until the Twins shelled him in the eighth inning. Blue Jays 3-7, White Sox 1-6 John Mayberry hit a homer and Joey McLaughlin and Mike Barlow combined on an eight-hitter as Toronto beat Chicago in the first game oi their doubleheader. Damaso Garcia drove in four runs, three on a two-out, bases-loaded triple in the third inning, to lead the Blue Jays to their second-game victory.

Giants 6, Expos 3 Losing a baseball game yesterday couldnt get Dick Williams down. After all, his Montreal Expos were going home from an arduous West Coast trip still clinging to the lead in the National League East. The Expos lost the first four games of the journey at Los Angeles and dropped briefly behind the Philadelphia Phillies into a second-place tie with Pittsburgh. But even though they dropped a 6-3 decision to the San Francisco Giants, the Expos headed home with a one-game lead over the Phillies and two games on the Pirates after winding up their tough trek with a 5-6 record. We picked up ground on the two other clubs (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia) and were going home in first place.

Thats not too bad, said Williams. Expos pitchers had registered 30 consecutive scoreless innings over the in 1978 when he was still a Ram. All I did today was help, a characteristically modist Cappelletti said as swarm of reporters gathered around his locker. I really didnt create anything today, I was just part of a team effort. Heck, its pretty easy to gain 46 yards on a play when 10 of the 11 defensive people are blocked.

The play may have looked like a sweep, but it really wasnt. But, it is the best play we have to get the fullback outside. I simply took a handoff, got around the corner and saw room to run. I got some great blocks and could have gone all the way (77 yards), but I got caught from the side. Most NFL observers expect Cappelletti to get caught from the side and back by defenders.

Speed has never been one of Johns major as-sests. Blocking and getting the tough inside yards are his forte, however. Both things the Chargers demand of their fullbacks. Yesterday, Cappelletti averaged 1 i 0 I' I i 9 0' 0 0 I1 0 i 0 I1 0 5 0 9 0 9 0 9 0 a 9 0 9 1 0 9 0 9 0 9 0 3 0 3 0 9 0 8 9 ff S0 What a Charger debut for a healthy Cappelletti CORYELL i Continued from D-l first regular season game since 1978. The former All-Pro spent most of 79 on the sidelines with a knee injury.

I' El We managed to get Seattle in trou-ble early, Kelcher said, and when you do that, it makes your job so much easier. As for my performance, I felt 1 great. Everything went just fine for me. I came up here to play hard and I did exactly that. Winning is the name of the game.

We did that today and I hope we can build off this game. Coryell hopes so too, because just 'G down the road is a key clash with AFC West arch-rival Oakland and road contests with Denver and Kansas City. But those games shouldnt scare Coryell or the Chargers. The coach wm probably be waiting for them with an ace up his sleeve. 7.0 yards per carry.

Take away the 46-yarder and he still averaged 4.4 yards on his other 15 carries. That statistic stands out when you realize that no Charger back since Rickey Young averaged 5.0 in 1976 has even averaged four yards a carry for the course of an entire seasons work. Its hard to say how good todays performance was, Cappelletti said. We werent really pressed by the Seattle defense. I dont think you can say we have a great running attack until you see how we react when other teams play us differently than Seattle did.

I think were capable of doing a lot on the ground. Some teams wont let you go to the air and so the ground game must work. I think todays effort will help us down the road. This game was very important to me for a lot of reasons. First, it was my debut as a Charger, thus performing well and winning were very important.

Also, I wanted to start the season healthy. Ive By JOHN MAFFEI T-A Sports Editor SEATTLE It had been more than a year since John Cappelletti had touched a football in a regular season NFL game. A severe groin injury suffered at the tailend of the 1978 season, and aggravated in the pre-season last year, snapped a string of 42 consectutive starts and knocked him out of action for the entire 79 season. But yesterday, John Cappelletti, former Heisman Trophy winner out of Penn State, former No. 1 'draft pick of the Los Angeles Rams and former hard-charging back, served notice that he is back and how.

In the Kingdome against the Seattle Seahawks, Cappelletti enjoyed the second most productive day of his six-year NFL career. He gained 112 yards on 16 carries, including a 46-yard romp down the sidelines on the Chargers second play of the game. The run was the longest of his career, topping the old mark of 38 against New Orleans worked awfully hard to regain my health and its gratifying to me to gain 100 yards in the opener. There was some concern about Cappellettis health, though. Early in the fourth quarter and his career-high of 128 yards in sight, John limped off the field with a sprained ankle.

Aw, the ankles just fine, Cappelletti said. I hurt it a couple of weeks ago in practice and it just got a little sore again today. What Im really concerned about is my groin. I took things a little at a time in the pre-season (23 carries for 79 yards in the five exhibition games). This is the first time Ive played long and hard in a game.

The groin feels tired, but I didnt injure it or re-injure it and thats very encouraging to me. One of my major objectives this season is to stay clear of a major injury. If he can do that, both Cappelletti and the Chargers could be in for a real good year. JOHN CAPPELLETTI Runs through Seahawks qgggq ffroEiiH (SIfoatrcpeps-SecilhicawExs CJfls Charger placekicker Rolf Benirschke after booting a pair of field goals Im pretty excited about the way things turned out. The first field goal was very important to me because it was my first and it was also the teams first scoring opportunity of the game.

I wanted to make that kick (41-yards), but the snap was bad and for a split second I didnt think we had a chance. But, Mike Fuller did a super Job of spotting the ball and the kick was good. I feel 100 percent healthy now and all the strength is back in my leg. Benirschke now has booted 15 fields goals in a row and six straight in the Kingdome. He hit on a club record four field goals last year in Seattle before being stricken 7 with Crohns Disease.

The Chargers got three straight low snaps on field goal tries by Don Macek (one was handled by Fuller and two werent). Bob Rush snapped on Benirschkes 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Seattle kicker, Efren Herrera, had a streak of 13 straight field goals snapped when he missed a 54-yarder in the first Charger coach Don Coryell on the Chargers special "We blocked a punt today and that was a very big part of the game because it gave us seven points. On the other hand, we had a pair of bad snaps on field goals that should have been made. Those snaps cost us six points.

Wayne Sevier, Chargers special teams coach on the blocked punt We were trying for a block all the way. The guys executed the rush just like we had it drawn up. We had a nine-man front, but Linden King and Woody Lowe were the only two guys who were going to rush the punter. I knew what protection Seattle was in and I thought we could get the ball with this particular rush. After the block we Jumped around a lot when they punted because Seattle uses a man blocking scheme.

When we jump around they have to recount men. Finally, they went to a tight punt formation and we forced a couple of bad kicks. Sevier on Fullers returns Mike did a super job. He helped setup a scope with a 31-yard return, but later he called for a fair catch on a ball he could have returned for a TD. He had a clear lane, but signaled for the fair catch before he saw it." Charger quarterback Dan Fouts on wide receiver John Jefferson JJ wants the ball so badly on every play that its hard not to throw it to him.

He is really driven by a desire to catch the ball and excel. Jefferson caught six balls for 103 yards against the Seahawks. That marks the 10th time in his career he has caught passes for more than 100 yards and the seventh time he has scored two TDs in a game. In five games against Seattle, Jefferson has caught eight touchdown passes. Fouts on his one-yard TD pass to tight end Gregg McCrary The play is a pass-run option.

Seattle did a good job of defensing the play, but Gregg did a better job of getting to the open spot. It's a good play. I like it. Fouts on playing the Seahawks I like to play in the Pacific Northwest (Fouts went to college at Oregon). I just live down the pike and I cant embarrass myself before the home folks.

Another reason I play well in Seattle is that I like to play indoors. You very seldom freeze or get a wet ball in a domed stadium. Fouts has completed nearly 71 percent of his passes in his last six games against Seattle (125-of-177 for 1,432 yards). He also has 14 TD passes against the Seahawks in the same time span. Defensive end Wilbur Young We have a lot of great athletes on this team.

We just like to off and go when were ready and today we were ready. Defensive end Leroy Jones When you play Seattle youve got to take away (quarterback Jim) Zorns game. You cant let him scramble. Youve got to contain him. Seattle coach Jack Patera on his QB Zorn got a little more excited out there then he should have.

Hes a more capable quarterback' than what he showed today. He was pressing because he needed the big play. Zorn fumbled two center snaps and was twice called for illegal procedure. Charger offensive tackle Doug Wilkerson, whose block sprung John Cappelletti on for a 46-yard run Im sure when we see the films of this game well see things we did wrong, but right now, Im pretty happy with the way we played. Charger owner Gene Klein I was plenty scared about this game on Saturday night.

I wasnt exactly what you would call calm. Cappellettis total of 112 yards is his second highest total in his NFL career. He gained 128 yards against Atlanta as a meber of the Rams in 1976. His other 100-plus games were 106 against Pittsburgh in 78 and 102 against Minnesota in '76. He and Earl Campbell are the only two backs to gain 100 or more yards rushing against the Steelers since 1975.

Charger reserve fullback Hank Bauer had three carries for 15 yards in the game, including a seven-yard run his longest in two seasons. Don Woods had four carries for 10 yards against the Seahawks. Last year, Woods did not carry the football at all for the Chargers. Zorn completed a 36-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Sam McCullum early in the fourth quarter. The San Diego defender was Mike Williams, who had not had a TD pass thrown over him in the previous 29 games.

There was a sellout crowd on hand for the game In the Kingdome. The 21st consecutive sellout for the Seahawks. j0hn Maffei ii.