North County Times from Oceanside, California • 17

Sports Pistons top Knicks C-2 Seles wins 25th title C-3 Major League Baseball C-4 Blade-Citizen Monday, April 27, 1992 no Don Cbm ir mum on Mims Vols defensive end is top pick 1. Chris Mims, dt, Tennessee (23) 2. Marquez Pope, db, Fresno State (33) 3. Ray Ethndge, wr, Pasadena CC (63) 5a. Curtis Whitley, Clemson (117) 5b.

Kevin Little, lb. North Carolina (131) 5c. Enc Jonassen, ot, Bloomsburg State (140) GARYHYVONEN Beathard bluffed to get his man Columnist Steve Bisheff says the Rams were pleased to pick defensive lineman Sean Gilbert No. 3 overall and (gasp) sign him to a contract Page C-5. San Diego State wide receiver Patrick Rowe was the only player drafted from the WAC.

Hes going to Cleveland and not all that excited. Page C-7. Chargers GM Bobby Beathard pulled some more surprises out of his bag of tricks. Page C-8. By Geoffrey Ooley Staff Writer SAN DIEGO The Chargers werent able to pull off the draft day deal general manager Bobby Beathard tried to make, but they still got their man and a whole bunch of questions.

It also got a little crowded at defensive end when Beathard selected Chris Mims, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound defensive end from Tennessee, with the Chargers first-round pick in the NFL draft Sunday. Bobby Ross, the Chargers first-year coach, had said he wanted help on the defensive line. So Beat-hard went out and tried to get it for him. What sold us on Chris Mims is his ability to rush the passer, said Beathard. Some guys have that ability and some dont.

Hes a big kid who has good speed. He plays very hard. He has good football awareness. He has that radar for the quarterback. Mims will be expected to be the sort of pass rusher Ross said he wanted in the days leading up to the draft.

I have felt from Day 1 that one of our main needs is developing the defensive line, said Ross. That may come as news to Leslie ONeal and Burt Grossman. They are the two former No. 1 picks the Chargers already have at defensive end. One of them could be competing with Mims for a job come training camp.

The Chargers eventually want him to bulk up to 285 pounds and play inside at tackle, but that will take time. The question is how his selection will affect ONeal and Grossman in the meantime. I dont think it does, said Ross. Were going to go to camp, line them up and lets see what hap- See Chargers, Page C-8 Staff Photos Bill Wechtor Chris Mims of Tennessee is a pass-rush specialist. Fresno State defensive back Marquez Pope was the Chargers second-round pick, 33rd overall.

Lefferts comes through Starter gets second wind from win, 2-1 By John Schlegel Staff Writer SAN DIEGO Craig Lefferts life as a starting pitcher didnt pass before his eyes Sunday afternoon. He didnt take the mound thinking this would be his last start for the Padres or wondering if he really is capable of being a legitimate starter. Those thoughts were far from Lefferts mind. He was concentrating more on adjustments hed made since his last outing, figuring out how he could come up with a better start than his first three this season. SAN DIEGO You dont want to play poker with Bobby Beat-hard.

He would frown with a full house, beam over a pair of twos and leave you wondering what the heck hes thinking about Tipping his hand isnt his style, especially when it comes to the NFL draft In the past week, it was reported the Chargers general manager had never even met Chris Mims and made it known he suffers from poor conditioning. Beathard also insisted Marquez Pope is nothing special. Mims and Pope, naturally, are Chargers today. The defenders were the clubs top investments in Sundays draft Great picks, Beathard informed the media afterward. And about those less-than-flat-tering comments about the Chargers most celebrated newcomers? Ah, forget about it Just pre-draft talk.

Didnt mean anything by it Simple strategy. You cant tip your hand in these things, you know. It's hard to talk about a guy youre going to take, Beathard admitted sheepishly. Until after you take him. Now were led to believe the Chargers have another Leslie ONeal in Mims, the pass-rushing wizard from Tennessee, and the next Ronnie Lott in Pope, a fleet and reckless safety from Fresno State whos being touted as a comerback.

The Chargers made it known a pass rusher was a priority, and Mims was the one they had their sights on with the 23rd selection. And rest assured, Beathard isnt a stranger to Mims. I have no clue where that came from; Ive met him several times, said Beathard. I don't think he wanted anybody to know we wanted to draft him. Ive met with Chris several times.

Hes a terrific kid. There were reports we were a little disappointed about his conditioning. Thats true, but it was exaggerated a little bit With a little help from Beat-hard. But this could be a time to call his bluff. Chances are Beat-hard didnt have to downplay Mims much to maintain shot at him.

Reports on the 6-foot-4, 263-pounders conditioning may not be that exaggerated at all. Mims was only a part-time player at Tennessee, part of a four-man rotation at the defensive end positions. He couldnt bench press much more than 200 pounds as recently as a year ago and lifts a See Hyvonen, Page C-8 PADRES UPDATE Padres 2, Cincinnati 1 TONIGHTS GAME: Philadelphia at Padres. 7 35 PITCHING MATCHUP: Terry Mulholland (0-3) vs Bruce Hurst (1-2) TV: Pay-per-view RADIO: KFMB 760 RECORD: 10-9 (Tied for second place) He succeeded. And by doing so, Lefferts came up with his best effort as a starter.

He went 6 13 innings to take the victory in a 2-1 Padres win over Cincinnati before 19,964 fans at Jack Murphy Stadium, holding the hot-hitting Reds to one run on six hits on a warm day. Closer Randy Myers bounced back from a horrendous outing on Friday to earn his fifth save of the season, working the last two innings and getting himself out of a self-inflicted jam in the top of the ninth. The only run Lefferts (2-2) gave up came on one swing of Billy AP Conner, Italians bag victories Staff Photo Scott Vartey See Padres, Page C-2 Craig Lefferts acknowledges the crowd after leaving game. Finding a cure for those slumps beat New Zealand by 43 seconds to close the Kiwi lead to 3-2 in the best-of-9 challenger finals turning nasty over New Zealand's bowsprit II Moros victory on the water followed by several hours a victory in the protest room. After losing to New Zealand on Saturday, II Moro skipper Paul Cayard filed a protest over the Kiwi bowsprit The international jury overseeing the competition sided with II Moro and, after a five-hour-plus hearing that ended at 1 a.m.

Sunday, annulled New Zealands victory. In an emotionally charged news conference Sun- See Yachting, Page C-3 By Bemie Wilson The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Every time Dennis Conner gets into a hole, he sails right back out Conner steered Stars Stripes to its third victory in the last four races against Bill Kochs America on Sunday to pull to 4-3 in the best-of-13 Americas Cup Cup defender finals. Conner, the defending Americas Cup skipper, has led the whole way in his three victories. A prestart penalty against America helped Stars Stripes, as did the moderate breeze of 5-9 knots out of the west On the challenger course, Italys II Moro di Venezia Jazz plays Clippers into 0-2 hole San Diego made some progress Sunday by securing a 2-1 victory, thanks in part to the pitching of starter Craig Lefferts, reliever Randy Myers and Cincinnatis inability to field and throw the ball properly. The Padres got one run when second baseman Bip Roberts failed to field a cutoff throw, allowing Tony Fernandez to score.

They got their other run on a wild pitch. Not exactly Murderers Row. But at least its a start in the right direction. The win Sunday ended a two-game losing streak and helped offset some nagging problems. The Padres went into the game with the most home runs, hits and total bases in the National League, but they rank eighth in runs scored.

Two of the teams outfielders cant seem to get going. Center fielder Damn Jackson has col- See Scholfield, Page C-2 SAN DIEGO One of the peat unsolved mysteries of sports is the slump. Why is it that a perfectly good hitter suffers through prolonged periods where he looks no better than a tee-ball hitter? How can a pitcher look like Cy Young in one outing and Robert Young the next? About the only sure thing about slumps is they will happen to everyone. They are an equal opportunity headache. Like death and taxes, slumps are part of life.

And part of all sports. They seem to magnify themselves more in baseball because the season is so long. I wish I could say here are the 10 steps for getting out of slumps," said Padres manager Greg Rid-doch as he relaxed in his office prior to Sundays game with Cincinnati. But there are 10 different steps for all 25 players in here, including myself. Riddochs team knows a little STEVE SCHOLFIELD bit about slumps even though the season is but 19 games old.

After starting the year with a 7-2 record, the Padres turned right around and went 2-7. Now thats a slump. The timing for such a malady' isnt advantageous, either. The Padres are in the middle of their longest home stand of the year, 13 games. Thats normally a time for a team to make a move up the standings.

We gave ourselves a chance to win because we gave a great effort, Norman said. We feel like were definitely going to get those two at home. Only two teams have come back to win a best-of-five series after dropping the first games. The last to do it was New York against Boston in 1990. I'm thrilled with the way we played, Clippers coach Larry Brown said.

Im just disappoint- See Clippers, Page C-2 By Johannes Tesselaar LA Daily News SALT LAKE CITY They are faced with the prospect of needing to beat a team that has owned them over the years three straight times in order to keep playing. Do the Clippers have any doubts? Its been done before, forward Ken Norman said of the prospects of coming back from an 0-2 deficit, which the Clippers face after Sundays 103-92 loss to Utah before 19,911 at the Delta Center. We felt like if we could come in here and get this win, we wouldnt have to come back here. To return to the home court of the Jazz, the Clippers will need to win twice in Los Angeles. Game 3 of the opening-round series is Tuesday night.

A fourth game would be played Thursday. Even though the Clippers have lost 19 of their past 22 meetings with Utah, they are confident of returning to the Delta Center for a fifth game on Saturday. I.