The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 11

Sports The Sallna Journal Thursday, September 11,1986 Page 11 California, Boston hold firm atop divisions Angels hold off celebrating By The Associated Press A lot of people figured the American League West would be a one- team race this year. And with less than four weeks remaining, that's how it is but it's the California Angels, not the Kansas City Royals, running away from the pack. Gene Mauch's band of soon-to-be free agents now lead the division by games, their largest lead of the season. The only team with a chance of catching them is the Texas Rangers, who have lost eight of their last 12 games and are sinking slowly in the West. The World Series champion Royals? They're long gone, having folded instead of making one of their customary late-season surges.

Injuries to Cy Young winner Bret Saberhagen and George Brett, along with the mental strain of manager Dick Howser's brain tumor, have been too much for them to overcome. All that talk about a Kansas City dynasty built on young arms is over. The Royals still lead the league in pitching, but California is far ahead in the standings. Sure, both the Angels and Mauch have let big leads slip away in the past. But California's consistent pitching, plus a 6-0 record against Texas this year, make it hard to imagine that anything will prevent Reggie Jackson from getting one more chance to swing in October.

"It's happened before here, so you can never be too comfortable. That's why get criticized for not being that emotional," Angels left fielder Brian Downing said. "Wait until we get back home again and then you'll really be talking about trying to put it away. Heck, we haven't even gotten into the stretch drive yet." California, however, has steadily increased its lead since holding a margin on Aug. 14.

The Angels, who took over first place for good on July 7, could clinch their third division title during a 12- Patriots, Jets clash in early AFC showdown EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) The strange brew that makes up the New England Patriots in many ways defies logic. But it works, as the Patriots' trip to the Super Bowl proved last year. New England visits the New York Jets tonight in a nationally televised (7 p.m., ABC) NFL contest that will provide an early jump in the AFC East race for one of the teams. The Patriots, who beat the Jets 26-14 in the AFC wild card game last December, routed Indianapolis 33-3 in their season-opener.

New York edged Buffalo 28-24. The Patriots are directed by coach Raymond Berry, who was a Hall of Fame wide receiver with the Baltimore Colts. Yet, the team favors a conservative attack built around running backs Craig James and Tony Collins and a solid offensive line. They lost two of their longtime stars, perennial All-Pro guard John Hannah and defensive end Julius Adams to retirement. Still, as All-Pro linebacker Andre Tippett claims, the Patriots are a closer group now than in any of his four years.

And New England's plays are called by Steve Grogan, the backup quarterback, from the sidelines, while starter Tony Eason puts them into motion. Regardless, as Jets coach Joe Walton notes, the Patriots must be doing a whole lot of things right. "They are confident and efficient and well-coached," Walton said. "They're the most talented team in our division and maybe in the entire NFL." Tippett likes the sound of that. "Our defense is much better than last year," said the man who led the AFC with sacks last season.

"I think our performance Sunday symbolizes that and the confidence we have out there. "This is a tight-knit group and it shows. We're getting more experience and getting used to playing with each other. We don't think as much, it's more reaction. We have a better grasp of the defense.

We are coaches in the field, and we don't have to go to the sidelines and talk about things. We make our own judgments out there. We're all on the same page." That page is part of a book which Berry rewrote when he took over for Ron Meyer midway through the 1984 season. His practices are lighter, with virtually no hard contact, and he is more accessible than Meyer. "He's a players' coach," Tippett said.

game homestand that begins next week. Their final three home games are against the Rangers, and California then closes the season with seven games on the road, the final four in Texas. "I've seen some strange things happen, so I don't want to take anything for granted because they have some miracle workers down in Arlington," Angels pitcher Don Sutton said. Sutton, Mike Witt, Kirk McCaskill and rejuvenated left-hander John Candelaria anchor a pitching staff that ranks among the league's best. Rookie Wally Joyner has swung a Rod Carew-ish .300 bat and supplied the power the Angels never had at first base.

Veterans Bobby Grich, Doug DeCinces and Bob Boone, all in the final years of their contracts, continue to play key roles. Then there's "Mr. October," admittedly in the twilight of his career. At age 40 and with diminished production, the Angels have already told Jackson that they will not re-sign their $900,000 designated hitter next season. "Somedays, I'm out here wondering, 'What am I doing, where am I said.

Even with home-run hitters in the lineup, Mauch continues to use the strategy that he has employed in the. past trying to score one run at a time. Mauch's teams have led their league in sacrifice bunts in 10 of the last 14 years. This year's California team has 74 sacrifice bunts, 50 percent more than any other club in the AL. Does it work? Maybe.

This year, the Angels are 22-11 in one-run games sfnd last season they were 30-13. The Rangers also have been making some sacrifices. Disdaining the conventional wisdom, they whisked slugger Pete Incaviglia into the majors without any minor-league experience, and promoted pitchers Jose Guzman, Bobby Witt and Ed Red Sox withstand challenges Manager Gene Mauch doesn't expect his Angels to let their lead slip away, as they have in the past. Correa with little pro background. "We're working with the risk- reward ratio," said Bobby Valentine, the youngest and perhaps most ex- huberant manager in the major leagues.

"For us, the reward we get in malting those moves is worth the risk." The results of the Texas rookies are easy to mark. Incaviglia, while on course to surpass the league rookie record for strikeouts, has hit more than 20 home runs and deliv- ered some desperately needed power. The youngsters, though, have not been enough to overtake those oldsters in California, even if the Angels downplay the widening gap in the AL West. "It's still business as usual at this time of year," Downing said, "and you can't get too high or too low. There's still too much that could happen." Mike Ditka (left) and Buddy Ryan are trying to avoid a personal confrontation.

AP photot Ryan, Ditka downplay feud CHICAGO (AP) -Feud? What feud? Buddy Ryan and Mike Ditka say Sunday's upcoming battle between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field is just another football game. The game has been hyped as a gridiron grudge match since Ryan left the Bears shortly after their Super Bowl triumph to take over as head coach at Philadelphia. At the time, Ditka said he was glad to be rid of Ryan, and criticized him for taking more credit than he was due as the Bears' defensive coordinator. Ryan countered, "I'd sure like to have a Buddy Ryan on my staff." On Wednesday, however, he dismissed the notion of hard feelings. "I never thought there was a feud.

You guys always had that feud thing going," Ryan said during a telephone news conference with reporters in Chicago. Asked about the pressure of going against the Bears, Ryan laughed and said, "It's killing me. Ha! Ha! Ha! It's like eating candy." Ditka never mentioned Ryan by name at his news conference earlier in the week, although the subject came up. "Rivalry? What rivalry?" he said. "We'd like to go 2-0.

I'm sure the game means more to them because they're 0-1." The Eagles lost their opener at Washington 41-14, spoiling Ryan's debut as a head coach. Ditka told reporters, "You shouldn't let your personal feelings get mixed up in the National Football League," and bristled at questions about his relationship with Ryan. "I don't have a degree in psychiatry, so if you want to talk football, let's talk," he said. Ditka who inherited Ryan when he was hired as head coach in 1982 by the late George Halas, added: "The guy who was here when I got here, I liked. But that guy isn't here anymore." As for the game, Ryan is hoping for better things this week.

"A lot of things didn't work last week," he said. Ryan is noted for going after young, inexperienced quarterbacks with his defenses and he's expected to use the tactic against Mike Tomczak, who is making his first regular-season start for the Bears. Tomczak is filling in for Jim McMahon, who has a shoulder injury that could keep him out for weeks. "The other guy's a helluva quarterback but I always liked the kid," Ryan said of Tomczak. "Nobody has more experience of our defensive scheme than he has.

He went at it three times a week last year." As a rookie, Tomczak practiced every week against the "46" defense employed by the Bears under Ryan last season. "We should get some breaks," said Ryan, referring to McMahon's injury. "We play one of the toughest schedules in the league. We're going against the world champions and we were only a 7-9 team last Asked what it would take to beat the Bears, who will be favored by as much as 17 points even with an inexperienced quarterback, Ryan said: "We have to score points, stop (Walter) Peyton and play smart defensively which we didn't do last week." He plans to start rookie Keith Byars at running back against the Bears. Byars, the Eagles' No.

1 draft pick, is recovering from a broken foot suffered in his final year at Ohio State. He did not play in any preseason games but saw limited duty against the Redskins. "He made a great play on a screen that would have been a big gainer if one of our dumb tackles hadn't been caught holding," Ryan said. He made clear he expects the fans in Soldier Field to give him the business Sunday in the Eagles' second straight road game. "They got me in Washinton," Ryan said.

"But when you take the cheers, you also have to take the boos. "Our fans (in Philadelphia) will be all right and the press has been fair. There have been no uprisings yet, but you never know." By The Associated Press Darn those Boston Red Sox. Just when it was time for a final- month free-for-all in the American League East, the Red Sox wrecked it. With an 11-game winning streak through Wednesday, Boston holds its largest lead of the season, games over second-place Toronto.

Now, it appears the Red Sox may have to hold off only history. Baltimore was not able to catch them. Nor was Detroit. The New York Yankees surged, them stumbled, and are 11 games back. "It seems that every time somebody makes a run, we've been able to respond," Red Sox second baseman Marty Barrett said.

Ever since the Red Sox moved into first place on May 14, the rest of the AL East has been waiting for them to fold. Everyone knows they were supposed to in the last 12 years, five Boston teams have led at the All-Star break and none of them has won. And who could forget the double-digit collapse in 1978? But this is a different brand of Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox, traditionally considered a bunch of bruisers, rank near the bottom of the league in home runs. They could wind up with their worst standing in that department in 25 years.

Cleanup batter Jim Rice is choking up and hitting to the opposite field. The Jim Rice? "Last season, I couldn't see the holes in right. This year, I can see holes there big enough to drive two trucks through," said Rice, batting .332 with 18 homers and a team- leading 98 RBI. The biggest difference is pitching, particularly the Cy Young-caliber year of Roger Clemens, breezing with a 22-4 record. But does everyone realize just how good Boston's pitching has been? The Red Sox are within a few hundredths of a run of leading the AL in earned run average.

Boston has not done that since 1916, when the star of the staff was a pudgy left- hander named Babe Ruth. It is pitching, along with a favorable schedule, that the Red Sox believe will carry them to their first division championship since 1975. Boston plays its final 10 games at home, three each against Toronto and Baltimore and the final four against New York. On the road, the Red Sox play three games this weekend in New York and three more the following weekend in Toronto. Boston has won four of seven games against the Blue Jays this season and 13 of 20 in the last two years.

"We're the better team," Red Sox outfielder Dwight Evans said. "Toronto's hitting may be a little better, but our pitching is better than theirs. "It's going to come down to their hitters against our pitching. That's the way I like it because now, in September, is when the pitching takes over in a pennant race." Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, despite his off-the-field episodes, is 14-9. Bruce Hurst has won 10 games and Tom Seaver is still pitching well.

Only once this year did Boston weaken, when it went 3-11 at the end of July. That's when the other teams made their moves. The Orioles pulled within games in the first week of August. When Baltimore fell off the pace, the Yankees got within games. Two weeks later, the Tigers broke a season-long malaise and climbed within All three tunes, the Red Sox met the challenge and lengthened their lead.

"Seems we keep finding something new every game," said designated hitter Don Baylor, the club's guiding force. "This is like a never-die team. It's a different character coming through each day." Cornhuskers relieved NCAA ordeal is over Parsons LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Now the only obstacles for Nebraska's football team are 10 opponents on the football field. The Corn- huskers were relieved to learn that the NCAA Subcommittee on Eligibility Appeals restored the eligibility of 60 players who had been suspended for as many as two games.

"It eliminates any outside forces from keeping the team from attaining the goals we'd set," senior linebacker Kevin Parsons said. "We don't have to worry about being kept from winning a game because of suspensions." Most of the suspensions were punishment for the misuse of players' complimentary game passes last season. The school appealed the penalty Tuesday, and the subcommittee decided later in the day to lift the suspensions. "It's an example of a situation where the governing body didn't take into consideration the governed," said Parsons, who would have been suspended for one game. Head coach Tom Osborne said his team had "a pretty good, normal practice" on Wednesday.

Osborne said he met with the players before practice to discuss what had transpired with the NCAA and the penalises that were assessed. The players were relieved, he said. "A few of them flinched a little bit but no one broke down in tears. I think they felt like I did, that we came out about as good as we could," he said. "We had a pretty good, normal practice." Stan Parker didn't violate the complimentary pass rule, but the senior tri-captain said the appeal ruling affects him as much as any of the 60 players whose eligibility was restored.

"When one person gets hurt, everyone gets hurt," Parker said. "We need everybody out there for us to accomplish what we want. Saturday's game and most of last week were very physically and mentally demanding." After the suspensions were announced last week, the sixth-ranked Cornhuskers beat Florida State 34-17 in their opener. Center Mark Cooper said he thought the NCAA subcommittee took several factors into consideration. "I think they realized it was a much bigger a national scale than just at Nebraska," Cooper said.

"And since there was no scalping involved, that had an affect. The spirit of the rule was to get rid of scalping and having players get big bucks for their tickets." Paterno rips ticket rule STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) Penn State football coach Joe Paterno labeled "ridiculous" Wednesday the NCAA rule on how players can dispose of their complimentary tickets to games. Violation of the rule, which limits players to giving free tickets to only family members or fellow students, led to the suspensions of 10 Tennessee players and 60 at Nebraska. "I don't have a better rule, but I think if a kid can't give a ticket to his fiancee it's tough," Paterno said.

"It's pretty tough to deny your fiancee a ticket. I mean how much integrity do you have? Just put yourself in the kid's Paterno said the rule stems from attempts by NCAA schools to "legi- Paterao slate rules to make everything equal." "The ticket rule has been voted in by people who are fearful that the people who sell out (their games) have an unfair advantage and the ability of a kid to take a ticket and maybe sell it for a couple of bucks." Paterno said the former head of the NCAA Eligibility Committee was the athletic director at Lafayette "and without being smart-alecky about it, I'm sure Lafayette would love to have some of those problems. I mean, they're not going to sell out every week. "If they called me up and asked, 'Axe you within 100 percent compliance of the I'd say, 'I think but I could not definitely say yes." The suspended Tennessee players missed last Saturday's victory over New Mexico, but, because of a successful appeal, no Nebraska player will be forced to sit out any games..