The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 17

Inside: The conflict in the Middle East hits home for the Semeka Randall and Simone Edwards who play in Israel C6 SPORTS THE NEWS TRIBUNE wwwtribnetcomsports MONDAY MAY 6 2002 Holmgren to get closer to QB calls them if I can give them some input about what Tm thinking when calling a Holmgren said Sunday as the Seahawka wrapped up a threeday mini camp NFL rules re MORE INVOLVEMENT: Hawks coach will send in plays from sideline By Milie Sssdo The News Tribune KIRKLAND A year scarcely passes without Mike Holmgren pondering the day when he turns over play-calling duties to his offensive coordinator The Seattle Seahawka coach and general manager inevitably decides against Buch a move conceding that he cant resist the temptation The lure is apparently bo strong that Holmgren will exercise even greater authority this season: Ear the first time since 1994 he plans to not only call the plays but send them into the huddle as well Hut means Holmgren and not quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn will communicate directly with quarterbacks Trent Differ andor Matt Has-selbeck during games Matt and Trent being relatively new to me maybe it will help quire plays to be Bent into the huddle directly from the sideline Holmgren has previously relied upon his quarterbacks coach to handle those duties sometimes at the expense of developing a productive rapport with his passers Zom will trade the Bideline for the press box under the new arrangement Jerry Colquitt an offensive quality-control coach will move to the sideline to serve as a liaison be tween Holmgren and the Zorn will join offensive coordinator Gil HaakeU among several others in the press box Please set Istowrin Ci act works to beat Spurs Jeff ZrevwokyThe Assocmttd Press Yankees slugger Jason Giambi couldn't keep up with the Mariners' pitching Sunday striking out three times in an 04br4 day at the plate ROUGH START: LAs Bryant miss time but San Antonio take advantage By Joka Nadel The Associated Press LOS ANGELES ShaquUle day got off to a bad start and it got worse before getting better The important thing for the Los Angeles Lakers is things did improve significantly for their big man sustained two usuries that required stitches Sunday before leading the Lakers to an 86-80 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series First came a mishap at home when he suffered a cut above his left wrist that required four stitches to close "I fell on some glass playing with the said Then sliced his right index finger early in the third quai ter and missed nearly 10 minutes of action while getting three stitches blocked a shot and hit it on the rim or I hit it on the back- Mmk TejwuThe Assocmibi Press Lakers guard Kobe Bryant who hurt his knee in the fourth scored 20 points SUMMIT PLAYOFF GAMES Los Angeles 86 San Antonio 80 (Lakers lead series 1-0) Detroit 96 Boston 84 (Pistons lead series 1-0) New Jersey 99 Charlotte 93 (Nets lead series 1-0) TODAY Dallas at Sacramento 6 pm TNT (Kings lead series 1-0) Stories C6 Jeff ZelehwskvTHe Assocwu) Press Ruben Sierra continued to justify Seattle's of him Sunday picking up 3 hits and 4 RBI SUCCESSFUL TRIP: Another big day from Sierra hands Mariners a 10-6 victory By Larry LaRse The News Tribune NEW YORK Thirty teams had the chance to pick up Ruben Sierra last winter and only one the Seattle Mariners'-tried very hard to get it done He was supposed to platoon in left field come off the bendi and serve as insurance fir designated hitter Edgar Martinez a small piece to a much larger puzzle Thirty-one games into the season Sierra is the American Leagued leading hitter and after Seattle's 10-6 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday a mqjor factor in the 22-9 start don't even want to think where wtfd be without Ruben" manager Lou Piniella said Nor does he have to When The Edgar went down with a tom hamstring tendon on April 11 the team had a 7-3 record In 21 games since then with Sierra playing somewhere every day Seattle has gone 15-6 are always evaluating teams by saying we stay "general manager Iht Gillick said The truth is no one ever does Hut's why you look for flexibility on your roster guys like Desi Relaford Mark McLemore Ruben Sierra guys who can fill more than one role" On a spring Sunday in New York two veteran Utters and off-season additions Sierra and third baseman Jeff Ciriflo split six hits between them accounted for six KBI and helped Joel Pifieiro win his first game as a starting pitcher this year Knocked out after two innings in his first start Pifleiro survived a rocky first inning before settling into a rhythm reminiscent he said acored 13 of his 23 points and grabbed four of his 17 rebounds after returning with 10:60 remaining as the Lakers outscored the Spurs 25-16 after trailing 64-61 The victory was the 20th in £1 playoff games for the two-time defending NBA champion Lakers beginning with the sixth game of the 2000 NBA Finals and extended their winning streak at Staples Center to 18 games Hie Spurs playing without David Piour see Lakan CC Yankee killers Seattle's 106 victory over New York on Sunday was the Mariners' 11th regular-season victory in their past 12 games at Vhnkee Stadium A look at Seattle's regular-season record against New York since 1995: of the way he pitched a year ago After Alfonso Soriano singled to lead off the game Bemie Williams belted a ball up the alley in left center field that Mike Cameron snatched out of the air with a marvelous leaping catch Hie next batter Derek Jeter hit a bouncing bullet up the middle -a shot that Pifteiro knocked down with the sole of his left shoe then turned into an out limn there Pifleiro looked every bit the confident young right-hander Seattle and its fans foil in love with a year ago and the Yankees seem to break through against him needed a good effort from him today and he gave us one" Piniella said David Wells meanwhile couldn't seem to stop the Mariners Seattle nicked Wells for a run in the first Please set Mariam C5 And five years later Sabercats close up shop Rainiers thrive in frigid Cheney EXTINCT TEAM: Players coaches share memories of time spent in Tacoma By Dm Ruiz The News Tribune Scott children want to be Tacoma Sabercats when they grow up and Drevitch know how to explain to them that the Sabercats no longer exist The professional hockey team's five-year run in Tacoma ended Saturday when the Idaho Steelheads eliminated them from the WCHL playoffs Most players including Drevitch will tiy to continue their careers with other teams Coach Robert Dirk has a year remaining on his contract and will await instructions from his bosses Fang the mascot will go Hollywood Before moving forward several longtime Sabercats paused to recall their time in Tacoma "When I first talked to (former coach John Ohrer) five years ago I even know where Tacoma Drevitch said went to the library looked it up on the map said OK go check this place All we knew was it rained out there And we ended up going out there we enjoyed it a lot not the rain ob- Please tee Sskmsts C7 assignment at Cheney Stadium where the climes were more fit for an Iditarod run than a Pacific Coast League baseball game? dont think any way you can prepare for this said Rohn been freezing been rainy and cold I know how you could ever get used to this" Pinurtft McGrath C7 Dan Rohn grew up in northern Michigan where summer sometimes seems less like a three-tnonth-long season than a few muggy days sandwiched between a myth and a memory His big-league playing career was spent in Chicago and Cleveland Put it this way: The second-year manager of the Tacoma Rainiers Rainiers pitchers strike out 15 in fifth victory in raw Story C3 knows cold-weather diamonds the way Jimmy Buffett knows warm-weather saloon decks OK Skip so how was a professional ballplayer supposed to prepare for a Sunday-afternoon JOHN McGRATH News Tribune columnist Ml- i JC-yhW Pi BUM SlllWM 1 lV' 31 irilfofcrito 1 hwuT'ewi ir -c-Sfre Rfm-s1! 1 WjG 4tfirv 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