The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 19

Tuesday Sept 7 1993 The Macon Telegraph 5C Baseball owners begin working meeting in Boston today The Associated Press NEW YORK A year after ay Vin forced resignation baseball owners gather today in Boston for their 12th set of meetings in 13 months No major decisions appear likely Milwaukee Brewers president Bud Selig chairman of the ruling executive council said Monday he forsee votes on re alignment or the sale of the Baltimore Ori oles In addition owners appear close to finding a successor to Vincent although Selig said he believes a successor will be chosen by the end of the year is going to be more of a working Selig said in Milwaukee see any Selig took over last Sept 9 two days af ter Vincent resigned following an 18 9 1 vote of no confidence from the owners The most pressing issue at these meet ings is realignment and a possible switch to tiiree divisions next season Owners voted in June to double the number of teams in the playoff's to eight next season but the Major League Baseball Players Association said last month it go along with the change unless the leagues voted to di vide into three divisions instead of two John Harrington of the Boston Red Sox chairman of the schedule format commit tee had hoped for a switch to three divi sions for 1995 He has met with union law yers and is trying to come up with a solu tion Some officials now say a change in the playoffs may not occur until 1995 be cause of schedule complications and a de sire by some management officials to tie these talks to the overall collective bargain ing negotiations next year The proposed $173 million sale of the Ori oles from Eli Jacobs to a group headed by Peter Angelos and William DeWitt Jr is still with the ownership committee and ready for a vote Selig said The Ori oles would join Seattle Houston Detroit Houston and San rancisco as teams that have changed ownership since the start of the 1992 season The ruling council is to meet tonight while committees and the leagues meet Wednesday A joint major league meeting is set for Thursday The Associated Press Chris Spielman (54) helps Chris Miller up after hurrying pass and knocking him down Sunday Lb' 4 wJIti IV Illi I I 11 I alcons admit they were confused hy defense Miller sacked six times by charging defense The Associated Press SUWANEE Mike Kenn knew the Atlanta alcons be seeing the same defensive tendencies De troit showed in the preseason He was absolutely right was real confusing out Kenn said Monday before watching the film of the 30 13 rout of the alcons in regular season opener at Pontiac Mich had a bad feeling that this might happen knowing this Kenn said alluding to Detroit defensive coordinator Hank Bullough had no clue what he was going to Kenn said "We had to basically adjust on the defensive maneuvers produced six sacks of Chris Miller and 16 other our of the sacks came in the first half when the Lions built a 24 3 lead schemed the heck out of Miller said played some crazy stuff and made it work got behind the eight ball the flood gates popped open and they just kept coming got to play better myself but in the first half it was tough to get anything going from on my back The whole a Kenn said the alcons got no help from watching film of preseason games this coordinator does in the preseason is he just plays a vanilla Kenn said show any tiling So basically we were going into that game with an unknown factor threw a lot of fronts at us that we hadn't seen prepared for By the time we got it figured out we were in a world of Kenn said defense doing some unor thodox things like blitzing two guys through one gap which is not safe but it was working for Kenn said one time the Lions came in with six line backers and they were moving around without even getting in a lineup the noise and us not being able to make the blocking calls it turned into quite the Kenn said Coach Jerry Glanville attributed the rout to lot of youthful mental errors in the old He said the alcons protect the quarterback like we normally do We have good athletes but young and got to learn The alcons had two young players starting in the offensive line second year pro Bob Whitfield and rook ie Lincoln Kennedy Chris Hinton beginning his 11th season was a hold out throughout training camp and got in very little work before the opener said riday my biggest concern is got athlet ic ability but we have much knowledge and it jumped right out at us in the Glanville said Pledger suffers through bad luck in his season opener By John Byrwa SportsBeat News Service ATHENS Georgia junior cor nerback Charles Pledger says he is not the least bit superstitious nor does he suffer regularly from bad luck do the same thing every game or wear the same Pledger said Monday I might start doing something If Pledger had been standing at a black jack table in Las Vegas Satur day rather than playing football at Sanford Stadium he would have lost every dime in his pocket The Athens native suffered through some incredibly bad luck during season opening loss to South Carolina Late in the first quarter one play after Georgia quarterback Eric Zeier fumbled the ball away on a sack Pledger was beaten for a 41 yard touchdown by Toby Cates A victim of miscommunication Pledg er was in zone coverage while the rest of the Bulldog secondary was in man to man Then while playing on the punt return team late in the second quarter Pledger was struck on the back of the foot by a poor South Carolina punt The ball was recov ered by the Gamecocks with 1:25 re maining in the half Seven plays and 1:23 later Reed 33 yard field goal gave South Carolina a 10 7 halftime lead If that bad enough less than minute into the third quarter Pledger made what appeared to be a touchdown saving play on Game cock running back Brandon Ben nett only to have more bad luck once a loose around right end and was headed for an apparent 25 yard touchdown run when Pledger chased him down around the 5 yard line and caused a fumble with a crushing side blow The ball popped loose hit the tumbling Pledger on the back of the foot and ricocheted into the end zone where it was recovered by Cates for anoth er score to give South Carolina a 17 7 lead the fumble I had no idea what Pledger said didn't even realize the ball had popped loose I hit the ground and I heard the crowd I was laying rac king the end zone so I just looked up to see I had no idea that I had knocked it loose or anything I feel it Talk about bad luck" To his credit Pledger has no trouble putting his sub par perfor mance in perspective has a purpose" he said feel like with everything bad that happened to me I see anything else could go wrong I can do is go out and work hard to prepare for Tennessee I let one game or a couple of in cidents get me down for a whole NOTES: Junior college transfer Matt first game as a Bull dog Saturday was an impressive one So impressive that defensive line coach Steve Greer said Mon day the 66 305 pound Storm who played 38 snaps at defensive tackle behind starter Danny Ledbetter will start this Saturday against Ten nessee played pretty Greer said of Storm who was fourth on the team with nine total tackles five solo and had one sack for minus six yards wrong with Roger? Clemens not as dominating as he was in the past The Associated Press BOSTON become a familiar routine after his starts this season trying to figure out wrong with Roger Clemens Some batters say not throwing as many fork balls Others say seeing fewer fastballs Scouts claim lost confidence in his curveball Opposing managers say lost his control ans wonder if hurt There have been almost as many theories as there have been losses this season for the Boston right hander whose record fell to 10 12 with a loss Sunday to the Kansas City Royals a team he has manhandled throughout his career Whatever the reason and Clemens does not sub scribe to any of those theories the three time Cy Young Award winner is two games under 500 for the first time since June 1987 and has a 495 ERA at home this season Royals manager Hal McRae thinks biggest problem is wildness Clemens has hit eight batters this season and has walked 57 in 173 1 3 innings nearly one every three in nings He averaged only one walk per four innings during the previous three years not throwing McRae said working ahead in the count able to spot the fastball and do some things When not ahead you do Gary Gaetti whose grand slam off Clemens led to the 5 2 victory Sunday said Clemens is throw ing fewer fastballs than in previous years Gaetti who had been hitting 183 lifetime against Clemens hit a slider for the grand slam Control also had a lot to do with that blast Clemens had forced in a run with his third walk of the inning just before Gaetti came up and both Gaetti and Clem ens said the home run pitch was right down the mid dle Clemens had never given up a grand slam in 2203 previous innings in the major leagues he gives the long one up with nobody on but sure a lot of firsts for him in his career this Boston manager Butch Hobson said Clemens who entered the game with a 14 4 career record and a 148 ERA against Kansas City has only one win in his last nine starts Aug 27 at Kansas City He is 04 with a 798 ERA in his last five enway Park starts Clemens whose career ERA was 280 entering this season led the American League in ERA the past three seasons He has an ERA of 415 this year But even in his worst season Clemens still is feared and admired by opposing batters my opinion still in the top five as far as the best pitchers in Gaetti said done be looked upon as one of the greatest that ever played and have the numbers to back it JfL I WW 11 ROUS Si 1 1 WfewMM Hlil wfy Pie Associated Press Mark Martin is all smiles after fourth straight win Sunday Winston Cup standings Pos Driver Car Points Wins Top IO 1 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet 3379 6 15 2 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 3075 5 14 3 Mark Martin ord 3072 4 15 4 Dale Jarrett Chevrolet 2987 1 14 5 Morgan Shepherd ord 2938 1 13 6 Kyle Petty Pontiac 2732 1 10 7 Ken Schrader Chevrolet 2724 0 11 8 Ernie Irvan brd 2692 1 9 9 Geoff Bodine ord 2670 1 8 10 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 2628 0 9 11 Bill Elliott ford 2605 0 9 12 Jimmy Spencer ord 2539 0 7 13 Sterling Marlin ord 2526 0 8 14 Hany Gant Chevrolet 2517 0 9 15 Brett Bodine ord 2480 0 7 16 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet 2476 1 8 17 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 2351 0 5 18 Michael Waltrip Pontiac 2339 0 2 19 Bobby Labonte ord 2298 0 4 20 Wally Dallenbach Jr brd 2251 0 4 1993 SCHEDULE Sept 11 Miller Genuine Draft 400 Richmond Va Sept 19 Peak 500 Dover Del Sept 26 Goody's 500 Martinsville Va Oct 3 Holly arms 400 North Wilkesboro NC: Oct 10 Mello Yellcw 500 Charlotte NC Oct 24 AC Delco 500 Rockingham NC Oct 31 Pyroil 500 Phoenix Ariz Nov 14 Hooters 500 Hampton Ga 1993 WINNERS Dale Jarett (Daytona 500) Rusty Wallace (Goodwrench 500) Davey Allison (Pontiac Excitement 400) Morgan Shepherd (Motorcraft 500) Dale Earnhardt (TranSouth 500) Rusty Wallace (ood City 500) Rusty Wallace (irst Union 400): Rusty Wallace (Hanes 500): Ernie Irvan (Winston 500) Geoff Bodne (Save Mart 300) Date Earnhardt The Winston) Date Earnhardt (Coca Cola 600) Date Earnhardt (Budweiser 500): Kyte Petty (Champion Spark Plug 500) Ricky Rudd (Miller Genuine Draft 400): Date Earnhardt (Pepsi 400): Rusty Wallace (Slick 50 300) Date Earnhardt (Miller Genuine Draft 500) Date Earnhardt (Diehard 500): Mark Martin (The Bud at the Glen): Mark Martin (Champion Spark Plug 400) Mark Martin (Bud 500) Mark Martin (Southern 500) Irvan drove a Chevrolet through the first 21 races of the season Results not counted Kpoints standfrigs Digest Baseball George Brett who turned 40 this season said Monday that he will decide by the last homestand of the season which begins Sept 24 if he will return for another year Brett said he had discussed next season with Royals general manager Herk Rob inson and had been told he was welcome to return if he wants Brett who is in his 20th season all with the Royals will be offered an executive position with the team when he retires Clint Hurdle who has managed the New York top farm club for the past two seasons is leaving the organization because he feels his future is blocked by Dallas Green Hurdle 36 has managed in the system for six years His teams had a 412 418 record in cluding 70 71 this season at Nor folk of the International League College football Georgia Tech freshman back up quarterback Derrick Steagall spent Monday playing tailback as the Yel low Jackets prepared for their sea son opener against urman Stea gall will also return kickoffs for the Yellow Jackets and play on the punt block unit Sophomore Donnie Davis is scheduled to start at quarterback for the Yellow Jackets Saturday Golf Helen Dobson a 22 year old tour rookie from England defeated Dot tie Mochrie on the fifth playoff hole Monday to win the LPGA State arm Rail Golf Classic in Springfield III Both players finished 54 holes of regulation at 13 under par 203 Mochrie closed with a 4 under 68 on a course soaked by an overnight rain and Dobson with a 71 Pro football Barry oster's agent has denied a CBS TV report that the Pro Bowl running back play Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams if he doesn't get a contract extension by riday wants a contract done by agent Jordan Woy told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette we never said he won't play" The Stee lers also denied that oster or Woy had given the team an ultimatum oster has been trying to negotiate an extension since the end of last season He missed the first 20 days of training camp before reporting with the promise that earnest negoti ations would begin on an extension SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS Daily in (HjeliTdcon (T clcgrapl) 2187 7.