Press of Atlantic City from Atlantic City, New Jersey • 41

SECTION THE PRESS ATLANTIC CITY WEDNESDAY APRIL 24 1996 TORTS LeClair helps lyers tie senes to make several big STARS THE GAME two lyer winger John LeClair See Phils Page D4 See Bulls Page D4 LYERS LIGHTNING John LeClair scores two goals to give Philadelphia a 2 2 series deadlock with Game 5 Thursday night at the Spectrum BASEBALLD2 3 NBAD5 HIGH SCHOOLSD6 BUSINESSD7 10 Associated Press photo Ken Ryan retires nine straight batters Associated Press CHICAGO no longer any talk of the Chicago Bulls being Scottie team no more mention of Pippen giving Michael Jordan a run for league MVP hon ors These days the man who fueled most of that talk Jordan speaks of problems and of the need for his talented running mate to his if the Bulls are to win the NBA championship problem with Scottie right To report scores: 272 721 0 after 5 pm Sports editor Michael Shepherd: 272 7180 Jordan said mental as well as physi Bothered by back knee and ankle in juries scoring fell off 33 percent the last two months to 146 points per game In that 26 game span he shot 40 per cent from the floor and 26 percent from 3 point range significant declines from ear lier this season Even a five game rest in March help the All Star forward re gain his touch coming back I haven had as much practice time as Pip pen said starting to stay late try ing to get my shot to come back around I have confidence that it will Physically I feel Associated Press photo Michael Jordan (left) says Scottie problems are mental as well as physical By ED HILT Staff Writer PHILADELPHIA Ken Ryan has been a zero for the Philadelphia Phillies and manager Jim regosi hopes his right handed reliever continues to represent nothing In the Phillies victory over day Ryan finished off the Pirates by retiring the side in order in the seventh eighth and ninth in nings to extend his scoreless streak to 10 innings and keep his ERA at 000 while getting his first National League save Included in his Atito nrnro nine dumgiiir vuvo vwiv 01 by right handers who are a collective tor zi against Ryan got a great effort from our bullpen today regosi said after his team finished the homestand 2 3 before heading out on an 11 game road trip Springer and Ken Ryan threw the ball out standing It was important for their confidence ana that ot the bullpen Ryan saved 13 games a couple of years ago so we know he can do it He has a good fastball and curveball and he keeps the hitters off balance a good pitcher who just happened to struggle last year but he throws the ball extremely Ryan acquired from the Red Sox on Jan 29 with Lee Tinsley and Glenn Murray for Heath cliff Slocumb Rick Holifield and Lar ry Wimberly dis covered how fickle this game can be while in Boston Ua cavwi 13 PnmAS with the Red Sox in 1994 and was breezing along at the start of 1995 saving seven games in a month As someone who grew up adoring the Red Sox he had the dream job And then the bottom fell out In June he lost three games in a six game span He was sent to double A before working his way up to triple A When the Red Sox had a chance to unload him they did so promptly With the way he has thrown this season Ryan feels more like he did in 1994 and the early part of 1995 throwing the ball well now and a lot of that has to do with Ryan said feel like put it all back together I had gotten away from some of the things that made me successful before but gotten back to them and feeling pretty Ryan was just one of the ingred ients of Tuesday victory that worked as well as hoped Springer who had lost a couple of games in re lief followed an erratic five inning performance by starter Mike Williams and pitched a scoreless sixth inning for his first National League victory Ryan earns save keeps ERA at 000 Ken Ryan pitches three scoreless innings to extend his runless streak to 1 0 innings a new game a fresh Lindros said LeClair returned to the lyers lineup after miss i Alrln pnrnin ingbunaavsovemme toss wiuLciieiiaAinic op uh He made an immediate impact scoring two goals play With p3Hl PaQO D4 See lyers Page D4 Jordan: Pippen needs to find his rhythm for drive to title Scottie Pippen hampered by back knee and ankle injuries has seen his scoring drop 33 percent in the last two months John LeClair The Lightning killer scored two goals in his return from a left ankle injury Dale Hawerchuk Scored a huge goal late in the second period to provide the ly ers with breathing room Joel Otto orechecked aggressively killed penalties aid scored a first period goal ail while playing on a sprained left knee By BILL LeCONEY Staff Writer ST PETERSBURG la In the most il logical of ice hockey settings John LeClair and the lyers restored some logic to their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday They weathered a brief Lightning storm in the second period relocated their defensive focus and buried their scoring chances in a desperate 4 1 win tying the series at two games apiece in front of an all time NHL record crowd of 28183 at the ThunderDome we really got back to our said goaltender Ron Hextail who re bounded from a shaky Gamp 3 nprfnrmance saves especially during a series of second period Lightning power plays want to play wide open like we did last game make a Inf of felt confident in captain Eric Lindros said know got a great goaltender terrific play ers on the ice We just have to put things togeth er When that occurs be all Most im portantly the lyers re stored home ice advan tage after two frustrating come from ahead overtime losses to the Lightning The best of seven series returns to the CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia Thurs day night for Game 5 before returning to lorida Saturday night for Game 6 1 Associated Press photo Lightning goalie Jeff Reese stops a shot by lyer Rod Amour in the first period Mi iw HEW St Joseph scores 6 in 8th to top Buena Regional Winning pitcher Jaime Bendig helps her cause with a two run sin gle in the eighth By MICHAEL McGARRY Staff Writer BUENA The St Joseph High School softball team overcame a ragged start with extra inning hits and aggressive baserunning Tuesday after noon ST JOE 1 10 The Wildcats (8 2) scored six runs in the top of eighth in ning to beat Buena Pocinnal 10 5 in a key Cape Atlantic League National Conference matchup at the BUENA I 5 St Joe started poorly The Wildcats committed two errors and trailed 2 0 after two innings St Joe and Buena (6 2) along with Middle Township are the top con tenders for the National Conference title Middle beat St Joseph last week think the loss to Middle woke this team redNiceta said start ed out lousy a young team I on ly have one senior They had to learn how to win Now they know That one Wildcat senior is pitcher Jaime Bendig who gave her usual strong effort Tuesday She stroked two hits including a lead off single in the eighth inning to start St game winning rally got the horse out Niceta said of Bendig know not going to put too many people on base You know going to give you her best effort Her best effort is usually good enough Today we helped her out We hit the Neither school was particularly sharp in the field Buena committed three errors in the eighth inning and six for the game a slap hitting Niceta said knew Buena was a young team I knew they were going to make mis takes and they The St Joe baserunners did not make things easy for Buena They were in constant motion throughout the game and never hesitated to try for tho AYtm wanted to get on base be aggres See St Joe Page D4 KoHBn! ki i4T(HTrn5v' 1 I rvW I 'll' Ytox Owl id Staff photo by Dominick Rebeck Jr St Joseph High School pitcher Jaime Bendig Is the workhorse according to coach red Niceta Bust Brothers: Gooden Strawberry struggling The Yankee teammates who led the Mets to a World Series title 10 years ago are having problems on and off the field Associated Press NEW YORK The bad times continue for bust brothers Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry struggling again this week on and off the field Gooden coming back with the New York Yankees after a suspension because of drug and alcohol abuse trudged off to the bullpen with a woeful 1148 ERA following three awful starts Strawberry unable to find a job despite a resume that in cludes 297 home runs agreed to pay nearly $300000 in overdue child and spousal support by June 24 to avoid criminal prose cution A decade ago Gooden and Strawberry were the lynchpins for a New York Mets World Se STRAWBERRY GOODEN Mr ries title one a dominating pitch er the other a constant long ball threat That seems like ancient history though for the two stars whose careers turned south at just about the same time comeback has been problematical from the start Signed for $850000 by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner who promptly predicted between 15 and 20 victories for him the pitcher struggled throughout spring training His 0 3 record and 888 exhi bition game ERA hardly seemed to qualify him for a spot in the ro See Bust Page D4 1 HIGH SCHOOL TRACK igiViMu iin ri uim'iiWinf i OCEAN CITY GIRLS WIN 60TH STRAIGHT DUAL MEET 06 6 PHILLIES 4 2 PIRATES LIGHTNING 10 5 BUENA.