The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 25

SATURDAY, August 25, 1900 The Sun CS Spirit batters Palm Springs, 12-1, gains in pennant race ronl down thp hnmp tonm uhinh hoi By CINDY ROBINSON Sun Sports Writer runs. Merriman also gave up a two-run single to Turang to end a nine-run eruption. "If you've got to get beat, might as well get beat like that," added Oliver. Bodie thought some of the big hits in the inning might have been bigger. "If the wind wasn't blowing, some of those balls might have gone out," he said.

The Spirit got three runs in the third against Palm Springs starter Steve Lou-bier (0-1). Fernando Arguelles and Tow Maynard walked and Bolick showed why he was named the Cal League's MVP by tripling into right-center. Bolick scored on a sacrifice by struck out four before David McDonald took over to start the eighth. "My fastball was OK. I usually have a little bit more pop and I didn't have my curveball." "Great job by Roger," said Spirit manager Keith Bodie.

"And it was a nice job by McDonald. We played a great game." Salkeld said he was fortunate to be pitching in front of some fine defense. Brian Turang, the Spirit second baseman, looked more like a Hoover as he snared and stopped balls which normally should have been hits. "There were a lot of hard-hit ground balls," Salkeld said. "Brian really did well and Tim Stargell made some great stops of some of the balls." The Spirit's offense pounded out 13 hits, six for extra-bases.

"I don't know what it is, everyone hit the ball well," said Turang, who has a .296 batting average. "I guess it's just the end of the year and we're all trying to get our averages up and we're bearing down. I want to get to that .300. And hopefully to Double-A next year. That's my goal." The Spirit had a very long and very productive seventh inning.

Turang tripled, and Frank Bolick, Stargell and JefTKeitges all doubled for three runs. Reliever Brett Merriman replaced Stewart Hillman, and walked four consecutive batters to force in two more just finished a four-game sweep of Bakersfield. The victory kept alive the Spirit's flickering pennant hopes; the club is now tied with Palm Springs for third place, 3i games behind Visalia in the Cal League's Southern Division standings, with six games to play. "We ran into a kid who pitched a real good game," said Angels manager Nate Oliver. "You've got to give him credit." However, Salkeld wasn't impressed by his seven scoreless innings.

"I didn't have much," said Salkeld, who scattered five hits, walked two and PALM SPRINGS A heater is something rather useless in the middle of a Palm Springs summer, unless it's a Roger Salkeld heater. The San Bernardino Spirit pitcher was throwing his fastball right by the Palm Springs Angels to record his 10th victory in the Spirit' 12-1 romp in front of a crowd of 2,048 Friday night at Palm Springs. The Spirit, opening a four-game, three-day series, blew into town along with a stiff southeast wind and helped CALIFORNIA LEAGUE NOTES Emperors: Face off against Heat today BAKERSFIELD Bratt Magnusson, the Dodgers leading hitter, has gone on the disabled list and probably Is lost to the team for the rest ol the season. Earlier this month, Magnusson was twice hit by a pitch In a series against Stockton, once In the jaw. However, It was a pitch that hit him on the hand that eventually forced him to the sidelines.

He kept playing for two weeks, but his hitting fell off with only one hit In his last 23 at-bats. X-rays finally were taken and showed a hairline fracture. Magnusson Is batting .311, fourth In the league, leads In homers with 23 and Is fifth with 85 RBI. MODESTO Left-handed pitcher Dave Zancarano, who was Oakland's third pick In the June free-agent draft, has been promoted from Southern Oregon of the Northwest League to Modesto. The former UCLA Ail-American was 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA there.

He lost his lirst appearance in Modesto, giving up four runs in one inning against Bakersfield. He pitched two hitless innings against Palm Springs in his next outing. PALM SPRINGS Third baseman Jim Aylward had a 18-game hitting streak snapped this past week. Through Wednesday, he was hitting a team-high .343. At that point, six Angels had batting averages of .289 or better.

In 1989, Wiley Lee led the team with a .267 batting average. RENO sion specialist in Laguna Beach earlier Friday. "It was time well-spent. I think everyone says it very few hitters have an idea how to go about seeing the ball. What you need Is to figure out a way to do it all the time.

Have a system. You have to look for the exact point of release. You have to watch the pitcher at all times." Dickinson said he will be busy Imparting his new-found knowledge to Spirit hitters during the next few days Tonight, the Spirit plays a double-header, seven Innings each game, at 6 p.m. at Palm Springs. SAN JOSE Royce Clayton returned to the lineup as designated hitter Aug.

19 and to his shortstop position the following night after two weeks on the disabled list because of a sore shoulder. STOCKTON At 5-foot-7, outfielder Tim Relay wouldn't be looked on as a power hitter. But the former Wichita State University star is second on the Ports with 10 home runs and leads the league with 12 triples, including four in a recent five-game period. Stockton won 14-of-22 games since breaking a seven-game losing streak July 31. VISALIA Scott Ullger was named Manager of the Year for the league.

Troy Buckley has hit safely In 22 of his last 23 games, going 41-for-85 He is hitting .317 overall. Bob McCreary has hit in 10 consecutive games. Marc Llpaon has nine saves since July 30. Manager Mike Brown has had to juggle a lineup that saw 44 players wear Silver Sox uniforms. First baseman Milt Harper finally accrued enough at-bats to be listed among the league's batting leaders.

Since June 23, he has hit .342 with 12 homers and 42 RBI in 55 games. He is sixth in the league with a .306 average. RIVERSIDE After leading the Southern Division in the second week of the second half of the season, the Red Wave Is virtually assured of finishing in the cellar. It would mark the first last-place finish for Riverside In its three years of existence. Left-hander Bob Beckett, 18, is up from Scottsdale of the Arizona League, and was blasted for eight earned runs in 4 innings in his first start against Bakersfield.

SALINAS Joe Buzas, co-owner of the Spurs, may be entering his last week as the team's chief executive. All indications are he will sell his half of the team to Los Angeles-based businessman Don Nomura, and that fans then could expect more Japanese players in the California League. Buzas said the team will most likely will remain in Salinas regardless of the ownership situation. SAN BERNARDINO Ralph Dickinson, the San Bernardino Spirit former manager, is visiting the team through Monday. He said he is still "touring around watching hitters." Dick spent 3'a hours with Bill Harrison, a vi Continued fromC1 shown on KVCR (Channel 24) at 9 p.m.

Monday and on Prime Ticket at 11 p.m. Tuesday. "The playoffs are what it's all about," said Emperors midfielder Mike Fox. "People aren't going to remember us for coming in first place in the division. It's who ends up on top at the end.

That's the goal we have right now." To reach that goal, the Emperors (10-10) are going to have to beat a team that shut them out twice during the regular season. The Heat (11-9) beat the Emperors 1-0 in overtime May 5 in Red-lands and 1-0 on penalty kicks July 1 in Torrance. The Heat finished second (with 87 points) to the Emperors (89 points) in the WSL South when California won its last regular-season game 3-1 at Santa Barbara. The Heat beat Real Santa Barbara on Monday for the right to face the Emperors. Having two victories over California doesn't mean the Heat is taking the Emperors for granted, said Jeff Hooker, L.A.'s co-leading scorer.

"When you win seven in a row, you kind of get an attitude," said Hooker, who scored five regular- season goals. "It's an attitude that you can't be beat. "Games like this sometimes turn on emotions. That's the only scary thing about this. Sometimes you feel like you've got the best team going in, but it's a one-game series, and emotion can mean the difference." The first two meetings carried plenty of emotion on both sides.

They were whistled for a combined 44 fouls, five yellow cards and one ejection. Physically, the Emperors will try to control the game with their Brazilian-style passing game featuring Fox. The Heat relies on the league's third-best defense led by all-WSL performer Danny Pena. Fontana High School graduate Jerry O'Hara the Emperors' leading scorer with 23 points, fourth in the WSL said he thinks California has an emotional advantage. "I'd like to beat them," said O'Hara, who has a five-game scoring streak and had 10 goals in the regular season.

"We all have to think about them because we lost to them twice. They're real cocky, too. They've got some real bad attitudes. We've just got to win." "I think a lot of our guys have something to prove with the L.A. guys," said Emperors captain Richard Ryerson.

Four of California's starters Fox, Kurt Allen, Giovanni Perez and Chris Wilson used to play for the Heat. Ryerson remembers four of the Heat's play-ers from when they were at UCLA and he was at Nevada-Las Vegas. The Bruins knocked them out of the Far West Regional in the NCAA tournament. So there's some history here. The Emperors haven't exactly sat around waiting for the Heat.

They played a scrimmage with a Mexican team last week and another against Cal State Fullerton. Still, many of the Emperors, including head coach Rildo Me-nezes, said they would have rather played than sat out a week. That's because they don't want to lose that feeling that they can't lose. "When things are going good, they kind of snowball," said Ryerson. "We've just had success after success after success.

It's been fun to be on the snowball." Emperors notes The winner of today's game will host the North Division titllst for the WSL championship in a two-game set beginning Sept. 9. Fans seek censure Buck. The Only American Carline To Rank In The Top 10 In NITIALOUALITY. 0 don't care," he said.

"I just want the Mariners to get a hold of him and chastise him and fine him a hundred bucks or something for opening his mouth. "Get the man to get some smarts." Kubesh said he circulated his petition in the and sections, season-ticket territory at Fiscalini Field. The 170 names represent nearly 20 percent of the team's season-ticket base. Each signatory gave his or her home address. Most live in San Bernardino or Highland, but others came from fans such as Paul and Joy Christianson of Yucaipa (in the east) and George Guerra of Alta Loma (in the west).

Kubesh said "only one or two" people he approached declined to sign the petition. "The second night, I wasn't even moving around. People were coming up to me asking if they could sign." Kubesh's petition also called fans' booing of Bodie "unsportsmanlike." Bodie's relationship with Spirit fans apparently has deteriorated as the season has progressed. The season ends Wednesday. Said Scot MacLeod of San Bernardino: "At the start of the season people behind the third-base dugout would wave and chant his name.

But that ended long ago." 1 ssssC-- WJgEC- I visa8 CEPMM" 1. uaois Continued fromC1 stranger to our town when we are supporting his team. "All he has to do is look at the attendance figures." Kubesh said his petition drive has nothing to do with other fans' complaints about an obscene gesture they maintain Bodie directed at them Aug. 8 in the ninth inning of a game vs. San Jose.

Bodie said he made the gesture at a San Jose player, not at Spirit fans. The Spirit manager, in his first year in San Bernardino, made his comment about "terrible fans" to a Sun reporter after that same Aug. 8 game, which featured fans heckling Bodie as the Spirit nearly blew a huge lead in the ninth inning. The comment was printed Aug. 9.

Bodie said he had no corn-men he petition drive. Mariners farm director Jim Beattie, Bodie's boss, did not return two calls to Seattle Friday. Kubesh said he's not used to San Bernardino fans being described as "terrible" not when the four highest attendance totals in the Cal League's 50-year history have been compiled at Fiscali-ni since the team arrived in 1987. "When he talks about the fans, that upsets me," he said. "We've had 180,000 people out to see that team this year, and we support it, and I don't think you cut off that hand that feeds you." Kubesh, 63, said he's not looking for Bodie to be fired.

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