Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 56

tho baseball page Standings Hears sets speed record; Rick Mears broke an Indy car speed record with his eight-second victory in the Detroit News Grand Prix before 40,000 spectators at Michigan International Speedway Sunday. See story on Page 8F. Monday, Sept 19, 1903 COLLEGE FOOTBALL 10-11 12-13 I -6660 ana stats, Kage 4h. Sports Phone, 1-976-1313 Call with sport newt: 222-6660 HORSE RACING 10-11 COMICS 12-13 lj I DETROIT FREE PRESS hA nam 4 V' i 1 Mi Sparky must sell his soul for Tigers to beat those O's BOSTON Larry Herndon and Chet Lemon were in the outfield when the score went on the board. A his.

urn; tit- A 1 Free Press Pholo bv ALAN KAMUOA Atlanta's Billy (White Shoes) Johnson eludes Rosie Barnes (54) and Bruce McNorton on key 22-yard pass play. ugly nine went behind the BALT. "I looked at Larry and Larry looked at me," Lemon said. "We didn't say a word. We just got that 'oh, damn' look in our eyes." Doug Bair was in the bullpen when the score went on the board.

"Yeah, I saw it," he said, practically spitting out the words. "I didn't give a damn. Not one damn. We gotta win our own game, not theirs." Wayne Krenchicki was in the clubhouse with Kirk Gibsdn and some others. They were watching TV.

The last they'd heard, Baltimore was getting beat by Milwaukee, 7-0, then 7-1, then 7-3. "Gibby started joking about it," Krenchicki said. "He started saying, 'Now it's 7-4. Now it's I told him, 'It better not be 7-5. If Baltimore's only down 7-5, they'll win Oh, them O's.

Whatever drugs they're on, order us some. As soon as their number went up on the scoreboard, Detroit's number was up in the American League East. Virtually no hope remained. Seven games were left to be played between the birds and cats, but there wasn't a Tiger on the premises Sunday who believed the Orioles truly could be caught. Tigers still believe in magic No one intended to give up.

No one stopped believing in seven-game sweeps and other godsends. No one felt as though a choke had cost Detroit the pennant not when you take seven of your last nine games without gaining an inch. i It possibly wasn't possible to put it any better than Lemon did. He thought about the Orioles as he sat on a stool in Fenway Park and he thought about what they had done. How they had dominated "the best division in baseball." How they had overcome the collapse of a pitching staff that did without Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan and Dennis Martinez for far too long.

How they had left people trying to remember who managed the club before Joe Altobelli. "As far as I'm concerned," Lemon said, "Baltimore is the best baseball team in, well, baseball." The Tiger center fielder reconsidered his sentiment and decided he hadn't emphasized the key word. "By that I mean," he said, "Baltimore is the best leant in baseball. They play the best as a team better than anybody. We're close.

We're getting there. But Baltimore works as a unit, with everybody helping. That's insida tho IIFL Fracture puts Sims on sideline Falcons rout Lions, 30-14 Milestones Kansas City placekicker Nick Lowery booted a 58-yard field goal, longest in Chiefs' history and third longest in NFL history, in KC's 27-1 2 loss to Washington. Lowery kicked three other field goals, accounting for all the Chiefs' New England running back Tony Collins broke one club record and tied another. Collins' 212 rushing yards Martin with injuries to Sunday's sorry performance.

broke Jim Nance record of 208; his three touchdowns tied the club mark held by Sam Cunningham. By CURT SYLVESTER Free Press Sports Writer Billy Sims was the last player out of the "It's embarrassing," Sims said. We got whupped. Streaks "I don't know how you begin explaining a performance like that," Clark said. "It's embarrassing to The St.

Louis Cardinals dropped their third straight, a 42-27 loss to San Francisco. have such a performance. "Teams in this league can smell a patsy, Danielson said. If they think they can beat you, they'll beat you. We have to show them now that they can t.

"I felt Atlanta had a feeling com ing in here they could beat us. trainer's room Sunday and when he came out, he had his right hand in a cast. That was probably the worst of the avalanche of bad news coming out of the Lions' 30-14 loss to Atlanta at the Silver-dome. Sims, who has two seasons in three years with the Lions and was celebrating his 28th birthday, said he could be out of the lineup for three to six weeks, depending on how long it takes him to regain his grip. The break occurred in the second quarter when fullback James Jones scored the Lions' first touchdown.

SIMS WAS used as a decoy on the play, diving over the goal line as he did so many times before the Lions drafted Jones last spring. But this time he jammed the hand into the artificial turf when he landed. See INJURIES, Page 7F ithe way a ball team ought to be. If that was the case, the Falcons Big plays Houston's Carl Roaches returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter of the Oilers' game with the Steelers. The Oilers lost, 40-28.

Chicago running back Walter Payton ran for 161 yards on 28 carries and threw two option passes of 56 and 21 yards to rookie Willie Gault. Payton also scored on a 49-yard run. The Bears lost 34-31 in overtime. Bad days The New York Jets, after winning their first game, have lost to two of the NFL's weaker teams, Seattle and New England. The Patriots won, 23-13.

NFL REPORT, PAGE 6F couldn't have been any more cor rect. They outplayed the Lions in every aspect of the game and, worst of all, they shredded the Lions de "We're still gonna give it our best shot against them. We're gonna be out there this week battlin' and fightin' arid scratchin' and pinchin' if necessary. The Tigers aren't out of it yet. We've still got a glimmer.

But like you saw today, even when you think you've got Baltimore beat, you better make sure they're beat." To say Detroit's chance of winning the division is fensive secondary. "The coverage was non-existent at times," Clark said. "A zone is a zone you've got to get back and not let people beat you deep. By CURT SYLVESTER Free Press Sports Writer The Lions may be in their 50th year, but Sunday they looked more like an expansion team than a golden anniversary team. If Atlanta quarterback Steve Bartkowski wasn't throwing the ball over their heads, William Andrews was running it down their throats.

The result was an easy 30-14 victory for the Falcons before 54,622 at the Silverdome. And the victory lifted the underdog Falcons to 2-1 for the season; the Lions dropped to 1-2 with games at Minnesota and Los Angeles (against the Rams) next. TRUE, THE Lions were beset by a number of injuries. Four starters spent the day on the bench. "I haven't complained, I haven't whined about that and I'm still not," coach Monte Clark said.

"That's no excuse for playing that poorly." To make matters worse, halfback Billy Sims broke his right hand and may be lost for three to six weeks. "It depends on how fast I can get some grip back in this hand," Sims said. Quarterback Gary Danielson, who finished the game after Eric Hippie was reinjured his ankle in the third quarter, hurt his left wrist and will be examined Monday. Hippie's 1 status hasn't been determined. The No.

3 quarterback is Mike Machurek, who has never played in a regular season game. THE INJURIES were typical of the Lions' past eight days from the 31-26 loss to Cleveland to the loss of starters Garry Cobb, Ulysses Norris, Homer Elias and Robbie remote is to be as optimistic as a freshman cheerleader. Detroit's chances have never been more remote. Baltimore BUT BARTKOWSKI beat them deep. Passing out of the one-back offense, which produced only mod est results in the first two games, Bartkowski completed 24 of 34 passes for 366 yards and three rH, 7 -S I touchdowns a 54-yarder to Alfred Jackson, an 11-yarder to Ben Mm 1 IH has turned Detroit into the Remoter City.

Yet there is something important at stake assuming Sparky Anderson doesn't enter into a pact with the devil or something so he can win this thing after all. What's important is finishing second. At least it seems that way Young and a 36-yarder to Jackson. Jackson, Billy (White Shoes) Johnson, Alfred Jenkins and An Chet Lemon drews beat everyone. Cornerback Bobby Watkins, nickel back Bruce McNorton and linebacker Rosey Bonder is a champ Lisa Bonder, 17, of Saline holds the championship trophy of the Queens Grand Prix tournament, played in Tokyo, after she defeated Andrea Jaeger, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2, in the final.

Story on Page 2F. UPI Photo to some people. After too many years of ending up Barnes were the most notable victims, although no one escaped fourth or fifth, it might be nice to look back on the 83 if tm jTwl.jil "We knew they would go deep," Watkins said, and they did just what we thought they would do. baseball season and at least have evidence that the race was a good one. What a lousy deal it would be if the Tigers went into funkytown right now and fell all the way to fourth or fifth.

Second place is no big deal Like I say, techniques when you don't play your techniques, you get eaten up. See LIONS, Page 3F To some, it doesn't matter. Ernie Harwell, the Hall of NO GAIN ON BIRDS Fame broadcaster, for instance, is of a mind that if you don't finish first, it's no big deal where you finish. All or nothing. There are a couple of players who feel that way as well, although the extra money for finishing Big Ten takes shot of prestige with 5 victories second is enough to keep their kids in Donkey Kong quarters for a year.

Tigers edge Bosox Logically, Anderson figures it doesn't matter. Beg your pardon it don't matter. But when he gives it some thought, he sees how some long-suffering Tiger Birds rally from 7 down fans would be pleased to have their horses take the money and place. "Yeah, I think they'd like that," he said the other day, convincing himself as he spoke. "I think it matters.

Sure, it matters." By JACK SAYL0R Free Press Sports Writer Big Ten teams must feel a little more confident as they head into conference action this week, thanks to Michigan State and Ohio State. In recent years, the Yet, what does matter in baseball? Come on now what really matters? Anderson knows. He said it Sunday. "As long as you do the best you can do, you can't do no more. You don't have to do nothin'.

We don't Big Ten Big Ten has taken many knocks for being a weak conference that have to beat Baltimore. We have to try to beat Balti more. That's what I want my players to understand. There ain't no life or death. It's only baseball." By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON The Tigers hacked out a 9-6 victory in the last game of their series with the Red Sox Sunday, saving face but not gaining in the race.

The Tigers thought they were gaining a game on the first-place Orioles, who fell behind Milwaukee by seven runs in the second inning at Baltimore. The Orioles, though, rallied to win, 10-9, and maintain their seven-game advantage in the AL East. "We're not giving up," said Milt Wilcox, who pitched seven innings for the win. "We're still going to go after 'em. "But it makes it tough now eight games down in the loss column.

It's going to take a miracle for us to catch 'em." Baltimore's triumph probably didn't matter, because for all practical purposes the chase ended when the Tigers lost the first two games here. "Those games really hurt," Wilcox said. "We came in here and we were kind of on a roll and hoping to sweep, and the losses really hurt." And you can battle and fight and scratch and pinch, Wilcox had a magic touch in the early innings as the Bosox missed some scoring chances. He could have been gone in the first inning. INSTEAD, HE pitched well from the fourth inning on, and the Tigers helped him with a five-run surge against Boston starter Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd in the That plus Kirk Gibson's solo homer in the eighth allowed the Tigers to survive Boston's five-run ninth against Aurelio Lopez.

Dave Gumpert relieved for the final out and the save. Lopez relieved Wilcox in the eighth and gave up six hits and a walk in 1 innings. "My pitches were too high," Lopez said, shaking his head. "All up too high." Tony Armas belted a three-run homer during Boston's late rally. The Orioles will be at Tiger Stadium for a four-game series beginning Tuesday, and a Tiger sweep is a must if they are to get back into contention.

See TIGERS, Page 4F IT but if that doesn't stop Baltimore, you might as well wipe that oh, damn, look off your face and make the best of it. loses most of its non-league games. But this week, it was: Michigan State over Notre Dame (independent), 28-23. Ohio State over Oklahoma (Big Eight), 24-14. Illinois over Stanford (Pac-10), 17-7.

Wisconsin over Missouri (Big Eight), THE STANDINGS: Baltimore, trailing 7-0 after two innings, came back to defeat Milwaukee, 10-9. The victory kept the Orioles seven games in front of the Tigers. MAGIC NUMBER: Any combination of 'eight Baltimore victories or Tiger losses will give the Orioles the AL East title. AMAZING COMEBACK: The Orioles rallied from a seven-run deficit for the second time this season. They trailed, 7-3, going Into the eighth, but scored six times, the last runs coming on Eddie Murray's two-out grand slam off Pete Ladd.

The Brewers tied the game in the ninth on Ted Simmons' sacrifice fly and Mark Brouhard's pinch-homer off Tippy Martinez. In the bottom of the ninth, Glenn Gulliver singled with one out and Ladd walked Lenn Sakata. Rookie John Stefero then slapped a single to right for the game-winner. English's elusive success Iowa over Penn State (independent), 42- 34. Jon English, a high school All-America at Brother Rice, has attended five colleges in the last five years, and his entry into Tulane, where his father, Wally, coaches has been one of ups and downs.

Saturday he was up as he led Tulane to a )4-28 victory over Florida State. See story on Page 9F. After Michigan lost, Bo Schembechler See BIG TEN, Page SF 15.