Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 57

9 ngpiiqpMqpMyflMmyM TMlftTT 9 "I' 'I jjt 1 ijii-ntrmxipffir STRAHLER TAMES BOSOX IN 1ST START DETROIT FREE PRESS Wednesday, June 27, '73 1-D rrn wow! 4 11 End kid, igers Yanks Punish Indians 2D wall, and crossed the plate on a wild pitch. In addition to those seven hits, Strahler struck out five Boston batters and walked four before Hiller got Reggie Smith to pop to Cash, ending the game. Strahler, who went from the Dodgers to the Angels last December as part of the Frank Robinson deal, entered the Tiger organization this spring in exchange for recalcitrant catcher Charlie Sands, who refused to stay in Toledo. When Lerrin LaGrow busted his wrist in that outfield collision June 14, the Tigers purchased Strahler from Toledo. Tuesday's triumph, welcome as it was, didn't do a thing for the Tigers fifth-place standing, seven games back of the New York Yanks.

But at least it took that losing streak off their backs. TAGGING THE TIGERS Willie Horton moved into the American League batting lead Tuesday without even waving his bat Horton, hitting .344 going into Tuesday's game against the Bosox, took over first place when New York's Ron Blomberg fell short of the minimum number of at-bats needed to qualify according to the official AL statisticians The number needed from day-to-day based on a complex formula involving games played Aurelio Rodriguez is tied for second in the league in doubles BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON They all knew it was inevitable. Sooner or later the Tigers had to snap out of their week-long, head-first slide. But who would have ever guessed the stopper would be Mike Strahler? Originally ticketed for Toledo Tuesday, the 26-year-old righthander may have made a permanent place for himself on the staff as he polished off the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, to finally bring a halt to the Tigers agonizing eight-game losing streak. Thus the Tigers ended one of worst road trips in their history the way it began with a victory.

Hard-pressed for pitching, Billy Martin had planned to bring Chuck Seelbach off the disabled list to try and stop the skid Tuesday night. Strahler was to return to Toledo to make room for Seelbach. But the recent acquisition of Bob Miller left the Tigers with a full complement of 40 men. And to option Stahler would have meant the 26-year-old pitcher could not be recalled the rest of the season and would be subject to the minor league draft next winter. SO SEELBACH remained on the disabled list and Strahler got the start instead his STRAHLER, WHO CAME to the Tigers this spring from the California Angeis, after spending all of last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, limited the Bosox to seven hitters before retiring to the bench to watch John Hiller get the final out.

Strahler didn't exactly have an easy evening. He was forced to pitch from the stretch in every inning but aside from Dwight Evans, who scored the Sox only run in the eighth, Boston never got anybody beyond second base. For the fourth game in a row the Tigers jumped out in front this time when Rodriguez singled and Gates caromed a triple off the rightfield fence in the third inning. Horton opened the top of the fourth homer clear over the screen in left and out into the street and the the Tigers added two more off Tiant in the fifth. Brinkman began the inning with his first base hit in 18 at bats.

After Rodriguez struck out, Brown came through with his third straight hit. Kaline's line single off the left-field wall took care of Brinkman, and Cash brought Brown home with a sacrifice fly the Tigers' first in eight games. THE RED SOX shattered Strahler's shutout in the eighth when Evans singled, took third on Rico Petrocelli's shot off the infamous ifc1: Sj is- ssi "i-i-iij. 'Sii ftlliif Alilif Mil AP Photo first as a Tiger after two relief He had started just two games before in his big league career, covering segments of three separate seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His lifetime record was 2-3.

All that was ancient history Tuesday evening though as he outpitched Boston veteran Luis Tiant to bring an end to the Tigers longest losing streak in the last decade. Designated hitter Gates Brown, batting in the lead-off position, of all places, drove in one run and scored another himself with a flawless three-four-three performance that equalled his output since the slump began. Willie Horton, the American League's lead-ling hitter according to the latest computations, hammered his 11th homer of the year Aurelio Rodriguez collected a couple hits Eddie Brinkman snapped out of a personal 0-for-17 slump and the Tigers even got a sacrifice fly as they bumped Boston for their sighth time in nine tries. Boston's iMario Guerrero is felled by pilch HIP TK No. re my Tigers True with 15 and Eddie Brinkman is tied for fourth in triples with four Horton is also second to Chicago's Dick Allen in slugging percentage, but as a team the Tigers are ninth in the league in hitting.

Milwaukee moves into Tiger Stadium Wednesday night for a doubleheader as the Tigers return home from a rough road trip Relief ace John Hiller leaves the bullpen to make his first start of the year Can't It Believe ON i 1 rl fUOO iff I'M SHOULD PULL 7H the first halt of the bhnne Night doubleheader while Joe Coleman works the nightcap Jim Slaton and rookie Ed-uardo Rodriguez will work for the Brewers Baltimore will be at Tiger Stadium this weekend. DETROIT ab bi GBrown dh 3 1 3 1 Aline rf 4 0 1 Cash .3 0 0 1 BOSTON ab bi RMilter 4 0 10 RSmith 3 0 10 Ftsk 3 0 0 0 that nonsense" look, and resumed his explanation of how and why the Tigers are going to take it all this year. Frankly, that's the attitude most of the team is taking. They climb on the team bus after yet another tough loss, shake their heads soberly, knowingly; but somehow it just isn't the same as being beaten, 13-1, all the time. The Tigers did not play terrible ball during their losing streak that stretched to eight games before Tuesday's victory over the Red Sox.

And they all know it. Seven of those setbacks occurred by one run more often than not under last-minute, bottom-of-the-ninth circumstances. And the fact that they were so close in seven of those eight losses made it easier for the Tigers to overlook the fact that it was the team's longest losing streak since that fifth-place team in 1963 lost 10 straight. Billy Martin really hasn't blown his The ballplayers haven't begun bickering the way a contending club usually does when things suddenly turn sour. Life goes on as it did two weeks ago when, in case you may have ten, the Tigers were in first place.

TWO WEEKS. Eight straight setbacks. Farewell first place hello, fifth. A couple clutch ninth-inning hits by Cleveland's" jion-com- Please turn to Page 7D, Column 1 BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON Hello again, everyone, from fifth place in the American League East. Sounds strange, doesn't it? Fifth place, I mean.

So awkward and unfamiliar, particularly when you try to apply it to the Tigers. Fifth place belongs to clubs like Cleveland and Milwaukee. Not the Tigers. They've never finished fifth well, not since 1963 anyway. Joe Coleman was a junior in high school then.

Fryman was just a big, strong farm boy throwing semi-pro strikes in Kentucky John Hiller was pitching for Jamestown and Jim Northrup was hitting .309 at Knoxville. Maybe that's why the Tigers' present plight is taking such a long time to sink in. The Tigers don't talk like a fifth-place team. They don't think like a fifth-place team They don't act like a fifth-place team They don't even look like a fifth-place team on the field. I was-sitting in the hotel lobby with Ed Farmer Monday night and he was talking about how great it was to come from a nowhere club like Cleveland to.the Tigers "A first place team," as he called them.

"Fifth place," I reminded him. He gave me a rather disgusted "you really don't believe wHorton If .41 21 Ystrmski If 3 0 0 0 Sims 4 0 0 0 DEvans If 1110 MStanley cf 4 0 0 0 Cepeda dh 4 0 10 MAuhife 2b 4 0 10 Petrocelli 3b 4 0 2 0 EBrnkmn ss 4 1 1 0 Cater lb. 4 0 0 0 ARodrqei 3b 4 1 2 0 Aparicio ss 4 0 0 0 Strhler 0 0 0 0 Guerrero 2b 10 10 Hiller 0 0 0 0 Kennedy 2b 1 0 0 0 Tiant 0 0 0 0 34 4 10 4 1 fl Boston Total 33 1 7 0 001 120 000- 4 000 000 010- 1 E-McAulille. DP Detroit 1, Boston 2. LOB-Delroit 5, Boston 10.

JB R.Smith, McAulilfe, A. Rodriguez. 3BG. Brown. HR-W.

Horton (li). SF Cash. IP ER BB SO Strahler 8 2-3 7 1 1 4 Hiller liant 8) .10 4.4.1 Save Hiller (12). HBP-by Strahler (Guerrero). WP Strahler.

3:02. A 20,152 NFL eiays eciswn on One Man's Answers To Tiger Problem 1 est ope NEW YORK tf National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle said 'luesday the league has put off plans to require its players to take urine tests as a means of deterring drug abuse but he emphasized the unprecedented move has not been ruled out entirely. Urinalysis, strongly opposed by the NI Flayers Association (NFLPA), "is still under consideration," Rozelle said. And if an NF medical consultant, to be named this summer, deems it necessary, it could still be implemented for the 1973 season. 1 that the ileaizue hiav face leeal orob- -Lr- v.

I oSvH. Hi a t- 1 fro teferv- MX': I if, 1) I Billie Jean Breezes in 35 Mijiules QUESTION Where have you been? Answer Playing golf. Playing golf? I thought you wrote in last Sunday's column that you gave it up as a bad deal five years ago. A That's right. How come you're playing again? A It's that Howard Erickson.

He's a pretty tricky kid. I covered the last couple of days of the Michigan Amateur with him up in Charlevoix and when we were done, he suggested I take a look just a look at the course on (he lor) Of Boyne Mountain. Q-And? A And I've never seen anything so breathtaking jn my whole life. I couldn't resist it. 1 had to try it again and I don't know when I've had as much fun.

We played in the cool quiet of Saturday evening, when everything was so still in the woods. I've been to Augusta, Merion, fQakmont, Champions, Firestone, Baltusrol and Oakland Hilly- but I've never seen a prettier hole than No. 2 at Boyne. They've got to put that one into the golf magazines. You mean you're hooked again? I A Let's say sliced.

I shot a 23-over-par 59.. 1 also hate Howard Erickson, who hits them long and straight and crisp. I don't know what he's doing writing for us when he could be out on the tour. Are you glad to be back? A Nope. Well, they're not going to pay you to play golf.

What about the Action Line question do you think the Tigers can bounce back into the pennant A I picked them to win, didn't That's right, you did. You said by as many as five games. What do you think now, smart guy? A I think, 1 want to go back to Boyne Mountain. Nobody could blame me for anything then, except pulling my seven iron. On Tightrope for 2 Years Can the Tigers come back? A I don't know.

It depends on how much they want it. This is a fractious team. It can play hard or it can give up. It has done both in recent years. You know, the Tigers have been walking on a tightrope for almost two years now, balancing precariously up there.

Everything has been almost a life-and-death struggle to them. Billy Martin has done a tremendous job of keeping them from falling. But if they've slipped now, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Just what do you mean? A I mean this could have happened last season, too. This is not a team with an overabundance of talent.

Remember they won it by the slimmest of margins on the next to last day of the season. They've been lucky in one respect. Nobody else has been strong enough to pull away from them until now. Specifically, what is wrong with the Tigers? A It's not any one thing. The pitching has come apart, both in the bullpen and among the starters.

Maybe it: was too much to expect Woodie Fryman to do it again. And when you lose a Chuck Seelbach, you lose one tough competitor. In other words, you can't lose two pitchers who contributed as much as these two did last year and not feel it. The injuries to Lerrin LeGrow and John Hiller hurt because there was nobody to take their Please turn to Page 2D, Columj) I 5.49 snd 5.99 icnis it it attempts to require players to submit to urine tests and that players, both individually and through the 'NFLPA, might rebel against such a plan, But he declined to state what steps the league might take in the event such a situation arose. The 26 team representatives in the NFLPA unanimously endorsed a resolution last Sunday, at the end of their three-day meeting in Chicago, rejecting "proposals lacking due process which would invade the privacy of gifted athletes and further violate individual rights and freedoms enjoyed by other citizens." ROZELLE introduced seven procedures supplementing the league's two-year-old drug abuse program.

Us main thrust, he said, is "designed to give us information to determine what problems we might have Society as a whole has problems with drugs, so we can't be exempt. We just don't know the size of it." The current furor over drug abuse arose a few weeks ago when The New York Times published a story saying at least four NFL stars are under surveillance by narcotics agents for suspected heavy dealing in hard drugs. Rozelle rejected the report. "WE CHECKED the story with top law enforcement officials down through local agencies and we are quite confident there is cijrreiiUy.no such investigation," he said. The supplements to the "league's anti-drug program call, in part, for: Each team to periodically submit to the league its inven- I Some people will do anything to remember Hudson's sale jof fa-mous maker short sleeve WIMBLEDON, England (AP)- Billie Jean King started the defense of her Wimbledon tennis championship Tuesday at a gentle stroll.

The 29-year-old star from Long Beach, eased her way past Lucia Bassi of Italy 6-0, 6-2 on the center court. The match took only 35 minutes and it was such a onesided affair that the crowd of 15,000 hardly raised a cheer. In fact, Ladies' Day at Wimbledon went according to expectations all along the line. Five of the women seeds, including American hope Chris Evert and Rosemary Casals, were in action and they all won without much difficulty. Miss Evert, 18, from Fort Lauderdale, outgunned Fiorella Bonicelli of Uruguay 6-3 6-3 Miss Casals of a Franciscol raced past Brenda Kirk of South Africa, 6-0, 6-1.

THE ONLY girl who even threatened an upset was 16-year-old Australian lefthander Dianne Fromskholtz who startled the center court by taking the first set off Virginia Wade, the British No. 1. Miss Wade, who has a lamentable record at Wimbledon, recovered to win, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. But Dianne, one of a crop of young players who have already made their mark on this fumous tournament, paced a powerful service and showed she has a lot of tennis in front of her. Australia's Margaret Court, Please turn to Page.

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