University Daily Kansan / Thursday, October 8, 1987
Sports
11
Giants and Twins blast away to big playoff victories Giants pounce on Cardinals 5-0 Gaetti powers Minnesota to victory
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — John Tudor said he had only himself to blame after giving up two home runs that helped the San Francisco Giants defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 yesterday in Game 2 of the National League playoffs.
"Will (Clark) hit a fastball down the middle, and (Jefrey) Leonard hit a changeup down the middle," Tudor said. "You don't have to make many mistakes when they hit the ball out of the ballpark."
Tudor also saluted Leonard, who now is 5-for-8 in the playoffs, for singles that the San Francisco slugger hit leading off the sixth and eighth innings.
"When I got the ball up, he hit it out of the park. When I got it down, you saw what happened." Tudor said. "He just took me the other way and got his hits. I don't particularly like him, but he's a good player."
st. Louis manager Whitey Herzog said the Cardinals, who were unsuccessful in their only steal attempt yesterday, had no chance to utilize their speed.
Each team has a victory and the best-of-seven series moves to San Francisco for Game 3 on Friday night.
Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith had an afternoon to forget, going 0-for-2 and committing an error in the eighth inning that gave the Giants two unearned runs.
"You can't have a running game when you get two hits," Herzog said, referring to the Cardinals offensive output against San Francisco's Dave Dravecky. "Dravecky had his best stuff today. He had a good slider. He just pitched well."
"Today just wasn't our day, that's all," Smith said. "Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you."
A foul ball off Leonard's bat that first basebill Jim Lindeman failed to catch in a tussle with a spectator started San Francisco's eighth.
started and I knocked it.
"I don't know who it was. It looked like he was trying to catch the ball just like I was, Lindman said.
JESSICA Cardinals second baseman Tommy Herr, who singled in the fourth for one of the two hits off Dravecky, agreed with Herzog about the St. Louis running game.
Those Cardinal runners were erased by a double play and an attempted steal by Pena that went awry.
"We didn't have our base stealers (on base)." Herr said of lead-off walks that St. Louis wasasted in the third and eighth innings. "(Jose) Quendo not a base stealer, and Tony Pena's not a base stealer."
awry.
"At those points in the game, we were behind and couldn't run that much anyway," Herr said.
The Associated Press
The victory was the first ever in a playoff series for the Twins, who were swept by Baltimore in their only two appearances in 1969 and '70.
MINNEAPOLIS — Don Baylor singled, breaking an eighth-inning tie, and Gary Gaetti homered in his first two playoff at-bats as the Minnesota Twins drew on both youth and experienced players Tuesday night in the opening game of the American League playoffs.
Game 2 will be at the Metrodome Thursday night with Detroit's Jack Morris, 18-11, facing Bert Blyleven, 15-12.
One run already had been scored in the eighth when the 37-year-old Baylor came to bat against reliever Willie Hernandez with the bases loaded and one out. Baylor, one of only five Twins with postseason experience, lined a single to left for the run, that put the Twins ahead to stay and made a winner of reliever Jeff Reardon, who had replaced starter Frank Viola in the top of the inning.
The Twins scored four runs in the eighth inning, erasing a 5-4 Detroit lead and chasing 'Tigers' starter Doyle Alexander, whose postseason miseries continued.
The hit extended Baylor's record of consecutive playoff games with a hit to 11.
Gaetti hit solo homers in the second and in Minnesota's three-run fifth, becoming the first player ever to hit homers in his first two playoff atbats.
Alexander came into the game with a 9-0 regular-season record with Detroit.
Dan Gladden started the Minnesota eighth with a single. One out later, Kirby Puckett doubled to left scoring Gladden with the tying run.
chasing Alexander. Mike Henneman relieved Alexander and walked Kent Hrbek intentionally. Henneman failed to get Getti and that brought on Hernandez.
Baylor, hitting for Randy Bush, singled for the tie-breaking run and Tom Brunusnyk followed with a double to left to score two more runs; he then hit the plate by stopshot Alan Trammell as he also tried to score on the hit.
Gaetti, who homered in his first major-league at-bat in 1981, hit his home run in his first playoff at-bat with one out in the second innning. Gaeti, who had 31 homers during the regular season, hit a 2-2 pitch from Alexander just to the right-field side of dead center.
Gaetti hit his second homer off Alexander on the first pitch of the fifth inning, becoming the sixth player to hit two homers in an AL playoff game.
Sooners face new charges
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — At least a dozen coaches and athletic department personnel at the University of Oklahoma are driving new cars provided by dealerships in exchange for football tickets, according to a broadcast report yesterday.
Cabl Network Reported that coaches and athletic officials at the university trade the tickets, valued at about $10 for use of a new car for
UNN, an Atlanta-based news service, also reported that the cars used by coaches were licensed as dealer vehicles, which reportedly is a practice only available to licensed sales representatives.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission is investigating the use of the dealer license plates. CNN reported.
Head coach Barry Switzer denied any wrongdoing by the football program concerning the newspaper's allegations.
Meanwhile, two former Oklahoma players named in an earlier story in the Dallas Morning News concerning the alleged sale of tickets and preferential treatment in obtaining car loans said they were misquoted.
Switzer told CNN he sees no problem with the arrangement.
"I'm very important for a lot of people to get tickets, and the car...people realize that we need an extra car because our coaches who travel and recruit on the road make $5,400 a year in seats." Swisser said. "And they can't afford their wife if their wife has to drive the one they own."
Coaches buy four season tickets for home games and four tickets for the Oklahoma-Texas game in Dallas, CNN reported.
Jackie Cooper, who owns several car dealerships in Oklahoma City, provides Switzer with a Lincoln Continental, the network said.
"The coaches send us a lot of business, and we appreciate that," Cooper told CNN. "And we enjoy the football and the basketball, whatever the situation is. And I think it's kind of an ego trip for a lot of the dealers too."
Geoff Plague, Leawood freshman, concentrates on his receiver as he throws a pass. Plague and some friends were playing touch football in front of Joseph R. Pearson Hall yesterday.
He drops back. . .
Kansas may get nod for Japanese game
By a Kansan reporter
Kansas will find out Friday if it will be invited to play in the Japan Bowl against Auburn next season, Athletic Director Bob Frederick said yesterday.
If invited, the Jayhawks would play Auburn in Japan in the first week of December 1988. The game would not count against the NCAA rule of scheduling a maximum of 11 regular season games, so Kansas would be allowed an extra game.
At the moment several schools are still being looked at as possibilities to play in the Japan Bowl. Frederick said Big Eight Conference games were also being looked at by the Japan Bowl committee. If selected Kansas would have all of its expenses paid for by the Japan Bowl.
"It's very tentative at this time," Frederick said. "Financially, it
would be such a good situation for us that it would be difficult for us to pass it up."
Kansas coach Bob Valesente said a trip to Japan to play in a game would have several positive aspects.
"It would be a great recruiting tool for us," he said. "The exposure we would get would be great for our program. It would be like a (post-season) bowl game."
Because the game would be played overseas, Kansas would be able to schedule an extra game, Valesente said the short notice of finding another school to add a game to their schedule wouldn't be a problem.
"We wouldn't have any trouble finding someone to play," he said. "If Southern Methodist brings back their football program, like they're talking about doing, they would be a good possibility."
Cornhusker back-up to start at quarterback
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — For the second time in two seasons, Clete Blakeman will assume leadership of the Nebraska Cornhusker offense against Kansas.
NU standout Steve Taylor, who has started all but the Kansas games the last two seasons, is not expected to play Saturday due to shoulder and head injuries. In Nebraska's several lists of Heisman Trophy candidates with school records for running and passing.
But Taylor was hit hard and often by the blitzing South Carolina defense and went to the sidelines in the third quarter of last Saturday's game.
Blakeman took over on the first play of the fourth quarter and led the Huskers to a 17-point fourth-quarter rally and a 30-21 victory.
Now Blakeman's going to start against Kansas, a team he helped beat 70-1 in his only start last year. After the Kansas game, Blakeman said that he couldn't predict how much he'd play quarterback.
"I've been told twice that he (Taylor) might be out for the season."
Blakemn said, "Once in the UCLA game, I asked one of the trainers how he was and I was told he'd be out five six weeks. After this last game, somebody said the same thing. It's not true."
Taylor participated in practice yesterday. Although Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said Taylor could play against the Jayhawks, most likely he will not see action.
But Blakeman said that he wanted to make the most of his opportunity while it lasted.
"I've put in a lot of time and effort to be where I am here," said the senior from Norfolk. "Of course, like anyone else here, I want to be the starter. But I'd rather be playing behind a great player, a potential Heisman winner, than one who is mediocre.
Blakeman hasn't gotten that many chances. While Taylor has run for four touchdowns, passed for seven other scores and amassed 792 total offensive yards. Blakeman has eight rushes for 1 yard and has completed three passes for 45 yards and one touchdown.
NFL strike gives Kansas State punter chance at the big leagues
The Associated Press
SALINA — Scott Fulghane has finally made it to the big leagues.
make it to the final playoff. Fulhage, one of the last players cut by the Cincinnati Bengals before the regular season started Sept. 13, is now a non-union member of the Bengals.
The former Beloit High School and Kansas State standout was called back to the Bengals as the team's punter after the National Football
it's not exactly the way Fulhage wanted to make an NFL club, but he'll take it, for now.
League players went on strike more than two weeks ago.
Fulhage, 25, and rookie Greg Horne of Arkansas battled throughout the exhibition season to see who would be the team's punter. The Bengals decided to go with Horne for two reasons — he was the team's fifth-round draft choice and he ha'
"I thought I was better," Fulghane said last week in a telephone interview from the Clarion Hotel in Cincinnati. "The head coach (Sam Wyche) told me it was the closest decision he had to make on the last cut and that they were probably a little prejudiced because he was a fifth-round draft choice and had signed for some money."
been given a $30,000 signing bonus.
However, when Horne and all but a
handful of his teammates joined the rest of the NFL players on strike. Fulhage returned to Cincinnati as a member of the Bengals "replacement team."
"Cincinnati wanted me to sign an option to come back to them when I was released September 7." Fullage said. "I went ahead and signed the option because there was a little bit of money involved ($1,000) and I thought it was a way to make a quick
buck, not thinking at the time there would be a strike."
So, it was back to Beloit for Fulhage to work on his father's farm. The Green Bay Packers called Sept. 9 and told Fulhage they'd bring him in after the first regular season game if their punter didn't do well, but Don Bracken had 10 punts for a 48-yard average.
"They must have told (Bracken) something, because he had a very
good game," Fulhage said.
that's the way it's gone for Fulhage since graduating from Kansas State in December 1984. He last two weeks with the Buffalo Bills in 1983 and two weeks with the Washington Redskins last year. But, each time, he was cut when told he didn't have game experience.
"The biggest thing is making a name for yourself," Fulgha said. "I think I've done that now."
Pre-race preparation pays off for cross country runner
By MIKE CONSIDINE
Staff writer
Craig Watchek will be on familiar turf this weekend, just as he was last weekend. Last weekend, familiarity bred a third-placed finish in the highly competitive Cowboy Jamboree at Stillwater, Okla. Watchek hopes for the same results in Saturday's Sooner Invitational at Norman, Okla.
at Norman, she said,
"It helps a lot," Watcke said. "By the time
the meet starts, Coach (Bob) Timmons will
make sure we know every inch."
The pre-race preparation paid off in a 30:26.57 clocking at the 10,000-meter Cowboy Jamboree course. Watche placed third, trailing only Arkansas all-American Joe Falcon
"It was something I've been waiting for since I've been here," Watke said of his top performance at Kansas. "I had a lot to prove to myself and Coach Timmons in cross country."
and Ruben Reina.
country.
"He's made tremendous progress this year," Timmons said. "He needs to continue to make progress to achieve his goals."
The competition provided some inspiration. Watche said.
"All week I was kind of keying on that meet. I was psyched because I knew the competition would be good enough to run a fast time. "I knew Arkansas would go out fast - that's kind of their trademark."
Watchee outran Texas-Arlington senior Ben Melly, who won this year's Jayhawk Invitational, early in the race. He kept passing runners until he moved up to third and had the leaders in his sights, but he finished 15 seconds behind Reina and Falcon.
"I was kind of surprised to have run that fast. We had a tough two weeks of training prior to that," Watkee said. "But I felt like I still could have run faster."
suitround of the Kansas squad came through with good times, but for the first time this season Watchee finished well ahead of teammate Steve Heffernan.
"I really never realized Steve wasn't there," Watchee said of the sophomore. "I
a line race.
Watchek said the competition between him and Heffernan had helped his times this season.
usually go out quicker and he goes out slower and we meet in the middle of the race. Our two races just didn't coincide, but he still ran a fine race."
Watkee said the same spirit of cooperation has led to the team's success as it has developed from a darkhorse to a legitimate contender for the Big Eight Conference championship.
"We're all so close on the team. We work together a lot," Watche said. "It's Coach Timmons' last year and we want to send him out a winner."
Watkee's personal goals are to win the Big Eight team championship and do well in conference. The junior from South Bend, Ind., also aspires to reach the NCAA championships as an individual and as part of the team.
"He's given us lots of different kinds of leadership," Timmons said of his team captain. "I don't have anything but very good feelings about his responsibility as a captain and determination as a runner. He's done everything we've asked of him."