Section B · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 23, 1999
Mets edge Cardinals
McGwire slugs away, makes history again
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — New York Mets fans got all they wanted yesterday. They watched Mark McGwire make history, then saw their first-place team win a dramatic game.
McGwire hit two home runs and became the first player to reach 50 homers in four consecutive seasons, but the Mets came from five runs down and beat the St. Louis Cardinals-8 T Sunday
in the first game of a doubleheader
Big Mac launched a monstrous homer in the first inning against Octavio Dotel. He hit a 1-1 pitch an estimated 502 feet — his longest of the season — and left a dent about 60 feet high on the scoreboard in right-center.
McGwire: Enters the history books again.
"That's the farthest I think I've ever seen a ball hit."
Mets manager Boby Vadentine said.
The shot shattered a light bulb in the 16 for Ray Lankford's number — just a few feet below McGwire's 25. In the bottom of the third inning, a worker climbed up the back of the scoreboard and screwed in a new bulb.
McGwire's 50th homer looked routine compared to his first-inning blast. He led off the seventh with a fly ball that
just cleared the outstretched glove of Shawon Dunston in left-center and landed just over the 396-foot sign.
The Mets came back from a 6-1 deficit to tie it in the eighth on John Olerud's grand slam and Mike Piazza's 30th homer.
After McGwire's single in the ninth off Armando Benitez (2-2) — who struck out McGwire in his first six at-bats against the slugger — helped the Cardinals take a 7-6 lead, the Mets came back once again.
Ricky Bottalco (2-7) came on with one out and walked the first two batters he faced. Rickey Henderson followed with an RBI double before Alfonzo singled to left through a drawn-in infield to score Matt Franco with the winning run
"Big hits, big players." Valentine said.
"We play to the last out. We were down 6-1 and not doing much. But we came back."
The Mets poured out of the dugout to mob Alfonzo — a scene similar to their comeback win last month against the Yankees — and Robin Ventura lifted Henderson up on the pitcher's mound.
The Mets won for the 22nd time in 29 games to remain in first place in the NL East.
McGwire's homers came in his first career at-bats against Dotel and Tam. McGwire has seven multihomer games this season and 161 in his career. He also leads the NL with 116 RBIs.
McGwire moved ahead of his pace from his record 70-homer season, hitting No. 50 in the Cardinals' 124th game — one game earlier than last year, when he hit his 50th and 51st homers in a double-header at Shea.
That is the second-fastest pace ever, behind only Chicago's Sammy Sosa — who hit his 51st Saturday in the Cubs' 121st game.
Baseball managers may get the axe
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - The firing of Milwaukee's Phil Garner was only the start of what figures to become a major managerial reshuffling.
Rumors fly in majors of management changes
Jim Riggleman of the Chicago Cubs already is rumored to be on the way out and Larry Parrish of the Detroit Tigers could follow.
Neither Anaheim's Terry Collins nor Baltimore's Ray Miller appears safe. If the New York Mets miss the playoffs, part of the team's management may push for Bobby Valentine's departure.
For now, Davey Johnson seems to be safe in Los Angeles, even though the Dodgers could finish last despite the second-highest opening-day payroll at $79.2 million
Riggleman's Cubs, who made the playoffs as
the NL wild card last year, were last at 51-68 heading into the weekend. He's heard the rumors.
"It's part of the process," he said Friday. "If you're not winning at the rate we're not winning, it's always going to be there. I don't like it. It's one of those times I'm glad I'm not married. I wouldn't want my wife to see all that."
Cubs' players have made 16 trips to the disabled list, a group that includes pitchers Kerry Wood, Kevin Tapani, Jeremi Gonzalez, Terry Adams twice, Jon Leiber, Rick Aguilera and Matt Karchner.
After finishing last at 65-97 last year, the Tigers hoped for a big improvement this season that would give the team a boost before its move to Comerica Park next year. But Detroit began Friday in last place at 47-73, 26 games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland. Even Parrish has admitted his job is in
Even Parrish has admitted his job is in danger.
"If someone had told me during spring
training that Dean Palmer and Brad Ausmus would play like All-Stars, and that Jeff Weaver would pitch the way he has, I'd have said we're in the hunt for a wild-card playoff spot," general manager Randy Smith said. "But some other guys, who figured to have good seasons, have struggled."
Anaheim decided in June to give manager Terry Collins an extension through 2001, but the Angels clearly are disappointed with this season. After signing Mo Vaughn for $80 million during six years, they expected to go to the playoffs.
But the Angels, another team hurt by injuries, were last in the AL West at 49-71, 22 games behind first-place Texas and 11 behind third-place Seattle.
"We played a lot of guys that came out of spring training who were going to be in Triple-A or going to be our extra players." Collins said. "This team has played hard. We have gone through some tough times."
High school basketball tests 30-point rule
Regulation may help ease sting of lopsided contests
The Associated Press
by a little more quickly under a new rule that the Kansas State High School Activities Association is trying. This season, the time clock will continue to run in most cases if a team takes a 30-point lead in the second half.
PEABODY — The girls basketball team at Peabody-Burns High School couldn't ask for much more in a gym. It features shiny wood floors, glass backboards and three courts.
But the two-year-old gym has not helped the Lady Warriors win. The Class 2A team dropped eight games at home on the way to an 0-20 season. Fans who perched on dark blue, plastic bleachers watched their team lose 86-21 to Moundridge, 74-29 to Goessel and 80-37 to Inman.
The rule, which has received a mixed reaction from coaches and players, will apply to boys and girls in junior high and high school.
"It it gets old, sitting there getting stomped game after game," said Peabody-Burns coach Darla Long, who supports the rule. If the rule had been in effect last season, it would have applied in 12 of the team's games.
Under the rule, if a team takes a 30-point lead, the clock only stops for timeouts, a reference meeting with a scorer or timer, a technical, intentional or flagrant foul, when a player fouls out, or an emergency.
Those kinds of blowouts are supposed to go
Michigan also is experimenting with the rule this year. The National Federation of State High School Associations, based in Kansas City, Mo., has asked states to test the rule before deciding whether to make it permanent.
The clock wouldn't stop for routine fouls and free throws.
Paul Palmer, assistant executive director of the Kansas activities association, said he hopes the rule will encourage winning teams to substitute their best players and passmore before shooting. He said those things should help decrease the disparity in scores.
Jerry Diehl, assistant director of the federation, said the proposed rule arose out of concern about poor sportsmanship during routs.
"We've had some rather hideous kinds of situations," Palmer said of blowouts.
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