Banner Graphic, Volume 21, Number 32, Greencastle, Putnam County, 10 October 1990 — Page 8

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THE BANNERGRAPHIC October 10,1990

Reds, A’s one win away from World Series

Davis’ throw to third base puts end to Bonilla, Pirates’ big scoring threat

CINCINNATI (AP) down to this: If Bobby Bonilla is safe at third, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a chance. Bonilla knew it. Eric Davis knew it. The 50,461 fans rising to their feet knew it, too. “IF HE MAKES it to third base, we’re in trouble,” Cincinnati Reds catcher Jeff Reed said. He didn’t Davis threw Bonilla out with one of the most spectacular fielding plays of his career, ending Pittsburgh’s final scoring threat Tuesday night. The Reds went on to win 5-3, and now the Pirates have only the slimmest chance. “If he doesn’t make the defensive play of the year, I’m at third with one out and this game is going to be tied,” Bonilla said. INSTEAD, THE PIRATES are down 3-1 in the National League playoffs. “They’ve thrown more guys out in this series than we have in a month,” Pirates starter Bob Walk said. Four, to be exact. Right fielder Paul O’Neill threw out two runners as the teams split the first two games in Cincinnati. Center fielder Billy Hatcher threw out Sid Bream at the plate in the fourth inning Tuesday, and Davis made the fourth outfield assist the biggest of all. THE PIRATES WENT into the bottom of the eighth trailing 4-2 with just five hits off Jose Rijo. Jay Bell led off with a homer, ending Rijo’s performance, and on came Randy Myers, the chief “Nasty Boy.” He wasn’t so nasty this night. Andy Van Slyke flew out after hitting a long foul, and Bonilla followed with a line drive off the wall in center. Bonilla watched the ball clear Hatcher’s glove and miss a

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ERIC DAVIS Makes awesome play homer by perhaps two feet. THE BALL REBOUNDED towards the infield and Bonilla saw his chance to wind up just 90 feet away from a tie game. “I was thinking triple all the way,” Bonilla said. “I’m going all the way flat-out. I’ll do that nine times out of 10.” This is where Davis did something seen fewer than nine times out of 10. Using his sprinter’s speed, Davis got to dead center field just as the ball bounced back from the wall. He fielded it with his glove, whirled and threw a one-hop strike to third baseman Chris Sabo. OUT BY THREE feet. “Davis made an unbelievable throw,” Sabo said. “It took an unbelievable play to throw him out from about 300 feet away.” Davis seemed less taken by the throw than everyone else at Three Rivers Stadium. After all, he practices doing just that.

“I knew I had to get it in (to third) as quick as I could,” Davis said. “You know where you’re at when you’re out there. At least I do. “I practice that play: spin and throw the ball. I practice that every day.” DAVIS HAS WON Gold Gloves for his play in center field. He was moved to left field after spraining his right knee this season, but his training paid off in the playoffs. He played Bonilla’s ball like a center fielder, anticipating the bounce perfectly. Pirates center fielder Andy Van Slyke watched with admiration. “That did not shock me,” Van Slyke said. “That’s a play that Eric Davis is capable of making many times over. I think the fact that he’s a former center fielder had something to do with it. “It was an awesome play.” AND NOW IT’LL take an awesome comeback to keep the Reds out of the World Series. The Reds can clinch the National League pennant with just one victory in their last three games. If they do, they’ll be thanking an outfield that’s turned in better than a collective Gold Glove performance in the playoffs. “We have a gold, silver and bronze outfield,” Cincinnati general manager Bob Quinn said. ★★★ Gaines notes Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Game 5 of NL playoffs, 8:18 p.m. EDT). Doug Drabek (226) is scheduled to start for the Pirates against Tom Browing (15-9) in a rematch of Game 2 won by the Reds. Browning was 7-1 on the road this season with a 2.71 ERA. A victory will give the Reds their first NL pennant since 1976.

Racing just what Foyt wants to do

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Before A.J. Foyt left home three weeks ago, his wife, Lucy, said she would kill him if he got hurt. He’s still alive, so maybe she figured he had suffered enough. Enough, anyway, to keep him out of racing for probably another six months. And by then, he’ll be past 56. “SHE SAID SHE knew when (speedway president) Tony George called her I had done it again,” Foyt said from a wheelchair at Methodist Hospital, where he is recovering from the most serious injuries of his racing career. “But I’ve got to say one thing. Of my whole family, die only one who wanted me to quit was my father in his dying days. He said I should enjoy life while I can. “Well, I really enjoy racing, I really do,” said Foyt, the oldest known driver in Indianapolis 500 history. “People say I haven’t had a good year for years. Then I think that might be true, but I’m still doing something I want to.”

Colts’ Bentley does not miss Dickerson

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Albert Bentley, in the limelight again after being overshadowed when the Indianapolis Colts signed Eric Dickerson, isn’t anxious to see his teammate return. With Dickerson eligible to come off the Colts’ non-football injured list Oct. 17, the seventh-leading rusher in the NFL could be in uniform when the team resumes its schedule Oct 21 against Denver. BENTLEY, SECOND IN the NFL with 1,578 all-purpose yards in 1987, became almost an afterthought in the Colts’ offense once Dickerson was obtained from the

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A’s playing like slap-and-run champs from past instead of 1927 Yankees

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Tony La Russa wears the intense, obsessed look of a mad scientist as he watches the monster he created the Oakland Athletics stomp through the playoffs. La Russa’s dark, brooding countenance and his constantly calculating mind give a cerebral character to a team sewn together to win with power, pitching, defense and speed. IN TAKING THE first three games against the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-7 series, Oakland is showing more brains than brawn. “Bashball” has been replaced by singles and speed, bunts and sucker plays, and pitching, pitching, pitching. The A’s will attempt to complete the sweep today when Dave Stewart goes to the mound against Boston’s Roger Clemens. When the Athletics swept to the World Series championship last year, their batting order evoked memories of Murderers’ Row on the 1927 New York Yankees. THIS YEAR, THOUGH just as threatening, the A’s are playing more like the best of baseball’s slap and run champions St. Louis’ Gashouse Gang in the 19305, the “Go Go” Chicago White Sox of the late ’sos, the Los Angeles Dodgers of the ’6os and the Cardinals of the ’7os and ’Bos. Consider that the A’s have no homers, no triples and only three measly doubles, yet are one victory away from sweeping Boston after winning 4-1 Tuesday. Credit that to 29 singles, solid fielding, pitching that has yielded only one run in each game, and some fancy play-calling by La Russa that included a rare suicide STEWART IN GAME 1, Bob Welch in Game 2 and Mike Moore

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A.J. FOYT Indy 500 in target FOYT, THE FIRST four-time winner at Indianapolis and the winner of a record 67 Indy-car races in his career, sustained severe leg and foot injuries in a crash Sept. 23 at Elkhart Lake, Wis. His brakes failed at a turn on the

Los Angeles Rams that year. While Dickerson out of the picture, Bentley has been the workhorse of the Indianapolis offense. He has four of the team’s 10 touchdowns this season, made 73 of its 92 rushes and leads the team with 20 receptions. “I haven’t thought about it that much at all,” Bentley said about Dickerson’s possible return. “I’ve been trying to focus on what I need to do to get us turned around.” COLTS OWNER Robert Irsay said he planned to meet with Dickerson or his attorney (Am Tellum) as early as this week to discuss a

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TONY LA RUSSA Crowing about offense

in Game 3 tamed Boston until Dennis Eckersley put the Red Sox out of their misery. La Russa has bragged about his pitching for several years, claiming it’s been unappreciated by those who look only at Oakland’s sluggers. Now La Russa is crowing about all the other weapons his team is showing. “I’m really proud of our offense,” said La Russa, who loves the long ball but is just as happy when he gets bunches of singles. “I think we’ve had three real good offensive games against tough pitching. I think our offense is doing great.” JOSE CANSECO, Oakland’s cocky king of bash the past five years, hasn’t come close to a homer in this series after hitting 37 in 131 games. Mark McGwire, Oakland’s other big basher who hit 39 homers this year, just missed a two-run shot

Road America course an! his car went into a dirt mound with such force it had to be cut open to pry him loose. His legs were twisted amid the wreckage, and the pain was almost unbearable, he said Tuesday at his first news conference since the crash. “It’s been, to me, an awful lot of pain,” he said. “It was one of the few times I’ve been in an accident when I haven’t been unconscious that I should have been. When they took me out of the car, I knew it was going to be bad ... I had such severe pain, I didn’t give a damn if the car was on fire or not. I felt like telling them to pick up a hammer and hit me on the head.” FOYT PLANS TO return to his home in Houston on Monday. He’ll be on crutches by then, and his doctors expect him to be ready to race in time for next May’s Indy 500, possibly sooner. Belgian driver Didier Theys will replace Foyt until then. “He’s in Houston now,” Foyt said. “They’re fitting him in the

possible contract extension. Dickerson reported to the team 11 days late in August and failed a physical with a hamstring injury. He was under contract to receive $1.45 million this year and stands to lose more than $600,000 due to fines and his injury. Bentley, who had rushed only 45 times in ’BB, expressed his unhappiness with the situation by reporting to training camp late last year. He is leery about a future that includes Dickerson in a Colts uniform. “IT ALL DEPENDS on how I’m played after that point,” said Bentley, who has 275 yards rushing and 258 yards receiving in five games this year. In all of 1989, he accumulated 299 yards rushing on 75 carries and caught 52 passes for 525 yards. “If I’m still given a chance to get in there and compete, Eric would definitely be an asset to our team. If not (given a role in the offense), of course, I’m not going to be happy.” Bentley scored twice in Sunday’s 23-19 victory over Kansas City. In the grasp of two tacklers, he extended his 5-foot-11 body to its fullest to get the ball over the goal line on a 9-yard pass play. He also twisted away for a 10-yard score that put the Colts ahead with 5:33 to play. “IT’S REALLY HARD once

in the sixth inning Tuesday when Tom Brunansky leaped above the wall to make the catch. Willie Randolph, a good slap hitter with speed, and Willie McGee, a great hitter with speed, have given the 1990 A’s the versatility to win when their big bats are silent Put together with Rickey Henderson and Carney Lansford, the new A’s are part of a team that easily rivals those known for speed. NEVER WAS THE A’s range of skills more apparent than in their seven-run outburst in the ninth inning of Game 1, and their two rallies against Boston in Game 3. Canseco led off the fourth inning Tuesday with a walk, took second on a single by Harold Baines another speedy late-season acquisition and went to third on a double steal. After McGwire struck out, Dave Henderson’s sacrifice fly scored Canseco to tie the game 1-1 and sent Baines to third. Randolph made it 2-1 with a soft, cute blooper in short center. The Athletics pulled a couple more fast ones in the sixth, with the help of shoddy play by Boston. BAINES REACHED FIRST on an error by shortstop Luis Rivera, went to second when Henderson was hit by a pitch by Mike Boddiker, and took third on a grounder to short by Terry Steinbach that forced Henderson at second. Randolph singled to score Baines and send Steinbach to third. Randolph then broke for second on a delayed steal, purposely slowing down near second to allow Steinbach to try for home after the throw to second. Steinbach headed home and was beaten by Jody Reed’s throw. But he ran in standing up and knocked the ball out of catcher Tony Pena’s glove.

car, and he’ll do some testing. From what I’ve learned, I look for him to do real good.” Foyt admits he lost interest in racing and cut back his schedule after the deaths of his parents. “My heart never was in it the last seven or eight years. But the enthusiasm is there for a winning combination now,” he said. “I felt this year we had done a lot of work and everything was coming together. We weren’t that far from being right there. I had a lot of catching up to d 0... I still do, but I feel my experience will pay off.” DR. TERRY TRAMMELL, who operated on Foyt, said, “He’s healing faster than you would expect for someone with as many miles as has. Really, he’s coming around pretty quickly.” Foyt underwent surgery in Milwaukee because of a risk of damage to the artery in his left leg, and the next day was transferred to Methodist, where Trammell has treated at one time or another 22 o, ’ this year’s 33 Indianapolis 500 starters.

you get inside the 10 to get over the goal line and every chance you get, ■ you’ve got to make the most of it. I saw the flag and thought I could get - the ball stuck in there,” Bentleysaid of the first score. “The second one, there was kind of a wall of guys there and they were all waiting to see which way I; was going to break. I decided to give them a fake and kind of; muscle it in,” he added. “Albert and his 213-pound body packs a lot of explosiveness. He is an incredible player,” Indianapolis coach Ron Meyer said. “What’s so; absolutely fantastic about Bentley is, as good a football player as he is, he’s is an even better person. He is truly a leader.” “HE’S UNDERRATED FOR sure,” said Kansas City cornerback Albert Lewis after Sunday’s game. “He does everything well, runs hard, catches the ball and he has a good vision cutting back. He runs pretty hard. He’s not one of the biggest backs in the league, but he’s tough to bring down.” Bentley hopes that taking this week off won’t slow the team’s momentum from two consecutive fourth-quarter comeback victories. The Colts opened the season with three straight losses. “We want to keep this momentum during the week off.”