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_--_- -- -_--- '.... \\.' Thursday,ApriI12,200I-Page 14 SPORTS The American League Preview: Is there a sure thing? EDWARD K. SCHULTHEIS on his wrist. If Garciaparra returns soon, and having a few off-seasons. The rest of the The. starting rotation is sub-par, and the Co Editof-in·Chief all of the pieces fall into place, they hope to staff is solid, but not spectacular, and after learn held the second-worst ERA in the Even though baseball season has just finally overtake the Yankees for AL East su- surprisingly winning 95 games last year, they league last season. The bullpen is even worse started, it is not too late to predict the win- premacy. are looking for a repeat in the Central race. and none of the relievers are proven closers. ners of the American League. The Blue Jays, under new skipper Buck Keith Foulke is a solid closer, but he seemed The team made some big acquisitions dur- This season looks to be very exciting, Martinez, will again be relying on their im- to tire down the stretch. ing the winter, and it may help the team win with Alex Rodriguez going to the Texas mense power (seven players with 20+ hom- It will be interesting to see how he deals a few more games, but in the end, a major Rangers in a blockbuster deal worth over ers in 2000) to overshadow their lack of with fatigue this year. Hopefully, with Wells' overhaul of the pitching staff would help $250 million, Carlos Delgado looking to pitching. pitching and a solid offense, they can make even more. become the first Toronto BlueJay to win the After trading away 20 game winner David a run for the playoffs, I predict the New York Yankees, Cleve- Triple Crown, and Mike Mussina donning a Wells and losing Mike Sirotka to injury, the The AL West is going to be one of the land Indians and Oakland A's winning their pin- striped jersey in New York. team looks to be a team with no pitching. closest races in the league. The Oakland respective divisions - but not without a fight Are things going to be any different from Carlos Delgado, Tony Batista and Brad Athletics won the race the last season while other last year? Will the Chicago White Sox win Fullmer had career power numbers last year, winning a total of 91 games and they also from some and Seattle. contenders like Boston, Chicago the AL Central title again or will the Cleve- and Esteban Loiaza, who is at best a number sport last year's MVP in Jason Giambi. They TheAL WildCard will be a highly com- land Indians regain their place? Will Texas 2 starter, did have a couple good outings to are going to be even better this year after petitive race this year. It is filled with ques- overtake Oakland and Seattle in the race for start this season, but the rest of the pitching acquiring Johnny Damon. Their rotation is tions such as will the Blue Jays launch 240+ the West? Only time'will tell. staff is a bunch of question marks, phenomenal and led by 20 game winnerTim homers again this year? Will the Red Sox In the AL East, the Yankees are once Billy Koch is a great closer, however, he Hudson with Barry Zito and Mark Mulder rely on Pedro to carry the team to October? again the front- runners, with the Boston Red is the one bright spot in an average bullpen. following suit. Jason Isringhausen is a de- Will the Mariners still make a postseason run Sox and the Blue Jays dose behind them. Despite their great power they are not going cent closer, but he has a tendency to allow without A-Rod? The Yankees have three number I starters to win all their games, and certainly not the quite a few runs, which could hurt the A"s When it comes down to it, I do not think in Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, and Andy one-run variety. in some close games. Look for the A's to try that the Red Sox will be able to rely on just Pettitte and that will be good enough to lead In the AL Central, the Indians are hop- to repeat in the West. them to yet another division title. Their of- ing to make a run at once again becoming Without A-Rod, the Seattle Mariners will Pedro to make it to the postseason. Their much like many staffs staff is questionable, fense is average with David Justice and Tino the team to beat in the division. They have a be looking to their pitching staff to carry the in the AL, but I think that because Nomar is' Martinez, and they will not winteo many decent offense headed by new acquisition team into October. going to be out for a bit, it may hurt the Sox slugfests with it. Jorge Posada had a career Juan Gonzalez and anchored by veteran Jim They are led by starters Freddy Garcia, in the long run. year last year-and the Yankees are hoping Thome. Aaron Sele, and Jamie Moyer and closer I see the Mariners being serious contend- that he will increase his hitting numbers this In addition, Russell Branyan is looking Kazuhiro Sasaki, who was last year's Rookie ers, but I think that their lack of run produc- season while still handling most of the catch- to have a career power year after playing in of the Year. Edgar Martinez and John tion will hurt the team's chances of winning ing duties. Clearly, they are relying on their limited lime last year. The question, like with Olerud, who drove in 145 runs and 103 runs the Wild Card. rotation and bullpen to keep the team out of many clubs, is whether the pitching will hold respectively, lead the offense. However, I 'could be wrong, but because of other the gopher-ball contests though. up. without the huge power threat of years past, teams' reliance on runs and not pitching, they Boston has the most dominant pitcher of They are led by Bartolo Colon and the look for the team to be involved in quite a will come up short. the generation, Pedro Martinez. However, team was impressed by c.c. Sabathia dur- few one and two run games. Despite their The teams I see with the biggest chances the rest of the rotation is iffy and their best ing spring training. So impressed that they lack of power, the team should be able to of winning the Wild Card are the Toronto bet is Frank: Castillo or Hideo Nomo, who awarded him the number 5 slot. They will win a good majority of those games with Blue Jays and the Chicago White Sox. threw a no- hitter against the Orioles, to get look to hold back the White Sox from re- their above average pitching, especially with Both have tons of power, and if their the most wins after Martinez. Their offense peating in the Central. all 9f their home games at the pitcher- pitching staffs hold up, it could be huge sea- has been revamped with Manny Ramirez The White Sox are a team that dealt away friendly Safeco Field. son for either team, including possibly win'. who was signed from the Cleveland Indi- their ace, with a serious injury, to pick up a l just do not see theTexas Rangers' pitch- ning their division. ans, however, thus far he has been suffering proven postseason pitcher in David Wells. ing holding up for the whole season. They Either way, I don't see that-many teams with an injury. They also picked up Sandy Alomar Jr. and may make it, but they may also stumble competing with the Yankees due to their tre- Nornar Oarciaparra was set to be the cen- Royce Clayton to help their potent offense across the finishing line, even while bolster- mendous pitching staff. Whether you like terpiece of the Red Sox, but he is out for at consisting of Magglio Ordonez and Frank ing a potent offense led by Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees or not, the team with the pitch- least a month or so after surgery was done Thomas who returned to form last season and Andres Galarraga, and Rafael Palmeiro. ing wins the big games. . Sideline View: Happenings is the world of sports Jeff Grever and Matt Hurff look slve throughout the season? All I can say is season is that the Penguin's Mario Lemieux header wins over Lebanon Valley. Mean- at some of the u'!';oticed things in hopefully this will happen, because ever and the Devil's Petr Sykora have both tal- while, Pitcher IGm Campanelli was named the world oj sports since expansion in 1993, sluggers have had lied 35 goals this season. You may ask, what co-pitcher Centennial Conference pitcher.of full reign and some fans (like myself) do is so impressive about 35 goals? Well, noth- the week. Could there be a greater time of year? enjoy a well pitched ballgame. ing is very impressive about that particular 7. On the links, golfer John Wheeler placed The weather is becoming much nicer, the 2. While on the topic of sluggers, one numberofgoals. However,whatisimpres- 2nd in the Elizabethtown Blue Jay Classic, days are becoming longer and ah yes ...Major cannot forget to mention Giants left fielder sive is that it only took Lemieux 43 games shooting a 77, League Baseball is back, and the NHL and Barry Bonds. Bonds is .----------_=__, to do so. Meanwhile, So now that you've been updated on all NBA are hitting the playoffs. on the verge of joining it took Sykora 73 of those things, you can go back to your aca- There are so many things going on in the the elite 500 career home ~-~ games to do so. At sports world, not to mention our busy aca- demics, or whatever else consumes your time. demic schedules that I would like to go PHOENIX SPORTS through a few of the highlights that college ;i:,'!.~;~~~~~~~ students may have missed in the sports world :F;1~Eh:Oo:6~:i~~;~i'·lJ"~"""'I)'~.'·"·I'J\.·'\1 league leader Pavel eye on this Keep your _"__ Col. (sorry, I cannot help you out with those Bi- because he should be Bure. TRIVIA: ology notes you may have missed though). able to break 500 within 5. In the world Which current Seattle So here are a few of my top events (in no the next week or two. ) \, ~ of NCAA Division I particular order) that some might have omit- 3, The NHL playoff '--"' \ hockey, the "Frozen Mariner started ted to notice in the blur of it all. picture is a huge mess, Four" (hockey's I. Many may have noticed the no-hitter but while may people are equivalent to playing in the major pitched by the Boston Red Sox's Hideo wondering whether 80s- basketball's Final Nome this past week, in which he fanned ton can clinch the last Four took place this league straight out of II Orioles en route to the first Red Sox no- Eastern Conference past weekend. In the hitter since' 1965 (especially because free college and has never tickets were given OUI for this game on the ~:r~~;i~~e;~i~;: ~~:~ i~~L__-=========~~~:~:~o~~~;~g~a~:~ played a single game Western Maryland campus). This feat was out west, The 8th seed, Jeff Grever Ieated . defending impressive in itself because now Nomo has Vancouver could lose champ North Dakota. in the minor leagues a no-hitter in both league, and it also ended their berth, or they could move up to the 6th This was Boston College'S first champion- the no hitter drought that has existed since or 5th seed. This a huge question mark for ship in any sport in 52 years. over his 10 year Eric Milton's in September of 1999. the Canucks. To do so, they must beat Los 6. Right here on the Hill are a few things However, underlying this gem is the fact Angeles, a team who was 12 points back in that may have be overlooked due to the na- career? that the strike zone was much bigger than it the standing a month ago. Now they are tied tional sports scene, namely the play of the has been in past years. Will this new, larger with them with 90 points. Terror softball team. They are currently on Answer: John Olerud strike zone make baseball a little less offen- 4. Another impressive things about this a 15-3 tear after their 5-0 and 5-2 double