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Thursday, October 26. 2000 - Page 14 SPORTS Bonds lead list of strong candidates for the NL MVP MATT HURFF helped lead the Giants to the playoffs after a hitting 42 homers along with a steady .295 candidate. This year, Guerrerro has put up Sports Editor poor team record at the all-star break. batting average. astounding numbers, especially considering This season in the National League. Ifeel The Giants did not fare all that well in Due to Mark McGwire's absence for a that he has very little protection in the Expos that there were a number of worthy candi- the playoffs and Bonds did not have a very large portion of the season, Edmonds helped lineup, hitting .345 with 44 homers. dates for MVP, especially when comparing good showing, but we are talking about a power the Red Birds into the playoffs. Once What will hurt Guerrerro in the long run the players of this league to the players of regular season MVP and nOI the post sea- in the playoffs, he remained very hot, lead- is the same thing that will prevent Sammy the American League. son. ing them to the NLCS where they were Sosa from being named NL MVP: they both My reasoning for this is that the ballparks Sammy Sosa, meanwhile, has shown knocked off by the Mets. play for losing teams. are bigger, the pitchers better, and the hit- very high, gaudy statistics once again this One player we should all become accus- Some argue that it is not fair to exclude a ling numbers were still very high. year by leading the senior circuit with 50 tomed to is Todd Helton, the predecessor of player because their team. is not very good. Case in point, 28 players I1it over .300 in homers while adding a hearty .320 betting Peyton Manning as the quarterback at the the NL, while only 25 broke the mark in the average. University of Tennessee. In some situations I agree, however, 1also AL. Sosa's Cubs, however, floundered in last Rockies fans are quite lucky that this feel that it should be shown that the particu- In addition, 9 players broke the 40 home place. Will there ever be another Cub learn former football player did not choose the lar player at least helped the team over- run mark in the NL, compared to only 7 in to play in the World Series? NFL because this season he hit 42 dingers achieve in one way or another. I have no doubt in my mind that the Gi- theAL. Since baseball is a team sport, I do not along with 142 ribbies, not to mention that a~ts would not have been able to make such At the same time, the NL has 16 pitchers think Sosa should be considered. While he he was flirting with a .400 average for most with an ERA below 4.00 compared to only is a great player, he has not shown that his of the season until it dropped toa.372 mark. a playoff run after a lackluster 1st half with- out Bonds. 5 in theAL. abilities can aid a team in winning. Word of While his learn did not make the play- If Edmonds had not picked up the slack, Therefore, I must be much more critical advice Sammy: Get out of Chi-town or move offs this year, they do seem armedzq make a when choosing a NL candidate because there to the south side to play with the White Sox. playoff run in the near future. we would not have seen the Cardinals in the postseason. are many more possible choices. I Just look how a change of scenery has In fact; they only won five fewer games If Todd Helton was not on the Rockies, I feel that Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Jim helped Jim Edmonds. than the World Series bound Yankees with a they clearly would not have been as good Edmonds, Todd Helton and Vladimir Acquired from the Anaheim Angels to very young, quick team opposed to the ag- this season. At the same time, the Cubs could Guerrero should all be at the top of any list bring a left-handed power stroke to the righty ing sluggers, such as Dante Bichette and have certainly finished in last place with or for the honors. dominated Cardinals, Edmonds has been the Vinny Castilla, the Rockies used to fill their without Sosa, therefore, I feel he should be Bonds has seen a resurgence this year, complete package. lineup. .p' excluded. after a number of lackluster or injury- With the Cards he has not only dispelled Vladimir Guerrerro's Montreal Expos do The Expos showed some lire throughout blighted campaigns, by hitting 49 dingers the reputation of being a problem in the not like they will ever reach the goal of rnak- the season, and finished 4th in the NL East, (2nd in the NL) and contributing a .306 bat- locker room, but has also become a leader, ing it the World Series. However, numbers and therefore, Guerrerro should be'consid- ting average. Furthermore, his performance both in the clubhouse and statistically by alone should qualify Guerrerro as a MVP ered for the NL MVP. Rollercoaster ride continues for Men's Soccer team CRAIG P. JOHNSON utes left in the half to bring the score to 5-0. Sla Writer. Despite the onslaught from WMC, The WMC Men's Soccer team has had Chowan did manage to tally a goal of their more ups and downs this season than the Irish own with 12 minutes remaining in the first hillside as they\Struggle to keep their record half. However, Freshman Jordan Davis above .500. In the past six games, they have struck right back two minutes later follow- broken even at .3-3, bringing thetr overall ing an impressive sequence of passing by the mark on the year to 7-6-1, and 2- 3 in the Green Terror. Centennial Conference. Barclay Losse finished the scoring for the On Monday, October 2, the Green Terror half with a beautiful 18-yard strike off of a dropped a heartbreaking contest, 2-1, to the Western Maryland corner kick. visiting Crusaders of Susquehanna Univer- The second half of play produced tWQ sity. . more goals for WMC. Sophomore Ryan Western Maryland was first to jump on Tetteris used his head to score the first off of the scoreboard as sophomore mid fielder a pass from Matt Wolfe. Aaron Bulls was taken down in the right side The second came after Curran Bradley of the penalty box just 10 minutes into the sent the ball to Aaron Bulls, who then found game. The ensuing penalty kick was con- freshman Tyler Wright for the finish with verted by junior forward Vinny Pedalino to eight minutes to play. put the Terror ahead 1-0. After dropping another close contest to However, Susquehanna struck back three Frostburg on Saturday, October 7, by the Junior Keeper Ryan Defibaugh makes a difficult stop against two oncomingforwards. minutes later with a penalty kick of their own score of2-1, WMC once again flexed its of- ) from Luis Salgado following a foul by WMC fensive muscle in an 8-2 victory over signs 011 life as junior forw~rd Cabot The Green Terror returns to Centennial defender Chris Wineke. Galludet University. Goodrum. turned and fired a shot into the Conference action at 5 p.m. on Saturday at The go-ahead goal was scored with 12:56 With three assists in Wednesday's victory, upper rig_ht comer of the net, bringing the Muhlenberg. A win, over the Mules would remaining in the first half as Susquehanna Pedalino moved ahead of Tom Long, 13-li. score to 2{ I. move WMC two games over the .500 mark midfielder BeaqrtIeeps collected a through as the team's leading scorer. Both had net-. But jus't two minutes later the Blue Jays for the first time since September 9. The ball from Sal Saladino and promptly found the back of'tbe frlet. :: t~;es;;~~' ;u~i~i~e~ta~~:o~~;h~~~::lii~~ ,::c~ ~~I~ f~;t:rg~:;t~nedn~~~~n' ~~~~eu:~ rollercoster conrtnues. The Green ..Terror rebounded from this Micheal Okoye joined the squad this past Maryland's hope for a comeback. defeat two days' later with a dominating 8-1 week and made an immediate impact, scor- Finally, on Wednesday, October 18, the victory at home over Chowan of North Caro- ing his first goal in the contest against WMC men's soccer team tied an all-time lina. Galludet. school record for scoring with a 13-0 shut- The scoring frenzy began just four min- Before a spirited crowd on Homecom- out win at Lincoln. utes into the match with Vinny Pedalino's ing Saturday, WM(: fell to national Division This' 29-shot, 13-goal outburst matches strike from six yards out. III power Johns Hopkins by a count of 4-1. the 13-0 pummeling of Lycoming dating Tom Long made it 2-0 nine minutes later The first half of play was dominated by the back 10 1959. as he dribbled in alone against the Chowan visiting Blue Jays, but junior goalkeeper Three goals in the game's first eight min- keeper and beat him to the lower right cor- Ryan Defibaugh made sure no shots found utes sealed the non- conference victory for ner. the back of the net. the Green Terror. Ryan Tenens, Tyler Defender Chris Wineke scored off·a But in the second half, the floodgates Wright, and Barclay Losse each tallied two header with 27 minutes remaining in the first opened as Johns Hopkins tallied four goals goals, while leading scorer Pedalino added half, followed by Pedalino's second goal two in the first 15 minutes, including two by a goal and two assists. minutes later off of a deflected shot. Matthew Doran, who set an NCAA record Keeper Brent Kahuda went the distance Sophomore forward Steve Lennox got on by scoring goals in 12 straight games. in goal for WMC and posted his first NCAA the board following a free kick with 18 min- After falling behind 2-0,. WMC showed shutout in a four save effort.