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Show J Inside Sfuki s Ddseoaii B3 NHL playoffs B6, 7 Scoreboard Weather L B8 EDITOR: TAD WALCH Allenby - MONDAY. MAY 1.2000 They never trailed. Even though they were forced to play Utah's slow down, half-cougame, they were the better "We didn't do anything to counter series, Westphal had a little, different answer for the Jazz in what they were doing," Malone said. Game 3. After the game, the Jazz flew Shammond Williams, who played back to Salt Lake City, where coach 32 and 38 minutes in Utah when he Jerry Sloan will, try to think of was running the offense as . something to counter Westplial's " WestphaFs point guard, didn't start game plan. show on Saturday and was limited to 15 we "Hopefully, up for Game minutes. 4," Bryon Russell of the Jazz said. e rt team. just got a lot better play from about everybody and the Jazz just weren't quite as sharp as they were," d playoff series will be tied Westphal said. If the Somes win Game 4, at two victories apiece. Game 5 will be played in Utah And Gary Payton is confident anything can on Friday. Karl Malone, who happen then. "We've just got to poured in 30 points in the defeat, was certain Utah keep on playing basr was going to face a differketball," the ent Seattle team in Game point guard said. "If 3. He knows how proud we can do that and competitive Payton is. Wednesday, we'll be : OK." "Nobody wants to go home after being swept, espe"This week was no fun," Seattle coach Paul Westphal -cially by a lot of old guys," he said. ' said. "Now, you'll hear again that we're a lot of old guys." The Sonics had fun on in Game 3 Under severe criticism in Seattle on Saturday, though, coming back wait between the after two lackluster performances in during the four-daSalt Lake City for an 89-7- 8 tvictory. second and third games of the best- "We Juan Gonzalez has done it a couple of times. It's hard to believe, but there it is on TV. The Detroit slugger, who was with Texas until this season, is com-- , pletely fooled by a pitch. He leans forward awkwardly and throws his bat over the plate with no rhythm, no help from his hips. When he makes contact, the ball shoots straight into the air, a sure popup. But the next thing you see is some poor outfielder helplessly standing by as the ball clears the wall. Another home run. The homer in major league baseball is starting to become about as in the commonplace as the NBA. OK, that's a bit of a stretch. Still, home runs are being hit at a record pace this season. Through April 24, the average major league game included 2.6 home runs. A homer was being hit every increase 26.37 a . over the old record of one home run That record, of per 30.23 course, was set last season. Theories abound as to why this is happening. Smaller parks, smaller strike zone, stronger players, harder baseballs, diluted pitching staffs. Whatever the case, baseball is no longer the same. Consider this: The average hitter who gets 527 this year will slug 20 home runs. Back in the day, if a guy hit 20, people said he had some pop in his bat. Now, he's average. The result js, we're seeing more football-typ- e scores than they're Tampa Bay football scores, but they're still out of the ordinary for baseball. It leads to overkill. Home runs are no big deal when guyslike Mike Bordick are hitting them in bundles. It's like anything else. Hard as it is to believe, I imagine the sweet sounds of Blink 182 would get old if they were played too much. (Note: Insert the name of your favorite band in the Instead, Payton was back exclu-- . sively in charge of the Sonics, playing 48 minutes, scoring 23 points, getting 10 assists and seven rebounds. And Ruben Patterson, virtually forgotten in Games 1 and 2, played 22 minutes and supplied a big boost, particularly with hustle plays in the third quarter with 13 points. At times, Westphal had a big lineup of Vm Baker, Rashard Lewis, Horace and Grant, Payton Patterson on the floor at the same d time. It worked, the Sonics J All-Sta- y . , first-roun- Latest power binge in baseball getting to edge of absurdity outre-bounde- Utah as Baker had five offensive rebounds and the 46-3- 8 - team riad 14. "We need to drive a little more," "We teammate Jeff Hornacek said. settled for outside shots and you can't do that on the road" John Stockton hopes to rebound in Game 4 after scoring just four points on shooting. He did have 13 assists. "My focus is on us," he said. "Losing should make you more ready to play the next one." The Sonics' victory was their first in the playoffs since they beat the Los on May 4, Angeles Lakers 106-91998. The Lakers then won the next four games to eliminate the Sonics, who missed the playoffs last season. 2 mm Offense lifts Buzz into lead ' at-bat- s, at-ba- even-Grante- effect.) Some baseball people are spinning that today's fan likes more offense. You know, Generation X or the MTV Generation like big explosions and lots of action. Well, I'm part of that generation. At least, that's what they tell me. And I don't want games every night. Purists will agree, there's nothing like 1 a game for drama. homers We don't need broken-ba- t every inning for excitement. Forget what the younger generation supposedly wants. The game will take care of itself without any meddling. Players are stronger; that can't be changed. And pitching is somewhat diluted. With expansion, that's to be expected. But one thing baseball could do immediately is force umps to call the actual strike zone. Have you seen the size of that thing lately? You'd be record in lucky to fit an old h 14-1- 1 2-- . 45-inc- there. Webber, bench help Sacramento By SCOTT BELL The Daily Herald - SALT LAKE CITY A, major dose of offense' has; given the Salt Lake Buzz a; healthy lead in the Pacific? Coast League's Northern-Division- . Calif. SACRAMENTO, Shaquille O'Neal lost his shooting touch. Kobe Bryant was, slowed by foul trouble. And, suddenly, the mighty Los Angeles Lakers were far from invincible. Chris Webber had I 29 pofnts and the Sacramento bench finally came alive, sparking an 18-- run in the fourth quarter, as the Kings (AP) 6-- 3 16-9- four-gam- defeated the Lakers Sunday to stay alive in the playoffs. The Lakers won the first two games by comfortable margins in Los Angeles. e Game 4 in the series is Tuesday night at Sacramento. "I want them to be down, they should be embarrassed by the way they played " today," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "This was not a good performance." O'Neal had 21 points and 17 rebounds, but went from the field and from the foul line. Bryant, who picked up his fourth foul early in the third period, had 16 of his 35 points in the best-of-fiv- fourth quarter. "I just missed some chippies, shots that I usually don't miss. I need to be a lot better Tuesday," said O'Neal, who hit' 63 percent of his shots while averaging 34.5 points in the first two games of the series. "We didn't play well all day and they played the best ball they . possibly can." Predrag Stojakovic had 19 points and Tony Delk added 11 as the Kings' "Bench Mob," which had little success in the first two games of the series, outscored the Lakers' V? (TV-M- i,i i . ). 1 Rlfll PEDRONt'KLl.riTic Associated Press Coming through: Sacramento center Vlade Divac (21) brushes past the Lakers' John Salley (16) as he drives to the basket in the second quarter of their NBA playoff game Sunday; . Just for good measure, Canizaro leads the team in i w iui iuui. bUJii'ii uuses, ...:k Catcher Javier Valentin leads the Buzz in batting with a .375 average. He also .688 slughas a team-higging percentage. Outfielder John Barnes is hitting .373, and designated hitter Mario Valdez is hitting r. h reserves Delk, 34-1- . who returned to Sacramento late Saturday night after, attending an aunt's funeral in Tennessee, played most of the fourth quarter instead of Jason who scored 10 Williams points but made several poor passes early in the game. The Kings still face a harrowing task as they try to upset the best team in the NBA this season. Only 12 teams have rallied to win a and series after trailing none since the Houston Rockets in 1995. 2-- don't think they are invincible. It's just that we "I , didn't play our game in Los Angeles," Sacramento's Vlade Divac said. "They are the best team in the league, no doubt. You play their game, you lose. Sec KINGS, B4 .369. Pitching has been more of a struggle, with the Buzz sit- See BUZZ, B2 Wood returns Tuesday probably never happen. Instead, numbers like these will keep piling up: On Sunday, the Cardinals tied the National League record for homers in a month with 55. On April 7, a combined 57 homers were hit, the most in history. On April 9, the Twins and Royals became the first teams to hit home runs in the same game. On April 21, Anaheim's Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Troy Glaus became the first trio to hit homers in the same inning twice in one game. And on April 23, the Yankees' Bernie -Williams and Jorge Posada became the first teammates to homer from each side of the plate in the same game. So what's next? More appropriately, who cares what's next? - 344-255- e (11-12- 1 Calling the strike zone from the letters to the knees would at least give pitchers a chance. But that will Scott Bell is a sports writer for The Daily Herald. He can be reached at After Sunday's victory-ovethe Tucson Sidewinders' (see story, Page. B2), Salt' . Lake sat at Although! is less than s( the season month old, the Buzz already; lead over hold a second-plac- e Tacoma -- In fact, Salt Lake is tied with Memphis for the best record in the PCL. With a lineup full of playe ers with experiLake was expected Salt ence, to have quite a bit of offensive ability this season. So far, the Buzz haven't disappointed. h rough fcaturaay s games, the Buzz were second in the PCL with a team batting average of .293, just behind Tucson (.295). The Buzz had scored 149 funs, second only to Memphis' 155. Individually, Salt Lake has been led by second baseman Jay Canizaro. His .359 avermark age is the fourth-bes- t on the team. And Canizaro's nine doubles, six home runs and 31 RBI are all team-high- 2 99-9- 01 confident after Sonic win SEATTLE (AP) Suddenly, the Seattle SuperSonics are back in the NBA playoff picture. Or so they think. If the Sonics beat the Utah Jazz for the second straight game at the Key Arena on Wednesday night, their Scott Bell in playoff to take the "Houston Open title. B5 THE DAILY HERALD (wwwJiarkTheHemld.com) Paytomi well-pitche- beats Stadler - . iff I Vf' 'i first-roun- CHARl.IE NEIBERGALlThc Associated Press Ready to roll: Kerry Wood, who missed all of last season due to reconstructive elbow surgery, throws a pitch for the Iowa Cubs on April 23. He will start for Chicago Tuesday. CHICAGO (AP) Start breaking out the K signs, Chicago Cubs fans. After missing all of last season, Kerry Wood will make his return to the majors Tuesday night against the Houston Astros. "I've been waiting for the opportunity to write him down on my lineup card for a long time," Cubs manager Don Baylor said Sunday. The 1998 NL Rookie of the Year hasn't pitched in a major league" game d since Oct. 3, 1998, Game 3 of the playoffs against the Braves. He blew out his elbow in spring training last year, and had "Tommy John" reconstructive elbow surgery last April. He's made three strong rehabilitation starts this spring, throwing 90 mph-plu- s and gradually working in his breaking pitches. He now has a - four-pitca fastball, two repertoire sliders!and a changeup. He was on track to return last week, but he developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand. "1 said before (he'd return) when he. was ready to pitch," Baylor said, "He was not ready to pitch in Texas. After I looked at him and looked at his blister and we talked about it ... we both decidedTuesday would be fine, regardless of start time." The Cubs have been cautious with their phenom's recovery program, and they've tried to avoid exposing him and his elbow to cold weather. But the forecast Tuesday calls for a warm, sunny day, with temperatures in the mid- - to high 60s. , h See WOOD, B2 |
