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Show I fQ0ifeQO nday, CXiohcc Ih, lWH, 1 HI DAIU III l uh .U Prmo, K Page B5 DUQOUDUg CUDgG!? LWbuld Series ::V" & pvin make this learn greatest? - ? NEW YORK (AP) The rpreatest ever? By winning the World Series, the "98 New York Yankees think they'd be just n tyiat. j "Since everything ia based on the bottom line, I guess so," Yankees manager Joe Torre Uaid Thursday, two days before Uhe opener against San Diego, r! "It's tough to look back at the ?27 Yankees and say we're better position by position, but everything is based on bottom line," Torre said. "If we get to four more wins now 121 wins is pretty 125 would be the ultimate." After going 114-4during the regular season, sweeping Texas in the first round and for the beating Cleveland AL pennant, the Yankees are a .heavy favorite against the had the Padres, who at Worst record of the three NL division winners. ' Yet, the Padres beat Houston , defeating Randy Johnson twice then upset Atlanta with two wins over Tom Glavine and one over Greg ITEM SQDR3DDW SIMTOflDBUnlGD r ' f I " a... "1 - w i lOMf is XV W BOARDS BOOTS BINDINGS APPAREL 8 3-- 0 4-- 2 98-6- 4 3-- 1 4-- Maddux. " "Not many people gave us a chance against Houston, or against Atlanta," said Tony Gwynn, back in the World Series for the first time in 14 There are guys over in 'years. ,t 111 our cmonouse j1.11 Deneve tnat mat we've got a shot. As long as we believe we have a shot and we go play like it, we think we're . going to be fine." - - - , scaled Take a cut: New York outfielder Paul O'Neill takes pitches from batting coach Chris Chambliss at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Game 1 of the World Series, between the Yankees and Padres, is set for Saturday. MARK New York has 23 Series championships, San Diego has none. The Yankees have won 113 Series games. The Padres have won one. "I've never been to Yankee Stadium," Gwynn said. "You've probably going to hear some stuff out there you probably haven't heard for a while. And to me, that's part of the game. They're trying to take your mind off what you're supposed to be doing. But 17 years of experience, I hope, will help get me through it." The Yankees, who finished off the Indians on Tuesday, resumed workouts Thursday. San Diego, which beat Atlanta on Wednesday, traveled to New York and will practice at Yankee Stadium on Friday afternoon. While the stands were empty as the Yankees practiced, the ballpark was surrounded by thousands of fans buying tickets for the first two games of the Series. were workers Inside, repainting walls in preparation for Saturday night's game. I ENMH AN I he A "We'll be the best ever if we win the World Series," Chili Davis said. "Maybe we would have to exhume the '27 Yankees, bring back a couple of bodies and play them." David Wells, who pitches the opener against Kevin Ikown, went on Howard Stern's radio show and predicted the Yankees will win in five games. "If Boomer pitches five games, we win in five," Davis said, laughing. Wells said he spoke out only to be outrageous on Stern's SPIRIT 275 Series dreamed up by some mad inventor determined to come up with the unlikeliest combination possible. The Yankees reflect the pace that Ruth Built, the other in a of New York, with two subway ballpark named after a digital wireless communications com- E I pany. : One team has won 35 pen- nants, cool and calm proponents baseball. The of buttoned-dow- n other won a pennant 14 years ago and disappeared from that World Series so quickly that people hardly noticed it was there in the first place. The New York Yankees vs, the San Diego Padres. Are you kidding? The Yankees have won 113 World Series games, which is 112 more than the Padres. The Yankees have won 23 World Series championships which is 23 more than the Padres. This seems like a World trains rattling just beyond the right field wall, the ballpark located around the corner from the imposing Bronx House of Detention. The Padres are California cool, beach boys surrounded by sand and surf, living in a town that sometimes seems like just one more suburb of Los Angeles. If the Yankees are rock 'n' roll, the Padres are a Mariachi band. If the Yankees are a cold the Padres are a If the Yankees are a jacket and tie, the Padres are six-pac- mar-garit- open collars. To sing the national anthem, the Yankees almost exclusively use former Metropolitan Opera star Robert Merrill. The most Diego-base- J TAKE OFF OFF Limited to block on hand. $1299 MSRP. Limited to stock on hand. IV.. NIKE AIR -- s ? ' vi 1 FILA GRANT HILL IV BASKETBALL Sold in Fall '97 for $90 59? rf 9(D99 PR. NIKE AIR PEGASUS RUNNING Sold in Fall 1997 for $75 ASICS GEL ULTRA II So we mustard-and-brow- d 200 GYM CARNETT RASKETBALL Sold in Spring Bo tor S95 have Yankee Stadium vs. Qualcomm Stadium. The Yankees have 13 retired uniform numbers, 10 of them belonging to Hall of Famers. The Padres have retired two Steve Garvey, who numbers spent most of his career playing up the freeway in Los Angeles, and Randy Jones, who once won a Cy Young HOIST HOME 7 TAKE show. memorable anthem singer in San Diego was Roseanne Barr, who outraged fans in 1990 by shrieking the words then scratched and spat like a baseball player. The Yankees never bothered with a mascot, figuring cartoon characters had no place in baseball. The Padres gave the Award. game the San Diego Chicken The Yankees uniform last and an overweight friar swingchanged when Babe Ruth was ing a baseball bat. The Yankees are steeped in playing right field. The monotradition, with a museum full of gram "NY" over the heart, the commemorative plaques hangnavy blue and white colors ing on the outfield wall The have been constants. SomePadres' tradition was Jack times it seems pinstripes were Murphy Stadium, honoring the invented in the Bronx. local sports writer most responsiThe Padres wear orange ble for bringing baseball to the and blue uniforms, a vast town. That tradition lasted only improvement over the sorry comoutfits of until the San look made the them munications that company, past Qualcomm Inc., showed up with like hot dogs instead of athletes. fistfulsofcash. off-ke- rfg FOLDING TREADMILL Padres vs. Pinstripes: An unlikely matchup NEW YORK (AP) This is a World Series odd couple, a match of history vs. hip. The Bronx vs. the Beach. One team plays in the House mm mm ciiirc fin i i mind-bogglin- - p fjljb RUNNING Sold in Fall 1997 for $60 39? PR. r' H ju'l ' r- - 49! &ttiy NIKE AIR CONCENSUS RUNNING EDGE MAX XTRAINER 7-- .. 1999 HARO ' r ESCAPE A7.1 " A irf. "flfi Sold in Fall '97 for $89 J 97 for $64 1999 HARO Aluminum V Bar framA M with Twin )L, RockShoxJett top-tu- freestyle frame wiin aireigni shooter fork, new s ledgehammer handlebar A Haro padded saddle. rora witn animano component and Tektro direct pull brakes. 439 99 REVO 189?? EA. n llAailWilitiiill.fiiiii mj li 4 I R A 1 BRAND rJAHE fry Baseball watchers in New York state of mind New York CHICAGO Yankees in three two, maybe. Not possible? Any year in which someone hits 70 home runs, anything is possible. Even the San Diego Padres in the World Series. So, Yankees in three. I see that baseball is incon- siderately going ahead without the Atlanta Braves in the Series, thereby ruining The Greatest Baseball Season Ever!, wrecking perfectly good story lines, the Team of the Decade vs. the Team of All Time, Cy Young vs. Sayonara Irabu, media mogul Ted and spouse Jane vs. Seinfeld supporting head, George Steinbrenner. For the Yankees to get to this point and find waiting for them a bunch of church-leagu- e sand dabs instead of a real baseball team, well, how do you make history ouyt of that? The last and only time the Padres were in a World Series, so unimpressed was Detroit, the V winning town, that it tried to set Uaelf on fire after the fifth and final gqme, just to make the occasion memorable, no doubt. Someone had to hold the Itional League's jacket, to ANOTHER VIEW Ali had Frazier, Affirmed had Alydar, McGwire had Sosa, and what do the Yankees have? Bochy's Boys. The Padres are the ants at the picnic, the fly in the soup, the hair in the cole 6law, the designated drivers for a season that had been building into one great, last party. What could have been a better capper than a competitive World Series, one of those Game 7, things, like last year's? Except this time, someone extra-innin- Bernie Lincicome emerge as the compulsory opponent at the end of baseball's extended playoffs, but if the Padres take more games from New York than either Texas (0) or Cleveland (2), it will be because Steinbrenner has fired the left side of the infield and rehired Bob Lemon. Old habits are hard to break. THE BRAVES, the Astros, the Cubs, anyone but San Diego, a team of so little allure it might as well be the Arizona Diamondbacks, which the Yankee Stadium rabble might very well take it for. Hey, west is west and if it ain't the Dodgers, what difference does it make? g would be watching. We were going to learn just exactly where, of the 35 World Series Yankee teams, this one ranks. It won more games than s or the the Ruth-Gehrig- DiMaggio-Rizzuto- had greater success than the Mickey-Yogi- s or the Reggie-BillyThese Yankees always were going to be measured against themselves, but the Babe had Frisch and Joe had Jackie and Mickey had Willie and Reggie had Garvey. Derek Jeter has Chris Gomez. This World Series is about San Diego only in the 6ame way that a tuxedo is about dandruff. .'41 4 U.ff. vx'A LeJeW eje THE YANKEES had better win this or those 114 victories, David Wells' perfect game, El Duque's sea escape, Bernie Williams' batting title, Shane Spencer's imitation of Roy Hobbs (or Joe Hardy, for those even into musical comedy) Darryl Strawberry's health will be corruptmisfortune ed. Yankees will be telling their grandchildren of the fabulous season of '98, of their own part in it as well as Kerry Wood's 20 strikeouts and the Sosa-McGwi- home run chase and Cal Ripken finally standing down, of the continuing greatness of Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. and how the folks all came back to the parks, how fitting it was that the team with the greatest name in baseball was there at the end as the champions of baseball. And who did you beat in the World Series, grandpa, they will be asked. Darned if I can remember, they'll say. It happened so fast. LOUU tewubMkvr SKCATE brands in all stores. eVaeseaeaeVkll PRICE GUARANTEE See store for details ivxr STEELIIEAD i ' ' 'I T II II I wnnnc i , ne new ateelhead has a much , lower center of gravity making the sweet spot of the club larger. (BffilLIF CLEARANCE Save on the top brands. Discontinued models. EQUIPMENT AND APPAREL PRICED TO CLEAR! Af4 lirfciaStn mmy b lulMiMl al limt MM to Mock on kmm. mn4 cyiiawl phomm mn rnHniim imti. B.giHf. mhgtmai piiutt salf Ammrfi4 prim Himna mi mlW touts m Mr ar Mf mi mm uM. In mm Pl I llWll Is HSCMlnfl Mil ttrmtfiuiti Tribune. " . . v Liii 'Bernie Lincicome is a columnist for the Chicago DECEtS Special group. Limited to stock on hand. ' puntt4 (till i.i Na Matof. VitoM H. ' Mat all Ivaaaa la all Mam. MmMntftM. a. l!,y,.H'U.Uj,jjj.j'j.s,j aaaaaauuatJkM j ii at ,ia at otaaa mi ami |