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Show NATIONAL SPORTS THB tJNtnitlITY JOURNAL• SOUTHIUlN trr.AR VNIVEllSlTY • WEDNUDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1996 Lopez sits; Maddux on the mound .. Perez started 37 games during the regular ATLANTA (AP) - Even though he's hitting .529 in the NL championship series, Javy Lopez season, 17-with Maddux on the mound . expected to be on the bench for Game 6 to Maddux had a 10-5 record with a 1.88 ERA in night. After all, Greg Maddux is pitching for 119 2-3 innings pitching to Perez, while the the Atlanta Braves. numbers dropped to 5-6 with a 3.52 ERA in the 125 1-3 innings with But manager Bobby Cox, unable to fathom Lopez behind the not having Lopez's plate. In Game 2 against torrid bat in the St. Louis, Perez lineup, announced started at catcher but Tuesday that Lopez he left for a pinchnot Eddie Perez hitter with score tied will be the catcher when the Braves try 3-3. Lopez took over behind the plate in to even their series the top of the eighth,. against St. Louis. and Maddux In the latter part of proceeded to give up the regular season, five runs, including a and both of Maddux's grand slam to Gary postseason starts, Gaetti. Perez has served as "He's learned from the personal catcher what happened the to the four-time Cy las t time here," Young Award winner. Lopez said. "He " Yeah, it took me doesn' t want the by surprise," said same thing to happen Lopez, who was 4-foragain. I' ll try to give 5 with a homer in him a big target, set Atlanta's 14-0 victory up on the corners and over the Cardinals on whatever happens, Monday night, happens." trimming the St. Cox downplayed Louis lead in the bestthe decision to start of- 7 series to 3-2. Lopez. "The last few games ~ "Javy has caught I've caught for him ~Grega million (Maddux), he hasn't ~times," he said. "Javy done as well as he did ::Sis probably swinging when Eddie Perez was 8 the bat better than catching him. ~ anybody in this Hopefully, that ~ whole series, so we're doesn ' t matter to him." L - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ going to keep him in there." Maddux, who didn' t St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russo Perez said he listens, left, while Willie McGee talks during attend an optional workout at Atlantapractice at Busch Stadium yesterday in St. Louis. understood. " I think we have to Fulton County The Cardinals, who lead the series 3-2, are trying Stadium on Tuesday, to rebound from a lopsided 14-0 loss at the hands keep Javy's bat in there," he said. has insisted all along of the Atlanta Braves in game 5 of the NLCS. "We've got to get a that it doesn't matter great game from him to him whether Lopez like we did (Monday) night. Hopefully, he can or Perez is the catcher. catch g0od for Maddux. "Before the game, I will come up to Maddux "I think Greg knows how to pitch. No matter and talk to him about his game plan," Lopez who's catching, he's going to pitch great." said. "Hopefully, Maddux will feel good about Lopez said there's not much difference m e catching. I' ll try to do the best I can." between Maddux and John Smoltz, the other The numbers clearly show Maddux pitches right-hander in Atlanta's rotation. better when Perez is behind the plate. Yankees prepare for World Series NEW YORK (AP) - Joe Torre was still receiving hugs, handshakes and congratulatory phone calls when the questions started flying. "Joe, will you use a three- or four-man rotation?" " How's Strawberry's toe?" "Joe, is Kenny Rogers OK physically?" "Did you watch the game last night, Joe?" Torre returned to work Tuesday the same man but a different manager. He wasn't just in charge of the New York Yankees, he was the man leading the New York Yankees into the World Series. And, boy, was there work to be done. The Yankees still don't know if they'll be playing host to the Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals in Game I on Saturday night. But after a day off following a long .n ight of I celebrating their series win over Baltimore, the · Yankees worked out for nearly three hours Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. There was batting practice for the regulars and batting (if you could call it that), bunting and baserunning practice for the pitchers, some of whom hadn't picked up a bat in 15 years. "I'm getting a little taste of what it's like today," Torre said of his first World Series experience in more than three decades as a player and manager. "This is what it's all about." The Yankees have the fortune of having five days to get all their players healthy. Outfielders Tim Raines and Paul O'Neill and second baseman Mariano Duncan are all nursing sore hamstrings. And Darryl Strawberry thinks he has a broken toe despite negative X-rays. DIGEST BROOKS LOST TO PACK FOR YEAR: Despite their 23-20 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers Monday night, the Green Bay Packers' road to the Super Bowl is considerably more arduous now. Flanker Robert Brooks, Brett Favre's favorite receiver and best deep threat, was lost for the season with a knee injury on Green Bay's first play Robert Brooks from scrimmage. THE GREATEST WINS MORE FANS: Muhammad Ali didn' t say much and he didn' t have to in what amounted to a love-in between "The Greatest" and two groups of high school students. It didn't m atter that they hadn' t even been born when he fough t the likes of Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and the establishment bac k in the 1960s. Once again, Ali's reputation had preceded him. "He is not known only for being the champion in the arena of boxing, but a champion in the arena of non -violence," a student at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem, said yes terda y.The former three-time heavyweight champion visited that inner-city school and suburban Mamaroneck High School yesterday to deliver a message of to lerance and understanding, which he did just by being there. The lightning reflexes and quips which dazzled opponents and the media are long gone, but the students were dazzled by Ali's wit and presence.At Philip Randolph, Ali and his wife, Lonnie, were presented with school T-shirts by two students. Ali embraced the female student, and then faked a right uppercut to male student's chin .The audience loved it.Ali got up, walked slowly to the lectern and haltingly said, "I came all the way here, working this hard and this is all I get."The place went wild. SWITZER: FORGET JIMMY, FEAR A FALCON: Barry Switzer hates these kinds of games. The Dallas Cowboys play the winless Atlanta Falcons while everyone is talking about the Miami game against Jimmy Johnston in two weeks.Switzer admitted he was "concerned" yesterday that the IS-point favorite Cowboys might get caught looking ahead.The Cowboys coach remembers what happened two years ago in his rookie NFL season against the Cincinnati Bengals. Switzer, a former Oklaho ma coach, had made some off-handed reference to not getting overconfident against the " Iowa States" of the football world. The enraged Bengals shocked the Cowboys 23-20 and Cincinnati coach Dave Shula confronted Switzer after the game."He told me what I could do wit h that Iowa State," Switzer said. "That's a good illustration of how a team can get motivated." AVS' ERIC LACROIX IS MAKING HIS FATHER LOOK PRETTY GOOD: Eric Lacroix, brought to Colorado in the offseason by Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix, got his first career hat trick la t night to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 7-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Lacroix, who also had an assist, scored on his first three shots, putting home a rebound in the first period and scoring on a diving shot and a faceoff to give the Avalanche a 5-1 lead in the second. " Everybody always as ks me how it's been working for your father," Lacroix said. " It's not really working for your father. You' re working for a friend. I' m sure he's going to go to bed tonight and maybe put his GM hat down and be a father. He'll probably be happy, I'm sure." Lacroix's big night overshadowed a career-high six points by Joe Sakic, who assisted on all three of Lacroix's goals and finished with five overall. "He's always around the net, so I don't have to look around to find out where he's going to be," Sakic said of Lacroix. "He's a nice guy to play with." Lacroix, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings for goaltender - - - - - - - Stephane Fiset and a 1998 draft pick, nearly scored a fourth goal just before the second intermission but was stopped on a breakaway by Edmonton goaltender Curtis Joseph. "I just closed my eyes and shot it," Lacroix said. Lacroix, who leads Colorado with five goals in six games, settled for his hat trick and the Avalanche scored on six of their first 14 shots .............._......._ _. to remain unbeaten in their last four games (3-0-1 ). |