European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 26 the stars and stripes Friday August 5,1988 hot astros take Over second by the associated press san Francisco according to Houston s Mike Scott san Francisco re Liever Scott Garrelts could have done a lot worse than throw the Ball into the dirt on the pitch that Cost the giants the  for him to say after the astros won 3-2 wednesday to take Over sole Possession of second place in the nation Al league West. If Garrelts had Hung that pitch it might have meant four runs instead of one said Scott who won for the first time since 1985 at candlestick Park. With Home run threat Glenn Davis at the plate and two out in the ninth inning Billy Hatcher scored on Garrelts Low pitch a Slider that bounced Over the screen behind Home plate and into the  was just a Bounce in our favor said astros manager Hal Lanier whose club won for the 17th time in the last 23 games. In other no games wednesday night cubs 3, mets 1 new York Rick Sutcliffe pitched a seven hitter and Ryne Sandberg hit a no Roundup two run single and scored once As Chi Cago beat new York. Sutcliffe 9-9, struck out four and walked one. He retired 12 straight mets from the second inning to the sixth. He carried a shutout into the ninth but lost it on a two out rib single by cookie Wilson. Sutcliffe who pitched his seventh com plete game came in with one win and four losses in his last five starts. In his nine de feats the cubs scored Only 12 runs. Expos 6, pirates 4 Pittsburgh Montreal s Andres Galarraga hit a tie breaking two run Homer just before the first of two Bench Clearing incidents in the fourth inning As the expos Defeated Pittsburgh. Galarraga followed a double by Rex Hudler with his 22nd Homer of the sea son a drive Over the left Field Wall that was his fourth this year in Pittsburgh. It gave the expos a 4-2 Lead. On the next pitch left hander John Smiley 9-8, hit Hubie Brooks in the Back prompting the Montreal right fielder to charge the Mound. The two sex Al from Page 21 changed blows emptying both benches. The fight quickly broke up after Pitts Burgh first baseman Sid Bream and Pitcher Brian Fisher pulled Brooks off Smiley. But after Smiley and Brooks were ejected and had left the Field an other incident broke out in the runway Between the dugouts. Pirates players raced off the Field and into the runway and expos players also left their Bench. Stadium guards said the Sec Ond skirmish lasted Only briefly and the game resumed after a five minute delay. Cardinals 4, Phillies 2 St Louis Tom Brunansky ended a 2-for-32 slump with his first four hit game in two years and Bob Forsch won for the first time since May 21 As St. Louis beat Philadelphia. Brunansky tripled for his first extra base hit since hovering on july 14 to key a two run third inning. His last four hit game came on May 27, 1986, As a Minnesota twin. Braves 4, padres 2 san Diego Andres Thomas broke a 1-1 tie with a sacrifice Fly in the eighth inning and Zane Smith pitched a six hitter As Atlanta snapped an eight game losing Streak with a Victory Over san  Fly to left came with the bases loaded against padres reliever Lance Mccullers who had just struck out Atlanta slugger Dale Murphy. Reds 7, dodgers 4 los Angeles Jeff Reed s oppo site Field Bloop single broke a 4-4 tie in the Lith inning As the Cincinnati reds who got three Bis from Ron Oester beat los  o Neill whose run scoring Dou ble in the eighth off reliever Jay Howell tied the game for the third time began the winning rally As reliever Alejandro Pena made an , 4-5, missed first base after Tak ing a throw from Pedro Guerrero allow ing o Neill to get on. He went to third As Ken Griffey singled to left and came Home on Reed s soft hit Over the drawn in  came around to score on a sin Gle by Oester and the reds added another run on Herm Winningham s single. The Victory went to John Franco 3-5, who relieved starter Tom Browning after Browning had allowed five hits and four runs Over eight innings. Rob Murphy got his third save. Innings. Dan Plesac worked the ninth to earn his 26th save in 30 opportunities. Eiland a 22-year-old right hander just up from the minors gave up a Homer to Paul Molitor the first Batter he faced and then stopped the Brewers until Gantner singled in the sixth. Twins 8, Blue jays 3 Toronto Steve Lombardozzi and Gary Gaetti each went 4 for 5, and Toronto left fielder George Bell committed his 14th and 15th errors of the season to set a club record As Minnesota Defeated the Blue jays. Bell misjudged Gary Gaetti s Fly Ball in the first inning and bobbled Gaetti s single in the third allowing the runner to go to second. Bell s throw Back to the infield on Gaetti s hit sailed Over second and Over the Pitcher backing up the play but was saved by first baseman Fred Mcgriff. Rick Bosetti had the old record for errors by a Toronto outfielder with 13 in 1979. Reliever Keith Atherton 6-5, allowed three hits in three innings. Jeff Reardon worked two innings to earn his 27th save. Juan Berenguer replacing the injured Bert Blyleven lasted four innings in his first Start since june 27, 1987. The twins had a season High 16 hits. It was Lombardozzi s first major league four hit game. Orioles 8, indians 3 Baltimore Baltimore s Jeff bal lard survived a shaky Start to snap a per Sonal five game losing Streak and Larry sheets Terry Kennedy and Eddie Mur Ray backed him with homers. Ballard 5-9, allowed three runs in the first two innings but shut out the indians Over the next five. Tom Niedenfuer finished  has 52 homers in its last 39 games. Sheets led off the second inning with his seventh Home Kennedy hit his second Homer in the third and Murray got his 19th, a two run shot in the fourth. Mariners 8, Angels 7 Seattle Steve Balboni had five Bis including a game winning Home run in the ninth inning As Seattle Defeated California to snap the Angels seven game winning Streak. Athletics 4, White sox 3 Chicago Stan Javier hit an re single with two outs in the 11 thinning As Oakland Defeated Chicago. Lafe Boomer Jones finally on track by John Eisenberg the Baltimore Sun occasionally a Relief Pitcher Falls out of the sky or so it seems. From the murkiness of years in the minor leagues or from the mediocrity of say a thrice traded major league career there suddenly emerges an uni table unrelenting closer that being the current word for a reliever who protects leads in the late stages of a game. Sometimes this phenom emerges As the result of a change in style. Some times it is the refinement of a partic ular pitch. Sometimes it is a Trade a mind Clearing change. Sometimes it is simply unexplainable a matter of Luck perhaps the Blessing of a Beneficent baseball Angel. The procurement of effective relievers is an inexact science. Doc Edwards manager of the Cleveland indians Calls it a frustrating  Herm Starrette the Baltimore orioles pitch ing coach said you never know about relievers until you put them out there. Pitchers make liars out of  take the example of Steve Bedro Sian who had a 7-15 record As an at Lanta starter in 1985. Two years later he saved 40 games and won the Yyoung award As a Philadelphia reliever. And Tom Henke who was stuck in the minors when Toronto obtained him from Texas in 1985, has since saved 93 games in three plus seasons. Then there is Oakland s Dennis Eck Ersley a successful starter for More than a decade now at age 34, suddenly he is the Best reliever in the Ameri can league. None of these examples is any More dramatic however than that of Doug Jones of the Cleveland indians. It in t True that he has fallen from the sky but his emergence As an elite reliever has been no less startling. He is an of so late Bloomer a 31 year old who until the Middle of last season had Only 15 major league appearances to show for nine seasons in baseball. His career was like something from the movie Bull Durham Newark Holyoke Burlington Stock ton Vancouver Maine Waterbury and Elpaso. But not the majors. Of there was a Brief fling with Mil Waukee in 1982, but he flopped was sent Back to the minors weeks late with a four digit earned run average. The next year he suffered a shoulder file photo Doug Jones. Key change in style injury. The year after that the Brewers released him. He had Good stuff said Starrette then with the Brewers As a minor league pitching coach but he had to Many pitches. He had t mastered one or  he paid his Way to Cleveland Spring training Camp in 1985 and caught on at the class a level. Lat that season the indians offered him a Job As a minor league coach. That tells you where my capabilities stood in their eyes he said. He turned the Down because he had changed his pitching style earlier that season. His Hope was renewed. It had started one night in the Bull pen he said. They told me i had the last three innings. I had t pitched in week. My Era was in the teens. I was frustrated. I threw everything As Hardas i could warming up. Then i went into the game and threw All fastballs the first inning. Three outs and scratch single. Not bad. The next inning i was  t have thrown 90 Mph if i d wanted to. But i did t care at that Point. I was either going to kill some one or get them out. So i started throwing change ups. Got through the inning easily. Same thing with the last inning. So i decided hmm let s give this a try on the spot he threw out his entire collection of pitches except for his fast Ball and change up and he began working to develop the change up. It worked wonders. An Angel had blessed him. Basically he said since 1985 i be been getting people  pitched Well enough in the minors in 1986 and 1987 to warrant a Chance with the indians an achieve ment considering he was not a Prospect about five years older than every one else he  up in june of last season he wound up leading the indians in saves and earned run average. His Hopes for 1988 were modest enough. He wanted to prove he really belonged in the  he has proved much More than that. He has proved he May have the Best change up in baseball. Period. The Minnesota twins Tim Laudner said it was the Best he d Ever seen after catch ing Jones in the All Star game last month. That s right. The ail stargaze. Doug Jones was there this year. Suddenly he s virtually  31 appearances this season he has 24 saves fourth highest in the american league. At one Point he converted 15 consecutive save opportunities a major league record his hat was sent to the baseball Hall of Fame. Overall he has allowed but one Home run and 29 hits in almost 50 innings. Although he still insists i Don t consider myself As Good a Pitcher As a lot of people he said he had greatly exceeded his expectations for 1988. It s a Fine lesson in perseverance a Story to keep alive the Hopes of the thousands of players bumping around the minors full of doubt. Sure i had doubts he said. But this is a game of failure. The Best hit ters Only get three hits in 10 at bats. It s a question of How you handle discouragement. I had to work at  he stayed with baseball partially be cause he had t attended College did t have anything else to  but he did love the game. So he kept on learning to handle discouragement in Vancouver and Waterbury and other burgs. Then he began working on his change up and Well it s so funny about Relief pitchers. You never know when one might show up