European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 baseball �?T91 the stars and stripes sunday april 7, 1991an gels poised to win division Lansford injury hurts a by Ben Walker a baseball writer there Are those who in trying to Analyse Oakland a miserable failure in the world series believe the athletics weren so hot that they were full of holes All along. As if four games should cast doubt on everything that led up to Cincinnati a stunning sweep. Well Rickey Henderson Dave Stewart Dennis eckersly and the a a were that Good last season. But they May not be Good enough to win the division this year. # Oakland has pretty much had its Way in winning three straight division titles. The athletics have been Able to overcome injuries fill in for departed free agents and withstand the challenges from new and improved teams. This year As the a a try to become the first club to win four consecutive championships since they won five from 1971-75, All of the above May get in their  Lansford a snowmobiling Accident will Cost them dearly Scott Sanderson was far from the Ace of the staff but will be better than his replacement this season. A a Quot a a a a a a a. A a the Chicago White sox who led the West the week before the All Star break will defy the Odds and not fall Back into the pack. The Kansas City royals will avoid a terrible Start and stay closer. / then there a California. The Nice Little Angels. Until this year. The Angels will win the West. They filled their gaps with trades and free agents and Are poised to Spring into Contention. Seattle will finally emerge and enjoy its first winning season. Texas is Worth watching As Long As it has Nolan Ryan while Minnesota seems stuck. A team by team look at the division with contributions by the Elias sports Bureau and stats inc 1. California Angels the Angels have never gone to the world series and after last seasons 11 game dip to a disappointing 80 82, it would have been hard to imagine them doing much of anything this year. But rather than sit Back and Hope for things to get better the Angels did something about it. Because their third basemen made 34 errors they signed free agent Gary Gatti 85 Rols. He made Only 18 errors and started 33 double plays most in the majors. The Angels needed a left handed Power hitter so they traded Dante Bichette to Milwaukee this month for Dave Parker .289, 21 hrs 92 Rols. He has averaged 96 Rols for seven years and despite turning 39 last june played in 157 games most Ever by an Aler his age California wanted to add offence so it got outfielder Junior Felix 15 hrs 65 Rols and second baseman Luis Sojo a triple a All Star in a Trade that sent Devon White and Willie Fraser to Toronto. Dave Winfield .267,21 hrs 78 Rols bounced Back from Back surgery and will Benefit from a Calm full season away from new York. Wally Joyner .268 missed half the season and returns to Bat third and Luis Polonia .336 leads off. Plus there a Lance Parrish 24 hrs 70 Rols. He led major league catchers in homers and by throwing out 47 percent of potential basest Alers. Chuck Finley 18-9, 2.40 Era and Kirk Mccaskill 12-11, 3.25along with Oakland a Bob Welch Are the Only three Al starters to be among the leagues top 10 Era leaders for two straight years. Mark Langston 10-17, 4.40 Era combined with Mike Witt on a no hitter the Angels signed former twin Gary Gatti to Shore up their defense at third. In his Anaheim debut but did not win again at Home until August. Hell be better and so might Jim Abbott 10-14. Bert Blyleven 8-7 hoped to be a 300-game Winner by now but injuries stopped him at 287, maybe for Good. Rookie Scott Lewis 13-t1 at Edmonton is ready to fill out the rotation. Bryan Harvey 25 saves is the stopper with Mark Eichhorn 13 saves in Trie setup role. Defense and depth could catch up to California. The Angels made 46 More errors last year than they did in 1989.2. Oakland athletics Rickey Henderson says he should be paid More Money. Henderson .325, 28 hrs 61 Rols won the map deservedly he also became the first player to Lead the Al in stolen bases 65runs 119 and on base percentage .439 in the same season. Whatever commotion he May create any team would pay almost anything to the Best Lead off hitter Ever. Jose Canseco is a Little different depending on his Back. Canseco 37 hrs 101 Rols hit Only three homers in 45 games after aug. 3. Mark Mcgwire 39 hrs 108 Rols is the Only major leaguer to hit 30 homers in his first four seasons. Harold Baines .284, 16 hrs 65 Rols is with the a a from the Start and Dave Henderson 20 hrs and shortstop Walt Weiss seem healthy. Mike Gallego Isnit a big hitter but was asked to sacrifice in 17 situations by manager tory Larussa and was successful on All of them. Lansford .268 slumped at the plate but led Al third basemen in Fielding for the third time in four years. Vance Law Back from Japan and Ernest riles acquired from san Francisco May have a hard time Matching Lansford. _ Stewart 22-11, 2.56 Era is trying for his fifth straight 20-win season. If Stewart could pitch against Roger Clemens in april All the Quot time head win 20 easily. He has won eight straight head to head matchup with Clemens and tuft won 14 consecutive april decisions. Bob Welch won the by Young with 27 victories most in the Al since Denny Mclain a 31 in 1968. But Mike Moore 13-15, 4.65 Era saw his strikeout ratio drop by 49 percent last year the biggest decrease a vector a Pitcher with 30 starts. Free agent Eric show 6-8, 5.76 Era will try to replace Sanderson and will Benefit by pitching for the a a maybe. Dennis eckersly 48 saves in 50 chances had an 0,61 Era the Best Ini major league history among pitchers with at least 25 innings. 3. Kansas City royals sure wont be the same without to i but Brett amp Bret must carry on. The royals lost 16 of their first 22 games last season. After that they were around .500. Whatever happens this year it will be without to Jackson who was Cut because of a bad hip and later signed with the White  Brett a year summed up Kansas City a plight. He was hitting .266 and trailing league Leader Ken Griffey or. By 71 Points on july 4, but righted himself and won his third batting title. His last one came 11 years ago. Saberhagen a weird Odd even pattern continued. He was injured and went 5-9, making him a a 36-48 in even numbered ears and 61-22 in Odd ones. Mark Guricza 4-7, 4.50 Era also was Hurt and Tom Gordon 12-11, 3.73 Era can do better while Rookie Kevin Appier 12-8, 2.76 Era excelled and so did free agent Mike Boddicker 17-8 with Boston. Free agent Kirk Gibson .260,38 Rols has played Only 160 games in two years.4. Chicago White sox in the past this trend is pretty prevalent teams that make big jumps m one season tend to fall Back the next. The White sox went from 69-92 in 1989 to 94-68 last season under manager of the year Jeff Torborg. If there a a reason Why Chicago might not drop Back its because it has the youngest team in the majors and could get better. Also there a Tim Raines and a new Ballpark. At 43, Carlton Fisk is the clubs Leader. He hit .285 with 18 homers including one off new teammate Charlie Hough that made him the majors All time Home run Leader for catchers he. Also hit the most Home runs in the old Comiskey Park and steadied a Young pitching staff. Bobby Thigpen shattered Dave Righet tips record of 46 saves by getting 57 saves in 65 chances. He was 4-6 with a 1.83 Era and got either a win or save in 65 percent of Chicago a victories the highest rate by a Pitcher this Century. Raines acquired from Montreal has wanted to play in the same league As Rickey Henderson for comparisons Sake As a Lead off Man. Raines hit .287 and stole 49 bases in his last year at Montreal. Greg Hibbard and Jack Mcdowell at 14-9, Melido Perez 13-1421-year-old Alex Fernandez 5-5, 3.80 Era and the 43-year-old Hough 12-12 round out the rotation. Hough made 368 Pickoff throws most in the majors last year. Rookie first baseman Frank Thomas who played tight end at Auburn with to drove in 31 runs in 60 games. Cory Snyder 14 hrs came from Cleveland and will play All Over. Ozzie Guillen spent the whole year in the no. 9 Slot and hit .279. Chicago s Lead off batters hit Only .237.5. Seattle mariners 1 after 14 years of futility the mariners Are poised to have a winning season. If not  move closer to the record of 16 straight losing years set by the Phillies from 1933-48. I the Griffey will be key. Ken or. .300, 22 hrs 80 Rols was Seattle a first Allstar starter at age 20. Ken sr., 41 on opening Day wanted to finish his career playing on his songs team. He hit .377 in the last month and was invited Back this year but was Hurt in a car Accident at Spring training and his status is Uncertain. Alvin Davis .283,17 hrs might even tautly take his talents elsewhere for everyone to see. Edgar Martinez .302 was a Nice Surprise and Seattle would like to see Pete of Brien .224 rebound. A a Randy Johnson 14-11, 3.65 Era Kitchen one of baseball a record nine no hitters and the first in mariners history. Erik Hanson. 18-9, 3.24 is really Worth watching and so is Mike schooler 30 saves in 34 opportunities .6. Texas rangers it would be Nice to say that As Nolan Ryan goes so go the rangers. If that were so Texas would win a lot More. Instead Ryan keeps rolling along his Way and so do the rangers. Ryan 13-9, 3.44 Era shows no sign of slowing Down at age 44. He led the league in strikeouts for the ninth time in his 10 years in the Al and was hardest to hit holding opponents to a .188 average. Ryan reached 5,000 strikeouts in 1989 and got his 300th Victory last season. The Only record Breakers left Are no hitters and he extended his own Mark with no. 6 last year Ryan has 302 career victories. Bobby Witt 17-10, 3.36 Era won 12 straight decisions despite walking More than 100 batters for the fifth straight year. Kenny Rogers led with 15 saves and Jeff Russell can improve on his total of 10 if he a healthy. Quot Texas walked 623 batters second worst to Detroit in the Al. Maybe the rangers could help themselves by not calling so Many pitch outs. They called 123 last season and Only five times was the opposing runner trying to steal. All five times he was Safe anyway. .7. Minnesota twins is it really just four years ago that the twins won the world series does that say something about How bad the division was then and How much it has improved Minnesota added decent names in the off season a Jack Morris Steve Bedro Sian Chili Davis and Mike Pagliarulo a but it May not add to last years 74 victories. Morris 15-18, 4.51 Era left Detroit at age 35 to return to the area where he grew up. He will not Benefit by moving to the metronome although he May get better defense. The tigers committed 31 errors behind Morris last season most by one team for one Pitcher. Bedrosian 9-9, 4.20 Era 17 saves could allow Rick Aguilera 32 saves to become a starter if he wanted to switch again. Kent Hrbek 22 or got offensive support from Brian Harper and Junior Ortiz who combined to hit .302 with 63 Rols As the most offensive catching platoon in baseball. A Kirby Puckett .298 failed to hit .300 for the first time since 1985but it Wasny to because he Wasny to hustling. Puckett four times tagged up on Fly balls and advanced from first base to second More than anyone else last season. .