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Page 4 THURSDAY, MARCH 26,1987 THE LIMA RECORDER THE LIVONIA GAZETTE THE HONEOYE FALLS TIMES HONEOYE LAKE COURIER Baseball '87 American League Spring is upon us and with this the . start of the 1987 Baseball Season. Last year the Boston Redsox, California Angels, Houston Astros and New York Mets won Division Titles. With the exception of the Mets there should be three new division winners this season. This week features the American League Picks, and next week the National League. AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST: 1. New York Yankees - with two solid second place finishes the previous seasons the Yankees should make it to the top this onr:. A solid 1-2-3 punch of Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield, and All-World Don Mattingly along with the acquisition of hard-hit- ting outfielder Gary Ward will produce a lot of runs. Mike Pagliaruco, Dan Pasqua, and Ron Kittle will produce at least 70 home runs between them. The starting pitching is improved with the addition of Rick Rhoden from Pittsburgh, a possible 20 game winner here. Dennis Rasmussen is coming off 18 wins and with Rhoden gives the Yanks a solid righty-Iefty combo. Bob Tewksbury, Ron Guidry who will be back by May are two who can be depended on for a few victories. The Bull Pen is anchored by Dave Righetti and Cecilio Guante. The one major question to be an- swered is is, is Wayne Tolleson ready to play a full season at shortstop? 2. Toronto Blue Jays - A need and a question are what will keep this good team from first place. The need is a sound left-handed stopper out of the Bull Pen and the question, is Can Dave Stieb return to the outstanding pitcher he was a' couple of seasons ago? Other- wise the Bluejays seem set to give the Yankees a run for tlie top spot. Tony Fernandez has emerged as the best young shortstop in the league hitting .310 with 200 hits and his first gold glove award last season. Out- fielders Jesse Barfield, George Bell, and Lloyd Moseby combined for 92 homers and 2302 RBI's last year and should repeat those slats again. Jim Ciancy, Jimmy Key, and Mark Eichhorn each won 14 games last year. 3. Cleveland Indlans - Here is an exciting team who will score a lot of runs this season. Last season the Indians led the league in batting, hits, runs, total bases, and steals and had six players with 69 or more RBI's. Outside of Tom Candiotti and Ken Schrom, the remainder of the starting pitching is iffy at best. With the offense, led by Joe Carter and Co. The Indians will win a lot of 1Q-8 games, but unless the pitching improves, they will be on the shortend of a lot of those scores too. 4, Boston Red Sox - The pitching staff led by Roger Ciemens, Dennis \Oilcan\ Boyd, Bruce Hurst, and Al Nipper is as good as any in the league and Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, and Dwight Evans will provide a lot of runs. However, there are too many question marks to be answered from last years division winners for them to repeat. For example: 1 - who is going to replace Rich Gedman as catcher? 2 - Is Don Baylor, who will be 39 years old, capable of anothe; 31 HR, 94 RBI year? 3 - Will Bill Buckner's legs hold up for another season? and 4- Is Dave Henderson as good as he is built up to be? Too many if's to be a serious contender this time around. 5 - Detroit Tigers - The strength of the Tigers since their 1984 Championship has been pitching and power. With the loss of Lance Parrish there power has diminished and the pitching will have to carry the load even more. Without Parrish, Kirk Gibson will have to assume the team leadership. Outside of Parrish, the Tigers will primarily field the same team which finished third last year. Lance's loss means a slip in the standings. 6 - Baltimore Orioles - New Manager Cal Ripkin Sr. should supply more of a spark than Earl Weaver did for his players last year. Lets be realistic, Earl would have rather been on the Gold Course than in the dugout. Cal Ripkin Jr. and Eddie Murray are as good as they come and Rick Burneson should be the answer to their second base problems. New catcher Terry Kennedy will help. The offense is potent but the pitching is a mess. Mike Bod- dicker was the only reliable starter last season. The rest were erratic. Major improvement is needed here for anything better than 6th place - Sorry, Mayberry 7 - Milwaukee Brewers - Not much to look forward to. Only major power threat is Rob Deer and Ted Higuera must carry a young and inexperienced pitching staff. Robin Yount is good all around outfielder but these three can't save Brewers, from escaping basement by themselves. AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST: 1. Kansas City Royals - The Royals slumped last season to finish third, ten games under 500, and 16 games behind the division winning California Angels. Things could very easily be reversed this year. An improvement and return to 1985 form by pitcher Bret Saberhagen is likely. The rest of the starting rotation, Danny Jackson, Mark Gubicza, Charlie Leibrandt, and Bud Black or Dennis Leonard suffered off years r\\'\ I ROBERTA. ~ I CONNORS I I PAVING, INC. I I ~ ~ ~. f/ Blacktop I I ~. v Sand and Gravel I I f/Stone I I Quality Workmanship I I Phone: 624-1520 (office) 229-5935 (home) I \... by Underground AI but should bounce back. Two questions loom in the form of has George Brett's shoulder healed, and are Steve Balboni's disk problems over? If they are, the Royals should finish on top with no problem. 2. Texas Rangers - When Bobby Valentine took over as manager of the Rangers they established a winning tradition. They are young, talented, and enthu- siastic. Power comes ofthe bats of Pete Incaviglia, Larry Parrish, Pete O'Brien, Steve Buechele, Oddibe McDowell, Ruben Sierra, and Don Siaught. The pitching staff is headed by youthful Edwin Correa, Bobby Witt, Jose Guzman, Mike Mason, and veteran knuckleballer Charlie Hough. Scott Fletcher has emerged as a quality shortstop and the only problem may be at second base which is still open. With a little luck a first place finish is a possibility. 3, California Angels - Much of the same team that won the West last year returns, but what kind of effect will the loss of Leaders Bobby Grich and Reggie JacksoQ along with the memory of Boston's comeback in the AI Championship . series have on them? There doesn't seem to be a glaring weakness unless age and injuries pose a problem, which could happen. Looking at the roster on paper looks good but it has to perform on the field. No higher than third place and possibly lower. 4, - Oakland A's - Reggie Jackson returns to provide in- fluence and leadership but these are not the same guys he played with before. The pitching is suspect with only Curt Young and Joaquin Andujar winning more than ten games last season. Rookie sensation Jose Canseco: Mike Davis, Carney Lansford, and Jackson will have to supply the power. Big things are expected from catcher Mickey Tettleton. With a couple of others having good or above average seasons, third place is a hope. 5.- Minnesota Twins - Outside of Bert Blyleven, Mike Smithson, and Frank Vioca, there isn't much pitching to count on. A big question mark has to do with Kent Hrbek's weight problem. Can h ? Th Tw' e move. e InS will hit a lot of homers at home but their pitche will probably give up more. Kir~ Puckett, Gary Gaetti, and Tom Brunansky give the TWins some hope. 6 - Chicago WhlleSox - A rebuilding process has begun at Comisky Park and it lIill take awhile before the Sox will be contenders again. Harold Baines Greg Walker, Carlton Fisk, and Ozzie Guillen along with pitchers Floyd Bannister, Joe Cowlrv. and Richard Dotson must' hav(' producti ve seasons or the basement is a strong possibility :\ good rookie with power to watch is Dave Cochrane. 7 - Seattle Mariners - Jim Presley, Ken Phelps, Alvin Davis. and Phil Bradley are the onl\' hitters with any power and ~!ark Langston, Mike Moore, and Mike Morgan can't pitch every third day. A player to watch is catcher Dave Valle who will be given every chance to be the No. 1 catcher. Too many holes for the Mariners to move up any more than possibly one position, and somebody has to bring up the rear. ~ Capital Ideas by John Lesniak, Albany Bureau Chief \ANARCHY' (Albany 3116'87) Recent statistics confmn the impression that once again crime is on the rise. And even if the crime rate remained unchanged, it would still be too high. What can be done? Our prisons are packed, so packed that Federal Judges overcome with a sense for the cruel and unusual are ordering criminals to be released (about which - more anon). What with all the money government spends on vote buying programs, there is little left for the essentials, like prisons or roads: bond issued must be floated for those in the home of Mario the Glib. Instead, the People's Republic of New York spends tax dollars on \outreach\ programs which encourage people to get on the dole. As if the welfare programs are not enough of a fiscal burden in Ih~mselves, now the State spends money in order to spend more money. And, of course, there is precious little left over for prisons. The latest outrage, and I do mean outrage, is the television commercial featuring Cesar Perales, Commissar of the State Department of Socialist Services, plugging his agency's wares: -- Hey, you out there. You poor miserable wretch. Hungry? C'mon down to the Welfare office. We'll fix you UP. We got lots of food stamps. It's easy. And if you already have plenty of food, you Can get anything you want on the food stamp black market; guns, prostitutes, drugs, even money. All you have to do is ask. We're flush. And to confirm any fears tJlal Cesar's pitch is anything but naked unadulterated vote buying at its lowest level, the message closes not with something to the effect that the State Department of Social Services is responsible for the past 30 seconds of video, No, sPOrL~ fans, The viewer learns that the prcceding \commercial\ is the product of something called GOVERNOR CUOMO'S Nutritional Program, or some such claptrap. It is one thing to use State resources to ensnare more and more people into the Welfare web, but quite another to create a personality cu I t at the same time. The incomparable arrogance of Cuomo the First is quite revolting: he has commandeered the bloated resources of the State to inflate his own vile pomposity. Verily, I'etat, c'est moi! But I digress too much ... Crime. How to reduce it? How can society stop people from committing criminal acts. Simple: Abolish the police force, In its place give every citizen a gun. Get the government out of the security business. Privitize it. If experience ha~ shown us anything, it is that government screws up everything it touches, Certainly there can be no better example of government misfeasance than the criminal justice system. Like the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither, there is little justice and nothing systematic about the way society deals with criminals _ - except to state the obvious, that it is criminal. Eliminating the State's role in the dispensation of justice would be the first, best, biggest step down that happy road to anarchy, which is not synonymow; witl. chaos. Anarchy simply means no government. Once it were demonstrated that we could get along rather nicely without one of the traditional functions of government, then the rest of that monstrous vampire known a~ the State could be dismantled and consigned to the black pages of history, Society would still be !mperfect; it shall always be, but It would be much improved. What an idyllic concept: no windy legislatures, no government planning boards, no rent control abominations, no homosexual righl~ law, no affirmative action, no busing, no pornography (all the smut shops would be firebombed), no Commerce Departmen~ no Labor Department, no Agriculture Department, no Public Service Department (within six months there would be compeUllon reducing everybody's rates), no Office of Business Permits (no business permits needed), no Economic Development Depanment (our ver.;ion of central planning), no mindless regulations, no cops. Paradise! Wait a minute. No cops!?! Now I know you're outta your nul Not so fast, troops. Ponder this: After a couple of bloody months all of the human vermin would be wiped out, off the streets for ever, never to torment or tonure again. No prisons: all crimes would become capital offenses, or, if moderation were desired in a panicular ca~e, severe beatings could be administered to the miscreants by little old ladies equipped with spiked clubs as the scurvy slime were held at gunpoint. Of course, getting the scuzz-bucket's weapon away from him would probably mean wasting him, but he could always surrender and opt for a tl',orough whipping if faced by an implacable mob of angry citizens. But hold on, you wacko, who's going to determine what's criminal conduct and what's not? Aha! That's the beauty of it! Not only would we no longer need criminal couns (we could keep the civil couns f~r civilized people to resolve thetr disputes) or prisons, but we could send the Legislature a packing, Not only would there be no administrative side of govemment, there would be no legislative body loading down the body politic with useless statutes. Continued on Page 9
