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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2000)
Mariners, Yankees set to do bat Je again By Josh Dubow The Associated Press NEW YORK — Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson left Seattle. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter have become full-blown megastars. Tino Martinez, Jeff Nelson and Luis Sojo shed their Mariners’ uniforms for Yankees pinstripes. Much has changed since the Mariners beat the Yankees in a clas sic, five-game duel in 1995. Perhaps most importantly is that the Yankees have the mystique of winning three World Series titles in four years, and the Mariners have un dergone an overhaul from a power hitting team to a club that relies on pitching and situational baseball. “It’s a different Yankees club and certainly a different Seattle club,” said Mariners manager Lou Piniella, one of the few holdovers on either team. “I don’t think you can go back to 1995 and draw any comparisons.” The teams begin a new series Tuesday night at Yankees Stadium, with Denny Neagle (15-9) starting for New York against Freddy Garcia (9-5) in Game 1 of the AL champi onship series. Many of the changes the teams have undergone stem from that mem orable week in October 1995. The se ries featured two extra-inning games, including Jim Leyritz’s game-win ning homer in the 15th inning that gave the Yankees a 2-0 series lead. Then Griffey, Johnson and Edgar Martinez took over, with the Big Unit winning two of the next three games — one in relief — and Grif fey scoring the winning run on Mar tinez’s double in the 11th inning of the deciding fifth game. “That memory is apparent for all Yankees fans, as well as Mariners fans,” New York manager Joe Torre said. Buck Showalter lost his job fol lowing that series, and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, in one of his best moves, hired Torre. Jeter became the starting shortstop in 1996, Martinez took over Don Mat tingly’s spot at first base, and Nel son helped give New York the best postseason bullpen in history. “Losing that series was such a huge disappointment for us,” said Paul O’Neill, one of five Yankees still on the roster. “When you lose like that, it’s something you never forget. But that experience has made this team better. We learned you don’t take any year for granted because you know it can go so quickly.” The Mariners’ changes took longer to develop. Their dramatic playoff run helped spur voters to approve funding for a new stadium, which opened last season. But Seattle was unable to keep Johnson and Griffey, losing their ace pitcher and star hitter. “In ’98 we lost Randy, in ’99 we lost Griff and in 2000 we’re in the postseason," Rodriguez said. “It’s kind of ironic.” Part of the reason is a new philoso phy that coincided with the opening of spacious Safeco Field and the clos ing of the homer-happy Kingdome. “We’ve adapted to Safeco,” Ro driguez said. “We don’t sit around and wait for the three-run homer anymore. We bunt, move people over, steal bases and pitch a lot bet ter. Pitching and defense are what win baseball games. ” Seattle will rely on a deep bullpen led by Japanese import' Kazuhiro Sasaki and an inexperi encea rotatic fronted by Garcia and Halama — two of the prospects acquired from Houston for Johnson. “We need for them to settle down and throw strikes,” Piniella said. “But they both have the equipment. Both Freddie and John will pitch good ballgames if they are pitching on their games.” There are other intriguing story lines to this series: the Yankees trying to become the first team in 10 years to make three straight World Series; Rickey Henderson playing in the postseason in New York after his re ported in-game card-playing during last year’s NLCS with the Mets; and buddies Jeter and Rodriguez squaring off in the postseason for the first time. “It’s very exciting playing against my best friend,” Rodriguez said. “But we have lots of time to spend together in the offseason. This week, it’s war.” Alonzo Mourning's spirits good, prognosis uncertain By Steven Wine The Associated Press BOCA RATON, Fla. — At first the workout sounds like any other Mia mi Heat practice, with Pat Riley’s voice and the squeal of sneakers re verberating in the gym. This is more than just basketball, though. The Heat are playing a tense waiting game. They broke training camp Monday without All-Star center Alonzo Mourning, and they don’t know if or when he’ll return. He has been in Mia mi undergoing further tests so doctors can determine the best course of treat ment for an apparent kidney disorder. Mourning told his best friend in the NBA, Seattle center Patrick Ewing, that he’ll play this season. At Mourn ing’s request, the Heat have declined to discuss his condition or prognosis. “Zo left me a message Sunday and told us to keep working hard, and he’ll take care of his end of it,” Riley said. “He’s in great spirits. He just wants to find out what’s available out there and what the definitive answer is, and then we’ll go from there. ” Mourning’s ailment was discov ered during a routine physical ex amination before training camp be gan Wednesday. “We’re more concerned about Alonzo as a person than as a play er,” forward Brian Grant said. “We’re not even thinking about when he’s going to come back, but just is he going to be all right. We should know that pretty soon. ” Mourning discussed his condi tion last week with Ewing, The Mia mi Herald reported. “Our conversation went fine, and he was in good spirits,” Ewing said. “In fact, he cursed me out because I Pac-10 continued from page 7 Beavers and the Wildcats changed that. Not only are the Trojans un ranked now, but they are on their way to a repeat of last season when they won just three Pac-10 games. “I think we’re not going to know how this team responds to adversi ty until it plays Arizona,” USC coach Paul Hackett said last Fri day. “I’m hopeful and I feel good, but they have to show something Saturday.” That said, Hackett probably felt a little sick on Saturday night. To make matters worse, receiver Kareem Kelly sat out against the Wildcats with nagging injuries, and fellow receiver Marcell All mond broke his leg in the fourth quarter and is gone for the season. Instead of playing two seasoned veterans, the Trojans’ receiving sta tistics now depend on Matt Nick els, a nonscholarship athlete, and freshman Keary Colbert, who had six receptions for 113 yards on Sat urday. At least USC still has Carson Palmer in good health. His injury early last season set the tone for the Trojans’ soon-to-have disap pointments. Oh yeah, his injured shoulder was sustained in his team’s triple-overtime loss to the Ducks. Dawg tired The Huskies kept themselves in the Rose Bowl race by taking care of business against a passionate Oregon State team. But will the bruising win hurt the Dawgs in the long run? “It was a costly victory,” Wash ington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are nicked and banged up, to the extent I don’t know. The team was certainly fired up and excited from the victory, but there wasn’t much left in the tanks.” Among the most “banged up” Husky is starting fullback Pat Con niff, who could miss the next few weeks with a sprained knee. Fortunately for Washington, it faces Arizona State, California and Stanford before it plays No. 22 Ari zona on Nov. 4 and 13th-ranked UCLA on Nov. 11. “While people might point to the UCLA game as the reason we didn’t go to the Rose Bowl, Ari zona State looms every bit as large,” Neuheisel said, referring to last season when the Sun Devils upset the Huskies, 28-7. Tennis continued from page 7 urday. The team of Menke and Mink lost to Pacific’s duo of Thomas Abrahamson and Claus Lindholm 8-6, while Teig and Beck er fell to Chase Exxon and Steve Raccioppi of Pepperdine 8-5. Oregon will have the next three weeks off before competing in the International Tennis Association’s Regional tournament in Berkeley, Calif. The Ducks will face some of the same opponents later in the sea son. Fresno State, Washington, Pa cific and Santa Clara are all on the Oregon schedule. sounded depressed on the phone when he told me what he had.... “He’s going to play again this sea son. He just said he is going to play again at some point. I don’t know when that is.” The Heat will play their first pre season game Wednesday at New Jer sey. The regular season opens Nov. 1. RETIREMENT INSURANCE MUTUAL FUNDS TRUST 5ERVICES TUITION FINANCING While TIAA-CREF invests for the long term, it’s nice to see performance like this. °%r account TIAA-CREF has delivered impressive results like these by combining two disciplined investment strategies. In our CREF Growth Account, one of many CREF vari able annuities, we combine active management with enhanced indexing. With two strategies, we have two ways to seek out performance opportunities— helping to make your investments work twice as hard. This approach also allows us to adapt our investments to different market conditions, which is especially important during volatile economic times. EXPENSE RATIO CREF GROWTH ACCOUNT 032 INDUSTRY AVERAGE 2.09 %2 CREF GROWTH ACCOUNT 26.70 1 YEAR AS OF 6/30/00 27.87' 5 YEARS 6/30/00 26.60 SINCE INCEPTION 4/29/94 Combine this team approach with our low expenses and you'll see how TIAA-CREF stands apart from the competition. Call and find out how TIAA-CREF can work for you today and tomorrow. Ensuring the future for those who shape it." 1.800.842.2776 www.tiaa-cref.org For more complete information on our securities products, please call 1.800.842.2733, ext. 5509, to request prospectuses Read them carefully before you invest. 1 TIAA-CREF expenses reflect the waiver of a portion of the Funds' investment management fees, guaranteed until July 1,2003. 2. Source: Mornmgstar, Inc. 6/30/00, tracking 939 average large-cap growth annuity funds. 3. Due to current market volatility, our securities products' performance today may be less than shown above. The investment results shown for CREF Growth variable annuity reflect past performance and are not indicative of future rates of return. These returns and the value of the principal you have invested will fluctuate so the shares you own may be more or less than their original price upon redemption. • TIAA-CREF Individual and Institutional Services, Inc! distributes the CREF and TIAA Real Estate variable annuities. • Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc. distributes the Personal Annuities variable annuity component, mutual funds and tuition savings agreements. • TIAA and TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co., New York NY issue insurance and annuities. • TIAA-CREF Trust Company, FSB provides trust services. • Investment products are not FDIC insured mav lose value and are not bank guaranteed. © 2000 TIAA-CREF 08/03 '
