THE WEEK (May 24-30)

NL EAST

Former Pirate Pitcher Jim Rooker, who's now a Pittsburgh broadcaster, vowed not to shave until the last-place Bucs (2-4) get to first. Don Robinson had two hits while beating the Dodgers 9-3 and hurling the Pirates' first complete game of the season. Despite three more hits his next time out, Robinson, who is batting .360 this year, lost. Rooker may have a long beard.

The Expos (5-1) played some hair-raising games of their own. Woodie Fryman had to come on in the ninth to seal Bill Gullickson's 2-0 triumph in Houston. It took a three-run homer in the eighth by Gary Carter to make Steve Rogers a 4-1 victor over Cincinnati. And Tim Wallach's three-run home run highlighted a four-run 10th that did in the Astros 4-0. That victory went to Charlie Lea, who gave up a single to the second batter he faced and then retired the next 26 before being lifted. The win concluded a 6-0 road trip for Montreal, its best ever. Those victories were also part of a winning streak that reached eight games. In a week in which Expo pitchers had an 0.78 ERA and held opponents to a .214 batting average, two of the best outings were by pitchers who have overcome arm troubles. Lea was told late last year that his arthritic elbow would keep him from ever pitching again. And David Palmer, who had elbow surgery in November of 1980, pitched for the first time since then and yielded only two hits in six innings while gaining a 6-1 victory over Houston.

Two pitchers who were woeful early this season continued their resurgence for Philadelphia (3-2). Steve Carlton, once 1-4, improved his record to 6-6 by beating the Reds 9-1 and the Braves 6-2. Dick Ruthven, who was 1-3, boosted his mark to 4-3 by defeating Atlanta 1-0 on five hits. In his last five starts, Ruthven has given up a total of only 18 hits and three runs while lowering his ERA from 3.99 to 2.49.

St. Louis (5-1) got .550 hitting from Mike Ramsey, who took over at second for injured Tommy Herr. Joaquin Andujar shut out the Giants 6-0, and Bruce Sutter chalked up his 13th and 14th saves. Dane Iorg's run-scoring single wrapped up a three-run, bottom-of-the-ninth rally that carried the Cardinals past the Padres 6-5 on Sunday.

Five whiffs in one game put Dave Kingman of the Mets (3-3) in the major league record book with 22 others who have flailed away with like futility. But three saves by Neil Allen rescued New York. Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs (3-3) also made it into the book, becoming the seventh pitcher to rack up 3,000 strikeouts. Bill Buckner merely joined the list of players who have scuffled with their managers. It all began when Buckner was knocked down by a pitch by San Diego's Tim Lollar. Chicago's Dan Larson then hit the Padres' Tim Flannery, apparently in retaliation. At the end of that inning. Cub Manager Lee Elia, believing that Buckner had usurped his authority by egging on Larson, engaged Buckner in a brief brawl. Buckner denied Elia's allegations but subsequently apologized to him. Three last-inning hits led to Cub victories, Gary Woods beating the Padres 5-3 and Ryne Sandberg knocking off the Dodgers 4-3 and 3-2 on successive days.

ST.L 30-18 MONT 24-20 NY 26-21 PHIL 23-21 CHI 21-27 PITT 18-26

NL WEST

"The organization is a loser," said an angry Jack Clark of San Francisco (2-4) on Wednesday. Owner Bob Lurie suggested that Clark, who was hitting .215 at the time, should glance in a mirror. Next time out, Clark slugged two home runs and had five RBIs to finish off the Pirates 10-5. Then, in an almost identical performance the next night, Clark again homered twice and drove across six runs to finish off Pittsburgh 9-5.

Tim Flannery of the Padres (3-3) also responded well to criticism. Manager Dick Williams was upset when the front office refused to sign former Expo Infielder Rodney Scott after San Diego Second Baseman Juan Bonilla was injured and lost for the season. Williams then knocked the fielding of Flannery, who had taken over at second. But even Williams smiled when Flannery doubled in a run in the ninth to help beat St. Louis 4-2. Ruppert Jones took over the league batting lead with a .348 average. Alan Wiggins was hitting .326, and his five steals put him fifth in that category, with 17. Wiggins also helped turn a single by Lonnie Smith of St. Louis into a double play during the 4-2 win over the Cardinals. Pitcher Joaquin Andujar was out trying to go from first to third on Smith's hit. Third Baseman Luis Salazar then had the ball swatted from his hand by Andujar. In the confusion, Smith sped to third, beating a wild throw from Shortstop Gary Templeton, who had recovered the loose ball. Wiggins, alertly dashing in from leftfield, retrieved the ball and fired it back to Templeton, who was covering third. Templeton tagged out Smith, who had rounded the base too far.

"My stomach needed that," said Manager Joe Torre after his first-place Braves (1-4) coasted past the Mets 10-2. Four hits by Larry Whisenton that day helped settle down Torre, whose stomach had acted up while Atlanta was losing 10 of its previous 19 games.

The Dodgers (3-3) defeated the Pirates 5-2 and 3-2 behind Fernando Valenzuela and Jerry Reuss, respectively. Steve Sax had three hits in each of those games and batted .345 for the week. On Sunday, Valenzuela came back to earn his seventh victory by shutting out the Cubs 7-0.

The Astros (2-4), who are usually at home in their dome, last week were 0-3 in Houston, where their record for the year is 9-15. After giving up four runs to the Cardinals in the 10th inning of what had been a scoreless game, Reliever Frank LaCorte burned his uniform jersey. In New York, though, the Astros caught fire, winning 8-3 behind Nolan Ryan and 5-2 behind Joe Niekro. Ryan's heater was superb as he struck out 11 Mets in 5% innings before leaving with a groin pull. Niekro struck out nine.

Last-place Cincinnati (3-3) was learning to delight in small things, such as Tom Seaver's seven strong innings against Montreal. Earlier, Seaver, 1-6 on the year, had said, "I don't think I've ever pitched this badly for this long." Mario Soto, who has never pitched so well for so long, shut out Philadelphia 2-0 with a four-hit, 10-strikeout performance. During May, Soto has had a 1.70 ERA and a 4-2 record.

ATL 27-19 SD 24-21 LA 25-24 HOUS 21-27 SF 21-28 CIN 19-27

AL EAST

Two hits by Toby Harrah, Mike Hargrove and Von Hayes helped Cleveland (6-0) beat Chicago 5-2 and snap LaMarr Hoyt's string of 14 wins going back to Aug. 27, 1981. Hayes also homered as Lary Sorensen beat the Twins 7-0, and his shot in the ninth inning led to a 2-1 triumph in Minnesota. Harrah's 10th homer and Andre Thornton's league-leading 13th toppled Chicago 4-2.

Dave Revering's five RBIs—the last one in the ninth—carried Toronto (3-3) past Baltimore 11-10. Dave Stieb defeated New York 7-0 for his third shutout victory.

Sammy Stewart of the Orioles (4-3) also tossed a shutout—6—0 over the Rangers—the first of his four-year career. Mike Flanagan's scoreless-inning streak was broken at 37, but he held off the Blue Jays 3-1, giving him a 14-4 record against them. Gary Roenicke hit his 10th, 11th and 12th home runs.

Lou Whitaker of the Tigers (2-3), who hadn't homered all season, hit two in one game to beat the A's 6-4. Lance Parrish, who batted .467, slugged a homer to help Milt Wilcox win 7-4 in Oakland. But Detroit, which leads the league in fielding, lost two games to the Mariners—one by a 7-6 score because of four errors, the other 4-2 because of a two-run miscue. Errors, nine of them, also hounded the Brewers (2-4). This shoddy glove work negated nine homers and helped drop Milwaukee below .500.

Mark Clear's ninth save for Boston (2-3) equaled his total for all of last season. In 33 innings of relief work, Clear has struck out 37.

Oscar Gamble of the Yankees (4-1) was on a roll, batting .526 and driving in the go-ahead run in the ninth as New York won 10-5 in Minnesota. The first of Gamble's two homers on the week helped Tommy John breeze past the Blue Jays 8-0. And RBI singles in the 10th inning by Willie Randolph and Gamble defeated the Twins again, 8-6. That victory went to reliever Goose Gossage, his second in three days.

BOS 29-17 DET 28-17 NY 24-20 CLEV 22-23 BALT 22-24 MIL 22-23 TOR 20-26

AL WEST

When the Rangers (3-3) showed up at Arlington Stadium on Monday, there were 10 pistol-packing security men at the gates. No, there wasn't any shootout. But there wasn't any game, either. This was all business—10 hours of hush-hush meetings with nettled club executives who were gunning for ways to get the Rangers out of sixth place. Also on hand was a systems analyst brought along by team president Eddie Chiles to organize a goal-setting program for the players. The result? Texas got its most lopsided victories of the season, 8-2 and 8-1 over Kansas City. In between, though, the Rangers suffered their worst loss, 14-1 to the Royals (2-4). The main man for K.C. during that 19-hit outburst was Hal McRae, who had five singles and batted .480 for the week.

Going, going, gone? It sure was. Exactly where the long drive by Greg Luzinski of the White Sox (2-4) went was uncertain, but it did clear the centerfield fence at fog-shrouded Comiskey Park. Luzinski's lengthy blast against the Royals set off the Sox's exploding scoreboard, the smoke from which further beclouded the field and forced a 10-minute delay in play. Luzinski finished the night with two home runs and six runs batted in as Chicago won 7-5.

The Angels (3-2) got some good hitting from unexpected sources. Bob Boone, a .211 batter last season, raised his average to .286 with a .385 week. California also continued to get solid hitting from Tim Foli, who has batted .444 over 13 games.

Catcher Rick Sweet, who grew up in Long-view, Wash, and who had pleaded with the Mets to trade him to Seattle (4-1), got his wish on May 21 and promptly went 7 for 15 with two homers. Gary Gray, fresh up from Salt Lake City, also homered twice and drove in seven runs. Gray's first four bagger enabled Gaylord Perry to pick up his 301st victory, 4-2 over Detroit. Relief ace Bill Caudill gained his sixth win and his sixth and seventh saves of the season.

Rickey Henderson's three steals plus Tom Underwood's three-hitter carried Oakland (2-3) past the Brewers 7-2. Four more thefts by Henderson on Sunday helped Steve McCatty defeat Detroit 10-3. Henderson has 49 steals in 48 games, a pace that would easily wipe out Lou Brock's modern mark of 118 and even the alltime record of 156 by Harry Stovey set in 1888.

Neither four homers in one game nor a triple play in the next could prevent the last-place Twins (0-6) from losing to the Yankees 10-5 and 6-4, respectively. All of which helped extend Minnesota's latest losing streak to 11 games.

CAL 31-17 CHI 28-17 KC 24-21 SEA 24-26 OAK 23-26 TEX 14-28 MINN 12-38

[originallink:10619186:43785]

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

JACK CLARK: The San Francisco outfielder ended a season-long slump by slamming five homers (to give him nine), driving in 12 runs (he now has 33) and raising his average to .226 with a .429 spree.