Champs Fight For Cellar

You know the old cliche about adversity revealing the character in athletes. It may not be the bunch of baloney you thought it was. Take a look at what's happened in the AL East this year.

You'll be kind of surprised. No--it's not that the Red Sox are leading the division. They've been there before and can be counted on to provide their annual el-foldo in due time. The Tigers in second shouldn't grab you either. After all, any team with a manger named Sparky can't be all bad.

It's not who's winning at this point that should surprise you. It's who's losing.

Drop your eyes down about an inch from the top of the standings on page 62 of the Globe. You'll find there mired about eight games from the top--the Orioles and the Yankees. These are the two teams who have basically dominated the division for the past 15 years or so, who fought it out so dramatically down the stretch in the last real season of baseball, 1980.

The days of glory are over--at least for the moment--for both teams, who realize they're gonna have to haul ass to get back in the race. And while there's still along way left to go and, as Yogi said, the race ain't over until it's over, both clubs must reverse some pretty horrendous playing thus far. It's going to be tough to do.

The Orioles are no strangers to bad starts. In 1979 they stumbled out of the gate at 3-8, but then stormed to 99 more victories and the AL pennant. And in an earlier year, 1974, they floundered at .500 until August--when they were eight games off the pace--and then blew out the rest of the division by winning 28 out of their last 34.

But this year the spark just doesn't seem to be there. The pitching--once without question the best in the league--has been horrific, as the team ERA is near 5.00. But more ominous, a failure to execute fundamentals has killed the Birds, cancelling out slugger Eddie Murray's MVP year thus far.

But through the tough times, scarcely a feather has rustled from the Orioles' nest. Manager Earl Weaver has taken a nine-game losing streak and a 10-17 overall record as calmly as the tirade-prone sparkplug can be expected to. And the team has hung together, hoping that time will bring out another resurgence.

The Yankees have been a different story because of one man--you guessed it--George Steinbrenner. George has played havoc with an essentially magnificent team, firing manager Bob Lemon after a 5-7 start and ranting and raving to no end about the club's poor performance. Beset by dissension, too many player moves, and a severe power shortage (they are tied for last in the league in homeruns, and sorely miss the California-gone Reggie) the Yanks have stunk up New York with an 11-16 start and are fast losing crowds to the resurgent Mets. All in all, their fall from power has proved a lot less graceful than the Orioles' and a lot more ugly to watch.

Oriole fans can be both proud and hopeful. Proud that their team has not stooped to the Yankees'--sorry guys, to Steinbrenner's--level of boorishness and hopeful that their team might yet rise again. It can happen--it's been done. You have to like the chances of an emotionally sound team like the O's more than those of the faction-ridden Yanks, talented as they are. If a couple of arms come around, if outfielders start hitting the cut-off man again, the Birds could be knocking on the pennant door come September. That is--unless the Bosox don't run away with it.