Desert Sun, 11 October 1974 — Can Dodgers End Oakland’s Feudin’? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Can Dodgers End Oakland’s Feudin’?

LOS ANGELES (UPI) - The Los Angeles Dodgers won 102 games and finished four in front of Cincinnati in the National League West. They had the best record in baseball. The two-time World Champion Oakland A’s scored 90 victories and were five ahead of Texas at the conclusion of the American League West. The Dodgers handled the Pittsburgh Pirates while the A’s beat the Baltimore Orioles each in four games in the playoffs which were wrapped up Wednesday. So which club is the best? The challenger and the champion will get down to set-

tling that question Saturday when the first all-California World Series in history unfolds at Dodger Stadium. But there was plenty of conjecture from each side as the Dodgers and the A’s got ready to hold drills here today. “I don’t think we’re consistently given credit day after day for being the best team in baseball,” said Oakland’s Reggie Jackson, the American League’s MVP a year ago. Maybe this year, if we beat the Dodgers, people will finally give us our due. Three world championships in a row is about as good as a team can do."

Dick Green, the A’s’ 11-year veteran second baseman, sounded almost bellicose. “They’ve (the Dodgers) been popping off all year," he said. “I don’t know if it’s cockiness or confidence but they’ve sure got it. Hell, they were even talking about the World Series while they were still playing the Pirates. Well, we’ll see. Most of us think that Baltimore is just as good as any team in the National League.” "We’U just wait and see," said Davey Lopes, who stole 59 bases for the Dodgers during the regular season and then had three more thefts against the Pirates. "They're a great ball club but it’s not my job

to pop off the way they do. Besides, it’s poor professionalism to knock another team’s record. Which is what they’ve done," Jackson, who hit .289 while belting 29 home runs and collecting 93 RBIs this season, thinks Charles O. Finley’s A’s have the momentum building for something bigger than just three straight world titles. “This is a young team although we’ve been through a lot already," the big slugger noted. “But we have a heUuva shot at four and five world championships in a row. “First, though, we have to get the third and that’s all

we’re thinking about now. We'll worry about No. 4 next year and No. 5 the year after.” The Dodgers took exception to remarks attributed to the A's that they built their 102-60 divisional record because of the presence of the lowly San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. Dodger outfielder-catcher Joe Ferguson asked, “They shouldn’t badmouth our division what about theirs?" “Really, I'd like to know who they’ve beaten to get to the playoffs. There’s no way their division can compare to ours. Besides Cincinnati, we had to beat teams like Atlanta and

Houston. I’ll match those teams against any in Oakland’s division any day." Sal Bando, the A’s’ third baseman and captain, helped Oakland beat Cincinnati in seven games in the 1972 World Series and stop the New York Mets in seven in '73. “For two years,” he said, "all we heard was how good the Reds were in particular and how much stronger the National League was in general. Well, I think we burst a few bubbles on that observation and now everyone is telling us again how good the Dodgers are and how bad we’re going to be beat by them. I don’t buy that at all.”

KEN HOLTZMAN ... starts for A's.

ANDY MESSERSMITH ... Dodger starter.