The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 49

Friday, August 29, 1997 THE PHILADFXPHIA INQUIRER D5 Phillies still hope to have a heart-to-heart chat with Drew David Montgomery says the timing was wrong. But the top pick's contract talks may restart soon. 1 By Jim Salisbury INQUIRER STAFF WRITER It is not unusual to walk through the-Phillies clubhouse and get called aside by Scott Rolen. "Psst," he'll say. "What's up with J.D.?" Rolen asks about J.D.

Drew, the Phillies' unsigned No. 1 draft pick, frequently. They are only seven months apart in age. When and if Drew comes on board, he will join Rolen as one of the pillars of the organization's future. Rolen, 22, has been eager to speak with Drew ever since the Phils drafted the former Florida State star in June.

He was supposed to get his chance last night. Along with team president David Montgomery and manager Terry Francona, Rolen was to whisk into Sioux City, Iowa, on a private jet and have a little chat with Drew, who was in Sioux City for a game in the independent Northern League. No money was to have been dis-cussed. Unrehearsed, Rolen was going to tell Drew how he was living a boyhood dream by playing in the major leagues. He was going to try to sell Drew on the Phillies and encourage the power-hitting outfielder to come aboard the S.S.

Philadelphia. It was all going to be from the heart. Nothing fancy. Just two guys talking baseball and dreams. went public.

So, as the Phillies were jetting off to Detroit yesterday afternoon for their series with the Tigers, Montgomery was in his Veterans Stadium office planning a weekend trip to the Scranton area to watch the tri-ple-A Red Barons. The night before, he was in Reading, watching the double-A club. Probably, Montgomery also was charting a new way to make personal contact with Drew. "I still think it's very important we meet with J.D. at some time," he said.

"I've told Scott Boras that. It won't be a negotiating session, more of a get-to-know-you chat." Montgomery sounded confident the meeting will eventually come about. "We'll do it another day, a different way," he said with a laugh. "Who knows when? Who knows where? "We think there's a tremendous opportunity for J.D. here in Philadelphia.

We think his skills and our situation are a great match. We need to convince him of that." Montgomery spoke with Boras yesterday, and both men expressed a desire to restart negotiations. Montgomery warned that signing Drew was still going to be a long process. The two sides are miles apart in money, with Drew seeking between $10 million and $12 million and the Phils offering $2.05 million. It would not be a surprise if the talks dragged on through the winter and into spring training.

The Phils will hold Drew's rights until mid-May. "Signing J.D. is a priority here," Montgomery said. "We need to improve, and we drafted him because we believe he can help us do that. -Z' "But it's not a short journey; it's at' long one.

There might be periods of quiet in this thing. There might be moments when people ask if we've' forgotten about J.D. We won't. We'll-', just keep plugging until we get it done." Notes. The Phillies open three-game interleague series with; i the Tigers tonight.

The Phils are a'-l woeful 1-8 in interleague play. Here are the pitching matchups for the series: Tyler Green (3-2, 4.93 ERA) vs. Willie Blair (13-6, 4.14) to- night, Matt Beech (2-8, 5.12) vs. Scott Sanders (4-11, 6.53) tomorrow night, and Mark Leiter (9-13, 5.86) vs. Jus-.

tin Thompson (11-10, 2.93) on Sun-day afternoon. The Phils will return home Mon- day to play the New York Yankees. Corretja gains third round with a victory in U.S. Open J-ts. 4 S.

(if 1 CfcVt I a I 1 1 it i 1 --n 1 LmdAnA Vicky Bullett of the Charlotte Sting races Tina Thompson (right) of the in their WNBA semifinal. Bullett scored 10 points, while Thompson had WNBA Comets defeat Sting, reach final Alex Corretja of Spain returns a shot by Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic en route to his 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory. The trip was a go until late Wednesday afternoon when Montgomery decided to cancel it. "We saw this as an opportunity to make contact with the young man, and it just didn't work," Montgomery said yesterday. "I don't know that anything went wrong.

It was just becoming awkward." Some contributing factors to Montgomery's decision to abort the mission were: He had intended to inform Drew's agent, Scott Boras, of the trip, but had trouble reaching Boras on Wednesday afternoon. Rolen's agent, Seth Levinson, although not against his client's participation in the meeting, may have been slightly uncomfortable with it. Word of the trip had leaked out, and Montgomery thought it would lose its intended innocence if it Associated Press PAT SULLIVAN Houston Comets for a loose ball eight points and 10 rebounds. shoot my shots and penetrate the way I do if it wasn't for my team, the picks they set for me and the passes receive. This is a total team." Janeth Arcain had a double-double for the Comets with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Thompson had 10 rebounds.

Andrea Con-greaves and Rhonda Mapp each scored 12 points for Charlotte, and Vicky Bullett scored 10. Liberty 59, Mercury 41 PHOENIX New York, buoyed by Rebecca Lobo's all-around play and Kym Hampton's third double-double of the season against Phoenix, returned to its early-season form in semifinal playoff victory. Lobo had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, and Hampton had 14 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. She had her only other double-doubles of the season in two of the four games the Liberty and Mercury split. New York's Vickie Johnson scored four of her 11 points over the final 1:15.

Jennifer Gillom and reserve Mar-lies Askamp led the Mercury with nine points each. The Liberty won their first seven games in the league's inaugural season, then went into a nosedive. They entered the playoffs having lost seven of their last nine and with a five-game losing streak on the road. Wisconsin 34-3569 33- 3669 36-33-69 34- 3569 34-35-69 34- 3569 35- 34-69 36- 33-69 35-34-69 33-36-69 35-34-69 33- 37-70 34- 36-70 34- 36-70 35- 35-70 35-3570 33- 37-70 34- 3670 32- 38-70 35- 35-70 36- 34-70 36- 34-70 34- 36-70 35- 3570 34- 3670 37- 33-70 35- 3570 33- 37-70 38- 3270 32- 3870 34- 36-70 33- 3770 35- 3570 32- 38-70 35-35-70 34- 36-70 34- 3670 33- 38-71 37-34-71 33-3871 35- 36-71 36- 3571 33-38-71 Phil Blackmar 35-3671 Paul Goydos 32-3971 Jim Gallagher 33-3871 David Ogrm 36-3571 Larry Rinker 35-3671 Charlie Rymer 33-3871 Scott Pieri 34-3771 Glen Day 35-3671 Hugh Royer 36-3571 Robert Gamez 33-3871 Robin Freeman 34-3771 Brian Henninger 36-3571 Jeff Sluman 35-3671 Billy Mayfair 36-3571 Wayne Grady 35-3671 Greg Kraft 34-3771 Jerry Kelly 34-3771 Brent Geiberger 35-3671 Brett Quigley 35-3671 Spike McRoy 35-3671 Jay Delsing 34-3872 Grant Wane 37-3572 Jim McGovern 36-3672 Craig Kanada 37-3572 Eric Johnson 35-3772 Marco Dawson 37-3572 John Daly 36-3672 Gabriel Hjertstedl 36-3672 Robert Floyd 34-3872 Steve Pate 37-3673 Don Pooley 35-3873 Dave Stockton 35-3873 Lee Porter 34-3973 Hideki Kase 35-3873 Doug Barron 37-3673 John Morse 34-3973 D.A. Weibring 34-3973 Tim Simpson 34-3973 Richard Zokol 36-3773 Mike Hulbert 36-3773 Jason Shook 33-4073 Allen Doyle 35-3873 Still reminded of 1996's battle with Pete Sampras, he beat Bohdan Ulihrach to reach the third round.

By Diane Pucin INQUIRER STAFF WRITER NEW YORK It's not that the pain of serving that double fault to Pete Sampras will ever totally go away. It's not that Alex Corretja expects that anyone will ever forget how Sampras got sick on the Stadium Court and still beat him in the quarterfinals of last year's U.S. Open because Corretja couldn't get the ball over the net on the final point. That will always be part of U.S. Open lore.

"Yes, I know," Corretja said with a shrug. "It was a match that I could have won. But it's also a match that gave me hope." So Corretja has come to this year's U.S. Open as the No. 6 seed, carrying the feeling that he is not just another over-seeded specialist who can thrive only if the surface is so slow and thick you can make flower pots out of it.

And yesterday, Corretja, a 23-year-old from Spain, moved into the third round with a 7-5, 64, 3-6, 6-4 win over Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic. On this day, when the weather started with rain and never turned any better than mucky, murky, dank and damp, Corretja played steadily if not spectacularly and was even patient enough to hold serve in a game that had 10 deuces. That now leaves Corretja as the highest seed left in his portion of the draw, and thus the seed most likely to advance into the semifinals, in which he might find Sampras waiting again. "You are kidding me," Corretja said after he was told this bit of information. "I didn't even know that highest seed remaining.

Oh. It is so difficult to win one match here that it would be stupid to think about the semifinals. Today I won a match so difficult I cannot even think about the next round." An hour after Corretja finished, Sampras, who is the No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion, beat Patrick Baur, a 32-year-old qualifier from Germany who is ranked No. 338 in the world, 7-5, 64, 6-3.

Corretja has become something of a fan favorite here. He is patted on the back by strangers with Brooklyn accents telling him how cool they thought that match was last year, or stopped by children wearing Mets caps and asked what it's like to play someone who is throwing up. Corretja smiles and fumbles for an answer and later will say that it "would be great to be one of the people for the fans to like here in New York. For sure, people know me a little bit more." Corretja lost a tough, five-set match to Andre Agassi two years ago and then the five-setter to Sampras last year. He said: "I hope this year to play a great match against one of these top guys again.

But I hope to win it." Another crowd pleaser is Brazil's 20-year-old Gustavo Kuerten, the No, 9 seed, who introduced himself to the tour by winning the French Open in June. Fans were packed around Court 18 six rows, deep to beat samba drums and cheer Kuerten's 64, 64, 6-2 win over Sjeng Schalken, another 20-year-old. On a day when the United States Tennis Association announced it was investing $31 million in a five-year plan to increase tennis participation in the country, one of the participants in the present USTA player-development program contested an entertaining three-setter on a distant court. Jackie Trail, a 16-year-old from Paducah, who accepted a wild-card invitation to play in the main draw and is ranked 897th in the world, won a set and was up a break in the second before she lost to 21-year-old Paola Suarez of Argentina, 4-6, 7-5, 64, in the sec- the former Southern Cal star and Olympic gold medalist broke Charlotte's back with a three-pointer that beat the shot clock. The stretch began, however, on a disconcerting note.

Houston center Wanda Guyton collided with teammate Tina Thompson and was lost for the rest of the game when her head hit the floor. She was taken to the hospital for tests after suffering neck pains. "It affects us greatly if she's not here" for the title game, Houston coach Van Chancellor said. "That would be a tough decision to make as to what we would do defensively." Other than Cooper, the telling difference last night was what Houston did on the offensive boards, where the Comets had a 164 edge. For the game, they outrebounded the Sting by 42-22.

"Can you believe that?" said Chancellor, who left the Mississippi program to take the Houston job in April. "When I came here, 1 said we were going to win a championship with defense." Chancellor said Cooper's 31 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal were a "quiet night. But I'm glad she had them. She had them when they counted. She's just a gamer." "It was my duty to step up my game a little bit" in the decisive moments, Cooper said.

"But I couldn't share lead in Greater Milwaukee Open LEADERS AFTER ONE ROUND Eduardo Herrera Chris Perry Dave Rummells Kevin Sutherland Ed Dougherty Steve Lowery Bruce Fleisher Omar Uresti Skip Kendall Tray Tyner Chip Sullivan Tommy Armour 3d Michael Christie Ken Green Dulfy Waldorf Mike Springer Jay Haas Keith Fergus Dick Mast Brad Fabel Kelly Gibson Scott Gump Anthony Painter Mario Tiziani Jack O'Keele Bradley Hughes Anthony Rodriguez Gary Hallberg Taylor Smith Willie Wood Scott Hoch Sieve Strieker Stewart Cink Ronnie Black Joe Durant Shaun Micheel David Sutherland John Wilson Scott Dunlap Blaine McCallister Jimmy Johnston David Edwards Rocco Mediate Lennie Clements Bill Glasson Andrew Magee Fret) Funk Jay Don Blake Brian Claar Mike Brisky Dan Forsman Mark Calcavecchia Loren Roberts Clarence Rose Adam Mednick Joey Sindelar Curtis Strange Neal Lancaster Fulton Allem Frank Lickliter Jim Thorpe Tom Purtzer David Toms Dicky Pride Keith Clearwater Emlyn Aubrey Wayne L3Vi Gene Sauers Mike Standly Len Mattiace Billy Andrade Sandy Lyle Lee Rinker Bob Estes Chris Smith Tom Pernice Jr. Nolan Henke Ted Tryba Larry Nelson Doug Martin Olin Browne Todd Demsey Jell Hart David Berganio 32-3466 34-3266 34-3266 32- 3466 33- 3366 31- 3566 34- 3266 33-3467 32- 35-67 32-3567 32- 3567 33- 34-67 34- 3367 32- 35-67 34-33-67 33- 3467 32-35-67 32- 36-68 33- 3568 33-3568 33- 3568 34- 3468 33- 35-68 36-3268 34- 3468 33-3568 33- 3568 34- 3468 33- 3568 34- 34-68 34- 34-68 32- 36-68 33- 35-68 36-33-69 35- 3469 33- 36-69 32- 37-69 34- 3569 34-3569 33- 36-69 33-3669 I a By Mel GreenbtTK INQUIRER STAFF WRITER HOUSTON The WNBA's Cynthia Cooper doesn't have the zillion-dollar contract of Michael Jordan, her male counterpart in the NBA. Heck, she's not even making the money of some of the other top players in her own league. But the Houston Comets star is every bit as valuable. The first winner of the league's MVP award proved her worth last night with 31 points as she propelled her team to a 70-54 semifinal win over the Charlotte Sting.

The victory before a crowd of 11,510 at the Summit earned the Eastern Conference champions a spot in the first WNBA title game right back on their home court tomorrow (3:30 p.m., Channel 10). The Comets will meet the New York Liberty, who beat the Phoenix Mercury in last night's other semifinal. For a long while, it seemed as if Houston was still suffering from the doldrums of last week, when the Comets lost their last two games of the season. Charlotte, which had won only three road games, built a six-point lead early in the second half and was still hanging tough with a 46-44 advantage with 10 minutes, 44 seconds to play. Then Cooper scored a layup and keyed a 10-point run that put Houston ahead to stay at 58-48 with 5:05 remaining.

In the middle of that, Golf Seven golfers ASSOCIATED PRESS BROWN DEER, Wis. A tournament-record seven golfers shared the lead yesterday after the first round of the Greater Milwaukee Open, the first time so many have tied on the PGA tour since the 1993 Phoenix Open. Ten other golfers, including -defending champion Loren Roberts and Curtis Strange, who's vying for his first tour victory since he won the 1989 U.S. Open, were 1 stroke back, and 26 players overall were within 2 strokes. One-third of the field 52 players were within 3 strokes of the lead, and half 78 were within 4.

Tiger Woods was absent, and John Daly might as well have been. Daly shot a 1-over-par 72, 6 shots off the lead, and was tied for 105th place. A recovering alcoholic who initially said he wouldn't play in the C.MO because of the stench of breweries in Milwaukee, Daly changed his mind after his strong showing at the PGA Championship, in which he shared the first-round lead before finishing 29th. The tight, course doesn't favor long hitters such as Daly, who finished 67th in 1995, or Woods, who finished 60th last year. Associated Press JOHN DUNN win, 6-2, 6-3, over Wiltrud Probst.

This match was scheduled for three different courts after the rain and finally found a spot at 9 p.m. There was one upset for the-women when Olga Barabanschi-kova, a 17-year-old from Belarus, tamed hard-serving No. 13 seed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, 6-3, Jana Novotna, the No. 3 seed, faced no such challenge, keeping Yayuk' Basuki always on the defensive' with her fine volleying and advancing smoothly with a 64, 6-2 win. The results Seedings in parentheses.

MEN'S SINGLES Second round: Daniel Vacek, Czech Republic, det. Mike Sell, Moorestown, N.J., 6-1, 6-2. Alex Corretja (6), Spain, def. Bohdan Ulihrach, Czech Republic, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Alex Radulescu, Germany, det.

Richard Fromberg, Australia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Pete Sampras (1), Tampa, def. Patrick Baur, Germany, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. John van Lottum, Netherlands, def. Johan Van Herck, Belgium, 6-3.

6-4, 6-4. Felix Mantilla (12), Spain, def. Javier Sanchez, Spain, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2. Petr Korda (16), Czech Republic, det. Marzio Martelli, Italy, 6-3.

7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5). Greg Rusedski, Britain, def. Marcos Ondruska, South Africa, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-1. Scott Draper, Australia, def. Jiri Novak, Czech Republic, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3.

Jens Knippschild, Germany, def. Dinu Pescariu, Romania, 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. Gustavo Kuerten (9), Brazil, def. Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Richard Krajicek, Nether- lands, def.

Marcelo Filippini, Uruguay, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 7-5. Martin Damm, Czech Republic, def. Brett Steven, New Zealand, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4). WOMEN'S SINGLES Second round: Mary Joe Fernandez (12), Key Biscayne, def. Rita Grande, Italy, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (10), Spain, def. Meilen Tu, Porter Ranch, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Olga Barabanschikova, Belarus, def. Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (13), Netherlands, 6-3, 6-3. Magui Serna, Spain, def.

Nathalie Dechy, France, 6-4, 6-4. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland, def. Yuka Yoshida, Japan, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Elena Likhovtseva, Russia, def. Ludmila Richterova, Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-1.

Paola Suarez. Argen- tina, def. Jackie Trail, Paducah, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Rachel McQuillan, Australia, def. Rika Hiraki, Japan, 6-0, 6-2.

Martina Hingis (1), Switzerland, def. Denisa Chladkova, Czech Republic, 6-1. 6-2. Jana Novotna (3), Czech Republic, def. Yayuk Basuki, Indonesia, 6-4, 6-2.

Kimberly Po (16), Incline Village, def. Barbara Schett, Austria, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Florencia Labat, Argentina, def. Francesca Lubiani, Italy, 6-1, 6-1. Conchita Martinez (7), Spain, def.

Samanlha Smith, Britain, 6-1, 6-0. Mirjana Lucie, Croatia, def. Brie Rippner, Chico, 6-0, 6-1. Lindsay Davenport (6), Newport Beach, def. Wiltrud Probst, Germany, 6-2, 6-3.

Silver Charm out of barn, training DEL MAR, Calif. Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Silver Charm has resumed training earlier than expected. He hasn't raced since finishing second behind Touch Gold in the Belmont Stakes on June 7. Owners Bob and Beverly Lewis had expected Silver Charm to be sidelined for 60 days while he recovered from a blood disorder, but trainer Bob Baffert said, "He's doing so good, I was afraid he'd hurt himself in his stall." U.S. Open TV: USA Network, 11 a.m.

and 7:30 p.m. Featured Matches Seedings in parentheses. Day Session Yevgeny Kafelnikov (3), Russia, vs. Mark Woodforde, Australia Monica Seles (2), Sarasota, vs. Miriam Oremans, Netherlands Adrian Voinea, Romania, vs.

Andre Agassi, Las Vegas Night Session Play begins at 7:30 p.m. Anke Huber (8), Germany, vs. Venus Williams, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Michael Chang (2), Henderson, Nev vs. Jeff Salzenstein, Englewood, Colo.

(No night session) Patrick Rafter (13), Australia, vs. Magnus Norman, Sweden Mary Pierce (9), France, vs. Natasha Zvereva, Belarus (Not before 5:30 p.m.) Marcelo Rios (10), Chile, vs. Kenneth Carlsen, Denmark ond round. Trail had won the USTA's 18-un-der national championships this summer.

A 5-foot-3 high school sophomore, she lives one block north of Possum Trot, Ky. She said she considered herself a little Jimmy Connors, playing with flat ground strokes and winning matches with guts and determination. She used all three of those elements of her game yesterday. Another product of the USTA development program, 19-year-old Meilen Tu, who beat Martina Hingis to win the U.S. Open junior championship three years ago, almost knocked off No.

10 seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. But as did Trail, Tu appeared to tire and let Sanchez move into the third round with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win. Hingis, the top seed and the winner of two Grand Slams already this year, had an easy 6-1, 6-2, 44-minute win over Denisa Chladkova. Lindsay Davenport, the No. 6 seed and one of only two women to beat Hingis this year, also had a quick.