Horner, Matthews Aid Atlanta Win

ATLANTA (AP) — "It was just a flare to right, but I'll take it,” Bob Horner said Tuesday night after getting his first run batted in of the season in the Atlanta Braves' 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

"I hit some balls tonight better than that one, but I sure was pleased," he said. "I don't want to stand up there in the box and make outs. "You must remember that was only my 12th game and that's not that long," he added.

Horner was making only his second start since being reinstated by the Braves after he refused to report when Atlanta optioned him to their Richmond farm in the International League three weeks ago.

Doyle Alexander gained his first victory in three decisions and it came on his sixth start.

"Let's hope it's not six more before I get another one,” he said. Horner's single was Atlanta's third straight hit off Randy Lerch, 0-5, in the second inning and scored pitcher Doyle Alexander, 1-2, who started the two-out rally with a single. The Braves added another run in the inning on Gary Matthews' RBI single.

Alexander, 1-2, had a three-hitter going into the eighth inning when he was chased after yielding a walk and a double to Pete Rose. Bake McBride then delivered a two-run single off reliever Rick Camp.

Atlanta scored two unearned runs in the first. After Matthews reached second on an error by third baseman Mike Schmidt, the Braves followed with consecutive RBI doubles by Chris Chambliss and Jeff Burroughs.

Schmidt laced a bad-hop double past third to score Pete Rose with an unearned run for the Phillies in the first after Rose had reached on an error by Chambliss at first.

In the eighth, the Braves scored three times. Chambliss tripled home a run and scored on an error on the play and Dale Murphy followed with a solo home run.

Miller Gears Players For Strike

BOSTON (AP) — Owners of major league baseball clubs made a new offer Tuesday, but there's no question that the players are geared to go out on strike as threatened at midnight, May 22.

In fact, the players have been warned by their association director, Marvin Miller, to expect "a few crumbs' from the owners in return for an agreement.

Miller issued that warning in a memorandum to all players, dated May 12. A copy of the memoradum was obtained Tuesday night by The Associated Press.

Miller indicated in the memoradum that he expected the latest offer by the owners, who revised their demands Tuesday morning.

However, the memorandum was distributed 24 hours before the owners and the Players Association negotiators resumed talks after a weekend break.

“We have a general understanding that the negotiations will not go down to the final hours before the deadline as players need to make arrangements in the event of a strike,” Miller's notice to the players said. "Stay in close contact with your player representative next Tuesday and Wednesday."

In the memorandum, Miller said: "The current problems result from the attitude of the clubs. They offer no indication of any intention or desire to conclude an agreement with the Players Association, and the club owners have never had any such intent.

"Rather, as their proposals on the benefit plans, free agent compensation and salary arbitration demonstrate, the owners' aim is force players to surrender what has been agreed to in the past.

"Miller told the players that in the event of a strike they are free to go anywhere they wish but should make sure their club player representative has an address and telephone number where you can always be reached."

"During a strike," Miller wrote, "we do not recommend participation in organized workouts, even if under club supervision, because of the risk of injury not in the course of your employment, and because to do so would encourage the owners to hold off longer in the belief that the season could be restarted at once, thereby prolonging the strike."

Horner’s Hit Pleases Cox

ATLANTA (AP) – It was only a blooper, but Manager Bobby Cox couldn’t have been happier for Bob Horner, the Atlanta Braves’ slugger who has been in the organization’s doghouse most of the year.

“I’m glad, because he needed that,” Cox said after Horner ended an 0-for-21 slump with a pop fly single to right that gave him his first run batted in of the year as the Braves downed the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 Tuesday night.

It was Horner’s only hit and came in the second when Atlanta built a 4-1 lead that eventually dwindled to 4-3 before Dale Murphy belted his fifth home run and Chris Chambliss a run-scoring triple in a three-run eighth to put the game on ice.

“It was just a flare to right, but I’ll take it,” said Horner, making only his second appearance since being reinstated by the Braves after the third baseman refused to report to the Class AAA Richmond farm team when he was optioned there three weeks ago.

“I hit some balls tonight better than I hit that one,” said Horner.  “I was happy.  I don’t want to stand up there in the box and make outs.  I like to get my hits, too.  I feel great at the plate.  I feel good swinging.  I feel a heck of a lot better about my game now.

“Anytime you miss three weeks in the middle of the season, it takes a little while to get ready again,” he added.

The Braves thus gave Doyle Alexander, 1-2, his first victory in six starts, with the lanky righthander holding the Phillies to one unearned run and three hits before he was lifted in the eighth when the margin was cut to one run on Garry Maddox’ two-run single.

“Alexander used his changeup effectively tonight, but he’s still a fastball pitcher,” said Manager Dallas Green of the Phillies.

“I didn’t have much left,” Alexander said of his failure to go the distance.  “As long as you win, that’s the main thing.  I threw a lot of sinkers and changeups.”

The loss went to Randy Lerch, 0-5, who have up four runs and seven hits in the first two innings before settling down and allowing only one base runner over the next five innings.

Owners Make A New Offer

NEW YORK (AP) – A new proposal covering the key issues in the baseball contract dispute has been presented by management negotiators to the Major League Players Association.

The offer was made during two hours of talks Tuesday.  The two sides then adjourned so Marvin Miller, executive director of the union, could study the package proposed by Ray Grebey, chief negotiator for the owners.

A management spokesman acknowledged the proposal deals with the most serious issues in the talks – compensation for teams who lose players to the free agent draft and the percentage of television revenues to be paid to the players pension fund.

In a story in today’s editions, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported what were said to be highlights of the management proposal.

They included:

-      Substantial revision of the proposal covering selection rights for clubs losing “ranking players” in the free-agency reentry draft.

-      A 70 percent increase – to $14.4 million from $8.3 million – in the clubs’ annual contributions to the player pension and insurance plan.

-      Increases in player allowances for regular season and spring training expenses.

The newspaper also said there was a change in the contract language.

A “ranking player” would be defined as one who is selected by more than seven clubs in a limited number of rounds, to vary according to the number of players in the free agent pool each year, and one who ranks among a certain upper portion of the leaders in his league.