The Week (april 17-23)

AL EAST

Last year Detroit gave us The Bird. This year it's The Rose. After rookie Dave Rozema shut out the Red Sox 8-0 for his first victory, he celebrated by handing out long-stemmed roses to his teammates and the press.

Even before that no one was about to accuse Rozema (pronounced rose-ma) of being a shrinking violet. Like The Bird, he rushes to the mound, giggles a bit and shakes a lot of hands when he is happy. After his win he also placed the last ball in his locker. "It's still hot," he said. On Rozema's first day in the Tiger system, he reported wearing white shoes, a yellow glove and shoulder-length blond hair. The organization made him dye his shoes gray and get a haircut, while his minor league mates swiped his glove. But no one is monkeying with Rozema's style. In the shutout he allowed four hits and no walks—in 21 innings he has walked just three men. Unfortunately, the Tigers won only one other game last week, and lost three.

Toronto (2-3) held New York to a .500 week by taking two of four in Yankee Stadium. Doug Ault went 8 for 14 and Otto Velez 9 for 15 in the series, while rookie Jerry Garvin won his third straight 8-3 and Dave Lemanczyk won 5-1 on four hits. Milwaukee (3-2) stayed in first, but Manager Alex Grammas posted storm warnings as his hot pitchers began to show signs of wilting. "We can't make our pitchers throw shutouts every time out," he said. "I'm going to have five or six guys out early and get them some extra hitting. We're just not popping the ball."

Boston (3-3) was put up for sale by the estate of Tom Yawkey, but the Red Sox certainly weren't helping the deal on the field. They could do no better than split series with Detroit and Cleveland, and George Scott continued to hit at around .200. "The Good Man above controls everything," said Scott. "When He is ready to make George Scott hit his 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs, He will." So far Scott has had no homers and only two RBIs.

Cleveland (1-5) pulled Outfielder Johnny Grubb off the injured list, which made sense: the Indians need all the help they can get. To make room for Grubb the club optioned Outfielder Charlie Spikes to Toledo and planned to move Buddy Bell from left to third. But the real problem was pitching. The Indians' staff had no complete games and had allowed 35 runs.

The only joyful cries in the division came from Baltimore, winner of all five of its games. Jim Palmer hurled his second straight shutout, a 5-0 three-hit masterpiece against Texas, and Ross Grimsley stopped the Rangers 6-1 on six hits. Then Rudy May beat Cleveland 4-3 as Al Bumbry, Doug DeCinces and rookie Eddie Murray all homered. The best was still to come. When Cleveland scored three times in the 10th to go ahead 5-2, the Associated Press began to move a story about a Tribe victory. The AP forgot about Brooks Robinson. After the Orioles scored one run and put two men on in their half of the 10th, the 39-year-old player-coach appeared as a pinch hitter and homered to win the game 6-5. "It's a tough job going in as a pinch hitter," said Robinson, "but I'll always feel like a kid when I put this uniform on." Said Manager Earl Weaver: "It brought tears to my eyes, that's what it did. The man has been so good for baseball. He's such a great person. That has to affect you. I think I might have to revise my list of alltime thrills." Next night the Birds blasted their ex-mate, millionaire Indian Wayne Garland, 7-2 on nine hits.

MIL 8-4 BALT 6-4 TOR 7-7 NY 5-8 CLEV 4-7 BOS 4-7 DET 5-9

AL WEST

The White Sox (3-2) moved into first place on good pitching and unaccustomed power. Chicago beat Oakland's Vida Blue 8-2 with four homers, including two by Richie Zisk. "It was strength against strength, just like in the National League. He's a power pitcher, and I got some good ones to hit," said ex-Pirate Zisk. Eric Soderholm then rocked Nolan Ryan for two singles and a homer, scoring or driving in all the runs as Chicago beat California 3-2. White Sox Pitchers Ken Brett, Chris Knapp and Fransisco Barrios each got his second win during the week.