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timesleader.com
THE TIMES LEADER
FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2011
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Jeter gets hit No. 2,998, but Yankees lose Shortstop leads off with double vs. Rays By MIKE FITZPATRICK AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Jeff Niemann gave up Derek Jeter’s 2,998th hit but little else, B.J. Upton homered and drove in three runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 5-1 on Thursday night to start strong in a long stretch of games against their biggest division rivals. Ben Zobrist homered, tripled and singled for Tampa Bay, which tagged Bartolo Colon early in one of the worst outings of his surprising comeback season. Evan Longoria had an RBI single and the Rays won the first of 11 straight games against New York and Boston, the two teams they trail in the AL East.
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milestones. He doubled on Niemann’s first pitch, then grounded out his next four times up and ended the night two short. With two runners on, Jeter made the last out of the game on a bouncer to third against ex-Yankee Kyle Farnsworth. Rookie right-hander Jeremy Hellickson pitches for the Rays on Friday night. Niemann (4-4) went a season-high 7 1-3 innings, yielding only a solo homer by Robinson Cano in the sixth. The 6-foot-9, AP PHOTO 260-pound righty gave up six hits and walked two, improving to 3-0 in four Derek Jeter talks to first base coach starts since missing six weeks with a Mick Kelleher after being thrown out at
With a chance to hit for the cycle in the ninth, Zobrist walked for the second time in the game. The leadoff man reached safely in all five plate appearances. Jeter is trying to become the 28th major leaguer — and first with the Yankees — to reach 3,000 hits, one of baseball’s biggest See JETER, Page 6B
first during Thursday’s baseball game against Tampa Bay.
LITTLE LEAGUE
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
Finishing strong
Lamenting the loss of a program
West Side Tech volleyball players are disappointed to suddenly be without a team. By VAN ROSE vrose@timesleader.com
The highlight of Nikki Mangan’s summer occurred recently when she spent four days attending the girls volleyball camp at Penn State University, where she got the opportunity to learn the game from members of the three-time defending national champion Nittany Lions. “It was one of the best experiences of my life,” said the senior at West Side Career & Technology Center in Pringle. “It was wonderful.” Mangan’s excitement quickly turned to disappointment, however, when she received a phone call during the final day of camp from a classmate, informing her that the upcoming volleyball season had been canceled, along with those of four other sports, by the school’s Joint Operating Committee. “I’m really disappointed,” said Mangan, whose parents spent $450 to send her to the Penn State camp. “Before I heard the news, I was excited to bring home things I had learned for my team and teach them how much better we could be.” Now, she may not get that chance, even though the committee’s June 27 decision must be ratified by the school’s five sending districts. The move was made in order to trim approximately $190,000 in cuts from the West Side Tech budget. But Mangan isn’t counting on a reversal. See TECH, Page 6B
S. JOHN WILKIN/THE TIMES LEADER
Mountain Top’s Curtis Tokach tries to avoid the tag of Hanover’s Kyle Windt (7) at second base in a District 16 Little League major baseball tournament game Thursday. Mountain Top prevailed 3-2 in the winner’s bracket final to advance to the championship.
Mountain Top wins on walk-off RBI single
By RYAN KONOPKI For The Times Leader
DORRANCE TWP. — Having reached his pitch limit in the fifth inning with two outs and the go-ahead run on third base, Mountain Top’s Kyle Richards had no chance to pick up the win for his team on the mound. So he pulled it off at the plate instead. Richards knocked in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning and Mountain Top won the winner’s bracket final 3-2 against Hanover in the District
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16 Little League major MOUNTAIN baseball tourTOP nament on Thursday. After Hanover ’s Tony MolHANOVER itoris retired the first two batters of the inning, Mike Leri walked and took second on a passed ball. Curtis Tokach singled to keep the inning alive. Leri advanced to third on the base hit, setting up Richards’ line drive over the head of the third baseman.
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“The boy’s been on fire through the all-stars (tournament),” Mountain Top coach Rich LeRoy said. Richards allowed just two hits, struck out six batters and walked six before giving way to relief pitcher Lance Blass in a 2-2 tie. Blass struck out the only batter he faced in the fifth inning. Hanover was the first to score on Jordan Choman’s RBI single in the first. Mountain Top’s Connor Sheloski came up with an RBI single of his own, evening the score at one.
After Kyle Windt knocked in Anthony Vitale with a double in the third inning to put Hanover up one, Mountain Top evened the score again with Sam Majdic’s RBI single in the fourth. The Hanover squad threatened to take the lead again in the sixth inning when Jake Peters roped a leadoff single and advanced to second on Sean Hart’s sacrifice bunt. After moving to third on a fielder’s choice, Peters was 60 feet from putting his team ahead. See BASEBALL, Page 6B
IL BASEBALL
Yanks’ Nova shines in Triple-A return By JOSH HORTON For The Times Leader
AP PHOTO
Cristie Kerr watches her drive on the 14th hole during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor Golf Club on Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colo. Story, Page 7B.
MOOSIC — Ivan Nova reminded the Buffalo Bisons why he was the ace of the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre just one season ago. The right-hander allowed an early home run to Luis Figueroa, but nothing more as he led the Yankees to a 6-2 victory on Thursday night at PNC Field. “He had no three-ball counts all night,” Scranton/WilkesBarre pitching coach Scott Aldred said. “That’s as good as I’ve seen him pitch.” The Bisons wasted no time scoring. Nova struck out Figueroa struck to lead off the game, but Figueroa reached first on a wild pitch on the third strike.
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Later in the bottom of the second, Luis Nunez hit a sacrifice fly to left field allowing Laird to score easily from third base to tie the game at 2-2 after two innings. The Yankees captured their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth. With one out in the inning, Jordan Parraz singled to center and then scored on an RBI double to left by P.J. Pilittere. The Yankees lead was 3-2 after four. “I’m just trying to have good at-bats and put the ball in play, hit the ball hard and hope they fall,” Parraz said. “Sometimes they fall and you get three hits, and sometimes they don’t.”
Nova retired the next two batters but Fernando Martinez roped a two-run home run to right field for a 2-0 lead. The Yankees offense awoke in the bottom of the second when Jorge Vazquez led off the inning with a double to right field. Brandon Laird then hit a double of his own, allowing Vazquez to score from third making it a 2-1 ball game. See YANKEES, Page 6B
OPINION JIM LITKE
Tempers are running high on diamond If you tune into baseball games to see the umpire strike back, the All-Star break couldn’t come at a worse time. July is already shaping up as one of the best months ever for ejections. Since the calendar turned over, 17 players, managers and coaches have been sent to cool off early, the same number that were tossed during the first weeks of April, May and June combined. The early leader in the clubhouse for best exit was Blue Jays pitcher Jon Rauch, who got a jump on things by shedding his jersey and hat even before stalking off toward the stalls. Then Tigers manager Jim Leyland did Rauch one better. Leyland was still standing in the dugout when he got tossed for the second time in nine days, shortening his trip to the showers to a matter of steps. “Like I said after that one, something is going on,” Leyland said Thursday. “It’s just not good when there’s that much tension around.” Even with another day to think things over, Leyland hasn’t figured out what’s causing all the pile-ups between the umps and players, managers and coaches. “In no way, shape or form am I blaming the umps. I want to be clear about that,” Leyland said in a phone call from Kansas City, where his Tigers were preparing to play the Royals. “We’ve all got to do better, especially with what happens right after a call somebody doesn’t like is made. For the good of the game, everybody needs to relax a little bit.” Blame it on rising temperatures, the replay videos available at every turn, a handful of Triple-A call-ups filling out the umpiring crews as vacation relief, or the mounting frustration some clubs express as their spring-training dreams circle the drain even before the season hits the midway point. Then again, as Angels manager Mike Scioscia suggested the other day, maybe it’s just “cyclical.” “I haven’t noticed anything that would point to it being anything but random,” he said. So far, Scioscia’s guess is as good as any other. According to MLB figures, 93 players, managers and coaches were ejected this season through June 30, less than the average of 102 over the same time period for the past half-dozen seasons. The totals have ranged between a low of 78 and a high of 116. “You’re never going to figure it out. And maybe if the umps got it right once in a while,” chuckled Hall of Famer and former manager Earl Weaver, “you wouldn’t be having all these problems.” Weaver acknowledged a moment later that he’s hardly impartial. He’s third on the managers’ list of all-time ejections with 97, trailing only Bobby Cox (131) and John McGraw (117). Weaver also watches only two dozen or so games a season from his home in Pembroke Pines, Fla., but he does have a theory. “Umps are human beings and they have to take a lot of guff, so to some extent, they’ve always been like that,” he said. “But from what I see, more and more they’re taking exception to just about everything. I had plenty run-ins, but it seems like the old guys were more secure about the job. It’s almost like the newer guys are being taught how to See LITKE, Page 6B