Don't have ESPNU?Posted Aug31, 2006 at 06:19 PMWe've been told that by at least two Roanoke Valley establishments, Awful Arthur's at Towers and Buffalo Wild Wings at Tanglewood, that they will be carrying the Virginia-Pittsburgh football game on Saturday night. If you know of any other sites, please let us know. Thanks, So long, farewellPosted Aug31, 2006 at 06:04 PMWith a 35-33 season in the books – their eighth straight year with a winning record – let’s wrap up a summer of Blog Fever with some postseason awards for the Pulaski Blue Jays. Best hitter Best pitcher Best entrance music Avalanche playoffsPosted Aug30, 2006 at 12:27 PMSalem hosts Kinston for the first game of the Southern Division championship series on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The division series is best-of-three with the second and third (if needed) games in Kinston on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 7-8. The Carolina League championship series is best-of-five, beginning with two games at the site of the Southern Division winner on Sat. and Sun. Sept. 9-10, then the final three (or two or one if needed) at the home of the Northern Division leader. Frederick and Wilmington will be duking it out for the Northern Division championship. Wilmington won the first half. Frederick is leading Wilmington for the second half title and could clinch today. Better KnowPosted Aug29, 2006 at 05:52 PMSadly, our derivative, six-part series, “Better Know a Blue Jay,” has reached its end. Like the Jays’ playoff chances. Let’s exit with a bang. Drew Taylor Tapping on a laptop at his stall in the Pulaski clubhouse, left-hander Drew Taylor isn’t playing mp3’s or fiddling around on MySpace. He’s working on his application to medical school. “Setting myself up just in case,” said Taylor, who received an undergraduate degree in biology and a doctorate in molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Michigan. The plan is to gain admission for next fall and then defer to 2008. You can only defer for one year, he said, but that still will give him up to three seasons of baseball before he would have to choose a profession. “I figure after three years,” he said, “I’ll have a pretty good idea … if it’s going to pan out for me.” Baron, BarronPosted Aug28, 2006 at 11:57 PMPlaying again without Appalachian League MVP Travis Snider, the Pulaski Blue Jays mustered just six hits Monday night at Bristol, kicking off their final series of the season with a 1-0 loss, despite strong pitching from Mike Barbara and Alan Stidfole. Among the hitless was DH Baron Frost, announced earlier in the day as the league's offensive player of the week. Frost raised his batting average 66 points, taking over the team lead, with a 14-for-23 week that included 10 RBIs. Monday's 0-for-3 dropped him to .322, just behind Snider, who is out because of a sore tendon in his left wrist. Pulaski (34-32) is playing out the string for two more games, and I'm in the mood to clear out my notebook. Stay tuned for the last two installments of our derivative, shortened-to-six-parts series, "Better Know a Blue Jay." Raul Barron Avalanche pennant chasePosted Aug27, 2006 at 04:52 PMNo champagne yet. Myrtle Beach's 7-6 10th-inning win at Frederick Sunday afternoon means Salem cannot clinch the Southern Division title today. Surprise at UVaPosted Aug25, 2006 at 04:40 PMWith one week to go before Virginia's opening football game, one of the few position battles that is too close to call is taking place at place-kicker. For two years, Chris Gould has been viewed as the heir apparent to all-time UVa scoring leader Connor Hughes, but Gould has had a surprisingly strong challenge from walk-on Noah Greenbaum. Greenbaum, who is in his fourth year in the program, had a 41-yard field goal against Temple and also had a game-winning field goal in UVa's spring game. Greenbaum, a product of Richmond's Collegiate Schools, appeared twice in a 2003 game as a punting alternative to Tom Hagan. Coach Al Groh already has said that Gould will handle kickoffs, previously the responsibility of Kurt Smith, now with the San Diego Chargers. Junior-college transfer Ryan Weigand probably would punt if Gould handled field goals and extra points; if Greenbaum wins that job, Gould might be the punter. That doesn't rule out the possibility that Gould, younger brother of Chicago Bears place-kicker Robbie Gould, could handle kicking and punting duties if Groh doesn't like what he sees from Weigand. The good news for Greenbaum is that he's received a scholarship, whether he wins the place-kicking job or not. Snider wins Appy League MVPPosted Aug23, 2006 at 02:11 AMPulaski Blue Jays right fielder Travis Snider might not win the Appalachian League triple crown, but he'll have a nice consolation prize: the player of the year award. Snider, an 18-year-old picked in the first round of June's draft, was the lone Jay on the all-star team selected by coaches, media and front office personnel from throughout the league. He is sixth in the league with a .325 batting average, tied for first with 11 home runs and tied for second with 41 RBIs. His OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) is a league-high .979. Snider has missed the past three games because of a sore wrist, as Ray Cox explains. Danville Braves right-hander Jamie Richmond was voted pitcher of the year and Elizabethton's Ray Smith was manager of the year. The rest of the team: C Nevin Ashley, Princeton Devil Rays Jays all but deadPosted Aug23, 2006 at 02:06 AMA week ago at Calfee Park, minutes after an extra-inning loss to Bluefield, Pulaski infielder Raul Barron considered his team’s position in the playoff chase. That loss dropped the Jays three games behind Danville in the winner-take-all East Division of the Appalachian League, but as Barron pointed out, they had six games coming up against sub-.500 Greeneville. The first-place Braves had a three-game series at defending champion Elizabethton, which again leads the West Division. It hasn’t helped so far. Greeneville beat the Jays for the third straight time Tuesday night in Pulaski, winning 3-2 after Nathan Starner allowed two runs in the ninth and Adam Rogers allowed one run in the 10th. Another scoreless, seven-inning stint by the combo of Kyle Walter (two innings) and Kyle Ginley (five innings) fell by the wayside. At 31-29, the Jays are five games back with only eight remaining. They’ll need a miracle to overtake Danville and second-place Burlington, which is four games out. To cheer you, here’s the fourth installment in what looks like it’ll be a six-part series, “Better Know a Blue Jay.” HomestandPosted Aug22, 2006 at 02:54 PMGet a behind the scenes look a the Salem Avalanche with the Homestand multimedia package from The Roanoke Times. UVa lineman departsPosted Aug21, 2006 at 02:48 PMUVa football coach Al Groh said during a teleconference Monday that junior offensive tackle Eddie Pinigis advised him Saturday that he would be leaving the team. Pinigis was projected as UVa's starting right tackle in preseason information distributed by the school but subsequently had fallen behind 6-7, 306-pound freshman Will Barker. You have to wonder if Pinigis, a 2003 graduate of Jefferson Forest High School, might be joining fellow JF graduates Rashad Jennings and Stevie Ray Lloyd at Liberty University, where former UVa aide Danny Rocco is the new head coach. On another topic debated on this site Friday, Groh says the battle for the No. 2 quarterback spot behind Chris Olsen is down to junior Kevin McCabe and redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell. Cavs get familiar namePosted Aug18, 2006 at 04:00 PMThe two primary websites devoted to University of Virginia athletics, the sabre.com and rivals.com, are reporting that UVa has taken a men's basketball commitment for 2007 from Jeff Jones, a 6-foot-4 guard from Monsignor Bonner in Drexel Hill, Pa. Jones is not related to the Jeff Jones who played at Virginia from 1978-1982 and later coached the Cavaliers. This Jeff Jones earlier had committed to Maryland but reopened his recruiting this past spring. The 2007 Virginia recruiting class includes an all-Philadelphia backcourt of Jones and Sam Zeglinski, along with 6-7 Eric Wallace from Winston-Salem, N.C., and Hargrave Military Academy. UVa QBs jockey for position behind OlsenPosted Aug17, 2006 at 02:39 PMOf the nine scholarship Pennsylvanians on Virginia’s football roster, only Kevin McCabe comes from Pittsburgh, where the Cavaliers will open the season Sept. 2. When the UVa-Pittsburgh game was scheduled, McCabe might have seen himself as a potential starter, but he’s fighting for the No. 2 job behind Christian Olsen. Groh said Tuesday that McCabe was coming off the best practice of the preseason but Groh wouldn’t commit to a back-up Thursday, prior to a meet-the-team function. “The pecking order [at most positions] is kind of set right now,” Groh said, “but that’s one spot where we’re going to last it out a little longer.” McCabe, a fourth-year junior, has been competing with redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell, who missed practice time last week after sustaining a nasty gash in a bicycle accident. It took 18 stitches to clear the wound. When asked about the progress of signee Marc Verica, Groh said that four scholarship quarterbacks have been getting most of the work. The fourth is sophomore Scott Deke, a Californian who now lives in Roanoke. Groh said that he has seen progress from Deke, mostly in the area of decision-making. Racing or reaching?Posted Aug16, 2006 at 02:01 PMIs it just me or is NASCAR's "Lucky Dog" rule instituted at Dover in '03 getting completely out of hand? At Indy, we saw Jeff Gordon lose four laps in the pits when the sway bar came unhooked only to rebound with a 16th place finish and keep his hopes of making The Chase alive as ever. Then, just when it seemed the policy couldn't have any greater impact, his teammate Kyle Busch earned (well not exactly) the "Lucky Dog" not one, not two, not three, not four but five times--a new NASCAR record--last weekend at the Glen! At one point in Sunday's race, Busch would have dropped all the way to ninth in the standings. Instead, Busch finished ninth and maintained fifth in the points. At this rate, there will be drivers making up 10 laps under the Lucky Dog who go on to win races before long! I can only imagine how the late Dale Earnhardt or the retired Harry Gant would have weighed in on this. Those guys were two of the hard-nosed greats of yesteryear who had to drive like it was no tomorrow just to make up one lap. Can you imagine what they would think about being spoon-fed five? Bannister leaving UVaPosted Aug15, 2006 at 04:01 PMBannister leaving UVa Virginia announced Tueday that 5-foot-10 1/2 T.J. Bannister, back-up point guard for the UVa men's basketball team for the past three seasons, has decided to transfer. Bannister, from Jacksonville, Fla., started a total of 21 games in his first two seasons but was limited to 13 games this past season after undergoing September surgery for a sports hernia. Bannister played in 16 games this past season and averaged a career-low 13 minutes per game. UVa's starting point guard, Sean Singletary, is coming off hip surgery. J.R. Reynolds also received playing time at point guard last year but is the Cavaliers' regular shooting guard. Virginia does not have another point guard on its roster. Jays notesPosted Aug15, 2006 at 12:18 PMWhile Travis Snider enjoys a second consecutive Appy League hitter of the week award, a few notes on the Pulaski Blue Jays: - Luis Sanchez finally has been cleared to play. Contract issues sorted out, the former Lake City (Fla.) Community College infielder debuted in Friday’s loss to Johnson City and is 1 for 7 with two walks so far. The Jays had been rotating Wes Stone, Raul Barron, Luis Fernandez, Leance Soto and Jonathan Del Campo among second, third and short. - Stone said he was disappointed but not upset to be bumped back to Pulaski after a week at Class-A Auburn. There’s more playing time to be had here. “As long as I get to play somewhere, I’m fine with that,” he said last week. “I’m happy with that. I’m kind of happy to come down because we’re actually in the race still. That’s pretty exciting.” Drafted last year as a high school shortstop, Stone had played second base nearly exclusively for the Jays until trying some third base in recent days. “They kind of want to make me more versatile,” he said. - A 6-4 loss last night kept the second-place Jays (28-25) from sweeping three games at Bluefield and dropped them two games behind East-leading Danville -- and only one ahead of third-place Burlington -- as they open a three-game home series against those same Bluefield Orioles. If the rotation holds, Pulaski will go tonight with right-hander Rey Gonzalez (2-4, 3.80), who is coming off his best two starts of the summer. Left-hander Kyle Walter (0-3, 6.19) and right-hander Mike Barbara (2-1, 4.24) would follow Wednesday and Thursday. Ten things about the CavaliersPosted Aug14, 2006 at 10:17 AMI've always worried that I'd attend a Virginia football practice, something major would happen and I wouldn't notice. I usually attend 2-3 practices during the spring and 2-3 during the fall, mostly to show that the media appreciates the opportunity, limited as it may be. That said, here are some observations from Saturday's 8:45 a.m. practice, which required me leaving Roanoke before 6:30. 1. Jason Snelling looked more like a tailback than he ever had before, mostly because he's down under 230 pounds. 2. Some of the best punts of the day were unloaded by nickel back and ex-soccer goalie Ryan Best. However, I'm not sure why Best and reserve quarterback Scott Deke were practicing their punting. (Maybe it was a drill for the return men). 3. Redshirt freshman Jeffrrey Fitzgerald has moved ahead of Alex Field at one of the defensive tackle spots. Field was ahead of Fitzgerald on the depth chart in the media guide. 4. On occasions when the first defense was on the field, junior Nate Lyles and sophomore Byron Glaspy were the safeties, although fifth-year senior Tony Franklin, a late addition to the roster, was wearing one of the orange jerseys reserved for starters. 5. Four safeties had orange jerseys, including Jamaal Jackson, a starter at several points last season. Media gadfly Jeff White, a Crozet resident with easy access to the UVa practices, said he would be surprised if Lyles and Franklin don't start. 6. Glaspy may have had the best play of the day, returning an interception for a touchdown. 7. Offensive linemen did chest bumps and exchanged high fives when Michael Johnson broke through the defense on one play. Johnson, a fifth-year senior, is no better than co-No. 2 behind Cedric Peerman behind Snelling. Johnson's teammates appear to be pulling for him. 8. Offensive lineman Zac Stair, first noticed trading shoves with DL Chris Long, was wearing jersey No. 1, with "One a Day," written under it. When coach Al Groh expressed his displeasure at the penalties Stair had been incurring, Stair reportedly told him, "Ah, coach, it's just one a day." One day later he had a new jersey. 9. One day after practice, Deyon Williams showed up for practice on crutches. Another veteran receiver, Emmanuel Byers, has an Achilles problem that bears watching but did not appear to be limping. 10. Cornerback and former record-setting Gretna High School quarterback Vic Hall was holding for field goals and extra points and it wasn't long before the Cavaliers started working on fakes. I don't see the fakes working unless Hall did all the holding, but that would mean supplanting John Phillips, who hasn't dropped a snap in two years. TwinkiesPosted Aug09, 2006 at 05:03 PMBreaking into our wall-to-wall Travis Snider coverage, I direct your attention to the Appalachian League standings, where the Pulaski Blue Jays can be found in second place in the East Division after taking four of six games from first-place Danville. The Braves, 6-4 losers last night at Calfee Park, lead Pulaski and Burlington by two games as we hit the home stretch. The Jays have 21 games left, including 12 home games. Tonight they begin a three-game series against Johnson City. Also, in unconfirmed, Net-based news, saves leader Patrick McGuigan is listed today on Auburn’s roster, not Pulaski’s roster. Another promotion? We’ll check on it at tonight’s game. LHP Nathan Starner pitched the ninth inning for the second straight time last night, allowing one run but picking up his second save. And now, the long-awaited third installment of our derivative, 30-something-part (OK, there’s no way we’re getting to 30-something parts) series “Better Know a Blue Jay.” Baby bullPosted Aug08, 2006 at 12:24 PMPulaski right fielder Travis Snider was named Appalachian League offensive player of the week before last night's game, honoring him for a span of six games (July 31-Aug. 6) in which he went 9-for-26 with 3 runs, 3 doubles, 3 home runs, 6 RBIs, 21 total bases, a .433 on-base percentage and an .808 slugging percentage. And that was before he tore apart the Danville Braves with two long home runs and two doubles in five at-bats in last night's 10-6 win. Tonight Pulaski will play the last of six straight games against the East-leading Braves. After taking two of three at Danville, the Blue Jays can take two of three at home. They are tied for second with Burlington, three games behind the Braves. "They're the team to beat," Snider said last night. Pitcher of the week honors, incidentally, went to Danville right-hander Jamie Richmond, who scattered seven hits in 4 1/3 scoreless innings in Sunday's 14-1 win at Calfee Park. Richmond leads the league with a 7-0 record, a 0.74 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP. And if you didn't notice the item in today's article, the Braves are playing without one of their top hitters. First baseman and catcher Tyler Flowers was suspended 50 games, including the first 22 games of next season, for violating Minor League Baseball's drug policy. An article in the Danville Register & Bee quotes Braves minor-league officials as saying Flowers used performance enhancers while at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College this spring. Another Appy League player, Bristol pitcher Wascar Segura, was suspended for a similar offense July 24. Oral commitmentsPosted Aug04, 2006 at 11:08 AMThere has been recruiting news on several fronts over the past 24 hours: Virginia Tech has taken a men's basketball commitment from D.J. Thompson, a 6-foot-5 junior last year at Forest Hills High School in Union County, N.C., who will transfer to Hope Christian in Kings's Mountain, N.C., and be reclassified as a junior. Julian Vaughn, a 6-8 forward from Oak Hill Academy, has made an oral commitment to Florida. Virginia and Virginia Tech were among the schools that had made scholarship offers to Vaughn, who spent his junior year at South Lakes High School in Reston, Grant Hill's alma mater. Virginia received its first football commitment since June. It's from Anthony Mihota, a 6-foot-5, 258-pound defensive lineman from Massaponax High School in Fredericksburg. Mihota is the 12th player to commit to the Cavaliers. The Beautiful OccupationPosted Aug02, 2006 at 04:19 PMIf you haven’t been to Calfee Park to see Travis Snider this summer, people, you really need to get on that. Pulaski’s baby bull has only 15 home games left in his rookie-league career and there’s a good chance you’ll want to be able to say you saw him when. After going 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, two walks and a steal in last night’s extra-inning win, Snider is hitting .315 with 6 home runs and 25 RBIs in 35 games. The 18-year-old outfielder (Toronto’s first-round pick in June) also made two diving catches and a nice running catch in Monday’s 5-2 win. “He’s been selective at the plate,” Charlie Wilson, Toronto’s manager of minor-league operations, said last week. “He’s hit for power. He’s played defense just fine. He’s showed everything that we thought he was going to show and more.” Last night’s highlights: Bottom of the first: Batting fifth – a change from his usual cleanup spot, perhaps to give the struggling Josh Lex some protection at cleanup – Snider worked the count to 3-1 against Princeton’s Chad Pendarvis, one of the Appalachian League’s best pitchers. (And a 6-foot-7 left-hander, just to make it a little tougher on a lefty hitter.) Snider missed with a mighty swing, took a moment to compose himself and yanked a solo home run, his sixth, over the 23-foot fence in rightfield. And that's not allPosted Aug01, 2006 at 05:01 PMAt late afternoon Tuesday, word was received that Virginia Tech had taken an oral commitment from Barquell Rivers, a 6-foot, 215-pound linebacker from Anson County High School in Wadesboro, N.C. According to rivals.com, Rivers also had offers from Michigan, Clemson, North Carolina, Louisville, N.C. State, South Carolina and Rivers. Tech up to 22Posted Aug01, 2006 at 02:16 PMVirginia Tech received its 22 football commitment Tuesday from Hunter Ovens, a 6-2, 220-pound linebacker from Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota, Fla. Monday evening, Tech got its 21st commitment for 2007 from Courtney Prince, a 6-3, 265-pound defensive tackle from Gwynn Park in Brandywine, Md. |
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