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The Roanoke Times: Press Box

with our sports staff

Two is the loneliest number

Posted Jul26, 2006 at 11:56 AM

Your Pulaski Blue Jays have dropped for the first time this season to second place in the East Division of the Appalachian League. Danville (21-13) has a two-game lead after dealing the visiting Jays (19-15) a second straight loss Tuesday, 12-1.

Carnage update: Pulaski, which won 13 of its first 14 games, is 6-14 since and 1-9 in its past 10 games.

And that's not the worst part.

Last night they committed SEVEN errors, making 7 of Danville's 12 runs unearned. The lowlights:

First inning: Josh Lex, not really a first baseman by trade, drops the throw on a potential inning-ending double play. The Braves go on to score three runs. Baron Frost, the best hitter and by far worst fielder among Jays outfielders, also bobbled a ball in left field that allowed two runners to advance, though Rey Gonzalez ended the inning by striking out the next hitter, the wonderfully named Concepcion Rodriguez. (He's a center fielder, not a shortstop.)

Third inning: Jays baby bull Travis Snider displays his arm in right field, but the off-line throw allows runners to move up to second and third. Third baseman Leance Soto, no stranger to errors he, commits his first of the game with another bad throw. Gonzalez leaves with one out and Danville increases its lead to 9-1.

Sixth inning: Calm for a while until throwing errors by Snider and reliever John Zinnicker on the same play spark a two-run burst. Soto throws in a fielding error for good measure, his 10th in only 20 games this summer.

Yeesh.

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Quick thoughts

  • Poll voters get it right -

    Who knew the Virginia football program carried so much weight? Southern Cal moved up from No. 3 to No. 1 in the Associated Press media poll, and from No. 2 to No. 1 in the coaches’ poll, after its 52-7 rout of UVa in Charlottesville. “To see a team go on the road and play a New Year’s Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?” voter Stewart Mandel of SI.com told the AP. Now we all know UVa is hardly the same team that played on Jan. 1. But the voters still got this right. USC proved more at UVa than a Georgia team that beat Division I-AA Georgia Southern or an Ohio State team that beat I-AA Youngstown State. — Mark Berman

  • ACC stinks it up -

    Arkansas State won at Texas A&M. Bowling Green upset Pitt. Louisiana Tech beat Mississippi State. But the ACC laid the biggest egg of all in Week 1, reinforcing its reputation as a weak conference. Preseason ACC favorite Clemson was squashed by Alabama. ECU upset the Hokies. USC flattened UVa. Maryland only beat Delaware by a 14-7 score, and UNC had to rally to beat McNeese State. On Thursday, South Carolina shut out N.C. State. At least Wake Forest beat Baylor. But the ACC was an object of ridicule on national sports talk radio Saturday night, and rightly so. And it won’t get any better next weekend when Miami visits Florida. — Mark Berman

  • Intriguing ACC games for VT hoops -

    The 2008-09 schedule for the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team was released this week, and the Hokies will begin and end the ACC portion of it in noteworthy fashion. Their ACC opener will be a Sunday night visit to Durham on Jan. 4 to take on Olympic coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke in a game airing on Fox Sports Net. Their next game features a visit to Cassell Coliseum by Virginia. And the Hokies better hope they have a good record before their final three games of the regular season, because that will be the toughest stretch of their year by far. They host Duke in an ABC game on Feb. 28, followed by a March 4 visit from Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina in an ESPN game. The regular-season finale is a trip to Florida State, where Tech always loses. — Mark Berman

  • Good showing for UVa at Olympics -

    With the Olympics over, UVa has plenty to be proud of. Ex-Cav Angela Hucles, the leading goal scorer in UVa history, now has to be considered one of the best female athletes UVa has ever produced. Not only did she win her second gold with the U.S. women’s soccer team, but she scored a team-high four goals in Beijing — including two in the semifinals and one in the quarterfinals. Ex-Cav Lindsay Shoop also won gold — one of three UVa grads to medal in rowing. And Dawn Staley was part of a winning basketball team as an assistant. As for Virginia Tech? Well, ex-Hokie Ieva Kublina had a few good basketball games for Latvia. And Queen Harrison reached a hurdles semifinal at the age of 19. London could be in her future. — Mark Berman

  • Hightower making us look good -

    Tim Hightower is making The Roanoke Times — and Division I-AA football in this state — look good. Hightower was a standout running back at Richmond last fall, helping the Spiders reach the I-AA semifinals. We chose him as the Roanoke Times’ state Division I offensive player of the year, eschewing I-A stars. Now comes word that the fifth-round draft pick will likely be Edgerrin James’ top backup with the Arizona Cardinals. Good for him. I just hope he fares better off the field than our offensive player of the year picks in 1999 and 2004, Michael and Marcus Vick. — Mark Berman

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The Press Box blog will post entries on a variety of sports at both the high school and collegiate levels in Southwest Virginia. Contributions come from staff writers of The Roanoke Times sports section.

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