Sports Beat column - May 26, 2006

Sports Beat
May 26, 2006

Sports Beat by Bill McCaffrey

Death has been visiting this area on an increased rate. I was surprised that more wasn't in area news media this week on the passing of Jim Lemon.

Jim was one of the good guys of the Washington Senators in the 1950's and was one of the feared power men of the team as they moved to respectability before the fat pig Calvin Griffith moved the team to Minnesota because he didn't like the growing black presence in the DC area. Fatso Calvin had been trying the franchise out of DC since 1956 before doing the dastardly deed in 1960-61. But I am not going to further talk about Fatso!

Back to Jim Lemon, he came up with Cleveland in 1950 and joined the Senators in 1954 from 1956 to 1960, he hit 27, 17, 26,33, and 38 homeruns for the Nats. In 1961 he hit 14 round trippers for the Twins (former Nats first season in Minnesota). He ended his playing career in 1963 with the Twins, Phillies, and White Sox. Lemon had 164 career homeruns and a lifetime batting average of .262.

His fellow Nats sluggers were Roy Sievers. Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, some of his other teammates were Pete Runnels, Herbie Plews, Clint Courtney, Eddie Yost, Albie Pearson, Camilo Pascual and Chuck Stobbs.

Lemon managed the Washington Senators in 1968 (the year the riots destroyed a part of the city and the year before another pig Bob Short showed up on the DC scene).

Also passing last week was Everett Eynon, Jr. the grandson of Edward B. Eynon, Jr. who was the Secretary of the Washington Nationals and Senators under Clark Griffith.

Everett Eynon, Jr. was an outstanding athlete at DC's Woodrow Wilson high school and Wake Forest. He also was an excellent amateur golfer and was a pitcher in the Nats farm system.

Also recently passing was former Major League baseball pitcher Steve Howe.

Seen at a recent Nationals game were Ira Silverman, Norris "Chubbs" Walker, Tim Tilghman, Len Foxwell and Trixie Dolan.

The Baltimore Morons got all excited when the Orioles swept the Kansas City Royals who pass as a Major League team because they wear major league uniforms.

NCAA Champion Terps Travel To Europe
Maryland takes European Tour to four countries.

The NCAA Champion women's basketball team will cross the Atlantic Ocean and tour four European countries from May 23-June 3, 2006. The Terps, who visit Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic and France, are scheduled to play four games against top European club women's basketball teams.

"This will be one of the best learning experiences for these players, both on and off the court," said Maryland head coach Brenda Frese. "To be able to play some of the top international competition is one of the best ways to prepare for the rigors of the season. But the biggest learning experience will be off the court. To have the opportunity to visit some of the most historical places in the world will be a learning experience all of its own. What an exciting way to cap a successful season."

The championship squad have games scheduled vs. Herozenberg BBC on May 28 in Vienna, Austria, May 30 vs. Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic, and two games vs. Insep on the first and second days of June in Paris, France. Insep is also the former team of current Terrapin Aurelie Noirez, a native of Vandoeuvre, France.

Maryland, who won its first NCAA Championship title in April with a thrilling overtime victory over Duke in Boston, enjoyed its first official practice on Monday. The Terps ran through shooting drills and offensive sets before wrapping things up with some conditioning runs. The team is allowed 10 days of official practice before heading out on its European tour.

The Terrapins' first stop will be in the heart of central Europe in Budapest. While in the city, the team will visit the famous Great Market Hall, Matyas Church, the beautiful steam baths along the Danube River and the Zeneakaademia concert hall. The next stop for the Terps will be in Vienna. The players, coaches and staff will see St. Stephen's Cathedral which dates back to the 13th century, The Hofburg, the residence of the Hasburg Family until their abduction in 1918, and Prater, an amusement park which features one of Vienna's most famous landmarks, the Giant Ferris Wheel. Before leaving Vienna, the Terps will travel outside the city to the Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camps, one of the largest labor camp complexes during the German-occupied Europe during World War II.

A bus trip to Prague in the Czech Republic takes the Terps to the Old Town Square, Old Town Bridge Tower and the Observation Tower for the best view of the city. And, finally, on their last stop, the team will fly to Paris. While there, the Terrapins will visit the world famous Eiffel Tower, the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Musee D'Orsay, located in the heart of Paris. Other sightseeing and walking tours will take the Terps to the Sacre-Coeur, Bateaux Mouche and the Galleries Lafayette.

Follow the national champion Terps on their tour with video postcards and photo galleries on www.umterps.com.

Terp Field Hockey Looking For NCAA Repeat
Maryland announces 2006 schedule.

Another tough schedule is slated for the NCAA and ACC Champion field hockey Terps, as they look to capture both titles for the second-straight year. Maryland kicks off the season on their march to title number five on August 26 when it travels west to California for three games.

"We have a very diverse and another challenging schedule in 2006, playing teams from eight different conferences across the country," said five-time national coach of the coach of the year Missy Meharg. "Our strength of schedule is automatic competing in the powerful ACC and coupled with a home-and-away series with CAA-foe Old Dominion, while playing traditional conference powers Michigan from the Big 10, Patriot League leader American and the Ivy League's Princeton University. Having 11 home games and eight on the road is compliment to our new facility and playing surface."

The Terps face eight teams which ended last season ranked in the top 20, including six in the top 10. Nine of Maryland's 2006 opponents also earned NCAA Tournament bids. It will also face the other three 2006 NCAA semifinal squads.

Maryland makes its second trip to the Golden State in six years in late August. Stanford University hosts the Terps and the University of the Pacific on August 26, then the Cardinal play Maryland on August 27. After a day off, the Terrapins are back on the turf in Berkley, Calif., to take on the Bears of California.

The first game of the home-and-home series with perennial powerhouse Old Dominion on Saturday, Sept. 2 marks the beginning of a six-game homestand, which also features the Terrapin Invitational on Sept. 9-10. The Terps host Northwestern, Temple and American for the ninth edition of the home tournament. The Lady Monarchs handed Maryland one of its only two losses of the season last year, but the Terps avenged that loss, defeating ODU in the national semifinals to advance to the NCAA title game.

The ACC champions open the conference season against Boston College on Sept. 16, followed by a non-conference tilt with regional rival James Madison to wrap up the homestand. The Eagles will also play Towson prior to the Terps-Dukes matchup.

Back on the road, the Terps face important opponents, including national semifinalist Wake Forest on Sept. 23 in a rematch of the ACC title game, and the following week travel to Virginia on Sept. 29. On Oct. 1, Michigan, who is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation, and Maryland will battle on a neutral site turf on the campus of Penn State University.

A brief stay at home has the Terps in the NCAA title game rematch against Duke on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. Maryland defeated the Blue Devils, 1-0, in Louisville, Ky., last season to capture the program's fourth national title.

Maryland's final two road games send the team to Princeton on Oct. 10 and then to Old Dominion on Oct. 14, for the final installment of the home-and-home series.

The season winds down with four-consecutive homes matches with Albany on Oct. 15, followed by a rematch of the second round NCAA Tournament game vs. local rival American on Oct. 18. North Carolina visits College Park to close out the conference schedule on Oct. 22, while the Terps play Appalachian State for the first time in 26 years on Oct. 27, closing out the regular season slate.

Looking to be on pace to win its seventh ACC crown, the conference tournament will be held in Chapel Hill, N.C., Nov. 2-5. NCAA Tournament action starts with the first and second rounds on Nov. 11-12, with the semifinals and finals being hosted in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Terps have never won back-to-back NCAA titles, while they have won four-straight ACC crowns from 1998-2001 and six overall.

2006 MARYLAND FIELD HOCKEY SCHEDULE

Day Date Opponent Location Time Sat. Aug. 26 vs. Pacific Stanford, Calif. 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT Sun. Aug. 27 at Stanford Stanford, Calif. 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT Tues. Aug. 29 at California Berkeley, Calif. 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT Sat. Sept. 2 OLD DOMINION College Park, Md. 12 p.m.

TERRAPIN INVITATIONAL

Sat. Sept. 9 TEMPLE College Park, Md. 11 a.m. Northwestern vs. American College Park, Md. 1 p.m. Sun. Sept. 10 NORTHWESTERN College Park, Md. 1 p.m. Temple vs. American College Park, Md. 3 p.m. Wed. Sept. 13 DELAWARE College Park, Md. 4 p.m. Sat. Sept. 16 BOSTON COLLEGE * College Park, Md. 1 p.m. Sun. Sept. 17 Boston College vs. Towson College Park, Md. 11 a.m. JAMES MADISON College Park, Md. 2 p.m. Sat. Sept. 23 at Wake Forest* Winston-Salem, N.C. 1 p.m. Fri. Sept. 29 at Virginia* Charlottesville, Va. 6 p.m. Sun. Oct. 1 vs. Michigan State College, Pa. 12 p.m. Sat. Oct. 7 DUKE* College Park, Md. 1 p.m. Tues. Oct. 10 at Princeton Princeton, N.J. 7 p.m. Sat. Oct. 14 at Old Dominion Norfolk, Va. 12 p.m. Sun. Oct. 15 ALBANY College Park, Md. 1 p.m. Wed. Oct. 18 AMERICAN College Park, Md. 4 p.m. Sun. Oct. 22 NORTH CAROLINA* College Park, Md. 1 p.m. Fri. Oct. 27 APPALACHIAN STATE College Park, Md. 7 p.m.

Thu.-Sun. Nov. 2-5 ACC Tournament Chapel Hill, N.C. Sat.-Sun. Nov. 11-12 NCAA First and Second Rounds Campus Sites Fri. Nov. 17 NCAA Tournament Semifinals Winston-Salem, N.C. Sun. Nov. 19 NCAA Tournament Championship Game Winston-Salem, N.C.

SPORTS NOTES

Rick "Doc" Walker is now on TV Channel News 8. Also "Doc" announced that the winner of the Pro View American Airline contest is Mrs. Lucy Bran-Cornejo. "Doc" Walker and James Brown are two of the brightest lights in National TV and Radio. Doc's Pro View is on News Channel 8 on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. Its too bad a lot of cable TV systems don't carry News Channel 8. Pro view with Doc Walker is a great show with a great host, Doc Walker and his great guests.

BAYSOX REPORT

HOMERS KEY 4-3 11 INNING WIN OVER HARRISBURG

Baysox Use Long Ball In 4-3 Comeback The Baysox needed all of 11 innings to come from an early 3-0 deficit in front of 2, 893 Wednesday night at Prince George's stadium. RHP James Johnson started out rough but settled down to pick up his second quality start in a row. He was helped out by another marvelous job from the bullpen as Bowie picked up it's 21st win 4-3 over Harrisburg.

The Senators started out on the attack with back-to-back singles followed by a three-run jack off the bat of Kory Casto. Harrisburg collected just three more hits off Johnson but went hitless the rest of the evening.

Facing reliever Danny Rueckel in the bottom of the 6th, Leo Daigle drove a pitch off the scoreboard in left-center for a solo home run, his fourth of the year. The Baysox were not done yet with their 12th comeback of the year, in fact they were just getting started. With one on in the bottom of the 7th, Jeff Fiorentino said adios pelota to a Beltran Perez offering deep to right-center to even the score 3-3.

With a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th and the bases loaded, Fiorentino bounced into a fielder's choice to second base who threw pinch runner Tony Alvarez out at the plate.

In the bottom of the 11th Fiorentino came to the plate with the same situation, but Roy Corcoran blew a high fastball past Fiorentino for the second out of the inning. That brought Leo Daigle to the plate to face Corcoran, who entered the game without giving up a single run, earned or unearned, all season long. With the bases loaded, Daigle hit a hot shot past the glove of Kory Casto and into left field scoring Bautista from third with the winning run.

The multi-home run game was the first since May 5 when Cory Keylor and Mario Delgado went deep in another 4-3 win versus Akron.

Brian Roberts was 1-for-3 with a walk in the contest. Roberts hit a bloop single to left in the 7th and was replaced by Gera Alvarez at second base in the 8th. Roberts will finish up his rehab assignment with the Baysox tomorrow and will likely be activated from the Disabled List on Friday. With the win the Baysox now move into sole possession of third place in the Eastern League's Southern Division.

ON DECK: Harrisburg And Bowie wrap up their first series tomorrow night with a 7:05 start. LHP Richard Stahl will face LHP Oscar Alvarez.

BAYSOX CAPITALIZE ON SENATORS MISTAKES IN 4-2 WIN

Small ball, bullpen pick up 20th win

The Baysox survived falling to .500 on Tuesday night as they beat the visiting Harrisburg Senators 4-2 behind Brian Finch and an effective bullpen.

Finch went six quality innings, fanning five and walking two, but left with the game knotted at two all nulling an opportunity for his third win of the season.

The game was a seesaw battle in the first few innings as Bowie answered each time Harrisburg scored a run. Finch started the game by walking Dan Dement to lead off the 1st and with two outs Kory Casto drove in Dement with a line drive off the right field wall for an RBI double.

Bowie matched Harrisburg in the bottom half of the frame as Jeff Fiorentino led off by reaching on an error by Harrisburg's Ian Desmond, one of three on the night for the 19-year old shortstop. With two on and two outs, Cory Keylor singled in Fiorentino for the Baysox first run of the game.

In the 4th both teams would strike again. Alex Escobar led off with a double to right-center, his lone hit of the night, and was plated from second on a single to center by the catcher, Salomon Manriquez. In the bottom half of the 4th, Keylor continued the trend of the first batter reaching base with a single up the middle. Tripper Johnson and Ryan Hubele factored into moving Keylor to third base for Rayner Bautista. Bautista, who is hitting .410 in the past ten games, hit a line drive into center off Senator's starter, Shawn Hill, scoring Keylor, tying the game 2-2.

With the scored evened at twos, both teams gave way to the bullpen in the 7th inning. Carlos Jan, Matt Bruback and Marino Salas shut the door on the Senators while the Baysox took advantage of a fielding error in the 8th.

Fiorentino started things off by netting his lone hit of the night on an infield single to third baseman Kory Casto. Noah Hall, who came into the game hitting just .158 in his last five games, followed Fiorentino by roping a line drive off the base of the wall in left-center and stopped at second with a stand-up double as Fiorentino raced in with the go-ahead run for the Baysox.

With two outs in the 8th inning Bautista reached on Desmond's third fielding error of the evening, stole second and ended up at third on a passed ball during Gera Alvarez' at-bat. The very next pitch from reliever Devin Perrin, following the passed ball, sailed wide of the catcher allowing Bautista to scurry home on the wild pitch.

2, 213 eager fans watched as Marino Salas pitched the 9th inning. The crafty righty walked two and got two swinging before inducing Rich Lane into grounding out to second to end the game. Jan picked up his first win in relief and Salas earned his 10th save. The Baysox bullpen now has eight of the team's 20 wins.

The AHS class of 1956 is having their 50th Reunion on September 15th of this year at Martin's Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway Center Drive, Greenbelt, MD. For more information, please contact Paul Ratcliffe at: Phone - (301) 932-6929 e-mail - prat@netscape.com.

Tony Roberts is not going to do Notre Dame football on the radio this season after 26 years on the "Voice of Notre Dame football", replacing him will be Don Crigui.

Mike Glick is the new boys basketball coach at Gwynn Park high school replacing Steve Matthews who has moved to Pennsylvania. Glick previously coached at Pallotti and Spalding.

The Baltimore Orioles have crowds that are much less than the tickets sold for games.

Our deepest sympathy goes to the family of the late George Blackburn who passed at age 93. He coached football at Virginia from 1965 to 1970.

The new football coach at Parkdale high school is Quentin Hines.

The New York Post this past Sunday had a great story on the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore. By the way I got the Babe Ruth their first State grant when I was a Delegate.

I was browsing through the 1953 RHS yearbook and saw a great picture of two beautiful young ladies apparently batting around in batmitton , they were Joan Grahe Rhodes and Margot Fowler Lusby.

I've heard that Frank Shore is moving ahead on establishing a much newer and better organization to honor athletes in DC from the 1930's, 40's, and 50's and I understand he's lined up some strong backing.

Thanks for the calls folks but I am much better now after a setback late Saturday that lasted thru Tuesday.

A speedy recovery is wished for Ron Gibbons, Ray Banks, and my Aunt Margaret Brown. Our prayers go out to them.

Former cruiseweight champion Boon Paultz is ready to hit the comeback trail.

Rumor has Lennox Lewis coming out of retirement.

WE GET LETTERS

Bill,
Good column this week. The answer to where is David Poile?

In Nashville since 1997. You remember the guy who made the playoffs 14 straight years and missed it once in 1997 and then got fired? That guy left George McPhee with a team primed to go to the Stanley Cup Finals the next year. Well, while George has let this team rot year after year with no sign of progress in sight (see the lousy defensive corps and pathetic drafts), David has been in Nashville taking a team from scratch to the playoffs in consecutive years. Getting rid of Poile was one of Abe's and Susan O'Malley's BIGGEST mistakes.

And Teddy AOL has been a disastrous owner the last few years. After building a tremendous fan base and having momentum what does he do? Continue to trust a lousy GM and then insult the teams fan base for supposedly not supporting the team (what was he smoking?) The fans clearly knew that spending money on top notch forwards who are whiners (see Jagr) while picking up stiffs off the waiver wire (see Alex Henry, Jason Doig, and Joel Kwiakowski) for defense was a recipe for disaster. Teddy AOL needs to bring in a solid GM and then get out of the way and let him run the show. Then I might have some hope and a bit of trust in the Caps again. As for the current crew, forget it. They will probably screw it up and Ovechkin, the greatest thing to ever happen to the franchise since Rod Langway, will leave for free agency when he realizes Teddy and George have no idea how to build a winner.
Ed

Dear Ed,
As usual you are right. Poile was right for the Caps and should still be here. Ed Hale should buy the Caps and move them to Baltimore.
Bill

Bill,
What's the story on the Washington Mystics?
Lucy Cox

Dear Lucy,
I don't know they use to have a decent media-PR group but its terrible now, absolutely horrible, I don't even know if they have a media director. Its probably because its an el cheapo operation.
Bill

Bill,
W hat's the story on your web site, also I heard Herbie Wright was not doing well in Carolina. How is Dale? I haven't been able to get her lately.
"Big Bud"

Dear Bud,
Whoo Bud let's see if I can provide some information. Our web site www.mccaffreysworld.com is up and running and the photo gallery should be running by Monday. I was chatting with Herbie when he was bitten by a rattle snake and went to the hospital or so he told me. I had a nice email from Joan Grahe Rhodes who passed on the information Herb was not doing well and Hal Williamson had passed. Wasn't Hals nickname something like "Puddie"? I will also pass your greetings on to Dale. Bill Bill, Whatever happened to James "Dr. Bop" Robison and his wife Kay?
Slickster

Dear Slickster,
I don't know and I also don't know what happened to his wife. They were a hot twosome when you and I were at Anacostia high school.
Bill

SUPPORT LOCAL SPORTS