01:00 AM EST on Sunday, December 18, 2005
BY DAN FRIEDELL Special to the Journal
With Providence ahead, 3-0, after a nifty
3-on-1 goal by Zdenek Blatny six minutes into the final period of last night's
game, Binghamton's Gregg Johnson slipped a shot past goalie Tim Thomas.
Ordinarily, a two-goal advantage with fewer
than 14 minutes to play would have been enough for the P-Bruins to hold on for
a win and move their record above .500. But Johnson's goal, on the Senators'
34th shot of the night, sent them to a 4-3 defeat in front of 3,396 fans at the
Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
"I was saving tips cleanly and
everything. I felt like through the first two periods, I probably had one of
the best games in my life," said Thomas, who saw a three-game winning
streak come to an end.
Thomas stopped 37 of 41 shots in the game.
While disappointed with the loss, he was philosophical about
"I guess that's why people love sports,
because things can turn on a dime, and they sure did," he said.
Grant Potulny scored the next two goals for
His first goal came on
The next goal came 38 seconds later on a play
that began with the puck behind the P-Bruins' net. Jonathan Sigalet was
fighting
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(1 of 3)12/17/2005 8:24:33 PM
turned the game around. "It's tough
break to have a shot miss the net and come back to somebody who's relatively
covered," Gordon said. "It's a shot that isn't a quality chance and
the guy ends up putting it into what's pretty much an empty net."
Danny Bois finished off the night's scoring
when he finished a 2-on-1 by knocking home a pass from
Johnson with 4:29 to play. While the Senators
were frustrated by their inefficiency earlier in the game, they didn't give up
on their offense.
"We just kept saying, 'Keep shooting it
and something's going to go in sooner or later,' " Johnson said. Gordon
pulled Thomas after a timeout with 1:17 to play, but Ben Guite, Sigalet, Eric Healey,
Nathan
Robinson, Blatny and Tyler Redenbach couldn't
come up with a good shot in front of
for the season. "The best thing to do
with that game is just forget about it and move on," he said.
8:10; Ward, Bng, 11:19; Clouthier, Bng,
13:24; Stroshein, Pro, 13:24; Pelletier, Pro, 15:56; Ward, Bng,
20:00.
Second period -- 2, Pro, Healey 12 (Dyment,
Robinson), 10:44. Penalties -- Bois, Bng, 5:26; Reich, Pro, 5:26; MacDonald,
Pro, 7:40; Malec, Bng, 11:53; Dyment, Pro, 14:38; Cullen, Bng, 17:54.
Third period -- 3, Pro, Blatny 4 (Healey),
5:53. 4, Bng, Johnson 5 (Potulny, Bois), 6:11; 5, Bng, Potulny 4 (Malec,
Johnson), 8:22; 6, Bng, Potulny 5 (Bois, Johnson), 9:00; 7, Bng, Bois 3
(Johnson, Potulny),
15:31. Penalties -- Guite, Pro, 20:00; Hamel,
Bng, 20:00; Potulny, Bng, 20:00.
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(2 of 3)12/17/2005 8:24:33 PM
01:00 AM EST on Saturday, November 11,
2006
BY DAN FRIEDELL Special to the Journal
PROVIDENCE -- Sophomore goalie Mark Sibbald
had allowed 12 goals in Brown's first three games.
And after allowing three goals in the last
night's 5-3, non-conference loss to Wayne State, his time ran out. When he
couldn't corral a shot from Wayne State's Jason Baclig that made the score,
4-2, just moments into the second period, he got the hook from coach Roger
Grillo.
"At that point, Mark was struggling and
it was time to give one of the young guys an opportunity and see what he could
do," Grillo said. "He was fighting the puck and he's a better
goaltender than how he performed."
The subsequent 38 minutes became an exercise
in breaking in freshman goalie Dan Rosen, who put on a solid display, turning
away 17 shots and giving the Bears an opportunity to get back in the game.
Luckily for Rosen, Wayne State (2-6-0),
uncorked only five shots, two of consequence, after he stepped on the ice in
the second period. They had blasted 13 at Sibbald in the first.
"It was good, today at least, that the
guys managed to keep them away from our zone for a couple of minutes so I was
able to get my feet moving," Rosen said.
The New York native's shining moment came
with 6:33 to go in the second when he calmly made a glove save on a point-blank
shot from Warriors center Stavros Paskaris. The effort seemed to energize the
Bears, who hadn't converted any of their four power plays in the period.
About three minutes later, senior wing
Antonin Roux smacked home the rebound of Sean Muncy's shot, cutting the Wayne
State lead to one, at 4-3.
"After he scored, the last three
minutes, we played in their zone and I think we were forechecking pretty well,"
said Jeff Prough, who scored his second and third goals of the season in the
first period. "That was a positive."
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(1 of 3)11/12/2006 4:55:22 PM Printed from projo.com
Though they were feeling good heading into
the second intermission, the Bears couldn't maintain their
momentum. "I was really disappointed on
how we came out in the third," Grillo said. "I thought we would come
out with some jump, but we were flat and didn't have a lot of energy."
While Wayne State controlled the tempo for
much of the final period, the score remained 4-3, and the Bears had a golden
opportunity with 1:48 to play. With Brown on the attack, the Warriors' Mark
Nebus was called for hooking, giving Brown a power play for the rest of the
game.
After the ensuing faceoff, Dave Robertson
fired a shot past Wayne State goalie Brett Bothwell that looked as if it had
crossed the line before bouncing out of the net. But the referees saw it
differently, deciding the puck had ricocheted off the post.
"I thought it was in from the angle I
had, but I'm a long way away and [the referee] has got to make the call,"
said Grillo. "But we should have never put ourselves in that position to
begin with." The Warriors' final goal came on a shot into an empty Brown
net with 32 seconds to go.
Wayne state's Bill Wilkinson, a 25-year
head-coaching veteran, accepted the victory with humility. "Early, we got
some bounces and scored some goals," he said. "They hit the post two
or three times, and the game sometimes comes down to luck. Tonight we got some
luck our way."
Brown continues to search for its first win
of the year as the teams close out their two-game set at 2 p.m. today in Meehan
Auditorium. Wayne State 3 1 1 -- 5
Brown 2 1 0 -- 3 First period -- Wayne State,
Katz (Bloomingburg) 3:22. Brown, Prough (Vokes) 4:29. Wayne State, Iliakis
8:00; Bloomingburg (Grabarek) 12:46 (pp). Brown, Prough (McNary, Vokes) 15:54
(pp). Penalties -- W 5-18, B 2-4.
Second period -- Wayne State, Baclig (Nebus)
1:57 (pp). Brown, Roux (Dersch, Muncy) 16:11. Penalties -- W 5-10, B 2-4. Third
period -- Wayne State, Forgie 19:28 (en). Shots -- Wayne State, 13-6-13 -- 32;
Brown 15 9 15 -- 39. Saves -- Bothwell, W, 13-8-15 -- 36; Sibbald,
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(2 of 3)11/12/2006 4:55:22 PM
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, April 21, 2006
BY DAN FRIEDELL Special to the Journal
DURHAM, N.C. -- It can't be a meeting of the
big guns if one side doesn't bring enough ammunition to the fight.
Facing a 65-pitch limit, Jon Lester, the top
pitching prospect in the Boston organization, had a 1-2-3 fourth inning, but
didn't come out for the fifth at Durham Bulls Athletic Park last night.
His opposite number, Chris Seddon -- one of
Tampa Bay's top prospects and also a lefthander, didn't have the same shackles,
throwing 97 pitches over six innings to get his second win of the year.
While Lester, who left the game down, 2-1,
pitched his best game of the young season, the PawSox relief corps couldn't
match his pace. The bullpen cost the PawSox (7-8) any chance for a comeback as
they fell 8-3 to the Bulls (10-5).
Charlie Zink replaced Lester in the fifth and
gave up three wild-pitch-fueled runs. Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes, who
struggled on Wednesday (1-for-7), came up with run-scoring hits in the inning.
Zink's replacement, Mike Bumatay, wasn't much
better, allowing an inherited runner to score in the sixth and struggled in a
groan-inducing seventh, giving up a run on two walks and three wild pitches, to
make it 7-3. The Bulls scored another run in the eighth without a hit.
Designated hitter Jeff Bailey hit his second
two-run homer in two days. Bailey's fifth of the year easily cleared the famous
Durham Bull cutout above the 32-foot wall.
After giving up two runs in the third while
facing the heart of the Durham lineup, Lester regained the form that made him
dominant in the first and second.
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He notched his fifth and sixth strikeouts
against Kevin Witt and Shawn Riggans and cleanly fielded a grounder from Kevin
Cash to end the inning and his outing.
Lester knows that Boston's plan is to limit
his pitches in April.
"They just told me I'm on a pitch count
and that's all I can do," said Lester. "There's no point in arguing
because they've made up their mind."
Consequently, he's working on adjusting to
the Triple-A level, 65 pitches at a time.
"I threw the ball well, commanded the
ball well, had a plan and executed it," Lester said. "Finally, the
game is starting to slow down. I'm getting comfortable on the mound."
With Lester's pitch restriction, Zink knew he
would be in the game early. Unfortunately for the PawSox, his knuckleball wasn't
behaving.
"I was having trouble throwing strikes
with it. I was getting a ton of movement, but that's good and bad," he
said after giving up four runs in just 1 1/3 innings. "I'm supposed to go
four or five innings, so it's frustrating to me that we had to use another
guy."
The PawSox, who have been straddling the .500
mark all season, have a chance to even their road-trip results with a win today
before returning home to face Buffalo tomorrow.
Online
at: http://www.projo.com/pawsox/content/projo_20060421_21pawsox.1ce241cf.html
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(1 of 4)9/27/2005 10:28:59 AM
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10:28:59 AM
Some of the changes caused by trades are
subtler. Perez, who is from Miami and played his entire career on the East
Coast, appreciated the low humidity in the West. Furmaniak had an opposite
reaction after having spent two years in the PCL.
“After the first week or so, I was
like, this is unbelievable. My body was actually wearing down quicker in the
two weeks (after the trade) than the first five months of the season,”
Furmaniak said.
Perez, playing for his third team of the
season, worried about missing signs. “Thank God I didn’t miss
any,” Perez said, laughing. “The first week I was in Lancaster, I
was totally confused. I would be at first base and the coach would be telling
me what to do.”
When the Braves played the Mud Hens shortly
after Miner arrived in Toledo, no one asked him for a scouting report on his
ex-teammates.
“I was shocked,” Miner said.
“I don’t whether it’s some unwritten rule, because I
haven’t been traded before, but nobody really quizzed me on anything. I
know Richmond changed their signs for the series because they figured that I
would tell them, but they didn’t even ask me.”
In the end, Furmaniak, Miner and Perez all
said they saw their trades as opportunities, not setbacks. Still, they were
surprised to experience such strong post-trade emotions, having grown close to
so many players and coaches over the years. Miner, for example, talked about
his friendship with first baseman Scott Thorman.
“It goes a lot farther than the
baseball relationship where I’m a pitcher, he’s a first baseman, we’re
on the same team, so everybody’s friendly,” Miner said. “For
those of us who don’t go to college, it’s like the years we spend
in the minor leagues, those relationships, over four, five years, last forever.”
Even after a trade.
--DAN FRIEDELL
The most talked-about September callups in
2005 were the ones that didn’t happen. The Devil Rays focused on the
bottom line as their reason for not promoting B.J. Upton and Delmon Young from
Triple-A Durham. Both are on the 40-man roster already, but the Rays’
ownership transition and muddled front-office future prompted them to keep
their top young talent out of the big leagues for now, as the organization
hopes to lessen the impact of arbitration for the duo on their future payroll.
(See Page 3.)
While Upton and Young didn’t make it to
the majors in 2005, here are some other players you may have missed who did
make it:
Matt Capps, rhp, Pirates: A seventh-round pick in 2002, Capps posted an ERA
above 10 in 2004 at low Class A Hickory and was sent back to short-season ball
in the second half. In other words, this was the first time he spent an entire
year in full-season leagues. He just happened to finish the year in the
National League.
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(3 of 4)9/27/2005 10:28:59 AM
Saturday, November 05, 2005
By Dan Friedell Contributing writer
It's a good thing that there are no right
angles involved in swim meets, because Christian Brothers Academy senior Kayla
Ehle has trouble with corners.
Ehle swam two lengths of the pool in 25.38
seconds to win the Class B 50-yard freestyle title in the Section III girls
championship meet at Nottingham High School on Friday.
If you had asked her a year ago, she would
more likely have predicted a title in the 200-yard freestyle.
Ehle's efforts helped push CBA into first
place among Class B schools after the meet's first day. The Brothers already
have scored enough points to defend their sectional title regardless of what
happens during diver Eileen McMahon's routine today.
Last April, Ehle slipped and fell on a
hardwood floor while turning a corner in her home, breaking her left elbow. The
injury required surgery to insert a screw into the joint and kept her out of
the pool for a month.
The combination of an opening on the CBA
roster for a sprinter and the fact that the sprint events put less sustained
pressure on her elbow led her to the 50-yard freestyle.
And if she manages to out-kick defending
Section III champion Sarah Blair (Auburn) and top- seeded Cat Scharf (New
Hartford) during Saturday's individual finals, she'll consider the fall a happy
accident.
Ehle gave Blair her only loss of the season
in the event during a regular-season meet last week, and she knows Scharf has a
well-deserved reputation as one of the best sprinters in the section.
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(1 of 3)11/19/2005 9:27:17 AM
"There's not really a rivalry, because I
haven't been doing the event for a long time," Ehle said. "There's
always competition, but no ill-will."
The 50-yard freestyle is just one of today's
finals that should be tightly contested.
The 200-yard individual medley will match up
CBA's Allie Speidel (2:14.90) and West Genesee's Nicole Murphy (2:15.54), two
swimmers who qualified for the state championship meet with their times on
Friday.
Today's final will be the top-ranked
swimmers' first meeting of the weekend because Friday's qualifying round was
broken down by school size. There were separate meets for Class A, B and C
schools.
Since CBA is a Class B school in swimming,
Speidel didn't have much competition in her heat, winning the event by
three-fourths of a pool length over Mexico's Cali DeSanto. She said she is
looking forward to facing off against Murphy, her teammate with the Syracuse
Chargers club team, for the sectional title.
"That will be interesting," Speidel
said. "(Good competition) always makes me swim faster."
One swimmer who won't get much competition
for the sectional title today is Ashley Twichell (Fayetteville-Manlius) who won
the 500-yard freestyle by more than seven seconds at 5:08.86. Twichell, who won
the event as a freshman in 2003, is back at the sectional meet after spending
last season away from high school competition while focusing on swimming for
the Chargers.
"I missed it a lot," she said after
the meet, during which she also won the 200-yard freestyle by one second over
New Hartford's Alyssa Cortese. "High school is more about doing really
well as a team, where club swimming is more individual."
Twichell's cousin, Laura, is looking to
better her pair of 2004 sixth-place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly and the
individual medley. She heads into Saturday seeded third in the butterfly, just
1.5 seconds behind top-seeded Scharf.
At the conclusion of Friday's swimming, New
Hartford (417 points) had a substantial lead over Liverpool (324.50) and Auburn
(243.50). Even with the sectional diving finals, which will be factored into
the team scores, still to come on this afternoon, New Hartford and Liverpool's
rankings cannot change.
However, F-M could move into third place
ahead of Auburn with strong efforts from divers Lisa Goyette and Sarah
Langkammerer, because the Maroons do not dive.
Skaneateles pulled out a half-second victory
over Lowville in the last event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay, to
clinch the first-ever Class C sectional title regardless of what happens during
today's diving.
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(2 of 3)11/19/2005 9:27:17 AM
Senior Abby Duggan anchored the team of
Britton Weber, Maddie Halstead and Meg Clary.
"It feels like it's my birthday, I'm so
excited," Duggan said while waiting with her teammates to ascend the
podium. "We've only had a team for three years and we won sectionals. Last
year our lacrosse team won states, and this feels just as good, if not
better."
©
2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
Copyright
2005 syracuse.com. All Rights Reserved.
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Article published Dec 22, 2006
Special to the News & Record
NEW YORK -- It took four drops of blood on
the Madison Square Garden parquet for the Duke Blue Devils to see red.
After a slow first half that saw them post
their lowest point total of the year, the sixth-ranked Blue Devils (11-1)
played solid ball in the final 14 minutes for a 61-54 victory over Gonzaga.
Sophomore point guard Greg Paulus clipped his chin as he dove under the press
table chasing a loose ball.
He remained under the table's blue draping
for a minute before teammates came to his aid. When he got to his feet, there
were four red droplets on the floor. He left the floor for the only time all
game to have a trainer bandage his chin.
A minute later, he was back leading the
Duke offense to a key non-conference win over the 21stranked Bulldogs (9-4).
Despite the blood, Paulus, a former quarterback, was eager to return to action;
especially in front of about 50 friends and family who made the four-hour drive
down from Syracuse.
"It was, let's get up and see what
the score was and try to get out there as soon as possible," he said.
While Paulus didn't hit his next few
shots, he found Josh McRoberts for a dunk off an inbounds pass that gave the
Blue Devils a 43-38 lead with 8:00 to go. Then he made a 3-pointer a few
minutes later that gave them their largest lead of the game, 48-40, and helped
the Devils stay in their offense after DeMarcus Nelson fouled out with 4:12 to
play.
That, combined with intrepid defense from
freshman Jon Scheyer and Nelson against Gonzaga's leading scorer, Derek Raivio,
propelled the Blue Devils to the win. Paulus hit four 3-pointers in a
career-high 20-point game coach Mike Krzyzewski called "the best of his
career."
Paulus' effort was capped by a give-and-go
executed with McRoberts that pushed the Duke lead to 56-50 with just under a
minute to play. The guard, who has been dealing with a foot injury and illness
throughout the season, said he feels like he's almost at full capacity for the
first time this year.
"I'm not where I'd like to be,"
he said. "But I know I'm getting better and getting back into shape."
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Krzyzewski joked about his bench's lack of
offensive production -- zero points in 35 combined minutes -- but he was
impressed with the way they dealt with Gonzaga's big scorers, Raivio and
6-foot-10 forward Josh Heytvelt.
The duo, averaging 37 points combined, was
held to four. Gonzaga coach Mark Few was impressed with the atmosphere at the
packed Madison Square Garden (19,528) but would have liked to see his offense
make the easy shots.
"We missed layins during a real
critical stretch there," he said. "We just didn't deliver."
Krzyzewski was thrilled to see his young
team perform well in a foreign environment ahead of the ACC schedule.
"This was a really big win for
us," he said. "I'm proud of our guys."
The slow first half provided a contrast
for the active and bloody second half.
The opening 20 minutes were defined by two
runs, the first by Gonzaga and the second by Duke. When Paulus hit a jumper to
tie it at 10 halfway through the period, the Bulldogs took off on a 9-0 sprint
that was punctuated by Sean Mallon's 3-pointer that made it 19-10 with 6:07 to
go.
During the run, Gonzaga's interior
defenders contested every Duke short-range shot, as McRoberts and Brian Zoubek
had trouble gaining position against Gonzaga forward Abdullahi Kuso.
Kuso also imposed himself inside during
the period, scoring eight points to best his season average by three.
The Blue Devils, energized by a McRoberts
blocked shot and an authoritative dunk that made it 1914 with three minutes to
play, went on a 10-0 tear during a 4:40 stretch and took a 20-19 lead when
Nelson made a long 3-pointer with 1:11 to go. Raivio, the Bulldogs' leading
scorer, made his first shot of the half, a mid-range jumper that gave Gonzaga a
21-20 lead heading into the break.
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Special to the News & Record
GREENSBORO -- Maryland freshman Marissa
Coleman is legit.
She proved it in high school, she proved
it in the ACC regular season. On Saturday, she proved it in the ACC tournament
semifinals.
Coleman, the ACC's top freshman, shook off
a rocky game Friday against 11th-seeded Georgia Tech -- during which she got an
earful from coach Brenda Frese -- to notch a double-double Saturday and lead
the third-seeded Terrapins to a 78-70 win over No. 2 Duke.
Coleman scored the Terrapins' first basket
of the game and completed the first half with nine points as Maryland finished
the opening 20 minutes ahead 38-32.
But that was just an appetizer. The main
course came when Coleman exploded for seven points during a 1:35 stretch early
in the second half.
A smooth 3-pointer, a floating 15-footer,
a baseline drive and laser of a pass to a wide-open Crystal Langhorne gave
Maryland a 51-38 lead with 15:10 to play and had Duke coach Gail Goestenkors
desperately signaling for a 30-second timeout.
Earlier Saturday, Coleman and forward
Laura Harper decided they had to atone for Friday's subpar efforts.
"We both didn't have our best games
yesterday," Coleman said. "We had to bring it today because our team
was going to need us more for this game."
Harper -- the Terrapins' most vocal
cheerleader on the court -- led Maryland with 17 points and Coleman grabbed 13
rebounds to go with her 16 points.
Coming out of Goestenkors' timeout, Jade
Perry made a shot inside to give the Terrapins a 53-38 advantage, their largest
lead of the game.
But Maryland would not score for the next
four minutes. The Blue Devils, who had been a step slow
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on defense most of the game, came to life
and went on a 16-0 run to take their first lead of the game with 9:35 to play.
The burst was keyed by both Duke's switch
to a 1-3-1 zone and a renewed effort on defense. Goestenkors said her smaller
lineup of Monique Currie, Wanisha Smith, Abby Waner, Lindsey Harding and Mistie
Williams picked up their intensity on both sides of the court.
But the one-point lead was short-lived.
Langhorne made a layup to give Maryland a 55-54 lead with
8:42 left -- and the Terrapins never
trailed again.
"We took two real quick shots in a
row, and on both occasions they came down and scored," Goestenkors said.
"They took the wind out of our sails a little bit."
Maryland held Duke scoreless for almost
four minutes and pushed the lead to 62-54.
When freshman guard Kristi Toliver hit a
jumper with 2:03 left, it gave the Terrapins a 69-58 lead. From that point on,
Maryland converted 9-of-14 free throws to ice the game.
Afterward, Coleman said she appreciated
Frese's verbal spanking 18 hours earlier.
"It was just a lot of
screaming," she said. "She knows that's what gets me motivated and
gets me to do what she wants. She knows that's not going to (negatively) affect
me."
The Terrapins will face the Tar Heels
today at 1 p.m. for the conference title.
Maryland (28-3)
Duke (26-3)
Blocked shots: Maryland 8 (Harper 2,
Coleman 2, Langhorne, Carr, Noirez, Doron); Duke 4 (Williams 2, Bales 2).
Steals: Maryland 4 (Langhorne 2, Coleman, Perry); Duke 11 (Currie 3, Harding 3,
Waner 2, Williams, Bales, Black). Officials: Mattingly, Dean, Blauch.
Attendance: 10,019
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Article published Nov 28, 2005
Special to the News & Record
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Early in Sunday's
13-9 win over the Buffalo Bills, Carolina tight end Michael Gaines called
attention to himself in the worst way.
He was flagged for false starts twice
during Carolina's second drive of the game, a 16-play, 11minute marathon that
resulted in a 25-yard John Kasay field goal.
But by the end of the game, he was known
as the guy who caught a 3-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter that
propelled the Panthers (8-3) to a win and gave them a one-game cushion over Atlanta
heading into next Sunday's NFC South contest at Bank of America Stadium.
Down 9-6 and facing third-and-goal with
just over two minutes to play, Gaines lined up at the 3 and noticed that backup
safety Coy Wire (Lawyer Milloy had just left the game with a foot injury) was
playing him to the outside. A few seconds later, after a fake handoff froze the
defense, Jake Delhomme found Gaines open 6 yards deep in the end zone.
"I knew I had him dead," a
smiling Gaines said. "I gave him a head nod, and then I came back in and I
was wide open. It was just a nod play ... a get open play."
Delhomme said he was happy to see Gaines
get open, because he didn't want to settle for a field goal and a 9-9 tie.
"At that point, we wanted to get it
into the end zone," said Delhomme, who found seven different receivers on
a 20-for-27, 191-yard passing day. "You didn't want to give (Buffalo) a
chance to kick a field goal at the end."
Gaines credited wide receiver Ricky Proehl
of Greensboro, a 16-year veteran, with helping him refine his routes. And,
having missed almost as much football over the last five years as he has played
because of academic problems in high school and college, the raw 25-year-old
has needed every bit of that advice.
"He's just a guy who's still learning
to play," said tight end Kris Mangum, whose 16-yard catch late in the
first quarter erased one of Gaines' false-start penalties. "Two years ago,
he wasn't even playing
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football. He's getting better and
better."
Working underneath the Bills' cover two
defense, the Panthers' tight ends combined to catch five passes from Delhomme.
It's the kind of production in the middle of the field Carolina has been
looking for to offset the double coverage wide receiver Steve Smith routinely
faces.
Delhomme's willingness to look for his
secondary options -- the tight ends; DeShaun Foster (four catches) and Brad
Hoover (three catches) out of the backfield; and wide receiver Keary Colbert
(four catches) -- opened things up for Smith in the second half.
"They rolled to Smitty a good bit,
and we just had to be patient," Delhomme said.
Smith, the NFL's leading receiver,
responded with catches on two straight plays late in the third quarter.
The drive, which resulted in a John Kasay
field goal that tied the game at 6, began with Smith's 19yard punt return that
gave the Panthers the ball on their own 42.
"(Smith) still stepped up and made
some huge plays for us both in the return game as well as on offense,"
Panthers head coach John Fox said.
Buffalo rookie Roscoe Parrish returned the
ensuing kickoff to the 37-yard line, initiating a drive that would be the
Bills' best chance for a touchdown in the second half.
Willis McGahee, who had been ineffective
for most of the game, gained 20 of his 53 yards on five carries and Lee Evans
made two athletic catches to give Buffalo a first down inside the Carolina 20.
Two plays later, on third-and-8, quarterback JP Losman couldn't connect with
Evans, who was tightly covered by safety Marlon McCree in the back of the end
zone.
McCree, who said he treated the game as a
must-win after Atlanta's Thanksgiving-day victory over Detroit, was ready for
the play.
"We had seen that play all week on
film, and in practice we prepared for it," McCree said. "It was just
like we practiced. I just got back there and did my job."
After scoring the lone touchdown of the
game to take the 13-9 lead, the Panthers' defense withstood Losman's frenzied
nine-play, two-minute drill. Cornerback Chris Gamble dove in front of Parrish
and intercepted a pass on the Panthers' 34 with 47 seconds left to end the
threat.
Although Fox wasn't happy that his offense
held the ball for more than 35 minutes and only scored 13 points, he saw the
value of the victory.
"Anytime you can find a way to win on
the road in this league, it's important," Fox said. "Luckily we were
able to find a way to bounce back from last week."
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11/29/2006 10:00 AM ET
By Dan Friedell / Special to MLB.com
Print this page
After several frustrating seasons in the
Minors, speedy shortstop Eugenio Velez finally found his stroke with the
Augusta GreenJackets in 2006, earning MiLB.com's Class A Offensive Player of
the Year award.
Velez put together a dominant campaign
with the South Atlantic League finalists, batting .315 with 14 homers, 29
doubles, a Minor League-leading 20 triples, 90 RBIs and 64 stolen bases.
The 24-year-old hit .285 with four homers
and 34 RBIs for Class A Lansing in 2005 before being left unprotected by the
Toronto Blue Jays in the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft. The San
Francisco Giants snapped him up, and the native of the Dominican Republic paid
immediate dividends under manager Roberto Kelly, a former big leaguer who
flashed similar skills during his playing days.
Velez always knew he had the potential to
steal bases, having swiped 28 in 2002 in the Dominican Summer League. But it
wasn't a skill the Blue Jays were focused on developing.
"The Blue Jays gave me a chance to
play baseball, I grew up with them. But when I came to the Giants, a lot of
things were different," Velez said. "They recognized I had some speed
and helped me with that part of the
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game. Roberto Kelly helped with
that." ● Samardzija facing career choice
● Marlins
agree on Minors contracts For Velez, base stealing was symbolic of
the new freedom he felt in the Giants organization.
ADVERTISEMENT "It's hard to explain," he said. "I had
a little more confidence and I was looser and happier. In past seasons, I was
sometimes bored and uncomfortable."
He also took advantage of the "green
light" to stretch doubles into triples.
"They told me that if I hit the ball
into the gap or down the line, I've got to go for third because I've got good
speed," Velez said. "Roberto Kelly put that in my mind and, thank
God, I put it in practice."
Kelly, who took over the GreenJackets
after managing Panama's entry in the World Baseball Classic, was thrilled to
help mold such a well-rounded offensive player.
"He's a very exciting type of
player," Kelly said from his home in Texas. "He can beat you with his
power and his speed, he can beat you in so many ways. He can get on base with a
walk and steal second and third. It puts pressure on the pitcher and gives the
other batters better pitches."
Giants farm director Bobby Evans said the organization
was not deterred by Velez's less-than-stellar statistics. He hit .274 with nine
triples and 11 stolen bases in 638 at-bats in the Toronto system.
"Our report showed us that this guy
had tools," Evans said. "You want to look for athletes, and he's a
guy who can play in the middle of the diamond. Scouts don't spend a whole lot
of time on the stats."
Kelly revealed the reason for Velez's
newfound success.
"He realized the potential he had and
how far he could go, and that he was taking it for granted and getting
older," Kelly said. "It was time to prove to people that he could
make a big jump. And that's exactly what he did."
Kelly also demanded batting cage
discipline from his entire team.
"You should use batting practice to
work on things and not use it as a driving range," Kelly said. "In
the past, he may have tried to hit everything out of the park."
While Augusta hitters were instructed to
stay off the range, hitting coach Andy Skeels used a golf analogy to describe
the way the ball comes off Velez's bat.
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"If he's swinging the bat well, he's
flat through the zone, and it looks like a Tiger Woods 2-iron," he said.
"To hit a lot of triples, you have to hit the ball against the wall, and
that's what he does."
The comparisons to star athletes doesn't
end there. Asked how Velez's
combination of speed and power measured up against players from his era, Kelly
quickly offered the name of future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.
"He may even have more home run power
than Rickey did," said Kelly, who roamed the same outfield with Henderson
as a member of the New York Yankees.
At 6-foot-1 and 163 pounds, Velez isn't
intimidating at the plate. But he certainly got the attention of SAL pitchers.
"He always swung hard, and when he made contact the ball would go,"
said West Virginia Power left-hander Steve Garrison. "He had a good eye,
and if he saw something to hit, he would hit it. He didn't miss many
mistakes."
Velez said he worked on pitch recognition
with Skeels during early batting practice for most of the season. He also
enjoyed playing for a Spanish-speaking
manager. "I could understand everything (Kelly) was telling me,"
Velez said. "If he wanted to teach me something in the cage, I could
understand what I was doing well and what I was doing badly."
The wisdom Kelly gained from 14 seasons in
the Majors wasn't lost on Velez or the other GreenJackets, who went
92-47, including a 53-16 mark in the second
half. "I've been thinking about playing in the Major Leagues for a long
time," Velez said. "And he was able to tell me how to get there, but
not just me alone, the whole team."
While the Giants aren't sure where Velez will
start 2007 or what position he will play, they have recognized the enormous
potential he began to tap last year.
Dan Friedell is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not
subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball
Leagues or its clubs.
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Article published Dec 5, 2006
Special to the News & Record
PHILADELPHIA — Jake Delhomme was
looking for a chance to redeem himself Monday night. And he got it.
Delhomme got the chance to win the game
for the Panthers in the final minute, but his fade pass to Keyshawn Johnson in
the right corner of the end zone was picked off by Lito Sheppard with 25
seconds left. And as Sheppard crashed to the ground, Carolina's chance to win
crashed, too, as the Eagles snatched a 27-24 victory at Lincoln Financial
Field.
The loss was the Panthers' second
straight, dropping them to 6-6.
Before the final interception, Delhomme
had thrown an ill-advised pass with 7:30 left, leading to the Eagles'
game-winning field goal. Nick Goings went one way and Delhomme's pass went the
other, and Eagles safety Brian Dawkins picked it off. Dawkins' 38-yard return
led to David Akers' 25-yard field goal, which gave Philadelphia a 27-24 lead
with 3:13 left.
When the Panthers began their final
possession from their 24 with 3:06 to go, Delhomme was ready to make amends.
"I just felt that we were going to
get it done," Delhomme said after the second game in a row in which his
final pass was intercepted.
The Panthers quickly moved down the field,
thanks to a 25-yard pass to Keyshawn Johnson that gave them the ball at the
Philadelphia 33 with 2 minutes left. Three plays later, the Panthers had a
first down at the Philadelphia 7.
As he set up for what turned out to be his
final play of the game, Delhomme was confident.
"If I had the matchup, I'd take it
again," he said.
Coach John Fox agreed.
"We feel it's a high-percentage
pass," he said.
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Johnson, the target of the pass, supported
his quarterback.
"The pass was there," he said.
"Ain't nothing wrong with Jake."
Johnson thought he had been pushed, which
enabled Shepard to get in position for the interception.
"A call wasn't made," Delhomme
said. "I like my chances there, and I thought we had it when I let it
go."
While neither quarterback's effort was
pretty, Philadelphia's Jeff Garcia, subbing for injured Donovan McNabb, made
enough plays to keep the Eagles (6-6) in the game.
Garcia finished 21-for-39 for 312 yards
and three touchdowns. He threw no interceptions.
Delhomme completed 22 of 37 for 269 yards
and three touchdowns, but threw two costly interceptions.
It was often difficult to tell which
quarterback was starting his second game of the season (Garcia) and which one
had been behind center all year, but Delhomme converted just enough plays to
put his team into the end zone twice in the first half.
The Panthers' first touchdown came on a
9-yard pass to Steve Smith in the first quarter.
Delhomme didn't look great on the
Panthers' TD drive late in the first half, but he completed two key passes,
including a 38-yarder to Smith, and took the Panthers to the Eagles' 17 yard
with 12 seconds to go. The next pass resulted in an interference call in the
corner of the end zone on a ball intended for Smith, and the following throw
fluttered in the hands of Johnson for a 14-7 lead with 7 seconds remaining
The Panthers opened the second half with
an uninspired 3-and-out that mimicked most of their first-half possessions. The
Eagles answered with a 10-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that tied the game
14-14.
Carolina broke the tie when Delhomme hit
DeAngelo Williams for a 35-yard touchdown pass with
5:17 left in the third quarter.
Garcia found Reggie Brown on a 40-yard
bomb down the right sideline to tie the game, 24-24, putting Delhomme on center
stage.
Copyright © 2006 The News &
Record and Landmark Communications, Inc.
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01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, April 20, 2006
BY DAN FRIEDELL Special to the Journal
DURHAM, N.C. -- As Pawtucket right-hander
Jimmy Serrano climbed through the minors during the last eight years, his
E.R.A. rose along with him.
Last year, pitching in Triple A for both
Cincinnati and Oakland, he allowed just under four runs per nine innings. This
year, after two starts for the PawSox, he arrived at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
for yesterday's 11 a.m. start with a 9.35 E.R.A.
After six shutout innings -- featuring six
strikeouts -- that number is now down to 5.52.
Backed by a solid offense, Serrano teamed
with Manny Delcarmen and Mike Holtz to deal Durham its first shutout loss of
the season, 6-0. Serrano kept up his pace of striking out a batter per inning
(14 Ks in 14 2/3 innings).
With busses lining up on Jackie Robinson
Way to shuttle home thousands of school children in attendance on
"education day," Holtz kept up the strikeout pace by whiffing the
side to end the game. The Pawtucket pitchers recorded 11 of their 27 outs by
strikeout.
"This is what I expect every time I
go out," said Serrano (1-1). "It's a good step in the right
direction."
Serrano's shutout was only truly
threatened when Durham put runners on second and third in both the second and
fifth innings. A soft grounder ended the first rally and Willie Harris helped
Serrano by running down Delmon Young's drive to the 400-foot sign in center to
end the fifth.
The heart of Durham's order -- B.J. Upton,
Young and Elijah Dukes -- went a combined 1-for-11.
"I know those guys are good. You hear
what they can do, and you definitely don't want to see what they can do,"
Serrano said.
The early start didn't faze Serrano or
first-baseman Jeff Bailey, who went 3-for-3, including a two-run homer over the
32-foot wall in left that gave the PawSox a 2-0 lead in the fourth.
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"You've just got to act like it's a 1
o'clock game,mentally. You've got to quit complaining and go play," said
Bailey. "Sometimes it's better. You don't have time to think about your
swing too much and get in your own head."
The PawSox scored single runs in the fifth
and sixth innings, with their two-run eighth punctuated by a long homer to
right-center from designated hitter Hee-Seop Choi.
Pawtucket is now 7-7 thanks to its 3-3
road trip, which concludes with 7 p.m. games tonight and Friday.
"I thought it was an outstanding
effort by our boys today," PawSox manager Ron Johnson said. "The
quality hitters they have in this lineup really magnifies the outings by
Serrano, Delcarmen and Holtz."
Online
at: http://www.projo.com/pawsox/content/projo_20060420_20psox.17b9dc56.html
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(2 of 2)5/26/2006 12:34:13 AM