From Labor Day Classic to Sioux City, Sapp ready to lead Mustangs
Todd Sapp insisted the Labor Day Classic wasn't anything like a day at the office.
"It was fun, and the work will start now," Sapp said. "We enjoyed it; it was a vacation for all of us."
Prior to competing in the Labor Day Classic for the second time, Sapp was recently named as the head coach of the men's and women's golf program at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
One of the first adventures for the first-year head coach was bring three Mustangs to Worthington to compete in the Labor Day Classic.
"I ended up brining three of my players up here that are basically transfers," Sapp said. "So, we're kind of getting to know each other and we're spending three days of talking golf, and we had a good time."
Cam Jacobs, Brady Nurse and Dave Young all made the trip with Sapp.
"Cam was medalist, so that was great," Sapp said. "Brady almost made it to the finals and Dave Young is a great player and lost in a playoff to get in the thing. All in all, it was a good trip for our group."
Jacobs had the low score Saturday with a 70, and lost to Jamie Quesnel, who later defeated Sapp for the title.
Nurse qualified for the final eight, but lost to Julean Michels for the right to go to the final four.
As the coach, Sapp finished as runner-up for the second consecutive year.
"At least the coach beat them, so that's good,"Sapp said. "It's going to be nice when they can get first and I can just sit and watch, and we don't have to go through all of this."
As one of the top amateur players in the area, Sapp has been involved with Whispering Creek Golf Course in Sioux City, the home course of the Mustangs, helping him become associated with the team.
"I'm involved with Whispering Creek golf club in Sioux City, and I designed it and built it," Sapp said. "I've always been around golf, and a friend of mine was the coach, and resigned.
"With him and I being friends, I always said, 'I'd love to be in your position.' When he resigned, he called me up and said that maybe I should give them a call, and I did."
From there, the rest was history. Sapp became the coach and will hope to lead Morningside to a successful season.
However, the first step in the road to greatness was Tuesday. Morningside shot a 321 as a team and finished tied for eighth at the Northwestern Invitational.
"The guys are tired, and hopefully they will be OK," Sapp said Monday before the meet. "I think we're going to be very, very competitive."
But with a weekend to bond with a few of the players and excitement building around the program, the first-time coach is ready for the season ahead.
"I haven't coached before, but I think I'm a pretty good motivator and a pretty good com-petitor," Sapp said. "We'll see. Hopefully they like to play for me and we'll see how the program goes."
Posted by: Aaron Hagen on 9/03/2008 at 5:15 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Behind the scenes in Edgerton
One said 'toughness'. Another said 'pass coverage'.
Where names usually don the athletic tape across the helmets of football players everywhere, there was something different on the helmets of the Edgerton players.
"It's a team thing," Edgerton head coach Andrew Fleischman said. "It's tough with the grind because they focus on conditioning, and we wanted them to focus on one thing to improve on each week."
And thus, an idea was born. Each player chose an area to focus on improving throughout camp.
For senior Pat Kleinjan, his area was hook blocking.
"They moved me out to end this year, and it's really important when we run a sweep to hook the end," Kleinjan said. "That's the key to the play."
As the 19 Flying Dutchmen worked out outside the Edgerton Public School Tuesday, these players were focused on more than just making it through the grind.
"If Bobby says he wants to be better at blocking, when a coach or player sees that, we slap him on that sticker and say 'nice job,'" Fleischman said. "It's just something so they can focus on something during two-a-days besides the monotony of it and the conditioning."
But on the other side, if the player isn't working on his area, his teammates let him know about it.
"Whenever someone is doing some-thing good or someone's not doing it, we get on them about it," Kleinjan said. "It's kind of helping us."
So far, it's going well for the coaches and the players.
"You really see kids focusing on the things they want to improve on," Fleischman said. "We're definitely seeing improvements in the areas that they put on their helmets."
With each player picking their own area to focus on, it's something the players have had some fun with as well.
"This is the first year that we've done this," Fleischman said. "I just thought of it. I have too much time on my hands I guess."
Posted by: Aaron Hagen on 8/19/2008 at 9:30 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
The painful price of too much pitching
The news made me cringe.
It came Saturday, at the baseball field in Sacred Heart, during the Division II American Legion state tournament. I had been assigned to cover Pipestone, which lost to Jordan in the first round Friday, on its quest to salvage a consolation championship.
Pipestone, however, wasn't the only team in the tournament that I was familiar with. Five years ago, I played for the team that beat Post 6 the day before.
I was born and raised in Jordan, a baseball-crazed town of just fewer than 6,000 residents, so I immediately gravitated toward some familiar faces. I began talking to my uncle, Brad Heitkamp, who is an assistant coach for Jordan's team. But the conversation quickly shifted from the epic battle between Jordan and Pipestone to that of a number:
Two-hundred-and-fourteen.
On Friday, in the fourth and final game of the day, Staples-Motley defeated Sacred Heart 7-6 in 12 innings. Staples-Motley starter Jordan Riewer pitched all 12 innings -- the maximum a pitcher was allowed in the three-day tournament -- and earned the win. In doing so, the soon-to-be high school junior threw 214 pitches.
My jaw dropped. My shoulder went numb.
Brad closed his eyes, pressed his lips together and shook his head slowly, confirming the startling news. We both reacted as if learning of a death -- the death of a career.
We had both seen it before.
When I was a senior at Jordan High School, my team was battling Sibley East for the top spot in the Minnesota River Conference. We had a relatively young team, and we lost to the Wolverines in our first conference game of the season.
Later that spring, we traveled to Sibley East to engage in a crucial conference matchup. With scouts from Minnesota State-Mankato watching from the stands, Sibley East starter Mike Spurling was phenomenal. He had an overpowering fastball -- the fastest I'd ever faced -- and a devastating curveball.
Spurling allowed just one run but suffered the loss.
My teammates and I barely escaped with the victory, mainly because of the pitching performance of Alex Beckman, who now plays for St. Olaf College. Spurling, however, eventually led Sibley East to the MRC championship.
A few months later, my Jordan American Legion teammates and I traveled to Sibley East again to face Spurling. Leading up to the game, the talk centered on how nasty Spurling's stuff was, how he was en route to a Division II scholarship, and how we'd have to be at the very top of our game to beat him.
When the game was over, all we could talk about was how far Spurling had fallen.
His curveball was flat, and his fastball featured a dramatic decline in velocity since the last time we faced him. We knocked him around the park and out of the game.
The once intimidating, unhittable Spurling looked tired, worn out, done.
The dominating theory was that he simply threw his arm out after pitching so many innings during the high school season. He ran out of gas. He had nothing left. A once-promising career, we thought, had been cut short.
Through Riewer, Brad and I saw a younger version of Spurling. And we each wondered what had happened to the former Sibley East star. On Tuesday night, I found out.
I looked him up on Facebook and sent him a message. I relayed the news of Riewer's 214-pitch performance, explained that my teammates and I theorized that he had thrown his arm out, and asked if I could interview him about it.
I had not seen Spurling in over five years, and we never knew each other personally. But, in less than five hours, we engaged in a sobering conversation that left me on the verge of tears.
"My jaw absolutely dropped," Spurling said, describing his reaction upon hearing about Riewer. "I just thought, 'Well, it's not so much the kid's fault, because I know how that is, it's the coach's fault who's allowing that to happen.' They should know better. The pros have $10 million a year invested in their arms, but you hear them say, 'Oh, he threw 100 pitches,' and that's a lot. That's a lot of stress on your arm. And somebody throws 214 pitches; I mean, an arm just can't take that, especially at an age when your body is still maturing. The coach needs to have a lot more common sense than that.
"I wish I could talk to kids and say, 'Look what happened to me.'"
Like Riewer, Spurling was a pitching phenom who started on varsity as a sophomore. He had a bright future, but, at the time, he and his coaches were too concerned with the present.
"My arm actually started hurting during my sophomore year, and it didn't get better," Spurling said. "In high school, I threw a lot. In Legion, I threw a lot. Also, in the summer, I pitched for the town team when I was 16."
By the time he was a senior, there was a ridiculous amount of mileage on Spurling's arm. During the high school season, however, it was barely noticeable; scouts and opponents witnessed a young pitcher with a lively, loose arm. But, during the summer season, the effects of being overworked became painfully obvious.
"(My arm) always dropped off toward the tail end of the year and into summer," he said. "The more innings I threw, the worse it got. And I threw a lot of innings. I threw at least once a week for Legion, and, a lot of times, I'd throw four or five innings, maybe a full game, for the town team. So, a lot of times, I'd throw two games a week, even while I was still in high school."
Spurling's arm problems eventually began to hamper him off the field.
"At the end of the summer, I'd do construction," Spurling said. "It got to the point where I couldn't even cut insulation with a knife, my arm hurt so bad.
"I couldn't do anything. I couldn't lift five pounds straight up from my body."
Spurling transferred to Dakota County Technical College, in Rosemount, after a year at Minnesota State-Mankato. He wasn't the dominant Division II pitcher he and many others expected him to become, but he still was living his dream of playing college baseball at the next level.
But the damage already was done.
"In my freshman year of college, I was still young enough to play Legion, along with playing for the town team," he said. "In two weeks, I threw six complete games. That was something like 600 pitches in two weeks. And, here I sit, two shoulder surgeries later."
Spurling threw 71 innings as a freshman at DCTC -- 36 innings more than any other pitcher on the staff. It was more than his already overworked arm could handle. It pushed him over the edge, and, shortly thereafter, he had surgery to repair a torn labrum.
After his parents moved to Missouri, he began looking for schools in the area. Coaches wanted to see him pitch before they offered him a spot on the team, so Spurling rushed his recovery.
"I tore it up again," he said. "I threw all of last summer, and half of the college season, with a completely torn labrum."
The story of Spurling is a sad one. Unfortunately, it's not the only one.
While working for the Winona Daily News, I covered a pitcher who was just as dominant -- if not better -- than Spurling.
Ryan Speltz was the star pitcher for Winona Senior High School. Scouts flocked to watch him pitch, and he eventually accepted a full-ride to the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
On May 26, 2007, Speltz submitted a performance similar to Riewer's and suffered a result similar to Spurling's.
In the Section 1AAA playoffs, Speltz started and finished back-to-back games. He pitched No. 16-seeded WSHS to a 4-3 win over Lakeville South in the first game, and, just hours later, came back to toss a no-hitter against top-seeded Rochester Century in a 1-0 loss.
In all, Speltz struck out 17, walked six and allowed three hits in 13 innings pitched. The Winona Daily News' sports editor, Jeff Bersch, said that Speltz threw "180-some pitches."
Soon thereafter, Speltz began to feel some discomfort in his shoulder.
Doctors diagnosed him with a strained rotator cuff, but the problem ran much deeper.
"Doctors determined his right shoulder blade was an inch-and-a-half higher than his left shoulder blade, an adaptation his body made from so much strain on his pitching arm," Chandler MacLean reported, in the June 30, 2007, edition of the Winona Daily News.
Speltz returned to pitch for Winona's American Legion baseball team later in the summer, but he was placed on a strict pitch count. At UMD, he was redshirted to allow his arm to recover.
There's no way of knowing -- at this time -- if Riewer will suffer the same fate as Spurling and Speltz. One can only hope that he doesn't, but history isn't on Riewer's side.
According to a New York Times article, Rick Peterson, the former pitching coach of both the Oakland Athletics and the New York Mets, once threw 200 pitches in a game for Gulf Coast Community College in Florida. Then, he was called to pitch in relief the next day. "From then on," according to the Times, "Peterson played with a tendon in his throwing arm that was detached from the bone."
Peterson has not allowed any of his sons to begin pitching until they turn 15. Riewer isn't much older -- two years, at the most -- and he already has an incredible amount of miles on his arm.
Speltz and Spurling were both seniors in high school when their arms wore out. Riewer just finished his sophomore year at Staples-Motley High School.
I couldn't uncover Riewer's high school stats from last season, but, based on numerous game stories in the Brainerd Dispatch, it's safe to assume that he was one of Staples-Motley's top pitchers as a sophomore.
This summer, for S-M's American Legion team, he was 5-0 with a 0.94 ERA. He struck out 49 and allowed just 21 hits in 37 innings going into his 214-pitch performance Friday night.
Riewer played for the same coach during the spring and summer baseball seasons: his father, John Riewer.
"He was just like..." Brad said, referring to and imitating John Riewer's reaction after Friday night's game, as he frowned, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
It was clear to Brad that Coach Riewer felt horrible about keeping his son on the mound for 12 innings and 214 pitches. But he did what he had to do in order to win.
"I'd love to get his number and give him a piece of my mind, because that's absolutely ridiculous," Spurling said, referring to Coach Riewer. "I guarantee you that, if he keeps that stuff up, that kid's arm is going to go out eventually. It may not be this year, but I guarantee he'll see signs of it.
"I don't like to make myself an example, but I want to make myself an example for a lot of young kids. Look what can happen. I'm shot already, and I'm 23 years old."
The scouting report on S-M, according to Brad and other Jordan fans, was that Riewer was S-M's only pitcher. After him, there was a drastic drop in talent.
That became clear on Friday night.
Coach Riewer refused to go to his bullpen, likely realizing that leaving his son out on the mound gave his team the best chance of winning a tight game. But what about the next day?
My cousin Nick, his friends, and I pondered the question as we watched S-M take the field against Jordan on Saturday. If Coach Riewer didn't trust his other pitchers enough to relieve his son during a marathon game Friday, what did he expect to do against Jordan, the three-time defending state and Central Plains Region champion?
"That coach needs to be smart and say, 'You know what? Yeah, I'd like to win this game, but it's not worth wrecking my son's arm," Spurling said, his voice rising. "You have to be thinking about that arm, rather than a dumb Legion game. Yeah, it means a lot to you right now, but really. Really."
With Riewer at shortstop and Devin Becker on the mound for S-M, Jordan cruised to a 7-1 victory Saturday. The game came within feet of ending early, as Jordan Kivel's potential game-ending grand slam, which would have given Jordan a 10-run lead in the sixth inning, sailed just wide of the right-field foul pole.
With an 8-1 victory over La Crescent on Sunday, Jordan won its fourth consecutive state championship.
T.J. Oakes, son of University of Minnesota pitching coach and Jordan assistant coach Todd Oakes, could have started Sunday on two-day's rest. He allowed just two hits and one run Friday against Pipestone as scouts from the Minnesota Twins, the Seattle Mariners and the L.A. Dodgers watched. Instead, Jordan opted to send its No. 3 starter to the mound for its biggest game of the season.
T.J. Oakes will be a senior in high school this year.
It's easy to blame the coach in this kind of a situation, but, while the young pitchers definitely are the victims, they also deserve some of the blame.
"My arm would be barely hanging on, and (the coaches) would say, 'Can you throw today? Can you at least give us a couple of innings?' And I'd say, 'Yeah, I can give you a couple.' Well, after my couple of innings were up, I'd say, 'No, I'm going to go the whole game; there's no way you're going to take me out.' I never wanted to not have the ball in my hand, and I'm sure it's that way for any kid who's competitive at that age. I look back now and go, 'God, that was really stupid,' because you're not thinking about a possible college career, you're thinking about a stupid legion game or a dumb high school game.
"My labrum was completely torn off my bicep. And why did that happen? It's because I always said my arm felt fine. The college coaches were smart enough to know. They'd say, 'You have to be honest. How's your arm? How's your arm?' I'd say, 'It's fine.' And I regret it a lot.
In a previous blog post, I wrote that "we live in an era in which sports -- no matter the level -- are taken incredibly seriously." Sometimes, the measures taken in order to ensure a win eventually lead to depressing results. And, in hindsight, a win never appears as important as what was paid to secure it.
The problem involves both the coaches and the players.
Earlier this summer, I covered a training session at Worthington High School's gym, where Josh Anderson, the health and fitness director at the Worthington YMCA, was training high school basketball players. After finishing a series of grueling drills focused on speed and agility, the athletes stood, hands on heads or knees, trying to catch their breath.
"Are you tired?" Anderson asked, shouting.
The boys offered no response. Surely, they must have thought, it was a lose-lose situation. They obviously were winded, but, if they said that they weren't, Anderson likely would have made sure they quickly became tired. But the boys refused to admit they were fatigued.
"Don't ever let your opponent know you're tired," Anderson told them, breaking the silence, before giving them a water break.
Is it pride? Is it fear? Is it the unwillingness to break from the stereotype of the tough, athletic male who refuses to show weakness?
Like the boys Anderson trains, pitchers also can face what might be considered a lose-lose situation. If one admits he is tired and can pitch no longer, he might be viewed as selfish or weak. No one wants to "let down the team."
"Is a kid really going to say, 'No, my arm hurts?' No, they won't," Spurling said. 'You can't admit that.
"You know how it is as a young kid: you're invincible. You're not going to get hurt. You can keep throwing, and your arm is always going to be good."
It's happened at every level, and it will continue to happen.
In the 2003 American League Championship Series, the Boston Red Sox were five outs away from defeating the New York Yankees and advancing to the World Series. With a 5-3 lead in the eighth inning and a runner on first base, Boston manager Grady Little decided to stick with starter Pedro Martinez, who clearly was laboring.
Martinez proceeded to allow back-to-back RBI hits before getting the hook, many say, two batters too late.
The Red sox eventually lost on a walk-off home run by the Yankees' Aaron Boone. Little, whose decision was ripped by both fans and the media, promptly was fired. But Martinez took the blame.
"I am the ace of the team. You have to trust me," Martinez said. "This is no time to say I'm tired. If you're getting outs, you have to stay in there.
"If anyone wants to blame Grady, they shouldn't point their fingers at him. He doesn't play the game. If you want to blame someone, blame me."
Still, Martinez is a professional and an adult. It's difficult to blame him for wanting to stay on the mound for what was the biggest game of his career at that point. It also is difficult to blame high school boys for behaving in the same way as Martinez, which is why high school coaches have such an important job. Coaches need to take a player's pride and competitiveness into consideration; they have to be aware that pitchers are going to lie to them.
In the consolation championship against Wheaton on Saturday, Pipestone starting pitcher Sam Schneider cruised through five innings, allowing just two runs on four hits. In the sixth, however, he started to struggle.
Pipestone committed back-to-back errors to start the inning. Schneider responded by recording consecutive outs but then gave up a single and allowed a walk.
Pipestone coach Steve Moffitt left the dugout and walked toward the mound. Before Moffitt even reached the first-base line, Schneider already was pleading his case to stay in the game. Moffitt obliged, but gave Schneider the hook after he walked the next batter.
"I think he was just getting tired," Moffitt said after the game. "Sammy is one of those kids... I went out there in the sixth to get him out, and he was mad. (My pitchers) tell me when they're shot, except for him. He never wants to come out. I don't know what this complete-game stuff is. Big deal. He talked me into one more, which I shouldn't have done, and when I came out again, he was mad."
It didn't appear as if Schneider's career was on the line Saturday, but, nevertheless, Moffitt thought his pitcher was tired, worn out, done. He went with his gut and called for relief.
If coaches can't trust their instincts or their eyes when determining if a pitcher is out of gas, they at least can trust a pitch count. Something has to give -- before a pitcher's arm does.
"The young guys on our town ball team who throw, I really kind of mother them because I don't want them to go through the same thing I went through," Spurling said. "A lot of these guys have a lot of potential, and coaches are always like, 'Can we get a couple of innings out of you?' And I'm thinking, 'Guys, he just threw a couple of days ago, and he's 18 years old.' I say, 'Don't put him through what I went through.'"
Spurling is still going through it. He's still paying for the mistakes he and his coaches made eight years ago. He doesn't wonder what could have been, but those who faced him and watched him in high school, including Brad and me, always will.
"In my first year at Dakota County Technical, I had a White Sox scout looking at me," Spurling said. "That's when my arm wasn't hurting too bad. I was popping high- to mid-80s at the time, but then my arm would wear down.
"Our team was bad, and we didn't have a whole lot of pitching. I'm not blaming (the coach) at all, because it was always me, but my arm hurt so bad that I relied on Vicodin the whole second half of the season."
Speaking to Spurling was a sobering experience. Five years ago, he was a machine. He was unhittable. A rising star. Five years later, he's an example of what can go wrong. He's a victim. A sad story.
"I'm sure I'm just like 100,000 kids who are pitching too much, and I'm sure all of them have elbow or shoulder trouble, too," he said. "But, god, if I could say anything to young kids, it's, "You have to be careful.'
"There I was, a 20-year-old kid after my first surgery, unable to lift my arm. I don't want to be a crippled old guy at 35 or 40, you know? I'd like to be able to play catch with my kid some day."
Listening to what Spurling went through -- the pain, the surgeries, the disappointment -- really saddened me. Asking about the success he could have had, and what he could have accomplished in his career had things been done differently, made me cringe.
Our conversation on Tuesday was difficult for both of us. We both hold out hope that, someday, eight years from now, a reporter or a former opponent, who once was in awe of a young pitcher's talent and potential, isn't engaging in the same kind of difficult conversation with Jordan Riewer.
Posted by: Matt Huss on 8/13/2008 at 3:17 PM | Comments (21) | Permalink
Cody Melendrez: Worthington's "Say Hey Kid"
Cody Melendrez had a difficult decision to make.
Stay on the Florida vacation his family planned last summer or hop a flight back to Minnesota, make the five-hour drive to Perham and play in the VFW baseball state tournament?
Melendrez, the starting centerfielder for Worthington's VFW baseball team, chose the latter. And, so far, he has no regrets.
"It was a tough decision," he said. "I went for four days, but I came back early for state.
"My whole family is still down there: Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, grandpas, grandmas, cousins -- everybody. One of my cousins is having a wedding down there."
Melendrez didn't attend the ceremony; instead, he flew back to Minneapolis and jumped into the waiting car of Worthington coach Ryan Weber.
"It was the only way he could be here," Weber said. "I told him that if he could get back to Minneapolis, I'd pick him up.
"He's got a lot of miles under his belt over the last two days. He's tired, but I'm glad he's here."
Melendrez went 0-for-3 Thursday in Worthington's disheartening 5-4 loss to Grand Rapids in the first round, but he still managed to make an impact on the game.
Tyrel Cournoyer hit a two-out, RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Grand Rapids a 3-2 lead. The next batter singled up the middle, and Cournoyer rounded third base and dashed toward the dish.
Melendrez sprinted in from center field, scooped the ball and unleashed a rocket toward Worthington catcher Steven Kremer.
The throw reached Kremer on the fly, beating Cournoyer to the plate by about 15 feet. Kremer crouched down and waited... and waited... for the arrival of Cournoyer, who could only attempt an unsuccessful juke move to avoid the inevitable tag.
"(The ball) got to me right as he was rounding third base," Melendrez said. "The adrenaline pumped in, and I just chucked it."
Melendrez's assist kept Grand Rapids' lead to one and shifted the momentum into Worthington's favor entering the top of the sixth inning, in which Worthington scored a run to tie the game.
Kremer led off the top of the seventh inning with a single, and Melendrez advanced him to second on a sacrifice bunt. The next batter, Adam Munkel, delivered an RBI single to score Kremer and give Worthington a one-run lead.
Worthington eventually lost in the bottom of the frame on a walk-off, two-run double. But, without even recording a hit, Melendrez did a number of little things that won't necessarily appear in a box score to keep Post 3958 in the game and give it a better chance to win.
In Worthington's 8-3 victory over Perham later in the afternoon, Melendrez's contributions weren't so subtle.
He drove in the first and last runs of the game and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
In seven playoff games, Melendrez, who bats No. 5 in the order, is hitting .380 (8-for-21) with 10 RBIs.
It's impossible to predict the impact Melendrez's absence would have had on Worthington had he stayed in Florida, but its safe to say things would have been a lot quieter.
Melendrez easily is the loudest, most vocal player on the team -- even when he's in center field and 300 feet away from home plate. He can be considered Worthington's version of Willie Mays -- the "Say Hey Kid" -- simply because he's a kid who likes to say "hey."
While playing the field, he has his own way of encouraging his pitcher. For example, with Mitchell Jensen on the mound against Grand Rapids, Melendrez could be heard shouting, "Heeeyyy, whaddya say big Mitchell Jensen keeeeiiiid?"
While in the dugout, he has his own way of distracting the opposing pitcher. Melendrez constantly can be heard shouting "hhheeeeyyyy" in his unique, raspy voice, with a crescendo at the end.
"It messes up the (opposing) pitcher every time I talk," he said, laughing.
His explanation explains what kind of player Melendrez is. He loves to have fun playing the game, but he's incredibly competitive, too. At times, it might seem like he's not taking the game too seriously, but, in actuality, that couldn't be further from the truth.
"He plays with a chip on his shoulder at all times," Weber said. "If he stays focused, he can be a tremendous player, but, at times, he gets too upset at little things. It's his competitive nature, and he knows he has to control that to a certain degree.
"I want him to play with emotion, but we have to make sure it's a positive emotion."
After Melendrez opted to leave his family, hop on a plane and fly back from a vacation in Florida, his competitiveness can't be questioned.
Does he regret the decision?
"Um... not yet," Melendrez laughed, after a long pause. "I love baseball."
Posted by: Matt Huss on 8/08/2008 at 12:26 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
The saga is finally over
It was reported late Wednesday night that the Packers have finally traded Brett Favre. Good riddance.
For the past few months, Favre has been nothing more than an unnecessary distraction. He's been the stray dog that just won't go away. No matter how many times the Packers seemed to tell him, he didn't quite get the hint.
I think he finally gets it.
For the Packers, I think this was a good move. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and move on. The whole situation wasn't fair to the fans, to the organization, and most impor-tantly, to Aaron Rodgers.
Here is a quarterback who has been waiting in the wings for his chance to play. He's been watching one of the best qbs in the game for the past four seasons, and it's make or break time.
Once Favre announced his retirement, the Packers moved on. The league moved on. Rodgers moved on. Favre didn't. He still hung on to his hope that he'd wear Packer green one day.
Well, he got part of his wish. He'll be wearing green, just Jets green, not Packer green.
Posted by: Aaron Hagen on 8/06/2008 at 11:22 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Staying loose the key for the Worthington VFW baseball team's success
Leaning against the chain-link fence that ran down the right-field line at the baseball field in Granite Falls, I couldn't stop laughing.
A group of players from Worthington's VFW baseball team had gathered around me to watch the Slayton-Tracy game taking place Saturday at the VFW Final Four playoffs.
They, too, were red-faced from laughing.
The culprit was Worthington outfielder Justin Larson, whose impressions of movie and TV characters had everyone cracking up.
"Do the lady from MAD TV," requested Worthington centerfielder Cody Melendrez.
Larson took a breath, fought off a smile and delivered an impeccable impersonation.
Gut-wrenching laughter ensued. When it stopped, some wondered when he'd make his debut on Saturday Night Live.
The topic of discussion shifted from Larson's should-be career in comedy to the stench emitting from the incredibly superstitious Mitchell Jensen, who hadn't washed his uniform since Worthington's victory over Adrian on July 17 in the first round of the playoffs.
Larson, Jensen and their teammates were just minutes away from playing their biggest game of the season -- a fact that an unknowning onlooker likely would have trouble believing. The players were joking around, smiling and laughing, and their conversations had little to do with the sport they were preparing to play.
A few hours later, Worthington left the field after earning a 10-4 victory over Marshall, meaning the pre-game antics and happy-go-lucky nature of the players obviously didn't affect their performance.
Or did it?
"We play better when we're loose," said Steven Kremer, who had an RBI single to drive in Worthington's first run and later scored in Worthington's six-run sixth inning.
We live in an era in which sports -- no matter the level -- are taken incredibly seriously.
There have been a plethora of disgusting stories in the news recently about parents and coaches engaging in verbal and sometimes physical confrontations with officials, other parents and coaches while in attendance at their children's sporting events.
Fans of professional sports teams get angry upon the discovery that the players they so passionately support don't share the same animosity toward rival players, or if those same players don't share the same animosity toward rival teams (see "Johnny Damon leaves Red Sox to sign with Yankees").
Perhaps the biggest issue that angers fans at any level is that of players not caring.
Despite playing a big part in leading the Boston Red Sox in 2004 to their first World Series title in 86 years, Manny Ramirez, one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball, was lustily booed by Boston fans earlier this week for not hustling. The Boston front office, sick of Manny "being Manny," traded the slugger on Thursday to the L.A. Dodgers.
Fans seem to love players who play the game like they would -- if they had the chance. That is why, I think, my dad loved Pete Rose so much. Money never appeared to be an issue for Rose (at least while he was playing and not gambling); he dived head-first into bases; he ran over catchers in All-Star games; and he produced one of my favorite quotes: "I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball."
I often feel the same way as those fans. Watching a player making millions of dollars more than a teacher or doctor not take his or her job seriously sometimes disgusts me.
I didn't feel that way Saturday. Watching the Worthington players share stories, goof around and have fun brought me back to my days as a player.
After interviewing Jensen after Worthington's game on Friday, I told him that I'd change places with him in a heartbeat. I'd do (almost) anything to be playing competitive baseball again. And, if through some black magic I was able to trade places with Jensen on Saturday, I wouldn't have approached my team's biggest game of the year any differently.
Growing up in the baseball-crazed town of Jordan, my favorite part of Baseball Season involved games and tournaments at distant locations. Tournaments equaled a stay in a hotel -- kind of like a quasi-summer vacation -- and away games equaled a stop at Pizza Ranch or Dairy Queen with my best friends on the way back home. For 15 and 16 year olds like those on Worthington's VFW team, baseball is an opportunity to socialize, to have fun with friends and to create memories on and off the field that last a lifetime.
Baseball is a game. It's meant to be fun. Sometimes, I think we forget that.
That isn't to say Worthington's players didn't take their games seriously when they were on the field. The proof of their passion and competitiveness came in their constant shouts of encouragement and indecipherable baseball chatter. Overcome Monday night with joy after pitching his team to the state tournament, Jensen wore the proof on his face -- he cried.
Before the game Saturday, Worthington coach Ryan Weber didn't yell at his players or tell them to focus on the job at hand. He simply let them enjoy their time together and allowed them to be 15- and 16-year-old kids on a quasi-summer vacation. Weber is smart enough to know that such behavior breeds chemistry, and chemistry leads to wins.
While Worthington's players don't get paid, let's use the baseball-as-job analogy. If you love what you're doing, and if you're having fun while you're doing it, you'll do a better job, right? People who hate their jobs and have no passion for their work tend to do the opposite. Worthington, which will face Grand Rapids at 11:45 a.m. Thursday in Perham, is an argument-ending example.
Not only are Worthington's players helping me remember the good times I had when I played VFW baseball, they're helping me to do my job better.
Posted by: Matt Huss on 8/01/2008 at 12:07 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Yankees
Well, the Yankees are at it again. Today, they announced that they have traded for Ivan Rodriguez. Not surprising.
After Jorge Posada went down with surgery, I knew that the Yanks would feel the need to go after a high-profile catcher.
What did surprise me was the fact that they were able to get Pudge to come to New York.
The Tigers haven't quite performed up to their expectations (especially since I picked them to go to the World Series), but I can't believe they felt able to get rid of a 14-time All-Star, especially considering all the Tigers received in return was Kyle Farnsworth.
Don't get me wrong, the image of Farnsworth making a perfect form tackle after a hitter charged the mound is one that will be in my memory forever, but how can you compare an inconsistent pitcher to a 14-time All-Star.
I give the Yankees all the credit in the world for this trade. They were able to get a heck of a catcher and not give up much in return.
The question is, will it be enough to get to a World Series? Perhaps. If Boston really trades Manny, and with the inexperience of the Rays' team, I wouldn't count out the Yankees just yet.
Besides, there are still a few hours of the trade deadline left.
Posted by: ahagen on 7/30/2008 at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Pipestone 2, Wilmont 1
Tonight, I saw what could have easily been the best game all season long. I have had the opportunity to cover many games this summer, but tonight's Wilmont/Pipestone amateur game takes the cake.
It was old school vs. new school, it was for all the marbles and it didn't disappoint.
Pipestone veteran Kent Woelber and Wilmont's Nick Ahrens went toe-to-toe for their respective teams.
Both Woelber and Ahrens had stellar performances, and while Pipestone won the game 2-1, both pitchers and teams played well enough for a victory.
But, this is what playoff games are supposed to be about. Two teams, and two players taking their game to the next level in an attempt to prolong their season and end the opponents.
For Pipestone, it's on to Adrian to determine seeding. Both teams have already clinched a playoff spot for the next round, now it's just a matter of who will take the first seed and who will finish No. 2.
Posted by: ahagen on 7/26/2008 at 1:38 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Cubs for sale!
As an avid Chicago Cubs fan, I have been eagerly awaiting the news of their sale.
The report today is that the list of potential buyers is narrowed down to three choices, with one of those being Mark Cuban.
While I'm sure Mark has the best intentions, as a fan of the team with the longest droughts in baseball, I think Cuban would be a mistake.
Sure, he'd spend a lot of money attracting over paid talent. But, I don't want to see the Cubs turning into a team like the Dallas Mavericks -- the NBA team Cuban owns.
The Mavericks have a lot of talent year in and year out, but they seem to under achieve. Each year, they are predicted to do great things, but instead, can never overcome the likes of the Spurs or Lakers.
As a Cubs fan, we've had enough promising seasons that end the same way. With Cuban as an owner, not only would the Cubs be destined for more empty optimism, but also an owner that gets more negative publicity than one man should.
Posted by: ahagen on 7/24/2008 at 9:28 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Canaries
I was fortunate enough to snag a pair of tickets to the Sioux Falls Canaries game last Saturday night as part of the Missouri River Energy night at the ballpark.
It was a blast. Worthington had the most people at the game out of any of the towns that MRE serves (247), and all of us had a great night out on the town.
It was especially more interesting for me, since I went to college with one of the players on the team.
Ryan Grant, who graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, had a small role in "The Final Season," a movie about the last year of Norway, Iowa baseball. Since then, he's been fine-tuning his skills in an effort to catch on with a major league team.
Perhaps he will be playing on ESPN one day, but for that night, it was nice to enjoy what turned out to be a beautiful night at the Birdcage.
Posted by: ahagen on 7/23/2008 at 7:19 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Welcome
Welcome to the first installment of Under the Lights, the Daily Globe sports blog.
In this blog, we hope to provide unique and diverse opinions, stories and other ramblings about local, state and national news.
If it has some tie to sports, you'll find it Under the Lights.
Posted by: ahagen on 7/23/2008 at 7:16 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink