Sure, you think it is likely that after a long weekend of sporting activity, I would resort to that always cheap journalistic trick of tossing all the bits and pieces together and calling it “Notes on My Napkin.” Shame on you. The Poet Laureate of LB, Trader Joe, composed a sonnet to the napkin and we share his salute.
“Napkins are recycled paper, four fifths of which are post-consumer content, used on table or tent, can clean up messes, can be used to draw a map, etc. etc.” So there, shoot the messenger — not the medium.
We start this session with a touch of mercy, as in the mercy rule that the 49ers of softball put on the Titans last weekend at this compound behind the orange curtain. Obviously the late season surge by Kim’s sweethearts of swat has their pitching twins, Petty and Erin Jones-Wesley in the groove but the hitting game has also arrived. Exhibit One; sophomore Karli Sandoval went 7-for-11 in a three-game 49er sweep at CSUF over the weekend. Her .636 average for the week allowed her to raise her batting average by 52 points, including a 90-point jump in Big West games. Sandoval had a 1.091 slugging percentage.
This weekend they now have a magic number; it is two, as in wins over Pacific (DH) Friday, 1 p.m. and its on ESPN3 Saturday at 1 p.m. The other team in the title mix is UCSB and any two losses by them, or combined with a Beach win over UOP, sends the hardware and NCAA invite to the Beach.
In baseball, the Dirtbags now have seven weekend series wins in a row as they head off to UC Davis for three day games while doing just a bit of scoreboard watching to see if the Titans choose to tumble. Anyhow the Beach controls their own destiny and like softball, which also had a miserable start, it is nice to be able to say that. So what does Buck say these days? As stat-meister Bob Keisser calculated, “the Dirtbags have played 26 one-run games in 2012, including a 5-4 win Sunday at Loyola Marymount that draws them even in narrow games, 13-13. The 26 games reflect 60 percent of the team’s games in 2012. They’ve won 10 of the last 14 one-run games.” Going into the Monday night game vs the Lions, that is a fine improvement from say, February and early March. “In tight games you have to do a good job with the little things, we can learn from all of this,” said Buckley.
This week in the Mid has a volleyball flavor to it as the USA national team tries for their automatic Olympic bid by winning the week-long NORCECA regional tournament. Five nations and all of them highly entertaining and hungry for fish and chips in London.
More VB info from Erika Chidester who is the talented alum of Long Beach State University working as the Assistant Women’s Volleyball Coach. Her job includes trying to pump up the Beach in the hearts and minds of recruits and their families. So of course she has the duty of promoting sand volleyball which, on Thursday at 1:30 pm, takes some pictures on the sand courts next to the track, etc. on campus. As an FYI on WVB vs. MVB. About 20% of D-I women’s volleyball teams make NCAA Tournament (64 teams) but for the gentlemen their 8-team tourney puts 23.5% of all men teams in the show. Put that info in the Anteaters’ snout when they try to compare a big field with a small field.
New kids on the block come from all over like this lad from the desert. When you are a sports star at an off the main street school like Palm Desert High School you are in demand in the teachers lounge. Jonathan Serven was a favorite of both the coaches on the basketball court and the baseball diamond. This winter the senior honors student became the No. 1 scorer in Aztecs’ basketball history when he finished with 1,433 points. But when it came down to flipping that coin the 6-foot-3, two-sport standout decided it would be baseball at Long Beach State. Good choice for all concerned–“When I was young, I didn’t know what it was going to be,” said Serven, who’s batting .325 and is 12 for 12 in stolen bases for the CIF No.1-ranked Aztecs. And now he does.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have qualified for the London Olympics and in the journey they definitely are getting the gold but the jury is still out on that third gold medal. The dynamic duo has a lot of endorsement deals, especially Misty. In her former and putting her on the tube and in ads are big timers like Nike, Spaulding, Orowheat, Stouffers, Gatorade and Purina. Need info on the Purina deal, Misty and Dodger catcher hubby Matt Treanor have a dog (name of Gruden) and far be it form me to complain about his girth but the Purina folks have a line of dog food to help trim wide body pets.
So performance wise for the humans, well since they have already, qualified these international tourneys (latest was a ninth place finish in Shanghai) it ain’t so important. The next is also in Asia, Beijing. Main draw pool play begins May 9 but insiders say the golden girls are purposely taking it slow to peak at the right time this summer.
Back on the cash trail the Los Angeles Angels’ commitment to Jered Weaver is paying off. JW signed a five year $85 million contract extension last August; Now if he could give a pep talk to the well paid Albert Pujols…well insert your own punch line. Opponents complain that Weaver is “definitely a different pitcher at home when the ball is coming out of the rocks,” referring to the fake rock pile beyond the center-field fence at Angel Stadium.
One of the emerging Dirtbag talents is Josh Guerra who battles in counts. The freshman was named the Big West Player of the Week after six hits against Cal State Northridge, slugging 1.000 and driving in six runs with a double, a triple, and a home run. He is the first Dirtbag position player to win the weekly honor since Joey Terdoslavich in 2010. “(Guerra) has consistent at-bats,” said Buckley. “He’s aggressive and he hits mistakes… he did not put himself in a good situation (against Griggs) and I told him to learn from it because there will be more opportunities like that.”
Where are they? Jared Hughes is getting used to riding the Minors-to-Majors shuttle. The 26-year-old right-hander began May in much the same way he spent April — bouncing back and forth between Pittsburgh and the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis. Hughes, who is 0-0 with a 1.69 ERA in six Major League appearances this season, joined the Pirates last week. “I flew out here and I’m ready to go,” Hughes said. “I’m just glad to play the game. I’m happy to be here. I’m fresh. I’m going to be ready from the word go.” A standout during his days at Long Beach State, his skipper Clint Hurdle has praise. “We’ve used him for one-inning stints, for multiple innings,” Hurdle said. “He’s got a power sinker with a breaking ball and an occasional changeup. He’s come out of the gate pretty clean.” For his home games fans wearing apparel of any 49ers team (from San Francisco’s NFL club to Jared Hughes’ Long Beach State) get in free.
Mixed Dusting
LBSU was upset in the Big West golf championships but with their #40 RPI got an invite to the today NCAA tourney. The Post will have the details shortly… Mark Pocinich, the outstanding head trainer for the Beach has been hijacked to UCLA at the end of this term. According to Bill Brady, Senior Associate Athletics Director the SAR will post the position and begin recruiting soon…We often brag in this space about former Dirtbags just tearing up the show. Sometimes tearing is pronounced phonetically as “tear-ing” up and that would be the current case of the Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa. While his team has been hot Espy has been cold…errata dept. LB Tennis was reported as struggling in post-season by the 2006 team beat New Mexico before losing to Washington. This week the Niners (ranked # 43) open against SEC toughened and #33 Arkansas on Friday at UCLA in the 10:00am match. After that well I could solve the cloud jigsaw puzzle easier.