005
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7.2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3F
MLB
Charlie Neibergal/CHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — Mark Mulder tossed aside a pair of poor tune-up starts and put the St. Louis Cardinals on the brink of a playoff sweep.
St. Louis Cardinals' shortstop David Eckstein flies over San Diego Padres' Xavier Nady on a double play grounder by San Diego's Miguel Olivio during the seventh inning in Game 2 of their National League Division Series in St. Louis Thursday.
Mulder pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and the Cardinals once again built an early lead, beating the San Diego Padres 6-2 Thursday for a 2-0 edge in their first-round NL series.
Cards near NLCS return
BY R.B. FALLSTROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mulder was 16-8 in his first season since being acquired from Oakland, but gave up seven earned runs over 5 2-3 innings in two starts after the Cardinals clinched the NL Central.
stacked with seven right-handed hitters until the late innings and backed by four double plays, tying the NLDS record.
The Cardinals' first four runs came on balls that didn't leave the infield — or in one case, even the catcher's glove. David Eckstein had a run-scoring groundout and a squeeze bunt, Yadier Molina had an RBI grounder and Albert Pujols drew a bases-loaded walk to finish Pedro Astacio after four innings.
Matt Morris will try to clinch it for St. Louis on Saturday at San Diego against Woody Williams.
The Cardinals, who led the majors with 100 wins this season.
have advanced to the NL championship series four times in five chances under manager Tony La Russa. San Diego, which limped into the playoffs with an 82-80 record, hasn't shown any signs of stopping them.
Seven teams have rallied from a 2-0 deficit in division series play — the last team to do it was Boston against Oakland in 2003.
As in Tuesday's opener, when the Cardinals took an eight-run lead behind Chris Carpenter before the Padres rallied in an 8-5 loss, it got a little closer at the end.
Mulder scoffed at both of those trends the day before Game 2, blanking a lineup
SWIMMING & DIVING
Jayhawks to compete against top 25 team
BY KELY REYNOLDS
kreynolds@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
The women's swimming and diving team will compete against the nationally ranked Minnesota Gophers in its first dual meet tomorrow at Robinson Natatorium.
The meet is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Kansas finished fourth out of six teams at the Big 12 Conference Championships in College Station, Texas. The Golden Gophers, coached by Kelly Kremer, Terry Niezner and Jason Baumann, finished sixth out of 11 teams at the Big Ten Conference Championships in Bloomington, Ind., last February. They also finished the 2004-2005 season No. 23 in the College Swim Coaches Association poll, published by USA Today.
"This is a good opportunity to swim a top 25 team." Kansas
swimming coach Clark Campbell said. "Mentally, we get up, but we're still physically early in the season. It will be a great early season test."
The hype surrounding Minnesota has not discouraged Kansas. Senior co-captain Gina Gnatzig said it would give the Jayhawks more incentive to do well.
"Knowing that they are ranked is always in the back of our minds, but that gives us a reason to swim fast." Gnatzig said.
Gnatzig said to prepare the team to compete against Minnesota, Campbell had had a mini swim camp during the first five weeks of school that focused on physical training and conditioning.
"Clark has been talking to us about how to be mentally tough, also," Gnatzig said.
Gnatzig said the Golden Gophers had fast sprinters but the Jayhawks had the depth to keep the meet alive.
Because the Jayhawks are playing host to the Gophers, they may have momentum in their favor, but Campbell said the away meet would not slow Minnesota down.
"They will come to Lawrence prepared," Campbell said. "That's what makes them nationally ranked. They swim well at home and on the road."
Each team released its 2004- 2005 top times at the end of last season. Their times were comparable.
"Most of our top times come from Big 12s or the Nike meet at the end of the season, but Minnesota swims very well in-season," Campbell said.
For the Jayhawks to get to Minnesota's level, they must perform for the remainder of the season like Minnesota does, Campbell said.
Edited by Erin Wisdom
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Fans hate no-huddle offense
BY JUDI BOLAND
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STILLWATER, Okla. — After his first loss as Oklahoma State's coach, Mike Gundy is getting plenty of input on how to make the Cowboys' no-huddle offense more effective.
Two days after Oklahoma State's 34-0 loss to Colorado, the first-year coach had already received 50 e-mails from fans.
"People are saying the offense is no good, you need to huddle up," Gundy said.
Gundy said most of the e-mails were negative,but some of the writers knew what they were talking about.
"I read my e-mails. I read
them not because I want to fire back and say, 'You are wrong.' I read them because I want information. Any information I can get is good information," Gundy said.
The loss to Colorado was the first time since 2000 that Oklahoma State was shut out and the first time it was held scoreless at home since 1991.
But heading into this week's game against Missouri (2-2, 0-1 Big 12), which features the worst defense in the Big 12, the Cowboys (3-1, 0-1) remain confident.
"Our players are upbeat, and the coaches are upbeat after a tough loss." Gundy said. "We are looking forward to a new
challenge this week."
Both Oklahoma State and Missouri, which lost 51-20 to No. 2 Texas last week, are looking for their first conference victory.
"We understand that they lost a game; we both lost one and obviously, we both want one back and that's natural as competitors." Tigers coach Gary Pinkel said. "This will be a challenge like every other one."
Missouri has won its last three games in Stillwater, dating back to a 24-15 win in 1994.
The Tigers also picked up a 41-38 win in triple overtime in 2001 and a 51-50 win in double overtime in 1997