ANSAN
2009
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Police accuse John Wall of breaking into N.C. house CRIME 12B
TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2009
PLAYING WITH CONFIDENCE AGAIN
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ed Press
Junior infielder Robby Price joins back to the dugout after an out at first base during the Jayhawks' April 28 game against Chicago State at Hogund Ballpark.
PAGE 1B
Matt Bristow/KANSAN
Youthful personality is contagious
Price keeps the attitude in the dugout up while providing solid batting, infielding
BY JOSH BOWE jbowe@kansan.com
Robby Price smiled and laughed as he walked out of the dugout to talk to the media. Kansas had just beaten a relatively weak Western Illinois team way back on March 25th. Price, junior second baseman, had some words for sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson before answering any questions from the media.
Thompson had just come off of his first multi-home run game of his career, giving him five home runs total at the time.
"Yeah he isn't coming." Price said back to Thompson.
"I think you put him out of reach today," Price said.
"You think so?" Thompson answered back.
After the exchange, someone asked Price what the exchange was about. Apparently there was a wager before the season between Thompson and sophomore outfielder Jimmy Waters.
"They have a little bet going -- see who hits the most home runs," Price said. "Waters ain't going to catch him."
Price and Thompson both laughed together. That's Price's personality: always ready to embrace teammates, good times or bad.
At that point in the season Price's batting average was hovering below .250. But fast forward to today and Price's subpar batting average is all but an afterthought. Price had his average over .300 before
the weekend series against Oklahoma, but it has now dipped down to a still-respectable 295, fifth on the team.
"He's just healthier," coach Ritch Price said. "To raise his average 70 points in three weeks in our conference is a remarkable feat."
Robby Price had trouble problems in his shoulders and hands. Though Ritch Price said Robby's not yet 100 percent healthy, he's healthy enough to not feel any after effects of his swing heading into Wednesday's rematch against Wichita State.
Robby Price hasn't made excuses for himself all season. He hasn't changed his approach and feels that he's finally making some consistent contact and swims.
"I think I've been seeing the ball well all year, I'm just a little bit more consistent throughout the game," Robby Price said. "Now with more quality at bats, instead of having two a game now it feels like it's getting up to two or four."
No. 23 Kansas vs.Wichita State 7 p.m.
Eck Stadium, Wichita
Sophomore outfielder Brian Heere
SEE PRICE ON PAGE 3B
baseball note
Tony Thompson named Big 12 Player of the Week
first position al player to be honored with a weekly award after sophomore starter Tala Z. Walt won the
Sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson received the first of many awards he is likely to receive this season.
Thompson was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the week of May 4. Thompson is the
weekly award for pitchers the week of April 6.
Thompson
Thompson hit .429 in Kansas' series victory against No. 9 Oklahoma. Thompson hit his 13th and 14th home runs during Sunday's 10-9 loss. Thompson now leads the Big 12 with 62 RBIs and is third in home runs.
MLB
— Josh Bowe
Greinke throws shutout, takes league lead in wins
Royals win 3-0 over White Sox on heels of strong pitching performance including starter's 10 strikeouts
Associated Press
BY JOHN MARSHALL
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Zack Greinke struck out 10 in a six-hitter and became the majors' first six-game winner with his second shutout in four starts, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 3-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
More than 6,500 fans bought walk-up tickets — pushing the attendance over 21,000 — to watch Greinke pitch and he didn't disappoint.
The right-hander baffled the White Sox all night, working inside and out, up and down, slow and fast. Greinke (6-0) didn't walk a batter, dropped his ERA to 0.40 and pushed his
A. J. Pierzynski and Scott Podsednik each had two hits for the White Sox, who had just three runners reach scoring position against Greinke and couldn't overcome a shaky start from Bartolo Colon (2-2).
Greinke's streak of not allowing an earned run ended at 43 innings his last outing, when he gave up two to Toronto. He still won the game, striking out eight in seven innings, and was even better against Chicago.
majors-leading strikeout total to 54 during his third complete game of the season.
Greinke started off by throwing a 72 mph curveball and a 96 mph fastball on consecutive pitches to Jayson Nix in the first inning, then blew away Alexei
Greinke made short work of Jim Thome during strikeouts in the middle innings, then got Chicago's slugger to pop up for the final out, joining Brett Saberhagen (1987) and Jose Lima (2003) as the only pitchers in franchise history to win their first six decisions.
Ramirez in the third with a fastball below the chin, a knee-buckling curveball and two more pitches for the strikeout.
The big right-hander, who's been so good at Cellular Field, struggled again in a road start, working deep into just about
Colon wasn't nearly as efficient.
0
SEE ROYALS ON PAGE 3B
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas City Royals' David DeJesus celebrates after hitting a home run during the third inning. Monday, more than 21,000 came to Kauffman Stadium to witness the 3-1 victory.
COMMENTARY
One last run through Lawrence
Here's the story. It's a simple story.It's a college story.
You are standing a cemetery in East Lawrence and the name on the memorial says "James Naismith".
You are standing in a cemetery in East Lawrence. You started on campus near the Campanile. You ran through campus, and you ran past The Wheel on 14th Street, you ran past old houses and people gardening. And now you are here.
"Dr James Naismith invented the game as a winter sport for the YMCA at Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891. In 1898 he accepted a position at the University of Kansas. His goal was to develop the University's Physical Education Department. He also agreed to accept the coaching position of KU's first basketball team."
You are 22 years old and you will graduate from college in 13 days. So you've run through campus, run past Allen Fieldhouse, run past Strong Hall, run past everything. And then you realize why you're here, looking at the memorial of a man who has been dead for nearly 70 years.
You love the University of Kansas and you're trying to find out why.
And of course, we know the rest of the story. Naismith would coach a young man named Forrest C. Allen. You know him better as Phog. And Allen would turn Kansas into the most historic college basketball program in the country.
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And you love this place because the University of Kansas is basketball. The words on the Naismith memorial are pretty clear.
You love this place because you love basketball. The sport was your first love. How can you explain the feeling of running a two-on-one fast break or taking a charge or hitting a three from the corner?
You love this place because of the tradition.
And you're pretty certain that without Naismith and Allen, you wouldn't be standing here.
Here's a quick story. I was nursing a beer last Sunday at a bar filled with nostalgic seniors. You know, there's probably not a whole lot of productive value in spending a Sunday night at the bar, but when you are a senior and your college days are numbered, it just makes sense.
So my friend Brad and I concluded that there is no better KU tradition than the Friday night bar band.
"Seriously," Brad said. "Next year, I'm coming back just to hear the bar band."
I'm not sure why we gain so much pleasure from listening to a college pep band blast out "Hey Jude" in a small bar packed with ridiculous college kids, but some things are better left a mystery. I mentioned the bar band in a
SEE DODD ON PAGE 3B