4B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 25. 2009
Four new Royals to start in opener
MLB
BY ALAN ESKEW
Associated Press
SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Kansas City Royals plan to start four players acquired in the offseason — Coco Crisp, Mike Jacobs, Willie Bloomquist and Horacio Ramirez — in their exhibition opener.
Ramirez, a left-hander who made 15 relief appearances for the Royals last season before being traded to the Chicago White Sox in August, will be the starting pitcher in Kansas City's first spring training game Wednesday against the Texas Rangers.
Crisp will play center and bat leadoff, while Jacobs, who hit 32 home runs last year for the Florida Marlins, will be the designated hitter and bat cleanup.
Kansas City Royals outfielder Coco Crisp throws a ball during baseball spring training Thursday in Surprise, Ariz.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bloomquist has spent most of the early spring training drills taking ground balls at second base, but he will start in right field and bat ninth. Jose Guillen, Kansas City's starting right fielder, has been slowed by an ingrown toenail and a sore shoulder.
David Delesus, who mainly batted first last season while hitting .307. has moved from center to left and dropped to third in the batting order to accommodate Crisp, who hit .283 last season for Boston.
"Playing center (in Kauffman Stadium), I do think it wears you down from an energy level, especially over the course of a long season," manager Trey Hillman said. "David is always an energetic player. We anticipate and hopefully we'll see his stamina be even better than what it was last year."
Billy Butler, who started just 33 games at first base last year, will play that position and bat fifth.
"This time last year I heard,'Billy
Butler can never play first base. You don't want to put that guy there.' Those didn't come from inside the organization, but outside the organization. He did a very respectable job in the time he was there last year,' Hillman said.
"He's more agile this year. It's helping his lateral movement. It also helps his feet with his exchange once he catches the ball. He turned a nice 3-6-3 double play in our intrasquad game."
"I've just got in better shape, worked a lot on my agility this offseason," Butler said. "They told me that's what I needed to do to come in and compete for the job. I feel like a more rounded player."
Mark Teahen, who started at right, left, first and third last year, will start at second base, a position he has not played since college. Hillman said he wants to see Teahen play second in games
before he leaves next week to play for Canada in the World Baseball Classic.
PGA
"I'll be real hesitant, even with the guys leaving for the WBC, to go four days in a row with them, just simply because it's too early." Hillman said.
Shortstop Mike Aviles, who batted .336 as a rookie, will bat second. Miguel Olivo, who has replaced John Buck as the starting catcher, will bat eighth, in front of Bloomquist.
Hillman anticipates Guilleen will be able to play before leaving Sunday to join the Dominican Republic team for the WBC. Guilleen said he won't play in the WBC if he's not healthy.
"We're going to see how Jose feels with his swinging," Hillman said. "I got another look the other day at the toe unbandaged, and I've been pretty impressed with what he's been able to do with his running."
Golfers share different opinions about match play
BY DOUG FERGUSON
Associated Press
MARANA, Ariz. — Bob Rotella was a busy man on the range at Dove Mountain, which made perfect sense.
Few tournaments are so baffling that they require the services of golf's most famous psychologist. Half the players are losers after each of six rounds at the Accenture Match Play Championship, where skill isn't nearly as important as luck and timing.
Stuart Appleby had a similar analogy, different day.
Phil Mickelson refers to it as "six final rounds."
"The only uncertainty at the start of a regular tournament is if
you make the cut, and that's on a Friday," he said. "Match play has the ability to make you feel like every round is Friday afternoon. You're looking at moving forward — which you should never do — and then you're booking a flight home. It makes you constantly feel like you're trying to make the cut."
This is the fickle format to which Tiger Woods makes his return.
Oddly enough, the last hole he played essentially was match play. After going 90 holes in the U.S.Open — four rounds and an 18-hole playoff — he still was tied with Rocco Mediate.
They went to sudden death, and Woods won the next hole with a Dart.
Woods shot an even-par 71 in
his final round at Torrey Pines.
If he can manage a score like that at Dove Mountain, it might be enough to beat Brendan Jones.
Or maybe not.
"Match play is a funny game," Jones said. "Anything can happen."
Scott Hoch once had the second-best score during the quarterfinals of Match Plav.
It can be maddening at times.
Just his luck, he happened to be playing Woods, who had the best score.
Stephen Ames recalls being 2-up with three holes to play against Charles
"Match play is a funny game. Anything can happen."
Howell III and finishing birdieder-par-par — only to lose.
Robert Karlsson, the No. 7 player in the world, has a unique distinction at Dove Mountain. He is the only player in the 64-man field who has played the Accenture Match Play Championship at least three times without ever winning a match.
It's not his fault. A year ago, he shot a 65 in the opening round and ran into a 64 by Paul Casey.
That's why so many players can't stomach match play more than once a year.
BRENDAN JONES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"If we had to play match play every single week, guys would retire by the age of 40," Woods said five years ago. And that was after his most dominant victory in Match Play, when he set a tournament record by playing only 112 holes, with only one match going the distance.
And that's why some players can't get enough of it.
Tiger Woods watches his drive on the sixth hole during a practice round at the World Gon Championship Accenture Match Play Championship Tuesday. Feb. 24, in Maraia.
"Maybe it's because I'm such a sports fanatic," said Masters champion Trevor Immelman, who wants more of match play. "But 99.9 percent of the time, 's man-on-
man, team-on-team. That's what sport is. In golf, you can win a tournament and not see 150 guys all week. I think match play is easier for the fans to relate to, and it's a nice change. I would love to see this two times a year."
Why not more?
Immelman thought about this for a minute.
Golf has a long history of match play, and even one of the four majors (PGA Championship) used match play until 1958. It was abandoned because it was not a good
"Three would be pushing it" he said.
fit for television, the gallery could only see two players on the course in the final match, and the format had this nasty habit of knocking the stars out early.
And that's why once a year is probably ample.
This is the only golf tournament that gets less exciting the closer it gets to the trophy presentation.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Top-ranked Pitt loses to streaking Providence
BY JIMMY GOLEN Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Weyimni Efjuku scored 16 and Providence upset No.1 Pittsburgh 81-73 on Tuesday night for its first win over a top-ranked team in 33 years.
Sharara Curry added 15 points for the Friars (17-11, 9-7 Big East), who picked up a big victory for their NCAA tournament hopes.
Deluan Blair fouled out on a moving pick with 46 seconds left as Pittsburgh (25-3, 12-3) tried to rally.
Blair, the reigning Big East player of the week, averaged 21 points and 20.5 rebounds in wins over No.1 Connecticut and DePaul that elevated the Panthers to the top spot on Monday. But he picked up two quick fouls — his third and fourth — midway through the second half.
It was the home finale — senior
He finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Providence led by 20 after completing a 17-1 run with the first basket of the second half, but the Panthers cut it to five points, 75-70, on Blair's putback with 51 seconds left. After Brian McKenzie hit a pair of free throws for Providence a fraction of a second later, Pitt brought the ball down and Blair was called for an offensive foul that sent the Friars back to the foul line.
night — for Providence, which was coming off a 103-84 loss to Notre Dame that might have eliminated its chances of reaching the tournament. With a signature win and a game left against 15th-place Rutgers, the Friars may have played their way in.
The fans in the sold-out Dunkin' Donuts Center sensed it, crowding around the courtside press tables for the final minutes. Twice in the final minutes, the public address announcer begged the fans to stay off the floor following the game; twice the crowd responded with a laugh.
Sure enough, after the Friars dribbed out the last 20 seconds — it was too far gone for Pitt to try fouling — the fans went over the tables and chairs circling the floor and celebrated one of the biggest wins in school history.
The Friars are just 2-10 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams, with their only other victory coming in double overtime against Michigan in 1976. This win made them 2-5 against ranked teams this season, having also beaten then-No. 15 Syracuse on Jan. 28.
Pittsburgh had won seven straight and beaten Providence eight times in a row. The Panthers won their first 16 games this season and spent two weeks in January at No.1 before losing to then-No.20 Louisville.
Providence opened with a 15-4 lead and led by 18 at the half.