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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013
FOOTBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
James Sims stays positive despite conference losses
CHRIS HYBL
chybl@kansan.co
chvbl@kansan.com
Of the teams currently in the Big 12, senior running back James Sims hasn't beaten any of them.
And it's almost hard to place any blame for that on him. Sims has been Mr. Consistency for Kansas from his first appearance in the red and blue. In his first three years, Sims averaged 4.4, 4.0 and 4.6 yards, respectively, all while averaging over 14 carries per game in each year. He's had nine touchdowns in each of his three years.
The only problem? Sims' play hasn't been reflective of his teams'. At all. He can count the total number of wins he's participated in at Kansas with his fingers.
And now Sims is in a situation he's relatively familiar with: getting beat in the team's first conference game of the season. In the last three years, Kansas has lost its first game by an average just over 31 points. In those same three years, Kansas has lost the second conference game by an average of 32 points.
Things have been ugly for the Jayhawks early in conference play. And with fans already beginning to associate this year's season with the last, Sims is dealing with another consistency: a doubtful fan base.
"We are just 2-2 and everybody who doubts us can doubt us all they
want, but we have a lot of football left to play," Sims said. "I just want to leave this program on a positive note. On the winning side. That's my goal."
But it's more than a few speed bumps for Sims to get what he wants. It's an obstacle course. In an offense that has struggled to find an identity, behind a shaky offensive line, for a team with a dwindling fanbase, Sims has as much hope as ever.
"We've been leaving no doubt in
"...everybody who doubts us can doubt us all they want, but we have a lot of football left to play."
JAMES SIMS Senior running back
each others' mind that we can win this game and it's just about going out and executing," Sims said.
He's positive about the shaky offensive line.
"They haven't been playing the greatest but I know they can get the job done." Sims said. "But I think this is going to be a dramatic change for them upfront and they'll get the job done."
He's positive about an unproven
passing game.
passing game.
"I think the teams are still coming in, looking to stop the run and having us beat them with the pass," Sims said. "If we get the running and passing game going, we're going to be hard to stop."
Sims is a firm believer of having positive energy.
"You just have to keep a positive energy for the team," Sims said. "Obviously this last weekend against Texas Tech wasn't the outcome we wanted. We just didn't finish the game as a team. We're 2-2 so I basically feel like we're 0-0."
If there's one thing Sims has learned in his career, it's that worrying about the past will do nothing for you. It's about what's ahead, and what's ahead for this week is 2-3 Texas Christian University squad. A squad that has shown it can be susceptible to the run.
TCU has allowed over 195 rushing yards in three separate games this season. They've held the other two opponents to under 50.
Sims will be playing in front of his family who will make the 35-minute drive from Irving, Texas, to TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium on Saturday.
Sims is optimistic for Saturday, for the season and for his team. He doesn't believe in pessimism.
Edited by Hannah Barling
Junior kicker Trevor Pardula runs the ball after a trick play during the game against Texas Tech where the Jayhawks lost 54-16.
ASHLFIGH LEE/KANSAN
MLB
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright celebrates after striking out Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez for the final out of Game 5 of a National League baseball division series Wednesday in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 6-1, and advanced to the NL championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. Louis Cardinals beat Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright went all the way and the St. Louis Cardinals got two-run homers from David Freese and Matt Adams to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 on Wednesday night, advancing to the NL championship series.
Wainwright scattered eight hits in his second dominant win of the division series, coming through for the Cardinals in a winner-take-all Game 5.
St. Louis gets to stay at home to open the NLCS against the well-rested Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Freese homered in the second inning off rookie Gerrit Cole and Adams connected in the eighth against reliever Mark Melancon to make it 5-1. Pete Kozma added an RBI field single, and Wainwright finished it off by striking out Pedro Alvarez with two on.
The last three seasons, the Cardinals are 8-1 when facing elimination. They also won Game 5 of the NL division series at Washington last year and at Philadelphia in 2011.
Alvarez became the first player
with an NFI in his first six postseason games on a fluke hit that caromed off first base in the seventh. But the Pirates were held to one run in each of the final two games in their first playoff appearance in 21 years. They haven't won a post-season series since the 1979 World Series.
The 23-year-old Cole beat the Cardinals with an impressive effort in Game 2. They got to him early this time even though his fastball hit 100 mph in the first inning against Matt Holliday.
Freese made the kid pay for a full-count walk to Jon Jay with two outs in the second, lining a 1-2 pitch into the visitors' bullpen in left.
The Pirates had the bulpen up in the fourth after Yadier Molina's infield hit and a throwing error put runners on second and third. Cole gave up just three hits over five innings, but was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth.
Freese struggled this season to overcome a back injury in spring training and had nine homers and 60 RBIs. But just like teammate Carlos Beltran, he's an October star with seven homers, 29 RBIs and a .325 average in 36 career postseason games.
Adams' power hitting helped the Cardinals overcame a mid-foot sprain to cleanup man Allen Craig in early September and he hammered a first-pitch fastball from Melancon well over the right-field wall for his first RBIs of the series.
The Pirates scratched out their lone run on two infield hits and the single by Alvarez that looked to be a harmless inning-ending ground-out before it hit the bag.
Freese was a hometown hero in 2011, both the NLCS and World Series MVP. He singlehandedly got the Cardinals to Game 7 of that World Series with a two-run triple with two outs and two strikes in the ninth and then ended Game 6 with a leadoff homer in the 11th.
The snapshot moment from the title run came when Freese joyously flung his helmet between the legs a few steps from the celebration waiting at the plate.
At 23 years, 31 days, Cole was the youngest NL pitcher to start Game 5 of a division series and the fifth-youngest NL pitcher to start a winner-take-all postseason game, according to STATS.
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