Barry Zito-The Left-Hander That Wasn't a Lefty

By Michael Takeuchi

Watching the TIVO of Giants pitcher Barry Zito (I had to cover a volleyball match of all things) mastering the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, took me back to the not-so-distant past.

Years ago, when he was pitching for the Oakland Athletics,  Barry Zito agreed to do an interview with me for a small publication I was working for at the time.  Zito, who had already won the Cy Young three seasons prior, had a lot of demands on his time.  But since I told him we were both fellow UCSB Gauchos, I hit the magic button even though he only pitched there for one season, before moving onto L.A. Pierce, and then USC. 

  Zito  gave me a precise time on when to meet him while also telling me exactly where and how much time he could give me as he was pitching the following day.

   I found the structured schedule a bit unnerving as the left-handed pitcher had a reputation of being...well, a lefty. The term lefty, is often unfairly compared with someone being a flake.  And at the time, Zito certainly filled the stereotype.  He surfed, played guitar, and did yoga while also talking about a universal life force.  In other words, he was a free spirit. But on this day, while polite, Zito was all business and I didn't dare cross him. 

  The next day, I arrived an hour early at the Oakland Coliseum, now named the O.o. Coliseum or something like that, to prepare.  While getting ready, instead of talking about UCSB, where we went a decade apart, I decided to break the ice by talking about yoga and surfing, two things I knew a little bit about.

  Walking down the then (and now) ancient, but memory-filled stadium tunnel to the home dugout, I remember thinking about the players who walked the same path. Catfish, Reggie, Vida, Rollie, Sal, my favorite Campy and even Ray Fosse, the catcher who had the misfortune of being bowled over at the plate by my least favorite baseball player (and perhaps athlete) Pete Rose in the 1970 All-Star game  On that play, Fosse apparently suffered a separated right shoulder.   According to legend, Fosse was never the same player again although other accounts dispute this.

  Reaching the field on that bright summer afternoon, I stepped inside the home dugout, if one can call it such.  It consisted of a green cushioned bench, a bat and helmet rack, but no rail.   I never understood the fact that the dugouts had no front railing.  But with the Coliseum also being the home of the Oakland Raiders, this seemed as natural as the aircraft carrier-like luxury boxes beyond the outfield fence courtesy of the whims of Al Davis. 

  Taking my seat at the far end while the team started to take the field for batting practice.  Still 20 minutes early, I watched the collegial banter of the players during warm-ups and then the beginning of batting practice.  I was having so much fun, I hadn't noticed that the interview was supposed to have begun 10 minutes prior.

  Looking at the watch, I started to get that antsy feeling of a kid sitting in the classroom waiting for summer vacation to begin. All of the Athletics had taken the field by this time, all except Zito.  After 30 minutes, I finally asked an A's staffer about the whereabouts of the pitcher.  The staffer said that he was in need of some extra treatment and wouldn't be taking the field during batting practice.  

  Sigh.  Curses, foiled again.

  Throughout the entirety of that night's game, all I could think of was the interview that wasn't.  Halfway through, I regrouped my thoughts in hope of getting the interview after the game, which isn't always the best time for a reporter.  There is an unspoken agreement between players and reporters that that time, which is about 15 minutes after the last out or run scored is recorded, is used to briefly interview players who were on the field for that particular time.  If one wanted a lengthy interview, reporters would have to wait until batting practice the next day.

  This of course, didn't help this small town scribe, who had to leave the morning after the next game.  Since Zito was pitching the next night, he would be incommunicado as another cardinal rule is that reporters don't talk to a starting pitcher on the day he takes the bump.  So essentially, I was SOL big time-which was not as bad as Zito was during his start.

  With his first pitch against the White Sox, Zito missed the strike zone badly.   And the second, and the third.  His 12-6 curve, was starting at midnight, but dropping only as far as a batter's wheelhouse-bad sign.   And the A's pitcher paid the price, giving up something like seven runs in less than five innings. 

  This was almost as bad for me, because I knew that if he pitched well, I might have a chance to interview him for a few minutes after.  But he if he didn't, we would be limited to a few questions before it was time to skedaddle. 

  After the game, an Oakland loss,  reporters waited in a cluster outside of the clubhouse until we went in to manager Ken Macha's office before the players would be made available for interviews.  

  While many changed quietly (a win brings music while a loss only brings silence-just like the Jeremy Giambi scene from MONEYBALL), others sat at tables silently eating dinner while reporters hovered awkwardly around them. Zito, got out of the shower area,  went to his locker while the gaggle followed him.

  After dressing, Zito was given a few questions on the assessment of his outing, but nothing major.  Despite the relative softball (no pun intended) questions, Zito looked bored and it looked like that locker room represented the last place he wanted to be. Yet he answered them before the beat writers, satisfied with the pitcher's quotes, walked away to move onto other players while Zito grabbed a plate of food and sat down to eat.

  With most of the other reporters gone, this rube didn't know what to do. Knowing I had to get the interview, I wanted to stay, but also knowing protocol I knew I had to leave, especially since everybody had already left.  Resigned, I decided to join them and turned to leave.

  Just then, Zito got up from the table.

  "Hey Mike, were you waiting on me?" Zito asked.  "Sorry man, the trainer had me get extra treatment yesterday. I guess it didn't help."

  Shocked and awed, I laughed and said it wasn't a problem.

  "It's late for you but we could do that interview now if you want."

"Uh sure, that would be great thanks."

  We sat down at the same table he was eating at and began the interview with the clubhouse attendants being the only other people around. 

  By the time the interview was done about a half an hour later, everyone except a security guard who was waiting patiently nearby had already left.  Before he went his way and I went mine, Zito shook my hand and wished me luck with the story.

  Playing back the recording the next day, I realized I couldn't use very much of it because it was more like two dudes chilling in the locker room.  I did manage to get enough to make a marginal story that was cut down to its bare minimum.  But I didn't care. I got my interview who became one of my still-favorite players to boot.

  Thanks Lefty.  

THE END OF TODDANDPHIL

By Michael Takeuchi

*On September 17, 2012, the Associated Press reported that pro beach volleyball players Phil Dalhausser and longtime partner Todd Rogers, who together won numerous tournaments including an Olympic gold medal in 2008 , would not be playing together next year. According to the AP story, Dalhausser would  partner with Sean Rosenthal next year.   Six days earlier in the Santa Barbara News-Press, this journalist reported that this would most likely happen. 
  Below, while largely using the same quotes, I wrote a personalized account of the impending parting of ways that was updated to reflect the change. 



"This is the end my beautiful friend.  This is the end, my only friend.  The end of our elaborate plans. The end of ev'rything that stands. The end."   Jim Morrison and the Doors
 
  When it comes to beach volleyball, the late Morrison's words couldn't be more apropos when referring to the accomplished beach volleyball tandem of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.   Because it was recently reported that the "ToddandPhil", who won an  Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, five AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) titles from 2007 to '11 and countless other titles, are  done, fini, awarimashita.

I wish it ain't so, but unfortunately it is thus.

  On September 8 at the AVP Championships in Santa Barbara, shortly after losing a playoff match to eventual champions Rosenthal and Jake Gibb (after which Rosenthal, who along with two of his "Rosie's Raiders" compadres trash talked him from across the beach as both players headed to the ocean to cool off), Dalhausser was noncommittal.  But at the time,  his pause in speech and careful choice of words had me wondering if even he was doubting what he was saying.
  "For this year yeah because we kind of had a rough year this year, (so) I haven't really put too much thought into it," Dalhausser said as he walked towards the water on the balmy afternoon. "I am sure we'll sit down and talk about it and make a decision but right now I'm just getting my bearings after the Olympics and dealing with moving."
  When pressed, he did admit that he was considering teaming up with Rosenthal or his former partner Nick Lucena but that his only thoughts for the moment were to "enjoy a football game and have a beer".
  Rogers, however was convinced at the time of this interview that after a disappointing year that included a loss in the round of 16 at the London Olympics,  he was ready to move on.
  "We had our run, it's been fun, but it's just the end of a good run," the Solvang resident said. "I highly doubt we'll be playing next year (together).  We didn't have very much fun this year. There was a lot of on-court and off court that's gone on that made changes in our chemistry.  
"Phil's a good guy don't get me wrong and I'm a good guy as well.   I think we just set the bar so high and it's frustrating when you don't attain that bar now. You can make excuses with injuries or personal problems or changes in your life or whatever, the reality is for Phil and I to be successful we need a minimum  four, five or six wins irrespective of (all that). We've had injuries in the past but still hit those numbers  it's just the way that we look at it. "
  "Since everything was centered on the Olympics, maybe if we won a gold medal this year, we would be thinking about playing together next year," Rogers said. "There's some sadness because a great run is over. But since it was successful run I can't have any regrets on it. "
  I was strangely affected by Todd's words because being a sportswriter for the last 13 years has often taken the emotion and sometimes the romance out of watching sports. For example, when I look at the cancer beating Lance Armstrong, I now see Lyle Alzado,  the late Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns defensive lineman who succumbed to a brain tumor that he admitted was at least partially caused by steroid abuse.  I honestly wonder if the seven-time Tour de France winner had gone the same route.
  Preposterous?  Perhaps, but I confess those thoughts do pop into my head more often than naught. When it comes to a profession that I am part of but not wholly invested in (FYI I'm also the production manager for a mid-major (think WAC  or MAC if you're a sports fan) film festival that caters to Oscar nominees), I am as cynical as they come, snickering in the press box at places like Dodger Stadium  when an exaggerated attendance figure is announced or when a Beyonce wanna-be falsettos their way through a too-long National Anthem.
  Through this all, I haven't become that hard-ass bitter man who hates the world like a former colleague of mine has.   In fact movies like THE BICYCLE THIEF, things that are even more make believe than sports get to me frequently.   On the other side of the reality spectrum, speaking publicly about losing loved ones to a terminal illness makes me bawl like a baby every time.   Just ask certain members of the UCSB sports teams when I spoke to them.  One athlete jokingly gave me a bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo (motto "No More Tears") after speaking.
   But perhaps from my experiences with them, and watching and yes, (silently) rooting for Todd and Phill it is different.  Because like the Dodgers 1970's infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey one almost expected them to be together forever.  Of course reality partially caused by age and different goals intervene.
  While I haven't known Phil very long, I think I first met him when he threw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium in 2008, I have known Todd for a number of years starting when he played for an old friend Dave Cruz-someone who had the sweetest setting hands in volleyball and a coach Rogers credits to this day for his early development.
   I will never forget a match where his San Marcos High team played an  epic five game (for us old-timers, they're still called game) match with Santa Barbara High in the Royals suffocating quonset hut of a gym nicknamed the Thunderhut.  It was a match where you could count on one hand the time Rogers, who was the setter, put the ball up to a hitter with a double block.
  From then he enjoyed a solid career at UCSB and after an assistant coaching stint with the Gauchos, a stellar partnership with fellow local Dax Holdren.  Before Todd and Phil, it was Todd and Dax.
  Once Todd and Phil united, the team became the tandem to beat on the beach winning AVP as well as Olympic qualifying FIVB events regularly enough to warrant attention from fans and others who recognized their potential.  One such "incident" of this occurred at Santa Barbara's East Beach Pavilion.
  While using the facilities at the historic building, this writer heard two men speaking to each other in a nearby stall.  Because of a notorious  reputation of elicit activity in a bathroom of a nearby park, upon hearing the voices I immediately thought of a hilarious scene from the underrated movie starring Robin Williams MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON, where Williams' character, a Russian immigrant in the U.S. confronted a man following him by demanding if he was  CIA or KGB and the man responded by saying "No, G-A-Y."
  While I was getting ready to get the heck out of Dodge, out pops Rogers followed by another man who happened to be a USADA officer taking the players urine sample for a PED testing that he of course, passed.
  "Hi Mike," he said without a hint of embarrassment.
"Hi Todd," I answered blushing with more than a smidgeon of such.
  Since then, it was through frequent conversations and meetings including a chill session on the field at Dodger Stadium with a relaxed but tired duo at Chavez Ravine that a fondness grew.
  That is just the opposite of most athletes I covered-the more you get to know them, the less the mystique about them and hence, usually the less they are liked.  Reality almost always spoils idealism.  But in this case not so much-they were (are) two of the good ones, which is why I felt the need to go back and talk to Rogers a while after the first interview to verify if his feelings were unchanged.
    After he finished signing autographs and posing for pictures from a still-adoring crowd, I started asking a question that he thankfully finished, sadness overcame me and he had to (correctly) guess that I wanted to ask about being disappointed in not pulling off a win in front of the Santa Barbara crowd.
 "It's nice to be home always nice to be able to play in front of these fans, but everyone here has come to expect us to win everything," Rogers said. "It's time."  
  Volleyball players change partners like the wind. Just look at Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith parting ways in the early 80's, while the former became a two-time indoor gold medalist,  the latter formed an unbeatable partnership on the beach with Randy Stoklos Even the three-time Olympic gold medalists Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings, who while one or the other took time away from the game, volleyed Nicole Branagh as a partner. With May Treanor retired, Walsh Jennings paired with Branagh at an FIVB event and then the AVP Cincinnati Open and AVP Championships-losing to April Ross and Jen Kessy in the finals of the latter two.  And now, Walsh Jennings was quoted in a publication as having thoughts of Ross as a possible partner.
 Sooner rather than later,  it will be time for Rogers and Dalhausser to part ways. Although neither will retire (Rogers indicated he would like to play with a young player he could mentor), for me it was almost like reliving the breakup of Garvey, Cey, Russell, and Lopes all over again.
 It is too soon and they are too young to be called legends, only time and opinion can decide that.  But regardless of how they will be judged in the future,  it can be said that they were at least very good together and both can (and will) still play.
In addition, the one thing this reporter can say is that win or lose, Rogers and Dalhausser were stand-up guys along with being great players.  For volleyball fans like me, that is more than enough.

  Thanks Todd and Phil. It was a privilege.














































By Michael Takeuchi

*On September 17, 2012, the Associated Press wrote that pro beach volleyball players Phil Dalhausser and longtime partner Todd Rogers, who together won numerous tournaments including an Olympic gold medal in 2008 , would not be playing together next year. According to the AP story, Dalhausser would  partner with Sean Rosenthal next year.   Six days earlier in the Santa Barbara News-Press, this journalist reported that this would most likely happen.
  Below, while largely using the same quotes, I wrote a personalized account of the impending parting of ways that was updated to reflect the change.

THE END

"This is the end my beautiful friend.  This is the end, my only friend.  The end of our elaborate plans. The end of ev'rything that stands. The end."   Jim Morrison and the Doors
 
  When it comes to beach volleyball, the late Morrison's words couldn't be more apropos when referring to the accomplished beach volleyball tandem of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.   Because it was recently reported that the "ToddandPhil", who won an  Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, five AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) titles from 2007 to '11 and countless other titles, are  done, fini, awarimashita.

I wish it ain't so, but unfortunately it is thus.

  On September 8 at the AVP Championships in Santa Barbara, shortly after losing a playoff match to eventual champions Rosenthal and Jake Gibb (after which Rosenthal, who along with two of his "Rosie's Raiders" compadres trash talked him from across the beach as both players headed to the ocean to cool off), Dalhausser was noncommittal.  But at the time,  his pause in speech and careful choice of words had me wondering if even he was doubting what he was saying.
  "For this year yeah because we kind of had a rough year this year, (so) I haven't really put too much thought into it," Dalhausser said as he walked towards the water on the balmy afternoon. "I am sure we'll sit down and talk about it and make a decision but right now I'm just getting my bearings after the Olympics and dealing with moving."
  When pressed, he did admit that he was considering teaming up with Rosenthal or his former partner Nick Lucena but that his only thoughts for the moment were to "enjoy a football game and have a beer".
  Rogers, however was convinced at the time of this interview that after a disappointing year that included a loss in the round of 16 at the London Olympics,  he was ready to move on.
  "We had our run, it's been fun, but it's just the end of a good run," the Solvang resident said. "I highly doubt we'll be playing next year (together).  We didn't have very much fun this year. There was a lot of on-court and off court that's gone on that made changes in our chemistry.  
"Phil's a good guy don't get me wrong and I'm a good guy as well.   I think we just set the bar so high and it's frustrating when you don't attain that bar now. You can make excuses with injuries or personal problems or changes in your life or whatever, the reality is for Phil and I to be successful we need a minimum  four, five or six wins irrespective of (all that). We've had injuries in the past but still hit those numbers  it's just the way that we look at it. "
  "Since everything was centered on the Olympics, maybe if we won a gold medal this year, we would be thinking about playing together next year," Rogers said. "There's some sadness because a great run is over. But since it was successful run I can't have any regrets on it. "
  I was strangely affected by Todd's words because being a sportswriter for the last 13 years has often taken the emotion and sometimes the romance out of watching sports. For example, when I look at the cancer beating Lance Armstrong, I now see Lyle Alzado,  the late Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns defensive lineman who succumbed to a brain tumor that he admitted was at least partially caused by steroid abuse.  I honestly wonder if the seven-time Tour de France winner had gone the same route.
  Preposterous?  Perhaps, but I confess those thoughts do pop into my head more often than naught. When it comes to a profession that I am part of but not wholly invested in (FYI I'm also the production manager for a mid-major (think WAC  or MAC if you're a sports fan) film festival that caters to Oscar nominees), I am as cynical as they come, snickering in the press box at places like Dodger Stadium  when an exaggerated attendance figure is announced or when a Beyonce wanna-be falsettos their way through a too-long National Anthem.
  Through this all, I haven't become that hard-ass bitter man who hates the world like a former colleague of mine has.   In fact movies like THE BICYCLE THIEF, things that are even more make believe than sports get to me frequently.   On the other side of the reality spectrum, speaking publicly about losing loved ones to a terminal illness makes me bawl like a baby every time.   Just ask certain members of the UCSB sports teams when I spoke to them.  One athlete jokingly gave me a bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo (motto "No More Tears") after speaking.
   But perhaps from my experiences with them, and watching and yes, (silently) rooting for Todd and Phill it is different.  Because like the Dodgers 1970's infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey one almost expected them to be together forever.  Of course reality partially caused by age and different goals intervene.
  While I haven't known Phil very long, I think I first met him when he threw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium in 2008, I have known Todd for a number of years starting when he played for an old friend Dave Cruz-someone who had the sweetest setting hands in volleyball and a coach Rogers credits to this day for his early development.
   I will never forget a match where his San Marcos High team played an  epic five game (for us old-timers, they're still called game) match with Santa Barbara High in the Royals suffocating quonset hut of a gym nicknamed the Thunderhut.  It was a match where you could count on one hand the time Rogers, who was the setter, put the ball up to a hitter with a double block.
  From then he enjoyed a solid career at UCSB and after an assistant coaching stint with the Gauchos, a stellar partnership with fellow local Dax Holdren.  Before Todd and Phil, it was Todd and Dax.
  Once Todd and Phil united, the team became the tandem to beat on the beach winning AVP as well as Olympic qualifying FIVB events regularly enough to warrant attention from fans and others who recognized their potential.  One such "incident" of this occurred at Santa Barbara's East Beach Pavilion.
  While using the facilities at the historic building, this writer heard two men speaking to each other in a nearby stall.  Because of a notorious  reputation of elicit activity in a bathroom of a nearby park, upon hearing the voices I immediately thought of a hilarious scene from the underrated movie starring Robin Williams MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON, where Williams' character, a Russian immigrant in the U.S. confronted a man following him by demanding if he was  CIA or KGB and the man responded by saying "No, G-A-Y."
  While I was getting ready to get the heck out of Dodge, out pops Rogers followed by another man who happened to be a USADA officer taking the players urine sample for a PED testing that he of course, passed.
  "Hi Mike," he said without a hint of embarrassment.
"Hi Todd," I answered blushing with more than a smidgeon of such.
  Since then, it was through frequent conversations and meetings including a chill session on the field at Dodger Stadium with a relaxed but tired duo at Chavez Ravine that a fondness grew.
  That is just the opposite of most athletes I covered-the more you get to know them, the less the mystique about them and hence, usually the less they are liked.  Reality almost always spoils idealism.  But in this case not so much-they were (are) two of the good ones, which is why I felt the need to go back and talk to Rogers a while after the first interview to verify if his feelings were unchanged.
    After he finished signing autographs and posing for pictures from a still-adoring crowd, I started asking a question that he thankfully finished, sadness overcame me and he had to (correctly) guess that I wanted to ask about being disappointed in not pulling off a win in front of the Santa Barbara crowd.
 "It's nice to be home always nice to be able to play in front of these fans, but everyone here has come to expect us to win everything," Rogers said. "It's time."  
  Volleyball players change partners like the wind. Just look at Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith parting ways in the early 80's, while the former became a two-time indoor gold medalist,  the latter formed an unbeatable partnership on the beach with Randy Stoklos Even the three-time Olympic gold medalists Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings, who while one or the other took time away from the game, volleyed Nicole Branagh as a partner. With May Treanor retired, Walsh Jennings paired with Branagh at an FIVB event and then the AVP Cincinnati Open and AVP Championships-losing to April Ross and Jen Kessy in the finals of the latter two.  And now, Walsh Jennings was quoted in a publication as having thoughts of Ross as a possible partner.
 Sooner rather than later,  it will be time for Rogers and Dalhausser to part ways. Although neither will retire (Rogers indicated he would like to play with a young player he could mentor), for me it was almost like reliving the breakup of Garvey, Cey, Russell, and Lopes all over again.
 It is too soon and they are too young to be called legends, only time and opinion can decide that.  But regardless of how they will be judged in the future,  it can be said that they were at least very good together and both can (and will) still play.
In addition, the one thing this reporter can say is that win or lose, Rogers and Dalhausser were stand-up guys along with being great players.  For volleyball fans like me, that is more than enough.

  Thanks Todd and Phil. It was a privilege.



















































 










 








 










 

Kessy-Ross, Gibb-Rosenthal Queens and Kings of the Beach

 MIKE TAKEUCHI

Below are three stories I wrote while covering the AVP Championships over the weekend of September 7-9. 2012

Saturday's semifinal matches at the AVP Championships were filled with thrilling back-and-forth drama. One day later, Sunday's men's and women's finals at West Beach were more of a blueprint on what it takes to win a tournament championship.

The teams that won each final - April Ross and Jennifer Kessy in the women's match, and Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal for the men - followed those blueprints to perfection, earning themselves the titles of Kings and Queens of the Beach.

"Woo!" Kessy shouted after a 21-19, 21-16 victory over Kerri Walsh Jennings and Nicole Branagh. "This is amazing."

That display of emotion was certainly descriptive of the duo's play late in the first game. After Walsh Jennings nailed a hard-angle spike to tie the score at 17, Ross banged a kill, served up a jump-serve ace, and then tipped a deep shot on successive plays to make the score 20-17, causing the energetic stadium crowd of approximately 1,500 to rise to their feet in appreciation.

Walsh Jennings and Branagh cut the gap to one after each recorded a kill, but Ross, coming out of a time out, closed the set with yet another shot.

"We had to adjust a little bit because they changed their game," Kessy said. "Beach volleyball is a chessboard they change, we change, they change again ..."

Ross-Kessy scored the first three points of the second game on a pair of tip plays and another ace serve. But soon enough Walsh Jennings-Branagh rallied to catch their opponents and tie the score at 10-10.

"We could have been up 8-3 instead of it being 8-8 and 10-10," Kessy and Ross' coach Jeff Conover said. "But I was pleased they got it back pretty quickly."

A Kessy block and kill, and Ross' third ace of the second game gave them a 15-10 lead.

"It's part of our game plan to go out aggressive and not start on our heels," Ross said. "I think sometimes I'm back there and debating to go with my float and get it in or go for the jump serve. (Today) I wanted to serve tough number one regardless of where it went and (serve) towards (Branagh) a little bit. "

From then on, the London Olympics silver medalists held off the three-time gold medalist Walsh Jennings and her partner Branagh 21-16 to earn Kessy-Ross $47,500 for being undefeated tournament champions while leaving their opponents more than a little disappointed.

"It was gross," Walsh Jennings said. "Among a few things, we were outserved and we didn't serve very well. "

Despite the satisfying win, alas it wasn't a perfect day for Ross. Her husband, Brad Keenan, and his playing partner, John Mayer, had trouble solving Gibb and Rosenthal in a 21-16, 21-16, 21-17 loss in the men's final.

Using Gibb's play up front and Rosenthal's serving and defensive prowess, the London Olympic quarterfinalists controlled their match throughout.

"We lost to these guys pretty easily last week (at the Cincinnati Open), so (coach) Mike Dodd came up with a good plan to help us get back on track," Gibb said.

Dodd, who is a beach volleyball legend himself, had his two players move around on the service line and alternate between serving hard jump serves and soft floaters, keeping Keenan-Mayer off balance.

"We had a good tournament this week but just couldn't get it going today," Keenan said. "It was tough to lose in three, but thanks to the AVP I can take consolation that this wasn't a bad weekend financially for the Keenan-Ross family."

As most of the spectators had left shortly after the trophy presentation, Rosenthal's booster group "Rosie's Raiders" and several family members and friends stayed to get sprayed by champagne by the victors, who earned $42,500 of the $225,000 in total prize money for their success.

"It's been a long year for us and to finish it off as AVP champions is so sweet," Gibb said. "This is what we live for to win in front of the California home crowd!"

SEMIFINALS STORY 

It was an "Oh!" inspiring performance.  In a thrilling AVP Championships semifinal match  that  elicited numerous standing ovations and impromptu "Oh's" from the crowd, Sean Rosenthal and  Jake Gibb defeated top-seeded Sean Scott and John Hyden 19-21, 21-18 15-13 at West Beach to advance to today's 11:30 a.m. finals against Brad Keenan and John Mayer.

  "It's a big day we're competitors and to come out and beat the top team on the beach  after two battles with them today was run,"  Rosenthal said.  "I hope the fans enjoyed it I know we did."

  After splitting the first two games, both teams went back and forth in the third with neither team holding more than a two-point lead.  Down 13-12 Rosenthal banged a spike off the block to tie the score and then followed that up with an ace to take the lead.  After trading points, the teams engaged in an interminably long rally that prompted said "Oh's" until Gibb nailed a kill to send the crowd into a frenzy.

    "Today was just blind luck," Gibb joked.  "No, we won it because we wanted it.  We had to dig deep because that is such a good team over there, which makes it so sweet.

    Earlier in the day in their final pool match, the two teams did battle with Hyden-Scott coming out on top relegating Rosenthal-Gibb to a play-in match with locals Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.  Rosenthal and Gibb, who reached the quarterfinals of the Olympics last month, defeated Rogers-Dalhausser 19-21, 21-18 and 15-13.

  In the other semi, Keenan-Mayer defeated Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena 21-18, 21-13.

   Earlier in the afternoon, the appreciative audience got what they wanted when three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and her partner Nicole Branagh and  London silver medalists Jennifer Kessy and April Ross won their respective AVP Championships semifinal matches to set up a marquee final in the women's event.

   Walsh Jennings-Branagh swept through their match with Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat 21-15 and 21-19.

"Kerri and I've been playing over the years together and I think we've always communicated well,"  Branagh said. "We complement each other well and we're both physical and aggressive players that keep lifting the ball up for each other to give us the opportunity to score."

The women's match pits no. 2 seed against top-seeded Kessy-Ross who defeated fourth-seeded Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik 21-14 and 21-12  to move to today's 10 a.m. semifinal.

"We played well in our match today," Kessy said. "We had the same matchup in Cincinnati last week and both of us went undefeated then and this week. We like playing with the (new) Wilson ball, plus I think we are all playing good volleyball.  Jenny and Whitney have won a ton of tournaments and it proves that it's not a cakewalk, it's a tough, tough draw where we were fortunate to come out on top today."

  Former UCSB player Brooke Niles and her partner Tyra Taylor gave eventual semifinalist April Ross and Jen Kessy a tough time in pool play and Pavlik-Kropp in a playoff match by taking a game off of each, but were eliminated.

"I love playing here in front of family and friends and anytime you can play on a real beach in California is awesome,"  Niles said. 

FIRST DAY AVP CHAMPIONSHIPS

  While Walsh Jennings-Branagh swept through their matches relatively easily with wins over Morgan Beck and Priscilla Lima (21-19, 21-14) and a  21-12, 21-12 defeat of Kristen Batt and Raquel Ferreira,  so did  london silver medalists Kessy-Ross who took down Olava Paso and Kendra Van Zwieten (21-17, 21-17) and then Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar, the sister of Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar 21-16 and 21-14.
  "The AVP Championships  has the highest highest prize money of any domestic tournament for a reason-the high caliber of play," Ross said. "I'm just excited that they could give us this opportunity to play in a forum like this especially after the Olympics so Jen and I could build on this while building women's  beach volleyball in the process."
  While Walsh Jennings-Branagh will play 2-0 Christal Engle and Tealle Hunkus at 9 a.m., Kessy-Ross will be matched up with undefeated former UCSB player Brooke Niles and her partner Tyra Turner at the same time.  The undefeated top seeded domestic team of  Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik will face off against 2-0 Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat.

What's in a Bauble (Bobble)?

Bobblehead Article Forthcoming

 VS83012 Scully code

O'Malley Family Back in Baseball-Only Not in the Way Dodger Fans Had Hoped

Wow, Peter O'Malley is now part of an ownership group that MLB gave approval to buy the San Diego Padres.  While he is not the control person (Ron Fowler is), things could get interesting.

Bob Kersee-Crazy is Relative

By Michael Takeuchi
Reprinted Article from April 2012


There has always been a method to legendary track coach Bob Kersee's madness, including holding a training camp here in Santa Barbara this week.

And with his athletes' collection of hardware — particularly of Olympic gold medals — it is hard to dispute how he works.

One of his longtime athletes, Allyson Felix, can attest to this. The sprinter, who has garnered a 4x400-meter Olympic relay gold medal, two Olympic silver medals in the 200 and a total of seven IAAF world championship golds while working with Kersee since 2005, smiled broadly when asked to describe a coach for whom she has genuine fondness.

"He's crazy," Felix laughed after a recent hard sprint session at the Westmont track on Thursday morning. "But he knows that's what we think. But that's also what we love about him. He's super demanding, and comes up with these insane workouts.

"Sometimes you hate him for it, but in the end, we both know that you're going to love him for the results it brings."

After being told how his athletes described him at a late-afternoon workout on Thursday at San Marcos High, he cackled.

"Crazy does come up often when describing me," Kersee said, beaming. "But Allyson, who is a great member of this positive atmosphere we have, and the rest know that if a coach doesn't have crazy somewhere in their resumé, then you really haven't won a championship yet.

"So if getting in their head makes them understand that I am going to get the best out of them by any means necessary, then so be it."

After moving to the U.S. from the Panama Canal Zone in his childhood, Kersee has always had a fascination with sports, particularly the aspect of coaching. Starting at the youth level, he made his way to UCLA, where he has spent the last 28 years, first as head coach, and currently in his position as an assistant.

While successful in Westwood, he has built his stellar reputation on the international stage, starting with several athletes from the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, like 200/400 double gold winner Valerie Brisco-Hooks, and his wife Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who holds a total of six Olympic medals, including a gold in the long jump in 1988, and back-to-back golds in the heptathlon (1988, 1992).

That hardware, along with four IAAF World Championship medals, led to her being named by Sports Illustrated as the "Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century."

The amount of Olympic gold medals, which also include three from hurdler/sprinter Gail Devers, is enough to pull a small town out of a recession. It is also a number that escapes the 2005 USA Track and Field Coach of the Year.

"I really don't know, to be honest" Kersee said. "It's probably somewhere around how many championships the Montreal Canadiens (24) or New York Yankees (27) have won. But in truth, I haven't won any because as it should, the athletes get the glory and coaches get the blame.

"Maybe they've been so successful because I didn't want to get the blame."

Along with Felix, who is aiming for a 100/200 double gold in London, the last two women's Olympic 100 hurdles champions Joanna Hayes (2004) and Dawn Harper (2008) are here in camp along with fellow hurdlers Michelle Perry (two-time world champion) and Ginnie Crawford (two-time U.S. champion), along with 400-meter hurdler Nicole Leach, the 2007 NCAA champion. His men's group includes 2004 Olympic 200 champion Shawn Crawford, and hurdlers Bano Traore and Kenneth Ferguson.

Each arrives in camp with a different story, but all express hope that Kersee will guide them to another Opening Ceremony.

"I've been working with Bob since 1995, so I guess I'm the senior here," Hayes said. "After being injured for a while, I never officially retired. I had a baby 16 months ago and gained 43 pounds in the process, then coached in high school and middle school, cross country of all things.

"I then started coming around the track to Bob's group and realized I missed being part of it. I don't know if I'll make the team or not, because of athletes like Dawn, but at least I'll have closure and a good experience doing it. I think all of us realize that if anyone can lead us, he is the coach to get us there."

During the morning session at Westmont, Kersee was a vocal presence, exhorting each athlete through their workout with a vocal vigor followed by an almost imperceptible "good job" after. In the afternoon, amidst the youth soccer players and track runners populating the track, he playfully kicked errant balls, clowned with kids and even encouraged a young runner not to dwell on the negative.

He then introduced his group to Santa Barbara resident Joyce Brisby, a former long jump prodigy of Kersee's that cleared over 15 feet as a nine-year-old in 1972.

And then, it was back to work, something that Kersee still feels with a passion.

"People ask me when I'll retire, but I'm in pretty good health and still enjoy it too much — especially with this group they have now," Kersee said. "They know it, but when I introduce them to someone like Joyce who I coached as a kid 40 years ago, it really shines through to them and others how much I love doing this and hope to be doing for a long time to come."

Olympic Champion- Mo Farah Learns to do the Mobot-Video

By Michael Takeuchi


 Colleague Mike McKean passed this video onto me about the origin of the Mobot-click  link below and enjoy.

http://sky1.sky.com/a-league-of-their-own/a-league-of-their-own-s5-ep5-the-mobot



I am still in awe of Mo Farah's 5000/10000 double gold.  I couldn't imagine not only running what he did, but doing so with a country's hopes on one's shoulders.  I have to admit I teared up a bit during GOD SAVE THE QUEEN even though I am an American.

 It was truly a magical moment in a splendid Olympics.  Other than Canada's 4 x 100 unfortunate disqualification, there didn't seem to be any bad feelings during track and field, in my mind the greatest sport(s) there is (are).

TAKING IT INTO THE (JOHNNY) GRAY ZONE

By Michael Takeuchi
(Twitter @Irontak)

**UPDATE (8/10)
   In what was the greatest 800 ever, Kenya's David Lekuta Rudisha's wire-to-wire run broke his own world record  in  1:40.91 (!) to capture gold,  Botswana's Nijel Amos (1:41.73) won silver and Timothy Kitum grabbed bronze in 1:42.53. Gray's runner Duane Solomon ran a 1:42.82 while US teammate Nick Symmonds clocked  1:42.95, which placed them a respective fourth and fifth in a  field where two runners went under 1:42, five under 1:43, and all eight broke 1:44.
 
http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_800ok.htm
Solomon's 800 time was fourth best American, tops among runners not-named Johnny Gray.  In addition to his AR 1:42.60,  Gray ran a 1:42.65 and 1:42.80.  Solomon has not reached his peak and could break that record as early as this summer. Gray emailed on Thursday and one could tell just how excited he was for his runner.

On Thursday, August 9, 2012, Johnny Gray II wrote: 

 2nd best US time ever, number 1 American for the year and fourth in the world!Thank you so much!

*Note a slightly similar story by this author appeared in the Santa Barbara News-Press.  The link is provided at the bottom.

  Johnny Gray's emails don't just say something, they shout things.  Despite it being an email,   I had to turn down the volume a bit lest the neighbors complain.  But who could blame him?  Duane Solomon, the 800-meter runner he coaches just exploded with a p.r. at the Diamond League meet in Monaco in late July

"HELLO MIKE!
    I know you heard about Dwayne's 1:43.44 race in Monaco? Well that made him the fifth fastest American ever!  I told you he was ready! He is looking really good and to    come off a plane and run 1:43.44 against a tough field like   that gave him big confidence!"

                                               Johnny

   And when one spend times with, that enthusiasm is infectious whether it is a big meet,  a warm-up session of a workout or an email.  But while electronics keep people in touch, there is nothing like a personal experience that gives one a better idea on the person.
  And once one meets Johnny Gray,  the visitor discovers that it is an unforgettable one.   With a warm smile and a running dialogue that calls to mind former Harlem Globetrotters frontman Meadowlark Lemon, he is a sight to behold.  In conversation, he seizes your thought and takes you into the "Gray Zone" a place where he often took opponents while being the best American 800-meter runner in history.
  The four-time Olympian speaks his mind and doesn't worry about "on the record" and  "off the record".  I have to say,who as a mediocre high school runner in the 1980's I looked up to Gray, who STILL holds the A.R. (1:42.60 in 1985)  because he was the one who didn't sit back and wait to kick, he seized the race from the start while taking runners into that oxygen deprived "Gray zone."
  He did exactly that when he won bronze medal in Barcelona in 1992.  When asked after the race what would he have done differently, he reportedly responded.
 "I would have taken it out harder!"
   And after molding Khadevis Robinson to five national championships, former UCLA runner Cory Primm to a solid year last year, in Solomon, he has the guy who he thinks could be right there in today's Olympic final.  Despite a tough field that includes  world record holder (1:41:01) and 2011 IAAF world champion Kenyan David Rudisha, Gray expressed unwavering faith in his athlete.
 "If he sticks to the plan..., he'll make the Olympic final," Gray said in Los Angeles several weeks ago. "And if he does, he just has to let Rudisha take him to the Promised Land. I think Nick (Symmonds) is a good racer, but if I were a betting man, I would bet on Duane.  He has the potential to be the next great American 800-runner."
   And Robinson?
  "How many (national championships) has he won since I stopped coaching him?" Gray laughed.
  The answer of course was none. While Solomon and Symmonds as well as Rudisha advanced, Robinson failed to make the Olympic finals earlier this week.   He said that Solomon is poised to shock some people for several reasons.
 "Duane has the talent, but what's so good about him is that he's loyal, coachable, and sticks to the plan," Gray said. "He never comes to practice saying, 'Coach I need more of this or that because if he did that, that means he's listening to people on the outside, like agents.  I never understood that because what does an agent want you to do?  Race as much as you can so he can get his percentage."
  "It's funny.  Because in the past, these kind of people used to say that I'm not smart.  Tell me, if I'm not smart, why am I the only American to go under 1:43?  Then I'd rather not be smart  because all the smart Americans can't do it.   I'm telling him the same thing I did with my coach, listen.  He taught me to trust my shape and he  taught me that when I ran against athletes that are dirty, don't let that make you join them. Make them realize that they need to stay dirty to keep up with you."
  "My coach taught me to turn  a negative into a positive which made me stay true to myself and not allow the opinion of another to dictate who I am. I let the coach who took this journey with me (Merle McGee) help me dictate who I am.
  "And now Duane Solomon is allowing me to take the journey with him every morning at 6 a.m.- going through the ups and downs with him-realizing you gotta give some butt to get some butt.
  "He's gone through that and now he's starting to reap the benefits from everything that he's gone through.  Hard work outdoes talent that doesn't work hard.   As long as he continues to keep working hard, he could be the next American to go under 1:43. My American record is soft for him, he could break that within the next year. But right now we're after bigger things because he can do every bit of what Rudisha is doing as long as he continues to improve."

 At UCLA's Drake Stadium, with Gray paced like a panther while vociferously urging him on, Solomon did a 700-meter workout in 22.85 in the first 200,  47.32 at 400, 61.64 at 600 and finally a 1:27.72 finish.  Shortly after that, he followed it up with a 34.21 300.  Both sets were under Rudisha's world record pace.
  "That's HUGE!"  Gray bellowed.  "I never did that!"
  While his athlete recovered, Gray continued to pace and encourage Solomon with a smile on his face-proud not only of the split, but the fact that he showed willingness to go into the "Gray Zone."

Mike Takeuchi can be reached via email at Miketakeuchi88@gmail.com

Santa Barbara News-Press article link:

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=SPORTS&ID=566463112920825893&Archive=true

REPOST Avery Brundage: The Enigmatic Man Behind the Modern Day Olympic Movement

By MIKE TAKEUCHI

  Reposted to make it easier to locate.  Thank you!



       




"No Monarch has ever held sway over such a vast expanse of territory." International Olympic Committee President and onetime Montecito resident Avery Brundage in 1960.
Among the myriad descriptions of Avery Brundage -- champion of the amateur, dictator, shrewd businessman, womanizer, art collector, anti-Semite, generous donor, Nazi sympathizer -- one thing is certain: The controversial man was the most powerful sporting figure in the 20th century, and during his reign, he lived much of his time in the Santa Barbara area.
From 1946 to 1973, the president of the International Olympic Committee became a local fixture by owning several properties, including the Montecito Country Club, collecting rare Asian art, picking up civic awards, and enjoying high society. While simultaneously, as president of the International Olympic Committee, he was given unflattering nicknames like "Slavery Avery" for his iron-fisted rule when he lorded over his minions -- the athletes themselves.
Local resident and 1960 Olympian Jeff Farrell looked back on Mr. Brundage's life with mixed emotions. When Mr. Farrell won two gold medals for swimming in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay and the 4 x 100 medley relay, he alternately expressed pride in having Mr. Brundage award him with the medals, while expressing some rancor at the same man for preventing him from earning any money while training.
"He was the last caretaker of the thought that ... athletics should be for the wealthy," Mr. Farrell said.
In his recent book "Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World" author David Maraniss wrote that Mr. Brundage believed "that the Olympic movement in its reach and meaning, far surpassed any government, religion, or philosophy." And Mr. Brundage, in his roles first as leader of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and then later the IOC, was the one who wielded the iron fist to obsessively ensure that the Olympics were free from professionalism. He also later tried to bar women from competing and cancel the Winter Olympics. Both attempts were unsuccessful.
Born in Detroit on Sept. 28, 1887, Mr. Brundage was a fine athlete in his own right; he competed in the decathlon in the 1912 Olympics -- dropping out after eight events en route to a 16th-place finish.
The gold medal winner that year was none other than Jim Thorpe. After it was found that he played professional baseball, Thorpe was subsequently stripped of his medals. As an Olympic official, Mr. Brundage would later uphold the Native American athlete's ban.
While living in Chicago, Mr. Brundage's success as a construction and real-estate magnate paralleled his rise in world sport. The foundation for his rise in power occurred prior to the 1936 Berlin Olympics where Adolph Hitler wanted to prove his country's and the Aryan race's superiority. A young African American sprinter named Jesse Owens would resoundingly dispel the German dictator's theory.
Less known was Hitler's desire to exclude Jewish athletes and officials from the Games -- causing cries for a boycott from the United States. While stating publicly that this couldn't happen and that athletes of all races would get equal treatment, Mr. Brundage, who at the time was the U.S. Olympic Committee president, took a fact-finding mission to Germany where he was wined and dined by Hitler while being "convinced" that Jewish athletes wouldn't be excluded. Mr. Brundage later stated that he found no wrongdoing in Berlin -- an act that still rankles the Mr. Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer.
"He was most reprehensible in his anti-Semitism," Mr. Maraniss wrote in an e-mail. "Opposing the boycott is certainly defensible, but his actions were not. When I found letters he wrote to German officials beforehand bemoaning the 'Jewish cabal' and urging them to find positive articles about Hitler and the Nazis to overcome the negative stories that U.S. journalists were sending out of Germany -- that was too much."
Two years later, his company was awarded the building contract for the German Embassy in the United States because of "sympathy toward the Nazi cause."
A decade after Berlin and two Olympics cancelled because of World War II later, Mr. Brundage and his wife Elizabeth purchased the "Escondrijo" (Hiding Place) estate on Ashley Road in Montecito and  renamed it La Pineta or The Pines. In a 1980 Sports Illustrated story by William Oscar Johnson, the home included zebra skin rugs, Olympic flags, priceless Asian art, and jade dishes. The home would later be destroyed in the 1964 Coyote Fire. The couple later moved to the Brunninghausen Estate on Hot Springs Road.
In 1946 he purchased the Montecito Country Club, followed in later years by the El Paseo and the Presidio areas in downtown Santa Barbara, as well as the Montecito Inn. While he enjoyed moderate success in his local businesses (he sold the Country Club in 1973 for over $4 million), much of his money was made from construction around the country.
Along the way he amassed Asian art from the Neolithic Period to the Ch'ing Dynasty -- most of which he donated to the City of San Francisco starting in 1959. The 7,700 piece collection, (which museum spokesperson Michele Dilworth declined to value) is housed in that city's Asian Art Museum.
During his residence here, he was showered with adulation, positive press and numerous awards. In 1949, Mr. Brundage was given the now discontinued Chamber of Commerce Excelentisimo Senor de Santa Barbara Award by Semana Nautica president, R.F. MacFarland. In accepting the award, Mr. Brundage lauded the summer sports festival for maintaining its dedication to amateur sports -- an irony not lost on an athlete like Mr. Farrell, who later served as the summer sports festival's president for several years.
"Mr. Brundage had banned an athlete (miler Wes Santee in 1956) for only taking expense money," Mr. Farrell said. "I remembered being worried that I was going to get in trouble for making five dollars and hour to teach swimming. Apparently it was OK to make money life guarding, but it wasn't okay to make money on swimming."
A 1968 article stated that "Mr. Amateur Sport" and the rest of the IOC board never charged the Olympic Committee a dime in expense money. At that time, he was worth more than $20 million.
"The executive committee members came from the ruling class -- millionaire, dukes, princes, and such," Mr. Maraniss said. "It was easy for them to talk about the purity of amateurism and how no one should be paid for sport -- because they didn't need the money."
Although he ruled with a strong hand, Mr. Brundage had his weaknesses. Among them were women. Many of his local deeds, including La Pineta, were put in the name of his lover and business partner Frances Blakely. While his wife stayed at home, he had many trysts, including fathering two children in 1951 and 1952 with a woman in Redwood City. Two years after Elizabeth Brundage died in 1971, he married Princess Mariann Charlotte Katharina Stefanie Reuss, a daughter of a prince of a German principality, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Thirty six at the time, Princess Mariann was as vibrant as Mr. Brundage was sickly (exacerbated by the stress from the 1972 Olympics massacre) and lived a lavish life in Montecito and Germany.
"She was as nice as he wasn't," said an acquaintance who did not want to be named.
Mr. Brundage spent the remaining years of his life in poor health. He died in Germany on May 8, 1975, with considerably less money than he had prior to his second marriage. According to a Sports Illustrated story, Princess Mariann, at this time living with local insurance millionaire Donald Pate, successfully defended a Superior Court suit (presided by Judge Patrick McMahon) brought on by his  longtime friend and chief financial adviser, Frederick J. Ruegsegger on expenditures made after Mr. Brundage's death. It was a fitting end to what Mr. Maraniss describes as a complicated man.
"I found Avery Brundage to be one of the most contradictory characters I've ever written about," Mr. Maraniss said. "He was not especially likeable, yet the fact that at some points in his career nearly every faction hated him for some (reason) or other seemed to me like a bit of a saving grace. There is something to be said for a person like that."
"His devotion to the Olympic Movement was greater than his belief in anything else. He truly believed that the Olympic Movement was greater than any ideology or religion. Perhaps this was a form of egomania, but at times it served him -- and the Olympics -- well. If nothing else, he kept the Olympics alive during the very difficult middle decades of the 20th century."

Not a shit bow

Big Arms by the Bay : Ex-Foresters Griffin, Cook make their mark in Oakland

This story has been posted thanks to permission from its original publication, the Santa Barbara News-Press.

 MIKE TAKEUCHI NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Former Santa Barbara Foresters pitchers A.J. Griffin, bottom, and Ryan Cook, top, have both made their mark this season as members of the pitching staff for the Oakland Athletics. Griffin, who started for the Foresters during the 2009 season, carries a 2-0 record as a starter with the A's this season, while Cook - a 2008 alumnus of the CCL squad - has 10 saves for the club, earning him a berth in this month's MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City.

Former Foresters pitcher Ryan Cook has flourished for the Oakland A's this season, earning an All-Star berth earlier this month.

Ex-Santa Barbara hurler A.J. Griffin, right, talks things over with catcher Derek Norris in last Thursday's game against the Yankees.

July 24, 2012 6:32 AM

By virtue of their 5-4, 12-inning walk-off victory on Sunday to complete the team's first four-game sweep of the New York Yankees in 40 years, the Oakland Athletics are the hottest team in baseball, and former Santa Barbara Foresters pitchers Ryan Cook and A.J. Griffin are big reasons why.

Despite having the lowest team batting average (.228) in the Major Leagues, the A's hold a 51-44 record, including wins in 14 of their last 16 games (25-9 since June 12) because of pitching. The team's 3.37 ERA is best in the American League, even though four of their five starters (veteran Bartolo Colon is the fifth) have only 63 combined career starts, five of which are Griffin's (2-0, 2.70 ERA).

Their bullpen - led by first-year closer Cook, veteran Grant Balfour and left-handed rookie Sean Doolittle, a former first baseman who began pitching just last August - is third in ERA (2.74) and leads both leagues in batting average against (.201).

Since taking over the closer's role from the now-departed Brian Fuentes on June 13, the right-handed fireballer (4-2, 1.70 ERA) has collected 10 saves and was the club's representative at the All-Star Game earlier this month. In that game, he pitched a perfect seventh inning while striking out Bryce Harper and David Wright in the process.

The right-hander, who employs four pitches - including a mid 90's four-seam fastball and a mid 80's slider - has what Oakland catcher Derek Norris calls "filthy stuff."

"Ryan is the ultimate power pitcher," Norris said.

Cook said that pitching for the Foresters and manager Bill Pintard in their 2008 NBC championship season (he did not play in that World Series as he had already signed a contract) was the catapult that launched him on his way.

"That summer, I was at a point in my career questioning why my fastball velocity had dropped since high school," Cook said. "I got drafted (in the 27th round by Arizona), but people were wondering if I was healthy. I was, but I was thinking about pitching too much and trying to put the ball in one particular spot at USC.

"Then I got to Santa Barbara, and Bill, a no-nonsense old fashioned kind of guy, told me just go out there and throw hard which gave me the confidence to become a power pitcher again."

Pintard was proud of what Cook was able to do after that point.

"Ryan just really blossomed, I mean he went from throwing 89 to 95 by the time he signed with Arizona," Pintard said.

Also further enhancing his professional chances in Santa Barbara was Griffin, a right-hander whose next start is Wednesday in Toronto. After being drafted in the 34th round by Philadelphia, Griffin opted to return to the University of San Diego as well as pitch for the Foresters in 2009. While dropping nearly 30 pounds over the course of the summer, he developed a reputation as a big-game pitcher, including a clutch seven-inning scoreless relief stint in a National Baseball Congress World Series playoff game.

"I was pretty (angry) I got drafted so low, so that fueled my desire to work my butt off," he said.

After a solid season at USD, he was drafted in the 13th round by the A's in 2010. He jumped earlier this season from Double A Midland to Triple A Sacramento, where, after an 0-2 start, he allowed only five earned runs total in five games, posting a 1.32 ERA in 341/3 innings.

When A's starter Brandon McCarthy went on the disabled list on June 24, Griffin was called up.

"When the manager called me in to tell me, yeah, I was pretty excited," Griffin said.

After three solid outings against the Giants, Red Sox and Rangers didn't net him a win, he broke through with a 6-3 win over Minnesota on July 13 for the first victory of his career.

"A.J. has always been a gamer, and that even shows when he doesn't get the W," Pintard said

Last Thursday against the Yankees, he pitched solidly until the sixth when he ran into a spot of trouble by allowing two runs and had two men on base. But he struck out Raul Ibanez on a 65 mph table-dropping curve ball to end the inning to preserve a two-run lead of an eventual 4-3 A's win that Cook closed out.

Oakland manager Bob Melvin was pleased with a pitcher by getting ahead in the count while effectively mixing a low 90's fastball with his swing-wrecking curve.

"His strength is having the confidence to throw the ball where he wants to," Melvin said. "I like how he goes after batters like a power pitcher. He spins it really well and if a hitter thinks they can get it, he takes a little more off of it to keep them off-balance."

"I've learned that you have to attack batters with a purpose with a good idea of what you want to do and where you are going to throw the ball," Griffin said. "If a guy hits a home run off of you, there's not much you can do so you have to get over it but also learn from it. Maybe I'll see something in his stance that will help me the next time."

Norris, who caught Griffin in the minors and has been behind the plate in four of his five starts for the A's.

"He tips the balance in his favor by dictating the tempo and throwing strikes early to get ahead in the count," Norris said.

Both players have said that they're enjoying the experience immensely. Griffin displayed this shortly after he left Thursday's game when he high-fived several fans near his team's dugout.

"People pay their hard-earned money to come out to the ballpark to support us," Griffin said. "With the way the economy is now, it's an escape for them to come out and show their love for us. I love this game and I'm having the time of my life, so I just want to share as much of that experience as I can with them."

email: sports@newspress.com

To Cheer Ichiro Or Not Cheer Ichiro- Ay, There's the Rub

Mixed Emotions

By Mike Takeuchi

*Please note that while there are no curse words in this story, there are self-censored substitutes that are liberally sprinkled throughout this piece.

  What happens when your all-time favorite ballplayer is traded to your least favorite team?  That's exactly the dilemma I faced on Monday when the Seattle Mariners sent right fielder Ichiro Suzuki across the hallway and from the bottom to the top of the standings to play for the New York Yankees.

  It began innocuously that afternoon after I filed my story on Oakland A's (and former Santa Barbara Foresters) pitchers Ryan Cook and A.J. Griffin.  Taking a break for lunch, I plopped down in a chair to watch the fifth episode of "The Newsroom" for the third time.

  It seemed like a normal day, but for some reason, I felt a great disturbance in the Force.  I should have known something was up when I turned to a channel I never watch- the MLB Channel.  Baseball is a great sport, but listening to poor imitations of Vin Scully or worse yet, Bob Costas (there is actually a Mini-Me or in this case of Costas' diminutive stature, a Maxi-Me version that sounds just like the verbose NBC commentator) is something that is never appealing.  Thank Buddha for MLB online where one can watch highlights without a buildup from announcers who act like they are in the middle of the SALT talks.

  As the channel changed to 282, sure enough, there it was in plain letters.

"Ichiro Suzuki traded to the Yankees for two heretofore and future unknown pitchers."

"What. The. Eff?"

  While sometimes forgetting what day it was due to reaching 40-something, I at least knew that it was not April 1. As  Maxi-Me, a few others and a drunk sounding Harold Reynolds (okay, he always sounds drunk) sounded off about the trade, I numbly stared at the screen.

  "How the f--- could this have happened?"

 A million thoughts went from my mind, including blaming Griffin, the right-hander who struck out Raul Ibanez on Thursday night with a nasty curve ball in the sixth inning of the first of four games the A's would take from the Pinstripes (yay! btw). Then I blamed the nice-guy Ibanez, because if he wouldn't have looked so foolish maybe they wouldn't have made the trade.

  Of course these were all so ridiculous, but when one's favorite player is traded to a team I hate worse than brussels sprouts or Japanese nato#, rational thought goes out the window.  My favorite singularly named singles hitter was heading to a place I was essentially taught to hate in the womb-Effing Yankees.

 In the summer of 1965, while my poor mother, was pregnant with me and  holed up in my uncle's central Los Angeles home during the Watt's Riots, my dad drove through darkened and scary city streets on the way back from watching the great Sandy Koufax throw a complete-game shutout.  While mom wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, she gave dad permission because it was her Man Sandy that was pitching after all.

  When I finally arrived to the outside world, my Uncle Caesar Uyesaka, who was some big shot with the Santa Barbara Dodgers, LA's single A farm team, had the connections within Chavez Ravine.   In addition to introducing me to the likes of Tommy Lasorda, Peter O'Malley and the infamous Al Campanis (who as far as I know was the nicest man April 6, 1987 controversy notwithstanding), we would get seats closer to the field than the ones my dad, a service station owner, got for Union Oil Night which were high in the reserved section near the left field fair pole.   It was here where I learned about bourgeoise and proletariat at a young age, but that is a story for another time.

  I loved going to the games and even though they were far past their primes, I was able to see an over-the-hill Hank Aaron and a fast-fading Willie Mays play, albeit with them looking like tiny ants in gray uniforms.  Maybe that was better, because I couldn't see the slowing of Aaron's bat speed or the stumbling of Mays in the outfield.  Distance helped them remain legends forevermore in the history books and in my eyes.

 As a kid growing up in the Seventies, I never had a favorite ballplayer. Oh there were plenty of wondrous players that I rooted for, but I had just missed the last golden era of the game.  Instead I rooted for Dusty Baker  or the Dodgers infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey simply because they were the good guys because they played close to home.  But as good as they were, they never really instilled a passion within me.

  The one thing that did get my blood boiling was the Cincinnati Reds and their future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and Pete Rose...err, forget the last one.  And because of the 1975 World Series this hatred had me rooting hard for the Red Sox as my number two team, which in turn had me despising the Yankees as my number two (get it?) team.

   New York supplanted the Reds at the top of the list on October 15, 1977 when Lou Effing Piniella robbed Ron Cey of a game-tying home run and me a souvenir in Game Four of the World Series that the Yankees would eventually win.  The Yanks followed that up of course with another world championship the next year while earlier beating the Red Sox in a heartbreaking one-game playoff thanks to another player with a similarly unique middle name, Bucky Equally Effing Dent.  A win over New York in 1981 tempered the hate, but only a bit.

  In that whole time, there were plenty of players that I liked like Willie Stargell and later, Ozzie Smith, but none for an Asian American kid to identify with.  Even as a young child, I noticed this. The only known athlete we had was Bruce Lee, and he wasn't really a team sport guy.  Besides, he was dead, passing when I was seven before I even heard of him.  One can only cheer a dead guy in "Enter the Dragon" and "Game of Death" so many times.

   Baseball had a hero that looked like me.  Only in America, hardly anyone had ever heard of him. With 868 home runs, Japanese slugger, Sadaharu Oh was and remains the most prolific home run hitter in all of baseball.  But since the competition in Japan didn't approach Major League levels and the outfield fences were closer to the plate than they were in America, he wasn't given much credit here stateside. (While agreeing with the facts of this, I always felt that there was a tinge of arrogance at best, racism at worst whenever someone brought this up when I was younger.)  Besides, I never even saw him play other than a "Wide World of Sports" clip here and there.

  The single Asian American guy in pro sports was the Baltimore Orioles Lenn Sakata-a decent middle infielder who played 11 seasons from 1977 to '87 mostly with Baltimore before becoming a coach. Sakata is best known for being the last guy who started at shortstop before Cal Ripken (whose consecutive games streak began a month earlier)  took over for seemingly forever.

 Sakata, who is now the manager of the Modesto Nuts, the Rockies Single A team in the California League,was also known for being behind the plate (because Baltimore over-manager Earl Weaver ran out of catchers) when Tippy Martinez picked off three Toronto runners in one inning.  Sakata hit a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of that inning.

   But while I had heard of him, Sakata wasn't a star and in pre-cable television games and no internet nor national newspapers in circulation, he was largely unknown on the West Coast.  While everyone at the annual JACL (Japanese American Citizen League) picnics were wearing Dodgers gear, there was one kid who wore a Baltimore Orioles cap.  When we teased him he said something to the effect of they're the only team with one of us on it.  Despite snickering, deep down I knew he was right.

  Thirty one years after the first Japanese player, Masanori Murakami threw his first pitch for the San Francisco Giants, Hideo Nomo and his corkscrew delivery came to L.A. in 1995. Nomo did pretty well winning 123 games (after winning 78 in Japan) while being the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Coors Field (1996 with the Dodgers) and Oriole Park at Camden Yards (2001 while playing for the Red Sox).  After that, there were failures (Mac Suzuki-no relation to Ichiro *Suzuki is the number two name behind Sato as the most common in Japan), tragedies (Hideki Irabu) and semi-successes (Shigetoshi Hasagawa).  For position players, the failures of Tsuyoshi Shinjo (Mets, Giants) mixed in with moderate success (So Taguchi won WS titles with St. Louis and Philly).

   Ichiro finally came onto the scene in 2001.  And when I first saw him, I finally understood what that kid in the Orioles cap was talking about.   To paraphrase a line from a movie starring a recently divorced Scientologist, Ichiro had me at hello.

  While pitcher Hideo Nomo opened the door for Japanese pitchers, Ichiro busted it down for Japanese position players.

  While usually comparisons of Asians to samurai warriors caused me to roll my eyes, just like racist stereotypes of bad driving and Charlie Chan or Long Duk Dong accents do, this time it was actually close to the mark.  Watching him extend the upright bat towards center field before circling it over his head conjures up that image of a

daimyo  wielding his blade.

  In the field, highlight after ESPN highlight was shown him making a catch or throw or steal and I would relish each one. Heck, I was proud.

   While I enjoyed watching him on television that year as he made his debut with the eventual West Division winning  Mariners, it wasn't until I saw him personally did I fully appreciate his mystique.  It was a game in Anaheim that was scheduled for September 12 but was changed for obvious reasons to October 3-one week before Munch and I were scheduled to be married in Maui.

 Knowing my love for the game, she wanted to share that with me while I felt the same way.  The only problem was, she had only been to one game prior "a zero-zero tie" in the nosebleed or Union Oil section of Dodger Stadium with some disabled clients she worked with at the time. Baseball to her, was one long snooze-fest.  And to be quite honest, who could blame her for thinking that?  Sometimes it is.

  So I was determined to make the experience better for her by buying tickets close to the field.   But because of the tension of the times, the game had a playoff atmosphere in a packed stadium despite the Mariners heading towards the playoffs and Anaheim heading towards their off-season eventually finishing a whopping 41 games down in the standings (*Note that year, Oakland won 102 games and still finished 14 games behind the M's!).  But much to manager Mike Scioscia and the team's credit, they didn't play that way on this day and showed it when  Angels right fielder Orlando Palmeiro made a diving catch while eating dirt right in front of our seats along the right field line, my future wife turned to me with a smile.

  "Well, this game seems different," she said.  And it was.

  Ichiro banged out four hits that day while exceeding the already high expectations I set for him.  He managed to top it on one play in the field that secured my fandom.

 With runners on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Angels were down 4-3 when Darin Erstad came to bat . It had already been a crazy inning because Adam Kennedy appeared to have beaten the tag in a fielder's choice play at the plate that would have tied the game, but was not only called out-but kicked out of the game for going ballistic after the call.

   Erstad came up and fouled off pitch after pitch from Mariners reliever Kaz Sasaki. When Kaz threw a forkball that caught too much of the plate, Erstad blasted a sizzling line drive towards the right field corner that caused the  40 thousand or so Angels fans to scream with delight.

  While the trajectory of the ball was too low for a home run, the ball seemed destined to be a game-winning, two-run double as a fast runner, Jeff DaVannon was motoring around the basepaths from first.  But before the ball could get there, a blur of gray and blue streaked by like those old Batman comics-Ichiro

  "He's gonna catch it" I inadvertently screamed.

  Just as the crowd reached a fever-pitch, Ichiro reached out as far as he could and snagged the ball in the heel of his glove in full stride in front of the image of Angels manager Mike Scioscia plastered on the right field wall.  To slow himself down, the right fielder bounced playfully off the wall as the crowd, save a few Japanese fans, let out a groan like they were punched in the gut.  Game over-Batman had saved the day.

October 3, 2011 Batman Saves the Day

  Instead of celebrating, the "rookie" put his head down and ran back towards the dugout like it was the middle, not the end of a game trying hard not to smile. While Munch's eyes were wide, I held my hands on top of my head wondering if that really happened.

  In my 40-something years of going to countless games as a fan and reporter, it remains the greatest play I have ever seen. And that's saying something.  I was in that very stadium on October 15, 1986 for the Dave Henderson or Donnie Moore "one strike away" game and I've seen Piniella, or at least his glove, rob Cey (and me) of that homer in the World Series, I was there during Orel Hershiser's streak.   But this play was absolutely magnificent.

  Since then I have seen Ichi make other great plays, including the game winning hit in the 2009 World Baseball Classic finals in a fierce rivalry with Korea that harkened to Real Madrid/Barcelona or India/Pakistan in cricket. I've seen him hit an inside-the-park home run in the 2007 All-Star game-well okay I saw it in the bowels of the A T & T Park auxiliary press room.  I even spent a few days at the Mariners camp watching him do drills in the outfield-not that I'm obsessed or anything.      But there is something about him that I and many others find fascinating.  The Asian factor is part of it sure.  But there is a deeper reason to it that will be revealed soon enough.

  And  despite him becoming human due to age, I have never been disappointed, until now in the conundrum of-favorite all-time player joins least favorite all-time team.  What to do?

 In one of his "Seinfeld"  monologues@, comedian Jerry Seinfeld said that because teams move to different cities and players go to different teams, essentially all we are rooting for is laundry.  While funny, my rooting interest has become decidedly more complicated thanks to Yankees first base coach Mick Kelleher.

  Last year, after hearing my story about Piniella stealing my ball, Mick introduced me to Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and a few others. Later, he sent me an autographed ball with not only his signature, but that of manager Joe Girardi and half of the team. He later emailed and said "Maybe this will change your mind".

  Yet I still resisted.   Even during a conversation in Oakland last week prior to the trade,  I told him I couldn't "pull the trigger" just yet.  It's become a running joke between us.

  But now, the Yankees got the only guy I have ever rooted for through thick and thin.  What to do?

 Yesterday,  I emailed Mick and joked that I may have to get that Yankees cap after all. I tried to justify to myself that if the cap was not to wear, but to put on my bookshelf along with my other Ichiro memorabilia, it doesn't  that make me root for the Microsoft or GM of sports. Surely my friends who are Red Sox fans would definitely have some advice for me-yet I'm not ready to go there just yet.

 As I contemplated this late Monday night, an email came through.  It was Mick responding.

 "It's about time Mike!" he emailed.

  After going to bed late, I woke up early  Tuesday morning to contemplate this dilemma further  over coffee, before having an action filled day full of errands. But among all the stops, not one of them was to the sports store.  At least not yet.

   * In the same vein of the kid with the Orioles cap.  A few years ago, the late journalist Lester Rodney, the first white journalist to call for the end of segregation in baseball, told me the story of an African American fan in St. Louis explain to a white fan that he rooted for the Dodgers to beat the Cardinals for the same reason.

#Natto is fermented soy beans that somehow Japanese people love.  Frankly I think it smells and tastes like shit.

@ Here is the link to the "Seinfeld" monologue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSD6Y2YWj4&feature=youtube_gdata_player