Sports In Brief
Wizards to play Siegel Saturday
The Washington Wizards arrived in Richmond Tuesday morning to begin a weeklong training camp at the Siegel Center.
Camp will break following a scrimmage Saturday night. Admission to the 4 p.m. scrimmage is free and open to the public.
Wizards to play Siegel Saturday
The Washington Wizards arrived in Richmond Tuesday morning to begin a weeklong training camp at the Siegel Center.
Camp will break following a scrimmage Saturday night. Admission to the 4 p.m. scrimmage is free and open to the public. The team will meet with fans after the game.
This is the third straight year the Wizards have held training camp on campus.
The team appears ready to bounce back from last year’s first-round playoff series lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Wizards’ three best players, Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison each took individual steps in the off-season to boost their performance this season.
Starting guard Arenas spent most of the summer in a self-imposed boot camp, working out with a military trainer in San Francisco. Forward Butler changed his diet, shedding 10 pounds from last season’s playing weight, and forward Jamison told the Washington Post he was determined to correct his “bad performance” a year ago.
“Last year we lost a lot of close basketball games,” Jamison said. “That’s not acceptable. We have what it takes to win a lot of basketball games if we do the right things. To me, anything less than 50 wins would be a disappointment.”
The Wizards begin their eight-game preseason schedule after they depart VCU Sunday. The preseason begins at home Oct. 9 against the Toronto Raptors in the Verizon Center, and they start the regular season Nov. 1 at Cleveland.
The Wizards’ home opener is Nov. 4 against the Boston Celtics.
Alumni First: two in MLB postseason
Two VCU standouts are one step closer to the big league dream of a World Series title this week, as Major League Baseball plays the opening round of the postseason.
Brandon Inge, the Detroit Tigers starting third baseman, batted .253 this season with a .463 slugging percentage with 27 home runs.
Inge went 1-4, hitting .250 in the first game of the American League Divisional Series against the New York Yankees, scoring on a fifth-inning Placido Polanco double to right.
Detroit is down 0-1 in the best of five series against the New York Yankees.
Game two is at 8 p.m. Friday in Detroit.
VCU’s field hockey team has had it rough lately.
They have dropped nine straight season games including all three of their Colonial Athletic Association games to date.
There is still a chance for the Rams to resurrect their season, but they need the help of a boisterous audience to get them going.
Friday, the team faces conference foe Old Dominion University at 6 p.m. at Cary Street Field.
VCU students are admitted free with a valid student ID.
Golf
On Wednesday, VCU finished last place out of 15 at the end of the Ping/Golfweek Preview they hosted.
They ended 46 over par, behind Minnesota who finished 14th at 34 over par.
VCU’s Jens Fahrbring (Sollentuna, Sweden) led the Rams with eight over 218 and just barely got into the upper half of the scores, placing 34th.
Sunday, October 8th VCU is going to Durham, N.C. for the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic.
Cla Meredith, the San Diego Padres’ middle reliever and setup-man, went 5-1 this year. The side-armed right-hander set a team record by pitching 35 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings this season in what some fans call one of the greatest seasons ever for a San Diego pitcher.
Opponents hit just .207 against Meredith this year and he struck out 37 in 50.2 innings of work. He had an impressive 1.07 earned run average, the lowest ERA among pitchers with at least 50 innings on the mound.
Meredith didn’t even begin the season on San Diego’s roster, making his performance this year even more impressive.
He was briefly recalled in May from Triple-A affiliate Portland to fill a spot left by injured Woody Williams before being placed on the Padres’ permanent 25-man roster in July.
Because set-up men do not typically pitch in lopsided games, Meredith did not pitch in San Diego’s 5-1 loss to the Saint Louis Cardinals in the first game National League Divisional Series on Tuesday.
Game two of the NLDS begins tonight at 4 p.m. in Saint Louis.
Local skipper to pilot big league club
MIAMI, Fla. – The Florida Marlins fired manager Joe Girardi Tuesday. Five hours later the team introduced Fredi Gonzalez, former manager of the Richmond Braves, as their new skipper.
Gonzalez lead the R-Braves to a 75-67 record in 2002, before spending the past four seasons as third-base coach for the Atlanta Braves.
The Cuban-born 42 year old had interviewed with the Marlins a year ago, but finished runner-up to Girardi.
He inherits a club that finished a disappointing 78-84 this season and is just three years removed from a World Series title.
Gonzalez joins Grady Little, the Los Angeles Dodgers manager, as the only R-Braves alums to be at the helm of a big league ball club.
He has spent a majority of his 20-year baseball career playing and coaching in the minor leagues.
Barkley and friends boost
VCU coffers
For 12-years Charles Barkley has held a Celebrity Golf tournament to raise money for the VCU SportCenter and athletics scholarship fund.
This year, the 11-time NBA All-Star and aspiring politico raised $41,000 for the school, the largest in the tournament’s history.
The tournament was played as classes began this fall and featured notable personalities including Virginia born hall-of-fame center Moses Malone, former Washington Wizard and ESPN commentator Tim Legler, sports reporter David Aldridge, Super Bowl champions Mark Collins and Toi Cook and Virginia graduate and retired Denver Nugget guard Bryant Stith.
The annual tournament is held at Hunting Hawk Golf Course in Glen Allen.