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Show MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2007 . THE COLLEGE TIMES Sports B 5 MLB : Playoffs indeed will be classic JASON'S PICKS Senior circuit playoff teams honed by last week of regular season ning its last 13 of 16 to close out September. The Mets Sports writer held a seven-game lead in If the last two weeks the NL East in mid-Sepof the regular-season tember before collapsing. Offense will likely be carry over to the National League playoffs, the the key for Colorado as teams and fans alike will its pitching staff has been be on a roller-coaster ride. hanging in there despite losNone of the postseason ing its No. 1,2 and 3 starters berths' in the NL were de- midway through the year. The Phils' chances can't cided until the final weekend-making for a anxious be discounted as speedfew days for several teams. ster Jimmy Rollins and One series that could home run slugger Ryan be a battle is the Colo- Howard could change rado Rockies clash against a game in an instant. In the other first-round the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rockies and the series, the Arizona DiaPhillies stormed into post- mondbacks and the Chiseason by brilliant play cago Cubs were surprises and some luck in having in being able to take the teams with better records West and Central divitank in critical games. sion titles respectively. The D-backs were Colorado's performance was remarkable for win- thought of being in a rening its last 14 of 15 games, building mode and with including its 8-6, 13th-in- Randy Johnson going down ning victor>' over the San to injury, their chance for Diego Padres last Monday the playoffs should have in the wild-card tiebreaker. been nixed. Chicago surThe Phillies took the di- vived a disastrous start and vision from the New York fights in the dugout to limp Mets on the final day of into the Divisional Series. regular-season play, winJason Adkins League Divisional Series: \ Colorado v. Philadelphia, Colorado in four; 1H in ass MAS X \ *£TU would have known that the New York team to miss the playoffs this year would The Boston Red Sox be the Mets? The Bronx Bombers, anchored by hung on late to their dwindlingdivisionleadto capture Alex Rodriguez' gaudy their first American League stats, surged into the playEast title in 12 years, and the offs as a wildcard conFenway faithful couldn't be tender. The Yankees will any happier. Josh Beckett provide an exciting series, will continue his season's but will one slugger be able Cy Young-worthy domi- to offset the brilliant pitchnance into the playoffs and ing staff of Cleveland? Indians righty Fausto the lineup backing him will give him the run support Carmona was red-hot in his every pitcher craves. David five September starts, goOrtiz is to clutch in base- ing 5-0 with a 1.78 ERA, ball what Michael Jordan and C.C. Sabathia will is to clutch in basketball. show the pinstripes why he The Angels will put up is a Cy Young candidate. a fight, as they are able to Sure, it seems customary move their runners ahead to predict or desire the Red match-up on base better than any oth- Sox/Yankees er team in the big leagues. for the American League Series, Vladimir Guerrero will keep Championship Angels fans at ease with his but not this year. Cleveperformance at the plate, but land, overlooked by many, the Halos will fall short of will prove to be a burden their quest back to the World the Yankees cannot bear. Series, which they won Baseball in the Big back in 2002. The "curse- Apple will be done in a less" Red Sox will defeat New York minute, as the the Angels in five games. Yankees will lose to the In the other series who Indians in four games. Jack Waters Arizona v.Chicago, Arizona in three Managing editor League Championship: Arizona v. Colorado, Colorado in six JACK'S PICKS League Divisional Series: Boston v. LA, Boston in five; Cleveland v. New York, Cleveland in four League Championship: Boston V.Cleveland, Boston in seven «LUDRL.D JASON'S PICKS JACK'S PICKS Boston v. Colorado, Colorado in seven Boston v. Colorado, Boston in six SOFTBALL from B8 COLUMN from B8 FLASH from B7 who previously played with the Arkansas RimRockers D-League team two years ago, and CBA sharpshooter David Bell. Marlow immediately noticed what 4,500 foot elevations along the Wasatch Front can do to your game. Superb pitching will thrust the Red Sox and Indians into a battle for the AL crown "Shoot, everything is tough up here whenever the altitude hits you," Marlow said. "You feel pretty good for thefirstfiveminutes and then it just wears on you." Oneplayerisguaranteed a spot in camp and Jones said several others also point guards in the league in Deron Williams and they have also signed another point guard, Price's former teammate, Jason Hart. It's obvious that Williams will be the point guard getting the main, crucial minutes and Hart will end up with the majority of the back-up minutes, which leaves Price on the bench most of the time. What actually might get Price on the floor more regularly will be his defense. He isn't big but he's fast and he's pesky. The Jazz also gave up quite a few 50-plus point games to some of the leagues best shooting guards last year. Price could help. Of course, Price could could make the first cut. "I know we have to submit a list of five to the DLeague office," Jones said. "I think what we're going to do is come up with a list of our top 10, and then kind of go from there and see what happens." HOCKEY from B8 Martin, Slava Ivaneko, the ice, but the crowd proved they play well Zeph Fagergren and Da- in the stands did too. against the Aggies and the vid Wyman each scored "They're always cheer- Utes, but their most antwo goals along with Joey ing for us no matter how ticipated match is against Bakosh, DJ Strader, Seth many goals we made. In their biggest rival, BYU. Armitage, Chris Glen this last game, there were The games with BYU and Mike Daugulis each quite a few goals and they are known as the "Battle scoring one goal. were still cheering just as for Valley Supremacy" With a score like 13-1, loud in the beginning of which is a two-part series it might sound like noth- the game as they were at where the teams play each ing exciting happened but the end of the game. It def- other in the fall and again because of the intensity of initely helps to play when in the spring. Last year, the Utah Valley team, there they're like that," said Utah Valley won in the fall, was still plenty of bashing, defender Jeremy Martin. but then lost in the spring. colliding and fighting on The team now has two This year, the team is lookthe ice. At one point in the wins at home and is look- ing to win both parts of game, the puck flew into ing for more to come. the "Battle for Valley Suthe crowd and a player "We matched up really premacy." Their first game broke his hockey stick. well against Utah State against BYU is scheduled Not only did the team and University of Utah," for Oct. 19, 8:30 p.m. keep the intensity on said Stebner. The team at the Peaks Ice Arena. : ^ ^ " overcome Hart and be the team's backup. An injury to Hart or Williams could also be good news in Price's pursuit of minutes on the court. The logjam at shooting guard doesn't help Price's options either. Price has the size to play shooting guard some of the time, but the position will be filled by some combination of Gordon Giricek, Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles. People around the school who have been here and knew Price are excited he is playing for the Jazz. Other Jazz fans will only be excited if Price contributes more than Brown did during his year. After all Brown had fans on his side too. players have plenty of time to shake off the cobwebs, the need forpitchingin the Wolverine line up must be addressed. After losing two starting pitchers before the school year, Fairborn has been using the fall season to evaluate the pitchers he has in the dugout. "The pitchers are going to dictate a lot of how we do," Fairbourne said. "I'm just trying to see what these walk-on pitchers are capable of." Utah Valley will continue to play preseason games through the middle of October before pickIng up again for the regular season in February. ^WYEARSWFALLJNGINLOVE HALLOWEEN COJSJJJME RENTALS $ 5 OFF A FULL COSTUME RENTAL Jewelers Only In COTTONTREE SQUARE • (801) 373^-1000 2230 N. University Pkwv #3 Provo - Mon-Sat.10am - 6:30pm * Fridays until" www.loseejewelers.net |