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Show ™ SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE Wednesday, June 22, 2005 Gagne to have Tommy John surgery r SAN DIEGO—Dodgers closer Eric Gagne will have season-ending surgery tofixa sprained ligament in his right elbow. j; The 2003 NL Cy Young Award winner had a second MRI exam Tuesday and doctors concluded he needs Tommy John surgery. The All-Star reliever Eas a second-degree sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament and was recently placed on the 15-day disabled list. His operation was scheduled for Friday. f'-"We're probably looking at about a year; maybe by the All-Star break next year he'll be back," manager Jim Tracy said. <' •; Gagne, who owns the major league record of 84 fconsecutive saves, landed on the disabled list for jjie first time in his seven-year major league career On April 1 when he hurt his elbow, possibly while compensating for a knee injury sustained during spring training. It was the same elbow that under»yeflt4igament replacement surgery in 1997. jvGagne returned to action May 14 but aggravated the ^injury while pitching against Minnesota on June .12. **--*it;is a partial tear of the ligament, not a complete Sear," Tracy said. "The surgery is not a complicated surgery. The damage is not significant to make the surgery overwhelming." With Gagne out for the rest of the season, the closer role falls to Yhency Brazoban, who has converted n of 14 save chances in Gagne's absence. The 24-year-old Brazoban is in his first full major league season after making his big league debut last Aug. 5. Brazoban is 2-2 this year with a 4.66 ERA in 31 games. The right-hander has struck out 27 batters in 29 innings with 10 walks. Brazoban finished the 2004 season with a 6-2 record and a 2.48 ERA in 31 appearances. He also held opponents to a .219 batting average. Gagne was 1-0 with eight saves and a 2.70 ERA in 131-3 innings since his return from the disabled list. Dating to last Aug. 28, he has converted 18 consecutive save opportunities. Gagne had a club-record 55 saves and a 1.20 ERA in 2003. He agreed to a $19 million, two-year contract in the offseason after recording 152 saves and averaging 122 strikeouts during his first three seasons as a closer. The Associated Press RANKINGS DON'T HOLD UP BCS bowl criteria weren't so unfair to mid-major schools, all three would have likely have been invited to play in major bowl games. Utah was fortunate enough to have many major pre-ranked teams lose and open up spots for them to move into BCS bowl consideration. Louisville and Boise State are examples of teams affected in 2004. They had to settle for playing each other in the Liberty Bowl because they couldn't climb past those teams that held on to high preranked positions. It seems to be a recurring problem, where a great team is not pre-ranked in the top 25, and that preexisting bias destroys their bowl placement. Boise State probably thought that an undefeated regular season could get them into a major bowl after failing to earn a spot due to a two-point loss to Oregon State in 2003 and an early season defeat by Arkansas in 2002. Nobody predicted Miami to have a spectacular season in 2003 when it had only one loss to Iowa. The BCS bowl games have had several teams with multiple losses over the past few years. The infamous Pittsburgh Panthers had an 8-3 team get demolished by the Utes in last year's Fiesta Bowl. In 2003, Kansas State earned a berth in the Fiesta Bowl with an 11-3 record, only to be beaten by Ohio St. The 2002 Florida State Seminoles boasted a mediocre 9-4 record and yet still received an invitation to the Sugar Bowl, where Georgia trounced them. The 2003 preseason rankings had Kansas State at No. 7, and the 2002 pre-season rankings had Florida State at No. 3. It must have made a difference. Perhaps it would be fairer to wait to release any rankings until a few weeks into the season to alleviate this problem. That, at least, would give us some time to see which teams are flops and which are for real. Many problems have surfaced with the BCS rankings and bowl placements, but I think that preseason rankings, especially in the AP and ESPN polls, also need to make adjustments to give the mid-major teams an equal opportunity to play in the major bowl games. Stop the preseason rankings and maybe some of these teams will surprise the college football world. Utah proved that a mid-major was capable of competing in a major bowl game when given the opportunity. Hopefully everything falls into place and the Utes or another mid-major team will do so in 2005, putting the preseason critics to rest. mpatton@ chronicle.utah.edu continued from Page 6 Sses and un-reseaxched opinions of teams always Seem to mix into the polls, and by the end of the i^ear, those that made the pre-rankings seem to tide behind their mistakes. £ Last year, the 2004 Associated Press pre-rankings Ranked USC, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU and Florida St. as the top five. Utah was the only mid-major in Jts top 25 pre-rankings at No. 20. £ The end of the year listed Utah (No. 4), Louisville (No. 6) and Boise State (No. 12) in the top 15. k With the move to the Big East—a BCS. conference—Louisville was given a No. 8 pre-rariking for Jhis season, even; though the Cardinals are only returning 13 starters. £ It shows that mid-majors will never earn respect before the season begins, but if a team is in a major conference they are somehow immediately recognized as an elite team. j Even quality teams in BCS conferences aren't given proper pre-rankings. The Associated Press pad Auburn pre-ranked No. 18 last season, and the •Tigers ended up undefeated. Auburn could have {?een No. 1 in the nation with a different post-season setup. I It just seems that the journalists who make these preseason rankings are afraid to take any risks, especially with non-BCS conference teams. L If they're afraid to stack up the facts and determine with educated analyses and unprejudiced predictions how good a team will finish, why even make pre-rankings? I The unfortunate thing is, without a playoff system, pre-rankings make a big difference. Teams that are already pre-ranked in the top-10 simply have to win, even if they're close games, to maintain their position in the polls. If they lose to another top-20 team, they may slide a little, but not too much. However, for mid-major teams it is a constant battle. If they lose any games in a season, it destroys their chance of reaching a major bowl game. .; An example of this was displayed by Louisville last year. The Cardinals suffered their only regular season loss to then No. 3 Miami Hurricanes. It was a nail-biter to the finish, and in the end they fell by three points, and so did their BCS hopes. ^ These teams have to struggle to gain position, having to move from spot to spot, hoping that these pre-ranked powerhouses will lose so they can move up in the polls. If somehow Utah, Louisville and Boise State were pre-ranked in the top-[o last season, and the FC Dallas midfielder Aaron Pltchkona gets pushed from behind by Real Salt Lake midfielder Nikolas Besagno as they battle for the ball June 4 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. for the Galaxy Wednesday are defender Chris Albright (left MCL) and midfielder Paul Broome (ankle). For RSL, defender Brian Dunseth will continued from Page 6 sit out the Galaxy match with a groin strain, according to team officials. includes a visit to San Jose, a place that There is some good news, though, as should be quite familiar to former Earth- Rusty Pierce should make his return to quake forward Landon Donovan. (Salt the RSL lineup and to the Rice-Eccles Lake City might ring a bell, too, since Stadium FieldTurf, which has been reinhe scored twice versus Costa Rica in a stalled in place of the natural grass. U.S. uniform at Rice-Eccles earlier this Clint Mathis, RSUs tenacious attacking month.) midfielder/forward, will have to watch He won an MLS Cup there in his time Wednesday's match from the sidelines with the Earthquakes, but Donovan's due to a yellow card he received at San creative play is one reason for L.A.'s ear- Jose last Saturday. ly dominance in the conference. Real Salt Lake will also welcome back The other reason is Steve Sampson, a forward Dipsy Selolwane, who scored longtime U.S. National Team coach be- a goal in Botswana's 3-1 win at Malawi fore Bruce Arena took over the helm. over the weekend during African World L.A. has been shaky as of late, though, Cup qualifying. suffering a 1-0 loss at FC Dallas a fortAlso expected to play is forward Jamie night ago. Donovan was more or less a Watson, who has played about one-third non-factor in the game. of RSL's last two matches. Second-string U.S. goalkeeper and L.A. For Real Salt Lake, on the road Saturstarter Kevin Hartman had a solid game, day to face a Chicago team that annihithough his team was pushed around the lated them in their own stadium, a win Cotton Bowl, as evidenced by FC Dallas, by any means necessary on Wednesday 17 fouls and six for L.A. may be just what they need. Among those expected not to play bshaw@chronicle.utah.edu REAL LOOKS TO END LOSING STREAK As many as 69,000 students, family, faculty and staff will bury their heads in it. Don't miss the biggest issue of the year! OPENINGS ISSUE The Openings Issue is mailed to all U students registered for Fall Semester. Although direct mail advertising is usually the most expensive, our Openings Issue provides a cost-effective way of reaching the University community. 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