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Show Friday, March 30 ; 2007 "DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE No place like Franklin Covey Swingin' Utes welcome UNLVto town for three-game set Chris Bellamy Chronicle Sports Editor Despite the recent weather reversal, Franklin Covey Field is ready for the Utes. Presumably. After spending nearly all of the first two months of the 2007 season on the road— and having two home games postponed already—the U baseball teamfinallyhosts its first full series of the year this weekend. "It's nice to be home all. weekend," U head coach Bill TYLER COBB/7V Daily Utah Chronicle Kinneberg. "It's home in the Brad DeVore fires toward the plate during the Utes' 13-12 loss to Gonzaga Mountain West Conference, so it's huge...we've got to stay on March 13. DeVore will start Sunday afternoon against UNLV. PIZZA'S PICKS FOR BASEBALL . SEASON on top of things and play well." The already grizzled UNLV Rebels swing by Salt Lake City for the first leg of their trip through the Beehive State in a series that begins Friday afternoon at Franklin Covey Field. While the Utes seem to havefinallyfound their stride, winning five of their last six, they face a Rebel team that isthe most battle-tested group Utah has seen all season. "The one thing that scares me is they've played a great schedule," Kinneberg said. "They've played every good team in the western part of ries crown in 2005, and that pitching staff has taken a turn for the worse since then. Jose Contreras is due for another series of meltdowns this year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see continued from Page 7 him out of the starting rotation come October, except the White the end of the regular season. Sox barely have anyone to replace him. No. 2 Minnesota Twins Lefty Mark Buhrle—who works (90-72) through innings like chocolate cake gets devoured at fat camp— It might seem like a stretch, but I has seriously fallen from the domican only dock the nant post he held in 2005. Twins six wins The White Sox also lost perfrom last year haps their best day-in and day-out due to the yearcompetitor in Freddy Garcia to long absence of the Phillies this off-season and the Francisco Liriano only thing saving the White Sox No. 3 Chicago White Sox while he recovers from a complete starting rotation from Tommy John's surgery.,The (85-77) flop is the fact that Jon Garland has Twins still have the most dominant The White Sox have nearly the been surprisingly solid over the pitcher in the game today with Josame cast that kept past two seasons. han Santana, and they won't need them in the division Chicago still has one of the most to rely on a late-season surge this race deep into last potent lineups in spots two through year to keep up with the Tigers. season, so why the five, but not even Jim Thome, Paul With that being said, the Twins' drop off, you might Konerko, Tadahito Iguchi and Jerpitching staff also lost No. 3 starter ask? Simple. Their maine Dye have enough power Brad Radke, which means one of pitching staff is what to lead the White Sox to another the coolest names in baseball— Boof Bonser—became the Twins' led the White Sox to a World Se- postseason appearance. new No. 3. Helping the Twins recover from their pitching losses will be a breakout year from center fielder Torii Hunter. The guy is already a defensive genius (who would rather rob home than hit them), but this year Hunter is finally due for an injury-free season, and totals nearly .300, 100 and 30 in batting average, RBI and homeruns, respectively, to keep the twins fighting for the A.L. Central crown all season long. Unfortunately, they will not get another chance to redeem their home field advantage in the postseason as the Twins fall just short of the wildcard. Customer Service SALT LAKE CITY — Why Think Small? The Indians have one of those young teams that could be scary good if it developed the right chemistry at any point during the season. Victor Martinez has to be thrown in the argument of best all-around catcher in the game today and Travis Hafner has a chance to be one of the best Designated Hitters not named David Ortiz. Cleveland is a good fit for newcomer David Dellucci to finally have that breakout year Philly and Texas fans patiently waited for. Ladies and gentlemen in the Cleveland area will still have plenty to scream about with heartthrob slugger Grady Sizemore patrolling center field, but a few more players have to shine for Cleveland to keep up with the other A.L. Central frontrunners. And just in case Cleveland fans need a reason to be thankful, look RED ROCKS' SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE ATBYU his gymnasts in practice this week. "He didn't want us doing a ton (Thursday) because (practice) has been so hard," Ford said. "I know a lot of people are sore—I'm sore." Ashley Postell was glad to see how hard the team worked in practice—particularly on floor—this week, but she still hinted that the Utes' troubles on the mat don't entirely have to do with the team's physical preparation. OutThinking. OutDoing. CONVERGYS - Celebrating 30 Years in Utah! $900 Sign-On Bonus* Customer Service Representatives Why limit your success? Achieve your potential with Convergys, named one of America's Most Admired Companies for 6 years in a row. We offer excellent pay and benefits to complement your life. Think big with Convergys! Higher Starting Wages With Prior Call Center Experience • • • • • No. 4 Cleveland Indians (82-80) continuedfromPage 7 Think FREE Satellite Dish & Programming** Variety of Flexible Schedules Available Paid Vacations & Training Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance 401(K) Savings Plan, Tuition Reimbursement (Day 1) the United States. They're well-tested." The Rebels loaded their non-conference schedule with high-profile opponents, meaning their 12-19 record thus far may be a bit deceiving. They have already had to face Pepperdine, Arizona, UC-Irvine and Cal State-Fullerton and Texas Tech. Three Rebel sluggers have at least 20 RBI this season, paced by Keith Smith, who leads the club with a .339 average. On the other side of the field, the Utes are led by all-MWC first baseman Jay Brossman, last week's MWC Player of the Week who is hitting a team-best .347. The Utes will send to the mound what they expect to be their regular three-man rotation, beginning with Lucas TVinnaman in the series opener. Oddly enough, the Utes have yet to win a Friday opener this season, as Trinnaman has struggled to get going early on- It has been the opposite for fellow senior Eric King (3-1), who has been the rock of the rotation this season. He's second in the conference with a 2.78 ERA this See BASEBALL Page 10 no further than that pitch that hit pitching ace C.C. Sabathia in the forearm. If that had been six inches higher, the Tribe would have been kissing its season goodbye before it even started. No. 5 Kansas City Royals (40-122) Note to Kansas City fans: When the baseball season starts, only six months will remain before the start of pre-season for the Kansas City Chiefs. Keep your heads up. This organization will battle the Washington Nationals for the rights to not be named worst baseball team of 2007. Too • bad this isn't the NBA or the Royals could start scouting guys like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant immediately. t.pizza@ "I don't know what it is about that last event...when we come to the last event we try too hard," Postell said. "We've been ready to compete for a long timc.we all just want to do it." Whatever the root of the team's inability to string together a strong showing on all four events is, the Red Rocks have exactly one meet to figure out how to iron out their problems before it is too late. Next Monday, the Utes will learn the site and opponents for the NCAA Regional, and that is hardly the place to start righting the ship. Unfortunately, even a perfect score against BYU will not allow the Utes to rise above their current No. 6 national ranking, but is still chronicle.utah.edu good enough for a No. i seed at an NCAA Regional in mid-April. But the Utes have some competition for the sixth spot in the national rankings. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are breathing down Utah's neck, as they only trail the Utes by .01 points going into the last weekend of the regular season. If Nebraska were to register a score of 197.25 or higher in the Big 12 Championships this weekend,, it would take over the No. 6 spot no matter how well the Utes do against BYU. But more important than the score is the increased confidence the Red Rocks desperately need to find this weekend. t.p\zza@. chronicle.utah.edu NEW COACH LOOKS TO REVAMP UTES DEFENSE to hear because we weren't in great shape last year." That's not sarcasm, either. Green and the rest of the Utes gladly welcome a change'to the regime. And why continued from Page 7 shouldn't they? Under Giacoletti this season, the Utes finished with a paltry two others as well. 11-19 record—the worst at Utah since "He really preached to help each other the 1973-1974 season. out, and that's really important," Nevill This year, the Utes ranked last in the said. "When someone has the ball now, Mountain West Conference infieldgoal we're taught to have at least six eyes on defense (.500), three-point percentage him. That will make it a lot tougher for defense (463) and turnover margin (teams to get to the basket." 3.03). On the offensive end, Boylen stressed But Boylen can't do anything about the importance of transition offense and the past—his concern is getting the the ability to run the floor. Of course, to players ready for next season. have a solid transition game, the team "We are going to play hard, and we're would have to be extremely well con- going to compete," Boylen said in a ditioned. press conference on Tuesday. "If we "Yeah, he talked a lot about us staying do those two things and we learn every in shape," Green said. "He told us that day, we're going to be a team that Utah we were going to be the most condi- fans can be proud of." tioned team in the country. That's good c.brunner@chronicle.utah.edu Walk-Ins Welcome! 860 W Levoy Drive (4385 South) Call or apply online today! 715-8000 Ask for extension: GSM-GFF7 CONVERGYS Outthinking Outdoing.. Check out The Chronicle online! www.convergys.greatjob.net Media Code: GSM Job Code: GFF7 DIRECTV- •See HR (or ddails. "Upon edibility. 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