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Show Wedding ln}o: Send the (jood News to office@slalesman.usu.edu StatesmanSOOrtS Paee M Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 MAJOR LEAGE BASEBALL Delgado Earl's Hobby Hanger leading 166 W. 1200 So- *752-4401 Mets How Selling & Renting Paintball Gear! ALSO: We have the lowest prices and largest selection on wood, plastics and smallscale models. RC Cars, airplanes and boats. Find everything you need for LAEP and Interior Design projects! -Hew Rental Gun packages Camo, masks 4500 psi HPA fills C02 refills •Hoppers Premium Paintballs GETIJ0ST! (Bring a date, but no nibbling on the ears) THE WRGESr CORN W E ° WrqUE WEE DESr rMCflCF(EVffIiZ9 «iPCflTED MEXT ID • T«E BEST DEfflL HRO0ND ECCIZS ICE m >'£ Mon-Thur 5-11,Frl5-12,Sat12-12 K Adults $6 Students With ID $5 Children $4 ' Organized group rates with prior arrangements C . , . , Call 435-755-5755 v&j. Vi5 Get a Buck off -Bring your student I.D. •$ Check out our website at www.greencanyohfarms.com 2850 N100 E NEW YORK (AP)-A few months ago, Carlos Delgado looked finished. Strikeouts, popups and untimely double plays. Batting in the middle of the New York Mets' lineup, he was destroying one potential rally after another. Talk-show hosts and headline writers were ready to run him out of town, and Shea Stadium fans were chanting "Dump Delgado!" nearly every night. Now, just imagine where the Mets would be without him. Delgado's incredible hitting tear has New York in first place, confident it can avoid another September collapse. And those thunderous, echoing chants have turned to "M-V-P! M-V-P!" "It's pretty cool. I'm not going to lie to you. But then, I'm not going to get caught up in that," Delgado said this week. "We've got some work to do. But it's a lot nicer than the boos, I'll tell you that much." With 24 homers and 69 RBIs in his last 67 games, Delgado's remarkable resurgence has been nothing short of a Met-amorphosis. After struggling through the worst season of his prolific career in 2007, which ended when he broke his left hand on the final day of the season, he got off to a horrendous start this year. Dropped as low as seventh in the order, Delgado was batting .228 on June 30 and it appeared he'd NEW YORK METS' CARLOS DELGADO pumps hisfistas he rounds the bases after hitting his second solo home run of the game during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Shea Stadium in New York, Tuesday. AP photo never again be the fearsome slugger who carried offenses in Toronto - or anything even close. Now in his mid-30s, surely he was in the midst of a swift decline. All the telltale signs were there: Delgado was late on inside fastballs, so he started rushing his swing to get the bat head through the zone. That caused him to commit too early and chase pitches way off the plate. When he did make solid contact, balls died on the warning track. Decreased bat speed, it seemed. Against left-handers, he was completely lost. And he rolled over pitch after pitch with an uppercut swing, hitting harmless grounders directly into the defensive shift on the right side. "I'd like to forget the first couple months of the season," he said. But just when everybody outside the Mets' clubhouse had given up on him, Delgado broke loose and became one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. "I worked on the basics," he said. "For a long time I was looking to get my timing down. I was able to find that happy zone where I was seeing the ball good and I was getting ready to hit before they threw the ball. So, I don't want to make it sound like it's too simple - but it was simple. It's just, get your timing down. Eyes: No. 22 Utes will be handful l\ H continued from page 9 435-755-5755 Next to Eccles Ice Arena off Main St. Turn by Nate & Andy's I GotCaught Reading I t Elisha Frisby USU OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL DICKEY, RIGHT, instructs sophomore quar- Elisha Frisby got caught reading The Statesman on the sidewalk near the ESLC on her way to class. A freshman from Logan, she is studying Bio-Veterinary Science. Frisby is already involved at USU as the freshman representative of the PreVeterinary Club. She can usually be caught reading the comics. She said she terback Diondre Borel (12) during the team's Aug. 16 scrimmage at Romney Stadium."Hie Aggies will need Borel's speed to compete with the No. 22 Utah Utes Saturday at Romney Stadium. PATRICK ODEN photo really likes USU because "everybody is really nice "and you can go up to anyone and ask them a question." Elisha wins a free T-shirt is now eligible for a drawing at the end of semester for even more prizes. Keep reading Elisha! /Statesman as well as anyone we have watched so far offensively." Johnson has led the Utes to a 2-0 start with a road victory over the Michigan Wolverines and a home win over the UNLV Rebels last Saturday. Johnson has collected a total of 488 yards passing, three touchdowns and a 63.2 pass completion percentage. And, although Johnson only has 14 yards rushing according to the season stat box, that number does not reflect what he did against the Rebel defense. After Johnson barely avoided being sacked by a UNLV defender, he took advantage of the open field created by UNLV's man defense and took off for a game-changing 56-yard rushing touchdown. To put this in perspective for USU, consider that the Aggie defense ranks 115th nationally in total defense (allowing 520.50 yards per game), 112th in scoring defense (46.50 points per game) and 115th in rushing defense (270). "I think that Brian Johnson is the best quarterback that we have faced overall," Guy said. "Just in the way that he throws and runs, 1 think he is the best quarterback we have faced to date." If the Aggie defense is to stop Johnson they will need the services of senior linebacker Jake Hutton, who had limited playing time against Oregon because of an injury. Guy said he feared Hutton would be gone for the season after the game, but an X-ray confirmed he will be able to play against Utah. New marketing strategy Though USU sophomore quarterback Diondre Borel took more snaps against Oregon than senior quarterback Sean Setzer and passed for two touchdowns, Guy would not name a starter for Saturday's game. He called it a new marketing strategy. "People will buy a ticket and come see their starters," Guy said, "That's going to be our marketing scheme for this week. We will announce the starter as soon as we get the football. So you better get a ticket and come see." Ute head coach Kyle Whittingham went a step further in his assessment of Borel, calling him USU's "main quarterback." "[He] is athletic," Whittingham said. "It used to be that we played an athletic quarterback two to three times a year. Now, every week we are facing a guy who can run the football well." Against Oregon, Borel completed 16-of-24 passes for 157 yards. He also led the team in rushing with 31 yards. Setzer was only 7-for-ll for 61 yards and was pulled after failing to avoid being sacked. "Sean just wasn't as effective moving the team as Diondre was," Guy aid. "And that's really the only critical grade you give him. Sean didn't make any critical errors though, other than taking the sacks. He didn't throw an interception." -samueUuslop@aggiemaiL usu.edu |