Huntington Beach versus El Toro

ET - 5

HB - 1

El Toro swept the 3 game series on Friday with a complete game by Ben Villines. The Oilers tried to make a game of it by throwing the house at the Chargers as they ran out 4 pitchers on the day, in an attempt at limiting ET's hitters.

Things started out dicey for Huntington Beach as their starting pitcher couldn't find the strike zone and he walked 6 guys in the 1st. Cort Lioi greeted the new Oiler pitcher with an rbi fielders choice making it 3-0 after 1.

In the 2nd, HB pushed a run across on consecutive hits but ET answered back with a run in the bottom half with a Mitchell Tolman double and Jayson Yano rbi single. 4-1 Chargers.

Andrew Kincade came up in the 4th with 1 out and laced a single to left. Nick Paglialonga ripped a double putting runners at second and third, and Tolman followed with an rbi single giving us the final margin of 5-1.

Villines continually kept the Oilers off balance with a nice assortment of off speed pitches and dominated on the mound all day long. At the plate, Matt Le Vert had a towering double along with some nice glove work out in right field.

The Chargers come back tomorrow with a non league game against always tough Edison High School. El Toro will be looking to extend their 16 game winning streak. Game time is 11am at El Toro.

Go Chargers,

Bill

EL Toro / Huntington Beach

El Toro - 7

Huntington Beach - 0

The Chargers traveled up to Huntington and shut down the Oilers. Brett Hammond went 6, giving up 1 hit and not allowing any runners past 2nd base.

In the first, Mitchell Tolman took a pitch off his back in leading off and ended up coming around on a Jake Tredwell double. Matt Le Vert followed with a single driving in Tredwell making it 2-0 after 1.

In the 2nd, Andrew Kincade singled, stole second and came in on a Tolman single, 3-0 Chargers.

The score stayed that way till the 5th, when the flood gates opened after an Oiler pitching change. Tolman doubled, Jayson Yano walked and Devin Schaefers followed with a triple driving in 2. Le Vert followed with an rbi, making it 6-0.

In the 6th, Logan Roberts singled, stole second and advanced to 3rd. Brian Graves then came through with a beautiful sacrifice bunt giving us the final margin of victory.

With the win, El Toro pushes their record on the year to 19-3 and 10-0 in Sea View league play. They also extend their winning streak to 15 games.

They finish up their final game against HB this Friday in a 3:15pm game at Charger Field.

Go Chargers,

Bill

Woodbridge / ET

El Toro - 7

Woodbridge - 0

Well this one was a little closer then the previous games these two teams have had, but still not enough for the Warriors.

Ben Villines controlled action from the beginning and kept Woodbridge off balance at the plate. Jordan Wirth (recently off the D.L.) came in and threw well and Shane Jones closed it out.

Offensively, the Chargers scored 3 in the first and 3 more in the second and coasted from there.

El Toro extends their winning streak to 14 in moving their record on the year to 18-3 and 9-0 in Sea View league play. They're off for the weekend before coming back next week with a home and home series with the Oilers from Huntington Beach. Wednesday at HB and then back in Lake Forest on Friday.

In a related note, the El Toro snack bar was open and rocking! I even visited it once or twice to contribute to the kids program. I encourage everyone to visit it at the next home game.

Bill

5 for Friday

1) NFL Draft (Round 1) - Giving more credence to the reason I gave up doing mock drafts. 1 guy gets picked (or doesn't get picked) and it screws the whole order up. I enjoyed splitting up the 1st round and putting it on prime time. As always some interesting picks. Some went the safe route, others swung for the fences. Jacksonville taking Tyson Alualu at 10 (good player, probably could have got him end of the 1st) and Denver going Tebow at 25 will be the 2 most analyzed and followed picks. I'm a Tebow "guy" and I love the fact McDaniels went out on a limb here. It's going to be interesting to follow the Broncos this year, that's for sure.

2) Ben Roethlisberger - I've been holding off on commenting about him until the league imposed their sanctions. 6 game suspension seems about right. After reading the reports about what happened with that girl, man does he come off as a real asshole. I'm sure those of you out there with daughters wouldn't be thrilled if you heard your daughter had met him..... Let's just leave it at that. Actually, let's throw in a photo. Keep drinking like a champion Ben!

3) Bellator Fighting - I've been watching the Thursday night fights on FSW the last 2 weeks and love it! If you're an mma guy, I highly suggest you check it out. In Bellator, they have a competition (or playoff if you will), where they start out with 8 guys in each class and in order to face that division champion, you need to win 3 fights in roughly 3 months (1 fight a month). Quarterfinals, Semi's and final before facing the Champion. None of this fight a couple stiffs and then get a title shot. You have to earn a title fight. The fighters are not guys I'm familiar with, but the fights have been very entertaining and fun to watch. Best of all, it's free. No PPV. Thursday nights on Fox Sports West for those of you on the West Coast. Again, I highly recommend you check it out.

4) Edinson Volquez - He's the Cincinnati Red's pitcher that was suspended earlier this week for testing positive for PEDs (50 game suspension). How quickly can 1 person drop? 2 years ago Volquez was the "wonder boy" when he came to the Reds in the Josh Hamilton trade and had a great year before injuries set him back last year. His explanation for taking the banned substance was it was a fertility drug that he was taking as he and his wife are trying to conceive a child..... Ok. Not many are believing him as evidenced HERE.

5) Angels - I mentioned them last week and how I wasn't too concerned with their start yet they needed to do something fast before they got in to much of a hole. Well they proceeded to sweep the Blue Jays, then took the first 2 games with the Tigers (should have been 3 but that's a whole other write up) before coming up short on their next 2. The Yankee's come to town for a 3 game series this weekend, then we'll evaluate where they stand. Right now, their starting pitching is coming around and so's their hitting. Bullpen is a work in progress but that'll get corrected 1 way or another soon. I'm still saying the Angels will win 95 games this year.

Have a great weekend,

Bill

ET / Woodbridge

In Wednesday nights JV, marque matchup, the Chargers dismantled the Warriors, 18-3.

Ricky Schafer went 5 and Ben Villines closed, in holding Woodbridge to 3 runs, while the offense exploded. Too many Charger batters had big games to single anyone out, but lets just say "DAMN"...

With the win, El Toro extends their winning streak to 13, moves their overall record to 17-3 and Sea View league record to 8-0.

They come back on Friday with another game against Woodbridge, before the schedule toughens up next week when the Huntington Beach Oilers come to town.

Go Chargers,

Bill

Basketball Wives - Episode 2

After the "meet and greet" of the girls last week, this episode mainly focused on Evelyn. For a recap of week 1 and bio's, go here:

Basketball Wives - Episode One

Shaunie starts out by telling us how hard it is divorcing a basketball player because it's in the public eye. I'm sure the multiple kids and loss of income has nothing to do with it, but why go there??

Evelyn is learning how to be on her own after being with Antoine Walker for the last 10 years. She decides to celebrate her 34th birthday by having an Independence Day party.

We start out with Evelyn and her "event planner" going out and sampling different types of food and trying to find a location for the party. After much searching, Evelyn decides upon the upstairs of a trendy Miami Beach restaurant. While they're there, the issue of the guest list comes up and Evelyn says she's fine with everyone on it except Royce, the Miami Heat dancer. We see clips of Royce's dance "moves" from last weeks episode.

Next, Evelyn goes clothes shopping with Jennifer to pick out her outfit for the party. Of course the store they go to has your stereotypical gay "stylist" who takes over and starts pulling out outfits for Evelyn. Being gay, he's allowed to make various comments about Evelyn's breasts and even gets to slap her on the ass.... Something to be said for being gay. Finally he finds "The Dress" and entertains the girls with a "hallo, hallo, hallo". They love him, I may vomit... Once the dress is selected, more talk ensues about Royce and how the "wives" are concerned she'll ruin their reputations.... I don't think they have anything to worry about, their reputations are already ruined... Surprise, surprise they decide to invite her.

Jennifer has lunch with her soon to be ex husband Eric Williams. I wish I could give you more details, but I couldn't understand him as I left my ebonics dictionary at the office.... Something to do with him being concerned that Jennifer spends all her time with Evelyn who's now single and he needs to know what his wife is up to. It was either that, or he wanted to discuss Obama's new Medicare program. One or the other, your guess is as good as mine. During the conversation we discover that Eric's nickname is "Jabber Jaw" or "JJ" for short... The only reason I know that is because the show decided to honor us with subtitles for that section. He really is impossible to understand. Suffice it to say, Eric won't be asked to hold any book readings for young kids in the near future.

We also find out Eric has been unfaithful to Jennifer (surprise!) and he tries to justify it by saying all men have needs and when basketball players are on the road they need something to relive their stress..... I'm going to try that on my wife next time I go out of town and see what her opinion is. I'm thinking it won't fly.

Day of the party comes and Evelyn gets her hair done. The hairdresser says she's going to set her up and Evelyn comments about how things have changed in 10 years, as now everyone sends emails, texts and pictures. I wouldn't mind Evelyn sending me a few photo's. Just saying...She also says no basketball players, football players or golfers, which just shows how far Tigers popularity has dropped when a ho doesn't even want him.

Finally, the big event comes and Evelyn says she's ready to party! Every things great till we realize Royce isn't there. They decide to start without her. Of course, when you mix alcohol and ho's that equals trouble, and it's not long before Jennifer and another guest are cat fighting and disrespecting each other. The show doesn't explain what this is all over but before it escalates to far, Jennifer decides to head to the bathroom with her girls and cool off. She doesn't want to ruin Evelyn's party. She be classy... When she gets back from the bathroom, the lights dim, a birthday cake arrives, the music cranks and Royce is in the house! She's in a skimpy outfit and says her gift to Evelyn is a "sexual performance", because that's the best gift she can give. okay, then.

Just like last week, she puts on a gyrating, thrusting, grinding routine. Evelyn wasn't quite as impressed as Terrell and Ludacris were, but she takes the high ground and does a lot of smiling and laughing during the dance. Evelyn informs us Royce kind of looks like a "little girl, but then she's thrusting her vagina everywhere". Even the gay stylist goes with an "O.M.G." so you know it was good if the gay community is shocked.

Afterwards, Evelyn is nice and thanks Royce telling her she liked it. Royce has another satisfied customer!

The only thing left was for Shaunie to come back on and tell us how bummed she was in having to miss the party and tells us how happy she is for Evelyn and how proud she was of how she carried herself. As we see more shots of Royce dancing, we hear Shaunie say "some of the women could learn a few things from her, a little confidence can go a long way".

Thank you Mother Theresa!

On clips for next week, the girls are criticizing Royce's small breast size and how you can't tell her front from her back. Royce informs us all you need is a handful. Girl has much to learn!

Till next week,

Bill

Aliso Niguel / ET

El Tor0 - 14

Aliso Niguel - 2

Ben Villines, Matt Le Vert and Shane Jones combined on a 5 hitter, as the Chargers cruised to their 12th straight victory.

James Meager went 5 for 5 with 2 triples, 2 singles and a double to pace the El Toro attack.

With the win, El Toro's record stands at 15-3 on the year as they head towards the final month of the season. They have a home and home series this week against Woodbridge High School with the first game Wednesday, 3:30 start time (at Windrow Park).

Go Chargers,

Bill

ET / Claremont

El Toro - 8

Claremont - 1

Everybody loves a parade!

With the victory, El Toro captured it's first Foothill Tournament Championship. The elation, disbelief, ectasy and satisfaction was unmentionable..... ET went 4-0 in the tourney with victories over Beckman, El Modena, Villa Park and Claremont and only allowed 5 runs scored over the 4 games. Great pitching, solid defense and timely hitting was the recipe for success for the young Chargers.

In this game, Garrett Mundell got the championship game start and was solid over his 4 innings, only allowing a 1st inning run. Ricky Schafer closed out the final 3 securing the Championship.

On the offensive side, El Toro got it started in the first when Gavin Collins stroked a double to left center driving in 2 and ET never looked back. Andrew Kincade and Byron Manzo with key hits, Logan Roberts with a big double, Devin Schaefers chipped in with 2 more hits, Mitchell Tolman going 3 for 4 and Jayson Yano was a table setter by taking a couple Claremont pitches off his back.

Following the game, fans cued up on the parade route, which winded thru Lake Forest, ending in a celebration and trophy presentation at City Hall!

Quite a day.........

Congratulations Chargers, I'm sure this day won't soon be forgotten!

Bill

ET / Northwood

El Toro - 8

Northwood - 5

El Toro moves to 14-3 on the year and 7-0 in Sea View league play. They come back Saturday morning in the final game of the Foothill Tournament that was postponed due to weather last week. They'll face Claremont High School at 9am with the venue being Foothill High School.

Go Chargers!

Bill

Five For Friday

1) Dez Bryant - He's the wide receiver out of Oklahoma State who has tremendous "upside" (comparisons to Randy Moss in ability) but has off the field issues. Along with Tebow, lot's of discussion where he may go in the draft. He has top 5 talent, but won't go there... With Denver trading Brandon Marshall this week, people are speculating he'll now land with the Broncos with the number 11 pick. However this isn't why I'm mentioning him here. In reading about him, I discovered that his mother conceived him when she was 12..... GOOD GOD. I just found that amazing.

2) Speed of Game - Umpire Joe West made the comment last weekend after the Yankee's / Red Sox series how the speed of the game was a disgrace to baseball. Most of those games go 3 and a half to 4 hours due to so many players stepping out between pitches and catcher mound visits. My viewpoint? I agree completely with him. I understand a batter stepping out and regrouping after a pitch he swung at, but when guys step out and rearrange their gloves, shirt, batting gloves after every single pitch, it's gets ridiculous. Step in the box and hit. I'd also like to see a rule be put in place limiting the catcher to 1 mound visit per inning (same as the coach is allowed). No need to be making 3 or 4 visits per inning.

3) NBA Predictions - With the playoffs getting started this weekend, here are my 1st round predictions:

In the East,

1) Cleveland over the Bulls

2) Magic over the Bobcats

3) Celtics over the Heat

4) Atlanta over the Bucks

In the West,

1) Lakers over the Thunder

2) Suns over Portland (wish Roy was healthy)

3) Spurs over Dallas (upset)

4) Denver over Utah (great series, could go either way, I'll go with home team)

I went with the home team in 7 of the 8 series with San Antonio the only upset.

Heard a rumor that the NHL playoffs started last night but couldn't' get confirmation on that as nobody cares.... So fuck it!

4) The Spider - This is for you MMA fans out there. What's the deal with Anderson Silva? In his fight last weekend against Demian Maia (UFC 112) he put in another lackluster effort. Have you ever seen anyone look so bored in the ring? Granted, he got the win, but this is a continued pattern where he looks like he just has no interest being there. He's fought like this in probably 5 of his last 6 fights (Forrest Griffin being the lone exception) where it looks like he knows he can win at any point so he just goes thru the motions until he finally decides to end it. I'd rather watch him go in there and destroy the guy in 30 seconds instead of the boring 3 rounds he moves around toying with guys. Now he wins, which at the end of the day is the important thing, (take note BJ), but still, either step up in weight (or down and take on GSP) and challenge yourself, or if you're that bored, retire. I like Silva a lot, but I'm tired of this.

5) Angels - We're only 2 weeks into the season so I'll wait a little longer to worry, but something needs to change soon. They've off to a 3-7 start, however I'll give them a pass due to the competition they've faced. Minnesota beat them 3 out 4 and they're my pick to win the central so they're no pushover (and off to a 7-3 start) and they just finished a 3 game series in NY with the Yankee's getting their WS rings, so I can understand getting beat 2 out 3. The other series they had which was against Oakland does bother me though. The A's beat them 2 out 3 in Anaheim, and that's not good. Wood is struggling at the plate which was to be expected but some other guys need to step up with timely hits. The schedule doesn't lighten up for a while as the Angels now travel to Toronto to face the East leading Blue Jays for 3 games, before coming home for a 10 game home stand against the Tigers, Yankee's and Cleveland. I'd like to see them win 2 out 3 in Toronto, then 6 of 10 at home. They do that, they'll be fine. They don't, then it's time to shake some stuff up.

Hope everyone has a great weekend,

Bill

Northwood / ET

El Toro - 13

Northwood - 1

Start of the second half of the season and it's starting like the 1st half.

Northwood came out on fire with a triple and double in the 1st driving in a run. Northwood looked good and were probably thinking this game would be different than the last, however ET quickly changed that perception.

In ET's half of the inning, after the first 2 Charger batters got out, Devin Schaefers tripled down the right field line. Jake Tredwell then walked, Logan Roberts got hit by a pitch (eventually twice on the day) and "Mr. Clutch" himself strode to the plate with the bases loaded. Matt Le Vert promptly drove a 2-2 fastball to left center for a double making it 2-1 good guys.

In the 2nd, Northwood threatened again, however a pitchers best friend occurred when Yano to Tolman turned a 6, 4, 3 double play. Later on after another Timberwolf batter got on, Schafers decided to handle this one himself and picked off the runner at 3rd ending the inning. In the bottom half, Andrew Kincade singled and James Meager came up and joined the "Jack Pack" by launching his 1st home run on the year over the left field fence. "Mr. Clutch" followed with a home run of his own (3rd on the year) making the score 5-1.

After that, Northwood was playing out the innings and didn't advance another runner beyond 1st base. Cort Lioi roped another double later on in the game with the bases loaded driving in a couple more and timely hits by Meager and Tredwell supplied more Charger runs.

On the day, Schafers went 5 and only gave up the 1st inning run, showing he's ready to take the next step up the ladder.

With the win, El Toro moves to 13-3 and more importantly 6-0 in Sea View league play. They come back on Friday and finish up their home and home series with Northwood by traveling there in a 3:15pm game.

Go Chargers,

Bill

Basketball Wives

This is a new show that premiered Sunday night on VH1 (10pm if you're interested). I feel someone needs to give you a run down on this train wreck, so I've volunteered to help!

Show takes place in Miami (by the way this is a reality show) and it's about 6 or 7 women that have either been married or dated professional basketball players. Some would call them "gold diggers" but we won't, we'll go with "Ho's". A couple are friends and someone thought it'd be a great idea to have them hang out at various clubs, restaurants, events, and film them on their day to day lives as they try to make ends meet on the millions of dollars they stole from previous relationships with rich basketball players.

The "ringleader" if you will, is Shaunie O'Neal, the ex wife of Shaq. She's more or less the elder statesman and councils the younger ones and tells them they're not the only ones that have been cheated and lied on by their millionaire significant others and that they should save their money and don't expect it to last. Of course, we have various shots of the girls driving around in their Ferrari's, Mercedes and high end SUV's, wearing designer clothing and $1,000 shoes.

Others taking part are Antoine Walkers ex girlfriend (they were together 10 years), Michael Olowokondi's now ex girlfriend (he got her pregnant when she was a senior at Pepperdine), Eric Williams soon to be ex wife (she's now a "high end" real estate agent), Matt Barnes fiancee (she be naive and thinks Matt's got all his wandering ways out and he'd never cheat on her), and the mother of Dwight Howards baby (and Miami Heat dancer). For all the bio's go HERE.

In the first episode, the girls meet up at a trendy Miami restaurant in order for everyone to get to know each other. The drinks start flowing and things get testy.... Tensions in the air as apparently there's a rumor going around that Gloria's (Matt Barnes future wife) sister slept with Shaq while Shaunie was still married to him. Ho alert! They avoid speaking to each other for most of the evening before finally Shaunie pulls Gloria outside for a talk. They agree that well, blood is thicker than water, they can't hold that against each other, decide to be friends, and "hug it out". Shaunie then makes a comment to the camera saying "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Think this will come back up in a future episode???

Later on (on another day), Royce (the Miami Heat dancer) and a couple of the girls are invited to a pool party hosted by Terrell Owens and Ludacris. Royce enters the dance contest and her inner ho comes out as she puts on a spectacular dance routine thrusting and grinding. She ends with another scantily clad girl and repeatedly spanks her ass as she grinds up on the girl from behind. T.O. and Ludacris were very impressed with Royce's moves, as was I......... However the other cast members were appalled and the next day when it shows up on some website, the girls decide they need to have an intervention with Royce and caution her that what she does not only reflects badly on her but them. And god knows, the little gold diggers don't want to look bad!

In clips for next weeks episode, we see a new girl (a blond) at a table with a few of the girls and she gets a drink thrown in her face by Suzie (Olowokondi's ex) and all hell breaks loose. I guess the sisters don't like the white women sleeping with a brother! We also see a clip of employee #8's ex (Evelyn) crying. She probably just heard Antoine is broke and filed for bankruptcy..... $120 million just doesn't go as far as it used to I guess!

Tune in next week for all the riveting news for "As The Ho Turn's"!

Bill

5 For Friday

1) Tebow - Lot's of talk about where he's going to go in the NFL draft. Some project him late 1st, early 2nd, others think he won't go till 6th or 7th round. Has there been anyone in recent years who's ability has been so polarizing? I suppose if you like multi dimensional players who work hard, he's one of yours. If you go strictly by ability for a position, you want nothing to do with him. You know who he reminds me of? Tom Brady. Prior to the draft, his mechanics and physical tools didn't fit the stereotypical QB. The report on him was they thought he had the mental makeup and worked hard but was limited in arm strength and throwing ability. Sound familiar? Now I'm not saying Tebow will be the next Brady, but if someone takes him high, that's the comparison they're using and willing to risk a high pick for that upside.

2) CAPO Teachers Strike - Weird item for a sports write up isn't it? Well not really. The teachers union in the Capo Valley School District are threatening to go on strike (possibly as early as next week) and if it happens, all the sports programs will be shut down. Could raise heck when it comes to how league standings shake out. No one knows how they're going to count those missed games. Some say forfeit, some are saying they'll try to make them up (depending upon length of strike). As for baseball (which I mainly follow), schools affected would be Capo Valley, Tesoro, Dana Hills, San Clemente and Aliso Niguel. Those are some big Southern Cal baseball powers. Mission Viejo would be affected because they're in league with those schools (but otherwise wouldn't be affected by the strike). This is going to be interesting how it plays out. For more info, check out Steve Fryers's article in The Orange County Register.

3) College Hockey - I'm sure you've all been riveted about what's been going on in college hockey..... The Frozen Four started last night with Boston College ripping Miami 7-1 and Wisconsin beat up RIT 8-1. They'll face each other Saturday night in a rematch of the 06 finals when Wisconsin topped BC. Game time is 7pm Eastern.

4) Is Golf A Sport? - This came up multiple times in discussions yesterday and then I noticed SI posing that question on their website. With Fred Couples and Tom Watson both starting out hot in the Masters yesterday, it raised the question if a 50 and 60 year old man can challenge for a "major" championship, does that rule it out from being a sport? My answer is no it doesn't rule it out. Golf is so big mentally, it sets itself apart from the other more physical sports. You're just not running around and don't have to have the physical condition, but mentally, you lose it for 2 holes and you can forget about winning (or in a major, challenging).

5) Eri Yoshida - Who? She's the Japanese female knuckleball pitcher who became the Japanese leagues first female player last year. She just signed with the Chico Outlaws, an Independent league team. She becomes the first professional female player in the states since Ila Borders retired 10 years ago. Eri learned to throw a knuckleball by watching video of Tim Wakefield (and met him this spring). Not sure how long or where this is going to go, but from a marketing standpoint, it's already working as here I am linking to their team site (HERE). Being an Independent league, they're not paying her much and it'll certainly be a good draw for her 1st couple of outings.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Bill

Villa Park / El Toro

El Toro - 7

Villa Park - 3

In game 3 of the Foothill Tournament, ET jumped out early and never gave it up.

Devin Schaefers with 2 rbi's in the first and Gavin Collins with 2 more in the 2nd, gave the Chargers all they'd need on the day, as Brett Hammond shut down VP. When Hammond left after 5, El Toro was up 7-0 and coasted from there.

Earlier, Byron Manzo executed a great hit and run, driving the ball to the right hand side and scoring Logan Roberts from 1st. Cort Lioi continued his hot streak with an rbi double and Mitchell Tolman chipped in with a triple.

Defensively, the Chargers turned 3 double plays helping offset any damage Villa Park posed on this hot, sunny, early morning game.

We're now down to 1 game in this round robin tournament, with the final game being played Saturday the 17th at 9am. El Toro will play their rain out game from Monday (Claremont High School) and if they can win and hold the Wolves to a low score, we'll be grabbing spots for the parade route thru Lake Forest!

Go Chargers,

Bill

ET / El Mo

El Toro - 2
El Modena - 1

Ricky Schafer hooked up in a pitchers dual with a "crafty" lefty from El Modena and came out on top. Schafer threw a 3 hitter in overwhelming the El Mo batters.

The El Modena lefty struck out 6 of the first 7 Charger batters as they had a hard time figuring him out. He came from the left side so that was an adjustment anyway, but on top of it, he had good movement and could bring the fastball when he got you down.

This game was 0-0 in the 6th when El Mo struck first. A strike out, walk, stolen base and intentional walk, put us 1st and 2nd when Modena came up with a double, scoring their run. Then another intentional walk loaded the bases and brought the charger infield in. A shot to second was snared and got the force at the plate, then Schafer put out the rally with a huge K.

Mitchell Tolman got hit by a pitch to start out the bottom of the 6th and then James Meager came thru with a perfect hit and run, placing the ball in the vacated shortstop position. Meager then stole second, bringing up Mr. Clutch, Matt Le Vert, who ripped a double to left center putting ET on top 2-1. Game over as Schafer came out in the 7th and closed it out.

El Toro is now firmly in control in this tournament being undefeated and only surrendering 1 run. They come back early tomorrow morning at Foothill High School with a 9am tussle against always tough Villa Park.

Go Chargers,

Bill

ET / Beckman

El Toro - 5

Beckman - 0

After the rain out yesterday, this was game 1 for the Chargers in the Foothill Tournament.

Chasen Ford got his first start of the year and threw great. He took a no hitter into the 5th before finally surrendering a 2 out double. He responded by striking out the next Patriot ending the only threat of a score on the day.

On the offensive side, El Toro didn't fare much better. The Chargers put a run on the board in the third and they did it with two outs. Jayson Yano walked, Mitch Tolman hit by pitch, James Meager walk and then Jake Tredwell laced a 2-2 fastball off the 2nd baseman's glove bringing in the 1st run of the day.

In the 4th, Tredwell led off with ET's first hit of the day, stole 2nd and Matt Le Vert strode to the plate. Le Vert has been the Chargers most dangerous hitter on the year and he showed why on the first pitch, driving a double to deep center field bringing in Tredwell. Le Vert leads El Toro in HR's, doubles and rbi's, doing his job batting in the clean up spot. Logan Roberts followed Le Vert with a walk and then Devin Schaefers ripped a single thru the drawn in infield scoring 2 more. After Brian Graves dropped down a beautiful sacrifice bunt, Cort Lioi muscled a 1-1 pitch to the farthest reaches of the park for his 1st double on the year, driving in 2 and bringing the score to 5-0.

Ricky Schafer came on in the 7th to close it out.

El Toro comes back tomorrow with a 3pm game against El Modena, venue is Foothill High School in Tustin.

Go Chargers,

Bill

El Toro Versus Claremont - Cancelled

Due to rain, game one of the Foothill Tournament has been cancelled. Possibility of being made up later on in the week as part of a day / night doubleheader. Details to follow.

The Chargers come back (hopefully) on Tuesday with a noon time game against Beckman High School at Beckman.

Bill

Angels Opening Day Roster - Update

With opening day one day away, the Angels have finalized their roster. I spoke about it last week (Ranking The Angels) but some injuries have crept up, and a couple have gone on injured reserve, allowing a few new guys to start the season on the big league roster.

Scott Kazmir and Reggie Willits have been placed on injured reserve opening up roster spots for catcher Bobby Wilson and outfielder Terry Evans.

Kazmir should only miss 1 start (replaced by Matt Palmer) as he continues to get stretched out recovering from shoulder stiffness. He's scheduled to throw an extended spring training game today followed by a rehab start on Friday. Hopefully everything goes well. When Kazmir comes back, expect Palmer to drop to AAA as he still has options, where as Wilson and Evans do not. It'll get interesting when Willits comes off the DL......

Bill

Pickin and Grinin - My MLB Predictions

With opening day 2 days away, I guess it's time for me to make my predictions for the upcoming season. Always fun to look back 7 months from now and see how bad you look.....

A.L. East - Yankee's, Red Sox, Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays - Yankee's win 100

A.L. Central - Twins, White Sox, Tigers, Indians, Royals - Twins win 92

A.L. West - Angels, Rangers, Mariners, A's - Angels win 95

N.L. East - Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Mets, Nationals - Phillies win 94

N.L. Central - Cardinals, Cubs, Brewers, Astros, Pirates - Cardinals win 93

N.L. West - Dodgers, Rockies, Giants, Padres - Dodgers win 91

AL Wildcard - Red Sox

NL Wildcard - Braves

AL Champion - Red Sox

NL Champion - Cardinals

World Series Champion- Red Sox

AL MVP - Mark Texeira

NL MVP - Hanley Ramirez

AL Cy Young - Jon Lester

NL Cy Young - Adam Wainwright

So there you have it. Am I a homer for picking the Red Sox? Yup, but I think they've got a very good team and their pitching depth will carry them. As to the awards, yes I know it's trendy to pick Pujols and Halladay in the NL, but I think both are going to be down for a bit with injuries and it'll allow someone else to step in and take the awards. I expect Lester to take that next step like Greinke did last year and Wainwright had a great season last year and he hardly gets mentioned. I think with Jeter finally slipping....... Texeira will get the recognition he should.

Either way, should be a fun season!

Bill

El Toro Versus Trabuco Hills - Game 12

Part deux of "Rivalry Week".

On Tuesday, El Toro faced Foothill, their traditional main competitor for top honors in the Sea View league, and today they faced Trabuco Hills, their local, neighborhood rival (schools are 3 miles apart). With boys and families on each side knowing one another (and many having grown up playing on the same teams), this is always a fun game.

Final:

El Toro - 6

THHS - 3

Both sides were fired up to start the game (beautiful game time temps in the high 60's) and a large vocal crowd on hand. Some Mustang "yahoo's" were in the crowd with painted chests and doing chants and what not, but that just made it all the more sweet to get the "W" (and truthfully I loved the team and school spirit, I'm just having fun here).

El Toro came out in the top of the first with a triple by James Meager, rbi ground out by Gavin Collins, triple by Matt Le Vert and a single by Logan Roberts to put the Chargers up 2-0.

Ricky Schafer was on the mound again for ET and he cruised through the first 2 innings going 1, 2, 3. However in the 3rd, Trabuco threatened when with 2 outs, a double got ripped to left field. Schafer worked the next batter and got him to ground into a harmless ground out.

It stayed 2-0 till the the 5th, when after a pitching change, the Chargers struck again. Devin Schaefers lead off with a single and proceeded to steal second. Brian Graves then beat out a bunt and when the throw to first was off the mark, Devin kept rounding 3rd and scored making it 3-0. In the 6th, almost the same identical play happened. Mitch Tolman singled, stole second and scored on a swinging bunt by Meager. 4-0 Chargers. In the bottom half of the 6th, the Mustangs finally put together some hits and after a base on ball, back to back doubles and a sac fly to center, we had a 4-3 ball game, "MO" had turned and the "yahoo's" cranked up the chanting....... Oh to be 15 again.

In the 7th though, the Chargers responded with Schaefers singling, Andrew Kincade walked and Jayson Yano ripped one to right center driving in 2. Tolman followed with a suicide squeeze giving us the 6-3 final.

On the day, Schafer was phenomenal on the mound. His fastball had good movement and it was the best he's thrown his off speed stuff all year. Great outing by him.

With the win, the Chargers extend their winning streak to 5 and pushed their overall record to 9-3 (5-0 Sea View League).

Next week, they play in the Foothill tournament with games against Claremont, Beckman, El Modena and Villa Park. First up is a Monday noon time clash against Claremont (at Foothill High School).

Go Chargers!

Bill

Being John Daly

Is anyone else watching this besides me?

Admittedly I like John Daly, and I have to say I've been enjoying the show. New episodes are on Tuesday nights on the Golf Channel. Due to the lack of programing on the channel, I think they run the episodes (4 so far) about 360 times a week. So if you've missed it, you can catch up real quick...

For those of you that haven't seen it, it's a synopsis, week by week of (drum roll please..............), John Daly. They talk about his struggles with weight, addiction, his golf game and other parts of his life. I think they've done a good job painting a realistic picture of him, not trying to glorify him.

I love his girlfriend. Not so much because she's attractive (truthfully she's not really my type and she's sort of annoying....), but because you can tell she cares about him and has his best interests at heart. Who wouldn't want a woman that sticks up for you and is trying to help you live a good life. If he ever lets her go or she leaves him, expect to read in the paper about 30 days later him overdosing or something.....

One thing I don't like about the show is how much they show him smoking. Enough. We get it. He smokes and smokes a lot........ We don't need to see close ups of him smoking every 45 seconds and blowing smoke into the camera...... Beyond that, everything else about the show I like.

If you get a chance, check it out (even if you're not a golfer). It's very entertaining and only a half hour show, so if you don't like it, you haven't missed anything.

Bill