Dynamo Start Season 2-0, Drop Open Cup Match

Greensboro, NC:Dynamo Host Fredericksburg this Saturday

The Fredericksburg Hotspur lineup is headlined by former Trinidad and
Tobago international star Evans Wise visit Greensboro this Saturday, May
26th to take on the Carolina Dynamo. Kick-off is 7:00 PM. Wise played
in the 2006 World Cup, appearing in games against England and Paraguay.
Wise is also a veteran of Major League Soccer (MLS), where he played for
the Tampa Bay Mutiny and New England Revolution. His most recent club was
for Waldohf Mannheim in Germany. The Hotspur lineup features players
four Internationals, joining Wise are Tishan Hanley, Don Smart and Travis
Mulraine. The remainder of the Fredericksburg lineup is comprised of
standouts from JMU, VCU & UVA.

Dynamo Start Season 2-0, Drop Open Cup Match

The Dynamo opened the season May 12th at home with a 5-1 victory over Real
Maryland. The Dynamo were led by Karo Okiomah (Chivas USA draftee) with
two goals, and Donnie Smith (Charlotte) who notched a pair of assists.
Other goal scorers included Shaun Sloan (High Point), Robbie Lovejoy (UNC
CH/Page), and David Reittinger (UNC G/Northwest Guilford). Shane Malcolm
(High Point) tallied the other assist in the season opener. Jonathan
Campbell (UNC CH/GSO Day) was named to the PDL team of the week for his
performance in the match.

The Dynamo traveled to Germantown, Maryland for a 1st Round US Open Cup
Match, on Tuesday, May 15th. The Dynamo came up short in the match,
losing by a score of 3-1 and were eliminated from the tournament. Tom
McCready (Limestone) notched the lone goal of the game for the Dynamo.

A few short days later, The Dynamo traveled to Nashville to take on the
Metros in divisional match up. Tom McCready (Limestone) scored the 1st
two goals for the Dynamo in the 24th &53rd minutes. Hakan Ilhan (UNC G)
assisted on McCready?s 2nd goal, and then scored the game?s final goal in
the 89th minute.

We used to do our Greensboro Dynamo Soccer radio show from there on Monday nights and they also used to host the Greensboro Monarchs Hockey Show on the radio from there…..We also did our UNCG coaches radio show from there back in the day….A lot of sports were seen and heard from that location of JJ Looney’s on Spring Garden Street…..

Carl Wilson has more on this closing in today’s News and Record on-line, when you CLICK HERE….

They had Archie Manning with Peyton and Eli as one of the tops today…
Then there was Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds and Dave Glenn said this was number one all time…
Then they had the Pettys, with Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam and then the Earnhardts with Dale and Dale Jr. and didn’t Dale Sr. have a dad(Ralph) that drove down in Concord or somewhere??? And they tossed in the Allison’s too with Bobby and Davey/father and son….

But what about Tug and Tim McGraw….Tug was a World Series winner with the Phillies and Tim was a very successful high school quarterback down in Alambam or Mississippi, or somewhere….And what about Kobe and Joe Bryant…..Dave may have mentioned them, but they are big from the past and present, with Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant with the 76er’s and Kobe today with the Lakers….

What about a bunch from wrestling with Angelo Mosca Sr. and Angelo Mosca Jr……Dory Funk Sr., and then Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk….Rick Flair and then David and Reid Flair….Bob Orton Sr., then Bob Orton Jr. and then Randy Orton….

You go back to baseball and you have Ray Boone, Bob Boone and Brett Boone….Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. and the two of those together may be equally as good, as Bobby and Barry Bonds….Maybe not the same exact numbers, but equally as good talent-wise…..

In hockey you had Bobby Hull and his son Brett and I think that Gordie Howe had some kids that played….(Didn’t they have three Howes on the same team at one time?) Maybe the Houston Aeros of the WHL with Gordie, Mark and ???

In wrestling again, what about the Von Erichs…Fritz, David, Kerry, Kevin, Mike and Chris…All of them but, Kevin dead……You had the Hart Foundation with Stu the dad and then Brett, Owen, Bruce and others…..

In the announcing of sports you had Jack Buck and then Joe Buck, Marty Brenneman and his son(Tom)…Woody Durham and then Wes and Taylor Durham…..You had all the Alberts with Marv, Steve, Al and the like, but I think they were all brothers…..And those lists go on and on for us and throw in a few more while you are at it today…….

Not a bad gig or deal, if you are into the travel scene and this would be one way to see or notice the nation, going ‘East or South Bound and Down, loaded up and truckin’ and making $120,000 a year….You see some interesting things out there on the road……$120,00 a year if you can sit through it and do it and then you will be rich in just 10-20 years…..

The trucks are running and we are out there running too….

The Auburn University alumnus, currently 14th in the Official World Golf Rankings, has won two PGA TOUR events in the last four weeks and climbed to the top of the FedExCup point standings after winning last weekend’s HP Byron Nelson Championship. He finished second in last year’s PGA Championship.

“The Wyndham Championship has always been an event that is important to me, and I’m looking forward to returning again this summer,” Dufner said. “The fans in the Triad have always been very supportive and make the tournament a lot of fun. Sedgefield is a terrific layout, and I think the course will be even better with new Bermuda greens. It’s going to be a great week.”

Dufner will join 155 other PGA TOUR golfers taking on Sedgefield Country Club’s new Bermudagrass greens for the first time. This year’s tournament will be Dufner’s sixth consecutive Wyndham appearance and his seventh overall. His best finish here came in 2004 when he finished tied for eighth.

“This is huge news for the Wyndham,” tournament director Mark Brazil said. “Jason is a real class act, and his play over the past 10 months has been phenomenal. It will be fun to watch our field develop over these next 12 weeks, but having the No. 1 ranked player in the Fed Ex Cup join our field is a big deal!”

Dufner is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and a resident of Auburn, Ala.

Contested annually on the Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., the Wyndham Championship was founded in 1938 and is the seventh-oldest event on the PGA TOUR. Tickets will be available soon at www.wyndhamchampionship.com or through the tournament office. The tournament thanks title sponsor Wyndham Worldwide, presenting sponsor BB&T and Premier Partners, Flow Automotive, Harris Teeter, McConnell Golf, Sunbrella®, Technology Concepts & Design, Inc. and VF Corporation for their continued support. Additional tournament information, including ticket packages and sponsorship information, is available at www.wyndhamchampionship.com or through the tournament office at (336) 379-1570. For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

The next Contest kicks in next Monday May 28, so get ready to win……Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Tickets, Car Washes from the Water Works car washes, ‘T’ shirts and a nice plaque from Crown Trophy……

When Josh Hamilton hit four home runs in one game against the Baltimore Orioles earlier this month, cable customers in his own hometown couldn’t watch the game because of a legal dispute that is now more than seven years old.

MASN, the network which carries the Orioles and Washington Nationals, has the Major League Baseball rights to the Triangle market. Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, has refused to carry MASN on basic cable, sparking a legal battle that reached the U.S. Court of Appeals this spring.

Read on/read more when you CLICK HERE….

Hoppers missing their catalyst

You don’t have to look far to find a common denominator for the Hoppers in their Saturday and Sunday games.

Brent Keys wasn’t in the lineup.

The center fielder sat out with a sore hamstring and the Hoppers dropped both games, 4-3 Saturday and 7-3 Sunday.

Now, his absence wasn’t the only reason. The Hoppers made two errors Saturday and three more Sunday that proved costly and some hitters failed to deliver in clutch situations. But there’s no denying Keys’ league-leading .387 average and 33 runs scored (fourth best in the SAL) were sorely missed. He has been the team catalyst, especially lately.

“It’s hard to replace a guy like Keys,” said manager David Berg. “You can feel it when he’s not in the lineup.”

Berg said Keys felt better Sunday than he did Saturday and doesn’t believe it’s going to be a serious issue. But the Hoppers are going to be careful about not rushing him back in the lineup.

“I would rather lose him for a couple of games now than later,” Berg said.

Sunday’s loss was the second straight in NewBridge Bank Park after the Hoppers had won 16 in a row there. But two straight losses is hardly cause for panic, especially when you consider the Hoppers are still 30-12 overall and 20-4 at home. Nobody else in the SAL matches those records. And they remain six games ahead of Hagerstown, which lost to Delmarva Sunday.

The Hoppers head out on the road for eight games, beginning with three in Hagerstown. Suns manager Brian Daubach is an old teammate of Berg’s.

“I can’t wait to play them,” Berg said. “It will let us know where we are as a team.”

Jose Fernandez, who had his shortest outing of the season in his last start (four innings) will pitch Monday, followed by Josh Hodges Tuesday and Charlie Lowell Wednesday.

The Hoppers then move on to Delmarva for five games in four days. They will make up a game they lost to rain in Greensboro as part a double-header Thursday. Fortunately it falls on the day of the piggyback tandem, so Austin Brice and Jose Urena will each start one of the games.

Then it’s back to Adam Conley, who has had two sub-par outings. Although he pitched well at times Sunday, Conley was lifted in the sixth inning with no one out. He finished with four runs allowed and contributed a throwing error that figured in the third-inning scoring. He was saddled with his first loss.

“When he gets ahead of hitters he’s not putting them away,” said pitching coach Blake McGinley. “He needs to start trusting his slider and using it as an out pitch. He’ll be fine.”

The Hoppers failed to capitalize on some opportunities at the plate. In the first inning Lakewood starter Lino Martinez walked the bases loaded but James Wooster, the team’s hottest hitter, popped out to end the inning.

“You’ve got to get a couple of runs there,” Berg said. “We let (Martinez) off the hook.”

The Hoppers loaded the bases again in the seventh but squeezed out just one run, with Matt Smith grounding into a double play to kill the rally. They stranded two more runners in the ninth. Smith and Josh Adams hit solo home runs and Ryan Rieger picked up the other RBI.

Greensboro won’t see Lakewood again in the first half. The teams have played 14 times, with the Hoppers owning an 8-6 edge. The BlueClaws have dealt the Hoppers three of their four defeats at home.

All streaks must come to an end

Baseball is a sport where no team wins them all.

And so the Hoppers’ 16-game winning streak at home came to an end Saturday night when Lakewood got the best of them, 4-3. It was Greensboro’s first loss in NewBridge Bank Park since April 10, also at the hands of the BlueClaws. The team stands 20-3 at home this season.

The Hoppers’ overall record dropped to 30-11, but they maintained a six-game lead over Hagerstown in the Northern Division because the Suns were drubbed by Delmarva, 9-1.

A long time ago, back when the Greensboro Hornets were in the process of winning a staggering 98 games in a season, they had a long winning streak snapped when they were beaten 8-0.

“Now that’s the way to end a winning streak,” I remember manager Bob Schaefer saying. “Eight to nothing and their guy pitches a hell of a game.”

His point was that there was nothing to second guess, no lingering “what ifs” in that scenario. The other team just came out and played better.

Saturday, there were some “what ifs” for Hoppers, leading manager David Berg to lament “too many mistakes.” Two errors in the fourth inning led to four unearned runs against pitcher Jose Urena. But Urena contributed to the damage by walking in a run with the bases loaded and then failing to back up catcher Wilfredo Gimenez on a play at home plate.

Carlos Perdomo’s single drove in two Lakewood runs and a third scored when center fielder Rand Smith’s throw was high and went over the head of Gimenez. If the pitcher had properly backed up the play, the third run likely wouldn’t have scored.

In the bottom of the fourth, after Josh Adams hit a solo homer, James Wooster hit a one-out double and Terrence Dayleg was hit by a pitch. Smith singled and Wooster crossed the plate but Dayleg was thrown out at third base. The home plate umpire waved off the run, indicating the out at third had been made before Wooster scored.

“I didn’t know what happened,” Wooster said. “I thought I was across the plate (before the play at third base). It’s unfortunate that it happened, but that’s part of the game.””

Berg said the play was so close he wasn’t sure. He tried to hold up Dayleg at second base but the runner may have thought the BlueClaws were going to throw home instead of to third.

So it was a 4-1 game instead of 4-2 and the lost run proved costly. Wooster cracked a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to cut the deficit to one run. Dayleg followed with a single, but Gimenez grounded into a double play to end the game.

Austin Brice, the second part of the piggyback tandem with Urena, pitched his best four innings of the year, allowing one hit and striking out eight.

The Hoppers conclude this home stand with a 4 p.m. game against the BlueClaws Sunday. Adam Conley (4-0) will pitch for Greensboro and try to start another win streak. Berg wasn’t sure if Brent Keys, who sat out Saturday’s game with a hamstring issue, would be available Sunday. He’s the team’s hottest hitter, going 15-for-25 in his last six games.