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12B
♦ THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2006
Braves overcome Bonds' homers
By R. TRA VIS HANEY
Morris News Service
ATLANTA - Those who
came to Turner Field on
Tuesday to see Barry Bonds
homer and the Atlanta
Braves win, in no particu
lar order, left the stadium
exceedingly pleased.
The aging San Francisco
slugger hit a pair of home
runs on a night that featured
seven between the teams,
but Atlanta still managed to
reach the double-digit run
plateau for the third con
secutive game to cruise past
the Giants 13-8 in front of
23,756 fans.
“The ball was flying,”
Braves manager Bobby Cox
said. “For all the skeptics
that don’t think he’s as dan
gerous as he used to be,
(Bonds) did that tonight.”
Bonds’ last multi-homer
game was two years ago to
the day at the same venue
just across the street
from where Hank Aaron hit
715. Bonds is now 28 shy of
Aaron’s mark of 755 career
homers.
But the Braves wound up
stealing Bonds’der Tuesday.
Four-run innings in the
third and fourth, punctu
ated by back-to-back homers
from Chipper and Andruw
Jones in the latter frame,
were the momentum-shift
ers against San Francisco
Toombs contends at senior tourney
Special to the Journal
Tom Toombs of Perry shot
an 82 following the first
round of play Tuesday at the
20th annual Georgia Senior
Championship, which runs
through today at Cherokee
Town and Country Club in
Atlanta.
Toombs ended up 10
strokes over par and 13
back of Brian Johnston of
Duluth.
Johnston fired a 3-under
Busch Series moves closer to
wrapping up date in Canada
By DON COBLE
Morris News Service
Although the Nextel Cup
Series schedule was released
last week, the Busch Series
schedule is still a month away
from being released. But it’s
clearly taking shape.
When Norman Legault,
race promoter at Circuit
Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal,
announced it was not invit
ing the CART Champ Car
World Series back next year,
it meant NASCAR will be
road-racing north of the bor
der next year.
The government allows
only two races a year in the
park on Notre Dame Island.
Formula One certainly isn’t
leaving, so CART is the odd
racing series out.
The Busch Series expand
ed to Mexico City in 2005
and it was received as an
overwhelming success. That
immediately sparked inter
est in moving the sport to
Canada.
To make room for the
expansion, NASCAR either
GSU's Smiley fights for a different position
By DONALD HEA TH
Morris News Service
A year ago, Darius
Smiley fought for Georgia
Southern’s starting quarter
back job.
This season, Smiley is in
another fight, albeit away
from the quarterback lime
light. He’s adjusting, he
said, to wide receiver, a posi
tion he last played in Little
League.
“My routes are getting
better and I’m working on
my blocking, so it’s coming
around pretty good,” said
Smiley, a senior.
Smiley’s quarterbacking
days ended when the Eagles’
new coach Brian VanGorder
changed the offense from a
triple option to multiple sets,
ace Jason Schmidt.
Suddenly and improbably
for Atlanta, there is life. The
wild card door is swinging
wide open.
The Braves (62-68) could
trail by as few as 3 1/2 games,'
4 1/2 at the most, depending
on late West Coast results
involving Cincinnati and
San Diego.
“It really feels like we
shouldn’t be here right now,”
said Adam Laßoche, who hit
a solo homer in the fifth,
his 27th of the year. “You’d
think with some of the bad
baseball we’ve played, we’d
be further out than this.
“It’s still not Position A,
where we’d like to be. But at
least we’re giving ourselves
a chance with a month to
The win gives the Braves
three in a row at home for
the first time since May
15-18. And they continued
the string against a San
Francisco team that entered
having won 11 of its past 14
games.
And they’ve put up 10, 13
and 13 runs in consecutive
games, looking more and
more reminiscent of their
historical mid-July offensive
explosion.
“It’s relaxed confidence
that, right now, we know
we’re going to score runs
and get to guys,” Laßoche
par 69, including a 30 on his
back nine, to take the first
round lead.
He holds a two-stroke
lead over three players who
were the only other ones
to shoot under par in the
first round - Bill Blalock of
Atlanta, Joe Brogdon Jr. of
Macon and Larry Clark of
Kennesaw.
Another five players cur
rently sit tied for fifth, three
strokes back at even-par
72, including Ken Benson
will move to 36 regular sea
son events or eliminate a
current race - most likely
the poorly-attended race last
month at Martinsville, Va.
CART has races at Toronto
and Edmonton, and series
president Steve Johnson
said he wants to keep three
races there. His organization
immediately will start look
ing for another place to race
- most likely in Quebec.
DONT TOUCH THAT DIM: Race
fans at the Bristol Motor
Speedway consider last
Saturday night’s Sharpie
500 a roaring success. In
fact, they consider the night
race one of the most-popular
of the season.
Television viewers, how
ever, continued to see it dif
ferently.
Night races continue to be
ratings losers for NASCAR.
Night races, including last
Saturday’s Sharpie 500,
have produced six of the top
-11 worst ratings of the year
- not counting races post
poned a day by weather.
bumping both Jayson Foster
and Smiley to receiver.
Foster played receiver for
GSU as a freshman. Smiley
has only known quarterback
and a little slotback while in
Statesboro.
To make matters a more
daunting, Smiley finds him
self up against Michigan
State transfer Irving
Campbell.
But Smiley, who is running
with the second teamers,
has been contributing. He
caught a pass in the Blue-
White spring game and has
three catches for 49 yards
in the two preseason scrim
mages.
Smiley said he doesn’t look
back at his quarterbacking
days with regret.
For four years, he worked
said of an offense that’s
among the NL leaders in
virtually every category. “We
feel that through the whole
lineup.”
They scored 10 or more
runs in five consecutive
games from July 14-18,
becoming the first team to
do that since the 1930 New
York Yankees led by Babe
Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
That stretch was in the
middle of a seven-game win
ning streak, and the club
has talked about the need
for a similar streak to begin
an earnest ascent up the tall
wild card ladder. The Braves
have finally figured out how
to do: Beat the cover off the
ball again.
And the ball sure seemed
to be carrying Tuesday
through the soupy Southern
air.
Chipper’s three-run shot
was his third homer in as
many games and 21st of the
year. After going l-for-27 last
week and admitting discom
fort at the plate, Andruw
now has three homers in two
games. In addition to the
solo shot, the center fielder
tacked on his 32nd of the
season with a two-run blast
in the eighth.
“The Jones boys are hit
ting, you’re going to have
a chance to win,” Cox said.
“A lot.”
of Alpharetta, Bill Mullen
of Kennesaw, Ron Savastano
of Roswell, Mike Sprouts
of Greensboro and Michael
Smith of Cumming. Four
players - Jimmy Jackson
of Macon, Bill Leonard of
Kennesaw, Jim Thompson of
Atlanta and Joe Whisenant
of Douglasville - round out
the top 10 at 73.
Bill Barbour of Byron was
also among the 144 listed to
compete, but his name did
not turn up in the results.
The worst-rated race
of the year of those not
delayed by a day was
the night race last May
at the Richmond (Va.)
International Raceway.
That race drew a 3.5 rat
ing. The races at Atlanta
(2.2) and Talladega, Ala.
(2.5) were lower, but both
were run on Monday morn
ings.
DODGE GETS NOSE JOB: The
Dodge Charger finally will
get a new nose in 2007.
The manufacturer tried to
get a revision of its front
bumper earlier this year,
but the changes constituted
a change in the template,
NASCAR said. Dodge offi
cials said their current bum
per doesn’t provide enough
downforce for the front tires,
especially in traffic.
The new nose is expected
to have a sleeker look, espe
cially around the headlight
wells. The change can’t come
quick enough for Dodge. It
currently doesn’t have any
teams ranked in the top 10.
his way up to backup behind
Foster. Smiley’s fourth
down touchdown pass in
the final minute of regula
tion against Northeastern
keyed an Eagle overtime
win.
“Me and a bunch of the
seniors got together hnd
said, ‘Hey, we have a new
coach and we’re going to be
asked to do different things,
but this is our last chance
to get a (national champion
ship) ring,” Smiley said.
“We’re going to strive to
be the best.”
RUSSELL INTRODUCED: Former
Eagles coach Erk Russell
spoke to the team briefly
during Saturday’s workout
and will talk to the team
again in a more formal set
ting, VanGorder said.
SPORTS
OPENER
From page iB
the win. Jones said he’s
not looking at revenge for
the last two years as a big
motivator knowing his
team played well in both
games and just came up
short. Instead, he wants his
players to realize that this
week will be like all others
this season with a tough
schedule ahead of them.
“I’m more concerned
about turnovers and pen
alties,” said Jones. “I just
hope we play well. We may
have some, but hopefully
HORNETS
From page iB
“We hit the ball on the
nose, but they were in the
right place at the right
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they’ll have more.”
According to Johnson, he
had several holes to plug in
to his wing-T backfield. He
lost the quarterback who
broke open last year’s game
in Perry with a long touch
down run along with his
fullback and one of his run
ning backs. Danny White,
who gained 900 yards last
year, is back as is most of
the Trojan offensive line.
Johnson said his new
starting quarterback, two
year backup C.J. Baxley,
won’t be as fast, but has
done a fine job playing his
role on the team.
“With Westfield it’s
time. They made some great
defensive plays.”
The Hornet batters struck
out four times in the second
game after fanning just once
in the first. Culverhouse,
who saw Westfield get four
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always a good game,” said
Johnson. “It’s well-played.
The kids play hard. Ronnie
Jones always does a good
job with his wing-T. I don’t
know what defense he’ll
run, but you do what is
needed based on your per
sonnel.”
John Milledge got in a
lot of scrimmage time dur
ing the preseason with the
likes of Stratford, First
Presbyterian, Trinity and
Augusta Christian. Johnson
does seem to have a feel for
what the Hornets will be
like as he cited Madruga as
a top player at fullback and
linebacker.
hits on Maddox, said the
Vikings had good speed in
the outfield and made most
of those defensive gems
on the fence. Gilliam had
another multi-hit game with
a double included.
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