Who’s headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene — and who’s getting the shaft.
GOING UP
Sun Blogs
Sean Kazmar
Imagine playing junior college baseball in your hometown and leading your team to the national championship. Imagine going straight from Double-A to the major leagues. Imagine getting a hit in your very first big league at-bat — off C.C. Sabathia, no less. Sean Kazmar, the former Las Vegas High and College of Southern Nevada star, doesn’t have to imagine any of that, because he did it. Kazmar went 1-for-2 in his first start at shortstop for the Padres on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park in San Diego. My guess is that when he gets a home and a fireplace, that ball is going to be sitting on the mantel.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
During this year’s NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon plowed into the back straightaway wall as if it had Tony Stewart’s picture on it. There was no SAFER barrier there but there is now, as workers are expected to complete the installation of the energy absorbing barrier by Thursday. Give speedway officials credit for being SAFER instead of sorry.
Adam and Andy
That would be the LaRoche brothers, who have infested the Pittsburgh Pirates’ infield and played together as teammates for the first time Thursday. The Pirates acquired Andy LaRoche, who spent parts of the past three seasons with the Las Vegas 51s, on July 31 as part of the trade that sent Jason Bay to the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers. But on the same day, Adam LaRoche, who plays first base for the Bucs, was put on the 15-day disabled list. Hopefully, it shouldn’t be too long before Andy short-hops his older brother with a throw to first base, just to make up for all the times Adam messed with him when they were growing up.
GOING DOWN
Minor league attendance
(But just barely.) Minor League Baseball has attracted more than 33.3 million fans through July to put it almost even with last year’s record pace. The average crowd of 4,165 is just three fans fewer than last season’s average, when the league set an attendance record for the fourth consecutive year. I knew it would come back to haunt the Free Bobblehead Leagues when the Lansing Lugnuts let the Pep Boys — Manny, Moe and Jack — in free instead of selling them a ticket.
Beau Bell
The former UNLV linebacker had arthroscopic surgery on his knee and is expected to miss the NFL preseason. When the Browns selected him in the fourth round, Cleveland’s general manager, Phil Savage, said he expected Bell to make an immediate impact on special teams and said he’d be on the field opening day. Here’s wishing Bell, one of the nicest guys you’ll meet, a speedy recovery.
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