Like those fancy DVDs who offer you alternate openings and endings, the Dust today features the same, mostly because of the weekend that was (and the tormented mind of your author).<\/p>\n
In the beginning I had decided to use that bobblehead hook, you know, Tulo and his alma mater were awful on Saturday when the toy-boy version went down 11-1 to UC Davis and the human version 0-4 against Pittsburgh. But by Sunday the Niners were winning again, 3-1 and TT went above .200 (.214) and his team does lead the NL West. Tuesday is the annual 6:00pm \u201cswing for the fences\u201d stop at UCLA\u2019s Jackie Robinson field, then back to bunting all weekend when UC Riverside comes to Blair.<\/p>\n
Baseball alternate opening No. 2 focused on shaky defense. \u201cTulo shook his head a lot, especially when you realize that the marketing staff unloaded 1,500 of his wire and plaster images before the game begin. Subtract about 490 that went to new homes before the game even got underway, well, that still left a lot bobble in the ball park.”<\/p>\n
I was all ready to then continue my Torpedo of Truth tour talking about the puzzling recent past of men\u2019s volleyball but then that patient teacher of physics, sporting and scientific, Andy Read \u2018splained it all to me. \u201cYes, we are trying to run a faster offense but since we have already clinched a MPSF berth, and it won\u2019t be at home, it\u2019s time to work on something that will help us in the tourney. My concern is getting our middles involved,\u201d said Read. \u201cThey have 40 kills in the win at Stanford, and they\u2019ve maybe combined for 40 in the four matches since.\u201d So toss those stats about losing to UC Irvine (the ‘Niners still lead in the Black and Blue rivalry) since Andy\u2019s dandies beat UCSD. Besides, everybody wants to be in a happy mood for senior night this Saturday in the match against Northridge. <\/p>\n
Another nugget I considered going with was the remarkable and hyphenated freshman pitching\u2014and now hitting\u2014star of Beach softball, Erin Jones-Wesley. Her team is still hot, (25-13, 3-3 Big West) winning two of three defeating Northridge, 4-0 and 6-2 with just one miserable (and perhaps avoidable) 3-2 loss. E J-W picked up two wins to move to 14-4 on the season. Next up, free Breast Cancer Awareness T-Shirts on Saturday as part of the weekend with UC Davis.<\/p>\n
Then I thought about just accentuating the positive with the likely May 21st 2:00pm visit at Blair by the Major\u2019s hottest pitcher, Dirtbag turned Angel, Jered Weaver. The Dream man just had that 15 K outing and is a startling 3-0 with a sub 1.00 ERA. Former Dirtbags sell tickets and the LB marketing brain trust figures to find 250 or so tee-shirts for the last home series (and a winnable one since it is CSUN). The other positive thought is that the national pundits still think the Beach will get an NCAA invite. One outfit who likes LB says the Dirtbags would be Nashville Cats. If Baseball America is right, LBSU would be the #4 seed at Vanderbilt with Troy State and Louisville.<\/p>\n
I also briefly considered my treasure trove of Troy Buckley quotations. \u201cWe just don\u2019t allow our guys to walk people, they know they have to get ahead in the count\u201d\u2026 When asked about a goal to win two of three each series,”We are not trying to figure out this season, we are trying to win the Big West.\u201d On his new hitting star Juan Avila, \u201cJuan is getting very comfortable at the plate.\u201d From Juan, \u201cCoach Gilbert has worked with me on my load and trigger\u201d\u2026 Translated: cocking the bat and swinging the bat, (I think)\u2026 Juan on his early defensive lapses, \u201cI try to separate my offense from my defense\u201d\u2026 Last add Buck, \u201cI see Juan in a competition with Hibbert, they are both improving a lot\u2026 we are grinders… maybe that 20-0 thing (at Pacific) let us forget who we really are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buck still makes the notes despite getting tossed in the one win of the weekend. \u201cSometimes you have to do something to get your team energized.\u201d And did he put on a wig and floppy hat and hang in the tunnel to see the rest of the game? \u201cI was in my office using the Gametracker; they had a security guy outside my door. (There is however a back door and a possible viewing areas not far from his secret exit, but\u2026) And what he did in his off time during game time, \u201cI have been thinking about pitching.” Shocking, Buck thinking about pitching. Current thoughts are on how to get Pinder back to his 2010 form, translated: pitching to both sides of the plate and cleaning up some delivery problems.<\/p>\n
NOTES ON CLOTH NAPKINS<\/strong>\u2014Best of the men\u2019s basketball banquet was Coach Monson talking about his two teams at Gonzaga, the one that should have made the dance and the next year, when they got to the Elite Eight, and what it will take for next year\u2019s LBSU bunch to repeat that history\u2026 and the news flash that his daughter Molly wants to bring Greg Plater to her school’s \u201cspecial friend day.\u201d<\/p>\n How do you explain the relative success of Fullerton State with just six Titans making Opening Day rosters compared to eleven Dirtbags starting the season in the show? F-Hat Slam #2\u2014how did the Goodwin Field security guys let that Westside Rentals fool in the park and set up so the Sunday TV had to catch his bad act all afternoon long. He wore that same too tight green deal he had at the Honda Center, apparently a change from the Motley Fool costume he wore at the Pyramid. The surveillance key is to look for the backpack!<\/p>\n Another ex-Bag tale, this from Sean Boatright who signed for a trip to Canada to play for the independent Calgary Vipers starting in May. The muscled but oft-injured Boats is 27 but told other media, \u201cI started to realize I was physically and mentally in a good spot,” he said. “Those four years off gave my body time to repair, and I felt none of the stress that I dealt with all through college.\u201d His comeback inspiration? “The story that really inspired me was Bob Cramer.”<\/p>\n Cramer’s Dirtbag pitching career was shortened by arm injuries, then hustled his career back to life in the Mexican League before the call-up to Oakland. Boat said, “I felt like I needed to give it another shot\u2026 I didn’t want to find myself wondering if I could still play when it was definitely too late.”<\/p>\n So with USC rumored to come after Titan Coach Dave Serrano, the favorite possible replacement in Fullerton is Bakersfield head man and former CSUF aide Bill Kernan. He picked up his 300th career victory as Bakersfield (22-8) won the series over CSUN last weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to understand these are people who think excessive practice (Michigan) is worse than withholding information and\/or lying (Ohio State).\u201d Erase that, leftover from my football edition.<\/p>\n If you recognized the name of Coach Tricia Cullop in Toledo\u2019s WNIT 73-68 championship win over USC then give yourself a prize. Yes, that is the same woman who was part of the Purdue connection that brought Dallas Boychuk Bolla to The Beach in the mid-90s. After assistant coaching stops at Xavier, Radford and Long Beach State, Cullop got the top job at Evansville before Toledo. The well-known secret to successful programs, however, is support, like the phenomenal attendance that Toledo gets and which earned them home games all the way through the NIT\u2014wins over BCS biggies Syracuse, Alabama, Auburn and Southern Cal in the final. They sell out 7,000-plus all the time and the cha-ching gets past the stigma of being a dreaded mid-major.<\/p>\n That empties the in-box, write your own ending. My head still hurts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A fast-paced, slightly out of control look at the state of Long Beach State sports in the vein of a certain crazy celebrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}