“Cowlishaw: My hitting heroes in Game 5 of the Rays-Rangers series - Dallas Morning News” plus 1 more |
| Cowlishaw: My hitting heroes in Game 5 of the Rays-Rangers series - Dallas Morning News Posted: 12 Oct 2010 10:29 AM PDT 06:14 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 12, 2010The Rangers' Cliff Lee has as phenomenal a post-season record as any pitcher in baseball. The Rays' David Price is a 95-mile per hour throwing left-hander who won 19 games and started the All-Star Game for the American League. It's not hard to envision a great pitcher's duel with both Lee and Price hanging zeroes on the Tropicana Field scoreboard in Game 5 tonight. This was the worst hitter's park in the major leagues in 2010. Still, someone has to score. Someone has to break through as the hitting hero. Here are my top 5 picks as most likely hitting stars for the key game. 1. Nelson Cruz, Rangers -- He would already be the hitting hero of this series if he ever had men on base when he delivered. Cruz is the only player in the post-season with three home runs. And that's great. Unfortunately for the Rangers, he has just three RBI. But Cruz went deep off Price in Game 1 and has a flair for the big moment. I like his chances a lot tonight. 2. Evan Longoria, Rays -- If they were having a draft of all the major league players, I'm guessing Longoria would go in the top 10, possibly top 5. He wasn't healthy when this series began. He is now as he showed with two doubles and a home run in Game 4. Lee, who walks almost no one, has to be careful here. 3. Vlad Guerrero, Rangers -- He has had a quiet series. Just four hits in 15 at-bats, just one double. But Guerrero does more than hit mistakes. And he has produced in post seasons when he was far less healthy than he is now. It wouldn't surprise me if he steps up with the big blow tonight since the Rays are pitching so carefully to Josh Hamilton in front of him. 4. Ben Zobrist, Rays -- Tampa Bay's Mr. Everything has five hits in the series and a home run off Lee, the only one the great left-hander has ever surrendered in the post-season. My guess is that Joe Maddon won't have him hidden down in the No. 7 spot like he did for Game 1. 5. Josh Hamilton, Rangers -- It's a night game where Hamilton's batting average was about 100 points higher and slugging more than 200 points higher than day games this season. It's time. • • • SPORTSDAYDFW NOW ON MOBILE Get the latest sports news and information from The Dallas Morning News on your phone. Just type SportsDayDFW.com in your mobile browser. It works with almost any phone. Whether you're at the stadium, a local sports bar or just on your couch, stay connected with your teams. — Get latest scores, schedules and stats — Chat with our writers during games — Read instant analysis on our blogs It's quick and easy: Punch in SportsDayDFW.com in your mobile browser. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| J.R Fitzpatrick Talks NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series - Bleacherreport.com Posted: 12 Oct 2010 10:50 AM PDT  J.R. Fitzpatrick during the autograph session at the Honda Indy Toronto / (C)Ashley McCubbinThis past year, J.R. Fitzpatrick took on running the entire NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule, with his goals set on winning the championship. He was in the thick of the battle all year long, though after a bad finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and a broken clutch at Riverside Speedway, he ended up second, 40 points behind champion D.J. Kennington. "It's good," Fitzpatrick told me on Sunday. "I took all of last year off as I was racing stuff in the States. But after taking a year off, the series has definitely grown quite a bit. It does need more cars but competitive wise, it is doing very well. To finish second in the championship after taking a year off, I am pretty pleased about that." In 2006, NASCAR took over rights to the series, which was formally known as the CASCAR Super Series. Since NASCAR has taken it over, it has been debated as to whether that was a positive move or not for the series. Fitzpatrick said he's seen the influence, though thinks it'll still take time. "It's helped in a way," he said. "But I think it's going to take some time to get some more people in the series because it does cost a lot to run that deal. The series is slowly going and it's going to take a few years for it to grow to its full potential." While running the NCAT schedule, Fitzpatrick also ran three Nationwide races for JR Motorsports. The three races resulted in two top 10s (Road America and Montreal) and an 11th place finish at Walkin's Glen after being spun. "I really enjoyed it," he said of the experience. "I was really fortunate enough to run with JR Motorsports for three races. We're still talking about more events that are coming up and also next year and if it doesn't work out, they're going to give me some leeway on where to go and a good connection of some sort. I'm definitely going to be in more races this year." And then when time allows, Fitzpatrick hits the local tracks and races at the grass roots level where it started. "I support it 100 percent anyway I can," he said of grass roots racing. "At the end of the day, that's where we all started and guys that don't feel like coming back, I don't get it. I wish I had a late model as that's where I started but super stocks are a lot of fun." For this year, he put a Super Stock racecar together with some friends. "Its fun," he said of running the car. "It's definitely a different kind of car for me. Me and my friend built this car and it's been working fairly well. We're starting ninth out of 45 cars so we're pretty happy about that." For this past weekend at Autumn Colors at Peterborough Speedway, the biggest short track event in Ontario, Fitzpatrick started ninth, got up to fifth, and then blew the right rear tire. J.R got started in racing at the age of six running a Jr. Late Model. "I got started through Jr. Late Models when I was six years old at Sauble Beach," he said. "Then I moved on to Delaware (Speedway) and when I was 13 years old, I got a late model and then from there, I just stayed in heavy stock cars." Fitzpatrick then moved up to the CASCAR Super Series, were he finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings in 2004 at the age of 16. At the age of 17, he scored his first win and got three top-fives and five top-10 finishes. Then in 2006, he became the youngest Canadian Tire Series National Champion with a win, five podium finishes and two pole awards at the age of 18. Over the next three years in the Canadian Tire Series, Fitzpatrick would earn a total of four wins, 10 top-fives, 14 top-10s and five pole awards. Fitzpatrick made his first in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) at the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where he finished 33rd due to an ill-handling car. Fitzpatrick made his first start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2009 where he finished fourth, driving the No. 7 Mammoet Chevrolet Silverado at Daytona International Speedway for TRG Motorsports. For 2011, Fitzpatrick plans to run more Nationwide races. "For the Nationwide stuff, nothing is fully planned yet," he said. "Like I said, I'm still with JR Motorsports as of right now so hopefully we can get more races with them. If not, we will just go somewhere else. And maybe do NASCAR Canada but like I said, nothing is set in stone right now." He considers his racing heroes to be Jr. Hanley and Pete Shepphard II. This article is What is the duplicate article? Why is this article offensive? Where is this article plagiarized from? Why is this article poorly edited? This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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