Sky's the Limit

I have some administrative stuff I wanted to get out to the public, so I thought I would use my blog.

SBCGLOBAL.NET EMAIL PROBLEMS 

First of all, if you have a sbcglobal.net email I want to let you know that we here at NOW newspapers and web sites CAN NOT reply to your emails. It is a problem our IT Department is working on. I find it frustrating because I haven't been able to track down phone numbers for some people and so I can't answer their emails and I don't want them to think I don't care.

So if you have a sbcglobal.net email and want me to reply to your email, include a phone number.

TOSA LITTLE LEAGUE SCORES

I want to thank people from the Tosa Little League for following the format I asked for and I want to thank them for their patience. We have been averaging about 300 lines a week of scores. That is a lot of lines. A normal cover story is about 120-140 lines, so you can imagine how much space 300-plus lines takes up.

This past Thursday we had 340 lines and were able to print about 100. Whatever is left out is placed on top of the following week's scorecard so it won't be left out the following week. At the top of each week's scores I've been writing (3 weeks ago), (2 weeks ago) and (Last week's) scores. So once again, thanks for your cooperation, understanding and patience.

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TALK

It looks like Brookfield Central and Brookfield East will be right in the battle for first place in the North Division of the Greater Metro Conference. Before running into the Lancer buzzsaw this week, the Wauwatosa East Red Raiders had been playing much better this year. As for Tosa West, coach Chad Mateske will be asking for volunteers to pitch as injuries an inexperience have cut into the Trojans' pitching. Recently, the Trojans were down to about 11 active players.

BREWER TALK

I said at the beginning of the season and I will say it again, the Brewers don't have much starting pitching and their lack of OBA hitters will hurt the consistency of the offense. Yovani Gallardo - because of his inexperience - is at best a No. 2 starter - but he is a very good starting pitcher. After that, Jeff Suppan, Brad Looper and Dave Bush are No. 5 pitchers on good staffs and No. 4 pitchers on average staffs. Manny Parra is still their second-best pitcher based on that magic word "potential" and hopefully that trip to the minors will straighten him out.

Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder can play with anyone, but the Brewers need more hitters who hit for average or have a better OBA. Everyone knows that when the hitters are hot they can play with anyone. But when they are not, they are pretty hard to watch. More contact hitters equal less slumps because anything can happen when you get people on base.

You know what you get from Corey Hart, J.J. Hardy and Mike Cameron - you just don't know when you're getting it. Craig Counsell and Casey McGehee have had wonderful years on the plus side. Based on how the Brewers pitchers are performing, you can drop the let's catch Jason Kendall every day stuff because he handles the staff so well and get Mike Rivera in the lineup more than once a week.

Finally, play Mat Gamel EVERY day no matter who is pitching. He hit lefthanders better than righthanders in the minors and you will NEVER find out what kind of player he is unless he plays all the time. It is not brain surgery.

I agree with Doug Melvin - I would not even consider trading Gamel or Alcides Escobar. I would trade Hardy in a minute because of Escobar and I would trade Hart if it meant I would get a pitcher that would be here longer than three months.

The Brewers are in the Central Division race because the other teams have holes also. So they could stay in the race if everyone continues to struggle. But unlike last season, they won't be winning the wild card this year.

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Be a hit and have a ball.

This is it folks!  The softball, soccer and tennis team state tournaments are this week and the spring sport season is officially over.

Brookfield and Tosa have no softball teams at state once again (I never get to cover state softball). But Brookfield Central will be in the soccer tournament and the team tennis tournament.

The Lady Lancer kickers open at 5 p.m. against De Pere at Uihlein Soccer Park. Record-wise they have the worse record in the field, but don't tell that to Brookfield East and Homestead. The Lancers have been working their magic.

The Lancer boys will square off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium against Homestead. Central has beat the Highlanders twice, but anything can happen because all the matches were close. The winner will face top-ranked Marquette (you can count on it). When asked the key to beating the Hilltoppers, Central's veteran coach Dave Steinbach replied "Beating Homestead first."

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Both Brookfield baseball teams should be fun to watch this year as they both are off to good starts. Central always seems to reload instead of rebuild and coach Tim Granger has the pitching to make the Spartans a contender this year also.

Over in Wauwatosa, the Red Raiders are better and it all starts with the talented Danny Sayles and catcher Tyler O'Brien. Both players are fun to watch. Coach Matt Dahlstrom will have a better team in his second season.

Coach Chad Mateske has plenty of Wauwatosa West arms to call on, but he will be looking for the ones with the most strikes in them. Mateske hopes to use the first part of the season to see what kind of talent he has and then hopefully get his team ready for the playoff run.

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The Lady Lancers finished second at state this year - anyone who complains should have their head examined. Kudos to Katelyn Malcore who came home with four medals. Bradley Tech was very talented team and Central would have had to have been perfect to beat them.

As impressive as it was for Collin Taylor taking home the only state title - winning the high jump at 6-10 - his efforts helped boost the Spartans to sixth place in state along with the second-place finish of the 1,600 relay team which only had one senior (Andrew Amato) on the team. Big Mitch Aprahaniam finished his high school sports career with a third in the shot.

Also congrats to Drew Lied, who finished third for the Spartans at the state individual tennis tournament.

Tosa East's Hannah Weinberg-Kinsey and Tosa West's Ashlee Ballinger finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

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I hope to see you out at a local baseball game this summer.

Brookfield East senior C.J. Caliendo declined to play against his teammates - senior Mike Herrmann and junior Kyle Henning - in a playoff to advance to the state tournament on Monday and Tuesday.

Besides taking the top two teams from each sectional, three individuals from teams not making the next step also qualify. The top spot will filled by another golfer, so that left the three Spartans to play off.

Caliendo, who will be playing golf at Concordila College in Austin, Texas, declined. Herrmann, who will be attending the University of Wisconsin, but not golfing collegiately, and Henning, who has another year at East, will take part instead.

"It was a gentlemanly thing to do, a classy move," East coach Chris Minch called it.

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It was nice to see Brookfield Central first singles Michael Treis move on to state. Treis, a freshman, is the top singles player for the Lancers, but during the season he battles every team's ace. His 17-13 record isn't overwhelming, but this alloweds the Lancers to move everyone down a stop and make their singles play even better.

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It will be fun to see how high East record-holder Collin Taylor will go in the high jump at state. He jumped onll 6-6 at sectional, but he could be shooting for another three inches at La Crosse.

Mitch Aprahaniam, an outstanding tight end and the emotional leader of the basketball team, will be looking to do some damage with the shot put.

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Looking ahead to baseball, look out for East pitcher Jake Janowski, who is off to a great start already. Janowski blanked Marquette, 2-0, to help the Spartans improve to 3-1 in GMC play.

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Freshmen pitchers Amanda Kalupa of East and Britney Held of Central, had good seasons, and should give the GMC batters problems for the next three years.

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Everyone will be watch Chidera Obasih and Katelyn Malcore at state this weekend, but the key to Central's success will be what their teammates will be doing.

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I think Brookfield East will get by Central in the sectional semis to battle top-ranked Homestead for the right to go to state on Saturday at East.

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It was nice to see the Red Raiders send three players to state individual tennis - sophomore Nick Skanavis and the doubles team of Michael Rankin and Peter Conis.

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The Tosa East athletic teams will miss Hannah Weinberg-Kinsey, an excellent basketball player, and a top high jumper. Weinberg-Kinsey and Tosa West's Ashlee Ballinger tied for first at the seconal, jumping 5-3, but Weinberg-Kinsey took first with fewer misses. Look for East's Claire Gordee to make an impression at state. 

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Kelly LeDoux had an amazing season for Tosa West softball, pitching every inning of every game for the Trojans. There is no truth to the rumor her throwing arm is now four inches longer than her glove arm.

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Kevin Gorman of Tosa West and Jacob James of Tosa East qualified as individuals for state along with the Trojans 400 and relay teams.

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Congrats to Tosa West coach Mike Parulski and his girls soccer team for winning the Woodland Conference for the sixth team in seven years.

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Until next time,

Be a hit and have a ball!