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HEADLINES: Redding Has Best Month Of Career While Pitching For S/W-B Yankees MOOSIC - Tim Redding won 10 games in the Major Leagues with the Houston Astros in 2003 and the Washington Nationals in 2008. He pitched in 30 or more big league games in those seasons and again last year with the New York Mets. Redding is 32 years old, was drafted more than 13 years ago and has been pitching in professional baseball since 1998. He says he has never had a month like the one he just produced in July before leaving the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Thursday. While players went up and down to the parent New York Yankees and prospects’ futures were caught up in the annual speculation that surrounds the Major League trading deadline, the veteran right hander led the way as the Triple-A team broke away from the Syracuse Chiefs in the International League North Division. Redding, who finished his time in northeastern Pennsylvania by claiming the IL Pitcher of the Week award, helped the Yankees stretch their lead from one-half game to eight games during July, moving the team close to its fourth straight division title. He played a big role in just about ending the North Division race. “This was big for a guy trying to fight for a chance to get up to the big club,” Redding said. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t look at the numbers.” The numbers for the month were incredible. Redding pitched in six games, five of them as a starter. He went 5-0 with a 0.83 earned run average. In 43 1/3 innings, he gave up just 22 hits and five runs (four earned) while walking eight and striking out 36. “This was the greatest month of my entire career,” Redding said. That month did not land Redding back in Major League Baseball, but it did earn him a chance. He left the Yankees organization, where he was not even part of the 40-man roster that would have made a potential call-up more likely, Thursday to play in the Korean Professional Baseball League. After being released from Colorado Springs of the Pacific Coast League in May, Redding used his time with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to get his career back on track. Redding was 7-4 with a 2.46 ERA with the Yankees. He took the weekly award by finishing July in style. After winning in Rochester July 26 by throwing eight scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, five hits and no walks, Redding allowed only one run in the July 31 win over Syracuse at PNC Field. He worked into the ninth, giving up a run on four hits and a walk while striking out eight in 8 1/3 innings. The only walk Redding allowed in the two starts was a strategic one. He pitched around Leonard Davis, who had homered for the only run in those two starts, and set up a double play that ended the eighth inning with the tying run on third. “I tried to pitch around him and be careful,” Redding said. “You don’t worry about zero walks for the day when this could win or lose the game.” That sums up the approach Redding has used, along with an increased number of changeups, to fuel the hot streak. “I’ve been aggressive going after guys,” he said. “I don’t like walking guys unless it’s necessary to win.” The results left Redding acknowledging that he cannot think of a time when he was pitching better. “I can’t imagine ever throwing the ball this well,” he said. Redding will now try to continue that impressive run while pitching on another continent. WEEK IN REVIEW Montrose graduate Rich Thompson returned to the International League as an outfielder with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the top farm team of the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. Thompson had spent more than a month down at Class AA Reading where he hit .299 with a homer, 14 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in as many attempts in 32 games. In his return to Allentown, Thompson had hits in the first four games, going 5-for-17 (.294), with a double, three runs and two RBIs. Going into the weekend, he was hitting .286 with two homers, 19 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 20 attempts in 67 Class AAA games this season. THE WEEK AHEAD Monday is the first official day of practice for fall high school sports teams around the state. TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
NASCAR Racing Montoya Wins Easily At The Glen WATKINS GLEN, N. Y. - Juan Pablo Montoya smoked the rest of the field on his way to victory in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen. He dominated the 90-lap race and finished over 5-seconds ahead of runner-up Kurt Busch. “We had our problems, but we understood each other, and this is the result of a lot of hard work,” said Montoya. It was Montoya’s first Cup win since 2007.
Juan Montoya, winner of Sunday's Cup race at The Glen. “We had a hard fought battle,” said Kurt Busch. “We were right there in the mix. We slipped a lot, but it was a good run for us.” Marcos Ambrose, the winner of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, passed Montoya for the lead about midway of the race, but faded in the closing laps and was lucky to come in third. “We lost the handle there at the end, and there was no way to fix it that late in the race,” said Ambrose. The remaining top-10 finishers were: A.J. Allmendinger, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, and Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt and his team turned in a poor performance, as he finished 26th. “It was a terrible race, terrible car,” said Earnhardt. “No it was worse than that, it was awful.” Jimmie Johnson hit the outside wall with 20-laps to go and finished 28th. Denny Hamlin ran into Johnson’s wrecked car and wound up with a DNF. He was credited with a 37th place finish. Top-15 Chase contenders with four races remaining before the 12-driver Chase format begins: 1. Harvick-3210, 2. J. Gordon-3025, 3. Burton-2895, 4. Kurt Busch-2892, 5. Johnson-2882, 6. Hamlin-2872, 7. Kyle Busch-2866, 8. Stewart-2865, 9. Edwards-2821, 10. Kenseth-2806, 11. Biffle-2743, 12. Martin-2641, 13. Bowyer-2631, 14. Newman-2558, 15. McMurray-2547 AMBROSE GETS NATIONWIDE WIN Marcos Ambrose earned his third consecutive victory at Watkins Glen, as he dominated most of the race and pulled away from runner-up Joey Logano to win the Zippo 200 by nearly three seconds. Though his future is uncertain, with his announced departure from JTG/Daugherty Racing for parts - or team - unknown, Ambrose drove immaculately Saturday afternoon in picking up his third straight NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Watkins Glen International, winning from the pole. “It was a wonderful day for us,” said Ambrose, who has not announced plans for next year, though the rumor mill says he's likely to land in a NASCAR Sprint Cup ride at Richard Petty Motorsports. “We've had our troubles at JTG this year, and we're parting ways at the end of the season, and this is a really fitting way to finish this thing off.” Top-10 points leaders after 22 of 35: 1. Keselowski-3509, 2. Edwards-3182, 3. Kyle Busch-3036, 4. Allgaier-2984, 5. Harvick-2774, 6. Menard-2732, 7. S. Wallace-2626, 8. Bayne-2441, 9. Gaughan-2420, 10. Leffler-2384 TODD BODINE ROLLS TO NASHVILLE TRUCK WIN Todd Bodine tightened his hold on the Camping World Truck Series point standings with a dominant victory in the Nashville 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night. But the veteran driver isn't about to start celebrating his second truck series championship yet. “No, not really. It can be lost,” Bodine said. “You can never count anybody out. Racing, you never know what's going to happen. We've just got to keep doing what we're doing every week. If we take care of what we do and don't worry about everybody else, we'll be just fine.” Top-10 points leaders after 14 of 25: 1. Bodine-2188, 2. Almirola-2014, 3. Peters-1956, 4. Sauter-1955, 5. Dillon-1900, 6. Crafton-1894, 7. Hornaday-1875, 8. Skinner-1854, 9. Starr-1773, 10. White-1706 KENTUCKY WINS, ATLANTA LOSES Tradition continues to crumble in the world of NASCAR racing Politics and Kentucky Speedway won. Atlanta Motor Speedway will lose its spring race. When the reshuffled schedule is announced in the coming weeks, the 1.5-mile track will pick up the date Atlanta had in March and begin its venture into NASCAR's top series with an early July date. “We've now gotten the word,” said AMS president Ed Clark. “It's time to step back and refocus. A lot of tracks have one NASCAR event weekends and do very well. That's what we intend to do. “That's one thing about this; great moments have occurred here, and that's not going to go away. We're going to make some more.” Atlanta now joins Darlington, which historically hosted the Labor Day race, has done with its lone Mother's Day date. At least Clark won't have the headache of trying to sell tickets for a March date few wanted because the weather always seemed to be a factor. “It's a business decision,” Clark continued. “Are we happy about it? No, but we're very supportive of the company. The most difficult thing for me was a lot of loyal people have worked a lot of years to build what we have.” The Kansas City Star reported that Kansas Speedway will also be awarded a second date, beginning in 2011. While Kansas Speedway president Pat Warren has not received formal notification from NASCAR, he said, “We fully expect when the schedule is announced, or when they at least tell us what our portion of the schedule will be, that we anticipate next year we will have two Sprint Cup races.” Kansas’ receiving a second date is part of several changes to the NASCAR schedule that will be announced next week. Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, California will relinquish one of its two Cup dates, and that’s apparently the one going to Kansas Speedway. Chicagoland Speedway has scheduled a Monday news conference to announce it will move its July date to September and kick off the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2011. Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 2-mile Brooklyn, Michigan track, while the Camping World Trucks are at the historic Darlington Motor Speedway. Sat., Aug. 14, Nationwide Series Carfax 250, race 23 of 35; Starting time: 1 p.m. ET; TV: ESPN2. Sat., Aug. 14, Camping World Series Too Tough To Tame, race 15 of 25; Starting time: 7 p.m. ET; TV: Speed. Sun., Aug. 15, Sprint Cup Carfax 400, race 23 of 36; Starting time: 1 p.m. ET; TV: ESPN. Racing Trivia Question: Ken Schrader continues to race in the Truck series at the age of 55. What year did he win the Sprint Cup rookie of the year? Last Week’s Question: Where is Robby Gordon’s home state? Answer. He is from Bellflower, California. You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodgesnews@earthlink.net. Bryan Castrogiavanni Is July’s Athlete Of The Month
Montrose’s Bryan Castrogiavanni walked away from a special game with a special feeling. “He said he felt like he had played the best game he ever played,” said Jack Keihl, Castrogiavanni’s coach at Montrose and with the City in last month’s Dream Game. Castrogiavanni’s efforts as the team’s starting center helped the City rush for 306 yards in a 34-7 victory over the County and earned him the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month award. The City offensive line’s job was to open the holes necessary for all-state running backs Michael Perry of Dunmore and Joe DeFebo of Wallenpaupack to showcase their skills. Castrogiavanni was in the middle of that unit, which allowed the two standouts to establish themselves in the first half while rallying the City into the lead in the game, which was played before a paid crowd of more than 8,000. The second and third offensive plays of the second half featured Perry and DeFebo running consecutive counters right behind Castrogiavanni for the 17- and 37-yard gains that put each over the 100-yard mark for the night. “It was awesome,” Castrogiavanni said. “If we opened even the smallest hole, they would go. “We worked well together.” Castrogiavanni was first exposed to the 76-year-old all-star game last year when he went to Scranton Memorial Stadium to watch some former teammates play in a loss to the County. “I looked forward to it,” said Castrogiavanni, who played in the game with fellow Montrose graduates Rob Volk and Dalton Smith. “It meant a lot to get to play in the game.” Castrogiavanni made the most of the opportunity. In addition to his work in the offensive line, he assisted on one tackle. Bryan, the son of Dave and Jennie Castrogiavanni of Montrose, was a three-year starter for the Meteors. SCHS Season Passes Now Available Season passes for all regular season home sporting events at Susquehanna Community High School are now being sold in the high school office. Senior Citizen passes are also available at no cost.
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