The latest high-profile injury rehabilitation assignment with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders got off to a promising start, but soon became sidetracked.
Alex Rodriguez, the leading active home run hitter in Major League Baseball and the fifth-ranked home run hitter all-time, joined Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the second time but wound up backing out of his last scheduled rehab game.
Rodriguez has slowly worked his way up through the New York Yankees farm system while trying to return from hip surgery. In his first game of the season with the RailRiders, Rodriguez sent the first pitch he faced to the warning track.
After the near-miss, Rodriguez hit a home run in Thursday’s 8-0 International League win over the Louisville Bats to lift the RailRiders to the .500 mark.
“That one felt good,” Rodriguez said of the home run. “The first one felt good as well.”
Rodriguez played third base during his first game, at which point he was appearing to move closer to a return to the New York Yankees lineup.
“I’m excited, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Rodriguez said after the game. “I still have another big challenge and that is the last three days.
“I haven’t played in a long time. Over the last four to five days, I’ve made progress.”
With his rehab assignment coming to an end, Rodriguez took a step back.
Rodriguez only served as the designated hitter in the two games he played with the RailRiders, rather than getting in more needed work in the field.
A strained quad muscle slowed down Rodriguez. He had two hits in Friday’s game, then went 0-for-4 Saturday with strikeouts in each of his last three at-bats.
Rodriguez left the RailRiders Sunday to return to New York for an MRI on his leg. After the MRI, the Yankees reportedly sent Rodriguez back to their training facility in Tampa, Fla. for more work rather than placing him on the active roster.
In a total of 13 games played with four different Yankees farm teams, Rodriguez hit .200 with two homers and eight RBI.
Derek Jeter, the active MLB hit leader, played for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a week earlier. The Yankees shortstop and captain, who was working his way back from a broken ankle, returned to New York for one game before winding up back on the disabled list with a new leg injury.
While Rodriguez was hitting a home run Thursday, another former American League All-Star was also trying to work his way back with the RailRiders. Pitching Michael Pineda struck out eight in 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the win.
The presence of Jeter, then Rodriguez helped the RailRiders surpass the attendance totals of the 2011 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees with 20 home games still remaining on the schedule. The team spent the entire 2012 season on the road before returning to reconstructed PNC Field this season as the RailRiders.
The rebuilt stadium and a series of injury rehab assignments, including all-star outfielder Curtis Granderson, have increased interest in minor league baseball in northeastern Pennsylvania.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Rail Riders manager Dave Miley guided the International League to a 4-3 victory over the Pacific Coast League July 17 in the Triple-A All-Star Game in Reno.
The RailRiders also had two players who were prominent in the victory.
Chris Bootcheck pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one.
Outfielder Thomas Neal drew walks in both of his plate appearances and had a stolen base.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The US Youth Soccer Nationals are underway in Overland Park, Kan. and will continue through Sunday.
Mountain View standout Colby Thomas, the 2012 Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year, is playing at nationals with the Lehigh Valley United ’95 team in the U-17 Boys’ Division.
In professional baseball, the Binghamton Mets will be home Thursday through Sunday at NYSEG Stadium against the Trenton Thunder, Class AA farm team of the New York Yankees.
Binghamton (62-37) leads the Eastern League Eastern Division by 11 games and is 12 ½ ahead of third-place Trenton.
The teams play at 6:35 Thursday and Sunday and 7:05 Friday and Saturday.
In professional football, the New York Giants are scheduled to open training camp Saturday.
Montrose graduate Chris Snee had hip surgery after playing in the Pro Bowl in February. He has been working out, but may have his activities limited early in practice.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
PETTY STILL NASCAR’S FAVORITE DRIVER
Richard Petty in March, 2013
NASCAR announced this past week that Richard Petty is still the sport’s favorite driver, but along with that message came several new ones.
Fans of the future can expect new and more advanced race car technology, younger drivers, and oh yes, fewer seats at NASCAR events.
“We want to be more nimble in what we do from a technology standpoint, be able to quickly react to the emerging technologies that are out there,” said NASCAR Senior V.P. Steve O'Donnell. “We want to be a proving ground. When you look at NASCAR, we feel like no sport is better positioned to really take technology, showcase it in front of some of the toughest conditions that exist in the world, and we think we're poised to do that.”
Changes could be made in race qualifying procedures, although no specifics were discussed in last Monday's news media briefing. Officials plan to make much more pit-road data available to fans, perhaps by monitors or digital displays above pit stalls and through television and cell-phone displays.
O'Donnell said change will also come in the way the sport is officiated and the way fans receive information, both at track and via live television broadcasts.
Some changes will take effect in 2014, and others will be in place for the 2015 season.
O'Donnell said making core changes in the rule book will remove a lot of gray zones. There will be computer-aided drawings, simplifying the objectivity of the rule book.
“NASCAR has been criticized sometimes for being somewhat subjective,” he said. “When we look at the rule book in the future, we want to categorize penalties so they're listed out in the rule book. We think it will be much more clearly defined not only for us and our competitors but for the race fans, as well.
“We are not trying to put teams in such a box that they can't innovate. That's what our sport was founded on, was innovation, being able to work and find that advantage.”
More technology means higher costs for teams. That translates into fewer, small one-car race teams.
For several years NASCAR has sponsored the “Drive for Diversity,” a program where young Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Afro-Americans, and female drivers are brought into the sport.
They have asked the major racing teams to include this young, diversified mix of candidates into their driver lineups. NASCAR’s stated goal is to embrace the 18-25 age group.
Where does this strategy leave the average, hard-working, middle-age, white male/female race fan?
By the removal of seats, tracks hope to raise the prices and make tickets “be in demand,” as they once were.
When 30 per cent of the seats are removed from a track, will the average fan still be able to afford the inflated prices?
NASCAR’s message sounds great. It’s the typical, shiny, NASCAR public relations package. But it might contain some flaws.
Will a sufficient number of young fans that NASCAR is courting be there when the older ones are gone?
The haunting question for me is who’s going to fill Richard Petty’s shoes?
SPEED TO BECOME FOX SPORTS 1
The SPEED Channel, which has carried the NASCAR truck races, will soon be known as Fox Sports 1.
The channel which previously carried only racing coverage will feature many other sports, in addition to racing.
Fox Sports 1 will make its debut on August 17, 2013. Fox has directly positioned the channel to be a major competitor to ESPN. There will be studio programs including the daily sports news program Fox Sports Live (which will compete directly against ESPN's SportsCenter), Crowd Goes Wild (formerly Rush Hour), a new early-evening program hosted by Regis Philbin, and Fox Football Daily.
Beginning in 2014, Fox Sports 1 will air 26 weeks worth of regular season Major League Baseball games and coverage of select post-season games (the Fox network will air significantly fewer games as a result).
Beginning in 2015, Fox Sports 1 will air select live NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
LOGANO IS CHICAGO NATIONWIDE WINNER
Joey Logano saved the best for last in winning Sunday’s Nationwide race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Logano took the lead from Sam Hornish after a restart with 15 laps remaining in the 200-lap race, and went on to his 20th career Nationwide victory.
“We had it when we needed it,” said Logano. “Throughout the race, the car kept getting a little better and a little better. On that last restart, I had what I needed to win.”
Sam Hornish, the polesitter led the most laps, but near the end, it was Logano with the faster car, and Hornish had to settle for second.
Austin Dillon finished third.
“We needed just a little bit more today,” Dillon said. “The team gave me a good handling car, but we didn’t quite have enough to catch Joey there at the end.”
Elliott Sadler was fourth, followed by Brian Vickers, Parker Kligerman, Trevor Bayne, Justin Allgaier, Brad Sweet, and Matt Crafton.
Top-10 Nationwide leaders after 18of 33: 1. Hornish-632, 2. Smith-625, 3. A. Dillon-624, 4. Sadler-612, 5. Allgaier-610, 6. Vickers-587, 7. Larson-579, 8. Scott-567, 9. Bayne-563, 10. Kligernam-563.
Note: The Cup and truck teams had an off weekend.
Top-10 Sprint Cup leaders after 19 of 36: 1. Johnson-696, 2. Bowyer-646, 3. Edwards-623, 4. Harvick-622, 5. Earnhardt-578, 6. Kenseth-576, 7. Kyle Busch-576, 8. Biffle-545, 9. Keselowski-529, 10. Kahne-523.
Top-10 Truck leaders after 9 of 22: 1. Crafton-357, 2. J. Burton-319, 3. Buescher-317, 4. T. Dillon-309, 5. Sauter-305, 6. Blaney-290, 7. Paludo-285, 8. Peters-281, 9. Gaughan-280, 10. D. Wallace-272.
Weekend Racing: The Trucks race Wednesday, July 24, at Eldora Speedway. Starting time is 8 pm ET on Speed. The Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Brickyard for weekend races.
Sat., July 27, Nationwide Series race 19 of 33; Starting time: 4:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN.
Sun., July 28, Sprint Cup Series race 20 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: ESPN.
Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup wins does Jimmie Johnson have this season?
Last Week’s Question: Which Cup team did J. J. Yeley start off driving for in 2004? Answer. Joe Gibbs Racing.
You may e-mail the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
