A O Behrend Beacon
I October 2, 2009
I www.thebehrendbeacon.com
MLB
Major League Baseball pennant race
POSTSEASON BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE AS TEAMS TRY
TO EARN THEIR SPOT IN THE FALL CLASSIC
ALEC ITALIANO
The 2009 Major League Base
ball regular season is wrapping
up and pennant races are com
ing to a close with three games
left in the season.
The New York Yankees
earned themselves the best
record in the league with over
100 wins this season, and have
a 57-23 home record in their
new ballpark.
They won the AL East by
over 10 games to the Boston
Red Sox. who just clinched the
w'ild card even after a failed
comeback in a 8-7 loss to the
Blue Jays.
The AL Central race is heat
ing up with the Minnesota
Tw'ins chasing the Detroit
Tigers for the better half of the
season.
Justin Verlander. Detroit’s
ace and potential Cy Young
winner, is keeping their playoff
hopes alive, pitching eight in
nings and striking out eight in
the 6-5 victory over the Twins
in a crucial two game double
header last Tuesday, however;
they split the games giving the
Twins hope going into the last
weekend of the season.
The Angels wrapped up their
fifth AL West title in six years
after cruising, to a 11-0 victory
against the Texas Rangers.
After their 22-year old pitcher
was killed in a car accident in
April, the resiliaint Angels held
strong to make the playoffs.
Ervin Santana pitched a
seven hit, complete game
shutout for the win and
recorded his fourth career
shutout. Santana will be a
player to watch in October.
'l.ui n filer
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Ervin Santana is pitching well down the stretch (or the Angels.
Moving to the National
League, now, the World Cham
pion Philadelphia Phillies are
trying to get back into the play
off picture and after losing five
of their last seven games.
It was not looking too great
for the City of Brotherly Love,
but the Phillies defeated the
Houston Astros early in the
week and moved their magic
number to clinch a playoff spot
to one.
The Phillies clinched the divi
sion on Oct. 1 after seeing an
eight and a half point lead with
thirteen games left whittle
down to four after the Atlanta
Braves surged in the last
month. This Race may come
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Albert Pujols leads MLB with 47 home runs this season.
down to the last
game of the season and will
have fans filling stadiums.
In the NL Central, St. Louis
took the division by eight
games over the Chicago Cubs
and are looking for their first
World Series appearance for
the first time in five seasons.
The Cardinals are fueled by
Cy Young contenders Adam
Wainwright and Chris Carpen
ter. Wainwright is currently the
favorite for the coveted award,
but his good friend and mentor
Carpenter is the probable
starter for their first divisional
series game.
Manny Rameriez and his Los
Angeles Dodgers clinched a
playoff berth but cannot seem
to clinch the West division.
The Dodgers and the Col
orado Rockies are battling it
out with the Dodgers holding a
one game lead, but have lost
three straight.
Nonetheless, both teams
should be able to make it into
October as long as they hold off
the Braves and their recon
structed rotation led by Javier
Vazquez, but just lost an ex
tremely close 5-4 game to the
Florida Marlins which may
have been their downfall head
ing down the stretch.
Water Polo
continued from front page
Senior captain Jacob Bern
stein is typically a driver for the
Behrend Lions, but this year he
took on a new role as goalie.
“One walked
up to me and said, ‘coach, we
need a goalie,’ and he said he’d
do it.” Tristan said. “Now, Jacob
will play in the field for half of
the game and, then, go into
goal.”
The water polo team has had
to turn to the freshman class to
help anchor the team. Six
freshmen, three of which are
the leading goal scorers with a
combination of 27 goals
throughout the season thus far,
are being asked to do more
than just score goals.
“What we’re doing is having
the freshman take more of a
leadership role on the team
with Jake and I,” said senior
captain Robert Westhelle.
“We’ve already had many re
cruits [for next year], and the
freshmen have stepped up by
introducing the guys to the
campus and students.”
The reason for “rebuilding” is
due to the fact that last year the
orts
water polo team had a roster of
14 players, but only four play
ers returned.
This year they have a roster
of 10, with Bernstein and
Robert Westhelle, and two
sophomereSr-Ghris Graves-and
Ricardo Ortiz, returning.
Former players left the team
for various reasons. A couple
left to transfer to Penn State
University Main campus, a
game plan to transfer after two
years that had been premedi
tated. Some left because their
hearts weren’t in the game any
more, and others left due to ac
ademic ineligibility.
When asked if there are any
harsh feelings towards those
players that left for insufficient
reasons Bernstein said, “There
may be a few harsh feelings be
cause they quit on us before
giving us a chance, but I think
this is a more enjoyable team to
play with. It is really there loss
for quitting.”
This weekend the team will
travel to California, PA to com
pete in the Claremont Invita
tional to play four games as the
boys strive for their first victory
of the season.