Page 12 The Lion’s Eye April 24, 2006 Could This Be THE Year for By DAN BAER Lion's Eye Staff Writer drb272@psu.edu Spring is here, the weather is warmer, flowers are in bloom, and Harry Kallas has hit the air waves to call another season for the Phillies. This year could be different from other seasons; this year could be the year. No not the year they win it all, but the year the Phils the reach the playoffs, which they haven't done since 1993, and we all know what happened that year. The Phillies had a promising spring training. They post- ed their first .500 spring training since 1998 going 22-12. Also promising in spring training was last years NL rook- ie of the Year Ryan Howard. Howard had one of the hottest springs in recent memo- Ly hitting 11 home-runs and driving in 23 runs. With oward back and the rest of this promising line-up, the Phillies could be a real contender to grab the NL east divi- sion title, the first in more then 10 years anyone other then the Braves has done so. The Phillies offense is what is going to carry them this season. “With Rollins, Utley, Howard, and Abreu the Phillies have a great line-up,” said student Myles Peterson. Jimmy Rollins entered the season with a 35-game hit streak that carried over from last season, but that ended at 38 games. Chase Utley is still manning second base after a terrific 2005 season where he batted .291, belting 28 home-runs and driving in 105 in only his second year with the Phils. Our Fightin’Phillies? The man in right field, “Mister Reliable,” Bobby Abreu always seems to bat . somewhere around .300, hit } 25 home-runs and drive-in 100. With all the offensive prowess the Phillies have, they still lack what they have always lacked for the past decade -- pitching, starting pitching to be exact. “Their pitchers are either too young or inconsistent,” said student Brian McCoy. The Phils’ starting pitchers include John Leiber, Brett Myers,Corey Lidle, Gavin Floyd, and Ryan Madson. For the Phillies to be a contender in their division they are going to need great years from both Leiber and Myers. And, this year the division isn’t going to be handed to the Phillies. With the Braves being, well the Braves, and always find- ing a way to win, the Mets adding Billy Wagner to their bullpen and Carlos Delgado to an already potent line- ‘up and the Nationals picking-up Alfonso Soriano, one of the most under rated blaven in baseball in the Phillies have a soph fight on their hands. The Phillies also added some new faces to their roster. They picked up center-fielder Aaron govond from the World Series champion White OX. ; The organization also went out and got Tom Gordon a closer brought in to help fill the void left by Billy Wagner. “With the line-up they have they could potentially win 90 games,” said student Jeff Wild. : ul By MICHELLE ROCHE Mcr5013@psu.edu Care to learn how to cross stitch with the Knitting Club? How about discovering a foreign culture with the Multi Cultural club? Or maybe a day at the range with the Trapshooting Club? Doesn’t sound that ordinary?, Under the guidance of Jim Warzyniak, the Trapshooting Club meets every weekend at the Delaware County Sportsmen Association as long as there’s no rain in the forecast. There 10-15 members, including a couple of females from time to time. Back when the sport was first introduced in 1973 in England, trapshooting involved sportsmen using shotguns to aim and hit Passenger Pigeons when they were released from cages, also known as traps Then, around the American Civil War, fake birds took the place of the Passenger Pigeons who died out. Today, clay pigeons are the tar- gets that provide the challenge. Want to learn how to trapshoot, but don't know the first thing about it? No problem. When Paul Hurych, president of the club, first joined, he had never shot a gun in his life. "You don't need any previous experience in order to start shoot- ing," said Hurych. "I had never shot a gun before I tried it for the first time. Jim is a really good teacher, you just need to practice." Communication between the scorer, puller, and shooters are an important aspect of the sport. When the first shooter is ready to aim and shoot the target, he calls “pull” to the puller who releases the clay pigeon. If the shooter has missed his target, the puller will call “loss.” After the shooter has fired his last shot, the shooter calls “end.” After the final call, the shooter moves to one position so that another can take a turn. There is no major competition at the range when the members shoot. y PSU-Delco Trapshooting Club ® Aims for Fun and Camaraderie However, the members all try to beat each other by obtaining the highest score. According to Hurych, the staff at the club are very pleasant as well, and enjoy seeing people come out and try the sport. When asked if sportsmen and guns get a bad reputation from the public for their choices of recre- ation, Hurych said, "In terms of trap shooting, it is a sport-plain and simple. No animals are being killed or anything of that sort. "It's just like playing darts or bil- liards. Most of the kids that go out and shoot definitely don't look like they belong on a shooting range." The Trapshooting club always welcomes new members to get introduced and familiar with the sport. It’s free to anyone who wishes to come out and give it a try. The group also meets occasionally on Wednesday afternoons. Delco’s Baseball Team Retuns to Playoffs; Phillies New Season Off to Slow Start Penn State Delco’s baseball team has recorded another successful season. Coach Vickers has brought the team to an 18-5 record and first place in the eastern division. The playoffs began last weekend, April 22-23. So, by the time you read this, their fate will have already been known. A successful weekend will send them to University Park for the final games. No matter the outcome of the playoffs, the team deserves accolades for a great season of baseball. As for the other baseball team in town, the Phillies, well let's just say at the moment they are not enjoying the same success as our Penn State boys. Starting the season 1-6 and in last, they have climbed out of the cellar and to 3rd place. Still with a losing record and abysmal at the friendly confines of Citizen's Bank Park. The Phils began the season facing the St. Louis Cardinals, a playoff team for the last several years. They lost all three games and had to climb uphill ever since. But as the true fan of the game knows it's a long, long season and anything can happen over the course of 162 games. Two years ago the Houston Astros were 15 games under .500 halfway through the season and went to the World Series. Phillies new general manager Pat Gillick has talked about "financial flexibility". You can see he's trying to streamline the payroll to possibly go after some big name free agents in the future. So things are looking up. With another season in the books and summer quickly upon us, let's enjoy the sunny days and the break until we see baseball again in the fall. By: JAMES FIDA
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