Church Stars, Schmidt Sets Another Mark

Churchie at .328

RYAN CHURCH went 5-for-9 in the final two games of the Dodger series to push his batting average up to a super .328. He went 3-for-4 with a home run on Wednesday after a 2-for-5 evening Tuesday night.


That night he almost brought down a home run ball hit by Blake DeWitt and did not realize the ball bounced back into play. Dewitt ended up with an inside-the-park homer.


Between innings Church took full responsibility. Here’s the story from MLB.com--

LOS ANGELES -- Ryan Church sat, legs extended, on Dodger Stadium's warning track dirt, fully believing that Blake DeWitt's line drive had cleared the fence.

One second passed. Two seconds. Three.

"It was just one of those things," Church said, "where I forgot where I was at."
By the time he could remember, DeWitt was nearly at third base. And by the time Church leapt to his feet, sprinted toward the baseball and heaved it toward home plate, DeWitt had already scored, giving his team its first lead of the night on Tuesday.
The Mets would never reclaim it, instead losing, 5-4, to the Dodgers.
"All the good things seem to happen to them," starter Nelson Figueroa said.
Indeed, in a game filled with both the abnormal and the downright bizarre, the Dodgers caught most of the breaks. The most critical of them came in the fifth inning, with DeWitt at the plate, Figueroa on the mound and the Mets clinging to the slimmest of leads.
DeWitt, still smiling from his first career home run on Monday night, lined Figueroa's pitch toward the top of the right-field wall with two outs in the fifth inning and one man on base. Church ran back, leaped up, slammed his side into the padding and thrust his glove about one inch to the right of where the ball struck the wall. Believing the ball to be gone, he sat, a bit dazed from the impact, and stared at nothing in particular.
"It was kind of like, 'Where's the ball?'" Church said. "By that time, you slip for one second, and it was too late."
Far too late. He eventually, out of the corner of his eye, noticed an umpire waving his arms to signal the ball still in play. Only then did he jolt into motion.
"I thought it was gone," Church said. "I thought it was out."
Though making that catch would have proven to been a spectacular play, and holding DeWitt from scoring would have been nearly as impressive, Church felt so bad about the sequence that he marched right up to Figueroa after the inning and apologized.
He, not Figueroa, had blown the game, he said, and Figueroa raised an eyebrow.
"It's not the first time he's crashed into a wall," Figueroa said. "When I see him go back there, I have all the confidence in the world that he's going to come close to making a play if there is a play. He's earned that. For him to be disappointed about it just shows you the character that he has. He wants to be the guy to make that play."
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Schmidt Notches Another Record

Last weekend in Austin, Texas JURGEN SCHMIDT and FRANK PIEMME went 12-for-12 in their races at the National Masters Swim Championships.
Twelve races – twelve victories.
Swimming in the 85-9 age group Schmidt won the 100, 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle, and the 100 and 200 individual medley. In the 100 IM his time set a new national record for yards. His time was 1:41.67 which bettered the old mark of 1:42.26. The old record stood for just a matter of weeks since it was set by, guess who, Jurgen Schmidt.
Schmidt was later interviewed by Swimmers World magazine. He has set five national records since he turned 85 in February. Next he will be gunning for the 1500 record, among others, on May 18 in Santa Clarita. That meet opens the “meters” season. Since February his records have been measured in yards and thus are national records. With meters come the potential for world records.
Piemme won the 80-4 age division in the 50, 100 and 200 free, the 50 butterfly, the 100 and 200 IM.