“The Red Sox are the logical pick,
except for one thing —
they’re the Red Sox. ”
Anonymous MLB scout making a World Series pick
■ In my opinion
STEPHEN MILLER
OFF THE CROSSBAR
Mt. Ichiro
buries
Sister's
hit record
Where were you on the day that Mount
St. Helens erupted for the first time in 24
years?
I was learning how to spell my name in
Spanish.
Right after my exclusive foreign lan
guage spelling bee, I heard that St. Helens
belched some ash that was sitting uneasy
in its magma chamber. Then I started go
ing through volcanism terminology in my
head. I spelt magma, lava and eruption to
myself en Espanol.
When 1 got home, feeling up-to-date
with my current events, I turned on the
tube to see what kind of rumbling was go
ing on elsewhere in the state of Washing
ton, particularly at Safeco Field with the
Seattle Mariners.
Gasp! Me, watch television? Me, watch
the lousy Mariners?
Yes and no.
I "was watching Ichiro Suzuki, not the
entire Tacoma Rainiers club dressed up in
Mariners uniforms. I had listened to some
sensible advice: “Don’t hate the player,
hate the game (or team in this instance).”
Ichiro has been my favorite player since
his major-league debut in 2001, when he
crossed the pond from Japan and joined
the Mariners. I have probably collected
every Ichiro bobble head available in a ce
real box.
Anywho, Helen blew her lid in unspec
tacular fashion on Oct. 1 and then again
last Tuesday. Ichiro laced his record-break
ing 258th hit of the year on the same day
as the first volcanic occurrence. He played
in 161 games this year and finished with
262 hits.
George Sisler was the former record
holder with 257 hits in 154 games played.
His mark had stood for almost 85 years.
Roger Maris’ 1961 record of 61 home runs
was replaced 37 years later by Mark McG
wire (70) and then again by Barry Bonds
(73) in 2001. Those guys were idolized —
and criticized and accused but mostly idol
ized — for moving such a disposable
benchmark.
Nothing keeps a baseball hit by a mortal
Hercules from leaving the yard quite like a
force of nature, such as wind, humidity or
gravity.
But slap hitters like Ichiro use gravity to
their advantage. It keeps the ball on the
ground and out of the reach of the nine po
sition players, inflating his batting average.
The slap-hitter only has 37 homers in four
major league baseball seasons. How do
you say, “Thank you Sir Isaac Newton,” in
Japanese? I only know how to say it in
Spanish.
Some sports fanatics believe that Ichiro’s
record is insufficient in some way, or that
there should be an asterisk next to it in the
record book because Ichiro played in more
ICHIRO, page 18
■ Women’s soccer
Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer
Oregon senior defender Christine Mintz (8) looks to return to action on Friday against USC, after receiving a red card in last Friday’s match against Wyoming.
Red card breaks Mintz's streak at 48
Oregon gets its top defender back for Friday's Pac-10 opener in
Southern California while the Duck offense finds new life
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon senior defender Christine Mintz
never missed a start in her Oregon career.
Until last Sunday.
Mintz sat out in Oregon’s win against Gon
zaga as the result of a red card she was issued
in Friday night’s match against Wyoming. The
red card was issued after Mintz tackled
Wyoming forward Mercy Adetoye on a break
away toward Oregon’s goal.
Mintz said the choice to tackle Adetoye dur
ing the game was made in a split second and
was a difficult decision to make.
“I thought I was close enough to make the
tackle,” Mintz said. “It was a decision, and I
made it. I got the ball and unfortunately, I got
her too.”
Mintz’s red card ended her streak of con
secutive games started at 48. Junior midfield
er Cristan Higa is now the leader with 14 in a
row. Higa had her own streak of 45 games
snapped last October vs. California.
“(Wyoming’s) number four is a dangerous
player,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said
of Adetoye. “And unfortunately, she spun us.
Christine’s decision to take her down was a
professional foul, and the referee decided to
remove Christine. ”
Offense gets going
The Ducks’ three-goal output against
Wyoming was their highest since their win
against Weber State on Sept. 3. During the
Ducks recent five-game losing streak, Oregon
managed only two goals and was dealt four
shutouts.
After a goal and an assist last weekend in a
3-1 win over Wyoming, junior Mele French
leads the team in points (5) and is tied for the
team lead in goals (2) . She is tied for second
in assists (1), ranks third in shots (16)
and third in shots on goal (9). Sophomore An
drea Valadez ranks second on the team
in shots (21), is tied for first in shots on goal
(11) and tied for second in assists (1). Fresh
man Kami Kapaku also has a pair of goals on
the season against fifth-ranked Portland
and Wyoming, and now leads the team in
shots (22) and is tied for the lead in shots
on goal (11).
Lainez solid behind the net
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Domenique
SOCCER, page 18
■ Women's golf
Women tie for second in Washington
Finishing with a 918 in three rounds of play, the Ducks tied
Washington and heat out five other Pacific-10 Conference teams
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
FREELANCE SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon women’s golf recorded its best finish
thanks to senior Johnna Nealy’s even-par 72
Wednesday at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational.
The Ducks finished the tournament, held at
the 6,192-yard Sahalee Golf and Country Club in
Sammamish, Wash., in a second-place tie with
host team Washington with a 918.
Finishing in first place was No. 8 Oklahoma,
19 strokes ahead of Oregon and Washington.
Oregon’s best finish before this at the Edean Ih
lanfeldt Invitational was in the mid-1990s when
the Ducks finished third two years in a row (1993,
1994).
Nealy set a career-best by tying for third place
in the individual competition. She was still 10
strokes behind first-place Karin Sjodin of Okla
homa State.
The only mistake that Nealy made during the
day was a double bogey on the par-4 14th, but
she recovered with a birdie on the 18th to finish
at even par. Her 72 was the second-lowest round
of the day.
Oregon’s Kim McCready also had a personal
best seventh-place finish at 226. Her best finish
before this was a tie for 13th at the 2004 Duck In
vitational.
Junior Erin Andrews tied for 25th with a 235.
The Ducks threw out her final round score of 84.
Other Ducks recording scores were junior
Michelle Timpani and freshman Victoria
Wenslow, who both shot an 81. Timpani tied for
31st with a 237, while Wenslow was 62nd at 251.
Behind Oregon, USC finished fourth at 926, fol
lowed by No. 9 Pepperdine at 930, Nevada-Las
Vegas at 932 and Washington State and San Fran
cisco tied for seventh. Stanford, ranked 20th in
the nation, finished with a 940 and No. 21 Cali
fornia finished with a 941.
Oregon made a prolific start at the invitational
on Monday and Tuesday. The second round of
play, which saw McCready card an even par-72,
helped Oregon climb above Pepperdine, who led
the Ducks after the first round. As a collegian, it
was a career-best round for McCready, who fin
ished tied for third individually with Kay Hoey of
Long Beach State.
Andrews and Nealy found themselves tied for
12th after shooting 4-over 76 and 6-over 78 re
spectively.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma State carded a 301,
bringing its tournament total to 597, good enough
for first place going into Wednesday.
GOLF, page 20