Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 23

SECTION SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2014 THE SUNDAY JOURNAL INSIDE: PREPS D3 SPEAK UP! D5 AUTO RACING D8 SPORTS JAGS GET STARTED Atrisco Heritage overcomes adversity, late deficit to gain its first football win. Page D2 Gurley, upended Trojan shocker USC, fresh off an upset victory over Pac-12 rival Stanford, is ambushed by 17-point underdog Boston College, 37-31. D5 ECU 28, Virginia Tech 21 Hokies fall flat after upsetting Ohio State Florida 36, Kentucky 30 Gators win in triple overtime Arkansas 49, Texas Tech 28 Razorbacks rush for 438 yards Oklahoma 34, Tennessee 10 Volunteers unbeaten no more Ohio State 66, Kent State 0 Buckeyes pour it on outmanned squad Alabama 52, So. Miss 12 QB Blake Sims leads the way Oregon 48, Wyoming 14 Ducks trailed 7-0 after first quarter STORY D4 No. 24 South Carolina holds off No.

6 Georgia with goal-line stand Nearly perfect 10 Ken Giles in his last 10 outings (heading into Saturday): Date Opponent IP BB ERA Aug. 23 StL 1.1 1 1 3 0 1.42 Aug. 26 WSH 1 0 0 0 3 1.38 Aug. 27 WSH 1 2 0 0 1 1.34 Aug. 30 NYM 1 0 0 0 1 1.30 Sept.

1 ATL 1 0 0 0 3 1.26 Sept. 2 ATL 1 0 0 0 2 1.23 Sept. 5 WSH 1 0 0 0 0 1.19 Sept. 6 WSH 1 0 0 0 2 1.16 Tues. PIT 1 0 0 0 1 1.13 Fri.

MIA 1 0 0 0 2 1.11 Total 10.1 3 1 3 15 he divorce of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Albuquerque becomes official Tuesday. Perhaps because by rule they cannot, neither the Dodgers nor the Isotopes have talked publicly about coming. But neither side is talking to the other, either. Short of some dramatic Hollywood ending and the Dodgers are nothing if not Hollywood this relationship is over. When you deal with a breakup, you selfishly hope to be the first to move on.

No such luck, unfortunately, for us. All we really have heard about the dissolution came three weeks ago, when an Oklahoma City newspaper cited unnamed sources to report that the Dodgers are going to buy the Triple-A franchise in that town. Then, the Oklahoma City RedHawks would replace the Isotopes as the Triple-A affiliate. And some other major league organization would send its Triple-A players to Albuquerque for 2015 and beyond. For Isotopes management, it has to feel a little like the inverse of 2008, when they ditched the Marlins and the Dodgers ditched Las Vegas.

It felt so romantic. Albuquerque and the Dodgers just getting together they were getting back together. Oh well. If play around with you, play around on you. Perhaps we should have seen this com- ing, Sooner State or later.

So now, the plaintive refrain of the jilted: Was it my fault? Was it hers? What could I have done differently? Assuming the Dodgers are hell- bent on owning all of their minor league affiliates, why they come and ask first if the Isotopes might be for sale? In a column three weeks ago, I guessed that maybe they had. But that never happened, Isotopes general manager John Traub said this week. Yet another question: Are the Dodgers convinced, as some people in the blogosphere believe, that they Maybe the Dodgers just that into you, Isotopes RANDY HARRISON Journal Sports Editor RANDY HARRISON BY KEVIN HENDRICKS JOURNAL STAFF WRITER ven though his major league baseball career is still in its infancy, Ken Giles has already pitched in a no-hitter. The right-hander throws his fastball about 100 mph with a sharp slider. He has become a dark horse candidate for the NL Rookie of the Year.

On Saturday against Miami, Giles pitched a scoreless eighth inning and stretched his streak of batters retired to 25 over his last nine appearances dating to Aug. 27, before it ended with a two-out walk. Of the 25 outs, 13 were by strikeout. He came into Saturday averaging a sparkling 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Friday against the Marlins, Giles pitched another perfect inning, striking out two, on just nine pitches.

It moved Phillies broadcaster and former big league pitcher Larry Andersen to gush: Giles has to be the bright spot of the season for the Phillies. almost at the point where he like it if a guy even fouls the ball Indeed, in just over three months, the 23-year-old Albuquerque native has taken MLB by storm. break into the major said Orlando Griego, who coached Giles during his senior year in 2009 at Rio Grande. came in like a But back when Giles was pitching in New Mexico, the prospect of him becoming a professional baseball player looked cloudy at best. He went from Eldorado to Rio Grande before his senior season because of ineffectiveness and a disagreement with the Eagles coaching staff.

He spent one season at New Mexico Junior College, but his inability to find the strike zone led to Giles leaving for Arizona in a continuing search for a chance to play. pitched for me for one year and he was New Mexico Junior College head coach Josh Simpson said. had to get rid of him. He just throw At each stop, coaches and teammates saw Giles obviously had a tremendous arm, and have been eager to tap its potential. Some have succeeded.

learned from each BY KEN SICKENGER JOURNAL STAFF WRITER EL PASO New look, same old feeling for the New Mexico State Aggies at the Sun Bowl. Riding high off their first 2-0 start in 15 years, the Aggies broke out all-black uniforms with crimson trim for their annual I-10 rivalry game against UTEP on Saturday night. But in the end, things looked decidedly familiar. The Miners used their punishing ground game to good effect and pulled away late for 42-24 victory in front of 32,979 fans. Running back Aaron Jones rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns to lead UTEP to its sixth straight win in the series.

As a group, the Miners rushed 58 times for 344 yards and five TDs. That allowed UTEP to keep the ball for 39:26, nearly doubling possession time of 20:34. Aggies coach Doug Martin had expressed concern during the week that the Miners could win such a game of keep-away. He pointed the finger directly at his offense. sputtered the whole football Martin said.

were terrible (5-for-12) on third downs, turned the ball over twice and score enough points. Our defense had no The Aggies finished with a respectable 425 yards of offense (335 through the air), but too often failed on key plays. just finish quarterback Tyler Rogers said. missed too many opportunities we taken advantage It was not a game that got away from the Aggies (2-1) quickly. They trailed 21-10 late in second quarter but drove into UTEP territory three times with chances to trim the margin.

None of the drives produced points. did not score enough points to win a major college football Martin said. really that The Aggies looked sharp enough on their opening drive. Rogers hit Joseph Matthews with an 18-yard scoring pass to cap an eight-play, 75-yard possession. NMSU led 7-0.

UTEP answered with a 75-yard drive, mixing runs and short passes effectively. 1-yard TD rush made the score 7-7. Aggies hang tough, but Miners wear them out Turnovers prove costly for NMSU See MINERS D5 Albuquerque native Giles has weathered highs and lows to blow away big league hitters See GILES D8 been a tough week for the NFL BY EDDIE PELLS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This has been the worst week. In the span of five days, favorite sport bombarded fans with a video of one player punching his wife, details about a former MVP hitting his son with a tree branch, reminders of two more lingering domestic violence cases all being overseen by a commissioner, Roger Goodell, who has looked ill-suited to handle any of it. Friday also brought news that speaks to the oversized violence of the game: One story about a study that showed nearly three in 10 ex-players face or moderate dementia; and another about the long- awaited implementation of a policy to test for human growth hormone.

Both those items might have been front-page news some weeks. Instead, they were virtual afterthoughts, while a sampling of headlines read: Shows Again that the NFL has Sold its the Shield or Cover His unusual a week as I can remember in 40 years around the agent Leigh Steinberg said. should have been as positive a week as they have, with opening weekend and a lot of good games, turned into a destructive minefield of Today, games will continue with players hitting the field to satiate thirst for its weekly dose of league-sanctioned, bone-jarring violence. The games themselves will Woes keep cropping up for Goodell See D9 Today Dallas at Tennessee, 11 a.m., Fox New England at Minnesota, 11 a.m., CBS Kansas City at Denver, 2:25 p.m., CBS Chicago at San Francisco, 6:30 p.m., NBC Inside A look at Cowboys vs. Titans and Chiefs vs.

Broncos; NFL notes; expanded standings D9 See DODGERS D8 CHRIS Ken Giles is having an outstanding rookie season in Philadelphia. HURRICANE KEN Saturday UNM at NMSU, 6 p.m. TV: Aggievision Radio: 770 AM, 101.7 FM.