The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 15

TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2004 www.theTimesHerald.com TIMES HERALD, PORT HURON, MICHIGAN 1C DTP GALL FOR SPORTS SCORES PORTS Jim Whymer, sports SportsTalk 989-6297 Smmi ire mm Ex-AHL coach Kumpel agrees to one-year deal, with an option for a second year of the deal is mutual right man for the job almost 2005-06. He added Kumpel will be in charge of total Portland in 2000-01, said he was pleasantly surprised when he heard Kumpel took the job. He added he is IVt'XE LCPEESH heim Mighty Ducks player Dan Bylsma, Williams took the coaching job with the Kansas City expansion team last week, after Dixon already had an offer on the table to Kumpel "(Kumpel is) a super nice guy, really family-oriented and he's a real solid hockey guy," Bell said. "He knows his Xs and Os and is a real good coach." He added his experience See KUMPEL, 30 leanmg toward re-signing with the Beacons because of the hire. Other finalists for the position, vacated when Bruce Ramsay was fired last month, included San Antonio Rampage (AHL) assistant coach Ian Her-bers, Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (AHL) assistant Darryl Williams and Ana Mulholland on top of his game, beats Tigers, 3-1 rr t- hockey operations.

The Beacons are the last UHL team to hire coach, with the season just 2 12 months away. "I wasn't going to do any- thing until I knew it was right or I ran out of time," Dixon said. "Fortunately, this was right." Dixon traveled to Maine earlier this month to spend a weekend with Rumpel He said he knew he was the Port Huron to i TIGERS WATCH MONDAY: Minnesota Twins 3, Tigers 1 RECORD: 44-48 STANDINGS: Fourth place in the AL Central, 5 games behind Chicago NEXT GAME: Vs. Minnesota at 7:05 tonight at Comerica RADIO: WPHM1380-AM achievement," Minnesota Manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He knows how to pitch, and he did a great job tonight.

We made sure to give him a game ball." J.C. Romero, Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan combined-on 2 1-3 scoreless innings of. relief to complete the four-; hitter. Nathan got three outs including Rondell White on a groundout with runners on second and third and two outs for his' 24th save in 25 chances. "That was a great baseball game," Gardenhire said.

"It just got a little too exciting at the end." Jason Johnson (7-8) allowed three runs on seven hits in eight-plus innings, eight days after pitching a five-hit shutout in Minnesota. The loss was just the third in 11 games for Detroit. Johnson retired 10 See TIGERS, 2C The Associated Press DETROIT Terry Mulholland made a little baseball history when he became just the third pitcher to beat all 30 major league teams. The 41-year-old lefty just wasn't very excited about it. "This wasn't exactly a driving force in my career I only found out I was that close when I started against the Tigers last week," Mulholland said.

"It's just a testament to the length of my career and my determination to stay valuable enough for someone else to give me a chance. To do this, you've got to play for a lot of teams." Mulholland (2-3), who joined Al Leiter Terry Mulholland and Kevin Brown in one of baseball's exclusive clubs, gave up one run on four hits in 6 2-3 innings to lead the Twins to their second win in eight games 3-1 over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night. He struck out two and walked one, improving to 2-0 in three starts since moving into the rotation earlier this month. "That's a pretty special 1 for both sides, even though the Beacons have just one year left on their lease with McMorran Arena. "We plan on playing hockey in Port Huron for a long time to come," Dixon said.

Players, former players and colleagues of Kumpel are confident Kumpel can help the Beacons succeed on and off the ice. Defenseman David Bell, who played two games for Sailboat Race MM BAYVIEW YACHT CLUB: www.byc.com after the Earth Voyager closed the gap in the race's final half-mile. While Genuine Risk didn't set a race record as many thought, skipper Duthie Lidgard said the crew performed well. The team on Friday attached a backup mast after the original snapped during testing on Wednesday, and Lidgard said the team had trouble at first overcoming both racing a new boat and repairing it at the last minute. "There were 50 of us who were confident," Lidgard said, and the rest needed convincing.

OContact Chris Sebastian at (810) 989-6273 or csebastian gannett.com. it instantly. Kumpel 43, spent the past six seasons as a coach for the Portland Pirates (American Hockey League), including the past five as an assistant. He also coached the Nashville Knights (East Coast Hockey League) and the Dayton Bombers (ECHL) each for two years. He was unavailable for comment Monday night.

Dixon said the option Mackinac Island rPC r.JZs that was a sjf- cant 1 increase for the boat "All of a sudden you're three miles in front of the other guy," Muscat said. Another close race that most people literally slept through was the class of 68-foot boats, called Great Lakes 70, which finished nose-to-nose at about 4 a.m. Monday. Four of the boats finished within five minutes of each other. But what many people did see was the slow but close race between the new 90-foot Genuine Risk, a Turbo class boat that finished first to the island, and the 60-foot open class trimaran Earth Voyager.

The monohull Genuine Risk narrowly defeated the 60-footer By RICK JAKACKI Times Herald Ken Dixon acknowledges hiring the Port Huron Beacons' coach took longer than he had anticipated. The United Hockey League team's owner, however, said it was worth the wait. Dixon announced Mon day night the Beacons and former Detroit Red Wing Mark Kumpel have agreed on a one-year contract, with an option year in Marengo excels at Kromer By JIM WHYMER Times Herald Like a lot of vounesters. Tyler Marengo wanted to play as many sports as pos- sioie. It started out with hockey Hiirina thp winter followed by soccer in the spring and summer.

Throw in some basketball and Marengo of Fort Gra athlete cf week tiot was quite satisfied. That was until he signed up tor tne 1'ort Huron Recreation Department's summer tennis lesssons at Sanborn Park. "Tyler was 9 was he start ed taking the summer lessons through the Rec Department," said Lyn Marengo, Tyler's mom. "He enjoyed them. "The instructors asked if Tyler ever took lessons or played at the Tennis House.

We weren't from a tennis family so we didn't know what to expect." Four years later, Marengo, 13, is hooked on the sport and winning championships. Marengo teamed up with Russell Kovar to capture the Men's Fourth Flight title Sunday in the 31st annual Sam Kromer Flight Doubles Tennis Tournament at Sanborn Park. The squad posted a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Ryan West and Phil Johnson. Marengo's second title came in the Mixed Third Flight. He played with Dakota Tyler Marengo Williams of Marysville.

They defeated Jamie West and Whitney West, 6-4, 6-3. For his performance, Marengo is the Times Herald Athlete of the Week. Marengo, an eighth-grader at Fort Gratiot Middle School, was one of four individuals who captured doubles and mixed doubles titles during the tournament. The other double winners were Barb Lynch, Jason Go and Greg Johnsoa "I had a lot of fun during the tournament," said Marengo, who was a guard on the Fort Gratiot seventh-grade basketball team this year. "I like the format because you get to play a lot of matches and play everybody in your flight.

"Both Russell and Dakota played very well." The doubles teams played round-robin matches throughout the week. The top four squads qualified for the semifinals Saturday. "I was pretty confident going into the tournament that we could win," Marengo said. "In the Mixed Doubles, we played very well and beat everybody pretty easily. "If we moved down a division we would have been playing adults.

If we would have moved up we would have gone against high school kids. "I wouldn't want to get smoked. We were in the right division." See MARENGO, 30 LL TODAY IN SPORTS St. Louis the team to beat in NL Central What next from the screwball year that has given us Carolina in the Super Bowl Tampa Bay with the Stanley Cup next to the sunscreen the Detroit Pistons dismantling and disheartening the Los Angeles Lakers? What else, now that we have Maria Sharapova storming Wimbledon with a smile or Todd Hamilton winning the British Open with a bargain basement putter? (By the way, wasn't he in a movie? "Win a Date with Todd Hamilton." No?) In any case, the sports calendar has had more novelties than an airport gift shop. And here's the National League Central where nothing is as you would expect, including the schedule.

The St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, having spent roughly 20 of their season in each other's company, will play for the 19th time today and then say goodbye for the year, which is a strange thing for division rivals to be doing on July 20. So much for autumn showdowns between ancient enemies. Come September, the Cubs will instead be playing MontreaL The scheduler must have gone to work after happy hour. But then, the Central is a collection of oddball stories. The Houston Astros supposedly had loaded up on enough Yankee pitchers to win a pennant But they languish in fifth place, low enough to get their manager canned.

The Cubs, expected to go eyeball to eyeball with the Astros, were eight games behind after the weekend. Part of the problem, you may recall, was Sammy Sosa being sidelined by a sneeze. Milwaukee has grown respectable with the all-star bat Lyle Overbay? Sure. And the leader of this unstable pack? Why, the team barely mentioned in the spring. The supposed odd men left out, and even now vaguely overlooked amid the trade rumors swirling elsewhere.

The Cardinals have the best record and highest batting average in the National League and the finest road record in basebalL From left to right, that's 57-34, .278 and 29-16. The Cardinals are 34-12 since May 27. Four starting pitchers have won at least nine games. The bullpen has the second lowest earned run average in basebalL The defense is immaculate (Jim Edmonds' reach over the wall the other night in Cincinnati is a highlight hall of famer). The hitting, led by Albert Pujols, is relentless.

They were 11-1 in inter-league play, and are 6-0 in extra innings having not yet allowed a run after the ninth. Apparently, the Cardinals missed the memo that this division race had been assigned to the Cubs and Astros, who made all the big offseason moves. So the Astros flop. The Cubs struggle to score and suffer nausea whenever Mark Prior rubs his elbow. And the Cardinals fly onward, If the Cubs are to close the eap, they may need Septem ber games against the Cardi nals they won have, for all concerned contenders, fans, TV bean counters it is a scheduling glitch, that such a famed rivalry turns out the lights in July.

"I haven't thought a minute about it," manager Tony La Russa said. He has other distractions. First place, for instance. OMike Lopresti is a Gannett News Service columnist. mm By TONY PITTS, Times Herald ALMOST HOME: Margaret Rintoul IV, a 50-foot yacht out of the Bayview Yacht Club, sails on a north tack to the shore of Mackinac Island while the 40-foot Delphinus, sailed by Stephen Polk, takes a westward tack along the shore to the finish line on Mackinac Island.

Spectators lined the shoreline at Mission Point in the background. Cruising NA-40 class comes down to the wire The Associated Press KEY PLAY: The Minnesota Twins' Lew Ford is congratulated after tying the game against the Detroit Tigers at 1-1 in the seventh inning on Monday in Detroit. Teammates a big part of Armstrong's Tour de France glory By CHRIS SEBASTIAN Times Herald MACKINAC ISLAND Sailboat racing fans had some exciting finishes to watch Sunday and Monday, if they paid attention and woke ear- Two classes of boats similar in design put on a good show for spectators. Many of the Cruising NA-40 class finished within a half hour of each other, jockeying for position after more than 200 nautical miles of racing. "We have guys with experience who really knew what was going on," said Bananas crew member Peter Tulup-man, 34, of New York.

Tulupman's teammate Ken Muscat, 37, of Dearborn, said the crew battled to increase its speed from 1.2 to 1.8 knots overnight Sunday. Despite the slow speed, worldwide fame. George Hincapie, Viatcheslav Eki-. mov and the six other unsung heroes in Armstrong's blue-jerseyed U.S. Postal Service team get sat-' isfaction in knowing that the 32 -year-old Texan wouldn't be where he is without them.

"The Blue Train is the muscle behind it, is the brawn," Armstrong acknowledged last week. "This is the best team ever." Like Rome, victories in the three-week cycling marathon aren't built in a day. Stage by grueling stage, first on the flats of Belgium and northern France and then in the peaks of the Pyrenees, Armstrong's Postals have hewn a path to See TEAMMATES, 40 The Associated Press NIMES, France Nickname: "The Blue Train." Mission: Laying the tracks that are transporting Lance Armstrong toward a record sixth Tour de France crown. Although a great champion in his own right, the Texan wouldn't be Lance Armstrong closing in on sporting history were it not for his loyal and tireless squad of support riders who have steamrolled rivals from the get-go. Armstrong gets the laurels, the sponsorships, the.