The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 17

Baseball Suiuky, Auyukl 27, 21X16 11 IXuh muniw lUd Aigu. ID For Motte, 'tis better to pitch than to receive ByJeffWndland JwenOlanddCqconline.com Switching to pitcher from catcher. Jason Motto is catching on to the art of pitching. A highly-regarded catching prospect In the St. Louis Meet Jason Motte Personal; 24 year old relief pitcher was born In Port Huron, Mich.

He bats right and throws right Motte was a 19th-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals In the 2003 June draft. On tha move: Motto's father, James, moved the family around a lot working for Whellabrator Air Pollution Control, a smokestack pollution control company. From Port Huron, Jason would spend his youth In locations such as: Shreveport, Shelton, Pueblo, Cardinals organization, Motte found the going rough when it came to swinging the bat. While his defense was regarded as some of the best in minor-league baseball, a batting average had the Cardinal switch me to a pitcher.

"They had mentioned it last year when I was struggling early in the season, but I asked them to give me until the all-star break. The next week I broke my hand and was done for the year. I had thought about it, so it wasn't a huge surprise to me when I was told. I had my chance this season and really struggled with the bat." It wasn't like Riggins had a history to call upon when making the decision to move Motte from behind the plate to the mound. The 24-year-old reliever said he's never pitched at any level before this season.

Motte spent a few weeks in extended spring training, reported to the Cardinals' short-season State College Spikes and 21 games (eight saves) later he was promoted to the Swing of the Quad Cities. "I had no idea that I'd be at this level so soon, but I really didn't have anything to base it off," he said. "I was just hoping to do a good Job and give it my all every day. It's gone well so far." Motte admits that the first few days after his chat with Riggins were difficult. Making a drastic position switch such as this wasn't something he had ing days.

"I've had to throw a ball back to a pitcher that hard a few times depending on how many breaking balls that guy threw in the dirt," Motte said. "I've thrown a few down to second between innings depending on what I did my last at bat." Moving from a position where he has to be into the game every pitch of every inning to a spot where it can sometimes be difficult to keep your concentration, Motte knows one of his blguest challenges will be focus. "The game is definitely more mental now than as a catcher," he said. "As a catcher, you were in the game every play regardless of the situation. Now, you have to make yourself stay focused down in the bullpen.

"I try to treat things the same way I did as a catcher. I watch the hitters and see their approach at the plate. When I get in the game, I pretty much have a good idea of how I want to approach each batter." Swing beat writer Jaff Wandland can be reached by phone at 309-757-4971 or by e-mail at wendiandqconllne.com Pensacola, Montgomery, N.Y. and Johnson City, Tenn. Back bahlndthaplata: Despite his move from catcher to pitcher this season, Motte still has found himself behind the plate with the mask and mitt a few times this summer.

When Swing catchers Bryan Anderson and Henry Guerrero are both In the game, he is called on to warm up pitchers. "It's no biggie, getting back there is old hat for me," he said. "Obviously, my goal Is to get to a place where there Is always someone there to warm up the pitchers. You know, the big show." College graduate throws a two-seam fastball (averaging around 92 and topping out around 95), a slider and a split-finger fastball. "The slider is basically a modification on my fastball, more like a cutter," he said.

"The splitter is a pitch I messed around with when I was catching. I'd throw it in the bullpen and a few of the pitchers taught me the grip and such." The fastball is one he admits to having used a time or two during his catch organization looking Jason in other directions Motte Finally, near the end of this season's first month, St. Louis minor-league pitching instructor Mark Riggins gave Motte the news. "They came to me at the end of April," Motte said. "I had spent some time in AA (Springfield) and then was sent back to Palm Beach and was struggling with the bat.

A couple of days after I was there, they called me in and (Riggins) told me they were going to expected to happen. "It took me a few days to realize my catching days were over, but they didn't give me much time," Motte said. "The next day I was throwing a bullpen session. They just told me to throw strikes, and that's the pattern I've tried to follow." In four games with QC, Motte has allowed five hits and one run in six innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. The 6-foot, 200-pound Iona Swing game postponed; twinbill today Home runs: Greene 12; Martinez and Nelson Gabriel and Rowlett 4.

RBIs: Rowlett 54; Anderson 50; Nelson 45; Jay 40; Greene 39. Stolen bases: Nelson 24; Rowlett 18; Robinson 13; Jay Greene and Martinez 7. Pitching (wins): Trey Hearne 12; Scott VanderWeg Adam Daniels Jason Cairns Donnie Smith 4. Pitching (ERA): Jason Motte 1.50; Chris Perez 1.54; Hearne 2.20; Cairns 2.41; Smith 2.67. Strikeouts: Daniels 120; Hearne 104; Trent 74; Jonathan Mikrut and Tyler Norrick 50.

Swing leaders Through Friday night Batting: Jon Jay Bryan Anderson Shane Robinson Tyler Greene Mark Hamilton .270. Runs: Daniel Nelson 71; Casey Rowlett 65; Anderson 50; Jose Martinez 43; Robinson 37. Hlta: Nelson 112; Anderson 112; Rowlett 107; Martinez 82; Chad Gabriel 70. Doubles: Anderson 29; Rowlett 26; Nelson 24; Martinez 18; Jay 12. Triples: Anderson, Greene, Jay and Nelson Martinez 2.

Saves: Perez Vander Weg Borne and Norrick 1. The Swing this week Today: Hosting Peoria in a doubleheader that starts at noon. It's a Family Fun Day. Monday-Thursday: Hosting Kane County for four games that all start at 6:30 p.m. i Monday is Dollar Monday with $1 hot dogs, soda and popcorn; Tuesday features a back- to-school ticket special; Thursday is Thirsty I Thursday.

Friday-Saturday: At Burlington for a pair of 7 p.m. games. I Staff credit With a win Saturday and again today, the Swing of the Quad Cities would have clinched a Midwest League playoff berth. Now, in order to ensure a postseason appearance, the Swing will have to sweep a doubleheader today, as rain in the metro area rendered Davenport's John O'Donnell Stadium unplayable, forcing the postponement of Saturday night's clash between the Swing and the Peoria Chiefs. Start time for today's pair of games is noon.

Pregame cover age, on WKBF-1270 AM, begins at 11:45 a.m. Saturday's rainout was the 11th the Swing have encountered this season, and the sixth at JOD. QC is 8-6 in doubleheader games prior to today. The Swing hold a 5-4 edge over the Chiefs in the season's series between the two clubs. The teams split the first part of the home-and-home series at Peoria's O'Brien Field Thursday and Friday Today's doubleheader is the final regular-season meeting between the clubs.

Once written off, Big Hurt enjoys renaissance with As Georgia, Japan to vie for LLWS title V-r. Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Frank Thomas can run from first to third with relative ease and is crushing home runs into the upper deck again. That spat with his former general manager earlier this year is a thing of the past. The Big Hurt has buried those hurt feelings to focus on a pennant race with his new team.

At 38, Thomas is healthy, loving life in the laid-back Bay Area and starring for the Oakland Athletics in an improbable comeback year across the country following two injury-shortened seasons in Chicago. "I'm hitting some long home runs. I'm back. I'm hitting balls as hard as I ever have," Thomas said before a recent game. "I've been encouraged with the season I've had.

I started off a little slow getting used to this place. Once I got acclimated, I think things have taken off and I've been much of the same player I've been my whole career. It's been a good situation because we're winning." Thomas is a key ingredient in the first-place A's push for the playoffs, something he missed out on last year with the World Series champion White Sox because of a recurring ankle injury He hit his 475th career home run Wednesday at Toronto, tying Willie Stargell and Stan Musial for 23rd on the career list. And he is well on track to reach 500, something Thomas initially said was one of his primary goals before he retires. "Now I'm looking past that," he said.

"Five hundred is not what I'm here for. I hope to achieve 600. I do want to play until I'm 42 years old. This year's a hurdle for me, getting back to a health level where I can play a whole season." Heading into Saturday's game at Texas, Thomas was batting .265 with 27 homers and 75 RBIs as Oakland's designated hitter and had played in 50 straight games since coming off the disabled list June 30 following a strained right quadriceps. A five-time All-Star who won back-to-back AL MVP awards in 1993 and '94, he is determined to help the A's win the AL West.

Thomas never doubted he could return to the dominating hitter he was before all the injuries. Neither did A's general manager Billy Beane, who in January gave Thomas an incentive-laden $500,000, one-year contract to provide the big right-handed bat in the middle of the order the team lacked when it failed to make the playoffs the past two years. The low-budget A's had spent recent offseasons watching big-name players such as Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Johnny Damon, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder leave town so signing Thomas and Milton Bradley without losing anyone of significance was a big deal for the organization. "He's been that force in the lineup and has given this team something it's needed the last couple of years," Oakland outfielder Jay Payton said. "He has that threat of being able to go deep at any time.

The way he's been swinging the bat the last month and a half, he looks like the old Frank Thomas." For Thomas, playing in Oakland is just the kind of easygoing atmosphere he needed after so many pressure-packed seasons on Chicago's South Side. Manager Ken Macha repeatedly has called Thomas the MVP of the offense. When the A's acquired the 6-foot-5, 275-pound Thomas, the biggest question was whether he could stay healthy not whether he would still possess the powerful swing that has defined his career. Thomas began the 2005 season on the disabled list following ankle surgery, played for the first time on May 31, then went back on the DL on July 21 with a fractured left ankle. He hit .219 with 12 homers and 26 RBIs in 34 games.

He was sidelined for all but 74 games in 2004. Beaverton, little leaguer Austin Perry (15) slides safely into second with a RBI double as Columbus, shortstop Josh Lester waits for the throw during Georgia's 7-3 win over Oregon in the United States championship game Saturday in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa. SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) Clutch hitting and timely defense the Little Leaguers from Columbus, sure are well-schooled in the art of playing winning baseball. Good pitching and colorful home-run trots are the hallmarks of the undefeated team from Kawaguchi City, Japan.

Should be interesting when the two teams meet for the Little League World Series championship. Go Matsumoto homered and got starter Seigo Yada out of a bases-loaded, sixth-inning jam with some sharp relief pitching in Japan's 3-0 win on Saturday night over Mexico to capture the international championship. Earlier, Brady Hamilton drove in two runs and J.T. Phillips struck out eight to help Columbus defeat Beaverton, 7-3 to win the US. title.

The kids from Georgia and Japan will play for the title today Hamilton broke a 3-3 tie by flaring a pitch from starter Jace Fry just out of the shortstop's reach to score Phillips from second in the fifth inning. Columbus got some breathing room with three more runs in the sixth. Cody Walker tracked a popup in foul territory and stumbled to the ground on his back just after catching it for the final out. Jubilant teammates started piling on top of him as parents cheered and snapped pictures. "It's a dream come true," 12-year-old outfielder Ryan Lang said.

After receiving their championship banner, the Columbus boys raced to the Beaverton dugout and invited their opponents to accompany them on the honorary victory lap around, I think he'll be OK." In the nightcap, Yada started for Japan and dominated until tiring in the sixth, when Mexico managed three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. In came Matsumoto to close the door. The lanky, 5-foot-10 reliever with the long delivery struck out the first two batters he faced, then ended the game by getting a weak groundout to first. Mexico starter Josue Barron was good early, striking out six and retiring the side through the first three innings. Japan's sluggers got to Barron in the fourth.

Leadoff hitter Yada sent a 1-0 pitch over the left-field wall. Two batters later, Matsumoto hit the first pitch he saw from Barron into a grassy patch just before the hedges beyond the center field fence for a two-run blast. and Hamilton's looping single over shortstop Derek Keller drove in the go-ahead run. "You couldn't place that ball any better," said Derek's father, Beaverton manager Jeff Keller. Columbus put the game away in the sixth.

Josh Lester's RBI single highlighted a three-run inning and made the score 7-3. Lester also made a nice stab of a liner by Beaverton's Sam Albert to help douse a scoring threat in the first inning, one of several nice defensive plays in the game. With runners at first and second, Albert hit a shot up the middle. But Lester quickly took a couple of steps to his left, made the catch and fell to one knee. Keller said he thinks his son will get over the loss quickly.

"Football starts in three days," the manager said. "When he gets under center and starts throwing the ball around Lamade Stadium. But only Columbus gets to play in the title game Sunday. "I said after the semifinals that everything is gravy," happy Columbus manager Randy Morris said. The Columbus Northern league team looked like it'd be an easy winner at first against Beaverton's Murrayhill league team.

The Georgia fans chanted, "Here we go Southwest, here we go!" as their team returned to the dugout after a three-run first inning. Momentum changed in the fourth. Beaverton's Austin Perry had an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1 before Trevor Nix homered to left. The 13-year-old pumped his fist after watching the ball land over the fence for a two-run shot that tied the game. Beaverton's fortunes changed quickly when Columbus returned to the plate in the fifth Little League Baseball implements new pitch count rule i limits would not change, Keener said.

Those parameters will be released later this year. Before Keener's announcement, Beaverton, manager Jeff Keller, whose team played Columbus, for the U.S. title on Saturday, said he favored using a pitch count. Keller managed in Oregon in the Murrayhill Little League, which tested the pitch count limits this year. He said he was wary of the change at first, but grew to like it.

"The number of kids I see with arm problems, elbow and shoulder injuries, it's alarming." Keller said. On tti Net: Little League Baseball: Yww.littleleague.org 12 years old and younger to six innings per week, and six innings per game. Inning limits increase with age. The new rules would bar 11-and 12-year-old players from throwing more than 85 pitches a day, with limits also varying with age. Rest requirements would change according to the number of pitches thrown.

A pitcher who tosses more than 61 in a game would need three days of rest before returning to the mound, while someone who throws between 41 and 60 pitches would need two days off. There would be slight modifications for tournaments, such as for the Little League World Series, though the pitch count mandatory Sports medicine researchers have said arm injuries in young pitchers have become more prevalent as children work more innings on more teams, are mismanaged by coaches, or aren't properly monitored by parents. Little League president Stephen Keener hopes the change influences other youth baseball organizations. "We can't resolve this issue on our own," Keener said at a news conference Friday, an off day at the Little League World Series. "It will send a strong message and go to great lengths to help with the education of parents and coaches just how serious an issue this can be." Current rules limit pitchers SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.

(AP) Little League Baseball will implement a new pitch-count rule next season, a change organizers hope will reduce wear and tear on youngsters' arms. Starting in 2007, the number of pitches thrown in a game will determine how long that player must rest before returning to the mound. The current system is based on innings pitched. The change, unanimously approved Friday by Little League's board of directors, expands on a test conducted the last two years. Pitch count rules were voluntarily tried out in about 500 of the 6,400 leagues in the United States this past regular season, and the regulations were expected to become Associated Press Oakland Athletics DH Frank Thomas, right, is congratulated by teammate Jay Payton following his two-run homer Wednesday in Toronto..