HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Grand Junction–Tonight it should be an epic gridiron battle under the lights at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction as the top ranked Rifle Bears battle the 2nd ranked Palisade Bulldogs at 7 o’clock. The winner of tonight’s game will be in the driver’s seat for the Western Slope crown. The game will be broadcast live on KMTS with pre-game coverage beginning at 6:45.
MLB/ROCKIES
DENVER (AP) – Jim Tracy wants a chance to put the pieces back together. The manager of the Colorado Rockies will meet with the team’s director of major league operations Friday to discuss the direction of a club that just completed its worst season ever.
The Rockies’ 98-loss debacle featured a historically awful starting rotation that won just 20 games at Coors Field, a realignment of their front office, a pitching coach who quit midseason, devastating injuries to Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki, among others, and an uncertain future for Tracy. “Ace” acquisition Jeremy Guthrie, who was brought in to eat up innings, went 1-5 and flirted with a 10.00 ERA at Coors Field before being traded to Kansas City for Jonathan Sanchez, who posted an 8.59 ERA at home.
BOSTON (AP) – The Boston Red Sox fired manager Bobby Valentine on Thursday after one season in which he failed to bring order to a clubhouse that disintegrated during the 2011 pennant race.
Valentine finished with a record of 69-93 on a team that was beset by injuries before management gave up on this season and traded some of its best players – and biggest salaries. Without Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett, the Red Sox will save $250 million in future salaries and have a chance to rebuild over the winter.
But that will be too late for Valentine. The veteran coach who won the NL pennant with the New York Mets and won it all in Japan, Valentine was brought in after two-time World Series champion Terry Francona lost control of the clubhouse in 2011 during an unprecedented September collapse. But the players who had been coddled under Francona bristled under Valentine’s abrasive style and, more importantly, didn’t win for him, either.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – Baseball fans across the nation are saluting Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera today as the first man in 45 years to hit for the Triple Crown. He finished first in average, home runs and runs batted in the American League and joins such stars as Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig as having won a Triple Crown.
UNDATED (AP) – Baseball’s second season starts tomorrow with the Wild Card games. The American League contest has Baltimore playing at Texas, while in the National circuit the Braves are hosting the Cardinals.
UNDATED (AP) – In case you missed it last night, New York and Oakland won the remaining divisional titles in baseball. The Yankees finished two games up on Baltimore in the American League East, while the Athletics beat the Rangers to finish a game up on Texas in the AL West.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – In a top-25 college football game tonight 13th-ranked Southern California is playing at Utah. This marks the first meeting of these schools in Salt Lake City in 95 years.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The NFL game this evening is taking place in St. Louis as the Rams play host to Arizona. The visiting Cardinals are 4-0 on the season while the Rams are 2-2.
