Victorino bids for All-Star berth

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The polls close at 10 a.m., Hawaii time, on Thursday in an election that could put a Maui boy in the major league all-star game for the first time.

But as of last night, Philadelphia center fielder Shane Victorino was still slightly trailing San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval for the 33rd and final berth on the National League roster for next week's game in St. Louis.

The one frustrating aspect of this process is that mlb.com doesn't provide updated numbers. Instead, the website merely reported that Sandoval was narrowly ahead of Victorino for a second straight day.

So fans of Victorino and the Phillies must continue to blindly cast their ballots and hope for the best. You can do your part by going to mlb.com, and voting as many times as possible.

Victorino and Sandoval aided their causes with spectacular efforts on Monday. Shane had four hits, including a homer, to go with four RBI and five runs while Sandoval slugged a grandslam homer to power the Giants to a win.

Neither candidate was as impressive yesterday. Victorino was 1-for-5 in Philly's 4-3 loss to Cincinnati, while Sandoval went 0-for-4 in San Francisco's 3-0 win over Florida.

Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds, Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp and Washington shortstop Cristian Guzman are also on the NL ballot.

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Local boys: Tinoisamoa signs with Bears

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Jobs in the NFL are hard to earn and, as two former University of Hawaii standouts recently found out, even harder to keep.

That was the case with linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who was released after six years by the St. Louis Rams despite leading the team with 104 tackles last season. Pisa wasn't out of work long, recently signing a new deal with the Chicago Bears.

Earlier, Arizona cut defensive end Travis Laboy one season into a five-year, $22 million contract that included a $7.5 million bonus. LaBoy was released despite having 38 tackles and four sacks in 13 games in his only season with the Cardinals after spending three years with Tennessee.

LaBoy, who has been prone to injuries both in college and in the pros, may end up sitting out the coming season after opting to undergo surgery on an ankle. There are indications that, if LaBoy's rehab goes well, there might be spot for him with the Oakland Raiders.

From the gridiron to the diamond:

Shane Victorino had a pair of hits – including a double – and drove in two runs for Philadelphia in yesterday's 5-3 win over San Diego. Victorino has been on a recent tear, lifting his average to .295. His four triples are tied for the National League lead. The win helped Philly maintain its half-game lead over the Mets in the East.

Meantime, Kurt Suzuki went 0-for-4 in Oakland's 6-2 loss to the White Sox, dropping his average to .278.

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St. Anthony football suffers setback

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

You could see in coming in the face of the school's declining enrollment. Finally, and sadly, it did come to pass.

After several years of battling – and barely surviving – the numbers game, St. Anthony has officially announced that it would not be fielding a varsity football team for the coming season.

It will mark the first time the Trojans will not compete on the gridiron since 1943.

The Trojans, however, are planning to create a club team to play 8-man football in hopes of encouraging other small schools -- both in the MIL and around the state -- to do the same.

But that's going to take time and money, of which there seems to be little of in the current economic climate.

With St. Anthony out of the picture, the MIL will play a double round-robin schedule for the coming season, with Baldwin, King Kekaulike and Maui High competing in Division-I and Lahainaluna and Kamehameha-Maui playing in D-II.

FORFEIT: Kealakehe was stripped of its Big Island D-I football title after the Kona-based school self-reported using an ineligible player last season. A Mainland transfer who also had been home-schooled participated as a fifth-year high school student. As a result, Kealakehe's record went from 9-3 to 0-12 and deprived the Warriors of a league title. Kealakehe lost to Farrington in the first round of the state D-I tournament.

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Long-suffering Clippers hit lottery

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Congratulations to the long-suffering Los Angeles Clippers for winning the NBA lottery Tuesday night and earning the right to select Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin, the player overwhelming ranked as the best in this year's draft class.

And condolences to the Sacramento Kings, who despite finishing with a league-worst 17-65 record, still missed out on a player that might have helped return this struggling franchise to its former level of success and relevancy. Despite a 25 percent chance to secure the top pick, Sacramento fell to fourth.

Not since 2004, which Orlando landed Dwight Howard, has the team with the worst record landed the first pick. I guess that's why they call it a lottery.

That's exactly why Jerry West, the former general manager for the Lakers and Grizzlies, blasted the system in 2007, when Memphis also had the best chance to win one of the most anticipated lotteries ever and ended up falling to the fourth pick.

Boston didn't like it much either that night, since they had the second-best shot at Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, and settled for the No. 5 pick. That came 10 years after Boston missed out on Tim Duncan despite the best odds of winning the lottery.

Picking behind the Clippers will be Memphis and Oklahoma City, with Washington getting the fifth selection, followed by Minnesota, Golden State and the Knicks.

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West picks LeBron over Kobe

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Kobe or Lebron? The debate continues to rage over whom is the best player in the NBA.

Jerry West, a Hall of Fame player who as a GM was responsible for engineering a deal that brought Kobe Bryant to LA, weighed in on the question. His response may surprise some – particularly those who are ardent fans of the Lakers.

"I look at Cleveland [and] say to myself, 'How many games could they win without LeBron James?' West said. "That's how great he is. He has a chance to be arguably the greatest player ever to play the game."

West considers Michael Jordan the NBA's all-time greatest player because he was the league's top defensive player and its best offensive player, further noting that James is developing into that type of performer.

"If you look at basketball today, it's not always the big guys that win for you, it's the intermediate-size guys," West said. "[He] can play four positions if you ask him to do so, and his ability to get everyone involved in the game is just remarkable for someone his age. I don't know if there's a better athlete I've ever seen play professional basketball."

"If I had to have somebody make a last-second shot, it would be Kobe Bryant," said West. "But even though it's hard for me to be objective, because I brought Kobe to Los Angeles, I do think LeBron has surpassed Kobe as a player."

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MIL strikes gold in state track

By Fred Guman
ESPN550.com

Living up to expectations is never easy, but a number of MIL athletes rose to the occasion at the state high school track and field championships held over the weekend at Ke'eau High School on the Big Island.

The MIL combined to win eight gold medals – six of them claimed by King Kekaulike. Leading the way were a pair of Na Alii senior classmates and distance runners.

Bailey Massenburg repeated as champion in both the 800 and 1,500 meters in addition to running a leg on the victorious 1,600 relay team. Massenburg, who is also a standout in cross country, claimed six state titles over the past two academic years.

Reid Hunter also won the 800 and set a state record in the 1,500 with a time of 4 minutes, 3.98 seconds.

Yet another Na Alii – Jay-Ar Agabay – registered perhaps the biggest upset of the meet when he won the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 6 inches. His previous best was 6-1.

St. Anthony's Billy Pacheco took top honors in the pole vault.

St. Louis captured the state boy's team title by finishing third in the final race of the meet, the 1,600 relay, to edge out ILH rival Punahou. The Punahou girls won only two individual races but placed in 10 of 16 events to easily win the team title.

VOLLEYBALLL Seabury Hall settled for fourth place in Division-II while Kamehameha-Maui finished sixth in D-I at the stage boy's volleyball tournament.

GOLF: Michelle Wie struggled in the final round, firing a 1-over 73, but still finished in a tie for third place in the Sybase Classic in New Jersey. Wie was 80under for the tournament, trailing winner Ji Young Oh, a 20-year-old from South Korea, by six strokes. Runner-up Suzan Petterson was four back.

UH BASEBALL: The University of Hawaii suffered its second lopsided home loss in as many days to lowly regarded Utah Valley in Sunday's regular-season finale. The 10-2 setback came on the heels of a 12-1 loss on Saturday, dropping UH's record to 31-24 overall going into the WAC tournament that opens Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium. The Wolverines improved to 18-35 for the season.

Thursday's first-round matchups: Nevada versus regular-season champion San Jose State at 11 a.m., followed by New Mexico State versus defending NCAA champ Fresno State at 3, and UH versus second-seeded Louisiana Tech at 7.

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Baldwin reaches softball semifinals

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Baldwin advanced to the semifinals of the state girls Division-I softball tournament with a 3-1 win over Mid-Pacific last night at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

The third-seeded Bears were limited to three hits, but made the most of them by scoring all of their run in the sixth inning to earn a berth opposite second-seeded Roosevelt, a 5-4 winner over Sacred Hearts.

Kamehameha-Maui was knocked out of the D-I tourney following a 4-1 consolation bracket loss to Campbell.

In D-II, fourth-seeded Molokai was the victim of an 11-0, no-hit loss in the quarterfinals to Kaiser. The Farmers face Kalaheo today at 5 p.m. Hana was eliminated in a tie-breaker after playing Kalani to an 8-8 tie.

In boy's volleyball, Baldwin received a rude welcome in its first tourney appearance in 11 years. The Bears were swept – 25-8, 25-14, 25-11 by Kamehameha-Kapalama. The Bears will face Pearl City in a 3 p.m. consolation bracket game today.

The MIL's two champs are in action today. In D-I, fourth-seeded Kamehameha-Maui meets Kamehameha-Hawaii at 5 p.m. Seabury, seeded third in D-II, meets Waipahu at the same time.

Baldwin's Justin Keiley finished sixth and Kamehameha-Maui freshman Aaron Kunimoto seventh in the state golf tourney at the Royal Kaanapali. Iolani's Lorens Chan won with a 143 – four up on Keiley and five ahead of Kunimoto, leading his Raiders to the team title. Baldwin was fifth, 29 strokes behind the champion.

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