Baseball Design

INSIDE TODAY:

ROYALS LOSE

We welcome your comments and suggestions Call Sports Editor Greg Bowers: 573-882-5729 or send e-mail to: [email protected] or fax us: 573-882-5702 Visit us on the Web: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com/sports

Justin Verlander’s pitching overwhelms Kansas City in their game against Detroit. Page 3B

SECTION B, Tuesday, May 26, 2009

“You come to Missouri, and you come to win a Big 12 tournament title. Not being able to participate in that was nerve racking at times.” Trevor Coleman MU Catcher

The Associated Press

Carl Edwards, right, and Jimmie Johnson look out from pit road during a delay in the NASCAR CocaCola 600 on Monday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Edwards finished fourth.

Reutimann takes rain delayed race Missourian File Photo

Missouri catcher Trevor Coleman returns to the dugout after batting against Oklahoma State on April 6. Coleman had two surgical pins removed from his hand last Thursday and hopes to return to the team on Friday for the NCAA tournament.

Coleman set for comeback Sidelined by an injured hand, the catcher hopes to be able to return and help the Tigers in the NCAA tournament By ANDREW DEWITT

[email protected] For Missouri catcher Trevor Coleman, the hardest thing about missing the past three weeks with a broken throwing hand was watching the Tigers lose to Texas in Sunday’s Big 12 title game. “You come to Missouri, and you come to win a Big 12 tournament title,” Coleman said. “Not being able to participate in that was nerve racking at times.” Coleman hopes to return at 3 p.m. on Friday when Missouri, a No. 2 seed, plays Western Kentucky in the first round of Texas the NCAA regional in Oxford, MissisMissouri sippi. Coleman seems confident that he can return to the starting lineup. “Hopefully, I’ll be ready for Friday,” Coleman said. “That’s the goal.” Coleman had two pins surgically removed from the injured hand last Thursday and immediately started trying to get his arm back in shape. Coleman plans to test out his arm, his swing and catching abilities in a scrimmage today. “Throwing is a concern, but I think hitting is the biggest concern,” Coleman said. While backup Ryan Ampleman has done a good job replacing Coleman, coach Tim Jamieson said Coleman handles the pitching staff in a completely different way than Ampleman and that’s to the Tigers advantage to have on the field when the NCAA tournament starts. “Trevor has been around the block, and he’s also caught in two regionals,” Jamieson said. “We need him to be on the field to give us our best chance of winning.”

Jamieson also hopes that Coleman can jump start a lineup that only had four hits each in its final three Big 12 tournament games. “When we were playing our best baseball, the offense was really clicking and then Trevor got hurt,” Jamieson said. “(Ampleman) did a great job and we managed to win games, but we weren’t playing as well as we were before Trevor got hurt.” Jamieson said he doesn’t know a whole lot about the Hilltoppers other than what he remembers from his days play12 ing baseball at the University of New Orleans. 7 “I know I hit a home run against them in 1980 in a regional,” Jamieson said. This year Western Kentucky won the Sun Belt conference regular season title, going 39-18 in the regular season. As of Monday morning, Jamieson hadn’t made a decision whether to throw ace Kyle Gibson on Friday or to save him for a potential matchup with top-seeded Ole Miss on Saturday. In last year’s regional, Missouri played Ole Miss twice. The Tigers beat them 5-0 in the first game thanks to a shutout by pitcher Aaron Crow. But the Rebels later eliminated Missouri with a 9-6 win. Mississippi shared the regular season SEC crown with LSU but was eliminated from the SEC tournament after losing both of its games. The other team in the regional, Monmouth (3223), finished fourth in the Northeast conference regular season but won the conference tournament this past weekend to earn the conference’s only bid.

Baseball

Indianapolis 500

Castroneves revels in controlling his own destiny INDIANAPOLIS — This wasn’t just a race, it was vindication. Helio Castroneves crossed the finish line Sunday beneath an overcast sky at the Indianapolis 500, then loosed enough tears to float his race car another 500 miles down the road. He cried because a third win gained him entry into a charmed circle of champions, only nine of whom have been lucky and courageous enough to capture that many in the 93 times the race has been run. And he cried because the crushing weight of a threemonth legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service was finally, unmistakably in his rearview mirror. But mostly, Castroneves cried because his fate once again rested in his own two hands. “You guys don’t understand,”

Castroneves roared the middle while from the winner’s ironing out a gearcircle as a 250,000box problem, then strong crowd roared saw his opportunity JIM LITKE back just as loudly. and grabbed it by the The Associated Press “You guys kept me throat. Then just like strong.” Rick Mears, one of A lesser man might have been three four-time Indy 500 champibroken by what Castroneves went ons that Castroneves will train his through. sights on next, he deployed smarts In March, he was standing trial and patience to choke every last for federal income tax evasion and bit of drama out of the race. looking at six years in prison. He The resemblance is hardly coinwas acquitted, but the final charge cidental. Owner Roger Penske against him wasn’t dropped until gave both men their shot at the Friday, two days before the bigbig time and won their loyalty gest event in his sport. Compared forever. He stood by Castroneves to that ordeal, the race could not throughout his fight with the IRS have seemed all that taxing. and keeps Mears on the payroll as Castroneves grabbed the lead a driving coach and consultant. coming out of a restart with 17 To no one’s surprise, the two drivlaps to go and never faced a serious ers found common ground and challenge after that. He started on became fast friends. the pole, played it safe through “He’s always taken to this place

COMMENT

like a duck takes to water,” Mears said. “He’s a competitor, but he’s a big picture guy also. And that’s what it takes ... around this place. He’s very good, and what I mean by that is that he rarely puts a wheel wrong around here. He makes very few mistakes.” Both men are masterful in the maelstrom of a race, sifting through clues swirling around them at 220 mph and collecting just enough pieces to solve a tough puzzle. Yet Mears conceded he couldn’t imagine the emotions Castroneves worked through in the quiet moments away from the racetrack, nor the joy he must have felt coming down the home straightaway in front this time. “I know he was just glad to be here. But to have everything fall into place like it did,” Mears said, Please see INDY, page 2B

Weather ended the Coca-Cola 600 about halfway through. By JENNA FRYER

The Associated Press CONCORD, N.C. — It took 75 races and three rain delays for David Reutimann to earn his first Sprint Cup Series victory. When a fluke finally put him in position for a win in Monday’s rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600, the journeyman driver nervously paced around his car on pit road at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Two hours later, he was declared the winner of one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events when the race was stopped once and for all. “It wasn’t the prettiest win, but somebody has to win,” he said. “When you envision yourself winning your first Sprint Cup race, you envision it different. But it’s so hard to win these deals, we’ll take it any way we can.” Reutimann didn’t lead a single lap under green-flag racing. He had a mid-pack car as teams jockeyed for position just past the halfway point of the gloomy race, which was washed out on Sunday and carried over to Monday for the first Memorial Day running in its 50-year history. Because the radar showed a long night of intermittent showers, no one believed the longest race

Please see NASCAR, page 2B

Cardinals lose in tight pitching battle By COLIN FLY

The Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Bill Hall sprinted off the field after his two-out, game-winning hit in the 10th inning, barely pausing to slap manager Ken Macha’s hand. Hall wanted to savor the Milwaukee Brewers’ 1-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday privately. No matter. On the field or in the clubhouse, in St. Louis or Miller Park, the Brewers are getting used to celebrating wherever they want against their NL Central rivals. Hall snapped a 1-for-28 slump with his RBI single and lifted Milwaukee to its 11th win in the last 12 over the Cardinals, who’ve said they don’t like the young Brewers’ 0 brash attitudes and penchant Cardinals Brewers 1 for public celebrations. “I got the big hit, everybody just came into the clubhouse and we celebrated in here. Just having fun with ourselves,” Hall insisted. “We care about each other in here.” Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter took a perfect game into the seventh inning, and the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo carried a no-hitter into the sixth before each finished allowing just two hits over eight innings. Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth and Carlos Villanueva (2-3) the 10th for the Brewers, setting up Hall’s dramatics off St. Louis’ Kyle McClellan (2-2). Casey McGehee reached on an error by third baseman Brian Barden to lead off the 10th for the Brewers. “It wasn’t a tough play,” Barden said. “It just didn’t go in my glove. That’s all I can say.” Prince Fielder was intentionally walked one out later and retired at second on Mike Cameron’s fielder’s choice. It appeared that the Cardinals might have been able to turn two on Cameron’s grounder, but

Baseball

Please see Cardinals, page 2B