RE-PETE

One of the questions I ask for the player spotlight that appears on the baseball/softball page every Thursday is what is the player’s favorite pregame meal.

I have gotten some very interesting answers that have made me wonder how these kids go on to the play the game after eating some of this stuff.

Tacos, barbecue, Double Stacker from Burger King, two double cheeseburgers from McDonalds and Rice and Beans are just some of the answers.

Shouldn’t these foods make these athletes sluggish before the game? Almost all of these kids go on the have a good game. If guess if its not hurting them, whose to tell them to stop.

Warriors make their case

I remember talking to McHi coach Eliseo Pompa before the season and him saying how he thought Rowe would be tough.

Before the season started, I think most people believed La Joya, Sharyland, McAllen High and Rio Grande City would represent 30-5A in the playoffs but Rowe holds the final postseason spot, one game ahead of RGC. It will be interesting to see if the Warriors can hold off the Rattlers.

For more on the postseason check out Playoff Chase on rgvsports.com

Check us out

Jason McDaniel and I did a softball/baseball video talking about the playoffs. It will be posted on RGVsports today.

Sharyland had some issues holding a lead Tuesday against McAllen High. The Rattlers also blew a lead against La Joya the first time both teams met and lost.

It got a little dicey for me there late because I had an early deadline. The last McHi-Shary game went 10 innings.

Rattlers coach Barton Bickerton said he thinks his team relaxed Tuesday after it took a 6-0 lead in the fourth.

With the win Sharyland put its hat in the ring for the league championship but its going to take a complete collapse by La Joya if either the Bulldogs or the Rattlers are going to win or even tie for the district title.

La Joya and Sharyland should be ineteresting Friday.

The game was fun. I got to hang out in the McHi press box, which is actually coach Pompa’s office.

While I was there I discovered fajita tacos that might compete with the fajita tacos they sell at Hidalgo football games.

I have written in the past how the Hidalgo fajita tacos are the best I’ve had at a sporting event in the Valley but the tacos at McHi on Tuesday were pretty good.

But the edge has to go to Hidalgo because those tacos come with salsa, which is also good.  I asked for salsa at McHi but all they had were jalapenos.

District 32-4A

This a carzy race. I am not sure who wants it more. Mercedes lost to Valley View on Tuesday, throwing the race for another loop.

Where is the love

When I was blogging during the girls basketball season, I received comments and feedback, although it was not all positive.

Where are all the baseball fans at? I want comments. You can’t tell me girls basketball fans are more passionate. 

Both the Cougars and Bobcats made a lot of mistakes on the bases during Friday’s district game. 

Part of this was good defense, especially on the Bobacts side. Eli De La Garza is a good defensive catcher.

On the Cougars side, Raymond Corkill got caught at first in the third and Randy Ramirez got caught at first in the fourth.

On the Bobcats side, De La Garza tried to go from second to third in the fourth inning on a hit to short and was easily out. Michael Barajas was caught in a rundown in the second inning, Justin Anthony was caught in a rundown in the third inning and Ricky Villarreal was caught in a rundown in the fifth.

It is concerning for Coach Kaz. He said his team has had some mental lapses on the bases lately and something the Bobcats need to work on as the playoffs loom.

Check out Friday’s game story.

District 32-5A

Lopez really hurt itself with the loss to San Benito earlier in the week. They would be in first all alone after beating Porter on Friday. Watch out for the Panthers, they seem to be surging.

Upcoming

Look out for a story on Sharyland’s Andre Rodriguez in Tuesday’s paper.

I just read an e-mail that pointed out that I wrote Centenary College was in Alabama. That’s not a story I want to provide a link to, for obvious reasons.

Jaclyn Lopez, a former Sharyland volleyball standout, will attend Cenetenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana.

I’m a bonehead, I know.

ALEX TREVINO

I have never seen anyone run as fast as that guy. It was carzy watching him run. Everyone knew he was going to win and just stopped or stood up to watch him.

I was doing some research, the fastest time ever recorded for a high school athlete is 10:15. For the 200, I think its 20.94.

He’s a true state contender from Mercedes. 

He’s such a celebrity in Mercedes, my Fiancee’s 8-year-old cousin, who is student of MercedesISD , has asked me about him.

BASEBALL

The Porter-Lopez game will be interesting although Lopez’s loss to San Benito, which had not won a district game, kind of put a damper on the contest.

If Porter wins, it will be at least two games better than anyone else and will probably coast to the district title. Lopez will be in a battle for second place with Weslaco.

I doubt Asthon Kutcher knows the Rio Grande Valley exists but I felt he had to be behind this somehow.

Where are the TV cameras and Kutcher jumping around so that I can say, “This is Peter Rasmussen and I have been Punkd.”

This was not done on purpose but I was taken by surprise.

Last week I wrote a story about Tricia Terry being out for the season with a foot injury.

I showed up to the track meet and started typing in the results from Thursday’s events. As I came across the 3,200-meter results, I noticed the district champ was Tricia Terry.

Apparently the day before the meet, she thought she was good enough to run. It was a decision against doctor’s orders. Terry had to sign a release in order to run.

Terry, who is on crutches, had everyone, including me, surprised.

“I didn’t want this injury to ruin my season,” Terry said.

During the next two weeks she will be training in the pool and Terry hopes to be almost 100 percent by the time the state meet comes around.

STEPHEN SAENZ

Saenz’s 204 feet throw in the discus is the third best in the nation. Last week he also broke the Meet of Champs record in the discus with a throw of 194-4.

Since writing about him last year I have always been under the impression that he enjoyed the shot put more, so its interesting his biggest success is coming in the discus.

About a month ago The Monitor did a story on Sanez. Read it here.

From what I understand the Saenz camp is claming he threw the discus 204-7 not 204-0 but its in the books as the latter.

La Joya 1,600-relay

The Coyotes had already clinched their fourth consecutive district title by the time the 1,600 relay came around but coach Kine Venecia was still excited and running around making sure the relay team won.

LJ wons its sixth consecutive district title in the 1,600.

Venecia said they wanted to win it one last time before LJ spilts up into three schools next year.

A lot of people refer to La Joya pitcher Miguel Pena as Mickey. He has to have the best song when he goes up to bat. The song “Mickey”, which has the famous line “Oh Mickey, you’re so fine/ You’re so fine you blow my mind/ Hey Mickey! Hey Mickey!” plays as he walks to the plate. Funny stuff.

Pena’s stuff on the mound Tuesday against McAllen HIgh was not overly impressive but he was  solid. He only allowed four hits and struck seven in a complete game. The one run McHi did score was unearned.

Because of errors, however, he seemed to be pitching himself out of jams more often than not. It seems to have been a trend this year for the Coyotes. Coyotes coach Reuben Farias said Pena has given up a few unearned runs this year and has had to battle through some innings because of errors. As was the case Tuesday, Pena finds ways out of tough situations.

 ”We are confident eveytime he is in there,” Farias told me after the game. ”We like our chances when he is on the mound.” 

But I’m not hungry

I was trying to interview McHi coach Eliseo Pompa after the game. I caught him on the way to the bus. He didn’t seem too interested in speaking to me and told me he was hungry and asked if I wanted to follow the team bus to where they were going to eat.

I am not sure if he was joking or not but I wasn’t hungry and wasn’t about to follow the bus for a quote.  He would have gotten a ‘no comment’ if that was the case.

All I wanted to ask were two questions. I got my questions off to Pompa, who really did seem like he wanted to get on the bus.