Former Arizona great Francona gets his shot at ALCS

Terry Francona, the manager of the Cleveland Indians and the former University of Arizona star who led the Wildcats to the College World Series title in 1980, is heading to the American League Championship Series.

The Indians sweep the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, winning their third game in a row over the Red Sox with a 4-3 win tonight in Boston. Cleveland will face Toronto in the ALCS. The Blue Jays also dominated their series -- winning three in a row over the Texas Rangers.

Congrats, to Francona and the Cleveland Indians.

Utes slip by Wildcats

Arizona Wildcats Football


It's a tough time for the Arizona Wildcats.

Arizona loses to Utah 36-23 in Salt Lake City tonight to fall to 2-4 and 0-3 in the Pac-12 Conference.

Brandon Dawkins tossed a 75-yard TD pass to Shun Brown on the first play from scrimmage and scored on a 6-yard run in the second quarter before leaving the game, still hampered with a rib injury. The Wildcats added a field goal with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter and completed their scoring with 4:14 left in the game when Khalil Tate connected with Samajie Grant on a 63-yard TD pass.

And that was it for Arizona -- a team in search of a running back. The Wildcats are down to their fourth and fifth running backs -- Zach Green and Tyrell Johnson, who combined for just 45 yards.

Up next: USC at Arizona Stadium, next Saturday.

Steele has a 5-RBI day

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Mike Steele went 4 for 5, scored twice and knocked in five runs as Team Blue beat Team White 11-5 at Udall Park today in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

Bob Daliege started the game and picked up the win, while lefty Dennis Crowley was saddled with the loss.

The TOTS will be back in action at Udall on Monday with a 9 a.m. start.

Photo: Mike Steele

Dramatic MLB Wild-Card games in the books

MLB Playoffs

Wild Card Games


The MLB Wild-Card games are in the books as Toronto beats Baltimore in 11 innings 5-2 on Tuesday night and the San Francisco Giants win in New York tonight over the Mets, 3-0.

Both games end up with game-winning three-run homers -- Edwin Encarnacion with a dinger for Toronto and Conor Gillaspie with a blast in the top of the ninth to silence the New York fans.

The playoffs are down to eight teams.

Next up: The AL and NL division series

Toronto vs. Texas

Boston vs. Cleveland

San Francisco vs. Chicago Cubs

LA Dodgers vs. Washington

Thompson, Tolson top hitters for TOTS in September

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Doc Thompson and Tim Tolson ended up at the top of the batting statistics in September for the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers baseball club.

Thompson played in all seven games for the month  (four rain outs in September) and led the club in hits with 13. He batted .619 (13 for 21) and finished second in RBI with seven, while Tolson batted a hefty .625 (10 for 16).

Other top hitters included Reed Palmer (7 for 15, a .467 average and the only home run for the month), Lloyd Barzell (11 for 21, a .524 average), Dennis Crowley (8 for 14, a .571 average, including the most runs scored with six) and Bob Daliege (7 for 13, a .538 average).

Once again it was 91-year-old Floyd Lance, who led the 80-and-over somethings with a .250 average (3 for 12 in seven games to go along with five walks and one run batted in).

The TOTS got off to a good start in October with a 3-1 game on Monday (Oct. 3), won by Team Blue. Three Team Blue players -- Reed Palmer, Pigpen Price and Leon Glasshoffer knocked in runs, while Ron Carlson provided the only RBI for Team White.

The TOTS will be back in action on Wednesday (Oct. 5) and Friday (Oct. 7) at Udall Park. Also, the MSBL World Series bound 65-and-over Tucson Aces will hold a practice at Udall on Thursday (Oct. 6). The TOTS games will get underway at 9 a.m. The Aces' practice will get underway at 8 a.m.

Diamondbacks avoid the NL West cellar

Arizona Diamondbacks


The Arizona Diamondbacks avoid the National League West cellar with a sweep of the San Diego Padres at Chase Field -- winning the final game of the season today 3-2 on a walk-off single by Phil Gosselin.

Arizona finishes the year with a 69-93 record.

Paul Goldschmidt finishes the year as the top RBI-man with 95, edging out Jake Lamb, who ended the season with 91 runs-batted-in.  Jean Segura finished the year with a .319 batting average and 203 hits, while Yasmany Tomas ended the season with 31 home runs to lead the Diamondbacks.

Wounded Wildcats fall to 2-3 after loss to UCLA

Arizona Wildcats Football


Enter a redshirt freshman quarterback named Khalil Tate.

What other choices are there for Arizona football coach Rich Rodriquez?

Arizona loses at UCLA last night 45-24. Two of the scores by Arizona came from Tate, who was suddenly told to snap on his helmet in the second half and enter the field of play out in Pasadena, California, at the Rose Bowl.

On the Arizona injury list are quarterbacks Anu Solomon, Brandon Dawkins, along with a walk-on named Zach Werlinger, who threw five incomplete passes before Rodriquez turned to Tate, who answered the call with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.

What happens next week? Who knows?

Arizona falls to 2-3 and 0-2 in the the Pac-12 South with seven grueling conference games to go.