August 2013 – Page 68 – North Platte Post Archive

Harvey Gets 1st Career Shutout, Mets Beat Rockies

Posted on August 7, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Harvey bounced back from a rare loss with his first career shutout — not before giving everyone a scare — and the Mets top position prospect Wilmer Flores drove in his first big league runs with a three-run double, leading the New York Mets to a 5-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.

Harvey (9-3) gave up four hits in his 33rd career start. He pitched nine innings of one-hit ball on May 7 but New York lost in 10.

Not this time. The rookie third baseman helped make sure of that.

Filling in for injured David Wright, Flores cleared the bases in the eighth against Manny Corpas. Omar Quintanilla and John Buck each had RBI singles off Jhoulys Chacin (10-6), who lost for just the third time in his last 11 starts.

Woods Readies for PGA

Posted on August 7, 2013

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Golfers are making final preparations for the last major of the year. The PGA Championship begins tomorrow at Oak Hill in suburban Rochester, N.Y., with a number of interesting story lines. Not the least of which is Tiger Woods’ resurgence with five wins this year. He’s trying to break a five-year-plus winless drought in the majors.

Phil Mickelson is also drawing interest after capturing the British Open two weeks ago, following a win the previous week in the Scottish Open.

The defending champ is Rory McIlroy, whose game has fallen into disarray following his victory at Kiawah Island last year.

This is the third time Oak Hill has hosted PGA Championship. It’s also staged three U.S. Opens and a Ryder Cup.

Rockies OF Gonzalez Put on DL with Sprained Finger

Posted on August 7, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Gonzalez has been placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Colorado Rockies because the All-Star left fielder has seen little improvement in his sprained right middle finger.

The move was made Wednesday and is retroactive to Monday. To fill the roster spot, Jeff Francis was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs. He will work out of the bullpen.

Gonzalez has been bothered by the finger since hurting it during an at-bat July 7. He has started only one of Colorado’s five games this month.

Manager Walt Weiss said the Rockies tried to avoid the move as long as they could, but Gonzalez has aggravated the injury several times swinging the bat.

Gonzalez leads the NL with a .591 slugging percentage and is second with 26 homers.

Royals Send Smith Down to Make Room for Duffy

Posted on August 7, 2013

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have optioned left-hander Will Smith to Triple-A Omaha to make room for Danny Duffy to start Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins.

Smith is 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA in seven games. He struck out five in three perfect relief innings in Tuesday night’s 7-0 loss to Minnesota.

Duffy was making his first major league start since May 13, 2012, at Chicago. He left after facing only three batters due to an elbow injury and underwent Tommy John surgery in June.

Union Files Appeal of Rodriguez’s Suspension

Posted on August 7, 2013

CHICAGO (AP) — The Major League Baseball Players Association has formally appealed Alex Rodriguez’s 211-game suspension.

The New York Yankees slugger was suspended through the 2014 season on Monday when the league penalized 13 players following an investigation into Biogenesis of America, a shuttled Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs.

The other 12 players accepted 50-game suspensions, but Rodriguez said he planned to fight. Union head Michael Weiner said the punishment for the third baseman was “way out of line.”

Rodriguez is allowed to keep playing until Wednesday’s grievance is heard by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, who isn’t expected to rule until November or December at the earliest.

The Yankees were slated to play the White Sox in Chicago on Wednesday night.

FBI Reopens 40-Year-Old Kidnapping Case

Posted on August 7, 2013

(AP) — The FBI has reopened its investigation of the 1964 kidnapping from a Chicago hospital of an infant who was seemingly reunited with his parents more than a year later.

That’s what everyone thought until that boy — now a 49-year-old Henderson, Nev., college administrator — got his and his parents’ DNA tested this year. Paul Fronczak says the tests showed he’s not his parents’ biological son.

Fronczak told the Chicago Sun-Times in June they got their DNA tested because he long wondered why he didn’t resemble his parents, Chester and Dora Fronczak.

The couple’s son was abducted from Michael Reese Hospital. The case seemed to end happily when they were reunited with a boy resembling theirs who was found abandoned in New Jersey.

The case was reopened Wednesday.

August Named Parental Involvement Month in Nebraska

Posted on August 7, 2013

(AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman and first lady Sally Ganem are promoting a movement to get parents more involved in their children’s education, with the Republican governor proclaiming August as “Parental Involvement in Education Month” in Nebraska.

Ganem, a former elementary school principal, joined Heineman for a news conference Wednesday in Lincoln to encourage parents to do such things as read to their children, set high academic expectations for them and meet with teachers.

They also highlighted the work of the Nebraska Community Learning Center Network, a statewide public-private partnership that promotes school-community collaborations.

The network will present activities at this month’s Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island focused on the application of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM courses.

Honor Flights for Korean War Vets Not Attracting Money

Posted on August 7, 2013

(AP) — Seats and flights are being limited for Korean War veterans who want to take a free, one-day tour of military memorials in the nation’s capital.

Bill and Evonne Williams organized the Heartland Honor Flights that carried more than 1,500 World War II vets to Washington, D.C., but financial support for the Korean War vets hasn’t been forthcoming.

The Williamses said more than 500 vets have applied for seats when there may be only 125 and just one plane. So far they’ve collected only about $10,000 in donations. They had raised $1.2 million for the seven flights taken by World War II vets in 2008 and 2009.

The Williamses will be screening the Korean War vets to select the most deserving among them.

City of Alliance Takes Ownership of Carhenge

Posted on August 7, 2013

(AP) — The City Council in the Nebraska Panhandle city of Alliance has accepted an unusual gift: control of Carhenge, the state’s junk-car tribute to Stonehenge in England.

The council voted Tuesday night to accept the structure and its 10-acre site, which includes a parking lot, picnic tables and gift shop.

Carhenge was built in 1987 by Jim Reinders and several relatives as a memorial to his father. It sits on land the family once farmed two miles north of Alliance. A few years later Reinders donated Carhenge to a nonprofit group, Friends of Carhenge, which will be turning over control to the city in October.

The monument is composed of 38 automobiles planted or otherwise arranged to resemble Stonehenge. The site attracts an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 visitors a year.

Nebraska Raises Number of Stomach Bug Cases to 86

Posted on August 7, 2013

(AP) — Nebraska has raised the number of confirmed cyclospora cases in the state to 86.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says eight cases have been confirmed since July 30, when 78 were listed.

The infections started in June, and officials say none of those identified lately is believed to be from a new outbreak.

The stomach illnesses in Iowa and Nebraska have been linked to salad mix served at local Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants and supplied by a Mexican farm.

Iowa said last week that it had 146 confirmed cases, but a new figure is expected to be released Thursday.

Officials say the outbreak of cyclospora infections numbers nearly 470 people in 16 states. The illness comes from fecal contamination and causes diarrhea and other symptoms.