0 Thursday April 8, 2004 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com POR TSt at a ig 8A 'M' Nine soar past Eagles in ate outburst 'By Ryan $*sin Daily Sports Writer Michigan sophomore third baseman A.J. Schei- dt emerged from the dust cloud at third base showing the ball he stabbed out of the air to keep the score tied at one in the top ESEM., H. t of the seventh inning. M61H4GAN15 "That changed the momen- tum of the game right there," senior designated hitter Brandon Roberts said. "For him to make that play is unbelievable. It's a big lift for the pitchers and a big lift for the rest of the team." As the fans stretched and the attitude in the Michigan dugout became electric, the clouds 'opened and the sun shined down on The Fish in a 5-1 win for the Wolverines. Roberts stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning riding "a little adrenaline and emotion" to face Eastern Michigan's Will Stew- ardson, who was working on a no-hitter. Roberts got all of one pitch, drilling it over the right field fence. "When you catch it good, you know it's going out," Roberts said. The home run marked his first long ball of the season and Michigan's first lead of the game, 2-1. "After Brandon Roberts hit that bomb, that was huge," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "It seemed like it relaxed us." . The Wolverines collected all five of their total hits after Scheidt's play, putting up two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Michigan threatened earlier in the game, put- ting a man into scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth inning. The Wolverines also got the leadoff man aboard in innings one, three and four, but none off hits. The Wolverines failed to capitalize until the How 'bout this fantasy? Shut up about baseball JA QV( : urLn, ny Sophomore third baseman A.J. Scheidt's diving stop on a line-drive in the seventh inning helped spark the Wolverines yesterday. Brandon Roberts opened the following inning with a home run to put the Wolverines in the lead. fourth inning when a hit batsman, walk and pop- out set the table for Roberts. He delivered a sacri- fice fly to centerfield, scoring junior Kyle Bohm from third. The Wolverines notched that run, despite a zero in the hits column. While the Wolverines were kept from hitting, the entire lineup was making contact, as none of the Michigan batters struck out. "I thought we've been hitting pretty well, even this weekend," Maloney said. "(Eastern Michi- gan's) pitcher did an outstanding job, and some- times you just have to tip your hat to them." Freshman pitcher Derek Feldkamp, a part of Michigan's starting rotation, came in a relief role to end the eighth. "He had to throw a bullpen (session) one day' this week, so this was just like his bullpen," Mal- oney said. "We want to win the game - I guess he was the right guy." Feldkamp set down all four batters he faced, earning his third save. Despite the appearance in relief, he will get his regular start this weekend against Iowa. The win improves Michigan's record to 12-11 on the season, but was also the 298th victory of Maloney's career. Maloney now sports a 42-38 record for the Wolverines since coming from Ball State. DANIEL BREMMER Garden State of Mind S's official: I can't stand fantasy baseball, and the psycho owners of these teams drive me crazy. In the past, I never really had a prob- lem with it. I was in a few leagues in high school but never really cared - maybe that's why I can't imagine how anyone could go so crazy over these players and their stats. But the whole process never really bothered me. I started thinking even more about fantasy baseball when I read Naweed Sikora's column about this pastime in Monday's Michigan Daily. Then, on Tuesday, I had a revelation. During a sports section meeting at the Daily, I brought my laptop to try and get some work done. To my disbelief, I wit- nessed three of my colleagues pulling Clark Kent-esque transformations from sports editors to crazed fantasy-baseball lunatics. These guys surrounded my laptop - keep in mind, my laptop has a small 12- inch screen - watching Yahoo's stat tracker, huddled around the display closer together than Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in "Stuck on You." I'm telling you, it would've been easier to pry Shawn Kemp away from a platter of free cupcakes than get these guys away from my computer. And all this for what? To see how many strikeouts Mike Maroth had pitched through five innings? I started thinking about these crazy fantasy baseball owners in general, and only one thought popped into my head: What the hell is wrong with you people? You sit at the computer for hours to watch a meaningless Yahoo pop-up window like it's the Paris Hilton video. You think nothing is more important than how a scrub like David Bell did from the plate that night. You jump up and down when a player from a team you hate hits a homer and you scream in agony when a guy you don't even like gets injured. . But worst of all, you annoy the hell out of me while doing it. These mind- less drones make this "game" more annoying than a Backstreet Boys song. Let's get this straight: It's not the common, silent, 'I-check-my-team- once-a-week' kind of fantasy managers who get on my nerves. It's the crazy, obsessed, I'd-rather-see-my-fantasy- catcher-hit-a-homer-than-Michigan- win-a-national-championship'-style people who make me want to bang my head against a wall. Even Naweed - whose column on Monday made fantasy baseball sound so good it should have ran on Yahoo's website - would probably agree that these over-the-top fantasy baseball man- agers get on his nerves, too. I have no problem with other fantasy sports. I'll even admit that fantasy drafts, baseball included, are a good time. And I can see why someone could get into a different sport if it were short- er. Spending 17 days a year - even somewhere in the 30s if you count Monday nights - watching a football stat tracker seems fairly normal com- pared with the 162-day grind of the baseball season. I've been in fantasy basketball leagues, and I admit it's fun, but only because I could get away with checking my team once a week at most. Fantasy baseball is different because of the length of the season. This eternal sandlot session makes some of these guys nuts. These "managers" think that their fantasy prominence means that they are the next Brian Cashman or Billy Beane. Great thinking: Beating nine of your hung-over buddies in a meaningless league is just as impressive as winning a real-life World Series, maybe even more so. Baseball is statistically driven - probably more than other sports - so I understand why fantasy baseball man- agers are into home runs and ERA But some of these fantasy studs are so obsessed with some of the most obscure stats there are. WHIP? (Before I go any further, let me explain: WHIP equals Walks plus Nits, divided by Innings Pitched, something that any fantasy baseball veteran will tell you). I can't help but think that, if it wasn't for fantasy baseball, WHIP would be as ridiculous as one of SportsCenter's "he's hitting .358 against left-handed pitchers whose names start with vow- els in ballparks that serve light beer on Tuesdays" stats. In my quest to understand why peo- ple get so involved in the fantasy base- ball season, I talked to my friend Jon, who said that the best thing about fanta- sy baseball is the chance to "learn about random players you've never heard of." With all due respect to guys like Karim Garcia, there are members of his own family who don't know (or care) as much about his stats as some of these fantasy gurus. See BREMMER, Page 9A I Competon at several positions higlihtsfialspring practice By Ian Herbert Saturday except for the first one. last year's Rose Bowl. Redshirt soph- .DailySports Writer "So we've had the advanta2e of nmore Matt Gutierrez is the favorite X79 61 VJS NOTE getting It's the time of year when sports to the n fans around the country are ripping up the kic their NCAA brackets and sorting ers enj through pages of stats trying to decide point,] whether to start Eric Chavez or spring." Melvin Mora at third for their fantasy Ever baseball teams. going t But it's also the time when football gan's sc coaches around the country get bom- yards m barded with questions about quarter- back controversies, injuries and new recruits -time for the spring football scrimmage, better known as the Spring Game. The Michigan football team has been practicing since March 13, but its spring practices end this weekend. The final spring practice will be this Saturday at Michigan Stadium and is open to the public. Coach Lloyd Carr said that the format has not been decided yet, but said that there will be some game-type situations. "We are not going to divide the , team up because we just don't have enough guys to do it," Carr said. "Hopefully we will be able to give everybody the game-type experience that is always so much fun and really the most important thing to take out of the last practice. We'll have 25,000 people there and it's a great opportu- nity for young players, in particular, to get exposure." Carr said that, up to this point, the spring practices have been going remarkably well, especially over the last two weeks. He added that almost all of the players have improved, and he credited that improvement, in part, to the football stadium's new turf. "We have been outside more than any year since 1990, when we went to grass in the stadium," Carr said. "We Running have gotten into the stadium every this sprii the michigan daily great film outside as opposed ot-ideal inside. Plus, (it helps) king game. So I think the play- oy it a lot more. From that I think it's been a very good yone wants to know who is o replace John Navarre, Michi- chool-record holder in passing who helped lead Michigan to for the position and has impressed Carr. "Matt (Gutierrez) has had a really good spring," Carr said. "He runs the football team like a veteran guy. He's just one of those guys who's a great competitor. All the things I have said about him in the past are true. He really is a take-charge kind of guy in See SPRING, Page 10A Carney becomes most recent player to leave women's hoops Just two weeks ago, three mem- bers of the Michigan women's bas- ketball team - sophomores Niki Reams, Mie Burlin and Lauren Andrews - asked for and were given permission to leave the pro- gram. Now point guard Rachael Car- ney, also a sophomore, has announced her departure from the team. "Rachael has made the decision not to return to Michigan women's basketball, and we respect that deci- sion and wish her well in future endeavors," Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett said in a released statement to The Michigan Daily yesterday. As a freshman under former coach Sue Guevara, Carney received the co-Most Improved Award and started 15 of the 27 games she played in. This season - like Andrews and Burlin - Carney saw her playing time drop after the arrival of first- year coach Burnett and her staff. Carney didn't start this season and averaged 12.1 minutes per game - down from 16.6 her freshman year. Carney could not be reached for comment. She has yet to announce whether she will transfer to another basketball program next year. With Carney gone, just five mem- bers of this year's team remain and just four recruits have signed letters of intent to join Michigan's program next season. But Burnett continues to stay positive. "We remain committed to building a solid foundation for our program and look forward to what the future holds for women's basketball at Michigan," Burnett said in her released statement. Burnett refused to comment beyond the released statement. - Ellen McGarrity a 4 back Pierre Rembert, a rising Junior, hasn't impressed coach Lloyd Carr so far ng. Said Can. "I would say that he has not had a great spring." ROOMMATE FINDER SERVICE! FREE! Let us help you find your perfect match. 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