July 2009 Archives

Hiroki Kuroda swivels to face Rick Honeycutt as the Dodgers pitching coach slides a seat in front of his opening day starter's locker. Catcher Russell Martin pulls up a chair and they're set to launch into a pre-game assessment of the scouting report.

But while fashioning Kuroda's plan of attack, neither Honeycutt nor Martin even glance in the pitcher's direction. Kuroda, in turn, directs his focus elsewhere.

Doing most of the talking - and all the communicating - every fifth day for 162 games is Kenji Nimura, a 37-year-old who hasn't played baseball since he was a teenager living in West L.A.

"You just have to trust him," Martin said, "that he's saying everything right."

Inland Empire football should not only be proud it showed out in a 35-27 win over counterparts from L.A. County in the Southern California Fiesta Bowl on Saturday, it should be proud of the conversations going on around in L.A. County before the two All-Star teams set foot on the field.

L.A. Roosevelt High School football coach Javier Cid, coach of the L.A. County team, called the I.E. a "hotbed of football." He spoke of how his team just didn't have the selection of athletes available in the I.E. He labeled his team underdogs before it even took the field.

The I.E. proved him right. It clearly outclassed L.A. County across the board. Had Palmdale QB Brandon Mims, who will play at Iowa State next season, not been a member of the L.A. County team, the scored would have been much more lopsided. Granted there were only a handful of Division-I college players among the 129 graduated high school seniors (so, take this representation for what its worth - on both sides) but within this sample, the I.E. had the better crop.

Here are some stats from the game:
Total yards: I.E. 301 (rushing 247, passing 54), L.A. 264 (rushing 107, passing 157)

RUSHING
I.E. - A.J. Johnson (Chino Hills) 15-105, Jonathan Norton (Moreno Valley) 8-62 2TD, Lyle Negron (Vista Murrieta) 7-54 TD.
L.A. - Brandon Mims (Palmdale) 9-89

PASSING
I.E. - Negron 3-for-3 14 yards TD, Eric Johnson (Bloomington) 3-for-4 40 yards.
L.A. - Mims 5-for-8 83 yards TD, INT.

RECEIVING
I.E. - Alex Jefferies (Eisenhower) 4-48 TD.
L.A. - Dayvon Ross (Manual Arts) 3-77 TD.

Kaiser High School senior-to-be Anthony Brown verbally committed on Thursday to play football at USC.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back/cornerback received an offer from USC after attending its football camp two weeks prior to committing. Brown, who doesn't know if he will play running back or cornerback in college, also had scholarship offers from Nebraska, Colorado, UTEP and San Diego State.

"He's always been impressed with USC," Kaiser coach Phil Zelaya said. "He decided he wanted to go there and compete with the best."

Brown rushed for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns his junior season, helping Kaiser to a playoff appearance. He has started at running back for two seasons and started both ways as a junior.

"They offered him as an athlete," Zelaya said. "He isn't too concerned with where he'll play, he just wants the chance to compete."