ScotSports.com Blog

In 2008-09, the first year of the state-mandated random testing, the UIL spent $6 million to test 45,193 student-athletes and found 19 testing positive. If we double that figure to represent the second year, that's $12 million for what, at most, is three dozen positive tests. That's $333,333 to find one positive test. Whew. That possibly represents three dozen lives saved, but oh that cost.

Breakdown of tests conducted by sport:

A multi-sport athlete will be represented more than once in this list. Therefore, the individual sport numbers will differ from the total number of athletes tested.
Baseball: 148
Male basketball: 176
Male cross country: 41
Football: 590
Male golf: 40
Male soccer: 209
Male swimming: 29
Male tennis: 77
Male track & field: 59
Male wrestling: 56
Male multi-sport: 682
Total Male: 2,107

Female basketball: 105
Female cross county: 20
Female golf: 29
Female soccer: 166
Female softball: 143
Female swimming: 40
Female tennis: 87
Female track & field: 81
Female volleyball: 123
Female multi-sport: 405
Total Females: 1,199

(Taken from MLB.com)
LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw dropped the appeal of his five-game suspension Monday and will begin serving it Tuesday, when the Dodgers open a three-game series in San Diego.

Kershaw will be eligible to make his next start Sunday in San Francisco. In his last start, on Sunday, Kershaw made 112 pitches over eight shutout innings, so the two extra days of rest figure to help freshen his 22-year-old arm. He had been scheduled to start Saturday due to the Dodgers' day off on Monday.

Kershaw was handed the suspension and undisclosed fine for, according to MLB vice president Bob Watson, "intentionally throwing at" San Francisco's Aaron Rowand with a pitch in the seventh inning Tuesday night. Kershaw received an automatic ejection from home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson, who had warned both benches after Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp was hit by a pitch from Tim Lincecum. No action was taken against Lincecum. 

Ex-HP pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitched one of his finest outings of the season in his longest stay on the mound this season. Kershaw got his 10th win of the season against only five losses by holding off the New York Mets in a 1-0 win Sunday night. He also maintained his earned-run average under three at 2.96.

Kershaw was able to start for the Dodgers while appealing his five-game suspension from the MLB office stemming from two hit batsmen in Tuesday's loss to the Giants.  He should know the results of his appeal later this week.

Kershaw, 21, gave up seven hits and had struck out only three, but had a two-hitter going through seven innings. The Dodgers' defense helped by not allowing a runner to reach third base in his eight innings on the mound. Kenley Jansen came on in relief and retired the Mets in order in the ninth. 

Should Kershaw's suspension be lifted, his next scheduled start would likely be Saturday in San Francisco in an interesting rematch of last Tuesday's game that started it all.

OK, I know we just cover news and events relevant to HPISD athletics and the Park Cities as a whole. But I saw this in the daily newspaper here in the Quad Cities, Iowa, today and had to share.

The Quad Cities Times did not list its source as to whose betting lines they were publishing, but the Texas Rangers are listed second among the teams to not only appear in the 2010 World Series, but to win it. The New York Yankees, of course, lead the field with 3-to-1 odds to win it all. But Texas, with its six-game lead in the division as July comes to a close, are listed at 4-to-1 after opening the season at 30-to-1.

Have the Rangers ever been shown that much promise from a national sports organization, especially a gambling syndicate? Tampa Bay, which trails the Yankees in the AL East, is listed third at 7-to-1 with Atlanta and Boston fourth at 8-to-1.

I'm on my way to Iowa to visit family, and went straight up Highway 75 headed north. As we went through Sherman, I took a look at Bearcat Stadium, home to the Sherman Bearcats and site of HP's non-district game on Sept. 10. I did a double-take when on first glance the stadium's playing surface looked like pure dirt.

Sure enough, on the second glance there was no green grass to be found on what has been one of the few natural grass fields still left in the area. No yellow grass or any other color either, for that matter. Just brown dirt. So I looked on the Sherman ISD website, but couldn't find any information concerning the field being resurfaced. So the guess is either the Bearcats are going to be playing on Field Turf this fall (and work better begin soon), or they will be laying a stadium's worth of sod in the next few weeks to get ready for the season.

They've got time to work with. The HP game is Sherman's home opener after the Bearcats play on the road for their scrimmage and open the regular season at The Colony and at Little Elm. Coincidence?

Clayton Kershaw has been suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount in addition to being ejected from Tuesday night's game at Dodger Stadium. MLB vice president Bob  Watson issued the suspension to the ex-HP hurler for "intentionally throwing at" Aaron Rowland of the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning of LA's 7-5 loss. Kershaw will appeal the suspension, which will keep him scheduled for his next start in the Dodgers' rotation Sunday against the New York Mets.

"I can't comment," Kershaw said in an MLB.com story. Kershaw received a standing ovation from the crowd as he left field following the ejection. "Yeah, I heard it. It was great."

Below is the link to the complete story, along with a video package of what led to  ejections, from MLB.com.

Link to story/video on MLB.com

If it wasn't his best outing of the season, perhaps Tuesday's game was the most dramatic of Clayton Kershaw's short career in the majors. Kershaw earned an ejection at the start of the seventh inning for hitting Aaron Rowland in the hip with the first pitch of the seventh inning. It was Kershaw's second bean of the game, as he hit Andres Torres in the first at-bat of the game.

It was the first ejection in Kershaw's career, and he left the field to a standing ovation. LA manager Joe Torre was also tossed. Here's more from the MLB.com story by Evan Drillich.

Park Cities residents Fin and Charlie Ewing won their flight in the Texas Golf Association's Father-Son Championship last weekend at Miramont Country Club in Bryan. The Ewing duo shot net scores of 62-66-66 to win. 

Charlie Ewing, a stalwart as part of three HP state-champion golf teams, is a rising sophomore on the men's golf team at Vanderbilt.

Incoming HP freshman Scott Scheffler, 14, placed in another prestigious tournament over the weekend, parlaying his recent success after a runner-up finish at the Byron Nelson Junior Championships last month.

Scheffler, 14, finished third in the Charles Howell III Junior  Championship last weekend. The tournament is an American Junior Golf Association event at West Lake Country Club in Augusta, Ga. Scheffler closed at 1-under-par 215, four strokes behind Dru Love, the son of PGA Tour veteran Davis Love III.