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Local News

More than 200 young church volunteers lend their time to repair area homes

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Fifteen-year-old Allie Messer shrugged off 90-degree heat and pounded nails into a platform for a new roof on a house on Hedgerow Park Drive.

Aaron Doyle, 16, of Salem, Va.; Alan Gossett, 17, of Polkville, N.C.; and Allie Messer, 15, of Canton, N.C., work on installing drip rail Tuesday at a North Ridgeville home. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)

Aaron Doyle, 16, of Salem, Va.; Alan Gossett, 17, of Polkville, N.C.; and Allie Messer, 15, of Canton, N.C., work on installing drip rail Tuesday at a North Ridgeville home. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)

She said she is looking forward to completing the job with other youth volunteers and seeing the reaction from the homeowners.

“It’s fun to meet new people, and I like doing stuff for God,” said Allie, of Canton, N.C. “It’s all God, all week.”

Hammers are pounding on 17 job sites around Lorain County as a contingent of about 200 young people from around the United States are helping people do badly needed home repairs.

The program involves a number of churches and is being coordinated by staff at Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church including the Rev. Darrell Myers.

Myers said the weeklong work fest is especially meaningful because participants are praying for church members Tom Tomasheski and his 13-year-old daughter Danielle, who are recovering from injuries suffered in a June 11 crash that killed Tomasheski’s wife, Tammy, and Danielle’s 11-year-old brother, Tommy.

“When you lose somebody that special and unique, your life is never the same,” Myers said.

Tom Tomasheski, a corporal at the Lorain County Jail, was upgraded Tuesday to fair condition at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, while Danielle is now undergoing rehabilitation after being released July 6 from Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

Myers said the mission work has been planned for a long time, and the church worked with the city of Elyria to get funding for the home repairs there.

Other people who needed assistance in other communities also are getting wheelchair ramps, painting or home repairs they otherwise could not afford, said Don Hyer, a Chestnut Ridge church member.

“They’re going into communities and helping less-fortunate people who can’t afford to keep their properties up,” said Hyer, who is working as a supervisor. “We had a handful of people who could afford the materials but not the labor.”

If the tragedy involving the Tomasheski family had not occurred, Tom “would have gotten out there and help these kids and been a crew chief … he and Tammy both were great.”

Hyer’s 22-year-old son, Greg, said he put 100 miles on his vehicle Monday as a “runner” getting necessary materials.

“By the end of the week, you’re sleeping pretty good,” he said of the mission work.

At night, the young people sleep at Midview North Elementary School, and they take turns showering in the locker rooms at the high school.

Allie, who was working on a roof in North Ridgeville, said the evenings are set aside for youth devotion and teaming up with a prayer partner. She said it was very touching when the Rev. Myers shed tears while talking about the Tomasheskis at a service.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

Grady Sizemore placed on DL

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

MINNEAPOLIS — Grady Sizemore’s hard-nosed style of play could be coming with a price for the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians placed their center fielder back on the 15-day disabled list on Monday with a bruised right knee. It’s his third stint on the DL this season, and sixth of his career. Sizemore was sent back to Cleveland to have tests done on his knee before making any estimates about how much time he will miss this time around.

Sizemore joins a swollen disabled list in Cleveland that includes outfielders Shin-Soo Choo and Trevor Crowe and infielder Jason Donald. It’s tough timing for the Indians, who began a critical four-game series against the Twins on Monday with a five-game lead over Minnesota in the AL Central Division.

Sizemore is hitting .237 this season with 21 doubles, 10 homers and 29 RBIs in 61 games.

Ezequiel Carrera will get most of the time in center field in Sizemore’s absence, with Austin Kearns and Travis Buck platooning in right field.

Sweep gives Tribe 1-game lead

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Swarzak and Scott Diamond gave the Minnesota Twins a pair of credible performances for a couple of stopgap starters on this sweltering day.

Cleveland’s David Huff delivers a pitch in the first inning of the Indians’ Game 1 win Monday in a doubleheader sweep of the Twins. (AP photo.)

Cleveland’s David Huff delivers a pitch in the first inning of the Indians’ Game 1 win Monday in a doubleheader sweep of the Twins. (AP photo.)

In the end, there were too many bobbled balls and not enough clutch hits, and all that sweat yielded nothing but two big losses.

Asdrubal Cabrera’s three-run homer off Swarzak in the third inning of the first game and Lou Marson’s tiebreaking solo shot in the seventh inning of the second game highlighted a doubleheader sweep for the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 and 6-3 on Monday.

“It’s a long day,” said Joe Mauer, who had six hits, three in each game. “A little longer when you lose.”

After climbing Sunday as close to the AL Central lead as they’d been since April 26, five games back, the Twins took a tumble on one tough day — falling to seven games behind the first-place Indians.

Travis Hafner had two hits and two RBIs in the second game, and Michael Brantley finished with five hits for the Indians on one of those days when scorecards worked better as personal fans and faces glistened in sweat.

Marson also doubled and scored in the fifth against Diamond, who turned in a decent major league debut but took the defeat. Fausto Carmona (5-10) came off the disabled list and won for only the second time in his last 12 starts, beating the heat to finish six innings with two runs allowed.

Cabrera added an RBI single in the nightcap.

After Marson’s first homer of the season made it 3-2, third baseman Danny Valencia overran a dribbler hit by Ezequiel Carrera for an error. Carrera later scored on a single by Hafner, the first and only batter faced by Phil Dumatrait. Diamond left the mound to a standing ovation, tipping his cap in appreciation after smiling upon being congratulated by manager Ron Gardenhire.

“It was unbelievable. What a lot of kids dream of,” Diamond said.

Diamond was acquired by the Twins last December through the major league draft at the winter meetings — Rule 5, as it’s referred to — and kept in the organization at the end of spring training when they traded minor league pitcher Billy Bullock to the Atlanta Braves.

With Triple-A Rochester, Diamond is 4-8 with one complete game and a 4.70 ERA in 17 starts. He was summoned to make this start when right-hander Scott Baker, arguably Minnesota’s best starting pitcher before the All-Star break, landed on the disabled list due to a strained right elbow.

Swarzak (2-3) pitched six innings in the opener, giving up four runs, three earned. An error by second baseman Alexi Casilla led to one score in Cleveland’s four-run fourth, and Cabrera’s three-run shot capped the big inning.

“I was rushing through my delivery a little bit today and they made me pay,” Swarzak said. “That was a huge inning. In a game like this where it was in and off the field as quick as possible, it’s tough.”

Carmona picked up where starter David Huff (1-0) left off after the first game. Huff pitched seven shutout innings. Returning from a strained right quadriceps muscle, Carmona allowed seven hits, struck out one and walked none, helping the Indians reassert themselves atop the division and cool off the surging Twins, who were 20 games under .500 at the beginning of June.

Diamond lasted 6 1-3 innings and was charged with four runs, three earned, and seven hits. He had two outs in the fifth when Marson doubled and scored on a first-pitch single by Brantley, right after a visit to the mound by Mauer and pitching coach Rick Anderson. Cabrera’s RBI single drove in the No. 9 hitter Carrera, who walked after Marson, to give the Indians a 2-1 edge.

Valencia’s homer tied it up again in the sixth and Trevor Plouffe also went deep in the ninth, but the damage was done in between.

“We didn’t really play good at all,” Gardenhire said. “Very sporadic offense. Missed some plays, and there you have it: you lose a couple of ballgames.”

Notes

  • Twins 1B Justin Morneau, recovering from neck surgery, has begun to play catch and will resume baseball activities this week.
  • Mauer moved into 11th place on the team’s career lists for hits (1,049) and RBIs (486), passing Roy Smalley in both categories.

Orioles 8, Indians 3: Sizemore hurts knee in series finale defeat

Monday, July 18th, 2011

BALTIMORE — Another fielding gem by Asdrubal Cabrera and a three-run first inning turned out to be the highlights of a frustrating game for the Cleveland Indians, who ended up lamenting several missed opportunities and another knee injury to Grady Sizemore.

Grady Sizemore (24) slides into second with a double in front of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Robert Andino (11) during the first inning yesterday. Sizemore left the game with an injury from the play. (AP photo.)

Grady Sizemore (24) slides into second with a double in front of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Robert Andino (11) during the first inning yesterday. Sizemore left the game with an injury from the play. (AP photo.)

The Indians wasted 10 hits and four walks in an 8-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, and manager Manny Acta was not at all pleased after watching his team strand 11 and go 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

“We left an army of guys on the bases, and that really hurts at the end,” Acta said.

Sizemore twisted his right knee while rounding first base on a first-inning double. He was removed from the game and will be examined in Cleveland today to determine the extent of the injury. Sizemore has already spent time on the disabled list this season with a bruised right kneecap.

“It’s the same knee that he had the contusion, not the surgically repaired one,” Acta said. “He got a quick turn around first base and it hurt him a little bit.”

Cabrera, the AL starting shortstop in the All-Star game, added more footage to his ever-expanding highlight reel. With a runner on first base in the fourth, Cabrera sprinted behind second base to reach Markakis’ grounder. As his momentum carried him toward the outfield grass, he flipped a no-look, underhand toss to second baseman Luis Valbuena, whose relay completed the stunning double play.

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That was one of the only bright spots for the Indians, who have dropped five of seven. Travis Hafner and Carlos Santana homered in the first, but Cleveland allowed eight unanswered runs over the final eight innings.

“We just left too many people on base, ultimately,” Hafner said. “That really hurt us.”

Robert Andino homered and had a career-high four RBIs, and Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters hit solo shots for the Orioles.

Baltimore is riding its first winning streak since June 19-20 after entering the weekend with nine straight defeats, including the first two games of this series.

Andino led the way. The first three-run homer of his career put Baltimore up 4-3 in the fifth, and a deftly executed suicide squeeze in the seventh helped pad the margin.

Limited to a pair of hits by Jeanmar Gomez and trailing 3-1 in the fifth, Baltimore got singles from Wieters and Mark Reynolds before Andino hit a 3-1 pitch into the front row of the left-field seats. It was his eighth home run in 3,524 career at-bats.

“That inning, I think what really hurt (Gomez) was the 0-2 pitch to Reynolds,” Acta said. “He wasn’t able to put him away and then the whole thing escalated.”

Markakis homered in the sixth to chase Gomez (0-2), recalled from Triple-A Columbus before the game.

“I threw the ball pretty well the first four innings,” Gomez said. “The fifth inning, the problem was I got behind the count.”

Cleveland loaded the bases with one out in the seventh before Jim Johnson quelled the threat.

Baltimore went up 7-3 in the bottom half against Joe Smith, who had not allowed an earned run in his previous 27 appearances. Derrek Lee doubled and came home on a bunt by Andino before J.J. Hardy hit an RBI single.

Wieters connected in the eighth off Frank Herrmann.

Baltimore starter Mitch Atkins gave up six hits, including a pair of homers, in three innings. The right-hander needed 77 pitches to get nine outs.

He was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk after the game.

Mark Hendrickson (1-0) followed with three innings of scoreless relief to earn his first win since May 13, 2010.

“(Hendrickson) was probably the key to the game, the innings he put up there,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

Atkins retired the first two batters before Hafner hit a drive into the center-field bleachers. Three pitches later, Santana launched a shot to right that became the 56th home run in the 20-year history of Camden Yards to land on Eutaw Street.

Showalter insisted it was a foul ball, and the umpires adjourned to look at a replay before returning to confirm the home run call.

Sizemore followed with a double but left after making it to second. He was replaced by Ezequiel Carrera, who scored on a single by Travis Buck.

Batting cleanup for the first time this season, Jones led off the second inning with his 15th home run.

Notes

  • The Indians are expected to recall LHP David Huff on Monday to start against Minnesota. Fausto Carmona will come off the disabled list to pitch the second game of the doubleheader.
  • The Orioles placed DH Vladimir Guerrero on the DL and recalled OF Matt Angle from Norfolk. Angle went 0 for 3 with a walk in his major league debut.