Sports Page Atlanta

Former Georgia Tech standout Jason Varitek was the lucky one last night as he caught Jon Lester’s no-hitter. It was the 4th time he has caught a no-hitter. The other ones were: Hideo Nomo in 2001, Derek Lowe in 2002, Clay Buchholz in 2007 and Lester). The 4 broke a record held by Yogi Berra, Roy Campenella, Alan Ashby and Ray Schalk.

The last former Georgia Bulldog catcher to catch a no-hitter in the majors was Robby Hammock, who caught Randy Johnson’s no-no against the Braves on May 18, 2004.

For the first time ever the SEC Player of the Year, SEC Pitcher of the Year, SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year and SEC Coach of the Year were all given to student-athletes from the same school.

The University of Georgia were the lucky ones to pick up that hardware. Gordon Beckham won the SEC Player of the Year as well as the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. Joshua Fields won the SEC Pitcher of the Year and Head Coach David Perno won his 2nd ever SEC Coach of the Year Award after winning it in 2004 as well.

Beckham, Fields and catcher Bryce Massanari all won first team honors. 2nd team honors went pitchers Trevor Holder and Stephen Dodson.

First baseman Rich Poythress was first team All-Defense while no Bulldog made the freshman team.

Here is a complete list of all the SEC winners…

No Georgia Tech player made first team All-ACC, but they had a lot of Yellow Jackets representing the second team.

Third Baseman Brad Feltes, Pitcher David Duncan, Outfielder Charlie Blackmon and shortstop Derek Dietrich were all winners in that category.

Florida State’s Buster Posey was named ACC Player of the Year. He is from Leesburg, Georgia. I think he wished he went to either Georgia or Georgia Tech (that way I would have written more about him, oh well, congrats).

Here is a complete list of all the ACC winners…

With the big win at the AT&T Classic, Ryuji Imada has climbed in many charts… he is currently 4th on the PGA Tour money leaders, earning an impressive $2.2 million. He is also 3rd on the season FEDEX points…

But here are a list of golfers with the most top-10 finishes this season. It is a pretty impressive list…

• Stewart Cink: 6 top-10s (o wins)
• Tiger Woods: 5 (3)
• Stuart Appleby: 5 (0)
• Ryuji Imada: 4 (1)
• Phil Mickelson: 4 (1)
• Boo Weekly: 4 (1)
• Jim Furyk: 4 (0)
• Vijay Singh: 4 (0)
• Justin Leonard: 4 (0)
• Brandt Snedeker: 4 (0)

Former Georgia Bulldog Ryuji Imada won on the first playoff hole of the AT&T Classic to win his first ever PGA Tour event. Last year he lost in a playoff at this event, so this is extra special for him.

For his efforts he collects $990,000. Here is a final look at how all the former Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets did…

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Ryuji Imada: -15 (67) 1st place… led the tournament in putts per round… (drive for show and win for dough)

Justin Bolli: -12 (69) T-5th place… 21 birdies good, 11 bogeys bad… $200,000+ i’ll take it

Chris Kirk: -2 (75) T-52nd place… sunday was only round he finished over par

Bubba Watson: -9 (70) T-11th place… 2 pars on front 9 (also 5 birdies, 2 bogeys)

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Stewart Cink: -9 (69) T-11th place… tough 7-8-9 (all bogeys)

Matt Kuchar: -8 (71) T-20th place… #18 this tourney (par, birdie, birdie, eagle)

Troy Matteson: -3 (72) T-44th place… #5 this weekend (triple bogey on saturday and a double bogey on sunday)

Larry Mize: -3 (71) T-44th place… not great, not bad, just solid solid solid

If you were watching the Braves game yesterday, besides yelling at the TV, you might have noticed Dale Murphy in the crowd.

Dale Murphy finished his career with 398 career home runs (371 with the Braves)

Chipper Jones has currently 397 in his career

both players had exactly six 30-home run seasons and one 40-home run season

Chipper’s most was 45 back in 1999… Murph’s most was 44 back in 1987

Murph does have one more MVP award than Chipper (maybe that will change this year)

Charles Howell III is leading the AT&T Classic after 3 rounds.  The Augusta, Georgia, native should have went to Georgia or Georgia Tech, but no he went to Oklahoma State so I am done talking about him.  So here is a look how the Georgia and the Georgia Tech alumnus are doing…

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Justin Bolli: -9 (68) 8th place… hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation in the 3rd round

Ryuji Imada: -10 (66) T-6th place… 0 bogeys in last 2 rounds

Chris Kirk: -5 (71) T-25th place… has made $14,000 this season on the Nationwide Tour… I think he will make a little more this weekend

Bubba Watson: -7 (68) T-14th place… 11 birdies and just 1 bogey in last 2 rounds

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Stewart Cink: -6 (71) T-18th place… eagle on 18 was a good way to end round three

Matt Kuchar: -7 (69) T-14th place… just one bogey each round

Troy Matteson: -3 (72) T-37th place… triple-bogey on 5… not too good

Larry Mize: -2 (7) T-49th place… after 7 bogeys in first 2 rounds, just 1 on Saturday 

The Braves optioned Chuck James back to Triple-A Richmond. The southpaw was 2-3 with a 8.22 era. In his 5 starts this season, 4 of them were very shaky including the one on Thursday where he allowed 5 runs (including 3 home runs) in 4 innings against the Phillies.

The Braves called up Phil Stockman to replace James. The 6′8″ British pitcher appeared in 4 games in 2006 allowing just 1 earned run. At Richmond, Stockman went 1-0 with 2 saves in 14 games with an incredible era of 0.77. Opponents have only 8 hits in 23 and 1/3 innings this season.

Tim Hudson (sorry Barrett, I refuse to say, War Eagle) will probably be the starter tonight as he takes on his former team, the Oakland Athletics.  Here is a comparison on how he did with the A’s compared to how is doing with the Braves in his career…

                         1999-2004 with OAK                   2005-present with ATL

starts                          183                                                     107

record                       92-39                                                  49-33

era                               3.30                                                  3.80

opponent avg              .244                                                .263

walks                            382                                                   207

strikeouts                    899                                                   423   

The AT & T Classic is at its halfway point and Jonathan Byrd is your leader after shooting his 2nd straight 66.  But once again Byrd went to Clemson and yes there are a lot of Clemson people from Atlanta but I am only showing how the Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are doing…

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Justin Bolli: -5 (66) after shooting a 66 on friday he is tied for 10th heading into the weekend… finishing birdie, birdie, eagle is not a bad way to finish

Paul Claxton: +3 (74) missed cut… for the 2nd straight day he double-bogeyed hole #5

Ryuji Imada: -4 (69) after 3 bogeys and a double on thursday… a bogey-free day on friday

Chris Kirk: -4 (71) his 11 birdies after 2 rounds is tied for the 4th most of the tourney

Scott Parel: +9 (75) missed cut… 2 double bogeys on thursday and 0 on friday, but it wasn’t good enough

Bubba Watson: -3 (66) like I predicted yesterday, he did much better… 6 birdies, 0 bogeys… I’d say that is much better

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Ramon Castro: +3 (73) missed cut… double-bogey #5 on thursday, but birdied it on friday… nice improvement

Stewart Cink: -5 (71) can’t figure out hole #1… he’s bogeyed it both rounds

David Duval: +11 (77) missed cut… 7 bogeys on thursday, only 2 and a double on friday

Matt Kuchar: -4 (69) only 1 bogey each round

Troy Matteson: -3 (70) could have been better if he did not bogey-bogey on 17 and 18

Larry Mize: Even (73) alternated bogeys and birdies from holes 3 through 6 on friday

Nicholas Thompson: +9 (74) missed cut… the 2 holes he double-bogeyed on thursday, he parred on friday

Everyone knows how great of a start Chipper Jones is doing. But hitting .418 is a little ridiculous. Chipper’s best batting average season was last year when he hit .337. He is also looking for his first batting title. He has come close a few times as we see below…

• 2007 - batted .337 - finished 2nd behind Matt Holliday at .340
• 2002 - batted .327 - finished 5th behind Barry Bonds at .370
• 2001 - batted .330 - finished 5th behind Larry Walker at .350
• 1999 - batted .319 - finished 10th behind Larry Walker at .379