Sports this 'n' that

Most Section II teams begin spring play on Tuesday, when they're otherwise on spring break. However, some have already hit the ground running as far as lacrosse is concerned.

While LaSalle is awaiting major renovations on Sutton Field, their lacrosse team will play their home games, at least some of them, anyway, next door at Hudson Valley Community College. The Cadets made new coach Shane Hendry a winner in his debut on Thursday, thumping Averill Park, 17-2, in a non-league match. The Cadets will head across town to Troy High on Thursday night. The schools' baseball teams, however, will not meet this season. Hockey standout Sebastian Geiger led LaSalle with 7 goals against Averill Park.
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Hendry wasn't the only rookie skipper to win his first game on Thursday.

Mets manager Mickey Calloway won his opener, as the Amazin's took down St. Louis, 9-4. Noah Syndergaard gave up a 2 run homer to Yadier Molina, which gave the Cardinals a brief lead. Starter Carlos Martinez couldn't hold it, and the Mets chased him off in the 5th. Syndergaard finished with 10 strikeouts in 6 innings.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, new Yankee pilot Aaron Boone broke his maiden, as we say in horse racing, thanks to an American League coming out party for Giancarlo Stanton, who picked up where he left off last year in Miami with 2 homers and 5 RBI's in a win over the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, radio announcer John Sterling is catching some heat for attempting to mix in some Italian in his home run calls for Stanton. Seems he doesn't know his Italian as well as he thinks he does, and, on Friday, Sterling doubled down on his stupidity. A Yahoo! headline suggests that he'll continue with the mangling of the Italian language. Even his TV counterpart and former radio partner, Michael Kay, acknowledged that Stanton isn't Italian. We get that Sterling's a ham as an announcer, but the Steinbrenner brothers love him, or he's got something on them to keep him employed. Just sayin'.
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Add Boone. As anyone who'd tuned in to ESPN the last few years can attest, Boone's still got matinee idol looks, and it gets me thinking that if the Mets' David Wright never plays another game, managing is in his future, too.
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Did anyone really think that Alex Rodriguez's regular season debut as an ESPN commentator would go without incident? I didn't watch the entire Giants-Dodgers game, as I flipped over to CW for Supernatural & Arrow, but now it comes out that A-Roid's current squeeze, singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, showed up at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night, and likely will be there again tomorrow for the conclusion of the series, as it'll be the season premiere of Sunday Night Baseball. Maybe J-Lo's afraid Jessica Mendoza may make a play? Maybe she'd consider contacting one of A-Roid's exes, former wrestler & fitness model Torrie Wilson, for advice. Just sayin'.
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With Rodriguez & Matt Vasgersian splitting time between Fox & ESPN (and, in Vasgersian's case, MLB Network), coupled with MLB Network's long running goof-fest, Intentional Talk, beginning its second season airing on both MLB & ESPN2, we wonder if MLB is working on some sort of universal network deal, this time cross-pollinating between ESPN & Fox to have their announcers intermingle. We'd be even happier if Bob Costas were to fill in for Vasgersian at some point, just in case Matt gets laryngitis.
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So Fox is adding the PBA tour to their sports roster. Albany Times-Union columnist Pete Dougherty made a note in his Tuesday column to remind readers of his own disdain for Fox commentator Rob Stone, who used to be a bowling announcer, and occasional guest host on Around The Horn during his time at ESPN, perhaps suggesting that Stone will be back in the booth when Fox begins PBA coverage.
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The Albany Empire's opener at Times Union Center is in 2 weeks, but if you don't want to go to the game, don't despair. CBS Sports Network has chosen the Empire-Philadelphia game for their game of the week that night. Selling hot dogs for a buck on opening night will draw the big crowd, or at least that's the plan, and having local talent, as previously noted, will be a big selling point. The Empire has also landed a radio deal, something the revived Albany Patroons haven't been able to obtain. Hmmmm.