ST. LOUIS (AP) – Juan Rivera homered and knocked in three runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers scored an early knockout of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second straight day, completing their first road sweep of the season with a 9-4 victory on Wednesday.  The Cardinals were outscored 24-7 in the Dodgers’ first three-game sweep in St. Louis since Aug. 20-22, 1993, and have dropped seven of nine overall. They failed to take advantage of a rare loss by NL Central-leading Milwaukee, remaining 10 games back with 32 to go.  Hiroki Kuroda (10-14) worked seven solid innings and A.J. Ellis hit his first career homer off of Jaime Garcia (10-7) to give the Dodgers a two-day total of six long balls. Matt Kemp had two singles and two RBIs and James Loney had three hits with a pair of doubles and an RBI.

     KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – There may be no more important piece to the Kansas City Chiefs’ puzzle this season than quarterback Matt Cassel.  After paying his dues at USC and with the New England Patriots, Cassel was given a chance to shine when he was traded to the Chiefs. His first season was one of progress, but his tremendous growth last year was a big reason the Chiefs went 10-6 and won the AFC West.  Coach Todd Haley understands that the team’s fortunes again rest on Cassel’s right arm.  Haley said the biggest thing that Cassel needs to do is understand his own players, and the match-ups they create. That has been difficult with wide receivers Jonathan Baldwin and Steve Breaston missing time because of injuries.

     ST. LOUIS (AP) – Lance Berkman would like to stay in St. Louis, no matter how the Cardinals finish the season.  The Cardinals signed Berkman to a one-year, $8 million free
agent contract last December and he’s having a big comeback year with 29 homers, 78 RBIs and a .290 average. He’s been healthy, too, appearing in 114 games and making routine plays in right field.  Berkman said Wednesday he believes the Cardinals are not far away from being contenders, although they’re fast running out of time this year. The Cardinals are 10-13 since acquiring Edwin Jackson and Rafael Furcal at the trade deadline and are 10 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who are on a 24-5 tear.

     KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The agent for Brandon Siler says the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker tore his Achilles tendon during practice and will miss the entire season.  David Canter confirmed the injury in a text message to The Associated Press on Wednesday. He did not know which Achilles was hurt on Tuesday, but he said Siler has already had surgery to repair it.  Siler was competing for the middle linebacker spot beside Derrick Johnson after signing with the Chiefs as a free agent. He had looked good throughout fall camp after picking up 44 tackles, one sack and one interception in 12 games with the San Diego Chargers last season.

     IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The corn-themed trophy for the annual Iowa-Iowa State football game is history.  But fans will still see and hear more farming advertising than ever under agreements between two agricultural groups and the two schools.  The Iowa Corn Growers Association will run ads during all 12 radio broadcasts of Iowa games this fall and it is sponsoring Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz’s weekly television show. It will advertise in game-day programs, and get similar publicity through Iowa State.  The Iowa Farm Bureau has signed a five-year agreement with Iowa and plans to sell Iowa-grown food products at Iowa State games this fall.  Some fans are questioning the agreements after the corn growers group helped design the trophy that was scrapped Tuesday after critics said it didn’t have enough to do with football.

By:  Bruce Henderson, Head Coach

Trojanns
The Trojanns will try to reload as they start the season with only 2 of last year’s top 5 runners.  Ali Krogman leads the way and ran a personal best at the recent Atlanticfest road race.  Krogman has finished 5th, 1st, and 7th at the last 3 state meets.  Sophomore Liz Siggins is the other returner from last year’s top 5.  Six other seniors could figure into the varsity battle this year.  The top so far has been 2nd year runner Alex Hartwig. Returning letter winners Katie Blake, Malachi Wickman and Tiara Edelman have all run in the state meet.  Senior Alisha Hinzmann looks likely to grab a varsity spot, as does senior sprinter Melanie Nielsen.  Junior Caroline Trewet and sophomore Megan Plambeck look good and a trio of freshmen have varsity potential.
Practically all of the Trojanns’ competition will come from the Hawkeye 10. Harlan is the favorite, but Glenwood, Shenandoah, and L.C. were all within 6 points of the Trojanns at conference last year.  They all have more returners than the Trojanns, so it will take good performance for the Trojanns to beat these teams.  Griswold should have a very good team in area meets.  DCG and Ballard were tough on the district level last year, but both lose 3 of their 4 top runners

Trojans
It will be an interesting season for the Trojans.  They are filled with depth and potential, but have very few proven varsity runners.  Tian Siggins was our 2nd leading point getter last year and should be improved in 2011. Seniors Delsin Arnold, and Derek Von Seggern and Juniors Sam Bateman and Jake Auerbach have lettered and should figure in the mix this year.  Josiah Williams has looked very good so far in practice and is expected to be a good varsity runner.  Newcomer sophomore Preston Hoye and senior Ryan McDermott could also figure in the mix.  Senior Blake Esbeck, with state track experience, has recently decided to give cross country a try and could have a big impact. With a big squad of 32 the Trojans should be deep on both the varsity and J.V. levels. There is likely to be at least one surprise varsity runner this year.
The Hawkeye 10 was very tough and had seniors galore in 2010.  The Trojans hope to improve considerably on their 7th place finish.  Based on returners Glenwood, Shen-Essex, and L.C. should battle for the conference crown;  Harlan, Kuemper and Atlantic should battle for the next 3 spots. Tee Jay should be strong as well as Boone who could be in our district.  Shen-Essex is in class 3A this year, while DCG graduated its top 7 runners from a state team last year.

w/ Jim Field

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ST. LOUIS (AP) – Clayton Kershaw won his National League-leading 16th game and Rod Barajas homered twice in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 13-2 victory over the fast-fading St. Louis Cardinals.  Kyle Lohse (11-8) was rocked for a season-worst eight runs in three innings, an impossible deficit against the 23-year-old Kershaw, who struck out eight in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals have lost six of eight and dropped a season-high 10 games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers.  Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the first and Barajas had a solo homer in the third and three-run shot in the fifth for his 11th multihomer game, also giving him four in five games.

     ST. LOUIS (AP) – The moth that forced Matt Holliday from the outfield is done causing mischief. What remained of the offending bug was tucked inside a sandwich bag,  perfect for TV cameras and for the St. Louis Cardinals’ star to show it off around the clubhouse.  Holliday was joking around Tuesday, one day after the insect flew deep inside his right ear during in the eighth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, of course, it’s a laughing matter, just the latest critter at the ballpark.  After all, midges, mosquitoes and grasshoppers have pestered players in the past.  But this latest call of the wild was something even manager Tony La Russa couldn’t remember seeing before.  It took 10 minutes to get the moth out of Holliday’s ear in the clubhouse. First, the trainers tried turning off all the lights hoping it would come out on its own. Then came the tweezers.