SAN FRANCISCO -- While many were wondering why he wasn't being used in Thursday's 12-inning loss to the Dodgers, Braves left-handed reliever Jonny Venters was pestering pitching coach Roger McDowell to let him know that he felt he was healthy enough to pitch.
"We have to use him soon because he's going to kill Roger or [head athletic trainer Jeff Porter]," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said a few hours before allowing Venters to produce a perfect eighth inning in Friday night's 4-1 win over the Giants.
Venters played catch Friday afternoon and informed the Braves medical staff that he wasn't feeling any of the upper left arm soreness that he's felt over the past couple weeks. When he complained about it again after Tuesday's 27-pitch appearance against the Dodgers, the Braves decided to rest him Wednesday and Thursday.
"He told Roger that he felt good to go," Gonzalez said. "I think those two days off helped him. We'll keep an eye on him."
Gonzalez said he likely won't ask Venters to make any multi-inning appearances any time soon. But the medical staff has assured him that the left-handed setup man isn't dealing with any structural issues.
"It's a muscle," Gonzalez said. "It's not a structural thing. It's not an elbow or shoulder. It kind of moves around a little bit. Some days it's the biceps and some days it's the triceps. They're not really concerned."
Venters' performance hasn't been affected by the discomfort. The 26-year-old southpaw has allowed just one earned run and two hits in the 10 2/3 innings he has pitched this year.
"I think it was just something that needed a couple days of not throwing at all," Venters said. "It's nothing serious. It's just sore. But it never had a chance to get better."
Braves getting by without backup center fielder
SAN FRANCISCO -- When the Braves optioned Matt Young to Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday, they created the chance to spend the next week with a 13-man pitching staff. At the same time, they lost their only true backup center fielder.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Friday afternoon that he would likely use Martin Prado in center field if a situation arises where Nate McLouth has to leave a game within the week. Gonzalez indicated the club will likely return to a 12-man pitching staff by the start of next weekend's homestand against the Cardinals.
If he isn't replacing a player that has been placed on the disabled list, Young will have to remain in the Minors for at least 10 days. This could open the door for the Braves to promote Joe Mather, who entered Friday having hit .304 with a homer in 13 games with Gwinnett.
Freeman relishes playing in hometown area
SAN FRANCISCO -- After losing his wife Rosemary to melanoma 11 years ago, Fred Freeman assumed the responsibility of being a single parent and continued to allow his youngest son, Freddie, to pursue his passion for baseball in their hometown of Fountain Valley, Calif., which is located about 40 minutes south of downtown Los Angeles.
With the Braves at Dodger Stadium this past week, the elder Freeman had the opportunity to see his son shine in front of friends and family members. The Braves' rookie first baseman hit a pair of homers and added a double during the four-game series against the Dodgers.
This was the first time since being selected by the Braves in the second round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft that the 21-year-old Freeman played in his native state of California.
"He was just proud," said Freeman of his father, who is an accountant. "I think he would have been the same way if I had gone 0-fer every game. He was just happy to see me. Usually it's him having to fly cross-country to come see me. For me to be able to come home finally, it puts less stress on him, especially during tax season. It allows him to take his mind off work."
2011年4月23日星期六
‘I’ll crush grapes with them anywhere, any time.”
So came a voice swirling up from the crowd, speaking for many, at a great grape event held last Sunday, where the brother-and-sister team of Alejandra and Jeronimo De Miguel held careful court. The full-bodied gratitude? ’Twas not just directed at the signature varietal of Argentina, coming at us here on the first-ever Malbec World Day — throw out your old calendars, people! — but also our impossibly glamorous, blood-related hosts.
The Toronto answer to Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal — but with goblets?! If there was even an opening for this sort of sibling sizzle, it occurred to me, then that position has been filled. I got to know them a bit, last month, after we hit the town (Buenos Aires, that is) during our converging trips to Argentina, and increasingly, I’ve noticed, the pair, who grew up here and are both McGill grads, have become must-must-haves on our own town’s social grids.
“We smashed the grapes this morning,” Alejandra told me with her easy, wide smile when we spoke at V1, an “urban winery” in the west end, where she and her brother had conspired to hold the Malbec high-ho on behalf of Wines of Argentina. Sadly, she went on to confirm, there was no stomping — à la Lucille Ball. Machines did the trick. (BTW: The crushables were flown in from the Mendoza wine region via the Trapiche’s 100% old-vine Malbec vineyards known as Finca Las Palmas. Grapes also went out to New York City as well as London for the multi-city event, and the wine that will be produced in Toronto is expected to be ready for Malbec World Day 2012.)
“It’s the one thing I miss the most,” lamented nearby Amanda Blakely, best known as one-half of “The Society Girls,” as she stood drinking only with her eyes. She was one of the many guests streaming through the afternoon event. Why, I started to ask … when duh, I remembered: She’s pregnant! Along with her other half, Ashleigh Dempster (who was also about). Through some twilight zone serendipity, both gals are expecting their first child at the same time, due within days of each other in September!
So, alas: Besides a stalking-worthy brother-sister Argentine twosome, and ladies who like Malbec but are too “with child” to have some, the event also featured a non-stop traditional asado (BBQ), a gotta-have-it tango show and, well, keeping up with a certain national pedigree, gobs of pretty pretty people.
At one point, let me just end, when a guest accidentally broke a glass, and someone else swooped in almost instantly to clean up the mess, it was noticed that the sweeper was beyond gorgeous. “Should I break my glass, too?” asked yet someone else, attentively watching.
The Toronto answer to Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal — but with goblets?! If there was even an opening for this sort of sibling sizzle, it occurred to me, then that position has been filled. I got to know them a bit, last month, after we hit the town (Buenos Aires, that is) during our converging trips to Argentina, and increasingly, I’ve noticed, the pair, who grew up here and are both McGill grads, have become must-must-haves on our own town’s social grids.
“We smashed the grapes this morning,” Alejandra told me with her easy, wide smile when we spoke at V1, an “urban winery” in the west end, where she and her brother had conspired to hold the Malbec high-ho on behalf of Wines of Argentina. Sadly, she went on to confirm, there was no stomping — à la Lucille Ball. Machines did the trick. (BTW: The crushables were flown in from the Mendoza wine region via the Trapiche’s 100% old-vine Malbec vineyards known as Finca Las Palmas. Grapes also went out to New York City as well as London for the multi-city event, and the wine that will be produced in Toronto is expected to be ready for Malbec World Day 2012.)
“It’s the one thing I miss the most,” lamented nearby Amanda Blakely, best known as one-half of “The Society Girls,” as she stood drinking only with her eyes. She was one of the many guests streaming through the afternoon event. Why, I started to ask … when duh, I remembered: She’s pregnant! Along with her other half, Ashleigh Dempster (who was also about). Through some twilight zone serendipity, both gals are expecting their first child at the same time, due within days of each other in September!
So, alas: Besides a stalking-worthy brother-sister Argentine twosome, and ladies who like Malbec but are too “with child” to have some, the event also featured a non-stop traditional asado (BBQ), a gotta-have-it tango show and, well, keeping up with a certain national pedigree, gobs of pretty pretty people.
At one point, let me just end, when a guest accidentally broke a glass, and someone else swooped in almost instantly to clean up the mess, it was noticed that the sweeper was beyond gorgeous. “Should I break my glass, too?” asked yet someone else, attentively watching.
Wild, Wild West
The boys are zapped back in time, and Dean (wearing a serape) couldn't be happier because he's obsessed with Clint Eastwood movies. At first he loves the authenticity (like Sam stepping in horse poop), but Dean quickly realizes that everything isn't like he thought. Nobody likes his outfit, the whiskey tastes like gasoline and the saloon girls are covered in cold sores.
They also watch as a man is hanged in the town square, but when that same victim goes around killing people by reducing them to ash, the boys learn that he's the phoenix. I'm kind of upset that the phoenix is just a person, like the dragons. Why can't phoenixes and dragons be awesome, mythical creatures?
Still, Dean fights the phoenix while Sam goes to meet Samuel Colt and get his gun. Colt is a surly old retired hunter who wants nothing to do with the life anymore. However, he's clearly been at this a while, because he has absolutely no problem believing that Sam is from the future. Sam gets the Colt, hurries back and gives it to Dean, who then has the shootout from the start of the episode with the phoenix. And Dean proves that he's the fastest draw in the old west, killing the phoenix and reducing it to ashes.
Castiel's Dirty Little Secret
In the present, Rachel summons Cas to an empty warehouse to talk about how she doesn't approve of his methods to fight the war against Raphael and that she knows his "dirty little secret." She then tries to stab him with an angel dagger, but he fights back and gets the upper hand, killing her. That's right, after two short scenes, the big new angel character Rachel is killed.
But it begs a bigger question: what is the dirty little secret? Was she talking about how he had Balthazar unsink the Titanic to get 50,000 new souls, or is Cas doing worse things to win his war? I'm starting to think that he's been doing some very bad things and, as much as I love Cas, I suspect he might even be the big bad of the season and helped get the Mother of All free to help him fight Raphael. I hope I'm wrong, but Castiel is definitely not behaving like a good angel this season.
Deus Fed-Ex Machina
Injured, Cas can't bring the boys back without powering up, and that involves touching Bobby's soul. I'm starting to think Bobby's soul is the most valuable thing in the world given how much it's come into play in the past year. He does and brings the boys back, right before they got the phoenix ashes. So it was all for nothing.
Or was it? Just like at the end of Back to the Future 2, a delivery man shows up at that exact moment with a package for Sam Winchester they've been holding onto forever without explicit instructions to deliver at that specific moment. Inside Sam finds his old phone he left with Samuel Colt, a note from Colt, and, most importantly, the ashes of a phoenix. It might be a little too convenient, like when Supernatural super fan Becky told them where the Colt was after reading it in the books at the end of "The Real Ghostbusters," but since it's just a rip-off of Back to the Future, I'll allow it.
They also watch as a man is hanged in the town square, but when that same victim goes around killing people by reducing them to ash, the boys learn that he's the phoenix. I'm kind of upset that the phoenix is just a person, like the dragons. Why can't phoenixes and dragons be awesome, mythical creatures?
Still, Dean fights the phoenix while Sam goes to meet Samuel Colt and get his gun. Colt is a surly old retired hunter who wants nothing to do with the life anymore. However, he's clearly been at this a while, because he has absolutely no problem believing that Sam is from the future. Sam gets the Colt, hurries back and gives it to Dean, who then has the shootout from the start of the episode with the phoenix. And Dean proves that he's the fastest draw in the old west, killing the phoenix and reducing it to ashes.
Castiel's Dirty Little Secret
In the present, Rachel summons Cas to an empty warehouse to talk about how she doesn't approve of his methods to fight the war against Raphael and that she knows his "dirty little secret." She then tries to stab him with an angel dagger, but he fights back and gets the upper hand, killing her. That's right, after two short scenes, the big new angel character Rachel is killed.
But it begs a bigger question: what is the dirty little secret? Was she talking about how he had Balthazar unsink the Titanic to get 50,000 new souls, or is Cas doing worse things to win his war? I'm starting to think that he's been doing some very bad things and, as much as I love Cas, I suspect he might even be the big bad of the season and helped get the Mother of All free to help him fight Raphael. I hope I'm wrong, but Castiel is definitely not behaving like a good angel this season.
Deus Fed-Ex Machina
Injured, Cas can't bring the boys back without powering up, and that involves touching Bobby's soul. I'm starting to think Bobby's soul is the most valuable thing in the world given how much it's come into play in the past year. He does and brings the boys back, right before they got the phoenix ashes. So it was all for nothing.
Or was it? Just like at the end of Back to the Future 2, a delivery man shows up at that exact moment with a package for Sam Winchester they've been holding onto forever without explicit instructions to deliver at that specific moment. Inside Sam finds his old phone he left with Samuel Colt, a note from Colt, and, most importantly, the ashes of a phoenix. It might be a little too convenient, like when Supernatural super fan Becky told them where the Colt was after reading it in the books at the end of "The Real Ghostbusters," but since it's just a rip-off of Back to the Future, I'll allow it.
Rolen shelved by sore shoulder
Reds third baseman Scott Rolen is still dealing with a sore left shoulder. How long he’ll be out of the lineup is the question. He was out Friday night for the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. “It’s the day-to-day thing,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I told him to 'let me know where you are without me really pressuring you about it.' Anybody who’s ever had anything wrong, the question you hate to hear is the how-do-you-feel question. Usually, you don’t feel a whole bunch better one day to the next.”
Rolen doesn’t know when he’ll return. Could he play this weekend?
“Anything’s feasible,” he said.
The matter is made worse for the Reds by the fact Juan Francisco, Rolen’s backup at third, is on the disabled list.
“This was supposed to be Francisco’s time,” Baker said. “It’s a terrible series of events.”
Last year, Rolen missed nine games with a sore right hamstring but never went on the DL. Have the Reds thought about putting him on the DL to give the shoulder two weeks to heal?
“There’s that thought,” Baker said. “But it’s too early to think that. It’s only been two days. Last time, we waited as long as we could and it worked out. If you get him for four days rather than lose him for two weeks ... it’s a delicate balance. We’re not there yet. We’ll see what treatment does.”
The shoulder led to back and neck pain as well. Rolen saw Dr. Tim Kremchek after the game Thursday and again Friday morning. He was given two cortisone injections.
An MRI of his neck checked out OK.
“I tracked it back to San Diego,” Rolen said. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I haven’t been excelling. I’m not pointing fingers but I’ve been struggling a bit with my shoulder for seven to 10 days.”
Rolen, 35, was 4-for-29 the previous eight games with two RBI and was batting .217 overall with two homers and 12 RBI.
“It's got to be a neck and back thing -- the same thing as last year,” Rolen said. “The shoulder started bothering me a little bit. I didn’t pay much attention to it at first. When that happens to me, I normally go to the mirror and video in the batting cage. I was trying to get over the hump. It gets to a certain point where you start going in the wrong direction.
“I’m trying to figure out how to catch up to 87, 88. Wait a minute. I’m trying to figure out how to finish the game. These are the thoughts in my mind. It was going the wrong way.”
Generally, it takes Rolen two or three days to get relief from the cortisone injection.
He was more sore Friday than Thursday. But the injections have taken care of the problem in the past. That’s why he wanted to take care of it now.
“Let’s hit this right now, whatever it is,” he said. “Let’s not have this drag into June and July.”
Baker was hoping to get Rolen to June and July healthy.
“Like I said in beginning of the year, I was trying to get Scottie to the hot weather,” Baker said. “The hot weather seems to help. This has been a very cold, damp spring which doesn’t lend itself to lubricating your rusty joints.”
Rolen had surgery on the shoulder in 2005. He’s dealt with it since.
“I’ve made changes to keep stress off it,” he said. “Definitely, it’s affected me. I don’t know if bothered is right word. I was on the field all last year.”
Rolen, for example, has held his hands lower in batting stance.
“I know if I look at the video, I’ll see my hands creeping up,” he said. “I’ve got to be a little more conscious of it. I went two years in Toronto and last year until a single swing in September (and) here we go again. There were two full years where it was working.
“I’ve got to pay attention to it. I’ve got to address now. I’ve got shoulder, neck and back ... It’s neck and back because of the shoulder. Knock the shoulder out, does that take care of the neck and back situation?”
Whether or not he plays, Rolen anticipated no lingering resentment between the teams from last year’s brawl in early August in Cincinnati.
“I hope it’s baseball on the field, I hope that’s where the rivalry is,” Rolen said. “I hope the rivalry is two teams that hopefully are going to be at the top of the division and fighting down the stretch for the National League Central.
“We have a good ballclub and I think they do over there.”
Cardinals center fielder Colby Rasmus also expected the focus to be on the game.
“I see them as another team that I’m just trying to go out and beat,” Rasmus said. “I don’t see them as a bitter rival, I’ve got some friends on the team.”
Rolen doesn’t know when he’ll return. Could he play this weekend?
“Anything’s feasible,” he said.
The matter is made worse for the Reds by the fact Juan Francisco, Rolen’s backup at third, is on the disabled list.
“This was supposed to be Francisco’s time,” Baker said. “It’s a terrible series of events.”
Last year, Rolen missed nine games with a sore right hamstring but never went on the DL. Have the Reds thought about putting him on the DL to give the shoulder two weeks to heal?
“There’s that thought,” Baker said. “But it’s too early to think that. It’s only been two days. Last time, we waited as long as we could and it worked out. If you get him for four days rather than lose him for two weeks ... it’s a delicate balance. We’re not there yet. We’ll see what treatment does.”
The shoulder led to back and neck pain as well. Rolen saw Dr. Tim Kremchek after the game Thursday and again Friday morning. He was given two cortisone injections.
An MRI of his neck checked out OK.
“I tracked it back to San Diego,” Rolen said. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I haven’t been excelling. I’m not pointing fingers but I’ve been struggling a bit with my shoulder for seven to 10 days.”
Rolen, 35, was 4-for-29 the previous eight games with two RBI and was batting .217 overall with two homers and 12 RBI.
“It's got to be a neck and back thing -- the same thing as last year,” Rolen said. “The shoulder started bothering me a little bit. I didn’t pay much attention to it at first. When that happens to me, I normally go to the mirror and video in the batting cage. I was trying to get over the hump. It gets to a certain point where you start going in the wrong direction.
“I’m trying to figure out how to catch up to 87, 88. Wait a minute. I’m trying to figure out how to finish the game. These are the thoughts in my mind. It was going the wrong way.”
Generally, it takes Rolen two or three days to get relief from the cortisone injection.
He was more sore Friday than Thursday. But the injections have taken care of the problem in the past. That’s why he wanted to take care of it now.
“Let’s hit this right now, whatever it is,” he said. “Let’s not have this drag into June and July.”
Baker was hoping to get Rolen to June and July healthy.
“Like I said in beginning of the year, I was trying to get Scottie to the hot weather,” Baker said. “The hot weather seems to help. This has been a very cold, damp spring which doesn’t lend itself to lubricating your rusty joints.”
Rolen had surgery on the shoulder in 2005. He’s dealt with it since.
“I’ve made changes to keep stress off it,” he said. “Definitely, it’s affected me. I don’t know if bothered is right word. I was on the field all last year.”
Rolen, for example, has held his hands lower in batting stance.
“I know if I look at the video, I’ll see my hands creeping up,” he said. “I’ve got to be a little more conscious of it. I went two years in Toronto and last year until a single swing in September (and) here we go again. There were two full years where it was working.
“I’ve got to pay attention to it. I’ve got to address now. I’ve got shoulder, neck and back ... It’s neck and back because of the shoulder. Knock the shoulder out, does that take care of the neck and back situation?”
Whether or not he plays, Rolen anticipated no lingering resentment between the teams from last year’s brawl in early August in Cincinnati.
“I hope it’s baseball on the field, I hope that’s where the rivalry is,” Rolen said. “I hope the rivalry is two teams that hopefully are going to be at the top of the division and fighting down the stretch for the National League Central.
“We have a good ballclub and I think they do over there.”
Cardinals center fielder Colby Rasmus also expected the focus to be on the game.
“I see them as another team that I’m just trying to go out and beat,” Rasmus said. “I don’t see them as a bitter rival, I’ve got some friends on the team.”
'There's always hope': Snowmachine trip ends with harrowing rescue
One minute, David Joerg stopped his snowmachine on Nelchina Glacier and walked toward some blue ice to snap a photo.
The next minute, the Eagle River man was hurtling down a slick chasm, his helmet slamming against glacial walls.
Out for a late-season trip on a bluebird Saturday, Joerg had fallen into a crevasse, a deep crack in the glacier. His snowmachining buddy, Rod Hansen, watched his friend disappear into the ice.
Sixty feet down, Joerg came to a sudden stop, wedged so tightly that he could hardly breathe and couldn't turn his head. One leg hung free into an abyss to his right.
Joerg took off his helmet and used the visor to scrape the ice so he could move his head and fill his lungs.
He would spend seven hours trapped in that icy vise, blackness yawning below, the light of the surface six stories above.
'Don't look down'
Both men, together with Joerg's wife, Jamie, sat down for an interview Monday evening at the Star.
Joerg and Hansen, both 54, have known each other since 1983. Both live in Eagle River. Joerg is a heavy equipment operator, Hansen is a pipe fitter welder for Enstar.
Joerg is a daredevil, Hansen more cautious, their wives say.
On Monday, Hansen still looked shaken.
The trio agreed to this interview, and interviews with other media, to help others not make the same mistakes, they said.
Jamie Joerg's message was simple: "Stay off glaciers."
David Joerg hopes his experience will inspire young people, particularly teenagers who might be facing dark times of their own.
"Don't give up -- there's always hope," Joerg said. "Don't look down. I had the choice of looking down to nothing but darkness but I kept looking up, and that gives you hope."
They all also encouraged the public to donate to the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, the volunteer organization that extracted Joerg from the crevasse with help from the Alaska State Troopers on April 16.
Lure of powder
They rode up the snowy river bottom to the toe of the glacier, where others rode too. They could see rocks and figured that meant solid ground.
The men were actually on the glacier, and about to enter a treacherous -- and unseen -- mix of solid ice and rotting snow bridges.
They stopped for lunch. Hansen, feeling uncomfortable, told Joerg about an Enstar employee who fell into the glacier and was never found. But they kept going.
"The more you traveled there, the prettier it got," Hansen said. "It kind of lured you in."
The men saw snowmachine tracks, though they couldn't tell how old they were. Animal tracks, too. The powder was perfect.
Then the tracks stopped. The men travelled over what looked like a series of hills separated by benches. Hansen said he later realized they were just snow bridges over crevasses, with ice ledges between.
Joerg stopped his machine and got off. He waved Hansen over.
Hansen stopped. "I told him, 'No, no, no,'" he recalled Monday. "Each guy kind of pushes the other. I didn't want to go but I didn't want to be thought of as this or that."
Still on his machine, Hansen rode out and around where Joerg was standing. Joerg walked over to photograph some ice.
He gestured at Hansen -- come over!
Then Hansen heard a whoomp. He looked at Joerg. His friend's hands rose to his hips in a sudden, surprised motion. His head spun around to look at his feet.
And then Joerg just disappeared.
Decisions
Hansen didn't panic, he said, but his mind was racing.
Does he try to rescue Joerg and risk the same fate, or turn around and get help, leaving his friend all alone and potentially injured or even dead?
He looked at his watch. It was 1:15.
He thought about getting on all fours or using snowshoes to reach the spot where Joerg fell in and drop some heat packs.
But he realized he was in a "horrible" situation, he said, when a probe he took out to poke the snow didn't hit anything solid. Hansen had no phone; it probably wouldn't have worked out there anyway. The men had survival gear but no ropes or other gear that might have helped with an ice rescue.
Hansen "punched it" the 17 miles back to the lodge, again crossing what he now knew to be potentially unsafe snow bridges.
At the lodge, he called the troopers. He called his wife, Becky, and asked her to call Jamie. She called the tone of his call "anguished."
"Then I just sat and beat myself up in the room," Rod Hansen said. "Did I do the right thing, the wrong thing?"
Prayer line
The troopers got the call at 2:38 p.m. and called the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group about a man stuck in a crevasse.
In a lucky break, the volunteers were already assembled at a rescue training at McHugh Creek. That reduced response time.
They took off for Eureka in the troopers helicopter.
Becky Hansen arrived at the medical office where Jamie Joerg worked before 3 p.m. The women sat down together and prayed. They called on friends to pray, too. The Joergs worship at Kings Way Assembly of God and sometimes Community Covenant Church, the Hansens at Peters Creek Christian Center.
"I called several people to put it out on the prayer line," Joerg said.
The women and two friends got to the lodge around 5:30 p.m.
Hansen told his wife in a private moment at the lodge that he thought Joerg was dead.
Jamie Joerg said she wouldn't let herself think the worst.
"But he was feeling the whole weight and burden and the responsibility of having gone away," she said, patting Hansen on the back as she spoke Monday evening. "I kept telling him it was not his fault."
Rescue
Joerg didn't know just how far he'd fallen.
The parallel walls of ice around him angled slightly, so he could see light but not the surface.
"I looked up and I hollered for Rod," he recalled. "'Rod, can you hear me?? Go get help!'"
Joerg wedged his helmet next to him for leverage -- he knew it wouldn't crumble beneath him -- and got one foot on some snow. He dug out ice above him and tried to pack snow under his foot.
"I did make progress doing that," he said. "You gotta do something."
He had dressed warmly for the outing: wool pants, snowpants, down vest, heavy sweater. Still, the clothes soaked through with melting icewater. He was cold and wet.
Then he heard the helicopter fly over. He knew Hansen had made it out. "That was my first relief," he said.
The rescuers roped up and made their way to Joerg's "rabbit hole."
Rescue chief Bill Romberg lay on the glacier and shouted to him. Joerg shouted back: he was OK. No, there wasn't any room down there for another man. Yes, he could put on a chest harness.
On the surface, the team rigged two anchors to pull out Joerg using a trail between the crevasses that lurked on both sides of the hole.
A harness dropped to Joerg reached him in one try. He wriggled into it and the team started pulling, dragging him back up through the narrow chute.
With Joerg about 10 feet from the surface, rescuers told him to wedge himself in with his knees and elbows as they re-rigged the anchors.
Then, finally, his head popped out. Several rescuers pulled him up onto the glacier. He was cold and tired and sore.
Joerg got into the troopers helicopter around 8:30 p.m. with pilot Mel Nading and Romberg.
"After Dave was on the helicopter, we all high-fived on the glacier," said Randy Howell, a mountain rescue volunteer.
By the time the helicopter landed at the lodge, Jamie Joerg knew only that the rescuers had found the hole where her husband fell into the crevasse.
The next minute, the Eagle River man was hurtling down a slick chasm, his helmet slamming against glacial walls.
Out for a late-season trip on a bluebird Saturday, Joerg had fallen into a crevasse, a deep crack in the glacier. His snowmachining buddy, Rod Hansen, watched his friend disappear into the ice.
Sixty feet down, Joerg came to a sudden stop, wedged so tightly that he could hardly breathe and couldn't turn his head. One leg hung free into an abyss to his right.
Joerg took off his helmet and used the visor to scrape the ice so he could move his head and fill his lungs.
He would spend seven hours trapped in that icy vise, blackness yawning below, the light of the surface six stories above.
'Don't look down'
Both men, together with Joerg's wife, Jamie, sat down for an interview Monday evening at the Star.
Joerg and Hansen, both 54, have known each other since 1983. Both live in Eagle River. Joerg is a heavy equipment operator, Hansen is a pipe fitter welder for Enstar.
Joerg is a daredevil, Hansen more cautious, their wives say.
On Monday, Hansen still looked shaken.
The trio agreed to this interview, and interviews with other media, to help others not make the same mistakes, they said.
Jamie Joerg's message was simple: "Stay off glaciers."
David Joerg hopes his experience will inspire young people, particularly teenagers who might be facing dark times of their own.
"Don't give up -- there's always hope," Joerg said. "Don't look down. I had the choice of looking down to nothing but darkness but I kept looking up, and that gives you hope."
They all also encouraged the public to donate to the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, the volunteer organization that extracted Joerg from the crevasse with help from the Alaska State Troopers on April 16.
Lure of powder
They rode up the snowy river bottom to the toe of the glacier, where others rode too. They could see rocks and figured that meant solid ground.
The men were actually on the glacier, and about to enter a treacherous -- and unseen -- mix of solid ice and rotting snow bridges.
They stopped for lunch. Hansen, feeling uncomfortable, told Joerg about an Enstar employee who fell into the glacier and was never found. But they kept going.
"The more you traveled there, the prettier it got," Hansen said. "It kind of lured you in."
The men saw snowmachine tracks, though they couldn't tell how old they were. Animal tracks, too. The powder was perfect.
Then the tracks stopped. The men travelled over what looked like a series of hills separated by benches. Hansen said he later realized they were just snow bridges over crevasses, with ice ledges between.
Joerg stopped his machine and got off. He waved Hansen over.
Hansen stopped. "I told him, 'No, no, no,'" he recalled Monday. "Each guy kind of pushes the other. I didn't want to go but I didn't want to be thought of as this or that."
Still on his machine, Hansen rode out and around where Joerg was standing. Joerg walked over to photograph some ice.
He gestured at Hansen -- come over!
Then Hansen heard a whoomp. He looked at Joerg. His friend's hands rose to his hips in a sudden, surprised motion. His head spun around to look at his feet.
And then Joerg just disappeared.
Decisions
Hansen didn't panic, he said, but his mind was racing.
Does he try to rescue Joerg and risk the same fate, or turn around and get help, leaving his friend all alone and potentially injured or even dead?
He looked at his watch. It was 1:15.
He thought about getting on all fours or using snowshoes to reach the spot where Joerg fell in and drop some heat packs.
But he realized he was in a "horrible" situation, he said, when a probe he took out to poke the snow didn't hit anything solid. Hansen had no phone; it probably wouldn't have worked out there anyway. The men had survival gear but no ropes or other gear that might have helped with an ice rescue.
Hansen "punched it" the 17 miles back to the lodge, again crossing what he now knew to be potentially unsafe snow bridges.
At the lodge, he called the troopers. He called his wife, Becky, and asked her to call Jamie. She called the tone of his call "anguished."
"Then I just sat and beat myself up in the room," Rod Hansen said. "Did I do the right thing, the wrong thing?"
Prayer line
The troopers got the call at 2:38 p.m. and called the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group about a man stuck in a crevasse.
In a lucky break, the volunteers were already assembled at a rescue training at McHugh Creek. That reduced response time.
They took off for Eureka in the troopers helicopter.
Becky Hansen arrived at the medical office where Jamie Joerg worked before 3 p.m. The women sat down together and prayed. They called on friends to pray, too. The Joergs worship at Kings Way Assembly of God and sometimes Community Covenant Church, the Hansens at Peters Creek Christian Center.
"I called several people to put it out on the prayer line," Joerg said.
The women and two friends got to the lodge around 5:30 p.m.
Hansen told his wife in a private moment at the lodge that he thought Joerg was dead.
Jamie Joerg said she wouldn't let herself think the worst.
"But he was feeling the whole weight and burden and the responsibility of having gone away," she said, patting Hansen on the back as she spoke Monday evening. "I kept telling him it was not his fault."
Rescue
Joerg didn't know just how far he'd fallen.
The parallel walls of ice around him angled slightly, so he could see light but not the surface.
"I looked up and I hollered for Rod," he recalled. "'Rod, can you hear me?? Go get help!'"
Joerg wedged his helmet next to him for leverage -- he knew it wouldn't crumble beneath him -- and got one foot on some snow. He dug out ice above him and tried to pack snow under his foot.
"I did make progress doing that," he said. "You gotta do something."
He had dressed warmly for the outing: wool pants, snowpants, down vest, heavy sweater. Still, the clothes soaked through with melting icewater. He was cold and wet.
Then he heard the helicopter fly over. He knew Hansen had made it out. "That was my first relief," he said.
The rescuers roped up and made their way to Joerg's "rabbit hole."
Rescue chief Bill Romberg lay on the glacier and shouted to him. Joerg shouted back: he was OK. No, there wasn't any room down there for another man. Yes, he could put on a chest harness.
On the surface, the team rigged two anchors to pull out Joerg using a trail between the crevasses that lurked on both sides of the hole.
A harness dropped to Joerg reached him in one try. He wriggled into it and the team started pulling, dragging him back up through the narrow chute.
With Joerg about 10 feet from the surface, rescuers told him to wedge himself in with his knees and elbows as they re-rigged the anchors.
Then, finally, his head popped out. Several rescuers pulled him up onto the glacier. He was cold and tired and sore.
Joerg got into the troopers helicopter around 8:30 p.m. with pilot Mel Nading and Romberg.
"After Dave was on the helicopter, we all high-fived on the glacier," said Randy Howell, a mountain rescue volunteer.
By the time the helicopter landed at the lodge, Jamie Joerg knew only that the rescuers had found the hole where her husband fell into the crevasse.
Chipper may sit with right knee pain
Chipper Jones' surgically repaired left knee hasn't provided him any problems for nearly two months. But the veteran third baseman's right knee bothered him enough Friday night that he told Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez that he might not be ready to play against Tim Lincecum and the Giants on Saturday afternoon.
"I've got some pain in the lower inside of my knee that is preventing me from pushing off and cutting and stuff like that," Jones said after Friday night's 4-1 win over the Giants. "It's just a really sharp pain. I don't know why it's doing it. But it's been doing it for the past 10 days or so. I don't know if it was the cold, but it was really pronounced tonight."
Jones played the entirety of Friday's game and delivered a key two-run, fourth-inning double. But he seemed to be feeling some pain as he talked to reporters after the victory.
Chipper's two-run double00:00:484/22/11: Chipper Jones sends a two-run double into right, scoring Martin Prado and Jason Heyward and extending Atlanta's lead to 3-0Tags: Atlanta Braves, More From This Game, Chipper Jones, hittingShare: Facebook Twitter Email Related Video
Braves on win vs. the GiantsVenters escapes a jamMcLouth's running catch
Jones, who will turn 39 on Sunday, has four hits and four strikeouts in 17 career at-bats against Lincecum.
Braves call up Gearrin for depleted bullpen
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Cory Gearrin received a phone call from Triple-A Gwinnett manager Dave Brundage late Thursday evening, he knew his skipper wasn't calling to ask if he wanted to join him for dinner.
Fortunately for Gearrin, Brundage called to inform him that they won't be doing anything together over the next few days.
Needing to strengthen their fatigued and injury-depleted bullpen, the Braves promoted Gearrin and had him in uniform for Friday night's series opener against the Giants. To make room on their 25-man roster, they optioned outfielder Matt Young to Gwinnett.
"He's an arm who can help us get people out," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We'll use him."
This has been a tough week for the Braves' bullpen, which lost Peter Moylan (sore back) to the disabled list last week and was without Jonny Venters as he rested his sore left arm the past couple of days. In addition, Gonzalez was forced to use long reliever Cristhian Martinez for a third consecutive day during Thursday's 12-inning loss to the Dodgers.
Gearrin has posted a 2.61 ERA and worked 10 1/3 innings in six appearances for Gwinnett this year. He has limited left-handed hitters to a .167 (2-for-12) batting average. Right-handed hitters have hit .320 (8-for-25) against him. The 25-year-old right-hander was selected out of Mercer University in the fourth round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.
After Brundage called, Gearrin had less than 30 minutes to get to a Men's Wearhouse near Gwinnett's team hotel in Norfolk, Va.
"As soon as we got over there, they were like, 'We close in five minutes,'" Gearrin said. "I said, 'I just need a tie and a blazer.'"
The Braves will likely use a 13-man pitching staff through the remainder of this road trip. When they return home to prepare for next weekend's series against the Cardinals, they could opt to promote a position player and return to a 12-man pitching staff.
"I've got some pain in the lower inside of my knee that is preventing me from pushing off and cutting and stuff like that," Jones said after Friday night's 4-1 win over the Giants. "It's just a really sharp pain. I don't know why it's doing it. But it's been doing it for the past 10 days or so. I don't know if it was the cold, but it was really pronounced tonight."
Jones played the entirety of Friday's game and delivered a key two-run, fourth-inning double. But he seemed to be feeling some pain as he talked to reporters after the victory.
Chipper's two-run double00:00:484/22/11: Chipper Jones sends a two-run double into right, scoring Martin Prado and Jason Heyward and extending Atlanta's lead to 3-0Tags: Atlanta Braves, More From This Game, Chipper Jones, hittingShare: Facebook Twitter Email Related Video
Braves on win vs. the GiantsVenters escapes a jamMcLouth's running catch
Jones, who will turn 39 on Sunday, has four hits and four strikeouts in 17 career at-bats against Lincecum.
Braves call up Gearrin for depleted bullpen
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Cory Gearrin received a phone call from Triple-A Gwinnett manager Dave Brundage late Thursday evening, he knew his skipper wasn't calling to ask if he wanted to join him for dinner.
Fortunately for Gearrin, Brundage called to inform him that they won't be doing anything together over the next few days.
Needing to strengthen their fatigued and injury-depleted bullpen, the Braves promoted Gearrin and had him in uniform for Friday night's series opener against the Giants. To make room on their 25-man roster, they optioned outfielder Matt Young to Gwinnett.
"He's an arm who can help us get people out," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We'll use him."
This has been a tough week for the Braves' bullpen, which lost Peter Moylan (sore back) to the disabled list last week and was without Jonny Venters as he rested his sore left arm the past couple of days. In addition, Gonzalez was forced to use long reliever Cristhian Martinez for a third consecutive day during Thursday's 12-inning loss to the Dodgers.
Gearrin has posted a 2.61 ERA and worked 10 1/3 innings in six appearances for Gwinnett this year. He has limited left-handed hitters to a .167 (2-for-12) batting average. Right-handed hitters have hit .320 (8-for-25) against him. The 25-year-old right-hander was selected out of Mercer University in the fourth round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.
After Brundage called, Gearrin had less than 30 minutes to get to a Men's Wearhouse near Gwinnett's team hotel in Norfolk, Va.
"As soon as we got over there, they were like, 'We close in five minutes,'" Gearrin said. "I said, 'I just need a tie and a blazer.'"
The Braves will likely use a 13-man pitching staff through the remainder of this road trip. When they return home to prepare for next weekend's series against the Cardinals, they could opt to promote a position player and return to a 12-man pitching staff.
2011年4月21日星期四
Judge limits damages in woman's suit against K-Rock over shock jock's remarks
A Lee circuit judge dealt a major blow to a woman who sued the owners of 96 K-Rock, ruling she can’t seek punitive damages or use a radio standards expert in her lawsuit involving a shock-jock radio show host.
The ruling by Circuit Judge Christine Greider came Monday, 4½ years after popular radio host Joe Scott’s death and a week before “Jane Doe’s” 2005 lawsuit against Beasley Broadcast Group is expected to be heard by a jury.
Doe, formerly of Cape Coral, was a longtime girlfriend of Scott, who died in 2006, and their daughter was a teen at the time. Doe sought an injunction to halt his daily diatribes against her, morning shows in which he called Doe a prostitute, thief, drug-user, and other names, despite her complaints to the station asking him to stop.
The judge denied all except one of Doe’s motions — to bar a defense exhibit list because it was produced after a deadline — and granted all defense motions.
Greider explained she was adhering to a July case-management schedule that set dates for motions, disclosures, amendments and other requirements for the plaintiff and defense.
And, she ruled, Doe’s attorney, William D. Thompson Jr. of Fort Myers, hadn’t adhered to deadlines, as Beasley’s lawyers — Kelley Geraghty Price and David Lupo of Cohen and Grigsby — had argued.
The station’s lawyers contended they didn’t even know the address of Doe’s expert — or what his name was: Gary, Gerry or Gerald.
“It is the intent of this court to prevent last-minute gamesmanship,” Greider said, outlining why she was prohibiting Girard Westerberg of Lexington, Ky., from testifying as an expert on radio industry standards and FCC rules. “... The court understands that striking the testimony of Gerry Westerberg — or Gerrard Westerberg — is the most drastic measure available.”
Despite Thompson’s arguments that he’d complied with disclosure requirements — and that Girard also uses the name Gerry — Greider ruled he hadn’t provided the defense with what it needed, including an expert report, to help it prepare for cross-examining him or to hire an expert to counter his testimony.
Thompson also lost motions to amend Doe’s lawsuit to include punitive damages and to seek damages for defamation by implication.
Station attorney Price had argued Doe never asked for a retraction and that Thompson couldn’t seek damages for defamation by implication due to a two-year statute of limitations that expired.
Price’s motions have scoffed at Doe’s allegations, contending Doe only suffered a cold sore, not humiliation or embarrassment, and that she’d willingly been on Scott’s shows numerous times.
Last month, Price successfully whittled down Doe’s lawsuit to invasion of privacy, and negligent hiring and retention of Scott.
This week’s hearing further shaped what jurors will hear at what’s expected to be a three- to five-day trial scheduled to start next week.
Doe’s lawsuit alleges Scott, a known drug addict, was in rehab at The Willough in Naples in April 2005, when K-Rock hired him to fill a void after the popular Howard Stern show ended. Scott has admitted he’d been fired five times over 15 years due to drug problems and battles with bosses.
“... In April of 2005, defendants hired and encouraged Joe Scott to perform as an on-air personality for the express purpose of financial profit to preserve ratings and advertising revenue following their loss of the nationally syndicated Howard Stern morning drive-time broadcast,” the lawsuit says.
The next month, it alleges, Scott went on air while under the influence of drugs, alcohol or medication, defamed Doe and disclosed private details about her life. Despite her complaints, the lawsuit contends his bosses didn’t stop him or fully investigate Doe’s complaints.
Scott was fired in March 2006 after he was suspended for not showing up for work for three days. The 46-year-old Cape Coral man died nine months later, after collapsing in his home.
Greider’s ruling barring punitive damages, which are meant to punish and deter similar conduct, came after Price alleged Thompson was trying to amend the lawsuit after six years.
As a result, jurors won’t learn that Naples-based Beasley Broadcast Group’s SEC filings showed it earned more than $122 million in revenues in 2004.
If jurors award Doe compensatory damages, they could have given her four times that in punitive damages, capped at $2 million — or no cap if they found her pleas and warnings that Scott was high were ignored.
Throughout Monday’s hearing, Price argued Thompson “cut and pasted” motions and demands, never changing them over the years.
“The failure of the plaintiff to modify his requests to the current time frame (make them) completely irrelevant because Joe Scott has been deceased for five years,” Price argued.
She contended Thompson didn’t comply with her requests for years, while Thompson argued his requests for station policies, sales figures, emails and other documents were never turned over.
He’d argued he needed sales documents to prove Scott was rehired to increase sales.
It was clear Monday that Thompson disagreed with the judge’s rulings and was getting his objections and arguments on the record if an appeal were necessary to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
The ruling by Circuit Judge Christine Greider came Monday, 4½ years after popular radio host Joe Scott’s death and a week before “Jane Doe’s” 2005 lawsuit against Beasley Broadcast Group is expected to be heard by a jury.
Doe, formerly of Cape Coral, was a longtime girlfriend of Scott, who died in 2006, and their daughter was a teen at the time. Doe sought an injunction to halt his daily diatribes against her, morning shows in which he called Doe a prostitute, thief, drug-user, and other names, despite her complaints to the station asking him to stop.
The judge denied all except one of Doe’s motions — to bar a defense exhibit list because it was produced after a deadline — and granted all defense motions.
Greider explained she was adhering to a July case-management schedule that set dates for motions, disclosures, amendments and other requirements for the plaintiff and defense.
And, she ruled, Doe’s attorney, William D. Thompson Jr. of Fort Myers, hadn’t adhered to deadlines, as Beasley’s lawyers — Kelley Geraghty Price and David Lupo of Cohen and Grigsby — had argued.
The station’s lawyers contended they didn’t even know the address of Doe’s expert — or what his name was: Gary, Gerry or Gerald.
“It is the intent of this court to prevent last-minute gamesmanship,” Greider said, outlining why she was prohibiting Girard Westerberg of Lexington, Ky., from testifying as an expert on radio industry standards and FCC rules. “... The court understands that striking the testimony of Gerry Westerberg — or Gerrard Westerberg — is the most drastic measure available.”
Despite Thompson’s arguments that he’d complied with disclosure requirements — and that Girard also uses the name Gerry — Greider ruled he hadn’t provided the defense with what it needed, including an expert report, to help it prepare for cross-examining him or to hire an expert to counter his testimony.
Thompson also lost motions to amend Doe’s lawsuit to include punitive damages and to seek damages for defamation by implication.
Station attorney Price had argued Doe never asked for a retraction and that Thompson couldn’t seek damages for defamation by implication due to a two-year statute of limitations that expired.
Price’s motions have scoffed at Doe’s allegations, contending Doe only suffered a cold sore, not humiliation or embarrassment, and that she’d willingly been on Scott’s shows numerous times.
Last month, Price successfully whittled down Doe’s lawsuit to invasion of privacy, and negligent hiring and retention of Scott.
This week’s hearing further shaped what jurors will hear at what’s expected to be a three- to five-day trial scheduled to start next week.
Doe’s lawsuit alleges Scott, a known drug addict, was in rehab at The Willough in Naples in April 2005, when K-Rock hired him to fill a void after the popular Howard Stern show ended. Scott has admitted he’d been fired five times over 15 years due to drug problems and battles with bosses.
“... In April of 2005, defendants hired and encouraged Joe Scott to perform as an on-air personality for the express purpose of financial profit to preserve ratings and advertising revenue following their loss of the nationally syndicated Howard Stern morning drive-time broadcast,” the lawsuit says.
The next month, it alleges, Scott went on air while under the influence of drugs, alcohol or medication, defamed Doe and disclosed private details about her life. Despite her complaints, the lawsuit contends his bosses didn’t stop him or fully investigate Doe’s complaints.
Scott was fired in March 2006 after he was suspended for not showing up for work for three days. The 46-year-old Cape Coral man died nine months later, after collapsing in his home.
Greider’s ruling barring punitive damages, which are meant to punish and deter similar conduct, came after Price alleged Thompson was trying to amend the lawsuit after six years.
As a result, jurors won’t learn that Naples-based Beasley Broadcast Group’s SEC filings showed it earned more than $122 million in revenues in 2004.
If jurors award Doe compensatory damages, they could have given her four times that in punitive damages, capped at $2 million — or no cap if they found her pleas and warnings that Scott was high were ignored.
Throughout Monday’s hearing, Price argued Thompson “cut and pasted” motions and demands, never changing them over the years.
“The failure of the plaintiff to modify his requests to the current time frame (make them) completely irrelevant because Joe Scott has been deceased for five years,” Price argued.
She contended Thompson didn’t comply with her requests for years, while Thompson argued his requests for station policies, sales figures, emails and other documents were never turned over.
He’d argued he needed sales documents to prove Scott was rehired to increase sales.
It was clear Monday that Thompson disagreed with the judge’s rulings and was getting his objections and arguments on the record if an appeal were necessary to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
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