Barstow Sports Blog

Along with video, we took plenty of photos while Jim McCall was undergoing his hair metamorphosis. The entire process was quite lengthy. McCall went under the shears at Head to Toe Beauty Salon at about 1:45 p.m. on July 21 and didn’t finish up until roughly 4:30 p.m. Much of the time was spent waiting for his newly colored hair to dry in stages.

Travis McCall looks at his uncle Jim’s new hair style after the first step — bleaching his hair. There was still a long way to go.

Jim’s blue transformation begins while hairstylist Diana Rodriguez preps for more coloring.

Erica Torres, right, joins in to help color Jim’s head.

Rodriguez begins the final step — carving a “WB” into the side of Jim’s head. She referenced a West Barstow baseball hat for the design.

— Matthew Peters, David Heldreth

With the Section 8 tournament arriving, former West Barstow President Jim McCall made a similar deal. He promised to shave his facial hair if the team took the Section 8 tournament. Well once again they did, but the team wanted more from McCall than just his beard. They asked him to dye his hair West Barstow colors, blue and gold, and carve a WB into the side. Well apparently McCall can’t say no to kids.

—Matthew Peters and David Heldreth

Dino Ebel didn’t even get his name on the back of his All-Star jersey when he served as Vladimir Guerrero’s pitcher and help him win the Home Run Derby, but that doesn’t mean he walked away empty handed. Vlad gave Dino a Rolex watch for pitching to him according to the Press-Enterprise and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

— Matthew Peters, sports editor

Pandemonium ensued in Los Angeles Friday. Soccer star David Beckham arrived in L.A. Thursday and held a press conference Friday to introduce himself to the L.A. Galaxy.

Confetti flew like there was already a championship won, Victoria Beckham (AKA Posh Spice) posed for many, many photo opportunities and David forgot that we call it soccer — not football. Welcome home!

So what does this all mean? Who knows. He has yet to play a minute, but could there be a more heartfelt welcome to the U.S.A. than to be celebrated on national TV? Either way, we were totally enthralled by the day’s events and decided to capture the essence of this Friday the 13th. Follow the links for all things Beckham, Posh and L.A.

So … where have you been for the last month?

I think I may have seen this before … in a commercial.

One day in the town and Posh is already making media demands.

Get your Beckham jersey for just $80.

Mayor Villaraigosa already got his jersey, but he also got booed.

He’s not just in L.A., he’s in cyberspace now too.

But other people have been following this stuff for years.

L.A. likes its celebrities … who knew?

Pele captured soccer fans, Beckham captures soccer moms.

Maybe this means Peyton Manning will sell less stuff.

David Beckham for Phil Mickelson, a second round pick and future considerations.

- Matthew Peters and David Heldreth

A curse was lifted on Tuesday evening. The curse of coverage by David Heldreth.
The West Barstow Junior Division All-Star team won 8-4 over Sunset on Tuesday to advance to the Sectional tournament in Rialto. They are the first little league team to get a win that I have followed out of Barstow.
Already this year I traveled to Richardson Park in Adelanto and witnessed two losses for West Barstow’s Major Division All-Star team. The team was undefeated in the tournament prior to my arrival defeating Victorville American and Spring Valley Lake.
The majority of the Major Division team was part of the 2005-06 11-year-old team that extended their season all the way to the Divisional tournament. They won several games last year including away games in Alta Loma for the Section 7 tournament. That was until I followed them to the Divisional tournament in Norwalk. They then fell in two straight games to be eliminated from the tournament. They lost 8-5 to Rancho Buena Vista and 8-2 to Long Beach.
I only hope that the curse is lifted permanently.

-David Heldreth, sports reporter

Barstow had its own place at the Home Run Derby on Monday night. Angels slugger Valdimir Guerrero selected Barstow’s own Dino Ebel as his designated pitcher for the evening. Ebel set him up pretty well as the duo took the title and Vlad teed off with several homers topping the 450-foot mark.

Dino didn’t get much face time on ESPN. Every once in a while you could see the back of his head as he prepared to pitch. The announcers talked about Vlad’s pitcher a few times but never mentioned Dino by name or said anything about him. Apparently there are more people interested in that Vlad guy than Dino — go figure. At least we’ll be able to see brief shots of Dino throughout the next year when ESPN inevitably replays the derby over and over again.

As Vlad blasted the derby-winner out of the park, he started to make his way toward Dino before being mobbed by his entourage. The two eventually met halfway and exchanged a quick hug before Dino departed and Vlad received his reward.

Dino was interviewed over the phone on ESPN’s First Take, formerly Cold Pizza, Tuesday morning. Dino briefly talked about the normally aggressive hitter’s patience at the plate for one night and also deflected the credit for the win. The anchor, however, said it was a team win. Dino also go some press in a Q&A with the Sporting News’ Stan McNeal.

Vlad often sent hand signals to Dino indicating where he wanted his pitches. Vlad seemed to tire by the final round, but you’ve got to wonder how Dino’s arm was doing. If you guess that Vlad swung at one out of every four pitches Dino, 42, threw, his total would be around 176 (17 homers + 27 outs multiplied by four) for the night, and that doesn’t include the batting practice that players were taking before the derby and in between rounds.

Swinging the bat that many times isn’t easy either. News reporter Aaron Aupperlee and I went to the batting cages at the Sportspark on Saturday and took 60 pitches. Our performance didn’t quite match up to Vald’s, but we were still tired. We did OK on slow-pitch softball, but when we kicked it up a notch to medium-pitch softball, we were out of our league.

I can relate with Vald on some level, though. Anyone who watched the derby saw Vlad re-taping his hands from blisters. A Band-Aid was stuck to my left thumb for the last two days as a reminder of Saturday’s swings.

— Matthew Peters, sports editor

I tried to contact former Barstow High School baseball coach John DeForge while working on my story about Frank Maldonado, but DeForge was catching up on some golf in Silver Lakes and wasn’t able to get a hold me until after the article ran. However, he did have some interesting things to say about Maldonado, the former Barstow Community College assistant coach who has won back-to-back Division II World Series with the University of Tampa

“He was one of the really, really special players I’ve coached,” DeForge said. “You don’t get very many Frank Maldonados in your career.”

DeForge coached the Aztecs from 1990-1996 and currently coaches baseball at Centennial High School in Corona. He got a call from Maldonado about a half hour after the won it’s second consecutive Division II and still talks to him regularly.

Maldonado wasn’t a player with loads of athletic ability, DeForge said. He wasn’t big, and he wasn’t naturally strong. Maldonado, who played as a middle infielder, had a strong work ethic, though. DeForge worked with Maldonado on his hitting stroke, averaging between 200 and 300 swings in a day.

“He stayed late and got there early,” DeForge said. “He was a sponge. I’ll tell you, he just soaked everything up. He just wanted to learn.”

Maldonado began laying his coaching foundation while playing for the Aztecs. Although he still had stops at Victor Valley Community College and Cal Lutheran as a player, DeForge saw a coach in the making. The two share some hitting philosophies that Maldonado uses for players today, and DeForge said he feels proud to have contributed to Maldonado’s career.

“He was a coach on the field when I was there,” DeForge said. “He was practically coaching when he was a high school player.

“The really, really special ones make the players around them better. He’s an awful special player.”

— Matthew Peters

There’s been a lot of excitement about Matt Mitchell in Barstow during the last few months, and rightfully so. Mitchell was drafted by the Royals in June and made his first professional pitching appearance June 23 for the Arizona League Royals. He earned two strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched.

Mitchell’s family and several others visited him in Arizona recently. All reports say he’s adjusting well to life in Arizona. He’s living in a hotel and without a car. The Royals bus the players back and forth between the training complex. They often get to the stadium at 5 a.m. to begin working out. Games generally start at 10:30 a.m.

Although he’s pitched just 2.2 innings a few weeks into the season, he’s receiving pitching instruction from former Cy Young winner Mark Davis. Mitchell is on a 45-50 pitch limit for now. He will make his second appearance June 30.

“He’s made some changes in his delivery and is listening to what they have to say,” said Curt Mitchell, Matt’s dad.

Terri Peralta, a family friend of the Mitchell’s, saw Mitchell and said he still looked level-headed and calm despite the pressures of professional baseball. Curt, said his son pitched well for his first performance and his change up was working particularly well that day.

“He felt OK,” Curt said. “He was glad to get his first appearance over with. He said was nervous but he enjoyed it.”

Peralta snapped a ton of pictures during the trip and even some video. Here’s what she shared with the Desert Dispatch.

- Matthew Peters and David Heldreth

We’ve been talking about getting blogs for several months at the Desert Dispatch. As getting them became more of a reality, we started having discussions on what to post. After first we weren’t entirely sure. However, after a while certain things began popping up that were clearly blog worthy.

This photo is just such a case. I received an e-mail for invitation to NHL post-season kickoff in Beverly Hills just as the playoffs were beginning in April. As soon as I saw Lil’ Jon in the photo, I figured it had to be joke.

I know the NHL has serious marketing problems, but this looked like it came from an alternate universe. I just can’t take a guy seriously who has braces and a sippy cup both encrusted with diamonds. The juxtaposition of him and hockey’s holy grail just seemed bizarre.

I soon learned he really is a hockey and an Atlanta Thrashers fan. Who knew?

You couldn’t make this stuff up …

— Matthew Peters

If Kobe Bryant can blog all day long, why can’t the Desert Dispatch?

You can find the melodramatic Lakers star’s blog posts in the “Truth” section of his www.kb24.com Web site. Bryant’s recent “truths” included simultaneously asking for a trade from the Lakers and wanting to stay with the team. I guess there can not only be two sides to every story but two sides from one person to every story.

This is the blog world the Desert Dispatch Sports Department is about to enter. Athletes post their versions of stories, journalists try to add depth to their printed stories, and fans often join in from the sidelines. Just where does that leave the Desert Dispatch? We are still trying to figure that out.

Our staff consists of Sports Editor Matthew Peters, reporter David Heldreth and freelance photographer Steve Sanez. Desert Dispatch Editor Scott Shackford and reporter Aaron Aupperlee were the first to jump into the blog pool, and now we’re joining them. You’ll see our — hopefully less melodramatic — post at this very spot. We promise we won’t be demanding any trades.

Even while we are settling in, feel free to start leaving comments.

- Matthew Peters, sports editor