Jeff Karstens has a Strong Return

Good Evening,

On the eve of thousands of bikers descending on our little city, I figured I would write about last night's Curve game vs. the New Britain Rock Cats at People's Natural Gas Park. Last Night's game was an interesting one and not just because Team Ghostrider, the monkeys who ride dogs were in town. Last Night marked the first of two games where pitching was the focus for the Curve. Jeff Karstens made a rehab start last night for the Curve, and had an impressive outing going 7 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits. He was impressive at times and looked like he is on the right track to possibly being back with the Pirates soon. The crowd at last nights game was a good one on a warm summer night. It also helped that it was a 2 for Tuesday with BOGO Tickets, Hot Dogs, and Popcorn. Tonight was another good one with Pirates #1 Prospect Gerrit Cole taking the mound in his Double A debut and he did not disappoint going 5 innings giving up two runs and striking out six for the win. Even though I could not be there I read some of the Twitter and Facebook posts which described his impressive outing. Thanks to his teammates he left the game with a great opportunity to pick up a win in his first Altoona start.


I am hoping to update this either tonight or tomorrow with pictures of the game and the cowboy monkeys from Tuesday Night.

For now I sit and enjoy peace and quiet, because starting tomorrow Thunder invades town and brings fun and excitement.

- The Flood City Sports Fan

Pocono is Much Faster

As I sit here in my hotel room for the night, all is quiet right now about 10 miles away at Pocono Raceway. This morning however, qualifying showed me how much faster these cars are thanks to the repaving of the track. In the end, Joey Logano took the Pole Award and 36 of the 44 Drivers who made a qualifying attempt broke the previous qualifying record.

The speeds were fast and it will be interesting to see how fast the cars are tomorrow. This is a race of many interesting storylines with the two biggest being the reduction of the race by 100 miles and the fact that this is the first race since "Doc" Joseph Mattioli passed away in January. There is to be a special ceremony during pre-race tomorrow to honor him which should be very special.

For those who missed it, on Friday during final practice #33 Stephen Leicht hit what appeared to be a groundhog on one of the straightaways. Here is a link to the video if you have not seen it: http://www.nascar.com/video/preview/practice/120608/cup-poc-prac-leicht-hits-groundhog/index.html

West Hills Lacrosse Clinic & League

A new Lacrosse group in Johnstown called the West Hills Lacrosse Club is forming and will be starting this fall.  According to their website  http://mattziance.wix.com/whlax#!HOME/mainPage the group is forming now and will hold their next informational meeting on July 9th at 7pm at the Grove in Westmont. There will also be a Lacrosse clinic July 9th-12th from 1pm-4pm each day at the Mound near the Inclined Plane. More information on all of this can be found on the website listed above. You can also keep up with the club on Facebook and Twitter The director of the Lacrosse league is Matt Ziance, who is a member of the Pitt Johnstown Lacrosse League. For anyone who is interested in learning this sport or getting some more practice at it, this is a great opportunity.

Generals, Pirates, NASCAR, and More

Good Morning,

Its another sports filled weekend in Johnstown with lots going on here in town and with other local teams.

The Johnstown Generals will have their first real test since they were reinstated by the UIFL when they take on the Erie Explosion tonight at the Cambria County War Memorial. Last Saturday the Generals returned and easily defeated the Western PA Sting by a score of 33-6 in a game that featured plenty of trash talking between friends. The attendance was not the best and from what I counted there was less than 150 in attendance, but those who attended saw a fun and interesting match up. This week's game will be a tough test as the Explosion come into the game with a 7-2 record which ties them  for first place in the North Division with the Cincinnati Commandos. Last week the Explosion defeated the Commandos 68-12 in Cincinnati in what is said to be the Commandos first loss at home. This will be a tough game for the Generals but if they can pull off an upset tonight, it will be a major win for this organization.

The Pirates did something last night that they rarely do last night, win in Milwaukee. The Pirates defeated the Brewers 8-2 to get over .500 and get a much needed win to start the series. The best play of the night was the Jose Tabata Three Run Double over the head of Nyjer Morgan, who has been critical of the Pirates the past few days. Unfortunately, tonight's game will not be aired on  Root Sports because of the Fox Game of the Week being shown tonight, which means other games cannot be shown on TV. 

For anyone who is interested in playing Lacrosse, the Westmont Hilltop Recreation Commission is offering a Lacrosse Clinic and League this summer. I will be doing a full post on this when I get more information, but you can also check it out now by visiting http://www.wix.com/mattziance/whlax or find them on twitter @WestHillsLax .

The AAABA begins their unique inter-league play format today as the Johnstown teams take on teams from Altoona today in locations across Blair County along with Lilly. The leagues will play each other at these sites on several weekends and will play each other in Johnstown during the week throughout the season.

The countdown is on to the Pocono 400 with less than a week until I make the trip to the Tricky Triangle known as Pocono Raceway. I am interested in seeing how the repaved track races and also the changes the friendly folks up there have made. I will make updates on this site during my trip.

-The Flood City Sports Fan