Big Hits

Jim Vatcher and Mickey Morandini hit Reading in late July and made themselves right at home. Before the promotion of Vatcher, an outfielder, and Morandini, a shortstop, from Class A Clearwater, the Phillies weren't employing many highly regarded position-player prospects at Double A Reading. The injection of talent paid immediate dividends, with Reading moving into contention for a spot in the four-team Eastern League playoffs. Reading, 59-66, has won 17 of its last 30 games to move into a tie for fourth.

Zachary Collier's two run-scoring extra-base hits led the Lakewood BlueClaws past the Lake County Captains, 10-3, last night in a South Atlantic League game ended in the seventh inning by rain. Collier had a double and a triple and scored three times for the Claws, and Jim Murphy was 3 for 3 with a double and three runs scored. Righthanded starter Tyler Cloyd pitched all six innings for Lakewood, striking out five and giving up four hits in addition to the three earned runs scored by Lake County.

Al Conroy doesn't spend much time on the ice. His specialty is killing penalties and filling in as a fourth-line winger for the Flyers. But no one on the team plays harder than the 5-foot-8 Conroy. Yesterday, Conroy helped kill six power plays. He nearly scored two short- handed goals and he threw a handful of crunching checks during the Flyers' 3-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Spectrum. Conroy said he's always prepared to play his hardest because he knows what his role is. "I'm not sitting on the bench pouting or anything," Conroy said.

The day after, both of Darcy Tucker's victims were on the mend and on track to play in the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay. Sami Kapanen, knocked woozy by Toronto's Tucker in overtime of Game 6 Tuesday night, was at the Flyers' practice facility briefly yesterday for treatment. So was defenseman Vladimir Malakhov, who missed Game 6 after taking a shot to the head from Tucker in Sunday's Game 4. "[Kapanen] is feeling great," coach Ken Hitchcock said yesterday. "Malakhov had a good day. Unless something happens overnight, we're expecting all those guys on the ice [today]

Doug Glanville came from the Cubs. Desi Relaford arrived from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Glanville had a successful big-league season behind him. Relaford, well, didn't. As the season's first month draws to a close, though, these two young players have been a big part of the Phillies' surprisingly solid start. Glanville extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games with a pair of singles in yesterday's 9-3 win over the Cardinals. That's the longest current streak in the National League.

Thanks to "digitalizing" - a process in which electronics are used to make old, noisy tapes cleaner-sounding, and moldy recordings are given the sparkle of new ones - audiophiles are lapping up digital versions of their favorite golden music. And, as one might guess, digitalization has revived interest in a lot of vintage recordings. RCA Records currently is digitalizing some of Elvis Presley's greatest live concert performances for a 1988 "Essential Elvis" series. Among the scheduled releases: "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii," "Elvis at Madison Square Garden" and "G.I.

Maybe it is destined to be this kind of postseason for Ryan Howard - not a bust, but never wholly satisfying. Howard gets hits, but not big ones. He gets his chances for really big ones, but those aren't the times he's hitting. He's got time, but it's slipping away. "We're very confident in our ability," Howard said. "I don't think anybody's panicking. " Game 2 of the 2008 World Series ended with Howard taking off his batting gloves and helmet, side-stepping a Tampa Bay celebration line.

For a team that hadn't played in a World Series game in 46 years, the Chicago White Sox certainly navigated themselves pretty well around baseball's biggest stage last night. The American League champs did a little bit of everything in beating the Houston Astros, 5-3, in Game 1 of the first World Series played in the nation's third-largest city since 1959. They got big hits from Jermaine Dye, Juan Uribe, Joe Crede and Scott Podsednik. They got a pair of defensive gems from Crede at third base.

Packers defensive end Reggie White acknowledged yesterday that he doled out his entire paycheck to his teammates following last week's playoff victory over the San Francisco 49ers. "I gave them money for big hits," White said. The smash-for-cash program depleted White's $13,000 game check in $500 increments, according to a report in Friday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. White, the 34-year-old all-pro and former Eagle, said his incentive program would continue for tomorrow's NFC championship game against the Dallas Cowboys.

ST. LOUIS - An armada of snow plows and salt spreaders deployed Wednesday across the nation's heartland as a winter storm that's already blamed for one death promised to dump up to a foot of snow in some areas and bring freezing rain and sleet to others. Winter storm warnings were issued from Colorado through Illinois. By midday Wednesday, heavy snow was already falling in Colorado and western Kansas. In Oklahoma, roads were covered with a slushy mix of snow and ice that officials said caused a crash that killed an 18-year-old man. National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said parts of Colorado, Kansas and northern Missouri could get 10 to 12 inches of snow.

SAN FRANCISCO - Residents of Northern California endured the brunt of another powerful storm that drenched the area with yet another round of pounding rain and strong winds, but damage from the storm was less than expected, officials said. The latest storm system - the third to hit the area in less than a week - moved across the region late Saturday and early Sunday dropping as much as an inch of rain per hour in some areas, toppling trees and knocking out electrical service to tens of thousands of people, officials said.

THE NFL Players Association filed papers in federal court pointing out that the NFL permitted a 1996 incentive program for big hits funded by then-Green Bay defensive lineman Reggie White. In papers filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, the union questioned why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should be able to suspend former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita for offering then-New Orleans teammates rewards for big plays during the 2009 season. The filing cited media reports about the late White's "smash-for-cash" program that paid $500 for big plays, including big hits.

SO, HOW DOES it feel to be making a difference in history-making victories in the fall semester of your freshman year at Temple? Welcome to Tyler Matakevich's new world. A few weeks ago, the 6-1, 220-pound linebacker - who enrolled in January as a midyear transfer from Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y. - was just another freshman trying to make the transition to the next level. Then junior Olaniyi Adewole, the Owls' Most Improved Special Teams Player in spring practice, was injured.

Robert Griffin III took part in the Washington Redskins' full practice Friday for the first time this week and appears set to play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Griffin was full-go after being limited Wednesday and Thursday while recovering from a concussion suffered in last week's 24-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The rookie quarterback has been subject to NFL-mandated post-concussion medical tests that he must pass before he can play. "If he passes his tests and we don't see any symptoms, then it looks like he'll be ready to go," coach Mike Shanahan said.

PITTSBURGH - For the fourth time in 5 weeks, it came down to Juan Castillo's defense. The Eagles had preserved close victories over the Browns, Ravens and Giants with valiant, late-fourth-quarter stands. And there they were again Sunday, confident they could do the same against Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers. "As a defense, that's exactly what you want," safety Kurt Coleman said. "To be able to close up a game. " "Every game's been a fight this year," cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said.

MATT KEMP drove the ball to and over the centerfield fence with authority, showing that his left shoulder is OK. Whether the Dodgers can say the same about their playoff chances remains to be seen. Kemp had four hits, falling a triple shy of the cycle, and four RBI as the visiting Dodgers used a rare offensive outburst to beat San Diego, 8-2, Wednesday to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. After Wednesday's games, Los Angeles, which has struggled for the better part of a month, was tied with Milwaukee at 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card berth.

DUBLIN - Saturday's game in Dublin between Navy and Notre Dame has brought an estimated 35,000 Americans to the Irish capital for a road game like no other, and the novelty of the event has captured the Irish imagination. The Navy docked an amphibious-assault warship in Dublin and its fans have rallied in the city's central park, St. Stephen's Green. Not to be outdone, Notre Dame's night-before pep rally was broadcast live on Irish state TV, followed by an open-air Mass from inside the grounds of Dublin Castle.

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - The freshman didn't act like a freshman. The seniors acted like seniors. Gloucester Catholic both crowned the end of a great era in the history of the baseball program and heralded the start of another one with a 4-1 victory over Don Bosco Prep on Saturday in the Non-Public A state championship game at Toms River North. Freshman John Murphy pitched a three-hitter and seniors Pat Kane, Brett Tenuto, Joe Brooks, John Brue, and Elliott McCummings supplied the big hits as Gloucester Catholic (28-4)

Jordan Rizzo was looking for an inside pitch. He found two of them. "That's what I was working on during practice [Sunday]," Rizzo said after leading Williamstown to a 9-1 victory over host Cherry Hill West on Monday in the first round of the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. Rizzo, a junior first baseman, hit a pair of home runs, and senior Mike Mosley pitched a two-hitter for ninth-seeded Williamstown (14-8), which advanced to face top-seeded Washington Township (22-2)