Coach Chad Dyer(left) talks to his team following a win last season

The Westwood football team wraps up their final week of preseason workouts this week.  The Rockets have been working hard and competing for starting positions.  Coach Chad Dyer begins his 14^th year at the helm of the Rockets football program on Thursday night as the Rockets host their annual Blue/White scrimmage game.

The Blue/White game will begin at 7 PM at Dyer-Bouldin Field and feature an intersquad scrimmage.  The scrimmage will get underway at 7 PM and is a fundraiser for the Rockets football team.  Each of the players will get a chance to play and show off “under the lights” for the first time this season.

The Rockets will take part in the Cascade Jamboree on Friday before opening the season on Thursday the 10^th at Chapel Hill when they take on Forrest.  The Rockets first 2 games are on the road before returning to Dyer-Bouldin Field on August 17^th to take on Cascade in their first home game of the year.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you that broadcast as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.

Coach Chad Dyer was a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about the upcoming season.  You can hear that interview by downloading the podcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/audio/CCS072917Podcast.mp3

As the hours ticked away before Monday’s 4:00 p.m. non-waiver Trade Deadline, Philadelphia’s top two young, controllable position players gave the Phillies as good an opportunity as ever to trade them.

Odubel Herrera cracked a long three-run homer, and Cesar Hernandez and Tommy Joseph combined to go 5-for-8 with two RBIs and three runs scored as the Phillies triumphed over Atlanta on Monday afternoon, 7-6. The win gave the Phils their first four-game sweep of the Braves in Philadelphia since 1949.
“He’s over .280 [and] he’s playing very well, good defense, stole a base … He’s stolen a few bases lately and hopefully he’s going to get the knack of that and steal a few more. He’s been fantastic,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said of Hernandez’s play since returning from the DL in mid-July. Mackanin also noted Joseph’s opposite-field approach against hard-throwing Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz.
Right-hander Nick Pivetta spun six innings of one-run ball, capping a brilliant turn through the Phils’ rotation. In their last five games, Phillies starters have posted a 0.62 ERA (two runs, 29 innings).
“Seeing those guys have success knowing that we’re all in here together and we’re all doing the same thing kind of feeds off each other,” Pivetta said.
The Braves threatened after Pivetta was pulled, scoring three runs in just one-third of an inning off Jesen Therrien in his second big league appearance. But, as has been the case all series, their runners-in-scoring-position woes hampered any chance for a comeback. Facing Phils reliever Luis Garcia in the eighth, Atlanta loaded the bases but was unable to bring home a run as Garcia struck out Tyler Flowers swinging with back-to-back 99-mph fastballs.
The Braves went 1-8 after beginning this 11-game road trip by handing the Dodgers two of the three losses they totaled in July. Kurt Suzuki hit his team-high eighth home run of the month, but also flew out to left after Nick Markakis delivered a two-out RBI single in the ninth.
“These kinds of runs happen every now and then,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “You’ve just got to grind through it. There’s nothing else to do. Nobody is going to feel sorry for you. You’ve got to make your own good luck.”
While neither Joseph or Hernandez were dealt, the Phillies did trade veteran reliever Joaquin Benoit and cash to the Pirates for Class A Advanced reliever Seth McGarry.
Another day, another Herrera homer. The latest, his sixth in the last 17 games — punctuated as per usual by his signature bat toss — climbed into the second deck in right field to give the Phillies an early 4-0 lead.
“Herrera had a really good homestand and that three-run [home run] he hit was fun to watch,” Mackanin said.
The Braves clawed their way back in the game with five runs between the fifth and eighth innings, turning a 5-0 game into a one-run deficit. To provide a bit of cushion and breathing room for Philadelphia, Maikel Franco got a 3-0 green light and served a Sam Freeman fastball into the upper deck in left field.
Suzuki tallied eight home runs over 44 at-bats in July. The eight he tallied over 345 at-bats last year stood as his highest season total since he recorded 14 homers in 2011.
Coming off an 11-game road trip, the Braves will return to SunTrust Park to begin a three-game series against the Dodgers Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. CT. Lucas Sims is expected to be promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett to make his Major League debut. Sims will be filling the rotation spot vacated when Jaime Garcia was traded to the Twins.

For the second straight night the Nashville Sounds let a multi-run lead slip away. The Salt Lake Bees overcame a four-run deficit to defeat the Sounds 11-5 Monday night at First Tennessee Park.
Jesse Hahn was in line for his second straight victory as he collected his first quality start of the season but the bullpen could not keep up its end of the bargain. One day after his birthday, the 28-year-old logged six innings and gave up just one run, a second inning RBI single to Tony Sanchez. He issued three free passes on the night while fanning three as well.
The bullpen, however, allowed Salt Lake to erase the advantage and secure the victory. Nashville relievers gave up 10 runs on nine hits in three innings. Bobby Wahl, on a rehab assignment from Oakland, surrendered a season-high three runs in his lone inning of work including a two-run home run to Eric Young Jr. Chris Bassitt retired just one of the seven Bees he faced in the eighth inning and that out came on a sacrifice bunt by Rey Navarro. In Bassitt’s 1/3 of an inning he yielded six runs on four hits. One run scored on Lou Trivino in his 1 2/3 innings.
In back-to-back nights the Bees batted around in an inning that led to the Sounds downfall. Both innings included a Bees player collecting a pair of hits. Jefry Marte singled twice for Salt Lake in the Bees’ seven-run eighth inning.
The Sounds did all their damage offensively in the fourth and fifth innings. Nashville put up a pair of runs in the fourth inning as Joey Wendle sacrificed himself with a ground out to second base to allow Renato Nuñez to score. Two batters later, Matt McBride lined a double to left field to drive in Chris Carter. In the home half of the fifth Matt Olson roped a run-scoring single for his 55th RBI of the season. The Sounds benefited from a costly error by Young Jr. that extended the inning. Nuñez reached and Olson each scored on the error. Mark Canha then continued his hot July by ripping his second triple of the season for an RBI.
The Sounds pitching staff completed the month of July with an ERA of 5.73, its worst total in a single month since 2005.
Canha had a much more productive July with a .340 average, 23 runs scored, and 24 runs batted in on 17 extra-base hits.
The final game of the four-game series is set for Tuesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Zach Neal (1-5, 4.10) starts for Nashville against left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-0, 0.00) for Salt Lake. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.