Josh Kinney, the Quincy University product, was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on Sunday by the St. Louis Cardinals to make room for right-hander Blake Hawksworth.

Saturday, Kinney allowed six earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, giving up four hits with one walk and one strikeout. It sent his earned-run average skyrocketing to 10.95.

This is the second time this season Kinney has been optioned to Memphis. He started the season in the majors, but after giving up three earned run in an inning against Arizona on April 14 that shot his ERA to 13.50, Kinney was sent down to work on his mechanics.

He was recalled on June 18, and except for a hiccup against the Mets on June 24, he had been effective. His ERA dwindled to 6.94 and he had allowed just one run in his previous four appearances.

This season, Kinney has appeared in 15 games, pitching 12 1/3 innings and allowing 21 hits and 15 earned runs. He’s struck out only seven and walked 10.

That’s a stark contrast to his earlier success. In 28 career appearances prior to this season, Kinney had struck out 30 and walked just nine with a 2.53 ERA.

His career ERA is now 4.87.

Rick Ankiel amazes us.

He also frustrates us, dazzles us, confounds us and excites us.

Saturday, he sucked us in again. In the Cardinals’ 14-6 loss to the Phillies, we saw just how good Ankiel can be. He made two outstanding catches in center field, including taking a home run away from Jayson Werth by reaching over the center field wall. He also homered to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead, one the bullpen gave away.

It’s been that kind of week for Ankiel. Since Monday, he is 10 for 21 with two home runs and five RBI, raising his batting average 23 points to .236. That’s right, prior to this hot streak he was hitting a crisp .213. That’s dangerously close to the Mendoza line.

Part of Ankiel’s struggles have been physical, the aftereffects of slamming head first into the wall after making a running catch. Part of his struggles have been impatience. He has struck out 57 times and walked just 17.

That’s the frustrating thing. At times, he has a Roy Hobbs air about him. Other times, he reminds us more of Bill Hobbs, whose career lasted just 10 games for the Reds in the early 1900s. You just never know which version of Ankiel is going to show up at the park.

Hopefully this week’s performance isn’t an aberration, rather a sign that he is healthy and ready to contribute to a pennant chase.

Cardinals fans would find that amazing.

That’s what all the fuss was about?

How many of you wondered the same thing aloud when the video of LeBron James getting dunked on during his own skills academy a couple of weeks ago finally surfaced this week?

So much hullabaloo was made over the tape — Did LeBron really order Nike execs to confiscate the tape? — that everyone was dying to see just how dynamite this dunk really was.

We all envisioned how nasty it might be.

Think of Vince Carter jumping over a 7-foot-2 Frenchman in the Olympics. Or Kevin Johnson going baseline and throwing one down in Hakeem Olajuwon’s face. Or one Quincy High School basketball fans will remember — East St. Louis’ Darius Miles breaking down Mike Sams for a tomahawk dunk at the Collinsville Schnucks Holiday Classic.

Those are dunks that make you cover your mouth in awe. They make you hit replay over and over and over again. They have you slapping the guy sitting next to you and saying, “Did you see that?”

In this case, it’s more like, “You didn’t miss much.”

Give Jordan Crawford credit. The kid has skills. The 6-foot-4 guard from Xavier beat his defender off the dribble from the right wing, cut down the middle of the lane and threw down a two-handed dunk. James, defending a player on the left baseline, was late on the help side and was dunked on as he tried to defend the rim.

Crawford didn’t go over James. In fact, James never impeded Crawford’s progress. If you watch the tape closely, James was relaxing on defense when the inbounds pass was made.

Thus, it proves something all basketball fans learned during the playoffs.

James has a big ego, one that easily shatters.

Forty years have passed since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and many of those who witnessed it still haven’t forgotten where they were or what they were doing at the time.

My mom hasn’t.

She was in the hospital, recovering from a surgery, as she watched the historic moment from her hospital bed. But the story she tells of what went on that night on the hospital floor is one that makes you laugh.

A gentleman who was recovering from a bleeding ulcer called for a nurse, who promptly went to his room. When she didn’t return to her station, another nurse was sent to check on her. When she didn’t return, they figured something was wrong.

Nope. They simply stayed in the room to watch the moon landing.

My mom paints such a vivid picture with her descriptions of the moment you realize how vibrant the memories are for her. Like the day JFK was shot, when she was ironing, watching TV and caring for a month old baby.

I’m not old enough to remember those moments, but there are ones just as vivid for me, such as Ronald Reagan’s shooting and Sept. 11, 2001. Moreso, the details of who, what, when and where associated with certain sporting events are the ones I hope stay with me for a lifetime.

Like the Cardinals winning the 1982 World Series. My parents were taking a short vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks, and we had to call and get their permission for me to stay up past my bedtime to watch the game, particularly Game 7. I can remember sitting on the floor in our family room watching Bruce Sutter throw the final strike and Darrell Porter go leaping into his arms. My sisters had fixed popcorn for us, and since mom and dad were gone, they even left me have a soda.

I wish I could remember the “Miracle on Ice” more vividly, but the details escape me.

Unfortunately, memories of Tyus Edney don’t fade.

In 1995, with Missouri poised to beat No. 1-ranked UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Edney drove the length of the floor in 4.8 seconds to steal the victory and send the Bruins on to the national championship.

Standing in my apartment in Columbia alongside my friend, Chris Erickson, I simply fell back onto my couch and we sat there in stunned silence. Neither us even attempted to drink our beers. A good 10 minutes passed before either of us said anything as we watched the replay over and over and over and over.

Stunned was also the best way to describe the reaction of a dorm room full of guys when the news came that Magic Johnson had contracted HIV. We were preparing to head to the dining hall for dinner when the news broke. Everyone congregated in our dorm room and watched as the news unfolded that Magic was retiring because of HIV.

Powerful. Impactful. Memorable.

That’s the best way to describe each one of those moments.

Do you have ones you recall? Let me know. Either leave a comment below or e-mail me at mschuckman@whig.com.

I hope Colin Cowherd had a change of heart.

Friday, while listening to Cowherd’s show on ESPN Radio as Tiger Woods struggled in the second round of the British Open and put himself in danger of missing the cut, Cowherd said there would be no intriguing reason to watch Sunday’s round at Turnberry.

In fact, he said if neither Woods nor Phil Mickelson, who missed the Open to care for his wife, Amy, who is battling breast cancer, were in contention, there’s nothing to draw him in. Not even Tom Watson’s historic charge was enticing enough.

It was if you watched.

After Watson grabbed the 54-hole lead, you had to turn in, didn’t you? At 59 years old and one of the great links-style golfers of any generation, Watson was creating a moment normally reserved for the silver screen.

It’s why the Open was the first thing I turned on this morning. It’s why I sent the DVR to record it. It’s why I’ll keep tabs on Watson’s progress throughout the morning.

It’s great theater. It’s great drama. It’s great golf.

Unlike Cowherd, I don’t need Woods for that.

Luke Guthrie tried to make his appearance in the 84th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship last as long as possible.

Not even playing an extra hole Thursday could save him.

Guthrie made birdie on the par-5 18th hole at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla., to even his match with Dan Sullivan, of Pasadena, Calif., at all square, but a four-putt on the 19th hole cost the Quincy golfer the opportunity to move past the round of 32.

“I made too many mistakes,” said Guthrie, who will be a sophomore at the University of Illinois. “I’ve been working hard on my game. I have to go back and work ever harder.”

He could use some luck, too.

Guthrie blitzed to big lead on the front nine, going 3-up after just four holes, but Sullivan whittled the lead to nothing by the eighth hole. Guthrie’s birdie on the par-4 ninth hole gave a 1-up lead at the turn, but the back nine proved to be his undoing.

First, he left himself within a foot of the cup with his approach shot on the par-4 11th, but Sullivan made a 50-foot birdie putt to halve the hole. Sullivan evened the match on the par-3 12th when Guthrie bogeyed.

“If I would have made a bunch of pars, I would have been fine,” Guthrie said.

Instead, he bogeyed the par-5 13th to fall one hole down and needed a birdie at No. 18 to send the match to extra holes. Guthrie made around a 20-foot birdie putt before Sullivan missed a 15-foot try for birdie that would have won the match.

Playing the par-4 first hole, both golfers left themselves with 60-foot putts with widely different results. Sullivan lagged his to about 4 feet, while Guthrie had 15 feet to the cup on his second putt. Expecting Sullivan to hole, Guthrie was aggressive with his second attempt, running it 4 feet past the hole. Sullivan surprisingly missed, but Guthrie couldn’t convert on his next putt.

Sullivan did and won the match. Sullivan lost his afternoon match 2 & 1 to Brad Benjamin of Rockford, Ill. Benjamin finished second to Guthrie at the qualifying tournament in Pekin.

This was the first major tournament of the summer for Guthrie, but several key tests still await. He will play in the Quincy Men’s City Championship next weekend before taking part in U.S. Amateur qualifying, Illinois State Amateur qualifying and the Western Amateur, which will be played the first week of August at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill.

It wasn’t Luke Guthrie’s best performance, but it was good enough.

“I somehow got it done,” he said.

Guthrie, the Quincy High School product and sophomore at the University of Illinois, made two key pars on the back nine Wednesday to win beat Ryan Perez, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, 2-up in the first round of match play at the 84th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla.

Guthrie took control of the match with a par at the par-4 11th to go 1-up, increased his lead to 2-up with a par on the par-5 13th and sealed the victory with a birdie on the par-5 18th. Yet, the scrambling pars he made on the 14th and 15th holes saved him.

On the 437-yard, par-4 14th, Guthrie missed the fairway to the left and was forced to hit a 6-foot putt for par. On the next hole, a 281-yard par 3, Guthrie’s tee shot ended up in the short side bunker, but he got up and down for par by hitting out of the trap to within a foot of the cup.

“That put me in the driver’s seat,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie fell back to 1-up when he lost the 17th hole after hitting into the fairway bunker and being forced to punch out. It resulted in a bogey. However, he came right back and hit a wedge to within 4 feet, rolling in the birdie putt for the victory.

“I came up with the shots when I needed them,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie advances to the round of 32, where he will face Dan Sullivan, of Pasadena, Calif., at 9:15 a.m. Thursday. If he advances, he will play a second match Thursday at 1:40 p.m., possibly against Brad Benjamin, of Rockford, Ill. Benjamin finished second to Guthrie at the qualifying tournament in Pekin in late June.

For the most part, everything is going as planned for Luke Guthrie.

After two rounds of stroke play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Norman, Okla., the University of Illinois sophomore posted a good enough score to advance to match play and earn a relatively high seed.

Guthrie, who finished tied for 10th after two rounds of stroke play with a 2-over-par 144 total, will face Ryan Perez of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, in Wednesday’s first round of match play. Perez was tied for 46th at 148 after rounds of 73 and 75.

“I did my job,” Guthrie said. “I advanced.”

If his putter responds the way it did after Illinois teammate Zach Barlow gave him a tip Tuesday, Guthrie could find himself making a run to the finals.

The Quincy High School product shot a 3-over 74 Tuesday at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. Guthrie had four birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys on the 7,300-yard course.

“I struggled with my putting,” Guthrie said. “When that happens, the scorecard looks ugly.”

Three of his birdies were tap-ins and the other was a 5-foot putt.

“I was hitting the ball pretty well,” Guthrie said.

After his round, Guthrie worked on his stroke on the putting green when Barlow, who will be a senior, watched him putt and gave him a couple of tips.

“Everything started rolling perfect,” Guthrie said.

That could lead to a full week of play.

Luke Guthrie called Monday’s first round at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship “just solid golf.”

The Quincy High School graduate and University of Illinois sophomore recorded an eagle, a birdie and two bogeys to post a score 1-under-par 70 at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla. Guthrie is currently tied for ninth, four strokes off the lead.

“I hit it pretty good,” Guthrie said. “I kind of left some strokes out there, but I was pretty pleased overall. I felt good about my round.”

Starting on the back nine, Guthrie parred his first three holes before recording an eagle on the par-5, 589-yard 13th. His second shot ended up about 20 yards short of the green, but he chipped in for eagle.

“That’s kind of cool,” Guthrie said.

He was the only player in the top 14 to put an eagle on his scorecard.

A bogey on the par-4 17th allowed Guthrie to make the turn at 1-under 35. He played the front nine at even par, birdieing the par-4 first hole and bogeying the par-4 ninth hole.

Guthrie is scheduled to tee off at 1:13 p.m. Tuesday in the second round, and the heat will be challenge. Temperatures reached 104 degrees on Monday and the forecast is for the high temperature to be 105 degrees Tuesday.

The top 64 golfers make the cut and will be paired for match play beginning Wednesday.

Check back Tuesday evening for an update on his second round.

Rick Hummel is a lucky man.

The Quincy native who is the national baseball columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently had the opportunity to sit in a room with Hall of Famer Stan Musial and All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols as the two posed for a photo that is to be used for All-Star Game purposes.

Of course, while the two sat there, they started talking about hitting. The playful banter Hummel enjoyed turned into an engaging and entertaining story that appeared in Saturday’s Post-Dispatch.

Click here to read the story. You don’t have to be a Cardinals fan to enjoy this piece. You simply have to love the game.