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NBA PLAYOFFS

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Adewale Ogunleye Chicago’s Pro Bowl DE can’t turn down Pinkberry, Page 3 Flacco just fine with Ravens’ cast of receivers, Page 25 NFL’s best guards, Page 26 M. SPENCER GREEN / AP

Scoreboard

MONDAY MAY 11, 2009

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME VOLUME 1 ISSUE 293

NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Semifinals Boston 95, Orlando 94 (Series tied 2-2 ) Western Conference Semifinals Houston 99, L.A. Lakers 87 (Series tied 2-2 )

Bubble could burst for surprising trio

Eastern Conference Semifinals Boston 4, Carolina 0 (Carolina leads series 3-2) Western Conference Semifinals Detroit 4, Anaheim 1 (Detroit leads series 3-2)

Baseball American League Detroit 5, Cleveland 3 N.Y. Yankees 5, Baltimore 3 Texas 7, Chicago White Sox 1 Seattle 5, Minnesota 3 L.A. Angels 4, Kansas City 3 Toronto 5, Oakland 0 Boston 4, Tampa Bay 3 National League Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 2 N.Y. Mets 8, Pittsburgh 4 St. Louis 8, Cincinnati 7, 10 innings Chicago Cubs 4, Milwaukee 2 Houston 12, San Diego 5 Colorado 3, Florida 2 San Francisco 7, L.A. Dodgers 5, 13 innings

Arizona 10, Washington 8

Stan McNeal BASEBALL

Glen Davis helped stop Boston from falling in a 3-1 hole against Orlando.

‘Big Baby,’ big shot

BASEBALL: THE WEEK AHEAD

NHL Playoffs

PHELAN M. EBENHACK / AP

Seeing the Blue Jays, Rangers and Tigers at the top of their respective divisions qualifies as surprising even if the season is just a month old. Finding them in first next week would border on stunning because of upcoming schedules. All three face challenges from division opponents that entered the season expecting to contend.

It was a day of surprises Sunday in the NBA. Glen Davis—not Paul Pierce, not Ray Allen—scored the Celtics’ final two baskets, including the game-winner as time expired, helping Boston to a 95-94 victory over Orlando. And in Houston, the Rockets, without Yao Ming, still pounced on the lethargic Lakers and rolled to a 99-87 win. Afterward, Phil Jackson said the Lakers “didn’t anticipate the energy that (the Rockets) were going to come with.” Celtics tie series 2-2, Page 10

— Benson Taylor NHL PLAYOFFS

BLUE JAYS

RANGERS

Toronto has taken the A.L. East lead behind the majors’ highest-scoring offense and a combined 10-2 start by ace Roy Halladay and rookie Scott Richmond. A schedule that hasn’t matched the Jays against the East’s big boys has helped, too. Until now. The Jays play three at home against the Yankees this week and three at Boston next week. Aaron Hill’s return and Adam Lind’s development have keyed Toronto’s offensive surge. Lind, 25, especially, has impressed. “He doesn’t get fooled a whole lot,” said Royals GM Dayton Moore, who earlier watched Lind beat Kansas City with a two-run homer.

Club president Nolan Ryan may be realizing his preseason goal to make Rangers starters “develop a work ethic and not be so concerned with pitch count.” The Rangers begin the week atop the A.L. West thanks partly to improved work from their starters, who are routinely working into the seventh inning after averaging 5 1/3 innings last year. Texas’ rotation will be tested this week when their closest pursuers, the Mariners and Angels, visit hitterhappy Rangers Ballpark. The Angels will be nearing full strength with John Lackey and Ervin Santana expected to make their first starts this week.

Wings wear out Ducks

MARK DUNCAN / AP

An offense catalyzed by a revitalized Brandon Inge has Detroit atop the A.L. Central, but for how long?

TIGERS After a spring of pitching woes, Detroit’s rotation has rebounded and is one of only three in the A.L. with sub-4.00 ERA. Pitching and an offense partly fueled by Brandon Inge’s bounce-back season have been big in lifting the Tigers into a tie with another surprise, the Royals, for the

A.L. Central lead. The return of Dontrelle Willis, scheduled to start Wednesday at Minnesota, could give the Tigers a lift, too. Willis has struggled since he arrived in Detroit, making a successful comeback a surprise no matter what time of year. [email protected]

In their 4-1 win over Anaheim Sunday, the Detroit Red Wings played like a team sensing an opportunity to take a stranglehold on a once-close series. The Ducks? They played like a team completely worn out. The defending champions outshot Anaheim, 38-17. “I thought at times, we looked worn down,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. “The compete level for every puck in the next game has to go way up.” It might be too late. Franzen takes control, Page 6

— Craig Custance

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Nuggets at Mavericks 9:30 p.m., TNT The Mavericks got the shorter end of the officiating stick in Game 3, and now they’re faced with a 3-0 deficit no other team in NBA history has overcome. But you just know that the Mavericks have a much better shot at extending their series than the Hawks do tonight. After all, Dirk Nowitzki and Co. nearly won Game 3 and have plenty of scorers to keep up with Denver.

— Roger Kuznia NHL

Capitals at Penguins 7 p.m., Versus It can end tonight, but the only people who want that to happen either root or play for the Penguins. The most entertaining series of the second round has lived up to its hype with Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin sharing turns in the spotlight. It’s also dangerously close to ending before going seven games, which would be a shame. Pittsburgh took a 3-2 series lead with its overtime win on Saturday night, and the Pens return home to try ending Washington’s season.

— Craig Custance BASEBALL

Braves at Mets

OFF THE FIELD

Eagles’ Gocong ‘awesome’ as science teacher Eagles LB Chris Gocong visited a sixth-grade class last week, not to show off his brawn but his brain. Gocong, who has an engineering degree from Cal Poly-SLO, taught a class in applied science at Berlin (N.J.) Community Middle School. “It’s so awesome to have him here,” 11-year-old Stephanie Harvey told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “A lot of people think football players are just duds. But they’re not. They’re really smart. And this, like, proves it.” Gocong and Jim Winkelspecht— ”Mr. Wink” to his students— worked up the lesson plan to teach the class to build a bridge strong enough to support a clay ball. Gocong, 25, says after football he plans a career in biomedical engineering.

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7 p.m., ESPN The Mets now clutch the torch as baseball’s hottest team, having won their last seven games. They go for No. 8 tonight against the team they started their winning streak against at Citi Field. New York has an excellent shot at winning this game with ace Johan Santana on the mound. Santana has baseball’s second lowest ERA among starting pitchers, trailing only Kansas City’s Zack Greinke. Braves veteran Derek Lowe, who has pitched in a few big games in his day, will not be intimidated.

— Roger Kuznia

conference semifinals, game 4, Cleveland at Atlanta

conference semifinals, game 6, Washington at Pittsburgh

7 p.m. ESPN — Atlanta at N.Y. Mets

9:30 p.m. TNT — Playoffs, conference semifinals, game 4, Denver at Dallas

NBA BASKETBALL

9 p.m. VERSUS — Playoffs, conference semifinals, game 6, Vancouver at Chicago

NHL HOCKEY

GUIDE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

7 p.m. TNT — Playoffs,

Time TBA VERSUS — Playoffs,

Mavs G/F Antoine Wright told police that someone stole nearly $120,000 in jewelry from his condo near American Airlines Center. According to The Dallas Morning News, among the priciest items taken from the apartment between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday were a $45,000 7-carat diamond watch and a $20,000 diamond necklace Ex-Cowboys Pro Bowl DT Leon Lett, 40 completed his requirements for a bachelor of arts degree at UNLV. This weekend, he received his diploma in university studies with an emphasis in sociology and history. Lett says he now plans to pursue a football coaching career.

Watch the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race for your chance to win $25,000! Go to SPEEDtv.com for details.

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Adewale Ogunleye Bears defensive end

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Born: Aug. 9, 1977, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Alma mater: Indiana What’s on TV: Nip/Tuck, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Love, The First 48 What’s in my iPod: Wu-Tang Clan, Jill Scott, Roots, Raheem DeVaughn What I drive: Too many to list. LOL. Favorite flicks: The Matrix, Carlito’s Way, Star Wars, Open Range What I’m reading: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, by Paulo Coelho Bookmarks: AOL.com, NFL.com, ThePrince93.com (mine) Superstition: I don’t speak bad thoughts! Only speak positive things. Worst habit: When I am in L.A., I eat Pinkberry once a day. On my office walls: Just pictures Love to trade places for a day with … Barack Obama, because he has inspired the whole world First job: 10 years old, bagging groceries at a place called Fine Fare. I got paid with tips. Talent I’d most like to have: Playing the piano Favorite meal: Rice and chicken. Rice with anything. Favorite city to visit: Atlanta Favorite teams as a kid: San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bulls Favorite value in others: Sense of humor Favorite physical attribute about myself: Height and skin color And least … Don’t have any My greatest love: My family My hero: Parents 100% My bucket list: 1. Visit Brazil, 2. Have kids (married), 3. Eat a Baked Alaska My motto: Pack light and tune in! — Jeff D’Alessio

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Virginia DE plans to visit UCLA, LSU Zack McCray lives in a quiet area near the mountains of Virginia, but that hasn’t kept college football programs from as far away as UCLA, LSU and Boston College from finding him. McCray, a 6-5, 235-pound weakside defensive end from Brookville High (Lynchburg, Va.), told Sporting News Today he is stunned by all of the attention and will have a tough time trimming the list of schools that are interested in him. “I’ll probably try to narrow it down to maybe five or six teams by the end of school, or maybe seven if something new comes in and I want to check it out,” McCray told SN Today. “My biggest thing is I just want to be able to fit in with a team and have a good relationship with the coaches. “Playing time would probably be the next biggest thing. I don’t have to play immediately, because I’m open to redshirting, but I don’t want to wait until I’m a junior, either.” McCray said the coaching staffs from LSU and South Carolina have been recruiting him hard recently. He said he hasn’t made any decisions about favorites at this point but that LSU, Virginia Tech, UCLA and North Carolina would be hard to beat for spots among the five to seven schools he likely will consider. One person who hasn’t been recruiting McCray is teammate Logan Thomas, who signed with Virginia Tech in February as part

of the 2009 class. McCray said Thomas told him he shouldn’t let anyone tell him what to do when it comes to choosing a school. McCray said he hasn’t set up summer visits yet but would like to see UCLA, which is 30 minutes from his uncle’s home in California, and LSU. He is ranked the No. 16 prospect in the country in the Sporting News 100 for 2010, a preseason recruiting ranking that was released Thursday. “My first reaction is kind of like ‘wow’,” McCray said. “I thank God for it—being recognized like that. With all the thousands of players in the country, I’d be happy to be even in the top 1000, so to be in the top 100 and even be No. 16 means a lot.” Erie Community College (Orchard Park, N.Y.) CB Andre Kates (6-0, 195) has committed to Indiana, Rivals.com reported. He also reported scholarship offers from North Carolina, Baylor and Miami, among others. “I’m going to be an intense player,” Kates told Rivals.com. “I’m going to let the players know that I will be there for them when they need me—a lot of things like if the fans want to see some big hits and if they want to see some interception returns. “I’m an athletic person and I’m going to be the one that is going to make the fans want to come to IU and see the games.” — Brian McLaughlin

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

5

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS Detroit 4, Anaheim 1

Lackluster Ducks leave Detroit in 3-2 series hole

JERRY S. MENDOZA / AP

After a 0-0 first period, Detroit scored a pair in the second, including one by Jiri Hudler, right. The Red Wings finished with 37 shots.

DETROIT—Johan Franzen usually blends in behind the Detroit Red Wings’ other stars. Unless it’s the playoffs. Franzen scored his seventh goal of the postseason, helping Detroit beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 Sunday. The defending Stanley Cup champions’ dominating performance gave them a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series. Franzen led the way as he did during the playoffs last year and again the past few weeks. His 20 goals since the start of last year’s title run are the most in a 25-game postseason span since Theo Fleury had a similar outburst a decade ago, according to STATS LLC. The Swede acknowledge being amazed by his scoring tear. “Maybe I’m a little bit surprised,” he said. Game 6 will be Tuesday night at Anaheim. Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said his team didn’t play desperately Sunday, adding that has to change to shift the series back to Detroit for Game 7. “We just have to get emotionally involved in the game right from the drop of the puck,” Carlyle said. The Ducks also will have to physically engage the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Franzen, whose nickname is Mule. “He’s a big guy,” Carlyle said. “He’s probably not even filled out to his full size. The difference in his size in between this year and last year is quite noticeable. “He’s strong on the puck. He’s finding holes.” Franzen scored the first goal

Sunday at 3:23 of the second period. He skated up the right boards, swooped into the circle and flicked a wrist shot high on Jonas Hiller after many of Detroit’s first 16 shots were low. “We’re giving him a lot of shots every night, so maybe we’re wearing him out a little bit,” Franzen said. “I think it’s more that we know where to shoot on him.” Franzen, who has six goals in six games, scored twice in Game 4 to help Detroit even the series in Anaheim. “When we keep the speed up and put the pucks behind their ‘D,’ it’s going to be hard for them to create something,” he said. “If we keep doing that the next game, I think we have a good chance to win.” Regardless of the outcome Tuesday, the odds are in Detroit’s favor. “Game 5s are huge games,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “The last time we played those guys, they ended up beating us and winning the series. “It gives you more confidence going into their building, but obviously as much as the past can help you out, this is a totally different situation.” In the 2007 Western Conference finals, the Ducks won at Detroit to take a 3-2 lead in the series en route to the Stanley Cup title. Franzen was a role player back then, scoring three times in 18 games. He closed strong toward the end of the 2007-08 regular season, finishing with 27 goals, then was almost unstoppable in the postseason. Franzen scored 13 times in the playoffs last year, matching a franchise record for one postseason, despite

Series glance (Detroit leads series 3-2) May 1: Detroit 3, Anaheim 2 May 3: Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT May 5: Anaheim 2, Detroit 1 May 7: Detroit 6, Anaheim 3 Sunday: Detroit 4, Anaheim 1 Tuesday: Detroit at Anaheim, 10 p.m. Thursday: Anaheim at Detroit, TBD, if necessary

Anaheim Detroit

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First Period: None. Penalties: Brookbank, Ana (interference), 8:16; Stuart, Det (slashing), 15:46. Second Period: 1, Detroit, Franzen 7 (Abdelkader, Ericsson), 3:23. 2, Detroit, Hudler 3 (Zetterberg, Lebda), 4:02. 3, Anaheim, Whitney 1 (Christensen, Ebbett), 15:37 (pp). Penalties: Brookbank, Ana (tripping), 7:33; Kronwall, Det (interference), 13:41. Third Period: 4, Detroit, Helm 1 (Zetterberg, Cleary), 16:52. 5, Detroit, Zetterberg 6 (Lidstrom, Datsyuk), 19:08 (en). Penalties: Cleary, Det (hooking), 3:50; Marchant, Ana (holding), 8:05; Brookbank, Ana (crosschecking), 20:00. Shots on Goal: Anaheim 3-9-5: 17. Detroit 14-9-15: 38. Power-play opportunities: Anaheim 1 of 3; Detroit 0 of 3. Goalies: Anaheim, Hiller 6-5-0 (37 shots-34 saves). Detroit, Osgood 7-2-0 (17-16). A: 20,066 (20,066). T: 2:34. Referees: Mike Leggo, Dan O’Halloran. Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Steve Miller.

missing six games because blood pooled between his skull and brain. “Mule’s game is suited for any time of year,” Babcock said. Detroit’s Jiri Hudler, Darren Helm and Henrik Zetterberg scored after Franzen and Chris Osgood had 16 saves. Ryan Whitney scored late in the second period and Hiller stopped 34 shots, giving the Ducks a chance until Helm made it 3-1 with 3:08 left. Zetterberg added an empty-net goal in the final minute. Like Carlyle, Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski was disappointed with the team’s intensity. “We played like Game 38 of the regular season,” Wisniewski said. —The Associated Press

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

NOTEBOOK

Mule carries big load for surging Red Wings DETROIT—Dan Cleary didn’t use the word we might have, but he got his point across all the same. In Sunday’s 4-1 win over Anaheim—a victory that gave the Red Wings a 3-2 series edge—Johan Franzen scored his seventh goal of the playoffs. It was his 18th goal in his last 19 playoff games dating back to last season. Nobody in the NHL has more playoff goals during that span. Not Sidney Crosby. Not Alex Ovechkin. Craig Custance In fact, there might HOCKEY not be a player in the league competing at as high a level as Franzen is right now. He’s scoring nearly a goal a game at the time of year when goals are hardest to come by. Cleary just shook his head while considering. “It’s disgusting,” he finally concluded. See, we were thinking sensational. Or outstanding. Or unbelievable. But disgusting works. “Stats don’t lie. He’s a force,” Cleary said. “He’s a top five player in the world right now.” Yet, when you throw around the biggest names in hockey, his probably is not one of the first five—or even 10—mentioned. You could probably even list five Detroit teammates who are bigger stars. But when the games are tightest, and wins the most meaningful, it’s the Mule doing the scoring. When told about his scoring pace over 19 playoff games, Franzen seemed surprised. “Oh really?” he said. Then he tried to explain it.

JERRY S. MENDOZA / AP

For the second straight postseason, Johan Franzen is proving himself as an elite goal-scorer. “I don’t know, you don’t get that many chances, you have to dig down once you get them. Maybe that’s what’s happening.” He said his game works better in playoff-type hockey. Whether it’s the

6

physical nature of the playoffs or just the higher intensity of the games, the Swede agreed that his game was better suited for this time of year. “I think Mule’s game is suited for any time of year, but his activation level isn’t

quite the same,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. “Now that he’s said that, I’ll remember that for next year in November and in February.” Teammate Nicklas Lidstrom has another theory. At some point in March of 2008, Lidstrom said, Franzen learned how to score consistently at the NHL level. That March, Franzen scored 14 goals in 13 games and continued playing at that high level right into the playoffs. The player who broke in as a checker suddenly realized he could be an elite goal-scorer in the NHL. It was part confidence, and part learning how to use his 6-2, 210-pound frame to wear down opponents. “He’s a strong man, tough to knock off the puck,” Lidstrom said. “When you have a confidence to hold off a player and take him to the net or fight off a check to make a pass, it helps tremendously.” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle has noticed a decided change in Franzen’s size between this year and last year and thinks he can still fill out physically. That physical improvement helps, but Carlyle is most impressed where Franzen is putting the puck. “It’s not like they’re shots in the middle of the net,” Carlyle said. “He’s finding holes.” He has been finding holes in the playoffs for a while now. And when they’re not there, he’s strong enough to make his own, not afraid to fight for space others might prefer to avoid. This time of year, that kind of play is rewarded—although not usually at this pace. “The Mule,” teammate Jiri Hudler said, “that’s what he does.” [email protected]

Ducks need Getzlaf to return to form After playing only 15:55 in Game 4 while battling flu-like symptoms, Anaheim forward Ryan Getzlaf saw his ice time return above the 20-minute mark in Game 5. But the player who was dominant in the first two games of this series wasn’t on Sunday. Getzlaf registered only one shot and was a minus-1 while Randy Carlyle bounced him around between lines, looking for the right combination. “I don’t think it’s physical,” Carlyle said of Getzlaf. “It’s one of those situations where you get any type of illness or you don’t feel well— it’s taxing to play this game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. This isn’t easy hockey,” When Anaheim split the first two games in Detroit, Getzlaf logged tons of ice time, including 38:59 in the three-overtime thriller. Detroit coach Mike Babcock said then he hoped the star forward and his linemates would eventually wear down. It could be happening. “You’re trying to (wear them down). They have to play those guys big minutes,” Babcock said. “In saying that, you get to enjoy this for about 15 seconds and then you worry about next game.”

Datsyuk pressing? Babcock said he is concerned that forward Pavel Datsyuk might be thinking too much on the ice. The talented center has only one goal this postseason and hasn’t scored against the Ducks. By comparison, Datsyuk had five goals in his first nine playoff games last spring. “I like him to score. You know why? Because he’d like to score. It doesn’t matter what I tell him about how he’s playing, if he doesn’t score he doesn’t think he has value,” Babcock said. “He’ll fight through it.” Teammate Kirk Maltby said Datsyuk has been the focus of the opposition’s defense each night, which hasn’t made it easy. “He’s more or less getting into double-coverage, it’s like football,” Maltby said. “He’s still creating offensive chances … they’re going to go in sooner or later.” — Craig Custance

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7

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS Boston 4, Carolina 0

Thomas—not Ward—asserts dominance with shutout win BOSTON—This was Tim Thomas’ turn to take control of the Eastern Conference semifinals. After watching Carolina goalie Cam Ward dominate three straight games and push Boston to the brink of elimination, Thomas stopped 19 shots for his first NHL playoff shutout and helped the Bruins keep their season going with a 4-0 victory over the Hurricanes in Game 5 on Sunday night. “Timmy deserved the kind of night he had tonight,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “He’s been peppered with a lot of shots in the games before that. Maybe his teammates felt they owed it to him, to give him an easier night. They did a great job in front of him.” Phil Kessel scored twice, Milan Lucic had a goal and an assist, and Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard each had a pair of assists for Boston, which was on the verge of an early summer after losing three in a row. Chara also gave Boston a big emotional lift when he came back from a second-period slashing by Jussi Jokinen. “It was the only option we had, being down 3-1 and at home in front of our fans,” Chara said. “But we are in the same situation and are fighting for another day.” Ward made 36 saves for the Hurricanes, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. Game 6 is at Carolina on Tuesday. “We get to go back home in front of our fans and hopefully get the job done in six,” said Eric Staal, who had four goals in the previous three

WINSLOW TOWNSON / AP

Though Bruins netminder Tim Thomas stole the show with 19 saves, Phil Kessel made his mark in Boston’s Game 5 win—he had a pair of goals. games but just three shots and a minus-3 in Game 5. “We need to regroup and forget it.” Thomas had a career-high five shutouts in the regular season, when he led the NHL with a 2.10 goals-against average and became a

Vezina Trophy finalist. But it had been Ward who dominated the series, allowing three goals as the Hurricanes responded to a Game 1 loss with three straight victories. Chara took a stick to the left shin from Jokinen in the final minute of

the second period. After laying on the ice for a few minutes, he skated off on his own but didn’t return for the start of the third. “My heart skipped a beat when he was down because I know he doesn’t fake things—ever,” Thomas

said. When Chara came onto the bench shortly after the faceoff, the crowd began chanting “Cha-ra!” And when he slipped over the dasher boards with 19:12 to play, the fans stood. “We all have to make sacrifices. It’s nothing unusual,” Chara said. An Original Six team that has not won the Stanley Cup since Bobby Orr skated around the ice with it in 1972, the Bruins entered the playoffs with the best record in the East and swept Montreal in the first round. But they have struggled against Carolina, a team they beat in all four regular-season meetings, losing three times by a combined score of 10-3 to fall to the brink of elimination. Boston needs to win the next two to stay alive in a tournament that has already claimed the San Jose Sharks, the No. 1 overall seed. “They did a good job coming back and being ready to play, as we expected,” Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. “And we’re going to have the same challenge.” The Bruins came out with a more physical lineup, subbing Shawn Thornton for rookie Blake Wheeler, and immediately took charge. Carolina didn’t have a shot in the first 11:04, and the Hurricanes were outshot 40-19 overall. Milan Lucic helped set up the first goal with a crunching check on Dennis Seidenberg late in the first period. When Seidenberg responded, he drew a slashing penalty. Just 7 seconds into the power

play, Mark Recchi redirected Chara’s shot past Ward to break a scoreless tie. Kessel scored twice in the second period, both times assisted by Savard, to give Boston a 3-0 lead. Lucic made it 4-0 in the third. —The Associated Press

Series glance (Carolina leads series 3-2) May 1: Boston 4, Carolina 1 May 3: Carolina 3, Boston 0 May 5: Carolina 3, Boston 2, OT May 8: Carolina 4, Boston 1 Sunday: Boston 4, Carolina 0 Tuesday: Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m. Thursday: Carolina at Boston, TBD, if necessary

Carolina Boston

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0 4

First Period: 1, Boston, Recchi 2 (Chara, Wideman), 14:48 (pp). 2, Boston, Kessel 5 (Savard, Lucic), 18:36. Penalties: Gleason, Car (holding stick), 1:33; Chara, Bos (interference), 6:06; Samsonov, Car (interference), 7:27; Seidenberg, Car (slashing), 14:41; Montador, Bos (interference), 15:33. Second Period: 3, Boston, Kessel 6 (Savard, Chara), 4:40. Penalties: Carolina bench, served by Whitney (too many men), 6:38; LaRose, Car (roughing), 9:35; Wideman, Bos (high-sticking), 15:25. Third Period: 4, Boston, Lucic 2 (Ryder, Bergeron), 12:21. Penalties: Babchuk, Car (high-sticking), 2:57; Conboy, Car, double minor (roughing), 2:57; Thornton, Bos, double minor (cross-checking, roughing), 2:57; Pitkanen, Car (elbowing), 3:18; Cole, Car (delay of game), 5:17; Ryder, Bos (hooking), 5:44; Conboy, Car, major (fighting), 12:53; Stuart, Bos, major (fighting), 12:53; Chara, Bos (roughing), 14:37; Walker, Car, minor-major-misconduct (instigator, fighting), 17:13; Cullen, Car (roughing), 17:13; A.Ward, Bos (roughing), 17:13; Wallin, Car (cross-checking), 18:11; Kobasew, Bos (cross-checking), 18:11; LaRose, Car (slashing), 19:32; Lucic, Bos, misconduct, 20:00. Shots on Goal: Carolina 7-4-8: 19. Boston 16-13-11: 40. Power-play opportunities: Carolina 0 of 5; Boston 1 of 9. Goalies: Carolina, C.Ward 7-5-0 (40 shots-36 saves). Boston, Thomas 6-3-0 (19-19). A: 17,565 (17,565). T: 2:27. Referees: Brad Watson, Tim Peel. Linesmen: Shane Heyer, Brian Murphy.

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Ovechkin: We’re coming home for Game 7 PITTSBURGH—There is every reason for the Pittsburgh Penguins to think it’s over. They’ve won three games in a row, they’re back home and they’ve done this so many times before to the Washington Capitals that it’s almost like a script. The players and the coaches change, the results don’t. The Penguins go down two games, only to come back and snatch back control with a late surge triggered by a Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr, a Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Happened in 1992, 1995 and 1996. It’s happening again in 2009, despite the efforts of Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who has done pretty much all he can by scoring seven of Washington’s 15 goals. The Capitals trail 3-2 in the semifinal series and will need a comeback to rival their first-round escape from a 3-1 deficit to the New York Rangers. Ovechkin says the Capitals can do it. He’s almost promising they can do it. He predicts that a potential elimination Game 6 in Pittsburgh tonight will actually be the start of a comeback that fans will talk about for years. “Next game is going to be different,” Ovechkin said after the Penguins beat the Capitals Saturday for the second time in two nights—a 4-3 decision in overtime. “It’s not over yet. If somebody thinks it’s over, it’s not over. ... We’re going to come back here (to Washington) again, Game 7.” Ovechkin will need some help if he’s going to pull this off, and that’s part of the Capitals’ problem. Ovechkin isn’t getting any. Crosby and Malkin are. Pittsburgh’s two big names are having good series—Malkin has two goals and three assists; Crosby has five goals and three assists. But the Penguins turned it around only when their second and third lines began scoring. Ruslan Fedotenko scored a goal in each of the last three games, Jordan Staal scored his first in 11

NICK WASS / AP

Alex Ovechkin and the Caps were all smiles early in their series with Pittsburgh, but things have changed. playoff games and Matt Cooke his first since the 2004 playoffs. Fedotenko was a regular-season disappointment for the Penguins, scoring only 16 goals in 65 games. But he has four in his last seven playoff games. “We got it (secondary scoring) in the first couple of games and we won,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said Sunday. “They’ve gotten it the last couple of games and they’ve won. So, hopefully it’s our turn.” Still, it’s hard for Capitals fans not to wonder if they’ve been set up for yet another playoff failure against the opportunistic Penguins. Pittsburgh has won six of the seven previous playoff matchups between the rivals—five times after trailing. Even after they lost Games 3 and 4 in Pittsburgh, the Capitals could have won the series by maintaining home-ice advantage. They gave that away by

losing Saturday, when Malkin’s pass intended for Crosby banked in off Tom Poti’s stick for the game-winning goal. This may be one time the Capitals regret that Poti employs one of the longest sticks ever used in the NHL. But don’t talk over and done to Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. He realizes that desperation often is the biggest motivator of all, and that Washington is certain to have it going into tonight’s Game 6. “When you get down 2-0, that fear of not winning and not moving on is there,” Bylsma said Sunday. “We got the desperation in our game we needed and we’ve put ourselves in a situation to move on. The guys in that (dressing) room know exactly what’s at stake and what’s in front of us for Game 6. We expect a team that’s going to be real desperate ... a team that’s good, that’s dangerous, that’s going to be giving everything they’ve got.”

Withstand that desperation, and the Penguins will play in the Eastern Conference finals for the second season in a row. The last time they accomplished that feat was 1991 and ’92, when they won consecutive Stanley Cups. There’s also this stat for the Capitals to ponder. The Penguins have never lost when they had the chance to close out Washington in a series, going 6-0. The Penguins want to avoid what happened last month, when they lost a potential series-ending Game 5 to the Flyers at home. That forced them to go on the road and win 5-3 in Game 6, despite allowing Philadelphia to score the first three goals. “I think we learned from that,” Staal said. “We know how big a game this is and how important it is for us.” Sergei Gonchar hasn’t been ruled out for tonight’s game, although it appeared the knee-to-knee hit that Ovechkin gave him in Game 4 might sideline the Penguins defenseman for the rest of the playoffs. “I’m hoping he improves and we can see him on the ice, and we’ll go from there,” Bylsma said. —The Associated Press

Today’s games All Times ET Conference semifinals (Best-of-7) Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., Versus Vancouver at Chicago, 9 p.m

Betting lines Today FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE at Pittsburgh ..........-180................Washington ........+160 at Chicago ..............-175................Vancouver ...........+155

8

Playoff glance CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (Best-of-7) All Times ET

EASTERN CONFERENCE Boston vs. Carolina (Carolina leads series 3-2) May 1: Boston 4, Carolina 1 May 3: Carolina 3, Boston 0 May 5: Carolina 3, Boston 2, OT May 8: Carolina 4, Boston 1 Sunday: Boston 4, Carolina 0 Tuesday: Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m. Thursday: Carolina at Boston, TBD, if necessary

Washington vs. Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh leads series 3-2) May 2: Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2 May 4: Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3 May 6: Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2, OT May 8: Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3 May 9: Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT Today: Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Wednesday: Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m., if necessary

WESTERN CONFERENCE Detroit vs. Anaheim (Detroit leads series 3-2) May 1: Detroit 3, Anaheim 2 May 3: Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT May 5: Anaheim 2, Detroit 1 May 7: Detroit 6, Anaheim 3 Sunday: Detroit 4, Anaheim 1 Tuesday: Detroit at Anaheim, 10 p.m. Thursday: Anaheim at Detroit, TBD, if necessary

Vancouver vs. Chicago (Chicago leads series 3-2) April 30: Vancouver 5, Chicago 3 May 2: Chicago 6, Vancouver 3 May 5: Vancouver 3, Chicago 1 May 7: Chicago 2, Vancouver 1, OT May 9: Chicago 4, Vancouver 2 Today: Vancouver at Chicago, 9 p.m. Thursday,: Chicago at Vancouver, TBD, if necessary

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9

INSIDE DISH

Russians beat Canada for gold; Sweden tops U.S. Russia is on top of the hockey world again. After going 15 years without winning gold at the IIHF World Championship, the Russians made it two in a row Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Canada at Bern, Switzerland. The Canadians have been on the losing end of both dramatic finals, settling for silver medals and the title of second best in a renewed rivalry between hockey’s superpowers. Is this the start of a new Russian dynasty? “I think so, yes,” said D Denis Grebeshkov. Countered Canada F Dany Heatley: “I don’t think it’s a dynasty by any means. They’ve got some great young players, but so do we.” There will be some bad feelings left over from this one. Alexander Radulov scored the game-winner in the second period on a nice individual effort that he followed with a dramatic celebration that angered the Canadian team. Oleg Saprykin had the other Russian goal and Ilya Bryzgalov made 37 saves. Jason Spezza scored Canada’s goal while Dwayne Roloson stopped 15 shots. “Two years in a row, good tournaments, good finals,” said Steve Yzerman, executive director of Canada’s team for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. “It promotes the game and it has to create interest in the Olympic tournament.”

The Russians showed a different side and sat on the one-goal lead for much of the third period. Canada pushed hard for the equalizer and D Shea Weber fired a shot off the outside of the goal in the final minute. Once time expired, the Russian players had another dramatic celebration and Canadian captain Shane Doan fired a glove into the stands at PostFinance Arena. The rivalry is alive and well heading into the next confrontation at the Winter Olympics. The United States failed to hold an early lead and lost to Sweden 4-2 in the bronze medal game at the IIHF World Championship tournament Sunday. Sweden scored all four goals on power plays, with Loui Eriksson and Tony Martensson tallying in the second period and Carl Gunnarsson adding a third with 11 minutes left. D Johnny Oduya scored into an empty net in the final seconds. The U.S. team took the lead on Jack Johnson’s power-play goal in the second and tied it on Joe Pavelski’s goal early in the third. “I’m very proud of this young team. They played their hearts out and probably deserved a better fate over the last two games,” said U.S. coach Ron Wilson, whose side gave up a late power-play goal in a 3-2 semifinal loss to Russia. Sweden won its first medal since taking gold in 2006. It lost the bronze medal match the past

two years. “It’s a relief for Sweden to get that medal. We finished strong and that’s a pretty good job from us,” Eriksson said. Stefan Liv had 37 saves for the win; Robert Esche made 24 stops for Team USA. A Saturday report in The Hamilton Spectator that a Vancouver developer is heading a group that wants to buy the Atlanta Thrashers and move the team to Hamilton met with a quick denial from the club. The split Thrashers ownership is currently in a court battle over control of the franchise, but co-owner Bruce Levenson dismissed the rumors of a possible move. “There is no truth to this rumor,” Levenson wrote in an e-mail to Sporting News Today. The Atlanta Spirit, the group that owns the Thrashers, also owns the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena. It’s unlikely the group, even if it wasn’t battling in court, would want to lose a tenant of the arena that fills 41 nights a year. Plus, the naming rights to Philips Arena are contingent on there being an NHL and NBA team in the building. “We are not a movable franchise,” Thrashers general manager Don Waddell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chris Vivlamore. — Craig Custance Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger says his full concentration

is on helping Jim Balsillie bring the Phoenix Coyotes to the city, and that he hopes to reach a deal with the CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion for Copps Coliseum later this week. Eisenberger, speaking on CTV’s Question Period Sunday, made those comments when asked about the rumor that a group is interested in moving the Atlanta Thrashers to Hamilton. Eisenberger did not deny having conversations with other groups, but said he had no plans for a face-to-face meeting with anyone other than Balsillie. The Chicago Blackhawks will play against the European champion Zurich Lions in Switzerland this fall, according to the Associated Press. The NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation announced Sunday that the teams will meet in the Victoria Cup Sept. 29 at Zurich’s Hallenstadion arena. The Blackhawks then will travel to Helsinki, Finland, to open the NHL season against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 3-4. NHL International executive Ken Yaffe said that he hopes the game between an NHL team and the best club team in Europe will become an annual event. The New York Rangers won the inaugural Victoria Cup last October against the Russian team Metallurg Magnitogorsk in Bern.

ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS /AP

Alexei Morozov captained a Russian squad that broke a 15-year gold-less streak at the Championships.

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS Boston 95, Orlando 94

‘Big Baby’ evens series, leaves Magic silenced ORLANDO—Glen Davis rolled off the pick and into the corner, left open for a shot he was never supposed to take and in a position he was never supposed to be in. The ball came and the clock ticked down, and the “Big Baby” who has replaced injured All-Star Kevin Garnett let the ball fly over a charging Rashard Lewis. It was a swish that changed the series for Boston. Davis made a 21-foot jumper as time expired to help the Celtics hold off a furious rally and defeat the Orlando Magic 95-94 on Sunday night to even their Eastern Conference semifinal at two games apiece. A spot he never expected to be in until Garnett went down with a season-ending knee injury, Davis relished his newfound celebrity. “This is really neat,” he said. “This is my first time, so bear with me.” And he looked like a veteran. Davis took the pass on the wing from Paul Pierce, made the jumper and ran to half-court. He was mobbed by teammates, waving his hands in the air and leaving the Orlando home crowd silenced. “I didn’t see his emotions,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I was having an emotional highjack at the moment myself.” Davis’ jumper followed a pair of free throws by Lewis that put the Magic ahead with 11.3 seconds to play. Davis also hit a 15-foot jumper in the final minute and finished with 21 points.

Dwight Howard had 23 points and 17 rebounds, and Lewis scored 22 for the Magic. Game 5 is Tuesday in Boston. Perhaps the only downside on a series-changing win for Boston was that center Kendrick Perkins said he aggravated his left shoulder. He didn’t know when it happened and said he would have it evaluated Monday. The Celtics went ahead by nine points with about 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Pierce. Boston’s AllStar forward had 27 points, but would battle foul trouble the rest of the way, helping Orlando trim the lead slowly. But it was the final play that changed the series. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said his players carried out the last play defensively exactly how he had designed, taking the ball out of the hands of Pierce and Ray Allen, and put the responsibility for his team’s failures on himself. “The only guy who made a mistake on the last play was me,” Van Gundy said. Orlando’s coach had cautioned his team about feeling satisfied with its Game 3 victory, even reminding players with a message at the team’s practice facility that they were in the same position Philadelphia was in their firstround series. The 76ers went up 2-1, then lost in six games. The buzzer beater by Davis now put the Magic on the same path.

PHELAN M. EBENHACK / AP

Glen Davis, left, led the celebration with Paul Pierce after hitting the buzzer-beater. “Big-shot Baby Davis,” Howard said, still shaking his head in dis-

belief. “We have to go back to Boston and get back up.”

It was Boston that went right at Orlando from the start. The aggressive play caused Howard to pick up his second foul about halfway through the opening period, with the Celtics already taking a five-point lead. The Magic would withstand an early push by Boston and then go on a 9-2 run to end the quarter ahead 28-25 without Howard. But neither team would get out to a big lead as they did in the first three games of the series. An ugly, first-half foul fest with 29 personals called saw 13 lead changes. That’s 13 more than the last two games combined, with Boston and Orlando going start to finish without losing the lead in the previous contests. Pierce was finally able to get off to a quick start by attacking the basket and drawing fouls. He went 6 of 7 on free throws on his way to 18 points in the opening half to help the Celtics take a 48-46 lead at the break. Between the seven-game series against the Bulls—which included seven overtimes—in the first round and their Game 4 comeback against Orlando, Pierce said the thrilling games never get old. “This is great,” Pierce said. “It was a rollercoaster last year, and we want to take the same ride. Plus, I said I kind of like the weather down here and I wanted to come back” for Game 6 on Thursday. — The Associated Press

Series glance (Series tied 2-2) May 4: Orlando 95, Boston 90 May 6: Boston 112, Orlando 94 Friday: Orlando 117, Boston 96 Sunday: Boston 95, Orlando 94 Tuesday: Orlando at Boston, 8 p.m., TNT Thursday: Boston at Orlando, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 17: Orlando at Boston, TBA, if necessary

Boston Orlando

25 28

BOSTON Min FG FT Pierce 32:16 9-15 8-9 Davis 33:11 9-14 3-8 Perkins 39:50 5-7 2-2 Rondo 41:58 8-15 5-8 RAllen 46:56 6-13 0-0 Scalabrine 15:52 0-2 0-0 House 17:00 0-1 0-0 Marbury 6:18 1-4 0-0 Moore 6:40 0-1 0-0 Totals 240:01 38-72 18-27

23 18

31 25 Reb 0-3 2-6 3-13 2-14 1-5 0-1 0-1 0-0 1-1 9-44

16 — 23 — A 4 0 2 3 4 1 1 1 0 16

PF 5 4 3 3 2 5 3 1 2 28

95 94 PTS 27 21 12 21 12 0 0 2 0 95

Percentages: FG .528, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 1-10, .100 (Pierce 1-1, Marbury 0-1, Rondo 0-1, Scalabrine 0-2, R.Allen 0-5). Team Rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 13 (16 PTS). Blocked Shots: 5 (Perkins 5). Turnovers: 13 (Davis 3, Rondo 3, R.Allen 2, Pierce 2, House, Marbury, Perkins). Steals: 3 (Marbury, Perkins, Rondo). Technical Fouls: Defensive three second, 3:26 third. ORLANDO Min FG FT Reb Turkoglu 37:44 4-14 2-2 0-3 Lewis 38:38 8-14 4-5 0-5 Howard 37:38 8-14 7-10 5-17 Alston 26:58 1-7 2-2 0-1 Redick 23:38 1-7 0-0 0-0 Gortat 9:32 4-4 0-0 3-4 Pietrus 26:53 3-8 4-5 2-3 Lee 23:09 3-8 2-2 1-3 Johnson 10:47 2-7 0-2 1-1 Battie 4:13 0-2 0-0 0-1 Foyle 0:50 0-0 0-0 0-0 Totals 240:00 34-85 21-28 12-38

A 4 3 2 2 7 0 1 1 0 0 0 20

PF 3 3 4 2 2 3 4 2 0 1 0 24

PTS 11 22 23 5 2 8 11 8 4 0 0 94

Percentages: FG .400, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 5-27, .185 (Lewis 2-5, Turkoglu 1-4, Pietrus 1-5, Alston 1-6, Johnson 0-1, Lee 0-1, Redick 0-5). Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 8 (9 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Howard 3, Lewis). Turnovers: 8 (Turkoglu 3, Lewis 2, Alston, Howard, Lee). Steals: 5 (Pietrus 2, Alston, Gortat, Redick). Technical Fouls: None. A: 17,461 (17,461). T: 2:43. Officials: Joe Crawford, Bill Kennedy, Greg Willard.

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WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS Houston 99, L.A. Lakers 87 Series glance

Despite loss of Yao, Rockets blast Lakers HOUSTON—With Yao Ming out, the Houston Rockets had no chance to beat the Los Angeles Lakers. Right? Wrong. Aaron Brooks scored a career-high 34, Shane Battier sank five 3-pointers and added 23 and the Rockets beat the Lakers 99-87 on Sunday to even their Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece. “I think everyone but us got the memo that we weren’t supposed to show up today without Yao,” Battier said. Luis Scola had 11 points and 14 rebounds as the Rockets got exactly the team effort they needed after Yao broke his left foot in the Lakers’ win in Game 3. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles, and anyone who thought the Rockets were finished without their best player only needed to watch the first quarter on Sunday, when Houston built a 29-16 lead. The Rockets never trailed and led by as many as 29 before the Lakers made the score respectable toward the end. “I’m not surprised,” said Battier. “It almost sounds cliche, but we’re a resilent group. We talk about bouncing back. Through adversity, through lineup changes, through trades, through injuries, we’ve never quit and we’ve never stopped believing.” Brooks, in his second NBA season, became Houston’s starting point guard when the team dealt Rafer Alston to Orlando at the trade deadline. He faced countless questions about his inexperience before the

postseason began, but keeps showing skeptics that he can handle the job. He scored 27 points in Houston’s Game 1 win in Portland and had 14 points in the second half of the Rockets’ 100-92 victory in the opener of this series. Brooks deflected credit to his teammates after this one. “I’m lucky to have these guys,” he said. “It makes it a lot easier on me.” Pau Gasol scored 30 points and Kobe Bryant had a quiet 15 for Los Angeles. Lakers coach Phil Jackson warned his team about taking the Rockets too lightly after hearing about Yao’s injury. But the Lakers looked lethargic from the start, giving away careless turnovers and playing lax defense. “They didn’t anticipate the energy that they were going to come with,” Jackson said. “But you say as much as you can as a coach and then the players have to execute and do it on the floor.” The Rockets opened the game with a 22-7 run, starting 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Bryant scored the Lakers’ first three baskets, but the rest of the team missed its first seven shots. Houston led 54-36 at the break. The Lakers grabbed only two offensive rebounds and generated only four fast-break points in their lowest-scoring half of the season. Battier had 15 points at halftime, two more than Bryant. “I just don’t think we started the game with the right energy or the right focus or sense of urgency,”

(Series tied 2-2) May 4: Houston 100, L.A. Lakers 92 May 6: L.A. Lakers 111, Houston 98 May 8: L.A. Lakers 108, Houston 94 Sunday: Houston 99, L.A. Lakers 87 Tuesday: Houston at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. Thursday: L.A. Lakers at Houston, TBA Sunday, May 17: Houston at L.A. Lakers, TBA, if necessary

ERIC GAY / AP

Houston’s Luis Scola, left, scored 11 points and helped the Rockets win the battle on the boards with a game-high 14 rebounds. Bryant said. Los Angeles didn’t start the second half too well, either. The Rockets outscored Los Angeles 29-18 in the decisive third quarter, led by Brooks’ 17 points. The speedy, 6-foot guard finished the quarter by catching a midcourt pass by Ron Artest and putting in a layup just before the buzzer.

Yao, dressed in a dark suit, wore a broad grin and applauded when Brooks sprinted off the floor after the improbable basket. The 7-foot-6 Yao is out for the rest of the playoffs, but the Rockets never doubted they could beat the Lakers without him. Lamar Odom, who scored 16 points in Game 3, drove into Battier

and was called for a charge midway through the quarter. He hit the floor hard, limped to the bench and went to the locker room with back spasms. He did not return. Odom will have tests today and said he’ll sit out practice. The Rockets led by 27 when Odom was hurt, and when Brooks completed the last-second alley-

L.A. Lakers 16 20 18 33 — 87 Houston 29 25 29 16 — 99 L.A. LAKERS Min FG FT Reb A PF PTS Ariza 23:03 2-4 0-2 1-2 2 2 5 Odom 25:24 1-4 0-0 1-6 3 3 2 Gasol 38:35 11-17 8-13 3-9 1 4 30 Fisher 19:52 1-4 0-0 0-2 0 0 2 Bryant 34:39 7-17 0-0 0-2 5 1 15 Walton 22:09 2-3 0-0 1-5 1 1 5 Farmar 21:09 2-7 2-2 0-3 1 3 7 Bynum 11:37 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 3 0 Vujacic 18:37 2-7 1-1 0-0 1 2 7 Brown 18:22 6-11 0-0 1-3 0 3 14 Powell 6:33 0-1 0-0 0-3 0 0 0 Totals 240:00 34-76 11-18 8-37 14 22 87 Percentages: FG .447, FT .611. 3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (Brown 2-3, Vujacic 2-4, Ariza 1-1, Walton 1-1, Farmar 1-3, Bryant 1-4, Fisher 0-1, Odom 0-1). Team Rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 11 (17 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Gasol 2, Odom 2). Turnovers: 11 (Walton 4, Ariza 3, Odom 2, Bynum, Gasol). Steals: 7 (Bryant 4, Brown, Fisher, Vujacic). Technical Fouls: Bryant, 2:32 first; Odom, 6:01 third. HOUSTON Min FG FT Reb A PF PTS Battier 40:11 6-12 6-6 3-4 1 1 23 Scola 32:23 4-11 3-6 2-14 2 3 11 Hayes 34:39 1-2 0-0 3-9 2 4 2 Brooks 39:19 12-20 6-6 1-3 4 2 34 Artest 43:33 4-19 0-0 2-10 6 2 8 Landry 12:20 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 Wafer 6:41 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 4 Lowry 26:48 5-8 2-2 0-2 2 1 12 Cook 4:06 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 3 Totals 240:00 36-80 17-20 11-43 18 16 99 Percentages: FG .450, FT .850. 3-Point Goals: 10-29, .345 (Battier 5-10, Brooks 4-9, Cook 1-1, Wafer 0-1, Lowry 0-2, Artest 0-6). Team Rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 11 (12 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Battier, Brooks, Hayes, Lowry). Turnovers: 10 (Brooks 3, Artest 2, Battier, Hayes, Lowry, Scola, Wafer). Steals: 7 (Hayes 4, Lowry 2, Artest). Technical Fouls: Defensive three second, 8:10 fourth. A: 18,313 (18,043). T: 2:25. Officials: Dan Crawford, Dick Bavetta, Michael Smith.

oop, Artest smacked his hands on the scorers’ table and smiled to the roaring crowd, in seeming disbelief about how things were going. Artest scored only eight points, but had 10 rebounds and six assists. — The Associated Press

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CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

James ‘playing at such a high level’ Mavericks still getting over ATLANTA—When LeBron James has one of those nights, everyone else turns into fans. His teammates? Yep. Even his coach. “I try as much as possible,” Cleveland’s Mike Brown said Sunday, “to stay out of the way.” With one of his best performances ever, James carried the Cavaliers to the brink of another playoff sweep. The Atlanta Hawks sure know what they’re up against, having watched their most inspired showing of the series turned into just another loss by the MVP’s 47 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. “Right now, he’s playing at such a high level,” said Hawks coach Mike Woodson, sounding a bit disheartened as his team heads into Game 4 tonight. “Man, it’s crazy how good he’s playing. It really is.” James has that look Michael Jordan used to bring out at playoff time, a steely-eyed determination to win a championship no matter what’s in the way. If that means taking every big shot, so be it. If that means turning the game into me against them, well, that’s the way it has to be. James has played 108 minutes in this series—and scored 108 points. As Brown said, stay out of the way. “He is making so many special plays,” teammate Mo Williams said. “We just try to give him some space.” While James’ performance in a 97-82 victory Saturday night didn’t quite reach the level of his 48-point effort against Detroit in the 2007 Eastern Conference finals — that was the one where he scored his team’s last 25 points in a double-overtime victory, on the way to Cleveland’s first appearance in the NBA championship series—it certainly ranked in the top five. James made 15 of 25 shots, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. He drew one foul after another, going 12 of 16 at the freethrow line (compared with Atlanta’s 7-of-

league’s admitted blunder

JOHN AMIS / AP

LeBron James, who is averaging an NBA-best 31.5 ppg in the playoffs, has the Cavs in position to sweep the Hawks. 11 showing as a team). He led all rebounders with 12, leading the Cavaliers to a mammoth 46-23 edge on the boards. On those rare occasions when he couldn’t create a shot of his own, he dished out eight assists. He also had a steal, as well as a blocked shot. It sure looked like fun. “I’m always having fun,” James said. “I love the game with a passion.” Amazingly for someone who had the ball in his hands so much, he turned it over all of one time. “Our guys did the best they could to guard him,” Atlanta’s Flip Murray said. “But when you’re hitting shots like that, it’s hard for anyone to guard.” Murray is a former teammate, but this isn’t the King James he remembers. “He’s matured a lot since I was there with him. He’s more vocal. He’s the leader

of their team,” Murray said. “He’s definitely matured into the superstar he is today.” The Hawks tried to guard James with two or three players, but it really didn’t matter. Once he pulled up at the top of the key, a good five feet shy of the 3-point line, and hoisted a shot before Atlanta even had time to react. Swish. A couple of times, he dribbled past all five players on the home team, weaving this way and that as though he were a catch-me-if-you-can point guard—not a 6-foot-8, 250-pounder. The result was the same. Swish. “When he’s really got it going,” Williams said, “it doesn’t matter how many players are on him.” — The Associated Press

DALLAS—Still grumpy about how Game 3 finished, and groggy from the practically sleepless night that followed, the Dallas Mavericks got together Sunday to watch some film. Guess what clip coach Rick Carlisle didn’t show? Hint: It’s one the league isn’t proud of, either. As much as they don’t want to see the play, it’s one they’ll all remember: Antoine Wright bumping Carmelo Anthony in an obvious attempt to draw a foul, then bumping him again, yet failing to get rung up either time at the end of a game during which the officials had no trouble blowing their whistles. Anthony wound up swishing a 3-pointer with 1 second left, taking the Denver Nuggets from two points down to one point ahead and a commanding 3-0 lead in this second-round series. “We’re not going to get that last play back, so just by watching it doesn’t do us any good,” Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki said. Nowitzki and his teammates admittedly had trouble letting go of what happened. The difference in being down 2-1 and 3-0 is a big part of it, but so is the fact that two hours after the game ended NBA president Joel Litvin essentially said, “Oops,” acknowledging that a foul should’ve been called. “If I was the league, I wouldn’t say that,” Nowitzki said. “I don’t think it makes anybody feel better. We don’t get the last seven seconds back to kind of play it over again. More than anything, I think it made it worse.” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Sunday that the league was still reviewing the postgame scene on the court, when Dallas’ Josh Howard and team owner Mark Cuban were among those visibly upset. The Mavericks are in enough trouble already. No NBA team has overcome a 3-0

deficit and they’re unlikely to be the first considering they’re also 0-7 against the Nuggets this season. Denver also is the only team to win in Dallas since mid-February and the Nuggets have done it twice. So perhaps the question going into Game 4 tonight isn’t whether Denver will be headed to the conference finals for the first time since 1985, but “When?” Although the Nuggets have seen their margin of victory dip from 14 points to 12 to one, the key, of course, is that they’re still winning. In fact, knowing that Dallas has gotten closer each game should help keep Denver players from taking anything for granted. “We’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to fight extremely hard,” said Chauncey Billups, the veteran point guard who is likely doing all he can to remind his younger teammates that this series isn’t over. “They’re facing elimination. That’s always the toughest game to win, especially in a sweep situation. They’re going to fight really hard and do everything they can possibly do to keep their season alive.” Billups brought up an overlooked point: “People fail to realize that you still have to make a tough shot. It was an unbelievable shot that Melo hit. So no matter what happens, that was an unbelievable shot.” Dallas has never been swept in a fourgame series. “These guys have met adversity with unity, with a collective will,” Carlisle said. “It happened in November; we got off to a 2-7 start. It happened in January; we lost four games in a row and everybody said we wouldn’t be a playoff team. It happened after we lost to Oklahoma City ... and it’s obviously going to happen now. But, hey, that’s what this is about. When it gets tough, you’ve got to stick together and keep fighting.” — The Associated Press

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13

Playoff glance

INSIDE DISH

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

With playoffs heating up, so are tempers NBA executive vice president of operations Stu Jackson has already handed out three suspensions in the playoffs, one more than all of last postseason. The three suspended players hardly fit the profile of a head hunter, either: Lakers PG Derek Fisher, Magic C Dwight Howard and Magic PG Rafer Alston. “When our players are in a competitive environment with the stakes being extremely high, I’ve always felt that it brings out the best and the worst in people, be it players, be it coaches,” Jackson said. Nuggets F Kenyon Martin wasn’t suspended, but he was fined $25,000 for a flagrant foul on Mavs F Dirk Nowitzki. “The intensity, the aggression, the stakes all rise and the bottom line is ... they want to win and it’s important to them,” Jackson said. With Chris Mullin, the Warriors’ executive vice president of basketball operations, expected to depart on or before July 1 when his contract expires, assistant general manager Larry Riley has been calling the shots, the Contra Costa Times reported. According to the newspaper, Riley is expected to officially take over Mullin’s role at some point this summer, and likely will be the man making the key decisions on draft night in late June. Pacers All-Star F Danny Granger proved he could score last season—he finished fifth in the league at 25.8 points per game. Now, with the Pacers missing the playoffs for a third consecutive season, he wants to work on becoming a top defender in the NBA, like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. “LeBron didn’t always play defense and D-Wade didn’t always play defense,” Granger told The Indianapolis Star. “Now they’ve realized to be good in this league or to have an elite team you have to play defense. Next year I’ll have

more of a commitment to it.” The Heat’s Michael Beasley will spend time at small forward in summer workouts, but coach Erik Spoelstra told The Miami Herald ‘’it’s way too early to tell’’ if being a starter there is realistic. ‘’I think it can be a little bit of an option—not all the time,’’ Spoelstra said. Beasley started 19 games his rookie season, averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in those games.

(Best-of-7), All times ET EASTERN CONFERENCE Cleveland vs. Atlanta (Cleveland leads series 3-0) May 5: Cleveland 99, Atlanta 72 May 7: Cleveland 105, Atlanta 85 May 9: Cleveland 97, Atlanta 82 Today: Cleveland at Atlanta, 7 p.m. Wednesday: Atlanta at Cleveland, 8 p.m., if necessary Friday: Cleveland at Atlanta, TBA, if necessary Monday, May 18: Atlanta at Cleveland, 8 p.m., if necessary Boston vs. Orlando (Series tied 2-2) May 4: Orlando 95, Boston 90 May 6: Boston 112, Orlando 94 May 8: Orlando 117, Boston 96 Sunday: Boston 95, Orlando 94 Tuesday: Orlando at Boston, 8 p.m. Thursday: Boston at Orlando, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 17: Orlando at Boston, TBA, if necessary

With the possible loss this summer of F Charlie Villanueva, a restricted free agent, the Bucks are keeping a close eye on Ersan Ilyasova, a 6-9 Turkish forward who played in Europe this season. The Bucks still hold the rights to Ilyasova, whom they drafted in 2005. “He had an outstanding season,” Bucks general manager John Hammond told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He played extremely well and improved in all facets of his game. He’s gotten stronger, his skill level has improved, and his confidence level has improved.”

WESTERN CONFERENCE L.A. Lakers vs. Houston (Series tied 2-2) May 4: Houston 100, L.A. Lakers 92 May 6: L.A. Lakers 111, Houston 98 May 8: L.A. Lakers 108, Houston 94 Sunday: Houston 99, L.A. Lakers 87 Tuesday: Houston at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. Thursday: L.A. Lakers at Houston, 9:30 p.m. Sunday, May 17: Houston at L.A. Lakers, TBA, if necessary

Today’s games All Times ET

Denver vs. Dallas (Denver leads series 3-0) May 3: Denver 109, Dallas 95 May 5: Denver 117, Dallas 105 May 9: Denver 106, Dallas 105 Today: Denver at Dallas, 9:30 p.m. Wednesday: Dallas at Denver, TBA, if necessary Friday: Denver at Dallas, TBA, if necessary Sunday, May 17: Dallas at Denver, TBA, if necessary

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (Best-of-7) Cleveland at Atlanta, 7 p.m. , TNT Denver at Dallas, 9:30 p.m., TNT

Betting line Today FAVORITE ................LINE..................O/U ..............UNDERDOG Cleveland .........................10 ......................(182) .....................at Atlanta at Dallas ..........................1½ ......................(210) ......................... Denver

PAT SULLIVAN / AP

Derek Fisher came back to the Lakers after serving a one-game suspension for his actions against the Rockets.

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INSIDE DISH

THE LAUNCHING PAD

McCourt to Manny: Explain suspension to teammates Dodgers owner Frank McCourt reportedly is furious with OF Manny Ramirez and is demanding that his star slugger speak to teammates about the failed drug test that led to his 50-game suspension. The Los Angeles Times, citing unidentified sources, reported that McCourt spoke with Ramirez Saturday and let him know his feelings. The newspaper also said the meeting could happen sometime after the Dodgers begin a six-game trip in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Ramirez was suspended last week after he tested positive for a banned substance that, although not a steroid, is commonly taken by steroid users.

Cha Seung Baek, making his final rehab appearance at Class AAA Portland, suffered an elbow injury Saturday night and returned to San Diego for further examination, manager Bud Black told The San Diego Union-Tribune. Baek, who had been scheduled to come off the disabled list within a week, now could be looking at a prolonged absence. “He left the game because his elbow became painful,” Black told the newspaper. “To us, that’s a blow, and that’s a blow to Cha Seung.” All-Star closer Joakim Soria was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a shoulder injury, and the Royals recalled right-hander Luke Hochevar from Triple-A Omaha. Soria was second in the AL last year with 42 saves. He has seven saves in seven chances this season and is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA. Hampered by lingering soreness in his right shoulder, he’s appeared in only eight games. The

Royals said Sunday he was diagnosed with a strained right rotator cuff and they were uncertain when he might return.

waivers to be demoted, a risk the Pirates clearly are not willing to take. According to The Arizona Republic, RP Yusmeiro Petit has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder. Petit, who is 0-3 with an 8.03 ERA, will be replaced on the roster by RP Bobby Korecky, who will pitch out of the bullpen until Petit’s turn in the rotation comes up Wednesday. At that point, RP Bryan Augenstein will be called up to make his major league debut.

The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reports that 3B Joe Crede, who missed a weekend series against Seattle, has a slightly strained hamstring and says he should be ready to play against Detroit on Tuesday. Crede told the newspaper he felt his hamstring pull while running the bases Thursday in Baltimore and was careful the rest of the game. He has been shut down since, though he did take batting practice and fielded 10 grounders before Saturday’s game. “It feels a lot better,” he said. Even though LP Jo-Jo Reyes has lost his last nine decisions and has only one win in 22 starts, Braves manager Bobby Cox told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he isn’t ready to give up on him. “He’s so close to being good,” Cox said after Reyes was charged with eight runs (four earned) on five hits while working five innings in Friday’s 10-6 loss to the Phillies. “We certainly don’t want to give up on him. We’re going to stick with him and see if he can get through this.” Reyes, 24, is 0-9 with a 6.61 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) since mid-June of 2008. Despite giving up three ninthinning runs in a 10-6 victory over the Braves Friday night, Phillies closer Brad Lidge says he feels healthy and is encouraged by his progress. “My knee is fine,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. For most of the season, Lidge has suffered from inflammation in his right knee,

14

What to expect in the major leagues today

Jhonny needs a jolt In one of the lightest days of the season in terms of action—there are just four games on the schedule—the White Sox and Indians meet in the only American League game. Despite being A.L. Central rivals, this is the first meeting of the season between the teams, and their only meeting until late June. Perhaps a matchup with Chicago is what struggling Indians shortstop Jhonny Peralta needs to get back on track. Last season, Peralta hit .290 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 17 games against the White Sox.

So long, Shea Braves third baseman Chipper Jones loved Shea Stadium so much that he named his son Shea Logan Jones in 2004. Jones hit his first major league homer at Shea Stadium and is a career .313 hitter with 19 homers and 55 RBIs in 88 games at the Mets’ former home. That is more homers than the defending N.L. batting champion hit at any visiting park, and the RBI total is tied for the most (he also has 55 at Dolphin Stadium). But now that the Mets have moved into the new Citi Field, Jones will have to start building a history of success there when he and the Braves pay their first visit to the new park tonight.

Seeking 300

LORI SHEPLER / AP

Manny Ramirez’s boss is looking for answers. which his disrupted his mechanics and contributed to his 8.49 ERA. He also has allowed five home runs. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pirates will stick with struggling OF Brandon Moss, who entered Sunday’s play with a 14 at-bat hitless streak and a .176 average. “Sure, it’s tough,” G.M. Neal Huntington told the newspaper. “The easy thing would be to send him to Indianapolis and let him go play down there. But he’s talented enough and has enough upside that somebody else would grab him.” That’s because Moss is out of options and would have to clear

RP Luis Vizcaino is scheduled to join the Indians’ bullpen early this week after throwing a simulated session against Cleveland hitters Sunday morning at Progressive Field. Vizcaino, who was released April 21 by the Cubs, was originally scheduled to start his comeback at Class AAA Columbus, but the weekend session apparently gave the Indians reason to believe he’s ready for big league action.

In his first attempt at career win No. 298, Giants lefthander Randy Johnson was pounded for seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings by the Rockies this past Wednesday. In that start, Johnson didn’t manage one strikeout, despite fanning nine Rockies just five days earlier. The Big Unit will face the Nationals tonight at AT&T Park, where he is 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in three starts this season (compared to 0-2 with an 11.37 ERA in three road starts).

— Chris Bahr

The Astros have re-signed 2B Jason Smith, four days after he was designated for assignment, according to G.M. Ed Wade. Smith was dropped May 6 to make room for RP Alberto Arias. Smith cleared waivers, rejected his outright assignment and elected free agency. He then re-signed as an unrestricted free agent. The Associated Press reports the Cubs have placed RP Chad Fox on the 15-day disabled list with an elbow inflammation and recalled RP Jose Ascanio from Class AAA Iowa.

RICK SCUTERI / AP

A matchup with the White Sox could rouse Indians SS Jhonny Peralta.

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

15

Q&A with ... Hall of Fame C Gary Carter

Carter dreams of managing a World Series team Q:

Is the perception fair that you were perhaps too eager and aggressive in expressing your interest in the Mets job when Willie Randolph was rumored to be in trouble? I think it was unfair because all I was asked was the simple question, “Would I be interested?” Maybe the politically correct thing to have said would have been to say that Willie was the manager and if the job becomes available, I would be interested. Instead, I just simply said “yes.” I don’t think anybody really— if they were asked the same question—would say it any differently. It would be an opportunity. I just thought if they knew my situation, I could leave at any time the way my contract reads, and it’s the same way here. But I’m not thinking about that right now.

“The Kid” is 55 and back on Long Island, where he helped lead the Mets to a World Series title in 1986. These days, Gary Carter manages the Long Island Ducks of the Independent Atlantic League. An 11-time All-Star, Carter spoke with Sporting News Today’s Bill Eichenberger about his ambition to manage in the major leagues before a recent game against the Lancaster Barnstormers.

A:

Q: A:

How special is it to be back on Long Island among the Met faithful? I’m enjoying it. I’m having fun with these guys. It’s a great opportunity to come back to where I played for five years with the Mets. I’m having a blast.

Q: A:

What do you like about managing the Ducks and about baseball at this level? It’s good, quality baseball. It’s considered 4-A because there are a lot of guys here who played at the major league level. And it’s a challenge for me as well.

Q: A:

What is left for you to accomplish in baseball? For me, it’s just to have the opportunity to one day manage a team to a World Series championship. That would be the ultimate. That’s what I feel is left for me. I’ve managed now in the minor leagues. I’ve won a championship in the Florida State League. I won a championship last year in the Golden League. I’d love to win another championship here on the 10-year anniversary of the Ducks.

Q:

Would you be satisfied with your baseball career if you never got that opportunity to manage in the major leagues?

If you deliver it daily, they will come.

GREGORY A. SHEMITZ / AP

Gary Carter, an 11-time All-Star catcher, tries to keep his players ‘enthused and excited about the game.’

A:

Oh yeah. I feel that baseball has given me everything in my life—job security, financial security. I’ve got a great family. I couldn’t ask for anything more. So if it never does happen, I would still be satisfied.

Q: A:

Why do you think you haven’t gotten that opportunity? I don’t know. I think a lot of it is politics, maybe. It’s not really what you know, but who you know.

Q: A:

But it seems like you know a lot of people in baseball. Well, I do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there is going to be a job for me. So I just have to look at it as though maybe the opportunity will come about, based on my record as a manager. And, obviously, if I can win another championship, hopefully three championships in a row would open somebody’s eyes. It’s tough to say how things will turn out. But right now I am just enjoying what I am doing, and all I am concentrating on is the Ducks.

Q: A:

What is your strength as a manager? Oh, I don’t know. I’ve taken a lot from managers I’ve played for. I learned from Gene Mauch, Dick Williams, Davey Johnson, Bill Virdon, Felipe Alou, Roger Craig—all great managers. And I’ve tried to incorporate a little bit of each guy into my approach. But I also think a ballclub takes on the personality of the manager. And I just try to keep these guys enthused and excited about the game.

Q:

Is throwing batting practice and playing cards with your players in the clubhouse part of that process? Yes, it is. You just want to interact with your players.

A:

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Fantasy Focus

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

LEAGUE LEADERS Batting Average

Waiver-wire pickups A.L.

Player Youkilis MiCabrera VMartinez Longoria AdJones AHill Markakis

Player Votto Beltran HaRamirez MRamirez Zimmerman Braun Helton

.393 .378 .376 .358 .358 .353 .352

A.L.

Team Cincinnati New York Florida Los Angeles Washington Milwaukee Colorado

.376 .374 .348 .348 .346 .345 .343

Player CPena Longoria Bay Blalock Damon Granderson Kinsler

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Boston Texas New York Detroit Texas

NAM Y HUH / AP

Chicago Cubs 2B/3B Mike Fontenot

Mike Fontenot, 2B/3B, Cubs. With Aramis Ramirez out at least six weeks, somebody has to pick up the slack at third base for the Cubs. Fontenot goes from being in a platoon with Aaron Miles at second base to a prime position to help fantasy owners. Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Rockies. Jimenez gets two starts this week and they’re against weakerhitting teams, the Astros and Pirates. Jimenez’s last appearance (7 IP, 1 ER, 6 K) gives us hope that he can take advantage of the favorable schedule.

Kip Wells, RP, Nationals. The closer bin is getting thin, so we can’t be choosy. Wells isn’t great, but he took over the Nationals’ closer job from Julian Tavarez late last week.

Player AdJones Markakis Scutaro Bay Pedroia Longoria Three tied

MORE COVERAGE Get everything you need to dominate your fantasy league at: sportingnews.com/fantasy/baseball

A.L.

Team St. Louis Chicago Los Angeles Milwaukee Philadelphia

32 29 26 25 25 24

Player Crawford Ellsbury Abreu Figgins Crisp Kinsler Five tied

Player Longoria Bay CPena Huff Lind Markakis AHill

Player Pujols Cantu Braun Dunn Ethier BMolina Two tied

44 34 32 31 31 30 29

A.L.

Team St. Louis Florida Milwaukee Washington Los Angeles San Francisco

33 32 28 28 27 27 26

Player Buehrle Frasor Palmer Bannister ABailey RRamirez

Player Longoria Callaspo Polanco Five tied

Player Kotchman FSanchez Zimmerman MCameron Hudson Five tied

15 13 13 12

5-0 4-0 3-0 3-0 3-0 3-0

A.L.

Team Atlanta Pittsburgh Washington Milwaukee Los Angeles

13 13 12 11 11 10

4 2

Team San Diego Washington New York Milwaukee Arizona Florida

4-0 4-0 4-0 3-0 3-0 3-0

1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000

Player Greinke Verlander Lester FHernandez Halladay Bedard Garza

Player Bourn Kemp Victorino 17 tied

W 22 20 15 15 13

L 12 12 16 18 19

Pct .647 .625 .484 .455 .406

GB WCGB L10 — — 7-3 1 — 6-4 5½ 4½ 4-6 6½ 5½ 6-4 8 7 4-6

Str W-2 W-1 W-1 L-1 L-1

Home Away 11-4 11-8 13-4 7-8 6-7 9-9 6-7 9-11 10-10 3-9

Central Detroit Kansas City Minnesota Chicago Cleveland

W 17 18 15 14 11

L 13 14 17 16 21

Pct .567 .563 .469 .467 .344

GB WCGB L10 — — 6-4 — 2 6-4 3 5 4-6 3 5 4-6 7 9 3-7

Str W-3 L-3 L-1 L-1 L-4

Home Away 8-5 9-8 11-6 7-8 11-9 4-8 8-8 6-8 5-10 6-11

West Texas Los Angeles Seattle Oakland

W 17 16 16 11

L 14 14 16 18

Pct .548 .533 .500 .379

GB WCGB L10 — — 7-3 ½ 3 7-3 1½ 4 3-7 5 7½ 3-7

Str W-1 W-4 W-1 L-2

Home Away 8-6 9-8 10-7 6-7 7-7 9-9 6-10 5-8

National League Standings East New York Florida Philadelphia Atlanta Washington

W 17 17 15 15 10

L 13 15 14 16 19

Pct .567 .531 .517 .484 .345

GB WCGB L10 — — 8-2 1 1 3-7 1½ 1½ 4-6 2½ 2½ 5-5 6½ 6½ 6-4

Str W-7 L-1 L-2 W-2 L-1

Home 11-6 6-7 7-10 5-9 5-7

Away 6-7 11-8 8-4 10-7 5-12

Central St. Louis Milwaukee Chicago Cincinnati Houston Pittsburgh

W 20 18 17 17 14 12

L 12 14 14 14 17 19

Pct .625 .563 .548 .548 .452 .387

GB WCGB L10 — — 5-5 2 — 6-4 2½ ½ 7-3 2½ ½ 6-4 5½ 3½ 5-5 7½ 5½ 1-9

Str W-1 L-1 W-1 L-1 W-3 L-8

Home Away 12-5 8-7 9-7 9-7 8-6 9-8 7-9 10-5 8-10 6-7 7-7 5-12

West W Los Angeles 22 San Francisco 16 Arizona 13 San Diego 13 Colorado 12 z-first game was a win

L 11 14 19 19 18

Pct .667 .533 .406 .406 .400

GB WCGB L10 — — 7-3 4½ 1 6-4 8½ 5 4-6 8½ 5 2-8 8½ 5 4-6

Str L-1 W-1 W-1 L-3 W-1

Home 14-3 10-4 9-12 8-6 6-8

Away 8-8 6-10 4-7 5-13 6-10

Pitching Matchups Today’s Games (All times Eastern)

N.L.

Team Kansas City Detroit Boston Seattle Toronto Seattle Tampa Bay

Player JVazquez Santana Peavy Haren Lincecum Gallardo Billingsley

59 56 49 47 44 43 42

Team Atlanta New York San Diego Arizona San Francisco Milwaukee Los Angeles

57 54 52 51 50 47 47

Team Cincinnati New York St. Louis Arizona Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

9 9 9 8 8 8 7.

Saves N.L.

Team Kansas City

Player Meredith Martis Pelfrey DiFelice TPena JoJohnson

1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000

Triples Player Crisp Seven tied

10 10 9 9 8 8 7

East Toronto Boston New York Tampa Bay Baltimore

Strikeouts

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Kansas City Detroit

Team Houston New York Colorado Pittsburgh San Francisco Los Angeles

N.L.

Team Chicago Toronto Los Angeles Kansas City Oakland Boston

Doubles A.L.

Player Bourn JosReyes Fowler Morgan Burriss Kemp Two tied

22 15 12 12 8 8 7

Pitching (3 decisions) N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Boston Tampa Bay Baltimore Toronto Baltimore Toronto

12 11 10 10 10 10 9

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Boston Los Angeles Los Angeles Kansas City Texas

RBIs A.L.

A.L.

— George Winkler

Player Pujols ASoriano Hudson Hart Werth Four tied

33 33 32 29 29 27 25

Team St. Louis Washington Cincinnati San Diego Chicago Philadelphia Philadelphia

Stolen Bases N.L.

Team Baltimore Baltimore Toronto Boston Boston Tampa Bay

Player Pujols Dunn Bruce AdGonzalez ASoriano Utley Ibanez

13 11 9 9 9 9 9

Runs A.L.

American League Standings

Home Runs

N.L.

Team Boston Detroit Cleveland Tampa Bay Baltimore Toronto Baltimore

16

A.L.

Team Houston Los Angeles Philadelphia

3 3 3 2

Player Fuentes FFrancisco Papelbon Jenks Soria Three tied

N.L.

Team Los Angeles Texas Boston Chicago Kansas City

9 9 8 7 7 6

Player Cordero FrRodriguez Franklin Qualls Broxton Bell BWilson

American League Chicago White Sox (Floyd 2-2) at Cleveland (Pavano 2-3), 7:05 p.m.

The Line at Clev -130 Chi +120

National League Atlanta (D.Lowe 4-1) at N.Y. Mets (Santana 4-1), 7:10 p.m. Cincinnati (Arroyo 4-2) at Arizona (Garland 3-1), 9:40 p.m. Washington (D.Cabrera 0-3) at San Francisco (Ra.Johnson 2-3), 10:15 p.m.

The Line at NY -170 Atl+160 at Ari -120 Cin +110 at SF -140 Was +130

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17

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE Boston 4, Tampa Bay 3

Papelbon gets in, out of jam to close out the Rays BOSTON—Jonathan Papelbon walked into the middle of the clubhouse and patted his right arm that was wrapped in ice. He wanted to get through his postgame session with reporters faster than he dispatched the Rays. “Let’s go,” he said. The Red Sox All-Star closer put himself in a jam, then powered his way out of it in the ninth inning to close out Boston’s 4-3 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday night. “I basically just put myself in a situation where I had to go in ‘punch out’ mode,” Papelbon said. “It’s not something I necessarily want to be in.” Akinori Iwamura walked, advanced on Papelbon’s throwing error on a pickoff attempt and moved to third on Jason Bartlett’s single to start the ninth. But Papelbon, using high 90s heat, got Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford to go down swinging. “We just swung at hit pitches out of the strike zone,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. Jason Bay doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth as the Red Sox took two of three from Tampa Bay, snapping a streak of six consecutive series victories by the Rays against Boston, including last fall’s ALCS. But it was Paplebon’s performance that ended a victorious sports night in Boston.

“There’s not a lot of guys in the league that can do that,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “That’s not any easy thing to do. I don’t care who you are.” Ramon Ramirez (3-0) got the final out of the eighth before Papelbon escaped a two-on, none-out mess for his eighth save. The win capped a very successful sports night in Boston after the Bruins and Celtics both won playoff games. David Ortiz opened the eighth with a double off the Green Monster against Brian Shouse (1-1) and advanced on reliever Dan Wheeler’s wild pitch. A few minutes after replays of the Bruins and Celtics wins were played on the scoreboard, Bay doubled off the Wall to score Ortiz. Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, last year’s A.L. MVP, left in the top of the fourth after straining his right groin during an at-bat the prior inning. He said he expects to play Wednesday on the team’s upcoming road trip, before he turned his thoughts to Papelbon. “I’d rather be out there behind him,” he said. “I was kind of nervous sitting there.” Tampa Bay is 6-4 against Boston this season. The Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of runs off starter Matt Garza in the fourth, giving

them more than they had scored against him in his two previous starts. Jason Varitek had a twoout RBI double and scored when second baseman Iwamura pulled off Nick Green’s pop in short right, letting it fall behind him. Green was cut down at second on the play. Crawford’s RBI single cut it to 3-2 in the fifth. Bartlett’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied it in the sixth before starter Josh Beckett escaped the jam by striking out Dioner Navarro. Crawford stole his 11th base against Boston this year, and was successful for the 26th straight time against the Red Sox. He hasn’t been caught since Varitek threw him out Sept. 17, 2003. Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima had to step off the mound when the crowd let out a roar after the Celtics Glen “Big Baby” Davis hit his jumper to win Game 4 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs. Beckett allowed three runs, six hits, walked three and struck out five in six innings. Garza gave up three runs, seven hits, struck out six and walked two in seven innings. “We played our butt of tonight, that’s all I can say,” Garza said. “The guys behind me played their tail off tonight. They just executed (against) us tonight and that’s what happened.” — The Associated Press

Red Sox 4, Rays 3 Tampa Bay AB B.Upton cf 5 Crawford lf 5 Longoria 3b 3 Burrell dh 4 W.Aybar 1b 4 Zobrist rf 3 Iwamura 2b 2 Bartlett ss 3 Navarro c 3 a-C.Pena ph 1 Totals 33

R 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3

H 1 2 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 7

BI 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3

BB 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 4

SO 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 10

Avg. .167 .333 .358 .250 .250 .269 .277 .351 .182 .252

Boston Ellsbury cf Pedroia 2b Lugo ss D.Ortiz dh Bay lf Lowell 3b J.Drew rf J.Bailey 1b Varitek c N.Green ss-2b Totals

R 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 4

H 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 1 2 9

BI 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 4

BB 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 3

SO 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 7

Avg. .292 .320 .333 .224 .324 .312 .242 .206 .227 .289

AB 4 2 2 3 4 4 3 3 4 3 32

Tampa Bay 100 011 000 — Boston 010 200 01x —

3 7 0 4 9 2

a-struck out for Navarro in the 9th. E: Lowell (4), Papelbon (1). LOB: Tampa Bay 8, Boston 7. 2B: B.Upton (5), W.Aybar (4), D.Ortiz (10), Bay 2 (8), J.Bailey (2), Varitek (7). RBIs: Crawford (15), Burrell (17), Bartlett (13), Bay (34), J.Drew (17), Varitek (12), N.Green (12). SB: Crawford (22), Iwamura (7), Bartlett (7). CS: B.Upton (2). SF: Bartlett. Runners left in scoring position: Tampa Bay 6 (Zobrist, Longoria, Navarro 2, Crawford 2); Boston 3 (Bay, Varitek 2). Tampa Bay IP H Garza 7 7 Shouse L, 1-1 0 1 Wheeler 1 1 Boston IP H Beckett 6 6 Okajima 1 2⁄3 0 R.Ramirez W, 3-0 1⁄3 0 Papelbon S, 8-8 1 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 2 6 116 3.56 1 1 0 0 3 4.22 0 0 1 1 18 7.15 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 3 5 118 6.42 0 0 0 2 27 3.31 0 0 0 0 7 0.55 0 0 1 3 22 1.29

Shouse pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored: Wheeler 1-1. IBB: off Wheeler (J.Drew). WP: Wheeler. Umpires: Home, Scott Barry; First, Angel Hernandez; Second, Bill Welke; Third, Tim Welke. T: 3:30. A: 37,759 (37,373).

MICHAEL DWYER / AP

Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon struck out the side after allowing two Tampa Bay batters to reach base.

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Baseball

18

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE N.Y. Yankees 5, Baltimore 3

Toronto 5, Oakland 0

Damon, Yankees get last laugh on Orioles

Jays, A’s on opposite ends

BALTIMORE—After Aubrey Huff had his fun at the expense of Joba Chamberlain, the New York Yankees got in the last word against the Baltimore Orioles. Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning, the biggest blow in a long-ball attack that carried New York to a 5-3 victory Sunday. Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano also connected for the Yankees, who received a gritty pitching performance from Chamberlain (2-1) to capture the decisive matchup of the three-game series. Huff homered off Chamberlain in the first inning to stake Baltimore to a 3-1 lead. Huff emphatically pumped his fist after rounding first base, then did it again with even more gusto after he crossed the plate. It was a rare show of emotion by the 32-year-old, who is usually far more reserved after hitting a home run—especially in the first inning. Chamberlain has angered opponents for his enthusiastic fist pumps on the mound, and Huff responded with his own version of the celebration. “He does that stuff all the time as a pitcher, so I was just having a little fun with him out there,” Huff said. “That’s just part of the game. You get excited in situations like that. I wasn’t showing anybody up. I was just having a good time.” Huff insisted that his fist pumps were not to be interpreted as a figurative slap in the face to Chamberlain. “It’s OK if pitchers do it. If batters do it, it’s kind of stupid. Everybody kind of frowns on it. So I wanted to have fun with it,” Huff said. “I’m kind of a jokester guy; I enjoy messing around and stuff like that. It wasn’t a shot at him. He can do what he wants out there.”

OAKLAND—The Toronto Blue Jays are headed back from the West Coast with the A.L.’s best record, its most productive offense and almost too many good starting pitchers. The Oakland Athletics have the league’s second-worst record, a miserable offense, no proven starters—and little reason to think this rough season will get better soon. Brett Cecil yielded five hits over eight impressive innings to earn his first major league victory, Alex Rios drove in three runs and the Blue Jays beat the A’s 5-0 on Sunday for their seventh win in 10 games. Rios hit a solo homer, a sacrifice fly and a ninth-inning RBI single to back Cecil (1-0), the latest blossoming prospect in Toronto’s rotation. The 22-yearold lefthander struck out six in his second big league start for the Blue Jays, who headed home from their five-game California road swing alone atop the A.L. East despite going 3-2. “This is the best West Coast trip we’ve had in a long time,” said Aaron Hill, who had two hits and a ninth-inning RBI. “Hopefully we can keep this momentum going. Whenever we come on this West Coast trip, we’ve had some interesting games, and not always good games. It’s nice to come out here and actually do some damage.” — The Associated Press

Yankees 5, Orioles 3 New York AB R Jeter ss 4 1 Damon lf 5 1 Teixeira 1b 4 1 A.Rodriguez 3b 4 0 H.Matsui dh 4 0 Swisher rf 4 0 Gardner cf 0 0 Cano 2b 4 1 Me.Cabrera cf-rf 4 0 Cervelli c 4 1 Totals 37 5

H 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 2 11

BI 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5

BB 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

SO 1 3 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 9

Avg. .273 .314 .198 .182 .265 .270 .227 .321 .333 .273

Baltimore AB B.Roberts 2b 5 Ad.Jones cf 4 Markakis rf 3 Huff 1b 3 Mora 3b 4 Scott dh 1 a-Wigginton ph-dh 2 Zaun c 4 Pie lf 3 Andino ss 4 Totals 33

H 1 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 10

BI 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

BB 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3

SO 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 7

Avg. .290 .358 .352 .268 .242 .303 .198 .210 .183 .261

New York Baltimore

R 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

100 000 400 — 300 000 000 —

5 11 0 3 10 0

LOB: New York 6, Baltimore 7. 2B: Cano (8), Me.Cabrera (4). HR: Teixeira (7), off Uehara; Cano (6), off Walker; Damon (9), off Ji.Johnson; Huff (6), off Chamberlain. RBIs: Damon 3 (25), Teixeira (17), Cano (18), Huff 3 (31). CS: Mora (2). Runners left in scoring position: New York 2 (Cervelli, Damon); Baltimore 3 (Mora, B.Roberts 2). GIDP: Damon, Mora, Wigginton. DP: New York 2 (Chamberlain, Cano, Teixeira), (Jeter, Cano, Teixeira); Baltimore 1 (B.Roberts, Andino, Huff). New York Chamberlain W, 2-1 Coke H, 1 Ma.Rivera S, 6-7 Baltimore Uehara Walker H, 2 Ji.Jhnsn L, 2-1 BS, 1-1 Sherrill

ROB CARR / AP

Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning, his team-leading ninth of the season. Said Chamberlain: “I didn’t even notice. It’s a home run. No reason to be upset; he did what he’s supposed to do. I made a bad pitch and he went and got a home run.”

Held to one run through six innings by Orioles rookie Koji Uehara, New York rallied in the seventh against the struggling Baltimore bullpen. — The Associated Press

IP 6 2 1 IP 6 2⁄3 1 1⁄3 1

H 9 1 0 H 6 1 3 1

R ER BB SO NP 3 3 2 5 104 0 0 0 1 25 0 0 1 1 23 R ER BB SO NP 1 1 0 5 94 1 1 0 1 15 3 3 0 2 27 0 0 1 1 21

ERA 3.89 3.29 3.65 ERA 4.01 2.84 3.77 3.95

IBB: off Sherrill (Jeter). HBP: by Chamberlain (Wigginton). Umpires: Home, Mark Carlson; First, Tim Tschida; Second, Bob Davidson; Third, Jeff Nelson. T: 3:06. A: 33,290 (48,290).

Blue Jays 5, Athletics 0 Toronto AB R H Scutaro ss 5 1 2 A.Hill 2b 5 0 2 Rios rf 4 1 2 V.Wells cf 5 0 1 Lind dh 4 0 1 Rolen 3b 4 1 1 Millar 1b 4 0 1 Barajas c 3 1 1 Bautista lf 4 1 2 Totals 38 5 13

BI 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 5

BB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

SO 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 5

Avg. .278 .353 .255 .283 .333 .304 .327 .319 .328

Oakland O.Cabrera ss K.Suzuki c Giambi dh Holliday lf Cust rf R.Sweeney cf Crosby 1b Kennedy 2b Hannahan 3b Totals

BI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

BB 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2

SO 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 6

Avg. .223 .318 .208 .226 .284 .254 .262 .286 .158

Toronto Oakland

AB 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 3 3 31

R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

H 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 5

001 011 002 — 000 000 000 —

5 13 0 0 5 0

LOB: Toronto 8, Oakland 6. 2B: Rolen (7), K.Suzuki (11). HR: Rios (3), off Braden. RBIs: A.Hill (29), Rios 3 (17), Barajas (18). SF: Rios, Barajas. Runners left in scoring position: Toronto 5 (Rolen 2, Lind 2, V.Wells); Oakland 3 (Holliday, Giambi, Kennedy). Toronto Cecil W, 1-0 Frasor Carlson Oakland Braden L, 3-4 Wuertz Ziegler Gray

IP 8 1⁄3 2⁄3 IP 6 1 1 2⁄3 1⁄3

H 5 0 0 H 9 0 4 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 0 0 2 6 104 0.64 0 0 0 0 1 0.77 0 0 0 0 6 2.70 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 0 3 84 2.79 0 0 0 1 13 1.53 2 2 0 1 27 4.05 0 0 0 0 4 0.00

Inherited runners-scored: Gray 2-0. Umpires: Home, Joe West; First, Ed Rapuano; Second, Paul Schrieber; Third, Paul Nauert. T: 2:20. A: 15,126 (35,067).

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Baseball

19

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE L.A. Angels 4, Kansas City 3

Detroit 5, Cleveland 3

Hunter’s spectacular catch helps Angels stay hot

Tigers sweep slumping Indians

ANAHEIM—According to Torii Hunter, it was the second-best catch he’s ever made. The Los Angeles Angels’ Gold Glove center fielder made a wallclimbing, homer-stealing catch in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels hold off the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Sunday. Hunter sprinted about 150 feet across left-center field, leaped in stride and went about a foot over the wall to snare Miguel Olivo’s potential game-tying drive for the first out of the ninth. “It was a nice run after the ball and I felt like I had a chance,” said Hunter, who pumped his fist twice after making the catch that brought the crowd of 43,646 to its feet. “I gave it all I got and came up with it. Man I was so pumped. “I felt like a wide receiver did a slant up the middle and I was the free safety and I took him out. It was a lot of fun. It felt good.” Not to Olivo. “You know what? That’s just crazy. But he made a good play,” Olivo said. “He’s the best in the league. That wasn’t his first one, and that’s not going to be his last one. He does it all of the time. This time, it was to me.” The Angels have won seven of their last eight games—and 10 out of 13—and are a half game behind the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West. Jeff Mathis delivered a two-run single during a three-run seventh

inning for the Angels, who completed a three-game series sweep against Kansas City. “As far as Torii had to go and how he had to time it as well as he did, that’s just talent in a nutshell right there,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “This guy can play center field.” A football analogy wasn’t the only one Hunter offered afterward. “If you were standing in front of the goal, I would have probably dunked on you,” Hunter said, when asked how high he got. “I got up there pretty good. I felt like I could have dunked a basketball with two hands over (Shaquille O’Neal). Tell Shaq, I want him.” As for Hunter’s No. 1 catch: That came in the 2002 All-Star game, when he robbed Barry Bonds of a homer at Milwaukee. “You can’t beat it,” Hunter said. Closer Brian Fuentes got his ninth save, with a huge assist from Hunter. Fuentes gave up a walk and a single after Hunter’s catch, but got David DeJesus to ground into a double play to end it. The A.L. Central-leading Royals, who lost three consecutive games for the first time this season, scored only four runs the entire series. More bad news came after the game when Kansas City placed All-Star closer Jokim Soria on the disabled list with a strained right rotator cuff. — The Associated Press

Angels 4, Royals 3 Kansas City AB Crisp cf 4 DeJesus lf 5 Teahen 3b 4 J.Guillen rf 4 Butler 1b 4 Jacobs dh 3 1-Aviles pr-dh 0 Callaspo 2b 4 Olivo c 4 Lu.Hernandez ss 3 a-Bloomquist ph 0 Totals 35

R 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3

H 2 0 2 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 10

BI 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 3

BB 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3

SO 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 7

Avg. .241 .224 .302 .273 .284 .257 .202 .340 .229 .000 .368

Los Angeles Figgins 3b Matthews Jr. lf Abreu rf Hunter cf K.Morales 1b Napoli dh Kendrick 2b Mathis c E.Aybar ss Totals

R 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 4

H 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 5

BI 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 4

BB 0 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 6

SO 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 5

Avg. .255 .271 .309 .294 .280 .316 .245 .244 .309

AB 3 4 0 3 3 3 4 3 3 26

Kansas City 001 200 000 — Los Angeles 000 100 30x —

3 10 1 4 5 0

a-walked for Lu.Hernandez in the 9th. 1-ran for Jacobs in the 8th. E: J.Wright (1). LOB: Kansas City 8, Los Angeles 6. 2B: Teahen 2 (8), Butler (9). 3B: Callaspo (1). RBIs: Teahen (13), Callaspo (12), Olivo (8), Figgins (7), K.Morales (18), Mathis 2 (10). SB: Crisp (8), Olivo (1), Hunter (3), Kendrick (5). CS: K.Morales (2). S: Figgins. SF: K.Morales. Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 4 (J.Guillen 2, DeJesus 2); Los Angeles 3 (Matthews Jr., Kendrick 2). DP: Kansas City 1 (Teahen, Teahen, Butler); Los Angeles 2 (E.Aybar, Kendrick, K.Morales), (Kendrick, E.Aybar, K.Morales). Kansas City IP Davies 6 J.Wright L, 0-1 BS, 2-2 1 J.Cruz 1 Los Angeles IP Loux 3 2⁄3 Oliver 2 1⁄3 S.Shields W, 1-2 2 Fuentes S, 9-11 1

H 3 2 0 H 7 2 0 1

R ER BB SO 1 1 3 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 R ER BB SO 3 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 0

NP ERA 95 5.22 14 1.83 27 1.88 NP ERA 76 4.64 20 1.42 28 7.71 15 5.40

Davies pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: J.Wright 1-0, Oliver 2-0. Umpires: Home, Mike Everitt; First, Gerry Davis; Second, Brian Gorman; Third, C.B. Bucknor. T: 2:57. A: 43,646 (45,257).

LORI SHEPLER / AP

Angels CF Torii Hunter prevented a home run in the ninth inning Sunday.

CLEVELAND—The Cleveland Indians are digging themselves a deeper hole each day. Detroit rookie Rick Porcello added to their mounting frustrations Sunday, combining with four relievers to beat the struggling Indians 5-3 and complete a three-game sweep for the Tigers. “It’s tough,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. “You wear it here, you wear it at home. If you care, and I most certainly do about these players and our fans, it is very disappointing.” The Indians held a long players-only meeting Saturday night after Detroit’s second consecutive shutout, but it didn’t help. They lost for the seventh time in nine games Sunday to fall to 11-21, the worst record in the major leagues. Cleveland turned four double plays but stranded 10, going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and striking out nine times. Detroit manager Jim Leyland praised his pitchers. “They all pitched very well,” Leyland said. “Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to catch an outstanding hitting team when they’re not hitting. I’m sure they’re not swinging the bats the way they will be. The next time we see them they might be hitting the ball all over the place.” Porcello (3-3) allowed one run over five innings to win his second consecutive start. — The Associated Press

Tigers 5, Indians 3 Detroit AB Granderson cf 5 Polanco 2b 4 Thomas lf-rf 3 Mi.Cabrera 1b 3 Larish dh 3 Ordonez rf 3 J.Anderson lf 0 Inge 3b 3 Laird c 3 Everett ss 3 Totals 30

R 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 1 0 5

H 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 0 2 9

BI 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 5

BB 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 6

SO 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 5

Cleveland Sizemore cf A.Cabrera 2b V.Martinez 1b 1-Barfield pr Choo rf DeRosa 3b Dellucci dh a-Garko ph-dh B.Francisco lf Peralta ss Shoppach c Totals

R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3

H 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 1 9

BI 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

BB 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

SO Avg. 2 .227 0 .319 1 .376 0 1.000 2 .264 1 .238 0 .267 0 .274 1 .247 1 .229 1 .218 9

040 100 000 — 010 000 002 —

5 9 0 3 9 0

Detroit Cleveland

AB 4 5 3 0 4 4 3 1 4 4 4 36

Avg. .254 .270 .333 .378 .208 .241 .327 .280 .215 .281

1-ran for V.Martinez in the 9th. LOB: Detroit 5, Cleveland 10. 2B: Ordonez (1), Everett (5), A.Cabrera (6). HR: Larish (2), off A.Reyes. RBIs: Granderson 2 (21), Larish (3), Everett 2 (12), Sizemore (23), A.Cabrera (16). SB: B.Francisco (6). CS: Everett (1). SF: Everett. Runners left in scoring position: Detroit 3 (Mi.Cabrera, Ordonez, Granderson); Cleveland 5 (DeRosa, A.Cabrera, Sizemore, Shoppach, Choo). DP: Cleveland 4 (DeRosa, A.Cabrera, V.Martinez), (Peralta, A.Cabrera, V.Martinez), (A.Reyes, A.Cabrera, V.Martinez), (Peralta, A.Cabrera, V.Martinez). Detroit Porcello W, 3-3 Miner Seay Lyon Rodney Cleveland A.Reyes L, 1-1 J.Lewis Sipp Herges

IP 5 1 1 2⁄3 1⁄3 1 IP 5 2 1 1

H 5 2 0 0 2 H 7 1 0 1

R ER BB SO 1 1 2 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 R ER BB SO 5 5 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2

NP ERA 95 4.28 13 4.29 22 1.80 2 4.97 28 5.25 NP ERA 87 7.20 33 4.86 30 3.00 23 3.00

WP: Rodney, Sipp. Umpires: Home, Fieldin Culbreth; First, Chad Fairchild; Second, Jim Wolf; Third, Brian O’Nora. T: 3:03. A: 25,705 (45,199).

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

20

AMERICAN LEAGUE Texas 7, Chicago White Sox 1

Seattle 5, Minnesota 3

Rangers solve Colon behind Padilla’s effort

Griffey gift-wraps HR for mom

CHICAGO—Vicente Padilla keeps everyone thinking, even his own manager sometimes. Hank Blalock homered twice, Padilla allowed one hit in seven innings and the Texas Rangers ended Bartolo Colon’s dominance against them with a 7-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. Padilla (2-2) pitched around four walks in his second consecutive impressive outing. In his previous start against Seattle, the righthander yielded only one hit and an unearned run in eight innings. He became the first Rangers starter to give up one hit or less in backto-back starts. “I think about three starts ago there were questions about his velocity,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “The thing about Padilla, you don’t know if that’s by design. He can pitch, he can manipulate the baseball. He can do some good things. It just took him a little while to get going. Now he’s going and I certainly hope he stays healthy and continues to make starts for us.” Chris Davis also homered and added an RBI double for the Rangers, who hope to get Michael Young and Josh Hamilton back Tuesday when they start a three-game series against the Mariners. Hamilton is eligible to come off the disabled list Tuesday. Young missed his second consecutive game with back stiffness. With Hamilton out, the Rangers have won nine of 13. The Rangers finally touched up Colon, who had won 12 straight starts against them since Aug. 21, 2003, with a 2.50 ERA. It was the longest active winning streak against one opponent in the majors.

Rangers 7, White Sox 1 Texas AB R H BI Kinsler 2b 5 1 1 0 Vizquel 3b 5 1 1 1 Byrd cf 4 0 0 0 Blalock dh 4 2 2 2 N.Cruz rf 3 0 0 1 Dav.Murphy lf 4 1 2 1 C.Davis 1b 4 1 2 2 Saltalamacchia c 4 0 0 0 Andrus ss 4 1 1 0 Totals 37 7 9 7

BB SO Avg. 0 0 .316 0 1 .371 1 0 .308 1 1 .257 1 1 .274 0 0 .207 0 1 .221 0 1 .262 0 2 .273 3 7

Chicago Getz 2b Lillibridge cf Quentin lf Dye rf Thome dh a-J.Nix ph Konerko 1b Betemit 3b Al.Ramirez ss C.Miller c Totals

BB SO Avg. 0 0 .291 0 0 .164 0 0 .245 1 1 .294 2 1 .198 1 0 .333 0 1 .291 1 0 .290 0 0 .198 0 0 .182 5 3

Texas Chicago

PAUL BEATY / AP

Texas DH Hank Blalock, right, hit a solo homer in the second inning and added another later in the game. “I saw when they flashed it up on the scoreboard that he’d had a lot of success against us in the past,” Davis said. “That was my first time seeing him but I thought we did a good job of making him throw a lot of pitches the first few innings and putting ourselves in position to score and try to chase him out of the game early. I think that’s the key with one of those guys. You don’t want him hanging around the game.” Davis’ leadoff homer in the fifth started a four-run inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Omar Vizquel hit an RBI double down the right-field line. Colon’s day ended when he allowed a two-out walk with the bases loaded to Marlon Byrd.

Clayton Richard, scheduled to start against Cleveland on Wednesday, relieved and gave up an RBI infield single to David Murphy that gave the Rangers a 5-1 lead. Colon (2-3) said after the game he had no idea about his streak against Texas. He allowed five runs and five hits over 4 2-3 innings, with four strikeouts and three walks. “Obviously, he was not good enough to win, but on the other side Padilla threw the ball real well and when (the opponent) throws the ball real well and the ballclub is not hitting that’s pretty hard to put things together,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. — The Associated Press

AB 4 4 4 3 1 0 4 2 3 3 28

R 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

H BI 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

010 040 110 — 7 9 0 010 000 000 — 1 2 1

E: Betemit (2). LOB: Texas 6, Chicago 5. 2B: Vizquel (4), C.Davis (3), Quentin (4). HR: Blalock (8), off Colon; C.Davis (8), off Colon; Blalock (9), off Carrasco. RBIs: Vizquel (6), Blalock 2 (21), N.Cruz (21), Dav.Murphy (7), C.Davis 2 (16). Runners left in scoring position: Texas 4 (Dav.Murphy, C.Davis 2, Kinsler); Chicago 1 (Konerko). GIDP: Konerko. DP: Texas 1 (Andrus, Kinsler, C.Davis). Texas Padilla W, 2-2 Jennings C.Wilson Chicago Colon L, 2-3 Richard Carrasco Broadway Dotel

IP 7 1 1 IP 4 2⁄3 1⁄3 2 1 1

H 1 1 0 H 5 1 1 2 0

R ER BB SO 1 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 R ER BB SO 5 5 3 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1

NP ERA 92 4.97 16 4.02 17 4.85 NP ERA 93 4.88 10 4.32 22 3.13 19 5.14 11 0.00

Inherited runners-scored: Richard 3-1. WP: Padilla. Umpires: Home, Brian Knight; First, Randy Marsh; Second, Mike Winters; Third, Lance Barksdale. T: 2:29. A: 25,844 (40,615).

MINNEAPOLIS—With one of his smooth and still-powerful swings, Ken Griffey Jr. roused the Seattle Mariners and sent a virtual Mother’s Day card sailing over the right-field wall. “It’s a cheap way of me not buying my mom a gift,” Griffey joked after Seattle’s 5-3 comeback victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday stopped the Mariners’ six-game losing streak. Griffey was sure his mother, Birdie, would be smiling at his 614th career homer, a two-run shot in the eighth inning that tied it at 2. Griffey’s first and 400th home runs both came on his dad’s birthday, and he hit No. 500 on Father’s Day. This was his seventh career homer on Mother’s Day in 21 seasons. “You try to do your best on certain days, and Mother’s Day is one of them,” said Griffey, one of several players who used a pink-painted bat for the occasion and breast cancer awareness. “You don’t want to get yelled at by Mom at home, if you take 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.” Wladimir Balentien added an RBI double in that breakthrough eighth, ruining seven shutout innings by Nick Blackburn. Blackburn rebounded from his worst start of the season with his best, surrendering only five hits and a walk while striking out six. — The Associated Press

Mariners 5, Twins 3 Seattle AB R H BI I.Suzuki rf 5 0 1 0 Jo.Lopez 2b 4 2 1 1 Griffey Jr. dh 5 1 2 2 Beltre 3b 4 1 2 0 Branyan 1b 4 1 1 0 Balentien lf 3 0 1 1 F.Gutierrez cf 0 0 0 0 Y.Betancourt ss 4 0 0 0 Ro.Johnson c 4 0 1 0 En.Chavez cf-lf 4 0 1 0 Totals 37 5 10 4

BB SO Avg. 0 1 .315 1 0 .256 0 0 .218 0 1 .234 0 2 .289 1 1 .313 0 0 .272 0 0 .265 0 3 .207 0 0 .279 2 8

Minnesota Span lf Tolbert 2b a-Kubel ph Mauer dh Morneau 1b Cuddyer rf B.Harris 3b Redmond c Gomez cf Punto ss Totals

BB SO Avg. 1 1 .295 1 1 .167 0 1 .308 1 0 .485 2 0 .322 1 2 .270 2 1 .286 0 0 .237 0 1 .218 1 0 .207 9 7

AB 4 3 1 4 3 4 3 4 4 3 33

R 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 3

H BI 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 7 3

Seattle 000 000 041 — 5 10 0 Minnesota 001 010 001 — 3 7 0 a-struck out for Tolbert in the 9th. LOB: Seattle 7, Minnesota 12. 2B: Griffey Jr. (4), Balentien (4), En.Chavez (2), Morneau (9), Punto (2). HR: Griffey Jr. (3), off Mijares; Jo.Lopez (3), off Breslow. RBIs: Jo.Lopez (19), Griffey Jr. 2 (7), Balentien (3), Mauer (10), Morneau (26), Cuddyer (18). SB: Punto (3). Runners left in scoring position: Seattle 2 (Y.Betancourt, Ro.Johnson); Minnesota 7 (Cuddyer, Tolbert 2, Span, Redmond, B.Harris 2). Seattle Bedard M.Lowe Batista W, 2-0 Aardsma H, 5 Morrow S, 6-6 Minnesota Blackburn Mijares BS, 1-1 Crain L, 1-1 Guerrier Breslow

IP 4 2⁄3 2 1⁄3 1 1 IP 7 1⁄3 0 2⁄3 1

H 5 0 0 0 2 H 5 1 3 0 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 5 4 110 2.53 0 0 2 0 32 3.07 0 0 0 1 5 3.24 0 0 0 1 9 1.88 1 1 2 1 35 4.70 R ER BB SO NP ERA 0 0 1 6 98 4.32 2 2 1 0 10 4.50 2 2 0 0 11 7.88 0 0 0 1 8 3.63 1 1 0 1 20 6.75

Crain pitched to 3 batters in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored: M.Lowe 1-0, Batista 1-0, Guerrier 1-0. WP: Bedard, Crain. Umpires: Home, Tim McClelland; First, Laz Diaz; Second, Chuck Meriwether; Third, Eric Cooper. T: 3:19. A: 25,555 (46,632).

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21

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE St. Louis 8, Cincinnati 7, 10 innings

Cards deal with pitcher’s dramatic HR

Cardinals 8, Reds 7, 10 innings St. Louis AB R H BI BB Schumaker 2b 4 2 2 0 0 McClellan p 0 0 0 0 0 D.Reyes p 0 0 0 0 0 b-Robinson ph 1 0 1 0 0 Motte p 0 0 0 0 0 T.Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 Franklin p 0 0 0 0 0 d-Wellemeyer ph 1 0 0 0 0 Boyer p 0 0 0 0 0 C.Perez p 0 0 0 0 0 Rasmus cf 5 1 2 2 0 Pujols 1b 3 3 1 1 3 Ludwick rf 4 1 0 0 1 Duncan lf 5 0 2 3 0 Y.Molina c 5 0 1 1 0 K.Greene ss 5 0 1 0 0 Barden 3b 4 0 1 0 0 Wainwright p 3 0 0 0 0 Thurston 2b 0 1 0 0 2 Totals 40 8 11 7 6

SO 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 11

Avg. .307 ----.200 ------.167 ----.256 .330 .267 .288 .317 .235 .296 .176 .259

Cincinnati AB Taveras cf 4 Hairston Jr. ss 5 Bruce rf 6 Phillips 2b 4 L.Nix lf 3 a-D.McDonald ph-lf 1 Masset p 0 c-Owings ph 1 Cordero p 0 e-Janish ph 1 R.Hernandez 1b-c 5 A.Rosales 3b 3 Hanigan c 3 Burton p 0 Dickerson lf 2 Volquez p 2 Herrera p 0 Votto 1b 1 Totals 41

SO 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 7

Avg. .283 .243 .262 .250 .313 .233 --.333 --.345 .301 .256 .294 --.200 .071 .000 .376

St. Louis Cincinnati

AL BEHRMAN / AP

Reds CF Willy Taveras came up just short on his diving attempt in the third inning, and St. Louis’ Skip Schumaker ended up on second base with a double. CINCINNATI—Ryan Franklin was dumbfounded. As he watched Reds pitcher Micah Owings round the bases on his two-out, pinch-hit homer in the ninth, the previously perfect St. Louis closer was reminded that there’s no margin for error at Great American Ball Park. “That’s an out anywhere else,” Franklin said of the solo homer that barely cleared the left-field wall. “That’s what happens.” All sorts of things happened on a very long day in Cincinnati. The Reds hit five homers, including two solo shots in the ninth off Franklin

(1-0) to tie it, but Colby Rasmus’ double in the 10th inning sent St. Louis to an 8-7 victory Sunday that salvaged the final game of the series and left everyone agog over what had just happened. “That was a blast,” said Jay Bruce, who hit one of the Reds’ five homers. It was dramatic right down to the 401st and final pitch—Paul Janish fouled out with the bases loaded to end it after 4 hours, 23 minutes. “What a game,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “Good luck asking me questions because I don’t remember much of anything except a 1-2 slider that

Janish popped up. I can’t think of anything else that happened, really.” Everyone was a bit numb. Coming into the series, St. Louis’ staff had given up only 11 homers, the fewest in the majors. The Reds hit seven in the last two games, including those two in the ninth that got the crowd of 27,664 revved. Hairston led off with a full-count homer. Owings, the Reds’ fifth starter and one of their top pinch hitters, came to the plate with two outs, worked the count full, fouled off three pitches, then hit a slider for his first homer. — The Associated Press

R 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 7

H 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 12

BI 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 7

BB 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6

103 010 200 1 —8 11 1 012 100 102 0 —7 12 1

a-struck out for L.Nix in the 7th. b-doubled for D.Reyes in the 8th. c-homered for Masset in the 9th. d-struck out for Franklin in the 10th. e-fouled out for Cordero in the 10th. E: Thurston (3), Volquez (2). LOB: St. Louis 10, Cincinnati 13. 2B: Schumaker 2 (8), Robinson (1), Rasmus (5), Duncan (10), Barden (2), L.Nix (8). HR: Pujols (12), off Volquez; Bruce (10), off Wainwright; A.Rosales (1), off Wainwright; Votto (4), off McClellan; Hairston Jr. (3), off Franklin; Owings (1), off Franklin. RBIs: Rasmus 2 (8), Pujols (33), Duncan 3 (23), Y.Molina (15), Hairston Jr. (6), Bruce 2 (21), Owings (4), R.Hernandez (11), A.Rosales (4), Votto (24). SB: Pujols (5), K.Greene (2), Taveras (7). S: Rasmus, Taveras, Hairston Jr.. Runners left in scoring position: St. Louis 7 (Duncan, Y.Molina, Schumaker, K.Greene, Ludwick 2, Barden); Cincinnati 6 (Phillips, D.McDonald, Taveras, Dickerson, Janish 2). St. Louis IP Wainwright 6 McClellan H, 4 1⁄3 D.Reyes H, 5 2⁄3 Motte H, 7 1⁄3 T.Miller H, 2 1⁄3 Frkln W, 1-0 BS, 1-10 1 1⁄3 Boyer H, 2 2⁄3 C.Perez S, 1-2 1⁄3 Cincinnati IP Volquez 6 2⁄3 Herrera 0 Burton 1 Masset 1 1⁄3 Cordero L, 0-2 1

H 7 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 H 6 1 2 1 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 4 4 1 3 119 4.35 1 1 1 0 12 3.29 0 0 1 1 16 4.35 0 0 0 0 7 3.38 0 0 0 0 4 4.15 2 2 1 2 43 1.23 0 0 2 1 19 9.00 0 0 0 0 4 2.89 R ER BB SO NP ERA 7 7 3 8 108 4.40 0 0 0 0 7 2.31 0 0 2 1 30 5.65 0 0 0 1 18 1.23 1 1 1 1 14 2.57

Herrera pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: D.Reyes 1-0, T.Miller 1-0, Franklin 1-0, C.Perez 3-0, Herrera 2-1, Burton 2-1, Masset 3-0. IBB: off Burton (Pujols). HBP: by Franklin (A.Rosales), by Volquez (Barden). Umpires: Home, Wally Bell; First, Marty Foster; Second, Marvin Hudson; Third, John Hirschbeck. T: 4:23. A: 27,664 (42,319).

Chicago Cubs 4, Milwaukee 2

Cubs’ ’pen struggles in win MILWAUKEE—Even in victory, the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen is tough to watch these days. And after watching Carlos Marmol work his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning to help the Cubs hold on for a 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, manager Lou Piniella might be looking to the team’s minor league system for help. “I’ll tell you this: For us to play good baseball this summer, and for us to have a chance to compete in this division, we’ve got to get our bullpen straightened out,” Piniella said. “And that’s going to be priority No. 1.” Piniella added that he wasn’t against “bringing up some young kids with good arms” and seeing what they can do. First up is right-hander Jose Ascanio, who has been called up from Triple-A Iowa to replace injured reliever Chad Fox. “From what I’ve seen so far here this year, it hasn’t worked very well,” Piniella said of his bullpen. Marmol’s shaky outing nearly squandered the Cubs’ four-run third-inning rally that included a towering two-run homer by Alfonso Soriano. Sunday’s victory allowed the Cubs to avoid a series sweep by the Brewers and go into Monday’s off day with some momentum. — The Associated Press

Cubs 4, Brewers 2 Chicago AB A.Soriano lf 5 Miles ss-2b 4 Fukudome cf 3 Bradley rf 4 Hoffpauir 1b 4 Soto c 3 Fontenot 3b 4 Scales 2b 3 A.Guzman p 0 Marmol p 0 c-Freel ph 1 Gregg p 0 Marshall p 1 a-Theriot ph-ss 2 Totals 34

R 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

H 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 9

BI 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

BB 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

SO 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6

Milwaukee Weeks 2b Hart rf Braun lf Fielder 1b M.Cameron cf Hardy ss Hall 3b Kendall c Suppan p Villanueva p b-Duffy ph DiFelice p d-Counsell ph Totals

R 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

H 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 6

BI 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

BB 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6

SO Avg. 0 .277 2 .262 2 .345 2 .255 0 .295 1 .208 0 .292 1 .234 0 .182 0 1.000 1 .107 0 --0 .333 9

Chicago 004 000 000 — Milwaukee 110 000 000 —

4 9 0 2 6 2

AB 3 5 4 4 2 4 3 4 2 0 1 0 1 33

Avg. .266 .205 .319 .179 .295 .169 .229 .385 .000 --.188 --.111 .299

a-grounded into a fielder’s choice for Marshall in the 6th. b-struck out for Villanueva in the 7th. c-singled for Marmol in the 9th. d-flied out for DiFelice in the 9th. E: Kendall (4), Hall (3). LOB: Chicago 6, Milwaukee 10. 2B: Miles (5), Braun (7), M.Cameron (11), Hall (8). 3B: Fukudome (1), Kendall (1). HR: A.Soriano (10), off Suppan; Weeks (7), off Marshall. RBIs: A.Soriano 2 (20), Bradley (6), Weeks (21), Kendall (11). S: Marshall. Runners left in scoring position: Chicago 2 (Bradley, Fontenot); Milwaukee 7 (Hardy 2, Braun 2, Kendall 3). DP: Milwaukee 1 (Hall, Weeks, Fielder). Chicago Marshall W, 1-2 A.Guzman H, 3 Marmol H, 9 Gregg S, 6-7 Milwaukee Suppan L, 2-3 Villanueva DiFelice

IP 5 2 1 1 IP 6 1 2

H 5 0 1 0 H 8 0 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 3 4 97 4.06 0 0 0 2 21 3.63 0 0 2 1 28 4.20 0 0 1 2 21 4.11 R ER BB SO NP ERA 4 3 2 3 120 5.50 0 0 0 1 9 5.87 0 0 0 2 29 1.15

WP: Marmol, Suppan. Balk: Marmol. Umpires: Home, Phil Cuzzi; First, Todd Tichenor; Second, Tom Hallion; Third, Jerry Crawford. T: 3:12. A: 41,646 (41,900).

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE San Francisco 7, L.A. Dodgers 5, 13 innings

Giants keep Dodgers on the skid LOS ANGELES—The timing couldn’t have been better for the San Francisco Giants, who came into Dodger Stadium for a three-game series just one day after Manny Ramirez received a 50-game suspension for using a banned drug. The Giants took two of three against their archrivals, who were off to their best start in 26 years. In Sunday’s series finale, Randy Winn hit a tiebreaking two-run single with the bases loaded in the 13th inning and finished with four hits in San Francisco’s 7-5 victory. The defending N.L. West champion Dodgers are 1-3 since their slugging left fielder was suspended. “We’re not concerned about those things,” Giants center fielder Aaron Rowand said. “We’re concerned about winning ballgames, and that’s all that matters. We know whenever we play the Dodgers, with or without Manny, they’re going to be a tough team no matter what because they have a lot of great talent.” Juan Pierre had three hits for the second straight game, doubled home a run and scored three times for the Dodgers, who went 8-3 on a history-making homestand in which they set a modern major league record with a 13-0 start at home. The Giants loaded the bases with one out in the 13th against Guillermo Mota (2-1), getting infield hits from Edgar Renteria and Steve Holm around a walk to Pablo Sandoval. Winn got a fastball low and away on a 1-0 count and drove it into the left-field corner. “I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit, and luckily I was able to get it away from Pierre and we were able to get a couple of runs in,” Winn said. “I’m starting to swing the bat a little bit better, trying to get good pitches to hit and focus on

GUS RUELAS / AP

San Francisco CF Aaron Rowand catches a line drive from Dodgers 3B Mark Loretta during the sixth inning. having good at-bats.” San Francisco took a 5-4 lead in the 12th on Rich Aurilia’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly. The Dodgers tied it in the bottom half when Casey Blake drove a pitch from Brian Wilson into the former “Mannywood” seats in the left-field corner with one out, resulting in the righthander’s second blown save in nine chances. Wilson (2-0) got the victory with two

innings of one-hit ball. “There’s no quit in this team. We’re not going to give up and roll over,” Rowand said. “We feel we have a good team and we have the ability to win a lot of games, especially with our pitching staff. So there’s a lot of confidence in here.” The Giants tied it at 4 in the eighth on pinch-hitter Nate Schierholtz’s basesloaded sacrifice fly. — The Associated Press

Giants 7, Dodgers 5, 13 innings San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg. F.Lewis lf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .290 Affeldt p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 Valdez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Velez lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .136 Renteria ss 6 1 2 1 1 1 .260 Sandoval 3b 6 1 0 0 1 1 .282 B.Molina c 6 0 1 0 0 1 .291 1-Holm pr-c 1 0 1 0 0 0 .400 Winn rf-lf-cf 6 4 4 2 1 0 .243 Rowand cf 5 1 2 0 0 3 .226 Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --e-Uribe ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .262 B.Wilson p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Burriss 2b 7 0 4 1 0 0 .287 Ishikawa 1b 1 0 0 0 1 0 .188 a-Aurilia ph-1b 3 0 0 1 0 1 .163 Lincecum p 1 0 0 1 1 0 .133 Medders p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --b-Schierholtz ph-rf 2 0 0 1 0 0 .250 Totals 50 7 14 7 6 9 Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Pierre lf 5 3 3 1 1 0 .426 Furcal ss 6 0 1 1 0 2 .246 Hudson 2b 5 0 1 2 0 1 .331 Ethier rf 5 0 0 0 1 2 .285 Loney 1b 6 0 0 0 0 1 .264 Loretta 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333 Belisario p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Wade p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 c-Paul ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .500 Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Ja.McDonald p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 d-Martin ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .272 Mota p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Kemp cf 5 0 0 0 0 2 .275 Ausmus c 5 0 1 0 0 3 .381 Jef.Weaver p 2 1 0 0 0 1 .167 Troncoso p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Ohman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 Blake 3b 3 1 3 1 0 0 .260 Totals 47 5 11 5 2 12 San Francisco 020 001 010 001 2—7 14 2 Los Angeles 101 020 000 001 0—5 11 0 a-fouled out for Ishikawa in the 6th. b-hit a sacrifice fly for Medders in the 8th. c-singled for Wade in the 8th. d-fouled out for Ja.McDonald in the 11th. e-grounded into a fielder’s choice for Howry in the 12th. 1-ran for B.Molina in the 12th. E: Renteria (3), Lincecum (1). LOB: San Francisco 15, Los Angeles 6. 2B: Winn (5), Pierre (4), Hudson (12). HR: Blake (6), off B.Wilson. RBIs: Renteria (13), Winn 2 (12), Burriss (5), Aurilia (6), Lincecum (1), Schierholtz (2), Pierre (7), Furcal (8), Hudson 2 (19), Blake (18). SB: F.Lewis (2), Burriss (9), Pierre (3). CS: Paul (1). SF: Aurilia, Lincecum, Schierholtz, Hudson. Runners left in scoring position: San Francisco 10 (B.Molina, Sandoval 3, F.Lewis 4, Schierholtz, Burriss); Los Angeles 3 (Hudson 2, Ethier). DP: San Francisco 1 (Aurilia, Renteria). San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Lincecum 6 6 4 3 1 8 110 3.25 Medders 1 2 0 0 0 2 22 4.61 Affeldt 2⁄3 1 0 0 1 0 13 3.14 Valdez 1 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 22 3.48 Howry 2 0 0 0 0 0 29 3.38 B.Wilson W, 2-0 BS, 2-9 2 1 1 1 0 1 22 3.24 Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Jef.Weaver 5 3 3 3 4 2 76 2.57 Troncoso H, 2 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 6 2.21 Ohman H, 4 2⁄3 0 0 0 1 1 10 4.66 Belisario H, 4 1 1 1 1 0 1 19 3.26 Wade BS, 3-3 1 2 0 0 0 2 17 5.59 Broxton 2 0 0 0 0 2 24 0.56 Ja.McDonald 1 1 0 0 0 0 20 7.27 Mota L, 2-1 2 6 3 3 1 0 38 7.43 Jef.Weaver pitched to 1 batter in the 6th. Belisario pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored: Valdez 1-0, Troncoso 1-1, Ohman 1-0, Wade 1-1. IBB: off Jef.Weaver (Ishikawa). HBP: by Jef.Weaver (F.Lewis), by Ja.McDonald (Velez). Umpires: Home, Charlie Reliford; First, Larry Vanover; Second, Sam Holbrook; Third, Dan Iassogna. T: 4:44. A: 37,529 (56,000).

Arizona 10, Washington 8

Duo breaks out of slump PHOENIX—Arizona’s offense has been awful, and no one has struggled more than Chris Snyder and Eric Byrnes. Both players had shown signs of breaking out lately, and they led the Diamondbacks to a breakthrough performance Sunday. Snyder and Byrnes each drove in three runs and Arizona piled up a season-best 17 hits to beat the Washington Nationals 10-8 and give new manager A.J. Hinch his first victory. Ryan Zimmerman pushed his hitting streak to 28 games with a double and two singles, and Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham both homered twice. But that wasn’t enough to extend the Nationals’ season-best threegame winning streak. Snyder, the Diamondbacks’ catcher, gave Hinch the game ball. “Granted, it’s been great to get a first win as a manager,” Hinch said, “but honestly, this team needed it and I’m happy for everybody in there.” Arizona’s Justin Upton had three hits, including a double, to run his hitting streak to 17 games, second only to Zimmerman’s in the majors this season. Ryan Roberts also had three hits, knocking in two runs, as Arizona snapped a three-game slide, the last two under Hinch after Bob Melvin was fired. — The Associated Press

Diamondbacks 10, Nationals 8 Washington AB R H BI BB A.Hernandez 2b 4 0 0 0 0 Tavarez p 0 0 0 0 0 N.Johnson 1b 5 0 1 1 0 Zimmerman 3b 5 1 3 1 0 Dunn rf 5 2 3 3 0 Willingham lf 5 2 2 2 0 W.Harris cf 4 1 2 0 1 Cintron ss-2b 3 0 0 0 2 Nieves c 5 1 2 0 0 Olsen p 1 0 0 0 1 Mock p 0 0 0 0 0 b-Dukes ph 0 1 0 0 1 Kensing p 0 0 0 0 0 Villone p 0 0 0 0 0 d-C.Guzman ph-ss 2 0 0 0 0 Totals 39 8 13 7 5

SO 3 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 9

Avg. .293 .000 .312 .346 .311 .196 .231 .000 .176 .000 --.268 ----.376

Arizona AB R H BI BB SO F.Lopez 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 C.Young cf 5 1 2 0 0 1 J.Upton rf 4 3 3 0 1 0 Reynolds 1b 5 2 2 0 0 1 Byrnes lf 5 2 2 3 0 0 Snyder c 2 2 2 3 3 0 R.Roberts 3b 4 0 3 2 0 0 Qualls p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jo.Wilson ss 4 0 1 0 1 0 Scherzer p 2 0 1 1 0 1 a-Whitesell ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 Vasquez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 c-Tracy ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Rauch p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Schoeneweis p 0 0 0 0 0 0 T.Pena p 0 0 0 0 0 0 e-Ojeda ph-3b 1 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 39 10 17 9 5 6

Avg. .309 .193 .309 .254 .190 .233 .318 --.231 .300 .071 --.213 ----.000 .300

Washington 002 022 101 — 8 13 2 Arizona 012 024 01x — 10 17 1 a-struck out for Scherzer in the 5th. b-walked for Mock in the 6th. c-flied out for Vasquez in the 6th. d-reached on error for Villone in the 7th. e-struck out for T.Pena in the 8th. E:Dunn (4), Cintron (1), F.Lopez (4). LOB:Washington 10, Arizona 11. 2B:Zimmerman (12), J.Upton (6), Byrnes (6), Snyder 2 (4). 3B:W.Harris (1). HR:Dunn 2 (11), off Scherzer 2; Willingham (3), off Scherzer; Willingham (4), off Qualls; Byrnes (4), off Olsen. RBIs:N.Johnson (12), Zimmerman (22), Dunn 3 (28), Willingham 2 (6), Byrnes 3 (11), Snyder 3 (8), R.Roberts 2 (3), Scherzer (1). SB:C.Young (4), J.Upton (3), Reynolds (4). S:A.Hernandez. SF:R.Roberts. Runners left in scoring position:Washington 3 (Willingham, A.Hernandez 2); Arizona 7 (Reynolds, F.Lopez 3, R.Roberts, Tracy, Ojeda). Runners moved up:N.Johnson, Byrnes. GIDP:Zimmerman. DP:Arizona 1 (Jo.Wilson, F.Lopez, Reynolds). Washington IP H Olsen 4 1⁄3 10 Mock 2⁄3 1 Kensing L, 0-2 BS, 2-2 2⁄3 5 Villone 1⁄3 0 Tavarez 2 1

R 5 0 4 0 1

ER 5 0 4 0 1

BB SO NP ERA 3 2 109 7.00 0 1 15 4.66 0 0 26 12.00 0 0 3 0.00 2 3 46 6.08

Arizona IP H R ER BB SO NP Scherzer 5 7 4 4 3 5 107 Vasquez W, 1-1 BS, 1-1 1 2 2 2 1 1 24 Rauch H, 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 29 Schoeneweis 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 T.Pena H, 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 Qualls S, 8-9 1 2 1 1 0 1 19 Schoeneweis pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

ERA 3.98 4.82 7.62 2.00 1.15 2.77

Inherited runners-scored:Mock 2-0, Villone 1-0, T.Pena 1-0. Umpires: Home, Bill Hohn; First, Casey Moser; Second, Rob Drake; Third, Paul Emmel. T:3:52. A:25,086 (48,652).

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE N.Y. Mets 8, Pittsburgh 4

Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 2

Mets’ streak at 7 after sweep of Bucs NEW YORK—The Mets have gotten plenty of good pitching during their seven-game win streak, and at the plate, it’s almost as if New York hitters know what’s coming. On Sunday, Pirates starter Ian Snell thought perhaps they did. Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and Omir Santos each drove in a pair of runs, and the Mets rolled to an 8-4 victory over bumbling Pittsburgh and their first three-game sweep of the Pirates since 2001. The win gave New York seven straight victories for the first time since last July. “They hit some good pitches. I found out later they had our signs,” said Snell, who lost for the fifth time in seven starts. “That’s baseball—there’s nothing wrong with it.” Snell said he thinks David Wright may have had the signs when he fouled off a couple of good pitches in the fourth inning, when New York scored three times to take a 3-2 lead. “Like he was expecting them,” Snell said. The three-game sweep was the first for New York after failing three times. The Mets, who welcomed back manager Jerry Manuel from a one-game suspension, haven’t lost since May 2. “I think we just needed to get hot a little bit to realize how good we are,” Wright said. Livan Hernandez (3-1) needed 31 pitches to get through a shaky first, but settled down to last six innings. He allowed two runs and seven hits for his 150th career win. Every Mets starter has gone at least six innings during their win streak. — The Associated Press

Mets 8, Pirates 4 Pittsburgh AB Morgan lf 2 Delw.Young 2b 4 McLouth cf 4 Ad.LaRoche 1b 4 Hinske rf 4 An.LaRoche 3b 4 R.Diaz c 4 Bixler ss 3 b-R.Vazquez ph-ss 1 Snell p 3 S.Burnett p 0 J.Chavez p 0 c-Moss ph 1 Grabow p 0 Totals 34

R H BI 1 1 0 1 2 0 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 4

BB SO Avg. 2 1 .301 1 0 .350 0 1 .292 1 0 .223 1 1 .231 0 1 .253 0 0 .381 0 3 .200 0 0 .182 0 1 .214 0 0 --0 0 --0 0 .174 0 0 --5 8

New York Jos.Reyes ss Castillo 2b Beltran cf Delgado 1b S.Green p D.Wright 3b Dan.Murphy lf Reed lf Santos c Church rf Li.Hernandez p Feliciano p a-Sheffield ph Putz p d-Tatis ph-1b Totals

R H BI 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 11 8

BB SO Avg. 1 0 .276 0 0 .333 1 1 .374 0 1 .298 0 0 --0 2 .304 1 1 .298 0 0 .286 0 2 .300 0 0 .264 0 0 .111 0 0 --0 0 .186 0 0 --0 0 .341 3 7

AB 4 4 4 4 0 4 3 0 4 4 2 0 1 0 0 34

Pittsburgh 101 000 002 — 4 11 1 New York 000 300 14x — 8 11 0 a-reached on error for Feliciano in the 7th. b-singled for Bixler in the 8th. c-flied out for J.Chavez in the 8th. d-was hit by a pitch for Putz in the 8th. E: Bixler (2). LOB: Pittsburgh 11, New York 8. 2B: McLouth (4), R.Diaz (2), Jos.Reyes (3), Beltran (6), Delgado (7). HR: McLouth (5), off S.Green. RBIs: McLouth 3 (22), R.Diaz (4), Jos.Reyes (13), Castillo 2 (9), Beltran 2 (24), D.Wright (18), Santos 2 (8). SB: Morgan (9), Jos.Reyes (10), Castillo 2 (4), D.Wright (5). CS: Morgan (5). S: Morgan, An.LaRoche. SF: McLouth, Castillo. Runners left in scoring position: Pittsburgh 6 (An.LaRoche, Delw.Young, Bixler, McLouth, R.Diaz, Morgan); New York 5 (Delgado 2, Castillo, D.Wright 2). Pittsburgh Snell L, 1-5 S.Burnett J.Chavez Grabow New York Li.Hernandez W, 3-1 Feliciano H, 5 Putz H, 8 S.Green

KATHY WILLENS / AP

Mets SS Jose Reyes, right, went 2-for-4 and scored on Carlos Delgado’s eight-inning double.

IP 6 2⁄3 1⁄3 1 IP 6 1 1 1

H 6 2 0 3 H 7 1 2 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 1 5 102 4.50 1 0 1 0 27 3.14 0 0 0 1 7 2.19 4 4 1 1 22 6.14 R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 4 5 104 5.08 0 0 0 1 14 3.46 0 0 0 2 20 3.50 2 2 1 0 25 9.00

Inherited runners-scored: J.Chavez 3-0. IBB: off S.Burnett (Beltran). HBP: by Snell (Delgado), by Grabow (Tatis). WP: Snell. Umpires: Home, Chris Guccione; First, Ed Montague; Second, Jerry Layne; Third, Tony Randazzo. T: 3:09. A: 39,871 (41,800).

Kotchman caps rally PHILADELPHIA—Casey Kotchman lofted a short fly to center field in the third inning and angrily slammed his bat to the ground. He took out his aggression on the Phillies the rest of the game. Kotchman had three hits and three RBIs, Kenshin Kawakami pitched six effective innings and the Atlanta Braves rallied for a 4-2 victory over Philadelphia on Sunday. Kotchman hit a two-out, tworun single off Jack Taschner (1-1) in the seventh inning to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. He also had an RBI double in the ninth. “I’m just trying to make the most of the opportunities I get, said Kotchman, who went 3-for-5 to raise his average to .312. Garret Anderson had two hits for the Braves (15-16), who took two of three from the Phillies to move within one game of .500. Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his third save in three opportunities. Matt Stairs got a rare start for Philadelphia and went 2-for-2 with a run-scoring double and a walk. Ryan Howard also had a pair of doubles and scored two runs. “We definitely have to play better,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We have to be more consistent. We haven’t put it together like we want to.” — The Associated Press

Braves 4, Phillies 2 Atlanta AB K.Johnson 2b 2 b-Infante ph-2b 2 Escobar ss 4 C.Jones 3b 3 O’Flaherty p 0 M.Gonzalez p 0 c-Norton ph 0 R.Soriano p 0 G.Anderson lf 4 McCann c 4 Kotchman 1b 5 Francoeur rf 5 Schafer cf 3 Kawakami p 2 Prado 3b 1 Totals 35

R 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

H 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 1 1 10

BI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 4

BB 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4

SO 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 4

Avg. .236 .329 .286 .284 ----.100 --.191 .250 .312 .272 .225 .273 .303

Philadelphia AB R H BI BB SO Rollins ss 5 0 0 0 0 1 Victorino cf 4 0 0 0 1 0 Utley 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 Howard 1b 4 2 2 0 0 0 Ibanez lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 Stairs rf 2 0 2 1 2 0 1-Bruntlett pr-rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 Feliz 3b 4 0 1 1 0 2 Ruiz c 2 0 0 0 1 1 d-Cairo ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 Myers p 1 0 0 0 1 1 a-Dobbs ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Taschner p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Durbin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lidge p 0 0 0 0 0 0 e-Werth ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 33 2 6 2 5 8

Avg. .195 .272 .309 .287 .327 .353 .143 .303 .172 .133 .231 .148 .000 .500 --.287

Atlanta 100 000 201 — Philadelphia 010 001 000 —

4 10 0 2 6 0

a-grounded out for Myers in the 6th. b-flied out for K.Johnson in the 7th. c-walked for M.Gonzalez in the 9th. d-singled for Ruiz in the 9th. e-struck out for Lidge in the 9th. 1-ran for Stairs in the 8th. LOB: Atlanta 12, Philadelphia 9. 2B: Kotchman 2 (13), Prado (5), Howard 2 (9), Stairs (1). RBIs: G.Anderson (4), Kotchman 3 (12), Stairs (7), Feliz (19). S: Kawakami. SF: G.Anderson. Runners left in scoring position: Atlanta 8 (Kotchman, Escobar 3, Francoeur 3, Kawakami); Philadelphia 4 (Myers 2, Utley, Dobbs). Atlanta IP H Kawakami W, 2-4 6 5 O’Flaherty H, 3 1 0 M.Gonzalez H, 1 1 0 R.Soriano S, 3-3 1 1 Philadelphia IP H Myers 6 5 Taschner L, 1-1 BS, 1-1 2⁄3 3 Durbin 1 1⁄3 1 Lidge 1 1

R ER BB SO NP 2 2 4 6 95 0 0 0 1 11 0 0 1 0 17 0 0 0 1 12 R ER BB SO NP 1 1 2 3 92 2 2 1 0 20 0 0 0 1 18 1 1 1 0 20

ERA 5.79 2.19 3.29 1.20 ERA 4.81 5.14 3.57 8.53

Inherited runners-scored: Durbin 2-0. HBP: by Myers (Escobar, K.Johnson). WP: Kawakami 2. Umpires: Home, James Hoye; First, Dale Scott; Second, Jerry Meals; Third, Mike DiMuro. T: 2:50. A: 45,343 (43,647).

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

24

NATIONAL LEAGUE Houston 12, San Diego 5

Tejada, Lee carry Astros to sweep HOUSTON—Miguel Tejada and Carlos Lee combined to make up for Lance Berkman’s absence, powering the Houston Astros to a successful weekend against the slumping San Diego Padres. Tejada and Lee each drove in four runs in a 12-5 victory Sunday, helping Roy Oswalt get his first win of the season. Ivan Rodriguez had four hits for Houston, which set season highs for runs and hits (16) while completing a sweep of the three-game series. It was the Astros’ first sweep since taking four from Pittsburgh last September. Berkman missed his third straight game with a sprained left wrist but Tejada and Lee combined to go 12-for-23 with 12 RBIs against San Diego. “Both of them have really swung the bat well for us,” manager Cecil Cooper said. “Tejada started the season swinging it well and has continued. It’s good to have them.” Tejada feels the team responded well. “He’s one of the best hitters in the league,” Tejada said. “We knew we had to pick up the slack. We’ve got to play hard, everybody does, to make up for losing him.” Oswalt (1-2) gave up four runs and six hits in six innings. He ended a streak of five consecutive no-decisions, the longest of his career. He also stopped a stretch of seven starts without a win, which matched a career long that ran from September 2007 to April 2008. “With Oswalt, you definitely know what you are going to get,” said Chase Headley, who hit a two-run homer off Oswalt in the fourth. “He is going to throw you a lot of strikes. Today, we really didn’t get a lot together off him.” — The Associated Press

Astros 12, Padres 5 San Diego AB Gerut rf 5 Eckstein 2b 1 L.Rodriguez ss 2 Ad.Gonzalez 1b 4 Headley lf 4 Hairston cf 4 Kouzmanoff 3b 2 Perdomo p 0 a-Giles ph 1 Moreno p 0 D.Sanchez p 0 c-Blanco ph 0 A.Lopez p 0 Hundley c 2 C.Burke ss-2b 4 Geer p 1 E.Gonzalez 3b 3 Totals 33 Houston K.Matsui 2b Bourn cf Pence rf Ca.Lee lf Blum 1b Tejada ss Erstad 1b-lf I.Rodriguez c Keppinger 3b Oswalt p Byrdak p Arias p b-Michaels ph Sampson p Totals San Diego Houston

AB 4 5 3 4 0 5 5 4 5 3 0 0 1 1 40

Colorado 3, Florida 2 R 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 R 2 1 3 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 12

H 2 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 9

BI 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

BB 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 4

SO 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4

Avg. .228 .261 .247 .294 .255 .333 .222 .000 .158 ----.176 --.263 .259 .250 .171

H BI 1 0 1 0 1 0 3 4 0 0 3 4 1 0 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 10

BB 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

SO 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

Avg. .255 .287 .310 .333 .253 .313 .175 .273 .319 .143 ----.240 .000

000 202 100 — 5 9 2 320 400 03x — 12 16 1

a-singled for Perdomo in the 6th. b-grounded out for Arias in the 7th. c-walked for D.Sanchez in the 8th. E: C.Burke 2 (4), K.Matsui (1). LOB: San Diego 6, Houston 9. 2B: Hairston (8), Ca.Lee (10). 3B: Pence (1), I.Rodriguez (2). HR: Headley (3), off Oswalt; Ad.Gonzalez (10), off Oswalt; Gerut (4), off Byrdak; Tejada (2), off Geer; Ca.Lee (6), off A.Lopez; I.Rodriguez (4), off A.Lopez. RBIs: Gerut (9), Ad.Gonzalez 2 (22), Headley 2 (15), Ca.Lee 4 (26), Tejada 4 (16), I.Rodriguez 2 (14). SB: K.Matsui (5), Bourn (10). Runners left in scoring position: San Diego 4 (Hundley, C.Burke 2, Headley); Houston 4 (Keppinger 2, Erstad, Ca.Lee). DP: San Diego 1 (Kouzmanoff, Eckstein, Ad.Gonzalez); Houston 4 (K.Matsui, Tejada, Erstad), (Arias, Erstad), (Keppinger, K.Matsui, Erstad), (Keppinger, K.Matsui, Blum).

BOB LEVEY / AP

Astros P Roy Oswalt gave up four earned runs in six innings but still earned his first win of the season.

San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Geer L, 0-1 3 7 7 5 3 0 71 5.14 Perdomo 2 4 2 0 1 0 44 3.65 Moreno 1 1 0 0 0 2 19 4.41 D.Sanchez 1 0 0 0 0 0 15 6.75 A.Lopez 1 4 3 3 0 0 1719.29 Houston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Oswalt W, 1-2 6 6 4 4 2 4 104 4.50 Byrdak 1⁄3 1 1 1 1 0 16 3.00 Arias H, 2 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.70 Sampson 2 2 0 0 1 0 21 1.71 Geer pitched to 2 batters in the 4th. Inherited runners-scored: Perdomo 2-2, Arias 2-0. HBP: by Geer (K.Matsui), by Oswalt (Eckstein). WP: Perdomo, Oswalt. Umpires: Home, Adrian Johnson; First, Greg Gibson; Second, Andy Fletcher; Third, Ted Barrett. T: 2:57. A: 30,023 (40,976).

Rockies pull out a close one, finally DENVER—The Colorado Rockies resolved one of their biggest concerns by finally winning a close game. They might have something new to worry about, though. Aaron Cook pitched six solid innings and Troy Tulowitzki homered as part of his third straight multihit game in the Rockies’ 3-2 win over the Florida Marlins on Sunday. The victory denied the Marlins’ bid for a series sweep and marked the Rockies’ first win this season in a one-run game after losing their first eight. On the down side, manager Clint Hurdle said after the game that Tulowitzki “tweaked” his left quadriceps trying to field an errant throw in the sixth inning. Tulowitzki, replaced in the ninth inning by Clint Barmes, said he doesn’t think the injury is serious—but he missed 46 games last season when he tore the quadriceps tendon in the same leg. “We’ll see how it feels (Monday),” said Tulowitzki, adding that he planned to come in on the team’s off day for additional treatment. “Then I’ll come back on Tuesday and hopefully I’m ready to go.” Tulowitzki now has seven RBI in his last seven games after getting none in his previous 17. — The Associated Press

Rockies 3, Marlins 2 Florida AB R Bonifacio 3b-lf 3 1 Coghlan lf 3 0 c-Helms ph-3b 1 0 Ha.Ramirez ss 4 1 Gload 1b 3 0 d-Cantu ph-1b 1 0 Uggla 2b 3 0 Jo.Baker c 3 0 1-Maybin pr 0 0 C.Ross cf 4 0 Hermida rf 3 0 Volstad p 2 0 b-Amezaga ph 1 0 Badenhop p 0 0 Pinto p 0 0 Calero p 0 0 Meyer p 0 0 Totals 31 2

H BI 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2

BB SO Avg. 1 0 .250 0 1 .286 0 0 .225 0 1 .348 0 0 .244 0 0 .294 1 0 .189 1 0 .289 0 0 .202 0 1 .214 1 2 .240 0 1 .077 0 0 .207 0 0 .000 0 0 --0 0 --0 0 .000 4 6

Colorado AB Fowler cf 3 Tulowitzki ss 3 Barmes ss 0 Helton 1b 4 Hawpe rf 2 Atkins 3b 4 Street p 0 S.Smith lf 3 Iannetta c 4 Quintanilla 2b 3 Cook p 2 a-Spilborghs ph 1 Daley p 0 Embree p 0 e-Stewart ph-3b 1 Totals 30

H BI 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 3

BB SO Avg. 0 0 .258 1 0 .237 0 0 .228 0 1 .343 1 1 .330 0 1 .210 0 0 --1 0 .310 0 0 .211 1 1 .154 0 0 .214 0 0 .267 0 0 --0 0 --0 1 .194 4 5

Florida Colorado

R 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3

000 002 000 — 2 5 1 200 010 00x — 3 7 1

a-grounded out for Cook in the 6th. b-flied out for Volstad in the 7th. c-flied out for Coghlan in the 8th. d-flied out for Gload in the 8th. e-struck out for Embree in the 8th. 1-ran for Jo.Baker in the 9th. E: Bonifacio (4), Cook (1). LOB: Florida 6, Colorado 9. 2B: Bonifacio (3), Jo.Baker (8), Helton (6), S.Smith (2). 3B: Helton (1). HR: Tulowitzki (5), off Volstad. RBIs: Ha.Ramirez (19), Uggla (19), Tulowitzki (12), Helton (18), Hawpe (20). SB: S.Smith (2). CS: Bonifacio (3). S: Fowler. SF: Hawpe. Runners left in scoring position: Florida 1 (C.Ross); Colorado 3 (Atkins, Spilborghs, Stewart). Florida Volstad L, 2-2 Badenhop Pinto Calero Meyer Colorado Cook W, 2-1 Daley H, 2 Embree H, 4 Street S, 4-4

IP 6 1⁄3 2⁄3 2⁄3 1⁄3 IP 6 1 1 1

H 7 0 0 0 0 H 4 0 0 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 2 1 1 101 2.98 0 0 1 0 8 3.86 0 0 0 2 9 1.23 0 0 2 1 25 1.62 0 0 0 1 5 2.03 R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 1 4 3 97 5.03 0 0 0 1 12 1.29 0 0 0 1 10 4.00 0 0 0 1 16 4.73

Inherited runners-scored: Pinto 1-0, Meyer 2-0. IBB: off Volstad (Hawpe). Umpires: Home, Derryl Cousins; First, Angel Campos; Second, Brian Runge; Third, Bill Miller. T: 2:58. A: 30,197 (50,449).

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

Amid Boldin trade rumors, Ravens’ Flacco endorses his cast Flacco’s weapons

BY CLIFTON BROWN [email protected]

OWINGS MILLS, MD.—How badly the Ravens need help at wide receiver depends upon whom you ask. Some fans and talk-radio hosts say the Ravens should trade for a veteran like the Cardinals’ Anquan Boldin—yesterday, if not sooner. “You can’t satisfy everybody,” Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason said during the team’s weekend minicamp. “We were a couple of plays short of making it to the Super Bowl. What more do you want? “Anquan’s a good player. But we made it this far without him. He wouldn’t change the dynamics of our offense any more than it is now. Whether he comes here or not, I don’t know. But we’re going to continue to get better as a group.” The Ravens’ wide receiver group is led by Mason, coming off a season in which he caught 80 passes for 1,037 yards and five touchdowns. However, Mason was the only Raven who cracked the NFL’s top 45 in receiving yards. Overall, the Ravens ranked just 28th among the NFL’s 32 teams in passing yards per game (175.5). No wonder rumors persist that the Ravens still will trade for Boldin, a Pro Bowl receiver unhappy with his contract. The Ravens hope to become more prolific through the air, with quarterback Joe Flacco no longer a rookie and eager to expand the playbook. The Cardinals entertained offers for Boldin before the draft,

A quick look at the Ravens’ current depth chart at the skill positions and their ‘08 receiving stats: WR1

Age

Rec. Yards TD

Derrick Mason

35

80

1,037

5

Yamon Figurs

27

1

43

1

WR2

Age

Rec. Yards TD

Mark Clayton

26

41

695

3

Marcus Smith

24

0

0

0

TE

Age

Rec.

Todd Heap

29

35

403

3

L.J. Smith*

28

37

298

3

RB

Age

Yards TD

Rec. Yards TD

Willis McGahee

27

24

173

0

Ray Rice

22

33

273

0

*-With the Eagles

CHUCK BURTON / AP

Pro Bowl WR Anquan Boldin wants out of Arizona because of a contract dispute, and the Ravens are looking to punch up their passing game, which ranked 28th in the NFL last season. and the Ravens might become more interested in making a deal as training camp draws closer. For now, they are looking at other options. They flew in three veteran receivers—Jerry Porter, Kelley Washington and Tab Perry—for a tryout at minicamp, and second-leading receiver Mark Clayton is back after catching 41 passes last season. “We had a lot of guys out here

today, some new faces,” Flacco said. “We threw them right in the mix. That’s the way we do things. They’re all doing a pretty good job right now.” After reaching the AFC championship game last season as a rookie, Flacco said he is not worried about the team acquiring another proven receiver. “We had a pretty darn good team last year, obviously, with the

guys we have,” Flacco said. The 35-year-old Mason, Flacco’s favorite target, had offseason shoulder surgery and is iffy for training camp but confident he’ll be ready for the regular season. “They’ve been trying to replace me for the last eight years,” Mason said. “They can’t seem to. I’m kind of like fine wine. You try to get a new bottle, but you’ve got to go back to the old stuff.”

And with Flacco, the Ravens have a young quarterback who figures to get better with age. A year ago at minicamp, he was a rookie quarterback trying to find his way. Now, he is running the show and acting the part. “I feel a lot different,” Flacco said. “You have a comfort level with all your teammates, with all your coaches, with the offense. Last year I didn’t know anything,

I didn’t know anybody. This is a lot easier. I’m not worried about what I look like. “Last year, you want to complete every single pass. It ends up not happening, and then you feel bad about it. I feel a lot more comfortable.” Comfortable and confident the Ravens can win with what they have. “We’re going to grow as an offense,” Flacco said. “I’m going to grow, our offensive line is, and as a result we’re going to become a better passing team. We don’t need anybody else. We feel like we have the guys to be a Super Bowl team.”

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26

Scouts’ views

Guard rankings: Power in running game most important Though offensive tackles must be able to move their feet out on the edges, guards must have the physical strength and power to excel in hand-to-hand combat inside. Many of the guards listed here are dominant run blockers who like to play forward. But like all NFL positions, athleticism and mobility are becoming important factors. Some of the young up-and-coming players at the position display those skills. Here are the top 20 guards in the NFL, the second in a series of positional rankings by RealScouts:

2.

Chris Snee, Giants. A road grader who competes on every snap, Snee finally earned a Pro Bowl recognition in ’08. His bulk and strength are his greatest assets.

3.

Brian Waters, Chiefs. Despite getting off to a shaky start with the new boss, Waters is a Pro Bowler and the Chiefs’ best lineman. G.M. Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley know it, which is why Waters wasn’t traded on draft weekend. Waters, 32, still has rare strength and agility.

4.

Shawn Andrews, Eagles. Eagles coaches worked him at right tackle at minicamp. He has the athleticism to play outside but is a three-time Pro Bowl guard. He has tremendous size and can dominate as a straight-ahead run blocker. It seems he is healthy, physically and mentally.

5.

Alan Faneca, Jets. Faneca turns 33 in December, and last year we doubted his ability. Instead, New York’s running game took a huge step forward and LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson played significantly better with Faneca alongside. Faneca just makes a whole unit better, a sign of a great player. ELAINE THOMPSON / AP

1.

Steve Hutchinson, Vikings. He is the industry standard. He’s a dominant run blocker who can overwhelm defenders in tight quarters, but he also has the athleticism to pull and lead perimeter runs. Adrian Peterson gets all the credit, but the Vikings’ running game starts with their big left guard.

6.

Kris Dielman, Chargers. An aggressive, attacking blocker who gets physical in the trenches. He also has the quickness and mobility to block moving linebackers on the second level.

7.

Arron Sears, Buccaneers. He’s instinctive, versatile and athletic, which will help him as the Bucs transition under a new coach this season.

8.

Eric Steinbach, Browns. Steinbach can play just about anywhere along the line with excellent leverage and technique. It’s his competitiveness that really sets him apart. He plays with a mean streak and never stops hustling.

9.

Logan Mankins, Patriots. This could apply to all Patriots linemen: Tough, strong and durable. Mankins is not physically imposing and lacks elite skills, but he plays with great technique and instincts.

10.

Leonard Davis, Cowboys. Davis (6-6, 355) is mauling run blocker who overpowers opponents. He’s fairly athletic and can do some good things on the move, and he uses his hands well in pass protection.

11.

Travelle Wharton, Panthers. He struggled at tackle, but is a force inside because of his athleticism and instinctive play. He shows excellent footwork and is adept at blocking linebackers on the second level. He’s smart and is quick to pick up stunts and blitzes.

12.

Brandon Moore, Jets. Faneca is the bigger name in New York, but Moore is quietly

becoming a dominant run blocker. He is tough, works hard and plays with great technique. The Jets were very lucky to resign him. This time next year, Moore and center Nick Mangold will be the Jets’ best linemen.

13.

Robert Gallery, Raiders. He had a rough time at tackle but has found a home at left guard. He’s big with long arms and shows improved technique. He moves well to adjust to counter moves and stunts in pass protection. His biggest asset is his size and athleticism as a run blocker.

14.

Harvey Dahl, Falcons. The Falcons’ run-first mentality is a perfect fit for Dahl, who never stops hustling. He’s a physical player who dominates as a run blocker.

15.

Andrew Whitworth, Bengals. With young offensive tackles Anthony Collins and Andre Smith in the fold, the smart and versatile Whitworth should move back inside. He makes great use of his hands and can maul run defenders.

16.

Rich Seubert, Giants. Seubert is an excellent second-level blocker. He is ferocious and has an excellent understanding of angles, is quick off the snap and finds moving targets. He can be pushed around by bigger defenders but shows the footwork and smarts to

combat stunts and blitzes.

17.

Davin Joseph, Buccaneers. A big-bodied bulldozer, Joseph now also can pull and trap and use his hands well in pass protection. He’s still improving and could move way up this list.

18.

Jahri Evans, Saints. His strength is pass blocking. QB Drew Brees likes to throw from the midline, so Evans’ ability to wall off penetrating defensive tackles and hold his ground against bull rushers makes the Saints’ passing attack go.

19.

Derrick Dockery, Redskins. Dockery is big, strong, durable and consistent. He’s a good short-area player who uses his size and strength well in tight quarters. A starter since Week 4 of his rookie year, he hasn’t missed a game in his NFL career.

20.

Stacy Andrews, Eagles. He played right tackle in Cincinnati but worked at right guard in Philadelphia’s minicamp. He played well outside, but his 345-pound frame will serve him well inside. Everything about him is big—his body, hands, height, long arms. He plays with power and can dominate as a short-area blocker. —RealScouts, a team of former NFL scouts, analyze NFL and college players, coaches and teams exclusively for Sporting News Today.

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Remaining free agents A quick look at the remaining NFL free agents by position (R-restricted free agent, F-franchise tagged player): OFFENSE Quarterbacks—Brooks Bollinger, Dallas; Ken Dorsey, Cleveland; Gus Frerotte, Minnesota; Charlie Frye, Seattle; Drew Henson, Detroit; Quinn Gray, Kansas City; Trent Green, St. Louis; Rex Grossman, Chicago; Brad Johnson, Dallas; J.P. Losman, Buffalo; Jamie Martin, San Francisco; Craig Nall, Houston; Marques Tuiasosopo, Oakland; Anthony Wright, NY Giants. Running backs—Darian Barnes, New Orleans; Tatum Bell, Denver; Brian Calhoun, Detroit; Jesse Chatman, NY Jets; P.J. Daniels, Baltimore; Reuben Droughns, NY Giants; Warrick Dunn, Tampa Bay; DeShaun Foster, San Francisco; Samkon Gado, St. Louis; Nick Goings, Carolina; Ahman Green, Houston; Andre Hall, Denver; Kay-Jay Harris, NY Giants; Maurice Hicks, Minnesota; Edgerrin James, Arizona; Rudi Johnson, Detroit; Deuce McAllister, New Orleans; Travis Minor, St. Louis; Montell Owens (R), Jacksonville; Chris Perry, Cincinnati; Andrew Pinnock, Denver; Michael Pittman, Denver; P.J. Pope, Denver; Cecil Sapp, Houston; Aaron Stecker, New Orleans; Selvin Young, Denver. Wide receivers—Drew Bennett, St. Louis; Marty Booker, Chicago; Drew Carter, Oakland; Jason Carter; Carolina; Keary Colbert, Detroit; Jayson Foster, Denver; Malcom Floyd (R), San Diego; D.J. Hackett, Carolina; Dante Hall, St. Louis; Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis; Ike Hilliard, Tampa Bay; Darrell Jackson, Denver; Nate Jackson, Denver; Matt Jones, Jacksonville; Joe Jurevicius, Cleveland; Ashley Lelie, Oakland; Brandon Lloyd, Chicago; Dane Looker, St. Louis; Ruvell Martin (R), Green Bay; Anthony Mix, Tampa Bay; Ben Obomanu (R), Seattle; Tab Perry, Miami; Jerry Porter, Jacksonville; Kevin Robinson, Kansas City; Koren Robinson, Seattle; Edell Shepherd, Denver; Travis Taylor, Detroit; Amani Toomer, NY Giants; Kelley Washington, New England; Todd Watkins (R), Oakland; Harry Williams, Houston; Reggie Williams, Jacksonville; Wallace Wright (R), NY Jets. Tight ends—Courtney Anderson, Houston; Adam Bergen, Denver; Mark Bruener, Houston; Scott Chandler, San Diego; Owen Daniels (R), Houston; Michael Gaines, Detroit; Nate Lawrie, Cincinnati; Michael Merritt, Kansas City; Chad Mustard, Denver; Leonard Pope (R), Arizona; Jeff Robinson, Seattle; Derek Schouman (R), Buffalo; Stephen Spach (R), Arizona; Daniel Wilcox, Baltimore; Kris Wilson, San Diego. Offensive tackles—Tyson Clabo (R), Atlanta; Anthony Davis, St. Louis; Jon Dunn, Detroit; Wayne Gandy, Atlanta; Kwame Harris, Oakland; Jonas Jennings, San Francisco; Levi Jones, Cincinnati; James Marten (R), Oakland; Fred Miller, Chicago; Rob Petitti, St. Louis; Jon Runyan, Philadelphia; Ephraim Salaam, Houston; Charles Spencer, Jacksonville; Barry Stokes, New England; Mark Tauscher, Green Bay; Mark Wilson (R), Oakland; Eric Young, Cleveland. Guards—Lennie Friedman, Cleveland; Adrian Jones, Kansas City; Pete Kendall, Washington; Matt Lentz, Detroit; Terrence Metcalf, Chicago; Edwin Mulitalo, Detroit; Chris Naeole, Jacksonville; Tutan Reyes, Jacksonville; Grey Ruegamer, NY Giants; Kendall Simmons, Pittsburgh; Rob Sims (R), Seattle; Jason Whittle, Buffalo. Centers—Brennen Carvalho, Green Bay; Jean-Philippe Darche, Kansas City; Melvin Fowler, Buffalo; Matt Lehr, New Orleans; Andy McCollum, Detroit; Jeremy Newberry, San Diego; Scott Peters, Arizona; Bryan Pittman, Houston; Cory Withrow, St. Louis.

DEFENSE Defensive ends—Kevin Carter, Tampa Bay; Earl Cochran, Houston; Sean Conover, NY Jets; Nick Eason, Pittsburgh; Kalimba Edwards, Oakland; Ebenezer Ekuban, Denver; John Engelberger, Denver; Simon Fraser, Atlanta; Roderick Green, San Francisco; Jason Hunter, Green Bay; Travis LaBoy, Arizona; Jayme Mitchell, Minnesota; Jerome McDougle, NY Giants; Julius Peppers (F), Carolina; Jason Taylor, Washington; Anthony Weaver, Houston; James Wyche, Jacksonville. Defensive tackles—Kenderick Allen, Minnesota; Gary Gibson (R), Carolina; La’Roi Glover, St. Louis; Vonnie Holliday, Miami; Antwan Lake, New Orleans; Anthony Montgomery (R), Washington; Langston Moore, Detroit; Kindal Moorehead, Atlanta; Dewayne Robertson, Denver; Orpheus Roye, Pittsburgh; Montavious Stanley (R), New Orleans; Hollis Thomas, New Orleans; Josh Thomas, Indianapolis; John Thornton, Cincinnati; Darwin Walker, Carolina; Gabe Watson (R), Arizona; Ellis Wyms, Minnesota; Brian Young, New Orleans; Jeff Zgonina, Houston. Linebackers—Rufus Alexander, Indianapolis; Jason Babin, Kansas City; Rocky Boiman, Kansas City; Derrick Brooks, Tampa Bay; Khary Campbell, Washington; Anthony Cannon, Detroit; Dan Cody, Baltimore; Rosevelt Colvin, New England; Donte’ Curry, Carolina; Donnie Edwards, Kansas City; Keith Ellison (R), Buffalo; Troy Evans, New Orleans; Gilbert Gardner, Chicago; Curtis Gatewood, Kansas City; Morlon Greenwood, Houston; Marques Harris, San Diego; Napoleon Harris, Minnesota; Abdul Hodge (R), Cincinnati; Mike Humpal, Pittsburgh; Brad Kassell, NY Jets; Jason Kyle, Carolina; Teddy Lehman, Buffalo; Paris Lenon, Detroit; Wesly Mallard, Seattle; Jim Maxwell, Cincinnati; Willie McGinest, Cleveland; Marques Murrell (R), NY Jets; Ryan Nece, Detroit; Shantee Orr, Cleveland; Antwan Peek, Cleveland; Carlos Polk, Dallas; Junior Seau, New England; Matt Sinclair, Washington; Gary Stills, St. Louis; Terrell Suggs (F), Baltimore; Dontarrious Thomas, Minnesota; Pisa Tinoisamoa, St. Louis; Marcus Washington, Washington; Nate Webster, Denver. Cornerbacks—David Barrett, NY Jets; Dre’Bly, Denver; Fakhir Brown, St. Louis; Terry Cousin, Cleveland; Jason Craft, St. Louis; Travis Fisher, Detroit; Reynaldo Hill, Tennessee; Roderick Hood, Arizona; William James, Jacksonville; Michael Lehan, New Orleans; Sam Madison, NY Giants; Ricky Manning Jr., St. Louis; Derrick Martin (R), Baltimore; Chris McAlister, Baltimore; Mike McKenzie, New Orleans; R.W. McQuarters, NY Giants; Deltha O’Neal, New England; Dunta Robinson (F), Houston; Lewis Sanders, New England; Duane Starks, Jacksonville; Brandon Sumrall, NY Giants; DeJuan Tribble, San Diego; Jason Webster, New England; Jimmy Williams, Houston; Stanley Wilson, Detroit. Safeties—Oshiomogho Atogwe (F), St. Louis; Michael Boulware, Minnesota; Mike Brown, Chicago; John Busing, Cincinnati; Oliver Celestin, Kansas City; Corey Chavous, St. Louis; Keith Davis, Dallas; Will Demps, Houston; Mike Doss, Cincinnati; Hiram Eugene, Oakland; Mike Green, Washington; Rodney Harrison, New England; Terrence Holt, New Orleans; Dexter Jackson, Cincinnati; Sammy Knight, NY Giants; Dawan Landry (R), Baltimore; Marquand Manuel, Denver; Marlon McCree, Denver; Lawyer Milloy, Atlanta; Jarrad Page (R), Kansas City; Pierson Prioleau, Jacksonville; Chris Reis (R), New Orleans; Dwight Smith, Detroit; George Wilson (R), Buffalo; Cameron Worrell, Chicago. SPECIAL TEAMS Kickers—John Carney, NY Giants; Matt Stover, Baltimore. Punters—Mitch Berger, Pittsburgh; Mike Dragosavich, Indianapolis; Sam Koch (R), Baltimore; Kyle Larson, Cincinnati; Ryan Plackemeier, Cincinnati.

NFL

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

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Garcia begrudgingly accepts backup role OAKLAND—Of all the changes Jeff Garcia has faced since signing a one-year contract with the Oakland Raiders in the offseason, accepting a job as quarterback JaMarcus Russell’s backup has been the most challenging. In addition to the usual adjustments of learning a new offense, Garcia—who has 116 career starts in 10 NFL seasons—has had to wrestle with the idea of being a reserve. “It’s not an easy role to accept because of the competitive nature that is within me,” Garcia said during the Raiders’ minicamp. “I struggled with it when I was in Philadelphia. I had a hard time just sitting on the sideline watching.” Russell, the No. 1-overall pick in the ’07 draft, is the unquestioned starter in Oakland but is beginning to feel the pressure after leading the Raiders to a 5-11 finish last year while throwing 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. At the NFL owners meetings in March, coach Tom Cable told reporters Russell needed to take on more of a leadership role with the team and made veiled references to Russell’s work ethic. Adding Garcia, the coaches hope, will help Russell. Still, the role of mentor is a new one for the 39-year-old Garcia, who played his first NFL game in 1999 when Russell was still a high school freshman. “It’s about understanding your role and I understand what I have come into with this team,” said Garcia, who has passed for more than 25,000 yards in his career. “I

PAUL SAKUMA / AP

The Raiders are hoping veteran QB Jeff Garcia, above, can mentor starter JaMarcus Russell. understand that JaMarcus is the starting quarterback. “I do believe that I am a starting quarterback, as far as caliber is concerned. Hopefully by the example that I set ... JaMarcus can see and understand that this is why

I’ve been able to play this game so long and why I’ve been able to have the success that I’ve had. “Hopefully that competitive drive is just what allows JaMarcus to increase his own competitive spirit. The greatest understanding

that needs to come out of all this is that this is a small window in our lives. It’s a small window of opportunity to and to make the most of this opportunity.” While with Philadelphia in ‘06, Garcia came off the bench and led the Eagles to five straight wins in December and a spot in the playoffs. He did it despite a growing uneasiness over his situation as the backup to starter Donovan McNabb. “That didn’t mean that I was a negative distraction to the team,” Garcia said. “I still tried to be whatever I needed to be for Donovan, which is what I’ll be here for JaMarcus. But deep inside we’re all competitors and we all play this game to be on the field, to not be on the sidelines.” His biggest contribution, though, might come in the meeting rooms where the coaches hope Garcia’s attention to detail will rub off on Russell. “He brings a lot,” Russell said. “He’s a good people person. He’s got good people skills on and off the field. I just sit and watch and admire what he does.” Cable likes what he has seen so far from his top two quarterbacks. “What I see out there is two guys that are trying to learn some new things and trying to get their feet settled where they need to be in terms of understanding and all that,” Cable said. “That relationship I think is really good. It has been good in the meetings and all that. Jeff has a purpose for why he is here and I think he has embraced that.” — The Associated Press

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NFL

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

INSIDE DISH

NFL minicamp schedule

Chiefs to use 3-4 as base defense; Jets dismiss Pacman talk It’s official: The Chiefs will use a 3-4 defensive scheme in ’09, a faster timetable than new coach Todd Haley had imagined when he took the job. Pittsburgh and New England, winners of five Super bowls since 2001, run the 3-4 scheme. “We’re going to try variations of it,” Haley told The Kansas City Star. “We’re not going to force square pegs in round holes. ... It’s always been a little more difficult to prepare for. I kind of come from those trees. That’s what I know.” Defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast oversaw the 3-4 defense in Arizona, and he says the addition of rookie ends Tyson Jackson and Alex Magee make the transition possible this season. Contrary to an AOL Sports report, Jets officials told The (Newark) Star-Ledger and Newsday that the team has no interest in freeagent CB Adam “Pacman” Jones. The Jets, after trading for Lito Sheppard and signing Donald Strickland to join Pro Bowler Darrelle Revis, the only role for Jones would be as a No. 4 corner and punt returner. The Falcons rookie DT Peria Jerry, the 24th-overall pick, sprained his right knee during a minicamp practice this weekend. Jerry seemed to have caught his cleats in the grass after banging his knees together during a drill but was able to walk off the field. Before the ’08 season, Jerry underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee he sprained this weekend. Jerry has the physical tools

Atlanta seeks at defensive tackle, a position the Falcons must retool after 350-pound Grady Jackson left as a free agent two months ago. WR Drew Bennett is scheduled to visit with his former team, the Titans, today in a move that could pave a way for his return, according to The Tennessean. Bennett, since being release by the Rams in March, also has visited the Browns and Falcons. Bennett played with the Titans from 2001 to ’06, leading the team in receptions twice and receiving yards three times, before signing a $30 million contract with the Rams in ’07. He was released by the team after two injury–filled seasons. The Titans have holdover Justin Gage, free-agent signee Nate Washington and rookie first-round pick Kenny Britt at wide receiver but little veteran depth. Ravens SS Dawan Landry, who had offseason neck surgery, worked with the first-team defense at minicamp this weekend. “I was never nervous,” Landry said. “I knew once the body felt fine, I would feel fine. It feels good right now. It feels good to be back. ... I just want to put the pads on and hit. I’m not scared at all.” When the Raiders signed freeagent OT Khalif Barnes, it was believed he’d be the starter at left tackle. However, third-year man Mario Henderson worked with the first-team offense at the weekend minicamp. “(Henderson) came in with, really, kind of some limited background,

and the more he played and the more he grew, it got better,” Raiders coach Tom Cable told the Contra Costa Times. “His confidence has really taken off.” Henderson made five starts at left tackle last year and held his own, and Barnes worked with the second unit during minicamp. “It’s early, and we’re all just out here competing, making each other better,” Barnes said. “So, we’re just going to continue to push and make each other better.”

A listing of upcoming NFL minicamps (all include rookies and veterans unless otherwise noted): Buffalo—June 9-11 Cincinnati—June 18-20 Cleveland—May 19-21 (voluntary); May 26-28 (voluntary); June 11-13 Dallas—June 16-18 Denver—June 12-14 Detroit—June 23-25 (voluntary) Green Bay—June 23-25 Houston—June 15-17 Indianapolis—June 5-7 Kansas City—June 5-7 Miami—June 12-14 Minnesota—May 29-31 New England—June 10-12 New Orleans—June 5-7 N.Y. Giants—June 16-18 N.Y. Jets—June 9-11 St. Louis—June 5-7 San Francisco—June 5-7 Seattle—June 10-12 Tampa Bay—June 16-18 Note: Teams are allowed to have rookie minicamps separate from the full-squad minicamp, and teams with first-year head coaches are allowed to add up to two voluntary minicamps.

Vikings TE Visanthe Shiancoe says he has reduced his body fat to 3 percent since the end of his breakout ’08 season. “I just want to build on to my game, add some bricks to my building,” Shiancoe told The (St. Paul) Pioneer Press. “I want to be the best tight end in the NFL. The best ever. “I’m trying to do something this season. I want to be a force on this offense, and doing my part.”

the team in August ’06 for receiving compensation for a job he was not working. He sat out the ’06 season and enrolled at Sam Houston State, where he threw 37 touchdowns in two seasons, including 27 this past year.

ORLIN WAGNER / AP

Titans DE Kyle Vanden Bosch is entering into the final year of his contract but says he won’t let his status become a distraction. He was limited to only 10 games last year because of a groin injury. Perhaps, Titans officials are waiting for him to prove healthy before beginning talks on a contract extension. “I don’t know what anybody is thinking. Honestly, the only person I need to prove anything to is myself and I try and do that every day,” Vanden Bosch told The Tennessean. “I am not running out there in practice or practicing hard to show scouts or coaches or anyone in the

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Chiefs defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast says the addition of rookie ends Tyson Jackson (94) and Alex Magee (71) make the transition to the 3-4 defense possible. front office. I am doing it to prove to myself to try to get back to being a really good defensive end and just to help this defense.” It was appropriate that one of the first people Giants rookie QB Rhett Bomar met after arriving at minicamp was André Woodson. The two are fighting for the Giants’ No. 3 job, with the loser likely to be cut. And the winner might not even make the active roster because the Giants only kept two quarterbacks

on their roster last season—Eli Manning and David Carr. “That’s the nature of this game, you have to compete, at the same time you are building relationships,” said Woodson, who spent most of last year on the practice squad. “I’m doing a great job of competing and helping him as much as I can.” Bomar, a fifth-round pick, started as a redshirt freshman at Oklahoma in ’05, throwing 10 touchdowns in 12 games. But he was dismissed by

Undrafted offensive lineman J.D. Quinn, whose brief career at Oklahoma led to NCAA sanctions, agreed to terms with the Dolphins. Quinn and Bomar were dismissed by the Sooners in August ’06 after breaking NCAA rules by taking money for work they didn’t perform at a Norman, Okla., car dealership. Quinn transferred to the University of Montana and also encountered troubles there. He was arrested in Missoula in July 2007 and in May 2008 on charges of drunken driving. Quinn’s agent said 20 NFL teams told him that if not for the off-the-field issues, they had Quinn projected as a draft pick, some as high as the third round.

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Maryland coach has lost 86 pounds, wants to keep going There’s less in The Fridge these days. Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen says he has lost 86 pounds since beginning a diet in October because he was concerned about his health. Friedgen, who is eating five small meals each day on the Medifast plan, told The Washington Post he hasn’t eaten a piece of bread since October, when he weighed 401 pounds. He quit drinking alcohol for three months and has had only one beer since starting the plan. He recently weighed in at 315 pounds. “I’d like to lose 150, but I don’t know if I can do it,” Friedgen told the newspaper. “It gets harder now, but I’m going to keep on this thing. My age right now, I’m 62; I want to try to get this thing down so I can have a good life.” Friedgen was told not to exercise until he lost 50 pounds, and since that time, he has been walking on a treadmill for 50 minutes three to four times a week. He said his short-term goal is to get down to 301 pounds. Georgia junior TE Bruce Figgins has been suspended for the first six games this season and sophomore DE Justin Houston for the first two. The players violated team rules, coach Mark Richt said. Junior WR Tony Wilson also violated team rules, Richt said, but was not suspended because he will be medically disqualified after not

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

one game last season but had a productive spring. True freshman Stephon Gilmore hasn’t played a game yet at South Carolina but already faces huge expectations. From his coach. “Stephon Gilmore is one of the best football players to ever come to South Carolina,” coach Steve Spurrier told reporters before a recent Gamecock Club meeting. “I really believe that. I can brag about him because it won’t affect him.” Gilmore, who played at South Pointe in Rock Hill, S.C., enrolled in January and won a starting cornerback spot during spring practice. Spurrier said he’d also like to get Gilmore involved on offense.

NICK WASS / AP

Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen reached 401 pounds last October—he’s down to 315. fully recovering from a severe ankle injury in the spring of 2008. “I’m very disappointed in the poor judgment of these players,” Richt said in a statement. “They’ll have to pay an appropriate price, and I’m confident they will learn an important lesson from their mistake.” Figgins started two of 13 games last season but missed spring practice while recovering from shoulder surgery in January. Houston started

Florida’s players are back on campus today for the beginning of summer classes and workouts that will be supervised by strength coach Mickey Marotti. Coach Urban Meyer has promised that Marotti’s workouts will be intense to keep the defending national champs focused. “The most important thing is keeping that edge, wanting to win, fight and dominate teams,” QB Tim Tebow told the Orlando Sentinel. “I think we’ll keep that with the senior leadership we have. We’ll go out there and press in the summer, without coaches there, just go work.”

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ACC may consider 18 league games in future ACC coaches and administrators are expected to discuss the possibility of an 18-game league schedule during the annual spring meeting that begins today in Amelia Island, Fla., but there seems to be little support for such a move. Commissioner John Swofford told The (Raleigh) News & Observer that he’s comfortable with the current 16-game conference format. “It’s serving our league well,” Swofford told the newspaper. “Our coaches are very comfortable with it. There are pros and cons either way. From a pure business decision, there are some reasons to look at 18, but then you could lose some very attractive intersectional games that are of superb value to the television packages.” In the past, several ACC coaches have said that more league games would strengthen schedules that already are difficult. The Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 play 18-game conference schedules. N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler told the newspaper he wasn’t certain an 18-game schedule would come to a vote this week because the earliest it could be implemented is the 2011-12 season. When Ohio State coach Thad Matta commenced selling Jeff Boals on the idea of being an assistant with the Buckeyes, Boals figured it wasn’t totally out of bounds to interrupt him. “I said, ‘I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but you’re talking to an Ohio kid,’ ” Boals said. Boals grew up in the state, played his final high school game at St. John Arena and played four years at Ohio U. He already knew all about Ohio State’s appeal. When Archie Miller left to work for his brother Sean at Arizona, Boals moved over from Akron to replace him. As associate head coach for the Zips last season, Boals was the key contact on top 50 recruit Zeke Marshall, a 7-0 center who signed last November. The Zips reached the NCAA Tournament during Boals’ final season on their bench. Most of the coaches Matta has hired over the years—Sean Miller, John Groce, Brandon Miller—are people he’d worked with previously or who played for him. Boals got the job because he was widely respected,

GERRY BROOME / AP

The ACC could add two more conference games in basketball by 2011-12. The Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 play 18 league games. especially in the state, from his days working at Akron, Marshall and Robert Morris. Boals appreciates the opportunity. “Every day I’ve driven in here, past the Horseshoe and into the Schott, I’m like, I can’t believe I’m here.” — Mike DeCourcy Former SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs, who was fired after two seasons in 2006 when an internal investigation revealed NCAA violations, has died. He was 60. SMU spokesman Brad Sutton said Tubbs died Saturday. No cause of death was given. Tubbs was a popular choice to lead the Mustangs because he had spent 12 years as an SMU assistant before going to Oklahoma for two seasons under Kelvin Sampson. He was also a championship-winning high school coach in Dallas. The Mustangs were 27-30 in Tubbs’ two seasons. He was 232-42 at Dallas Kimball High School, including the 1990 Class 5A state championship.

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NASCAR

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

30

INSIDE DISH

Stewart-Haas co-owner released from prison Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Gene Haas was released from prison Friday after serving about 16 months for tax fraud and has received permission from a U.S. District Court judge to attend NASCAR races while on supervised release. Haas’ projected release was Sunday, but the federal Bureau of Prisons’ website indicated Haas was released Friday. Haas was sentenced to two years in prison in November 2007 and entered a federal correctional facility Jan. 14, 2008, in Lompoc, Calif. He has asked the court, and received permission, to attend NASCAR races while on supervised release. The first race mentioned in the motion is the upcoming Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Haas’ race team, Haas CNC Racing, eventually became StewartHaas Racing when driver Tony Stewart was given a 50 percent interest in the team. Stewart-Haas Racing is in its first season, with Stewart second in the Sprint Cup standings and Ryan Newman in eighth. — Bob Pockrass, SceneDaily.com Hendrick Motorsports came up big in Saturday night’s Southern 500. The organization was responsible for the top five and six of the top seven cars. Winner Mark Martin, second-place Jimmie Johnson, fifth-place Jeff Gordon and seventh-place Brad Keselowski drive for Hendrick. Stewart-Haas Racing has a technical alliance with Hendrick, which

ALAN MARLER FOR SN

Martin Truex had his highest finish of the season, sixth, in Saturday’s Southern 500.

Truex turns in best performance of season BY LEE MONTGOMERY SceneDaily.com

TERRY RENNA / AP

Gene Haas, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, spent 16 months in jail for tax fraud before being released on Friday. provides chassis and engines to Stewart’s team, and Stewart and Newman finished third and fourth, respectively. “Just have got to give everybody at Hendrick Motorsports props,” Stewart said. “The chassis department and the engine department, they have just got us rock solid right now.” The only Hendrick car that underperformed was the No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr., which finished 27th. Rookie Joey Logano finished ninth Saturday for his second top10 finish and earned praise from Stewart, the man who drove Logano’s No. 20 Home Depot car for Joe

Gibbs Racing for 10 years, winning two Cup championships. “To have Smoke happy with the way I ran with his old car I think was a very big compliment,” Logano said. “They’re hard to get. This is a tough series to run good in, believe me. I know.” Logano led 19 laps; he entered the race with five laps led. “I led laps in the Southern 500,” said Logano, who turns 19 later this month. “I was stoked about that.” There were a record 17 cautions Saturday, two more than the old track record, set in 1995. Johnson traced the problems to the race at Talladega two weeks ago. “Talladega, you get frustrated

with the environment and people,” he said. “Richmond is very similar. Then you come here, and this is so tough. The speeds are so high. Track position’s everything. Lapped cars, even if they want to get out of the way, they can’t, there’s no room to. They get frustrated and probably warned by NASCAR for going too slow. They quit laying over. “Every position that you go for out there, you’ve just got to gouge and bang and run people over and fight with each other and run into each other under caution. It was absolutely out of control out there. It’s just because of the fast speeds on such a narrow track, and this big, boxy car, you can’t go anywhere.”

Mark Martin wasn’t the only Martin happy with his finish late Saturday night at Darlington Raceway. Martin Truex Jr. finished a season-high sixth in the Southern 500 and led more laps—61—than he led the entire 2008 season. “Well, we finally got a finish that we deserved,” Truex said. “We have really hit on something, starting with Phoenix. We were really good at Talladega and we got caught up in a wreck; we were running top-five at Richmond for most of the race and we got caught up in a wreck.” Truex finished seventh at Phoenix and came back the next week to lead 24 laps at Talladega. He led 22 last week at Richmond. He led 58 all of 2008 when he was winless after his breakout 2007 season when he made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“We really just needed to continue running well, and have a little more luck,” Truex said. “We found that tonight, and hopefully we can take this momentum and run with it.” Truex led three times Saturday, second only to Greg Biffle for laps led. Truex was leading when the 15th yellow flag of the race waved with 48 laps remaining, but after changing tires, he restarted ninth when several drivers stayed out. “It would have really been something to see what we could have put together if we hadn’t been short on fuel there at the end,” Truex said. “We had a great car all night, it just wasn’t the best in traffic. But, when we got out front, we had a rocket ship.” Truex moved up two spots in the standings to 19th. He is 127 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards for the final Chase-eligible position. [email protected]

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Golf

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

NOTEBOOK

Stenson now recognized for winning Players title PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA.—Henrik Stenson was famous for reasons he never imagined. Two months ago, he was best known as the Swede who stripped down to nothing but his underwear and a golf glove while playing from a water hazard at Doral. Out of curiosity, he searched the Internet and found 143 articles, more news than he ever got for his game. “I guess I got as much attention off that thing as from my results the last 10 years,” he said. His golf was all the rage Sunday at The Players Championship. With a final round that was close to perfect, Stenson was the only player to keep bogeys off his card on his way to a 6-under 66 that gave him a four-shot victory, the 10th of his career and by far his biggest. “This is obviously going to be the latest thing on the resume,” Stenson said. Trailing by five shots on the treacherous TPC Sawgrass, he took advantage of a swift and shocking collapse by Alex Cejka, never had to worry about Tiger Woods and blew away everyone else in firm, fast conditions rarely seen this side of a major. “I was thinking this that if I could finish in front of Tiger, that might be good enough,” said Ian Poulter, who shot a 70 and to finish second. “But I wasn’t expecting someone to go out there and shoot 66.” The sun-baked gallery was curious how Cejka would fare with a five-shot lead playing in the final group with Woods. Four holes and a little more than an hour into the final round, the lead was gone. Cejka shot 42 on the front and wound up with a 79. Focus quickly shifted to Woods, and whether he could rally to win from five shots behind as he did at Bay Hill. But not this time. Woods missed three fairways that led to bogeys on the front nine, and trailed by as many as eight shots on the back nine.

“When you’re playing a golf course like this and you don’t have it, and the greens are this fast and this hard, you can shoot some pretty high numbers,” he said. Woods managed a 73 to finish eighth, his first top 10 at The Players Championship since he won in 2001, and his 16th consecutive top 10 in stroke-play events worldwide. Stenson played so well that he had a fourshot leading standing on the 17th tee, his only mission to make sure it found grass beneath it. He kept his bogey-free round in tact to the end, walking off the green with his daughter in his arms. “It’s just going to give me a lot of confidence to go out there and control myself and play as well as I did on the last day at TPC Sawgrass and to hold off such a strong field,” he said. “It’s just going to give me a lot of confidence going into the majors. Obviously, if I can play as well as I did today, I surely can do it on a Sunday at the majors.” Stenson finished at 12-under 276 and earned $1.71 million for a victory that moves him to No. 5 in the world ranking. John Mallinger (70) and Kevin Na (70) tied for third. They were among a dozen players who had hopes of winning on the back nine, one of the most unpredictable stretches in golf. Stenson, a Swede who shows little emotion even when playing in his skivvies, never gave anyone much hope. His 66 matched the best score of the final round— Aaron Baddeley also had a 66 with the first tee time of the day—and was nearly 7.5 strokes better than the field average. Stenson missed only one fairway. The only times he came remotely close to a bogey, he holed par putts of 8 feet on the front nine. — The Associated Press

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Shots fail Woods, knee fine

J PAT CARTER / AP

Henrik Stenson holds up his daughter, Lisa, after his four-shot victory.

Leaderboard Sunday, At TPC Sawgrass, Players Stadium Course Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Purse: $9.5 million Yardage: 7,215; Par: 72 Final; FedExCup points in parentheses Henrik Stenson (0), $1,710,000 Ian Poulter (330), $1,026,000 John Mallinger (180), $551,000 Kevin Na (180), $551,000 Jim Furyk (110), $346,750 Brian Davis (110), $346,750 Ben Crane (110), $346,750 Tiger Woods (94), $294,500 Aaron Baddeley (77), $237,500 Vijay Singh (77), $237,500 Tim Clark (77), $237,500 David Toms (77), $237,500 Alex Cejka (77), $237,500 Matt Kuchar (56), $147,250 Mike Weir (56), $147,250 Paul Casey (56), $147,250 Angel Cabrera (56), $147,250 Robert Allenby (56), $147,250 Camilo Villegas (56), $147,250 Jeff Klauk (56), $147,250 Daniel Chopra (56), $147,250 Scott Piercy (45), $79,325 Sergio Garcia (45), $79,325 Geoff Ogilvy (45), $79,325 Tommy Armour III (45), $79,325 Justin Rose (45), $79,325 Steve Stricker (45), $79,325 Ben Curtis (45), $79,325 Woody Austin (45), $79,325 Kenny Perry (45), $79,325 Retief Goosen (45), $79,325 Jason Dufner (37), $53,770 Justin Leonard (37), $53,770 Zach Johnson (37), $53,770 Billy Mayfair (37), $53,770 Kevin Sutherland (37), $53,770 Charley Hoffman (31), $39,900 Luke Donald (31), $39,900

68-69-73-66—276 -12 67-68-75-70—280 -8 66-71-74-70—281 -7 71-66-74-70—281 -7 68-74-71-69—282 -6 71-69-71-71—282 -6 65-73-72-72—282 -6 71-69-70-73—283 -5 71-71-76-66—284 -4 71-72-74-67—284 -4 72-69-74-69—284 -4 67-70-77-70—284 -4 66-67-72-79—284 -4 72-72-73-68—285 -3 72-72-73-68—285 -3 70-69-76-70—285 -3 72-65-77-71—285 -3 73-66-75-71—285 -3 67-72-75-71—285 -3 71-72-71-71—285 -3 75-65-72-73—285 -3 71-72-74-69—286 -2 71-73-73-69—286 -2 70-72-73-71—286 -2 74-70-70-72—286 -2 70-71-72-73—286 -2 71-71-71-73—286 -2 71-72-69-74—286 -2 72-72-68-74—286 -2 73-71-68-74—286 -2 67-72-71-76—286 -2 67-70-77-73—287 -1 70-69-75-73—287 -1 72-71-70-74—287 -1 70-74-69-74—287 -1 73-67-72-75—287 -1 70-69-76-73—288 E 74-70-71-73—288 E

Bubba Watson (31), $39,900 John Rollins (31), $39,900 Jeff Overton (31), $39,900 Tim Petrovic (31), $39,900 John Senden (31), $39,900 Jonathan Byrd (31), $39,900 Ryuji Imada (25), $28,595 Ernie Els (25), $28,595 Michael Letzig (25), $28,595 Richard S. Johnson (25), $28,595 Padraig Harrington (20), $23,212 Jason Bohn (20), $23,212 Stephen Ames (20), $23,212 Nick O’Hern (20), $23,212 Fredrik Jacobson (20), $23,212 Scott Verplank (20), $23,212 Brad Adamonis (14), $21,470 Mark Wilson (14), $21,470 Phil Mickelson (14), $21,470 Heath Slocum (14), $21,470 Martin Kaymer (0), $21,470 Rocco Mediate (10), $20,710 Chez Reavie (10), $20,710 Johnson Wagner (10), $20,710 Michael Allen (8), $20,330 Jeev M. Singh (0), $20,045 Steve Flesch (7), $20,045 Cameron Beckman (5), $19,665 John Merrick (5), $19,665 Jeff Quinney (3), $19,285 Pat Perez (3), $19,285 Ryan Moore (1), $19,000

67-75-72-74—288 68-76-70-74—288 71-67-75-75—288 68-70-75-75—288 72-69-72-75—288 67-72-71-78—288 72-70-75-72—289 73-69-73-74—289 71-68-74-76—289 66-72-74-77—289 72-72-74-72—290 72-71-74-73—290 70-71-75-74—290 68-73-75-74—290 70-73-72-75—290 67-74-73-76—290 67-76-74-74—291 69-72-75-75—291 73-71-71-76—291 75-69-71-76—291 71-73-69-78—291 73-71-74-74—292 70-72-75-75—292 69-73-72-78—292 71-70-74-78—293 68-74-76-76—294 75-69-74-76—294 72-72-73-78—295 70-72-74-79—295 73-70-75-78—296 72-72-74-78—296 71-68-75-84—298

Made cut, but did not qualify for weekend play Robert Karlsson (0), $18,430 74-70-75—219 Hunter Mahan (1), $18,430 73-71-75—219 Martin Laird (1), $18,430 71-72-76—219 Nathan Green (1), $18,430 74-69-76—219 K.J. Choi (1), $18,430 73-69-77—219 Stewart Cink (1), $17,765 70-73-77—220 Bob Estes (1), $17,765 75-68-77—220 Graeme McDowell (0), $17,480 71-73-77—221 Fred Funk (1), $17,005 73-71-78—222 Steve Marino (1), $17,005 72-72-78—222 Dustin Johnson (1), $17,005 72-72-78—222 Rod Pampling (1), $17,005 70-73-79—222

E E E E E E +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +8 +8 +10 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +6 +6 +6 +6

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA.—After playing consecutive tournaments for the first time in more than a year, Tiger Woods’ left knee felt just fine. His swing, though, wasn’t quite right. Woods, playing in the final pairing with third-round leader Alex Cejka, shot a 1-over 73 in the final round Sunday and finished eighth at The Players Championship. “I just kept hitting those spinners up to the right,” said Woods, who failed to win while in the final pairing for the first time since the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. “It was frustrating. If I aimed it down the right side, I would still spin it off to the right. And if I aimed it down the left side, I would still spin it off to the right.” It started early, too. Woods bogeyed two of the first four holes while fading shots right on each of them. He pushed his approach shot well right of the pin on No. 1, found the water right with his second shot at the par-5 second, was off the green right at the par-3 third and then found the right rough off the tee at the fourth. It was more of the same over his next six holes. “I’ll fix it, no problem,” the world’s No. 1 golfer said. “It’s just that when you’re playing a golf course like this and you don’t have it quite right and the greens are this fast, this hard, you can shoot some pretty high numbers. As you can see out there, some guys probably went pretty high.” Only 20 of 70 players broke par

Sunday, so Woods thought he still had a shot to get back in the mix until he failed to make birdie at Nos. 11 and 12, which played as two of the easiest holes during the final round. Although he managed to birdie two of the final five holes, he didn’t have a shot at winning the Players for the first time since 2001.

Fantasy island The infamous island green, No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass, wasn’t nearly as menacing as it’s been in recent years. Only 30 balls were hit into the murky water during the four rounds, 34 fewer than in 2008 and 63 fewer than in 2007. The four-day total was the tournament’s lowest since 29 got wet in 2003. Only six balls missed the 4,000-square-foot putting surface Sunday. Not coincidentally, the hole played to an average of 3.025. That’s the lowest average since it played under par (2.952) in 1997.

Translation please As eventual winner Henrik Stenson and his caddie, Fanny Sunesson, discussed club selection in Swedish on Sunday in the middle of the 18th fairway, NBC analyst Johnny Miller delivered one of the best lines of the telecast. “It’s probably the only part of the telecast Elin Woods is enjoying,” Miller said, referring to Tiger Woods’ wife, a former Swedish model. — The Associated Press

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

32

134TH PREAKNESS Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET, NBC (Post time: 6 p.m.)

Terps’ upset win highlights first round BY TERRY FOY InsideLacrosse.com

In a first round that lacked in drama, Maryland’s 7-3 upset win of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Sunday morning served as a highlight. The Terrapins, who entered the NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament unseeded with a 9-6 record, answered doubters with an impressive defensive effort keyed by nine saves from goalie Brian Phipps and the on-ball play of midfielder Bryn Holmes and defenseman Max Schmidt. The Terps’ offense was led by midfielder Dan Groot’s two goals and Notre Dame transfer Will Yeatman, who had two assists. Notre Dame, the only undefeated team in Division I but discredited for their subpar schedule, got a nice day out of senior goalie Scott Rodgers, who made 14 saves, but couldn’t get into a groove offensively. With the win, Maryland takes on Syracuse, the only quarterfinal matchup that isn’t a rematch of a regular season game.

Games to watch

(Quarterfinal Matchups (Note: Games are at Noon and 2:30) Saturday @ Hofstra No. 4 Princeton vs. No. 5 Cornell Maryland vs. No. 2 Syracuse Sunday @ Navy No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 8 Hopkins No. 3 Duke vs. No. 6 UNC

MARCUS SNOWDEN / AP

Maryland entered the tournament unseeded, but knocked off undefeated Notre Dame. No. 1 Virginia 18, Villanova 6 Virginia got off to an incredibly hot start and built an 18-goal lead before the Wildcats got on the board with 8:45 remaining in the fourth quarter and finished with a 6-0 run. Brian Carroll lit up the scoreboard with five goals and Danny Glading had four goals and two assists in the Cavs’ offensive explosion. In net, Adam Ghitelman made four stops and didn’t let up a goal. Now Virginia can set their sights on Johns Hopkins, who survived an overtime win against Brown Saturday, and look to repeat the 16-15 overtime win the earned over the Blue Jays in March. No. 4 Princeton 10, Massachusetts 7 The Tigers emerged from a goalie battle in Princeton, N.J., and are set for a rematch with Ivy League foe

Cornell next Saturday. Mark Kovler’s five goals paced a first midfield line that accounted for nine of the Tigers’ tallies as Rich Sgalardi had three and Scott MacKenzie added one goal and one assist. Freshman netminder Tyler Fiorito made 12 saves and frustrated the Minutemen early as they scored only one first half goal. No. 2 Syracuse 11, Siena 4 A valiant effort by Siena and their senior goalie Brent Herbst went for naught as the Saints couldn’t muster enough offense to take advantage of an off-night from Syracuse. Cody Jamieson, the heralded junior-college transfer playing in just his third game after struggling to become eligible, finished with three goals and an assist and sophomore attackman Stephen Keogh had a hat trick, as well.

Star filly might be left out of Preakness LOUISVILLE, KY.—Rachel Alexandra looks ready to challenge the boys in the Preakness. Owner Jess Jackson, however, isn’t sure his superstar filly will get the chance. Jackson declared the Kentucky Oaks winner primed for the second jewel of the Triple Crown following a four-furlong workout on Sunday at Churchill Downs. Rachel Alexandra covered the half-mile in 48.40 seconds under exercise rider Dominic Terry, a work trainer Steve Asmussen called “beautiful.” It was all the evidence Jackson needed to send the 3-year-old filly, who he purchased last week for an undisclosed sum, to Pimlico for the 1 3-16th-mile race. The process of getting a horse into a Triple Crown race, however, could leave Rachel Alexandra on the outside looking in when the field heads to the starting gate on Saturday afternoon. “Since it’s Mother’s Day, I wish I could announce to all mothers everywhere that this incredible filly is entered to take on the boys,” Jackson said in a statement. “But Triple Crown rules may prevent us from sending her to Pimlico.” The Preakness is limited to 14 horses, with preference given to horses pre-nominated to the Triple Crown. While Jackson is willing to pay the $100,000 supplemental fee required to make Rachel Alexandra eligible for the race, she may get bumped if 14 horses already nominated to the series are entered.

DAVID J. PHILLIP / AP

Triple Crown rules could stop Calvin Borel from riding Rachel Alexandra at Pimlico. The probable Preakness field suddenly swelled to 15 on Sunday, including 14 pre-nominated horses and Rachel Alexandra. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said he plans to enter a second colt, Luv Gov, in addition to Flying Private, who finished last in the Kentucky Derby. Luv Gov, who won his first career race on the Derby Day undercard, is owned by socialite Marylou Whitney, who also owns Birdstone, the sire of Derby winner Mine That Bird. Mind That Bird, Pioneerof the Nile, Musket Man and Papa Clem automatically make the Preakness field because they earned

purse money in the Derby. General Quarters, Friesan Fire and Big Drama are the next three based on graded stakes earnings. Terrain, Flying Private, Take the Points and Hull qualify next based on earnings in all nonrestricted stakes races. The final three spots are currently taken by Luv Gov, Tone It Down and Indy Express based on total career earnings. All 14 were pre-nominated to the Triple Crown before the Derby. Rachel Alexandra would rank fifth on the list and bump all the others down one notch, if she had been pre-nominated. — The Associated Press

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IN BRIEF

Rookie posts fastest time in last Indy 500 qualifying INDIANAPOLIS—With so many veteran drivers trying to make it into the field for the Indianapolis 500 on the second day of qualifications, it seemed unlikely the spotlight would fall on rookie Raphael Matos. But the 28-year-old Indy rookie led the way Sunday, posting a four-lap average of 223.429 mph to top the second group of 11 drivers to make it into the 33-car field for the May 24 race. Sunday’s seven fastest drivers posted speeds quicker than the 222.622 by Alex Lloyd, the slowest of the 11 drivers who earned spots in the lineup on Saturday. Second fastest on Sunday was longtime open-wheel star Paul Tracy, making his first appearance at Indy since finishing second to Castroneves in 2002. Other Sunday qualifiers included Justin Wilson at 222.903, Hideki Mutoh at 222.805, Ed Carpenter at 222.780, 2005 Indy winner Dan Wheldon at 222.777, A.J. Foyt IV at 222.586, Scott Sharp at 222.162, Sarah Fisher at 222.082 and Davey Hamilton at 221.956. Fisher, joining Danica Patrick as the only women in the lineup thus far, also withdrew an earlier qualifying effort before going out and running faster. John Andretti, taking a break from his NASCAR Sprint Cup ride to run at Indy, posted a disappointing qualifying speed of 221.109 Sunday and was trying to find more speed in practice when he crashed. Graham Rahal, working on his race day setup after qualifying fourth on Saturday, nearly hit Andretti’s crashed car.

TRANSACTIONS

Indianapolis 500 lineup At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Lap length: 2.5 miles (Car number in parentheses) 1. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 224.864. 2. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 224.083. 3. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 224.01. 4. (02) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 223.954. 5. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 223.867. 6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 223.612. 7. (5) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 223.331. 8. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 223.114. 9. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 223.028. 10. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 222.882. 11. (99) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 222.622. 12. (2) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 223.429. 13. (15) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 223.111. 14. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 223.054. 15. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 222.903. 16. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 222.805. 17. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 222.78. 18. (4) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 222.777. 19. (41) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 222.586. 20. (16) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 222.162. 21. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 222.082. 22. (44) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 221.956. Failed To Qualify (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda. (98) Stanton Barrett, Dallara-Honda. (13) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda. (43) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda. (34) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda. (06) Robert Doornbos, Dallara-Honda. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda. (24) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda. (00) Nelson Philippe, Dallara-Honda. (8) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda.

Cycling TRIESTE, ITALY—Lance Armstrong gained time on his rivals again at the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, yet the seven-time Tour de France winner still maintains he has no designs on winning the three-week race. Alessandro Petacchi edged Mark Cavendish to win the second stage in a mass sprint and Cavendish retained the overall leader’s pink jersey. Armstrong finished in the main pack with the same time as Petacchi, while overall race favorite Ivan Basso

STEVE RUSSELL / AP

The car driven by John Andretti slides down the track after hitting the first-turn wall during Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 qualifying. and Armstrong’s Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer each finished 13 seconds behind.

Golf WILLIAMSBURG, VA.—Cristie Kerr took the lead with a birdie on the 15th hole and held off In-Kyung Kim by two strokes to win the Michelob Ultra Open. Kerr, also the 2005 Kingsmill winner, had a 16-under 268 total and earned $330,000 for her 12th career LPGA Tour title. She closed with a 1-under 70 after opening with rounds of 69, 63 and 66. TURIN, ITALY—Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik won the Italian Open for his second PGA European Tour title, closing with a 6-under 65 for a six-stroke victory over John Daly, Raphael Jacquelin and Robert Rock.

Tennis OEIRAS, PORTUGAL—James Blake lost to Albert Montanes 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-0 in the final of the Estoril Open. Blake was trying to become the first American to win an ATP title on European clay since Andy Roddick in 2003 at

St. Poelten, Austria. MADRID—Jelena Jankovic beat Nuria Llagostera 6-2, 6-1 to reach the second round of the Madrid Open, a joint ATP and WTA Tour tournament. On the men’s side in the first round, 16th-seeded Tommy Robredo rallied to defeat Nicolas Kiefer 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. BELGRADE, SERBIA—Top-seeded Novak Djokovic beat unheralded Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-3, 7-6 (0) in the Serbia Open final to win the first ATP Tour tournament held in his home country. MUNICH—Tomas Berdych rallied from four points down in the decisive tiebreaker to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the final of the BMW Open for his first title of the year. PARIS—French tennis player Richard Gasquet has acknowledged he’s been told he tested positive for cocaine but says he’s innocent. He could face a two-year ban or a three-month ban if the tests conclude

the product was consumed out of competition. Martina Hingis was banned for two years early last year after testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon.

Auto racing BARCELONA, SPAIN—Jenson Button won his fourth Formula One race of the season by taking the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello. Button’s two-stop strategy proved decisive as he became the ninth straight winner from pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya. Formula One’s governing body is also investigating claims that a fan at the Spanish Grand Prix wore dark makeup to mock driver Lewis Hamilton. It’s the same Spanish track where a group of spectators jeered and insulted Hamilton, F1’s first black driver, at testing in February 2008. That group wore wigs, dark makeup and T-shirts with the words “Hamilton’s Family” on them. FIA launched an anti-racism campaign last year after that incident in Barcelona. — The Associated Press

BASEBALL American League BOSTON RED SOX: Recalled RHP Daniel Bard from Pawtucket (IL). Designated LHP Javier Lopez for assignment. National League CHICAGO CUBS: Recalled RHP Jose Ascanio from Iowa (PCL). Placed RHP Chad Fox on the 15-day DL. HOUSTON ASTROS: Agreed to terms with INF Jason Smith on a one-year contract. Optioned RHP Jeff Fulchino to Round Rock (PCL). Eastern League TRENTON THUNDER: Announced RHP Jonathan Hovis was assigned to the team from Tampa (FSL). HOCKEY American Hockey League MANITOBA MOOSE: Signed D Evan Oberg. Recalled G Todd Ford from Victoria (ECHL).

Major League Soccer EASTERN CONFERENCE W D.C. 3 Toronto FC 3 Chicago 2 Kansas City 3 New England 2 New York 2 Columbus 1

L 1 2 0 4 2 5 2

Pts 14 13 12 11 9 8 8

GF 15 13 14 12 6 9 11

GA 13 13 11 12 12 11 14

WESTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts Chivas USA 7 1 1 22 Seattle 4 2 2 14 Colorado 3 2 2 11 Houston 3 2 2 11 Real Salt Lake 3 4 1 10 Los Angeles 1 1 6 9 San Jose 1 5 2 5 FC Dallas 1 6 1 4 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie.

GF 12 11 10 7 14 10 8 7

GA 3 5 8 5 11 10 16 15

All Times ET May 8 New York 4, San Jose 1 May 9 Columbus 3, Kansas City 2 D.C. United 3, Toronto FC 3, tie Chicago 1, New England 1, tie Houston 1, FC Dallas 0 Chivas USA 1, Real Salt Lake 0 Sunday’s Games Seattle 1, Los Angeles 1, tie Saturday’s Games Chicago at Toronto FC, 4 p.m.

T 5 4 6 2 3 2 5

Colorado at New England, 7:30 p.m. Houston at New York, 7:30 p.m. Seattle FC at Seattle FC, 8:30 p.m. Kansas City at Real Salt Lake, 9 p.m. D.C. United at Chivas USA, 9 p.m. May 17 Columbus at Los Angeles, 3 p.m.