Sportingnews - 20090525

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AUTO RACING Dwight Howard, left, and the Orlando Magic overcame another big game from LeBron James.

Spiderman 3

TOM STRATTMAN / AP

A month after he was acquitted on tax evasion charges, Helio Castroneves became the ninth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 three times. Pages 29-30

GARY W. GREEN / AP

MONDAY MAY 25, 2009 SEE A DIFFERENT GAME VOLUME 1 ISSUE 307

Rain delayed NASCAR’s longest race for the first time in 50 years. Coca-Cola 600: Today at noon ET, FOX, Page 24

Scoreboard

BASEBALL: THE WEEK AHEAD

NBA Playoffs

The heat is on

Eastern Conference finals Orlando 99, Cleveland 89 (Orlando leads series 2-1)

As summer unofficially kicks off, MLB’s pennant races get serious

Magic show mettle So much for the shot of the season demoralizing the Orlando Magic. The Magic played through another MVP night from LeBron James to beat the Cavs 99-89 and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. James’ 41 points weren’t enough Sunday, and this series is beginning to look like the Cavs’ failed Finals run two years ago, when it was all James all the time. And no one else.

— Matt Hayes The Magic have arrived, Page 10

NHL Playoffs

NHL PLAYOFFS

Western Conference finals Detroit 6, Chicago 1 (Detroit leads series 3-1)

Baseball Interleague Colorado 3, Detroit 1 Philadelphia 4, N.Y. Yankees, 11 innings Cincinnati 4, Cleveland 3, 11 innings Florida 5, Tampa Bay 4, 11 innings Atlanta 10, Toronto 2 Washington 8, Baltimore 5 Boston 12, N.Y. Mets 5 Pittsburgh 4, N.Y. Mets 3 Texas 5, Houston 0 Kansas City 3, St. Louis 2 Oakland 6, Arizona 2 L.A. Angels 10. L.A. Dodgers 7 Seattle 5, San Francisco 4 Minnesota 6, Milwaukee 3 National League San Diego 7, Chicago Cubs 2

Stan McNeal BASEBALL KATHY WILLENS / AP

Barbecue grills aren’t all that get fired up on Memorial Day. In baseball, the heat increases in pennant races as the season transitions to the start of the summer grind. A look at three of this week’s hottest series: [email protected]

TOM GANNAM / AP

DENIS POROY / AP

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST / AP

The Yankees are 12-4 since Alex Rodriguez’s return.

Chris Carpenter threw five shutout innings Thursday.

Cubs C Geovany Soto is hitting .208 with one homer.

Marian Hossa, right, scored twice.

Yankees at Rangers

Cardinals at Brewers

Dodgers at Cubs

Wings-Pens again?

Based on Alex Rodriguez’s .189 batting average, the Yankees’ 12-4 record since his debut would seem a coincidence. Mark Teixeira’s numbers say otherwise. In 25 games before A-Rod, Teixeira hit .198 with five homers. With A-Rod behind him, Teixeira is hitting .377 with eight homers. After an 8-2 homestand that included four walkoff wins, the Yankees start a six-game trip today at Texas. The first-place Rangers have won eight straight at home and are ready for New York. “Playing good teams steps our game up,” catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. “This could be good for us.”

What a difference a week makes. Last Monday, the Brewers were finishing a three-game sweep at St. Louis and dealing the Cardinals their third straight series loss. Now the Cardinals are hot, having won five of six going into a three-game set at Milwaukee today. The return of ace Chris Carpenter and their starting pitching righted the Cardinals. St. Louis starters have allowed four earned runs total in their past six games. “Spectacular, probably the best (stretch) I’ve ever been in,” Tony La Russa said.

The Cubs so need an offensive jolt that Alfonso Soriano could be playing second base when L.A. arrives for a four-game weekend series. Last week Lou Piniella called the possibility of moving Soriano from left “a last resort” to get rookie Micah Hoffpauir in the lineup. But after scoring five runs total while being swept at St. Louis and San Diego, Piniella may be ready to erupt. Regulars Milton Bradley, Mike Fontenot and Geovany Soto all enter today’s play hitting under .210. There’s no relief in sight for Chicago— L.A. has the majors’ best record and leads the N.L. in scoring and ERA.

A rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup finals is just two wins away. Playing without Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk because of injuries, the Red Wings still routed the Blackhawks 6-1 Sunday and took control of the Western Conference finals. Wins by Pittsburgh Tuesday and Detroit Wednesday would give Sidney Crosby and the Penguins another shot at the Red Wings, who beat them in six games last year. Both teams look like they’re ready.

— Craig Custance Hossa’s Game 4 magic, Page 6

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Men’s NCAA championship Syracuse vs. Cornell 1 p.m., ESPN It’s hard to imagine a better fit for background noise at your Memorial Day barbecue than the NCAA title game—even the most casual of lacrosse fans knows that Syracuse is, historically, very, very good. Jim Brown (yes, that Jim Brown), Gary Gait and Mikey Powell are three of the biggest names in the history of the sport, and all are ’Cuse alum. The Orange is making its 16th championship appearance and looking for its 10th title, but Cornell and freshman attackman Rob Pannell are in their way. Check out Page 32 for more on the matchup.

BASEBALL

Pirates at Cubs 1 p.m., WGN

Daly wears pink for Mickelson; Gisele, Brady expecting a child John Daly wore bright pink trousers during Sunday’s final round of the BMW PGA Championship in a gesture of support for Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I had a pair, so I figured I’d do that for her today. I thought it would be a good gesture,” Daly said. “I know Phil very well and I know Amy. I’ve known them for a long time—we’ve played the Tour together. She’s a great lady. She has always been a sweetheart to everybody. “I’m sure everybody on Tour and everybody in the world is thinking about her. There’s been some (breast cancer) in the family and a lot of friends. It’s just a tough thing women have to go through. But if they caught it in time, it is curable.”

The Pirates avoided a sweep on the South Side of Chicago with a ninth-inning rally on Sunday. Despite the dramatics, the fact remains— Pittsburgh had a dismal offensive series against the White Sox, scoring three runs in three games and wasting quality starts from Zach Duke and Ross Ohlendorf. Now, at 20-24, they move across town for a series with the team directly ahead of them in the N.L. Central—the 21-20 Cubs.

It looks as if Patriots QB Tom Brady is having another baby with a supermodel, this time with wife Gisele Bundchen, 29. Reports of Bundchen’s pregnancy were confirmed over the weekend by The Boston Globe. Brady and Bundchen were married in February. Brady, 31, and supermodel Bridget Moynahan are the parents of John Edward Moynahan, who is 2 ½.

BASKETBALL

NFL teams are lining up to make deals with state lottery boards. The Patriots and Redskins were the first to sign contracts, but the Giants, Jets, Lions, Vikings, Ravens and Titans also are negotiating to put their names on lottery games of chance. Owners gave their approval for teams to put their logos on lottery tickets, in exchange for a piece of the action. While the NFL has sanctioned one form of gambling, it continues to fight Delaware’s attempt to legalize wagering on games.

Lakers at Nuggets 9 p.m., ESPN So much for Denver’s homecourt advantage—in Game 3, L.A. got its offense from Kobe Bryant and its late defense from Trevor Arizona, and that turned out to be more than enough. Tonight, the Lakers will try to go up 3-1 in the series…right around the time Vince McMahon and the WWE set up shop in the Staples Center for their screw-you to Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke for booting them in favor of Game 4.

— Compiled by Sean Gentille 8 p.m. WGN — Pittsburgh at

COLLEGE BASEBALL 2 p.m. ESPN — World Series

Chicago Cubs

Selection Show, at Bristol, Conn.

MEN’S COLLEGE LACROSSE 1 p.m. ESPN — NCAA

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Division I

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OFF THE FIELD

A quick look at the best sports on TV

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championship match, Syracuse vs. Cornell, at Foxborough, Mass. NBA BASKETBALL 9 p.m. ESPN — Playoffs,

Western Conference finals, game 4, L.A. Lakers at Denver

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REBECCA NADEN / AP

Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz says he has sold off memorabilia because he’s broke, halted charity work because he’s become a social pariah and scattered case files throughout his house, intent on defeating a DUI manslaughter charge. All of this, the one-time New York Yankee says, for a woman’s death he never could have prevented. “There was no possibility of me avoiding that crash with all of my senses,” Leyritz told The Miami Herald. “A mother was taken away from her kids. I can’t change that. But I didn’t do it. The accident did. And that accident wasn’t my fault.”

John Daly dug out a pair of pink pants for Sunday’s round in a show of support for Phil Mickelson’s wife Amy, who is battling breast cancer. Prosecutors say he’s wrong, though he’ll have a chance to plead his case Sept. 14 when he’s scheduled to face trial in connection with a fatal December 2007 crash. Police say Leyritz was drunk when he ran a red light in his SUV and caused the accident that killed 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch in Fort Lauderdale. Authorities say Veitch also was drunk. — Compiled by staff with wire reports

A Division I head basketball coach at 31? If anyone can do it, it’s Memphis’ Josh Pastner, Sporting News college hoops expert Mike DeCourcy explains in the new magazine.

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Bobby Carpenter Cowboys linebacker (What you won’t find on Facebook … even if you are approved as a friend) Born: Aug. 1, 1983, in Lancaster, Ohio Status: Married Alma mater: Ohio State What’s on TV: Friends re-runs, The Office, Planet Earth, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives with my wife What’s in my iPod: Dave Matthews, Kenny Chesney, The Boss, Journey, Poison, Akon What I drive: My fun favorite to drive in the summer is my ’98 green soft top Wrangler with 35” tires and 5” lift. Favorite flicks: Gladiator, Braveheart, Cinderella Man, Gran Torino, Forgetting Sarah Marshall What I’m reading: Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell Magazine subscription: Newsweek Bookmarks: Pro Football Talk, MSN, Yahoo Worst habit: Biting nails On my office walls: An assortment of quotes from the OSU “winner’s manual.” These are 2—“You can’t get much done if you only work on days you feel good” — Jerry West. “The Man in the Glass” — Poem. Love to trade places for a day with … (President) Obama and the Fed chairman so I can begin to fix this mess that we have gotten this country into. First job: Valley View Swim Club, lifeguard from 15 to 22. It was our club pool we went to our whole lives. Mom was a swim coach for 25+ years there. All my brothers worked there as well. Got $5.25 an hour, $8.50 by my last year. Talent I’d most like to have: Sing Favorite meal: Chop salad, 18 oz. NY strip with steamed broccoli and a nice glass of wine Favorite athlete to watch in another sport: LBJ (LeBron James) Favorite city to visit: Green Bay or Napa Valley

MATT SLOCUM / AP

Favorite team as a kid: N.Y. Giants Favorite values in others: Passion and loyalty Favorite physical attribute about myself: My back; been working on it for years. But my wife will say my butt. And least … Nothing Dream date: Shakira My greatest love: It’s always been football. My heroes: My parents My bucket list: 1. Skydive, 2. Swim with great whites, 3. Fly a plane My motto: You get out of life what you put into it. — Jeff D’Alessio

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RECRUITING DISH

SN’s No. 10 prospect having tough time trimming his list DeMarco Cobbs says it’s difficult to tell coaches he no longer is considering a school. “It’s like breaking up with a girlfriend,” Cobbs told Sporting News Today. The SN Top 100 receiver has begun the task of narrowing his list schools, trimming it to a rough top 10. Alabama, Arizona, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee and USC are all schools he’s seriously considering. However, he said there might be one or two schools outside his top 10 that are not 100 percent eliminated. Yes, it’s a confusing time for Cobbs, a 6-1, 200pound athlete out of Tulsa (Okla.) Central. “I’d say about September I’ll cut it some more,” he told SN. “I was saying July 4, but now that sounds kind of early to me. I still need to hit up a few places.” As a junior, Cobbs rushed for 1,152 yards and passed for 1,031 yards as a quarterback, accounting for 33 total touchdowns. He added two interceptions on defense. Cobbs is expected to play receiver at the next level. “I’m big, fast and physical off the line, and I make the big plays when they’re needed,” he said. “I work hard at getting open, and I go hard every play.” Cobbs is the No. 10 prospect overall in the SN Top 100. “It feels real good; for a guy like me out of Oklahoma to be ranked as No. 10 with Sporting News, it’s a blessing,” Cobbs said. “I’m glad to be considered one of the top players in the country. “I’d like to be No. 1 if I could, but this will make me work even harder. It’s very exciting, because a lot of kids don’t get to experience this.” Gulliver Prep (Miami) LB Ralph Williams and Chabot Community College (Hayward, Calif.) DT Pat Harris have committed to Tennessee, Rivals.com reported. Williams (6-1, 210) also has scholarship offers from Arkansas and Florida State, among others. Harris (6-5, 295) lists only his offer from the Volunteers. “I won’t get to Tennessee until my official visit, and that will be my only visit,” Williams told Rivals.com.

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COURTESY OF DEMARCO COBBS

Tulsa (Okla.) Central’s DeMarco Cobbs hates telling college coaches he’s headed elsewhere. ‘It’s like breaking up with a girlfriend,’ he said. “I can’t wait to get up there because I hear that campus is really nice. “... I am playing defensive end in high school. But Tennessee is recruiting me as a linebacker. They like the way I play. … I try to be a playmaker whether it is rushing the quarterback or going sideline to sideline.” Jesuit (Dallas) DE Chuka Ndulue (6-3, 240) has committed to Oklahoma, Rivals.com reported. He also had scholarship offers from Oklahoma State, Utah, Nebraska and Kansas, among others. “I’m done—I’m going to visit (Oklahoma) this summer and enjoy my official visit,” Ndulue told Rivals. com. “… My dad has been up to Norman (Okla.). My mom is a busy woman, so she may try and go up there with me this summer.” — Brian McLaughlin

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

5

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS Q&A with … Penguins F Ruslan Fedotenko

Clutch veteran: ‘We have something special here’ While Pittsburgh stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin steal the headlines with showstopping performances, Ruslan Fedotenko just keeps on doing what Ruslan Fedotenko does this time of year. He scores big goals. Fedotenko had a goal and an assist in the Penguins’ win over Carolina in Game 3, and he scored in three consecutive games against the Capitals in the semifinal round. Fedotenko spoke with Sporting News Today’s Craig Custance about the Penguins’ run, playing with Malkin and his future in Pittsburgh.

Tuesday’s game Conference finals (Best-of-7), all times ET Pittsburgh at Carolina, 7:30 p.m., Versus

Betting line Tuesday FAVORITE ..............LINE Pittsburgh ..................-130

Q:

Things are going well in the Eastern Conference finals, is this where you expected the Penguins to be when playoffs started? We knew we had a good team, had a good chance. It depends on if we play our game, if we play to the best of our potential. And so far we’ve been doing that.

A:

Q: A:

been?

It’s been great. He’s a good player, some games we’re on it. Some games not as well. It’s like any other team, any other player. It’s trying to make more consistent games and be a big factor to help the team.

Q: A:

When things are going well for Malkin, what are you seeing? He skates, he plays with the puck, it’s hard to get the puck away from him because he’s crafty and quick. With all the rule changes, it’s hard to tackle him. You need to play right, if he sees the ice really well, passing, not trying to do too much himself. A lot of times you can see he’s

UNDERDOG............ LINE at Carolina .............+110

there, you will take more chances, people will play more aggressive and a lot of time you’ll get rewarded.

KARL B DEBLAKER / AP

How has skating on a playoff line with Evgeni Malkin

If you deliver it daily, they will come.

Ruslan Fedotenko, a former Cup champ with Tampa Bay, has dialed it up after an uneven regular season. on his game, it shows and he has big games. Scoring goals, just always in the right spot.

Q: A:

How does this team compare to the one you won a Stanley Cup with in Tampa? I think kind of similar. I feel that maybe Tampa was not as much experience. I think this team has more experience, last year they went all the way to the finals and plus bringing in a couple other guys, Billy [Guerin], [Chris Kunitz] who have been on winning team. I think it’s similar, I feel like we’re playing kind of similar games, similar style. I think it’s really exciting for the people to watch but I think I would say we have

a little more experience in this room than we did in Tampa.

Q:

You won a Stanley Cup with Nikolai Khabibulin, who helped Chicago advance to the Western Conference finals. What makes him so strong this time of year? A lot of things. First of all, experience. He’s been through the different stages in his career, a winning team and losing team. He’s solid. Every time I go on the ice, I was never really worried about him. When you have that kind of comfort, in Tampa we gave up breakaways, we knew it was not a big deal—Khabi would stop them. When you have that kind of confidence

A:

Q:

I know you’re focused on the playoffs, but you’re an unrestricted free agent after this season. Have you thought about your future with the Penguins? You know what? At this point right now, probably last 20 games in the regular season and now the playoffs, I’m not thinking about it at all. Whatever happens, happens. I’m not worried about where I stay here or not or go someplace else. I get this out of my mind and not focus on it at all. I just feel like, I’m trying to focus on the playoffs, it’s a great opportunity. Look where we’re at right now, take advantage of what we have now, and everything else will work itself out. I’m not worried about it at all right now. If they said, ‘I’m not coming back,’ it’s not a big deal, I’ll play the same. We have something special here, hopefully we can go all the way.

A:

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NHL

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

6

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS NOTEBOOK

Detroit 6, Chicago 1

Hossa delivers Game 4 magic—as usual CHICAGO—The bad news piled up with the meat and potatoes and the Red Wings’ morning meal. Star center Pavel Datsyuk’s bad ankle would keep him out another game. Kris Draper’s groin left him scratched as well. Then the surprise—captain Nicklas Lidstrom had acquired one of hockey’s mysterious “lower body injuries” and would join his veteran buddies in coat and tied for Sunday’s Western Conference finals matinee with the Blackhawks. No problem, thought Marian Hossa, as he Dave Curtis headed to the United HOCKEY Center. This was Game 4, time for him to contribute to a championship. He had scored twice in the fourth game against Columbus and twice again in Game 4 at Anaheim. In each of those games, his team scored six times. So with one pregame theme in his head— “Drive to the net more often,” he said, “and try to be a little more dangerous.”—Hossa kept his pattern and covered for his injured teammates. He scored twice, shorthanded in the first for a 1-0 lead, even strength in the second for a 4-1 cushion. And the Wings rolled 6-1, moving to the brink of another trip to the Stanley Cup finals. “He was awesome,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “The fourth goal put a knife in them. He did a great job out there.” The day was ideal for a clutch performance from the forgotten Red Wing. He looked nothing like his team’s leading goal scorer and a five-time All-Star early in this series; in 50 shifts over the first two games, he had no points. Two assists during Friday’s second-period flurry showed his best hockey wasn’t far away. And with the

Wings looking for a hero Sunday afternoon, Hossa ended up being more than dangerous. Another of his Game 4s started on a firstperiod penalty kill, when defenseman Jonathan Ericsson swept a loose puck up the left boards. Hossa collected, played giveand-go with Valtteri Filppula, and scored at 8:41. It was his first shorthanded tally of the season, and the Wings’ sixth in 97 regular-season and playoff games. The encore came a period later, as the arena public address announcer called the details of a Jonathan Toews power play goal that cut the lead to 3-1. Hossa collected the puck along those same boards, slipped inside Kris Versteeg and beat Cristobal Huet. The goal won back every ounce of momentum, prompted a Hawks goalie change and might have clinched the series for Detroit. “He’s ridiculous at what he does,” Red Wings veteran Kirk Maltby said. “His skill, we see it every day. Nothing surprises us.” To be fair, a pitiful showing from the Hawks helped Hossa more than anything. Chicago played without poise, taking 16 penalties and allowing a shorthanded goal. Huet, starting with Nikolai Khabibulin injured, couldn’t have stopped a beach ball from hitting his net. The sellout crowd here never grew louder than it was during the Star Spangled Banner. With Datsyuk and Lidstrom possibly back for Wednesday’s Game 5, three straight Blackhawk wins would seem impossible. So Hossa, Cup-less in 11 seasons so far, figures to get a crack at the finals. He’ll be even more dangerous with a complete lineup around him. But watch for him, especially come the next Game 4. [email protected]

Penalty problems doom Blackhawks Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville opened his postGame 4 comments with an uncharacteristic rip of the on-ice officials in his team’s 6-1 loss to Detroit. “They ruined a good hockey game,” Quenneville said of the crew. “They absolutely destroyed anything that was going on on the ice.” The ’Hawks took 16 penalties for 56 total minutes, including three misconducts and an ejection for winger Ben Eager. But a roughing call on Matt Walker after the first period horn drew Quenneville’s ire in particular. The Red Wings started the second period a man up, and Valtteri Filppula scored 1:13 in to push Detroit’s lead to 3-0. “I think we witnessed probably the worst call in the history of sports,” Quenneville said.

Time for Chelios

PAUL BEATY / AP

With several Red Wings struggling through injuries, Marian Hossa stepped up his play.

Two minutes and nine seconds into play, 47-year-old Wings defenseman and future Hall of Famer Chris Chelios hopped the boards and entered his 265th career playoff game. The Chicago native and former Blackhawk, in the Detroit lineup because of an injury to Nicklas Lidstrom, said he enjoyed every second of his 4:37 of ice time. “It just reminded me of the old Stadium,” Chelios said, a

reference to his nine seasons as a ’Hawk (1990-99). “I love the atmosphere.” Chelios wasn’t on the ice for a goal and didn’t play special teams. His lone impact came courtesy of the United Center fans, who booed each time he touched the puck late in the third period.

Net results Goalie drama remains the primary subplot of these Western Conference finals. It even affected Detroit here Sunday when starting goalie Chris Osgood missed the third period after feeling dehydrated during the second intermission. Backup Ty Conklin took over and made nine saves. Coach Mike Babcock said Wings trainers treated Osgood with IVs but couldn’t get him recuperated in time. “He’ll have a good day off,” Babcock said. “Get the fluids back go from there.” For Chicago, Sunday starter Cristobal Huet was pulled 4:05 into the second period after Detroit took a 4-1 lead. Third-stringer Corey Crawford played the rest of the second in his playoff debut and Huet returned for the third. He finished with 21 saves on 26 shots. Regular starter Nikolai Khabibulin didn’t dress after aggravating a leg injury in Game 3. —Dave Curtis

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NHL

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

7

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS Detroit 6, Chicago 1 Series glance

Red Wings pick up slack for injured stars CHICAGO—Marian Hossa’s shorthanded goal got the short-handed Detroit Red Wings started Sunday. And once they got rolling, the defending champions overpowered the frustrated Chicago Blackhawks and moved within one win of a return trip to the Stanley Cup finals. With injured stars Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk sidelined, Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg had two goals each, sending the Red Wings to a convincing 6-1 victory and a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. “We heard this morning during the pregame meal he (Lidstrom) was not playing. We just had to deal with it,” Zetterberg said. “Everybody had to step up and play.” Game 5 is Wednesday night back in Detroit, where the Red Wings opened this series with a pair of wins. Detroit took advantage of backup goalie Cristobal Huet, who made his first start of these playoffs in place of injured Nikolai Khabibulin. He gave up four goals and was pulled in the second. Rookie Corey Crawford took over for the last 15:55 of the period, but Huet returned in the third and allowed Zetterberg’s second powerplay goal that made it 6-1. Hossa’s short-handed goal on a 2-on-1 break gave the Red Wings the early lead and they added three power-play goals as Chicago wore out the door to the penalty box. “We tried to keep our poise. We knew they were coming,” Zetterberg

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST / AP

Henrik Zetterberg, left, Mikael Samuelsson, right and the Red Wings jumped on Patrick Kane and the Blackhawks right out of the gate Sunday. said of the Blackhawks, who had been upset after Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall flattened forward Martin Havlat with a hard hit on Friday and drove him out of the game. “They didn’t basically have anything else to do once the game kind of ran away,” Zetterberg added. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville

was fuming over a call against Blackhawks defenseman Matt Walker for roughing during a scrum as the first period ended. Leading 2-0, the Red Wings went on a power play to start the second, and Valtteri Filppula scored just 1:13 in for a three-goal Detroit lead. “I think we witnessed probably

the worst call in the history of sports there,” Quenneville said. “You know, they scored, it’s 3-0. They ruined a good hockey game and absolutely destroyed what was going on on the ice,” he said. “It was a call that could. ... never seen anything like it.” Six-time Norris Trophy winner

Lidstrom was scratched due to a lower body injury. Coach Mike Babcock said he heard about the injury— he said it was not serious—in a cab as he was coming to the game. Datsyuk missed his second straight game because of a sore foot. “I thought we were going to dig in today,” Babcock said, adding he hoped Lidstrom and Datsyuk would be back for Game 5 on Wednesday. Johan Franzen also scored for the Red Wings, a momentum swinging goal from far out on the right side with 20.7 seconds left in the first as he was being defended by Brian Campbell. The shot eluded Huet and made it 2-0. Jonathan Toews had Chicago’s lone goal on a second-period power play. Chris Osgood made 18 saves in two periods before he became dehydrated and had to be replaced by Ty Conklin in the third. Hossa scored a short-handed goal on a 2-on-1 break on a nice giveand-go pass from Filppula in the first, quickly quieting the crowd at the United Center. In the second, after Toews scored to cut it to 3-1, Hossa skated in 12 seconds later and beat Huet for his second goal, prompting the switch to Crawford. Zetterberg made it 5-1 when he scored on the power play against Crawford when the Red Wings had a two-man advantage in the second. Hossa put the Red Wings up early after four Blackhawks, including Campbell, got caught deep in the

(Detroit leads 3-1) May 17: Detroit 5, Chicago 2 May 19: Detroit 3, Chicago 2, OT May 22: Chicago 4, Detroit 3, OT Sunday: Detroit 6, Chicago 1 Wednesday: Chicago at Detroit, 7:30 p.m., Versus Saturday: Detroit at Chicago, 8 p.m., if necessary, Versus Monday, June 1: Chicago at Detroit, 7:30 p.m., if necessary, Versus

Detroit zone. Hossa started a 2-on1, short-handed break and made a nice crossing pass to Filppula, whose perfectly timed return pass to Hossa allowed him to beat Huet. Huet’s first appearance of the playoffs came Friday night in Game 3 when he replaced Khabibulin (lower body) to start the third period of Chicago’s 4-3 overtime win. — The Associated Press Detroit Chicago

2 0

3 1

1 0

— —

6 1

First Period: 1, Detroit, Hossa 5 (Filppula), 8:41 (sh). 2, Detroit, Franzen 10, 19:39. Penalties: Zetterberg, Det (holding), 7:41; Franzen, Det (roughing), 11:09; Seabrook, Chi (roughing), 11:09; Pahlsson, Chi (roughing), 13:43; Holmstrom, Det (roughing), 17:32; Byfuglien, Chi (roughing), 17:32; Walker, Chi (roughing), 20:00. Second Period: 3, Detroit, Filppula 1 (Hossa, Rafalski), 1:13 (pp). 4, Chicago, Toews 7 (Barker, Kane), 3:53 (pp). 5, Detroit, Hossa 6 (Filppula, Lebda), 4:05. 6, Detroit, Zetterberg 8 (Rafalski, Kronwall), 7:42 (pp). Penalties: Lebda, Det (delay of game), 3:06; Walker, Chi (interference), 7:06; Versteeg, Chi (cross-checking), 7:06; Versteeg, Chi (roughing), 9:11; Eager, Chi, misconduct, 15:05. Third Period: 7, Detroit, Zetterberg 9 (Rafalski, Kronwall), 12:47 (pp). Penalties: Hossa, Det (cross-checking), 3:47; Bolland, Chi (cross-checking), 4:14; Eager, Chi, game misconduct, 7:29; Keith, Chi (roughing), 7:29; Brouwer, Chi (tripping), 11:42; Filppula, Det (hooking), 13:24; Versteeg, Chi, misconduct, 14:59; Ericsson, Det (roughing), 18:17; Barker, Chi (roughing), 18:17; Burish, Chi, double minor (roughing), 20:00. Shots on Goal: Detroit 14-10-9: 33. Chicago 9-10-9: 28. Power-play opportunities: Detroit 3 of 8; Chicago 1 of 4. Goalies: Detroit, Osgood 11-4-0 (19 shots-18 saves), Conklin (0:00 third, 9-9). Chicago, Huet 1-1-0 (26-21), Crawford (4:05 second, 7-6), Huet 1-1-0 (0:00 third). A: 22,663 (20,500). T: 2:34. Referees: Marc Joannette, Kevin Pollock. Linesmen: Brad Lazarowich, Jay Sharrers.

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INSIDE DISH

Wild get OK to interview Richards; Finals could start earlier New Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher, moving fast to fill the Wild’s coaching vacancy, has received permission to interview San Jose assistant Todd Richards, according to two sources cited by The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune. Fletcher, who was hired away from the Pittsburgh organization on Friday, was responsible as Penguins assistant G.M. for hiring Richards to coach the team’s AHL affiliate at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Richards, a former University of Minnesota player, was hired by the Sharks before the season. “Our organization has a lot of respect for Todd—his intellect, his communication skills, his passion for the game. He pushes the pace,” Penguins G.M. Ray Shero told The Star Tribune. “One of the first things I heard back on Todd from Chuck was that our pregame skate was harder than some team’s practices. He really pushes the pace and makes players better. “He’ll be a great head coach in the NHL, I believe, for whoever will give him that opportunity.” Fletcher has made it clear he wants an uptempo playing style, unlike the defensive style former coach Jacques Lemaire preached in his nine seasons with the Wild. If the Penguins and Red Wings wrap up their conference finals series by Wednesday night, the Stanley Cup finals likely would start on Saturday, May 30 in Detroit, according to ESPN.com. Last week, the NHL indicated that the finals would begin on June 5 if both series didn’t end in sweeps.

for his dual role. Fletcher remained as a consultant for the remainder of the season.

Playoff glance CONFERENCE FINALS

ROSS D. FRANKLIN / AP

Despite his reputation and the fact that Calgary fired him Friday, Mike Keenan was on the receiving end of praise from one of his former players. Pittsburgh can close out Carolina in four games Tuesday night, while the Wings can advance with a win on Wednesday. The report, citing multiple sources, said the league was working closely with NBC to come up with a solution that would spare a potentially embarrassing eight-day layoff.

Cliff Fletcher, Chuck Fletcher’s

73-year-old father, told Sun Media he wants to remain involved with the NHL—but only with the Toronto Maple Leafs, not as a figure in his son’s new organization in Minneapolis. “The Toronto Maple Leafs,” Fletcher said in a phone interview from his Phoenix-area home. “In some capacity, I’d very much like to have that relationship. I’m not interested in any other teams.”

New Maple Leafs president and G.M. Brian Burke confirmed in an e-mail that the interest is mutual. “I plan on having him back,” Burke wrote. Fletcher, a former Toronto president and G.M., returned to the organization early in 2008 to replace fired president John Ferguson. His job was to bridge the gap until the Leafs hired a full-time president, which they did late last fall when Burke was hired

Calgary star Jarome Iginla had heard all the horror stories about Mike Keenan—the over-the-top intensity, the anger and the mind games—when he was hired as Flames coach in June 2007. But the older, calmer Keenan Iginla played under for two seasons never lived up to the storm warnings and he expressed regret when he learned Iron Mike had been fired Friday. “I think he changed a little bit,” Iginla told the Toronto Star. “We definitely still saw his passion and intensity at different times. And his competitiveness. But, no, it wasn’t quite crazy, like the things you heard from before. Although he wasn’t soft by any means, he was still very intense.” Iginla also said, that as captain of a team that fell short in the first round of consecutive playoffs, he even feels responsible in a way. “I was surprised (at the news), to be quite honest,” Iginla told the newspaper. “I knew he had another year left on his contract. And I was hoping we would get another chance next year with Mike as our coach.” Carolina coach Paul Maurice has news for anybody who thinks the Hurricanes trail Pittsburgh 3-0 in the Eastern Conference finals because they’re not scoring goals: That’s not the problem. “I don’t think the crux of our game has been a lack of offense, or that we should be able to go out and score seven a night if everybody is

(Best-of-7), all times ET

EASTERN CONFERENCE Carolina vs. Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh leads series 3-0) May 18: Pittsburgh 3, Carolina 2 May 21: Pittsburgh 7, Carolina 4 May 23: Pittsburgh 6, Carolina 2 Tuesday: Pittsburgh at Carolina, 7:30 p.m., Versus Friday: Carolina at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m., if necessary, Versus Sunday, May 31: Pittsburgh at Carolina, 7:30 p.m., if necessary, Versus Tuesday, June 2: Carolina at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m., if necessary, Versus

WESTERN CONFERENCE Chicago vs. Detroit (Detroit leads series 3-1) May 17: Detroit 5, Chicago 2 May 19: Detroit 3, Chicago 2, OT May 22: Chicago 4, Detroit 3, OT Sunday: Detroit 6, Chicago 1 Wednesday: Chicago at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. Versus Saturday: Detroit at Chicago, 8 p.m., if necessary, Versus Monday, June 1: Chicago at Detroit, 7:30 p.m., if necessary, Versus

playing well,” Maurice told The (Raleigh) News & Observer. “I don’t think that’s it. We’re getting enough offense in our game. We’re just not defending well enough. “With that being said, our offensive players have to defend, as well.”

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS Orlando 99, Cleveland 89

Magic take shot, physical attitude from Cavs ORLANDO—LeBron James had no shot. Dwight Howard scored 24 points—14 on free throws—and Rafer Alston added 18 as the Orlando Magic, sick of seeing replays of James’ dramatic Game 2 buzzerbeater, downed the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-89 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in an Eastern Conference finals getting nastier by the minute. James scored 41 on just 11-of-28 shooting and missed five free throws in the fourth quarter. But once again, Cleveland’s superstar didn’t get enough help from his teammates. Mo Williams, who needed four stitches to close two gashes around his left eye after being elbowed in the first half, Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas shot a combined 13-of-37. Game 4 is Tuesday night. The first two games of the series in Cleveland were each decided by one point. This one was resolved by elbows, shoves and hard fouls. Howard, Ilgauskas and Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao all fouled out as the officials called 58 personals, handed out two technicals, a flagrant and spent half the night stepping between players on both sides as tempers flared inside an overheated Amway Arena. “We just kept fighting. That’s what we got to do, we fight to the end,” Howard said. “We can’t worry about nothing, we can’t worry about the calls, can’t worry about nobody else. We just got to get out there and play.” When the referees weren’t

making peace, they were sending players to the free-throw line. Unlike Games 1 and 2, the Magic didn’t fall behind by double digits and need to rally. They got out fast, stayed close despite Howard’s early foul trouble and put the Cavs away at the line. Howard, a notoriously poor foul shooter, went 14-of-19 from the line and the Magic made 39-of-51 attempts. In the fourth quarter alone, Orlando made 19-of-23 to hold off the top-seeded Cavaliers, who began the playoffs with eight straight wins and have now dropped two of their last three. Cleveland better figure out a way to win in steamy Florida fast. The Cavs, who were thumped here by 29 on April 3, have six lost six of their last seven in Orlando. The Magic seem to have a spell over the Cavs. Despite his lack of help, James kept Cleveland within striking distance in the fourth and scored on a three-point play while getting Howard’s fifth foul with 2:34 to play to pull the Cavs to 90-86. Howard, wrapped up underneath, then made two free throws before James was fouled and rimmed out two at the other end. On Orlando’s next trip, Mickael Pietrus, who came off the bench to score 16, grabbed a long rebound, got fouled and was pushed in the back by West, who was handed a T. Pietrus made his free throws to make it 94-86 and the Magic appeared to have things under

Cleveland Orlando CLEVELAND James Varejao Ilgauskas MWilliams West Wallace Pavlovic Smith Gibson Kinsey Totals

17 24 Min 41:57 20:15 30:53 41:51 42:40 15:05 25:04 19:18 2:57 0:01 240:01

24 18

22 26

26 — 31 —

89 99

FG FT Reb A PF PTS 11-28 18-24 0-7 9 3 41 1-2 2-2 3-4 0 6 4 3-10 3-4 1-9 1 6 9 5-16 2-3 3-7 3 4 15 5-11 1-2 0-1 3 5 12 2-2 0-0 4-6 0 3 4 0-2 0-0 0-4 1 3 0 2-6 0-0 0-4 0 3 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 29-78 26-35 11-42 17 34 89

Percentages: FG .372, FT .743. 3-Point Goals: 5-26, .192 (M.Williams 3-10, West 1-2, James 1-8, Gibson 0-1, Pavlovic 0-2, Ilgauskas 0-3). Team Rebounds: 13. Team Turnovers: 15 (21 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Ilgauskas, James, Smith). Turnovers: 15 (M.Williams 5, West 4, James 2, Varejao 2, Pavlovic, Wallace). Steals: 7 (James 2, Smith 2, Pavlovic, Varejao, West). Technical Fouls: West, 1:08 fourth. ORLANDO Turkoglu Lewis Howard Alston Lee Gortat Pietrus Johnson Battie Totals

Min FG FT 41:23 1-11 11-12 39:32 5-8 3-5 27:54 5-8 14-19 36:53 6-13 4-4 37:23 4-9 0-0 23:37 2-3 0-2 26:04 4-9 7-7 6:16 0-2 0-2 0:58 0-0 0-0 240:00 27-63 39-51

Reb A PF PTS 0-10 7 2 13 0-2 1 5 15 4-9 2 6 24 0-4 3 2 18 1-4 3 1 9 0-5 0 2 4 3-6 0 3 16 0-0 0 2 0 0-0 0 1 0 8-40 16 24 99

Percentages: FG .429, FT .765. 3-Point Goals: 6-17, .353 (Alston 2-4, Lewis 2-4, Lee 1-2, Pietrus 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Turkoglu 0-1). Team Rebounds: 11. Team Turnovers: 13 (10 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Gortat 2, Pietrus 2). Turnovers: 13 (Alston 3, Pietrus 3, Turkoglu 3, Lewis 2, Howard, Lee). Steals: 9 (Alston 3, Lee 3, Pietrus 2, Turkoglu). Technical Fouls: Howard, 2:50 third. Flagrant Fouls: Johnson, 5:44 second. PHELAN M. EBENHACK / AP

Cleveland G Mo Williams received the brunt of Sunday’s physical play after taking an elbow from Orlando’s Anthony Johnson.

A: 17,461 (17,461). T: 2:58. Officials: Joe Crawford, Greg Willard, Mark Wunderlich.

control when Howard caught James from behind and blocked his 3-pointer. The refs saw it otherwise and called a three-shot foul on Superman, who couldn’t believe it. James made all three shots, but the Cavs were short on time. Rashard Lewis’ free throw made it 95-89 and after another Cleveland miss, Hedo Turkoglu was fouled

postseason. He was called for pushing Ben Wallace underneath, and upset with the whistle, he said something on his way to the bench that referee Joey Crawford didn’t like and was T’d up. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy had warned his star to keep his composure because the league automatically suspends a player for

one game after he receives his seventh technical foul in the playoffs. “I didn’t say anything to Joey Crawford,” Howard said. “The response was to the other team. I didn’t say anything to Joey Crawford. I’m not stupid enough to get in his face and say anything, so I try to keep it to the other team.” — The Associated Press

and made two more to finish the job. Turkoglu was just 1-of-11 from the floor but made 11 free throws and added 10 rebounds and seven assists. After sitting the final seven minutes of the first half with three fouls, Howard made it through 9:10 of the third quarter before getting No. 4—and technical No. 5 of the

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EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS Orlando 99, Cleveland 89

NOTEBOOK

Orlando’s Game 3 rebound means one thing—this team has arrived ORLANDO—He strolled into the locker room 90 minutes before tip, the billionaire owner who made this all happen. And that meant exactly squat to his highly annoyed, half-pint grandkids in tow. “Can we leave, grandpa?” the blonde grandson whined. “I want you to meet my young friends here,” Orlando owner Rich DeVos said while the Magic mulled around prior to Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals. “They’re on the edge of stardom.” The Magic are already there. Matt Hayes They’re not LeBron, or Kobe or BASKETBALL ’Melo or any other single name or single identity. They’re merely the biggest matchup nightmare in the NBA. In other words, the most dangerous team in the NBA playoffs. Orlando’s 99-89 victory over top-seeded Cleveland Sunday night simply underscored what we’ve seen play out the last three weeks. The team that should’ve beaten the defending champion Celtics in five games in the East semifinals, that should be up 3-0 on the Cavs and on their way to a sweep, has arrived. “We understand,” said Magic point guard Rafer Alston, “that it could easily be 3-0 Magic.” If only Orlando could figure out how to close out games, they’d be the talk of the playoffs. Instead, they’re a speed bump on the way to LeBron vs. Kobe. At least that’s what all those fatcat television execs hope. LeBron vs. Kobe is sexy; it sells and is the first major marketing boon for the league since Michael Jordan vs. Magic Johnson nearly two decades ago. When James hit the game-winner in Game 2 to save Cleveland’s season from sinking into Lake Erie, all those issues for the team with the best record and best defense in the league seemingly vanished. LeBron had surpassed Michael Jordan

(quick update, everyone: Jordan has six championships, LeBron has zilch), and the Cavs had vanquished the rich tradition of losing in Cleveland. One problem: the Cavs still can’t cover Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu, still have no answer inside for Dwight Howard, still have the best player on the planet and a lot of guys who wait for the best player on the planet to take or make a shot (not that there’s anything wrong with that). “Coming down the court, we’re already at a disadvantage,” said Cavs point guard Mo Williams. “They create matchup problems; it’s evident. We know it, everyone knows it. But when you’re in position where you have to double guys, it’s going to put you at a disadvantage. We’re trying things we haven’t tried all year. It’s amazing how we’re still in games sometimes.” It’s amazing the rest of the basketball world hasn’t embraced it yet. When Lewis and Turkoglu are hitting shots and when Howard is controlling the paint, the Magic are impossible to defend. When Howard is making free throws (he made 14-of-19), no one will beat them. Two of the three best defenses in the league (Cleveland and Boston) have had no answers for Orlando’s inside-outside game. The Magic have tough role players (Rafer Alston, Mickael Pietrus) who can shoot, and a talented rookie guard (Courtney Lee) who can shoot and defend on the perimeter. Howard still has to learn to give up shots. He can’t defend on every play, and he certainly can’t defend James every trip down the court. These days, there arethree givens in life: death, taxes and LeBron scoring or getting fouled—I mean, getting a call. A game ago, James hit what Howard called a “movie three” to win Game 2. While his legend continues to grow, the Magic continue to win. “We don’t find it disrespectful that people are counting us out,” Howard said. “What we can control is how we’re playing on the court.” Right now, no one in the NBA is playing better. [email protected]

Cavs’ Williams latest casualty of rough play Orlando already has been hit twice by the NBA for physical play, with Dwight Howard and Rafer Alston serving onegame suspensions in the first two rounds. Don’t be surprised if the league takes a long look at another hit—this time from backup Orlando point guard Anthony Johnson, who hit Cavs point guard Mo Williams with an elbow after the two came together on Johnson’s drive to the basket. Williams’ eye was cut on his eyelid and under his eye, and he looked like he went a few rounds with Kimbo Slice. “He did the same thing in Game 2,” Williams said of Johnson. “I have bigger fish to fry; I have to hit some shots. I could care less about Anthony Johnson; he plays 12 minutes a game.”

The free stuff

AP PHOTO

With Orlando C Dwight Howard (12) and F Rashard Lewis seemingly all over the ball, Cleveland is having a hard time covering, much less keeping up with, the Magic.

The teams combined to shoot 86 free throws—almost two a minute—and much of that came from Cleveland’s strategy to deal with Orlando’s multiple threats on offense. The Cavs want to foul Howard when he gets the ball and force him to make free throws, and want to extend defensively to the perimeter to disrupt the Magic’s pick-and-roll game with point forward Hedo Turkoglu. The problem: it led to 34 fouls and 51 free throws for the Magic. Williams said the Cavs are trying “things we haven’t tried all year” to better defend the Magic. “We’ve got to do a better job of not fouling way out on the floor,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown. “It’s going to be interesting to watch the tape and see some of those fouls.”

— Matt Hayes

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WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

Nuggets must ‘play a little smarter,’ worry less about crowd DENVER—The Denver Nuggets don’t just need work on their inbounds play. If they’re to bounce back from a second last-minute loss to the Lakers they’ll also have to play to the rim tonight and not the crowd as they did in Game 3. The Nuggets didn’t spend their Sunday lamenting Trevor Ariza’s deja vu steal in the final minute to help the Lakers snare a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. Instead, they talked about how they tried too hard to rile up their crowd, an ill-suited strategy that resulted in them missing 22 of 27 shots from outside the arc and shooting a playoff-low 39 percent while losing at home for the first time in 75 days. The Nuggets’ three best 3-point shooters were all off the mark: Carmelo Anthony was 1-for-7, Chauncey Billups 2-for-7, J.R. Smith 2-for-10. Kenyon Martin said he couldn’t believe the Nuggets fired up that many 3-pointers, “but we were trying to put them away.” “We’d go up seven, eight points and trying to get the building to erupt,” Martin said. “We’ve done that so much during the season and throughout the playoffs. So, we figured that’s the way it was going to be. And it’s not always going to be that way. You’ve got to grind it out sometimes, take the tough two or get to the line and score points that way.” Billups agreed the Nuggets “shot some bad 3-point shots at bad points of the game, just taking chances, trying to hit the dagger,”

MARK J. TERRILL / AP

Lakers F Trevor Ariza has a team-high eight steals in three games, helping his team gain a 2-1 advantage over Denver heading into Game 4. and vowed that would change for Game 4 tonight. In their half-dozen blowouts at the Pepsi Center in these playoffs, the Nuggets had turned their crowd into a major factor by using their transition game, pull-up 3s, kick-outs and rim-rattling dunks to turn tight games into runaways and their arena into a jet engine.

Against Los Angeles, however, the 3-pointers rimmed out all night, allowing the Lakers to stick around long enough for Kobe Bryant to win it for them in the fourth quarter with a little help from Ariza, who also stole the Nuggets’ inbounds pass in the final minute to seal Game 1. “I think we got caught up in the

emotion of the moment of a great crowd, a great challenge,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I think we tried to hit too many home runs rather than just take a single here, a double here and win the game that way. We tried to hit too many bombs. “We’ve got to challenge the Lakers to play defense on every

possession. I think we took too many shots where they didn’t have to play defense.” The Nuggets were simply too excited about playing in front of their boisterous crowd for the first time since eliminating the Mavericks 10 days earlier, and that resulted into too many bricks. “Being home and just knowing how great this crowd is when we make 3s, when we make dunks, I think we may have put too much into that and wanted to feed off of that too much instead of playing a little smarter,” Billups said. The Nuggets had hoped playing at the Pepsi Center would give them some leeway to atone for mistakes, “but we can’t bank on that,” Billups said. “We’ve got to play the right way, like we’ve been playing the entire playoffs.” Which means being more patient, getting to the basket and attacking the rim. The Nuggets had come to expect big games from Anthony, who had averaged 35 points in his previous five games, but he had an off night, shooting 4-for-13 for 21 points, just three after halftime. “It was just one of them nights that the shots didn’t go down,” Anthony said. For anyone, it seemed, except the guys who aren’t paid for their points. Denver defensive specialists Dahntay Jones and Chris “Birdman” Andersen shot a combined 10-for-15, which means their teammates were 23-for-69, or 33 percent.

Today’s game Conference finals (Best-of-7), all times ET L.A. Lakers at Denver, 9 p.m., ESPN

Betting line Today FAVORITE ..........LINE ... at Denver..................4½....

O/U .........UNDERDOG (209) .............L.A. Lakers

The Lakers have their own issues, including Ariza’s sore hip and groin and Bryant’s banged-up body. And they got off to a slow start Saturday night. They know if not for the Nuggets’ bad shot selection, they could very well be the ones facing a 2-1 hole. “We’ve got to come out with more focus, more energy and really just execute a lot better in the defensive end of the floor,” said Bryant, who characterized the team mood as “still a little edgy, a little upset.” Bryant needed an IV after the game Saturday night and said that was the most exhausted he’d ever been after a playoff game. “For two, three years now I’ve been playing nonstop,” Bryant said. “Then, the physical series we had against Houston and these guys grabbing and holding more than the Houston series. It’s been a really physical series. They’re making me work for everything, so it’s a combination of all that.” — The Associated Press

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Playoff glance

INSIDE DISH

CONFERENCE FINALS

Report: Cavs owner has deal with Chinese investors Citing multiple sources within the organization, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has a tentative agreement in place to sell a large chunk of interest in the team to a group of Chinese investors. The paper reported that the group is led by Chinese businessman Kenny Huang, who was in attendance at Games 1 and 2 of the East finals this week. “Dan Gilbert has been approached multiple times over the past few years by investors that wanted to join the Cavs’ ownership group,” said Cavs president Len Komoroski in a statement. “This has recently happened again. As has been done previously, we’re in the process of reviewing the possibility presented to us. Beyond that, we do not feel it would be appropriate to give further comment at this time.” One of the more intriguing prospects in this year’s draft is Ohio State C B.J. Mullens, who put his name in after one fairly unimpressive year of college (he averaged 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds). Mullens has size (7-0) and athleticism, but because he is almost a blank slate as far as post moves go, he is definitely a project and scouts rank him all over the board. In addition to a lack of post moves, Mullens’ body is viewed as soft by most NBA-types. “That will change,” Joe Abunussar, who is training Mullens, told SN Today. “In just a few weeks, he has already put on a lot of muscle and has room for more. I think those who think of B.J. as soft are going to

Boston Globe. The 35-year-old Camby has a contract paying $12.1 million next season and $13 million the following season, and averaged 10.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 200809. The Globe lists San Antonio, Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta as teams who could have interest. Other players affected by Griffin’s arrival—Chris Kaman and Zach Randolph—could stick with the Clippers. Kaman’s contract (three years, $33.9 million) is reasonable, while Randolph’s (two years, $33.3 million) is not, according to the Globe.

TERRY GILLIAM / AP

B.J. Mullens, left, entered the NBA draft after one year at Ohio State, and while he lacks post moves, his size and athleticism intrigues scouts. be surprised when they see him.” The Hornets’ financial situation—they’re in luxury-tax territory, and don’t really have the revenue to support being a tax payer—hasn’t changed since the team’s season ended in the first round of the playoffs. But the franchise isn’t necessarily looking to a trade of C Tyson Chandler (which they

attempted to do in February) as the only way to dodge the tax, and there are certainly no plans to trade PG Chris Paul. There is one possibility: the balky back of SF Peja Stojakovic could, according to The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, force him to retire. That would not offer the Hornets immediate cap relief, but if Stojakovic retires and does not come back, the team would be

allowed to take his $15 million salary off the books in 2010-11. With Blake Griffin potentially entering the fold in Los Angeles, Clippers F Marcus Camby wants to stay with the team. Despite those wishes, Griffin’s arrival would create a logjam in the Clippers’ frontcourt, and Camby could be the odd man out, according to The

The Heat, who have worked out several potential second-round point guards including BC’s Tyrese Rice and Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo, will keep a close eye on Pacers PG Jamaal Tinsley’s July 27 grievance hearing, according to The Miami Herald. If Indiana refuses to play the 31-yearold Tinsley, he’ll be available as a free agent. Indiana banished Tinsley from the team after the 200809 season because of several off-the-court issues, but refused to buy him out or trade him. The Wizards aren’t looking to move Javale McGee, according to The Washington Post. Rumors had circulated that the team was contemplating trading McGee, a rookie in 2008-09, and the fifth pick to Oklahoma City for the third pick. McGee, a 7-foot 21-year-old former first-round pick, averaged 6.5 points and 4.9 rebounds, but displayed impressive athleticism.

(Best-of-7), all times ET

EASTERN CONFERENCE Cleveland vs. Orlando (Orlando leads series 2-1) May 20: Orlando 107, Cleveland 106 May 22: Cleveland 96, Orlando 95 Sunday: Orlando 99, Cleveland 89 Tuesday: Cleveland at Orlando, 8:30 p.m., TNT Thursday: Orlando at Cleveland, 8:30 p.m., if necessary Saturday: Cleveland at Orlando, 8:30 p.m., if necessary Monday, June 1: Orlando at Cleveland, 8:30 p.m., if necessary

WESTERN CONFERENCE L.A. Lakers vs. Denver (Lakers lead series 2-1) May 19: L.A. Lakers 105, Denver 103 May 21: Denver 106, L.A. Lakers 103 May 23: L.A. Lakers 103, Denver 97 Today: L.A. Lakers at Denver, 9 p.m., ESPN Wednesday: Denver at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., ESPN Friday: L.A. Lakers at Denver, 9 p.m., if necessary Sunday, May 31: Denver at L.A. Lakers, 8:30 p.m., if necessary

NBA calendar June 4—NBA finals start date (possible move-up to June 2). June 15—NBA draft early entry entrant withdrawal deadline (5 p.m. ET). June 18—NBA finals latest possible end date. June 25—NBA draft.

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THE LAUNCHING PAD

Rodriguez returns, but pitching status is uncertain New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez was back with the club Sunday, feeling better after being hospitalized with back spasms after Saturday night’s game. Mets manager Jerry Manuel told reporters he was unsure when Rodriguez would be available to pitch, but added that he expects SS Jose Reyes to play today against the Nationals. Reyes has been sidelined with tendinitis in his right calf. Manuel said that Rodriguez couldn’t even walk after batting practice before Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox. Rodriguez told the New York Daily News that his legs locked up, prompting medical personnel to take him to an ambulance on a stretcher. “As soon as the medicine started kicking in, I started feeling a lot better. And by this morning I was doing a lot of things that I wasn’t capable of last night,” he told the newspaper.”

Orioles RP Koji Uehara will throw his normal side session Tuesday before the team determines whether a left hamstring injury will force him to miss his next scheduled start Thursday. Uehara left Saturday night’s game against the Nationals after three innings.

KATHY WILLENS / AP

Back spasms hospitalized Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez, who has 12 saves in 12 attempts.

David Ortiz might be dropped from the third spot in Boston’s batting order. “I think that’s something we’re going to discuss,” Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan said after Ortiz went O-for-5 in Sunday’s 12-5 win over the Mets, dropping his batting average to .195. “We’ll probably talk about it on the flight (to Minnesota). We want to do not only what’s best for David but what’s best for the team,” he added. “He’s got to be a big part of our offense. By no means do I feel like I feel he’s at the end of the rope.” The Rockies placed C Chris Iannetta on the 15-day disabled list Sunday, moments before the first pitch of their game against the Tigers.

Iannetta strained his right hamstring while running the bases in Saturday night’s game. The Rockies also purchased the contract of C Paul Phillips from Class AAA Colorado Springs and announced that IF Jeff Baker will go on the 60-day disabled list with a hand injury. The Reds optioned RP Homer Bailey to Class AAA Louisville Sunday, less than 24 hours after he failed to last five innings in his first major league start this season. IF Wilkin Castillo was recalled from Louisville to fill Bailey’s roster spot. Bailey, who was recalled Friday when RP Edinson Volquez went on the 15-day disabled list, was roughed

13

up for six runs on three hits and six walks over 4 1/3 innings in his Saturday start against the Indians. The slumping Royals made a flurry of moves Sunday, sending RP Luke Hochevar to Class AAA Omaha and putting RP Robinson Tejada and SS Mike Aviles on the 15-day disabled list. Hochevar was 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA in three starts since being recalled. Tejada, who has a 2.65 ERA in 12 relief appearances, has tendinitis in his right rotator cuff, and Aviles is hitting .183 while battling a strained forearm. The Royals called up RP Roman Colon and IF Tug Hulett from Omaha and activated LP John Bale (thyroid surgery) from the D.L.

Rays manager Joe Maddon criticized a $500 fine he received from MLB for a May 17 confrontation that occurred when Indians RP Kerry Wood threw behind B.J. Upton and then threw his next pitch inside, as well. Indians C Victor Martinez, who had dodged an inside pitch earlier in the series, got into a shouting match with the Rays’ bench and both dugouts emptied. The only fine levied was against Maddon for inciting the situation. “That’s totally unjust,” Maddon said Sunday. “I didn’t incite anybody. I was reacting. I think the reaction part of the thing—if that’s going to be fined, the inciter should also be fined. To indicate I was the inciter is a total misconception, misappropriation, lack of good judgment.”

What to expect in the major leagues today

Get outta here There is plenty of day baseball on this Memorial Day, and there should be plenty of action when the Yankees visit the Rangers this afternoon. These two teams lead the majors in home runs, and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has a reputation as a hitter-friendly park. In other words, it could be a long day for Yankees starter Phil Hughes (six homers allowed this season) and Rangers starter Matt Harrison (seven homers allowed). And it also should be a long day for Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. He has been treated as a villain by Rangers fans ever since his trade from Texas to New York, and this will be his first trip back since admitting steroids use during his Texas career.

Moyer’s milestone Phillies lefthander Jamie Moyer seemingly will pitch until he is 55, and the 46-year-old probably will have to in order to have a shot at 300 career wins. For now, he’d settle for 250. Moyer has been stuck on 249 for the past four starts, during which time he has posted a 10.80 ERA. Moyer will attempt to end the drought tonight against the Marlins, and the odds are in his favor. In 13 career starts against Florida, Moyer is 12-1 with a 2.84 ERA.

Price check With the struggling Scott Kazmir on the disabled list because of a quad injury, the Rays had a rotation void to fill. And who better to fill that void than 2008 postseason hero and prized prospect David Price? Despite his late-season and postseason dominance in 2008, Price began this season at Class AAA. Tampa Bay wanted him to polish a few things and also wanted to limit his innings. Price was just 1-4 with a 3.93 ERA in eight starts in the minors but will face the Indians tonight.

— Chris Bahr

The St. Louis Cardinals activated Rick Ankiel from the 15-day disabled list Sunday, reversing course from a day earlier because Ankiel had a strong workout. He had been on the D.L. since May 4 after a headfirst crash into the wall while making a running catch. IF Tyler Greene was optioned to Class AAA Memphis. The Baltimore Sun reports that Orioles OF Lou Montanez is expected to undergo surgery next week to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, an injury that could keep him out for a good part of the season.

ROB CARR / AP

Alex Rodriguez is back in Arlington for the first time since admitting steroid use.

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

14

Q&A with ... MLB umpire supervisor Steve Palermo

‘If I had to do it all over again, yes, I would do it’ Steve Palermo was considered one of the A.L.’s top umpires before he was shot in the spinal cord and partially paralyzed while trying to break up a mugging in 1991. Today, Palermo is a major league umpire supervisor as well as a motivational speaker who tells the story of how he—with the help of his wife Debbie—battled back from an injury that had left him unable to walk. Palermo walks today with the aid of a cane and a leg brace. He talked to Sporting News Today’s Stan McNeal about his two careers.

Q: A:

What is your message when you speak? I talk about the result of consequences for actions that were taken when I was shot, both on my part, my wife’s part and even the shooter’s part. It’s a love story between my wife and I and what we went through. We had been married for only five months when it happened and for Debbie to stick it out, takes a special person. She easily could have said, “You’re not walking again? Well, I’m walking, right out of here.”

Q: A:

What’s the question you’re most often asked when you speak? If you had to do it all over again, would you do it? My response is always the same. Yes, I would. I would have loved to been shot in the butt or the pinkie as opposed to hitting my spinal cord. But as much as I hate this phrase, “It is what it is.”

JOHN CORDES FOR SN

Steve Palermo doesn’t regret breaking up a mugging that left him paralyzed.

Q:

Who are a couple of pitchers you like to watch?

A:

Pitchers who work fast. If Mark Buehrle is not No. 1, he’s on the short list. Cliff Lee is another. This season, Zack Greinke is one. He gets the ball and goes. It’s a rhythmic thing. Hitters get into a rhythm, catchers do, the umpire does. You can almost see third-base coaches give signs quicker. The reason why these guys work quickly is because they’re throwing strikes.

Billy Martin, Dick Williams and the guy at the top of my list, Earl Weaver. Billy and I fought as good as anybody my first two years, but after a couple of years, he came up and said he wouldn’t argue with me anymore. He said I was working harder than anyone in the park. After that, he’d come out and ask what had happened. Before, he would come out and tell me what had happened.

Q:

Q: A:

What do umpires think when they read that Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine always were given strikes even when they threw six inches outside? You’re telling me that I’m cheating. I bristle at that. It’s upsetting. Here’s a news flash for you: The reason why umpires called more strikes with them was because they were throwing strikes.

A:

Q:

If an umpire calls 270 pitches in a game, what is the average that he calls correctly? These guys are damn good. We have umpires grade out at 100 percent sometimes. The average is in the high 90s.

A:

Q:

Who are the best arguers you’ve run across in the 25 years you’ve spent in the majors? No offense to today’s managers, but they’re not in the same class as Gene Mauch,

A:

Can you recall a memorable argument? Earl and I didn’t see eye to eye on much, but one time I agreed with him. He came out after I was giving it to someone in his dugout for hollering at me. Earl comes out and says, “Calm down. You see those guys in there? In a couple of years, they’ll be gone. Then they’ll be a new bunch and they’ll be gone after a few years. And you know what? You’ll still be here. So don’t worry about what’s going on in there.” I said, “You’ve got a point, Earl. Now get outta here.”

Q: A:

Where is instant replay heading? Hopefully right where it is. Commissioner (Bud Selig) has said this is where I want it to be because (calling home runs) are the most difficult calls for umpires in these fanfriendly ballparks where fans can hang over the fences. So baseball has realized these are difficult calls. It’s a good point of jumping off and stopping right there.

Q: A:

Any rule changes you’d like to see? I’d like to see the obstruction rule change. That’s when the defense hinders the offense. When the offense hinders the defense, it’s interference. The obstruction rule is too convoluted, and there’s too much gray area. An umpire’s job is black and white.

Q: A:

What was the most memorable game you called? There’s three. The Dave Righetti no-hitter on July 4, 1983, even though I didn’t realize he had a no-hitter until I saw the crowd stand and cheer for him when he came out for the ninth. The 1978 (Bucky Dent) playoff game between the Red Sox and the Yankees. History looks back on that as being a great game. We knew it was a great game during the game because it was so intense and so hotly contested. Game 5 of the 1983 World Series. I had blown out my knee earlier that year and had surgery that was supposed to keep me out 12 weeks. I knew I had a shot at working the World Series that season and made it back in six weeks. That game started late afternoon and with the October sun, there was a bad glare in center field. Rick Dempsey, the Orioles catcher, said, “Steve, stay with me. I’m having a hard time picking up the ball, especially the high pitch.” “Rick,” I said, “I don’t need to hear that. Why can’t you have trouble with the low and outside ones?”

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Fantasy Focus

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

LEAGUE LEADERS Batting Average

Waiver-wire pickups A.L.

Player Bartlett VMartinez MiCabrera AdJones AHill MYoung Morneau

Player Beltran Ibanez DWright CGuzman Zimmerman Pence Tejada

.373 .371 .367 .359 .350 .343 .343

A.L.

Team New York Philadelphia New York Washington Washington Houston Houston

.361 .352 .350 .349 .348 .348 .345

Player CPena Bay Morneau Teixeira Inge Kinsler Six tied

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Boston Minnesota New York Detroit Texas

JOHN BAZEMORE / AP

Player BRoberts AdJones Markakis Morneau Scutaro Bay Pedroia

Player Pujols Ibanez Zimmerman Hudson ASoriano Werth Four tied

39 38 36 36 36 35 35

Team Philadelphia San Diego Washington St. Louis Cincinnati Arizona Chicago

17 16 14 14 12 12 12

Stolen Bases A.L.

N.L.

Team Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Minnesota Toronto Boston Boston

Player Ibanez AdGonzalez Dunn Pujols Bruce Reynolds ASoriano

15 13 13 13 12 12 1

Runs A.L.

American League Standings

Home Runs

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Cleveland Detroit Baltimore Toronto Texas Minnesota

Team St. Louis Philadelphia Washington Los Angeles Chicago Philadelphia

38 37 37 33 33 32 31

Player Crawford Figgins Ellsbury Abreu Bartlett BUpton Crisp

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Los Angeles Boston Los Angeles Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Kansas City

Player Bourn Taveras Burriss Fowler JosReyes Three tied

28 19 18 15 14 14 11

Team Houston Cincinnati San Francisco Colorado New York

14 12 11 11 11 10

Phillies lefty J.A. Happ gets a start this week. Pitching (4 decisions)

RBIs

J.A. Happ, SP, Phillies. The young 6-6 lefthander is getting a chance to start for the Phillies. His first outing was encouraging (6 IP, 2 ER, 4 K). Plus, he gets the Nationals this week. J.J. Putz, RP, Mets. With Francisco Rodriguez dealing with back spasms, Putz could get some save opportunities this week. Putz hasn’t pitched too great this year, but the idea of closing opportunities should get his blood pumping. Adam Kennedy, 2B, A’s. Kennedy has been on fire since the A’s picked him up. His hot streak is unlikely to last, but he’s worth taking a flier on in AL-only leagues for short-term help. —George Winkler

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

A.L.

Player Longoria Bay Morneau Markakis CPena Hunter AHuff

A.L.

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Boston Minnesota Baltimore Tampa Bay Los Angeles Baltimore

Player Ibanez Fielder Dunn Pujols Cantu Three tied

49 45 40 38 38 37 36

Team Philadelphia Milwaukee Washington St. Louis Florida

43 42 39 38 35 34

Player Palmer Frasor Halladay Greinke Slowey Buehrle Penny

N.L.

Team Los Angeles Toronto Toronto Kansas City Minnesota Chicago Boston

5-0 4-0 8-1 7-1 6-1 6-1 4-1

Doubles A.L.

Player Longoria Callaspo MYoung Byrd Lind Lowell Three tied

Player Hudson Kotchman FSanchez FLopez HaRamirez Tejada Two tied

20 16 16 15 15 15 14

A.L.

Player Crisp Andrus JBuck Crawford Cuddyer DeJesus 15 tied

Team Los Angeles Atlanta Pittsburgh Arizona Florida Houston

16 16 16 15 15 15 14

5 4 3 3 3 3 2

1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 .833 .800 .800

Player Verlander Greinke FHernandez Halladay Lester Garza Beckett

Team Detroit Kansas City Seattle Toronto Boston Tampa Bay Boston

Player Peavy Lincecum JSantana JVazquez Billingsley Haren JoJohnson

77 73 66 63 58 53 51

Player Kemp Victorino Bourn Morgan JUpton Winn DWright

A.L.

Team Los Angeles Philadelphia Houston Pittsburgh Arizona San Francisco New York

4 4 3 3 3 3 3

Player Fuentes Papelbon Jenks FFrancisco MaRivera Sherrill Rodney

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

79 76 75 73 69 63 59

N.L.

Team Los Angeles Boston Chicago Texas New York Baltimore Detroit

12 11 10 10 9 9 8

Player FrRodriguez Bell Franklin Hoffman Cordero Broxton Qualls

East Boston Toronto New York Tampa Bay Baltimore

W 26 27 25 23 18

L 18 20 19 23 26

Pct .591 .574 .568 .500 .409

GB WCGB L10 — — 5-5 ½ — 4-6 1 ½ 8-2 4 3½ 7-3 8 7½ 4-6

Str W-1 L-6 L-1 L-1 L-1

Home 17-6 16-6 14-9 11-10 11-11

Away 9-12 11-14 11-10 12-13 7-15

Central Detroit Kansas City Minnesota Chicago Cleveland

W 24 22 22 19 17

L 18 22 23 24 28

Pct .571 .500 .489 .442 .378

GB WCGB L10 — — 7-3 3 3½ 4-6 3½ 4 4-6 5½ 6 4-6 8½ 9 4-6

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

Home 15-7 14-10 17-9 12-10 7-11

Away 9-11 8-12 5-14 7-14 10-17

West Texas Los Angeles Seattle Oakland

W 26 23 21 16

L 17 20 24 25

Pct .605 .535 .467 .390

GB WCGB L10 — — 7-3 3 2 5-5 6 5 5-5 9 8 3-7

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

Home 14-6 12-8 12-12 9-12

Away 12-11 11-12 9-12 7-13

National League Standings East Philadelphia Atlanta New York Florida Washington

W 24 23 23 20 13

L 18 20 20 25 30

Pct GB WCGB L10 .571 — — 8-2 .535 1½ 2½ 7-3 .535 1½ 2½ 5-5 .444 5½ 6½ 3-7 .302 11½ 12½ 2-8

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

Home 8-12 11-12 12-8 9-14 7-16

Away 16-6 12-8 11-12 11-11 6-14

Central Milwaukee St. Louis Cincinnati Chicago Pittsburgh Houston

W 26 26 23 21 20 18

L 18 18 20 21 24 24

Pct .591 .591 .535 .500 .455 .429

GB WCGB L10 — — 6-4 — — 6-4 2½ 2½ 4-6 4 4 3-7 6 6 6-4 7 7 4-6

Str L-3 L-1 W-1 L-7 W-1 L-4

Home 12-7 17-9 10-12 12-7 11-9 9-15

Away 14-11 9-9 13-8 9-14 9-15 9-9

West W Los Angeles 30 San Diego 22 San Francisco 20 Arizona 19 Colorado 18 z-first game was a win

L 15 22 23 25 25

Pct GB WCGB L10 .667 — — 7-3 .500 7½ 4 9-1 .465 9 5½ 2-8 .432 10½ 7 6-4 .419 11 7½ 5-5

Str L-1 W-9 L-1 L-1 W-2

Home 18-5 17-6 13-8 9-15 7-10

Away 12-10 5-16 7-15 10-10 11-15

Pitching Matchups Today’s Games (All times Eastern)

Saves N.L.

Team Kansas City Texas Kansas City Tampa Bay Minnesota Kansas City

5-0 5-0 4-0 4-0 5-1 4-1 4-1

N.L.

Triples A.L.

Team Los Angeles Washington San Diego Philadelphia San Francisco New York Los Angeles

Strikeouts

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Kansas City Texas Texas Toronto Boston

Player Broxton Martis Meredith Condrey Cain Pelfrey Stults

1.000 1.000 .889 .875 .857 .857 .800

15

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

12 12 11 11 11 11 11

American League Toronto (Tallet 2-2) at Baltimore (Guthrie 3-4), 1:35 p.m. N.Y. Yankees (Hughes 2-2) at Texas (Harrison 4-3), 2:05 p.m. Boston (Penny 4-1) at Minnesota (Liriano 2-5), 2:10 p.m. Detroit (Verlander 4-2) at Kansas City (Meche 2-4), 2:10 p.m. Seattle (Jakubauskas 3-4) at Oakland (Bre.Anderson 1-4), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Price 0-0) at Cleveland (Carmona 2-4), 6:05 p.m. Chicago White Sox (Danks 3-3) at L.A. Angels (E.Santana 0-1), 9:05 p.m.

The Line at Bal -105, Tor -105 at Tex -110, NYY +100 at Min -130, Bos +120 Det -130, at KC +120 at Oak -135, Sea +125 at Cle -115, TB +105 at LAA -155, ChW +145

National League Houston (W.Rodriguez 5-2) at Cincinnati (Harang 4-4), 1:10 p.m. St. Louis (C.Carpenter 2-0) at Milwaukee (Gallardo 4-2), 2:05 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Stults 4-1) at Colorado (De La Rosa 0-4), 3:10 p.m. San Diego (Gaudin 1-3) at Arizona (D.Davis 2-6), 3:40 p.m. Atlanta (J.Vazquez 4-3) at San Francisco (J.Sanchez 1-4), 4:05 p.m. Florida (Volstad 3-3) at Philadelphia (Moyer 3-4), 7:05 p.m. Washington (Lannan 2-3) at N.Y. Mets (Maine 3-3), 7:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (Maholm 3-1) at Chicago Cubs (Dempster 3-3), 8:05 p.m.

The Line Hou -110, at Cin +100 at Mil -120, StL +110 at Col -120, LAD +110 at Ari -130, SD +120 Atl -130, at SF +120 at Phi -130, Fla +120 at NYM -165, Was +155 at ChC -185, Pit +175

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FHECEJ?ED

INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia 4, N.Y. Yankees 3, 11 innings

Ruiz makes Manuel’s decision pay off Phillies 4, Yankees 3, 11 innings Philadelphia AB R H BI BB Rollins ss 5 1 1 1 1 Victorino cf 6 1 3 1 0 Ibanez dh 5 0 2 1 0 Howard 1b 5 0 2 0 0 Werth lf 5 0 0 0 0 Mayberry rf 5 0 0 0 0 Feliz 3b 5 0 0 0 0 Bruntlett 2b 3 0 0 0 0 a-Utley ph-2b 1 1 0 0 1 Ruiz c 4 1 3 1 1 Totals 44 4 11 4 3

KATHY WILLENS / AP

Carlos Ruiz hit an 11th-inning double to improve Philadelphia’s road record to an MLB-best 16-6. NEW YORK—Phillies manager Charlie Manuel thought about hitting for Carlos Ruiz in the 11th inning, and ended up sending the catcher to the plate. Good decision. Ruiz hit a two-out RBI double and Philadelphia overcame another blown save by Brad Lidge to beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on Sunday. Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez drove in runs for Philadelphia, and Ruiz blocked the plate to stop Johnny Damon from scoring early. The Phillies went 8-2 on their threecity, 10-day trip and improved to a major league-best 16-6 on the road. “We ended the trip well and needed that,” Manuel said. “We wish we could’ve taken yesterday’s game too, but they beat us. I like the way that we are playing. We’re starting to play better, more consistent baseball.”

Clay Condrey (4-0) worked two scoreless innings. Chase Utley got the winning rally started with a two-out walk against Brett Tomko (0-1). Utley stole second before Ruiz lined the ninth pitch of the at-bat down the third-base line. A strong contingent of Phillies fans in the crowd of 46,986, the biggest at Yankee Stadium since opening day, cheered wildly as Utley scored. Melky Cabrera hit a tying single off Lidge in the ninth as the Yankees nearly rallied for their fifth walkoff win of a wildly successful 10-game homestand, where New York went 8-2. “Today we didn’t get it done but that doesn’t take away from what we did on the homestand,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We can’t expect these guys to do it every time.” — The Associated Press

SO 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 7

Avg. .233 .269 .352 .256 .262 .250 .295 .118 .297 .302

New York AB R H BI BB SO Jeter ss 5 0 3 0 0 1 Damon lf 5 0 2 1 0 0 Teixeira 1b 5 1 2 1 0 0 A.Rodriguez 3b 4 0 0 0 1 3 Cano 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1-R.Pena pr-2b 1 1 0 0 0 0 Me.Cabrera rf 5 0 3 1 0 0 H.Matsui dh 5 0 0 0 0 2 Cervelli c 3 1 1 0 0 0 b-Swisher ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Cash c 1 0 0 0 0 0 Gardner cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 43 3 13 3 1 6

Avg. .287 .307 .268 .189 .313 .250 .328 .241 .306 .225 .059 .244

Philadelphia 002 001 000 01 —4 11 1 New York 001 001 001 00 —3 13 0 a-struck out for Bruntlett in the 9th. b-grounded out for Cervelli in the 9th. 1-ran for Cano in the 9th. E: Bruntlett (1). LOB: Philadelphia 10, New York 8. 2B: Rollins (9), Ibanez (11), Ruiz (6), Damon (10), Cervelli (1). HR: Teixeira (13), off Hamels. RBIs: Rollins (17), Victorino (24), Ibanez (43), Ruiz (8), Damon (29), Teixeira (34), Me.Cabrera (20). SB: Victorino (6), Howard (2), Utley (3), Jeter (9), R.Pena (2), Me.Cabrera (4). CS: Me.Cabrera (2), Gardner (2). Runners left in scoring position: Philadelphia 5 (Mayberry 3, Werth, Victorino); New York 4 (A.Rodriguez, H.Matsui, Gardner, R.Pena). DP: Philadelphia 2 (Ruiz, Ruiz, Rollins), (Utley, Rollins, Howard). Philadelphia Hamels Durbin H, 3 S.Eyre H, 7 Madson H, 9 Lidge BS, 4-12 Condrey W, 4-0 New York Sabathia Veras Ma.Rivera Tomko L, 0-1

IP 6 1 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 2 IP 8 1 1 1

H 8 1 0 0 2 2 H 9 0 1 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 0 5 109 4.68 0 0 0 0 16 4.32 0 0 0 0 4 3.48 0 0 0 0 5 2.95 1 1 0 1 16 9.15 0 0 1 0 33 2.19 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 0 4 110 3.42 0 0 1 2 15 5.59 0 0 0 1 19 2.75 1 1 2 0 30 4.15

IBB: off Condrey (A.Rodriguez). WP: Sabathia. Umpires: Home, Mike Estabrook; First, Randy Marsh; Second, Mike Winters; Third, Lance Barksdale. T: 3:58. A: 46,986 (52,325).

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17

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE Boston 12, N.Y. Mets 5

Atlanta 10, Toronto 2

McCann leads Braves to sweep of sliding Jays

After losing HR to review, Youkilis strikes back BOSTON—Kevin Youkilis completed his home run trot around the bases a little later than he wanted. Youkilis hit a three-run homer two innings after his long foul ball was upheld by a replay review, helping the Boston Red Sox avoid being swept at home for the first time this season by beating the New York Mets 12-5 on Sunday. Youkilis, who hit a high flyball near the left-field foul pole in the fifth inning, waited near second base as the umpiring crew headed toward the tunnel in the Boston’s dugout to review their on-field call that the ball was foul. After a brief delay, third base umpire and crew chief Joe West, who made the initial call, climbed back up the steps from the dugout and waved that it was foul. “I thought it was a fair ball,” Youkilis said. “He called it a foul ball and I guess there was no camera angle.” Replays shown in the press box were from the side of the pole or behind home plate. “I thought it was close, real close,” said Boston manager Terry Francona, who went onto the field to argue. “(West) said, ‘I’ve got a better view than you.’ I said, ‘I know. I just want you to check.’” The next time there was no doubt, as Youkilis’ drive off Brian Stokes went into the Green

WINSLOW TOWNSON / AP

Mets 3B David Wright couldn’t quite track down a second-inning foul ball. Monster seats in left-center and capped a four-run seventh. Mike Lowell also hit a threerun homer, J.D. Drew went 4 for 5 and Nick Green had a tiebreaking two-run single as the Red Sox rebounded from a rough loss Saturday night when Omir Santos’ replayreversed homer against closer

Jonathan Papelbon gave the Mets a 3-2 win. “To win two out of three I think was huge for us here in this ballpark,” New York manager Jerry Manuel said. “That’s a big boost for us in the situation we’re in right now.” David Ortiz, who changed to a lighter colored bat from

usual black one his third time up, went 0 for 5 and stranded eight runners, dropping his average to .195. He was 0 for 12 in the three-game series. “No more breaks,” he said when asked if maybe it was time for more time off like last weekend when he didn’t play in Seattle. “A lot of atbats from now on.” On Saturday night, Santos’ long fly that hit off a table in the first row of the Green Monster seats and bounced back onto the field—initially ruled a double—but ended up being called a homer when the umpires used the first replay review in Fenway Park’s history. Boston rallied with three runs to take a 6-5 edge against starter Tim Redding (0-1) in the fifth. George Kottaras’ RBI double chased Redding before Green singled home two runs on the first pitch from reliever Sean Green. “I was trying to overthrow at times. I tricked them for a while there, got a couple of big outs after the Lowell home run,” Redding said. “But these guys, even with Ortiz not swinging the bat as hot as he’s capable of, these guys still take a lot of pitches and they still make you throw strikes and if you’re inconsistent in the zone, you’re going to pay for it, especially in this ball park. — The Associated Press

Red Sox 12, Mets 5 New York AB Dan.Murphy 1b 4 Pagan rf 2 Beltran dh 4 Sheffield lf 3 D.Wright 3b 4 Reed cf 4 R.Castro c 4 R.Martinez ss 3 a-Tatis ph-ss 1 Castillo 2b 4 Totals 33

SO 1 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 6

Avg. .248 .286 .361 .263 .350 .311 .253 .087 .278 .273

Boston AB R H BI BB SO Ellsbury cf 4 1 1 0 1 0 Pedroia 2b 2 2 1 1 3 0 D.Ortiz dh 5 0 0 0 0 2 Youkilis 1b-3b 4 2 1 3 1 1 Bay lf 4 1 1 1 1 0 J.Drew rf 5 2 4 1 0 1 Lowell 3b 5 2 3 3 0 1 1-J.Bailey pr-1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kottaras c 5 1 3 1 0 1 N.Green ss 5 1 2 2 0 1 Totals 39 12 16 12 6 7

Avg. .297 .329 .195 .383 .286 .271 .291 .190 .200 .309

New York Boston

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

H 1 0 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 8

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

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

013 010 000 — 5 8 0 030 032 40x — 12 16 0

a-grounded out for R.Martinez in the 8th. 1-ran for Lowell in the 8th. LOB: New York 6, Boston 9. 2B: R.Castro (4), Ellsbury (9), J.Drew 2 (11), Lowell (15), Kottaras 2 (4). HR: R.Castro (3), off Wakefield; Lowell (8), off Redding; Youkilis (7), off Stokes. RBIs: Beltran (30), Sheffield (11), D.Wright (30), Reed (3), R.Castro (13), Pedroia (15), Youkilis 3 (26), Bay (45), J.Drew (21), Lowell 3 (32), Kottaras (5), N.Green 2 (15). SB: Pagan (3). S: Pagan. Runners left in scoring position: New York 4 (Sheffield, R.Castro 2, Tatis); Boston 5 (D.Ortiz 2, Lowell 2, N.Green). DP: Boston 1 (Pedroia, N.Green, Youkilis). New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Redding L, 0-1 4 2⁄3 8 6 6 4 4 94 6.75 S.Green 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 1 7.36 Takahashi 2⁄3 0 1 1 1 1 14 3.86 Stokes 1 1⁄3 6 5 5 1 1 33 2.89 Feliciano 1 1 0 0 0 1 13 2.50 Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Wakefield W, 6-2 6 7 5 5 4 3 94 3.99 Delcarmen H, 2 2 1 0 0 0 2 28 0.86 Saito 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 3.38 Inherited runners-scored: S.Green 2-2, Stokes 1-1. Balk: Takahashi. Umpires: Home, Ed Rapuano; First, Chad Fairchild; Second, Paul Nauert; Third, Joe West. T: 2:57 (Rain delay: 0:36). A: 37,446 (37,373).

ATLANTA—Blurry vision couldn’t stop Brian McCann, and neither could Toronto’s defensive shift. McCann hit two homers, including a three-run shot in Atlanta’s seven-run seventh inning, and the Braves beat the Blue Jays 10-2 on Sunday to cap a three-game sweep. The Blue Jays were the first team that tried to stop McCann by placing three players on the right side of the infield. It may be a long time before McCann faces another shift. McCann had three hits and drove in four runs, leaving him 6-for-10 in the series. He is hitting .396 (19 for 48) in 14 games with his new glasses. “We can’t be satisfied with the sweep,” McCann said. “We’ve got to keep going.” McCann missed 13 games while on the disabled list from April 23 to May 8 with blurred vision, including a failed experiment with contact lenses. The score was 2-all before pinch-hitter Chipper Jones drove in the go-ahead run with a basesloaded single in the seventh. Jones missed the first two games of the series after hurting his right big toe on Thursday night. He didn’t start on Sunday but made good on his first pinch-hit appearance of the season. — The Associated Press

Braves 10, Blue Jays 2 Toronto AB R H Scutaro ss 4 0 2 Jo.McDonald ss 1 0 0 A.Hill 2b 5 0 2 Rios rf 4 0 1 V.Wells cf 4 2 2 Lind lf 4 0 0 Bautista 3b 3 0 1 Overbay 1b 3 0 1 R.Chavez c 4 0 1 Richmond p 2 0 0 Millar ph 1 0 0 Carlson p 0 0 0 Camp p 0 0 0 Frasor p 0 0 0 Inglett ph 1 0 0 League p 0 0 0 Totals 36 2 10

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

Avg. .276 .222 .350 .260 .262 .295 .304 .266 .242 .000 .286 ------.000 ---

Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO K.Johnson 2b 5 2 3 3 0 0 Kotchman 1b 3 1 0 0 1 0 G.Anderson lf 3 0 1 1 0 1 McCann c 4 2 3 4 0 0 Prado 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 Francoeur rf 4 1 1 0 0 2 D.Hernandez ss 4 2 2 0 0 0 Schafer cf 3 1 1 0 1 1 Jurrjens p 2 0 0 0 0 2 Moylan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 O’Flaherty p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bennett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 C.Jones ph 1 1 1 1 0 0 R.Soriano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Norton ph 1 0 0 1 0 0 Acosta p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 34 10 13 10 2 6

Avg. .252 .284 .256 .303 .267 .265 .250 .211 .105 .000 --.000 .322 --.115 ---

Toronto Atlanta

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

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

000 101 000 — 2 10 0 200 000 71x — 10 13 1

E: D.Hernandez (1). LOB: Toronto 11, Atlanta 3. 2B: V.Wells (12), Bautista (5), K.Johnson (6), Prado (8), Schafer (8). HR: K.Johnson (5), off Richmond; McCann (4), off Richmond; McCann (5), off Frasor. RBIs: Bautista (7), Overbay (22), K.Johnson 3 (15), G.Anderson (9), McCann 4 (17), C.Jones (16), Norton (3). SB: V.Wells 2 (8). CS: K.Johnson (2). SF: G.Anderson. Runners left in scoring position: Toronto 6 (R.Chavez, Rios, Millar, Bautista 2, V.Wells); Atlanta 3 (D.Hernandez 2, K.Johnson). DP: Toronto 1; Atlanta 2. Toronto Richmond Carlson Camp L, 0-2 Frasor League Atlanta Jurrjens Moylan O’Flaherty Bennett W, 2-1 R.Soriano Acosta

IP 5 1 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 IP 6 1⁄3 1⁄3 1⁄3 1 1

H 5 1 2 3 2 H 8 1 0 0 0 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 0 5 77 3.63 0 0 0 0 11 3.38 3 3 1 0 14 5.40 4 4 1 0 22 2.70 1 1 0 1 13 4.35 R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 2 3 102 2.07 0 0 1 1 20 5.17 0 0 0 1 5 2.25 0 0 0 0 3 2.29 0 0 0 1 10 1.37 0 0 0 1 20 0.00

Inherited runners-scored: Frasor 3-3, O’Flaherty 3-0, Bennett 3-0. IBB: off Frasor (Kotchman). HBP: by Moylan (Rios). Umpires: Home, Brian Gorman; First, C.B. Bucknor; Second, Mike Everitt; Third, Gerry Davis. T: 2:59. A: 23,971 (49,743).

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18

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE L.A. Angels 10, L.A. Dodgers 7

Hunter doesn’t slow down despite crash LOS ANGELES—The way Torii Hunter crashed into the fence catching Matt Kemp’s flyball in the fourth inning, it didn’t look like he would stay in the game. Not only did he keep playing, he made another good defensive play two innings later and also drove in three runs to help the Angels beat the Dodgers 10-7 on Sunday in the rubber game of the Freeway Series. “It’s just fun to watch him play,” teammate Robb Quinlan said. “I mean, we’re getting to the point now where we’re assuming that he’s going to catch everything because he’s done such a great job out there.” The eight-time Gold Glove winner, who has played in 202 consecutive games without making an error, had the wind knocked out of him and spent several anxious moments flat on his back in the warning track while trainers Ned Bergert and Rick Smith ran to his aid along with manager Mike Scioscia. “When we got out there, he still hadn’t caught his breath,” Scioscia said. “Once he did, he said: ‘I’m playing.’ Ned and Smitty checked him out, and I don’t think he was going to come out of the game at that time unless they tied him up and put him on a stretcher.” Hunter helped the Halos recover from a 4-0 deficit with an RBI single that triggered a three-run sixth. Juan Rivera followed that hit with a run-scoring single and Kendry Morales added a sacrifice fly to put the Angels ahead 5-4. “See how many gold gloves he has? He’s been doing it to people forever,” Kemp said. “He told me he was gonna do that, too. He said: ‘Don’t hit it to me.’ That’s my boy.” When Hunter returned to the dugout after his great grab, starting pitcher Matt Palmer stopped him and told him how much his efforts were appreciated. “I asked him if he was OK and then I said to him: ‘You know what? You’re an amazing guy. Not all Gold Glovers can do that kind of stuff.’ He’s one of the best players in baseball,” Palmer said. “I thought he was a great player before I knew him. Then once I started to get to know him and his personality, I told him he was by far my favorite player.” Hunter, who leads the Angels with 37 RBIs and 10 home runs, extended the margin to 7-4 with a bases-loaded two-run single in the seventh. But the two-time All-Star left the game in the bottom of the inning because of tightness in his right leg, and was replaced by Reggie Willits.

Seattle 5, San Francisco 4

Angels 10, Dodgers 7 Los Angeles (A) AB R Figgins 2b 4 2 Abreu rf 4 2 Hunter cf 4 1 J.Speier p 0 0 Matthews Jr. cf 0 1 J.Rivera lf 5 1 K.Morales 1b 4 0 Napoli c 5 0 E.Aybar ss 3 1 Quinlan 3b 5 2 Palmer p 2 0 Bulger p 0 0 a-Willits ph-cf 2 0 Oliver p 0 0 Fuentes p 0 0 Totals 38 10

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

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

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

Avg. .293 .303 .314 --.276 .292 .284 .293 .292 .242 .000 --.222 -----

Los Angeles (N) Pierre lf Leach p Troncoso p Martin c Hudson 2b Blake 3b-lf Loney 1b Kemp cf Hoffmann rf J.Castro ss c-Loretta ph-3b Billingsley p Wade p Ohman p b-Ethier ph Mota p d-Furcal ph-ss Totals

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

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

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

Avg. .388 --.000 .260 .342 .305 .282 .289 .333 .346 .333 .227 .000 .500 .256 .000 .238

Los Angeles (A) Los Angeles (N)

AB 4 0 0 5 4 5 4 5 4 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 38

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

BI 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7

002 003 203— 10 16 0 040 000 021— 7 12 1

a-struck out for Bulger in the 7th. b-struck out for Ohman in the 7th. c-was intentionally walked for J.Castro in the 8th. d-grounded into a fielder’s choice for Mota in the 8th. E: Blake (4). LOB: Los Angeles (A) 7, Los Angeles (N) 8. 2B: Figgins (7), Quinlan (3), Pierre (9), Hudson (16), Blake (9), Loney (9), Hoffmann (1). 3B: Abreu (2). HR: Hoffmann (1), off Palmer. RBIs: Figgins (12), Hunter 3 (37), J.Rivera 2 (16), K.Morales 2 (28), E.Aybar (11), Quinlan (1), Blake (28), Loney 2 (32), Hoffmann 4 (4). SB: Quinlan (1), Pierre 2 (9). SF: K.Morales, E.Aybar, Loney. Runners left in scoring position: Los Angeles (A) 3 (K.Morales, Willits, Quinlan); Los Angeles (N) 6 (Martin 2, Blake, Pierre 2, Kemp). DP: Los Angeles (N) 2 (Loney, Loney, J.Castro, Loney), (Hudson, Loney). GUS RUELAS / AP

Angels CF Torii Hunter hit the wall on this fourth-inning catch but played on. “Under different circumstances, Torii probably could have finished the game. But we’re not going to stretch him at this point,” Scioscia said. “Every day, this guy just seems to do something better than the day before. I’m sure tomorrow it’s going to be sore, so we’ll just evaluate him and see how he is.” Rookie Jason Bulger (2-1) earned the victory, retiring all four batters he faced after relieving Palmer with two outs in the fifth inning. Palmer gave up four runs and five hits after winning his first five starts. — The Associated Press

Los Angeles (A) IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Palmer 4 2⁄3 5 4 4 2 3 82 4.71 Bulger W, 2-1 1 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 2 19 5.74 J.Speier H, 3 1 1 0 0 0 2 15 5.51 Oliver H, 3 1 4 2 2 1 0 30 2.18 Fuentes 1 2 1 1 0 0 17 4.32 Los Angeles (N) IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Billingsley L, 6-2 6 9 5 4 1 6 108 2.82 Wade 2⁄3 3 2 2 1 1 30 6.14 Ohman 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 5 5.25 Mota 1 0 0 0 1 1 22 7.94 Leach 1⁄3 1 1 1 0 0 9 7.20 Troncoso 2⁄3 3 2 2 1 1 24 2.22 Inherited runners-scored: Bulger 2-0, Ohman 2-0, Troncoso 1-1. IBB: off Oliver (Loretta), off Wade (Abreu), off Troncoso (Matthews Jr.). PB: Martin. Umpires: Home, Laz Diaz; First, Eric Cooper; Second, Mike Reilly; Third, Chuck Meriwether. T: 3:48. A: 54,122 (56,000).

Beltre, Griffey provide pop SEATTLE—Adrian Beltre and Ken Griffey Jr. provided the power that’s been missing in the middle of the Seattle Mariners’ lineup. Beltre and Griffey homered, leading Felix Hernandez and the Mariners over the San Francisco Giants 5-4 Sunday. Beltre hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning off Barry Zito (1-5) to give the Mariners a 5-3 lead. Franklin Gutierrez walked and Ichiro Suzuki singled prior to Beltre’s second home run of the year. “I think it was a low cutter, slider-type,” Beltre said. “He hung it over the plate and I was able to make good contact. Safeco is tough, but I hit it good and I thought it had enough to go.” Griffey hit a two-run homer in the first. It was his 616th career homer and fifth of the season. Zito allowed five runs in 6 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, five walks and fanned five. “I didn’t really get in a groove today,” he said. “I had some fourpitch walks that were inexcusable losing focus like that. It came to a head, and Beltre hit the slider. I got back to challenging guys after that, but it was too late.” Beltre just wanted to try to score Gutierrez from third. “He got me in the third to ground into a double play,” Beltre said of Zito. “After that, I was trying to get a pitch to get a fly ball in the air so we could score a run and tie the game.” — The Associated Press

Mariners 5, Giants 4 San Francisco AB R Rowand cf 5 0 Renteria ss 4 0 Winn rf 4 0 B.Molina dh 4 0 F.Lewis lf 4 2 Ishikawa 1b 3 1 Uribe 3b 4 0 Burriss 2b 4 0 Whiteside c 3 1 a-Schierholtz ph 1 0 Totals 36 4

H 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 8

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

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

SO 3 0 2 2 0 2 2 1 0 0 12

Avg. .277 .241 .278 .267 .277 .219 .283 .257 .333 .226

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO I.Suzuki rf 4 1 2 0 0 0 Y.Betancourt ss 1 1 0 0 2 0 Beltre 3b 4 1 1 3 0 0 Griffey Jr. dh 3 1 1 2 1 1 Branyan 1b 4 0 0 0 0 3 Jo.Lopez 2b 2 0 1 0 1 0 Balentien lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 Ro.Johnson c 3 0 0 0 0 0 F.Gutierrez cf 2 1 0 0 1 0 Totals 26 5 5 5 5 6

Avg. .319 .264 .215 .239 .305 .226 .244 .197 .258

San Francisco 000 030 010 — Seattle 200 030 00x —

4 8 0 5 5 1

a-fouled out for Whiteside in the 9th. E: Branyan (3). LOB: San Francisco 6, Seattle 3. 2B: Jo.Lopez (7). HR: F.Lewis (3), off F.Hernandez; Griffey Jr. (5), off Zito; Beltre (3), off Zito. RBIs: Rowand (19), Renteria (18), F.Lewis (7), Whiteside (1), Beltre 3 (19), Griffey Jr. 2 (12). SB: Burriss (11). S: Y.Betancourt. Runners left in scoring position: San Francisco 3 (Winn, Renteria, Rowand); Seattle 2 (F.Gutierrez, Ro.Johnson). GIDP: Y.Betancourt, Beltre. DP: San Francisco 2 (Renteria, Burriss, Ishikawa), (Ishikawa, Renteria, Ishikawa). San Francisco Zito L, 1-5 Valdez Seattle F.Hernandez W, 5-3 Aardsma S, 6-6

IP 6 1⁄3 1 2⁄3 IP 8 1

H 5 0 H 7 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 5 5 5 5 111 4.02 0 0 0 1 9 3.29 R ER BB SO NP ERA 4 1 1 10 112 3.76 0 0 0 2 14 1.25

Inherited runners-scored: Valdez 1-0. WP: F.Hernandez. Balk: Zito. Umpires: Home, Derryl Cousins; First, Jim Joyce; Second, Brian Runge; Third, Bill Miller. T: 2:15. A: 36,616 (47,878).

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE Florida 5, Tampa Bay 4, 11 innings

‘5-2 defense’ doesn’t work on Gload MIAMI—With one out and the bases loaded in the 11th inning, Florida’s Ross Gload waited to bat while the Tampa Bay Rays set their defense. Right fielder Ben Zobrist trotted in to grab a smaller glove, then took a spot near second base as a fifth infielder. Left fielder Carl Crawford moved to right field, and center field B.J. Upton went to left. “You can’t overanalyze it, because it’s too crazy,” Gload said. The alignment failed to foil Gload. He lined a two-strike sinker through the right side of the infield for a game-winning single, and the Marlins snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Tampa Bay 5-4. “The 5-2 defense—I’m going to recommend that for the New York Jets,” Gload said. “You’re just trying to hit the ball hard. If I could control where the ball went, I would be a lot better than I am.” The Rays played with five infielders at the end after losing their second baseman in the eighth. Akinori Iwamura hurt his left knee when hit while trying to turn a double play and was carted off the field. He was to fly back to St. Petersburg, Fla., to undergo an MRI. With the score 4-all, Jorge Cantu led off Florida’s 11th with a pinch-hit single against Lance Cormier (0-1). Jeremy Hermida singled off Brian Shouse to put runners at the corners with one out, and Hanley Ramirez was intentionally walked. Gload followed with his hit. “We were just trying to get a groundball and get a double play,” Shouse said. “That was the whole goal. It didn’t work out.” With Gload’s single, Florida finished 5 for 12 with runners in scoring position. Tampa Bay went 1 for 11. The Marlins had lost eight in a row at

Marlins 5, Rays 4, 11 innings Tampa Bay AB R H BI B.Upton cf 6 1 1 0 Crawford lf 4 1 1 1 Longoria 3b 5 0 2 1 C.Pena 1b 4 0 0 0 Zobrist rf 5 0 0 0 Bartlett ss 4 1 1 1 Iwamura 2b 4 1 3 0 Howell p 0 0 0 0 W.Aybar ph-2b 1 0 0 0 Navarro c 4 0 1 0 J.Shields p 3 0 0 0 Balfour p 0 0 0 0 J.Nelson p 0 0 0 0 Wheeler p 0 0 0 0 Brignac ph-2b 2 0 0 0 Cormier p 0 0 0 0 Shouse p 0 0 0 0 Totals 42 4 9 3

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

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

Florida Bonifacio 3b Hermida rf Ha.Ramirez ss Gload 1b Uggla 2b Jo.Baker c C.Ross cf Coghlan lf Jo.Johnson p Nunez p Helms ph Lindstrom p Calero p Meyer p Sanches p Cantu ph Hayes pr Totals

BB 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

SO Avg. 2 .258 2 .271 1 .319 2 .279 0 .205 0 .284 1 .239 1 .191 1 .091 0 --0 .212 0 --0 --0 .000 0 --0 .276 0 1.000 10

AB 6 5 5 6 2 4 5 5 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 43

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

H 1 3 1 3 0 3 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 17

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

Avg. .195 .317 .333 .238 .277 .373 .310 --.278 .212 .000 ------.250 -----

Tampa Bay 001 011 010 00 —4 9 1 Florida 030 001 000 01 —5 17 0 E: Crawford (2). LOB: Tampa Bay 11, Florida 13. 2B: Crawford (11), Longoria (20), Iwamura (13), Gload (1), C.Ross (11). 3B: B.Upton (1). HR: Bartlett (7), off Nunez; Jo.Baker (6), off J.Shields. RBIs: Crawford (21), Longoria (49), Bartlett (30), Gload (7), Jo.Baker 2 (19), C.Ross (26), Jo.Johnson (2). SB: Crawford 2 (28), Bartlett (14), Uggla (1). S: Uggla. Runners left in scoring position: Tampa Bay 6; Florida 5. DP: Tampa Bay 2.

LYNNE SLADKY / AP

Tampa Bay 2B Akinori Iwamura (1) was carted off after this collision with Florida’s Chris Coghlan in the eighth. home to the Rays, and were outscored 25-5 in the first two games of the series. Florida improved to 9-24 since an 11-1 start. “We needed this,” said Josh Johnson, who pitched seven innings and left with a 4-3 lead. “It just takes one win, and hopefully we can turn it around and get that feeling of winning again. We have a great team. We know we’re a lot better than we’ve been playing.”

Florida nearly let another game slip away, squandering leads of 3-0 and 4-3. John Baker had three of the Marlins’ 17 hits, including a home run, and Gload and Chris Coghlan each had three hits. The game was delayed six minutes in the eighth while trainers tended to Iwamura, who was hurt when Coghlan slid into him. — The Associated Press

Tampa Bay J.Shields Balfour J.Nelson Wheeler Howell Cormier L, 0-1 Shouse Florida Jo.Johnson Nunez BS, 2-2 Lindstrom Calero Meyer Sanches W, 1-0

IP 6 2⁄3 1⁄3 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 1 1⁄3 0 IP 7 1 2⁄3 1⁄3 1 1

H 12 0 2 0 0 1 2 H 6 2 0 0 1 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 4 4 2 7 102 3.63 0 0 0 0 3 4.95 0 0 0 1 10 5.50 0 0 0 0 3 4.86 0 0 0 1 9 2.86 1 1 2 1 24 2.30 0 0 1 0 17 3.77 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 3 7 114 2.67 1 1 0 1 18 3.63 0 0 3 0 26 6.50 0 0 0 0 3 2.42 0 0 0 1 16 2.79 0 0 0 0 11 0.00

Inherited runners-scored: Balfour 2-0, Wheeler 2-0, Shouse 1-1, Calero 3-0. IBB: off Shouse (Ha.Ramirez), off Lindstrom (Longoria). WP: Jo.Johnson 2. Umpires: Home, Tim Tschida; First, Bob Davidson; Second, Jeff Nelson; Third, Mark Carlson. T: 3:51. A: 12,839 (38,560).

Washington 8, Baltimore 5

Dunn’s two homers carry Nats WASHINGTON—Adam Dunn found the perfect way to foil the lefty-lefty matchup when the Orioles summoned a southpaw to face him. He hit a drive into the Baltimore bullpen. Dunn launched two home runs, including a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning, for a career-high six RBIs and the Washington Nationals rallied for an 8-5 victory over the Orioles on Sunday. “(Dunn) showed today the difference that he makes in our lineup and how much we needed him over here,” Nationals manager Manny Acta said. With Washington trailing 5-4, pinch-hitter Anderson Hernandez led off the seventh with a single against Chris Ray (0-1). Willie Harris singled, Cristian Guzman sacrificed and Ryan Zimmerman was intentionally walked to load the bases. Jamie Walker relieved, and Dunn fouled off a 2-2 slider before hitting a shot to left field for his 10th career grand slam. It was his 14th home run this season. “I was just trying to not pull off and hit into a double play,” Dunn said. “In that situation, with a one-run lead and with as many ground balls as I’ve been hitting, I think they were probably playing the percentages. I can see why they do it, but it’s kind of a pride deal and I don’t like it.” — The Associated Press

Nationals 8, Orioles 5 Baltimore AB R B.Roberts 2b 4 2 Ad.Jones cf 4 2 Markakis rf 5 0 A.Huff 1b 4 0 Wigginton 3b 4 0 Reimold lf 3 0 Walker p 0 0 Hendrickson p 0 0 Moeller c 4 0 Andino ss 3 0 Bergesen p 3 1 C.Ray p 0 0 Pie lf 1 0 Totals 35 5

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

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

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

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

Avg. .291 .359 .310 .266 .215 .256 ----.208 .194 .333 --.190

Washington AB W.Harris cf 4 C.Guzman ss 3 Zimmerman 3b 3 Dunn 1b 4 Beimel p 0 Hanrahan p 0 Willingham lf 4 Belliard 2b-1b 4 Kearns rf 4 Nieves c 4 Martis p 2 Villone p 0 a-A.Hernandez ph-2b 2 Totals 34

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

BI 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 8

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

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

Avg. .279 .349 .348 .284 ----.215 .172 .223 .283 .278 --.284

R 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 8

Baltimore 002 010 200 — Washington 000 022 40x —

5 7 1 8 12 1

a-singled for Villone in the 7th. E: Ad.Jones (4), C.Guzman (6). LOB: Baltimore 8, Washington 5. 2B: A.Huff (12), Moeller (3), W.Harris (4), Kearns (6), Nieves (2). 3B: Markakis (1). HR: Ad.Jones (10), off Martis; Dunn (13), off Bergesen; Dunn (14), off Walker. RBIs: Ad.Jones 2 (32), Markakis 2 (38), A.Huff (36), Dunn 6 (39), Nieves (5), Martis (2). SB: Ad.Jones (4). S: C.Guzman. Runners left in scoring position: Baltimore 5; Washington 2. DP: Baltimore 1. Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Bergesen 5 2⁄3 8 4 4 0 2 89 5.49 C.Ray L, 0-1 2⁄3 2 3 3 1 0 14 10.13 Walker BS, 1-1 2-3 1 1 1 0 0 10 4.50 Hendrickson 1 1 0 0 0 2 20 5.56 Washington IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Martis 6 7 5 5 2 2 89 4.86 Villone W, 2-0 1 0 0 0 2 0 19 0.00 Beimel H, 7 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 5.00 Hanrahan S, 5-8 1 0 0 0 0 2 13 5.91 Martis pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: C.Ray 1-0, Walker 3-3. IBB: off C.Ray (Zimmerman), off Martis (Andino). HBP: by Bergesen (W.Harris), by Martis (Ad.Jones). Umpires: Home, Jim Reynolds; First, Angel Hernandez; Second, Bill Welke; Third, Tim Welke. T: 2:36. A: 30,880 (41,888).

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20

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE Kansas City 3, St. Louis 2

Minnesota 6, Milwaukee 3

Bannister helps end Cardinals’ win streak

Adjustment works for Baker

ST. LOUIS—The St. Louis Cardinals’ stingy pitching run is over and so is their five-game winning streak. Not that the Kansas City Royals exactly clobbered Joel Pineiro. Brian Bannister worked six strong innings and drove in a run and pinch-hitter Mike Jacobs’ RBI single snapped a seventh-inning tie, helping the Royals avoid a three-game sweep in the I-70 interleague series with a 3-2 victory on Sunday. “Their staff has obviously been on a roll, the same way we were a couple weeks ago,” Bannister said. “I made pitches when I had to, kept the ball on the ground and then was able to get around (Albert) Pujols.” Pujols was walked intentionally twice on Sunday, once with two out and none on in the seventh, and drew seven walks in the series. The Royals ended a 24-inning scoreless drought and finally got to a staff that shut them out 5-0 each of the first two games. Kansas City, which has only two pinch-hit RBIs all season, has won only five of its last 15 games. Manager Trey Hillman said a first-inning run “took the monkey off our back, no doubt.” “We still only scored a few more,” Hillman added, “but it was enough.” The Cardinals entered the finale with a five-game winning streak behind stingy starters who allowed only one run in 36 2/3 innings. Even with Sunday’s loss they’ve allowed five runs in six games for the first time since Sept. 14-18, 1982. The run began with Pineiro’s three-hit shutout of the Cubs on Tuesday and ended when Pineiro (5-4) allowed three runs in seven innings on Sunday to offset a rare RBI single from the .090-hitting pitcher. Pineiro worked his fourth straight game without a walk and emphasized a sinker that produced 14 groundball outs, but fell to 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA in four starts at home this season. “I hung a changeup to Jacobs and that was the ballgame to me,” Pineiro said. “Everything else was fine. Everything was working.” Bannister’s hit was not nearly as surprising as Pineiro’s, given he’s 7 for 21 for his career with three RBIs after his hit in the fifth made it 2-0. Pineiro improved to 10 for 110 with seven RBIs after his full-count single lofted just out of the reach of shortstop Willie Bloomquist and tied it at 2 in the sixth. The Royals’ scoring drought ended in the first on two-out hits by Billy Butler and Jose Guillen, and they went ahead 2-0 on Bannister’s RBI single in the fifth.

Royals 3, Cardinals 2 Kansas City AB R Crisp cf 4 0 DeJesus lf 4 0 Butler 1b 4 1 J.Guillen rf 4 0 J.Cruz p 0 0 Teahen 3b 4 0 Callaspo 2b 4 0 Olivo c 4 1 Bloomquist ss 4 1 Bannister p 2 0 a-Jacobs ph 1 0 1-Hulett pr 0 0 Ho.Ramirez p 0 0 Bale p 0 0 Maier rf 0 0 Totals 35 3

H 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 8

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

BB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

SO 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5

Avg. .234 .236 .286 .290 --.264 .307 .234 .309 .500 .268 ------.294

St. Louis Schumaker 2b Rasmus cf Pujols 1b Duncan lf Ankiel rf Y.Molina c Thurston 3b b-K.Greene ph-ss Pineiro p Motte p c-Stavinoha ph McClellan p Barden ss-3b Totals

H 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 8

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

BB 0 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

SO 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 6

Avg. .301 .233 .327 .257 .247 .284 .231 .208 .158 --.240 .000 .263

AB 5 4 2 4 4 4 2 1 3 0 1 0 4 34

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

Kansas City 100 010 100 — St. Louis 000 002 000 —

TOM GANNAM / AP

Kansas City P Brian Bannister picked up his fourth win and his first RBI. Bannister (4-1) allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings and the Cardinals totaled one hit off three relievers with Juan Cruz working the ninth for his second save in four chances and first since April 30. The Royals are 9 for 16 in save chances, but only 2 for 9 without injured closer Joakim Soria, and this was first overall since May 7 against the Mariners. “I think it gave everybody a sigh of relief down there,” Hillman said. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa allowed Pineiro to hit with two on and two out in the sixth because of a low pitch count and Pineiro surprised with his RBI single, but the Royals knocked him out with a two-out rally in the seventh. — The Associated Press

3 8 0 2 8 0

a-singled for Bannister in the 7th. b-struck out for Thurston in the 8th. c-grounded out for Motte in the 8th. 1-ran for Jacobs in the 7th. LOB: Kansas City 5, St. Louis 11. 2B: Butler (14), J.Guillen (5), Olivo (4), Bloomquist (2), Rasmus (7), Ankiel (7). RBIs: J.Guillen (20), Bannister (1), Jacobs (25), Y.Molina (17), Pineiro (1). S: Rasmus. Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 3 (Teahen, Callaspo, DeJesus); St. Louis 5 (Ankiel 2, Duncan 2, Barden). Kansas City Bannister W, 4-1 Ho.Ramirez H, 2 Bale H, 1 J.Cruz S, 2-4 St. Louis Pineiro L, 5-4 Motte McClellan

IP 6 2⁄3 1 1⁄3 1 IP 7 1 1

H 7 0 0 1 H 8 0 0

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

NP ERA 99 2.79 17 7.36 13 0.00 15 3.15 NP ERA 92 3.52 11 3.50 9 2.11

Inherited runners-scored: Bale 2-0. IBB: off J.Cruz (Pujols), off Ho.Ramirez (Pujols), off Bannister (Thurston). WP: Ho.Ramirez. Umpires: Home, Todd Tichenor; First, Jerry Layne; Second, Tony Randazzo; Third, Chris Guccione. T: 2:32. A: 44,213 (43,975).

MINNEAPOLIS—A slight change in mechanics allowed Scott Baker to stand taller in more ways than one. Baker pitched into the ninth inning, Justin Morneau hit a grand slam, and the Minnesota Twins completed a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers with a 6-3 victory Sunday night. Baker (2-5) allowed seven hits and struck out six in 8 1/3 innings for his first win in three starts since May 8. He worked closely with pitching coach Rick Anderson since allowing four earned runs in five innings last Tuesday in Chicago. “We worked on mechanical adjustments so that I could be more consistent down,” Baker said. “Sometimes it’s like a light switch—it just clicks sometimes, the ball’s coming good out of the hand and everything’s down. It’s really not part of the thought process anymore.” Expected to be the ace of the Twins’ young staff, Baker had allowed nine earned runs and 12 hits in his previous two starts. He allowed at least five earned runs in four of his previous seven starts, and at least four earned runs in six of seven. “It’s something I’ve always kind of had to battle, kind of had to fight to stay consistent down in the zone. (Anderson) knows us really well and sees when we need to make the adjustment.” — The Associated Press

Twins 6, Brewers 3 Milwaukee AB Counsell ss 4 McGehee 2b 4 Braun lf 4 Fielder 1b 4 M.Cameron cf 4 Hart rf 4 Gamel dh 3 Mi.Rivera c 3 Hall 3b 3 Totals 33

R 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3

H 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 7

BI 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 3

BB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

SO 0 1 0 0 2 3 0 1 1 8

Avg. .314 .300 .333 .270 .286 .245 .250 .333 .224

Minnesota Gomez cf Mauer c Morneau dh Cuddyer rf Crede 3b Tolbert 2b Buscher 1b B.Harris 2b-3b Delm.Young lf Punto ss Totals

R 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6

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

BI 0 1 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6

BB 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 5

SO 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 6

Avg. .224 .438 .343 .287 .240 .193 .200 .255 .264 .186

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

Milwaukee 000 100 002 — Minnesota 100 100 40x —

3 7 0 6 6 0

LOB: Milwaukee 3, Minnesota 5. 2B: Hart (11). HR: M.Cameron (9), off S.Baker; Fielder (10), off S.Baker; Mauer (10), off Bush; Crede (8), off Bush; Morneau (13), off Stetter. RBIs: Fielder 2 (42), M.Cameron (22), Mauer (29), Morneau 4 (40), Crede (21). Runners left in scoring position: Milwaukee 1 (Gamel); Minnesota 1 (Delm.Young). GIDP: Fielder, Cuddyer, B.Harris. DP: Milwaukee 2 (Counsell, McGehee, Fielder), (Counsell, McGehee, Fielder); Minnesota 1 (Buscher, Punto, Buscher). Milwaukee Bush L, 3-1 Stetter Villanueva DiFelice Minnesota S.Baker W, 2-5 Nathan

IP 6 2⁄3 0 2⁄3 2⁄3 IP 8 1⁄3 2⁄3

H 5 1 0 0 H 7 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 4 4 4 4 116 3.92 2 2 0 0 5 4.15 0 0 1 1 13 4.15 0 0 0 1 8 1.31 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 0 6 106 6.32 0 0 0 2 9 2.76

Stetter pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: Stetter 2-2. HBP: by Bush (Crede), by Stetter (Mauer). Umpires: Home, Adrian Johnson; First, Dan Iassogna; Second, Sam Holbrook; Third, Charlie Reliford. T: 2:49. A: 38,959 (46,632).

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Texas 5, Houston 0

San Diego 7, Chicago Cubs 2

McCarthy answers critics with 124 pitches

Padres make it nine straight

HOUSTON—Brandon McCarthy dealt with injuries his first two seasons with the Texas Rangers. He heard whispers this year that he lacked the strength to go into the late innings. After Sunday, that supposition should be put to rest. McCarthy scattered nine hits in his first career complete game and the Rangers beat the Houston Astros 5-0 for a sweep. “They talk about his stamina,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “I think that question’s finally answered.” Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler and Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered as the A.L. West leaders beat Houston for the third straight day and moved nine games above .500. The Astros lost their fourth in a row. McCarthy (4-2) struck out six and walked one while outpitching Mike Hampton (2-4). McCarthy had pitched eight innings in a game in 2005, but had never gone the distance. He worked around a one-out single in the ninth, and needed seven pitches to strike out Michael Bourn to end it. McCarthy threw a career-most 124 pitches after throwing 118 in his last start. “It’s a confidence thing more than anything else,” McCarthy said. “It’s just knowing I can get through that deep in a game and still make quality pitches.” After giving up a pair of singles in the third, McCarthy retired Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee to end the inning. Miguel Tejada, who had four hits, doubled to put runners on second and third in the fifth before McCarthy retired Berkman to escape. Washington said he was tempted to take McCarthy out before the ninth, but he was pitching so well he just couldn’t. “I didn’t see any fatigue,” Washington said. “You know, people change. This spring we wanted him to get in shape and show some stamina and that’s what he’s done.” Saltalamacchia was impressed with McCarthy’s work. “He threw all of his pitches and got ahead of hitters,” the Texas catcher said. “That’s the McCarthy I know. Before he was trying to make his pitches go to a certain place, but I told him: ‘You just got to worry about attacking the hitters,’ and he did that today.” Hampton, who has been bothered by a cut on his left thumb, allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings. “No, it was not the finger,” Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. “The finger was doing fine. He’s not consistent in the strike zone like he needs to be.”

Rangers 5, Astros 0 Texas AB R Kinsler 2b 5 1 M.Young 3b 4 1 Hamilton cf 4 2 N.Cruz rf 5 0 Byrd lf 3 0 C.Davis 1b 4 0 Saltalamacchia c 4 1 Andrus ss 3 0 McCarthy p 4 0 Totals 36 5

H 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 0 11

BI 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 5

BB 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3

SO 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

Avg. .284 .343 .257 .288 .290 .204 .252 .291 .000

Houston Bourn cf Tejada ss Berkman 1b Ca.Lee lf Pence rf Blum 3b Maysonet 3b K.Matsui 2b Quintero c Hampton p a-Michaels ph R.Ortiz p b-Erstad ph Totals

H 0 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 9

BI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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

SO 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 6

Avg. .282 .345 .225 .317 .348 .266 .000 .224 .190 .375 .188 .200 .152

Texas Houston

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

R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

103 100 000 — 000 000 000 —

5 11 0 0 9 0

a-struck out for Hampton in the 5th. b-popped out for R.Ortiz in the 9th. LOB: Texas 8, Houston 10. 2B: M.Young (16), Hamilton (3), Byrd (15), Andrus (4), Tejada (15). HR: Hamilton (6), off Hampton; Kinsler (12), off Hampton; Saltalamacchia (5), off Hampton. RBIs: Kinsler (33), Hamilton (20), N.Cruz (31), Byrd (19), Saltalamacchia (19). SB: N.Cruz (7), Tejada (2). CS: N.Cruz (1). SF: Byrd. Runners left in scoring position: Texas 5 (C.Davis 2, Byrd, McCarthy 2); Houston 7 (Quintero 2, Ca.Lee 2, Berkman 2, Bourn). DAVE EINSEL / AP

P Brandon McCarthy improved his record to 4-2 with a complete-game victory that gave Texas a series sweep over in-state rival Houston. Hamilton’s solo home run to the Crawford Boxes in left field put Texas up 1-0 in the first. Kinsler opened the third inning with a homer, starting a three-run burst. Nelson Cruz had an RBI single and Marlon Byrd had a sacrifice fly. Saltalamacchia pushed the lead to 5-0 with a solo home run in the fourth inning. Russ Ortiz allowed three hits and struck out one in four shutout innings for Houston. — The Associated Press

Texas McCarthy W, 4-2 Houston Hampton L, 2-4 R.Ortiz

IP 9 IP 5 4

H 9 H 8 3

R ER BB SO NP ERA 0 0 1 6 124 4.67 R ER BB SO NP ERA 5 5 1 0 75 5.63 0 0 2 1 75 4.88

Umpires: Home, Fieldin Culbreth; First, Gary Cederstrom; Second, Jim Wolf; Third, Brian O’Nora. T: 2:37. A: 36,749 (40,976).

SAN DIEGO—Petco Park has never looked better to the San Diego Padres. The Padres capped the first 9-0 homestand in franchise history on Sunday with a 7-2 win over the punchless Chicago Cubs that included small ball and large ball at their spacious downtown ballpark. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a three-run home run and finished with four RBIs, Chris Young pitched well and added a two-run single, and the Padres threw in a suicide squeeze bunt for good measure. San Diego’s nine-game winning streak is the longest in the NL this season and the longest active one in the majors. Even so, it merely pulled the Padres back to .500. They also swept the Reds and Giants on this homestand. The homestand came after a 0-6 road trip, which included three losses to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “This team’s got some character to it,” Young said. “There’s some fight in the guys. We certainly weren’t going to hang our heads after that last road trip. But now we’ve got to continue it. It’s a long season. There’s still a lot of baseball to play.” Young retired the first 14 batters before Mike Fontenot singled to left-center with two outs in the fifth. — The Associated Press

Padres 7, Cubs 2 Chicago AB A.Soriano lf 4 Theriot ss 4 Hoffpauir 1b 4 Bradley rf 4 Re.Johnson cf 3 Fontenot 2b 3 Soto c 3 Scales 3b 3 Lilly p 1 Heilman p 0 b-Fukudome ph 1 Cotts p 0 Totals 30

SO 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 5

Avg. .257 .263 .280 .188 .237 .208 .202 .265 .105 --.308 ---

San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Eckstein 2b 2 0 0 1 0 1 Hairston cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 Ad.Gonzalez 1b 3 2 1 0 1 1 Kouzmanoff 3b 4 1 2 4 0 0 Hundley c 4 0 0 0 0 2 Headley lf 4 1 1 0 0 2 Macias rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 Jo.Wilson ss 3 1 0 0 1 0 C.Young p 2 0 2 2 0 0 a-E.Gonzalez ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 Gregerson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 G.Burke p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 30 7 9 7 3 7

Avg. .226 .322 .282 .236 .250 .229 .333 .167 .333 .175 -----

Chicago San Diego

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

H 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4

BI 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

BB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

000 000 200 — 000 031 30x —

2 4 1 7 9 0

a-doubled for C.Young in the 7th. b-grounded out for Heilman in the 8th. E: Lilly (3). LOB: Chicago 2, San Diego 4. 2B: Ad.Gonzalez (4), Kouzmanoff (7), Macias (3), E.Gonzalez (2). HR: Re.Johnson (1), off C.Young; Kouzmanoff (4), off Heilman. RBIs: Re.Johnson 2 (8), Eckstein (13), Kouzmanoff 4 (16), C.Young 2 (2). SB: Fontenot (2), Headley (6). S: Lilly, Eckstein 2. Runners left in scoring position: Chicago 2 (Soto, Theriot); San Diego 2 (Hairston, Jo.Wilson). GIDP: Hairston, Ad.Gonzalez. DP: Chicago 2 (Fontenot, Theriot, Hoffpauir), (Theriot, Fontenot, Hoffpauir). Chicago Lilly L, 5-4 Heilman Cotts San Diego C.Young W, 4-2 Gregerson G.Burke

IP 6 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 IP 7 1 1

H 8 1 0 H 4 0 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 5 5 2 4 95 3.77 2 2 1 2 19 5.30 0 0 0 1 12 5.40 R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 0 4 101 4.76 0 0 0 1 11 3.76 0 0 0 0 6 0.00

Inherited runners-scored: Heilman 1-1. IBB: off Lilly (Jo.Wilson), off Heilman (Ad.Gonzalez). Umpires: Home, Hunter Wendelstedt; First, Brian Knight; Second, Dana DeMuth; Third, Doug Eddings. T: 2:18. A: 39,593 (42,691).

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE Cincinnati 4, Cleveland 3, 11 innings

Light-hitting Gonzalez fills in nicely CINCINNATI—Minus their two biggest bats, the Cincinnati Reds counted on an eighthplace hitter who was barely at .200. Alex Gonzalez delivered. Gonzalez doubled home the winning run with one out in the 11th inning and the Reds defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-3 to win the all-Ohio series. The Reds won after first baseman Joey Votto was scratched from the lineup with a recurrence of the dizziness that forced him to miss 10 starts earlier this month. They also were missing second baseman Brandon Phillips, who had an N.L.-leading 27 RBIs in May before breaking his thumb Saturday night. “Guys have to pull together during tough times,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Things will get going our way soon.” The Reds took two of three. Carlos Fisher (1-0), Cincinnati’s fifth pitcher, pitched a scoreless 11th to get the win in his major league debut. Ramon Hernandez led off the Reds’ 11th with a single against Luis Vizcaino (1-2), and pinch-runner Paul Janish moved up on Adam Rosales’ sacrifice. Gonzalez followed by lining a 3-2 pitch over the head of center fielder Grady Sizemore for his third RBI of the game. “They kept pitching me away, away, away,” Gonzalez said. “They weren’t going to pitch me inside. It was a slider, middle away.” Gonzalez, who missed nine games earlier this month with a strained muscle in his left side, extended his hitting streak to five games and boosting his batting average from .206 to .225. “We knew (Gonzalez) was better than he’d been doing,” Baker said. “It was a matter of him getting some reps. Other

Reds 4, Indians 3, 11 innings Cleveland AB R H BI BB A.Cabrera ss 5 0 1 0 0 Sizemore cf 4 1 2 1 0 V.Martinez 1b 4 0 0 0 1 Choo rf 5 0 2 0 0 DeRosa 3b 4 0 0 0 0 B.Francisco lf 5 0 0 0 0 Shoppach c 2 1 0 0 2 Valbuena 2b 5 1 2 1 0 Cl.Lee p 1 0 0 0 1 a-J.Carroll ph 1 0 0 0 0 Herges p 0 0 0 0 0 c-Dellucci ph 1 0 1 0 0 R.Betancourt p 0 0 0 0 0 e-Jh.Peralta ph 0 0 0 0 1 Vizcaino p 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 37 3 8 2 5

Avg. .316 .221 .371 .306 .254 .238 .219 .211 .000 .316 --.275 --.269 ---

Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Taveras cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 Hairston Jr. 2b 5 1 1 1 0 1 Bruce rf 5 0 0 0 0 2 Gomes lf 5 1 1 0 0 2 Fisher p 0 0 0 0 0 0 R.Hernandez 1b 5 1 3 0 0 1 1-Janish pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 A.Rosales 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 Ale.Gonzalez ss 5 0 3 3 0 0 Hanigan c 3 0 0 0 1 0 Cueto p 2 0 0 0 0 0 b-L.Nix ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Weathers p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 d-Votto ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 Rhodes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dickerson lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 40 4 10 4 2 8

Avg. .277 .252 .228 .300 --.291 .289 .260 .225 .309 .158 .276 ----.371 --.237

Cleveland Cincinnati TOM UHLMAN / AP

Cleveland C Kelly Shoppach, bottom, holds onto the ball to tag out Cincinnati’s Adam Rosales in the fourth. people were down on him, but we weren’t. He’s just now approaching 100 at-bats— and a lot of consecutive at bats.” Cleveland was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, which didn’t escape Cleveland manager Eric Wedge’s notice. “The bullpen’s done a good job lately,” Wedge said. “The difference in this game was not getting the big hit.” Down 3-1, the Indians tied it in the seventh on an unusual play. Sizemore hit an RBI triple, and tried to score on the play when the relay throw got through Rosales at third base. Left fielder Jonny Gomes ran in, retrieved the ball near the dugout and threw home to get Sizemore at the plate. Third base umpire Rob Drake,

however, ruled that Rosales obstructed Sizemore on the way home and awarded the tying run to the Indians. Rosales was charged with an error. “The umpire didn’t say a word to me,” Rosales said. “I try not to talk to umpires. I didn’t feel him. Jonny (Gomes) made an outstanding play. I don’t see how you can take it away, but it’s over. We won.” Jerry Hairston Jr. put the Reds ahead 1-0 in the first, connecting off Cliff Lee for his fifth homer of the season. Cleveland tied it with two outs in the fourth. Johnny Cueto hit Kelly Shoppach with a two-strike pitch, and Luis Valbuena hit an RBI double. — The Associated Press

Colorado 3, Detroit 1 SO 0 2 1 2 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12

000 100 200 00 —3 8 1 100 101 000 01 —4 10 1

One out when winning run scored. a-lined out for Cl.Lee in the 7th. b-grounded out for Cueto in the 7th. c-singled for Herges in the 9th. d-walked for Cordero in the 9th. e-walked for R.Betancourt in the 11th. 1-ran for R.Hernandez in the 11th. E: DeRosa (7), A.Rosales (2). LOB: Cleveland 10, Cincinnati 8. 2B: Valbuena 2 (6), A.Rosales (4), Ale.Gonzalez (5). 3B: Sizemore (1). HR: Hairston Jr. (5), off Cl.Lee. RBIs: Sizemore (28), Valbuena (1), Hairston Jr. (11), Ale.Gonzalez 3 (15). S: A.Cabrera, DeRosa, A.Rosales. Runners left in scoring position: Cleveland 6 (DeRosa, Choo, A.Cabrera 2, Valbuena, V.Martinez); Cincinnati 2 (Cueto 2). DP: Cincinnati 2 (Cueto, Ale.Gonzalez, R.Hernandez), (R.Hernandez, Ale. Gonzalez, R.Hernandez). Cleveland Cl.Lee Herges R.Betancourt Vizcaino L, 1-2 Cincinnati Cueto Weathers Cordero Rhodes Fisher W, 1-0

IP 6 2 2 1⁄3 IP 7 1 1 1 1

H 8 0 0 2 H 6 1 1 0 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 1 4 98 3.04 0 0 0 1 22 1.54 0 0 1 3 25 4.01 1 1 0 0 9 2.57 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 2 3 7 111 2.37 0 0 1 0 17 2.87 0 0 0 1 16 1.89 0 0 0 3 11 0.56 0 0 1 1 14 0.00

HBP: by Cueto (Shoppach, Sizemore). WP: Cl.Lee, Cueto. Umpires: Home, Mark Wegner; First, Tim Timmons; Second, Jeff Kellogg; Third, Rob Drake. T: 3:34. A: 27,796 (42,319).

Hammel, Rockies glad to win DETROIT—Throughout his winless stretch, Jason Hammel never questioned his performance. His first victory still felt pretty good. Hammel (1-3) allowed one run on six hits and three walks in sixplus innings in his ninth appearance for the Rockies, including six starts, and the Rockies beat the Detroit Tigers 3-1. “I’ve been pitching pretty well, so I just knew I needed to keep plugging away,” he said. “Today, I had my sinker working well, so I just had to throw strikes and let the defense make plays behind me.” Hammel moved into the rotation in late April, and Colorado manager Clint Hurdle was happy to see him help the Rockies beat the Tigers for the second time in two days. “We were very pleased with his effort,” Hurdle said. “I thought there was more of an edge to his pitching today, and the one time he did get into trouble, he was able to minimize the damage.” Three relievers finished the Rockies’ interleague series win, with Huston Street pitching the ninth for his seventh save in as many tries. Todd Helton had a tying RBI double in the fifth and a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh. “We’re looking for traction right now, and this is the type of win that can help,” Hurdle said. — The Associated Press

Rockies 3, Tigers 1 Colorado AB Fowler cf 3 Tulowitzki ss 4 Helton 1b 5 Murton lf 4 S.Smith lf 0 Spilborghs rf 2 Atkins dh 4 Torrealba c 3 Barmes 2b 4 Stewart 3b 4 Totals 33

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

H 2 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 8

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

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

SO 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 5

Avg. .271 .239 .342 .269 .266 .270 .190 .233 .235 .190

Detroit J.Anderson lf Santiago 2b Thomas rf c-Raburn ph-rf Mi.Cabrera 1b Granderson cf Ordonez dh Inge 3b Everett ss d-Polanco ph Sardinha c a-Larish ph b-Laird ph-c Totals

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

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

BI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

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

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

Avg. .263 .338 .258 .222 .367 .240 .266 .271 .305 .263 .095 .239 .243

Colorado Detroit

AB 4 4 2 1 4 4 3 4 2 1 2 0 1 32

000 010 200 — 010 000 000 —

3 8 0 1 6 1

a-was announced for Sardinha in the 7th. b-lined out for Larish in the 7th. c-grounded out for Thomas in the 8th. d-flied out for Everett in the 9th. E: Thomas (1). LOB: Colorado 9, Detroit 7. 2B: Fowler (9), Helton (9), Murton (3), Atkins (6), Ordonez (6). RBIs: Helton 2 (31), Murton (4), Sardinha (2). SB: Fowler (11), Tulowitzki (4). S: Fowler, Torrealba. Runners left in scoring position: Colorado 7 (Torrealba, Helton 2, Murton 2, Spilborghs, Stewart); Detroit 4 (J.Anderson 2, Everett, Inge). GIDP: Tulowitzki, J.Anderson. DP: Colorado 1 (Barmes, Tulowitzki, Helton); Detroit 1 (Everett, Santiago, Mi.Cabrera). Colorado Hammel W, 1-3 R.Flores H, 2 Corpas H, 2 Street S, 7-7 Detroit Willis L, 1-1 Lyon Seay

IP 6 1 1 1 IP 6 2⁄3 1 1 1⁄3

H 6 0 0 0 H 7 1 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 1 1 3 4 86 4.10 0 0 0 2 13 0.00 0 0 0 0 8 5.95 0 0 0 1 9 3.44 R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 4 4 105 3.57 0 0 0 0 11 5.95 0 0 0 1 15 4.73

Hammel pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: R.Flores 1-0, Lyon 1-0, Seay 1-0. Umpires: Home, Marty Foster; First, D.J. Reyburn; Second, John Hirschbeck; Third, Wally Bell. T: 2:39. A: 34,606 (41,255).

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23

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

INTERLEAGUE Pittsburgh 4, Chicago White Sox 3

Oakland 6, Arizona 2

Bucs’ Wilson ends slump with 9th-inning rally

Team effort helps A’s avoid sweep

CHICAGO—Jack Wilson had tried just about everything else to snap out of his slump, so he jumped at first baseman Adam LaRoche’s offer to throw him batting practice. It turned out to be a wonderful idea. Wilson hit a tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning off closer Bobby Jenks and the Pittsburgh Pirates went on to beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 on Sunday. “Adam said he was going to get me right,” said Wilson, who homered for only the second time since Sept. 17, 2007. “I did take (LaRoche) deep a couple times. Got to give credit to the BP thrower. Perhaps the Pirates should have tried that tactic earlier in the series. They were shut out in the first two games and were frustrated for most of Sunday, managing only one run in the first seven innings despite getting 12 hits off White Sox ace Mark Buehrle. Octavio Dotel, who came in with the third-lowest ERA of any A.L. reliever (0.66) gave up a two-out, eighth-inning homer to Eric Hinske. And after retiring the first two batters in the ninth on weak grounders, Jenks served up Wilson’s shot—only the shortstop’s third hit in his last 21 at-bats. Jenks, who entered the game with a 0.00 ERA in save situations and 10 saves in as many opportunities, then gave up Nyjer Morgan’s double into the right-field corner and Delwyn Young’s RBI single down the left-field line on consecutive pitches. “We were trying to go away and it came back middle up,” Jenks said of the 1-0 pitch to Wilson. “The way I look at it is if I blow one out of every 11, and if I get 44 chances, that’s a pretty good year.”

Pirates 4, White Sox 3 Pittsburgh AB R H Morgan cf-lf 5 1 3 Delw.Young rf 5 0 1 McLouth cf 0 0 0 F.Sanchez 2b 5 1 2 Monroe dh 4 0 2 Hinske 1b 4 1 2 An.LaRoche 3b 4 0 1 Moss lf-rf 4 0 1 R.Diaz c 4 0 2 Ja.Wilson ss 4 1 2 Totals 39 4 16

CHARLES CHERNEY / AP

Pittsburgh’s Nyjer Morgan, left, scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth off Delwyn Young’s single. Pirates closer Matt Capps succeeded where Jenks failed, striking out Carlos Quentin, Brian Anderson and Chris Getz in the ninth for his ninth save as the Pirates snapped a three-game losing streak. “We’ve been struggling and that’s a good way to get out of it,” Pirates manager John Russell said. “We started by getting a lot of hits but still weren’t scoring any runs. I think Hinske, when he hit the home run, he kind of lifted the guys a little bit. Then we put together a good ninth with two outs against one of the better closers in the game.” Hinske was playing because LaRoche got the day off and Young was in the outfield to give Nate McClouth some rest. “It was a big day for us as a team,” said Hinske, whose previous homer came for Tampa Bay in last year’s World Series. “Losing that game would have been tough. Anytime you win it melts any frustration away. We were going crazy ... very excited, to say the least.”

John Grabow (3-0) pitched the eighth for the win. The White Sox completed their homestand with a 4-2 record but most will remember the two losses. They fell to Minnesota 20-1, tying the most lopsided defeat in team history, and on Sunday lost for the first time all season when leading after eight innings. Eleven of the 12 hits against Buehrle were singles—Hinske’s first-inning RBI double being the exception—and the left-hander escaped jam after jam thanks to help from his teammates. Center fielder Scott Podsednik and right fielder Anderson each threw out a runner and second baseman Getz and shortstop Alexei Ramirez began double plays after making outstanding stops. Anderson hit a two-run homer in the first and also scored in the fifth after reaching on a bunt single. He had gone 3 for 23 over his previous eight games. — The Associated Press

BI 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 4

BB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

SO 0 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 5

Avg. .290 .319 .270 .297 .263 .254 .287 .266 .321 .260

Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Podsednik cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 Al.Ramirez ss 3 0 1 0 0 1 Thome dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 Konerko 1b 2 0 0 0 2 0 Pierzynski c 4 0 0 0 0 1 Quentin lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 Bri.Anderson rf 4 2 2 2 0 1 Getz 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 Fields 3b 3 0 1 1 0 1 Totals 32 3 7 3 2 7

Avg. .268 .226 .239 .307 .262 .223 .286 .244 .217

Pittsburgh 100 000 012 — Chicago 020 010 000 —

4 16 0 3 7 0

LOB: Pittsburgh 8, Chicago 5. 2B: Morgan (5), Hinske (6), Quentin (5). HR: Hinske (1), off Dotel; Ja.Wilson (1), off Jenks; Bri.Anderson (1), off Karstens. RBIs: Delw. Young (8), Hinske 2 (7), Ja.Wilson (15), Bri.Anderson 2 (6), Fields (14). S: Al.Ramirez. Runners left in scoring position: Pittsburgh 2 (An.LaRoche 2); Chicago 2 (Quentin, Pierzynski). DP: Chicago 2 (Getz, Al.Ramirez), (Al.Ramirez, Getz, Konerko). Pittsburgh IP Karstens 5 1⁄3 S.Burnett 1⁄3 J.Chavez 1 1⁄3 Grabow W, 3-0 1 Capps S, 9-11 1 Chicago IP Buehrle 7 Dotel H, 8 1 Jenks L, 0-2 BS, 1-11 1

H 5 0 1 1 0 H 12 1 3

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 1 2 79 5.19 0 0 0 0 2 3.10 0 0 0 1 9 1.86 0 0 1 1 15 4.95 0 0 0 3 15 6.60 R ER BB SO NP ERA 1 1 0 3 106 2.59 1 1 0 2 19 1.17 2 2 0 0 17 3.38

Inherited runners-scored: S.Burnett 2-0, J.Chavez 2-0. IBB: off Grabow (Konerko). Umpires: Home, Bruce Dreckman; First, Paul Emmel; Second, Angel Campos; Third, Gary Darling. T: 2:29. A: 28,309 (40,615).

OAKLAND—The Oakland Athletics have been waiting for the day when their offense, defense and pitching all came together. It’s been rare so far. There have been late-inning collapses by a tired, overworked bullpen and demoralizing one-run defeats when the offense couldn’t get it done. Jason Giambi homered a day after reaching the 400 milestone and Landon Powell hit a tiebreaking shot for his first career home run as the A’s avoided a sweep with a 6-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. “It’s good to get one of these in our favor,” Powell said. “I hope it gives us momentum.” Giambi, who on Saturday night became the 44th player in major league history with 400 homers, provided an insurance run with his seventh-inning solo drive. Rookie Josh Outman (2-0) worked out of jams and hung tough with Jon Garland (4-3), who pitched five scoreless innings before running into trouble. The A’s lost 8-7 in 11 innings Saturday and had played four straight one-run games. Their win Sunday ended a threegame skid overall and six-game home losing streak to Arizona. The Diamondbacks had won a season-high four in a row. Powell, the backup catcher who has been nursing a strained hamstring, connected in the sixth and gingerly rounded the bases. — The Associated Press

Athletics 6, Diamondbacks 2 Arizona AB R H BI BB R.Roberts 3b 4 0 0 0 0 G.Parra rf 3 1 0 0 1 J.Upton dh 4 0 2 0 0 S.Drew ss 3 0 0 1 1 Reynolds 1b 3 0 0 0 1 Snyder c 1 0 0 0 2 a-Tracy ph 1 0 1 0 0 Byrnes lf 3 0 1 0 0 b-Montero ph 1 0 1 0 0 Ojeda 2b 4 0 0 0 0 C.Young cf 3 1 1 0 0 Totals 30 2 6 1 5

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

Avg. .324 .279 .320 .195 .265 .233 .196 .211 .231 .265 .175

Oakland O.Cabrera ss Kennedy 2b Cust dh Holliday lf Giambi 1b Hannahan 3b R.Sweeney cf T.Buck rf Crosby 3b-1b Powell c Totals

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

Avg. .240 .400 .262 .269 .221 .167 .255 .205 .209 .211

Arizona Oakland

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

R 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 6

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

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

BB 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 5

100 000 010 — 000 003 12x —

2 6 0 6 10 1

a-singled for Snyder in the 9th. b-singled for Byrnes in the 9th. E: O.Cabrera (8). LOB: Arizona 6, Oakland 8. 2B: J.Upton (10), Byrnes (10), Cust (6). HR: Powell (1), off Garland; Giambi (5), off Slaten. RBIs: S.Drew (12), Kennedy 2 (11), Giambi (20), Powell 2 (11). Runners left in scoring position: Arizona 4 (Reynolds, C.Young, Ojeda 2); Oakland 4 (O.Cabrera 2, R.Sweeney, Giambi). DP: Oakland 4 (O.Cabrera, Kennedy, Giambi), (Crosby, Kennedy, Giambi), (O.Cabrera, Kennedy, Giambi), (Kennedy, O.Cabrera, Crosby). Arizona Garland L, 4-3 Slaten Vasquez Oakland Outman W, 2-0 Wuertz H, 4 Ziegler

IP 6 1 1⁄3 2⁄3 IP 7 2⁄3 1⁄3 1

H 7 1 2 H 4 0 2

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 4 1 105 4.70 1 1 0 1 22 6.75 2 2 1 0 16 5.65 R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 1 5 0 106 2.90 0 0 0 1 5 1.96 0 0 0 1 19 3.72

IBB: off Garland (Holliday). WP: Garland, Vasquez. Umpires: Home, Scott Barry; First, Jerry Meals; Second, James Hoye; Third, Dale Scott. T: 2:38. A: 13,792 (35,067).

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Riggs says he’s leaving Tommy Baldwin Racing Scott Riggs is parting ways with Tommy Baldwin Racing following today’s Coca-Cola 600, Riggs said Sunday. Riggs has qualified for eight of the first 12 races with a top finish of 25th in the Daytona 500. Riggs ran only 54 laps at Richmond and 101 laps at Darlington before his day ended because of mechanical issues. Riggs said Sunday he wasn’t optimistic that the No. 36 team could continue to compete for the full length of future events without significant sponsorship and that, combined with the team’s performance, made it time for him to leave. He will start the Coca-Cola 600 in the 43rd spot. “I’m a competitor, and I’m a racer,” Riggs said. “It kills my soul to know that we go to the racetrack and we’re not going to be competitive. Even if the car is competitive, we’re not going to be there around at the end to be competitive.” Riggs said he and Baldwin talked about the situation this past weekend and the decision was made for him to leave. “I want somewhere that I can grow, I can build, I can race and be competitive,” said Riggs, 38. — Bob Pockrass, SceneDaily.com Ten drivers are scheduled to attend a tire test June 1-3 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, according to Goodyear’s Rick Heinrich. Goodyear is looking to avoid a repeat of last year’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard when its tires lasted

NASCAR

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

Rain postpones Coca-Cola 600 to today Coca-Cola 600 At Lowe’s Motor Speedway When: Today, noon ET TV: FOX Radio: PRN/Sirius XM Satellite Ch. 128 Track layout: 1.5-mile oval Race distance: 400 laps/600 miles 2008 winner: Kasey Kahne 2008 polesitter: Kyle Busch

only about 12 laps and NASCAR was forced to throw the caution so teams could change tires. The tires just created dust, never laid rubber on the track and wore out quickly. The test was added after Goodyear, in previous tests, could not get a tire that could lay down enough rubber on the track to provide adequate grip and then not blister the tires. Goodyear officials hope to settle on a tire and then bring 12 teams to the track for a confirmation test June 15-17. The race is July 26. — Bob Pockrass

Starting lineup

JOHN BAZEMORE / AP

A member of Kyle Busch’s pit crew runs for cover as a heavy downpour hits before the start of the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. NASCAR randomly drugtested 10 crew members from 10 teams during the rain delay at the Coca-Cola 600, an apparent tweak to the first three months of in-season testing, The Associated Press reported. Before Sunday night, crew chiefs said NASCAR typically informed them when the garage opened if a team member had been selected to give a sample. The individual had four hours to report to testing. Drivers can be tested on any day of the race weekend. But at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR waited until after the scheduled start of the Coca-Cola 600 to inform teams and ordered individuals to report for testing at the end of the race. Because rain delayed the start, crew members were seen entering the infield care center, where the tests were conducted during intermittent showers.

24

BY REID SPENCER [email protected]

CONCORD, N.C.—Persistent rain forced postponement of the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup race from its scheduled Sunday start to noon ET today. A heavy shower drenched the track just as crews were rolling cars out of the garage after prerace ceremonies at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. With rain continuing to fall throughout the evening, NASCAR announced at 8:26 p.m. the race had been postponed. Track president Marcus Smith said even if the rain stopped, the time needed to dry the 1.5-mile track would prevent the race from being concluded at a reasonable hour. Today’s forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms with a 60 percent chance of rain. Gates are scheduled to open at 9 a.m., and the garage will

open at 9:30. Fox will broadcast the race. Crew chiefs of the respective Cup teams will have a lot of work to do before the start of the race. “Everyone was set up for racing at night,” said driver Kurt Busch, who will start 17th in the No. 2 Penske Dodge. “This will really have everyone scratching their heads, that’s for sure. We were hoping to have an adjustable setup here tonight. “Running here (Monday) will definitely put a bigger premium on the adjustability factor. I know everyone will be really loose at the start of the race because all the rubber got washed off the track. It’ll get tighter as the race goes on, and that’s where the adjustability comes in.” Elton Sawyer, competition director for Red Bull Racing, which fields Toyotas for Brian Vickers and rookie Scott Speed, said the delay was an

inconvenience but would have a negligible effect on the team’s ability to get to Dover in time for next Sunday’s Cup race. “As far as Dover, yeah, we do have time,” Sawyer said. “We can run tomorrow and still be able to meet our schedule. Our truck can be out of there Wednesday and be ready for Dover and not be a real problem. “The worst part is (Monday) is a holiday, and everyone wants to be on the lake. You can’t do anything about the weather, so we’ll do what we have to do.” This is the second time the 600 has been postponed, but the first because of weather. The first 600, in 1960, was pushed back three weeks because of construction delays. The race has been shortened by rain three times, the most recent in 2003 to 414 miles (276 of 400 laps). Jimmie Johnson was declared the winner.

(Car number in parentheses) 1. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 188.475 2. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 188.258 3. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 188.193 4. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 188.166 5. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 187.820 6. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 187.493 7. (09) Mike Bliss, Dodge, 187.422 8. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 187.396 9. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 187.188 10. (21) Bill Elliott, Ford, 187.169 11. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 187.162 12. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 186.916 13. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 186.864 14. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 186.832 15. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 186.825 16. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 186.735 17. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 186.599 18. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 186.574 19. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 186.548 20. (96) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 186.477 21. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 186.368 22. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 186.233 23. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 186.220 24. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 186.181 25. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 186.014 26. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 185.970 27. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 185.829 28. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 185.778 29. (71) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, 185.707 30. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 185.605 31. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, 185.593 32. (13) Max Papis, Toyota, 185.433 33. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 185.319 34. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 185.172 35. (12) David Stremme, Dodge, 185.096 36. (07) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 184.704 37. (7) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 184.590 38. (44) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 184.338 39. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 183.949 40. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 183.281 41. (34) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, Owner Points 42. (43) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, Owner Points 43. (36) Scott Riggs, Toyota, 184.433. Failed to Qualify 44. (41) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 184.093 45. (73) Mike Garvey, Dodge, 182.457 46. (64) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 182.426 47. (06) David Starr, Dodge, 179.081

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25

Q&A with ... Jets C Nick Mangold

‘Once something bad happened, it just started snowballing’ After a recent practice, Jets center Nick Mangold told Sporting News Today’s Bill Eichenberger that the arrival of coach Rex Ryan has been like a shot of adrenaline for a team still hurting after a late-season collapse cost them a playoff berth. Mangold said the energy and enthusiasm have returned in a big way to the team’s training complex in Florham Park, N.J.

Q: A:

What are your first impressions playing for Ryan? It’s been fantastic. He has a great passion for the game. The defense is fired up. And as an offense, going against that kind of defense every day is only going to make us better. But it still is kind of a pain in the butt.

Q: A:

Who would that be?

A big one right in our own backyard is Shaun (O’Hara of the Giants). He is a fantastic center who has been doing it at a high level for a long time.

Q:

From the outside, it appears the Jets’ offensive line is a clear strength of this team. Do you view it the same way? Definitely. I believe that the line drives your team, at least on the offensive side. And our guys take that to heart. We try to be the leaders, to set the tempo, to get our guys going, to make sure we are doing all the right things.

A:

Why is that?

His defense, the schemes that he brings in, they are pretty complex. They are making us think upfront.

Q:

Recently in Sporting News Today, RealScouts, a group of former NFL scouts, rated you as the No. 1 center in the league. What’s your reaction to that? That’s kind of them. Should I send a thankyou note?

A:

Q: A:

Q: A:

Do you think you deserve that sort of ranking? Seriously, I really do appreciate it, but there are some guys out there who are heads and shoulders above me.

Q:

What’s your assessment of the competition for the starting job at quarterback? I haven’t really even seen Mark Sanchez (much). ... But Kellen Clemens, we came in together. He’s put in a lot of work to learn the system and knows what he needs to do. And he’s really grown. Not only does he sit and watch the film and read the playbook, but he also asks questions of the offensive line. So he knows what we’re thinking.

A:

Q:

How much of an impact did the arrival a year ago of veteran left guard Alan Faneca of the Steelers have on you and the rest of the line? For me, having that kind of experience come

A:

in—last year was his 11th in the league—was unbelievable, especially the way that he carries himself and his personality. He’s very help-friendly. He’s there to answer questions, but at the same time he didn’t come in and try to impose his will. Instead it was, “Hey, here’s what I’ve done. Let’s see what you’ve done, and we’ll talk it out.”

Q: A:

Have you reflected on last season? Have you learned any lessons from that? As I look back at it, I realize now that you have to keep things going. When you get on a roll like we were on midway through last season, you have to keep that going. Offensively, we were running the ball and doing all the things we wanted to do. But when things started to go wrong, we needed to sit back, take a deep breath and collect ourselves. And I don’t think we ever did that. Once something bad happened, it just started snowballing.

Q:

Knowing Brett Favre as you do, do you think he will come out of retirement and play in the NFL this season? If he’s healthy, I think he is going to try. One of the big things I learned from Brett was how important it is to love the game. He loves the game more than any person I’ve met or heard of. I just think anyone is going to have a hard time turning him away.

A:

JOHN DUNN FOR SN

Jets C Nick Mangold feels first-year coach Rex Ryan is creating enthusiasm, and brings a defensive scheme that keeps the offense thinking.

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NFL

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

26

INSIDE DISH

Jags defense ‘shooting, not hesitating’; 49ers want to involve gifted LB Although the Jaguars overhauled the offense in the offseason, G.M. Gene Smith and coach Jack Del Rio pretty much brought back the defense intact. That’s a curious move considering the team ranked 17th in the league in yards allowed. Ten starters return in ’09, with free-agent S Sean Considine being the exception. Rookie DT Terrance Knighton could win a starting job, doubling the new players in the lineup. The team also will use a more straight-forward approach now that former coordinator Gregg Williams is gone. Williams used a more complicated scheme. “Last year, it was kind of a mixture of the two defenses,” DT Derek Landri told The Florida Times-Union. “(Now) it’s more of what Del Rio is used to. We’ll be shooting, not hesitating.” Mel Tucker has succeeded Williams. Niners coaches are simplifying the plan for OLB Manny Lawson in an attempt to tap into his massive potential. Lawson, the 22nd-overall pick in the ’06 draft, had been asked to lose weight to cover running backs and wide receivers in pass coverage. Later, he was asked to add bulk to hold up better in run support at the point of attack. Lawson, 24 and almost two years removed from ACL surgery, mostly will be deployed to attack the quarterback, and coach Mike Singletary says a simplified scheme will benefit Lawson the most. That’s why they didn’t draft a pass rusher last month. “They just said, ‘Manny, we’re going with a true 3-4 (defense),” Lawson told the Oakland Tribune. “You’re not always going to (drop into

DE Shaun Smith’s time with the Browns could be running short, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. Browns coaches reportedly are tiring of his more-bark-thanbite routine on the field.

coverage). And when it comes to our third-down package, we’re going to take the handcuffs off and let you go.” The Raiders and personnel director Rich Snead have parted ways, two years after replacing Mike Lombardi, according to RaiderBeat.com. Former Raiders assistant coach Keith Rowen reportedly will play a larger role in the front office.

Bills rookie DE Aaron Maybin, the 11th overall pick, is struggling so far in offseason practices. One source told ProFootballTalk.com that Maybin has been “brutal” in workouts. Maybin is expected to be used mostly as a pass-rush specialist as a rookie.

Dolphins WR Tedd Ginn Jr. hardly has had an impact since being the ninth-overall pick in the ’07 draft. Said G.M. Jeff Ireland last month: “It’s time for Ted Ginn to really show what he was drafted here to do.” Coach Tony Sparano wants Ginn to improve reading coverages and beating bump-and-run coverage.

Redskins DE Phillip Daniels, 36, reports that he is 100 percent after tearing his knee ligament in training camp last year. He has bulked up to 311 pounds as he has added muscle mass to improve his performance against the run. “I’m stronger this year,” he said via the team’s website. “(The injury) gave me a year of rest, which is good for me at my age. Also, I’m still in power lifting and I’m stronger than I was at this point last year.”

Derek Anderson, 25, is trying to keep the long view in mind even as he competes with Brady Quinn for the short-term assignment of being the Browns’ starting quarterback. If Anderson stays healthy and performs well but still loses the job to favorite Quinn, Anderson still will hit free agency at age 27. Dolphins DE Randy Starks has been charged with using his truck to hit a police officer who tried to stop the vehicle on foot. Miami Beach Police say the officer tried to stop the 25-year-old player when he was driving a truck packed with 13 people early Sunday in heavy traffic. Police say Starks kept slowly moving forward even as the officer was beside the truck. They say Starks swerved the vehicle slightly, hitting the officer in the

BOB LEVERONE / SN

Patriots RB Fred Taylor says he has targeted Jim Brown’s mark of 12,312 yards rushing as a goal. Taylor, entering his 12th NFL season, needs 1,041 yards to match Brown’s career mark. “I’ve always said I wanted to catch Jim Brown,” Taylor told The Florida Times-Union. “Whether I do or don’t, it’s been great playing in the NFL for this long. ...”

Jaguars DT Derek Landri believes adjustments made on defense will allow for more aggression. chest and pinning him against another vehicle. The officer wasn’t injured, but

Starks was charged with aggravated battery. Starks remained in a Miami jail Sunday afternoon.

The Jets’ Kareem Brown, a practice squad player as a defensive end last year, has shed 30 pounds in an attempt to make the roster as a tight end.

“I played scout team tight end last year a lot during the season and that went pretty well,” Brown told The Journal News. “A guy that can play tight end, a guy that can play defensive end and do different things for us, special teams,” coach Rex Ryan told The Journal News. “He is going to be a valuable member of our team. He is coming along.”

Courtney Roby and Skyler Green are competing for the Saints’ kick return job. The winner also will make sporadic appearances on offense, but the loser likely will be cut. CB Eric Green said he signed with the Dolphins knowing he wouldn’t be handed the starting job. He and Will Allen are the projected starters, but the team spent two of its first three picks on CBs Vontae Davis and Sean Smith. “The first thing they said was, ‘Hey, we ran 80 guys through this roster last year,’ On a 53-man roster, that’s telling you there’s guys being cut every week because of the competition. If you’re injured, if you’re on the sideline, you’re going to get pushed back and you’re going to be out of here. So even if you’re a starter, you’re not set as a starter.” A Saints team spokesman says TE Jeremy Shockey was taken to a hospital but is doing fine. Celebrity gossip site TMZ.com first reported that the four-time Pro Bowler was taken out of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas by stretcher after being found unconscious Sunday afternoon.

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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; 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; 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; Marcus Maxwell, Baltimore; 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; Nate Lawrie, Cincinnati; Michael Merritt, Kansas City; Martrez Milner, NY Giants; Chad Mustard, Denver; 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; Charles Spencer, Jacksonville; Barry Stokes, New England; Mark Tauscher, Green Bay; Mark Wilson (R), Oakland. Guards—Lennie Friedman, Cleveland; Pete Kendall, Washington; Matt Lentz, Detroit; Terrence Metcalf, Chicago; Edwin Mulitalo, Detroit; Chris Naeole, 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; 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; Travis LaBoy, Arizona; Jayme Mitchell, Minnesota; Jerome McDougle, NY Giants; Julius Peppers (F), Carolina; Josh Savage, New Orleans; Anthony Weaver, Houston; James Wyche, Jacksonville. Defensive tackles—Kenderick Allen, Minnesota; Gary Gibson, Carolina; La’Roi Glover, St. Louis; Vonnie Holliday, Miami; Antwan Lake, New Orleans; Langston Moore, Detroit; Kindal Moorehead, Atlanta; Dewayne Robertson, Denver; Orpheus Roye, Pittsburgh; Hollis Thomas, New Orleans; Josh Thomas, Indianapolis; John Thornton, Cincinnati; Darwin Walker, Carolina; 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; 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; Oliver Celestin, Kansas City; Corey Chavous, St. Louis; 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; Marquand Manuel, Denver; Marlon McCree, Denver; Lawyer Milloy, Atlanta; Chad Nkang, Jacksonville; Jarrad Page (R), Kansas City; Pierson Prioleau, Jacksonville; Chris Reis (R), New Orleans; Dwight Smith, Detroit; Jimmy Williams, San Francisco; 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 25, 2009

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Thomas bulks up, hopes to be Saints’ bruiser METAIRIE, LA.—Pierre Thomas still was a senior at Illinois when the speedy Reggie Bush and powerful Deuce McAllister combined to give the ‘06 Saints a dynamic running game that helped carry New Orleans into the playoffs. With McAllister now gone, Thomas has bulked up for his third NFL season with the hope of proving he can be the Saints’ power runner. “I want the same thing Deuce and Reggie had in ’06, so me and Reggie can do the same thing,” Thomas said after practice this week. Last season, Thomas’ playing weight was around 210 pounds. Now with a more barrel-chested look, the result of a new weightlifting regimen, Thomas said he weighs between 220 and 225 pounds, pushing beyond the limit coaches had set for him. “Hopefully, they’ll raise up my weight limit to 225, but I don’t know yet,” said Thomas, who stands 5-11. “I’m going by their rules, but I’m trying to show them I can play with this weight.” For now, there are no full-contact practices. That begins in training camp in July. Until then, it can be tough for running backs—especially those trying to show they can be human battering rams—to know how well they’re doing. Sharing carries with Bush in ’08, Thomas was the Saints’ leading rusher with 625 yards on 129 carries, an average of 4.8 yards per carry. His nine rushing touchdowns also led the Saints, and one of those scoring runs went for 42 yards, his longest run of the season. Thomas had a few glaring failures in crucial short-yardage situations during losses at Washington

CARLOS OSORIO / AP

Saints RB Pierre Thomas changed his lifting regimen and added roughly 15 pounds of muscle. and Denver last season, but coach Sean Payton said the main problem with those particular plays had more to do with blocking than Thomas. For the season, the statistics seemed to back Payton up. Thomas was stopped for only six losses—4.7 percent of the time. Among running backs with at least 100 carriers, that was the

lowest percentage of runs for losses in the NFL. And yet after McAllister’s release in the winter, Payton talked of adding another big running back. During the draft, the Saints attempted to trade for Ohio State running back Chris “Beanie” Wells. After that failed, the Saints signed a pair of burly backs—Wisconsin’s P.J. Hill (5-10, 218) and Western

Illinois’ Herb Donaldson (5-10, 226)—as undrafted free agents. Payton also spoke of his interest in seeing what reserves Mike Bell (6-0, 225) and Lynell Hamilton (6-0, 235) could do with more time to adjust to the Saints’ system. “They think they need a bigger back,” Thomas said. “I can do most of the same things Reggie does. ... I’m very versatile. I can be used in so many different ways—special teams, out there on the wideout, in the backfield—so I think that’s what they see me as, but I’m trying to show them I can be that power back that they need.” Indeed, Thomas was effective in several roles, particularly on screen plays. He had 31 catches for 284 yards and three touchdowns. He also returned 31 kickoffs for 793 yards (a 25.6-yard average), with a long of 88 yards. Late in the season, however, the Saints settled on Courtney Roby as their primary kick returner to allow Thomas to focus more on running back. Roby remains on the roster. Thomas, meanwhile, also has been trying to improve his leg strength, increasing his squats from 495 pounds to 675. “I can break the one-arm tackles and if (tacklers) are there, I can put my shoulder down and I’ve got enough leg power that I could probably burst through or knock them back a few yards,” Thomas said. “My speed is not there compared to Reggie’s for an outside run. ... I can get it out there and I can make some guys miss, but I feel that the inside run is more my style, more my feel and it will work better for me.” — The Associated Press

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Tressel gearing up for coaches’ tour of Middle East Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has never been overseas. That will change Wednesday when he leaves to visit U.S. military installations in the Middle East. “I had to get a passport one other time, maybe seven or eight years ago, for a Nike thing in Mexico,” Tressel, 56, told The Columbus Dispatch. “I’ve got one stamp on it.” Texas coach Mack Brown, Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt, Air Force’s Troy Calhoun and former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville also are making the trip, which is sponsored by the Department of Defense. The tour will include visits to Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and possibly Iraq. “I can’t wait to get there; it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Tressel told the Dispatch. “I want to make sure those young men and women know we appreciate what they’re doing and that everyone back home is thinking about them. And it sheds a little different light on this (Memorial Day) weekend.” Notre Dame and Army will play in 2010—the question is where? Army athletic director Kevin Anderson told the Times Herald-Record (Middletown, N.Y.) that the teams have signed on for several games, starting in 2010. “Next year we are supposed to play Notre Dame,” Anderson told the newspaper. “But we haven’t closed a deal on a venue. Right now, anything is possible.” Even Yankee Stadium? “Wouldn’t that be great if there is a chance to play in Yankee Stadium?” Anderson said.

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

MATT YORK / AP

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel doesn’t travel a lot internationally, but he’s anxious to visit the troops. Last week, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told The New York Times that the Yankees were open to having college football at the new stadium and that he’d like the Irish to be the first team to play there. New Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen has been going about his business quietly but couldn’t resist an opportunity to take a jab at Auburn’s new coaching staff during his recent booster stop in Birmingham, Ala. “We don’t need to make national headlines to recruit,” Mullen said, according to the Birmingham News. “Taking our budget, instead of buying fancy limos, we’re going to maybe get more sneakers for our players.” Auburn coaches rode in a rented white stretch limo during recent

recruiting trips in the state. Stanford two-sport standout Toby Gerhart said recently he is leaning toward staying in school and playing football this fall even if he is selected in baseball’s amateur draft in June. Gerhart, a rising junior running back, rushed for 1,136 yards last year to set the school record for a season and scored 15 touchdowns. He is finishing up his junior season on the baseball team, playing the outfield and hitting .286 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. “As of now, I’m coming back to play football,” Gerhart recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. Gerhart has said it would take a “multimillion dollar” contract to get him to leave early,” according to the newspaper.

28

UCLA’s Holiday trying to detemine draft status, isn’t close to deciding UCLA freshman G Jrue Holiday is in line to become a middle or higher first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft, according to many analysts. But he still hasn’t signed with an agent and told the Los Angeles Daily News he isn’t close to deciding whether he will stay in the draft or return to UCLA—he has until June 15 to make up his mind. “Honestly, I don’t know if I’m lottery or not,” Holiday told the Daily News. “I’ve been in Florida for a few weeks, and they shipped me to Sacramento. Really, I’m focused on playing hard and doing my best. “I’ve already turned in two papers, and I’m keeping my grades up.” Holiday worked out for the Sacramento Kings on Thursday and was scheduled to do the same for the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. He is practicing at point guard, a position he didn’t play last season for the Bruins. “We did a lot of shooting drills, ball-handling drills and went up and down (the court) and played three-on-three,” Holiday said of his workout with the Kings. “Having the ball in my hands and making decisions, it’s natural. “When we did three-on-three, I did really well and my team did really well. I’m not saying it’s because of me, but I do feel really comfortable. I really do.” Holiday will be in Chicago on

played and was an assistant under Lute Olson, appears to be more speculation than likelihood. “I think that would be fun,” Pastner told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “But also I think regarding the schedule, we have to make sure that it’s best for the University of Memphis, and if we’re going to play away, we have to try to play in areas where we’re going to recruit. Not that we can’t recruit in Arizona, but probably our target areas would be different.” The Tigers probably will try to schedule some non-conference games with schools in Texas, where Pastner has a lot of recruiting ties and the pool of players is much bigger, according to the newspaper.

JEFF LEWIS / AP

Freshman Jrue Holiday (21) isn’t sure if he’s a lottery pick, so he hasn’t hired an agent. Wednesday for the pre-draft combine. “I want to go through the whole process before (making) a decision,” he told the newspaper. “It’s an adventure for me, and right now it is fun for me.” The possibility that Memphis might schedule an annual homeand-home series with Arizona, where new Tigers coach Josh Pastner

New Alabama coach Anthony Grant says he thinks last season was an aberration for the SEC, which placed only three teams in the NCAA Tournament—and one of those because Mississippi State won the SEC Tournament. Grant, the coach at Virginia Commonwealth the last three years, was an assistant at Florida the previous 10 seasons. “Bring in the league 10 years, I can’t ever remember a year like last year,” Grant told the Mobile Press-Register. You look at the caliber of teams for next year; I think it will prove that. I think preseason, maybe three or four teams should be in the top 25.”

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INDIANAPOLIS 500

Castroneves caps emotional spring with third Indy win

MICHAEL CONROY / AP

Last month, Indianapolis 500 champ Helio Castroneves was in court on tax evasion charges.

INDIANAPOLIS—The tears flowed as soon as Helio Castroneves turned his red-and-white car into Victory Lane, and he really got emotional when Roger Penske leaned over to give his driver a hug. “Thanks for giving my life back,” Castroneves said between sobs. He could’ve lost it all. He could’ve gone to prison for six years. Instead, he was celebrating another win at the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves capped a perfect month of May by winning at the Brickyard for the third time Sunday, a triumph that was especially poignant given what he was facing just 5½ weeks ago. From accused tax cheat to Indy champion—this race was a lot longer than 500 miles. “Let’s celebrate now!” he screamed to the quarter of a million fans. Castroneves became the ninth driver to win the historic race three times, and his timing couldn’t have been better. On April 17, he was acquitted of most charges at a federal tax evasion trial, and the remaining count was finally thrown out last Friday. “This is the best month of May ever,” Castroneves said, and it was hard to argue otherwise. He won the pole. Then he won the pit-stop competition. And now, the biggest win of all, No. 3 for the guy who drives car No. 3, leaving him only one win away from joining the most elite group of all: fourtime Indy winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears. For Penske, it was Indy win No. 15—more than any other car owner and ensuring that the Captain has

never gone more than three years between wins at this place, except for the time he didn’t run because of a split in open-wheel racing. “He smiles only two times: on his birthday and when he wins the Indy 500,” Castroneves said of his boss. Castroneves pulled away over the final laps to beat Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick, who eclipsed her historic fourth-place finish as a rookie in 2005 by crossing the strip of bricks in third. Patrick, however, was never really a factor on this day. It belonged to Castroneves, who pumped his fist all the way down the final straightaway. “I want to climb the fence,” said the driver known as “Spiderman,” referring to his signature celebration. Then he did just that, climbing out of his car after the victory lap and scaling the fence along the main grandstand with his pit crew. Someone tossed him a green-andyellow Brazilian flag. It was clearly a popular victory. The fans who turned out on a sweltering late spring day were on their feet, cheering and waving their caps as Castroneves sped around the 2.5-mile oval for the final time. “You guys kept me strong,” Castroneves told the crowd. “You guys are the best. I’m honored to have fans like you. Crashes took out some of the biggest names in the field, including Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal. The most frightening wreck occurred on lap 173, when Brazilians Vitor Meira and Raphael Matos got together going into the first turn. Meira’s car veered head-on into

the padded outside wall. He was removed from the car, put on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital complaining of severe lowerback pain. Later, IndyCar officials said he sustained two broken vertebrae in his back, but the injury should be treatable without surgery. The lengthy caution period after the Meira-Matos crash ensured that everyone had enough fuel to get to the finish. When the race restarted with 17 laps to go, Castroneves got a great jump on Wheldon and Patrick and pulled away to win by nearly 2 seconds, more than two football fields. “At the end, I just didn’t have enough for Helio,” said Wheldon, who won the race in 2005. The winning speed was 150.318 mph in a race that had only four leaders: Castroneves and Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe, along with the last two winners, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. Dixon, the defending champion, led more laps than anyone (73), and 2007 winner Franchitti, returning to Indy after a foray into stock cars, was out front for 50. Castroneves led 66 and Briscoe the other 11. Castroneves started from the pole and led the first seven laps, then laid back for a good part of the overcast, sweltering afternoon. Finally, on a restart after the sixth of eight yellow flags, Castroneves surged past Dixon to reclaim the lead with 59 laps to go. It was his the rest of the way. “I’m very happy for him,” Patrick said. “I’m glad to have him back, and obviously he’s great for the sport.” — The Associated Press

Indianapolis 500 results 1. (1) Helio Castroneves, 200 laps. 2. (18) Dan Wheldon, 200. 3. (10) Danica Patrick, 200. 4. (24) Townsend Bell, 200. 5. (9) Will Power, 200. 6. (5) Scott Dixon, 200. 7. (3) Dario Franchitti, 200. 8. (17) Ed Carpenter, 200. 9. (13) Paul Tracy, 200. 10. (16) Hideki Mutoh, 200. 11. (33) Alex Tagliani, 200. 12. (26) Tomas Scheckter, 200. 13. (11) Alex Lloyd, 200. 14. (20) Scott Sharp, 200. 15. (2) Ryan Briscoe, 200. 16. (19) A.J. Foyt IV, 200. 17. (21) Sarah Fisher, 200. 18. (27) Mike Conway, 200. 19. (28) John Andretti, 200. 20. (30) Milka Duno, 199. 21. (14) Vitor Meira, 173, contact. 22. (12) Raphael Matos, 173, contact. 23. (15) Justin Wilson, 160, contact. 24. (29) E.J. Viso, 139, mechanical. 25. (31) Nelson Philippe, 130, contact. 26. (25) Oriol Servia, 98, mechanical. 27. (6) Tony Kanaan, 97, contact. 28. (23) Robert Doornbos, 85, contact. 29. (22) Davey Hamilton, 79, contact. 30. (8) Marco Andretti, 56, handling. 31. (4) Graham Rahal, 55, contact. 32. (32) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 19, contact. 33. (7) Mario Moraes, 0, contact. Winner’s average speed: 150.318 mph. Time of race: 3:19:34.6427. Margin of victory: 1.9819 seconds. Cautions: 8 for 61 laps. Lead changes: 6 among 4 drivers. Lap leaders: Castroneves 1-7, Franchitti 8-52, Briscoe 53-63, Dixon 64-85, Franchitti 86-90, Dixon 91-141, Castroneves 142-200. Point standings: 1, Franchitti, 122. 2, Castroneves, 117. 3, Briscoe, 114. 4, Dixon, 111. 5, Kanaan, 110. 6, Patrick, 109. 7, Wheldon, 106. 8, Power, 99. 9, HunterReay, 84. 10, Andretti, 83.

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INDIANAPOLIS 500 NOTEBOOK

Meira breaks back in crash-filled race DARRON CUMMINGS / AP

A stuck fuel hose didn’t help Dario Franchitti’s chances of winning the Indianapolis 500.

Small mistakes ruin Ganassi drivers INDIANAPOLIS—For Dario Franchitti, the difference between winning and losing Sunday came down to a stuck fuel hose. For defending Indy champ Scott Dixon, it was a wheel nut. The errors kept Target Chip Ganassi’s two drivers out of the top five at the Indianapolis 500 and lamenting life in the pits. With 66 laps left, Franchitti entered the pits running second behind teammate Dixon. Seconds later, Franchitti was out of contention. On pit road to get four tires and fuel, Franchitti was given the go sign. One problem—the fuel hose was attached. That’s when Franchitti—or a crew member—let out a yelp over the radio as they stopped the car and pushed it back to lose the fuel hose. “I think after that, I was so far back in the pack, we just couldn’t make it up,” Franchitti said. “We probably needed 150 laps to come back from that position. That one stop was the difference.” It ended Franchitti’s hopes of his second Indy win in three years, with an ill-fated season in stock cars in between. Franchitti wound up seventh, not what he expected after leading 50 laps before the

disastrous pit stop. And the frustration was just beginning for the Ganassi team. Dixon, trying to become only the second driver since 1971 to win back-to-back titles, led a race-high 73 laps. He was running third when he made his final pit stop with 39 laps to go. Then disaster struck again. Dixon was delayed getting out of the pits because of a problem changing the right rear tire. Suddenly, he, too, was out of contention, and settled for a sixth-place finish. “It just happens,” said Mike Hull, the team’s managing director who was in Dixon’s pits. “Everything happens for a reason, and today was just Helio (Castroneves’) day.” A surprise? Maybe not. On Friday, a wheel-gun failure kept Franchitti’s team out of the pit challenge finals. Who won? Castroneves’ crew. Sunday was no different. “I think I had the best car, but we’ll never know and that’s not to take anything away from Helio,” Franchitti said after changing into street clothes. “They had a little luck on their side, but Scott and I both had fast cars.” — The Associated Press

Vitor Meira will need some time to recover from the Indianapolis 500. The 2008 runner-up survived a dangerous fire in the pits and later broke two vertebrae in his lower back during a frightening crash in Sunday’s race. IndyCar officials said he will spend the next two days at Methodist Hospital, where doctors plan to fit him for a back brace. He does not need surgery. “It was just an unfortunate incident,” rookie Raphael Matos said after colliding with Meira. “We had a good car, and the team had worked so hard. It was just unfortunate to end like that.” In all, 10 cars went out of the race in accidents, and an 11th, Marco Andretti’s No. 26, eventually left because of handling problems after returning from an earlier crash. In the closing laps, Meira and Matos were running side-by-side heading into the first turn when the two locked wheels. Matos hit the SAFER barrier and stopped in the middle of the track, resulting in a bruised right knee. Meira, by far, got the worst of it. His car slid along the wall— two wheels on the ground and two wheels above the concrete wall—before finally flipping over on four wheels and stopping. And that was after the car was engulfed in flames on pit road. The tone of the day was set early when 22-year-old Marco Andretti and 20-year-old Mario Moraes didn’t even make it

Past Indy 500 champions

CHRIS HOWELL / AP

A fire in the pits was just part of a bad day for Vitor Meira and his car. through the first turn before making contact. Graham Rahal crashed on lap 56. Andretti’s teammate, Tony Kanaan, one of the pre-race favorites, limped away after twice hitting the wall hard when his rear suspension broke just before the midway point. He had been running third at the time. Davey Hamilton, the oldest starter at 46, crashed on lap 83. Justin Wilson, 30, and Nelson Philippe, a Champ Car veteran and Indy rookie, both crashed, too, and Ryan Hunter-Reay and rookie Robert Doornbos also left after contact.

Not enough Former Indy winner Dan Wheldon didn’t quite have enough to join the two-time win-

ner club. Although he finished second, moving up 14 spots from his qualifying position, Wheldon acknowledged he was too busy trying to hold off Danica Patrick for third to chase down Helio Castroneves for the win. “I’m incredibly excited,” the 2005 winner said. “I have to say there have not been many races where the team has executed 100 percent, and they did it today.”

Fisher improving Sarah Fisher broke one record by starting her eighth Indy 500, the most of any woman. Her fledgling team also produced a career-best effort. Fisher, who started 21st, finished 17th— her best Indy finish. — The Associated Press

2009 — Helio Castroneves 2008 — Scott Dixon 2007 — Dario Franchitti 2006 — Sam Hornish Jr. 2005 — Dan Wheldon 2004 — Buddy Rice 2003 — Gil de Ferran 2002 — Helio Castroneves 2001 — Helio Castroneves 2000 — Juan Montoya 1999 — Kenny Brack 1998 — Eddie Cheever 1997 — Arie Luyendyk Sr. 1996 — Buddy Lazier 1995 — Jacques Villeneuve 1994 — Al Unser Jr. 1993 — Emerson Fittipaldi 1992 — Al Unser Jr. 1991 — Rick Mears 1990 — Arie Luyendyk Sr. 1989 — Emerson Fittipaldi 1988 — Rick Mears 1987 — Al Unser Sr. 1986 — Bobby Rahal 1985 — Danny Sullivan 1984 — Rick Mears 1983 — Tom Sneva 1982 — Gordon Johncock 1981 — Bobby Unser 1980 — Johnny Rutherford 1979 — Rick Mears 1978 — Al Unser Sr. 1977 — A.J. Foyt 1976 — Johnny Rutherford 1975 — Bobby Unser 1974 — Johnny Rutherford 1973 — Gordon Johncock 1972 — Mark Donohue 1971 — Al Unser Sr. 1970 — Al Unser Sr. 1969 — Mario Andretti 1968 — Bobby Unser 1967 — A.J. Foyt 1966 — Graham Hill 1965 — Jimmy Clark 1964 — A.J. Foyt 1963 — Parnelli Jones 1962 — Rodger Ward 1961 — A.J. Foyt 1960 — Jim Rathmann

1959 — Rodger Ward 1958 — Jimmy Bryan 1957 — Sam Hanks 1956 — Pat Flaherty 1955 — Bob Sweikert 1954 — Bill Vukovich Sr. 1953 — Bill Vukovich Sr. 1952 — Troy Ruttman 1951 — Lee Wallard 1950 — Johnnie Parsons 1949 — Bill Holland 1948 — Mauri Rose 1947 — Mauri Rose 1946 — George Robson 1942-45 — No races, World War II 1941 — Floyd Davis and Mauri Rose 1940 — Wilbur Shaw 1939 — Wilbur Shaw 1938 — Floyd Roberts 1937 — Wilbur Shaw 1936 — Louis Meyer 1935 — Kelly Petillo 1934 — Bill Cummings 1933 — Louis Meyer 1932 — Fred Frame 1931 — Louis Schneider 1930 — Billy Arnold 1929 — Ray Keech 1928 — Louis Meyer 1927 — George Souders 1926 — Frank Lockhart 1925 — Pete DePaolo 1924 — L.L.Corum and Joe Boyer 1923 — Tommy Milton 1922 — Jimmy Murphy 1921 — Tommy Milton 1920 — Gaston Chevrolet 1919 — Howard Wilcox 1917-18 — No races, World War I 1916 — Dario Resta 1915 — Ralph DePalma 1914 — Rene Thomas 1913 — Jules Goux 1912 — Joe Dawson 1911 — Ray Harroun — The Associated Press

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Lacrosse

MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: CORNELL VS. SYRACUSE Today, 1 p.m., ESPN

Big Red’s attack runs through freshman Pannell BY CHRISTIAN SWEZEY InsideLacrosse.com

FOXBOROUGH, MASS.—Cornell freshman Rob Pannell was compared on Sunday to Tim Goldstein, a twotime first-team All-American attackman at Cornell in the late-1980s. Yet there is one sense in which Pannell would not like to emulate Goldstein. Goldstein was part of the Cornell team that lost to Syracuse in a national championship game, in 1988. That was the last time the Big Red (13-3) advanced to the championship before this year’s team made it following a 15-6 victory over No. 1-seeded Virginia before 36,594 at Gillette Stadium in a semifinal on Saturday. The Big Red are shooting for their first NCAA title in 32 years, and there is a familiar foe in the way. Syracuse (15-2) and Cornell first played in 1920 and have met in the regular season every year dating from 1979. That includes a 15-10 Syracuse victory on April 7. Pannell enters the title game with 24 goals and 41 assists. It took him 10 games to set the school scoring record for a freshman. “He’s a guy who can control the tempo of an offense,” Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said. “He seems to be the guy who has the ball in his stick the majority of the time.” The Syracuse defense is fresh off a 17-7 victory over No. 3 Duke in the semifinals. In that game, senior Sid Smith held Duke’s Ned Crotty, the nation’s leader in assists, scoreless over the final 49-plus minutes. Crotty finished with two assists. Syracuse can use Smith or sophomore John Lade against Pannell. Another key matchup involves Cornell fifth-year senior goalie Jake Myers. He transferred from Syracuse in 2006 and began this year as a backup. He became the starter on April 11—just after the loss to the Orange. Despite having a save percentage of 50%, Myers has given up only 10 goals in the past two games. “He played with us our freshman year,” said Syracuse senior midfielder Matt Abbott of Myers. “He is a good friend, a great guy and a pretty good player from what I remember. I’m happy for him that he’s succeeding at Cornell and it should be an interesting game.”

MICHAEL DWYER / AP

Rob Pannell, left, and Max Seibald are Cornell’s offensive stars. The game-within-the-game will center on Cornell senior midfielder Max Seibald (26 goals, 10 assists) against Orange sophomore longstick midfielder Joel White (57 groundballs). Seibald initiates a lot of Cornell’s offensive plays and is the team’s physical and emotional leader. White is an excellent athlete and aggressive defender. Cornell’s defense will have to handle a Syracuse offense that has two very good crease attackmen. Sophomore Stephen Keogh (47 goals on 91 shots) is a creative shooter inside and does not need much time or space for a shot. Junior Cody Jamieson has six goals in the NCAA tournament.

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Despite heavy heart, Sabbatini enjoys win IRVING, TEXAS—Rory Sabbatini knelt down on the 18th green as his two young children charged to congratulate him with hugs and kisses. “The beauty about it is just seeing the innocent joy in their eyes,” Sabbatini said after his victory Sunday in the Byron Nelson Championship. Wearing a pink shirt in a show of support for Amy Mickelson, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and heavy hearted because of the rapidly deteriorating health of a buddy with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Sabbatini shot a 6-under 64 for a two-stroke victory over late-charging Brian Davis in Lord Byron’s tournament. “Obviously this tournament is very special,” Sabbatini said. “It’s one that I wish I had have been able to win it and look up and see Byron sitting there at the 18th green. ... What a wonderful name to be associated with now.” After an 8-foot putt at No. 17 for his third straight birdie, Sabbatini got to enjoy the champion’s walk up No. 18. And it didn’t matter that his 7-foot par putt slid past and he had to tap in for bogey. Once the final putt dropped, Sabbatini’s 5-year-old son and 3-year old daughter—with “Team Sabo” inscribed on their clothing—ran out to greet him. He then embraced wife Amy and Peggy Nelson, the widow of Byron Nelson. Sabbatini, the 33-year-old South African who lives in nearby Fort Worth, finished at 19-under 261 at TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas to break the tournament mark of 18 under set by Loren Roberts and playoff loser Steve Pate in 1999—when the Cottonwood Valley course also was used the first two days. Sabbatini earned $1.17 million for his fifth PGA Tour victory. Davis shot a bogey-free 64 to finish second for the third time in his career, though he’s still looking for his first victory. It was the 34-year-old Englishman’s third consecutive top-five finish,

TONY GUTIERREZ / AP

Rory Sabbatini tips his cap to fans after winning the Byron Nelson Championship. including The Players Championship. “I’m disappointed I didn’t win. But all you can do is put yourself in position,” Davis said. “I played great, stuck in there, and I’m ecstatic with that.” It was the first win for Sabbatini since 2007 at Colonial, and he will return to Hogan’s Alley next week as that tournament’s most recent champion. Phil Mickelson withdrew from the Nelson and Colonial, suspending his playing schedule indefinitely after his wife Amy’s diagnosis. Along with his pink shirt, Sabbatini also had a pink ribbon attached to his cap, like most of the players and caddies, as a show of support for the Mickelson family. Sabbatini went from smiling to tears welling up in his eyes later when he talked about the Mickelsons and his friend battling cancer who he saw at the Masters last month. “This is a guy that’s 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, and showed up at Augusta, and he looks about 85 years old and pretty

32

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

much just skin and bones,” Sabbatini said. “It really puts everything we do out here into perspective.” D.A. Points (65) was 16 under for his career-best finish of third. Scott McCarron (62) and Dustin Johnson (66) tied for fourth at 15 under. Davis made a 26-foot eagle putt at the 546-yard No. 16 to get to 17 under. Sabbatini, coming off a birdie, was standing on the 16th tee box at the time, and could only shake his head when his lead suddenly shrunk from three to one. But Sabbatini responded with a tap-in birdie on the same hole, after his 21-foot eagle try slid just past and sent him crouching in disbelief when it didn’t go in the hole. Davis opened with six consecutive pars before four birdies in a five-hole stretch. Then came the eagle at No. 16, though he had to make a 13-footer to save par at the 198-yard 17th when his tee shot landed 56 feet from the pin and his first putt caught up on a ridge. — The Associated Press

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Leaderboard

Sunday at TPC Four Seasons Resort Irving, Texas Purse: $6.5 million; Yardage: 7,166; Par: 70 Final (FedEx Cup points in parentheses) Rory Sabbatini (500), $1,170,000 68-64-65-64—261 Brian Davis (300), $702,000 68-65-66-64—263 D.A. Points (190), $442,000 68-66-65-65—264 Scott McCarron (123), $286,000 66-69-68-62—265 Dustin Johnson (123), $286,000 68-65-66-66—265 John Mallinger (100), $234,000 67-65-65-70—267 John Senden (90), $217,750 71-68-65-64—268 Fred Couples (78), $182,000 69-66-67-67—269 Jeff Maggert (78), $182,000 71-66-65-67—269 Marc Leishman (78), $182,000 68-70-63-68—269 Briny Baird (78), $182,000 69-64-67-69—269 James Nitties (65), $149,500 65-68-68-69—270 Danny Lee (0), $125,667 69-67-69-66—271 Glen Day (58), $125,667 69-66-65-71—271 Kevin Streelman (58), $125,667 67-69-64-71—271 Greg Chalmers (52), $91,186 68-69-69-66—272 Vijay Singh (52), $91,186 70-67-69-66—272 Robert Garrigus (52), $91,186 70-66-69-67—272 Justin Leonard (52), $91,186 75-63-66-68—272 Steve Marino (52), $91,186 69-69-66-68—272 Mike Weir (52), $91,186 66-71-66-69—272 George McNeill (52), $91,186 69-67-66-70—272 Jimmy Walker (43), $48,777 71-68-69-65—273 Rod Pampling (43), $48,777 72-67-69-65—273 Chris Riley (43), $48,777 71-68-68-66—273 Tim Wilkinson (43), $48,777 69-67-70-67—273 Ken Duke (43), $48,777 65-69-71-68—273 Tommy Armour III (43), $48,777 67-71-68-67—273 Ted Purdy (43), $48,777 74-65-66-68—273 Alex Cejka (43), $48,777 69-69-67-68—273 Charlie Wi (43), $48,777 73-66-64-70—273 Michael Letzig (43), $48,777 68-68-67-70—273 Bryce Molder (43), $48,777 68-68-66-71—273 Charley Hoffman (43), $48,777 71-66-65-71—273 Steve Flesch (35), $32,744 70-69-69-66—274 Joe Ogilvie (35), $32,744 69-70-68-67—274 Greg Owen (35), $32,744 68-71-68-67—274 James Driscoll (35), $32,744 67-66-69-72—274 Martin Laird (30), $26,000 72-67-68-68—275 Matt Kuchar (30), $26,000 70-69-68-68—275 David Mathis (30), $26,000 72-67-67-69—275 John Rollins (30), $26,000 72-66-68-69—275 Kris Blanks (30), $26,000 68-71-66-70—275 Brad Adamonis (30), $26,000 66-70-69-70—275 Ben Crane (23), $18,219 71-68-71-66—276 Harrison Frazar (23), $18,219 73-66-71-66—276 Chris DiMarco (23), $18,219 67-69-72-68—276 Jeff Klauk (23), $18,219 72-66-69-69—276 Hunter Mahan (23), $18,219 71-68-67-70—276 Nathan Green (23), $18,219 70-69-66-71—276 Charles Howell III (23), $18,219 66-69-68-73—276 Mark Calcavecchia (16), $14,934 68-70-75-64—277 Jay Williamson (16), $14,934 68-71-71-67—277 Troy Matteson (16), $14,934 68-69-71-69—277 Matt Weibring (16), $14,934 67-69-71-70—277 Colt Knost (16), $14,934 67-72-67-71—277 Davis Love III (16), $14,934 73-64-69-71—277 Brian Bateman (16), $14,934 69-70-66-72—277 Nicholas Thompson (16), $14,934 73-66-64-74—277 Cliff Kresge (9), $14,040 70-69-74-65—278 Todd Hamilton (9), $14,040 71-67-71-69—278 Ricky Barnes (9), $14,040 69-70-69-70—278 Y.E. Yang (9), $14,040 69-67-69-73—278 J.J. Henry (9), $14,040 71-68-66-73—278 Bob Heintz (5), $13,455 68-70-73-68—279 Notah Begay III (5), $13,455 73-65-70-71—279 Jesper Parnevik (5), $13,455 67-68-69-75—279 Robert Allenby (5), $13,455 67-67-70-75—279 Kent Jones (1), $13,000 67-70-74-69—280 David Berganio, Jr. (1), $13,000 72-65-72-71—280 Jonathan Byrd (1), $13,000 68-70-66-76—280 Shaun Micheel (1), $12,740 72-67-70-72—281 Aaron Watkins (1), $12,610 67-71-69-76—283 James Oh (1), $12,480 71-68-74-74—287

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

33

FRENCH OPEN Schedule

Hewitt withstands 55 aces, guts out five-set winner in opener PARIS—Lleyton Hewitt lunged and whiffed at some serves, his racket hitting only air. He simply stood and watched other balls whirr past. Over and over and over again Sunday, Hewitt’s opponent in the French Open’s first round, the 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, smacked aces from on high, finishing with a tournament-record 55. Those easy points helped Karlovic take the first two sets—and made Hewitt think back to the day in 2003 when he was the defending champion at Wimbledon and lost his opening match to the tallest player in tour history. “The angle he gets, you can’t touch a lot of his serves,” Hewitt said. “It’s physically impossible.” This time, as the 26th-seeded Karlovic tired in heat that topped 80 degrees, Hewitt grew more and more comfortable, and the two-time major champion’s bothersome hip looked fine while he climbed all the way back for a 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory. Karlovic was similarly befuddled, saying: “It is difficult to explain.” Theirs amounted to the most riveting match of Day 1 at the only Grand Slam tournament that starts on a Sunday. Otherwise, there were straight-set wins for defending champion Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray and Marat Safin—who is appearing in his final French Open, but please be sure not to ask him about that—and straight-set exits for 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio and twotime major winner Amelie Mauresmo. No. 16 Mauresmo and No. 19 Kaia Kanepi were the seeded women who lost, while Karlovic was the only seeded man who departed. No. 9 Victoria Azarenka and No. 11 Nadia Petrova—who beat Lauren Embree of Marco Island, Fla.—won, as did No. 7 Gilles Simon, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No.

13 Marin Cilic and No. 14 David Ferrer. Safin is seeded 20th, and his talent and temperament long have conspired to make him as capable of reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros, something he did in 2002, as he is of falling in the first round, something he did in 2006. He reached the second round this year by defeating Alexandre Sidorenko of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. When the 29-year-old brother of the tournament’s top-seeded woman, Dinara Safina, walked off the court, he was asked by a French TV interviewer whether this is his last appearance at Roland Garros. Safin replied: “I’m tired of talking about this.” Pressed, he said: “Well, yeah, I decided, I think, to stop. I had my 12 years of my career. It was a great experience, but it’s time to move on.” Like Safin, Hewitt has been ranked No. 1 and has won a U.S. Open title. Hewitt, who is a year younger, has given no indication he plans to walk away from the sport anytime soon. He certainly never quit for a moment against Karlovic, even if the situation seemed grim. Hewitt had lost all three previous career matches against Karlovic, and faced that daunting two-set deficit Sunday. Then there were all of those aces: By the end of the third set, Karlovic already had 41—enough to top the previous French Open record of 37, set by Andy Roddick in 2001. The final tally of 55 is the most in a tourlevel match since the ATP began keeping ace records in 1991, bettering the mark of 51 shared by Karlovic and Joachim Johansson. And, according to the book The Bud Collins History of Tennis, it’s the second-most in history, behind only the 59 hit by Ed Kauder at the 1955 U.S. Championships. — The Associated Press

Results

Play begins on all courts at 5 a.m. EDT q-qualifier; wc-wild card; ll-lucky loser

CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP

Lleyton Hewitt toughed out a five-set victory.

Glance Men’s seeded winners: No. 3 Andy Murray, No. 7 Gilles Simon, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 13 Marin Cilic, No. 14 David Ferrer, No. 18 Radek Stepanek, No. 20 Marat Safin, No. 31 Nicolas Almagro. Men’s seeded losers: No. 26 Ivo Karlovic. Women’s seeded winners: No. 8 Ana Ivanovic, No. 9 Victoria Azarenka, No. 11 Nadia Petrova, No. 25 Li Na, No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 32 Iveta Benesova. Women’s seeded loser: No. 16 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 19 Kaia Kanepi. Stat of the day: 55 — Aces hit by Karlovic in his 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 loss to Lleyton Hewitt, setting a French Open record. Quote of the day: “Any win on the clay is a great win. I know the Americans don’t do well over here, so it’s good to get us on the board.” — Robert Kendrick after his 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-7 (11), 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniel Brands. On the web: rolandgarros.com/en_FR/ index.html

Singles, Men Court Philippe Chatrier Rafael Nadal (1), Spain, vs. Marcos Daniel, Brazil Alberto Martin, Spain, vs. Roger Federer (2), Switzerland Court Suzanne Lenglen Paul-Henri Mathieu (32), France, vs. Laurent Recouderc, France Andy Roddick (6), United States, vs. Romain Jouan, France Court 1 Nicolas Devilder, France, vs. Stanislas Wawrinka (17), Switzerland Bjorn Phau, Germany, vs. Jeremy Chardy, France Court 2 Nikolay Davydenko (10), Russia, vs. Stefan Koubek, Austria Guillaume Rufin, France, vs. Eduardo Schwank, Argentina Court 3 Franco Ferreiro, Brazil, vs. Feliciano Lopez (28), Spain Fabio Fognini, Italy vs. Igor Andreev (25), Russia Court 4 Mischa Zverev, Germany, vs. Potito Starace, Italy Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia, vs. Albert Montanes, Spain Court 5 Rui Machado, Portugal, vs. Kristof Vliegen, Belgium Court 6 Robin Soderling (23), Sweden, vs. Kevin Kim, United States Robby Ginepri, United States, vs. Pablo Andujar, Spain Court 7 Fernando Gonzalez (12), Chile, vs. q-Jiri Vanek, Czech Republic Simone Bolelli, Italy, Tomas Berdych (19), Czech Republic Court 8 Nicolas Massu, Chile, vs. Daniel Koellerer, Austria Diego Junquiera, Argentina, vs. Paul Capdeville, Chile Court 10 q-Ilja Bozoljac, Serbia, vs. Nicolas Kiefer, Germany Oscar Hernandez, Spain, vs. Ivo Minar, Czech Republic Court 11 Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, vs. q-Santiago Giraldo, Colombia Igor Kunitsyn, Russia, vs. Teimuraz Gabashvili, Russia Court 14 Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, vs. Martin Vassallo Arguello, Argentina Court 16 Mikhail Youzhny, Russia, vs. Gilles Muller, Luxembourg Jose Acasuso, Argentina, vs. Santiago Ventura, Spain Court 17 Victor Hanescu (30), Romania, vs. Stever Darcis, Belgium

Singles, Women Court Philippe Chatrier Dinara Safina (1), Russia, vs. Anne Keothavong, Britain Marion Bartoli (13), France, vs. Pauline Parmentier, France Court Suzanne Lenglen Ai Sugiyama, Japan, vs. Aravane Rezai, France Venus Williams (3), United States, vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States Court 1 Anastasiya Yakimova, Belarus, vs. Maria Sharapova, Russia Vera Dushevina, Russia, vs. Caroline Wozniacki (10), Denmark Court 2 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, France, vs. Jie Zheng (15), China Flavia Pennetta (14), Italy, vs. Alexa Glatch, United States Court 3 Tamarine Tanasugam, Thailand, vs. Camille Pin, France Rossana De Los Rios, Paraguay, vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (12), Poland Court 4 Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, vs. Jill Craybas, United States Court 5 Alisa Kleybanova (23), Russia, vs. Polona Hercog, Slovokia Patricia Mayr, Austria vs. Mariya Koryttseva, Ukraine Court 6 Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic, vs. Sabine Lisicki, Germany Jarmila Groth, Australia, vs. wc-Kinnie Laisne, France Court 7 Stephanie Foretz, France, vs. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium Tathiana Garbin, Italy, vs. Ayumi Morita, Japan Court 8 wc-Irena Pavlovic, France, vs. Akgul Amanmuradova, Uzbekistan Court 10 q-Yvonne Meusburger, Austria, vs. Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic, vs. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spain Court 11 wc-Olivia Rogowska, Australia, vs. Maria Kirilenko, Russia Court 14 q-Corinna Dentoni, Italy, vs. Agnes Szavay (29), Hungary q-Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal, vs. Melanie South, Britain Olga Govortsova, Belarus, vs. Vera Zvonareva (6), Russia Court 16 Edina Gallovits, Romania, vs. Carla Suarez Navarro (22), Spain ll-Mariana Duque Marino, Colombia, vs. Anna Chakvetadze (26), Russia Court 17 Dominika Cibulkova (20), Slovakia, vs. Alona Bondarenko, Ukraine

Sunday at Stade Roland Garros, Paris Purse: $21.8 million (Grand Slam); Surface: ClayOutdoor Singles Men, First Round Andrey Golubev, Kazakhstan, def. Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, def. Ivo Karlovic (26), Croatia, 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3. Dudi Sela, Israel, def. Jean-Rene Lisnard, Monaco, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Mathieu Montcourt, France, def. Yen-Hsun Lu, Taiwan, 6-2, retired. Marat Safin (20), Russia, def. Alexandre Sidorenko, France, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Marin Cilic (13), Croatia, def. Jan Hernych, Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-4, 6-3. Fernando Verdasco (8), Spain, def. Florent Serra, France, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Josselin Ouanna, France, def. Marcel Granollers, Spain, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1. Nicolas Almagro (31), Spain, def. Agustin Calleri, Argentina, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. Radek Stepanek (18), Czech Republic, def. Gaston Gaudio, Argentina, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. David Ferrer (14), Spain, def. Frederico Gil, Portugal, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. Philipp Petzschner, Germany, def. Peter Polansky, Canada, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3. Andy Murray (3), Britain, def. Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentina, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Gilles Simon (7), France, def. Wayne Odesnik, United States, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Robert Kendrick, United States, def. Daniel Brands, Germany, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (11), 4-6, 6-3. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, def. Sam Querrey, United States, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Women, First Round Li Na (25), China, def. Marta Domachowska, Poland, 6-4, 6-2. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27), Russia, def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, Romania, 6-3, 6-2. Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland, def. Emilie Loit, France, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Ana Ivanovic (8), Serbia, def. Sara Errani, Italy, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, def. Mathilde Johansson, France, 2-6, 6-2, 10-8. Julie Coin, France, def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, Spain, 7-5, 6-2. Iveta Benesova (32), Czech Republic, def. Julia Goerges, Germany, 7-5, 4-1, retired. Elena Vesnina, Russia, def. Severine Bremond Beltrame, France, 6-3, 6-3. Nadia Petrova (11), Russia, def. Lauren Embree, United States, 6-1, 6-2. Arantxa Rus, Netherlands, def. Olivia Sanchez, France, 6-1, 6-1. Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan, def. Kaia Kanepi (19), Estonia, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2. Gisela Dulko, Argentina, def. Tamira Paszek, Austria, 6-1, 6-3. Victoria Azarenka (9), Belarus, def. Roberta Vinci, Italy, 6-4, 6-2. Kristina Barrois, Germany, def. Maria Emilia Salerni, Argentina, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia, def. Varvara Lepchenko, United States, 6-3, 6-3. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, def. Amelie Mauresmo (16), France, 6-4, 6-3.

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

IN BRIEF

Torres slips but still victorious in 50 free event COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS—Dara Torres easily won the 50-meter freestyle at a meet on Sunday and still didn’t like her performance. The 42-year-old Torres, who won a silver medal in the event in Beijing last summer, took the 50 free at the Texas Senior Circuit No. 2 meet at Texas A&M on Sunday in 24.62 seconds, improving on her time of 24.73 seconds from the morning preliminaries. But Torres said she swallowed water—an unlikely gaffe for someone who’s competed in five Olympics—and hurried her strokes early in the race. She came up coughing and gasping for breath after touching the wall. Torres swam the 50 free in 24.07 seconds in Beijing, an American record. She missed the gold by 0.01 seconds to Germany’s Britta Steffen.

Menchov of Russia.

Formula One MONACO—Brawn GP’s Jenson Button won the Monaco Grand Prix, capturing his fifth victory in six races to extend his Formula One championship lead. “We’ve got Monaco baby,” Button said after crossing the finish line 7.6 seconds ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello. Button’s fourth start-to-finish victory of the season was the first for a British driver from pole at the famed street circuit race since Jackie Stewart 36 years ago. Button leads with 51 points.

Golf

Soccer CHICAGO—Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey, Los Angeles forward Landon Donovan, and striker Jozy Altidore of Spanish club Xerez headed the United States’ 24-man training squad announced ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras. The U.S. team will be at nearly full strength for the games. Right back Steve Cherundolo is sidelined following hip surgery last month and forward Eddie Johnson was ignored by coach Bob Bradley. Altidore, who scored three goals in the April 1 qualifying win over Trinidad and Tobago, is included following surgery on both big toes on April 16. Seven players are from Major League Soccer, and five are based in England.

Lacrosse TOWSON, MD.—Northwestern won its fifth straight NCAA championship in women’s Division I lacrosse with a 21-7 victory over North Carolina. Hilary Bowen scored five goals, and Katrina Dowd and Danielle Spencer had four apiece to lead the Wildcats in the

CLAUDE PARIS / AP

Jenson Button captured his fifth Formula One victory in six races at Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix. game at Towson University. Northwestern (23-0) broke the record for goals in the title game and has won 20 consecutive tournament games, one shy of the record set by Maryland from 1995 to 2002.

Cycling FAENZA, ITALY—Levi Leipheimer has another chance to shed his “perennial runner-up” label today in stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia. The Montana native battled through 95-degree heat and hung with the other leaders in the 15th stage Sunday. He enters the potentially decisive uphill leg to Monte Petrano third overall, 43 seconds behind race leader Denis

BEACHWOOD, OHIO—Michael Allen ended his long victory drought with two late birdies, shooting a 3-under 67 to hold off Larry Mize by two shots in the Senior PGA Championship—the first Champions Tour major of the season. Allen became only the fourth player to win a major championship in his Champions Tour debut, joining Roberto De Vicenzo (1980 U.S. Senior Open), Arnold Palmer (1980 Senior PGA) and Jack Nicklaus (1990 Tradition). CORNING, N.Y.—Taiwan’s Yani Tseng won the final LPGA Corning Classic when South Korea’s Soo-Yun Kang missed a 3-foot par putt on the final hole. The 20-year-old Tseng, the 2008 McDonald’s LPGA Championship and LPGA rookie of the year, closed with a 5-under 67 for a 21-under 267 total.

College baseball Top-ranked UC Irvine was selected Sunday to host an NCAA college baseball regional for the first time in school history. The Anteaters (43-13), a College World Series participant two years ago, joined Louisville and TCU as first-time hosts.

The United States World Cup roster: Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England) Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (Midtjylland, Denmark), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England), Marvell Wynne (Toronto) Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico) Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Xerez, Spain), Brian Ching (Houston), Charlie Davies (Hammarby, Sweden), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles)

TRANSACTIONS BASEBALL American League KANSAS CITY ROYALS: Assigned RHP Luke Hochevar to Omaha (PCL). Placed RHP Robinson Tejada and INF Mike Aviles on the 15-day DL, Tejada retroactive to May 21. Purchased the contract of RHP Roman Colon from Omaha. Recalled INF Tug Hulett from Omaha. Activated LHP John Bale from the 15-day DL. National League CINCINNATI REDS: Optioned RHP Homer Bailey to Louisville (IL). Recalled INF-OF Wilkin Castillo from Louisville. COLORADO ROCKIES: Placed C Jeff Iannetta on the 15-day DL. Purchased the contract of C Paul Phillips from Colorado Springs (PCL). Transferred INF Jeff Baker to the 60-day DL. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: Activated OF Rick Ankiel from the 15-day DL. Optioned INF Tyler Greene to Memphis (PCL). SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: Purchased the contract of C Eli Whiteside from Fresno (PCL). Optioned LHP Pat Misch to Fresno. Transferred LHP Noah Lowry to the 60-day DL. Southern League CAROLINA MUDCATS: Announced INF Eric Eymann was promoted to Louisville (IL). Added IF Jason Louwsma from Sarasota (FSL). Northern League SCHAUMBURG FLYERS: Agreed to terms with RHP Cephas Howard. WINNIPEG GOLDEYES: Released C Hank Lanto.

Major League Soccer EASTERN CONFERENCE

Each of the 16 host schools selected by the NCAA’s Division I baseball committee are guaranteed berths in the 64-team tournament, which starts Friday. The Atlantic Coast Conference led the field with four schools—Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina—selected as hosts. The Southeastern Conference was next with three: Florida, LSU and Mississippi. The other hosts are: Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, East Carolina, Oklahoma, Rice and Texas. The rest of the field, including the top eight national seeds, will be announced today. Each four-team regional is double-elimination, with the 16 winners advancing to the super regionals, beginning June 5. The eight super regional winners advance to the College World Series, which begins June 13. — The Associated Press

Chicago D.C. Toronto FC Kansas City New England Columbus New York WESTERN CONFERENCE Chivas USA Seattle Houston Colorado Real Salt Lake Los Angeles FC Dallas San Jose

W 4 3 4 4 2 1 2

L 0 1 3 4 3 2 6

T 6 7 4 3 4 6 3

Pts 18 16 16 15 10 9 9

GF 17 17 16 15 8 12 10

GA 11 15 16 13 16 15 13

W 7 4 4 3 3 1 1 1

L 1 2 2 2 5 1 6 6

T 3 4 3 4 2 8 3 2

Pts 24 16 15 13 11 11 6 5

GF 15 14 11 13 14 12 9 9

GA 6 8 7 11 13 12 17 19

NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. May 23 Toronto FC 3, New England 1 D.C. United 0, Real Salt Lake 0, tie Kansas City 1, Chivas USA 1, tie FC Dallas 1, Los Angeles 1, tie Houston 3, San Jose 1 Colorado 2, Seattle FC 2, tie Sunday’s Games Chicago 1, New York 0 Wednesday’s Game San Jose at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday’s Game Chicago at Chivas USA, 10:30 p.m. Saturday’s Games Colorado at New York, 7:30 p.m. D.C. United at New England, 7:30 p.m. Toronto FC at Houston, 8:30 p.m. Columbus at Seattle FC, 10:30 p.m. Kansas City at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m. Real Salt Lake at San Jose, 10:30 p.m. Sunday, May 31 FC Dallas at Chicago, 3 p.m.