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STANLEY CUP FINALS S

YOUR TURN Got something you’d like to ask Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis? E-mail your question, along with your name and hometown, to yourturn@ sportingnews.com. We’ll pick our five favorites and bounce them off the 10-time Pro Bowler.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Top 25 players It’s no surprise that Florida QB Tim Tebow is No. 1 in Matt Hayes’ preseason ranking of the top 25 players in college football. But get Tim Tebow this: Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli, the poor man’s Tebow, is one to watch at No. 9. The top three: 1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida 2. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma 3. Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma State The complete list, Page 30

Scoreboard Baseball American League N.Y. Yankees 5, Cleveland 2 Chicago White Sox 6, Oakland 2 Baltimore 1, Seattle 0 National League Pittsburgh 8, N.Y. Mets 5 Florida 7, Milwaukee 4 Houston 4, Colorado 1 Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 3 Philadelphia 5, San Diego 3 Arizona 3, L.A. Dodgers 2

GOLF > 36

NBA DRAFT > 6

GAME 3: TONIGHT, 8 ET, VERSUS

Dominating with depth

TUESDAY JUNE 2, 2009 SEE A DIFFERENT GAME VOLUME 1 ISSUE 315

Valtteri Filppula

The Red Wings are two games away from another Stanley Cup title, and they’re doing it without major scoring from their big stars. Point totals from Detroit’s depth players: Valtteri Filppula: 15 points Dan Cleary: 14 points Mikael Samuelsson: 9 points Jonathan Ericsson: 6 points

Abdelkader shows knack for scoring clutch goals , Page 11

Return game

Tom Brady isn’t the only superstar battling to get back on the field

TOM HAUCK FOR SN

GAME 1: ORLANDO AT L.A. LAKERS Thursday, 9 p.m. ET, ABC

Defending Howard a key for Lakers

BY ALBERT BREER [email protected]

Tom Brady said it. Bill Belichick did, too. The two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback is ready. Physically, at least. But no one knows better than Brady that his comeback is not complete. “The reality is, in this sport, you never really know,” Brady said. “Any day can be your last day in football.” Here are three other linchpin types who will face tests in their comebacks from injuries:

NBA FINALS

JAY DROWNS / SN

DARRON CUMMINGS / AP

Seahawks LT Walter Jones

Chargers OLB Shawne Merriman

Colts S Bob Sanders

THE SITUATION: Seattle could’ve drafted Eugene Monroe or Andre Smith to be the heir apparent to Jones, who’s trying to bounce back from microfracture knee surgery. A 13-year vet, Jones still hasn’t returned to the practice field but said last month, “I’m not ready to put my cleats up.” THE CONTINGENCY PLAN: Current right tackle Sean Locklear is the logical replacement. Former Bengal Levi Jones visited and could fit on the right side, which would allow Locklear to flip to the left. The dark horse: rookie Max Unger.

THE SITUATION: The Chargers’ pass rush went from awesome to anemic when Merriman went on the shelf last September with torn ligaments in his knee. The plan is to limit him until the start of training camp. “I feel really good and things are going well, but I’m going to be smart about things,” he said. THE CONTINGENCY PLAN: Larry English, chosen 16th overall, may have been the best pass rusher in the draft and is a natural to play opposite Shaun Phillips if Merriman experiences a setback.

THE SITUATION: A big-timer with real problems staying on the field, Sanders endured a knee injury and a high ankle sprain in 2008. The former is likely to land him on the physically unable to perform list to open training camp. THE CONTINGENCY PLAN: If Sanders can’t go, the Colts will pair Melvin Bullitt with 2008 Pro Bowler Antoine Bethea. Bullitt improved during his nine starts last year, finishing with 72 tackles, four picks and nine passes defensed.

For much of May, the theme of the NBA playoffs was the ascendance of Cleveland’s LeBron James. But, by the end of the East finals, it was clear that theme had changed—this was the ascendance of Orlando center Dwight Howard. After his 40-point, 14-rebound effort in the series clincher, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said, “I don’t know what more he could do.” The Lakers, who face the Magic in the Finals starting Thursday, aren’t eager to find out if Howard can do more. How they’ll defend Howard is one of the key questions of the series. Lakers coach Phil Jackson is not one for double-teams, so it’s a safe bet that L.A. will play Howard straight with Andrew Bynum. But Bynum’s injured knee has slowed him and might force Jackson to scramble. Tall-but-thin Pau Gasol also will get the call on Howard and even D.J. Mbenga might be called on for a cameo.

— Sean Deveney More Finals questions, Page 7

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Tune In Today A quick look at the best sports on TV — all times Eastern HOCKEY

Red Wings at Penguins 7 p.m., Versus Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk (foot) didn’t play in the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be ready for Game 3. It remains to be seen if the Red Wings even need Datysuk—guys like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm are chipping in offensively and goalie Chris Osgood has vastly outperformed Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury. To top it all off, each bounce is going Detroit’s way. The Penguins still have two major trump cards in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and they’ll need them to come up big to avoid a 3-0 hole.

TENNIS

French Open Noon, ESPN2 We’re not sure today’s quarterfinals matches are made for the casual tennis viewer—Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal are out, and Roger Federer is off, as are most of the big names in the women’s field. That said, it might be worth checking out Robin Soderling, who knocked out Nadal, the four-time defending champ, on Sunday. Soderling takes on on 10th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko.

SOFTBALL

Florida vs. Washington 8 p.m., ESPN2 Washington easily won the first game of the NCAA softball World Series final, shutting out the Gators 8-0 behind a strong pitching performance from player of the year Danielle Lawrie. Tonight, the Huskies will have an opportunity to clinch the title in Game 2 of the best-of-3 series. If past performances are any indication, though, bet on the Gators—Monday’s loss was their first since March 29, and came on the heels of a 63-3 regular season.

— Compiled by Sean Gentille

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

2

If you deliver it daily, they will come.

OFF THE FIELD

Kosar hit hard by recession Former NFL and Miami (Fla.) quarterback Bernie Kosar, his real estate and restaurant investments floundering in the recession, has been hit with a $4.2 million judgment from National City Bank, the South Florida Business Journal’s Brian Bandell reported. Kosar and related companies also lost foreclosure judgments on multifamily properties in the Tampa area, and face a pending foreclosure lawsuit against a third. His Bernie Kosar’s Steakhouse was evicted from its South Miami space in November. Kosar also faces significant tax problems, including $59,881 in unpaid property taxes on his Weston, Fla., home and a combined $93,647 in federal tax liens against him over his personal income taxes, including

GUIDE (All times Eastern) Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts. COLLEGE SOFTBALL

8 p.m. ESPN2 — World Series, finals, game 2, Florida vs. Washington, at Oklahoma City MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

7 p.m. WGN — Chicago Cubs at Atlanta NHL HOCKEY

8 p.m. VERSUS — Playoffs, Stanley Cup finals, game 3, Detroit at Pittsburgh TENNIS

Noon ESPN2 — French Open, men’s & women’s quarterfinals, at Paris

JAMIE-ANDREA YANAK / AP

Former Browns QB Bernie Kosar’s real estate and restaurant investments are in trouble. some years filed jointly with ex-wife Babette. Kosar’s South Florida home is currently listed online for sale for $3.5 million. It was purchased for almost the same amount in 2006.

Quick hits The price of baseball success? The Brewers—having announced last month that they would reduce selected $28 tickets by $1 for every win in May—began selling Loge Outfield tickets for their June 9-11 series against the Rockies at Miller Park for $10, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The team went 18-10 in May. Meantime, burglars stole nearly $7,000 worth of Rangers jerseys, plus jackets, hats and hooded sweatshirts from a team store in uptown

Dallas early Sunday morning, the Dallas Morning News reported. IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, in the final year of a three-year agreement with Andretti Green Racing, was free starting Monday to entertain offers from teams, regarding who she will drive for in 2010, The Indianapolis Star reported. NASCAR and F1 teams have been mentioned as possibilities. For the third straight year, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park is the most vegetarian-friendly ballpark, according to PETA. San Francisco’s AT&T Park was second, followed by Colorado’s Coors Field, Atlanta’s Turner Field and Houston’s Minute Maid Park. — SportsBusiness Daily, sportsbusinessdaily.com

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Angels legend

(What you won’t find on Facebook … even if you are approved as a friend) Born: Aug. 24, 1968 in Long Beach, Calif. Status: Married Alma mater: Grand Canyon University What I’m up to: Recently graduated from college, raising four kids and coaching their teams, lots of philanthropy, serving on boards, skiing, boating, cycling, traveling What’s on TV: Seinfeld, The Office, The History Channel, ESPN What’s in my iPod: Rock to country—Green Day, Rush, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Boston, Styx, AC/DC, The Eagles What I drive: ’07 Chevy 2500 Diesel Crew Cab—to work in; ’07 Ferrari F430—to play in Favorite flicks: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Tommy Boy, anything with Will Ferrell in it What I’m reading: Epicenter, by Joel C. Rosenberg Magazine subscriptions: Macworld, TIME, Huntin’ Fool Bookmarks: Angelsbaseball.com, TimSalmon.com, Digg. com, Protegesportsinc.com Superstitions: Find any coin, pick it up and all day you’ll have good luck. That’s it. I try not to have superstitions. It’s too much work. Worst habit: Dessert! On my office walls: 2002 World Series pictures and memorabilia; 2009 bachelor degree from Grand Canyon University—finally graduated; pictures of my family Love to trade places for a day with … Any president of the U.S. I would like to know the answers to things like who shot JFK, Area 51 and all the rest of the top secrets the public never knows about.

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

First job: Paper route. I was 12 or 13, living in Houston. Delivered to an apartment complex. I think I made, like, $15 a month, getting up at 4 a.m. to roll the papers for delivery. Collecting from strangers was scary—even way back then. Talent I’d most like to have: To play a musical instrument on stage Favorite meal: Grilled Tri-tip (steak) with Armenian rice pilaf, tossed salad with Ranch and large, unsweetened iced tea Favorite athlete to watch in another sport: Kurt Warner. Go Cards! Favorite city to visit: Chicago Favorite team as a kid: ’70s Dallas Cowboys and L.A. Dodgers Favorite value in others: Character Favorite physical attribute about myself: Eyes. My vision is 20/20. And least … My brain. Got in the way too often. I overthink. Dream date: My wife My greatest love: Jesus Christ My bucket list: 1. Learn to fly, 2. Learn to play piano and guitar, 3. Travel the world, 4. Drive a motorhome across the U.S. My motto: Perseverance—Finish what you start. — Jeff D’Alessio

MARK J. TERRILL / AP

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

BASEBALL / NATIONAL LEAGUE

BASEBALL / AMERICAN LEAGUE

Arizona 3, L.A. Dodgers 2

Philadelphia 5, San Diego 3

Baltimore 1, Seattle 0

Buckner, errors hurt Dodgers

Phillies’ homers doom Padres

Hill, Jones, Sherrill shine

LOS ANGELES—Billy Buckner threw six scoreless innings and rookie Josh Whitesell hit a tworun double, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. The Dodgers threw five wild pitches, tying the franchise record set on July 9, 1918, at St. Louis, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Buckner (2-1) allowed four hits, struck out five and walked two. The right-hander, who began the season in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen, has allowed six earned runs over 18 1-3 innings in three starts since being recalled May 22 from Triple-A Reno. Tony Pena followed Clay Zavada and Juan Gutierrez out of the bullpen and gave up RBI singles in the ninth to Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre before posting his first save of the season. Closer Chad Qualls was unavailable because of stiffness in his right forearm. The Dodgers’ bullpen was responsible for each of the wild pitches. Cory Wade, who hasn’t allowed an earned run in 14 1/3 career innings against the Diamondbacks, threw three in the seventh inning—one of which allowed Miguel Montero to reach after a strikeout. Twotime All-Star catcher Russell Martin wasn’t able to prevent two more wild pitches by rookie Brent Leach in the eighth. — The Associated Press

Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 2 Arizona AB R H BI F.Lopez 2b 5 0 0 0 G.Parra lf 3 1 1 0 J.Upton rf 4 0 0 0 S.Drew ss 4 0 2 0 Reynolds 3b-1b 3 1 0 1 Montero c 3 1 0 0 C.Young cf 4 0 0 0 Whitesell 1b 2 0 1 2 Zavada p 0 0 0 0 J.Gutierrez p 0 0 0 0 e-Ojeda ph-3b 1 0 1 0 Buckner p 2 0 0 0 b-R.Roberts ph-3b 1 0 0 0 T.Pena p 0 0 0 0 Totals 32 3 5 3

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

SO 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 11

Avg. .306 .319 .322 .221 .263 .217 .174 .133 ----.267 .000 .361 .000

Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Pierre lf 5 0 3 1 0 0 Loretta 3b 5 0 0 0 0 0 Hudson 2b 3 0 1 0 1 1 Loney 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 Martin c 4 0 0 0 0 2 Ethier rf 4 1 1 0 0 2 Kemp cf 4 1 2 0 0 1 J.Castro ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 c-Furcal ph-ss 2 0 2 1 0 0 Kuroda p 1 0 0 0 0 1 a-Milton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Wade p 0 0 0 0 0 0 d-Blake ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 Leach p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mota p 0 0 0 0 0 0 f-Hoffmann ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 36 2 9 2 2 8

Avg. .382 .293 .332 .284 .266 .255 .310 .341 .253 .000 .000 .000 .300 --.000 .188

Arizona 020 000 010 — Los Angeles 000 000 002 —

3 5 1 2 9 1

a-grounded out for Kuroda in the 5th. b-walked for Buckner in the 7th. c-singled for J.Castro in the 7th. d-struck out for Wade in the 7th. e-doubled for J.Gutierrez in the 9th. f-flied out for Mota in the 9th. E: F.Lopez (6), Kemp (1). LOB: Arizona 7, Los Angeles 9. 2B: S.Drew (7), Whitesell (2), Ojeda (6), Hudson (17), Kemp (9). RBIs: Reynolds (31), Whitesell 2 (2), Pierre (21), Furcal (11). SB: Reynolds (11), Pierre (11). Runners left in scoring position: Arizona 5 (Buckner, F.Lopez 3, Montero); Los Angeles 7 (Loretta 3, Ethier, Martin, Pierre 2). DP: Arizona 1 (S.Drew, Whitesell); Los Angeles 1 (J.Castro, Hudson, Loney). Arizona Buckner W, 2-1 Zavada H, 3 J.Gutierrez H, 2 T.Pena S, 1-1 Los Angeles Kuroda L, 1-1 Wade Leach Mota

IP 6 1⁄3 1 2⁄3 1 IP 5 2 1⁄3 1 2⁄3

H 4 1 1 3 H 3 0 1 1

R ER BB SO 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 R ER BB SO 2 2 3 6 0 0 2 3 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0

NP ERA 92 5.24 6 0.00 23 3.00 28 1.78 NP ERA 86 2.53 32 4.82 13 5.63 20 6.53

Inherited runners-scored: J.Gutierrez 1-0, Mota 2-1. IBB: off Wade (Whitesell). WP: Wade 3, Leach 2. PB: Montero. Umpires: Home, Brian Gorman; First, C.B. Bucknor; Second, Angel Campos; Third, Gerry Davis. T: 3:12. A: 32,304 (56,000).

Phillies 5, Padres 3 Philadelphia AB Rollins ss 5 Victorino cf 5 Utley 2b 4 Howard 1b 5 Ibanez lf 5 Werth rf 4 Feliz 3b 5 Ruiz c 3 Blanton p 1 b-Dobbs ph 1 S.Eyre p 0 Lidge p 0 Totals 38

LENNY IGNELZI / AP

Ryan Howard, above, followed Chase Utley’s homer with one of his own. SAN DIEGO—The back-toback home runs allowed by Joe Blanton didn’t hurt as much as the ones Kevin Correia gave up. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit consecutive home runs off Correia in the fifth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Adrian Gonzalez and the San Diego Padres 5-3 on Monday night for their fourth straight win. Gonzalez hit his major league-leading 21st homer in the sixth inning off Blanton, followed by Scott Hairston’s shot that pulled the Padres to 4-3. The Phillies got an insurance run in the eighth when pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs doubled and scored on Shane Victorino’s two-out bloop double. “Solo home runs,” Blanton said. “We still had the lead. Two outs, nobody on, I

was just being aggressive. No need in making another bad pitch, especially after the second one. Make another one, you’ve got a tie game. I just went back to throwing it like I did earlier. “I knew Gonzalez was hot and just attacked him and just overthrew it. Hot hitter. He got a ball over the plate up a little bit, and that’s what happens.” Victorino and Utley had two RBIs apiece in the opener of a three-game series. Howard struck out four times. San Diego surprised the defending World Series champions by taking two of three games at Philadelphia in mid-April. The fourth game was rained out and was rescheduled for July 23. San Diego’s 10-game home win streak ended. — The Associated Press

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

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

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

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

SO 0 0 0 4 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 9

Avg. .230 .295 .299 .264 .333 .247 .299 .305 .071 .154 -----

San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Gwynn cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 Eckstein 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 Ad.Gonzalez 1b 2 1 1 1 2 0 Hairston lf 4 2 2 1 0 1 Giles rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 Kouzmanoff 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 Hundley c 3 0 0 0 0 2 Jo.Wilson ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 Correia p 1 0 0 0 0 1 Meredith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 a-E.Gonzalez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Thatcher p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gregerson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 c-Headley ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 G.Burke p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 30 3 6 2 2 6

Avg. .310 .240 .290 .331 .193 .230 .244 .196 .273 --.177 ----.235 ---

Philadelphia 002 020 010 — San Diego 010 002 000 —

5 12 0 3 6 0

a-flied out for Meredith in the 5th. b-doubled for Blanton in the 8th. c-struck out for Gregerson in the 8th. LOB: Philadelphia 11, San Diego 2. 2B: Rollins (13), Victorino (13), Ibanez (12), Dobbs (1). HR: Utley (12), off Correia; Howard (15), off Correia; Ad.Gonzalez (21), off Blanton; Hairston (8), off Blanton. RBIs: Victorino 2 (27), Utley 2 (35), Howard (41), Ad.Gonzalez (41), Hairston (23). CS: Gwynn (1). S: Blanton. Runners left in scoring position: Philadelphia 8 (Howard 2, Ruiz, Feliz 2, Victorino, Rollins 2). DP: Philadelphia 1 (Rollins, Utley, Howard). Philadelphia Blanton W, 4-3 S.Eyre H, 10 Lidge S, 13-17 San Diego Correia L, 1-4 Meredith Thatcher Gregerson G.Burke

IP 7 1 1 IP 4 1⁄3 2⁄3 2 1 1

H 6 0 0 H 10 0 0 2 0

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

NP ERA 95 5.86 20 2.84 5 7.40 NP ERA 98 5.37 7 2.95 29 0.00 21 3.56 10 1.17

S.Eyre pitched to 1 batter in the 9th. Inherited runners-scored: Lidge 1-0, Meredith 3-0. IBB: off Correia (Ruiz), off Gregerson (Utley). Umpires: Home, Bill Hohn; First, Bruce Dreckman; Second, Paul Emmel; Third, Gary Darling. T: 2:39. A: 22,825 (42,691).

SEATTLE—Rich Hill missed the first six weeks of the season with an injured elbow. He allowed seven runs in his previous start. The kid catcher calling his pitches Monday night, Matt Wieters, was in his fourth day in the major leagues. Against the anemic Mariners, it just didn’t matter. Hill allowed two hits in seven innings, Adam Jones and George Sherrill flourished against their former team and the Baltimore Orioles beat Seattle 1-0. The Orioles sent former ace Erik Bedard to the Mariners for top outfield prospect Jones, reliever Sherrill and three other players in February 2008. While Bedard has been slowed by injuries, Jones and Sherrill have blossomed in Baltimore. Jones doubled and scored the only run on a sacrifice fly by Aubrey Huff off Jarrod Washburn (3-4) in the sixth inning. After Jim Johnson struck out two in a perfect eighth, Sherrill finished for his 11th save in 13 chances. Sherrill has 42 saves and his only All-Star appearance since Seattle traded him. “Boy, oh boy, I don’t know we’ll see a better pitched game than that,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley gushed. “That’s tremendous.” Ichiro Suzuki tied the Mariners’ record by hitting safely in his 25th consecutive game. — The Associated Press

Orioles 1, Mariners 0 Baltimore AB R B.Roberts 2b 4 0 Ad.Jones cf 3 1 Markakis rf 3 0 A.Huff 1b 3 0 Mora 3b 4 0 Scott dh 4 0 Wieters c 4 0 Reimold lf 3 0 C.Izturis ss 3 0 Totals 31 1

SO 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 5

Avg. .294 .344 .298 .264 .270 .322 .133 .286 .262

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO I.Suzuki rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 Y.Betancourt ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 Beltre 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 M.Sweeney dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 Branyan 1b 2 0 0 0 1 1 Jo.Lopez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 Balentien lf 2 0 0 0 1 2 Ro.Johnson c 3 0 0 0 0 2 F.Gutierrez cf 2 0 0 0 1 1 Totals 28 0 2 0 3 9

Avg. .352 .256 .227 .230 .319 .226 .235 .186 .255

Baltimore Seattle

H 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 6

BI 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

BB 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

000 001 000 — 000 000 000 —

1 6 1 0 2 1

E: Reimold (1), Y.Betancourt (9). LOB: Baltimore 6, Seattle 4. 2B: Ad.Jones (14), I.Suzuki (9). RBIs: A.Huff (39). SF: A.Huff. Runners left in scoring position: Baltimore 2 (C.Izturis, Scott); Seattle 2 (M.Sweeney 2). GIDP: A.Huff, C.Izturis, Jo.Lopez. DP: Baltimore 1 (B.Roberts, C.Izturis, A.Huff); Seattle 2 (Jo.Lopez, Y.Betancourt, Branyan), (Branyan, Y.Betancourt, Branyan). Baltimore R.Hill W, 2-0 Ji.Johnson H, 9 Sherrill S, 11-13 Seattle Washburn L, 3-4 Jakubauskas

IP 7 1 1 IP 7 2

H 2 0 0 H 6 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 0 0 3 7 106 4.15 0 0 0 2 10 3.04 0 0 0 0 11 2.49 R ER BB SO NP ERA 1 1 1 3 102 3.22 0 0 1 2 25 6.17

Umpires: Home, Todd Tichenor; First, Mike Winters; Second, Tony Randazzo; Third, Chris Guccione.T: 2:13. A: 16,979 (47,878).

No buggin’ Joba, Page 19

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Next Gen

RECRUITING DISH

Nation’s top prospect trims list to eight after Auburn trip Auburn hosted nearly two dozen top recruits for unofficial visits during the weekend, an experience RB Marcus Lattimore, Sporting News’ No. 1 prospect in the class of 2010, said was a blast. Lattimore, from powerhouse Byrnes High (Duncan, S.C.), on Monday told Sporting News Today that he updated his list of schools while returning from Auburn, and it now includes eight: Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina, Penn State and South Carolina. “All of them are even, and I’m going to take it slow from now on,” Lattimore told SN Today. “I just got a little sheet of paper and did it coming back. I knew I had to do it soon. I haven’t been to Maryland or Penn State or Alabama yet, but I will. “I just felt comfortable with all of the coaches at the schools I picked.” Lattimore said the trip to Auburn, which was labeled Big Cat Weekend, made a favorable impression on him. “They just didn’t want to relate anything to football; they just wanted some of the top recruits they were after to get together and meet each other and have some fun,” he said. “I had a good time, had a blast.” The recruits watched the Lakers beat the Nuggets to advance to the NBA Finals, played pool, pingpong and video games, and had pie, watermelon and cake-eating contests. They even did some decorating of Toomer’s Corner, rolling the trees with toilet paper like fans do

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TODD VAN EMST / AP

Auburn coach Gene Chizik made a good impression on Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes RB Marcus Lattimore. after an Auburn home victory. The school is investigating whether NCAA secondary rules violations might have been committed during the weekend. Publicizing visits by prospects is prohibited. “Somehow it got out that we all were there,” Lattimore told SN Today. “People were there at Toomer’s Corner to support us. A lot of alumni were there, and they decided to toilet paper the trees. We definitely felt the love from Auburn. We had a great time the whole time.” SN Top 100 prospects Khairi Fortt, Trovon Reed and Lache Seastrunk also made the trip to Auburn. Seastrunk, who is leaning heavily toward Auburn and is good friends with Lattimore, poked fun at Alabama coach Nick Saban during the visit. Seastrunk said on video: “What’s up, Nick Saban? Wait until we get here.”

“He’s a character,” Lattimore said of Seastrunk. “I couldn’t do that. Especially not to Nick Saban— he’s one of the best coaches ever. Lache’s a good person, and he was just joking around.” Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy C Russell Bodine (6-4, 280) has committed to North Carolina, Rivals.com reported. He also reported scholarship offers from Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Boston College and California. “Really, (North Carolina) had kind of been my favorite since the beginning, then other schools started coming in and I still looked at them,” Bodine told Rivals.com. “… They have a great balance of everything—a great football team, and they are obviously on the rise, and academically it’s a good school, too.” — Brian McLaughlin

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

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Q&A with … G Patty Mills

Q&A with … G Jeff Teague

Mills trying to ‘prove people wrong’

‘I am confident in my ability to run a team’

As the star of St. Mary’s College the past two years, and during a stint in the 2008 Olympics, Australian guard Patty Mills looked as impressive as any young guard on the planet. He spoke with the Sporting News Today’s Dave Curtis last week about an upcoming overseas trip, just missing last year’s NCAA tournament and the end of his college career:

Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague is one of the more intriguing prospects in this year’s draft. He’s a very talented scorer and shooter, but at 6-1 (with shoes), he has point-guard size. Convincing a team that he can run a team at the point will be the key to where he gets drafted—or, whether he gets drafted. Teague has not hired an agent and can return to school. He discussed that, as well as his NBA Finals-bound high school teammate, with Sporting News Today’s Sean Deveney.

Q:

You’re going to Italy soon for the Treviso camp with many of the top international players. It’s a rare move for a college player. Why go? Well, me being an international player, I figure it’s a good opportunity to go over and experience a different style of exposure. I can work out in the camps and have a chance to play a little. It’s somewhere I believe I can show off many of my strengths, one being my speed. There are more opportunities for me to show that in the international game.

A:

Q: A:

Is the international game better suited for you? Would you consider playing in Europe? Not really. The goal is to play in the NBA, and I’d like to do that as a first round pick. The experience at St. Mary’s has been great. I wouldn’t be leaving, if I go to the NBA, because of bad things there (at SMC).

Q: A:

How much does it still sting to miss this year’s NCAA tournament? A lot. Being on the outskirts of making the NCAA hurts a lot. But the way I see it, it can definitely be motivation. The way I see it, not being in the NCAAs, it makes you want to come to places like this and try to prove people wrong. Mills decides to stay in NBA draft, Page 31

the playoffs? After he had that breakway dunk, the LeBron James dunk (in Game 1 of the East finals), I called him. That was nice, he went up, he knew LeBron was coming, he didn’t let him block the shot, though. I called him, but he didn’t answer. I texted him and told him, ‘Hey, that was a nice one.’ He laughed about it.

A:

Q:

JAY DROWNS / SN

St. Mary’s G Patrick Mills has impressed with his speed, but still has to prove himself as a shooter and defender.

Q:

The last star to come out of your league was Adam Morrison, and he’s struggled in the pros. How much harder does that make it for you to prove yourself? There might be something to that. Some people say there’s a difference between big schools and small schools and so on. You can only control what you can control, and that’s doing the best you can in the camp.

A:

Q: A:

What’s the biggest misconception about how you

play? Um, not much really. People have had questions about my shooting and my defense, but I’d say those have probably been weaknesses. I’ve tried to develop those things and get better at them. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to develop those areas and get a lot stronger.

One thing that always comes up when you are mentioned in terms of the NBA is the question of whether you’re a point guard or a shooting guard. Have you been getting that from teams as you meet with them and work out? Yes, the teams have been asking me what my position is, and I tell them, I can score. I don’t see being able to score the ball as a negative. But I let them know that I am confident in my ability to run a team and pass the ball. I can be a vocal leader, I can lead by example. I can be a point guard.

A:

Q: A:

Is there too much focus on trying to define you? Yes, exactly. Point guard, shooting guard, combo guard. I don’t like to think of it that way. I tell people I am a basketball player. That’s what matters. I can do a number of things out on the court.

SCOTT K. BROWN / AP

Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague, left, must convince NBA teams he can play point guard.

Q: A:

Where have you been working out, who has been training you? I spent the first part of it working out in Indianapolis, with Ed Schilling, he coached with Memphis. He’s a really good trainer, a good dude, he worked me really hard.

Q:

You went to high school with Courtney Lee, who is doing pretty well these days. I did, yes, we were high school teammates. My freshman year, he was our star player and I was the point guard.

A:

Q:

So you were not the star player—you were passing to the star player. That’s what’s funny about it. People think I

A:

am only a scorer and I can’t pass to NBA players. The beginning of my high school career, all I was doing was passing to Courtney Lee. He was a really good scorer in high school. So, I have been playing point guard for a while.

Q: A:

Were you as good as Courtney in high school? No, not at first. Like I said, he was a great scorer in high school. For me, I liked playing basketball, but I didn’t really get serious about it till my junior year. Before that, it was just a sport I played. But then my coach told me, “You know, if you apply yourself here, you can go to a big school, you can have a future in this.” It started then.

Q:

Have you talked to Courtney much in

Q: A:

Is there a point guard in the NBA you’d like to play with? There’s a lot of them, really. I want to learn from someone. I’d like to play with a great point guard—a guy like Jason Kidd or Deron Williams or Steve Nash. When Chris Paul comes back, sometimes he will be back at Wake and I will talk with him. He helps me a lot. I want to be a great point guard at the next level, but I know I have a lot to learn. So, I’d like to be with someone I can learn from.

Q:

You still have not made a decision on what you’re going to do, as far as staying in the draft or returning to Wake Forest. Where do you stand on that now? I don’t know. I haven’t hired an agent, but I am maybe leaning toward the draft. But I am going to wait and see and, possibly, I will go back to school.

A:

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ORLANDO AT L.A. LAKERS Thursday, 9 p.m. ET, ABC

GAME 1:

KEY QUESTIONS

Glance (Best-of-7) All times, ET Thursday,: Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., ABC Sunday: Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 8 p.m., ABC Tuesday, June 9: L.A. Lakers at Orlando, 9 p.m., ABC Thursday, June 11: L.A. Lakers at Orlando, 9 p.m., ABC Sunday, June 14: L.A. Lakers at Orlando 8 p.m., if necessary, ABC Tuesday, June 16: Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., if necessary, ABC Thursday, June 18: Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., if necessary, ABC

How, when to double opposing team’s star will be pivotal BY SEAN DEVENEY | [email protected]

After more than eight weeks of playoff basketball, we’ve finally come to this: Magic vs. Lakers, for the NBA championship. The series gets started Thursday, so in the meantime, all we have is questions …

Q: A:

Will the Magic activate the LeBron plan? In the conference finals, Cleveland’s LeBron James put up astounding numbers, with 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists. But Orlando was selective in doubleteaming James, letting him get his points while focusing on guarding the Cavaliers’ supporting cast. It worked. The other Cavs shot 43.5 percent and the team shot a mere 32.3 percent from the 3-point line. This is almost certainly the approach that the Magic will take with Lakers star Kobe Bryant, especially with the luxury of two players—Courtney Lee and Mickael Pietrus— who are excellent one-on-one defenders. This approach might be a tougher chore against the Lakers, because Bryant’s supporting cast is better than that of James.

7

Q: A:

Who’s going to make 3-pointers? If it’s the Magic, then the Lakers are in trouble. Orlando has hoisted 23.8 3-pointers per game in the playoffs, and when they win, they make 39.2 percent of them. They shoot just 32.1 percent from the 3-point line when they lose. Defenses have a difficult time with small forward Hedo Turkoglu and power forward Rashard Lewis (both are 6-10), because they’re so big and such good shooters. The Lakers, though, have long defenders in Gasol, Bryant, Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom, and have allowed just 31.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line in the playoffs. They’ve also begun to get good perimeter shooting themselves after some early dry spells. Ariza shot 50 percent on 3s in the conference finals, and Odom made 55.6 percent.

Q: A:

Can the Lakers exploit their size? Gasol averaged 17.5 points per game against Denver in the conference finals, but he averaged just 10 field-goal attempts per game. That was baffling— Gasol needs more shots. Now, against Orlando, Gasol will be a key, because the Magic have a tough defensive choice. They can play Lewis on him, but Gasol can easily take advantage of Lewis in the post. Or, the Magic can put Howard on Gasol, in which case, Gasol will step out to the freethrow line. That will free up the lane for cutters and allow Gasol to show off his passing skill, while potentially forcing Howard into foul trouble. Throw in Odom, who gives the Lakers a post-up option off the bench, and the Magic will have a difficult time matching up with the Lakers’ big men. Remember, going against Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland, the Magic have yet to face any real post-up big men.

Q: A:

Will we see Jameer Nelson? Huh? Nelson? Well, yes, it is a possibility that the Magic’s All-Star guard, out since February 3 after injuring his shoulder, could resurface in the

Betting line FAVORITE ..................LINE ................ UNDERDOG at L.A. Lakers...............6 (206) ............................ Orlando

Odds to win series L.A. Lakers..............-260 Orlando ..........................+220

NBA Calendar June 15 — NBA draft early entry entrant withdrawal deadline (5 p.m. ET). June 25 — NBA draft.

MARK J. TERRILL / AP

Lakers F Lamar Odom can score inside or out, and will have to show the same versatility on defense. Finals. Here’s what Magic G.M. Otis Smith told the Orlando Sentinel: “It’s up in the air. We’ll see how Jameer looks the next few

days. There’s a few more things we have to get comfortable with. We’re looking at the pros and cons. Doctors will have to talk to

doctors. If we’re at a place where Jameer can help us accomplish our goals, then maybe he can play and give us some more punch.” Of course, Nelson probably wouldn’t be very effective after such a long layoff, but he would certainly provide an emotional lift. At the very least, he does have the Lakers’ number. In the Magic’s two wins over L.A. in the regular season, Nelson averaged 27.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds.

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Bryant getting another chance to impact his legacy LOS ANGELES—Kobe Bryant is staring down the prospect of sharing the court with Superman again. Only this time, it’s Dwight Howard and not Shaquille O’Neal who’s wearing the cape that Bryant wants to tug on. Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers will be trying to win their first NBA title without O’Neal when the finals open Thursday against Howard and the Orlando Magic. They failed to do so last year, losing to Boston in a humiliating Game 6 defeat. O’Neal was traded after Los Angeles lost the 2004 finals to Detroit, leaving Bryant the undisputed leader of a team that won three straight championships at the start of the decade. Bryant still bristles at implications he had something to do with that. “People that really know basketball know that that stuff means nothing,” Bryant said Monday, deflecting questions on O’Neal. “It’s nonsensical actually. You want to win just to win it.” Bryant, who turns 31 in August, is completing his 13th season. He kept to himself around his older teammates early in his career. Although he teamed with O’Neal to lead the Lakers to three straight championships, the two frequently zinged each publicly. Adding a fourth NBA championship to the gold medal he helped the United States win at last year’s Beijing Olympics would burnish Bryant’s still developing legacy. “You’re thankful to be in this

position,” he said. “A lot of players never get to this position once in a career and I’ve been fortunate to be here for six times now. It’s been very, very lucky.” Like O’Neal, Lakers coach Phil Jackson also departed after the 2003-04 season, and later wrote a book in which he called Bryant “uncoachable.” Jackson then returned after taking a season off and has had a seamless relationship with Bryant ever since. But there have been big bumps in the road. Bryant implored the Lakers to surround him with better players in the summer of 2007, then demanded a trade. The team responded by adding Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, and Los Angeles reached the finals last year for the first time since 2004. Bryant also won his first league MVP award a year ago. Jackson initially noticed a change in Bryant’s outlook two years ago. “He ended up just racing away with the scoring championship on an incredible run of about 15 games in a row,” the coach recalled. “When we came back the next year we just said we don’t want that type of ball to happen again. We want more inclusiveness. There was a whole issue about us getting better talent around him and that’s happened over the last two years and here we are.” Bryant often talks about his love for his teammates and the ways in which he’s counseled them on improving their games. Derek

Ratings significantly up from a year ago NEW YORK—TV viewership is way up for the NBA playoffs. Ratings for the Western Conference finals on ESPN increased 32 percent from the network’s conference finals coverage last year. The Eastern Conference finals on TNT were up 30 percent from its conference finals coverage in 2008. For the entire playoffs, TNT’s ratings were up 19 percent from a year ago. ESPN’s increased 12 percent. — The Associated Press

CHRIS CARLSON / AP

On the verge of embarking on his sixth NBA Finals, 30-year-old Kobe Bryant is still trying to prove he can win a title as the first option on his team. Fisher’s return last season clearly benefited Bryant on and off the court. They were teammates on the Lakers from 1996-04 before Fisher left for three years. “He’s continued to recognize that in order for him to accomplish some of his individual goals, the team

goals have to match or exceed his own goals,” Fisher said. “That means other guys around him have to perform at a high level. Things he can share with them, he knows how important that is, and how well we take it when he does. He’s done a great job at it the last couple of

years.” And when his teammates struggle, well, Bryant can always just take over games himself. He did so in the Western Conference finals opener against Denver, scoring 40 points and making six free throws in the final 30 seconds to cinch the

victory after the Lakers trailed most of the game. “He’s just gotten more comfortable with where he is in terms of what he’s capable of doing on the floor and knows he can always come back to that,” Fisher said. After losing the 2004 finals, the Lakers didn’t make the playoffs the following season. They failed to get out of the first round in 2006 or ’07, increasing Bryant’s feelings of frustration and impatience. “It’s been a long haul to get back here for all of us,” he said. “I certainly appreciate it even more. Once you have that celebration and that feeling of winning, of accomplishment, you want to have it again.” — The Associated Press

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Healing ahead of schedule, All-Star PG yearns to play ORLANDO—Jameer Nelson can shoot again. His injured right shoulder can take contact, and he’s been cleared by doctors to practice. Though that doesn’t add up to Orlando’s All-Star point guard being healthy enough to play in the NBA finals, it does create a dilemma for the Magic’s front office. Nelson said Monday that he has been playing full-court games, participating in contact drills and will practice with the Magic for the first time since tearing the labrum in his right shoulder Feb. 2 against the Dallas Mavericks. “I’m a competitor,” Nelson said. “No matter what the situation is, I always think I can go out there and get contact.” He had what was then called season-ending surgery Feb. 19. Nelson’s rehabilitation was supposed to take at least another two months. Game 1 of the finals is Thursday night in Los Angeles. Magic general manager Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy expressed doubt Monday whether Nelson could seriously return for the finals. Smith, who had repeatedly said Nelson will not play this season, said Monday a quicker recovery and the chance of winning a championship has forced him to at least take a look at Nelson. “It’s still no in my mind,” Smith said, adding that the team will explore the idea even if Nelson doesn’t return for Game 1. “There’s a very smidgen of a chance he can

play.” Orlando was 2-0 against the Lakers this season. Nelson was Orlando’s leading scorer in both those games, averaging 27.5 points. He has been lobbying the Magic for a chance at playing since the playoffs began, with each round the team advances the idea—and the talk—of him returning growing. But Nelson would likely just be a shell of his All-Star form. He hasn’t played in four months, and even he admits it will be difficult to convince the training staff and coaches that he isn’t risking future damage. “A miracle has to happen,” Nelson said. The Magic had the best record in the NBA in January behind Nelson, who was having a career season. He averaged 16.7 points, 5.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 42 games this season. But their title hopes took a major hit after he was injured. A tradedeadline deal that brought Rafer Alston from Houston largely saved the Magic’s season, allowing the rotation to remain the same and Anthony Johnson to continue to provide solid play as Alston’s backup. The formula was enough to win only the franchise’s second Eastern Conference championship, knocking off the defending champion Boston Celtics and eliminating MVP LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Van Gundy said disrupting that chemistry would be a concern.

“You always worry about that,” Van Gundy said. “But that’s just the decision that I’ll have to make after a couple of days and he’s practicing. ... But to me, four months is a long time to be out to have two practices and play in the NBA finals.” Nelson has been lauded by players and coaches during the playoffs for his leadership. He has been sitting between the coaching staff and players on the Magic bench, offering pointers during timeouts and acting like “a fifth or sixth assistant coach,” Smith said. But Smith worried from the beginning that Nelson would feel excluded. The two met before the playoffs to make sure Nelson wasn’t tempted to rush back early. “I just told him, ‘Don’t fall prey to the trap,’ ” Smith said. “The trap is, you want your team to do well, but you don’t want them to do too well because you feel like you’re not needed or missed.” Teammates say they would welcome his return. Dwight Howard, one of Nelson’s closest friends, said Nelson is a “fearless” player who always wants to do what’s best for the team. But even Howard said Nelson’s comeback might be taking too much of a chance. “I just want him healthy,” Howard said. “He doesn’t have to play if he doesn’t feel up to it. I’d rather see him healthy more than anything because his career in the long run is more important. This is just one series.” — The Associated Press

MARK J. TERRILL / AP

Magic All-Star PG Jameer Nelson (14) has returned to practice after missing more than three months with a shoulder injury.

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INSIDE DISH

Varejao opting out, LeBron non-committal about future The post-mortem on the Cavaliers’ season didn’t feature many unexpected surprises. C Zydrunas Ilgauskas said that he was not planning on opting out of the final year of his contract. PF Anderson Varejao, who did not meet with the media, will opt out of his contract and hit the free-agent market this summer, according to The (Cleveland) PlainDealer. And SF LeBron James, of course, wasn’t giving out a firm commitment about signing an extension with the team. “I haven’t thought about it just yet,” James told reporters. “I’m just going to take time off from basketball and not think about contracts or the game period. I’ll relax with my family we’ll figure out once it comes from them.” Perhaps the only surprise came from PF Ben Wallace, who suggested that he might retire. That could be good news for the Cavs—it would give Cleveland a bit of salary relief, which could be used to either sign Varejao or pursue another forward. James won’t be fined for blowing off reporters after Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, ESPN.com reported Monday. The NBA’s MVP stormed out of Orlando’s Amway Arena without speaking to the media Saturday night after the Cleveland Cavaliers were ousted from the playoffs 103-90 by the Magic. “We are not going to fine LeBron for that,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank told ESPN radio. “We haven’t had any issues with him before at all.”

AMY SANCETTA / AP

Cavs F Anderson Varejao, left, said he plans to opt out of the final year of his contract and test the market.

Everyone is fairly certain about what the Clippers plan to do with the No. 1 pick—select PF Blake Griffin. But after that, the draft is wide open, and it appears that the key to the whole thing is Memphis, holding the No. 2 pick. Already, the rumor mill has the Grizzlies taking C Hasheem Thabeet. Or taking PG Ricky Rubio. Or trading the pick to Sacramento for the No. 4 pick and a player. Or trading the pick for an established, veteran big man. “Honestly, I find all of it funny,” G.M. Chris Wallace told SN Today. “All we can do is go about our business. It’s understandable and I appreciate the interest people have in it. But, we are evaluating

10

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

this thing on a few different tracks right now. Do we use the second pick? Do we move back in the draft? Do we move it for a veteran? Do we use our other picks, No. 27 and 36, or try to bundle them? There are so many things going on and we are still looking at all of our options. We have plenty of time before the draft. The rumors are very, very premature at this point.” — Sean Deveney The Sixers introduced their new coach, Eddie Jordan, who takes over after being fired by the Wizards at the start of the season. Sixers G.M. Ed Stefanski, who had worked with Jordan in New Jersey, said that the team had given legitimate consideration to several other candidates, including Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau, former Timberwolves coach Dwayne Casey and Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis. What sealed the hiring of Jordan was the second interview, in which Jordan talked inside strategy. “We came away wowed,” Stefanski said. “This is the guy for us. He fits our need as a leader from a communication standpoint. He fits our need as an X and O guy and the development of young players.” Perhaps it should not be a big surprise that teams so often flub the NBA draft. Consider what Davidson G Stephen Curry told Sporting News’ Chris Littman about his interviews with NBA frontoffice executives during the draft combine, which took place in Chicago last week. “One team asked who my dad was and what his name was, which was kind of funny,” Curry said. “I figured that was a given, but that was good.” Curry’s dad, of course, is Dell Curry, a 16-year NBA veteran and former Sixth Man of the year. A woman in Denver filed suit in civil court against Lakers G Shannon Brown, alleging a sexrelated incident that took place in January, before Brown was traded to the Lakers. Brown denied any wrongdoing and said there was nothing to the incident. “The truth is going to come out,” he told reporters. “I didn’t do nothing. I’m innocent. I’m just going to let it take its course.”

Scoring Average James, CLE Bryant, LAL Wade, MIA Parker, SAN Anthony, DEN Nowitzki, DAL Roy, POR Gordon, CHI Howard, ORL Iguodala, PHL Miller, PHL Pierce, BOS

G 14 18 7 5 16 10 6 7 18 6 6 14

FG 159 184 68 59 146 88 56 52 140 44 48 95

FT 149 137 50 22 119 86 40 49 110 30 28 85

PTS 494 533 204 143 435 268 160 170 390 129 127 294

AVG 35.3 29.6 29.1 28.6 27.2 26.8 26.7 24.3 21.7 21.5 21.2 21.0

Billups, DEN Boozer, UTA Williams, UTA Duncan, SAN Rose, CHI Aldridge, POR Lewis, ORL R. Allen, BOS

16 5 5 5 7 6 19 14

90 38 29 41 59 51 126 83

106 27 34 17 20 14 80 55

330 103 101 99 138 117 368 256

20.6 20.6 20.2 19.8 19.7 19.5 19.4 18.3

Rebounds Howard, ORL Boozer, UTA Noah, CHI Perkins, BOS Gasol, LAL Nowitzki, DAL Rondo, BOS Odom, LAL James, CLE Haslem, MIA

G 18 5 7 14 18 10 14 18 14 7

OFF 81 12 28 51 58 12 32 54 19 13

DEF 196 54 64 111 145 89 104 117 109 48

TOT 277 66 92 162 203 101 136 171 128 61

AVG 15.4 13.2 13.1 11.6 11.3 10.1 9.7 9.5 9.1 8.7

Assists Williams, UTA Paul, NOR Rondo, BOS James, CLE Billups, DEN Parker, SAN Iguodala, PHL Rose, CHI Blake, POR Kidd, DAL

G 5 5 14 14 16 5 6 7 6 10

AST 54 52 137 102 109 34 40 45 37 59

AVG 10.8 10.4 9.8 7.3 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.4 6.2 5.9

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Surprising Abdelkader has knack for scoring big goals DETROIT—Following a team meeting on Monday, the Detroit Red Wings met with the media before heading to Pittsburgh for tonight’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. The moment Justin Abdelkader appeared in front of his locker room stall, the rush of cameras and media quickly closed in around him. And nobody was surprised. Stars like Marian Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg could have walked by and it Craig Custance wouldn’t have matHOCKEY tered. On Monday, Abdelkader was the story. The kid from Muskegon, who grew up a Michigan State and Red Wings fan, is outscoring Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin—combined. His two goals double the total of the Penguins’ two stars. Jimmy Howard, the Red Wings goalie of the future and Abdelkader’s teammate for most of the season in the AHL, looked at the crowd and smiled. None of it will faze the player teammates call Abby. “He’s pretty low key,” Howard said. “This shouldn’t bother him too much. He’s a good guy.” Abdelkader’s Game 1 and Game 2 goals have been monumental for the Red Wings. Both came at nearly the same moment of the third period and both opened two-goal leads. At this point in the season, wrestling a twogoal lead away from the veteran Red Wings is next to impossible. But Abdelkader drew some raised

eyebrows when he was asked where his first NHL playoff goal ranked among the big goals he’s scored in his life. He thought for a moment. “It’s right up there,” he answered. Right up there? He had never scored an NHL goal, and the one that sealed a Stanley Cup final game was only “right up there?” Turns out, scoring big goals is nothing new for the 22-year-old center. Rick Comley still knows exactly the time that remained on the scoreboard when Abdelkader scored the goal he considers his biggest: 18.9 seconds. That was a goal against Boston College in the 2007 Frozen Four that won Abdelkader’s Michigan State Spartans a national championship. So when Comley, Michigan State’s coach, sees Abdelkader scoring big goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he’s not surprised. Abdelkader was a winner in high school and in college, and he could be helping the Red Wings win another Stanley Cup. Winning, and big goals, seem to follow this kid. And Comley thinks he knows why. “The passion,” Comley told Sporting News Today. “He works hard, he’ll block shots, he doesn’t complain, he loves the game…. His willingness to throw his body around is the perfect tonic right now.” Comley especially appreciated that the Michigan State fight song was played over the Joe Louis Arena sound system after Abdelkader scored Sunday night. Not that East Lansing needed a reason to root for the Red Wings, but Comley said the area is getting especially

swept up in this Cup run, thanks to Abdelkader’s part in it. And everyone seems to be calling and texting Abdelkader to share support. “I guess I’ll have to return those at a later date,” Abdelkader said. “I think he’ll probably shut his phone off now,” Comley joked. Abdelkader is the third Red Wings player who spent a majority of the season in the AHL and now is making a major contribution during the playoffs. First, Jonathan Ericsson emerged as a legitimate top four defenseman in the first round against the Blue Jackets. Of the 59 games Ericsson played in the regular season this year, 40 were in Grand Rapids. Darren Helm emerged after Ericsson and might be the only player during this run to get a standing ovation for single-handedly killing a penalty against the Blackhawks. Helm played 55 games this season in Grand Rapids. And now there’s Abdelkader. He played 76 games in Grand Rapids, scoring 24 goals. Both Abdelkader and Helm still are looking for their first career regular-season NHL goals. Remarkably, they’ve now combined for seven career NHL playoff goals—five during this postseason. Give credit to the patience of Detroit general manager Ken Holland and to Grand Rapids coach Curt Fraser, who is a former NHL head coach. But most of all, give credit to the kids making the most of an incredible opportunity. “I’m just going about my daily business,” Abdelkader said. “Maybe in the summer I can reflect on everything. I’m just trying to live in the moment.” [email protected]

FRANK GUNN / AP

Justin Abdelkader spent most of his season in the AHL, but that didn’t stop him from scoring key goals in the final’s first two games.

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Osgood challenges critics with Cup excellence DETROIT—Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood and general manager Ken Holland have known each other for more than two decades. If Osgood isn’t a Hall of Famer in another 20 years, Holland will be surprised. “He’s certainly making a case,” Holland said Monday. No doubt. Osgood helped the Detroit beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 Sunday night, taking a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals. He improved to 10-2 when an NHL title is on the line, lowered his goals-against average to 1.47 and raised his save percentage to .937 in his 13th appearance. “I think he’s playing the best hockey of his career,” Holland said. In the Stanley Cup finals, he’s playing exceptionally well. No other goalie in the past 20 years has a better record in his first 12 games, according to STATS, LLC. Martin Brodeur, who backstopped the New Jersey Devils to Cup wins in 1995 and 2000. won nine of his first dozen. He’s 15-9 in the finals, behind Patrick Roy at 14-8. But they both still trail Osgood. Osgood had an NHL-best 1.55 GAA during the playoffs last year when he helped Detroit hoist the Cup one decade after being its No. 1 goalie in the 1998 championship season. He’s been pretty good in the regular season, too, even though he gave up more than three goals a game for the first time in his 15 seasons. Osgood, from Peace River, Alberta, has won 389 games in the regular season, tying him with former teammate Dominik Hasek for 10th on the all-time list and trailing just Martin Brodeur and Curtis Joseph among active goalies. By the time Osgood’s current contract expires in two years, he’ll have a chance to pass Jacques Plante, Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall and Grant Fuhr on the wins list. “When I’m done playing, I’ll look back at what I’ve done,” Osgood said. “Players always get appreciated more when they’re retired than

Datsyuk likely out; Draper could sit PITTSBURGH—Hart Trophy finalist Pavel Datsyuk, who has missed five games with a foot injury, is likely to remain out of Detroit’s lineup in Game 3. Datsyuk was the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer with 97 points during the season. Detroit coach Mike Babcock said the most recent exam of Datsyuk’s foot was encouraging. “Everything seems to be good,” Babcock said after the Red Wings arrived in Pittsburgh on Monday. “So now it’s a matter of when he’s ready.”

PAUL SANCYA / AP

After two series-opening wins, Red Wings G Chris Osgood is now 10-2 with a 1.47 GAA in the Stanley Cup finals. actually still playing.” Osgood seems to be the perfect example. When the Red Wings win, his contributions rarely are highlighted. When they lose, he often takes the blame. Does he get enough respect? “That’s something that’s been overplayed,” he said. “It’s not a tough place to play goal. It’s a fun place to play.” The Penguins hope to take the fun out of Osgood’s outlook, starting with Game 3 tonight in Pittsburgh. They want to put more pucks on him and bodies around him. “We had a few pucks laying around him last

game,” forward Chris Kunitz said. After Osgood hangs up his skates for good— and that might not be anytime soon—his body of work will be put to the test by those who enshrine hockey’s best in Toronto. Holland has a rebuttal waiting for critics who discount Osgood’s accomplishments because he plays for a dominant franchise. “I chuckle when I hear people say, ‘Well, he just plays on a good team,’” Holland said. “Does everybody think the Hall of Fame goalies played on bad teams, and Osgood is the only guy who played on a good team?” — The Associated Press

Four-time Stanley Cup winner Kris Draper of Detroit is healthy enough to play in Game 3, so it won’t be his groin injury that likely keeps him off the ice. “I’m not a big-change guy, especially when things are going good,” Babcock said. “We’ll see.” If the Red Wings put Draper in the lineup, they would likely have to scratch one of their young players such as Justin Abdelkader or Ville Leino. “Do I want to play? Absolutely,” said Draper, who has appeared in four playoff games this spring. “It doesn’t get any better than this, it’s the greatest time of year. But all I’m going to do is support whatever the call is either way.” What others might see as frustration, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma sees as determination. Each of his stars, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, showed some exasperation while the Penguins were losing the first two games of

the finals in Detroit by 3-1 scores on Saturday and Sunday. Crosby screamed at former teammate Marian Hossa and used his stick on Kirk Maltby’s foot in Game 1, while Malkin fought with Henrik Zetterberg at the end of Game 2. “You worry as a coach about frustration, and frustration is when you can’t let go of previous events,” Bylsma said. “I think, for the most part, our guys have been able to. They’re emotionally attached. They want to do well, they want to drive. Detroit is doing a good job of resisting that and being on our guys.” Because Pittsburgh gets to make the final line change at home, Bylsma is certain to separate Crosby from Zetterberg, which might create more room—and less frustration—for Crosby. “We may give him different looks depending on the situation,” Bylsma said. Even with his rooting interest, Detroit coach Mike Babcock has found the Crosby vs. Zetterberg “game within a game” matchup to be intriguing. “Fantastic to watch just as a fan of the sport, with how hard they’re competing against each other,” Babcock said. “It’s great to see in (Pittsburgh’s Jordan) Staal and Helm, and what a battle it’s been thus far.” Last spring, Crosby was held without a point in the first two games in Detroit, but scored two goals as Pittsburgh got back into the series by winning 3-2 in Game 3 at home. The Penguins went on to lose in six games. — The Associated Press

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STANLEY CUP FINALS S

GAME 3:

DETROIT AT PITTSBURGH

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

13

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For Pens’ Guerin, Cup finals are a long way from Long Island PITTSBURGH—Bill Guerin was in limbo as the NHL trade deadline approached. It was clear his days with the lastplace New York Islanders were done, and just a matter of time before he was unloaded. When the chance came to join the Pittsburgh Penguins and play alongside Sidney Crosby, Guerin was ready. “Playing with Sid has been great,” said Guerin, who is 38 and in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1995. “He has really forced me to pick up my game, which has been nice. He has done a lot for me.” Guerin scored five goals and added seven assists in 17 regularseason games after the March 4 trade as the Penguins rose from out of the playoff picture to the No. 4 seed in the East. In 19 playoff games, Guerin has chipped in seven more goals and 15 points—making him Pittsburgh’s third-highest scorer. “Coming to Pittsburgh and being involved in games that, I hate to use ‘mean something’ because all the games mean something, but right away my first game with the Penguins in Florida we were fighting for our playoff lives,” Guerin said. “My second game was in Washington, so it was the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry. It just felt really good to be involved in big games again and having a significant role in those. “I definitely needed it because I am an emotional player. When games just start being games and not meaning much, I think it affects me.” That is exactly what happened on

Playoff scoring leaders (Through May 31) Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Johan Franzen, Detroit Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Eric Staal, Carolina Bill Guerin, Pittsburgh Martin Havlat, Chicago Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Valtteri Filppula, Detroit Patrick Kane, Chicago Corey Perry, Anaheim Daniel Cleary, Detroit Marian Hossa, Detroit

GERRY BROOME / AP

Though the Red Wings have held him to one point in the finals so far, Bill Guerin has left his mark on the Penguins since arriving midseason. Long Island, where Guerin was in the last season of a two-year deal but suddenly caught up in a youth movement. Rookie coach Scott Gordon joined the Islanders from the AHL, and by the time Christmas came, it was obvious New York would be near the bottom of the standings all season. Gordon gave his up-and-coming

youngsters more ice time at the expense of veterans like Guerin, who had 16 goals and 20 assists in 61 games with New York. When Guerin became expendable, Penguins general manager Ray Shero jumped at the chance to land a scoring forward—a position unfilled since Marian Hossa left the Penguins for the Red Wings last

summer. All it took was a conditional draft pick. In his first game with the Penguins, Guerin earned his 800th NHL point by assisting on Crosby’s goal. “We had scouted him quite a bit the last month, month-and-a-half or so,” Shero said. “He certainly was not at the top of his game. “We just felt that given the cost to

acquire him, that in the hole that we had, could he rekindle the magic and enthusiasm for the game? Because we thought he could still skate. Obviously, he’s answered that question and he’s done a great job. He’s always had a winning background, no different than Ruslan Fedotenko, Miroslav Satan.” Fedotenko and Satan were also lost in New York’s transition and left the Islanders as free agents before this season. Satan was forced to go to the minors upon Guerin’s arrival to free salary cap space. He has returned and put up a goal and five assists during the playoffs. Fedotenko had scored in three straight games before being blanked by the Wings in Game 2.

GP 19 19 14 18 18 13 18 19 16 14 18 16 13 18 18

G 13 14 11 11 9 4 10 7 5 3 2 9 8 8 6

A 17 14 10 9 10 14 5 8 10 12 13 5 6 6 8

PTS 30 28 21 20 19 18 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 14 14

Guerin, who can become a free agent this summer, is no stranger to being a rental player. It didn’t work out when he was sent from St. Louis to San Jose in 2007. He had no playoff goals and two assists, and the Sharks didn’t make a long run. “He’s brought a lot certainly on the ice,” Crosby said. “He’s played great. He’s got a great shot. He’s a big body out there. He can make smart, simple plays. “Off the ice he’s provided a lot of leadership and provided that experience for us. For me, personally, he’s been a guy I can lean on ... bounce things off of. He keeps things pretty loose. He’s a guy that’s fun to be around, so he’s really helped.” — The Associated Press

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

14

INSIDE DISH

Martin returns to his roots, becomes new Canadiens coach

GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP

Jacques Martin had spent the last three seasons as the Panthers’ general manager.

It was an opportunity Jacques Martin couldn’t pass up. The St. Pascal, Ont., native is leaving his job as general manager of the Florida Panthers to become the new coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Martin admitted the decision didn’t take long to make. “The challenge, the opportunity to come back to my roots, French-Canadian, knowing the passion that exists in this market,” he told a news conference in Montreal Monday. “This is a tremendous opportunity to join this organization. When you look at the players who are in the organization, there is a strong nucleus, a strong base to build a winning team and I’m really looking forward with excitement to leading this team next year.” Martin is a former coach of the Blues, Senators and Panthers, who he guided for four seasons before taking over as G.M. in 2006. Martin has a career coaching record of 517-406-119 and a .551 winning percentage. Martin, who won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year with Ottawa in 1999, replaces G.M. Bob Gainey, who finished the season as coach after firing Guy Carbonneau on March 9. Carbonneau’s dismissal was part of a roller-coaster season that began with Stanley Cup hopes but ended with a disappointing firstround playoff exit. Martin and Gainey already have discussed the future.

“I really believe this organization is rich in people and that is a very important ingredient,” Martin told reporters. “We had the opportunity to discuss at length, to talk about philosophy, talk about operations, talk about players, talk about the league. “I was really excited by those conversations with Bob. It’s good chemistry.” The Toronto Star reports that Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky could lose as much as $9.3 million if BlackBerry CEO Jim Balsillie loses his bid to buy the financially troubled Phoenix Coyotes and move them to southern Ontario. Balsillie and Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes will co-apply to the NHL today to move the team to Hamilton—and court documents reveal that the Great One has a lot at stake. They also reveal that the team itself says it’s worth $67 million with debts totaling $244 million, according to the Star. Part of that debt is the $9.3 million owed to Gretzky, which makes him one of the team’s largest creditors. And that begs the question: Why did Gretzky, as reported, give his blessing to a lesser offer from Chicago sports magnate Jerry Reinsdorf? Balsillie has offered $212.5 million for the team. Gretzky is listed as an unsecured and nonpriority creditor, which means he will be at the back of the line when other creditors are paid after a sale. The newspaper says

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Gretzky is owed the money because he deferred salary to help the team. Monday night, Balsillie’s spokesman told The Canadian Press late that Balsillie filed an application with the league office detailing why he believes the NHL should consider his proposal to purchase the Coyotes for $212.5 million and bring it to Ontario. The Sabres have signed F Paul Byron to a three-year, entry level contract prior to a 5 p.m. Monday deadline which would have sent himback into the draft. The 20-year-old Byron, Buffalo’s sixth-round selection in 2007, had 33 goals in 64 games with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Instructional gaming site PokerStars.net is adding to the Vegas cachet of the NHL’s June 18 postseason awards gala with a league sponsorship and an NHL $150,000 Charity Shootout Poker Tournament on June 17 that will include current and retired NHL players, along with celebrities and professional poker players. The tourney will be telecast later on ESPN2, ESPN Classic, NHL Network and TSN. It will be held at the Rio AllSuite Hotel & Casino, which also is hosting the World Series of Poker. Earlier this year, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau signed a three-year deal that helped bring the awards from Canada to Las Vegas. As

part of that agreement, the NHL is developing ancillary events to attract tourism, so the Stanley Cup and the rest of the league’s silver collection will be on display in and around the NHL awards gala. The poker tournament will include Alex Ovechkin, Mats Sundin, Pat LaFontaine and Luc Robitaille. Every participant will receive money for his or her own affiliated charity. The new awards show has generated more than $1.5 million in incremental sponsorship. Corporate sponsors also are putting marketing dollars behind the league’s awards show like never before. —Terry Lefton, SportsBusiness Journal

Series glance (Best-of-7), All times ET (Detroit leads series 2-0) May 30: Detroit 3,Pittsburgh 1 May 31: Detroit 3,Pittsburgh 1 Today: Detroit at Pittsburgh, 8 p.m., Versus Thursday: Detroit at Pittsburgh, 8 p.m., Versus Saturday: Pittsburgh at Detroit, 8 p.m., if necessary, NBC Tuesday, June 9: Detroit at Pittsburgh, 8 p.m., if necessary, NBC Friday, June 12: Pittsburgh at Detroit, 8 p.m., if necessary, NBC

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INSIDE DISH

Texas OF Josh Hamilton was scheduled to have a MRI on Monday on his midsection and will meet with Dr. John Preskitt today, according to The Dallas Morning News. Preskitt performed surgery on Ian Kinsler’s sports hernia last season. Rangers G.M. Jon Daniels told the Morning News that Hamilton was meeting with Preskitt to rule out a hernia. Hamilton plans to join the Rangers after Tuesday’s meeting and avoid a second stop on the disabled list this season. “We’ll know in the next couple of days,” Hamilton said. “Right now I’m hurt and sore and can’t run.”

What to expect in the major leagues today

waivers from the Yankees on May 18, was 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA in four appearances for Indianapolis after going 0-0 with a 1.88 ERA in seven games (one start) for the Yankees’ Class AAA affiliate in Scranton.

ROB CARR / AP

Suspended slugger Manny Ramirez has dropped in the latest round of fan voting for the All-Star game, falling to fifth among N.L.

15

THE LAUNCHING PAD

Hamilton hopes to rule out sports hernia

Indians OF Grady Sizemore could need arthroscopic surgery if two more weeks of rest don’t calm his inflamed left elbow. Sizemore, placed on the disabled list Sunday, would likely not return to the lineup until late July if surgery is needed. The Indians are hoping that the rest will be enough to calm the inflammation that has hampered Sizemore for much of the season. The All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner is batting .223, with nine home runs and 31 RBIs. He set career-highs last year with 33 homers, 90 RBIs and 38 stolen bases. Sizemore will be reevaluated when he is eligible to come off the disabled list. If the elbow is still sore, he will then have the surgery, which comes with a scheduled recovery time of four to six weeks.

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

Rangers OF Josh Hamilton is looking to avoid a second trip to the disabled list this season. outfielders. Ramirez was fourth last week in the first set of results, about 24,000 votes behind the New York Mets’ Carlos Beltran for a starting spot. He is serving a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy. He is eligible to return July 3, 11 days before the All-Star game in St. Louis. In results released Monday, the Dodgers star had received 635,530 votes. He trailed Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun (908,745), Philadelphia’s Raul Ibanez (817,849), the Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano (775,319) and Beltran (741,875). Relief pitcher Rafael Betancourt was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday by the Indians due to a strained right groin and left-hander Tony Sipp was recalled from Class AAA Columbus. Betancourt left Sunday’s game against the Yankees in the middle

of the eighth inning with the leg injury, giving the Indians eight players on the disabled list. Only the Rays have more, with nine. Betancourt is 1-1 with a save and a 3.71 ERA. His 25 appearances are the most on the team and tied for second in the league. His 29 strikeouts rank third among relievers. Sipp has split the year between the Indians and Class AAA. He had a 4.26 ERA in nine appearances (6 1/3 innings) for the Indians this season. The Indians are now without CF Grady Sizemore, DH Travis Hafner, three relievers and starters Scott Lewis and Anthony Reyes. The Pirates recalled righthanded reliever Steven Jackson from Class AAA Indianapolis on Monday He was scheduled to be in their bullpen for the opener of a fourgame series against the Mets. Jackson, who was claimed off

ESPN.com is reporting that the Braves are interested in bringing back Mark DeRosa, who played in Atlanta from 1998-2004. The report says the Indians want pitching and the Braves are unlikely to part with any of their top arms. That would likely mean Cleveland would have to look at Kris Medlen, Jo-Jo Reyes or Charlie Morton. Also, Tom Glavine will make his final scheduled rehab start tonight for Class A Rome, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He could join the big-league club—and the rotation—after that when the Braves return home today. “His arm strength last time was improved; he felt great,” Braves manager Bobby Cox told the AJC of Glavine’s start last Thursday. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed.” Despite Ben Zobrist filling in for 2B Akinori Iwamura, who’s lost for the season, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon isn’t ready to give Zobrist the job. Maddon likes Zobrist’s versatility too much, The Tampa Tribune reports. “As of right now, I’m thinking that as everybody gets healthy, he’ll give the second baseman a day off, the shortstop a day off or the right fielder—like he had been doing before,” Maddon told the Tribune. Zobrist has played in 45 games at six different positions.

ORLIN WAGNER / AP

Rick Porcello had a stellar May (5-0, 1.50 ERA), but tonight he faces the Red Sox.

Porcello on the prowl After winning a spot in the Tigers’ rotation this spring, 20-year-old righthander Rick Porcello has done nothing but prove he deserved it. In five May starts, Porcello went 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA, though he didn’t face an elite offense (Twins, Indians, A’s, Rockies, Royals). He’ll get a real test tonight with the Red Sox in town. Boston batters are known for their patience and ability to drive up pitch counts, and Porcello has thrown more than 90 pitches just once in his nine starts this season. The rookie must get ahead in the count often against the Red Sox’s veteran hitters.

Halladay goes for No. 9 Toronto’s six-game home winning streak came to an end Sunday, but, more importantly, its nine-game losing streak came to an end Friday. The Blue Jays’ nine-game homestand continues tonight against the Angels, and they’ll have ace Roy Halladay on the mound. In early May, Halladay tossed eight innings of one-run ball in Toronto’s 13-1 win over Los Angeles. The slumping Angels salvaged the final game of their six game homestand Sunday by rallying for a 9-8 win over Seattle, after falling behind 8-1, but still trail the first-place Rangers by 4 ½ games in the A.L. West.

Nationals’ deficit Nothing is easy for the last-place Nationals, whose 13 wins are by far the fewest in the majors. On the heels of an 0-6 road trip, they return tonight to Nationals Park, where they went 2-9 in their most recent homestand. Overall, Washington has lost 18 of its past 21 games. On Wednesday, the Nationals will face a motivated Randy Johnson in search of career win No. 300. Tonight, they’ll have to deal with reigning N.L. Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, who has allowed one earned run in his past 15 innings.

— Chris Bahr

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

MLB’s overall ratings mostly steady at start

Through May 28

AMERICAN LEAGUE Baltimore OF Luis Montanez, May 23 RHP Dennis Sarfate, May 2 RHP Alfredo Simon, April 15 RHP Koji Uehara, May 24

BY JOHN OURAND SportsBusiness Journal

MLB ratings have been essentially flat through the first two months of the regular season. Through May 16, Fox was averaging a 2.1 rating/3.14 million viewers for six telecasts, even with last year’s 2.1/3.06 million for seven telecasts. TBS games were averaging a 0.5 U.S. rating/699,000 viewers through seven telecasts, flat with last year’s 0.5/694,000 viewers. Through 20 telecasts, ESPN and ESPN2 were averaging a 1.1 U.S. rating and 1.57 million viewers, down 15 percent and nearly 18 percent, respectively, from last year’s 1.3 and 1.91 million viewers. Ratings for the network’s exclusive Sunday night window dipped 10 percent to a 1.8/2.71 million viewers from a 2.0/2.97 million. Locally, RSN ratings are down 2 percent collectively, but more than half of the league’s teams have posted ratings increases. The biggest jump is in Texas, where the Rangers have seen ratings more than double (up 111 percent) on Fox Sports Southwest. Sitting atop the AL West division, the Rangers boast a 2.28 rating/57,000 homes. “The Rangers’ quick start has created a buzz for baseball in the marketplace,” said Jon Heidtke, Fox Sports Southwest senior vice president and general manager. “You can certainly see the uptick in the increased ratings. Fans are starting to believe in the team, and it’s reflected in a larger television audience.” The beleaguered Washington Nationals logged the second-biggest increase in the majors, rebounding from last year’s dismal ratings. Though the team has the league’s worst record, lowest local TV ratings and lowest average number of homes watching each game, ratings for its games on MASN and MASN2 have increased 56 percent in the first two months of the season. Nats games are pulling a 0.53 rating/12,000 homes so far this season. The league’s biggest drop has come in Oakland, where Comcast SportsNet California’s

Disabled list

Boston RHP Miguel Gonzalez-x, March 27 OF Mark Kotsay, March 27 SS Jed Lowrie, April 12 RHP John Smoltz, March 27 Chicago None Cleveland 1B Travis Hafner, April 29 LHP Aaron Laffey, May 23 LHP Scott Lewis-x, April 11 RHP Anthony Reyes-x, May 23 RHP Joe Smith, April 29 RHP Jake Westbrook-x, March 26 Detroit RHP Jeremy Bonderman, March 30 SS Carlos Guillen, May 5 OF Marcus Thames, April 19 C Matt Treanor-x, April 24

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / AP

Television ratings for Major League Baseball have been flat for networks, with the most currently watching FOX. coverage of A’s games has dropped 63 percent. The A’s have the league’s second-lowest local rating and second-lowest average number of homes. The A’s ratings most likely have been affected by the team’s move to a new RSN this year, as the club migrated from CSN Bay Area to CSN California. But the A’s ratings have also been hit by the team’s poor play: Oakland has the worst record in the American League. “Ratings rise and fall each season depending on team performance, but even with the A’s decline our collective MLB numbers are up, led by double-digit increases for four of our six teams,” CSN said in the statement. Meanwhile, Boston has a good-news-bad-

news situation, with Red Sox games on NESN pulling the league’s highest ratings at 8.67, but its 27 percent drop from last year is the league’s fourth largest.

MLB national ratings Network (No. of telecasts) FOX (6) ESPN/ESPN2 (20) TBS (7)

Avg rating (change) 2.1 (0.0% 1.1 (-15.4%) 0.5 (0.0%)

Avg. no. of viewers (change) 3.14 million (+2.6%) 1.57 million (-17.6%) 699,000 (+0.7%)

Note: Fox games through May 16, ESPN and TBS games through May 24; measured against comparable periods last year. Sources: The networks

Seattle RHP Roy Corcoran, April 29 LHP Ryan Feierabend-x, March 15 LHP Cesar Jimenez-x, March 29 C Kenji Johjima, May 26 RHP Shawn Kelly, May 6 LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith, April 11 RHP Carlos Silva, May 7 Tampa Bay SS Jason Bartlett, May 25 RHP Chad Bradford, March 27 OF Pat Burrell, May 11 INF Akinori Iwamura-x, May 25 LHP Scott Kazmir, May 21 RHP Troy Percival, May 22 CF Fernando Perez-x, March 27 C Shawn Riggans, April 10 LHP Brian Shouse, May 25 Texas RHP Joaquin Benoit-x, April 5 RHP William Eyre, April 23 RHP Eric Hurley-x, April 5 RHP Dustin Nippert-x, March 27 RHP Vincente Padilla, May 17 Toronto C Michael Barrett, April 18 RHP Jesse Litsch, April 14 RHP Shaun Marcum, March 27 RHP Dustin McGowan, March 27 RHP Robert Ray, May 22 NATIONAL LEAGUE Arizona 1B Tony Clark, May 5 RHP Tom Gordon, May 4 1B Conor Jackson, May 12 RHP Yusmeiro Petit, May 9 RHP Brandon Webb, April 7

Los Angeles RHP Kelvim Escobar-x, April 4 RHP Shane Loux, May 17 RHP Dustin Moseley, April 18 C Robert Shields, May 27

Atlanta RHP Buddy Carlyle, May 26 LHP Tom Glavine, April 2 RHP Tim Hudson-x, Feb. 24 SS Omar Infante, May 21 LHP Jo-Jo Reyes, May 21

New York RHP Brian Bruney, May 20 LHP Damaso Marte, April 26 C Jose Molina, May 8 OF Xavier Nady, April 15 C Jorge Posada, May 5 SS Bryan Ransom-x, April 25 Oakland 3B Eric Chavez-x, April 25 RHP Joey Devine-x, April 4 RHP Justin Duchscherer-x, March 27 2B Mark Ellis-x, April 29 SS Nomar Garciaparra, May 24 RHP Dan Giese, May 16

Florida SS Alfredo Amezaga, May 17 LHP Renyel Pinto, May 23 RHP Scott Proctor-x March 27 RHP Anibal Sanchez, May 8 RHP Henricus Vandenhurk-x, March 29 Houston 3B Aaron Boone-x March 27 RHP Doug Brocail, May 4 RHP Geoff Geary, May 14 RHP Jose Valverde, April 27 Los Angeles LHP Hong-Chih Kuo, April 30 RHP Hiroki Kuroda, April 7 1B Doug Mienkiewicz-x, April 17 OF Xanvier Paul, May 21 RHP Jason Schmidt, March 30 RHP Claudio Vargas-x, April 6 Milwaukee RHP David Riske, April 10 2B Rickie Weeks, May 18 New York OF Ryan Church, May 23 INF Alex Cora, May 18 1B Carlos Delgado, May 11 LHP Oliver Perez, May 3 SS Jose Reyes, May 21 C Brian Schneider, April 16 LHP Billy Wagner, March 27 Philadelphia None

Kansas City SS Mike Aviles, May 24 3B Alex Gordon, April 16 SS Tony Pena, May 3 RHP Joakim Soria, May 8 RHP Robinson Tejeda, May 21 RHP Doug Waechter, April 18

Minnesota RHP Boof Bonser, March 27 RHP Pat Neshek-x, Feb. 21 LHP Glen Perkins, May 19

16

Chicago RHP Chad Fox, May 10 INF-OF Ryan Freel, May 28 RHP Rich Harden, May 18 2B Aaron Miles, May 26 3B Aramis Ramirez, May 9 Cincinnati 3B Edwin Encarnacion, April 28 RHP Edinson Volquez, May 17 Colorado INF Jeff Baker-x, April 27 RHP Taylor Buchholz-x, March 27 RHP Matt Daley, May 18 LHP Jeffrey Francis-x, March 27 C Chris Iannetta, May 24 LHP Franklin Morales, April 22 RHP Ryan Speier, April 19

Pittsburgh C Ryan Doumit, April 20 LHP Phil Dumatrait-x, March 27 RHP Craig Hansen, April 20 RHP Tyler Yates, May 16 St. Louis LHP Jaime Garcia, March 27 3B Troy Glaus, March 27 San Diego RHP Mike Adams-x, April 1 RHP Cha Seung Baek-x, March 30 SS Everth Cabrera-x, April 20 OF Cliff Floyd, April 5 RHP Shawn Hill, April 26 2B Luis Rodriguez, May 14 RHP Mark Worrell-x, April 1 San Francisco LHP Noah Lowry-x, March 26 RHP Joseph Martinez-x, April 10 RHPSergio Romo, March 26 Washington CF Roger Bernadina-x, April 19 LHP Matt Chico-x, March 27 OF Elijah Dukes, May 18 C Jesus Flores, May 10 LHP Scott Olsen, May 17 1B Dmitri Young, April 1 RHP Terrell Young, March 27 (x-60-day; all others are 15-day)

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

1. Dodgers (last week: 1)

The Dodgers have won five more games than any other team, despite Manny Ramirez’s suspension and, since May 7, Andre Ethier has hit just .171 with zero homers.

2. Brewers (4)

Trevor Hoffman has yet to allow a run in a Brewers’ uniform, though he did issue his first walk of the season on Sunday night, raising his WHIP to 0.47.

3. Yankees (9)

What’s more impressive: Mark Teixeira’s 20 RBIs in his past 13 games or the Yankees going 17 consecutive games without an error?

4. Rangers (2)

Even without a fully healthy Josh Hamilton or a productive Chris Davis (77 strikeouts in 165 at-bats), the Rangers have a solid grasp on first in the A.L. West.

5. Cardinals (5)

Chris Carpenter finally allowed an earned run this week, but that 3-0 record and 0.62 ERA looks awfully shiny atop the Cardinals’ rotation.

6. Red Sox (3)

Is it time to sit Big Papi? Put him on the D.L. with a wrist ailment and let him clear his head? All those pop-ups can have an adverse on even the most confident of hitters.

7. Phillies (8)

Jamie Moyer, finally, showed flashes of his 42-year-old self with six innings of dominance against the Nationals on Sunday, allowing just three hits and one earned run.

TONY DEJAK / AP

8. Mets (11)

For all the criticism Francisco Rodriguez took in the offseason, he’s been dynamite for the Mets thus far—14 saves and a 0.73 ERA.

Mark Teixeira’s hot hitting is one reason why the Yankees have moved up six spots.

9. Tigers (6)

Edwin Jackson (5-3, 2.30 ERA) has been exactly what the Tigers needed—a consistent winner in the middle of the rotation.

Power Poll BY RYAN FAGAN [email protected]

And just like that, the Yankees are in first place in the A.L. East. Didn’t seem too likely a few weeks ago, when they had fallen to 6½ games off the pace after a 5-1 loss to Toronto on May 12. Mark Teixeira was batting a measly .191. Phil Hughes was coming off a horrible start—eight earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. Chien-Ming Wang was in the minors trying to figure out how to get anybody out after three disastrous starts to open the season. And those weren’t the only issues. Since that game, though, everything’s turned around. The Yankees are 14-4 since that day, the best record in the majors over that time span. Teixeira is batting .413 with nine homers. Hughes is 2-0 with a 3.91 ERA. Wang has a 2.25 ERA in 8 innings out of the bullpen and looks ready to rejoin the rotation (if there’s room). And those other issues seem relatively irrelevant at the moment. The Yankees spent a grand total of two days in first place during their forgettable 2008 campaign. They’ve already doubled that total in a 2009.

17

10. Blue Jays (7)

The Jays ended their nine-game losing streak with a couple of wins against the Red Sox, the team that started the entire slide.

11. Reds (13)

Big week in the N.L. Central for the Reds, with four games in St. Louis and three at home with the Cubs.

12. Angels (10)

Tough road trip coming up for the Angels, with three in Toronto, three in Detroit and three in Tampa Bay.

13. Cubs (18)

The Cubs gave up five runs in the first inning Sunday against the Dodgers, which was one less than the total they had surrendered in their previous five games.

14. Braves (12)

The trip out West, through San Francisco and Phoenix, landed only two wins in six contests.

15. Twins (16)

For all the magic Joe Mauer has produced at the plate, the Twins are only 13-15 in games he’s played this season. They have to figure out how to fix Francisco Liriano.

16. White Sox (25)

The Sox have won four consecutive series—including a sweep of the Royals—after stumbling through that 1-7 stretch early in May. They’re home for their next 12.

17. Padres (14)

Adrian Gonzalez enters June with 20 homers, tops in the majors.

18. Giants (19)

The Giants are back over .500, which is nice. A far cry from playoff contention, but nice nonetheless.

19. Rays (15)

How’s this for an odd stat: The Rays’ top four pitchers are all 4-4 on the season. (Andy Sonnanstine is 3-5).

20. Mariners (20)

The M’s were in position to sweep the Angels in Anaheim, but blowing an 8-1 lead on Sunday will sting for a while.

21. Marlins (21)

All things considered, a 3-3 trip through Philadelphia and New York isn’t too shabby.

22. Orioles (23)

Biggest news in Oriole land this week was the debut of Matt Wieters. Tell your friends.

23. Diamondbacks (26)

From May 1-28, Justin Upton hit .402 with seven homers and 21 RBIs. That’s the type of production Diamondbacks fans have been hoping to see.

24. Royals (17)

Since peaking at 18-11 and capturing the imagination of underdog-rooters everywhere, the Royals have gone 5-16.

25. Indians (28)

Very impressive four-game sweep of the Rays was followed by at least salvaging a game against the Yankees, who have been steamrolling everyone lately.

26. Pirates (22)

This weekend, the Pirates did what everyone seems to be doing these days—winning a series against the Astros.

27. Astros (24)

Is this the week Cecil Cooper gets Hurdled?

28. Rockies (27)

Something had to be done. Too much talent on the roster to have the team wallowing at the bottom of the division.

29. Athletics (29)

Adam Kennedy is crushing the ball right now—the four homers he has in 21 games with the Athletics is one fewer than he had in two seasons (202 games) with the Cardinals.

30. Nationals (30)

The Nats only have 13 wins this season. The A’s, the second-worst team in baseball, have 19.

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Fantasy Focus

LEAGUE LEADERS Batting Average

Start ’em or Sit ’em A.L.

Player Bartlett MiCabrera ISuzuki VMartinez AdJones Morneau Two tied

St. Louis OF Rick Ankiel

Player Tejada Beltran Hawpe Pence Pujols HaRamirez Ibanez

.373 .355 .352 .348 .344 .342 .333

Sit ’em Jayson Werth, OF, Phillies. Werth is 7-of-40 (.175) with 12 strikeouts over his last 10 games, and he’s 1-of-11 (.091) with seven strikeouts against San Diego’s Jake Peavy. Nick Swisher, OF, Yankees. Swisher is 1-of-15 (.067) with five strikeouts against Texas’ Vicente Padilla. Bronson Arroyo, SP, Reds. Arroyo has pitched well lately, but he has a sketchy track record against the Cardinals (5-6, 4.40) and at Busch Stadium (2-2, 5.00). — Bill Bender

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

.353 .352 .345 .341 .339 .337 .333

Player CPena Teixeira Bay NCruz Morneau Four tied

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay New York Boston Texas Minnesota

Player BRoberts Scutaro AdJones Crawford Damon Morneau Pedroia

Player Pujols Ibanez Zimmerman AdGonzalez Hudson ASoriano Utley

43 43 41 40 40 40 39

A.L.

Team St. Louis Philadelphia Washington San Diego Los Angeles Chicago Philadelphia

42 40 39 38 38 36 36

Player Crawford Ellsbury Figgins Abreu BUpton Bartlett Two tied

Player Longoria Bay Morneau Teixeira TorHunter CPena Markakis

Player Fielder Ibanez Pujols Dunn AdGonzalez Howard Two tied

55 49 47 44 42 41 40

A.L.

Team Milwaukee Philadelphia St. Louis Washington San Diego Philadelphia

48 46 43 42 41 41 39

Player Palmer Halladay Greinke Slowey Buehrle Penny Pettitte

Player AHill VMartinez Crawford ISuzuki Morneau Five tied

77 70 69 69 67 65

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

Player Longoria MYoung Byrd Callaspo Lowell Three tied

Player Hudson Tejada Zimmerman FSanchez Ibanez Three tied

A.L.

Team Los Angeles Houston Washington Pittsburgh Philadelphia

71 71 66 65 64 62

20 19 18 17 17 16

Team Los Angeles San Francisco Washington Florida New York San Francisco New York

5-0 6-1 5-1 4-1 4-1 4-1 4-1

1.000 .857 .833 .800 .800 .800 .800

Player Verlander Greinke Lester FHernandez Halladay Garza Two tied

Team Detroit Kansas City Boston Seattle Toronto Tampa Bay

Player Tejada FSanchez Hudson HaRamirez Kotchman AdLaRoche Three tied

Player JVazquez JSantana Peavy Lincecum Billingsley Haren Gallardo

90 88 74 72 68 66 59

A.L.

Team Houston Pittsburgh Los Angeles Florida Atlanta Pittsburgh

20 18 17 17 16 16 15

Player Fuentes Papelbon Jenks Sherrill MaRivera FFrancisco Rodney

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

13 13 12 11 11 11 10

Player Bell FrRodriguez Cordero Hoffman Lidge Three tied

W 30 29 29 25 24

L 21 22 24 28 28

Pct .588 .569 .547 .472 .462

GB WCGB L10 — — 6-4 1 — 4-6 2 1 2-8 6 5 4-6 6½ 5½ 7-3

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

Home 14-9 17-6 18-7 13-11 16-13

Away 16-12 12-16 11-17 12-17 8-15

Central Detroit Chicago Minnesota Kansas City Cleveland

W 28 25 25 23 22

L 21 25 27 27 31

Pct .571 .500 .481 .460 .415

GB WCGB L10 — — 5-5 3½ 3½ 8-2 4½ 4½ 6-4 5½ 5½ 2-8 8 8 6-4

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

Home 15-7 13-10 19-11 15-15 12-14

Away 13-14 12-15 6-16 8-12 10-17

West Texas Los Angeles Seattle Oakland

W 30 25 24 19

L 20 24 28 30

Pct GB WCGB L10 .600 — — 7-3 .510 4½ 3 5-5 .462 7 5½ 5-5 .388 10½ 9 4-6

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

Home 18-9 14-12 12-13 11-13

Away 12-11 11-12 12-15 8-17

National League Standings East Philadelphia New York Atlanta Florida Washington

W 29 28 25 24 13

L 20 22 25 28 36

Pct .592 .560 .500 .462 .265

GB WCGB L10 — — 7-3 1½ ½ 7-3 4½ 3½ 5-5 6½ 5½ 5-5 16 15 2-8

Str W-4 L-1 W-1 W-1 L-6

Home 12-14 17-9 11-12 10-14 7-16

Away 17-6 11-13 14-13 14-14 6-20

Central Milwaukee St. Louis Cincinnati Chicago Pittsburgh Houston

W 30 29 27 25 23 21

L 21 22 23 24 28 28

Pct .588 .569 .540 .510 .451 .429

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

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

Home 16-9 17-10 13-12 16-10 13-11 10-15

Away 14-12 12-12 14-11 9-14 10-17 11-13

West W Los Angeles 35 San Francisco 25 San Diego 25 Arizona 23 Colorado 20 z-first game was a win

L 18 24 26 29 30

Pct GB WCGB L10 .660 — — 6-4 .510 8 3 6-4 .490 9 4 6-4 .442 11½ 6½ 5-5 .400 13½ 8½ 4-6

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

Home 18-6 18-9 17-7 12-19 9-14

Away 17-12 7-15 8-19 11-10 11-16

86 86 84 84 76 71 65

American League Boston (Matsuzaka 0-3) at Detroit (Porcello 6-3), 7:05 p.m. Texas (Padilla 3-2) at N.Y. Yankees (A.Burnett 3-2), 7:05 p.m. L.A. Angels (Saunders 6-3) at Toronto (Halladay 8-1), 7:07 p.m. Kansas City (Davies 2-4) at Tampa Bay (Sonnanstine 3-5), 7:08 p.m. Cleveland (D.Huff 0-1) at Minnesota (Slowey 7-1), 8:10 p.m. Oakland (Mazzaro 0-0) at Chicago White Sox (B.Colon 3-4), 8:11 p.m. Baltimore (Da.Hernandez 1-0) at Seattle (Bedard 3-2), 10:10 p.m.

The Line at Det -130, Bos +120 at NYY -170, Tex +160 at Tor -165, LAA +155 at TB -145, KC +135 at Min -150, Cle +140 at ChW -150, Oak +140 at Sea -150, Bal +140

15 14 14 13 13 12

National League N.Y. Mets (J.Santana 7-2) at Pittsburgh (Duke 5-4), 7:05 p.m. San Francisco (Lincecum 4-1) at Washington (Stammen 0-1), 7:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs (R.Wells 0-2) at Atlanta (Kawakami 3-6), 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee (M.Parra 3-6) at Florida (A.Sanchez 1-4), 7:10 p.m. Colorado (Jimenez 3-6) at Houston (F.Paulino 1-4), 8:05 p.m. Cincinnati (Arroyo 7-3) at St. Louis (B.Thompson 0-1), 8:15 p.m. Philadelphia (Bastardo 0-0) at San Diego (Peavy 5-5), 10:05 p.m. Arizona (Haren 4-4) at L.A. Dodgers (Wolf 3-1), 10:10 p.m.

The Line NYM -180, at Pit +170 SF -140, at Was +130 at Atl -120, ChC +110 Mil -110, at Fla +100 Col -130, at Hou +120 at StL -115, Cin +105 at SD -190, Phi +180 at LAD -120, Ari +110

N.L.

Team Los Angeles Boston Chicago Baltimore New York Texas Detroit

East New York Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Baltimore

Pitching Matchups Today’s Games (All times Eastern)

N.L.

Saves

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Texas Texas Kansas City Boston

Player Broxton Cain Martis JoJohnson LiHernandez Lincecum Pelfrey

1.000 .889 .889 .875 .857 .833 .833

Doubles A.L.

16 12 12 12 11

Strikeouts N.L.

Team Toronto Cleveland Tampa Bay Seattle Minnesota

Team Houston Los Angeles Cincinnati New York

N.L.

Team Los Angeles Toronto Kansas City Minnesota Chicago Boston New York

HIts A.L.

Player Bourn Kemp Taveras DWright Six tied

30 21 20 15 15 14 11

Pitching (5 decisions) N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Boston Minnesota New York Los Angeles Tampa Bay Baltimore

21 17 16 16 15 14 13

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Boston Los Angeles Los Angeles Tampa Bay Tampa Bay

RBIs A.L.

Team San Diego Philadelphia Washington St. Louis Philadelphia Cincinnati Arizona

Stolen Bases N.L.

Team Baltimore Toronto Baltimore Tampa Bay New York Minnesota Boston

Player AdGonzalez Ibanez Dunn Pujols Howard Bruce Reynolds

17 16 15 14 14 13

Runs A.L.

struggled since returning from a neck injury, but he is 5-of-13 (.385) with three homers against Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo. Kevin Slowey, SP, Twins. Slowey is shooting for win No. 8, and he’s 6-0 this season at the Metrodome. Slowey also pitched eight innings of one-run ball against the Indians on April 25. Andre Ethier, OF, Dodgers. Ethier is hitting .211 in May, but he’s .412 (7-of-17) with a homer against Arizona’s Dan Haren.

A.L.

Team Houston New York Colorado Houston St. Louis Florida Philadelphia

18

American League Standings

Home Runs

N.L.

Team Tampa Bay Detroit Seattle Cleveland Baltimore Minnesota

TOM GANNAM / AP

Start ’em Rick Ankiel, OF, Cardinals. Ankiel has

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

Team San Diego New York Cincinnati Milwaukee Philadelphia

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19

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE N.Y. Yankees 5, Cleveland 2

Chicago White Sox 6, Oakland 2

Indians, midges don’t bug Chamberlain

Thome connects on No. 550

CLEVELAND—The midges didn’t affect Joba Chamberlain in his first start in Cleveland—and neither did the Indians’ hitters. Chamberlain allowed two runs in a career-high eight innings and the New York Yankees set a record for consecutive games without making an error in a 5-2 victory against Cleveland on Monday. Chamberlain (3-1) retired the first 11 batters before Victor Martinez’s home run in the fourth. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five. He showed great velocity, still hitting 97 mph on the radar gun in the eighth. “Maybe he’s mad at the midges,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Bugs headlined Chamberlain’s relief appearance in the American League Division Series two years ago, when they swarmed and distracted him while he walked Grady Sizemore and threw two wild pitches that enabled Cleveland to tie—and ultimately win—the game. The Indians went on to eliminate New York in four games. Monday night was Chamberlain’s first start at Progressive Field, and the bugs resurfaced in the eighth. Just not to the extent of two years ago. “I started to see them coming, I’ll be honest,” Chamberlain said. “I actually swallowed one when I was walking around the mound to start (the eighth).” Chamberlain made a dazzling defensive play in the fifth, highlighting a milestone game for the New York’s fielders. The Yankees played error free for the 18th straight game, surpassing Boston’s major league mark of 17 set in 2006. New York’s last error came on May 13 at Toronto when shortstop Ramiro Pena misplayed a ground ball. With runners on first and second and

Yankees 5, Indians 2 New York AB R Jeter ss 3 1 Swisher rf 4 1 Teixeira 1b 3 0 A.Rodriguez dh 4 0 Posada c 4 0 Cano 2b 4 0 Me.Cabrera lf 3 0 Berroa 3b 2 0 a-H.Matsui ph 0 0 1-R.Pena pr-3b 1 1 Gardner cf 2 2 Totals 30 5

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

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

BB 2 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 11

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

Avg. .311 .236 .282 .259 .297 .308 .316 .143 .263 .242 .265

Cleveland A.Cabrera ss B.Francisco cf V.Martinez dh Choo rf Jh.Peralta 3b DeRosa lf Garko 1b J.Carroll 2b Shoppach c Totals

H 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 4

BI 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2

BB 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2

SO 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 5

Avg. .312 .268 .348 .301 .266 .262 .252 .294 .204

New York Cleveland

MARK DUNCAN / AP

A battle with midges two years ago in Cleveland highlighted Jaba Chamberlain’s season ... but not on Monday. nobody out, Chamberlain’s diving catch of a popped up bunt by Kelly Shoppach turned into a double play when he stood and threw to second to get Ryan Garko, capping the play with a shout and fist pump. Jamey Carroll was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning. “It was quite a belly flop,” Girardi said. “It’s an unbelievable play. It changed the game.” The Yankees are 14-4 during the errorless streak. “I’m proud of what they’ve done, I’m proud of what our staff has put in. They work hard all the time, every position they work hard defensively,” Girardi said. “I just want us to make the plays we should make. Don’t give extra baserunners. If

you do that, it’s going to help our club tremendously.” The Yankees squandered one basesloaded scoring chance off Greg Aquino (1-1), but not the second. Aquino walked the bases loaded in the seventh before Nick Swisher doubled home a pair of runs against him and Alex Rodriguez singled home two more. Before Swisher’s at-bat, he stepped out of the box and had to laugh at Derek Jeter’s forecasting ability, since a storm was approaching the Cleveland area. “(Jeter) told me a couple of innings before it was going to start raining and it wasn’t going to stop, so we need to score right now,” Swisher said. — The Associated Press

AB 4 4 4 4 2 3 2 3 3 29

R 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

001 000 400 — 000 100 100 —

5 6 0 2 4 0

a-walked for Berroa in the 7th. 1-ran for H.Matsui in the 7th. LOB: New York 9, Cleveland 2. 2B: Swisher 2 (11). HR: V.Martinez (8), off Chamberlain. RBIs: Swisher 2 (31), A.Rodriguez 2 (19), V.Martinez (37), DeRosa (34). SB: Gardner (10), Choo 2 (8). CS: J.Carroll (1). Runners left in scoring position: New York 6 (Posada 2, Cano 3, Jeter); Cleveland 1 (DeRosa). DP: New York 1 (Chamberlain, Jeter); Cleveland 2 (Jh.Peralta, J.Carroll, Garko), (Garko, A.Cabrera, Garko). New York ChamberlainW,3-1 Ma.RiveraS,11-12 Cleveland Sowers Aquino L, 1-1 Vizcaino J.Lewis

IP 8 1 IP 5 1 1⁄3 1 2⁄3 1

H 4 0 H 3 1 1 1

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

NP ERA 106 3.71 13 2.49 NP ERA 85 6.16 32 4.32 30 1.54 24 5.33

Sowers pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Inherited runners-scored: Aquino 3-0, Vizcaino 3-2. IBB: off Aquino (Teixeira). WP: Vizcaino. Umpires: Home, Mark Carlson; First, Tim Tschida; Second, Bob Davidson; Third, Jeff Nelson. T: 3:13. A: 23,651 (45,199).

CHICAGO—A.J. Pierzynski has watched Jim Thome come through in the clutch so many times, he never worries about the slugger when the pressure is on. Thome hit the 550th homer of his career in the eighth inning to put the White Sox ahead and Chicago went on to beat the Oakland Athletics 6-2 on Monday night. Pierzynski also homered and Scott Podsednik scored two runs for the White Sox, who won for the fourth straight time and have won 10 of its last 13 overall. Oakland reliever Craig Breslow (1-4) allowed a leadoff walk to Scott Podsednik in the eighth inning. After Alexei Ramirez popped up a bunt attempt, Jermaine Dye singled off Santiago Casilla. On a 1-2 pitch, Thome hit an opposite field home run to left-center to put the White Sox up 5-2. “He’s got almost 600 home runs so he’s done it a million times. He’s been up there so many times that I don’t think it phases him. The guy made a mistake and Jim hit it. The one thing about Jim if he gets the barrel on the ball it can go out to any part of the park. That’s why he’s got 550 homers,” said Pierzynski. Thome is 13th on the career homers list and has nine this season. — The Associated Press

White Sox 6, Athletics 2 Oakland AB R H O.Cabrera ss 4 0 0 Kennedy 2b 4 0 0 Cust dh 4 1 1 Holliday lf 4 1 2 Giambi 1b 3 0 0 K.Suzuki c 4 0 0 R.Sweeney cf 3 0 1 Cunningham rf 4 0 1 Hannahan 3b 2 0 0 Totals 32 2 5

SO 1 2 2 1 3 1 1 1 0 12

Avg. .232 .372 .251 .275 .216 .278 .251 .083 .188

Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Podsednik lf 3 2 0 0 2 0 Al.Ramirez ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 Dye rf 2 1 1 1 1 0 Thome dh 4 1 2 3 0 1 Konerko 1b 3 1 0 0 1 0 Pierzynski c 4 1 2 1 0 1 Fields 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 Wise cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 a-Bri.Andersonph-cf 1 0 0 0 1 0 J.Nix 2b 3 0 0 1 1 1 Totals 30 6 6 6 6 6

Avg. .288 .253 .280 .263 .303 .305 .238 .179 .272 .191

Oakland Chicago

BI 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2

BB 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 3

200 000 000 — 100 010 04x —

2 5 1 6 6 0

a-flied out for Wise in the 7th. E: Kennedy (4). LOB: Oakland 6, Chicago 7. 2B: Holliday (7). HR: Holliday (7), off G.Floyd; Pierzynski (5), off Cahill; Thome (9), off S.Casilla. RBIs: Holliday 2 (30), Dye (35), Thome 3 (32), Pierzynski (12), J.Nix (6). SB: J.Nix (3). SF: Dye. Runners left in scoring position: Oakland 3 (R.Sweeney, O.Cabrera 2); Chicago 4 (Podsednik 3, Pierzynski). Oakland Cahill Breslow L, 1-4 S.Casilla K.Cameron Chicago G.Floyd Thornton W, 3-1 Linebrink

IP 5 2⁄3 1 1⁄3 1⁄3 2⁄3 IP 7 1 1

H 3 0 2 1 H 4 0 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 2 3 98 4.33 1 1 1 2 19 5.14 3 3 1 0 17 6.05 0 0 2 1 25 3.44 R ER BB SO NP ERA 2 2 3 8 107 5.75 0 0 0 3 12 1.71 0 0 0 1 21 1.93

Breslow pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored: Breslow 2-0, S.Casilla 1-1, K.Cameron 1-1. Umpires: Home, Phil Cuzzi; First, Tom Hallion; Second, Jerry Crawford; Third, Dan Bellino. T: 2:46. A: 26,038 (40,615).

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20

NATIONAL LEAGUE Reds 5, Cardinals 3 Cincinnati AB Dickerson cf 4 A.Rosales 3b 3 B.Phillips 2b 4 Bruce rf 3 R.Hernandez 1b 5 L.Nix lf 4 Ale.Gonzalez ss 3 Hanigan c 4 Volquez p 0 Lincoln p 1 a-W.Castillo ph 1 Herrera p 0 Masset p 0 c-Gomes ph 1 Rhodes p 0 Cordero p 0 Totals 33 St. Louis AB Schumaker 2b 4 Rasmus cf 4 Pujols 1b 3 Duncan lf 3 Ankiel rf 4 LaRue c 3 d-Y.Molina ph 1 Thurston 3b 3 Wellemeyer p 0 T.Miller p 0 Boyer p 0 D.Reyes p 0 b-Stavinoha ph 1 C.Perez p 0 McClellan p 0 e-Ludwick ph 1 Br.Ryan ss 3 Totals 30

R 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 R 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

H 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 H 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7

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

BB 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 BB 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

SO 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 9 SO 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

Avg. .240 .239 .280 .225 .283 .274 .219 .333 .063 .000 .500 .000 --.353 -----

Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 3

Florida 7, Milwaukee 4

Bullpen provides relief for Reds

Five-run sixth lifts Marlins

Avg. .300 .243 .339 .256 .221 .250 .271 .258 .150 ------.250 --.000 .254 .269

Cincinnati 000 310 100 — 5 8 1 St. Louis 101 000 100 — 3 7 1 a-singled for Lincoln in the 5th. b-grounded out for D.Reyes in the 7th. c-struck out for Masset in the 8th. d-grounded out for LaRue in the 9th. e-flied out for McClellan in the 9th. E: R.Hernandez (4), Ankiel (1). LOB: Cincinnati 9, St. Louis 5. 2B: L.Nix (11), Rasmus (9), Pujols (10), Thurston 2 (13). HR: Rasmus (6), off Lincoln. RBIs: A.Rosales (10), B.Phillips (37), R.Hernandez (21), L.Nix 2 (12), Rasmus (20), Pujols (43). SB: Dickerson (2). S: Herrera, Wellemeyer 2. SF: A.Rosales. Runners left in scoring position: Cincinnati 4 (Ale. Gonzalez, Bruce, Gomes, R.Hernandez); St. Louis 3 (LaRue, Schumaker, Br.Ryan). DP: Cincinnati 3 (B.Phillips, Ale.Gonzalez, R.Hernandez), (A.Rosales, B.Phillips, R.Hernandez), (Dickerson, Ale.Gonzalez, R.Hernandez, B.Phillips). Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Volquez 1 2 1 1 1 2 24 4.35 Lincoln W, 1-0 3 2 1 1 2 1 38 8.10 Herrera 2 2 1 0 0 1 19 1.74 Masset H, 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 16 1.00 Rhodes H, 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 0.50 Cordero S, 14-14 1 1 0 0 0 1 15 1.64 St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Wellemeyer L, 5-5 5 5 4 3 2 4 89 5.05 T.Miller 1 1 0 0 0 1 15 2.84 Boyer 2⁄3 2 1 1 1 0 12 9.24 D.Reyes 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 8 3.77 C.Perez 1 0 0 0 0 2 12 2.16 McClellan 1 0 0 0 2 1 23 1.80 Herrera pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Inherited runnersscored: Masset 1-1, D.Reyes 2-0. HBP: by C.Perez (Ale.Gonzalez). WP: C.Perez, McClellan. PB: Hanigan. Umpires: Home, Jim Joyce; First, Brian Runge; Second, Derryl Cousins; Third, D.J. Reyburn

JEFF ROBERSON / AP

Cincinnati’s Chris Dickerson, right, is safe at second with a stolen base as the throw gets past St. Louis 2B Skip Schumaker during the fourth inning. ST. LOUIS—The Cincinnati Reds looked to be in deep trouble after Edinson Volquez lasted only one inning in his first start after coming off the 15-day disabled list. “One of the finest young pitchers in our game and he leaves after one inning and the bullpen’s got to pitch eight,” St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “I mean, that’s a great opportunity for us.” Instead, Mike Lincoln and four other Cincinnati relievers allowed one earned run in eight innings of a 5-3 victory against the Cardinals on Monday night. Volquez left after experiencing numbness in the fourth and ring fingers of his pitching hand and was set to return to Cincinnati for an examination today, but

had no symptoms after the game and was unconcerned. “That’s crazy,” Volquez said. “I don’t feel anything.” Lincoln (1-0) gave up only Colby Rasmus’ sixth homer in three innings of relief and Francisco Cordero worked the ninth for his 14th save in 14 chances and 28th in a row dating to last July. “That’s a huge thing to ask of them, when the starter goes only one inning,” outfielder Chris Dickerson said. “It says a great deal about our bullpen.” Volquez, a 17-game winner last year, allowed a run on two hits in his first start after a D.L. stint because of back spasms. He said the numbness began on a fastball to Rasmus, the second hitter of the game.

The rest of the inning he avoided the last two fingers by leaning on a curveball that normally he uses two or three times a game. “Today I threw like 10, in 20 pitches,” Volquez said. “Everybody was wondering ‘What’s wrong with you?’” Cincinnati rebounded after getting swept in a three-game series at Milwaukee and ended a six-game road losing streak while Lincoln won for the first time since July 11, 2008 at Milwaukee. Reds relievers weren’t exactly rested coming in after Micah Owings lasted 5 2/3 innings on Sunday in Milwaukee and Aaron Harang was chased after 4 1/3 innings on Saturday. — The Associated Press

MIAMI—Hanley Ramirez and the Florida Marlins got into the Milwaukee Brewers’ thin bullpen and emerged with a victory. Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida had RBI singles in Florida’s five-run sixth and the Marlins rallied to beat the Brewers 7-4 on Monday night. Jorge Cantu had two RBIs for Florida. Ramirez finished with three hits. Eleven Marlins batted in the sixth, with the first eight reaching base safely. Jorge Julio (1-1) faced six batters and allowed five runs, four earned. Julio hit two, including one with the bases loaded. Cody Ross scampered home when first baseman Prince Fielder committed an error on Emilio Bonifacio’s grounder and Todd Coffey walked Dan Uggla to force in another run in the wild inning. “It happens sometimes on the major league level, it really does,” Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I’m glad we were on the end of scoring runs.” Ramirez followed Fielder’s error with an infield single to tie it at 4. After Jorge Cantu was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Hermida singled to left off Coffey. “I was trying to get a groundball from Bonifacio for a double play but no luck—that happens,” Julio said. — The Associated Press

Marlins 7, Brewers 4 Milwaukee AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Hart rf 5 0 1 1 0 1 .254 Hall 3b 5 0 1 0 0 2 .221 Braun lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .309 Coffey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 McClung p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 c-Gamel ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .207 Villanueva p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 Fielder 1b 5 1 1 0 0 1 .271 M.Cameron cf 1 1 1 0 2 0 .288 Julio p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Catalanotto lf 2 0 1 0 0 1 .300 Hardy ss 5 1 2 0 0 1 .241 McGehee 2b 5 1 2 1 0 1 .256 Kendall c 3 0 2 1 1 0 .217 Suppan p 0 0 0 1 1 0 .125 a-Gerut ph-cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .210 Totals 38 4 11 4 4 8 Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Coghlan lf 4 1 1 1 1 0 .214 B.Carroll rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .182 Bonifacio 3b 4 1 0 0 1 1 .245 Ha.Ramirez ss 5 2 3 1 0 0 .337 Cantu 1b 4 0 2 2 0 0 .271 Hermida rf-lf 5 0 2 1 0 1 .267 Uggla 2b 2 1 0 1 3 0 .206 Jo.Baker c 5 0 1 0 0 3 .259 C.Ross cf 4 1 1 0 0 2 .254 A.Miller p 2 0 1 0 0 1 .091 Cr.Martinez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --b-Hayes ph 1 1 0 0 0 1 .250 Sanches p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Nunez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Lindstrom p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --Totals 36 7 11 6 5 9 Milwaukee 030 010 000 — 4 11 1 Florida 110 005 00x — 7 11 2 a-grounded out for Suppan in the 6th. b-was hit by a pitch for Cr.Martinez in the 6th. c-grounded out for McClung in the 8th. E: Fielder (3), Ha.Ramirez (4), Bonifacio (8). LOB: Milwaukee 12, Florida 12. 2B: Ha.Ramirez (17). RBIs: Hart (20), McGehee (4), Kendall (16), Suppan (2), Coghlan (6), Ha.Ramirez (24), Cantu 2 (39), Hermida (23), Uggla (35). CS: Fielder (1). S: Suppan. Runners left in scoring position: Milwaukee 6 (Braun 2, Hall, Kendall, Fielder, Gerut); Florida 6 (Ha. Ramirez 2, C.Ross, Jo.Baker, Hayes 2). Milwaukee IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Suppan 5 7 2 2 3 5 100 5.09 Julio L, 1-1 BS, 1-1 0 2 5 4 1 0 20 7.79 Coffey 1 1 0 0 1 3 26 2.49 McClung 1 1 0 0 0 0 10 2.63 Villanueva 1 0 0 0 0 1 18 3.60 Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA A.Miller 4 1⁄3 6 4 3 4 4 97 4.76 Cr.Martinez W, 1-1 1 2⁄3 2 0 0 0 2 26 4.91 Sanches H, 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 20 0.00 Nunez H, 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 3.38 Lindstrom S, 10-12 1 1 0 0 0 2 12 5.82 Julio pitched to 6 batters in the 6th. Inherited runners-scored: Coffey 3-2, Cr.Martinez 2-1. HBP: by Julio (Hayes, Cantu). Umpires: Home, Mike DiMuro; First, Dale Scott; Second, Jerry Meals; Third, Damien Beal. T: 3:15. A: 10,509 (38,560).

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21

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE Houston 4, Colorado 1

Pittsburgh 8, N.Y. Mets 5

Solid outing has Oswalt feeling much better

Pirates rally against Mets’ ’pen

HOUSTON—Roy Oswalt admits that he hasn’t had a great season so far. Maybe Monday’s outing will turn it around. The Houston ace had a season-high eight strikeouts, Carlos Lee hit a two-run homer and the Astros snapped a four-game losing skid at home with a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. Oswalt (2-2) improved to 7-1 in 10 career starts against Colorado and earned a decision for just the second time in 10 starts this season. He allowed six hits and two walks in seven innings to match his longest outing of the season. Oswalt had allowed at least three runs in his previous five starts, an unusually mediocre stretch for a pitcher who’s averaged 17 wins over the last five seasons. But Oswalt said he never worried that he’d suddenly lost it. “No matter how long you play this game, you’re going to run into a skid where you’re not doing too well,” said Oswalt. “I think some of the guys in the Hall of Fame actually ran into a few skids here and there. “You’re only human,” he said. “A lot of people go through a lot of things. The good ones come out of it.” Todd Helton hit a solo homer for the Rockies,

PAT SULLIVAN / AP

Houston P Roy Oswalt struck out eight and gave up six hits to the Rockies. who’ve lost five of their last seven. They’re 2-2 since Jim Tracy replaced Clint Hurdle as manager on Friday. Helton said Oswalt threw mostly fastballs, rarely using his other main weapon, a nasty curve. Oswalt threw 102 pitches, 70 for strikes. “He has great stuff,” Helton said. “He basicially just

dominated us with his fastball. He came right at us.” Aaron Cook (3-3) lost his second straight start, allowing nine hits in six innings. Lance Berkman gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a twoout, RBI single in the first inning. Oswalt gave up five hits but no runs through four

innings, while Cook retired the next six hitters after Berkman’s hit, five on groundouts. Hunter Pence led off the Houston fourth with a single, went to third on Lee’s blooper and scored on Berkman’s sacrifice fly to left for a 2-0 Astros lead. Helton hit a solo homer over the right-field wall, just out of Pence’s reach, in the fifth. Helton’s seventh homer of the season was the 12th allowed by Oswalt in 2009. Miguel Tejada singled to left in the Houston sixth to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the NL. One out later, Lee lined a homer into the left-field seats, his ninth of the season. Lee had not driven in a run since May 16, his longest span without an RBI since he joined the Astros in 2007. “I would say these last two weeks have been the toughest two weeks of my career,” said Lee, batting .319 after going 3-for-3 on Monday. “I’ve always been able to get an RBI here or there. These last two weeks have been really tough. I felt great at the plate (on Monday). I don’t know how that happened.” Lee’s home run allowed Oswalt to relax for his final inning of work. — The Associated Press

Astros 4, Rockies 1 Colorado AB R Spilborghs cf 5 0 Barmes 2b 4 0 Helton 1b 4 1 Atkins 3b 3 0 Hawpe rf 4 0 S.Smith lf 4 0 Tulowitzki ss 4 0 Torrealba c 3 0 Cook p 2 0 a-Murton ph 1 0 Fogg p 0 0 Embree p 0 0 c-Stewart ph 1 0 Totals 35 1

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

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

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

SO Avg. 1 .261 1 .262 0 .312 1 .196 2 .345 0 .278 1 .221 1 .230 2 .190 0 .256 0 .000 0 --0 .180 9

Houston Bourn cf Tejada ss Pence rf Ca.Lee lf Berkman 1b I.Rodriguez c Keppinger 3b Maysonet 2b Oswalt p b-Erstad ph Sampson p Hawkins p Totals

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

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

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

SO 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

Colorado Houston

AB 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 0 0 29

R 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

000 010 000 — 100 102 00x —

Avg. .286 .353 .341 .319 .232 .265 .282 .391 .136 .140 .000 --1 8 0 4 10 0

a-grounded out for Cook in the 7th. b-grounded out for Oswalt in the 7th. c-grounded out for Embree in the 9th. LOB: Colorado 9, Houston 4. 2B: Barmes (11). HR: Helton (7), off Oswalt; Ca.Lee (9), off Cook. RBIs: Helton (34), Ca.Lee 2 (31), Berkman 2 (31). CS: Bourn (4), Tejada (2). SF: Berkman. Runners left in scoring position: Colorado 4 (Atkins, Cook, Hawpe, Tulowitzki). DP: Colorado 2 (Tulowitzki, Barmes, Helton), (Torrealba, Torrealba, Tulowitzki). Colorado Cook L, 3-3 Fogg Embree Houston Oswalt W, 2-2 Sampson H, 7 Hawkins S, 7-9

IP 6 1 1 IP 7 1 1

H 9 0 1 H 6 2 0

R ER BB SO NP ERA 4 4 1 2 98 4.94 0 0 0 1 14 0.00 0 0 1 1 16 6.60 R ER BB SO NP ERA 1 1 2 8 102 4.28 0 0 0 0 16 2.03 0 0 0 1 9 2.49

WP: Cook. Umpires: Home, Randy Marsh; First, Marvin Hudson; Second, James Hoye; Third, Lance Barksdale. T: 2:31. A: 24,016 (40,976).

PITTSBURGH—Andy LaRoche and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of a rare off night for the New York Mets’ refurbished bullpen. LaRoche had three RBIs and Pittsburgh scored five runs in the eighth inning of an 8-5 win on Monday. Adam LaRoche and Jack Wilson had three hits apiece for the Pirates, who came back from a 5-0 deficit to win for only the second time in six games. “Late in the game we came up with some big hits with runners on base,” Adam LaRoche said. “That’s what we’ve been missing. A lot of these games, we’ve been getting some opportunities and not taking advantage of them, and we did tonight.” Wilson Valdez had two hits and a career-high three RBIs for the Mets, who fell to 22-2 when leading after seven innings. Jeremy Reed added two hits and scored two runs. The bottom of the eighth had to stir up bad memories of last season for Mets fans, but bullpen implosions have been rare this season. New York entered the game leading the majors with a 2.95 team ERA for its relievers. “You know what, this wasn’t our game plan going in,” Andy LaRoche said, “because they’ve pretty much had a sturdy bullpen all year.” — The Associated Press

Pirates 8, Mets 5 New York AB L.Castillo 2b 5 F.Martinez lf 3 Dan.Murphy 1b 4 Sheffield rf 3 D.Wright 3b 3 Reed cf 4 W.Valdez ss 4 Schneider c 3 Li.Hernandez p 2 Parnell p 0 Feliciano p 0 Putz p 0 Stokes p 0 Tatis ph 1 Totals 32

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

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

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

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

SO Avg. 0 .284 0 .211 0 .243 0 .283 1 .328 1 .291 0 .364 0 .185 0 .100 0 --0 --0 --0 --0 .267 2

Pittsburgh AB R H BI BB SO Morgan lf 4 0 2 0 1 2 F.Sanchez 2b 5 0 0 1 0 0 McLouth cf 4 0 0 1 0 3 Ad.LaRoche 1b 5 2 3 0 0 0 Hinske rf 2 1 0 0 2 0 An.LaRoche 3b 4 2 2 3 0 1 Jaramillo c 4 1 2 1 0 0 Ja.Wilson ss 4 1 3 1 0 0 Snell p 1 0 0 0 0 1 R.Vazquez ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 S.Burnett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 S.Jackson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gorzelanny p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Delw.Young ph 1 1 1 1 0 0 Capps p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 35 8 13 8 3 8 New York 023 000 000 — Pittsburgh 000 300 05x —

Avg. .280 .325 .250 .242 .270 .304 .269 .263 .150 .232 .000 --.000 .298 --5 7 1 8 13 1

E: W.Valdez (1), Jaramillo (2). LOB: New York 7, Pittsburgh 8. 2B: Reed 2 (3), W.Valdez (1), Ad.LaRoche 2 (16). 3B: W.Valdez (1), An.LaRoche (1). RBIs: Sheffield (20), W.Valdez 3 (3), Schneider (4), F.Sanchez (18), McLouth (33), An.LaRoche 3 (25), Jaramillo (7), Ja.Wilson (17), Delw.Young (10). SB: F.Martinez 2 (2), Morgan (11). S: Li.Hernandez, Snell. SF: McLouth. Runners left in scoring position: New York 5; Pittsburgh 5. DP: New York 1; Pittsburgh 1 New York IP Li.Hernandez 5 2⁄3 Parnell H, 11 1⁄3 Feliciano H, 9 1 1⁄3 Putz L, 1-4 BS, 2-4 0 Stokes 2⁄3 Pittsburgh IP Snell 6 S.Burnett 2⁄3 S.Jackson 1 Gorzelanny W, 3-1 1⁄3 Capps S, 11-13 1

H 7 1 1 4 0 H 6 0 0 0 1

R ER BB SO NP ERA 3 3 2 5 103 4.33 0 0 0 1 11 2.08 1 1 0 2 24 2.53 4 3 1 0 12 4.76 0 0 0 0 7 2.66 R ER BB SO NP ERA 5 5 5 2 104 5.64 0 0 0 0 5 3.18 0 0 1 0 14 0.00 0 0 0 0 5 7.50 0 0 0 0 21 5.94

Inherited runners-scored: Parnell 2-0, Putz 1-1, Stokes 3-2, Gorzelanny 1-0. IBB: off Putz (Morgan). Umpires: Home, Scott Barry; First, Ted Barrett; Second, Tim McClelland; Third, Adrian Johnson. T: 3:08. A: 11,812 (38,362).

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22

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM STATS

THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES BALTIMORE ORIOLES BATTERS

BOSTON RED SOX

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Jones

.344 .400 186

41

64 14

1 11 36 14 38

4

2

4

Youkilis

.366 .478 131

31

48 13

0

9 31 24 35

1

0

1

Pierzynski

.305 .335 151 18

46

6

1

5

12 7

12 1

0

2

Scott

.322 .401 121

21

39

0 11 29 15 24

0

0

0

Pedroia

.326 .416 193

39

63 15

0

2 20 28 14

8

4

3

Konerko

.303 .357 178 24

54

12 0

7

33 15 28 0

0

0

Markakis

.298 .362 208

38

62 16

1

1

1

3

Lowell

.308 .332 198

25

61 17

1

8 35

0

0

5

Podsednik

.288 .336 104 12

30

4

2

0

8

3

3

Roberts

.294 .364 211

43

62 16

1

6 22 25 35 10

4

2

Ellsbury

.299 .335 214

28

64 10

1

1 15 11 19 21

6

0

Dye

.280 .342 168 33

47

5

1

13 35 16 42 0

Reimold

.286 .328

63

7

18

2

0

5 11

4 11

0

0

1

Green

.298 .360 104

12

31 10

0

1 15

5 21

1

3

8

Anderson

.272 .356 92

14

25

4

0

1

6

12 27 2

Mora

.270 .338 126

12

34

3

0

2 15 13 16

1

2

3

Bay

.288 .415 177

38

51 13

1 15 49 37 44

5

0

0

Thome

.263 .389 137 25

36

7

0

9

32 29 45 0

21

7 40 20 26

AVG OBA AB

R

Huff

.264 .332 197

24

52 14

1

8 39 21 30

0

4

2

Lugo

.276 .345

76

9

Izturis

.262 .296 145

16

38

5

1

1 13

5 10

8

0

5

Drew

.248 .359 153

28

Andino

.256 .304

43

6

11

1

0

0

2

3 11

1

1

2

Baldelli

.244 .277

45

Wigginton

.226 .261 146

9

33

8

0

3 15

5 19

1

1

2

Varitek

.239 .327 138

Montanez

.204 .273

49

4

10

4

0

1

6

4 10

0

0

0

Kottaras

.205 .275

44

Zaun

.203 .309 118

14

24

8

0

1

4 16 19

0

0

4

Bailey

.188 .309

Pie

.195 .271

87

9

17

2

1

2

4

9 23

1

2

0

Wieters

.133 .133

15

1

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

Team Totals

.268 .333 1788 251 480 103

5

8 59 239 163 292 27 17 33

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

6 27

GS SV

ER HR BB SO

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

7

8

BATTERS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Martinez

.348 .424 201

34

70 15

1

8 37 28 21

0

0

2

Cabrera

.312 .372 205

38

64 13

2

2 27 20 39

7

1

3

2

Choo

.301 .413 183

31

55

9

1

7 31 33 43

8

0

4

2

1

Carroll

.294 .429

34

5

10

1

1

0

2

7

4

0

1

1

3

1

Hafner

.270 .370

63

10

17

5

0

4

8

8 18

0

0

0

0

0

Francisco

.268 .343 157

24

42 11

1

5 20 14 33

9

1

1

1

1

8

1

0

4

Ramirez

.253 .299 170 16

43

5

0

3

23 12 19 9

2

3

Peralta

.266 .352 173

17

46

9

0

1 21 21 45

0

0

4

1

7 23 26 42

0

2

1

Getz

.248 .309 137 20

34

6

1

0

10 10 17 5

1

2

DeRosa

.262 .333 195

34

51

9

0

8 34 19 45

0

1

7

5

11

1

2

0

0

2

Fields

.238 .304 168 17

40

5

2

2

20 14 53 1

3

6

Garko

.252 .350 119

11

30

4

0

5 23 15 17

0

0

2

19

33

9

0 10 22 17 31

0

0

1

Quentin

.229 .325 131 20

30

6

0

8

20 11 17 1

0

1

Sizemore

.223 .309 206

29

46 11

1

9 31 25 52

7

6

0

6

9

5

0

0

5

5 14

0

0

1

Betemit

.209 .277 43

2

9

5

0

0

3

4

13 0

0

4

Shoppach

.204 .333

93

14

19

3

0

4 10

9 40

0

0

0

69

10

13

3

1

3

9

8 21

0

0

2

Nix

.191 .291 47

5

9

1

0

4

6

6

8

3

0

0

Valbuena

.188 .250

48

6

9

6

0

0

1

4 15

0

1

1

Ortiz

.185 .284 178

16

33 13

.179 .179 28

0

5

0

0

0

0

0

8

0

2

0

Crowe

.184 .262

38

6

7

2

0

0

4

3

1

0

1

Lowrie

.056 .150

Team Totals

.269 .355 1826 276 491 103

Team Totals

.274 .356 1756 267 481 122

0

1

0

6

2 15

1

1 18 23 48

0

1

0

Wise

0

0

0

0

0

Team Totals .256 .324 1673 218 428 71 7

0

2

8

PITCHERS

GS SV

52 213 157 330 30 17 30

9

7 54 255 214 410 34 12 29

8 61 256 204 356 37 16 33 PITCHERS

PITCHERS

R

2

18

8

AVG OBA AB

38 11 1

4

BATTERS

CLEVELAND INDIANS

AVG OBA AB

6

BATTERS

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

ER HR BB SO

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

IP

H

R

ER HR BB SO

PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

IP

H

R

ER HR BB SO

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

Dotel

1

1

1.04 20 0

0

17.1

10

2

2

1

12

20

Herges

1

0 1.13 10

0

0

16.0

7

2

2

2

4

14

Hernandez

1

0 1.59

1

1

0

5.2

5

1

1

0

4

3

Bard

0

0 1.08

6

0

0

8.1

7

1

1

0

3

7

Thornton

3

1

1.71 21 0

0

21.0

16

4

4

1

9

30

Vizcaino

1

2 2.25

6

0

1

8.0

5

2

2

1

5

7

Berken

1

1 2.25

2

2

0

12.0

11

3

3

1

5

5

Delcarmen

1

1 1.23 21

0

0

22.0

20

6

3

0

9

18

Linebrink

2

2

1.93 19 0

1

18.2

19

4

4

1

5

19

Lee

2

6 3.16 11

11

0

74.0

88

26

26

4

16

54

Sherrill

0

1 2.49 22

0 11

21.2

18

6

6

3

7

21

Ramirez

4

2 1.38 24

0

0

26.0

14

4

4

1

9

14

Carrasco

1

0

2.56 16 0

0

31.2

34

10

9

1

8

19

Betancourt

1

1 3.71 25

0

1

26.2

23

14

11

3

14

29

Johnson

2

2 3.04 24

0

1

26.2

22

9

9

2

9

18

Okajima

2

0 2.45 23

0

0

22.0

14

6

6

2

9

24

Buehrle

6

1

2.71 10 10

0

66.1

64

21

20

7

12

42

Laffey

3

1 3.93 10

4

1

34.1

32

15

15

1

19

19

Baez

4

1 3.77 18

0

0

28.2

18

12

12

3

13

20

Papelbon

0

1 2.45 21

0 13

22.0

19

6

6

3

11

25

Jenks

0

2

3.00 18 0

12 18.0

16

7

6

3

5

15

Sipp

0

0 4.26

9

0

0

6.1

4

3

3

2

8

9

Walker

0

0 3.97 21

0

0

11.1

16

6

5

3

0

9

Saito

0

0 3.00 18

0

2

18.0

19

6

6

2

4

17

Richard

2

0

3.38 16 4

0

40.0

42

16

15

4

15

30

Aquino

1

1 4.32

5

0

0

8.1

7

4

4

0

9

5

Bass

3

1 4.05 16

0

0

33.1

38

17

15

6

10

26

Masterson

2

2 4.25 13

6

0

48.2

52

23

23

4

17

39

Colon

3

4

3.80 9

0

45.0

49

28

19

7

16

29

Pavano

5

4 5.29 11

11

0

63.0

73

37

37

7

13

50

Uehara

2

3 4.09

9

9

0

50.2

50

26

23

6

11

38

Wakefield

6

3 4.55 10

10

0

63.1

59

32

32

5

31

38

Danks

4

3

4.80 10 10

0

54.1

58

31

29

6

22

50

J. Lewis

2

3 5.33 21

0

1

27.0

30

17

16

8

9

25

9

Hill

2

0 4.15

4

4

0

21.2

18

11

10

1

12

22

Beckett

5

2 4.60 10

10

0

62.2

64

35

32

6

28

59

Floyd

3

5

5.75 11 11

0

67.1

73

44

43

7

30

59

Ohka

0

0 5.40

1

0

0

5.0

5

3

3

0

1

3

Guthrie

4

4 4.86 11

11

0

66.2

72

39

36 13

21

45

Penny

5

1 5.63 10

10

0

54.1

70

39

34

7

17

34

Gobble

0

0

11.81 5

0

5.1

7

7

7

2

2

5

Wood

2

2 6.00 20

0

8

18.0

19

12

12

4

11

21

Bergesen

2

2 4.94

8

8

0

47.1

58

28

26

6

12

21

Lester

4

5 5.65 11

11

0

65.1

77

41

41 11

24

74

Team Totals 25 25 4.28 50 50

Sowers

1

2 6.16

4

3

0

19.0

20

13

13

3

12

8

Albers

0

2 5.63 13

0

0

16.0

21

11

10

1

8

10

Matsuzaka

0

3 8.82

4

0

16.1

28

16

16

10

15

Reyes

1

1 6.57

8

8

0

38.1

40

30

28

5

23

22

Hendrickson

1

4 5.66 11

7

0

35.0

47

30

22

7

14

26

Team Totals

Carmona

2

5 6.60 11

11

0

58.2

64

48

43

7

38

35

Sarfate

0

0 6.39

8

0

0

12.2

13

11

9

3

7

10

Smith

0

0 7.11

8

0

0

6.1

7

6

5

0

5

6

0

1 9.95

2

2

0

6.1

8

7

7

5

2

3

S. Lewis

0

0 8.31

1

1

0

4.1

7

4

4

2

1

3

Huff

0

1 10.97

3

3

0

10.2

18

13

13

3

6

7

Perez

0

1 14.66 15

0

0

11.2

20

19

19

1

9

5

Simon Team Totals

24 28 5.13 52

52 12 458.1 509 288 261 72 172 326

4

29 22 4.46 51

4

51 15 452.1 474 236 224 48 186 378

0

13 437.2 462 228 208 45 170 347

Team Totals

22 31 5.36 53

53 12 467.0 506 293 278 58 222 341

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

23

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM STATS

THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES DETROIT TIGERS BATTERS

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

BATTERS

LOS ANGELES ANGELS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

.307 .363 166

22

51 17

1

2 16 15 11

0

0

3

BATTERS

24

50 15

0

4 23 17 30

0

0

1

2

0

0

2

0

0

MINNESOTA TWINS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

BATTERS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Hunter

.313 .396 179

37

56 12

1 12 42 24 29 10

3

0

Rivera

.310 .353 155

16

48

7

0

5 19 11 13

0

0

0

Mauer

.414 .500

99

27

41

7

1 11 32 19 16

0

0

0

Morneau

.342 .419 196

40

67 15

1 14 47 26 35

0

0

0

1

Figgins

.296 .378 189

32

56

7

2

0 12 26 29 20

3

5

Kubel

.317 .366 161

24

51 12

1

5 25 13 34

0

0

0

Cabrera

.355 .419 183

32

65 11

0 10 37 19 26

1

2

4

Callaspo

Santiago

.308 .329

12

24

1

0

1

2

Butler

.291 .354 172

4

Pena

.286 .286

7

2

.285 .357 179

23

51 11

0

6 17 16 40

1

0

3

Abreu

.295 .395 166

21

49

8

2

1 21 28 21 15

0

2

Span

.299 .389 194

30

58

5

2

3 22 25 30 11

3

1

Morales

.280 .332 175

20

49 13

1

8 30 15 33

0

2

2

Cuddyer

.276 .363 185

30

51 11

3

9 33 25 38

4

1

3

Aybar

.279 .309 129

12

36

8

2

1 12

6 13

1

1

3

Harris

.274 .321 124

15

34

0

3 10

8 22

0

0

0

Napoli

.274 .368 135

17

37

8

0

7 19 19 33

2

3

3

Redmond

.267 .323

60

2

16

3

0

0

5

7

0

0

0

Matthews Jr.

.269 .322 104

18

28

4

1

1 15

9 24

0

0

1

Crede

.239 .304 134

18

32

7

0

9 22 12 24

0

0

1

Izturis

.260 .303 100

19

26

3

0

0 12

6 12

5

1

2

Young

.239 .282 109

10

26

1

0

1 14

5 37

2

2

2

Guerrero

.246 .279

57

4

14

2

0

1

3

9

0

0

0

Gomez

.220 .282 100

16

22

5

2

0

3

8 23

4

3

0

Mathis

.233 .296

73

9

17

1

0

0 12

7 23

0

0

2

Tolbert

.189 .265

74

10

14

2

0

1

8

8 21

2

0

1

Quinlan

.231 .231

39

3

9

3

0

0

0

8

1

0

0

Buscher

.188 .321

64

6

12

2

1

1

7 12 17

0

0

0

Kendrick

.225 .266 160

21

36

6

1

4 20

6 32

6

1

2

Punto

.187 .290 123

17

23

3

0

0 12 18 22

5

1

5

Team Totals

.276 .339 1686 233 466 82 10 40 222 161 287 61 14 26

Casilla

.161 .220

6

15

1

1

0

2

0

3

Team Totals

.272 .347 1769 261 481 84 12 57 245 196 351 30 10 19

Everett

78

.284 .331 109

17

4

31

7

0

3 20

3 20

1 17

6 14

3

1

2

1

0

Thomas

.282 .365

85

13

24

5

1

3 13 11 14

1

0

1

Teahen

Ordonez

.280 .360 168

23

47

7

0

2 19 21 27

1

0

1

Bloomquist

.284 .358

95

16

27

2

3

1

6 12 15

8

1

2

Maier

.280 .379

50

8

14

3

2

0

6

9

2

1

0

Guillen

.269 .375 130

13

35

5

0

4 22 17 19

1

0

1

Jacobs

.248 .330 157

19

39

9

0

9 25 17 50

0

0

2

Olivo

.239 .265 109

10

26

4

1

4 15

2 38

1

1

1

DeJesus

.236 .286 178

21

42

9

4

3 20 11 33

1

1

0

Crisp

.233 .344 163

29

38

8

5

3 14 27 19 11

2

3

Anderson

.277 .320

94

12

26

3

2

0 10

6 12 10

1

1

Inge

.269 .362 171

32

46

6

0 12 33 20 45

1

2

4

Raburn

.267 .340

45

9

12

1

0

5 10

1

1

1

Granderson

.258 .339 198

35

51

5

1 13 30 25 40

8

2

0

Polanco

.255 .295 188

22

48 15

1

1 21 10 13

0

1

1

Larish

.250 .387

60

13

15

2

1

4

7 14 19

0

1

0

Laird

.225 .320 129

21

29

5

1

2 14 15 24

1

0

0

3 12

8

Buck

.226 .313

84

7

19

4

3

3 19 11 22

0

0

5

Hernandez

.217 .280

23

1

5

0

0

0

1

2

4

0

0

0

Aviles

.183 .208 120

10

22

3

1

1

8

4 26

1

0

4

Thames

.222 .250

18

2

4

1

1

0

2

1

6

0

0

0

Guillen

.200 .267

90

11

18

4

0

0

6

8 15

1

0

0

Gordon

.095 .269

21

2

2

0

0

1

3

3

8

1

0

1

Sardinha

.083 .080

24

1

2

1

0

0

2

0 12

0

0

0

Hulett

.000 .000

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

Treanor

.000 .071

13

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

Pena Jr.

.000 .083

11

1

0

0

0

0

1

1

2

0

0

1

Team Totals

.268 .337 1656 256 443 77

Team Totals

.253 .325 1673 209 424 92 20 41 198 163 331 27

PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

Jackson

5

3 2.30 11

11

Perry

0

1 2.66 20

0

Zumaya

1

0 2.81 12

0

4

9 55 244 165 303 28 12 21

IP

H

R

ER HR BB SO

0

74.1

59

25

19

5

18

57

Colon

0

20.1

12

8

6

1

16

19

Greinke

1

16.0

14

5

5

2

2

15

Soria

1

0 2.08

8

0

7

8.2

8

3

2

0

0 2.65 12

0

0

17.0

13

5

5

PITCHERS

W

GS SV

IP

H

R

6 32

ER HR BB SO

PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

Oliver

1

0 1.99 14

1

Weaver

4

2 2.36 10

10

Thompson

0

0 2.70

3

0

5

2

R

93

7

3

5

6 18

IP

H

ER HR BB SO

0

22.2

21

5

5

0

5

15

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

0

68.2

53

19

18

7

18

53

Swarzak

1

1 2.08

2

2

0

13.0

10

3

3

2

6

6

0

3.1

4

1

1

1

1

3

Mijares

0

1 2.16 16

0

0

16.2

14

5

4

1

7

14

PITCHERS

GS SV

ER HR BB SO

L ERA

G

0

0 0.00

2

0

0

2.1

1

0

0

0

1

3

Saunders

6

3 3.26 10

10

0

66.1

60

26

24

9

19

33

Nathan

1

1 2.33 20

0

9

19.1

14

5

5

2

5

21

8

1 1.10 11

11

0

82.0

62

12

10

0

12

88

Palmer

5

0 4.06

8

7

0

44.1

34

21

20

5

17

27

Dickey

1

0 3.26 13

1

0

30.1

32

11

11

5

14

19

0

4

10

Moseley

1

0 4.30

3

3

0

14.2

20

8

7

3

3

8

Blackburn

5

2 3.50 11

11

0

69.1

74

32

27

6

20

33

0

13

23

Rodney

0

0 3.00 21

0 10

21.0

17

7

7

1

6

17

Tejeda

Bulger

2

1 4.87 18

0

0

20.1

18

11

11

3

9

19

Guerrier

1

0 3.60 25

0

0

25.0

16

10

10

4

6

19

Porcello

6

3 3.48

9

51.2

46

21

20

7

16

32

Wright

0

1 3.51 20

0

0

25.2

29

17

10

2

7

19

Fuentes

0

2 5.30 20

0 13

18.2

22

11

11

2

6

19

Henn

0

0 3.60

6

0

0

5.0

3

2

2

0

2

1

1

3 3.57 19

0

0

17.2

16

7

7

2

4

18

9

0

Verlander

6

2 3.63 11

11

0

69.1

60

31

28

4

20

90

Farnsworth

Speier

1

1 5.31 17

0

0

20.1

20

12

12

2

9

17

Slowey

7

1 4.11 10

10

0

61.1

79

29

28

9

5

44

Robertson

1

0 4.50 11

0

0

14.0

12

7

7

0

9

10

Bannister

4

2 3.64

8

8

0

47.0

48

23

19

3

16

29

Arredondo

1

2 5.32 23

0

0

22.0

27

13

13

0

10

25

Ayala

1

1 4.37 19

0

0

22.2

29

12

11

2

7

13

23

Cruz

3

1 3.97 21

0

2

22.2

16

10

10

1

14

14

Loux

2

3 5.40

8

6

0

38.1

52

24

23

2

14

14

Perkins

1

3 5.36

8

8

0

47.0

50

28

28

6

12

26

Mahay

1

0 4.08 19

0

0

17.2

25

10

8

2

9

17

Meche

2

5 4.33 11

11

0

62.1

68

35

30

1

22

48

Waechter

0

0 4.50

3

0

0

4.0

5

2

2

2

1

3

Davies

2

4 5.09 10

10

0

58.1

58

36

33

8

25

41

Ponson

1

5 7.27 11

6

0

43.1

58

37

35

4

17

24

Ramirez

0

2 7.36 16

1

0

18.1

25

16

15

3

10

11

0

1 8.10

0

3.1

3

3

3

0

3

2

Miner

3

1 4.55 11

4

0

29.2

37

20

Galarraga

3

5 5.50 10

10

0

54.0

59

33

Seay

0

1 5.52 21

0

0

14.2

13

9

Willis Lyon Team Totals

1 1

2 5.56

4

3 6.43 18

28 21 3.87 49

4 0

0 0

22.2 21.0

26 21

14 15

15

4

33 11 9 14 15

0 3 5

15 25

39

4

9

10 12

10 9

49 11 432.1 408 211 186 49 166 350

Bale Team Totals

4

0

23 27 4.13 50

50

9 442.0 452 231 203 30 165 353

Lackey

1

1 6.05

4

4

0

19.1

24

14

13

2

3

10

Baker

2

6 6.32

9

9

0

52.2

57

37

37 14

10

39

Shields

1

3 6.62 20

0

1

17.2

16

14

13

1

15

12

Liriano

2

7 6.60 11

11

0

58.2

67

44

43

9

28

50

R. Rodriguez

0

0 7.36

8

0

0

14.2

27

15

12

2

4

6

Crain

2

2 7.36 18

0

0

14.2

14

12

12

3

8

9

0

2 9.50

4

4

0

18.0

31

19

19

3

9

11

25 27 4.78 52

52

Santana Team Totals

25 24 4.72 49

49 14 435.0 470 244 228 47 161 286

Team Totals

9 459.1 486 254 244 69 147 311

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

24

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM STATS THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES NEW YORK YANKEES BATTERS

OAKLAND ATHLETICS BATTERS

SEATTLE MARINERS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Cabrera

.316 .365 136

20

43

6

0

5 20 11 19

4

2

1

Kennedy

.390 .462

82

9

32

Jeter

.311 .385 209

32

65 12

0

7 25 23 28 10

1

2

Suzuki

.285 .333 172

22

Cano

.308 .338 211

35

65 13

1

9 31 10 15

2

2

2

Holliday

.270 .366 178

Damon

.301 .367 193

40

58 12

2 10 31 20 32

5

0

1

Petit

.261 .261

.297 .389

91

11

27

7

0

6 21 14 22

1

0

1

Cust

.252 .346 163

Cervelli

.286 .302

42

4

12

1

0

0

0

1

0

Garciaparra

.250 .275

Nady

.286 .310

28

4

Teixeira

.282 .386 188

36

8

4

53 12

0

4

0

1

2

1

6

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

7

0

4 15 10 12

5

1

3

Suzuki

.352 .383 196

19

69

49 15

0

2 17 11 15

1

1

1

Branyan

.319 .412 160

30

51 13

Longoria

.327 .396 199

38

65 20

0 13 55 23 50

2

0

5

.324 .383 213

40

69 11

3

3 25 19 39 30

1

2

0

Chavez

.289 .338 135

15

39

2

1

2 13 11 19

8

1

1

1

Betancourt

.256 .286 164

12

42

6

1

2 16

3

0

9

Iwamura

.310 .377 155

19

48 13

1

0 16 17 30

8

1

5

Zobrist

.304 .412 125

21

38 13

2

8 26 23 25

5

2

1

8 14

25

41

6

0

7 26 23 43

1

0

1

Gutierrez

.255 .330 157

20

40

5

0

3 19 17 35

2

3

1

7

12

1

0

2

0

0

0

Johjima

.250 .275

10

22

3

0

3 10

2

0

1

48

8

2 10

88

3

5

6

0

0

0

Sweeney

.250 .316 184

20

46

8

0

2 15 18 27

4

2

1

Quiroz

.250 .250

4

0

1

0

0

0

2

0

1

0

0

0

0 16 44 29 37

0

0

0

Cabrera

.236 .280 199

22

47

6

0

2 16 13 16

1

3

8

Balentien

.235 .280

98

13

23

9

0

1

6

7 24

1

0

0

85

10

20

2

0

3

8 17

1

1

0

Sweeney

.230 .272

87

7

Gardner

.265 .339 113

24

30

4

2

2

8 12 19 10

2

0

Giambi

.220 .357 159

27

35

6

0

6 23 30 35

0

0

3

Beltre

.227 .260 207

Matsui

.263 .351 152

16

40 11

1

7 19 18 27

0

0

0

Ellis

.206 .265

63

6

13

2

0

0

5 10

2

1

2

Lopez

Rodriguez

.259 .412

81

11

21

4

0

7 19 19 14

0

0

1

Crosby

.204 .308 113

15

23

3

2

1 10 16 20

1

0

5

Pena

.242 .286

66

10

16

2

1

0

4 13

2

0

3

Hannahan

.194 .265

62

6

12

5

0

1

5

6 17

0

0

0

Swisher

.236 .373 161

31

38 11

1 10 31 35 48

0

0

3

Powell

.186 .265

43

4

8

4

0

1 11

5 11

0

0

Ransom

.180 .226

50

4

9

5

1

0

6

3 15

1

0

2

Davis

.146 .205

41

5

6

0

0

0

0

3 14

5

Berroa

.143 .143

14

4

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

Chavez

.100 .129

30

0

3

1

0

0

1

1

7

Team Totals

.280 .356 1805 288 505 108

Cunningham

.050 .095

20

1

1

1

0

0

1

1

7

Team Totals

.241 .316 1673 205 403 74

Sabathia

5

1

.235 .301

Bruney

0

4

4

6

4

9 80 274 204 316 35

8 20

9

9

IP

H

R

7.1

5

3

2

0

5

10

1 2.49 21

0 11

21.2

21

6

6

5

1

26

Breslow

3

1 2.75

9

0

0

19.2

16

6

6

2

3

18

Bailey

4

0 2.23 23

0

2

32.1

20

8

2

0 3.00 10

0

0

9.0

3

3

3

0

2

13

Wuertz

2

1 2.59 24

0

2

24.1

16

8

5

3 3.46 11

11

0

78.0

65

32

30

4

24

56

Outman

2

0 3.06 10

8

0

47.0

35

19

16

W

L ERA

G

0

1 1.69

6

GS SV 0

0

IP

H

R

5.1

3

1

45

4

13

2

0

1 10

6

2

1

0

.263 .359

99

15

26

6

0

3 13 15 18

2

0

0

1

Brignac

.250 .250

20

3

5

2

0

0

2

0

0

1

Burrell

.250 .349 108

9

27

4

0

1 17 16 25

1

0

0

Riggans

.250 .250

4

1

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

Gross

.247 .360

85

15

21

4

0

3 14 15 18

2

1

0

Joyce

.231 .333

13

2

3

0

0

2

2

0

0

0

Pena

.231 .367 186

37

43

9

1 17 41 38 66

0

1

5

Navarro

.212 .241 151

17

32

6

0

1

0

1

2

0

2 10

3 11

0

0

2

22

47 11

0

3 21

8 37

6

2

7

.226 .270 190

21

43

0

5 26 11 24

0

2

8

Griffey Jr.

.208 .327 130

15

27

5

0

5 14 24 25

0

0

0

Johnson

.186 .228

86

6

16

6

1

0

8

5 25

0

1

1

2

Cedeno

.173 .232

52

7

9

1

1

2

5

3 18

1

1

1

Upton

.204 .297 186

32

38

8

1

2

9 25 60 15

3

0

2

0

Team Totals

.255 .308 1767 197 450 84

5 44 189 133 305 33 14 42

Dillon

.200 .273

10

1

2

0

0

1

1

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

Kapler

.178 .274

73

6

13

7

0

0

5 10 12

2

1

1

0

0

0

Team Totals

.274 .354 1847 294 506 117 10 64 279 221 413 82 12 32

ER HR BB SO 1

.289 .319

Aybar

0

ER HR BB SO

5

20

Hernandez

6

3 37 195 175 294 25 12 32

0

PITCHERS

4

0

3

Buck

Aceves

2

1

4

0

1

0

0 11 23 23 48

7 30 12 25 14

0

1

0

Rivera

2

6 28 23 29

0

0

60 11

0

6

GS SV

32

1

1

9

.373 .418 161

0

0

G

BATTERS

6

2

L ERA

Bartlett

1

12

0 2.45

1

6

5

0

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

4

48

44

W

R

8

5 16

2

.273 .333

PITCHERS

AVG OBA AB

9 16

1

23

Molina

Robertson

9

Crawford

23

Posada

BATTERS

TAMPA BAY RAYS

PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

Rowland-Smith

0

0 0.00

1

1

Kelley

1

1 1.54 10

Vargas

2

0 1.65

6

White

1

8

GS SV

IP

H

R

ER HR BB SO

0

3.1

4

2

0

0

4

1

0

0

11.2

11

2

2

2

1

11

4

0

27.1

21

6

5

4

9

17

0 1.75 19

0

0

25.2

16

6

5

2

12

11

PITCHERS

G

GS SV

IP

1

0

2

1

2 11

H

0

3 24

1

W

L ERA

R

ER HR BB SO

Cormier

0

1 2.19 18

0

1

37.0

29

9

9

1

10

17

Howell

0

2 2.45 25

0

1

25.2

20

8

7

1

9

31

0

0

8

3

12

38

Aardsma

1

2 2.13 25

0

8

25.1

15

6

6

1

18

26

Choate

0

0 3.00

4

0

2

3.0

1

2

1

1

0

4

7

1

7

23

Bedard

3

2 2.48

9

9

0

54.1

46

17

15

6

15

54

Price

1

0 3.00

2

2

0

9.0

9

3

3

1

7

17

6

21

40

Washburn

3

4 3.22 10

10

0

64.1

59

24

23

5

17

44

Isringhausen

0

1 3.18

6

0

0

5.2

5

2

2

0

5

3

4

4 3.53 11

11

0

74.0

79

32

29 10

20

52 66

Chamberlain

3

1 3.71 10

10

0

53.1

50

25

22

7

27

51

Cameron

0

0 3.57 10

0

1

17.2

14

7

7

1

4

14

Hernandez

5

3 3.41 11

11

0

71.1

71

32

27

6

20

72

Shields

Pettitte

5

1 4.10 10

10

0

63.2

70

31

29

8

23

34

Braden

4

5 3.63 11

11

0

67.0

75

29

27

5

20

43

Batista

3

1 3.76 20

0

0

26.1

30

15

11

1

16

23

Garza

4

4 3.67 11

11

0

73.2

55

31

30

9

28

19

Shouse

1

1 3.77 19

0

0

14.1

17

6

6

2

3

9

Niemann

4

4 4.44 10

10

0

50.2

56

28

25

8

23

30

Wheeler

1

1 4.67 21

0

0

17.1

15

10

9

4

6

14

Balfour

2

0 5.48 23

0

1

23.0

21

14

14

1

15

22

Tomko

0

1 4.15

5

0

0

4.1

5

2

2

1

Burnett

3

2 4.78 10

10

0

64.0

59

34

34 10

Coke

1

3 4.79 22

0

1

20.2

16

14

11

5

2

0

Ziegler

0

1 3.92 19

0

5

20.2

26

10

9

0

9

13

2 4.68 24

0

0

25.0

29

17

13

2

10

57

Cahill

2

5 4.45 10

10

0

54.2

58

29

27

8

24

24

Olson

0

1 4.68

7

3

0

25.0

26

14

13

6

9

15

9

12

Casilla

1

2 4.74 17

0

0

19.0

17

11

10

3

11

14

Jakubauskas

3

5 6.17 11

8

0

46.2

49

34

32

5

17

20

3

2 5.45

7

7

0

34.2

37

22

21

6

15

31

Giese

0

3 5.32

7

1

0

22.0

22

13

13

5

9

11

Veras

3

1 6.97 22

0

0

20.2

19

16

16

4

14

16

E. Gonzalez

0

1 5.40

2

2

0

10.0

12

6

6

0

5

Marte

0

1 15.19

7

0

0

5.1

9

9

9

3

3

6

Anderson

2

5 5.70

9

9

0

47.1

57

40

30 10

Wang

0

3 16.07

6

3

0

14.0

32

25

25

3

8

9

Springer

0

1 6.98 23

0

0

19.1

30

16

15

30 21 4.88 51

0

31

Hughes

Team Totals

Lowe

51 12 460.2 461 265 250 71 200 372

Team Totals

19 29 4.53 48

4

Stark

0

1 6.30

8

0

0

10.0

12

8

7

2

10

7

8

Corcoran

1

0 7.27

8

0

0

8.2

13

7

7

0

9

4

15

27

Morrow

0

3 7.63 14

0

6

15.1

17

14

13

3

14

18

9

22

Silva

1

3 8.48

6

0

28.2

38

27

27

5

9

10

48 10 439.0 465 247 221 50 179 317

Team Totals

6

24 28 3.95 52

52 14 469.0 457 231 206 50 190 352

Nelson

1

0 6.23 23

0

2

21.2

25

18

15

6

16

21

Percival

0

1 6.35 14

0

6

11.1

14

8

8

3

5

7

10

0

49.1

72

43

42

7

16

29

9

0

45.2

60

41

39

7

29

35

Sonnanstine

3

5 7.66 10

Kazmir

4

4 7.69

Team Totals

9

25 28 4.59 53

53 14 466.2 486 260 238 61 193 357

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM STATS THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES TEXAS RANGERS AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Vizquel

BATTERS

.333 .370

51

7

17

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

4

1

0

6

2

0

0

Hill

.333 .368 231

33

77

Young

.333 .376 195

30

65 19

0

7 21 14 29

4

1

3

Scutaro

.305 .408 210

43

Byrd Cruz

.304 .325 158

22

48 18

0

4 24

6 20

2

0

0

Rolen

.303 .380 165

.296 .360 179

29

53 11

0 14 36 19 43

9

1

3

Lind

.288 .365 198

Andrus

.283 .325 145

23

41

4

4

3 11

9 19

6

1

7

Barajas

Jones

.282 .415

85

16

24

9

0

5 14 19 22

1

0

0

Kinsler

.279 .361 201

38

56 12

2 13 39 25 29 10

1

4

Blalock

.258 .294 159

26

41 10

1 12 28

6 30

0

Teagarden

.256 .347

6

3

BATTERS

7

American League

National League

TEAM BATTING AND FIELDING

TEAM BATTING AND FIELDING

0 12 37 13 33

2

1

5

64 15

1

5 25 37 24

5

3

1

25

50 15

0

3 18 19 21

2

0

4

28

57 16

0

8 38 23 43

0

1

1

.285 .317 151

17

43 12

0

3 26

8 25

0

0

4

Rios

.276 .333 217

26

60 14

2

6 25 15 36

4

1

1

Overbay

.274 .374 124

16

34 12

1

5 23 21 20

0

0

0

1

Bautista

.269 .404

93

17

25

6

0

1

3

0

0

CLUB

BA

SLG OBP G

AB

R

H

TB

2B 3B HR RBI

Toronto N.Y. Yankees L.A. Angels Boston Tampa Bay Minnesota Texas Cleveland Baltimore Detroit Chicago White Sox Seattle Kansas City Oakland

.283 .280 .276 .274 .274 .272 .272 .269 .268 .268 .256 .255 .253 .239

.441 .483 .408 .457 .452 .430 .489 .422 .434 .425 .400 .383 .406 .354

1883 1805 1686 1756 1847 1769 1745 1826 1788 1656 1673 1767 1673 1705

270 288 233 267 294 261 271 276 251 256 218 197 209 207

533 505 466 481 506 481 474 491 480 443 428 450 424 408

183 184 153 216 210 178 147 207 200 125 181 177 200 142

122 108 82 122 117 84 110 103 103 77 71 84 92 75

DP TP 51 48 44 34 50 43 59 61 43 44 42 47 58 45

11

2

0

0

5 17

0

0

2

Millar

.267 .327

90

13

24

5

0

3 16

8 16

0

0

1

35

7

0

5 23 11 53

0

1

1

Wells

.266 .321 218

33

58 14

1

5 25 19 22

9

0

0

Hamilton

.240 .290 125

20

30

5

2

6 24

3

0

0

Chavez

.250 .250

0

0

0

0

1

Murphy

.226 .336

93

15

21

5

0

2 10 16 23

2

3

0

McDonald

.211 .211

19

3

4

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

Davis

.194 .253 165

23

32

4

0 12 23 11 77

0

0

0

Barrett

.167 .211

18

3

3

0

0

1

2

1

5

0

0

0

Team Totals

.272 .331 1745 271 474 110 10 83 265 153 402 40

8 26

Inglett

.100 .182

10

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

5

0

0

0

TEAM PITCHING

Team Totals

.283 .350 1883 270 533 122

1

9

0

2

0

3

5 55 257 192 311 26

6 22

257 274 222 256 279 245 265 255 239 244 213 189 198 197

CS GDP LOB SHO E

4

36

55 80 40 61 64 57 83 54 59 55 52 44 41 38

6 8 14 16 12 10 8 12 17 12 17 14 6 12

18

9 31

5 9 10 8 10 12 10 7 8 9 7 5 20 3

12 16 15 2 10 16 9 17 5 17 5 29 18 8

43

6

53 51 49 51 53 52 50 53 52 49 50 52 50 49

SH SF HBP BB IBB SO SB

Saltalamacchia .255 .309 137

8 20 29

.350 .356 .339 .356 .354 .347 .331 .355 .333 .337 .324 .308 .325 .315

CLUB Toronto N.Y. Yankees L.A. Angels Boston Tampa Bay Minnesota Texas Cleveland Baltimore Detroit Chicago White Sox Seattle Kansas City Oakland

1

Through Monday’s Games

Through Monday’s Games

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

17 13 18 15 14 20 17 14 11 11 14 16 7 13

12 17 8 28 15 18 11 36 16 14 19 11 18 16

192 204 161 204 221 196 153 214 163 165 157 133 163 178

12 10 14 18 14 10 6 6 9 6 5 14 12 3

311 316 287 356 413 351 402 410 292 303 330 305 331 306

26 35 61 37 82 30 40 34 27 28 30 33 27 25

52 44 32 52 28 43 22 44 32 52 38 50 43 38

792 707 597 735 770 742 665 793 645 625 672 635 644 676

1 0 2 1 2 3 2 3 2 2 6 5 3 4

22 20 26 33 32 19 26 29 33 21 30 42 32 33

W

L

ERA

G

CG

SHO

SV

INN

H

R

ER

28 24 23 25 29 29 30 19 25 25 25 30 24 22

21 28 27 25 24 22 20 30 28 24 27 21 28 31

3.87 3.95 4.13 4.28 4.28 4.46 4.46 4.57 4.59 4.72 4.78 4.88 5.13 5.36

49 52 50 50 53 51 50 49 53 49 52 51 52 53

1 1 5 1 2 2 5 0 0 4 0 2 1 0

7 4 4 4 3 0 3 0 1 4 1 2 2 1

11 14 9 13 10 15 16 10 14 14 9 12 12 12

432.1 469.0 442.0 437.2 475.0 452.1 446.1 447.0 466.2 435.0 459.1 460.2 458.1 467.0

408 457 452 462 465 474 460 471 486 470 486 461 509 506

211 231 231 228 241 236 234 253 260 244 254 265 288 293

186 206 203 208 226 224 221 227 238 228 244 250 261 278

2

0 1.38 15

0

1

13.0

8

2

2

1

3

12

Frasor

4

0 2.41 20

0

1

18.2

13

5

5

1

3

15

3

2 3.05 23

0

4

20.2

20

12

7

1

10

12

Halladay

8

1 2.63 11

11

0

82.0

76

26

24

6

11

68

Millwood

4

4 3.23 11

11

0

78.0

73

30

28 12

23

43

Richmond

4

2 3.50 10

9

0

54.0

50

23

21

8

18

44

Jennings

2

1 3.52 16

0

0

23.0

21

11

9

2

10

14

League

1

1 3.97 20

0

0

22.2

19

10

10

1

8

18

Feldman

4

0 3.91 10

7

0

48.1

40

21

21

5

17

26

Janssen

1

1 4.15

2

2

0

13.0

19

6

6

1

3

2

McCarthy

5

2 4.35 10

10

0

60.0

60

30

29 10

23

41

Romero

2

2 4.15

5

5

0

30.1

36

14

14

6

10

21

Guardado

0

1 4.38 18

0

0

12.1

14

6

5

5

Tallet

3

3 4.26 13

9

0

61.1

47

30

29

8

29

47

CLUB

HR

HBP

BB

IBB

SO

WP

BK

Detroit Seattle Kansas City Chicago White Sox Toronto Boston Texas Oakland Tampa Bay L.A. Angels Minnesota N.Y. Yankees Baltimore Cleveland

49 50 30 45 62 48 60 52 61 47 69 71 72 58

8 15 14 8 19 31 24 6 16 19 14 31 19 15

166 190 165 170 161 186 167 185 193 161 147 200 172 222

8 6 10 14 10 11 5 14 7 11 7 9 15 13

350 352 353 347 361 378 263 323 357 286 311 372 326 341

15 26 26 18 14 18 14 10 20 18 19 19 9 17

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

L ERA

G

0

0 0.00

1

Francisco

1

1 0.48 18

GS SV

IP

H

R

0

1.0

2

0

0

0

0

1

0 11

18.2

11

1

1

1

5

19

0

ER HR BB SO

6

2

PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

Downs

0

0 2.35 22

GS SV

IP

H

R 7

0

7

23.0

19

ER HR BB SO 6

1

2

23

Padilla

3

2 4.71

8

8

0

49.2

50

27

26

4

20

26

Ray

1

2 4.44

4

4

0

24.1

23

15

12

4

6

13

Harrison

4

4 5.43

9

9

0

54.2

68

33

33

7

16

29

Carlson

1

3 4.85 26

0

0

26.0

22

14

14

2

7

14

Holland

1

2 5.96 10

2

0

25.2

32

18

17

5

8

18

Camp

0

2 5.29 16

0

0

17.0

20

11

10

2

9

11

Eyre

0

0 6.23

3

0

0

4.1

5

3

3

0

3

1

Wolfe

1

1 7.56

7

0

0

8.1

13

7

7

3

2

8

Madrigal

0

0 7.71

7

0

0

7.0

5

6

6

1

6

3

Ryan

1

0 8.74 13

0

2

11.1

15

11

11

3

9

10

1

1 8.53

6

2

0

19.0

30

19

18

5

9

10

Litsch

0

1 9.00

2

0

9.0

14

9

9

4

1

8

Benson Team Totals

30 20 4.46 50

50 16 446.1 460 234 221 60 167 263

Team Totals

2

29 24 4.28 53

53 10 475.0 465 241 226 62 161 361

BA

SLG

OBP G

AB

R

H

TB

2B

3B HR RBI

L.A. Dodgers N.Y. Mets Houston Washington Philadelphia Pittsburgh Atlanta San Francisco Cincinnati St. Louis Chicago Cubs Milwaukee Colorado Florida Arizona San Diego

.287 .280 .270 .266 .265 .264 .262 .258 .256 .256 .251 .251 .248 .245 .241 .239

.415 .412 .409 .426 .468 .396 .394 .369 .412 .419 .409 .414 .420 .382 .403 .395

.369 .363 .334 .351 .346 .332 .337 .316 .331 .332 .330 .339 .330 .322 .314 .318

1846 1688 1695 1742 1692 1721 1687 1655 1697 1682 1627 1689 1656 1807 1777 1700

289 239 209 240 272 222 220 193 227 231 218 239 239 238 220 203

529 472 458 463 448 455 442 427 434 430 408 424 411 443 428 406

171 158 219 225 137 210 209 138 174 162 148 159 168 191 180 163

109 92 88 84 109 108 101 84 80 96 82 82 92 84 111 81

10 16 12 12 11 11 7 11 10 8 7 8 14 8 12 10

CLUB

SH

SF HBP BB IBB SO

SB CS GDP LOB SHO E

DP TP

L.A. Dodgers N.Y. Mets Houston Washington Philadelphia Pittsburgh Atlanta San Francisco Cincinnati St. Louis Chicago Cubs Milwaukee Colorado Florida Arizona San Diego

19 33 24 21 16 21 24 21 33 30 12 18 22 26 12 25

20 18 18 9 16 12 16 16 15 20 11 17 19 12 15 10

358 284 291 410 326 362 316 346 345 302 367 406 367 443 420 355

44 53 31 17 39 27 11 34 29 27 23 11 32 30 41 24

51 42 51 39 32 57 41 46 49 48 43 44 46 28 54 48

CG 2 1 2 1 1 2 0 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 1

SHO 4 3 6 2 3 6 3 4 2 1 4 2 0 3 0 0

19 14 15 22 27 20 16 21 20 22 19 26 13 17 14 16

233 216 156 211 193 160 182 126 177 180 180 207 199 193 181 185

53 50 50 50 49 51 50 49 50 51 49 51 50 52 52 51 27 24 9 10 7 12 13 14 14 22 8 9 8 14 17 14

14 18 21 12 9 8 8 14 13 8 12 11 16 13 15 8

50 44 43 42 32 29 41 39 34 34 37 40 38 25 27 38

791 712 646 789 675 684 672 626 654 642 668 711 652 712 692 641

1 1 5 1 2 6 5 2 1 2 4 1 3 2 3 4

36 33 41 57 71 32 36 26 55 54 54 59 55 49 51 55 22 38 23 48 17 23 28 25 35 33 30 30 31 45 43 23

273 225 198 232 260 213 207 181 217 224 206 235 229 227 210 195 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Through Monday’s Games

CLUB

Wilson

W

CLUB

TEAM PITCHING

O'Day

PITCHERS

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Through Monday’s Games Detroit Seattle Kansas City Chicago White Sox Toronto Boston Texas Oakland Tampa Bay L.A. Angels Minnesota N.Y. Yankees Baltimore Cleveland

Moscoso

25

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

CLUB St. Louis L.A. Dodgers San Francisco N.Y. Mets Milwaukee Cincinnati Atlanta Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs San Diego Arizona Houston Florida Colorado Philadelphia Washington

W 29 35 25 28 30 27 25 23 25 25 23 21 24 20 29 13

L 22 18 24 22 21 23 25 28 24 26 29 28 28 30 20 36

ERA 3.61 3.72 3.81 3.88 4.03 4.05 4.11 4.25 4.28 4.31 4.51 4.51 4.63 4.84 4.98 5.69

G 51 53 49 50 51 50 50 51 49 51 52 50 52 50 49 50

SV 15 15 12 16 18 14 11 12 11 16 16 11 11 10 15 8

INN 454.0 474.0 439.1 447.2 450.2 455.0 445.0 442.2 426.2 455.0 473.0 442.2 472.1 436.2 439.1 440.0

H 426 406 418 435 407 421 428 427 391 430 492 476 479 488 457 500

R 200 203 196 216 218 219 224 221 213 235 256 242 270 259 248 308

CLUB

HR

HBP

BB

IBB

SO

WP

BK

St. Louis L.A. Dodgers San Francisco N.Y. Mets Milwaukee Cincinnati Atlanta Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs San Diego Arizona Houston Florida Colorado Philadelphia Washington

35 34 40 36 59 54 29 43 54 46 59 57 54 44 77 52

21 22 13 14 27 21 20 20 17 15 12 18 13 16 26 26

158 222 194 189 186 194 171 189 190 197 170 173 215 159 170 221

3 24 19 17 11 10 17 10 12 24 9 8 20 12 10 15

338 402 383 357 353 340 383 274 394 370 377 343 410 319 354 294

11 29 19 12 19 13 18 14 20 15 23 13 22 14 7 27

4 2 3 7 0 1 2 1 4 2 1 1 2 1 1 3

ER 182 196 186 193 202 205 203 209 203 218 237 222 243 235 243 278

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

26

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM STATS THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS BATTERS

ATLANTA BRAVES

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Roberts

.361 .420

61

9

22

Upton

.322 .396 174

33

56 12

4

9 29 21 49

6

Parra

.319 .367

72

11

23

3

3

1 16

9

0

Lopez

.306 .364 180

21

55 15

0

4 10 16 30

4

Ojeda

.267 .348 101

12

27

0

1

Reynolds

.263 .354 186

32

Snyder

.240 .374 100

14

Drew

.221 .292 113

12

25

7

1

2 15 13 27

0

1

4

Montero

.217 .330

83

9

18

5

0

2

0

0

4

Byrnes

.214 .263 140

17

30 10

1

4 18

8 17

6

3

3

Tracy

.203 .262 118

14

24

8

0

4 17 10 14

1

0

0

Jackson

.182 .264

99

8

18

4

0

1 14 11 16

5

0

2

Clark

.179 .258

28

3

5

1

0

2

0

0

1

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

.349 .389

86

13

30

4

0

1 11

7

1

0

2

J. Fox

.429 .429

7

1

3

1

0

0

1

0

4

0

0

0

Castillo

.500 .500

2

0

1

1

2

McCann

.318 .422 107

15

34

6

0

5 18 18 12

2

1

2

Ramirez

.364 .417

66

8

24

3

0

4 16

5

8

0

0

1

Votto

.357 .464 126

23

2

2

C. Jones

.316 .434 136

24

43

8

1

5 21 28 26

1

1

6

Fukudome

.309 .439 136

26

42 10

1

5 20 31 28

4

4

0

Gomes

.353 .421

17

1

6

2

6

Escobar

.299 .370 164

26

49 13

0

5 26 15 18

1

1

4

Johnson

.295 .364

78

13

23

1

3 14

1

0

0

Hanigan

.333 .420

69

11

23

1

1

3

Diaz

.284 .366

14

25

2

2 15 11 21

1

0

1

Theriot

.293 .355 181

28

53 11

2

5 22 16 27

7

3

4

Janish

.300 .378

40

5

12

49 10

1 13 31 25 72 11

3

7

.289 .396

45

6

13

2

0

2

7

7 14

0

0

0

24

0

0

0

6

6

5

6 15

5

3

4 11 10

5 17 21 25

0

6 12 20

5

3 15

0

.174 .215 167

Whitesell

.133 .278

Team Totals

.241 .314 1777 220 428 111 12 51 210 181 420 41 15 43

30

29 11

0

Young

PITCHERS

17

AVG OBA AB

Infante

0

0

4

W

L ERA

G

Schlereth

0

0 0.00

2

0

Zavada

1

0 0.00

7

0

2

GS SV

1

3 12

8 49

4

2

0

0

0

6

0

0

1

2

8

ER HR BB SO

88

4

6

BATTERS

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

45 10

0

8 33 23 25

2

1

3

1

0

0

4

2

4

1

0

0

2

0

1

4 11

4

0

0

1

3

0

0

3

7

0

0

1

3

.277 .340 173

15

48 16

0

2 24 14 18

0

0

0

Hernandez

.283 .348 159

13

45

7

0

3 21 16 19

0

0

4

.274 .392

62

10

17

4

0

3 11 12 24

0

0

0

Hoffpauir

.281 .333

96

9

27

7

0

4 16

8 21

0

0

1

Phillips

.280 .348 161

22

45

7

2

9 37 18 19

4

3

3

Anderson

.266 .294 109

9

29

7

0

1 15

0

0

2

Lee

.248 .325 141

17

35

8

0

5 19 16 28

0

0

0

Nix

.274 .327

95

15

26 11

1

4 12

0

0

1

.246 .307 199

36

49 11

0 12 25 16 54

5

2

4

8 14 26 12

6 11

8 32

Johnson

.256 .316 160

28

41 12

2

5 18 12 27

2

2

4

Soriano

Taveras

.266 .325 173

33

46

7

1

1

2

1

Francoeur

.250 .271 192

24

48

2

3 23

1

1

0

Scales

.239 .352

46

10

11

2

1

2

7 13

0

0

2

Hairston Jr.

.262 .318 141

31

37

8

1

7 16 10 23

4

1

3

1

Bradley

.224 .343 116

19

26

3

1

5 14 18 25

0

0

0

Dickerson

.240 .373

96

13

23

2

2

2

8 20 29

2

2

3

Fontenot

.224 .307 143

14

32

7

1

5 20 17 30

2

1

3

Rosales

.239 .327

92

12

22

4

0

2 10 10 20

0

2

2

Soto

.216 .336 125

9

27

4

0

1 12 21 29

0

0

2

Bruce

.225 .302 182

29

41

5

1 14 30 18 45

3

1

1

Miles

.204 .250

98

13

20

6

0

0

4

6 16

3

0

1

Gonzalez

.219 .263 128

6

28

7

0

2 16

6 21

0

0

2

Freel

.167 .211

18

0

3

0

0

0

1

1

4

0

0

1

Encarnacion

.127 .286

2

8

1

0

1

6 13 19

1

1

3

Blanco

.111 .111

9

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

2

0

0

0

Team Totals

.256 .331 1697 227 434 80 10 55 217 177 345 29 13 35

Team Totals

.251 .330 1627 218 408 82

Prado

.247 .321

73

Schafer

.204 .313 167

Hernandez

.167 .200

Norton Team Totals

PITCHERS

.129 .289

8

5

18

8

0

2

5 30

7

8

7

0

1

18

34

8

0

2

8 27 63

2

1

0

2

4

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

24 31

2

4

2

.262 .337 1687 220 442 101

W

L ERA

G

0

0 1.25 22

GS SV

0

0

1

3

7

5 8

0

7 36 207 182 316 11

IP

H

R

21.2

11

3

0

0

8 28

H

R

0

2.0

1

0

0

0

1

1

Soriano

0

5.1

4

0

0

0

0

7

Acosta

0

0 1.93

4

0

0

4.2

4

1

1

0

0

2

5

2 2.59 11

11

0

66.0

58

20

19

4

23

40

2

2 2.70 24

0

0

23.1

30

8

7

0

12

17

5

2 1.78 25

0

1

25.1

26

9

5

1

6

20

4

4 2.54 10

10

0

71.0

55

20

20

8

9

71

Bennett

0

4

3

1

7

1

2 3.00 24

0

1

30.0

27

10

10

1

11

34

O'Flaherty

0

0 3.00 25

0

0

18.0

14

7

6

0

1

13

Qualls

1

0 3.43 19

0 12

21.0

22

8

8

1

4

23

Gonzalez

2

0 3.27 24

0

7

22.0

18

9

8

2

10

31

Davis

2

6 3.65 11

11

0

69.0

61

31

28 10

27

51

Scherzer

2

4 4.47 10

10

0

54.1

55

28

27

8

22

57

Vazquez

4

4 3.58 11

Buckner

2

1 5.24

6

3

0

22.1

23

13

13

4

9

16

Campillo

1

0 4.15

Rosales

0

0 5.73

8

0

0

11.0

11

7

7

0

6

6

Garland

4

4 5.75 10

10

0

56.1

71

39

36

8

24

21

Rauch

0

0 5.96 25

0

2

22.2

28

17

15

3

11

16

Vasquez

1

1 6.11 15

0

0

17.2

21

13

12

1

11

16

Petit

0

3 8.03

6

5

0

24.2

33

24

22

8

10

19

Webb

0

0 13.50

1

1

0

4.0

6

6

6

2

2

2

0

1 21.60

3

0

0

1.2

3

4

4

0

3

0

Kawakami

6

3

3 3.49 11

6 4.73

5 9

11

0

69.2

62

29

27

2

22

41

11

0

70.1

65

31

28

6

16

86

0

0

4.1

7

3

2

0

3

3

9

0

51.1

54

31

27

5

23

44

Moylan

1

2 5.09 26

0

0

17.2

16

11

10

0

14

15

Medlen

1

2 6.28

3

0

14.1

11

10

10

0

8

15

Reyes Carlyle Team Totals

0 0

2 7.00

3 6

1 8.84 14

25 25 4.11 50

5 0

0 0

27.0 19.1

27 31

25 21

63

7 54 206 180 367 23 12 30

29

Gutierrez

Lowe

6

ER HR BB SO

IP

52 16 473.0 492 256 237 59 170 377

0

Ross

Haren

23 29 4.51 52

6 11

0

Kotchman

Pena

Team Totals

3

BATTERS

Hill

Jurrjens

Gordon

CINCINNATI REDS

0

6

BATTERS

CHICAGO CUBS

21 19

4 4

13 11

21 12

50 11 445.0 428 224 203 29 171 383

PITCHERS PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

Waddell

0

0 0.00

1

0

0

1.0

1

0

0

0

0

2

Wells

0

2 1.80

4

4

0

25.0

22

5

5

0

7

23

Guzman

1

0 2.82 20

0

0

22.1

13

7

7

2

6

21

Marmol

1

1 3.13 25

0

3

23.0

13

9

8

1

21

27

Lilly

6

4 3.50 10

10

0

64.1

53

26

25 11

17

52

Ascanio

0

0 3.52

6

0

0

7.2

8

3

3

1

2

9

Zambrano

3

2 4.22

8

8

0

49.0

50

25

23

4

21

46

Dempster

4

3 4.48 11

11

0

68.1

60

35

34

8

27

57

Gregg

0

1 4.64 23

0

8

21.1

23

11

11

4

13

24

Marshall

3

4 4.73 11

8

0

45.2

48

26

24

7

14

31

Harden

4

2 4.74

8

8

0

43.2

39

24

23

8

21

53

Heilman

2

2 4.98 23

0

0

21.2

20

13

12

3

16

18

Patton

1

1 6.46 11

0

0

15.1

16

12

11

2

11

14

C. Fox

0

0 135.00

0

0

0.1

2

5

5

0

3

0

Team Totals

2

25 24 4.28 49

GS SV

ER HR BB SO

49 11 426.2 391 213 203 54 190 394

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

Fisher

1

0 0.00

3

0

Rhodes

0

0 0.50 22

0

0

4.0

2

0

0

0

3

3

0

18.0

9

1

1

0

6

13

Masset

2

0 1.00 14

0

0

18.0

6

2

2

0

8

15

Cordero

0

Herrera

0

2 1.64 22

0 14

22.0

18

5

4

0

7

22

1 1.74 22

0

0

20.2

22

8

4

1

9

17

Cueto

4

3 2.53 10

10

0

67.2

50

20

19

7

20

50

Weathers

0

1 2.55 20

0

0

17.2

12

5

5

1

10

12

Harang

5

5 4.19 11

11

0

68.2

81

35

32 10

15

61

Volquez

4

2 4.35

9

0

49.2

34

25

24

6

32

47

Owings

3

6 5.10 10

9

0

54.2

59

35

31

7

27

35

Arroyo

7

3 5.12 10

10

0

65.0

67

37

37 12

22

32

Lincoln

1

0 8.10 17

0

0

20.0

25

18

18

16

8

9

GS SV

ER HR BB SO

6

Team Totals

27 23 4.05 50

50 14

Team Totals

26 23 4.10 49

49 13 446.0 414 216 203 53 191 335

455.0 421 219 205 54 194 340

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

27

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM STATS THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES COLORADO ROCKIES BATTERS

FLORIDA MARLINS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

.345 .413 145

25

50 14

Helton

.312 .371 173

28

54 10

1

7 34 18 25

0

Phillips

.286 .444

7

1

2

1

0

0

0

0

Smith

.278 .425

90

16

25

3

2

4 11 23 17

2

0

Hawpe

2

7 39 18 26

1

2

0

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Ramirez

.337 .411 184

32

62 17

0

8 24 20 32

8

4

4

Maysonet

.391 .440

23

4

9

0

1

Cantu

.271 .332 181

23

49 10

0

8 39 13 29

1

0

5

Tejada

.353 .380 201

0

0

Gload

.270 .373

63

13

17

1

1

1

7

0

0

1

Pence

0

Hermida

.267 .363 187

20

50

6

1

5 23 27 48

4

1

1

Lee

8

0

6 19 17 36

0

0

3

Bourn

8 11

BATTERS

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

2

1

BATTERS

HOUSTON ASTROS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

3

0

0

0

Mientkiewicz

.400 .400

5

0

2

6 12

2

2

8

Pierre

.382 .444 136

26

2

5 19 25 26

5

4

0

Ausmus

.344 .400

32

1

9 31 16 15

1

1

1

Castro

.341 .400

44

3

1 12 19 42 16

4

1

Hudson

.332 .409 214

38

2

0

1

5

28

71 20

0

5 29

.341 .417 179

26

61

8

.319 .370 188

25

60 11

.286 .356 182

28

52

2

BATTERS

1

0

0

2

0

2

0

0

0

52 10

3

0 21 13 12 11

4

0

6

11

1

0

0

3

2

6

1

0

0

12

15

2

0

1

7

5 10

0

0

0

71 17

2

3 31 30 37

4

0

2

Barmes

.262 .323 145

28

38 11

2

5 19 11 33

5

2

3

Baker

.259 .346 135

26

35

Spilborghs

.261 .330 161

24

42 12

1

4 23 15 35

6

3

2

Ross

.254 .306 181

26

46 13

0

7 28 11 41

2

1

2

Keppinger

.282 .358

85

9

24

7

1

2

6

0

1

0

Kemp

.310 .377 197

32

61

9

4

6 30 21 51 12

2

1

Fowler

.258 .346 155

22

40 11

2

2 10 22 39 11

4

1

Hayes

.250 .400

4

3

1

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

Blum

.266 .333 124

12

33

5

0

1 15 12 16

0

1

1

Blake

.300 .376 160

27

48 12

1

9 33 18 39

0

0

4

Murton

.256 .310

39

7

10

5

0

1

6

1

0

0

Bonifacio

.245 .289 216

28

53

5

2

1 12 14 49

9

4

8

I. Rodriguez

.265 .306 147

17

39

7

2

5 22

8 35

0

2

0

Loretta

.293 .414

58

11

17

3

0

0 10 11

7

0

0

0

Iannetta

.231 .350 104

15

24

5

0

8 18 18 27

0

1

1

Helms

.242 .297

66

5

16

2

0

1 11

5 18

1

1

3

Quintero

.258 .258

31

0

8

1

0

0

0

7

0

0

3

Loney

.284 .349 204

23

58 11

0

2 38 22 21

3

1

1

Torrealba

.230 .304

61

7

14

1

0

2

6 14

0

0

0

Paulino

.239 .338

67

6

16

3

1

1

7 10 17

1

0

2

Berkman

.232 .359 168

25

39

7

1 10 31 34 38

0

2

3

Martin

.266 .377 173

23

46

9

0

0 20 29 35

7

3

1

Tulowitzki

.221 .313 163

21

36

6

3

5 16 23 36

4

4

2

Amezaga

.217 .267

69

6

15

3

0

0

5

5 16

1

1

0

Matsui

.219 .288 146

18

32

6

1

1 12 13 28

6

3

2

Ethier

.255 .361 184

30

47 11

0

6 30 27 35

3

0

3

Quintanilla

.211 .348

19

4

4

1

0

0

4 10

0

0

0

Coghlan

.214 .356

70

10

15

1

1

1

6 16 14

1

0

2

Michaels

.179 .289

39

2

7

5

0

0

2

5 11

1

1

0

Furcal

.253 .315 186

26

47

8

0

1 11 17 30

3

3

7

Atkins

.196 .275 168

18

33

6

0

3 17 18 26

0

0

6

Uggla

.206 .324 175

22

36

9

1

9 35 30 45

1

0

5

Erstad

.140 .200

50

4

7

1

1

0

3

4 15

0

0

0

Paul

.214 .313

14

3

3

1

0

1

1

2

4

0

1

0

Stewart

.180 .287 111

16

20

4

0

7 20 14 35

2

1

3

Carroll

.182 .250

2

4

1

0

0

0

0

0

Team Totals

.270 .334 1695 209 458 88 12 41 198 156 291 31 21 23

Hoffmann

.188 .167

16

2

3

2

0

1

7

0

5

0

0

0

Baker

.130 .167

0

3

0

1

0

1

0

1

Team Totals

.245 .322 1807 238 443 84

Team Totals

.287 .369 1846 289 529 109 10 36 273 233 358 44 14 22

Team Totals

.248 .330 1656 239 411 92 14 55 229 199 367 32 16 31

23

4

3

7

0

3

1

7

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

Flores

0

0 0.00

5

0

0

4.0

4

0

0

0

0

5

Fogg

0

0 0.00

4

0

0

5.1

1

0

0

0

1

3

Peralta

0

0 3.18

3

0

0

5.2

7

2

2

0

1

5

Morales

1

0 3.38

2

2

0

8.0

7

3

3

3

1

9

Street

1

1 3.38 23

0

8

21.1

17

8

8

4

5

24

Marquis

7

3 3.93 10

10

0

68.2

65

33

30

6

23

33

Daley

0

1 4.15

9

0

0

8.2

5

4

4

0

4

7

Jimenez

3

6 4.37 10

10

0

59.2

60

30

29

2

26

53

Speier

0

0 4.76

5

0

0

5.2

6

3

3

0

3

2

Hammel

1

3 4.83 10

7

0

41.0

59

30

22

5

12

27

Cook

3

3 4.94 11

11

0

62.0

68

36

34

8

25

28

De La Rosa

0

6 5.43 10

10

0

54.2

52

36

33

4

26

57

Grilli

0

1 5.89 21

0

1

18.1

27

12

12

2

12

21

Corpas

0

3 6.35 24

0

1

22.2

31

16

16

1

5

12

Embree

1

2 6.60 22

0

0

15.0

19

13

11

2

8

8

Team Totals

20 30 4.84 50

GS SV

ER HR BB SO

50 10 436.2 488 259 235 44 159 319

0

0

2

5

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

Sanches

1

1 0.00

6

0

Calero

1

0 2.16 30

West

0

0 2.25

2

Meyer

0

0 2.35 25

Pinto

2

Johnson

4

Nunez

2

5

9

4

8 49 227 193 443 30 13 45 PITCHERS

PITCHERS PITCHERS

22

0

8

W

L ERA

IP

H

R

Sampson

2

0 2.03 24

0

2

31.0

27

9

7

1

10

14

W. Rodriguez

5

4 2.26 11

11

0

67.2

62

24

17

1

21

62

32

Hawkins

1

2 2.49 23

0

7

21.2

19

6

6

2

7

7

Byrdak

0

1 3.50 20

0

0

18.0

14

7

7

4

7

6

24

Fulchino

0

1 3.79 13

0

0

19.0

13

8

8

2

2

12

20

Oswalt

2

2 4.28 12

12

0

69.1

74

33

33 12

4

18

64

Arias

0

0 4.35 11

0

0

10.1

9

7

5

1

4

13

21

Brocail

1

0 4.76

0

0

5.2

5

3

3

2

IP

H

R

ER HR BB SO

0

7.1

6

1

0

0

1

5

0

0

25.0

14

6

6

0

14

2

0

12.0

8

3

3

1

5

0

0

23.0

14

7

6

3

0 2.53 24

0

0

21.1

22

7

6

1 2.66 11

11

0

74.1

63

24

22

2 3.38 27

0

1

26.2

16

10

10

G

7

GS SV

ER HR BB SO PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

IP

H

R

ER HR BB SO

Broxton

5

0 1.44 22

0 11

25.0

8

4

4

0

10

39

21

Troncoso

1

0 1.89 21

0

3

33.1

31

7

7

0

10

22

13

Belisario

1

2 2.30 26

0

0

31.1

22

10

8

2

15

30

6

15

Kuroda

1

1 2.53

2

2

0

10.2

7

3

3

0

4

8

19

55

Billingsley

6

3 2.80 11

11

0

74.0

58

25

23

2

32

76

4

11

Wolf

3

1 2.84 11

11

0

69.2

57

25

22

8

20

57

8

4

Milton

2

0 3.14

3

3

0

14.1

15

5

5

1

5

10

Volstad

4

4 3.71 11

11

0

68.0

56

32

28 11

21

54

Ortiz

2

2 4.88 11

4

0

31.1

34

19

17

2

25

23

Kershaw

3

3 4.34 10

10

0

56.0

40

27

27

5

32

55

Miller

1

2 4.76

8

6

0

34.0

35

21

18

1

22

24

Hampton

3

4 5.07 10

10

0

55.0

57

34

31

8

22

36

Weaver

2

1 4.38

8

3

0

24.2

26

12

12

2

15

16

Cr. Martinez

1

1 4.91

2

0

0

3.2

5

2

2

1

1

6

Valverde

0

1 5.63

8

0

2

8.0

7

5

5

3

3

11

Stults

4

2 4.80

9

9

0

45.0

46

24

24

2

25

30

Badenhop

3

2 4.97 12

1

0

25.1

30

14

14

3

9

22

Moehler

2

3 6.43

7

7

0

35.0

49

25

25

5

9

24

Wade

0

3 4.82 18

0

0

18.2

19

10

10

0

9

13

Sanchez

1

4 5.79

6

0

32.2

43

21

21

6

15

25

Paulino

1

4 6.75

9

6

0

36.0

50

30

27

7

16

26

Leach

1

0 5.63 13

0

0

8.0

7

5

5

0

4

10

Lindstrom

1

1 5.82 24

0 10

21.2

22

15

14

2

17

22

Geary

1

3 8.10 16

0

0

20.0

30

19

18

4

10

12

Ohman

1

0 5.84 21

0

1

12.1

12

8

8

4

8

7

1

0 6.97 14

1

20.2

27

21

16

2

16

26

Backe

0

0 18.00

0

0

1.0

3

2

2

0

0

1

Mota

2

1 6.53 20

0

0

20.2

26

15

15

2

12

10

Kuo

1

0 6.75

0

0

5.1

5

4

4

1

4

4

Penn Team Totals

6

24 28 4.63 52

0

52 11 472.1 479 270 243 54 215 410

Team Totals

1

21 28 4.51 50

50 11 442.2 476 242 222 57 173 343

Team Totals

7

35 18 3.72 53

53 15 474.0 406 203 196 34 222 402

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

28

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM STATS THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES MILWAUKEE BREWERS BATTERS

NEW YORK METS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Counsell

.324 .387 111

17

36

6

0

1

8 11 14

0

1

3

Valdez

Rivera

.323 .313

1

10

3

0

0

2

0

0

0

31

Braun

.309 .420 178

Catalanotto

.300 .300

10

34 0

Cameron

.288 .388 170

26

55 10 3

0

49 12

0

5

BATTERS

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

.364 .417

11

2

4

Beltran

.352 .447 176

31

62 15

1

6 31 29 28

7

.333 .435

51

9

17

4

1

0

4 10

5

3

14

3

0

0

3

9

4

1

1

0

3

1

0

0

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

1

Ibanez

.333 .394 192

40

64 12

2 17 46 19 32

4

0

1

Sanchez

.325 .364 200

31

65 18

2

4 18 11 34

4

1

1

1

2

Ruiz

.305 .430

82

6

25 10

0

2 10 16

9

2

1

1

Diaz

.311 .338

19

0

1

0

1

2

1

1

Feliz

.299 .360 167

19

50 13

1

2 27 17 22

0

0

2

0

0

Utley

.299 .434 164

36

49

0 12 35 29 29

5

0

5

35

62 13

4

4 27 16 20

8

3

0

3

0

BATTERS

1

9 32 26 38

3

3

1

Cora

1

0

2

0

0

0

Pagan

.333 .429

42

7

0 11 27 29 40

2

0

1

Wright

.328 .429 183

31

60 12

3

3 30 32 54 12

7

7

Victorino

.295 .343 210

.298 .393

94

15

28

7

1

4 23 12 20

0

0

2

2

0

7

Weeks

.272 .340 147

28

40

5

2

9 24 12 39

2

2

6

Delgado

Stairs

.281 .465

32

7

Fielder

.271 .411 177

28

48

7

1 12 48 40 51

0

1

3

Reed

.291 .328

55

5

16

3

1

0

3 15

0

1

1

Howard

.264 .336 197

33

0

Castillo

.284 .383 141

28

40

4

2

0 11 24 13

6

2

4

Coste

.254 .356

63

6

.283 .427

99

26

28

5

1

5 20 24 17

2

1

1

McGehee

.256 .320

43

6

11

2

0

0

4

5

7

0

0

3

PITTSBURGH PIRATES

8

9

1

8

BATTERS

61

5

3

8

1

An. LaRoche

.304 .374 161

19

49 13

1

2 25 15 28

2

0

6

Young

.298 .375

57

7

17

3

0

0 10

1

0

1

0

Morgan

.280 .362 186

28

52

5

4

0 17 22 37 11

5

0

7 18

9 10

0

0

0

Hinske

.270 .372

74

12

20

6

0

1

7

52 13

2 15 41 20 62

2

0

1

Jaramillo

.269 .360

78

7

21

8

0

0

7 11

16

7

0

2

9 14

0

0

0

Wilson

.263 .290 118

12

31

9

1

7

4

9 17

0

0

0

8

1

0

2

1 17

5 12

1

1

5

Hart

.254 .325 185

31

47 11

1

5 20 19 50

3

3

2

Sheffield

Werth

.247 .338 178

34

44 10

1

8 26 22 46

9

1

1

Moss

.262 .307 141

21

37

9

2

1 12

8 26

0

0

0

Hardy

.241 .319 162

22

39

1

5 24 18 29

0

0

3

Reyes

.279 .355 147

18

41

7

2

2 15 18 19 11

2

5

Rollins

.230 .273 213

32

49 13

1

3 18 12 26

9

4

3

McLouth

.250 .346 164

26

41

6

0

9 33 21 29

7

0

0

3

Santos

.275 .303

80

11

22

5

1

3 18

Mayberry

.222 .222

9

1

2

1

0

1

3

0

2

0

0

0

Doumit

.244 .271

45

5

11

4

0

2

0

0

1

Church

.272 .328 125

9

34

7

0

1

Dobbs

.154 .267

39

5

6

1

0

1

4

6

9

0

0

0

Ad. LaRoche

.242 .332 178

30

43 16

1

7 22 24 45

0

0

1

Tatis

.267 .327

90

14

24

4

1

2 11

Bruntlett

.118 .179

34

5

4

4

0

0

4

3

9

0

0

1

Monroe

.235 .278

68

6

16

2

0

3 15

4 16

0

0

0

Murphy

.243 .321 140

21

34

5

1

4 17 17 14

1

1

4

Team Totals

.265 .346 1692 272 448 109 11 71 260 193 326 39

9 17

Vazquez

.232 .349

69

8

16

1

0

0

7 12 19

0

0

1

F. Martinez

.211 .318

19

2

4

2

0

0

3

2

3

2

0

0

Team Totals

.264 .332 1721 222 455 108 11 32 213 160 362 27

Schneider

.185 .313

27

4

5

1

0

0

4

5

1

0

0

0

R. Martinez

.150 .167

40

0

6

2

0

0

4

1

9

1

0

4

Hall

.221 .288 140

15

7

31

9

0

4 12 13 44

1

0

Kendall

.217 .310 143

16

31

6

1

0 16 16 17

0

1

4

Gamel

.207 .324

29

1

6

2

0

1

6

4

8

0

0

1

Gerut

.091 .167

11

2

1

0

0

0

0

1

3

0

0

0

Team Totals

PITCHERS

.251 .339 1689 239 424 82

8 59 235 207 406 11 11 30

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

IP

H

R

Hoffman

0

0 0.00 15

0 13

15.0

6

0

0

0

1

14

DiFelice

3

0 1.16 22

0

0

23.1

15

3

3

2

4

23

Coffey

1

0 2.49 23

0

2

25.1

26

7

7

1

5

18

McClung

2

1 2.63 20

0

0

27.1

20

8

ER HR BB SO

8

2

18

20

Gallardo

5

2 3.18 10

10

0

65.0

49

24

23

7

24

65

Villanueva

2

3 3.60 24

0

3

25.0

16

11

10

1

9

26

Stetter

2

0 3.94 25

0

0

16.0

10

7

7

2

10

15

Looper

5

3 4.24 10

10

0

57.1

58

31

27 11

19

32

Bush

3

1 4.38 11

10

0

63.2

58

33

31 13

18

45

Suppan

3

4 5.09 11

11

0

58.1

67

35

33 12

27

32

Parra

3

6 5.57 10

10

0

53.1

58

36

33

5

34

46

Julio

1

1 7.79 15

0

0

17.1

15

17

15

2

15

13

Riske Team Totals

0

0 18.00

1

30 21 4.03 51

0

0

1.0

4

2

2

0

0

0

51 18 450.2 407 218 202 59 186 353

Team Totals

PITCHERS

5 14

0

0

0

8 10 18

2

1

1

2

1

1

4

7

.280 .363 1688 239 472 92 16 33 225 216 284 53 18 38

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

IP

H

R

Rodriguez

1

0 0.73 24

0 14

24.2

14

5

2

1

11

27

Santana

7

2 1.77 10

10

0

66.0

52

20

13

5

20

86

Parnell

2

0 2.08 26

0

0

21.2

25

7

5

0

9

20

Feliciano

2

1 2.53 28

0

0

21.1

16

10

6

3

3

22

Stokes

1

2 2.66 19

0

0

20.1

21

8

6

1

5

9

Takahashi

0

1 2.92

9

0

0

12.1

10

4

4

1

4

8

Maine

5

3 3.75 10

10

0

57.2

45

26

24

4

32

41

Pelfrey

4

1 3.88

9

9

0

55.2

57

24

24

4

19

23

Hernandez

4

1 4.33 10

10

0

60.1

70

29

29

7

16

36

Putz

1

4 4.76 28

0

2

28.1

26

16

15

1

19

19

Green

0

2 6.98 21

0

0

19.1

25

15

15

3

11

18

Redding

0

2 9.20

3

3

0

14.2

18

15

15

2

10

10

Perez

1

2 9.97

5

5

0

21.2

28

24

24

3

21

20

Team Totals

28 22 3.88 50

ER HR BB SO

50 16 447.2 435 216 193 36 189 357

W

L ERA

G

IP

H

R

Escalona

PITCHERS

1

0 0.00

3

GS SV 0

0

2.1

1

0

0

0

0

2

Condrey

4

0 2.20 26

0

1

28.2

20

7

7

4

9

20

Madson

2

1 2.49 25

0

1

25.1

20

7

7

0

8

Eyre

0

1 2.84 22

0

0

12.2

8

5

4

2

9

Happ

3

0 3.00 14

2

0

33.0

21

11

11

3

Taschner

1

1 3.92 15

0

0

20.2

20

9

9

Durbin

1

1 4.50 25

0

0

26.0

21

16

13

Myers

4

3 4.66 10

10

0

63.2

66

33

9

2 10

8 23

ER HR BB SO PITCHERS

W

L ERA

G

Jackson

0

0 0.00

1

28

Meek

0

8

Duke

5

12

26

Chavez

2

15

11

3

15

23

33 17

20

GS SV

IP

H

R 0

0

0

1.0

0

0 2.60 15

0

0

17.1

13

4 2.75 10

10

0

72.0

63

0

2 2.86 25

0

0

22.0

20

7

Burnett

1

1 3.18 25

0

1

22.2

15

Maholm

3

2 3.82 11

11

0

68.1

69

46

Veal

0

0 4.26

5

0

0

6.1

5

3

ER HR BB SO 0

0

1

0

5

5

0

14

10

24

22

4

17

42

7

2

7

17

9

8

2

12

17

31

29

3

23

38

3

1

10

6

Hamels

3

2 5.21

9

9

0

48.1

58

29

28 10

10

50

Ohlendorf

5

5 4.45 10

10

0

60.2

57

31

30 10

17

32

Blanton

4

3 5.86 10

10

0

58.1

68

38

38 11

20

53

Grabow

3

0 4.50 23

0

0

22.0

27

12

11

1

12

17

Park

1

1 6.57 10

7

0

38.1

45

28

28

20

27

Karstens

2

2 4.83

9

9

0

50.1

50

28

27

8

17

22

Moyer

4

5 6.75 10

10

0

53.1

71

40

40 14

16

30

Snell

1

6 5.64 11

11

0

59.0

60

39

37

7

35

42

Lidge

0

2 7.40 26

0 13

24.1

30

20

20

13

26

Hansen

0

0 5.68

0

0

6.1

6

4

4

1

4

5

Capps

0

3 5.94 19

0 11

16.2

23

11

11

2

9

12

Gorzelanny

3

1 7.50

6

0

0

6.0

5

5

5

0

4

5

Yates

0

2 7.50 15

0

0

12.0

14

12

10

2

7

9

Team Totals

29 20 4.98 49

5

6

49 15 439.1 457 248 243 77 170 354

Team Totals

5

23 28 4.25 51

51 12 442.2 427 221 209 43 189 274

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

Baseball

www.sportingnews.com

29

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM STATS THROUGH MONDAY’S GAMES SAN DIEGO PADRES BATTERS

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Hairston

.331 .390 145

21

48 10

Gwynn

.310 .375

29

Cabrera

.308 .357

13

4

4

A. Gonzalez

.290 .401 183

38

53

Rodriguez

.256 .396

78

11

20

Hundley

.244 .340 123

10

30

Eckstein

.240 .320 175

21

Headley

.235 .307 162

14

38

Kouzmanoff

.230 .282 187

13

43

8

1

4 20

9 42

1

C. Burke

.206 .270

68

6

14

5

0

1

5 14

3

Giles

.193 .281 176

12

34

8

1

2 19 22 21

1

E. Gonzalez

.177 .257

62

9

11

2

2

3

7

5 13

Blanco

.172 .273

58

8

10

1

0

3

6

8 13

Wilson

.150 .190

20

1

3

2

0

0

1

1

Floyd

.000 .000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Team Totals

.239 .318 1700 203 406 81 10 55 195 185 355 24

PITCHERS

W

L ERA

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

AVG OBA AB

R

H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

8 23 13 32

6

1

1

Sandoval

.308 .350 169

18

52 14

2

3 20

8 24

2

2

1

Pujols

.339 .468 171

42

58 10

0 16 43 42 18

7

2

6

Johnson

.331 .435 178

28

59

7

1

4 26 30 31

1

1

5

1

0

1

3

6

1

1

1

Uribe

.304 .325

79

24

4

1

0

8

3 15

0

1

2

Schumaker

.300 .344 170

23

51 10

1

3 16 12 18

1

1

2

Guzman

.329 .341 164

28

54 10

2

2 12

3 24

1

2

6

1

0

0

0

1

3

0

0

0

Whiteside

.286 .286

7

1

2

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

Molina

.271 .349 155

14

42

4

1

3 17 18 14

3

1

1

Zimmerman

.319 .386 207

39

66 14

0 11 35 24 41

0

0

6

4

0 21 41 33 41

1

1

2

Rowand

.283 .344 166

23

47 15

0

5 22 13 35

3

0

1

Ryan

.269 .333

78

13

21

6

1

0

7 10

3

1

1

Flores

.311 .382

90

13

28

3

2

4 15 11 26

0

0

1

4

0

1

9

0

0

2

Lewis

.276 .376 156

30

43 10

2

3

8 21 48

4

3

3

Thurston

.258 .370 124

19

32 13

3

1 15 21 23

3

1

4

Nieves

.281 .324

64

7

18

3

0

0

8

3 17

0

0

3

6

2

3 10 18 34

1

1

2

Winn

.275 .333 182

25

50 12

3

2 20 17 35

8

1

0

Duncan

.256 .346 160

16

41 13

2

4 27 23 38

0

1

3

Gonzalez

.278 .333

54

6

15

3

1

1

6

4

2

1

0

6

42 11

1

0 15 16 16

2

0

0

Burriss

.271 .331 166

15

45

5

0

0 11 13 28 11

4

5

Ludwick

.254 .323 118

17

30

4

0

8 27 11 23

2

0

1

Dukes

.277 .347 112

12

31

8

1

4 24 12 29

2

6

1

1

4 19 16 50

6

1

1

Ishikawa

.262 .339 107

15

28

3

1

1 15 10 33

1

0

2

LaRue

.250 .294

32

5

8

1

0

1

0

0

0

Hernandez

.273 .350 121

15

33

5

1

0 13 15 21

3

1

5

0

1

Molina

.254 .265 181

19

46

8

1

8 32

2 23

0

0

2

Stavinoha

.250 .261

44

3

11

4

1

5

Torres

.250 .400

12

4

3

0

0

1

3

5

1

0

0

Rasmus

.243 .311 148

23

36

9

0

0

Renteria

.247 .335 154

21

38

7

0

2 23 20 24

3

2

3

Barden

.239 .297

92

13

22

3

0

0

2

2

Schierholtz

.241 .262

58

5

14

3

1

0

0

0

0

Aurilia

.200 .229

65

5

13

2

0

1 11

4

0

0

2

Team Totals

.258 .316 1655 193 427 84 11 26 181 126 346 34 14 25

1

0

0

0

G

9

1

7

GS SV

IP

7 20

4

H

R

8 23

ER HR BB SO

PITCHERS

4

G

GS SV

2

4

2

BATTERS

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

1

8

BATTERS

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

3

BATTERS

2

1

9

0

1 10

1

4

1

0

0

Dunn

.270 .399 178

27

48

6

0 16 42 39 55

0

1

7

0

6 20 12 31

1

0

2

Harris

.264 .400

72

13

19

5

1

1

9 12 15

3

0

0

4

0

0

3

Willingham

.252 .376 111

18

28

6

0

9 12 17 27

0

1

1

8

6 17

9

0

1

0

Ankiel

.221 .299

95

12

21

7

0

2 11

8 26

0

0

1

Bernadina

.250 .400

4

1

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

3 13

0

0

0

K. Greene

.200 .287 105

13

21

4

0

2 14 12 17

2

1

7

Kearns

.226 .355 115

17

26

6

2

3 15 20 30

1

0

0

Team Totals

.256 .332 1682 231 430 96

Bard

.174 .208

46

3

8

4

0

0

5

2

8

0

0

0

Belliard

.174 .230

69

5

12

1

1

2

6

5 18

0

0

2

Team Totals

.266 .351 1742 240 463 84 12 57 232 211 410 17 12 48

W

L ERA

IP

H

R

W

L ERA

G

Affeldt

0

1 1.96 26

0

0

23.0

20

6

ER HR BB SO 5

1

11

20

Carpenter

PITCHERS

3

0 0.62

5

Cain

6

1 2.31 10

10

0

66.1

60

18

17

6

27

46

Franklin

1

0 1.35 20

GS SV

8 54 224 180 302 27

8 33

IP

H

R

0

29.0

16

3

2

0

5

28

0 12

20.0

12

3

3

2

5

15

PITCHERS

5

ER HR BB SO

W

L ERA

G

GS SV

IP

0

H

1

R

ER HR BB SO

Thatcher

0

0 0.00

5

0

0

4.1

1

0

0

0

2

2

Miller

1

1 2.42 19

0

0

22.1

17

6

6

3

10

16

McClellan

2

2 1.80 23

0

1

25.0

15

7

5

2

14

20

MacDougal

0

0 0.00

2

0

0

1.0

2

2

0

0

1

1

G. Burke

0

0 1.17

9

0

0

7.2

3

1

1

0

0

5

Valdez

2

0 2.76 15

0

0

16.1

13

5

5

1

7

9

Perez

1

1 2.16 21

0

1

16.2

9

4

4

1

13

21

Villone

2

0 0.00 15

0

0

13.0

8

0

0

0

6

3

Bell

2

1 1.27 22

0 15

21.1

14

3

3

0

6

26

Medders

2

1 2.78 22

0

0

22.2

20

9

7

1

15

20

Miller

1

0 2.84 18

0

0

12.2

12

5

4

2

3

13

Bergmann

0

0 3.97 10

0

0

11.1

8

6

5

1

6

6

Mujica

2

1 2.49 22

0

1

25.1

21

9

7

2

6

28

Lincecum

4

1 3.03 10

10

0

65.1

59

23

22

1

19

84

Motte

1

1 3.00 23

0

0

21.0

16

7

7

0

7

19

Lannan

2

5 4.21 11

11

0

62.0

69

33

29

9

26

34

Meredith

4

0 2.95 20

0

0

18.1

23

8

6

1

6

13

Howry

0

2 3.79 21

0

0

19.0

19

8

8

1

7

13

Wainwright

5

3 3.38 11

11

0

72.0

66

30

27

7

28

59

Detwiler

0

1 4.80

3

3

0

15.0

15

9

8

1

5

12

Gregerson

0

3 3.56 27

0

0

30.1

27

12

12

1

16

31

Zito

1

6 4.02 10

10

0

62.2

60

28

28

7

26

43

Reyes

0

1 3.77 25

0

1

14.1

13

6

6

2

5

16

Beimel

0

3 4.87 21

0

0

20.1

26

11

11

2

8

11

Peavy

5

5 3.67 11

11

0

73.2

59

31

30

7

24

84

Wilson

2

3 4.07 24

0 12

24.1

22

13

11

2

9

23

Pineiro

5

5 3.86 10

10

0

65.1

73

32

28

2

8

25

Hanrahan

0

2 5.40 24

0

5

23.1

28

14

14

3

11

30

Young

4

3 4.45 11

11

0

62.2

55

34

31

6

31

46

Sanchez

2

4 4.75 10

9

0

47.1

42

27

25

4

34

45

Lohse

4

3 3.98

9

9

0

54.1

49

26

24

5

16

38

Tavarez

1

4 5.40 24

0

1

20.0

17

16

12

1

14

19

Perdomo

1

0 4.70 11

0

0

15.1

13

10

8

2

7

7

Johnson

4

4 5.71 10

10

0

52.0

56

33

33 10

19

54

Thompson

0

1 4.30

9

0

0

14.2

16

7

7

1

2

6

Stammen

0

1 5.56

2

2

0

11.1

11

7

7

1

3

5

Gaudin

2

3 4.76

7

7

0

39.2

34

22

21

1

26

36

Martinez

1

0 6.75

2

0

0

2.2

4

2

2

0

1

2

Wellemeyer

5

5 5.05 11

11

0

62.1

74

37

35

4

27

39

Geer

1

1 5.17

8

7

0

47.0

48

31

27

9

8

24

Romo

0

0 27.00

1

0

0

0.2

3

2

2

0

0

2

Boyer

0

0 5.56 14

0

0

11.1

10

8

7

1

4

8

Hill

1

1 5.25

3

3

0

12.0

15

7

7

1

3

7

1

4 5.37 10

10

0

53.2

61

32

32

7

25

41

Correia Team Totals

25 26 4.31 51

51 16 455.0 430 235 218 46 197 370

Team Totals

25 24 3.81 49

49 12 439.1 418 196 186 40 194 383

Team Totals

29 22 3.61 51

51 15 454.0 426 200 182 35 158 338

Martis

5

1 5.62 10

10

0

57.2

59

37

36

7

23

26

Zimmermann

2

2 6.07

8

8

0

46.0

54

31

31

7

14

47

Wells

0

2 6.26 19

0

2

23.0

20

16

16

1

15

16

Olsen

1

4 7.24

8

8

0

41.0

60

36

33

8

18

29

Colome

0

0 9.00

7

0

0

5.0

9

5

5

0

2

7

13 36 5.69 50

50

Team Totals

8 440.0 500 308 278 52 221 294

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

www.sportingnews.com

College Football

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

30

This preseason top 25 belongs to game’s best players It’s June, everyone. The time of year when a young man’s fancy turns to … preseason polls. They’re out in full force now— from preseason magazines to blogs to that annoying talk radio guy who scans the Internet to come up with “his” top 25. This poll sees the season for what it is: the players. And there are rules to my annual summer splash of Matt Hayes the top 25 players COLLEGE FOOTBALL in the nation: It has nothing to do with NFL value. It has everything to do with college value. Now that we have that squared away, on with the show.

1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida. I said it last year and everyone thought I was an idiot (some still do): When his career is complete, Tebow will be the greatest amateur player ever in a team sport. No one affects the game like he can.

22. Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma. Prototypical interior run-stuffer finally put it all together last year— and smartly stayed in school for one more run at a national title and to improve his draft stock.

23. Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Oregon State. Diminutive ‘Quizz would’ve

10. Kendall Hunter, RB, Oklahoma State. Best pure tailback in the game; could reach 2,000 yards with the most balanced offense in the nation.

11. Rolando McClain, LB, Alabama. When McClain was a freshman, one AFC scout told me he was the best linebacker in the SEC. That was two years ago.

12. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska. Suh isn’t your typical, beefy noseguard: athletic and powerful, he’s also a dangerous pass rusher.

physical frame for tough catches— an absolute nightmare in man coverage. One more thing: Don’t even punt to him. 4. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas. Sees plays develop before they do and throws on the run better than anyone in a long, long time. 5. Taylor Mays, S, USC. An

21. Golden Tate, WR, Notre Dame. Explosive, tough athlete is a breakaway threat in any route on the field—and with kick returns.

9. Jeremiah Masoli, QB, Oregon.

2. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma.

State. Deep speed for big plays,

20. Jevan Snead, QB, Ole Miss. First season as a starter was remarkable, especially considering he sat out 2007 after transferring from Texas.

More of a run threat last season, watch how he develops in the passing game in Year 2 under new coach Chip Kelly.

Performs off the charts in three critical areas for a quarterback: mental toughness, accuracy/arm strength, leadership.

3. Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma

Maualuga said last September: “He’s going to be unreal.” 19. Ciron Black, OT, LSU. The best pass blocker in the game; he’s a wall to get around.

enforcer who can change passing games with one big hit; and plays like a fourth linebacker in run support. 6. George Selvie, DE. South Florida. Forget about his injury-marred 2008. When healthy, he’s a disruptive, unblockable force. 7. Jahvid Best, RB, California. The fastest player in the game blossomed as a runner last fall. Now he has added muscle mass. 8. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee. At some point, the new Tennessee staff must find a way to get Berry 10 plays a game on offense.

13. Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Georgia Tech. Think about this: Dwyer said that by the end of an impressive 2008 season, he still didn’t completely comprehend Tech’s triple option offense.

14. Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma. A matchup problem for any defense, he will dominate with more physical play after the catch. 15. Julio Jones, WR, Alabama. Had a brilliant freshman season despite

been the first freshman to lead the Pac-10 in rushing had a shoulder injury not limited him the last three games of the season. 24. Joe Haden, CB, Florida. The best cover corner in the game. Former high school quarterback gets terrific breaks on the ball because of his passing game knowledge.

AP PHOTOS

In December, Heisman voters rewarded Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford, above, for his toughness, leadership and raw skills. Now, in June, he’s second in our list of the country’s top 25 players.

25. Arrelious Benn, WR, Illinois.

Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh, right, has the athletic ability necessary to do more than clog the middle—last season against San Diego State, he returned an interception for a touchdown.

average quarterback play. What happens if/when the Tide gets an athletic quarterback with a strong arm? 16. Jerry Hughes, DE, TCU. Former high school tailback continues to add rush moves to his game and no longer is just a speed guy off the edge.

17. Brandon Spikes, LB, Florida.

18. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State.

Fiery, emotional, big-hitting run stuffer with invaluable leadership skills.

You better believe this raw project is among the best in the nation. Or as former USC linebacker Rey

Illini quarterback Juice Williams regressed last year, but the dynamic Benn continued to put up big numbers. Ten on the outside: Robert Griffin, QB, Baylor; Jason Worilds, DE, Virginia Tech; Syd’Quan Thompson, CB, California; Zac Robinson, QB, Oklahoma State; Carlos Dunlap, DE, Florida; Sergio Kindle, DE/ LB, Texas; Damian Williams, WR, USC; Navorro Bowman, LB, Penn State; Terrence Cody, DT, Alabama; Stevenson Sylvester, LB, Utah. [email protected]

SPORTING NEWS TODAY

College Football / College Basketball

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL INSIDE DISH

Sporting News Today is counting down its Top 100 college football teams for 2009, featuring one team each day leading into the season opener Thursday, Sept. 3. Go to SportingNews.com for the previous teams.

Illinois, Missouri taking ‘hiatus’

94 MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ / AP

San Jose State WR Kevin Jurovich, who missed 2008 with mono, caught 85 passes in 2007.

SAN JOSE STATE 2008 record: 6-6 overall, 4-4 WAC Coach: Dick Tomey Outlook: The Spartans needed help offensively last season, and they’re hoping new quarterbacks coach Terry Malley of the Arena Football League will provide it. Malley’s challenge is helping QB Kyle Reed reach his potential. Reed will benefit from the return of wideout Kevin Jurovich, who caught a school-record 85 passes in 2007 before missing last season with mono. — Derek Samson

Florida starting CB Janoris Jenwas arrested early Saturday kins after he was involved in a street fight and an officer used a Taser on him, according to Gainesville police. Police used a Taser on Jenkins, a freshman All-American last year, after he failed to comply with requests to stop fighting with five other people, according to Alachua County jail records. Jenkins was arrested on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest without violence. Gainesville attorney Huntley Johnson, who is representing Jenkins, told the Orlando Sentinel he believes his client did nothing wrong during the weekend skirmish and simply defended himself.

INSIDE DISH

JEFF ROBERSON / AP

WR Jeremy Maclin, left, now in the NFL, helped the Tigers win their last two meetings with Illinois. East Carolina coach Skip Holtz says WR Jamar Bryant and RB Jonathan Williams likely will return to the team this fall after missing much of last season because of suspensions for violating team policies. “At this point, if they keep doing what they’re doing, I would expect them to be back,” Holtz told The News & Observer. Bryant was suspended after five games and Williams after seven. Bryant, who had 19 receptions, participated in spring practice, but Williams, who led the team with 5.1 yards per carry, did not. “They made a 30-second bad decision,” Holtz told the newspaper. “As I told them, our prisons are full of good people who made a 30-second bad decision.”

31

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Top 100 countdown

Missouri and Illinois have agreed to call off their series in St. Louis after opening the next two seasons there. After the 2010 game, there will be a “hiatus,” Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther told the News-Gazette of Champaign. The teams opened each of the past two seasons in St. Louis, with Missouri winning both games. “Eventually, we might resume it on a home-and-home basis, or perhaps return to St. Louis, but we have been leaning toward games on campus at some point in the future,” Guenther told the newspaper. Illinois would like to play seven or eight home games each year, Guenther said, because the season ticket and suite holders deserve it. He said that playing a game at a neutral site makes that goal more difficult to achieve.

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

Kelvin Grady might be staying at Michigan. After leaving the basketball team two months ago with the intention of transferring to another school, Grady is considering a future in football, possibly at Michigan. He has talked with members of the Michigan coaching staff, according to the Detroit Free Press. He could play this fall if he decided to stay at Michigan and would have three years of football eligibility remaining. Grady (5-10) rushed for more than 2,000 yards and scored 28 touchdowns as a running back his senior season in high school. His brother, Kevin Grady, is a senior running back for the Wolverines.

Arizona PG may push draft decision to limit Arizona junior PG Nic Wise likely won’t decide whether to stay in the NBA draft until close to the June 15 deadline— even though he wasn’t one of 52 players invited to the predraft combine last week in Chicago. Former teammate Chase Budinger, who waited until the deadline last season before announcing his return to the Wildcats, said he and Wise have stayed in touch. “Maybe not as close as me, but he’ll be pretty close,” Budinger told the Arizona Daily Star of Wise’s timetable. Wise has worked out for several teams, including his hometown Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs, according to the newspaper. “He’s doing nothing wrong and everything right,” Arizona coach Sean Miller told the newspaper. “He’s working out for NBA teams, he has the name in the draft and doesn’t have an agent. … I think he’s doing a really good job of handling it.” Wise’s father and former high school coach, Greg Wise, has been working with his son and communicating with Miller, according to the newspaper. Nic Wise averaged 15.7 points and 4.6 assists last season as a junior.

New Alabama coach Anthony Grant recently said he sought advice from Florida coach Billy Donovan before taking the job. Grant was an assistant at Florida for 10 years. “We talked, but Anthony is his own man and makes his own decisions,” Donovan told The Gainesville Sun. “I told him I really thought Alabama would be a great situation and a great fit for him. I like their team, I like the people they had there. It seems they made a very strong commitment (to basketball) for Anthony.” Arkansas sophomore G Marcus Britt was arrested early Saturday and charged with first-offense DWI, driving with a suspended license, no insurance, failure to appear and running a stop sign. The Times-Herald of Forrest City, Ark., reported Monday that Britt, 21, was stopped at 2:40 a.m. Saturday after failing to stop for a stop sign. He averaged 3.7 points last season. St. Mary’s sophomore PG Patty Mills said Monday he will forgo his final two years of college eligibility and keep his name in the NBA draft. He averaged 18.7 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals last year.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

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Q&A with ... Penn State G Talor Battle

‘I want to improve on every aspect of my game’ Talor Battle averaged 16.7 points and 5.0 assists as a sophomore point guard for the Penn State Nittany Lions. He scored 29 points in a road victory against the Final Four bound Michigan State Spartans. And he played all but seven minutes of a possible 205 in his team’s triumph at the 2009 NIT. It was quite a season for Battle, but not quite enough to make him a household name. Remember, he plays at Penn State, which still is trying to prove it is a serious player in hoops. PSU has only eight NCAA Tournament appearances in its history, just three since the bracket expanded in 1985, and none since 2001. A 5-11 junior-to-be from Albany, N.Y., Battle will take another step toward establishing Penn State as a basketball school when he tries out for the United States team that will compete at this summer’s World University Games in Serbia. The trials begin June 16 in Colorado Springs. Battle recently chatted with Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy.

Q: A:

Were you surprised to get the call from USA Basketball? Surprised? Not really. I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was excited when I got the call. I’m really looking forward to going out and trying to play well.

Q:

Is getting the chance to wear your country’s colors something you’d hoped to accomplish? Definitely. That’s cool—a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m going to go out there with a great mindset and try to do really well to make the team. That would be a great feeling for myself and

A:

A:

Regardless of what my brother did, Penn State has been a great fit for me. I knew that going in. My first year we struggled, and now we won the NIT. We were right there at getting into the tournament. It’s turned out great.

just everyone around me.

Q:

Did the success of the “Redeem Team” from last summer’s Olympics have any bearing on your interest in playing for the U.S.? No, not really. Those guys—the U.S. should win every year. They’ve got the greatest players in the world. I was happy to see them win, but it wasn’t a surprise.

A:

Q: A: Q: A:

Q: A:

Tell me something about coach (Ed) DeChellis that I might not know. You probably know as much as I know. He’s just busy. I don’t really see him that much—practice and games. I don’t really know any secrets about him.

How much do you know about Serbia? I don’t know anything about Serbia. Nothing at all.

Q: A:

How good will Penn State be next season? I’ll let you know after the season. I can’t tell you before. We lose a couple guys, Jamelle (Cornley) and Danny (Morrissey). And they played a big part in our success. I know just about as much as you do about what’s going to happen. I know we’re going to work hard, and hopefully we’ll have another great year.

Are you going to study up on it at all? Absolutely not. If I make the team, I’ll go out there and find out what it’s all about.

Q:

Some college players have turned down invitations because of summer school or “to work on their games.” Did you give any thought to either? I figure I work hard enough and have plenty of time to work even harder when I’m done with these games. The season’s a long time away. Playing with a team is an opportunity to meet new people, play against the best guys in college.

A:

Q: A:

Concerned about the altitude in Colorado Springs? I’m trying not to think about that. Everybody

CAROLYN KASTER / AP

Penn State PG Talor Battle (12) averaged 16.7 points and 5.0 assists as a sophomore last season, leading his team to the NIT title. keeps saying that to me. I’m just going to go out there and play. I’ve seen all the football games, and people are getting the oxygen. But I saw my man Kobe out there in Denver taking care of biz. I think I’ll be all right.

Q:

Although Penn State got some NIT airtime, there

still are a lot of people who don’t know how good you are. Is this a chance to show a few more? No matter where I’m playing, I play for that same purpose. You never know who’s watching. You could come to my high school and watch me work out, and it’s the same as if there’s a whole bunch of NBA scouts

A:

watching. I’m not really trying to impress people, but I want to go out and play my game and hopefully they like it.

Q:

Your brother, Taran Buie, recently committed to Penn State. Should we take that to mean you’ve been pleased with your college choice?

Q:

You were pretty good last season. Anything you’ll be better at when we next see you in a PSU uniform? I want to improve on every aspect of my game. Then I’ll really know I got better–not just better in certain areas. I want to defend the ball better. I want to shoot a higher percentage. I want to make a whole lot more free throws. I’m just busting my butt to improve and really make my team succeed.

A:

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

INSIDE DISH

Stafford could start sooner rather than later The Lions may follow the lead of the Falcons (Matt Ryan) and Ravens (Joe Flacco) and try to cash in immediately on their big quarterback investment. The idea of starting rookie Matthew Stafford right way seems to be gaining momentum with coach Jim Schwartz, SI.com reported. “We’ve got two criteria for when Matthew will play,’’ Schwartz told SI.com. “One is he’ll play when he’s ready. The second is when he’s the best quarterback for us. But so far, whatever the opposite of buyers’ remorse is, that’s what we have. We knew he had the terrific NFL arm. But we’ve found out his release is just textbook classic.’’ Schwartz indicates the team’s last minicamp in June will be key in the competition between Stafford and veteran Daunte Culpepper. “We’re going to have an arms race,” Schwartz said. Before the draft, the Lions signed Stafford, the first overall pick, to a six-year contract that includes $41.7 million guaranteed. Titans QB Vince Young, currently backing up Kerry Collins, said in an interview with a Baltimore TV station that he either wants to play or move on. “I definitely want to get back out there playing ball and picking up where I left off, winning games and having a good time with my teammates and with the fans,” Young said. “At the same time, if them guys don’t want me to be in there, it’s time for me to make a career change for myself. Because the fact is I’m ready to play ball. If they’re not ready for me to play ball, then somebody is.”

to promote third-year S Dashon Goldson to play next to Michael Lewis in the secondary. But Roman has decided to stay in San Francisco in more of a nickel back-type role and to test free agency in 2010. — Albert Breer Bengals CB Leon Hall has pleaded to a reduced charge in his drunken driving case, allowing him to avoid jail time. Hall pleaded guilty on Monday to a misdemeanor charge of reckless operation of a vehicle. He must attend a three-day program that deals with how alcohol and drugs affect driving and perform 64 hours of community service.

CARLOS OSORIO / AP

Detroit likes what they see from Matthew Stafford, and they expect him to vie for the starting job through at least the end of minicamp. Young suffered a knee injury in the first game of the season last year. Collins stepped in and kept the job, leading the Titans to a 13-3 record and the playoffs. Jets RB Leon Washington returned to the team Monday after boycotting practice the last three weeks in a contract dispute. Washington, selected for his first Pro Bowl last season as a kick returner, was back on the field to start New York’s final week of team activities. Agent Alvin Keels wrote on his Twitter page that Washington returned “while we continue to work on a contract extension for him. A move of good faith.” Washington is due to earn $535,000 this

season, the final year of his rookie deal. He’s believed to be looking for about $6 million a year, similar to deals that Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew and San Diego’s Darren Sproles have received. Cardinals G.M. Rod Graves says he looks forward to negotiating with Tom Condon, the new agent for disgruntled WR Anquan Boldin. Condon has not confirmed multiple reports that he has been hired by Boldin, but Graves ended any doubt with his comments after the Cardinals’ practice Monday. “I look forward to working with him on this deal whenever we can get the opportunity to concentrate on it,” Graves said. Graves said he

has already had contact with Condon. “I anticipate a meeting with him sometime later this month,” Graves said. Boldin, embroiled in a long contract fight with the Cardinals, fired Drew Rosenhaus last month. Boldin sat out a May minicamp, citing a sore hamstring. He has been a no-show in the subsequent voluntary workouts. 49ers S Mark Roman plans to report to the team today and play out the final year of his contract. Earlier in the offseason, he received permission to seek a trade, but nothing materialized. Roman sought the trade because the club planned

The Eagles added former Cowboys defensive coordinator Brian Stewart to their coaching staff on Monday. Stewart will be a special assistant to the defense, working primarily with the secondary. Sean McDermott, the secondary coach last season, is running the defense while defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is on an indefinite leave of absence to continue treatment for a cancerous tumor on his spine. The Lions cut OT George Foster and signed OT Jon Jansen after Jansen passed a physical Monday. Jansen, cut by the Redskins on Friday, insists he can still contribute after battling injuries in recent years. Jansen started all but one game over seven seasons after being drafted from Michigan a decade ago, but he didn’t play in 2004 or in 2007 and was limited to 11 starts last season.

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Labor talks to kick off this week BY LIZ MULLEN & DANIEL KAPLAN SportsBusiness Journal

The NFL and the NFL Players Association will begin long-awaited labor negotiations this week, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell warned not to expect a resolution any time soon. Goodell confirmed that talks for a new collective-bargaining agreement would begin this week. Questioned about what kind of progress could be made given that the league has publicly rejected the union’s request that NFL owners open their books, Goodell said, “It is a long process.” The comment is a signal of how large the gulf is between the two sides. This week’s formal bargaining session has been three years in coming: NFL owners have been complaining that the players got too rich a deal since the two sides agreed to it in 2006. The CBA, which ushered in free agency and the salary cap, was signed in 1993 and was subsequently extended five times under the leadership of late NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw and former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. This week’s meeting marks a new generation of leadership on both sides of the table. It will be the first labor deal negotiated by new NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, who was elected to the position in March. It also will be the first time that Goodell leads the CBA talks, though he was the No. 2 executive to Tagliabue during many of the previous CBA extensions. It is not clear whether the NFL, which is pushing for changes in the current deal, will present a formal proposal. Typically, the first session of bargaining involves setting the ground rules and schedules for future meetings. One source said the meeting was set for Wednesday. — [email protected], [email protected]

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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—J.J. Arrington, Denver; Darian Barnes, New Orleans; Tatum Bell, Denver; Jon Bradley, Detroit; 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; Owen Daniels (R), Houston; Nate Lawrie, Cincinnati; Michael Merritt, Kansas City; Chad Mustard, Denver; Rob Myers, NY Jets; 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; George Foster, Detroit; Wayne Gandy, Atlanta; Kwame Harris, Oakland; Jonas Jennings, San Francisco; Levi Jones, Cincinnati; Kyle Link, NY Jets; 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; Brian Johnston, Kansas City; 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; Casey Tyler, Dallas; 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; 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; 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; 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; 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

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

34

Scheffler, McDaniels smooth out any differences ENGLEWOOD, COLO.—Tony Scheffler has no beef with Broncos coach Josh McDaniels and insists he’s on board even after the team traded his good buddy, Jay Cutler. Any friction that might have existed dissipated after a recent chat with his head coach. Scheffler and McDaniels sat down to discuss the tight end’s role with the team. The conversation was cathartic. “Everything’s fine,” Scheffler said last week during the team’s passing camp. “It’s not about me. It’s not about any individual on this team right now. We’re really focused on the team and moving forward. I think we’re doing a lot of good things.” There were rumors swirling in the offseason that Denver was shopping Scheffler, not sure how he would fit into the new, intricate offense McDaniels was implementing. The meeting with McDaniels staunched those. As for frayed feelings, there are none. “Water off a duck’s back— move forward and move to the next day,” said Scheffler, who caught 40 passes for 645 yards and three touchdowns last season. “You can’t really have hurt feelings in this league or else you’ll get left behind in a hurry.” These days, McDaniels is envisioning a big role for his reliable receiving tight end, who’s looks slimmer and sleeker. “Tony’s a very, very highly skilled player,” McDaniels said. “He can do a lot of things. He can run, he can catch, he can block. We’re going to take advantage of every skill that he has. He’s made a good impression on our team here.” McDaniels admits he’s never coached a tight end quite like

JULIE JACOBSON / AP

Denver TE Tony Scheffler (88) says he has no problems with new coach Josh McDaniels. Scheffler, one with the ability to stretch the field with a combination of speed and athleticism. “Tony is probably the most skilled pass-receiving tight end that I’ve had an opportunity to be around,” McDaniels said. “That’s a weapon for us that we can move around on the field. We’re going to try to feature him in that role.” If Scheffler can just stay healthy. That has been the knock on Scheffler, who missed three games with a groin injury last season and was

bothered by a broken foot before the 2007 season. “The whole hurt label is kind of overrated with me,” he said. “It’s frustrating, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time it’s something you’ve got to battle through and learn from. I think I’ve done that. It makes you really appreciate being on the field and being out there with the guys.” Scheffler and Cutler formed quite the connection after the two were taken in the same draft class.

Scheffler was a frequent target for the strong-armed quarterback when Cutler found himself in a jam. However, that came to a halt when Cutler was traded to the Bears in the offseason after deciding he didn’t want to play for McDaniels. Scheffler and Cutler remain close, frequently texting and talking. “I’m sure Jay is going to have a lot of success, a ton of success, in Chicago,” Scheffler said. McDaniels understands the loyalty. “I’m sure there were quite a few players that had relationships with Jay,” McDaniels said. “But they’ve done a great job of saying, ‘You know what? This is our team now, these are our quarterbacks.’ ” Those quarterbacks would be Chris Simms and former Bear Kyle Orton, who are in a hotly contested tussle to land Cutler’s spot. McDaniels prefers to wait and see who gains the upper hand through minicamps. “I think the (players) have embraced both Chris and I,” Orton said. “We’ve come in here, worked hard and pretty much kept our mouths shut and tried to improve every day.” So far, Scheffler likes what he sees from both of them. “We’ve got two pretty darn good quarterbacks,” he said. Scheffler’s unsure what his precise role will be, only that he’s hoping to find himself locked up in coverage by a linebacker. “Those are the matchups I’ve got to win,” Scheffler said. “There’s a lot of weapons on the field, so when your number is called you’ve got to step up and make a play or else you don’t know when the next one’s going to come.” —The Associated Press

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

Dover race shows promise for Earnhardt DOVER, DEL.—Stressed out and unable to sleep during the week of his crew-chief change, Dale Earnhardt Jr. must have responded to one of those late-night Rosetta Stone infomercials. In Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 at Dover, he was already speaking a different language. With Brian Whitesell and Lance McGrew on his pit box, EarnReid Spencer hardt abandoned THE COOL DOWN LAP the often coarse and sometimes vitriolic radio chatter that had become a way of life with longtime crew chief Tony Eury Jr., his cousin. At times, Earnhardt sounded more like Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, calmly providing feedback to his brain trust. More talkative on the radio than usual, Earnhardt was describing the handling of his car at specific points in the corners on a scale of one to 10. In short, he was speaking the language other Hendrick drivers have been using—a noticeable departure from the familiar “Junior Speak” he shared with Eury. Team owner Rick Hendrick certainly noticed. “I think it pressed Junior to explain what the car was doing,” Hendrick said. “I think it challenged Junior, and he did a super job. I am extremely proud of the way he worked on the radio with Lance, and the communication sounded to me like they’ve been together for years. … I think Tony was really kind of letting Junior make the decisions and he would give some input,

ROB CARR / AP

A calmer and more responsive Dale Earnhardt Jr. can only lead to good things for his team, his fans and NASCAR as a whole. but then they would lock up. All I can tell you is that I’m pleased with what happened.” From his tone voice during the race, it was clear that Earnhardt also was pleased—make that elated. The No. 88 Chevrolet started 22nd but soon was shuffled farther back when he made his second pit stop on Lap 45, while most of the leadlap cars stayed on the track. An adjustment made during that stop, however, brought Earnhardt’s car to life, and he drove through traffic toward the front of the field. The off-sequence pit stop paid dividends during a subsequent cycle of green-flag stops that trapped a substantial portion of the field either a lap down or on the tail end of the

lead lap, after John Andretti slapped the wall on Lap 116 to cause the third caution of the race. Able to postpone his third stop until the caution flew, Earnhardt restarted seventh on Lap 124. Before the race reached halfway, he had run down and passed Matt Kenseth for fifth. “Bad ass!” Earnhardt exulted as he made the pass. Some of the self-doubt and shaken confidence that had to have accrued to Earnhardt during a dismal start to the season had fallen away. You could hear it in his voice, even through the radio static. Lest we get carried away, however, it’s important to note the handling of the No. 88 deteriorated during the second half of the race, a

problem that had become chronic with Earnhardt and Eury. Nevertheless, Earnhardt brought the car home in 12th position, 10 spots better than he started. Be wary, too, of assessing a major change to a team less than a week after it happens. Change inevitably brings an adrenaline boost to a race team. Whether it’s destined to last is something to evaluate two months from now. There were enough positives in Sunday’s race, however, to give Earnhardt and his fans substantial hope that the new pairing will produce the desired results—even if hope sometimes comes in a foreign language. [email protected]

35

INSIDE DISH

Petty: Chrysler bankruptcy difficult for Dodge teams Team owner Richard Petty said the Chrysler bankruptcy has put cash flow from the manufacturer to the Richard Petty Motorsports organization he co-owns with George Gillett “in a holding pattern.” “They’ve stopped everything,” Petty said. “They went into bankruptcy, and they’re sort of in a floating stage right now. They’re trying to see where they AP come out of this Richard Petty at. … They’re in a holding pattern right now.” Walter Czarnecki, vice chairman of Penske Racing, which also fields Dodges, said his organization has felt a similar pinch. “In the legal procedure, you have to file what’s called a ‘Cure Letter’ that lists all the things that you are owed. And when it’s submitted and approved, they’ll pay. We have money that was due April 30 that has not been received yet and probably won’t be received for several weeks.” Mike Accavitti, director of brand marketing and strategy for Chrysler, acknowledged the reorganization has affected the flow of cash from Chrysler but affirmed the company remains committed to Cup racing and that at-track services provided to the teams continue to be available. “The amount of engineering and other technical services, along with supply of racing

components we provide to the Dodge factory-backed teams has not changed,” Accavitti said in a statement to Sporting News Today. “NASCAR remains a strategic part of our marketing plan and the Dodge brand. … We have commitments to the sport and our teams and plan to continue our sponsorship into the foreseeable future. “During our Chapter 11 reorganization, Chrysler has strictly followed each and every step of the court-supervised process according to bankruptcy law. Interruption to the normal course of business, including supplier payments, is inherent during this process.” — Reid Spencer

Trevor Bayne will drive in eight Nationwide Series races this season for Michael Waltrip Racing, the team announced Monday. Bayne, 18, a development driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc., will drive the No. 99, beginning with this weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway. — Lee Montgomery, SceneDaily.com Memphis Motorsports Park officials announced the track’s June 27 Camping World Truck Series race will be titled the Memphis Travel.com 200 under terms of a sponsorship agreement with the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau. The track also said O’Reilly Auto Parts will be the presenting sponsor. — SceneDaily.com

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PGA Tour schedule Jan. 8-11—Mercedes-Benz Championship (Geoff Ogilvy) Jan. 15-18—Sony Open in Hawaii (Zach Johnson) Jan. 21-25—Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (Pat Perez) Jan. 29-Feb. 1—FBR Open (Kenny Perry) Feb. 5-8—Buick Invitational (Nick Watney) Feb. 12-15—AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (Dustin Johnson) Feb. 19-22—Northern Trust Open (Phil Mickelson) Feb. 25-March 1—WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (Geoff Ogilvy) Feb. 25-March 1—Mayakoba Golf Classic (Mark Wilson) March 5-8—The Honda Classic (Y.E. Yang) March 12-15—WGC-CA Championship, (Phil Mickelson) March 12-15—Puerto Rico Open (Michael Bradley) March 19-22—Transitions Championship (Retief Goosen) March 26-29—Arnold Palmer Invitational (Tiger Woods) April 2-5—Shell Houston Open (Paul Casey) April 9-12—The Masters (Angel Cabrera) April 16-19—Verizon Heritage (Brian Gay) April 23-26—Zurich Classic of New Orleans (Jerry Kelly) April 30-May 3—Quail Hollow Championship (Sean O’Hair) May 7-10—The Players Championship (Henrik Stenson) May 14-17—Valero Texas Open (Zach Johnson) May 21-24—HP Byron Nelson Championship (Rory Sabbatini) May 28-31—Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (Steve Stricker) Thursday-Sunday—The Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village GC, Dublin, Ohio June 11-14—Stanford St. Jude Championship, TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tenn. June 18-21—U.S. Open, Bethpage State Park (Black Course), Farmingdale, N.Y. June 25-28—Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Conn. July 2-5—AT&T National, Congressional CC (Blue Course), Bethesda, Md. July 9-12—John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill. July 16-19—The Open Championship, Turnberry (Ailsa Course), Turnberry, Scotland July 16-19—U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, Brown Deer Park GC, Milwaukee July 23-26—RBC Canadian Open, Glen Abbey GC, Oakville, Ontario July 30-Aug. 2—Buick Open, Warwick Hills G and CC, Grand Blanc, Mich. Aug. 6-9—WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio Aug. 6-9—Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, Montreux G and CC, Reno, Nev. Aug. 13-16—PGA Championship, Hazeltine National GC, Chaska, Minn. Aug. 20-23—Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, N.C. Aug. 27-30—The Barclays, Liberty National GC, Jersey City, N.J. Sept. 4-7—Deutsche Bank Championship, TPC Boston, Norton, Mass. Sept. 10-13—BMW Championship, Cog Hill GC, Lemont, Ill. Sept. 24-27—The Tour Championship, East Lake GC, Atlanta Oct. 1-4—Turning Stone Restort Chamnpionship, Atunyote GC at Turning Stone Resort, Verona, N.Y. Oct. 8-11—The Presidents Cup, Harding Park GC, San Francisco Oct. 15-18—Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas Oct. 22-25—Frys.com Open, Grayhawk GC, Scottlsdale, Ariz. Oct. 29-Nov. 1—Viking Classic, Annandale GC, Madison, Miss. Nov. 12-15—Children’s Miracle Network Classic, Walt Disney World Resort (Magnolia Course, Palm Course), Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Golf

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

36

Mickelson to play in U.S. Open DUBLIN, OHIO—Phil Mickelson plans a brief return to the PGA Tour in time to play in the U.S. Open. The world’s No. 2 player suspended his schedule indefinitely upon announcing two weeks ago that his wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Recent tests have given them hope the cancer has been caught early, with more tests over the next month. Mickelson intends to return next week at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn., then play the following week in the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, according to a person informed of the plans. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Mickelson had not announced his decision. “We heard there was a possibility he would play,” St. Jude Championship spokesman Phil Cannon. “That would be great.” Mickelson is a sentimental favorite at every U.S. Open, where at age 38 he already has tied the record for most runner-up finishes with four. He is especially popular in New York, and his presence at Bethpage Black figured to bring an emotional and raucous response. He has never finished worse than fourth in his four U.S. Opens held in New York. But his return might not last long. Mickelson first thought surgery for his 37-year-old wife could happen as early as a few weeks since the announcement, but that has been pushed back for another month. Her treatment and recovery will dictate whether he plays in the British Open, or how much he plays at all the rest of the summer. Mickelson already has won twice this year and is No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings. Amy Mickelson is among the most popular wives in golf, mingling with friends and fans with equal ease as she follows him around the course. The support has been overwhelming, with phone calls and messages from players, and visible support on tour. Saturday at Colonial, the PGA Tour Wives Association worked with the tour and title sponsor Crowne Plaza to promote “Pink Out,”

in which players, wives, officials and fans were encouraged to wear pink. Ian Poulter was dressed in pink from headto-toe, and most players wore some form of pink. Vijay Singh, one of Mickelson’s fierce rivals, wore a pink shirt. Even the CBS Sports crew wore the color in support. “We have been home watching the golf at Colonial surrounded by loved ones,” Amy wrote Saturday on her husband’s Web site. “Every time we see a player, caddy, announcer or fan wearing pink, we are overwhelmed by the love and support we feel. ... The 11 days since we received the diagnosis have been very difficult, but this incredible gesture helps us feel so much stronger.” Mickelson typically plays the week before a major to work into a competitive mode, but he has not done that in the last two years when Memphis moved into that spot on the schedule. The last time he has played the St. Jude Championship was in 2001, when he missed the cut. Mickelson was treated like a rock star in his last appearance at Bethpage Black, a public golf course on Long Island. It was held nine months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Mickelson had yet to win a major. Starting the final round five shots behind, Mickelson got to within two shots of Tiger Woods on the back nine before Woods pulled away for a three-shot victory. Mickelson won the first of his three majors at the 2004 Masters, and he finally delivered for the New York area in 2005 when he won the PGA Championship at Baltusrol in northern New Jersey. A native of San Diego, Lefty has become so smitten with New York that he takes a trip there every year with his family, and recently joined Liberty National, across the Hudson River in New Jersey. “I love all that’s going on there,” he said last month. “It’s a very sports-minded city, a very cultural city, an energetic city.” — The Associated Press

ED REINKE / AP

Phil Mickelson will play in the St. Jude Championship and the U.S. Open while wife Amy, right, battles cancer.

Nicklaus, Woods to play Skins together Wednesday DUBLIN, OHIO—Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods will play together in the Memorial Skins Game, only the second time they have competed against each other in the same group. The Memorial Skins Game is Wednesday at Muirfield Village and involves four players in two groups. Nicklaus and Woods will be joined by Stewart Cink and Kenny Perry, the

defending champion at the Memorial. The other group will have Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas. The only other time Nicklaus and Woods played in the same group was the 2000 PGA Championship, which Woods won for his third straight major. — The Associated Press

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Tennis

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

37

FRENCH OPEN

Glance PARIS—A look at the French Open on Monday: Weather: Sunny. High of 75 degrees. Attendance: 26,211. Men’s Fourth Round: No. 2 Roger Federer def. Tommy Haas 6-7 (4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2; No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro def. No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4; No. 11 Gael Monfils def. No. 6 Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-2, 6-3; No. 16 Tommy Robredo def. No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Women’s Fourth Round: No. 2 Serena Williams def. No. 24 Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-2; Sorana Cirstea def. No. 5 Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 6-0, 9-7; No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova def. No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; No. 30 Samantha Stosur def. Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-2. Stat of the Day: 5 — Career comebacks from two-set deficits for Federer, who has done it once at each of the past two Grand Slam tournaments. Quote of the Day: “It just shows that we’re all human.” — Federer, speaking about Rafael Nadal’s loss to Robin Soderling. Today’s Quarterfinals: No. 3 Andy Murray vs. No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 10 Nikolay Davydenko vs. No. 23 Robin Soderling; No. 1 Dinara Safina vs. No. 9 Victoria Azarenka, No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova vs. Maria Sharapova. Today’s Forecast: Sunny. High of 77 degrees. Today’s TV: Tennis Channel, 8 a.m.-noon EDT; ESPN2, noon-6:30 p.m. EDT.

Federer needs five sets to squeak by unheralded Haas PARIS—Roger Federer knows full well, of course, that Rafael Nadal is no longer around this year to befuddle him, to beat him, to stand between him and a French Open title. Federer insists he is not thinking about that, not thinking ahead. Still, Federer sure did play as if preoccupied for the better part of two hours Monday, dropping the first two sets of his fourth-round match against 63rdranked Tommy Haas of Germany. One point from letting Haas serve for the victory, Federer conjured up one particularly spectacular forehand that managed to change the entire flow of things. That shot spurred a run of nine consecutive games for Federer, sending him to a 6-7 (4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Haas and a berth in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. “I knew I was going to look back on that shot. That saved me,” Federer said. “I was in quite some danger.” But he escaped. With two more victories, Federer will reach a fourth consecutive final at the French Open, the only Grand Slam championship he hasn’t won. Federer lost to Nadal in each of the past three finals and in the 2005 semifinals, but the Spaniard’s 31-match winning streak at the claycourt major tournament ended Sunday against Robin Soderling. “You’re aware of it,” Federer said. “Definitely changes it up, if I were to make the final. But we’re not there yet, so honestly it hasn’t changed a whole lot for me.” Federer now tries to reach the semifinals at a 20th Grand Slam event in a row, which would extend his own record, when he meets 11th-seeded Gael Monfils of France, a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 winner over No. 6 Andy Roddick, the

Roger Federer’s rallies from down 0-2 2000 U.S. Open (R128) — def. Peter Wessels, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 3-4, retired. 2001 French Open (R64) — def. Sargis Sargsian, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 9-7. 2005 Key Biscayne (F) — def. Rafael Nadal, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-1. 2009 Australian Open (R16) — def. Tomas Berdych, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. 2009 French Open (R16) — def. Tommy Haas, 6-7 (4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

LIONEL CIRONNEAU / AP

After dropping the first set, Sorana Cirstea rebounded to eliminate fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic. last American man in the tournament. Federer is 4-0 against Monfils, including a victory in the French Open semifinals a year ago. Monfils dominated Roddick, even out-acing him 17-4, and Roddick began complaining in the second set that it was too dark to see. “Don’t tell me what’s OK and what’s not,” the 2003 U.S. Open champion snapped at chair umpire Enric Molina. “You’re not the one playing.” It was the day’s last match on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and the start was delayed by No. 5 Jelena Jankovic’s loss to the 41st-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania 3-6, 6-0, 9-7, which lasted 2 hours, 44 minutes. “It wasn’t easy at the end,” said

Cirstea, two points from defeat when Jankovic served for the match at 5-4, 30-love in the third set. “I saw she was tired, also. So I knew it was also a little bit mental: Who is going to stay stronger?” Elsewhere, 2002 champion Serena Williams beat No. 24 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-2; No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; and No. 30 Samantha Stosur beat Virginie Razzano of France 6-1, 6-2. “This,” Williams said, “is when everything counts.” No one knows that better than Federer, whose 13 major championships are one shy of Pete Sampras’ record. With Nadal, Roddick and No. 4 Novak Djokovic all gone, Federer is the only

man left with a Grand Slam title. “For a lot of players,” Federer said, “I think it must be quite a big opportunity, and their heads must be spinning right now.” The other matchup on his half of the draw is No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina against No. 16 Tommy Robredo of Spain—two men who are a combined 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals. Del Potro beat No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4, and Robredo eliminated No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Federer won the first 24 points on his serve, but Haas hung around. “We both knew there was a chance for me to finish him off,” Haas said. “Just got to tip your hat and say, ‘That’s why he’s Roger Federer.’” — The Associated Press

Results

At Stade Roland Garros Paris Purse: $21.8 million (Grand Slam) Surface: Clay-Outdoor Singles Men Fourth Round Roger Federer (2), Switzerland, def. Tommy Haas, Germany, 6-7 (4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. Tommy Robredo (16), Spain, def. Philipp Kohlschreiber (29), Germany, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Juan Martin del Potro (5), Argentina, def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9), France, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4. Gael Monfils (11), France, def. Andy Roddick (6), United States, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Women Fourth Round Serena Williams (2), United States, def. Aleksandra Wozniak (24), Canada, 6-1, 6-2. Svetlana Kuznetsova (7), Russia, def. Agnieszka Radwanska (12), Poland, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, def. Jelena Jankovic (5), Serbia, 3-6, 6-0, 9-7. Samantha Stosur (30), Australia, def. Virginie Razzano, France, 6-1, 6-2. Doubles Men Quarterfinals Wesley Moodie, South Africa, and Dick Norman, Belgium, def. Jose Acasuso, Argentina, and Fernando Gonzalez, Chile, walkover. Lukas Dlouhy, Czech Republic, and Leander Paes (3), India, def. Bruno Soares, Brazil, and Kevin Ullyett (5), Zimbabwe, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Women Quarterfinals Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, and Elena Vesnina (12), Russia, def. Yan Zi and Zheng Jie (16), China, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (3), Spain, def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Patty Schnyder (11), Switzerland, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Mixed Second Round Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Mark Knowles, def. Lisa Raymond, United States, and Marcin Matkowski (3), Poland, 3-6, 7-5, 10-6 tiebreak. Quarterfinals Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan (1), United States, def. Ai Sugiyama, Japan, and Andre Sa (5), Brazil, 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 tiebreak. Vania King, United States, and Marcelo Melo, Brazil, def. Sybille Bammer, Austria, and Lukasz Kubot, Poland, 6-3, 7-5.

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All times ET, double elimination

Greenville, N.C. May 29 South Carolina 11, George Mason 3 South Carolina 11, George Mason 3 May 30 East Carolina 11, Binghamton 7 Binghamton 11, George Mason 6, George Mason eliminated South Carolina 12, East Carolina 2 May 31 East Carolina 16, Binghamton 9, Binghamton eliminated East Carolina 8, South Carolina 6 Monday East Carolina 10, South Carolina 9, 10 innings, East Carolina advances

At Boshamer Stadium Chapel Hill, N.C. May 29 Coastal Carolina 11, Kansas 3 North Carolina 5, Dartmouth 2 May 30 Kansas 16, Dartmouth 0, Dartmouth eliminated North Carolina 14, Coastal Carolina 5 May 31 Kansas 5, Coastal Carolina 1, Coastal Carolina eliminated North Carolina 12, Kansas 1, North Carolina advances

At Doug Kingsmore Stadium Clemson, S.C. May 29 Oklahoma State 10, Alabama 6 Clemson 5, Tennessee Tech 4 May 30 Tennessee Tech 6, Alabama 2, Alabama eliminated Oklahoma State 3, Clemson 2 May 31 Clemson 10, Tennessee Tech 0, Tennessee Tech eliminated Clemson 15, Oklahoma State 1 Monday Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 5, Clemson advances

At Russ Chandler Stadium Atlanta May 29 Southern Mississippi 17, Elon 15 Georgia Tech 9, Georgia State 3 May 30 Georgia State 4, Elon 3, Elon eliminated Southern Mississippi 10, Georgia Tech 7

May 31 Georgia Tech 8, Elon 4, Elon eliminated Georgia Tech 10, Southern Mississippi 3 Monday Southern Mississippi 12, Georgia Tech 8, Southern Miss advances

At McKethan Stadium

38

NCAA REGIONAL ROUNDUP

NCAA Division I regionals glance At Clark-LeClair Stadium

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

East Carolina 10, South Carolina 9, 10 innings Mississippi 7, Western Kentucky 4 May 31 Western Kentucky 11, Missouri 6, Missouri eliminated Western Kentucky 10, Mississippi 9 Monday Mississippi 4, Western Kentucky 1, Mississippi advances

Gainesville, Fla. May 29 Miami 9, Jacksonville 4 Florida 8, Bethune-Cookman 7 May 30 Jacksonville 8, BethuneCookman 7, Bethune-Cookman eliminated Florida 8, Miami 2 May 31 Miami 4, Jacksonville 0, Jacksonville eliminated Florida 16, Miami 5, Florida advances

At Alex Box Stadium

At Dick Howser Stadium

At L. Dale Mitchell Park

Tallahassee, Fla. May 29 Georgia 24, Ohio State 8 Florida State 16, Marist 4 May 30 Ohio State 6, Marist 4, Marist eliminated Florida State 8, Georgia 2 May 31 Ohio State 13, Georgia 6, Georgia eliminated Florida State 37, Ohio State 6, Florida St. advances

Norman, Okla. May 29 Arkansas 10, Washington State 3 Oklahoma 5, Wichita State 4 May 30 Washington State 3, Wichita State 2, Wichita St. eliminated Arkansas 17, Oklahoma 6 May 31 Oklahoma 7, Washington State 2, Washington St. eliminated Arkansas 11, Oklahoma 0, Arkansas advances

At Jim Patterson Stadium

At Reckling Park

Baton Rouge, La. May 29 LSU 10, Southern U. 2 Baylor 5, Minnesota 0 May 30 Minnesota 11, Southern U. 8, Southern U. eliminated LSU 3, Baylor 3, 10 innings May 31 Minnesota 15, Baylor 12, Baylor eliminated LSU 10, Minnesota 3, LSU advances

Louisville, Ky. May 29 Middle Tennessee 5, Vanderbilt 4 Louisville 8, Indiana 2 May 30 Vanderbilt 10, Indiana 0, Indiana eliminated Louisville 3, Middle Tennessee 2 May 31 Vanderbilt 6, Middle Tennessee 0, Middle Tenn. eliminated Vanderbilt 8, Louisville 4 Monday Louisville 5, Vanderbilt 2, Louisville advances

Houston May 29 Kansas State 16, Xavier 8 Rice 5, Sam Houston State 2 May 30 Xavier 9, Sam Houston State 6, Sam Houston eliminated Kansas State 7, Rice 6, 10 innings May 31 Rice 12, Xavier 5, Xavier eliminated Rice 8, Kansas State 0 Monday Rice 13, Kansas State 4, Rice advances

At Oxford-University Stadium

At Lupton Baseball Stadium

Oxford, Miss. May 29 Western Kentucky 11, Missouri 5 Mississippi 8, Monmouth, N.J. 1 May 30 Missouri 9, Monmouth, N.J. 0, Monmouth, N.J. eliminated

Fort Worth, Texas May 29 Oregon State 9, Texas A&M 8 TCU 6, Wright State 3 May 30 Texas A&M 6, Wright State 4, 11 innings, Wright St. eliminated

TCU 13, Oregon State 1 May 31 Oregon State 13, Texas A&M 5, Texas A&M eliminated TCU 5, Oregon State 4, TCU advances

At UFCU Disch-Falk Field Austin, Texas May 29 Boston College 8, Texas State 7 Texas 3, Army 1 May 30 Army 7, Texas State 4, Texas St. eliminated Texas 3, Boston College 2, 25 innings May 31 Army 4, Boston College 3, Boston College eliminated Texas 14, Army 10, Texas advances

At Packard Stadium Tempe, Ariz. May 29 Oral Roberts 13, Cal Poly 3 Arizona State 17, Kent State 6 May 30 Kent State 10, Cal Poly 9, Cal Poly eliminated Arizona State 4, Oral Roberts 1 May 31 Oral Roberts 15, Kent State 10, Kent St. eliminated Arizona State 8, Oral Roberts 3, Arizona State advances

At Anteater Ballpark Irvine, Calif. May 29 Virginia 5, San Diego State 1 UC Irvine 4, Fresno State 2 May 30 San Diego State 4, Fresno State 1, Fresno St. eliminated Virginia 5, UC Irvine 0 May 31 UC Irvine 14, San Diego State 3, San Diego State eliminated Virginia 4, UC Irvine 1, Virginia advances

At Goodwin Field Fullerton, Calif. May 29 Gonzaga 19, Georgia Southern 10 Cal State Fullerton 18, Utah 2 May 30 Utah 11, Georgia Southern 10, Georgia Southern eliminated Cal State Fullerton 7, Gonzaga 4 May 31 Utah 9, Gonzaga 7, Gonzaga eliminated Cal State Fullerton 16, Utah 3, Cal State Fullerton advances

Harris plays hero, lifts ECU over Gamecocks GREENVILLE, N.C.—Devin Harris singled home Kyle Roller in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift East Carolina past South Carolina 10-9 on Monday night in an NCAA regional final. Harris, who forced extra innings with a three-run homer in the ninth, finished with four hits and five RBIs for the top-seeded Pirates (46-18). East Carolina will play North Carolina in a best-of-three super regional series. In the 10th, Roller doubled, Brandon Henderson was intentionally walked, and two batters later, Harris sent Sam Dyson’s 3-1 pitch up the middle for the win. Scott Wingo and Jackie Bradley Jr. homered for South Carolina (40-23), which led 6-0 in the fifth.

Louisville (Ky.) Regional Louisville 5, Vanderbilt 3 Ryan Wright hit a go-ahead three-run homer and Tony Zych threw six solid innings to lift Louisville past Vanderbilt in the deciding game of their regional series. The top-seeded Cardinals (47-16) advanced to the super regionals, where they’ll face Cal State Fullerton (45-14) this weekend. Wright, 2 for 4 with a run scored, hit his homer in the fourth, while John Dao and Chris Dominguez also drove in runs for Louisville. Zych (6-2) allowed two runs and six hits in just his third start of the season, while ace starter Justin Marks pitched a perfect ninth for his first save. Mike Minor gave up three earned runs in 3 2-3 innings, and Aaron Westlake homered for the Commodores (37-27).

Clemson (S.C.) Regional Clemson 6, Oklahoma St. 5 Kyle Parker’s two-run single in the eighth inning lifted Clemson to a comeback victory over Oklahoma State in the deciding game of their regional.

three-run homer capped the nine-run inning, the most runs McGuire (11-2) has allowed for Georgia Tech (38-19-1). Only four of the runs were earned. Todd McInnis (9-4) gave up two runs in 4 1-3 relief innings.

Oxford (Miss.) Regional

JIM R. BOUNDS / AP

ECU’s Devin Harris, right, celebrates his game-winning RBI single in the 10th, set up by his three-run homer in the ninth. Parker drove in Ben Paulsen and John Nester with a liner to left field off Cowboys closer Randy McCurry, who came in for starter Tyler Lyons (7-6). Chris Epps’ two-out, two-run homer after an error by the Cowboys (34-24), who led 5-1 through six innings, sparked the rally. Matt Vaughn (4-1) pitched the final 3 2-3 innings for the Tigers (44-20), who advanced to play at Arizona State in the super regionals this weekend.

Atlanta Regional Southern Miss 12, Georgia Tech 8 B.A. Vollmuth hit two second-inning homers off Georgia Tech ace Deck McGuire to power Southern Mississippi past the Yellow Jackets and send the Eagles to their first NCAA super regional. Southern Miss (38-24) will play Florida in the best-of-three super regional in Gainesville, Fla. Vollmuth hit a two-run homer high off the scoreboard in left field to open the scoring. His

Mississippi 4, W. Kentucky 1 Drew Pomeranz took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and tied a school record with 16 strikeouts to lead Mississippi past Western Kentucky and into the super regionals. Pomeranz, 2-0 in the regionals with 26 strikeouts in 17 innings, allowed two infield hits in his complete game as the Rebels (43-18) advanced to their fourth super regional in five seasons. The first hit for the Hilltoppers (42-20) came on a questionable call at first base after Matt Smith bobbled a fairly routine grounder with one out in the seventh. An error later in the inning helped Western Kentucky tie it at 1. Smith atoned for the bobble in the next inning with a two-run triple that put Ole Miss ahead.

Houston Regional Rice 13, Kansas St. 4 Diego Seastrunk hit a three-run homer and Rick Hague drove in three runs to help Rice defeat Kansas State and advance to the super regionals. Michael Fuda and Jimmy Comerota each had four of the 20 hits for the Owls (43-16), who’ll face LSU in the best-of-three super regionals next weekend. Rice used a six-run fourth inning to take an 8-2 lead. Matthew Reckling (2-2) allowed two runs and three hits in four innings of relief. Sophomore Thomas Rooke (5-2) gave up four hits and four runs in the first career start for Kansas State (43-18-1). — The Associated Press

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Razorbacks slumped late, pulled it together FAYETTEVILLE, ARK.—When Arkansas went to the College World Series in 2004, the Razorbacks beat Florida State to get there. Arkansas will have to go through the Seminoles again to reach the tournament this year. The Razorbacks got off to a strong start this season, winning eight of their first nine games. They built a 24-6 record and were voted No. 1 by one national poll. Then came the heart of the Southeastern Conference season, in which the Razorbacks were swept by Vanderbilt, Alabama and Ole Miss, and lost series to LSU and Georgia. Vandy and LSU advanced to super regionals, as did Florida, a team the Razorbacks swept during the regular season and beat twice for the Razorbacks’ only victories in the SEC tournament. Those wins in the tournament followed a 1-9 finish to the regular seasonandprovidedthefreshmen-heavy team with some much needed experience and confidence. The Seminoles (45-16) enter the super regional with some momentum, too. They beat Ohio State 37-6 on Sunday while the Razorbacks (37-22) were dismissing Oklahoma 11-0. Florida State will host the super regional, which starts Friday. After he watched Arkansas freshman Drew Smyly (3-1) take a no hitter into the ninth on Sunday, Oklahoma coach Sunny Golloway said his team didn’t suffer from a lack of effort. “I think we played a team that was getting hot in all phases of the game,” Golloway said. Following the Seminoles’ rout of

the Buckeyes, Ohio State coach Bob Todd said his crew also ran into a hot team. “Everything they did was right,” Todd said. “Everything we did was wrong.” Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins went 5-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs against Oklahoma on Sunday. He leads the team in homers (17), RBIs (55), runs scored (49) walks (45) and batting average (.329). Wilkins, a sophomore first baseman is tied with shortstop Ben Tschepikow for the team lead in hits, with 70 apiece. Tschepikow has come on strong late in the season. He leads the team with 16 steals in 21 attempts, has 46 RBIs and a .317 batting average. Tschepikow trails Wilkins by one run with 48 runs scored. During the regional, Wilkins batted .750, and Tschepikow batted over .400. “He’s hot,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said of Wilkins. “You try to get into a little bit of a groove and the confidence level goes up. The talent’s already there.” Van Horn started as many as eight freshmen in tournament play and wants the group to stay in that same groove. Dallas Keuchel, (7-3), team leader in wins and ERA (4.12), didn’t get a decision in the Razorbacks’ opening 10-3 victory over Washington State. But he pitched seven solid innings, giving up three runs. Brett Eibner (5-4) picked the victory in Arkansas’ first victory over Oklahoma in the regional and takes a 4.25 ERA into Tallahassee. — The Associated Press

Baseball coverage is our bread & butter JOHN CLANTON / AP

P Drew Smyly (33) helped Arkansas reach the super regionals by carrying a no-hitter into the ninth against Oklahoma Sunday.

NCAA Division I super regionals glance At Dick Howser Stadium Tallahassee, Fla. Friday Arkansas (37-22) vs. Florida State (45-16), Noon Saturday Arkansas vs. Florida State, Noon Sunday Arkansas vs. Florida State, Noon, if necessary

At Alex Box Stadium Baton Rouge, La. Friday Rice (43-16) vs. LSU (49-16), 7 p.m. Saturday Rice vs. LSU, 5 p.m. Sunday Rice vs. LSU, 7 p.m., if necessary

At UFCU Disch-Falk Field Austin, Texas Saturday TCU (39-16) vs. Texas (44-13-1), 6 p.m. Sunday TCU vs. Texas, 3 p.m.

Monday TCU vs. Texas, 1 or 7 p.m., if necessary

At McKethan Stadium Gainesville, Fla. Saturday Southern Mississippi (38-24) vs. Florida (42-20), 3 p.m. Sunday Southern Mississippi vs. Florida, 7 p.m. Monday Southern Mississippi vs. Florida, 1 or 7 p.m., if necessary

At Boshamer Stadium Chapel Hill, N.C. Saturday East Carolina (46-18) vs. North Carolina (45-16), Noon Sunday East Carolina vs. North Carolina, Noon Monday East Carolina vs. North Carolina, 1 or 7 p.m., if necessary

At Packard Stadium Tempe, Ariz. Saturday Clemson (44-20) vs. Arizona State (47-12), 9 p.m.

All times ET (Best-of-3)

Sunday Clemson vs. Arizona State, 10 p.m. Monday, June 8 Clemson vs. Arizona State, 7 p.m., if necessary

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Horse Racing / College Softball

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Huskies one win from first title OKLAHOMA CITY—Two months ago, Jenn Salling was a woman without a team. One month ago, she was mired in a slump that left her with a .100 batting average. Now, she and an Olympic teammate are on the brink of leading Washington to its first NCAA softball title. Salling hit a two-run single that turned into a whole lot more in the third inning as the Huskies routed top-seeded Florida 8-0 Monday night in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series finals. Florida’s 29-game winning streak was snapped. Salling’s single brought in four runs when catcher Kristina Hilbreth tried to catch a runner at second. Her throw sailed into center field. “We’ll take it,” Salling said. Washington loaded the bases with a walk and two infield grounders before Salling lined a single through the infield that Kim Waleszonia fielded in shallow center. She fired home too late to get Ashley Charters, and Hilberth then zipped a throw back toward second that sailed over even Waleszonia as she made a leaping attempt to catch it. Two more runs scored as the ball rolled into deep center field, giving Washington a 4-0 edge. A member of the Canadian Olympic team, Salling joined the Huskies late in the season before playing a key role in their postseason push. After transferring from Oregon, she wasn’t allowed to play until April because of NCAA rules and started her abbreviated season 0-for-13. Over her first month with Wash-

Championship series (Best-of-3) Monday: Washington 8, Florida 0 Today: Florida (63-4) vs. Washington (50-12), 8 p.m. Wednesday: Florida vs. Washington, 8 p.m., if necessary

ington, she was hitting .100. But in the final two weeks of the season, Salling turned it around she’s hitting at a .413 clip (19-for-46) since May 7. “My teammates have helped me immensely. It was tough at the beginning, and they’ve helped me through everything with that struggle from the beginning,” Salling said. “Picked me up when I felt down, picked me up when the confidence was down, picked me up when I didn’t know if I was the one who could do that job at that time.” Now, she and national player of the year Danielle Lawrie, her teammate from the Olympics, have the third-seeded Huskies (50-12) within one win the national championship. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is tonight. Lawrie (41-8) threw a two-hitter to set a Washington record with her 41st career shutout. Jennifer Spediacci, who pitched the Huskies to their last championship appearance in 1999, held the old record with 40. Ashley Charters added a two-run home run off reliever Stephanie Brombacher in the sixth inning, setting a school record with her 95th hit of the season in the process. — The Associated Press

TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

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HORSE RACING BELMONT STAKES Saturday 6:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Borel confident about his Triple Crown chance LOUISVILLE, KY.—Calvin Borel is back on Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and he’s thinking about another Triple Crown victory. “We’re gonna win, no questions asked,” Borel predicted after a workout Monday at Churchill Downs, where the gelding did a half-mile in 50 seconds. That was his Derby-winning formula. “He worked in :50 and out in 1:02, just like before the Derby. He is doing everything the same,” the jockey said. “After those two hard races (the Derby and Preakness), I think the (gelding) is very happy.” It seems like everybody in Mine That Bird’s camp is happy these days. That starts with Borel. He would have ridden Kentucky Oaks and Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra if the filly had entered the Belmont Stakes. But Barbara Banke, wife of coowner Jess Jackson, says they’re looking out for her future and passed on the race. Borel said he is committed to ride the horse for the next year. So Borel is back on Mine That Bird, with a chance to win all three legs of the Triple Crown on two horses, something no jockey has done. He’s already way past his dream of just winning the Kentucky Derby. He’s done that twice, the first time aboard Street Sense in 2007. And what do he and Mine That Bird need for a win Saturday?

GARRY JONES / AP

Calvin Borel was back on Mine That Bird preparing for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. “We just gotta get lucky,” he said, wearing a Mine That Bird hat, before the horse’s morning work. “Me and the horse fit good.” The horse was still bouncing and kicking when he came off the track on his way to a cool-down walk and bath under the watch of trainer Chip Woolley. “He’s just a happy camper,” Borel said. Woolley thinks his horse may be

even better now after a secondplace finish in the Preakness in which he was closing on Rachel Alexandra. “I was thinking last week, he’s probably training better than he did going into the Derby,” Woolley said. “Calvin got the work I wanted out of him this morning. ... They just looked like they were bread and butter.” Even Banke is going to be on

Mine That Bird’s side when the gates open Saturday. “I’m hoping Calvin gets the Calvin Triple Crown,” she said. It was only Friday that Jackson announced the filly would not run in the Belmont, making Borel available for Mine That Bird. Borel’s agent, Jerry Hissam, said there were never any hard feelings between the two teams and rider. “We had to go the way we went, and (Woolley) was very comfortable with it,” Hissam said. “It’s all been real good teamwork between two camps and ourselves.” Meanwhile, one of the horses Mine that Bird beat in the Derby, Nowhere to Hide, also worked Monday but won’t be competing in the Belmont. Trainer Nick Zito said in a statement released by the New York Racing Association that he and owner Len Riggio have “decided to pass on the Belmont and look for another spot for him.” Nowhere to Hide, who worked a half-mile in 49.92 on a training track at Saratoga, was 17th in the Derby. Borel was scheduled to fly to New York on Monday. He’ll do a round of television appearances and ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange during the week leading to the Belmont. And, according to him, it’s just luck. “I got the best filly and the best (gelding) in the world,” Borel said. “I can’t go wrong.” — The Associated Press

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TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2009

IN BRIEF

TRANSACTIONS

WNBA’s Mercury ink deal to advertise on jerseys NEW YORK—Following the lead of international sports, the Phoenix Mercury have become the first WNBA team to put a sponsor’s name on their jerseys. Under the three-year deal with LifeLock announced Monday, the identity theft protection company’s name will replace the “Phoenix” and “Mercury” across the road and home uniforms, respectively. The team’s logo will appear above the “LifeLock” on the left side. The Mercury are the first team to finalize an agreement under the league’s new initiative aimed at increasing revenue and marketing opportunities. WNBA president Donna Orender expects more teams to reach similar deals. “There are very positive discussions going on in the marketplace right now and I would estimate there could be another one this season,” she said. NBA commissioner David Stern believes such agreements are important to the continued growth and success of the WNBA. “This groundbreaking deal represents the next step in the financial health of the WNBA,” he said, “and it serves most importantly as a blueprint because I’m sure there will be more, for other teams to assure their financial health.” Mercury star Diana Taurasi stressed the confidence the deal showed in the future viability of the WNBA. “I think it’s very important,” Taurasi told The Associated Press. “Things are down, people are struggling. You don’t have many companies venturing out and doing different things. For LifeLock to step up and recognize the WNBA is something they can invest in and be very positive and productive in women’s sports is huge.”

Soccer NASSAU, BAHAMAS—European

soccer

Italian club Juventus. “I always play in the middle.” UEFA members support certain parts of the so-called 6+5 plan, but decided Monday at its own meeting that its members shouldn’t vote on the matter until the legal questions are answered. That’s a process with no end in sight. “We can only do it when it’s legal,” Belgian federation president Francois De Keersmaecker said. The EU favors UEFA’s “homegrown” proposal that would require clubs to carry a quota of players on their roster who were trained in that country, regardless of nationality.

BEBETO MATTHEWS / AP

Mercurcy star Diana Taurasi said she was in favor of Phoenix’s decision to replace their team and city names on jerseys with a corporate sponsor. officials will abstain if a vote is taken by the sport’s worldwide body this week to restrict teams to a maximum of five foreign players in starting lineups. FIFA president Sepp Blatter backs the plan, which is supported by many of his organization’s members and could drastically change the makeup of many of the world’s best-known clubs, such as ones in the English Premier League. The European Union, however, insists such a rule discriminates on the grounds of nationality. And that disagreement could easily put members of Europe’s soccer federation in a delicate spot if a vote is called during FIFA’s annual meeting Wednesday. “I am in the middle,” said UEFA president Michel Platini, a former star midfielder for France’s national team and the

LONDON—Carlo Ancelotti was appointed Chelsea’s fifth manager in less than two years Monday, given the task of putting the Blues back on top of the Premier League and delivering a first Champions League title. The 49-year-old Italian, who had been linked to the Chelsea post for weeks, signed a three-year contract a day after quitting as coach of AC Milan. Ancelotti succeeds Guus Hiddink, who led Chelsea on a caretaker basis this season after the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Blues finished third in the Premier League and won the FA Cup, beating Everton 2-1 in Saturday’s final. Ancelotti won two Champions League titles and one Serie A championship during his eight years as Milan coach. Chelsea won two Premier League titles under Jose Mourinho, but has never won the Champions League—Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s No. 1 ambition. “There will be the same pressure because Chelsea and Milan are great teams in Europe and they want to win all the competitions, so I think there will be the same pressure,” Ancelotti told Chelsea TV.

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Major League Soccer EASTERN CONFERENCE Chicago Kansas City D.C. Toronto FC Columbus New England New York WESTERN CONFERENCE

W 5 4 3 4 2 3 2

L 1 4 2 4 2 3 7

T 6 4 7 4 7 4 3

Pts 21 16 16 16 13 13 9

GF 20 16 18 16 15 10 12

GA 16 14 17 19 17 17 16

W L T Pts GF GA Chivas USA 7 2 3 24 17 9 Houston 5 2 3 18 14 7 Seattle 4 2 5 17 15 9 Colorado 4 2 4 16 16 13 Los Angeles 1 1 9 12 13 13 Real Salt Lake 3 6 2 11 15 15 FC Dallas 2 6 3 9 12 17 San Jose 2 7 2 8 12 22 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. May 30 Games Friday’s Game Colorado 3, New York 2 Houston at Chicago, 9 p.m. New England 2, D.C. United 1 Saturday’s Games Houston 3, Toronto FC 0 Los Angeles at Toronto FC, 3:30 p.m. Seattle FC 1, Columbus 1, tie Columbus at Kansas City, 8:30 p.m. Los Angeles 1, Kansas City 1, tie Colorado at Real Salt Lake, 10 p.m. San Jose 2, Real Salt Lake 1 Seattle FC at Chivas USA, 10:30 p.m. May 31 Games Sunday’s Games FC Dallas 3, Chicago 0 San Jose at FC Dallas, 3 p.m. Thursday’s Game Chivas USA at New England, 6 p.m. Chivas USA at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.

Track and field HENGELO, NETHERLANDS—Haile Gebrselassie fell short of his own one-hour world record Monday, running 463 meters behind his previous best. Gebrselassie ran 12.77 miles—21,285 meters to be exact—in an hour at the IAAF Grand Prix Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic two years ago. The 36-year-old Ethiopian—who has set 25 world records in his career—was hampered by strong winds and a 10-minute rain spell during Monday’s record attempt at the FBK Games. “It’s a strange day today,” Gebrselassie said. “It’s a sunny day so I didn’t expect the rain. I really wanted to break the record for the people.” Gebrselassie, who broke four records at Hengelo meets, said he intends to run the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics. — The Associated Press

BASEBALL American League CLEVELAND INDIANS: Placed RHP Rafael Betancourt on the 15-day DL. Recalled LHP Tony Sipp from Columbus (IL). Released OF David Dellucci. National League CINCINNATI REDS: Activated RHP Edinson Volquez from the 15-day DL. Optioned RHP Jared Burton to Louisville (IL). Eastern League READING PHILLIES: Announced RHP Kyle Drabek has been called up from Clearwater (FSL). TRENTON THUNDER: Assigned OF Seth Fortenberry to Staten Island (NYP). Southern League CAROLINA MUDCATS: Added INF Yonder Alonzo from Sarasota (FSL). Midwest League QUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS: Transferred RHP Deryk Hooker to extended spring training. American Association EL PASO DIABLOS: Released RHP Baron Short. FORT WORTH CATS: Signed RHP Tyler Pearson and C Adam Miller. Released RHP Kelly Casares. GRAND PRAIRIE AIRHOGS: Acquired RHP John Wesley from Laredo (United) for a player to be named. Released LHP Justin Garcia. SIOUX FALLS CANARIES: Signed RHP Ryan Sheldon. Can-Am League QUEBEC CAPITALES: Released RHP Deibis Gomez and INF Mark Charrette. United League RIO GRANDE VALLEY WHITEWINGS: Signed OF Omar Rosario, 3B Joaquin Rodriguez, 2B Antonio Arias, RHP Juan Trinidad, LHP Tim Karkatselos, LHP Tray Neal and RHP Shand Hill. SAN ANGELO COLTS: Signed RHP Matt Duff. BASKETBALL Women’s National Basketball Association CONNECTICUT SUN: Released G Ketia Swanier and G Ashley Hayes. FOOTBALL National Football League DETROIT LIONS: Released OT George Foster. Signed OT Jon Jansen. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS: Named Brian Simmons and Jeff Gooch to the team’s player personnel staff, Chris Driggers

pro scout, Chris Prescott southwest regional scout and Jason DesJarlais midwest regional scout. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Named Brian Stewart special assistant to the defense. HOCKEY National Hockey League BUFFALO SABRES: Signed F Paul Byron to a three-year contract. MONTREAL CANADIENS: Named Jacque Martin coach. NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Re-signed LW Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. OTTAWA SENATORS: Signed F Ryan Keller to a one-year contract. International Hockey League KALAMAZOO WINGS: Announced the team is withdrawing from the IHL. ECHL ELMIRA JACKALS: Promoted senior sales executive Donald Lewis to assistant general manager. COLLEGE ALCORN STATE: Named Brenda T. Square interim athletics director. ARKANSAS: Suspended G Marcus Britt indefinitely from all basketball team activities for a violation of team rules. BELMONT ABBEY: Announced the resignation of softball coach Kenny Terry, effective June 25. DUKE: Named Trisha Stafford-Odom women’s assistant basketball coach. LONG BEACH STATE: Announced men’s volleyball coach Alan Knipe will coach the USA volleyball team through 2012. Named Andy Read interim men’s volleyball coach. LOYOLA, MD.: Named Sarra Moller women’s assistant soccer coach and Elise Paulson assistant director of academic affairs for varsity studentathletes/compliance coordinator. MOLLOY: Named Eric Petrullo men’s lacrosse coach. QUEENS, N.Y.: Named Tom Sowinski baseball coach. TOLEDO: Named Abbey Szlanfucht women’s assistant volleyball coach. UNC WILMINGTON: Announced the resignation of men’s assistant basketball coach Joe Redmond. WRIGHT STATE: Named Andy Riesenberg women’s assistant volleyball coach.