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Welcome NBA PLAYOFFS

whack
Alex Rodriguez hom-
ered on the first pitch
he saw in his injury-
delayed 2009 season,
leading the Yankees to a
4-0 win. Page 18

CC shuts down O’s,

ROB CARR / AP ends slide, Page 19 SATURDAY
MAY 9, 2009
SEE A DIFFERENT GAME

Scoreboard VOLUME 1 ISSUE 291

ERIC GAY / AP
NBA Playoffs
Eastern Conference semifinals Another big scoring night for
Kobe Bryant, another ejection for

Winning attitude
Orlando 117, Boston 96
(Orlando leads series 2-1) Three years after almost quitting, Ron Artest, above background.
Two new developments, however,
Western Conference semifinals
L.A. Lakers 108, Houston 94
Greinke’s now dominating majors helped propel the Lakers to a 108-
94 win over the Rockets, giving
(L.A. Lakers lead series 2-1) L.A. a 2-1 series lead. The Lakers hit
55.0 percent of their 3-point shots
BY STAN MCNEAL after making 8 of 35 in the first two
NHL Playoffs games. And Jordan Farmar was a
Eastern Conference semifinals smcneal@sportingnews.com Royal flush steady replacement for suspended
Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3 Last season brought Josh Hamilton and his
Where would the Royals be without Zack Greinke? Not in point guard Derek Fisher. ”He
(Series tied 2-2) first place in the A.L. Central. His contributions: stepped up and played exception-
remarkable comeback from drug abuse. This sea- ally well,” Bryant said.
Carolina 4, Boston 1 ERA
son, Kansas City righthander Zack Greinke has — Benson Taylor
(Carolina leads series 3-1) become the feel-good story three years after he left Page 12
Greinke: 0.40 ERA, (6-0 record)
the game because of an anxiety disorder.
Baseball Behind the Zack attack: NHL PLAYOFFS
Rest of Royals’ starters: 4.89 ERA, (8-9 record)
American League 5
Pittsburgh at Washington
N.Y. Yankees 4, Baltimore 0 NUMBERS
Greinke is tied with Toronto’s Roy Halladay atop the majors with six 7 tonight, Versus
Detroit 1, Cleveland 0 White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen calls Greinke,
wins. He leads all of baseball in four categories: Series tied 2-2
“the best in the game right now.” Disagree? Check
Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3
Texas 6, Chicago White Sox 0
these numbers: Heading into tonight’s start at Ana- 0.40 3 2 0.84 The Penguins did everything
heim, Greinke, 25, has allowed two earned runs in ERA complete games shutouts WHIP
they wanted against the Capitals.
Minnesota 11, Seattle 0 six starts, all wins. He pitched 29 innings this sea- They won both games at home,
Oakland 5, Toronto 3 son before allowing an earned run. He has 54 AP/STAFF GRAPHIC
and Friday’s 5-3 victory evened
L.A. Angels 4, Kansas City 1 strikeouts in 45 innings, eight walks and three further separates Greinke is the ability to throw for his domination because hitters say he’s always the Eastern Conference semifinal
complete games, including a shutout over Guillen’s any pitch in any count for a strike. “You have to had superb stuff. Now he’s making them uncom- series at 2-2. But Pittsburgh players
National League White Sox in his last start. “For me to give credit to look for a fastball early,” said TV analyst Steve fortable with it. “He’s developed an attitude,” Stone weren’t too happy after the game.
somebody takes a lot, but this kid deserves credit,” Stone, one of two 25-game winners since 1980 said. “He’s not afraid to knock guys down.” A questionable hit by Washington’s
Philadelphia 10, Atlanta 6
Guillen said. “Baseball needs people like that.” (Bob Welch won 27 in 1990). “When he gets you in While Greinke’s success has helped the Royals Alex Ovechkin injured Pittsburgh
Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 4 star defenseman Sergei Gonchar—
N.Y. Mets 7, Pittsburgh 3 a hole, he’s going to bury you.” to first place and created a buzz throughout base-
and it could be serious.
Milwaukee 3, Chicago Cubs 2 STUFF ball, he remains unimpressed. “(Ovechkin) sticks his leg right
Houston 2, San Diego 0
Scouts say Greinke has about 12 pitches. Four is CONFIDENCE “I saw stuff of Fernandomania,” he says of the out at him,” Brooks Orpik said of the
more accurate, but the discrepancy exists because Grienke still doesn’t like attention but is far more hype surrounding Dodgers great Fernando Valen- knee-on-knee hit. “Hopefully the
Florida 8, Colorado 3 he throws his curve, slider and fastball at different at ease on and off the field than when he left spring zuela in 1981. “(The atmosphere at his last start) league takes action.”
Washington 5, Arizona 4 speeds. His fastball touched 95 mph in the ninth training and went home for three months in 2006. was great but it wasn’t that class.” — Craig Custance
San Francisco 3, L.A. Dodgers 1 inning against Chicago. A slow curve: 69. What Newfound confidence might be the main reason Not yet, anyway. Page 8
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com See a Different Game SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 2

Tune In Today AUTO RACING

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One, qualifying for
Obama art benefits Berkeley school
it daily, they
Noon
A quick look at the best sports on TV Spanish Grand Prix, ESPN2 — NCAA
— all times Eastern at Barcelona, Spain Division I tourna-
Noon ment, first round, Cal forward Jamal Boykin has a new
VERSUS—IRL, Brown at John obsession, according to the San Francisco
NBA

Nuggets at Mavericks
pole qualifying for
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7 p.m.
FOX—NASCAR,
Hopkins

MEN’S
Chronicle—he’s hand-crafting portraits
of President Obama for charity events to be
held in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles
will come.
5 p.m., ESPN Sprint Cup, COLLEGE and likely San Francisco. Proceeds will
Dirk Nowitzki’s personal life has become an Southern 500, at VOLLEYBALL be given to the art program at Malcolm
issue in his professional one, as a woman (fian- Darlington, S.C. 7 p.m.
ESPN2—NCAA X Elementary School in Berkeley, Calif.
cée?) was arrested at his home this week for
what amounts to financial shenanigans. While COLLEGE Division I tourna- Boykin will hold an exhibition today at
this could be a huge distraction for Nowitzki ment, champion- the Alphonse Berber Gallery in Berkeley.
BASEBALL ship match, USC vs.
and the Mavericks as they try to notch their first 1 p.m. “I no longer believe in coincidence,”
win of this series, it is not without precedent UC Irvine, at Provo,
FSN—Texas A&M Utah
Boykin told the newspaper. “The way
for players to do well in trying situations. The at Texas things have lined up just proves it was
Mavericks won’t turtle when they play so well
at American Airlines Center. NBA all supposed to happen.”
GOLF The work, according to the Chronicle,
9:30 a.m. BASKETBALL
GOLF TGC—European 3:30 p.m. ranges from sketches to stippling and
PGA Tour, Italian ABC—Playoffs, includes Boykin’s first forays into acrylic
The Players Open, third round, conference semifi-
nals, Game 4, L.A.
paint and cross-hatching.
at Turin, Italy “The only way I could ever sell this is
Championship (same-day tape) Lakers at Houston
5 p.m. if I had the blessing from the president,”

FREEup!
2 p.m., NBC 2 p.m.
ESPN2—LPGA, ESPN—Playoffs, Boykin said. “To me, I feel like this is my BEN MARGOT / AP
The leaderboard has a decidedly interna- conference child.” Jamal Boykin’s art will be on display today in the
Michelob ULTRA
tional flavor, with Germany’s Alex Cejka at the
top of the heap. While the 38-year-old has won
Open, third round, semifinals, Game 3,
Denver at Dallas
Bay Area. Sign
a number of events abroad, NBC analyst Johnny
at Williamsburg, Va.
NBC—PGA Tour, 8 p.m.
Nowitzki warned about woman
People within the Mavericks organi- Quick hits Today!
Miller could have well been talking about Cejka, ABC—Playoffs,
THE PLAYERS
who is winless on American soil, when sizing up
Championship, conference zation cautioned Dirk Nowitzki about his “Mannywood” is no more. In the
the difficulty of winning golf’s unofficial fifth semifinals, Game relationship with a woman who was wake of Manny Ramirez’s suspension for test-
third round, at

The country’s first and only

major: “It’s going to be exciting, when you have 3, Cleveland at
Ponte Vedra Beach, arrested at the star forward’s home this ing positive for a banned substance, the
those last three holes (16-18) and the choke Atlanta
Fla. week, multiple team sources told the Dodgers’ have stopped a promotion that
factor, and the pressure of winning The Players
Championship, a lot of things can happen.”
MAJOR
LEAGUE
NHL HOCKEY
7 p.m.
Dallas Morning News.
Cristal Taylor, 37, remained jailed Thurs-
offered two seats in left field and two “Man-
nywood” T-shirts for $99, CNBC.com daily digital sports newspaper.
NASCAR VERSUS—Playoffs, day night in Dallas County jail with bail reported. The section will now be referred
BASEBALL Eastern Conference set at $20,000 on a theft of services to as the “90090” section in honor of the
Southern 500 3:30 p.m.
FOX—Regional
semifinals, Game charge and no bail allowed on a proba- new Dodger Stadium ZIP code. Delivered via email every morning, 7 days a
5, Pittsburgh at
7 p.m., FOX
Even if the repaved racing surface at
coverage, Tampa
Bay at Boston,
Washington
tion violation.
Taylor has a history of financial crimes Actor Michael J. Fox, who is battling
week, Sporting News Today is your one-stop
10:30 p.m.
Darlington is much smoother than the days
of yore, this track still is a demanding one that
Atlanta at
Philadelphia, or
VERSUS—Playoffs, under multiple identities that date back Parkinson’s disease, was joined by destination for breaking sports stories plus
Western at least a decade and span both Texas cyclist Lance Armstrong and actress and
allows only the sport’s best drivers to do well
there. So look for Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson,
San Francisco at
L.A. Dodgers
Conference and Missouri, records and interviews by Cubs fan Bonnie Hunt for a game at Wrig- news about every team, every game and
semifinals, Game
Jeff Gordon and defending race winner Kyle
Busch to do well tonight. If you’re looking for
7 p.m.
WGN—Texas at
5, Chicago at
the Morning News show. Two Dallas-area
TV stations cited unidentified sources in
ley Field in the debut episode of ABC’s
Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable
every score from coast-to-coast.
Vancouver
darkhorses, look at Ryan Newman, who also Chicago White Sox reporting Thursday that Taylor had Optimist, SportsBusiness Daily reported.
has shown past Darlington strength and enters been engaged to Nowitzki and is preg- “If the subject is optimism,” said Fox,
SOCCER
tonight’s race on a roll.
9 p.m. nant with his child. Sources who spoke while at Wrigley Field, “then what I am Experience America’s hottest new product.
ESPN2—MLS,
— Compiled by Roger Kuznia Dallas at Houston
to the Morning News did not, or could not,
confirm her pregnancy.
doing here?”
— SportsBusiness Daily, sportsbusinessdaily.com
Sign up at sportingnewstoday.com. It’s free.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com My Profile SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 3

THE WORLD’S FIRST DIGITAL

Bob Stanley Member of Red Sox Hall of Fame

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These days: Giving pitching lessons and running camps at the DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MEDIA. . . . . . . . . . . . Geoff Shaw
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What’s on TV: The Price Is Right, CSI, Criminal Minds, 24, Law &
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And least … No hair ON NEWSSTANDS NOW
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My hero: My son Kyle, who beat cancer
My bucket list: Go to the Kentucky Derby

— Jeff D’Alessio

AP PHOTO The Philadelphia Eagles expect Missouri

wideout Jeremy Maclin to be a unique tal-
ent. SN Magazine spent NFL draft weekend
exploring Maclin’s unique background.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Dom DiMaggio: 1917-2009
Seven-time All Star, but
overshadowed by brother
BOSTON—Dominic DiMaggio, the
Boston Red Sox center fielder who made
his own mark on the major leagues
despite playing in the shadows of Hall of
Fame brother Joe and teammate Ted
Williams, died Friday at his Massachu-
setts home. He was 92.
DiMaggio died at about 1 a.m. with the
Red Sox television replay of Thursday
night’s game on in the background, said
his son, Dominic Paul. “He was in and
out of consciousness, but he was
acknowledging it. He was a Red Sox fan
until the end,” his son said.
DiMaggio was surrounded by his
family, according to his wife, Emily. He
had been battling pneumonia, the Red
Sox said in a statement.
“He was the most wonderful, warm,
loving man,” his wife of 61 years said.
“He adored his children, and we all
adored him.”
DiMaggio was a seven-time All Star
who still holds the record for the longest
consecutive-game hitting streak in Red
Sox history. Known as the “Little Profes-
sor” because of his eyeglasses and
5-foot-9, 168-pound frame, DiMaggio hit
safely in 34 consecutive games in 1949.
The streak was broken on Aug. 9 when
big brother Joe caught a sinking liner in
the eighth inning of a 6-3 Red Sox win
over the Yankees. Joe set the major
league record with a 56-game hitting
streak with the Yankees in 1941.
The oldest of the three center field-
playing DiMaggio brothers was Vince,
who had a 10-year major league career
with five National League teams. Vince
died in October 1986, while Joe died in
March 1999.
“Dad had a great deal of respect for
Uncle Joe and what he did,” his son said.
“But he never felt inferior. He was a
competitor and a strong competitor.”
Dom DiMaggio spent his entire
career—10 full seasons plus three games
in 1953—with the Red Sox and was close
friends with teammates Williams, Bobby
Doerr and Johnny Pesky.
“He was a great player, and most of all,
a great friend,” Pesky said. “I will miss
him terribly.” Doerr called DiMaggio a
“class guy and a great teammate.”
“His loss saddens us all, but his
contributions to the glory and tradition
of our ballclub will forever be etched in
the annals of Red Sox history,” principal
owner John Henry said in a statement.
DiMaggio retired because he’d been
relegated to the bench and didn’t want to
be a part-time player, said his son, who
was just 3 years old at the time.
“I remember walking out to center field
with him on the day he retired. For some
reason, what I remember most is think-
ing how big the green and red ball and
strike lights were on the scoreboard. But
I think that was just his way of saying
goodbye to Fenway.”
While Dom did not have the offensive
numbers of Joe, he was generally
regarded as a better defensive player
with a stronger arm. He was a career
.298 hitter with 87 homers, while Joe was
a .325 career hitter with 361 homers.
Tribute SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 4
Dom DiMaggio, left, with brother Joe
at the All-Star Game in 1950.
Dom’s baseball career
was interrupted for three
years (1943-45) by World
War II when he served in
the Navy, a military
obligation that might
have cost him induction
into the Hall of Fame,
Doerr once said.
DiMaggio and Pesky
“were really penalized
for that, and I think it
was kind of a shame in
a way because when
you look, they have
the numbers,” Doerr
said in August 2007
during an appear-
ance at Fenway Park.
Dom played a
pivotal role in Game
7 of the 1946 World
Series against the
St. Louis Cardinals,
a heartbreaker for
Boston fans. He drove in
two runs in the eighth inning to tie the prevented
game at 3, but injured his leg while Slaughter from scoring. GEORGE DORRILL
/ SN
running the bases and was replaced in “Watching the play had been pure on hand on opening day
center field by Leon Culberson for the agony for Dominic DiMaggio ...,” David 2005 to raise the championship banner
ninth. Halberstam wrote in his 2003 book, at Fenway Park.
It was Culberson who fielded Harry The Teammates. “His own injury, his DiMaggio grew up in San Francisco,
Walker’s double and threw it to Pesky own pulled hamstring, Dominic now one of nine children born to Sicilian
during Enos Slaughter’s famous “Mad decided, had been the decisive play of immigrants. His mother was a teacher
Dash” from first to home that won the the game.” and his father was a fisherman. He is
series for the Cardinals. Many argued After the Red Sox finally won the survived by his wife and three children,
that if DiMaggio had been in center, he World Series in 2004, their first since Dominic Paul, Peter and Emily.
would have handled the play better and 1918, DiMaggio, Pesky and Doerr were — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Next Gen
RECRUITING DISH

Virginia Tech lands pair of QBs

H.D. Woodson (Washington,
D.C.) QB Ricardo Young has made his
choice—he’ll be playing quarter-
back for Virginia Tech, Rivals.com
reported. The 6-1, 170-pound dual-
threat quarterback had said earlier
this week that Maryland, West
Virginia, Virginia Tech, UConn
and Michigan State made up his
top five. He told the Hokies’ coach-
ing staff ahead of time.
“I talked to Coach (Frank) Beamer
on Sunday,” Young told Rivals.
com. “He was ecstatic. He was
playing golf and real happy just
saying that now he was going to hit
a hole-in-one. I think I kind of
shocked him at the same time. I
don’t think anyone told him I was DON PETERSEN / AP
coming there.” Frank Beamer, above, was surprised to land QB Ricardo Young, according to Young.
As a junior, Young threw for
3,089 yards and 31 touchdowns, four-star prospect by two major Spartans. Lippett is 6-3, 185 pounds
while also rushing for 780 yards recruiting services. and also has played quarterback in
and 11 touchdowns.
The Hokies also picked up dual-
threat QB Mark Leal out of Atlantic
“I am 100-percent committed to
the Alabama program. This is
where I wanted to go from Day
high school. As a junior, Lippett
threw for 1,755 yards and 18 touch-
downs, with only six interceptions.
See a Different Game
Get superior sports coverage in the palm of your hand. Sporting News Today,
(Delray Beach, Fla.). The 6-1, 190- One,” James told Scout.com. “I got He also rushed for 755 yards and 16
pound quarterback will do battle on the phone with Nick Saban. I told touchdowns, and added five inter- the country's first and only daily digital sports newspaper, is now optimized for
with Young when they both reach him the same thing I told Coach ceptions on defense. your mobile phone.*
campus. West Virginia, Oregon (Kirby) Smart. I told him I look for- Lippett reported a scholarship
and Rutgers were also some of
Leal’s favorites. Also, Highland
Springs DT Derrick Hopkins gave his
word to Virginia Tech. He is 5-11,
270 pounds.
North Gwinnett (Suwanee,
Ga.) OL Jawuan James has commit-
ted to Alabama, Scout.com
reported. The 6-6, 295-pound
tackle had recently trimmed his
lengthy list of schools to Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Oregon and
Tennessee. James is the school’s
11th commitment, and is rated a
ward to playing for him on the next
level ... I committed because of the
coaching staff and overall atmo-
sphere at Alabama. Every time I
went there for a visit it got better. I
think the future there is very bright
... I was fighting with several
schools for a while, but it hit me last
week that ’Bama was where I
wanted to go.”
Michigan State has added a
wide receiver, the Detroit Free-Press
reported, as Crockett (Detroit) star
Tony Lippett will play for the
offer from Toledo, and interest UÊiˆÛiÀi`Êۈ>Ê̅iʈ˜ÌiÀ˜iÌÊiÛiÀÞʓœÀ˜ˆ˜}]ÊÇÊ`>ÞÃÊ>ÊÜiiŽ
from several other schools. He is
UÊÊ Ài>Žˆ˜}ÊëœÀÌÃÊÃ̜ÀˆiÃÊ«ÕÃʘiÜÃÊ>LœÕÌÊiÛiÀÞÊÌi>“]ÊiÛiÀÞÊ}>“iÊ>˜`ÊiÛiÀÞʓ>œÀÊ
Michigan State’s second commit-
ment for 2010. score from coast-to-coast
UÊœÀiÊ̅>˜ÊÓääÊÀi«œÀÌiÀÃÊ>˜`ÊVœ˜ÌÀˆLÕ̜ÀÃʘ>̈œ˜Üˆ`i
Syracuse has added two junior UÊÕiÃÌÊVœÕ“˜ÃÊvÀœ“Ê>̅iÌiÃ]ÊVœ>V…iÃÊ>˜`ʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊiÝiVṎÛiÃ
college football players to the list of
Uʈ}…‡i˜iÀ}ÞÊ>˜`Êi>ÃÞÊ̜ʘ>ۈ}>Ìi
2009 signees, The Post-Standard
out of Syracuse, N.Y. reported. CB
John Mark Henderson (5-11/190) comes
from City College of San Francisco,
while S Derek Hines (6-0/215) is out
of Santa Ana (Calif.) Community
College.
— Brian McLaughlin
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SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Overnight Report SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 6
BASEBALL / NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco 3, L.A. Dodgers 1
Dodgers make changes,
Despite lack of offense, Zito still picks up win brace for Manny-less team
LOS ANGELES—A pair of baggy jerseys, and 1,700 dread-
black jeans hung inside his locked wigs have been
LOS ANGELES—The San Francisco Giants’ Giants 3, Dodgers 1 locker. A nearly empty water snapped up, the club said.
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
offense consisted of an infield RBI single F.Lewis lf 3 0 2 0 1 0 .312 bottle sat on a shelf. A pristine The Dodgers sold more than
and two sacrifice flies—one of them in foul Affeldt p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 No. 99 jersey was ready to be 30,000 season tickets in the
Valdez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
territory. Schierholtz rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .273 slipped on. first 24 hours after Ramirez
Barry Zito was more than grateful, after Renteria ss 3 1 2 1 1 0 .255 It looked as though Manny was acquired at last year’s July
Winn rf-lf 4 0 1 0 1 1 .228
three no-decisions in which he pitched Sandoval c 4 0 1 1 0 0 .298 Ramirez had briefly stepped 31 trade deadline—the highest
equally as well. Rowand cf 2 0 0 1 1 0 .214 away instead of being sus- volume sold in club history.
Ishikawa 1b 3 0 0 0 0 3 .191
Zito outpitched Chad Billingsley to Uribe 3b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .289 pended for 50 games a day But things are changing.
record his first win of the season on his Burriss 2b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .253 earlier by Major League Base- Barely a week since the
Zito p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .111
sixth attempt, and the Giants beat the Los a-Velez ph-lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .150 ball for a drug violation. “Mannywood” seating section
Angeles Dodgers 3-1 on Friday night. B.Wilson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- “I’m not sure it’s sunk in was announced, it’s been
Totals 30 3 10 3 4 7
“We had to scratch some runs across,” yet,” manager Joe Torre said renamed “90090” after the
Zito said. “You’ve got to manufacture Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg. before Friday night’s series stadium’s zip code. For $99,
Furcal ss 5 0 1 0 0 1 .250
them, especially against Billingsley. Hudson 2b 2 0 0 0 2 2 .333 opener against the rival San fans got two tickets and two
They’ve got a great defense, so we played Ethier rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .310 Francisco Giants. “You’re so “Mannywood” T-shirts. In its
Kemp cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .288
the game the way it was supposed to be Martin c 3 0 2 0 1 0 .267
used to seeing him but reality short existence, 3,130 tickets
played and we got our runs in the fashion Loretta 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 .333 sets in and you sort of have to were sold to fans wanting to
that we knew we would have to.” 1-Paul pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 force it on yourself.” sit in the area closest to Ramir-
Troncoso p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
The defending N.L. champion Dodgers Blake 3b 4 0 1 1 0 1 .245 Ramirez will lose nearly $7.7 ez’s position in left field, the
have lost both games they’ve played since Billingsley p 3 0 1 0 0 1 .200
Belisario p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 million in salary; the Dodgers club said.
slugging left fielder Manny Ramirez was Loney 1b 1 0 1 0 0 0 .288 have yet to know whether About 60 tickets for “Man-
suspended for 50 games by Major League Pierre lf 2 0 1 0 1 0 .378
Totals 31 1 9 1 5 8 they’ll take a financial hit from nywood” had been turned
Baseball for using a banned drug. At the the prolonged absence of their back by fans since Ramirez’s
time of the suspension, they were a major San Francisco 000 001 200 — 3 10 0
DANNY MOLOSHOK / AP Los Angeles 000 001 000 — 1 9 0 dreadlocked slugger. suspension was announced
league-best 21-8. Barry Zito continued to show improved form for the Giants, pitching six innings for his first win of the season. He’s eligible to return July 3 Thursday, according to Den-
“They have a great lineup and Manny a-sacrificed for Zito in the 7th. 1-ran for Loretta in the in San Diego. nis Mannion, the club’s presi-
8th. LOB: San Francisco 9, Los Angeles 9. 2B: Furcal (5),
adds that much more to it. But it’s still a walked two and escaped a bases-loaded said. “You’ve got to concentrate on pitch- Blake (5). RBIs: Renteria (12), Sandoval (10), Rowand Merchandise connected to dent and chief operating
great lineup without him,” Zito said after (12), Blake (17). CS: F.Lewis (2), Renteria (2), Pierre (2).
jam in the fifth. The 2002 AL Cy Young ing your game, and shutting the other S: Zito, Velez. SF: Renteria, Rowand. Runners left in
Ramirez, like No. 99 jerseys, officer.
the Giants trimmed the Dodgers’ division winner was removed for a pinch-hitter in team down, because you never know when scoring position: San Francisco 5 (F.Lewis, Uribe 2, T-shirts and dreadlocked “We’ll wait to see if it’s
Rowand 2); Los Angeles 5 (Kemp, Ethier 2, Billingsley,
lead to 4½ games. “That team’s in first the seventh when his teammates broke a you’re going to get runs.” Blake). DP: San Francisco 3 (Uribe, Burriss, Ishikawa),
wigs, remains for sale around appropriate to bring it back,”
place for a reason. This is a big series for 1-all tie with Edgar Renteria’s sac fly and Brian Wilson, who hadn’t pitched since (Uribe, Burriss, Ishikawa), (Renteria, Burriss, Ishikawa); Dodger Stadium. Anyone he said.
Los Angeles 1 (Hudson, Loretta).
us, to come down here, make a statement Pablo Sandoval’s run-scoring infield hit. last Sunday, worked 1 1/3 innings for his wanting to exchange an item In an ironic bit of timing, the
and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to roll over “It was great to get Barry a win, the way seventh save in eight chances after Merkin San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA related to Ramirez can do so Dodgers’ marketing campaign
Zito W, 1-2 6 8 1 1 2 5 126 3.57
in this division.’” he threw the ball,” Bochy said. “He’s just Valdez walked two batters with two out. Affeldt H, 6 1 1⁄3 0 0 0 1 1 20 3.29
with or without a receipt, a that prominently featured
Manager Bruce Bochy played down commanding all his pitches on both sides Wilson’s last three saves have required Valdez H, 1 1⁄3 0 0 0 2 1 15 4.00 club official said. Ramirez had begun phasing
B.Wilson S, 7-8 1 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 28 3.07
Ramirez’s absence. of the plate and using any pitch at any four outs each. The righthander ended the Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Ramirez was single-hand- out last week. The new “My
“I don’t look at it as a break,” Bochy said. time. His stuff has picked up and so has eighth inning by slipping a called third Billingsley L, 5-1 7 8 3 3 4 5 115 2.45 edly responsible for boosting Town” campaign will include
Belisario 1 1 0 0 0 1 17 2.95
“Sometimes when you talk about one his command.” strike against Casey Blake, who fouled off Troncoso 1 1 0 0 0 1 9 2.25
attendance, souvenir sales and celebrities and other players,
player like that, you forget about how tal- Pitching coach Dave Righetti is six two-strike pitches during his 13-pitch interest in the team before he although Ramirez will be part
Inherited runners-scored: B.Wilson 2-0. IBB: off
ented the other guys are that they have. impressed at the way the way Zito has at-bat. Billingsley (F.Lewis). HBP: by Zito (Pierre), by Billingsley
helped it win the N.L. West of it, Mannion said.
That’s a good lineup.” pitched under the gun without much run — The Associated Press (Ishikawa). Umpires: Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Dan last season. “He’s still on our team,”
Iassogna; Second, Charlie Reliford; Third, Larry Vanover.
Zito (1-2) allowed a run and eight hits support. T: 3:14. A: 51,209 (56,000).
This year alone, more than Mannion said.
over six innings. He struck out five, “He’s done a good job of that,” Righetti Royals’ win streak ends, Page 20 5,000 Manny T-shirts, 800 — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3
Penguins shackle Ovechkin, get to Varlamov
PITTSBURGH—Alex Ovechkin dis-
appeared, at least as much as the
game’s most dominant scorer can,
and so did all the magic Simeon
Varlamov was working. Suddenly,
the Washington Capitals are in a
familiar position against rival Pitts-
burgh, losing their grip on a playoff
series that seemed to be theirs.
The Penguins shook off an open-
ing-minute Washington goal,
scored three times in less than 12
minutes in the first period against a
suddenly vulnerable Varlamov and
beat the Capitals 5-3 Friday night to
even the Eastern Conference semi-
final at 2.
The Capitals won’t get much time
to try to regain any confidence they
lost by losing twice in Pittsburgh,
not with Game 5 in Washington
tonight.
“We’re right back in it and we
have momentum on our side and
we’ll try to keep it going,” said Pen-
guins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury,
who made 19 saves.
Washington scored one-goal vic-
tories at home in each of the first
two games as Ovechkin scored a
combined four goals, but he was
shut out on two shots while being
constantly shadowed by defense-
man Rob Scuderi. Penguins star
Sidney Crosby had his playoffs-
leading ninth goal and an assist.
“They were desperate down
here,” Capitals coach Bruce Bou-
dreau said. “Alex is only human, he
can’t be unbelievable every night.
He’s a great player, he just had one
of those nights where he’s not going
Sidney Crosby failed to get this first-period shot past Caps G Simeon Varlamov, but he did score in the third period, his ninth of the postseason.
to get three goals.”
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis is
unhappy at playing twice in two
nights in two cities, all because of a
Yanni concert in Pittsburgh on Tues-
day. He may be even more concerned
with the Capitals’ first major letdown
in the series, an opening period in
which Washington’s one-goal lead
NHL
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
quickly became a two-goal deficit as
Sergei Gonchar, Bill Guerin and
Ruslan Fedotenko scored.
Now, the Penguins again could
do what they did against the Capi-
tals in 1992 and 1996 by rallying to
win after being down 2-0 in a
series.
“We said we’ve got to get two at
GENE J. PUSKAR / AP
home and now we’ve got to try to
get one on the road,” Scuderi said.
Pittsburgh has a major worry,
though, as Gonchar was helped off
the ice late in the first period after
absorbing a knee-on-knee hit from
Ovechkin. There was no immediate
word about the injury, or how long
it would sideline the Penguins’
most experienced defenseman, who
missed three-quarters of the regu-
lar season with a shoulder injury.
Varlamov came in with a 1.64
goals-against average despite hav-
ing only six games of NHL experi-
ence, but could be seen shaking his
head at his inability to stop not-dif-
ficult shots.
Varlamov, arguably the best
player on the ice while making 39
saves during Pittsburgh’s 3-2 over-
time win in Game 3, probably
couldn’t be blamed for Guerin’s go-
ahead goal on a rebound of Crosby’s
in-close forehander midway
through the period.
But the 21-year-old goalie had a
good look on Gonchar’s tying goal
from close to the blue line, which
came slightly more than 3 minutes
after Washington’s Nicklas Back-
strom scored with 36 seconds gone.
Maybe that was a bad omen for
the Capitals, since the team scoring
first has lost all four games in the
series. A much-worse omen came
when Sergei Fedorov couldn’t score
on two excellent scoring chances
not long after Gonchar’s goal, and
Varlamov began looking shaky. He
was beaten on a seemingly harm-
less 50-foot wrist shot that Fedo-
tenko was trying to throw on net at
15:25 of the first, making it 3-1.
“There were four soft goals out of
the five,” Boudreau said. “But he’ll
bounce back. He’s a real competi-
tive guy.”
The Capitals twice came back
from two-goal deficits on goals by
Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina,
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 7
Series glance
(Series tied 2-2)
May 2: Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2
May 4: Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3
May 6: Pittsburgh 3,
Washington 2, OT
Friday: Pittsburgh 5,
Washington 3
Today: Pittsburgh at Washington,
7 p.m., Versus
Monday: Washington at
Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., Versus
Wednesday: Pittsburgh at
Washington, 7 p.m., if necessary
with Jurcina scoring short-handed.
But the Penguins answered as
Crosby and Max Talbot each scored
in the third period. Crosby has nine
playoff goals, one more than
Ovechkin.
— The Associated Press
Washington 1 1 1 — 3
Pittsburgh 3 0 2 — 5
First Period: 1, Washington, Backstrom 2 (Semin), :36. 2, Pitts-
burgh, Gonchar 2, 3:55 (pp). 3, Pittsburgh, Guerin 3 (Crosby, Kunitz),
10:47. 4, Pittsburgh, Fedotenko 3 (Staal, Scuderi), 15:25. Penalties:
Clark, Was (cross-checking), 1:58; Orpik, Pit (holding stick), 13:45;
Ovechkin, Was (tripping), 14:55; Malkin, Pit (elbowing), 19:37.
Second Period: 5, Washington, Clark 1 (Green, Ovechkin), 15:08.
Penalties: Fedorov, Was (holding), 1:53; Backstrom, Was (interfer-
ence), 6:49; Dupuis, Pit (slashing), 9:48; Fleischmann, Was (cross-
checking), 11:51; Scuderi, Pit (cross-checking), 18:33.
Third Period: 6, Pittsburgh, Crosby 9 (Satan, Guerin), 4:16. 7,
Washington, Jurcina 2 (B.Gordon, Bradley), 6:23 (sh). 8, Pittsburgh,
Talbot 2 (Fedotenko, Scuderi), 14:46. Penalties: Erskine, Was (trip-
ping), 4:30.
Shots on Goal: Washington 10-5-7: 22. Pittsburgh 13-4-11: 28.
Power-play opportunities: Washington 0 of 4; Pittsburgh 1 of 6.
Goalies: Washington, Varlamov 6-4-0 (28 shots-23 saves). Pitts-
burgh, Fleury 6-4-0 (22-19).
A: 17,132 (16,940). T: 2:17.
Referees: Brad Watson, Tim Peel. Linesmen: Shane Heyer, Brian
Murphy.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3
Penguins are steamed
over hit on Gonchar
PITTSBURGH—It didn’t seem possi-
ble, but the venom between the
Penguins and Capitals just
increased dramatically.
One hit, a knee-on-knee collision
between Washington’s Alex Ovech-
kin and Pittsburgh’s Sergei Gonchar,
had the Penguins
steamed after their
5-3 win in Game 4
of a second-round
series.
Pittsburgh for-
ward Ruslan
Fedotenko didn’t
Craig Custance hesitate when
HOCKEY asked if he thought
Ovechkin’s hit on
Gonchar was dirty.
“He’s trying to hurt (his knee), obvi-
ously,” Fedontenko said. “We can play
that game, too. I think the league
should step up before it gets ugly.”
Gonchar left the game late in the
first period after the hit and didn’t
return. Coach Dan Bylsma said doc-
tors were still evaluating Gonchar
after the game, but it sure didn’t
sound good for the veteran defense-
man to return tonight for Game 5.
If Gonchar is out, Fedotenko
thinks Ovechkin should join him.
“I hope so,” said Fedotenko, who
scored his third goal of the playoffs.
“Look, we don’t know how long we’ll
lose one of our top defensemen.”
Despite seizing the series momen-
tum with consecutive wins in Pitts-
burgh and evening the series at 2-2,
the Penguins are a less effective
team without Gonchar. That
momentum could be meaningless if
they have to continue without him.
The impact of his absence was
evident last night when the Pen-
guins’ power play was 0-for-5 after
Gonchar was injured. Their only
power play goal came from Gon-
char himself, an unassisted slap-
shot that tied the game at 1-1 early
in the first period.
When Gonchar missed the bulk
of the regular season with a shoul-
der injury, the Penguins struggled
without him. In all likelihood, his
shoulder injury cost coach Michel
Therrien his job.
Now, for the first time since he took
over behind the bench, Bylsma could
be facing a stretch of games without
his most important defenseman.
The Penguins have momentum,
but the degree of difficulty elimi-
nating the Capitals doubles if Gon-
char is out for any length of time.
“In terms of replacing Sergei
Gonchar, you don’t get to replace
55,” Bylsma said. “But we have
depth at the defensive position for
this occasion.”
Bylsma said the team will have to
simplify its power play and we could
see more of Evgeni Malkin at the
point. That’s not necessarily a good
thing. And there certainly isn’t a lot
of time to iron out any wrinkles.
“I think you saw it when (Gonchar)
left, the power play struggled a little
bit. He settles everything down on the
power play,” said Pittsburgh defense-
man Brooks Orpik. “And bringing
the puck up the ice—his puck deci-
sions, it falls off a little bit there.”
Orpik was also outspoken about
NHL
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Sergei Gonchar grimaces following his knee-on-knee collision with Alex Ovechkin.
the hit.
“That’s three games in a row, to
us, he’s out there trying to hurt
guys,” Orpik said of Ovechkin.
“Everyone likes to play physical in
the playoffs, when you get the feel-
ing guys are trying to hurt guys,
hopefully it gets dealt with.”
It’s hard to imagine the league
would suspend its biggest star for a
game that will be Washington’s
Check out the hit on Craig Custance’s blog and judge for yourself:
sportingnews.com/blog/ccustance.tsn/191173
KEITH SRAKOCIC / AP
biggest yet. And if intent is considered
when the league reviews it—which it
will be—Ovechkin said he wasn’t try-
ing to hurt anybody. Especially his
good friend.
“I’m not the kind of player who wants
to injure a player. … I know Gonch. I
wouldn’t hit him like that,” Ovechkin
said after the game. “I was disap-
pointed, too. It’s a game. It happens.”
ccustance@sportingnews.com
NOTEBOOK
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau believes Simeon Varlamov will bounce back from a poor Game 4.
Despite struggle,
Caps will stick
with Varlamov
It was bound to happen. Wash-
ington rookie Simeon Varlamov
struggled for the first time since
seizing the goalie job from former
starter Jose Theodore in the first
round.
He gave up soft goals early, espe-
cially one by Pittsburgh forward
Ruslan Fedotenko that gave the Pen-
guins an early 3-1 lead. He battled
back to make a big save late in the
game on Max Talbot, but Washing-
ton coach Bruce Boudreau conceded
this wasn’t Varlamov’s best effort.
“He struggled,” Boudreau said.
“Again, he’s human. He hasn’t
had a bad game. When you look at
it, it’s his 10th game I think in the
playoffs and arguably there were
four soft goals out of the five. But
he’ll bounce back.”
With the Capitals and Penguins
playing back-to-back, there was
speculation that Washington
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 8
KEITH SRAKOCIC / AP
might turn to Theodore for
tonight’s Game 5. But Boudreau
shot that down after the game.
Varlamov will be back in net,
Boudreau said, and his teammates
still have faith he’s the guy who can
lead the Capitals to a series win.
“If that’s his only game—he’s
played unbelievable this playoff
series,” Washington forward Chris
Clark said. “If he gets it all out of him
in one game, that’s great. … We’re all
behind him 100 percent.”
Guerin gearing up
Veteran forward Bill Guerin
scored his third goal of the playoffs,
knocking in a rebound off a great
scoring effort from Sidney Crosby.
Guerin had a goal and an assist
and was plus-2, providing the
kind of scoring the team needs on
Crosby’s wing.
“Billy crashed the crease there, got
the rebound and put it in,” coach Dan
Bylsma said. “He’s been—his game,
the last few, have been at another
level than maybe we saw in the first
round. He’s a big part of that line.”
— Craig Custance
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Carolina 4, Boston 1
Top-seeded Bruins on brink of elimination
RALEIGH, N.C.—There’s a reason the
Carolina Hurricanes call Jussi Joki-
nen’s line the “Finnish line.”
Because of him, the Boston Bruins
are nearly finished.
Jokinen scored the go-ahead goal
for the second straight game and
added two assists, and the Hurri-
canes pushed the top-seeded Bruins
to the brink of elimination by pull-
ing away late for a 4-1 victory Friday
night.
Eric Staal scored two goals to
break the club career playoff scor-
ing record, and Sergei Samsonov
added a goal for the Hurricanes.
They lead the Eastern Conference
semifinal series 3-1. Game 5 is Sun-
day night in Boston.
“We’re going to keep getting them
from (Jokinen) the rest of the way,
too,” Staal said. “It’s still early. He’s
played phenomenal. He’s really
finding those areas and scoring key
goals. You always have those guys
in the playoffs, and he seems to be
having that confidence.”
Marc Savard scored for the Bru-
ins, who have lost three straight
since sweeping Montreal in the first
round and winning the opener
against Carolina.
“I think our team has probably
picked the worst time of the year to
play their worst hockey,” coach
Claude Julien said. “When you look
at the whole team right now, there
isn’t anybody that has played up to
their potential. ... You can see the
frustration on the players right now,
and it’s certainly getting worse.
This is something that has to be
resolved before next game, and we
don’t have much time to do that.”
If history is any guide, the Hurri-
canes can start making travel plans
for either Pittsburgh or
Washington.
They’ve taken 3-1 series leads
twice before in franchise history
and have advanced both times.
Meanwhile, the Bruins haven’t won
any of the 21 series in which they’ve
faced such a deficit.
“We’ve got to be realistic. In being
realistic, you’ve got to know that
you can do it,” goalie Tim Thomas
said. “We can win three games in a
row. How many times in the season
did we do it? ... We still have a
chance.”
Jokinen delivered another late
goal for Carolina—and this time, he
left enough time to generate a couple
of goals for his teammates, too.
The Finn capped a third-period
burst that started when Anton Bab-
chuk unloaded a slap shot from the
left point. Rod Brind’Amour took a
whack at it near the left post, and
Jokinen swept it past Thomas and
into an open net to make it 2-1.
The Hurricanes have become
used to go-ahead goals from Joki-
nen, who won Game 3 with an over-
time tap-in two nights earlier. In the
series before that, he won Game 4
against New Jersey with an off-the-
skate score with 0.2 seconds
remaining, then scored to start Car-
olina’s two-goals-in-80-seconds
rally that beat the Devils in Game 7.
NHL
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Just as he’s done throughout the playoffs, Jussi Jokinen, right, scored the critical go-ahead goal to set up Carolina’s win.
“It’s been quite a ride the last
three months and especially in the
playoffs,” Jokinen said. “But I’m not
satisfied with it and how things are
right now. ... We still have a long
way to go.”
Jokinen set up Samsonov for a
backhander that made it a two-goal
game with 5:29 left, and had one of
the assists on Staal’s second goal 70
seconds later. Staal weaved through
several defenders and beat Thomas
KARL B. DEBLAKER / AP
with a snap shot for his 40th career
point in the playoffs, breaking the
mark of 39 set by current associate
head coach Ron Francis.
Cam Ward made 20 saves in
improving his career playoff record
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 9
Series glance
(Carolina leads series 3-1)
May 1: Boston 4, Carolina 1
May 3: Carolina 3, Boston, 0
May 6: Carolina 3,
Boston 2, OT
Friday: Carolina 4, Boston 1
Sunday: Carolina at Boston,
7:30 p.m., Versus
Tuesday: Boston at Carolina,
7 p.m., if necessary
Thursday: Carolina at Boston, TBD,
if necessary
Boston 0 1 0 — 1
Carolina 1 0 3 — 4
First Period: 1, Carolina, Staal 8 (Cole, Whitney), 4:54 (pp). Penal-
ties: Samsonov, Car (hooking), 1:43; Krejci, Bos (roughing), 3:17;
Savard, Bos (roughing), 16:59; Lucic, Bos (roughing), 16:59; Cole, Car
(roughing), 16:59; Seidenberg, Car (roughing), 16:59.
Second Period: 2, Boston, Savard 5 (Recchi, Ryder), 2:37 (pp). Pen-
alties: Ruutu, Car (holding), 2:09; Kobasew, Bos (holding), 14:10.
Third Period: 3, Carolina, Jokinen 6 (Brind’Amour, Babchuk), 2:52
(pp). 4, Carolina, Samsonov 2 (Jokinen, Ruutu), 14:31. 5, Carolina,
Staal 9 (Corvo, Jokinen), 15:41. Penalties: Chara, Bos (hooking),
1:07; Montador, Bos (hooking), 6:08; Kobasew, Bos (holding), 14:59;
Cole, Car (roughing), 14:59; Babchuk, Car (hooking), 19:19; Kobasew,
Bos (roughing, interference), 19:56; Brind’Amour, Car (roughing),
19:56.
Shots on Goal: Boston 4-10-7: 21. Carolina 12-6-13: 31.
Power-play opportunities: Boston 1 of 3; Carolina 2 of 4.
Goalies: Boston, Thomas 5-3-0 (31 shots-27 saves). Carolina, C.Ward
7-4-0 (21-20).
A: 18,878 (18,680). T: 2:28.
Referees: Kevin Pollock, Dave Jackson. Linesmen: Jean Morin, Thor
Nelson.
to 22-12.
Thomas finished with 27 saves
for Boston, which was out to prove
it still had plenty of fight left after
losing the previous two.
— The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Crosby vs. Ovechkin plays second fiddle to Yanni
PITTSBURGH—Yanni is forcing the Wash-
ington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins
to play back-to-back playoff games, and
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis doesn’t like
it.
Because of three events scheduled in
an eight-day span at Mellon Arena, the
NHL was forced to schedule Game 4 of
the Capitals-Penguins Eastern Confer-
ence semifinal series in Pittsburgh on
Friday night and Game 5 at the Verizon
Center in Washington today.
“You don’t want to play back-to-back,”
Capitals general manager George
McPhee said. “Neither team wanted it.”
The teams have been playing every
other day. Normally, they would have
played Friday in Pittsburgh, Sunday in
Washington and Tuesday (if necessary)
in Pittsburgh, but the prescheduled
Yanni concert ruled out the Tuesday
date.
Instead, Game 6 is scheduled for Mon-
day night in Pittsburgh, meaning the
teams will play three games in a four-
day span.
A WWE wrestling event last Tuesday
and a Dane Cook show Thursday in
Pittsburgh also factored into the NHL
schedule.
“It is a shame that both teams will have
to play back-to-back games ... because
the Pittsburgh building—against NHL
rules—booked a series of concerts and
forced the league to alter the playoff
schedule,” Leonsis wrote on his blog.
“This is bad for the league, both fan
bases and for the players.
“The playoffs are very intense and
physical and players need time to recoup.
No one is advantaged by playing back-to-
back games, so no one can complain. But
it is unfortunate that the Yanni concert
takes precedence over high-quality NHL
playoff hockey.”
There have been no other back-to-back
games so far in the first two rounds,
Neither Sidney Crosby, right, nor Alex Ovechkin seemed bothered by playing on consecutive days.
although teams have played on consecu-
tive days in past years. Last season,
teams played back-to-back games five
times.
“We agree with Ted Leonsis and the
Capitals that it is unfortunate when you
NHL
building availability and national televi-
sion preferences when making the play-
off schedule.”
By playing a Penguins-Capitals game
today, Canadian national network CBC
gets a Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin
matchup for its Hockey Night in Canada
broadcast.
“We saw the schedule,” Crosby said
Friday. “That’s the way it is.”
Leonsis has reason to dislike the
scheduling quirk. Last season, the Capi-
tals played on successive days in their
first-round series against Philadelphia—
losing Game 7 in overtime at home the
day after winning Game 6 on the road.
Penguins forward Max Talbot said he
didn’t think it was a big deal.
“Whatever team wins (Game 4) will
have the momentum going into Game 5,
which is good,” he said. “I like it.”
According to NBC’s website, the first
two games of the Stanley Cup finals are
scheduled for Friday, June 5, and Satur-
day, June 6, although—unlike the Capi-
tals-Penguins games—they would be
played in the same city. NBC is televising
all but two games in the finals.
—The Associated Press
Today’s games
All Times ET
Eastern Conference semifinals
(Best-of-7)
Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m.,
NICK WASS / AP Versus
Chicago at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.,
Versus
have to play back-to-back in the play-
offs,” Penguins CEO Ken Sawyer said in
Betting lines
Today
a statement issued by the team. “How- FAVORITE LINE
ever, it has happened before, it is some- at Washington .......-145................Pittsburgh...........+125
times unavoidable, and it impacts both at Vancouver ..........-150................Chicago ...............+130
teams equally. The NHL has to consider
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 10
Playoff glance
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
(Best-of-7)
All Times ET
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Boston vs. Carolina
(Carolina leads series 3-1)
May 1: Boston 4, Carolina 1
May 3: Carolina 3, Boston 0
May 5: Carolina 3, Boston 2, OT
Friday: Carolina 4, Boston 1
Sunday: Carolina at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday: Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m., if necessary
Thursday: Carolina at Boston, TBD, if necessary
Washington vs. Pittsburgh
(Series tied 2-2)
May 2: Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2
May 4: Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3
May 6: Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2, OT
Friday: Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3
Today: Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m.
Monday: Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m., if necessary
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Detroit vs. Anaheim
(Series tied 2-2)
May 1: Detroit 3, Anaheim 2
May 3: Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT
May 5: Anaheim 2, Detroit 1
May 7: Detroit 6, Anaheim 3
Sunday: Anaheim at Detroit, 5 p.m.
Tuesday: Detroit at Anaheim, 10 p.m.
Thursday: Anaheim at Detroit, TBD, if necessary
Vancouver vs. Chicago
(Series tied 2-2)
April 30: Vancouver 5, Chicago 3
May 2: Chicago 6, Vancouver 3
May 5: Vancouver 3, Chicago 1
May 7: Chicago 2, Vancouver 1, OT
Today: Chicago at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.
Monday: Vancouver at Chicago, 9 p.m.
UNDERDOG LINE Thursday,: Chicago at Vancouver, TBD, if necessary
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Canada, Russia to play for gold in Worlds final
Canada is in position to get some
revenge at the IIHF World Hockey
Championships in Bern, Switzerland.
The Canadians rode Derek Roy’s
two goals and Dwayne Roloson’s 25
saves to a 3-1 semifinal win over
Sweden on Friday, setting up a
rematch with Russia in the tourna-
ment’s gold medal game on
Sunday.
The two teams have been on a
collision course since the event
began two weeks ago. It will be the
second straight year the teams have
met in the final, and Team Canada
officials well remember Russia
winning last year’s gold in Quebec
City.
Canada will be coming off its
strongest performance of the tour-
nament, a patient semifinal game
in which it neutralized the Swedish
attack and never left the outcome
in doubt.
Shawn Horcoff had the other goal
for Canada, while Dallas Stars F
Loui Eriksson scored for Sweden.
In the early semifinal, Konstantin
Gorovikov scored with 1:47 remain-
ing to give Russia a 3-2 victory over
a surprising Team USA. The
Americans had taken the lead in
the second period on a goal by cap-
tain Dustin Brown, then tied it later in
the period on a goal by Kyle Okposo
after Russian goals by Ilya Kovalchuk
and Alexander Frolov.
“We were very unlucky on two of
their goals. Shots which were going
wide hit somebody,” U.S. coach Ron
Wilson said. “I’m very proud of our
team for the effort we gave.”
Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov had 18
saves for Russia. Robert Esche made
Derek Roy (9) had two goals, including this one against Sweden G Jonas Gustavsson, as Canada advanced to the IIHF World Hockey title game.
21 for the Americans, who will play
Sweden Sunday for a bronze
medal.
The former Soviet republic of
Belarus has been granted the right
NHL
INSIDE DISH
to host the IIHF World Champion-
ships in 2014, The Associated
Press reported Friday.
The decision was announced at
an election of IIHF members at
their annual Congress. Hungary
JACQUES BOISSINOT / AP
was a distant second choice fol-
lowed by Latvia and Ukraine.
Belarus, which lost to Russia in a
quarterfinal game on Thursday,
reportedly plans to build two new
venues to stage the event. Finland
and Sweden will co-host the event
in 2012 and 2013.
The IIHF also announced that
Kuwait and Georgia have been
admitted as associate members,
bringing its total number of
national federations to 68. It also
agreed that the 12 countries play-
ing in the men’s tournament at the
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancou-
ver must announce their rosters
by Dec. 31.
TSN reported that NHL dep-
uty commissioner Bill Daly admitted
on XM Radio’s NHL Home Ice show
that Jim Balsillie’s bid for the Phoenix
Coyotes caught league officials by
surprise and said there have been
multiple offers to keep the team in
Arizona.
Daly said the news was frustrat-
ing because the league had been
working with Coyotes owner Jerry
Moyes on potential ownership
options and was stunned when the
team filed for bankruptcy on
Tuesday.
“The discussions between Mr.
Moyes and Mr. Balsillie were con-
ducted surreptitiously,” Daly said
in the radio interview. “We had
been working with Mr. Moyes for
many months on potential owner-
ship options in Phoenix. We were
actually encouraged by Mr. Moyes
to pursue a local owner, which we
did, and we thought we had the
issue resolved. We were bringing
that solution to Mr. Moyes on Tues-
day when we heard that he had
filed for bankruptcy. This clearly
was a surprise to all of us and we’ll
have to deal with it.”
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 11
Daly also said the league has
identified at least three potential
suitors for the franchise, including
one that would have satisfied the
needs of creditors.
The Denver Post reported that
former Montreal and Colorado
great Patrick Roy met with Avalanche
president Pierre Lacroix earlier this
week, stirring speculation he might
want to work for his former team.
If true, it’s unclear what position
might interest the former star goal-
tender, although Roy has said he
might someday like to coach in the
NHL. Tony Granato remains in place
as coach of an Avs team that fin-
ished last in the Western Confer-
ence, but the team is searching for a
new general manager and Granato’s
status could change.
Roy as been part owner and
coach of the Quebec Remparts of
the QMJHL since retiring in 2003,
but sons Jonathan and Frederick no
longer play with the team and
there’s speculation Roy might want
to move on.
Detroit coach Mike Babcock says
F Tomas Kopecky will miss Sunday’s
Game 5 of a second-round series
against the Anaheim Ducks, and
that D Brian Rafalski and F Kris Draper
are doubtful with upper-body
injuries.
Kopecky sustained facial injuries
in a fight with Anaheim D Francois
Beauchemin in the third period of
Game 4 and was under further
evaluation. Neither Rafalski or
Draper have played in the second-
round series, which is tied 2-2.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com NBA SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 12
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

L.A. Lakers 108, Houston 94

Kobe, Fisher fill-in Farmar key Lakers Series glance

(L.A. Lakers lead series 2-1)

May 4: Houston 100, L.A. Lakers 92

HOUSTON—Kobe Bryant scored 33 halftime, then missed 15 of their May 6: L.A. Lakers 111, Houston 98
points and the Los Angeles Lakers first 19 shots in the third quarter. Friday: L.A. Lakers 108, Houston 94
took a 2-1 lead in their Western “We had to get stops,” Bryant Sunday: L.A. Lakers at Houston,
3:30 p.m.
Conference semifinal series with a said. “When they started despera-
Tuesday: Houston at L.A. Lakers,
108-94 victory over the Houston tion plays we were not able to get 10:30 p.m.
Rockets on Friday night. stops. In the third quarter and into Thursday: L.A. Lakers at Houston,
Lamar Odom had 16 points and the fourth quarter, we started to get TBA, if necessary
13 rebounds and reserve point stops and it sustained us.” Sunday, May 17: Houston at L.A.
Lakers, TBA, if necessary
guard Jordan Farmar had 12 points Bryant had a quiet third quarter
and seven assists in place of the sus- until the final 3 seconds, when he
pended Derek Fisher, who was took an inbounds pass, dribbled
ejected from Game 2 for a hard hit away from Artest and swished a
on Luis Scola when he set a pick. straight-on 33-footer at the buzzer L.A. Lakers 30 20 24 34 — 108
Ron Artest, who scored 25 points, to give the Lakers a 74-62 lead. He Houston 28 20 14 32 — 94
was ejected for a flagrant foul on struck a frozen pose at midcourt L.A. LAKERS Min FG FT Reb A PF PTS
Pau Gasol in the final minute, the after another signature shot, silenc- Ariza 31:41 4-7 2-4 0-5 2 5 13
Odom 33:48 7-11 0-0 2-13 0 3 16
only carryover of the rough play ing the capacity crowd that booed Gasol 35:44 4-11 5-7 3-6 3 4 13
that turned testy in Game 2. Artest him every time he touched the ball. Farmar 32:48 3-7 6-8 2-5 7 0 12
Bryant 44:15 11-28 7-8 2-6 3 2 33
was ejected from Game 2 for a ver- “I missed some easy shots at the Walton 18:44 2-6 1-2 0-1 2 2 6
bal altercation with Bryant follow- rim, they just didn’t go down for Bynum 12:16 2-2 0-0 1-5 0 3 4
Brown 15:12 2-2 4-4 0-1 0 1 8
ing Bryant’s elbow to Artest’s upper me,” Bryant said. “I had to pull the Vujacic 12:32 1-6 0-0 0-1 0 2 3
chest. string on that 3-pointer.” Powell 3:00 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 240:00 36-82 25-33 10-43 17 22 108
Artest was OK with the call in Early in the fourth quarter, Hous-
Friday’s game, adding that two of ton’s Von Wafer jumped into Sasha Percentages: FG .439, FT .758. 3-Point Goals: 11-20, .550 (Bry-
ant 4-6, Ariza 3-4, Odom 2-2, Walton 1-2, Vujacic 1-3, Farmar 0-3).
the referees explained why they Vujacic on a 3-point try and hit the Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 6 (5 PTS). Blocked Shots: 9
called it that way. floor. Players from both teams (Bryant 3, Bynum 2, Odom 2, Farmar, Gasol). Turnovers: 6 (Odom 3,
Ariza, Brown, Farmar). Steals: 11 (Ariza 4, Bryant 2, Farmar 2, Odom,
“I don’t think that was a flagrant, rushed over, but Wafer defused a Vujacic, Walton). Technical Fouls: Walton, 6:03 second.
maybe a flagrant one,” Bryant said potential confrontation by walking
HOUSTON Min FG FT Reb A PF PTS
of Artest’s ejection. “That rule is so away. Wafer made three free throws Battier 42:02 2-5 0-0 4-8 7 2 6
all over the place, it’s hard to judge. to cut Houston’s deficit to 81-71. Scola 27:03 5-11 0-2 4-12 0 3 10
Yao 39:50 6-14 7-9 6-14 2 1 19
I’m an ’80s baby, so that’s just two Artest muscled inside for a layup Brooks 27:24 3-8 0-0 0-3 1 5 7
shots and let’s go.” and Yao dunked to pull the Rockets ERIC GAY / AP Artest 37:25 10-23 3-4 2-6 1 4 25
Lowry 21:58 3-6 2-3 1-4 4 3 8
Artest had 25 points and Yao within 90-84 by the 4-minute mark. Ron Artest (96) was ejected for the second consecutive game Friday, tossed in the final minute following a flagrant foul on Pau Gasol. Hayes 6:34 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Ming added 19 points and 14 Farmar sank a baseline jumper with Landry 21:11 4-7 2-2 2-6 0 1 10
Wafer 16:33 2-10 4-5 0-2 0 2 9
rebounds for the Rockets but he 3:54 to boost the lead back to eight. from Trevor Ariza 9 seconds into period had won all of Houston’s Lowry. Totals 240:00 35-84 18-25 19-56 16 22 94
was bothered by a lower left leg Yao missed a baseline shot with 3 the game and Bryant hit a 3-pointer eight previous playoff games. Bryant went 5 for 6 from the field
Percentages: FG .417, FT .720. 3-Point Goals: 6-19, .316 (Battier
injury in the final minutes and was minutes left and Bryant beat the a minute later to pass Larry Bird The first sign of the chippy play and had 11 points in the first quar- 2-5, Artest 2-8, Brooks 1-2, Wafer 1-4). Team Rebounds: 4. Team
limping as he left the court. shot clock with another 3 with 2:21 and move into sixth place on the all- that marred Game 2 came midway ter, then missed six of seven shots Turnovers: 17 (20 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Yao 2, Artest). Turn-
overs: 17 (Artest 4, Brooks 3, Yao 3, Scola 3, Wafer 2, Battier, Hayes).
The Lakers snapped the Rockets’ left for a 95-84 that virtually put it time postseason scoring list. through the second quarter, when in the second. The Rockets slowed Steals: 2 (Battier, Yao). Technical Fouls: None. Flagrant Fouls:
nine-game home winning streak. away. Los Angeles pushed the Los Angeles led 30-28 heading to Luke Walton was called for a tech- the pace, got to the free-throw line Artest, 0:43.6 fourth.
Game 4 is Sunday in Houston. tempo from the start. the second quarter, notable because nical foul for nonchalantly kicking more and took a 46-43 lead. A: 18,495 (18,043). T: 2:35. Officials: Steve Javie, Sean Corbin, Ron
The Rockets trailed 50-48 at Odom dunked an alley-oop pass the team leading after the first the ball after knocking down Kyle — The Associated Press Garretson.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com NBA SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 13
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Series glance
Orlando 117, Boston 96 (Orlando leads 2-1)

May 4: Orlando 95, Boston 90

Howard ensures that Alston is not missed

May 6: Boston 112, Orlando 94
Friday: Orlando 117, Boston 96
Sunday: Boston at Orlando,
8 p.m., TNT
Tuesday: Orlando at Boston,
ORLANDO—Into the stands. Off the lead.” retaliators all night.” 8 p.m., TNT
backboard or in another player’s It was the second time this post- The Magic took a 20-point lead Thursday: Boston at Orlando,
face, Dwight Howard sent Boston season the Magic won with a starter early in the third quarter before TBA, if necessary
Celtics’ shots everywhere. suspended. Howard picked up his fourth foul, Sunday, May 17: Orlando at
Howard had 17 points, 14 Howard lost his cool and threw and the Celtics ended the period on Boston, TBA, if necessary
rebounds and five blocks to lift the an elbow at Samuel Dalembert’s a 12-2 run capped by a breakaway
Orlando Magic to a 117-96 victory head to draw a suspension for Game dunk by Rondo.
over the Celtics on Friday night and 6 of their first-round series against The Celtics trimmed the deficit to Boston 18 23 28 27 — 96
a 2-1 series lead in their Eastern Philadelphia—but Orlando still seven in the fourth, and just when it Orlando 22 31 25 39 — 117
Conference semifinal. managed to get a blowout win and appeared they would complete the BOSTON Min FG FT Reb A PF PTS
“Just the whole team stepped up eliminate the 76ers. comeback, center Kendrick Perkins Pierce 38:14 6-15 14-14 0-3 6 2 27
Davis 28:25 2-6 3-4 1-3 1 5 7
the defensive intensity,” said How- Anthony Johnson had 13 points in lost his cool. Perkins 28:32 5-8 0-0 3-7 0 5 10
ard, the NBA’s defensive player of place of Alston. Perkins was called for a flagrant RAllen 32:41 3-13 2-2 1-5 4 1 8
Rondo 34:19 7-17 1-3 1-5 6 3 15
the year. “It starts with me. I have to “I can’t explain that,” Van Gundy one foul with 10:15 remaining for an Scalabrine 24:36 2-5 0-0 0-3 1 5 5
do that every night if we want to be said about winning shorthanded. elbow on Mickael Pietrus. Replays Marbury 14:58 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 3 2
House 20:32 6-7 0-0 0-1 1 2 15
successful.” But this time, it was the Magic’s showed Perkins’ elbow hit Pietrus Moore 6:15 1-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 2
Rashard Lewis had 28 points, big man who made sure a teammate in the chin while the two were bat- Pruitt 3:50 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
TAllen 3:50 1-1 1-1 0-1 0 1 3
and Hedo Turkoglu scored 24 for wasn’t missed. tling for position away from the ball, Walker 3:50 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 1 2
Orlando, which played without Howard had four blocks in the the kind of play the NBA has been Totals 240:02 34-79 23-26 6-29 24 29 96
starting point guard Rafer Alston. first half, forcing the Celtics into a reviewing—and sometimes giving Percentages: FG .430, FT .885. 3-Point Goals: 5-18, .278 (House
He was suspended by the NBA for jump-shooting team much like the out suspensions—in a postseason 3-4, Pierce 1-3, Scalabrine 1-3, Marbury 0-1, Perkins 0-1, Rondo
0-1, R.Allen 0-5). Team Rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 15 (25 PTS).
slapping Eddie House in the back of Magic did to win Game 1. On the that’s only becoming more Blocked Shots: 1 (Davis). Turnovers: 14 (Perkins 3, R.Allen 2, Mar-
the head in Game 2. first play of the second quarter, physical. bury 2, Pierce 2, Davis, Pruitt, Rondo, Scalabrine, Walker). Steals: 11
(Pierce 3, Rondo 3, Davis 2, House, Moore, Walker). Technical Fouls:
Paul Pierce broke out of his series Howard soared so high he had to Rivers reiterated that he doesn’t House, 10:15 fourth. Flagrant Fouls: Perkins, 10:15 fourth.
slump to score 27 points, and Rajon brace his left hand against the back- believe in postseason suspensions
ORLANDO Min FG FT Reb A PF PTS
Rondo added 15 for the defending board so he wouldn’t smack his and that players should serve their Turkoglu 33:46 8-12 6-7 0-2 4 5 24
champion Celtics, who trimmed a head, swatting Stephon Marbury’s penalty in the following regular Lewis 40:47 9-17 7-8 0-6 3 0 28
Howard 27:32 7-8 3-6 2-14 0 5 17
20-point deficit to seven before the layup attempt into the stands. season. Van Gundy agreed. Redick 27:27 1-5 2-2 0-3 2 2 5
Magic regained control. It was no different on offense. “I understand what the NBA is Johnson 27:54 5-7 2-2 1-3 3 4 13
Lee 32:25 3-4 4-4 0-4 3 3 11
“You give them their inside game Howard sprinted down the mid- trying to do and trying to prevent, Battie 3:50 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
and their outside game, then you dle of the lane to take a pass zipped and I respect that,” Van Gundy said. Pietrus 18:58 2-6 3-4 0-0 0 1 7
Gortat 20:28 2-2 3-3 0-3 1 4 7
don’t have a chance,” Pierce said. from the wing by J.J. Redick, grip- “But it is getting to the point now Lue 3:51 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 5
Game 4 is Sunday in Orlando, ping the ball with two hands for a that every time somebody gets hit Foyle 3:02 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Totals 240:00 39-66 30-36 3-36 16 25 117
and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy thunderous dunk that gave Orlando somebody has to get up there lobby-
said he won’t spend time enjoying a 43-31 lead. The Magic eventually ing trying to get a guy suspended.” Percentages: FG .591, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 9-18, .500 (Lewis
3-7, Turkoglu 2-3, Johnson 1-1, Lee 1-1, Lue 1-1, Redick 1-2, Pietrus
his team’s latest win. would go ahead by 14 points in the Orlando’s Courtney Lee returned 0-3). Team Rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 19 (16 PTS). Blocked
“This is not the time of year to cel- period. for the Magic with a protective mask Shots: 5 (Howard 5). Turnovers: 17 (Lewis 4, Howard 3, Johnson 2,
Lee 2, Redick 2, Foyle, Gortat, Pietrus, Turkoglu). Steals: 11 (Howard
ebrate a win in the playoffs, espe- “Our defense was awful. They after missing the first two games of 2, Johnson 2, Pietrus 2, Redick 2, Lee, Lewis, Turkoglu). Technical
cially against a team like Boston,” made every shot,” Celtics coach Doc the series recovering from a frac- Fouls: Turkoglu, 10:15 fourth.
Van Gundy said. “It’s basically like Rivers said. “I thought they were tured sinus. PHELAN M. EBENHACK / AP
A: 17,461 (17,461). T: 2:38. Officials: Scott Foster, Joe DeRosa, Leon
being at halftime with a one-point the aggressors and we were the — The Associated Press Dwight Howard, right, had 4 of his 5 blocks in the first half, including this one of Paul Pierce. Wood.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY
Nuggets understand
importance of Game 3
Carmelo Anthony, left, and the Nuggets lost Game 3 in the quarterfinals to the Hornets.
DALLAS—In their romp through
the playoffs thus far, the Denver
Nuggets have made only one mis-
take: blowing Game 3 of their first-
round series.
Up 2-0 on the Hornets, and play-
ing in New Orleans, the Nuggets
jumped way ahead in the opening
minutes—then wound up losing.
They bounced back in a big way the
next game and haven’t lost since.
Today, Denver gets another
Game 3 on the road, again while up
2-0. This time it’s against the Dal-
las Mavericks.
Have the Nuggets learned their
lesson? Do they now understand
the difference between a playoff
road game and a regular-season
road game?
Denver coach George Karl is
eager to find out.
“Game 3 always has a sort of
www.sportingnews.com
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
JACK DEMPSEY / AP
home-court intensity that big-time
pros know how to take advantage
of, and I think Dallas is made up of
big-time pros,” Karl said. “They’re
going to have a home-court energy
that’s going to be more than New
Orleans was. It’s going to be hotter.
It’s going to be a hot building where
we’re going to have to keep 48 min-
utes of composure and focus and
make sure we stay on track and on
point to how to win the game.”
The Nuggets haven’t had many
problems with the Mavericks so
far, using their size and strength to
bully their way to the basket seem-
ingly at will. Both games have fea-
tured stretches when everything
came easy for Denver and nothing
was easy for Dallas.
Yet the Mavericks haven’t been
total bystanders. In both games,
they led early and got close with
NBA
Series glance
(Denver leads series 2-0)
May 3: Denver 109, Dallas 95
May 5: Denver 117, Dallas 105
Today: Denver at Dallas,
5 p.m., ESPN
Monday: Denver at Dallas,
9:30 p.m., TNT
Wednesday: Dallas at Denver,
TBA, if necessary
Friday: Denver at Dallas,
TBA, if necessary
Sunday, May 17: Dallas at Denver,
TBA, if necessary
about a quarter left. The difference
has been Denver pulling away and
Dallas unable to stop it.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle and
staff have had three days to come
up with some new strategies and
some backups in case those don’t
work. There’s also been time for
Josh Howard to rest his ailing
ankles. And there’s the comfort of
being home, where Dallas is 17-1
since mid-February.
“Coming home is something that
can help you, but it doesn’t guaran-
tee anything,” Carlisle said Friday.
“Our whole game’s got to get better.
There are a lot of things we can do
in the first three quarters that will
help us be in better shape going
into the fourth.”
Dirk Nowitzki is always Dallas’
main man, but perhaps especially
so today. He’s spent the days since
Game 2 dealing with the arrest of a
woman who was living at his house
and the fallout from it, including
constant media attention. Having a
game to play should be a great
release, and fans are likely to show
him plenty of support.
“Watching him prepare the last
two days, he looks like he’s focused,
ready to go,” guard Jason Terry said.
— The Associated Press
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Zaza Pachulia, center, would be forced into the Hawks’ starting lineup again if Al Horford (sprained ankle) is unable to play.
Hawks hurting, but won’t just roll over
ATLANTA—If this was a heavy-
weight fight, the referee might have
already stepped in to stop it.
LeBron James and the Cleveland
Cavaliers are on a record roll and
throwing nothing but haymakers.
The Atlanta Hawks are all banged
up and on the ropes.
Of course, it takes four wins to
advance in the NBA playoffs, so
the Cavaliers’ work is only half
done. But it’s hard to see any way
the team with the league’s MVP
and the league’s best record could
possibly let this one slip away.
The Cavs took Game 1 by 27
points. Game 2 was a 20-point
blowout (and not really that close).
Compounding Atlanta’s prob-
lems: Three starters—leading scorer
Joe Johnson, center Al Horford and
forward Marvin Williams—are
hurting. Horford (sprained ankle)
and Williams (sprained wrist) sat
out Game 2, while Johnson twisted
his right ankle after the contest
already had gotten out of hand and
left the arena in a walking boot.
They’re all questionable for Game
3 tonight. Even if they play, none
will be at full strength.
“It’s a little frustrating not to have
a full deck,” Hawks coach Mike
Woodson said after practice Friday.
“No one wants to go through a play-
off series all beat up. We’ve got
some key guys on the sideline.”
Horford and Williams took part
in the off-day practice at Philips
Arena, though it really was more of
a walkthrough. Johnson stayed in
the back, getting treatment.
“Injuries happen. They’re part of
the game,” said Zaza Pachulia, who
would start at center if Horford
can’t go. “Unfortunately, it’s hap-
pened to us in the playoffs. That’s
not a good time. But we’re still going
to have five guys on the court.”
Don’t expect any sympathy from
the Cavaliers, who have won all six
of their playoff games by double fig-
ures—matching the record streak
set by the 2004 Indiana Pacers.
“I’ve seen a lot of teams come up
with some big-time efforts when
starters are out,” Wally Szczerbiak
said. “Look at the playoffs this year.
Dwight Howard was out and the
Magic won Game 6 on the road in
Philly to close out that series. So
we’ve got to be ready for their guys to
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 14
TONY DEJAK / AP
Series glance
(Cleveland leads series 2-0)
May 5: Cleveland 99, Atlanta 72
May 7: Cleveland 105, Atlanta 85
Today: Cleveland at Atlanta,
8 p.m., ABC
Monday: Cleveland at Atlanta,
7 p.m., TNT
Wednesday: Atlanta at Cleveland,
8 p.m., if necessary
Friday: Cleveland at Atlanta,
TBA, if necessary
Monday, May 18: Atlanta at
Cleveland, 8 p.m., if necessary
step up. There are professional bas-
ketball players in this league who are
hungry and ready to play. We have
to go out and do our jobs and con-
tinue to play the way we have, no
matter who is out there for them.”
The Hawks can look back to last
year’s playoffs in their search for
inspiration.
Atlanta was blown out in its first
two games of its opening-round
series against Boston, but fought
back to force the series to seven
games before losing.
— The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
LeBron: ‘I’m comfortable with being in Cleveland’
There has been plenty of specula-
tion about what Cavs SF LeBron James
will do in 2010, when he can become
a free agent. Many Knicks fans might
assume he won’t be able to turn down
the bright lights of New York, but his
comments on an upcoming segment
on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, which
airs Sunday, make it appear as
though he’ll be happy to stay at home
with the Cavs. According to the
Akron Beacon Journal, which received
an advanced copy of the episode,
James said, ‘’I’m comfortable with
being in Cleveland. I’m excited about
it. ‘I’m loving the direction we’re
(going) in and I’m loving the team-
mates I have and the organization. So
if that’s any indication of me leaving,
then somebody must be looking out
the wrong box.’’
Kobe Bryant and his wife have
been ordered to pay unemployment
benefits to their former house-
keeper who is suing them for
harassing and humiliating her.
The California Unemployment
Insurance Appeals Board has ruled
the Los Angeles Lakers star and his
wife must pay $326 a week in unem-
ployment benefits to Maria Jimenez.
The ruling affirms a decision by an
administrative law judge who found
that Jimenez testified credibly that
she was forced to quit because she
was “demeaned and humiliated” by
her employer.
76ers general manager Ed Ste-
fanski will meet with coach Tony DiLeo
by early next week to discuss
DiLeo’s future with the team, The
Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Ste-
fanski said he has not yet decided
LeBron James will be a coveted free agent in the summer of 2010, but says he likes the direction the Cavs are headed.
whether DiLeo will remain as coach
or return to the Sixers’ front office,
where he served from 1990 until
Dec. 13, 2008, when Stefanski pro-
moted him to head coach to replace
the fired Maurice Cheeks. DiLeo went
32-27 as the Sixers’ coach after the
team started the season 9-14. The
Sixers lost in the first round of the
playoffs to the Magic in six games.
After the final loss, DiLeo didn’t get
a ringing endorsement from the
players. C Theo Ratliff said the sea-
son-ending defeat was the result of
“soft” coaching. G/F Andre Iguodala
said the team had “inner turmoil”
NBA
INSIDE DISH
and “mental lapses.”
The Suns have been in negotia-
tions with coach Alvin Gentry to
remove the interim tag from his
title, and a deal could be done by
this weekend, The Arizona Republic
reported. “It’s all going well,” gen-
eral manager Steve Kerr said about
the negotiations. “We’ve had pro-
ductive conversations the last cou-
ple days. Hopefully, we’ll get
something done. We’ve got the ball
rolling. We just have to keep the dis-
cussion going and hopefully get
something done soon.” According
TONY DEJAK / AP
to The Republic, the Suns and Gentry
are talking about a two-year con-
tract after Phoenix gave Terry Porter,
who was fired in February, a three-
year contract a year ago. The Suns
still owe Porter about $4.5 million,
leaving a smaller money pool for the
new coach.
With Rick Pitino apparently stay-
ing in Louisville, former Kings and
Wizards coach Eddie Jordan remains
the frontrunner for the head coaching
position in Sacramento, according to
yahoo.com, with Paul Westphal and
Mike Fratello also being candidates.
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 15
Playoff glance
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
(Best-of-7), All times ET
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(Cleveland leads series 2-0)
Cleveland vs. Atlanta
May 5: Cleveland 99, Atlanta 72
May 7: Cleveland 105, Atlanta 85
Today’s games Today: Cleveland at Atlanta, 8 p.m.
Monday: Cleveland at Atlanta, 7 p.m.
All Times ET Wednesday: Atlanta at Cleveland,
TBA, if necessary
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS Friday, May 15: Cleveland at Atlanta,
(Best-of-7) TBA, if necessary
Monday, May 18: Atlanta at
Denver at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN Cleveland, 8 p.m., if necessary
Cleveland at Atlanta, 8 p.m.,
ABC Boston vs. Orlando
(Orlando lead series 2-1)
Betting line May 4: Orlando 95, Boston 90
May 6: Boston 112, Orlando 94
Friday: Orlando 117, Boston 96
Today
Sunday: Boston at Orlando, 8 p.m.
FAVORITE ..........LINE ............ O/U .....UNDERDOG Tuesday: Orlando at Boston, TBA, if
at Dallas ...................... 4................(209½)..........Denver necessary
Cleveland .................... 8................(180) .........at Atlanta Thursday: Boston at Orlando, TBA, if
necessary
Sunday, May 17: Orlando at Boston,
TBA, if necessary
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Celtics coach Doc Rivers isn’t a L.A. Lakers vs. Houston
fan of suspensions in the playoffs— (L.A. Lakers lead series 2-1)
even when it’s someone on the other May 4: Houston 100, L.A. Lakers 92
team being suspended. Magic PG May 6: L.A. Lakers 111,
Rafer Alston was suspended for Fri- Houston 98
Friday: L.A. Lakers 108, Houston 94
day night’s Game 3 after slapping Sunday: L.A. Lakers at Houston,
Celtics G Eddie House on the back of 3:30 p.m.
the head on Wednesday, but Rivers Tuesday: Houston at L.A. Lakers, TBA,
said he doesn’t “believe in suspen- if necessary
Thursday: L.A. Lakers at Houston, TBA,
sions,” according to the Boston Her-
if necessary
ald. “I know that sounds lax, but I Sunday, May 17: Houston at L.A.
really don’t like guys getting sus- Lakers, TBA, if necessary
pended in the playoffs,” Rivers said.
“… The league would never go along Denver vs. Dallas
(Denver leads series 2-0)
with it, but a suspension does affect May 3: Denver 109, Dallas 95
the series at times, (like) Dwight How- May 5: Denver 117, Dallas 105
ard in the first round. It just changes Today: Denver at Dallas, 5 p.m.
the game.” Monday: Denver at Dallas, 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday: Dallas at Denver, TBA, if
necessary
Wizards F Antawn Jamison had a Friday, May 15: Denver at Dallas, TBA,
bone spur removed from his right if necessary
ankle at a New York hospital Thurs- Sunday, May 17: Dallas at Denver,
day, The Washington Post reported. TBA, if necessary
He is expected to make a full
recovery.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Yankees admit Rivera not at 100 percent
In a rare display of vulnerability,
Yankees P Mariano Rivera surrendered
two ninth-inning homers in Thurs-
day’s loss. They were the third and
fourth long balls the closer allowed
this season, matching his season totals
from 2007 and 2008, and the first
time he had ever allowed back-to-back
HRs. Since moving into the bullpen
full-time in 1996, Rivera never has
allowed more than five homers in a
season. After Thursday’s game, Rivera
admitted to Newsday that his surgically
repaired shoulder isn’t 100 percent.
And manager Joe Girardi admitted
Rivera was rested for five games last
week because of shoulder soreness.
Rivera, however, refused to use his
shoulder as an excuse.
Already shorthanded at
catcher after placing Jorge Posada
(hamstring) on the 15-day disabled
list earlier in the week, the Yankees
have to dig even deeper into their
catching depth. On Friday, New
York put C Jose Molina on the dis-
abled because of a Grade 2 strain of
his left quadriceps, according to the
New York Post. They called up C
Kevin Cash from Class AAA. P Steven
Jackson was designated for assign-
ment to make room on the 40-man
roster. Also, according to The Jour-
nal News of New York, P Ian Kennedy
has an aneurysm under his armpit
that has caused numbness in his
fingers. He will have surgery Tues-
day. There is no timetable for his
return, the newspaper reported.
San Diego State righthander
Stephen Strasburg, the possible No. 1
overall draft pick next month,
threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 victory
INSIDE DISH
Since moving to the bullpen in 1996, Mariano Rivera has not allowed more than five HRs in a season.
over Air Force on Friday night.
Strasburg (11-0) struck out 17 and
walked two in another dominant
outing.
When can we expect to see P
David Price in the Rays’ rotation? Prob-
ably not in the near future. The St.
Petersburg Times noted Price was
roughed up again Thursday at Class
AAA, allowing four earned runs on
five walks and six hits in four innings.
Price is 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA and
hasn’t made it past the fourth inning
in four of his six starts, though he is
on a 75-pitch limit.
The Boston Globe cited a report in
the Lynn Item that noted Red Sox P
Baseball
BILL KOSTROUN / AP
John Smoltz visited Dr. James Andrews in
April in order to get some peace of
mind about his surgically repaired
right shoulder. Smoltz experienced a
setback in his rehab around that
time, prompting the visit.
Ryan Freel, who expressed
unhappiness with his lack of play-
ing time, was traded by the Orioles
to the Cubs for OF Joey Gathright.
Obtained in a December trade with
Cincinnati, Freel hit .133 in nine
games with Baltimore.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel told
the New York Daily News that he
was unaware of the knee tendinitis
that landed P Oliver Perez on the
disabled list this week. Manuel
added that Perez, who is 1-2 with a
9.97 ERA in five starts this season,
will make at least one rehab start
before rejoining the Mets’ active
roster.
A day after leaving his start
because of discomfort in his surgi-
cally repaired shoulder, Marlins P
Anibal Sanchez was placed on the
15-day disabled list Friday with
what was called a sprain.
In need of depth after injuries
to Mark Ellis, Eric Chavez and Nomar Gar-
ciaparra, the A’s acquired IF Adam
Kennedy from the Rays for a player to
be named. Kennedy was released
by St. Louis in spring training.
Commenting on his outburst
during Wednesday’s game, Angels
P Justin Speier told the Los Angeles
Times that he let his frustration get
the best of him. After allowing a
homer to Blue Jays 3B Scott Rolen,
Speier hit Blue Jays C Rod Barajas
with a pitch and was warned by the
home plate umpire. Angels manager
Mike Scioscia came out to object to that
warning and was ejected. At that
point, several Angels coaches tried
to restrain Speier as he tried to get to
the home plate umpire. During that
time, Speier argued with the
coaches. As a result, Scioscia and
Speier had a closed-door meeting.
Though he continues to battle a
sore neck, Cubs 1B Derrek Lee won’t
be placed on the 15-day disabled list,
according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
In fact, manager Lou Piniella expected
Lee to be available this weekend.
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 16
THE LAUNCHING PAD
What to expect in the major leagues today
JEFF CHIU / AP
Eric Stults, making his third start against the Giants today, has split the first two.
Baltimore bashing
The Yankees welcomed third baseman Alex Rodriguez back with open
arms Friday in Baltimore. That’s partially because the hot corner has been
anything but hot for New York this season. During A-Rod’s 28-game absence,
Yankees third basemen combined to hit .198 with no homers and 10 RBIs.
The Orioles were one of Rodriguez’s favorite opponents last season, as he
hit .306 with five homers and 10 RBIs in 18 games against them. The five
homers were tied for the most he had against any team. Even better news
for A-Rod and the Yankees: Baltimore’s Adam Eaton, tonight’s starter, has a
7.18 ERA this season.
Life without Manny
Not only did the Dodgers lose their offensive star Thursday, they also lost
their first home game of the season after 13 consecutive wins. And now the
rival Giants are in town for the weekend. Although Ramirez hit .381 (8-for-21)
against the Giants in the six games he played against them this season, he
had no homers and only one RBI. And Los Angeles still won four of those six
matchups, so don’t expect this team to collapse. This afternoon, Dodgers
lefthander Eric Stults will make this third start of the season against San
Francisco. Stults beat the Giants at Dodger Stadium but was pounded by
them at AT&T Park.
Dempster dominance
After finishing first and second, respectively, in the N.L. Central last season,
the Cubs and Brewers both are looking up at the Cardinals this season. In a
scheduling quirk, Chicago and Milwaukee don’t play at Wrigley Field until
July 2, but they continue their second series at Miller Park tonight. The Cubs
certainly will have the right man on the mound. Righthander Ryan Dempster
was 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in five starts against the Brewers last season, and he
already has a win against them this season.
— Chris Bahr
SPORTINGNEWSTODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 17
Fantasy Focus LEAGUE LEADERS
American League Standings
Batting Average Home Runs East W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home Away
Hitter rankings Boston 19 11 .633 — — 6-4 W-2 12-3 7-8
A.L. N.L. A.L. N.L. Toronto 20 12 .625 — — 5-5 L-2 11-4 9-8
Player Team Player Team Player Team Player Team New York 14 15 .483 4½ 4½ 5-5 W-1 6-7 8-8
Youkilis Boston .393 Beltran New York .377 CPena Tampa Bay 13 Pujols St. Louis 11 Tampa Bay 14 17 .452 5½ 5½ 6-4 L-1 6-7 8-10
Baltimore 12 18 .400 7 7 3-7 L-1 9-9 3-9
VMartinez Cleveland .390 Votto Cincinnati .370 Longoria Tampa Bay 10 AdGonzalez San Diego 9
MiCabrera Detroit .385 Helton Colorado .351 Bay Boston 9 ASoriano Chicago 9 Central W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home Away
Longoria Tampa Bay .362 MRamirez Los Angeles .348 Granderson Detroit 9 Utley Philadelphia 9 Kansas City 18 12 .600 — — 8-2 L-1 11-6 7-6
Detroit 15 13 .536 2 3 5-5 W-1 8-5 7-8
AHill Toronto .357 Pujols St. Louis .343 Kinsler Texas 9 Four tied 8 Minnesota 14 16 .467 4 5 5-5 W-1 10-8 4-8
Bartlett Tampa Bay .355 Ibanez Philadelphia .340 Four tied 8 Chicago 13 15 .464 4 5 4-6 L-1 7-7 6-8
Callaspo Kansas City .344 Zimmerman Washington .339 Cleveland 11 19 .367 7 8 4-6 L-2 5-8 6-11
West W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home Away
Runs Stolen Bases Texas 16 13 .552 — — 7-3 W-1 8-6 8-7
Seattle 15 15 .500 1½ 4 3-7 L-5 7-7 8-8
A.L. N.L. A.L. N.L. Los Angeles 14 14 .500 1½ 4 7-3 W-2 8-7 6-7
Oakland 11 16 .407 4 6½ 4-6 W-2 6-8 5-8
Player Team Player Team Player Team Player Team
CHRIS CARLSON / AP
Dodgers OF Juan Pierre Markakis
Scutaro
Baltimore
Toronto
31
31
Pujols
ASoriano
St. Louis
Chicago
29
27
Crawford
Ellsbury
Tampa Bay
Boston
21
15
Fowler
Bourn
Colorado
Houston
9
8
National League Standings
East W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home Away
Several outfielders are profiting AdJones Baltimore 30 Hart Milwaukee 25 Abreu Los Angeles 12 Burriss San Francisco 8 Philadelphia 15 12 .556 — — 6-4 W-1 7-8 8-4
Pedroia Boston 28 Hudson Los Angeles 25 Figgins Los Angeles 12 Morgan Pittsburgh 8 New York 15 13 .536 ½ 1 7-3 W-5 9-6 6-7
from a teammate’s misfortunes Bay Boston 27 Werth Philadelphia 25 Kinsler Texas 8 JosReyes New York 8 Florida 16 14 .533 ½ 1 4-6 W-1 6-7 10-7
and, thanks to increased playing AHill Toronto 25 Victorino Philadelphia 24 Three tied 7 Kemp Los Angeles 7
Atlanta 13 16 .448 3 3½ 4-6 L-1 5-9 8-7
Washington 9 18 .333 6 6½ 5-5 W-2 5-7 4-11
time, moving up (or into) the latest Three tied 24 Two tied 23 Theriot Chicago 7
set of hitter rankings. Central W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home Away
St. Louis 19 11 .633 — — 5-5 L-1 12-5 7-6
Juan Pierre, OF, Dodgers. Pierre RBIs Pitching (3 decisions) Milwaukee 17 13 .567 2 — 7-3 W-1 8-6 9-7
stands to benefit the most from Chicago 16 13 .552 2½ ½ 6-4 L-1 8-6 8-7
A.L. N.L. A.L. N.L. Cincinnati 16 13 .552 2½ ½ 6-4 W-2 6-8 10-5
Manny Ramirez’s 50-game sus- Player Team Player Team Player Team Player Team Houston 12 17 .414 6½ 4½ 5-5 W-1 6-10 6-7
pension. He’ll get the majority of Longoria Tampa Bay 39 Pujols St. Louis 32 Greinke Kansas City 6-0 1.000 Pelfrey New York 4-0 1.000 Pittsburgh 12 17 .414 6½ 4½ 1-9 L-6 7-7 5-10
playing time in left field while Bay Boston 32 Cantu Florida 31 Buehrle Chicago 5-0 1.000 Martis Washington 4-0 1.000 West W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home Away
Ramirez sits until July 3. Pierre CPena Tampa Bay 30 Ethier Los Angeles 27 Frasor Toronto 4-0 1.000 Meredith San Diego 4-0 1.000 Los Angeles 21 10 .677 — — 7-3 L-2 13-2 8-8
Lind Toronto 29 BMolina San Francisco 27 ABailey Oakland 3-0 1.000 Condrey Philadelphia 3-0 1.000 San Francisco 15 13 .536 4½ 1 6-4 W-2 10-4 5-9
should be a great source of runs San Diego 13 17 .433 7½ 4 2-8 L-1 8-6 5-11
Markakis Baltimore 29 Braun Milwaukee 26 Bannister Kansas City 3-0 1.000 DiFelice Milwaukee 3-0 1.000 Arizona 12 18 .400 8½ 5 4-6 L-2 8-11 4-7
and steals. AHill Toronto 28 Three tied 24 Palmer Los Angeles 3-0 1.000 Maholm Pittsburgh 3-0 1.000 Colorado 11 17 .393 8½ 5 4-6 L-2 5-7 6-10
Josh Anderson, OF, Tigers. Carlos Kinsler Texas 27 z-first game was a win
Guillen (shoulder) is on the dis-
abled list, meaning Anderson Doubles Strikeouts
Pitching Matchups Today’s Games (All times Eastern)
should have an open spot in left A.L. N.L. A.L. N.L. American League The Line
field and a shot at everyday at-bats. Player Team Player Team Player Team Player Team Tampa Bay (Kazmir 3-3) at Boston (Lester 2-2), 3:40 p.m. at Bos -140 TB +130
Give Anderson a shot if you miss Longoria Tampa Bay 14 FSanchez Pittsburgh 13 Verlander Detroit 56 Santana New York 54 Toronto (Tallet 1-1) at Oakland (Gallagher 1-0), 4:05 p.m. at Oak -110 Tor +100
out on Pierre. Callaspo Kansas City 13 Kotchman Atlanta 11 Greinke Kansas City 54 Peavy San Diego 52
Texas (Millwood 3-2) at Chicago White Sox (Danks 2-2), 7:05 p.m. at Chi -145 Tex +135
Colby Rasmus, OF, Cardinals. With Polanco Detroit 13 Zimmerman Washington 11 FHernandez Seattle 45 Haren Arizona 51
Detroit (E.Jackson 1-2) at Cleveland (Carmona 1-3), 7:05 p.m. at Clev -130 Det +120
Rick Ankiel (shoulder) on the dis- Byrd Texas 12 MCameron Milwaukee 10 Halladay Toronto 44 Lincecum San Francisco 50
MYoung Texas 12 Hudson Los Angeles 10 Lester Boston 43 JVazquez Atlanta 50 N.Y. Yankees (Hughes 1-1) at Baltimore (Eaton 1-3), 7:05 p.m. NY -145 at Bal +135
abled list, Rasmus figures to get Three tied 11 Tejada Houston 10 Bedard Seattle 39 Billingsley Los Angeles 47 Seattle (F.Hernandez 4-1) at Minnesota (Liriano 1-4), 7:10 p.m. at Min -110 Sea +100
more consistent playing time in a Votto Cincinnati 10 Meche Kansas City 37 Harden Chicago 41 Kansas City (Greinke 6-0) at L.A. Angels (Saunders 4-1), 9:05 p.m KC -110 at LA +100
typically unstable Cardinals out-
field. Ankiel’s absence also means Triples Saves National League The Line
regular at-bats for Chris Duncan A.L. N.L. A.L. N.L.
Pittsburgh (Maholm 3-0) at N.Y. Mets (Maine 2-2), 1:10 p.m. at NY -190 Pitt +180
and Ryan Ludwick. Player Team Player Team Player Team Cordero Cincinnati 9 San Francisco (J.Sanchez 1-2) at L.A. Dodgers (Stults 3-1), 3:40 p.m. at LA -170 SF +160
— Brad Pinkerton Crisp Kansas City 4 Bourn Houston 3 FFrancisco Texas 9 Franklin St. Louis 9 Atlanta (J.Vazquez 2-3) at Philadelphia (Blanton 1-2), 3:40 p.m. at Phi -115 Atl +105
Seven tied 2 Kemp Los Angeles 3 Fuentes Los Angeles 8 FrRodriguez New York 9 San Diego (Correia 0-2) at Houston (Moehler 0-2), 7:05 p.m. at Hou -130 SD +120
MORE COVERAGE Victorino Philadelphia 3 Soria Kansas City 7 Broxton Los Angeles 8 Chicago Cubs (Dempster 2-1) at Milwaukee (Gallardo 3-1), 7:05 p.m. at Mil -130 Chi +120
15 tied 2 Papelbon Boston 7 Bell San Diego 8 St. Louis (Lohse 3-1) at Cincinnati (Harang 2-3), 7:10 p.m. at Cin -115 STL +105
Get everything you need to Jenks Chicago 6 BWilson San Francisco 7 Florida (Jo.Johnson 2-0) at Colorado (De La Rosa 0-2), 8:10 p.m. at Col -105 Flo -105
dominate your fantasy league at:
at Rodney Detroit 6 Qualls Arizona 7.
sportingnews.com/fantasy/baseball Washington (Lannan 1-3) at Arizona (D.Davis 2-4), 8:10 p.m. at Ari -130 Was +120
Five tied 5
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
N.Y. Yankees 4, Baltimore 0
A-Rod returns with a bang
BALTIMORE—Alex Rodriguez
walked to the plate, and a
dozen fans behind the screen
swung into action. Holding up
giant, foam syringes, they
started with the taunts.
Rodriguez answered them,
all right. Back in the big
leagues, the Yankees star
launched the first pitch he
saw deep into the left-field
seats for a three-run homer
Friday night.
“One swing, and the rest
was easy,” Rodriguez said.
That might have hushed his
tormentors—for a moment.
But baseball figures to face a
much tougher time silencing
the boos, jeers and doubts
stirred up by Manny Ramirez
and sport’s latest scandal from
the Steroids Era.
A day after the Los Angeles
Dodgers slugger was sus-
pended 50 games for using a
banned drug, A-Rod returned
to the scene. Off the disabled
list from hip surgery, he
played in the majors for the
first time since admitting in
February that he used ste-
roids when he was a member
of the Texas Rangers from
2001-03.
As he walked on the grass
before the game, a fitting song
played over the sound system
at Camden Yards: Circus, by
Britney Spears.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes
in my career. They’ve been
well-documented. I’ve paid
AMERICAN LEAGUE
the price,” Rodriguez said
before New York’s 4-0 win
over Baltimore.
“I have nine years to make a
difference, to become a better
baseball player and a better
person,” he said. “I think I
have time to have a happy
ending.”
But what about the game
itself?
The rocky relay from
Ramirez to Rodriguez made
for yet another stain on the
sport and left the pair, sharing
huge salaries and megatalent,
chasing the same impossible
dream: To just play ball.
Yet like their many home
runs, their errors off the field
will stay on the board. And no
doubt, as Rodriguez circled
the bases to a mix of cheers
and boos with his 554th home
run, many fans wondered
how many of them should
really count because of per-
formance enhancers.
“It’s heat on baseball. It’s
horrible for baseball,” Yan-
kees outfielder Johnny Damon
said. “Now you look at all the
superstars who got busted—
or allegedly. This era is defi-
nitely tarnished.”
Ramirez, meanwhile,
remained in seclusion, a day
after the Dodgers played for
the first time without their
dreadlocked star and saw
their record home winning
streak come to an end.
Although fans and players
had plenty to say, Ramirez
offered little explanation, sim-
ply apologizing for “the whole
situation” and leaving Dodg-
ers manager Joe Torre to plead
his star’s case, saying Ramirez
felt he was a disappointment.
Rodriguez never said the
word “steroids” during a pre-
game news conference. He
also said he would not answer
any questions related to the
newly released book about
him by Selena Roberts.
Pressed as to whether he
used performance-enhancing
drugs in high school, as the
book suggests, he said, “The
answer is no.”
Rodriguez was the last
player to join the team for
stretching. The All-Star third
baseman drew mostly cheers
from the 100 or so Yankees
fans lining the dugout and did
not acknowledge the crowd.
There was a mix of boos and
applause when he was
announced in the starting
lineup.
“It seems like I’m always in
this situation,” he said. “I
know I have an opportunity
to make things right, to make
my daughter proud.”
Among those watching him
was Brad Reese, who brought
his 6-year-old son and 2-year-
old daughter from central
Pennsylvania. Dressed in
Yankees garb, they sat five
rows off the field, even with
third base.
Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 18
“I don’t think anybody
really cares whether he used
steroids or not,” Reese said.
“That’s a player’s choice, and
he’ll have to deal with the con-
sequences later. I think he
kind of got a bad deal.”
Rodriguez rejoined a wob-
bly team and helped the Yan-
kees end a five-game losing
streak. He had a sudden
impact, showing no ill effects
from his repaired right hip
when he homered in the first
inning off Jeremy Guthrie—
New York had not gotten a
single home run from its third
basemen in its first 28 games
this season.
Several fans chanted, “Let’s
go, steroids!” later in the
inning. One man wore a jersey
with A-Rod’s No. 13 and an
asterisk, and a fan in the
upper deck held a sign that
simply said, “Cheater.”
Rodriguez struck out
swinging in his next two at-
bats and grounded out, and
was flawless in the field.
Wherever he went, the fans
marked him.
The first time he walked
onto the field for warmups, a
man with a big neck and even
bigger mouth began razzing
from behind the dugout.
Yankees teammate Nick
Swisher heard it, turned
around and put his index fin-
ger to his lips.
“Shhhh!” ROB CARR / AP
— The Associated Press On his first swing of the 2009 season, Alex Rodriguez slammed his 554th career homer.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 19
AMERICAN LEAGUE
N.Y. Yankees 4, Baltimore 0

Sabathia silences O’s, ends five-game slide

BALTIMORE—Amid all the chatter special at-bat for him. He stepped Afterward, however, Sabathia Yankees 4, Orioles 0
New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
about his steroid use, hip injury, up in the big moment right there, spoke with awe about Rodriguez’s Jeter ss 5 0 0 0 0 1 .264
Madonna and big-money con- center stage, and does what he return. Damon lf 4 1 1 1 1 0 .312
Teixeira 1b 3 1 0 0 1 3 .192
tract, one thing about Alex Rodri- does best.” “He’s the best player in the A.Rodriguez 3b 4 1 1 3 0 2 .250
guez is indisputable: his ability to After taking a stroll around the game, so you kind of expect it out H.Matsui dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 .286
Swisher rf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .266
play the game of baseball at the bases, Rodriguez was mobbed in of him,” the lefthander said. “He Cano 2b 4 0 2 0 0 0 .325
absolute highest level. the New York dugout. hadn’t seen a pitch all year and to Me.Cabrera cf 4 0 2 0 0 0 .342
Cervelli c 2 1 1 0 1 1 .250
Rodriguez trumpeted his “I feel like I’m back with my come up, first pitch, Guthrie’s Totals 34 4 9 4 3 10
return to the Yankees by hitting a family,” he said. throwing hard and to go deep—
Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
three-run homer on the first pitch The shot sure came at the right it’s unbelievable, but it’s not B.Roberts 2b 3 0 2 0 1 0 .303
of his late-starting season, CC time for the Yankees, whose five- surprising.” Ad.Jones cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .342
Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and Markakis rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .342
game skid was their longest under Sabathia was pretty impressive, Mora 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .226
New York ended a five-game los- second-year manager Joe Girardi. too. The husky lefthander allowed Huff 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .267
ing streak by defeating the Balti- Wigginton dh 3 0 0 0 0 0 .202
During that losing streak, New singles to the first two batters he Montanez lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .167
more Orioles 4-0 Friday night. York went 6 for 43 with runners faced, then retired 23 of the next Moeller c 3 0 0 0 0 2 .233
“It was awesome,” Rodriguez C.Izturis ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .253
in scoring position. 24 batters—the exception a third- Totals 30 0 4 0 1 8
said. “It was just nice to get to the “I think you’re always hoping inning walk to Brian Roberts—
ballpark, give the guys a hug and New York 300 000 100 — 4 9 0
that every time he comes up he leading up to the ninth. Baltimore 000 000 000 — 0 4 0
do what I do best.” hits a home run. You know, that’s Cesar Izturis and Roberts
Tormented by stories of involve- LOB: New York 7, Baltimore 4. 2B: Damon (6), Swisher
the impact he has,” Girardi said. opened the ninth with singles (9), Cano (7). HR: A.Rodriguez (1), off Guthrie. RBIs:
ment with steroids and slowed by “Your concern when a guy first before Sabathia got three straight Damon (20), A.Rodriguez 3 (3). CS: Ad.Jones (2). S:
hip surgery that forced him to Cervelli. Runners left in scoring position: New York
comes back is his timing, but he outs to end it. 4 (Damon, Jeter, Me.Cabrera, A.Rodriguez); Baltimore 2
begin the season on the disabled was ready for it.” Sabathia struck out eight, (Mora 2).
list, Rodriguez finally turned his Rodriguez struck out in the walked one and gained a measure New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
attention toward playing baseball third and fifth innings against of revenge for an opening-day loss Sabathia W, 2-3 9 4 0 0 1 8 112 3.94
when he stepped to the plate in Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Guthrie, then grounded out to Baltimore, when he gave up six Guthrie L, 2-3 6 7 3 3 2 8 102 4.97
the first inning against Jeremy against Bob McCrory in the sev- runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 McCrory 2 2 1 1 1 1 40 2.70
Guthrie (2-3). C.Ray 1 0 0 0 0 1 13 7.20
enth to finish 1 for 4. innings.
As a dozen fans waved plastic But that one hit was a doozy; “Gosh darn, the guy was excep- Umpires: Home, Bob Davidson; First, Jeff Nelson;
Second, Mark Carlson; Third, Tim Tschida. T: 2:32. A:
foam syringes a few rows behind while A-Rod was gone, New York tional,” Orioles manager Dave 36,926 (48,290).
the plate, A-Rod stepped into a third basemen hit a combined Trembley said. “One run would
fastball and sent it soaring into .202 with no homers and 10 RBIs have done it for him.”
the left-field seats. over 28 games. Guthrie also settled down after
It was his 554th career home Rodriguez’s home run was all the first, when he walked Johnny
run, and for sheer theater, it just the support the Yankees needed Damon and Mark Teixeira before
might have been in the Top 10. for Sabathia (2-3), who stopped a yielding the home run to Rodri-
“What a hitter. What a player,” run of four starts without a vic- guez. Over the next five innings,
Guthrie said. “To come off the DL tory. It was by far his finest per- New York failed to score and got
like that, I throw that fastball on formance since signing a $161 only one runner past second
the black inside, and he just takes million, seven-year contract with base. ROB CARR / AP
it for a home run. ... It’s a real New York during the offseason. — The Associated Press CC Sabathia got his first win since April 11 Friday by blanking the Orioles on four hits.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 20
AMERICAN LEAGUE
L.A. Angels 4, Kansas City 1 Oakland 5, Toronto 3

Kendrick’s hustle assures end to Royals’ streak Move proves good for Sweeney
OAKLAND—Ryan Sweeney Athletics 5, Blue Jays 3
Angels 4, Royals 1
ANAHEIM—Howie Kendrick jokingly didn’t mind when Oakland Toronto AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Kansas City AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Scutaro ss 4 0 1 0 1 2 .260
credited all the treadmill work he has done Crisp cf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .231 manager Bob Geren dropped A.Hill 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 .357
over the years for helping him hit the first DeJesus lf 3 1 0 0 1 2 .243 him out of the leadoff spot in the Rios rf 4 0 1 0 1 2 .255
Teahen 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .296 V.Wells cf 5 0 1 0 0 0 .274
inside-the-park home run—of his life. J.Guillen rf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .276 lineup earlier this week. Lind dh 4 0 1 0 0 2 .333
Truth is, if he didn’t make it all the way Butler 1b 4 0 2 1 0 0 .295 If anything, the veteran out- Rolen 3b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .306
Jacobs dh 4 0 0 0 0 3 .245 Millar 1b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .333
around the bases Friday, it wouldn’t have Callaspo 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .344 fielder welcomed the move Barajas c 4 1 1 2 0 0 .319
been a laughing matter for the Los Ange- J.Buck c 4 0 0 0 0 2 .233 down in the order. Bautista lf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .306
Aviles ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .206 Totals 37 3 8 3 3 9
les Angels second baseman. a-Bloomquist ph-ss 1 0 1 0 0 0 .389 “I just feel more relaxed,”
Kendrick’s two-run homer in the sixth Totals 32 1 4 1 3 10 Sweeney said, after hitting a Oakland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
O.Cabrera ss 4 1 1 1 0 1 .230
inning that started out as a fly ball down Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg. two-run homer to help the A’s K.Suzuki c 4 0 1 1 0 0 .324
the right-field line, ended up giving the Figgins 3b 4 0 0 0 1 1 .269 to a 5-3 win over the Toronto Giambi 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .202
M.Izturis ss 4 0 2 0 0 1 .290 G.Petit 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
Angels key insurance runs in a 4-1 victory Abreu rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .318 Blue Jays on Friday night. Holliday lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .234
that put a stop to the Kansas City Royals’ Hunter cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .311 “Sometimes I may have put Cust dh 3 0 0 0 1 0 .287
K.Morales 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 .267 R.Sweeney cf 3 1 1 2 0 0 .261
six-game win streak. Napoli dh 3 1 2 1 1 1 .343 more pressure on myself (bat- Crosby 2b-1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .246
Kendrick was merely jogging down the J.Rivera lf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .291 ting leadoff) to get on base and T.Buck rf 3 1 2 0 0 0 .211
Kendrick 2b 4 1 2 2 0 2 .255 Hannahan 3b 2 1 1 1 0 1 .188
first-base line until Royals right fielder Mathis c 4 0 1 1 0 1 .238 make something happen. Totals 29 5 7 5 2 3
Jose Guillen overran the ball. The he Totals 34 4 10 4 3 10 Maybe I was trying to do too
Toronto 030 000 000 — 3 8 0
kicked it into high gear and scored Kansas City 000 001 000 — 1 4 0 much.” Oakland 050 000 00x — 5 7 2
standing. Los Angeles 011 002 00x — 4 10 1 Sweeney’s home run high-
E: O.Cabrera (4), Crosby (4). LOB: Toronto 10, Oakland
“It was mentioned to him,” Angels man- a-singled for Aviles in the 7th. E: Figgins (4). LOB: lighted a five-run second inning 3. 2B: Scutaro (5), Rolen (6), K.Suzuki (10), Hannahan
ager Mike Scioscia said. Kansas City 7, Los Angeles 9. 2B: Butler (8), J.Rivera (5), against Toronto starter Scott (2). HR: Barajas (3), off Outman; R.Sweeney (2), off
Kendrick (5). HR: Kendrick (4), off Meche. RBIs: Butler Richmond. RBIs: Millar (11), Barajas 2 (17), O.Cabrera
In his third start of the season, Angels (13), Napoli (14), Kendrick 2 (19), Mathis (8). SB: Crisp Richmond, but the A’s bullpen (6), K.Suzuki (14), R.Sweeney 2 (8), Hannahan (3).
rookie Matt Palmer picked up his third LORI SHEPLER / AP 2 (7). Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City made the biggest impact. Four S: Hannahan. Runners left in scoring position:
4 (Butler, Teahen, Callaspo 2); Los Angeles 5 (Figgins, Toronto 5 (V.Wells, A.Hill, Millar 3); Oakland 2 (Holliday,
victory. Palmer, who grew up a St. Louis Howie Kendrick did plenty of running in the sixth inning after hitting an inside-the-park home run. J.Rivera, M.Izturis, Abreu 2). relievers combined for 4 2/3 K.Suzuki). DP: Toronto 1 (Scutaro, A.Hill, Millar).
Cardinals fan, allowed one run and two scoreless innings and kept the
Kansas City IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
hits in 5 1/3 innings, giving him one earned got there. I have no excuse. That’s a play high school in Caruthersville, Mo., in the Meche L, 2-3 5 2⁄3 8 4 4 3 7 120 4.43 team with the best record in the Richmond L, 4-1 8 7 5 5 2 3 96 3.29
run allowed in each of his last two you should make. I got there in time, I just southeast portion of the state, had only Mahay 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 7 4.50 A.L. from mounting a Oakland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Farnsworth 2 1 0 0 0 2 23 6.10 Outman 4 1⁄3 6 3 3 3 5 101 4.79
outings. missed it.” made three big league starts before this Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA comeback. Wuertz W, 2-1 1 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 17 1.62
After moving a season-low five games Kendrick’s fourth homer of the season year, all last season with the San Francisco Palmer W, 3-0 5 1⁄3 2 1 1 3 5 92 3.06 Michael Wuertz (2-1) pitched Springer H, 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 26 2.57
Oliver H, 1 1 2⁄3 2 0 0 0 2 22 1.74 A.Bailey S, 1-2 2 0 0 0 0 2 20 1.27
under .500 on April 25, the Angels have was the first inside-the-park for the Giants. Arredondo H, 9 1 0 0 0 0 1 17 5.27 1 2/3 innings for the win. Russ
won eight of their last 11. They also have Angels since Gary Matthews did it June He wouldn’t even be in the rotation had Fuentes S, 8-10 1 0 0 0 0 2 14 5.91 Springer and Andrew Bailey Inherited runners-scored: Wuertz 2-0. WP:
Richmond. Umpires: Home, Paul Schrieber; First, Paul
won five of their last six. 17, 2007, at Dodger Stadium. it not been for an Angels pitching staff that Inherited runners-scored: Mahay 1-0, Oliver 2-1. helped him blank the Blue Jays Nauert; Second, Joe West; Third, Ed Rapuano. T: 2:26. A:
The A.L. Central-leading Royals lost for It was a tough break for Royals starter has been decimated by injuries and the WP: Mahay. Umpires: Home, Brian Gorman; First, after starter Josh Outman was 14,103 (35,067).
C.B. Bucknor; Second, Mike Everitt; Third, Gerry Davis. T:
just the second time since April 28. Gil Meche, who had a solid outing going tragic death of Nick Adenhart. 2:55. A: 41,019 (45,257). knocked from the game in the
The fundamentally sound brand of until Kendrick’s homer. He lasted just two “The manager and the pitching coach fifth inning. Bailey worked the
baseball that has led the Royals to a hot more batters. said to just come up here, do what you do final two innings for his first
start disappeared for a key play. When Meche (2-3) gave up four runs on eight and trust your stuff,” Palmer said. “I know major league save in two tries.
Guillen overran the ball, it dropped hits with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. myself and they know that I have good “You just have to be ready to
behind him just inside the foul line, and Kendrick’s homer was the first Meche has movement on my pitches and they said to go,” Wuertz said. “You’re going
TV replays appeared to show the ball given up this season. just trust it.” to have nights like this and it’s
clipped the side of his glove. Even without Guillen’s misplay, Palmer The Royals scored their only run in the the bullpen’s job to suck it up
“I got under it and I just missed it,” Guil- still was ahead in the duel with his coun- sixth on a double by Billy Butler. and get the job done.”
len said. “I closed the glove before the ball terpart. The righthander, who went to — The Associated Press — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 21
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3 Texas 6, Chicago White Sox 0

Harrison impressing teammates

Bay sparks another big sixth inning for Boston CHICAGO—David Murphy has Rangers 6, White Sox 0

Red Sox 7, Rays 3 seen a difference in Matt Har- Texas AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Kinsler 2b 3 1 1 2 1 1 .325
Tampa Bay AB R H BI BB SO Avg. rison from April to May. Vizquel ss-3b 5 0 2 2 0 0 .423
B.Upton cf 4 0 0 0 1 1 .152 “The thing that I notice with M.Young 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .328
Crawford lf 5 2 3 0 0 1 .317 Andrus ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 .265
Longoria 3b 2 0 0 1 1 1 .362 him is confidence,” the Texas An.Jones dh 3 0 1 0 2 0 .340
C.Pena 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .257 Rangers outfielder said. Byrd cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 .323
Burrell dh 3 0 1 1 1 0 .242 N.Cruz rf 5 0 0 0 0 4 .282
Gross rf 3 1 1 0 0 0 .265 And, Harrison is turning Dav.Murphy lf 4 3 2 0 0 0 .200
a-Zobrist ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .274 that improved mound presence C.Davis 1b 4 1 1 0 0 3 .212
Iwamura 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .274 Teagarden c 3 1 2 1 0 1 .219
Bartlett ss 4 0 3 1 0 0 .355 into wins. The lefthander threw Totals 37 6 11 5 3 11
M.Hernandez c 4 0 1 0 0 0 .333 a four-hitter in his second
Totals 34 3 9 3 3 5 Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
career shutout, leading the Getz 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .292
Boston AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Rangers to a 6-0 win over the Fields 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .250
Ellsbury cf 5 1 2 1 0 1 .295 Quentin lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .233
Pedroia 2b 5 1 4 1 0 0 .336 Chicago White Sox on Friday. Thome dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 .195
D.Ortiz dh 4 1 0 0 1 1 .220 Ian Kinsler and Omar Dye rf 3 0 1 0 0 1 .292
Bay lf 4 1 2 3 0 1 .323 Konerko 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .301
Lowell 3b 4 1 3 0 0 0 .308 Vizquel each drove in two runs, Pierzynski c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .302
J.Drew rf 4 1 1 2 0 1 .250 and Murphy scored three runs J.Nix ss 2 0 0 0 1 0 .333
J.Bailey 1b 4 0 1 0 0 3 .179 Lillibridge cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 .176
Varitek c 4 0 1 0 0 0 .232 for the Rangers, who have won Totals 30 0 4 0 1 5
Lugo ss 4 1 1 0 0 2 .333 six of seven.
Totals 38 7 15 7 1 9 Texas 120 201 000 — 6 11 1
Harrison (3-2) hasn’t allowed Chicago 000 000 000 — 0 4 1
Tampa Bay 101 100 000 — 3 9 0 a run in 19 straight innings
Boston 000 005 02x — 7 15 0 E: Kinsler (3), Fields (5). LOB: Texas 9, Chicago 4. 2B:
after going 1-2 in four start in Vizquel (3), Byrd (12), Dav.Murphy (3), Teagarden (1).
a-grounded into a fielder’s choice for Gross in the 8th. April with a 7.89 ERA. He RBIs: Kinsler 2 (27), Vizquel 2 (5), Teagarden (3). SB:
LOB: Tampa Bay 8, Boston 8. 2B: Crawford (6), Bartlett Kinsler (8), Vizquel (1). CS: Fields (2). S: Kinsler. Run-
2 (6), Ellsbury (5), Lowell (10). 3B: Crawford (2), J.Bailey didn’t allow a runner past sec- ners left in scoring position: Texas 6 (Byrd, Vizquel,
(1). HR: Bay (9), off J.Shields; J.Drew (4), off J.Shields. ond base and only allowed one N.Cruz 2, M.Young, Andrus); Chicago 2 (Fields, Getz).
RBIs: Longoria (39), Burrell (14), Bartlett (12), Ellsbury GIDP: Byrd, Fields. DP: Texas 2 (Teagarden, Teagarden,
(10), Pedroia (12), Bay 3 (32), J.Drew 2 (16). SB: walk while striking out five. Kinsler, C.Davis, Vizquel), (Vizquel, Kinsler, C.Davis);
Crawford (21). SF: Longoria. Runners left in scoring Harrison Chicago 1 (Getz, J.Nix, Konerko).
position: Tampa Bay 5 (Gross, M.Hernandez, C.Pena,
Longoria, Crawford); Boston 3 (Varitek, J.Bailey, J.Drew). “His body language out on the Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
CHARLES KRUPA / AP DP: Boston 1 (Lugo, Pedroia). mound has been incredible the Harrison W, 3-2 9 4 0 0 1 5 111 4.79
Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Jason Bay’s three-run homer off Tampa Bay’s James Shields in the sixth inning helped the Red Sox rally from a 3-0 deficit. Tampa Bay IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA last few starts,” Murphy said. Contreras L, 0-5 3 2⁄3 6 5 3 2 3 81 8.19
J.Shields L, 3-3 6 10 5 5 1 7 106 4.02 “He kind of looked a little Carrasco 3 4 1 1 0 5 50 3.00
Balfour 2 5 2 2 0 2 39 7.15 Richard 1 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 3 20 4.41
BOSTON—Here comes the sixth inning. to tie the game 3-3. Then Lowell dou- make it interesting in the middle Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA unsure of himself early in the Broadway 1 1 0 0 1 0 16 4.50
Here come the Red Sox. bled and J.D. Drew drove the ball over there.” Penny W, 3-1 6 1⁄3 8 3 3 2 2 91 6.90 season and I think he’s figured
Okajima H, 5 1 0 0 0 1 1 18 3.68 Inherited runners-scored: Carrasco 1-0, Richard
And there go the balls—singles to the low right-field wall in front of the Brad Penny (3-1) pitched well enough R.Ramirez H, 5 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.56 things out. That kind of shows.” 1-0. HBP: by Contreras (Teagarden). WP: Contreras 2,
the infield, doubles down the line, bullpen off James Shields (3-3). to give the Red Sox a chance to come Papelbon 1 1 0 0 0 2 11 1.38 Jose Contreras (0-5), who Carrasco. Umpires: Home, Mike Winters; First, Lance
Barksdale; Second, Brian Knight; Third, Randy Marsh. T:
homers over the fences. “You kind of sense those guys get- back. He allowed three runs and eight Inherited runners-scored: Okajima 2-0, R.Ramirez helped the White Sox win the 2:28. A: 21,326 (40,615).
One night after scoring an A.L.- ting hits, hitting the ball hard,” Drew hits in 6 1-3 innings after taking a loss 1-0. Umpires: Home, Bill Welke; First, Tim Welke; 2005 World Series allowed five
Second, Scott Barry; Third, Angel Hernandez. T: 2:52. A:
record 12 runs before making an out in said. “Maybe he is leaving the ball up against Shields five days earlier. 37,745 (37,373). runs, three earned on six hits.
that inning, Boston sent five across out over the plate a little bit more and Shields also pitched well—five hits He also hit one batter, threw
with no outs in the sixth and beat the you want to take advantage of that.” in five scoreless innings. But then he two wild pitches and walked
Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 Friday night. Bay has nine homers and 33 RBIs, had to pitch the sixth and the momen- two. After the game, White Sox
“I think the sixth inning’s our lucky second most in the A.L., but would tum shifted quickly. manager Ozzie Guillen said he
charm,” said Mike Lowell, who deliv- just as soon avoid the dramatics. “Within a matter of something, 10 talked to Contreras and told
ered a key double in the latest rally. “It would be nice to kind of jump out pitches almost,” Rays manager Joe him they will replace him in
Jason Bay hit his second sixth- early one time and kind of coast to Maddon said. “It was very fast.” the rotation.
inning, three-run homer in two nights one,” he said. “It seems like we always — The Associated Press — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 22
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Minnesota 11, Seattle 0 Detroit 1, Cleveland 0

Baker finally shows he’s ace of Twins’ staff Verlander outduels Lee
CLEVELAND—Justin Verlander Tigers 1, Indians 0
Twins 11, Mariners 0 Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
was dominant on the mound for
Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Granderson cf 3 1 0 0 1 1 .252
I.Suzuki rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .313 Detroit. The Tigers’ defense was Polanco 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .272
En.Chavez lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .280 even better behind him. Thomas rf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .455
Jo.Lopez 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .259 Mi.Cabrera 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .385
Branyan 1b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .289 Verlander (3-2) struck out 11 Ordonez dh 3 0 1 0 1 1 .229
Beltre 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .208 and outpitched reigning Cy Inge 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .277
Griffey Jr. dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .205 Raburn lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .050
Johjima c 3 0 1 0 0 0 .227 Young Award winner Cliff Lee Everett ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .262
F.Gutierrez cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .278 for the second time in a week to Sardinha c 3 0 0 0 0 2 .111
Y.Betancourt ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .286 Totals 32 1 7 1 2 6
Totals 32 0 5 0 0 7 beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0
Friday night. Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Minnesota AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Sizemore cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .226
Span cf-rf 5 1 1 0 0 0 .304 Curtis Granderson took away A.Cabrera ss 4 0 1 0 0 2 .327
Tolbert 2b 4 2 1 0 1 0 .273 Grady Sizemore’s bid for a two- V.Martinez 1b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .390
Mauer c 5 1 2 2 0 0 .462 Choo rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .263
Morneau 1b 3 1 1 2 1 0 .310 run homer in the ninth with a DeRosa 3b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .244
Kubel dh 3 1 2 1 1 0 .323 leaping catch at the center-field Dellucci dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .304
Cuddyer rf 3 1 1 0 0 0 .262 B.Francisco lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .244
a-Gomez ph-cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .216 wall to preserve the win. Valbuena 2b 1 0 0 0 2 1 .143
Buscher 3b 4 2 1 3 1 0 .188 “It wasn’t so much the catch, Shoppach c 3 0 0 0 0 2 .216
Delm.Young lf 3 1 2 0 1 0 .303 1-Barfield pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
B.Harris ss 4 1 2 3 0 0 .321 but the timing of the catch,” Totals 27 0 2 0 2 11
Totals 36 11 13 11 5 0 Tigers manager Jim Leyland
Detroit 000 000 010 — 1 7 0
Seattle 000 000 000 — 0 5 2 said. “If you make that catch in Cleveland 000 000 000 — 0 2 0
Minnesota 230 051 00x — 11 13 0 the first inning, it’s a great catch.
1-ran for Shoppach in the 9th. LOB: Detroit 6, Cleveland
a-grounded out for Cuddyer in the 6th. E: Jo.Lopez If you make it in the ninth, it’s a 2. 2B: Polanco (13), V.Martinez (10). RBIs: Thomas (3).
(4), Jakubauskas (1). LOB: Seattle 5, Minnesota 8. 2B: great catch, but if you make it in SB: Granderson (4). CS: Mi.Cabrera (2). Runners left
Tolbert (1), Kubel (9). HR: B.Harris (2), off Jakubaus- in scoring position: Detroit 3 (Thomas 2, Everett). DP:
kas; Mauer (2), off Jakubauskas; Morneau (7), off the ninth inning of a 1-0 game Detroit 1 (Everett, Polanco); Cleveland 2 (A.Cabrera, Val-
Jakubauskas; Buscher (1), off Batista. RBIs: Mauer 2 (6), with one guy on, that makes it a buena, V.Martinez), (Shoppach, Shoppach, Valbuena).
Morneau 2 (24), Kubel (17), Buscher 3 (5), B.Harris 3 (7).
SB: En.Chavez (6). SF: Morneau, Kubel. Runners left better catch.” Detroit IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
in scoring position: Seattle 3 (Branyan 2, F.Gutierrez); Lee (1-5) didn’t disagree. Verlander W, 3-2 9 2 0 0 2 11 118 4.50
Minnesota 6 (Cuddyer, Span, Buscher 2, Mauer 2). Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
“It was out of the park and he Cl.Lee L, 1-5 8 7 1 1 2 5 113 3.45
Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA brought it back,” the lefthander R.Betancourt 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 4.80
Jakubauskas L, 1-4 4 1⁄3 8 9 9 3 0 103 7.67
JIM MONE / AP Batista 1 1⁄3 3 2 2 2 0 35 3.52 said. “I felt like I did everything Umpires: Home, Jim Wolf; First, Brian O’Nora; Second,
Vargas 1 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 24 0.00 I could to help my team win, but Fieldin Culbreth; Third, Chad Fairchild. T: 2:12. A: 27,492
Seattle’s Endy Chavez, right, steals second as Minnesota SS Brendan Harris awaits the throw in the first inning, one of the few times the Mariners got past first base. M.Lowe 1 1 0 0 0 0 13 3.55 (45,199).
Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA some things are out of my
MINNEAPOLIS—Scott Baker has said all game open with three homers in the fifth Brendan Harris also went deep to help the S.Baker W, 1-4 7 5 0 0 0 5 102 6.83 control.”
Crain 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 5.63
season that he wasn’t worried about his inning of an 11-0 win over the Seattle Twins snap a three-game losing streak. Nathan 1 0 0 0 0 2 16 1.80 Verlander pitched a two-hitter
numbers, even as bloated as they were. Mariners on Friday night. Chris Jakubauskas (1-4) gave up nine for the third shutout and fourth
Inherited runners-scored: Batista 2-2, Vargas 2-0.
Yet no matter how well he thought he Baker (1-4) gave up five hits and struck runs on eight hits and walked three in 4 Umpires: Home, Chuck Meriwether; First, Eric Cooper; complete game of his career to
had been pitching lately, it was nearly out five to hand the struggling Mariners 1-3 innings for the Mariners, who sur- Second, Mike Estabrook; Third, Laz Diaz. T: 2:47. A: improve to 2-7 at Progressive
29,714 (46,632).
impossible to overlook an 0-4 record and their fifth straight loss. prised many by winning eight of their first Field and 6-10 overall against
a 9.15 ERA for the ace of the staff. So there Asked if it was a relief to get that first 11 games. But they have lost nine of their the Indians.
was no surprise when some relief washed win, Baker let out a big sigh and said, last 12. The Tigers scored in the
over his face after his first complete effort “Absolutely. Sometimes the first one’s the Seattle has scored just four runs in the eighth when Cleveland second
of the year. toughest one to get.” last 37 innings. It was the ninth time in 30 baseman Luis Valbuena couldn’t
Baker pitched seven shutout innings for Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Brian games this season that the Mariners have get the ball out of his glove in
his long-awaited first victory of the sea- Buscher gave the Twins their first three- scored one run or fewer. time to get the third out.
son, and the light-hitting Twins broke the homer inning in nearly seven years, and — The Associated Press — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 23
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia 10, Atlanta 6 Q&A with ... Phillies OF Shane Victorino

Hamels finally gets win Phillies-Mets rivalry bigger than any ballpark
Before Philadelphia’s first-ever game at Citi Field
Phillies 10, Braves 6 on Wednesday night, Shane Victorino told Sporting
Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg. News Today’s Bill Eichenberger and other reporters
Infante 2b 5 1 1 1 0 0 .338
Escobar ss 3 0 0 0 1 2 .291
that the venue for the Phillies-Mets rivalry might be
C.Jones 3b 3 1 1 0 1 0 .296 new, but the intensity of one of baseball’s most bitter
G.Anderson lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .175
McCann c 3 1 1 2 1 0 .205 rivalries will stay the same.
Francoeur rf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .284
Kotchman 1b 4 1 1 3 0 0 .310
Schafer cf
Jo.Reyes p
Parr p
b-Prado ph
2
0
1
3 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
.232
.000
---
.281
Q: Does the extra intensity of a
Mets-Phillies game make it
more fun for the players as well as the
O’Flaherty p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- fans?
Bennett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
d-Norton ph
Totals

Philadelphia
33
1

AB R
0
6
0
6

H
0
6

BI
0
4

BB
1
9

SO
.100

Avg.
A: I wouldn’t say it is more fun. But I
also wouldn’t say there is added
pressure. Still, you definitely don’t want to
Rollins ss 5 0 1 2 0 0 .211 make the big mistake. You don’t want to
TOM MIHALEK / AP Victorino cf 5 0 0 0 0 0 .291
Utley 2b 4 1 1 1 0 3 .315 make it anywhere else, either, but you get
Cole Hamels did better on the mound than at the plate. Howard 1b 4 1 1 0 0 2 .290
Werth rf 2 3 1 2 1 0 .289
reminded of it a lot more here (New York)
Ibanez lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .340 than most places. There is definitely an
Feliz 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .309
PHILADELPHIA—Cole Hamels left the mound on his Coste c 2 2 1 1 2 0 .196 intensity level in both places—it’s the same
terms. Hamels p 2 1 0 0 0 1 .000 when they come to play us.
a-Cairo ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .071
Hamels pitched six impressive innings to earn Taschner p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
his first win since the World Series, and the Phila-
delphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 10-6 on
Friday night.
Condrey p
c-Dobbs ph
Lidge p
Totals
0
1
0
34
0
0
0
10
0
1
0
8
0
1
0
8
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
7
---
.174
--- Q: Do you think this rivalry will
have a different feel now that it
is no longer being played at Shea
Jayson Werth, Chris Coste and Chase Utley hom- Atlanta 000 200 013 — 6 6 2 Stadium?

ered for the N.L. East leaders, who snapped a two-
game losing streak.
Making his first start since spraining his left
ankle on April 28, Hamels (1-2) allowed two runs,
three hits and struck out seven. Hamels was MVP
of the N.L. championship series and World Series
last year, but struggled the first month mostly
because of a series of freak injuries.
Philadelphia 042 110 02x — 10 8 0
a-fouled out for Hamels in the 6th. b-grounded out for Parr
in the 7th. c-singled for Condrey in the 8th. d-struck out
for Bennett in the 9th. E: Jo.Reyes (1), Escobar (2). LOB:
Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 4. 2B: G.Anderson (4), Francoeur
(4), Rollins (6), Howard (7), Feliz (6). HR: Infante (1), off
Condrey; Kotchman (2), off Lidge; Werth (6), off Jo.Reyes;
Coste (1), off Jo.Reyes; Utley (9), off Jo.Reyes. RBIs: Infante
(9), McCann 2 (9), Kotchman 3 (9), Rollins 2 (9), Utley (22),
Werth 2 (21), Feliz (18), Coste (6), Dobbs (3). Runners
left in scoring position: Atlanta 2 (Francoeur, McCann);
Philadelphia 3 (Victorino 3).
A:
I don’t think that is a question that
even needs to be asked. The inten-
sity of these games will always be there. I’m
sure New York fans are excited when the
Phillies come to town, just as Phillie fans
are when the Mets come to town.
Q: Will it feel at least a little
JULIE JACOBSON / AP
Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino, right, likes the Mets’ new ballpark but always enjoyed playing at Shea.
just liked playing there. But this place is
state of the art. A: I feel no different now than about
him than before I played with on
Team USA. He’s still a great player. It’s still
Q: Does it remind you of your
park, Citizens Bank Park, at all?
a baseball game. That’s the bottom line.

“I’m glad nothing came down and hit me,” he

said. “It was almost abnormal, being out there in
the sixth inning.”
Atlanta
Jo.Reyes L, 0-2
Parr
IP
5
1
H
5
0
R
8
0
ER
4
0
BB SO
2 6
0 0
NP ERA
88 5.48
16 3.86 A:
different?
It’s a different ballpark. The fans are
a little more on you. So we’ll see how
A: The outside—the bricks and stuff
like that—kind of reminds me of our
place. There are similarities there. But it is
Q: Is there any different feeling
now because of what your team
accomplished last year?
Atlanta’s Casey Kotchman hit a three-run homer
off Brad Lidge in the ninth, and Omar Infante also
O’Flaherty
Bennett
Philadelphia
1
1
IP
0
3
H
0
2
R
0
2
ER
0 1
1 0
BB SO
12 2.45
31 1.98
NP ERA
we handle it. just nice to see these new parks and how
they just seem to get better every year. A: Nope. It’s baseball. There is no
difference. You still have to go out

Q:
went deep. Hamels W, 1-2 6 3 2 2 2 7 95 6.17 What were your first there and play the games. I don’t care if
Taschner 1 0 0 0 1 0 15 4.05
Braves starter Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2) lost his ninth
straight, allowing eight runs—four earned—and
five hits in five innings. The lefthander hasn’t won
Condrey
Lidge
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
3
0 0
1 2

HBP: by Bennett (Werth). Umpires: Home, Jerry Meals;

12 2.12
25 8.49

A:
impressions of Citi Field?
It’s definitely a prettier park. But I
loved playing at Shea. There was
Q: Did playing with Mets third
baseman David Wright on Team
USA during the World Baseball
you’re supposedly the best team in baseball.
On any given night, somebody can win the
game. It’s not about what we did last year.
First, Mike DiMuro; Second, James Hoye; Third, Dale Scott.
since beating the Los Angeles Angels last June 13. T: 2:29. A: 45,312 (43,647).
just something about that park. I know Classic affect the way you view him That is over and done. We’re worrying
— The Associated Press the facilities weren’t the greatest, but I and the Mets? about ’09, and every game counts.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 24
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 4 Reds 6, Cardinals 4 N.Y. Mets 7, Pittsburgh 3 Mets 7, Pirates 3
Pittsburgh AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Schumaker 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .290 Morgan lf 3 1 2 1 1 0 .308
Delgado passes
Cueto staying frustration free
b-Robinson ph-cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .000 F.Sanchez 2b 5 0 1 1 0 1 .316
Rasmus cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .247 McLouth cf 5 0 2 1 0 0 .295
c-T.Greene ph-2b 1 1 1 1 0 0 .235 Ad.LaRoche 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .240
Pujols 1b
Ludwick rf
4
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
1 .343
0 .278
Mantle for RBIs An.LaRoche 3b 4
Moss rf
R.Diaz c
4
4
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
.250
.185
.294
Duncan lf 4 2 2 1 0 0 .284
CINCINNATI—It’s hard to rattle Johnny Y.Molina c 4 0 2 1 0 1 .323 NEW YORK—Carlos Delgado’s Bixler ss 4 1 2 0 0 2 .227
K.Greene ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 .237 Karstens p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Cueto these days. Thurston 3b 2 0 0 0 2 0 .272 eyes lit up. Yes, it’s nice to see all a-Delw.Young ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .313
The righthander, who was prone to Pineiro p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .091 those baserunners. Passing Yates p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
a-Barden ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .300 S.Burnett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
meltdowns as a rookie, extended his score- C.Perez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Mickey Mantle, well, that’s pretty Veal p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
less streak to 15 innings Friday night B.Thompson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 cool, too. d-Hinske ph 0 1 0 0 1 0 .229
e-LaRue ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .412 Totals 35 3 9 3 2 9
before giving up his only run, and the Cin- Totals 32 4 8 3 4 4 Delgado hit a three-run homer
cinnati Reds won their second in a row in a five-run eighth inning and New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Jos.Reyes ss 4 2 2 0 1 0 .254
with a depleted lineup, 6-4 over the St. Taveras cf 3 1 2 1 1 0 .276 finished with five RBIs, moving Castillo 2b 4 2 2 0 1 0 .319
Louis Cardinals. Hairston Jr. 2b 4 1 2 2 0 0 .210 past Mantle on the career list and Beltran cf 4 1 1 1 0 0 .377
Bruce rf 4 0 1 1 0 0 .268 Delgado 1b 4 1 3 5 0 1 .294
Cueto (3-1) had his way with a team that R.Hernandez 1b 3 0 1 1 1 1 .282 helping the surging New York D.Wright 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .302
hit him hard during his rookie season. He L.Nix lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .317 Mets beat Pittsburgh 7-3 on Fri- Dan.Murphy lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .311
A.Rosales 3b 4 1 2 0 0 0 .250 Reed lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .231
limited the Cardinals to a run and five hits Hanigan c 3 1 2 0 0 0 .357 day for their fifth straight win. Santos c 4 0 1 1 0 1 .257
in seven innings Friday, leaving with a 6-1 Janish ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .357 “It’s a team effort,” Delgado Church rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .264
Cueto p 2 2 0 1 0 1 .167 Niese p 2 0 1 0 0 0 .500
lead. It was the latest measure of how far Rhodes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- said. “We get guys on, we put S.Green p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
he’s come. Weathers p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- together good at-bats, put pres- Takahashi p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Burton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- b-Cora ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .313
“He’s full of confidence,” manager Dusty d-Dickerson ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .210 sure on the opposition and good Parnell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Baker said. Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- things happen.” c-Sheffield ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .158
Totals 32 6 11 6 2 4 Putz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
The 23-year-old pitcher appears to be Jonathon Niese plugged a hole Totals 35 7 13 7 3 4
maturing at the start of his second season. St. Louis 000 000 130 — 4 8 1 in New York’s rotation with six
Cincinnati 230 000 10x — 6 11 0 Pittsburgh 002 000 001 — 3 9 0
Last year, he would get rattled by a mis- effective innings and Carlos Bel- New York 200 000 05x — 7 13 1
take, allowing it to multiply into a big a-flied out for Pineiro in the 7th. b-flied out for Schu- tran had a tiebreaking RBI single
maker in the 8th. c-homered for Rasmus in the 8th. a-struck out for Karstens in the 7th. b-singled for
inning. In his last five starts, Cueto has d-struck out for Burton in the 8th. e-struck out for for the Mets, who improved to Takahashi in the 7th. c-walked for Parnell in the 8th.
allowed only three earned runs, refusing B.Thompson in the 9th. E: Pineiro (1). LOB: St. Louis 3-0 on their homestand. d-walked for Veal in the 9th. E: Jos.Reyes (4). LOB:
6, Cincinnati 6. 2B: Duncan (9), K.Greene (4), Hairston Pittsburgh 9, New York 7. 2B: McLouth (3), Bixler (3),
to get on the defensive when something Jr. (3), Janish (3). HR: T.Greene (1), off Weathers. RBIs: Nyjer Morgan had two hits Dan.Murphy (4). HR: Delgado (4), off S.Burnett. RBIs:
goes wrong. T.Greene (2), Duncan (20), Y.Molina (14), Taveras (4), and reached base five times for Morgan (13), F.Sanchez (11), McLouth (19), Beltran (21),
Hairston Jr. 2 (4), Bruce (17), R.Hernandez (9), Cueto (1). Delgado 5 (23), Santos (6). SB: Morgan (8), Jos.Reyes
“I’m trying to be more aggressive,” SB: Ludwick (2). CS: Thurston (1). S: Pineiro, Hanigan, the slumping Pirates, who have (8), Castillo (2). CS: Morgan (4), Cora (1). S: Karstens.
Cueto said in Spanish, with teammate Cueto. Runners left in scoring position: St. Louis lost six straight and 10 of 11 over- Runners left in scoring position: Pittsburgh 5 (Ad.
3 (Schumaker 2, Barden); Cincinnati 4 (Bruce, L.Nix LaRoche, F.Sanchez, R.Diaz, McLouth 2); New York 2
Ramon Hernandez translating. “Last year, 2, Dickerson). DP: St. Louis 2 (Schumaker, K.Greene, all. Pittsburgh also has lost six (Castillo 2). DP: Pittsburgh 1 (Ad.LaRoche).
I think I was moving my glove and tipping Pujols), (Pujols); Cincinnati 1 (Hairston Jr., Janish, consecutive road games.
R.Hernandez). Pittsburgh IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
my pitches, so I’m not doing that this year. “We’ve got to stay focused and Karstens 6 7 2 2 0 3 87 5.19
I’m just trying to be more aggressive and St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA keep plugging away,” said Mor- Yates L, 0-2 1 3 3 3 1 1 25 8.71
Pineiro L, 4-2 6 8 5 4 0 3 94 3.66 S.Burnett 2⁄3 3 2 2 1 0 32 3.29
make them put the ball in play.” C.Perez 1 2 1 1 2 0 26 3.00 gan, who has done his part on Veal 1⁄3 0 0 0 1 0 10 4.15
David Weathers gave up three runs in AL BEHRMAN / AP B.Thompson 1 1 0 0 0 1 18 5.59 the road with a .375 average away New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Niese 6 7 2 2 0 5 95 3.00
the eighth, including Tyler Greene’s first Cincinnati P Johnny Cueto is among baseball’s leaders with a 1.59 ERA. Cueto W, 3-1 7 5 1 1 2 3 98 1.59 from PNC Park this year. “It’s S.Green 2⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 11 8.31
career homer—the first runs off the Rhodes 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 9 0.00 part of our learning situation.” Takahashi 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00
Weathers 1⁄3 3 3 3 1 0 22 2.89 Parnell W, 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 2 16 1.29
reliever in 11 appearances this season. “He got a bad jump,” manager Tony La row without two stalwarts. First baseman Burton H, 3 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 5 6.08 Jose Reyes got the winning Putz 1 1 1 1 2 1 29 3.71
Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth, Russa said. “I put the (steal) sign on, right Joey Votto, who leads the team in batting Cordero S, 9-9 1 0 0 0 1 1 18 2.08 rally started with a single to cen- Yates pitched to 3 batters in the 8th. Inherited run-
remaining perfect in his nine save chances or wrong. That’s how it turned out.” at .378, and Gold Glove second baseman Inherited runners-scored: Burton 1-0. WP: C.Perez. ter off Tyler Yates (0-2). Luis ners-scored: S.Burnett 2-2, Veal 2-0, Takahashi 2-0.
with the help of his catcher. Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled home a run Brandon Phillips were sidelined again PB: Y.Molina. Umpires: Home, Marvin Hudson; First, Castillo then walked before Bel- HBP: by S.Green (Morgan). WP: S.Burnett. PB: R.Diaz.
John Hirschbeck; Second, Wally Bell; Third, Marty Foster. Umpires: Home, Jerry Layne; First, Tony Randazzo;
Joe Thurston drew a leadoff walk. With in the first inning off Joel Pineiro (4-2) and with the flu. Cincinnati also is missing T: 2:54. A: 18,016 (42,319). tran sliced a single down the Second, Chris Guccione; Third, Ed Montague. T: 3:13. A:
pinch-hitter Jason LaRue at the plate, singled home another in the second, help- shortstop Alex Gonzalez, sidelined by third-base line to give New York 38,496 (41,800).
Thurston took off and was caught trying ing the Reds pull out to a 5-0 lead. pulled muscles in his left side. a 3-2 lead.
to steal by catcher Ryan Hanigan. The Reds won their second game in a — The Associated Press — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 25
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee 3, Chicago Cubs 2 Brewers 3, Cubs 2 Houston 2, San Diego 0
Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
A.Soriano lf 2 0 0 1 1 0 .271

Blast brings back memories for Braun

Theriot ss
Fukudome cf
d-Soto ph
4
3
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
.310
.299
.159
Cooper happy with Rodriguez
Heilman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Ar.Ramirez 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .364 HOUSTON—It was not the Wandy Astros 2, Padres 0
Miles 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .206
MILWAUKEE—Ryan Braun’s homer had a Hoffpauir 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .288 Rodriguez the Astros have San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Bradley rf 4 1 1 1 0 1 .150 Eckstein 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .257
familiar feeling. known before this season. Man- Giles rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .158
Fontenot 2b-3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .239
Braun hit a two-run drive in the eighth K.Hill c 3 0 1 0 0 1 .306 ager Cecil Cooper was glad of Hairston cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .343
R.Wells p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Ad.Gonzalez 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .297
and the Milwaukee Brewers rallied for a that. Headley lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .243
a-Scales ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 .400
3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs, who A.Guzman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Rodriguez threw eight sharp Kouzmanoff 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .232
c-Re.Johnson ph-cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .229 Hundley c 3 0 2 0 0 0 .270
may be without third baseman Aramis innings and Hunter Pence’s two- L.Rodriguez ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .235
Totals 31 2 5 2 1 6
Ramirez for an extended period after he run single in the fifth lifted the Gaudin p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000
Milwaukee AB R H BI BB SO Avg. a-E.Gonzalez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .184
dislocated his left shoulder Friday night. Astros to a 2-0 victory over the Meredith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Weeks 2b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .270
Braun hit a two-run homer in the Hart rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 .274 San Diego Padres on Friday Totals 32 0 5 0 0 8
eighth against the Cubs in the final game Braun lf 3 1 2 2 1 1 .337 night.
Fielder 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .269 Houston AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
last season that lifted the Brewers to M.Cameron cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .291 “He just pitched a terrific K.Matsui 2b 3 1 1 0 1 0 .267
Hardy ss 3 1 1 1 1 0 .214 Bourn cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .287
their first postseason appearance in 26 game,” Cooper said. “It really Pence rf 4 0 2 2 0 1 .315
Hall 3b 3 0 0 0 0 3 .279
years. Kendall c 3 0 1 0 0 1 .209 shows me a lot. He is becoming a Ca.Lee lf 4 0 2 0 0 0 .303
Bush p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .143 Hawkins p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
“Not quite as dramatic as the home big-time, big-league pitcher. Tejada ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .298
b-Duffy ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .091
run last year, but definitely a lot of fun, Villanueva p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 “The difference this year is Blum 3b 2 0 0 0 1 1 .262
Stetter p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Erstad 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .161
just the energy, the excitement of the just the maturity,” Cooper added. I.Rodriguez c 2 1 0 0 0 1 .242
Hoffman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
crowd that made it feel a little bit like last Totals 30 3 7 3 3 10 “There was a time when he W.Rodriguez p 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Michaels lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261
year,” said Braun, who is hitting .424 would let things get away if Totals 28 2 5 2 3 6
Chicago 000 011 000 — 2 5 0
with six homers and 20 RBIs in his last Milwaukee 000 001 02x — 3 7 1 something went wrong. He’d
San Diego 000 000 000 — 0 5 1
16 games. balk and then he’d lose focus. Houston 000 020 00x — 2 5 0
a-tripled for R.Wells in the 6th. b-grounded out for Bush
“That’s why you work hard all year is in the 7th. c-reached on error for A.Guzman in the 8th. But now he just calms down.”
d-grounded out for Fukudome in the 8th. E: Hall (2). a-flied out for Gaudin in the 8th. E: Gaudin (1). LOB:
to have an opportunity to be in a situa- In his longest outing of the San Diego 5, Houston 6. 2B: Hairston (7), L.Rodriguez
LOB: Chicago 4, Milwaukee 6. 2B: K.Hill (2), Kendall
tion like that. That’s what makes this (3). 3B: Scales (1). HR: Bradley (3), off Bush; Hardy (5), season, Rodriguez (3-2) allowed (4), Ca.Lee (8). RBIs: Pence 2 (13). CS: Blum (1). Run-
off A.Guzman; Braun (7), off Heilman. RBIs: A.Soriano ners left in scoring position: San Diego 4 (Headley
game fun.” five hits without issuing a walk. 2, Eckstein 2); Houston 4 (Ca.Lee, Pence, Erstad, Tejada).
(18), Bradley (4), Braun 2 (26), Hardy (17). SB: Theriot
Ramirez, who hurt himself after his DARREN HAUCK / AP (7). CS: Fukudome (4). SF: A.Soriano. Runners left in He struck out seven and lowered DP: San Diego 1 (Hundley, Hundley, L.Rodriguez).
diving backhanded stop of a hard Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun had reason to celebrate after hitting a two-run homer in the eighth. scoring position: Chicago 3 (Ar.Ramirez, Soto 2); Mil- his ERA to 1.80, third-best in
waukee 5 (M.Cameron 2, Weeks 2, Hardy). DP: Chicago San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
grounder by Braun in the third, said 1 (Theriot, Miles, Hoffpauir). the league. Gaudin L, 0-2 7 5 2 2 3 5 103 4.08
Meredith 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 3.38
he’ll return to Chicago for tests on Braun watched his opposite-field drive Triple-A and trading him to Baltimore Rodriguez retired 16 in a row Houston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Saturday. for a moment, then stuck his tongue out for utility player Ryan Freel before the R.Wells 5 5 0 0 2 5 84 0.00 from the second through the W.Rodriguez W, 3-2 8 5 0 0 0 7 116 1.80
A.Guzman H, 2 2 1 1 1 0 4 34 4.11 Hawkins S, 4-5 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 2.63
“I felt a pop. I’ve done it before,” said in a Jordan-esque display while slapping game because of the lack of infield seventh innings. The impressive
Heilman L, 2-2 BS, 2-2 1 1 2 2 1 1 20 5.14
Ramirez, who hurt the same shoulder in hands with first base coach Ed Sedar. depth. Milwaukee IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA streak came after he worked his HBP: by Gaudin (I.Rodriguez). Umpires: Home, Andy
Bush 7 4 2 2 0 4 81 4.05 Fletcher; First, Ted Barrett; Second, Adrian Johnson;
2000 in Pittsburgh and missed six Milwaukee has won four of five and 13 of That move allowed the Cubs to call up way out of a jam with runners at Third, Greg Gibson. T: 2:19. A: 28,139 (40,976).
Villanueva 2⁄3 1 0 0 1 0 15 6.43
weeks. “It’s been nine years since I’ve the last 17. pitcher Randy Wells, who threw five Stetter W, 2-0 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 2 3.38 second and third in the second
been playing, it’s just one of those “I’m passionate. My intent is never to scoreless innings in his first major Hoffman S, 5-5 1 0 0 0 0 2 13 0.00 inning with a strikeout and a
things.” show anybody up or embarrass any- league start. Wells is in Carlos Zambra- Inherited runners-scored: Stetter 3-0. IBB: off Vil- groundout.
J.J. Hardy homered in the sixth ahead body,” Braun said. “I think guys should no’s spot in the rotation with the ace lanueva (A.Soriano). WP: Heilman. Umpires: Home, Rodriguez is one of four pitch-
Tom Hallion; First, Jerry Crawford; Second, Phil Cuzzi;
of Braun’s big hit, which came off Aaron be emotional, you should enjoy it. You recovering from a hamstring injury. Third, Todd Tichenor. T: 2:25. A: 42,025 (41,900). ers in the league not to allow a
Heilman (2-2) after the Cubs reliever don’t hit too many home runs in big situ- Milton Bradley homered in the fifth off home run this year.
entered and threw five straight balls to ations that you get to enjoy, so why Brewers starter Dave Bush, and Alfonso “Wandy was incredible,”
walk Corey Hart and fall behind Braun. not?” Soriano’s sacrifice fly in the sixth gave Pence said. “That’s the reason
“Walks always hurt you,” Heilman The Cubs certainly aren’t enjoying Chicago a 2-0 lead as Wells stranded six we won tonight. When he pitches
said. “I put myself in the hole there and their latest predicament after sending Brewers in the first three innings. like that, it’s tough to beat him.”
tried to get out of it.” reserve outfielder Joey Gathright to — The Associated Press — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Baseball SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 26
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 5, Arizona 4 Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 4 Florida 8, Colorado 3
Washington AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
C.Guzman ss 5 0 2 2 0 1 .392 Marlins 8, Rockies 3

New manager, same results for D-backs N.Johnson 1b

Dunn lf
4 0 0 0 1
Zimmerman 3b 5 0 2 0 0
5 1 2 1 0
0
2
2
.317
.339
.296
Nolasco Florida AB R
Bonifacio 3b-2b 5 2
Coghlan 2b 4 1
H
1
2
BI
0
0
BB
0
1
SO
1
2
Avg.
.248
.500

PHOENIX—A new manager, a frustrat-

K.Wells p
Dukes cf-lf
Kearns rf
Flores c
0 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 0 0
3 1 1 0 1
3 2 2 2 1
0
0
0
0
---
.280
.261
.314
breaks skid Nunez p
Lindstrom p
Ha.Ramirez ss
0 0
0 0
5 2
0
0
4
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
---
---
.327
Cantu 1b 4 0 0 1 0 1 .299
A.Hernandez 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .310 Jo.Baker c 5 2 2 3 0 0 .288
ingly familiar result for the Arizona Martis p 2 1 1 0 0 0 .231 DENVER—Ricky Nolasco got
C.Ross rf 5 1 1 0 0 0 .220
Diamondbacks. Mock p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- the Florida Marlins’ starting Hermida lf 3 0 2 2 1 0 .255
c-Willingham ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .190 Carroll lf 1 0 1 0 0 0 .167
Jesus Flores drove in two runs with a Hanrahan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- pitchers back into the win
Amezaga cf 5 0 1 0 0 2 .226
homer and an RBI single, and the d-Belliard ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .125 column. Nolasco p 3 0 2 0 0 0 .250
Tavarez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Pinto p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Washington Nationals spoiled A.J. W.Harris cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .182 Settling down after a shaky
Calero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Hinch’s debut as Arizona manager by Totals 37 5 11 5 3 6 beginning, Nolasco earned the b-Helms ph-3b 2 0 0 0 0 1 .257
beating the Diamondbacks 5-4 on Fri- first win by a Florida starter in Totals 42 8 16 8 2 8
Arizona AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
day night. F.Lopez 2b 5 2 3 0 0 0 .316 more than three weeks, lead- Colorado AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
C.Young cf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .180 S.Smith lf 3 1 1 0 2 0 .275
Cristian Guzman tripled in two runs Rauch p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- ing the Marlins to an 8-3 vic-
Tulowitzki ss 4 2 2 2 1 0 .211
and Adam Dunn homered for the Vasquez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- tory over the Colorado Rockies Helton 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .351
T.Pena p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Spilborghs cf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .270
Nationals, who have won two in a row e-R.Roberts ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .176 on Friday night.
Hawpe rf 4 0 2 1 0 2 .329
on the road for the first time this J.Upton rf 4 1 1 1 1 2 .292 The Marlins went a club- Iannetta c 4 0 2 0 0 1 .212
Reynolds 3b 5 0 1 0 0 3 .252 Stewart 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .210
season. Whitesell 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .100 record 20 games without a win
Barmes 2b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .228
“We’re starting to build some confi- C.Jackson lf 3 0 0 1 1 0 .186 by a starting pitcher before Hammel p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Montero c 4 1 2 0 0 0 .262 Belisle p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
dence and playing a lot better baseball,” Jo.Wilson ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .263 Nolasco (2-3) scattered eight
Rusch p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .400
Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman said. Y.Petit p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 hits over six innings with five a-Murton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .273
Zimmerman hit safely in the 26th a-Tracy ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .218 strikeouts and a walk in his Daley p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
L.Rosales p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Corpas p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
consecutive game, the longest active b-Byrnes ph-cf 2 0 2 1 0 0 .162 first victory since opening day. Street p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
streak in the majors, when he singled Totals 38 4 12 4 2 8 He allowed three runs to c-Quintanilla ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .200
Totals 35 3 8 3 3 10
in the first inning. Washington 021 101 000 — 5 11 0 become the first Marlins
Overall, the Nationals have won four Arizona 100 011 100 — 4 12 0 starter to earn a victory since Florida 111 050 000 — 8 16 0
Colorado 102 000 000 — 3 8 0
out of five. a-grounded out for Y.Petit in the 4th. b-singled for April 16 when Anibal Sanchez
“Sooner or later things had to turn L.Rosales in the 6th. c-singled for Mock in the 7th. beat Atlanta. a-popped out for Rusch in the 6th. b-grounded out for
d-struck out for Hanrahan in the 8th. e-flied out for Calero in the 8th. c-struck out for Street in the 9th. LOB:
around a little bit,” Washington man- T.Pena in the 9th. LOB: Washington 8, Arizona 9. 2B: During that span, Florida’s Florida 10, Colorado 8. 2B: Tulowitzki (4), Hawpe (9),
ager Manny Acta said. “We had a rough Kearns (5), F.Lopez (9), Whitesell (1), Montero (3). 3B: starters had gone 0-8 with a Iannetta (2). HR: Ha.Ramirez (6), off Hammel; Jo.Baker
C.Guzman (1), C.Young (1). HR: Dunn (8), off Y.Petit; (3), off Hammel; Tulowitzki (4), off Nolasco. RBIs:
April and May’s been good so far, but Flores (4), off Y.Petit. RBIs: C.Guzman 2 (9), Dunn (24), 5.48 ERA. Ha.Ramirez 2 (17), Cantu (31), Jo.Baker 3 (14), Hermida
there’s still a ways to go.” Flores 2 (15), C.Young (8), J.Upton (16), C.Jackson (14), “Nobody wants to be recog- 2 (13), Tulowitzki 2 (10), Hawpe (19). SB: Ha.Ramirez
Byrnes (8). SB: Kearns (1), Byrnes (5). CS: Byrnes (2). (4). SF: Cantu. Runners left in scoring position:
Hinch, director of player personnel Runners left in scoring position: Washington 6 nized for something like that,” Florida 4 (Jo.Baker, Bonifacio, Cantu, Helms); Colorado 5
(Dukes 3, N.Johnson, Belliard, Dunn); Arizona 4 (Whi- (Hammel, Iannetta, Spilborghs, Murton, Hawpe).
for Arizona, moved into the manager’s tesell 2, C.Young, Montero). DP: Arizona 1 (Jo.Wilson,
Nolasco said. “To come in here
job after Bob Melvin was fired Thurs- Whitesell). and throw the ball pretty Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
day night. The new manager said he decent, we’ll try to build off Nolasco W, 2-3 6 8 3 3 1 5 99 6.63
Washington IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Pinto 1⁄3 0 0 0 2 0 15 1.29
liked his team’s attitude, despite the Martis W, 4-0 5 1⁄3 9 3 3 2 6 99 4.67 this. I’m not extremely satis- Calero 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 2 9 1.69
Mock H, 3 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 8 5.19 Nunez 1 0 0 0 0 2 16 2.30
loss. Hanrahan H, 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 12 6.23 fied, but this is a start.”
Lindstrom 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 6.00
“I was proud of the guys for battling Tavarez H, 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 10 6.35 Nolasco got plenty of support Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
K.Wells S, 1-1 1 0 0 0 0 2 18 3.27 Hammel L, 0-1 4 1⁄3 8 6 6 1 4 80 5.40
back and kind of answering the bell,” Arizona IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA from Hanley Ramirez, who
Belisle 0 3 2 2 0 0 13 9.82
Hinch said. “Obviously we left a lot of Y.Petit L, 0-3 4 6 4 4 1 2 63 8.03 drove in two runs with his first Rusch 1 2⁄3 1 0 0 0 2 24 4.50
L.Rosales 2 2 1 1 0 2 27 6.00 Daley 1 0 0 0 1 1 13 1.50
guys on base, had some opportunities Rauch 1 3 0 0 0 0 25 8.25 four-hit game of the season,
Corpas 1 2 0 0 0 0 11 5.68
which you always reflect on, but the Vasquez 1 0 0 0 1 1 18 3.24 including his third homer in Street 1 2 0 0 0 1 20 5.11
T.Pena 1 0 0 0 1 1 11 1.23
effort was there. I felt like the intensity two games. John Baker went
Belisle pitched to 3 batters in the 5th. Inherited
was high. We came up a run short, Inherited runners-scored: Mock 2-0. WP: T.Pena. 2-for-5 with a homer and three runners-scored: Calero 2-0, Belisle 2-2, Rusch 1-0.
Umpires: Home, Rob Drake; First, Paul Emmel; Sec- WP: Nolasco, Belisle. Umpires: Home, Brian Runge;
which is unfortunate.” MATT YORK / AP
ond, Bill Hohn; Third, Casey Moser. T: 2:52. A: 28,640 RBIs.
First, Bill Miller; Second, Derryl Cousins; Third, Angel
— The Associated Press Washington C Jesus Flores catches a pop-up by Arizona’s Mark Reynolds during the seventh inning. (48,652). — The Associated Press Campos. T: 3:17. A: 27,398 (50,449).
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Former stars want to play on, but can they find jobs?
BY ALBERT BREER
abreer@sportingnews.com
Go back a half-decade and toss these
names around: Jason Taylor. Chris
McAlister. Edgerrin James. Jon Runyan.
Derrick Brooks. Marvin Harrison.
Back then, you could build a champion-
ship team around that group.
But it’s pretty evident—since these guys
are still out of work in early May—that
you can’t anymore.
Can you get anything out of the old
stars? In each case, the answer is, well,
probably. But there are reasons each is
lingering on the street and why such
veterans usually do this time of year.
Among them:
Veterans of 10-plus seasons—all six
of the players mentioned above are in that
category—carry a minimum salary of
$875,000. The rookie minimum is
$340,000. So no matter how cheap a vet
signs for, he’ll still cost more, though there
is cap relief for signing older veterans.
They count just $460,000 (equal to the
minimum for a third-year player) against
the limit, softening the blow.
The injury risk is exponentially
higher. One team conducted a study that
showed a mid-30s player is four times
more likely to be seriously injured than a
rookie.
There’s little upside to such a signing,
and the player could decline over the
course of the year.
Generally, former stars have little
special teams experience, meaning they
almost have to start to represent proper
value on the roster.
With those factors in mind, an update
on the six big-name vets:
BOB LEVERONE / SN
Jason Taylor, DE/OLB
The situation: Sources
continue to indicate that New
England is the front-runner for
Taylor, who had his best season in
a Belichick-like system under Nick
Saban, would fill the Patriots’
crying need for an edge rusher
and has a desire to play there.
The Dolphins have had lukewarm
interest in bringing back Taylor,
34, and Miami is committed to
giving CFL star Cameron Wake a
shot opposite Joey Porter.
Scout’s take: “Under the
right circumstances, he could
definitely give a team something.
The problem is he went through
his career without injuries until
last year, and they finally crept
up on him. He has something left
as a situational pass rusher in the
right scheme. He’s not a starting
player in this league anymore,
but assuming he stays healthy, he
can be effective.”
Ideal spot: New England
GAIL BURTON / AP
Chris McAlister, CB
The situation: McAlister, 31,
is rehabbing from arthroscopic
knee surgery in Los Angeles and
is expected to be cleared for all
football activities by late June.
He’d like to stay near his native
California. The Seahawks and
Chargers have shown interest, as
have the Cowboys, who intrigue
McAlister very much.
Scout’s take: “He’s got a lot
of tread on the tire. Watching him
last year, he’s without question
a big injury risk. Athletically,
while he still has the instincts,
the drop-off in long speed and
explosiveness were noticeable.
He probably should’ve gone to
safety a while ago. At his age, do
you do it now? It’ll be difficult if
he doesn’t get in a camp, I could
see him not playing this year.”
Ideal spot: Cowboys
NFL
PAUL CONNORS / AP
Edgerrin James, RB
The situation: James finally
got his wish, gaining his release
after Arizona selected Chris Wells
in the draft— and the Saints have
investigated him. At this point,
he’s a complementary piece—he
turns 31 in August and averaged
under 4 yards per carry in each of
his three years in desert.
Scout’s take: “He’ll sign
somewhere—he still has some-
thing left as a complementary
back. He’s got good run instincts,
vision, and change-of-direction
skills. He’s not a breakaway
threat, but he really never was.
I don’t love how he fit in that
power scheme in Arizona,
but he’s still talented enough,
with his vision and instincts,
to play well in a situation like
Indianapolis, where he can take
a draw handoff, slash and pick-
and-slide.”
Ideal spot: Saints
DAVID DUROCHIK FOR SN
Jon Runyan, OT
The situation: The Eagles
swiftly replaced Runyan, 35, with
Stacy Andrews in March, and the
veteran tackle is still rehabbing
after offseason knee surgery.
At 6-7, 330 pounds, he can be a
physical presence but will need
to prove his health.
Scout’s take: “He’s lost a lot
of mobility, and he was never a
tremendous athlete. He’s always
been that road-grading right
tackle. The question is, do you
give him more help? Do you
want to have the running back
constantly chipping to his side?
Do want to keep your tight end
in? The league’s getting more
athletic, and it won’t be too long
before you see right tackles
who slide like left tackles. We’re
getting enamored with athletic
ability, and he’s a throwback.”
Ideal spot: Steelers
BOB LEVERONE / SN
Derrick Brooks, OLB
The situation: Brooks, 36,
was part of a purge of veterans
by Tampa’s new regime at
the outset of free agency. The
11-time Pro Bowler has indicated
he wants to play a 15th season,
but there has been little interest
around the league.
Scout’s take: “He doesn’t
fit every scheme, so right off the
bat there are teams that won’t
consider him. He’ll probably
need an injury somewhere to get
on a roster. He has another year
left, but it needs to be the right
fit. While he’s a technically sound
guy, he’s only got OK athletic
ability. It’s not near where it was.”
Ideal spot: Colts
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 27
ALBERT DICKSON / SN
Marvin Harrison, WR
The situation: Creaky knees
have led to rumors that Harrison,
36, will hang ’em up in the wake
of his ouster from Indianapolis.
He’s clearly not the elite player of
yesteryear, but his agent has said
he plans to play in 2009 and he
did he manage 60 catches and
five touchdowns last year while
missing just one game.
Scout’s take: “Marvin has
lost a great deal of his downfield
explosiveness and vertical big-
play ability. But he’s an excep-
tional route runner with excellent
hands and ball skills, and he still
has enough lateral quickness to
get in and out of his breaks. What
I’d be most concern with, other
than age, is the durability factor.
But he’s a guy who can help. He’s
not going to forget how to play
football, and if someone gets
hurt in camp, he could end up
there.”
Ideal spot: Chargers
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Shoulder X-rays will determine Favre’s decision
According to an ESPN report,
Brett Favre is considering another
comeback after all. The network
said a source close to the situation
indicated X-rays of Favre’s throw-
ing shoulder were sent to the
Vikings for evaluation.
If the damage to the shoulder does
not require major surgery, Favre,
39, will sign with the Vikings and
play this season, ESPN said. If
major surgery is necessary, Favre
will remain retired.
Favre has a partially torn biceps
tendon in his right arm, which
apparently is leading to pain in his
shoulder. The news came a day after
Yahoo! Sports reported that Favre
told Vikings coach Brad Childress he
would remain retired.
The Rams continued to
revamp their defense under new
coach Steve Spagnuolo, releasing
OLB Pisa Tinoisamoa Friday. Tinois-
amoa was the team’s leading tack-
ler last season, but at 220 pounds,
he lacks the size Spagnuolo wants
at linebacker.
Spagnuolo made the surprise
announcement in a statement, call-
ing it a “difficult decision based on a
lot of factors.” Tinoisamoa is a six-
year veteran who had 135 tackles in
2008. According to the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, the team created $2.25
million in 2009 cap room by cutting
him.
The Rams are expected to replace
Tinoisamoa on the strong side with
journeyman Chris Draft. Rookie James
Laurinaitis will start at middle line-
backer and Will Witherspoon on the
weak side.
If he can avoid major surgery on his right shoulder, Brett Favre might play again after all.
QB Jason Campbell, who appeared
to be in jeopardy of losing his job as
the Redskins considered trading for
Jay Cutler and later Mark Sanchez, is
attempting to improve his
mechanics.
According to Redskins.com,
Campbell is working on dropping
back quicker and altering his
throwing motion to improve his
release time. “I’m trying to be explo-
sive under center and learn a tech-
nique of pushing the ball back at the
NFL
INSIDE DISH
KATHY WILLENS / AP
end of my drop so that I’m able to
release the ball quickly and not have
as much of a windup,” Campbell
said.
Lions offensive coordinator
Scott Linehan told Mlive.com that ver-
satile rookie TE Brandon Pettigrew
will have a major role in the offense.
“If you look at the teams that run
the ball consistently over the course
of 16 games and the playoffs, they’ve
got tight ends who can block,”
Linehan said. “Whether they’re
good receivers or not, that’s what
you’ve got to be first. Pettigrew was
such a unique fit and profile for the
position because he’s a blocker and
a receiver. He will be a big factor in
our offense whether we’re throwing
the ball or running.”
TE Michael Gaines, who was cut
by the Lions last week, will visit the
Bears on Monday, a league source
told the Chicago Sun-Times. Gaines
was released after Detroit drafted
two tight ends. He started six games
last season and caught 23 passes for
260 yards and one touchdown.
The Falcons wanted to get
younger on defense, which they
have achieved after parting ways
with LB Keith Brooking, 33, S Lawyer
Milloy, 35, and DT Grady Jackson, 36.
“Right now, we have 25 players on
our roster with three years or less
NFL experience,” coach Mike Smith
said. “We are also going to be a
faster and more urgent football
team with the infusion of the play-
ers we drafted. That was one of the
things we set out to do. We wanted
to increase or speed and urgency on
our roster.”
After picking up DL Tyson Jack-
son and Alex Magee in the draft—two
players with the size to play end in a
3-4 scheme—the Chiefs think they
have enough pieces to go ahead with
their transition to the new defense.
“We’re going to try variations of it,”
coach Todd Haley said.
The Seahawks feel that have
the pieces in place to eventually
replace cornerstone LT Walter Jones,
35, who is coming back from microf-
racture knee surgery. He is expected
to be ready to play this season, but
the team knows it will need to
replace him in the next couple of
years. The team appears satisfied
with Sean Locklear and Ray Willis as a
starting combo down the road.
Locklear is expected to start at right
tackle this season, but he is subbing
at left tackle for Jones during offsea-
son workouts with Willis at right
tackle.
According to InsideBayArea.
com, the Raiders have signed vet-
eran FB Lorenzo Neal and RB Gary Rus-
sell. The Raiders are Neal’s eighth
team and 2009 will be his 17th sea-
son. He was still an effective lead
blocker for the Ravens last season.
Russell gained 77 yards in 28 car-
ries for the Steelers last year.
Oakland TE Zach Miller had sports
hernia surgery and likely won’t take
the field for another month, Inside-
BayArea.com reported.
The Lions re-signed veteran
Keary Colbert to boost their depth at
wide receiver, The Detroit News
reported. Colbert, a sixth-year pro
who initially signed with the Lions
as a free agent late last season,
caught five passes for 64 yards in
four games with Detroit.
The Colts announced the jobs
of longtime player personnel official
Dom Anile and several others in the
scouting department were elimi-
nated in recent restructuring
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 28
NFL minicamp schedule
A listing of upcoming NFL minicamps (all include rookies
and veterans unless otherwise noted):
Atlanta—Friday-Sunday
Baltimore—Friday-Sunday
Buffalo—June 9-11
Cincinnati—June 18-20
Cleveland—May 19-21 (voluntary); May 26-28 (vol-
untary); June 11-13
Dallas—June 16-18
Denver—June 12-14
Detroit—June 23-25 (voluntary)
Green Bay—June 23-25
Houston—June 15-17
Indianapolis—June 5-7
Kansas City—Friday-Sunday (rookies); June 5-7
Miami—June 12-14
Minnesota—May 29-31
New England—June 10-12
New Orleans—Friday-Sunday (rookies); June 5-7
N.Y. Giants—Friday-Sunday (rookies); June 16-18
N. Y. Jets—June 9-11
Oakland—Friday-Sunday
St. Louis—June 5-7
San Francisco—June 5-7
Seattle—June 10-12
Tampa Bay—June 16-18
Note: Teams are allowed to have rookie minicamps
separate from the full-squad minicamp, and teams with
first-year head coaches are allowed to add up to two
voluntary minicamps.
efforts. Anile, 71, was credited with
being a key to the Colts’ string of
successful drafts and ability to find
undrafted free agents such as C Jeff
Saturday.
OLB Terrell Suggs, the Ravens’
franchise player, was a no-show for
the team’s minicamp Friday. Suggs
has not signed his tender, so he can’t
be fined for not participating. The
Ravens are trying to negotiate a
long-term deal with Suggs.
The Broncos signed former
Texans RB Darius Walker. He rushed
for 264 yards in 2007 but did not
get on the field last season in
Houston.
The Oakland Raiders have bol-
stered their backfield by signing FB
Lorenzo Neal and RB Gary Russell. The
team added the two backs in time for
the start of the mandatory minicamp.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com NFL SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 29
DEFENSE
Remaining free agents Defensive ends—Kevin Carter, Tampa Bay; Earl Cochran,
A quick look at the remaining NFL free agents by position
(R-restricted free agent, F-franchise tagged player):
OFFENSE
Houston; Sean Conover, NY Jets; Nick Eason, Pittsburgh; Kalimba
Edwards, Oakland; Ebenezer Ekuban, Denver; John Engelberger,
Denver; Simon Fraser, Atlanta; Roderick Green, San Francisco;
Bengals expect reunion to revitalize Williams
Quarterbacks—Brooks Bollinger, Dallas; Ken Dorsey, Jason Hunter, Green Bay; Travis LaBoy, Arizona; Jayme Mitchell,
Cleveland; Gus Frerotte, Minnesota; Charlie Frye, Seattle; Drew Minnesota; Jerome McDougle, NY Giants; Julius Peppers (F),
CINCINNATI—Safety Roy Williams
Henson, Detroit; Quinn Gray, Kansas City; Trent Green, St. Louis; Carolina; Jason Taylor, Washington; Anthony Weaver, Houston; hopes that a reunion with his
Rex Grossman, Chicago; Brad Johnson, Dallas; J.P. Losman, Buf- James Wyche, Jacksonville. defensive coordinator from Dallas
falo; Jamie Martin, San Francisco; Craig Nall, Houston; Marques Defensive tackles—Kenderick Allen, Minnesota; Gary
Tuiasosopo, Oakland; Anthony Wright, NY Giants.
will get his career turned around.
Gibson (R), Carolina; La’Roi Glover, St. Louis; Vonnie Holliday, Williams, signed to a one-year
Running backs—Darian Barnes, New Orleans; Tatum Bell, Miami; Antwan Lake, New Orleans; Anthony Montgomery
Denver; Brian Calhoun, Detroit; Jesse Chatman, NY Jets; P.J. (R), Washington; Langston Moore, Detroit; Kindal Moorehead, contract by the Bengals earlier this
Daniels, Baltimore; Reuben Droughns, NY Giants; Warrick Dunn, Atlanta; Dewayne Robertson, Denver; Orpheus Roye, Pittsburgh; week, missed most of last season
Tampa Bay; DeShaun Foster, San Francisco; Samkon Gado, St. Montavious Stanley (R), New Orleans; Hollis Thomas, New with Dallas because he broke his
Louis; Nick Goings, Carolina; Ahman Green, Houston; Andre Hall, Orleans; Josh Thomas, Indianapolis; John Thornton, Cincinnati;
Denver; Kay-Jay Harris, NY Giants; Maurice Hicks, Minnesota; right forearm twice—and the Cow-
Darwin Walker, Carolina; Gabe Watson (R), Arizona; Ellis Wyms,
Edgerrin James, Arizona; Rudi Johnson, Detroit; Deuce McAl- Minnesota; Brian Young, New Orleans; Jeff Zgonina, Houston.
boys released him on March 5.
lister, New Orleans; Travis Minor, St. Louis; Montell Owens (R), Linebackers—Rufus Alexander, Indianapolis; Jason Babin, Part of the attraction of coming
Jacksonville; Chris Perry, Cincinnati; Andrew Pinnock, Denver; Kansas City; Rocky Boiman, Kansas City; Derrick Brooks, Tampa to Cincinnati was the chance to
Michael Pittman, Denver; P.J. Pope, Denver; Cecil Sapp, Houston; Bay; Khary Campbell, Washington; Anthony Cannon, Detroit;
Aaron Stecker, New Orleans; Selvin Young, Denver.
play for coordinator Mike Zimmer,
Dan Cody, Baltimore; Rosevelt Colvin, New England; Donte’
Wide receivers—Drew Bennett, St. Louis; Troy Bergeron, who held the job in Dallas from
Curry, Carolina; Donnie Edwards, Kansas City; Keith Ellison (R),
Atlanta; Shaun Bodiford, Green Bay; Marty Booker, Chicago; Buffalo; Troy Evans, New Orleans; Gilbert Gardner, Chicago; 2000-06. Williams was the Cow-
Drew Carter, Oakland; Jason Carter; Carolina; Keary Colbert, Curtis Gatewood, Kansas City; Morlon Greenwood, Houston; boys’ first-round pick in 2002.
Detroit; Jayson Foster, Denver; Malcom Floyd (R), San Diego; Marques Harris, San Diego; Napoleon Harris, Minnesota; Abdul “I know that Coach (Zimmer)
D.J. Hackett, Carolina; Dante Hall, St. Louis; Marvin Harrison, Hodge (R), Cincinnati; Mike Humpal, Pittsburgh; Brad Kassell,
Indianapolis; Ike Hilliard, Tampa Bay; Darrell Jackson, Denver; knows what I can do on the foot-
NY Jets; Jason Kyle, Carolina; Teddy Lehman, Buffalo; Paris
Nate Jackson, Denver; Matt Jones, Jacksonville; Joe Jurevicius, Lenon, Detroit; Wesly Mallard, Seattle; Jim Maxwell, Cincinnati;
ball field,” Williams said. “I’ve
Cleveland; Ashley Lelie, Oakland; Brandon Lloyd, Chicago; Willie McGinest, Cleveland; Marques Murrell (R), NY Jets; Ryan been criticized for a lot, but I was
Dane Looker, St. Louis; Ruvell Martin (R), Green Bay; Anthony Nece, Detroit; Shantee Orr, Cleveland; Antwan Peek, Cleveland; never criticized when he was my
Mix, Tampa Bay; Ben Obomanu (R), Seattle; Tab Perry, Miami; Carlos Polk, Dallas; Junior Seau, New England; Matt Sinclair,
Jerry Porter, Jacksonville; Kevin Robinson, Kansas City; Koren coach. We’re going to get back to
Washington; Gary Stills, St. Louis; Terrell Suggs (F), Baltimore;
Robinson, Seattle; Edell Shepherd, Denver; Travis Taylor, Detroit; our old ways and have a great
Dontarrious Thomas, Minnesota; Pisa Tinoisamoa, St. Louis;
Amani Toomer, NY Giants; Kelley Washington, New England; Marcus Washington, Washington; Nate Webster, Denver. season.”
Todd Watkins (R), Oakland; Harry Williams, Houston; Reggie Cornerbacks—David Barrett, NY Jets; Dre’Bly, Denver; Fakhir The Bengals finished 4-11-1 last
Williams, Jacksonville; Wallace Wright (R), NY Jets.
Tight ends—Courtney Anderson, Houston; Adam Bergen,
Brown, St. Louis; Terry Cousin, Cleveland; Jason Craft, St. Louis; season in large part because they
Travis Fisher, Detroit; Reynaldo Hill, Tennessee; Roderick Hood, had the worst offense in the NFL.
Denver; Mark Bruener, Houston; Scott Chandler, San Diego; Arizona; William James, Jacksonville; Michael Lehan, New
Owen Daniels (R), Houston; Michael Gaines, Detroit; Nate Orleans; Sam Madison, NY Giants; Ricky Manning Jr., St. Louis;
The defense, which has been a
Lawrie, Cincinnati; Michael Merritt, Kansas City; Chad Mustard, Derrick Martin (R), Baltimore; Chris McAlister, Baltimore; Mike problem for years, improved to a
Denver; Leonard Pope (R), Arizona; Jeff Robinson, Seattle; Derek McKenzie, New Orleans; R.W. McQuarters, NY Giants; Deltha middle-of-the-league ranking
Schouman (R), Buffalo; Stephen Spach (R), Arizona; Daniel O’Neal, New England; Dunta Robinson (F), Houston; Lewis
Wilcox, Baltimore; Kris Wilson, San Diego. despite spending a lot of time on AL BEHRMAN / AP
Sanders, New England; Duane Starks, Jacksonville; Brandon
Offensive tackles—Tyson Clabo (R), Atlanta; Anthony Davis, St. the field. In Cincinnati, Roy Williams, right, will once again play for defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who coached him in Dallas from 2000-06.
Sumrall, NY Giants; DeJuan Tribble, San Diego; Jason Webster,
Louis; Jon Dunn, Detroit; Wayne Gandy, Atlanta; Kwame Harris, New England; Jimmy Williams, Houston; Stanley Wilson, Detroit. Williams, 28, had problems in
Oakland; Jonas Jennings, San Francisco; Levi Jones, Cincinnati; Safeties—Oshiomogho Atogwe (F), St. Louis; Michael coverage with the Cowboys, but he his right forearm in the second I’ll do.” time, coach Marvin Lewis told him
James Marten (R), Oakland; Fred Miller, Chicago; Rob Petitti,
St. Louis; Jon Runyan, Philadelphia; Ephraim Salaam, Houston;
Boulware, Minnesota; Mike Brown, Chicago; John Busing, fills the Bengals’ need to add game, missed the next three, then Williams agreed to a one-year the team had higher priorities than
Cincinnati; Oliver Celestin, Kansas City; Corey Chavous, St. Louis; another hard-hitting safety to han- returned and broke it again. He deal on Wednesday night, and the signing the safety. The Bengals
Charles Spencer, Jacksonville; Barry Stokes, New England; Mark Keith Davis, Dallas; Will Demps, Houston; Mike Doss, Cincinnati;
Tauscher, Green Bay; Mark Wilson (R), Oakland; Eric Young, Hiram Eugene, Oakland; Mike Green, Washington; Rodney
dle running backs in the AFC thinks he’ll be a better fit in the Bengals offered to fly him into the had already decided to keep safety
Cleveland. Harrison, New England; Terrence Holt, New Orleans; Dexter North. Bengals’ defense. city over the weekend. Williams Chris Crocker and were looking to
Guards—Lennie Friedman, Cleveland; Adrian Jones, Kansas Jackson, Cincinnati; Sammy Knight, NY Giants; Dawan Landry “He was a big-time enforcer,” “I’m going to be more involved didn’t want to wait that long—he upgrade their offensive and defen-
City; Pete Kendall, Washington; Matt Lentz, Detroit; Terrence (R), Baltimore; Marquand Manuel, Denver; Marlon McCree,
Metcalf, Chicago; Edwin Mulitalo, Detroit; Chris Naeole, Zimmer said. “When the ball was in the defense here, from my flew in Thursday morning, signed sive lines.
Denver; Lawyer Milloy, Atlanta; Jarrad Page (R), Kansas City;
Jacksonville; Tutan Reyes, Jacksonville; Grey Ruegamer, NY thrown over the middle of the understanding,” Williams said. the deal and worked out with some “We were very open and candid
Pierson Prioleau, Jacksonville; Chris Reis (R), New Orleans;
Giants; Kendall Simmons, Pittsburgh; Rob Sims (R), Seattle; Dwight Smith, Detroit; George Wilson (R), Buffalo; Cameron field, not a lot of people came away “The last couple of years, I of his new teammates. with Roy and told Roy we had
Jason Whittle, Buffalo. Worrell, Chicago. with either the ball or their ribs or wasn’t utilized to the best of my “Being out on the street is not a other priorities that we felt were
Centers—Brennen Carvalho, Green Bay; Jean-Philippe Darche, SPECIAL TEAMS
Kansas City; Melvin Fowler, Buffalo; Matt Lehr, New Orleans;
something. He’s a big-time blitzer. abilities. We played to everyone fun thing and I don’t take this more important, and Roy would
Kickers—John Carney, NY Giants; Matt Stover, Baltimore. He’s a playmaker.” else’s abilities, which is a great lightly,” Williams said. text me and remind me of those as
Andy McCollum, Detroit; Jeremy Newberry, San Diego; Scott Punters—Mitch Berger, Pittsburgh; Mike Dragosavich,
Peters, Arizona; Bryan Pittman, Houston; Cory Withrow, St. Indianapolis; Sam Koch (R), Baltimore; Kyle Larson, Cincinnati; Williams made five Pro Bowls thing for the team and I’m a team Williams originally visited the we checked them off,” Lewis said.
Louis. Ryan Plackemeier, Cincinnati. before last season, when he broke player. Whatever I’m told to do, Bengals on March 19, but at the — The Associated Press
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Hornish’s fortunes finally improving
Sam Hornish Jr. qualified well for tonight’s Sprint Cup race at Darlington, where he’ll start fourth.
BY JARED TURNER
SceneDaily.com
Almost from the day he joined the Sprint
Cup Series, Sam Hornish Jr. has heard rum-
blings that he wouldn’t compete on
NASCAR’s top circuit for long.
A three-time IndyCar Series champion, Hor-
nish has faced a steady stream of questions and
rumors about a possible return to the open-
wheel ranks where he found so much success.
It has even been suggested that the Penske
Racing driver might step down to the Nation-
wide Series to hone his stock-car skills.
But if Hornish can build on his recent suc-
cesses, all the questions and suggestions
seem sure to fade away. After more than a
year of struggles, the Bryan, Ohio, native
seems be finding his way in Cup.
A pair of top-10 finishes in his last three
starts may be proof enough.
“Everybody asks me if I’m liking racing
Cup,” Hornish says. “I said, ‘I’ll like it a lot
more when we start winning or start being
more successful,’ because I did have that ten-
dency to run so well (in IndyCar), but I was
also realistic enough to know that it wasn’t
going to come easy, and it’s really why I
TONY GUTIERREZ / AP
wanted to come over here and do this.
“I had an opportunity to kind of get my feet
wet, and when I decided to come do it full time,
there (were) no misconceptions about what
stock-car racing was. I knew how hard it was
and how much different it was from what I
was accustomed to, but it was a challenge that
I felt that if I didn’t do, that I was going to at
some point in time regret not doing it.”
While the numbers reveal just the two top-
10s—a ninth at Phoenix on April 18 and a sixth
last weekend at Richmond—over the season’s
first 10 races, they aren’t entirely indicative of
the gains made by Hornish and his team.
At Talladega, for example, Hornish was
running in the top 15 before being eliminated
in a late crash not of his own making. At
Texas, he spent most of the race in the top 12
before fading to 17th. At Bristol, he lost sev-
eral laps early on but eventually had a car
that ran competitively.
Such baby steps might not mean much to a
lot of teams. But for the No. 77 bunch, they
speak to the slow, but steady progress of
Hornish and the entire group, especially
since Travis Geisler replaced Chris Carrier
as crew chief going into Bristol last August.
jturner@streetandsmiths.com
NASCAR
Matt Kenseth won the fourth pole of his career Friday, and his first since October 2005 at Kansas.
Kenseth sets qualifying record at Darlington
BY REID SPENCER
rspencer@sportingnews.com
DARLINGTON, S.C.—On a “green” racetrack
washed by a hard afternoon rain, Matt
Kenseth laid down the best qualifying lap
in the history of Darlington Raceway.
Touring the 1.366-mile egg-shaped
circuit in 27.394 seconds (179.514 mph),
Kenseth won the pole for tonight’s
Southern 500, edging Jeff Gordon
(178.861 mph) by a tenth of a second, in
a session that saw three-time defend-
ing NASCAR Sprint Cup Jimmie John-
son wreck in Turn 2 on his first lap.
Ryan Newman (178.757 mph) quali-
fied third, followed by Sam Hornish Jr.
(178.744 mph) and rookie Joey Logano
(178.549 mph).
In winning his fourth career pole
and his first since October 2005 at
Kansas Speedway, Kenseth erased the
mark of Roush Fenway Racing team-
mate Greg Biffle, who qualified at
179.442 mph in May of last year.
“It was a great lap for us,” said
Kenseth, who won the first two races of
the season but since has fallen to 12th
in the Cup standings. “We’ve had a lot
of speed in our car all day, for some rea-
son, which has been real encouraging.
We made a lot of changes on our car
BRETT FLASHNICK / AP
today, and we’ve been able to make it
work, been able to make it better.
“I didn’t really think that we had a
serious shot at the pole, but our car was
driving really good, and actually, for
once when it quit raining, I was glad
we had a chance to qualify today.”
Kenseth said the track didn’t change
as much after the rain as he thought it
might.
“The track today in general rubbered
in (from tire wear during practice) a lot
more than I thought it would,” Kenseth
said. “It turned really dark, and the
more it would rubber in, the more grip
it got and the better it felt… I thought
after the rain that would all be washed
away, and surprisingly, there was still
a lot of rubber in the track.”
Johnson spun in Turn 2 and backed
into the wall, knocking the rear wing off
his No. 48 Chevrolet. His car then slid
down the track and nosed into the inside
wall. Johnson will start tonight’s race
from the 42nd position in a backup car.
Rookie Scott Speed, who crashed
during practice and made his qualify-
ing run in a backup car, failed to make
the race. Jeremy Mayfield likewise
failed to make the 43-car field.
— Reid Spencer writes for the
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 30
Southern 500
When: Tonight, 7:20 ET
TV: FOX, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN/Sirius XM Satellite Ch. 128
Track layout: 1.366-mile oval
Race distance: 367 laps/500 miles
2008 winner: Kyle Busch
2008 polesitter: Greg Biffle
Tonight’s starting lineup
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 179.514 mph
2. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 178.861
3. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 178.757
4. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 178.744
5. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 178.549
6. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 178.510
7. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 178.407
8. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 178.400
9. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 178.019
10. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 177.826
11. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 177.646
12. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 177.300
13. (07) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 177.300
14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 177.039
15. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 177.007
16. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 176.911
17. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 176.892
18. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 176.594
19. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 176.555
20. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 176.422
21. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 176.347
22. (13) Max Papis, Toyota, 176.328
23. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 176.264
24. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 176.138
25. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 176.050
26. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 175.981
27. (96) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 175.968
28. (7) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 175.735
29. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 175.629
30. (71) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, 175.441
31. (25) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 175.434
32. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 175.266
33. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 175.247
34. (12) David Stremme, Dodge, 175.053
35. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 174.860
36. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 174.773
37. (36) Scott Riggs, Toyota, 174.724
38. (44) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 174.525
39. (34) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 173.847
40. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, owner points
41. (43) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, owner points
42. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, owner points
43. (09) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 174.402
Failed to qualify
44. (41) Jeremy Mayfield, Toyota, 174.229
45. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 174.013
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
INSIDE DISH
Martin has heard
nothing about
crew chief swap
Hendrick Motorsports driver Mark Martin
and crew chief Alan Gustafson say they have no
knowledge of any plans to switch crew chiefs
within the organization, a move that has
been rumored in the Sprint Cup garage.
The two certainly have heard talk that
some fans think team owner Rick Hendrick
could swap Gustafson with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s
crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. But neither has knowl-
edged of any sort of factual basis for such
talk—and Martin certainly plans to remain
with the crew chief that has helped his team
climb to 15th in the standings.
“I’m in no position to make any kind of
demands at Hendrick Motorsports,” Martin
said when asked about the rumor Friday at
Darlington Raceway. “I know Rick, I’ve
known him only well for a short period of
time. I would do whatever Rick Hendrick
told me to do, even though I’d be incredibly
disappointed.
“I have every intention of working with
Alan as long as I drive the (No.) 5 car. He is
an incredible crew chief, and there’s never
been any conversation. … Rick Hendrick’s
the boss, but I’m not concerned.”
Martin said that Hendrick has never spo-
ken to him about that possibility.
— SceneDaily.com
Nationwide team owner and ESPN ana-
lyst Rusty Wallace felt he had to correct signifi-
cant problems with the pit crew of his No. 62
Chevrolet, driven by Brendan Gaughan.
“I said, ‘You guys are having so many
problems that we’re going to have a time out
for one week—we’re going to get new guys in
place, and we’re going to practice for the next
two weeks,’” Wallace said Friday at
Darlington.
“So I’m using Richard Childress’ No. 33 Cup
team (of driver Clint Bowyer), pitting Brendan
Gaughan, because I lost confidence in what
NASCAR SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 31
Kenseth capitalizes on Busch’s flat tire
BY REID SPENCER
rspencer@sportingnews.com
DARLINGTON, S.C.—Maybe Matt Kenseth’s luck has turned again.
On Friday afternoon, Kenseth was the surprise pole winner
for tonight’s Southern 500 Sprint Cup race at Darlington
Raceway.
On Friday night, he completed the daily double with a victory
in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Nationwide Series race at the
1.366-mile egg-shaped track, after misfortune struck the domi-
nant car of Kyle Busch in the closing circuits.
Kenseth inherited the lead when Busch was forced to pit
under yellow with a cut right-rear tire and won the race under
the record-tying 10th caution period of the night, when Morgan
Shepherd spun moments after a restart for a green-white-check-
ered-flag finish that took the race six laps beyond its scheduled
BRETT FLASHNICK / AP 147 laps.
Mark Martin, above, wants to stick with Alan Gustafson. The victory was Kenseth’s first of the season, his third at Dar-
lington and his 25th in the series, fifth best all-time. Jason Lef-
we were getting done.” fler came home second, followed by Carl Edwards and rookie
— Reid Spencer Erik Darnell, who posted his first top-five finish in his third
start in the series. Fellow rookie Justin Allgaier ran fifth.
Goodyear may be feverishly working to “Today couldn’t have gone any better than it did, that’s for
find a tire that’s compatible with the racing sure,” said Kenseth, who won the first two Cup races of the sea-
surface at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and son before his fortunes soured and a series of miscues and mis-
NASCAR’s new racecar, but Sam Hornish Jr., haps dropped him to 12th in the standings. “Like I said earlier,
for one, probably wouldn’t mind the same it’s all really about the cars and the people that work on them MARY ANN CHASTAIN / AP
sort of race the Cup series staged there last and your pit stops and all that. Matt Kenseth now has won three Nationwide races at Darlington in his career.
year, when tire issues chopped the race into “I can’t go fast with slow cars, which I proved over the last
segments of approximately 10 laps. couple months. It feels good to be able to win one of these Diamond Hill Plywood 200 results
“I’ve said ever since that race was over things… On the Cup side, it feels good to make changes today, FINISH START CAR. DRIVER MAKE
with, I thought that was one of the best and the car actually reacted to it and seemed to drive a lot bet- 1 6 16 Matt Kenseth Ford
Brickyard 400s, if you’re going to look at it ter than our stuff has lately, so it’s been a good day for us. Hope- 2 7 38 Jason Leffler Toyota
as far as the amount of lead changes and not fully, that will continue (today).” 3 3 60 Carl Edwards Ford
knowing what was going to happen,” said With Busch finishing 16th, Edwards trimmed the Joe Gibbs
4 5 6 Erik Darnell Ford
Hornish, who won the 2006 Indianapolis Racing driver’s advantage in the series standings to 37 points.
5 16 12 Justin Allgaier Dodge
500. Busch, who led a race-high 143 laps, was two circuits away
6 2 33 Ryan Newman Chevrolet
“I blew out two tires, one of them under from victory when a wreck on the backstretch involving Scott
green and one of them under yellow. Lagasse Jr. and Joe Nemechek brought out the ninth caution 7 19 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet
“You couldn’t got the full 10 laps as hard as and set up the green-white-checkered-flag finish. Busch ran 8 9 29 Jeff Burton Chevrolet
you could possibly go or you’d blow out a tire, over debris from the wreck. 9 10 32 Brian Vickers Toyota
so for us drivers, you knew that if you drove Busch’s right rear tire sustained a cut to the inside sidewall. 10 31 5 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet
too hard you’d have a problem. But how hard The tire likely would not have survived the restart, and Busch
was too hard? It was one of my favorite races and crew chief Jason Ratliff made the prudent call to pit and
I ever ran at Indianapolis, because there was change tires.
MORE COVERAGE
never a dull moment.” — Reid Spencer writes for the Sporting News Results: sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=547005
— Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Standings: sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=547007
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
DAVE CURTIS’ MAILBAG
Don’t shortchange Tressel, he’s a hall of a coach
A dip into Sporting News Today college
football writer Dave Curtis’ inbox hits on
some of the nation’s biggest programs, the
BCS (of course), and whether college
football has a drug problem. Here we go …
Q: I read your Jim Tressel column.
Are you crazy? Why don’t we
just put any coach who’s won a
championship in the Hall of Fame?
Did you forget about the national
championship games?
— John M.
Curtis: Here’s another hidden curse of the
bowl set-up—postseason performance
skews whatever else a coach or a program
accomplishes. A fantastic
year, sometimes an
undefeated year, can get
spoiled by a bad matchup
or a bad day. Tressel
deserves to be knocked
for falling short in recent
big games. But that
Dave Curtis doesn’t disqualify what
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
he’s done in all the other
games. Tress has assured
himself a spot in the hall as soon as he’s
eligible. It’s too bad more of these lifer
coaches can’t get honored before they retire
instead of after most fans have moved on.
Q: If the NCAA takes victories
away from Bobby Bowden,
does that mean he stays around
longer? And what does that mean for
coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher? Can
you spare some change for the $5
million we’d owe him if he’s not the
head coach (by Jan. 10, 2011)? Go
’Noles!
— Terry B.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, center, has assured himself a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame, SN Today’s Dave Curtis says.
Curtis: I’ve got 47 cents on me, Terry, so
you’re still a couple bake sales away from
the $5 mil. Maybe I’ll help more with this
take. For starters, I suspect Bobby comes
out of this with his record intact. It’s pure
speculation (the NCAA is tough to gauge as
far as punishments and appeals go), so
take it for what it’s worth. If he loses wins,
Bowden will feel the tug to stick around
longer than expected. In the end, though,
Bowden will step aside by the end of the
2010 season. Fisher will ascend, and FSU
won’t need to drain its savings.
College Football
Q: Why does Congress care so
much about the BCS? There are
so many other problems in this
country, and we’re talking about
college football. What gives?
— Susan T.
Curtis: All politics is local, Susan, even on
Capitol Hill. Folks in Texas and Utah and
Hawaii are peeved over slights their football
teams have received from the BCS. So their
members of Congress, hoping for a bump in
positive PR, have pounced on the issue and
TERRY GILLIAM / AP
earned nothing but a few headlines. Even
the legislation on the table seems empty.
Bottom line: Don’t expect any sweeping
changes to come from these hearings. This is
not the birth of a playoff system. It’s the
birth of a few re-election campaigns.
Q: I read about the talk of Big Ten
expansion this week, and the
Big Ten has to get a 12th team. I think
Pittsburgh is a perfect fit—they’re
geographically close, and they play
our style in basketball. Are the
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 32
Panthers moving any time soon?
— Mike D.
Curtis: First, Mike, I’m not sure the Big
Ten needs a 12th team. We’ve seen that the
conference championship game, the
obvious perk of jumping to 12, doesn’t
work everywhere. But in talking to
administrators and others around the
league, I don’t see expansion in the next
five years at least. I’m a big believer that
the Big Ten will wait for Notre Dame to
change its mind and surrender indepen-
dent status. If that doesn’t happen, it will
stay at 11. And no one, except random
82-year-olds, will complain.
Q: I was thinking about the Manny
Ramirez stuff, and it dawned
on me that we never hear about
steroids in college football. Baseball
has issues, and so does the NFL. Do
you think we’ll ever see a steroids
scandal in college football?
— Jason M.
Curtis: It’s naïve to think there are no
performance-enhancing drugs in college
sports. There are too many talented
athletes, too many desperate coaches, and
too much on the line to avoid the tempta-
tion of cheating. But I don’t foresee a major
scandal with across-the-board suspen-
sions for key players. Individual schools
and the NCAA issue drug tests, and the
process has been refined over the last
decade or so to become more accurate and
legitimate. We’ll continue to see guys
benched for a game or two for “unspecified
violations of team rules.” We might even
see a tell-all book from a former player. But
I’m not sure we’ll have the stars of college
football brought down for using PEDs.
dcurtis@sportingnews.com
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
New Pac-10 commish could offer different playoff stance
The change of commissioners
in the Pac-10 provided a glimmer
of hope for advocates of a college
football playoff.
The retirement of Tom Hansen and
the hiring of Larry Scott made some
wonder whether the Pac-10 might
soften its anti-playoff stance. The
questions multiplied when Scott,
who takes over in July, said he
wanted “to keep an open mind”
about expanding the BCS.
Scott, who declined to be inter-
viewed, has made a favorable
impression on athletic directors.
“He has great leadership quali-
ties,” Arizona athletic director Jim
Livengood told The Associated
Press. “Fresh eyes, fresh vision.”
But perhaps not a fresh take on
the BCS.
“I don’t expect (Scott) to come
in and advocate revolution,” Stan-
ford athletic director Bob Bowlsby
told the AP. “I think he’ll come in
and talk to the people in our
league and hear a strong message
that the BCS—we’re there because
we want to be.”
A total of 11 Tennessee play-
ers with scholarships have left
the Volunteers squad under new
coach Lane Kiffin, including four
since the end of spring practice,
according to the AP. WRs Ahmad
Paige and Tyler Maples, OG Darris
Sawtelle and QB B.J. Coleman have
left the program since the Vols’
Orange and White scrimmage
game on Apr. 18.
A suspended Oklahoma State
player is scheduled for an
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
INSIDE DISH
Bo Bowling will be arraigned today on charges he intended to distribute marijuana.
arraignment on drug charges in
Payne County District Court, The
News Press of Stillwater, Okla.,
reported. WR Bo Bowling is set to be
arraigned at 1:30 p.m. He was sus-
pended indefinitely after his Febru-
ary arrest. He’s been charged with
possession of marijuana with intent
to distribute, possession of para-
phernalia and possession of con-
trolled substances. Police say they
found more than 100 grams of mar-
ijuana, plastic baggies, a scale and
$1,135 in cash when they searched
Bowling’s off-campus residence.
Police also say they found the ana-
bolic steroid Stanozolol.
Georgia coach Mark Richt did
not reveal whether TE Bruce Fig-
gins, DE Justin Houston and WR
Tony Wilson will be suspended for
College Football / College Basketball
ERICH SCHLEGEL / AP
violating team rules, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution reported.
The Atlantic Coast Confer-
ence has added a bowl to its
lineup of nine postseason games.
The league said Friday the
Mobile, Ala.-based GMAC Bowl
will replace the Humanitarian
Bowl in Boise, Idaho. The GMAC
Bowl will have the ninth pick of
eligible ACC teams this year,
while the EagleBank Bowl in
Washington, D.C., which had the
final pick last year, moves up to
the No. 8 pick of ACC teams. The
ACC champion once again will
play in the Orange Bowl unless it
is ranked either first or second in
the final BCS standings. In that
case, it will play in the BCS title
game in Pasadena, Calif.
Pitino not a candidate for NBA job
Louisville coach Rick Pitino is not
interested in returning to the NBA,
school officials said Friday.
The university insists there is no
truth to a Yahoo! Sports report that
said Pitino had inquired about the
Sacramento Kings’ vacant coach-
ing job. Louisville spokesman Kenny
Klein said Pitino was in his office
Friday but did not feel it necessary
to address the situation.
Pitino just finished his eighth
season with the Cardinals, leading
Louisville to a 31-6 record and the
Big East regular-season and tour-
nament titles. The Cardinals lost to
Michigan State in the regional
finals of the NCAA Tournament.
Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof also
denied the team has talked with
Pitino. Pitino has coached two
NBA teams. He went 90-74 with
the New York Knicks from 1987 to
1989 and 102-146 with the Boston
Celtics from 1997 to 2001.
At the press conference where
he was introduced as the new Ken-
tucky head coach, John Calipari told
Wildcats fans, “I do not have a
magic wand.” But he might have
underestimated himself: Friday,
Kentucky announced that star F
Patrick Patterson is withdrawing
from the NBA draft.
“The kid has a chance to be a first-
team All-American,” Calipari said.
Patterson averaged 17.9 points and
9.3 rebounds as a sophomore for the
Wildcats. He placed his name on the
NBA’s early entry list but did not sign
with an agent in order to retain the
option to return to college.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
INSIDE DISH
ED REINKE / AP
Rick Pitino had nowhere near the success in
the NBA he’s had in college.
Patterson played mostly in the
post for UK in his first two seasons,
but Calipari envisions him playing
primarily at the power forward spot
while freshmen DeMarcus Cousins and
Daniel Orton share the center position.
As a forward in Calipari’s drib-
ble drive motion offense, Patterson
should be able to play similarly to
6-9 Robert Dozier, who was able to
develop his skills with Calipari’s
Memphis teams.
Patterson had hosted PG recruit
Eric Bledsoe on Bledsoe’s official visit
last weekend and became intrigued
about playing with such a gifted
point guard. Bledsoe signed with the
Cats earlier in the week. Kentucky
also continues to recruit PG John Wall
of Raleigh, N.C., the No. 1 high school
prospect according to Rivals.com.
— Mike DeCourcy
Marquette coach Buzz Williams said
C Liam McMorrow will leave the program
because of unspecified medical issues.
The Toronto native will remain
enrolled at Marquette to pursue his
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 33
bachelor’s degree in broadcasting, but
Williams said that the issues will keep
him from playing.
The 7-foot sophomore redshirted
last season after transferring from
Durham College in Oshawa,
Ontario, and did not appear in any
games with Marquette in his career.
The University of Mary hired
Randall Herbst, a former Nebraska-
Omaha assistant, as its new coach,
the Bismarck Tribune reported. He
will succeed Juno Pintar, who
resigned in March after leading the
program during its transition from
NAIA to NCAA Division II.
Lipscomb G Jimmy Oden is
transferring to Middle Tennessee
State, The Tennessean reported.
Oden, who will sit out the 2009-10
season, played two seasons at Lip-
scomb. He averaged 5.5 points and
3.0 assists in 56 games.
Southern Indiana officials
said coach Rick Herdes has resigned
amid irregularities in the program.
Athletic director Jon Mark Hall did
not give specifics as he said the
athletic department found “con-
cerning information” about the
program last week. He said a report
would be submitted to the NCAA.
Herdes did not attend a Friday
news conference at which his res-
ignation was announced. He had
coached the Eagles since 2001,
leading them to a 27-7 record last
season. He was 200-59 in eight
seasons, including a trip to the
2004 Division II title game.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Golf SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 34
Matt Kuchar 72-72 —144 E
NOTEBOOK Leaderboard
Cejka starts early, Friday
At TPC Sawgrass, Players Stadium Course
Robert Karlsson
Martin Kaymer
Heath Slocum
74-70
71-73
75-69
—144
—144
—144
E
E
E

quietly in building Couples starts Presidents Cup interviews Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Purse: $9.5 million
Yardage: 7,215; Par: 72
Rocco Mediate
John Rollins
Graeme McDowell
73-71
68-76
71-73
—144
—144
—144
E
E
E

two-shot margin PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA.—Listening to course record of 63 held by Fred Cou- Second Round
Alex Cejka 66-67 —133 -11
Fred Funk
Woody Austin
Mike Weir
73-71
72-72
72-72
—144
—144
—144
E
E
E
Fred Couples talk about his first meeting ples (1992) and Greg Norman (1994). Ian Poulter 67-68 —135 -9 Sergio Garcia 71-73 —144 E
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA.—Alex Cejka with potential U.S. players for the Presi- Chopra already was 9 under with six Kevin Na 71-66 —137 -7 Steve Flesch 75-69 —144 E
Angel Cabrera 72-65 —137 -7 Luke Donald 74-70 —144 E
began his surprising run to the lead Fri- dents Cup team gave some insight into holes to play. Jason Dufner 67-70 —137 -7 Billy Mayfair 70-74 —144 E
day in The Players Championship with a how different he will be as a captain. And even after a bogey on the fifth hole, John Mallinger 66-71 —137 -7 Tommy Armour III 74-70 —144 E
Henrik Stenson 68-69 —137 -7
10-foot birdie putt in the stillness of a glo- “It went well,” he said Friday. “I he answered with a birdie to stay in the David Toms 67-70 —137 -7 Failed To Qualify
rious morning. talked, they listened. Which is the way hunt for a course record. But he pulled Ben Crane 65-73 —138 -6 Troy Matteson 73-72 —145 +1
Richard S. Johnson 66-72 —138 -6 Will MacKenzie 73-72 —145 +1
A smattering of applause drowned out you’re supposed to have it.” his tee shot on the 240-yard eighth hole Tim Petrovic 68-70 —138 -6 Adam Scott 71-74 —145 +1
the chirping of birds. The PGA Tour invited the top 30 play- and had to scramble for a bogey. Then Jeff Overton 71-67 —138 -6 Jerry Kelly 73-72 —145 +1
Camilo Villegas 67-72 —139 -5 Bart Bryant 74-71 —145 +1
There were 14 fans, 13 marshals. ers in the Presidents Cup standings for a came the par-5 ninth. His plan all along Robert Allenby 73-66 —139 -5 Ken Duke 70-75 —145 +1
“It felt like a Monday afternoon prac- Wednesday afternoon meeting in the was a 3-wood off the tee because it was Paul Casey 70-69 —139 -5 Andres Romero 74-71 —145 +1
Michael Letzig 71-68 —139 -5 Joe Ogilvie 72-73 —145 +1
tice round,” Cejka said after a 5-under 67 clubhouse at The Players Championship. difficult to reach the green. Ryan Moore 71-68 —139 -5 George McNeill 70-75 —145 +1
gave him a two-shot lead over Ian PHIL COALE / AP That should answer Kevin Sutherland’s “You only get so many chances to shoot Jonathan Byrd 67-72 —139 -5 Soren Kjeldsen 70-75 —145 +1
Justin Leonard 70-69 —139 -5 Scott McCarron 74-72 —146 +2
Poulter. Alex Cejka had six birdies in 11 holes to build his question as he read the invitation and 62 or 63 around here,” Chopra said. Retief Goosen 67-72 —139 -5 Chad Campbell 75-71 —146 +2
That figures to change on the weekend two-shot lead after the second round. wondered if he was supposed to go (he is He hit driver into the rough, laid up, then Charley Hoffman 70-69 —139 -5 Todd Hamilton 74-72 —146 +2
Kevin Sutherland 73-67 —140 -4 Nick Watney 68-78 —146 +2
full of possibilities. No. 30). And it explains why Scott Ver- hit his wedge heavy enough to find the Brian Davis 71-69 —140 -4 Charles Howell III 73-73 —146 +2
The Players Championship is among plank (No. 40) jokingly said to Couples bunker. He wound up with another bogey Boo Weekley 73-67 —140 -4 Steve Elkington 73-73 —146 +2
Tiger Woods 71-69 —140 -4 Nicholas Thompson 73-73 —146 +2
the more unpredictable tournaments in after running into him at dinner Wednes- and a 65, that took him to 4-under 140.
golf. The TPC Sawgrass is so devilish
The Players day night, “Thanks for the invitation.”
Daniel Chopra
Tim Clark
75-65
72-69
—140
—141
-4
-3
Greg Kraft
D.J. Trahan
74-73
74-73
—147 +3
—147 +3
that small mistakes can lead to big num- Championship Not every eligible player attended the Not so great Scott Mark Wilson
Stephen Ames
69-72
70-71
—141
—141
-3
-3
Eric Axley
Bill Haas
72-75
74-73
—147 +3
—147 +3
bers. The field is so strong that even guys meeting, the most noteworthy being Tiger Adam Scott has never missed more Michael Allen 71-70 —141 -3 Cliff Kresge 72-75 —147 +3
Site: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Nick O’Hern 68-73 —141 -3 Davis Love III 73-74 —147 +3
who started the week as an alternate have Schedule: Today-Sunday. Woods. Couples and Woods exchanged than four cuts in any season as a PGA Scott Verplank 67-74 —141 -3 Stuart Appleby 71-76 —147 +3
a chance to win. Jason Dufner is proof of text messages after the meeting, which Tour member. Despite chipping it for John Senden 72-69 —141 -3 Bo Van Pelt 71-76 —147 +3
Course: TPC Sawgrass, Players Stadium Justin Rose 70-71 —141 -3 Ross Fisher 74-74 —148 +4
that, among those in a tie for third. Course (7,215 yards, par 72). according to Couples went like this: eagle on the final hole Friday for 74 at John Merrick 70-72 —142 -2 Brett Quigley 72-76 —148 +4
Tiger Woods hit a rake and a spectator Couples: “You hurt my feelings.” The Players Championship, he missed Aaron Baddeley 71-71 —142 -2 Sean O’Hair 73-75 —148 +4
Purse: TBA ($9.5 million in 2008). Winner’s Geoff Ogilvy 70-72 —142 -2 Kevin Streelman 74-74 —148 +4
and almost the wrong fairway. From 45 share: TBA ($1.71 million in 2008). Woods: “I’m on the boat. You should his fifth consecutive cut. Steve Stricker 71-71 —142 -2 Briny Baird 72-76 —148 +4
yards away on a par 5, he tried to keep his have had the meeting on the boat.” Scott has not made a cut on the PGA Jim Furyk 68-74 —142 -2 Vaughn Taylor 72-76 —148 +4
TV: NBC (Today-Sunday, 2-7 p.m.). Ryuji Imada 72-70 —142 -2 Lucas Glover 73-75 —148 +4
chip short of the green, did just that, and Couples: “You’re right. We could have Tour since his runner-up finish at the Chez Reavie 70-72 —142 -2 Charlie Wi 74-74 —148 +4
made an important par. It added to a 69 fit 40 (players) on the boat.” Sony Open in January. His two pay Bubba Watson 67-75 —142 -2 J.B. Holmes 72-76 —148 +4
Jeev M. Singh 68-74 —142 -2 Paul Goydos 78-70 —148 +4
that put him seven shots behind and left a finished with a birdie for a 68. Woods: “I’m watching a movie with checks since then have come at World Johnson Wagner 69-73 —142 -2 Thongchai Jaidee 74-74 —148 +4
smile on his face. “If you play the golf course properly, my baby on my lap.” Golf Championships, which have no Ernie Els 73-69 —142 -2 J.J. Henry 73-76 —149 +5
K.J. Choi 73-69 —142 -2 Parker McLachlin 75-74 —149 +5
“I got myself back in the ball game,” with good play you can score very well,” Couples: “OK. That’s a good spot for cut. Brad Adamonis 67-76 —143 -1 Dean Wilson 77-72 —149 +5
Woods said. Poulter said. you to be.” The 28-year-old Australian had a Scott Piercy 71-72 —143 -1 Ryan Palmer 75-75 —150 +6
Nathan Green 74-69 —143 -1 Tim Herron 75-75 —150 +6
Not many figured Cejka would be in Cejka was at 11-under 133 and will be The matches will be held Oct. 8-11 at knee cap injury during the offseason, Rod Pampling 70-73 —143 -1 Peter Lonard 77-73 —150 +6
the lead. playing in the final group going into the Harding Park in San Francisco. but most of his woes stem from his Jeff Quinney 73-70 —143 -1 Y.E. Yang 73-77 —150 +6
Jeff Klauk 71-72 —143 -1 Fred Couples 80-71 —151 +7
It was only two weeks ago when he weekend for the first time in nearly five swing getting so far out of sorts that it Martin Laird 71-72 —143 -1 Corey Pavin 74-77 —151 +7
couldn’t feel his right arm, the product of years. Chopra’s run feels as though he is going through a Bob Estes
Fredrik Jacobson
75-68
70-73
—143
—143
-1
-1
Marc Turnesa
Rory McIlroy
76-75
74-77
—151 +7
—151 +7
a pinched nerve from surgery last year to Phil Mickelson is thankful he gets to Daniel Chopra was so furious after his change just to get back to where he Ben Curtis 71-72 —143 -1 Tom Pernice, Jr. 74-79 —153 +9
replace a disk in his neck. He had an epi- play for two more days. He struggled opening 75, especially with two balls in the was. Stewart Cink 70-73 —143 -1 Rory Sabbatini 81-72 —153 +9
Zach Johnson 72-71 —143 -1 Webb Simpson 76-77 —153 +9
dural last week, the numbness is almost with his putting most of the round and water on the 17th, that he was ready to pack Scott is headed to his home in Swit- Vijay Singh 71-72 —143 -1 Mathew Goggin 76-77 —153 +9
gone, and Cejka nearly left the field in his shot 1-under 71, making birdie on the last his bags. Good thing he stuck around. zerland before returning to the Byron Jason Bohn 72-71 —143 -1 Tim Wilkinson 77-77 —154 +10
Hunter Mahan 73-71 —144 E Anthony Kim 73-82 —155 +11
wake. hole to make the cut on the number. First, the Swede matched the course Nelson Championship and Colonial.”I Cameron Beckman 72-72 —144 E Matt Bettencourt 76-79 —155 +11
He had six birdies in 11 holes and built “You never want to give up here, record by becoming the 10th player to feel like it’s close, but I need to let you Padraig Harrington 72-72 —144 E Trevor Immelman 73-82 —155 +11
Kenny Perry 73-71 —144 E Michael Bradley 80-78 —158 +14
a four-shot lead over the morning start- because too many things can happen on shoot a 30 on the back nine at TPC between the ears,” Scott said. “I can’t do Phil Mickelson 73-71 —144 E Steve Lowery 81-78 —159 +15
ers, a lead that held for most of the day this golf course,” Mickelson said. Sawgrass. Three holes, and three bird- any worse than some of these shots.” Dustin Johnson 72-72 —144 E Dudley Hart 73 —WD
Pat Perez 72-72 —144 E Brian Gay 80 —WD
until Poulter limited his mistakes and — The Associated Press ies later, he was thinking about the — The Associated Press Steve Marino 72-72 —144 E Carl Pettersson —WD

SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com
Johns Hopkins-Brown kicks off NCAA Tournament today
BY CHRISTIAN SWEZEY
InsideLacrosse.com
Fresh matchups define the NCAA
Tournament’s first round. That begins
today with Brown and Johns Hopkins,
who haven’t played each other in
nearly 30 years. Here’s a breakdown
of today’s four games.
Brown (12-2) at
No. 8 Johns Hopkins (9-4)
When: noon, ESPN2
When Hopkins has the ball: Senior G
Jordan Burke (.629 save percentage,
7.51 GAA) is one of the best goalies
in the country. The defense in front
of him rarely throws takeaway
checks. Instead, they collapse on the
inside and let teams shoot from 12-15
yards on the outside in the belief
that Burke will make the save.
This would not seem to be the rec-
ipe to beat the Blue Jays. They have
a number of good outside shooters,
particularly sophomore Kyle Wharton
(31 goals) and junior Michael Kimmel
(18 goals, 21 assists).
When Brown has the ball: The
offense features middies who dodge
but then funnel the ball to the
attackmen like sophomore Andrew
Feinberg (38 goals, 16 assists) and
senior Kyle Hollingsworth (20 goals, 25
assists).
Oddity: Burke’s younger brother
plays for Johns Hopkins. Freshman
Steven Burke has appeared in four
games. The real oddity is that it’s
the second time this year the Blue
Jays will have faced the brother of
one of their goalies. Junior Michael
Gvozden outlasted younger brother
Andrew Gvozden in a 12-7 victory over
Hofstra on March 7.
JOHN MECIONIS / INSIDE LACROSSE
Doc Schneider and UMass face Princeton on Sunday.
UMBC (12-3) at
No. 6 North Carolina (11-5)
When: 2:30 p.m., ESPNU
When UMBC has the ball: The Retrievers
have the top midfield in the game. Seniors
Peet Poillon (25 goals, 19 assists), Alex Hopmann
(31 goals) and junior Kyle Wimer (21 goals, 16
assists) are the team’s top three scorers, an
extreme rarity. Hopmann also is the top
extra-man offense threat (nine goals).
North Carolina’s shortstick d-middies are
not considered a particular strength.
When UNC has the ball: Sophomore Billy Bit-
ter has gone from quarterback of the extra-
man unit as a freshman to the team’s
leading scorer, with 38 goals and 22 assists.
The surprise has been junior middie Sean
Delaney (32 goals). He leads the team with
111 shots, though Bitter and senior Bart Wag-
ner (33 goals) each has more than 100 shots
as well.
Oddity: UMBC coach Don Zimmerman
was considered for the North Carolina
head coach opening last summer, though
he withdrew early in the process.
Lacrosse
Hofstra (11-3) at
No. 5 Cornell (10-3)
When: 5:30 p.m., ESPNU
When Cornell has the ball: Opposing
coaches have found that tracking the Big
Red’s off-ball movement is a major prob-
lem. Hofstra’s defense, especially fresh-
man goalie Andrew Gvozden, better be ready.
Junior attackman Ryan Hurley (40 goals) is
an accurate shooter from in close. Fresh-
man attackman Rob Pannell (19 goals, 33
assists) is a tremendous passer and senior
middie Max Seibald (23 goals, 10 assists) has
scored some important goals in his career.
When Hofstra has the ball: A lot depends
on the status of Cornell senior defenseman
Matt Moyer. He missed an 8-7 victory over
Hobart last Saturday with a leg injury. The
Big Red also is unsettled in goal. Fifth-year
senior Jake Myers played the first 40 min-
utes against Hobart and had one save.
Senior Kyle Harer finished the game and
made five saves. The Big Red used three
goalies in a first-round loss to Ohio State
last year.
Oddity: Hofstra already has played two
Ivy League teams this year. It defeated
Princeton, 9-7, and Brown, 11-10 in double
overtime.
Navy (11-4) at No. 3 Duke (13-3)
When: 7:30 p.m., ESPNU
When Navy has the ball: Duke likes to
pressure the ball relentlessly. Sophomore
Mike Manley, junior Parker McKee and fresh-
man C.J. Costabile throw a lot of checks and
are very good when the ball is on the
ground (McKee especially). Georgetown
uses similar pressure, and Navy has not
always handled it well.
Expect the Midshipmen to try and play
a slower pace so as to limit Duke’s
transition.
When Duke has the ball: Navy senior
ON SALE NOW!
SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 35
Games to watch
(NCAA Tournament seeds in
parentheses)
Today
Brown at (8) Johns Hopkins, noon,
ESPN2
UMBC at (6) North Carolina, 2:30,
ESPNU
Hofstra at (5) Cornell, 5, ESPNU
Navy at (3) Duke, 7:30, ESPNU
Sunday
Maryland at (7) Notre Dame, noon,
ESPNU
Villanova at (1) Virginia, 2:30,
ESPNU
UMass at (4) Princeton, 5, ESPNU
Siena at (2) Syracuse, 7:30, ESPNU
s Sports’ Top Rivalries
Inside Lacrosse
InsideLacrosse.com is your online home for
lacrosse news. For the magazine, go to s 2009 NFL Draft Recap
shop.insidelacrosse.com/subscribe/
s SN Conversation:
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
defenseman Andy Tormey has excelled as an s Plus hundreds of expert voices
off-ball defender in the second half of the
year. He is likely to face junior attackman including Fred Claire, Dallas Clark,
Max Quinzani (39 goals). Freshman Matt Ver- David Wells, Terrelle Pryor, Rocky
nam, fresh off guarding Brandon Corp of Col- Wirtz, Tony Stewart and nearly
gate and Austin Winter of Bucknell in the
Patriot League Tournament, may wind up 200 more!
guarding senior attackman Ned Crotty (20
goals, 45 assists).
Oddity: Tormey is close friends with
Duke point guard/budding college quar-
terback Greg Paulus. Each attended Chris-
tian Brothers Academy (N.Y.). Paulus
attended Navy’s 8-7 victory over North
Carolina last year and wore a Navy lacrosse
Subscribe Today and SAVE 88%!
T-shirt even though his younger brother One Year just $14.97
plays football at UNC.
1-800-777-6785 s www.sportingnews.com
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Back Page SATURDAY, MAY 09, 2009 36
IN BRIEF
TRANSACTIONS
BASEBALL

Safina knocks American League

NEW YORK YANKEES: Activated 3B Alex Rodriguez from the 15-day DL. Placed C Jose Molina on the
15-day DL. Purchased the contract of C Kevin Cash from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (IL). Optioned RHP

out Venus Mark Melancon to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Designated RHP Steven Jackson for assignment.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: Acquired INF Adam Kennedy from Tampa Bay for a player to be named and
assigned Kennedy to Sacramento (PCL).
National League
ROME—Top-ranked Dinara Safina outlasted Venus Wil- ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: Named A.J. Hinch manager, Jack Howell hitting coach and Mel
liams 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 Friday to advance to the finals of the Stottlemyre, Jr. pitching coach.
Italian Open, where she will play Svetlana Kuznetsova in CHICAGO CUBS: Acquired INF-OF Ryan Freel and cash consideratons from Baltimore for OF Joey
Gathright. Assigned OF Joey Gathright outright to Iowa (PCL). Recalled RHP Randy Wells from Iowa.
an all-Russian match. FLORIDA MARLINS: Placed RHP Anibal Sanchez on the 15-day DL. Purchased the contract of INF
Kuznetsova beat Belarusian teenager Victoria Azarenka Chris Coghlan from New Orleans (PCL).
6-2, 6-4 in the other semifinal at the Foro Italico. NEW YORK METS: Promoted John Ricco to vice president/assistant general manager.
Eastern League
TRENTON THUNDER: Announced LHP Wilkin De La Rosa was assigned to the team from Tampa
BELGRADE, SERBIA—Tournament host and top seed Novak (FSL) and C P.J. Pilittere was assigned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (IL).
Djokovic extended his dominance of the inaugural Serbia Midwest League
Open by beating fellow countryman Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2 QUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS: Released OF Brian Buck.
to reach the semifinals on Friday. Can-Am League
Djokovic’s family brought the ATP event to Serbia this NEW JERSEY JACKALS: Signed INF Mike DeJesus.
year after buying the license from the former ABM Amro Golden Baseball League
EDMONTON CAPITALS: Agreed to terms with INF Joe Jianetti, OF Marcus Nettles, RHP Lou Pote
Open in the Netherlands. and INF Max Poulin and announced Nettles and Pote would be player-coaches.
Today, Djokovic will play fourth-seeded Andreas Seppi ST. GEORGE ROADRUNNERS: Agreed to terms with C D.J. Dixon, OF Alexis Gomez, LHP Mark
of Italy, who reached his first semis of the season by beating Pawelek, 1B A.J. Valentine, RHP Eric Van Slyke and OF Ruddy Yan.
Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6-4, 7-5. TUCSON TOROS: Agreed to terms with OF Ricky McGraw.
The other semifinal pits second-seeded Ivo Karlovic STEVE HELBER / AP
United League
LAREDO BRONCOS: Signed RHP Tristan Crawford.
against unheralded Lukasz Kubot of Poland. Lorena Ocho birdied six of eight holes at one point in the Michelob Ultra Open to claim the lead after the second round. FOOTBALL
Karlovic hit 13 aces past Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla to National Football League
win 6-3, 6-3. Teeing off around the time Song-Hee Kim finished a Major League Soccer BALTIMORE RAVENS: Signed P Dave Brytus, FB Jason Cook, LB Dannell Ellerbe, K Graham Gano,
record-tying 63 and In-Kyung Kim was polishing off a 64 EASTERN CONFERENCE
CB Kevin Gerard, DL Will Johnson, CB David Jones, WR Eron Riley, C Greg Ryan, LB-DE William
OEIRAS, PORTUGAL—Albert Montanes rallied to upset top- that put them in front at 10 under, Ochoa started with three W L T Pts GF GA VanDeSteeg, LB-DE Luis Vasquez, WR Isaiah Williams and QB Drew Willy.
D.C. United 3 1 4 13 12 10 DENVER BRONCOS: Signed RB Darius Walker.
seeded Gilles Simon 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) Friday in the quarterfi- straight pars and then reclaimed the lead with birdies on Toronto FC 3 2 3 12 10 10 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Announced the job of consultant for player personnel, held by Dom Anile,
nals of the Estoril Open.The seventh-seeded Spaniard will six of the next eight holes. Chicago 2 0 5 11 13 10 has been eliminated.
meet Paul Capdeville, who defeated Oscar Hernandez 4-6, Kansas City 3 3 2 11 10 9 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: Named Denny Thum president.
New York 2 5 2 8 9 11
6-1, 6-4. Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko stopped The Skins Game, a Thanksgiving weekend tradition New England 2 2 2 8 5 11 OAKLAND RAIDERS: Signed FB Lorenzo Neal and RB Gary Russell.
Columbus 0 2 5 5 8 12 ST. LOUIS RAMS: Released LB Pisa Tinoisamoa.
Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-3 and will play James Blake, who topped for nearly three decades, became golf’s latest victim of the
WESTERN CONFERENCE Canadian Football League
Florent Serra 6-4, 6-1. economic downturn when organizers said it would be post- W L T Pts GF GA EDMONTON ESKIMOS: Released DE Adrian Baird, DE Tyler Clutts and WR Greg Prator.
poned this year with no guarantees it would return. Chivas USA 6 1 1 19 11 3 WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS: Released K Kenny Byrd, DB Marlon Fair, DL Josh Miller, LB Roderick
MUNICH—Tomas Berdych rallied past Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, IMG, which manages the Skins Game, had been negoti- Seattle FC 4 2 1 13 10 4 Johnson and LB A.J. Nicholson.
Colorado 3 2 2 11 10 8
6-3, 7-6 (4) Friday to reach the semifinals of the BMW Open. ating a contract extension with LG when the Korean-based Real Salt Lake 3 3 1 10 14 10 HOCKEY
Houston 2 2 2 8 6 5 National Hockey League
Berdych will play Jeremy Chardy, who upset second-seeded electronics company elected not to renew. Los Angeles 1 1 5 8 9 9 ST. LOUIS BLUES: Signed Kevin McDonald to a contract extension and named him assistant gen-
Marin Cilic 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his third semifinal of the year. The Skins Game was a novelty when it began in 1983 San Jose 1 5 2 5 8 16 eral manager in addition to his director of professional scouting duties. Extended the contract of
Mikhail Youzhny upset seventh-seeded Paul-Henri with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom FC Dallas 1 5 1 4 7 14
NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. Jarmo Kekalainen, assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting.
Mathieu 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and will play wild-card Daniel Brands Watson. It has struggled to attract an All-Star lineup in SOCCER
Wednesday’s games New England at Chicago,
in the other semifinal. recent years, and TV ratings have plunged. D.C. United 1, Kansas City 1, tie 8:30 p.m. Women’s Professional Soccer
Los Angeles 2, FC Dallas at Houston, 9 p.m. LOS ANGELES SOL: Traded D Kendall Fletcher, F Christie Welsh and a 2011 second-round draft
Real Salt Lake 2, tie Real Salt Lake at Chivas USA, pick to St. Louis for a conditional 2010 first-round draft pick and a 2011 first-round draft pick.
Golf TURIN, ITALY—Daniel Vancsik took the lead at the Italian Friday’s game 10:30 p.m. COLLEGE
WILLIAMSBURG, VA.—Lorena Ochoa topped the leaderboard Open, shooting a 6-under 65 to lead Gareth Maybin by one New York 4, San Jose 1 Sunday’s game
Today’s games Los Angeles at Seattle FC, MARS HILL: Named Jennifer Nance senior women’s administrator.
for the sixth straight round on the LPGA Tour, shooting a stroke after Friday’s second round. John Daly stayed in Kansas City at Columbus, 3 p.m. PENN STATE: Announced the resignation of men’s assistant tennis coach Don Holman.
6-under 65 on Friday to take a three-stroke lead in the contention with a second straight 69. 7 p.m. SOUTHERN INDIANA: Announced the resignation of men’s basketball coach Rick Herdes.
Toronto FC at D.C. United, WELLESLEY: Named Jennifer Kroll women’s basketball coach.
Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill. — The Associated Press 7:30 p.m.