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Sporting News TodayRevista americana de desportoTHE WORLD’S FIRST DIGITALDAILY SPORTS NEWSPAPER
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This college season so far has
lived up to its billing as the year
of the QB. However, unexpected
names are creeping into the QB
picture:
Jarrett Brown, West
Virginia senior: Brown sat
behind Pat White since arriving,
and East Carolina coach Skip
Holtz said he’d rather prepare to
face White because of Brown’s
passing ability. Brown is 43 of 57
for 577 yards, four TDs and no
interceptions. He’s also rushed
for 157 yards.
Aaron Opelt, Toledo senior:
Has 742 passing and 132 rushing
yards against two BCS opponents.
Greg Alexander, Hawaii
senior: Thrown for 757 yards,
including 453 vs. Washington State.
Jacory Harris, Miami
sophomore: Only one game, but
one heck of a game (21 of 34 for
386 yards in win over Florida State).
— Derek Samson
Feelin’ swampedThree reasons Saturday’s
game at No. 1 Florida might
be rough on Tennessee QB
Jonathan Crompton:
1. The Gators have
not yet allowed a
touchdown.
2. The Gators
rank ninth
nationally in pass
efficiency defense.
3. Crompton threw three
interceptions against
UCLA, which ranked 71st in
total defense last season.
Crompton, Vols feel the heat, Page 13
Lane Kiffin likes Gators’ D, Page 12
WADE PAYNE / AP
WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
SEE A DIFFERENT GAME
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 56
ScoreboardBaseball American League
Boston 4, L.A. Angels 1
Kansas City 11, Detroit 1
Baltimore 10, Tampa Bay 5
Toronto 10, N.Y. Yankees 4
Minnesota 5, Cleveland 4
Oakland 6, Texas 1
Chicago White Sox 6, Seattle 3
National League
Philadelphia 5, Washington 0
Cincinnati 5, Houston 4
Atlanta 6, N.Y. Mets 0
Florida 2, St. Louis 1
Chicago Cubs 13, Milwaukee 7
Arizona 4, San Diego 2
San Francisco 10, Colorado 2
L.A. Dodgers 5, Pittsburgh 4, 13 innings
NHL Preseason
Results, schedule, Page 29
RECRUITING > 4 NFL > 7 COLLEGE FOOTBALL > 12 MLB > 21 NHL > 28 COLLEGE BASKETBALL > 31 NBA > 32 NASCAR > 33QUICK LINKS:
New additions to the QB club
BY CLIFTON BROWN | [email protected]
Week 2 is too early to panic. Or is it? Some NFL players already are in danger of having disappointing seasons, but others who struggled in Week 1 seem far more likely to bounce back.
BASEBALL
NFL
Week 1 stinkers Who will rebound and who is on the way down after lousy opening outings
Jake Delhomme, QB, Panthers. If he keeps sticking the football in opponents’ chests, no way the Panthers can stick with him as their starter. Sunday’s game at Atlanta might be Delhomme’s last chance. Is Delhomme’s confidence shaken after having 11 turnovers in his last seven quarters of action?
“They have a right to ask, and the way I played it looked like that,” Delhomme said. “But I don’t feel like that.”
Braylon Edwards, WR, Browns. He is playing on a bad team with an inexperienced quarterback in Brady Quinn. Two seasons ago, Edwards caught 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 TDs. He won’t approach those numbers after a one-catch perfor-
mance Sunday.“Nobody really played well on
offense,” Edwards said.
Steven Jackson, RB, Rams. They were shut out in Week 1, and Jackson was shut down. In ’06, he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage. But the rebuilding Rams often will have to abandon the run and play catch up.
TIME TO PANIC
STAY CALM
Jay Cutler, QB, Bears. Throwing four interceptions in the opener will not change his approach. Cutler had a three-interception game last season and responded with a 447-yard performance the following week. With linebacker Brian Urlacher out for the season, more responsibility will fall on Cutler and the offense.
“One loss isn’t the end of the season,” Cutler said. “There were some miscommunications. I can’t put those guys in that position.”
Jake Long, LT, Dolphins. Long was beaten for two sacks in Week 1 by Falcons DE John Abraham. How rare was that? Long only gave up 2½ sacks all of last season as a rookie. Colts DE Dwight Freeney is up next, though.
Steve Slaton, RB, Texans. Slaton’s two worst games have come against Rex Ryan defenses, including
Sunday against the Jets (nine carries, 17 yards). With Ryan in the rearview mirror, look for Slaton to bust loose.
CHUCK BURTON / AP
JIM PRISCHING / AP
Panthers QB Jake Delhomme
Bears QB Jay Cutler
Campbell confounds ‘Skins, Page 10
Pivotal playersDeCourcy: Those who’ll play key rolesin college hoops this seasonPage 31
BEN MARGOT / AP
Led by Pablo Sandoval, right, the Giants beat Colorado 10-2 Tuesday.
They still might be Giants In need of a three-game sweep to stay within striking distance of the N.L. wild card-leading Rockies, San Francisco made it 2-for-2 on Tuesday night behind Barry Zito’s sharp seven innings. The Giants have trimmed Colorado’s lead to 2 1/2 games heading into tonight’s final meeting of the season. Page 5
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 2See a Different Game
Tune In TodayA quick look at the best sports on TV
— all times Eastern
BASEBALL
Angels at Red Sox7 p.m., ESPN
Thank goodness for the wild card, huh Red Sox Nation? Boston could finish with the second-best best record in all of Major League Baseball and still find itself buried behind the A.L. East-leading Yankees. In the second game of what is looking more and more like an ALDS preview, Los Angeles will turn to lefthander Joe Saunders, who has won his past four starts and lowered his ERA from 5.33 to 4.81 in the process.
— Chris Bahr
BASEBALL
Rockies at Giants10 p.m., ESPN
Most of the nation will join this critical N.L. wild-card matchup in progress because the Red Sox play three-hour games about as often as the Giants’ offense erupts for 20 runs. Despite the comforts of home, San Francisco might wish this game were being played at Coors Field. That’s because Matt Cain, tonight’s starter, is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA against Colorado at AT&T Park this season. At Coors Field this season, Cain is 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA.
— Chris Bahr
GENERAL
Live with Regis and KellyInterview with Serena Williams
Check local listingsIn the aftermath of her meltdown in Saturday’s U.S. Open semifinals
in which she berated a line judge and busted a racket, Serena Williams goes about repairing her image on what might be the safest of talk shows. Certainly, the hosts figure to refrain from being bulldogs a la Jon Stewart and his famous grilling of CNBC’s Jim Cramer about the nation’s financial crisis six months ago. Williams already has apologized on her own website to the line judge and her fans, but it will be better to see it on camera.
— Roger Kuznia
GUIDE
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL7 p.m.ESPN—L.A. Angels at Boston10 p.m.ESPN—Colorado at San Francisco
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS9 p.m.SPIKE—UFC, welterweights, Jake Ellenberger (21-4-0) vs. Carlos Condit (22-5-0); lightweights, Roger Huerta (22-2-1) vs. Gray Maynard (8-0-1); lightweights, Nate Diaz (10-4-0) vs. Melvin Guillard (41-8-3), at Oklahoma City
WNBA BASKETBALL8 p.m.ESPN2—Playoffs, Eastern Conference semifinals, game 1, Atlanta at Detroit10 p.m.ESPN2—Playoffs, Western Conference semifinals, game 1, Seattle at Los Angeles
OFF THE FIELD
Wade wants lawsuits settled before seasonMiami Heat star Dwyane Wade’s legal team hopes
that talks beginning today help him resolve legal disputes that could otherwise be an off-court dis-traction if they drag into the season.
The mediation session could ultimately result in settlement of several lawsuits claiming he wrongly walked away from outside business ventures. Without a quick resolution to the legal proceed-ings—or their postponement until after the sea-son—the team argues Wade could be risking injury by focusing on them instead of training.
Wade and his lawyers are set to begin talks with former partners suing him over a failed chain of sports memorabilia restaurants and a charter school operation for inner-city kids that opened successfully despite Wade’s absence. The lawsuits claim combined maximum damages against Wade in the neighborhood of $150 million.
With the NBA season around the corner, it’s clear the Heat want to avoid legal distractions for Wade, their franchise player and last year’s lead-ing NBA scorer. In the schools case, the Heat say Wade won’t be able to stay in shape if he’s tied up in legal proceedings for weeks during the season.
Group: Redskins offensive A group of American Indians who find the
Washington Redskins name offensive wants the Supreme Court to take up the matter.
The group on Monday asked the justices to review a lower court decision that favored the NFL team on a legal technicality.
The seven Native Americans have been work-ing through the court system since 1992 to have the Redskins trademarks declared invalid. A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel ruled in their favor in 1999. But they’ve been handed a series of defeats from judges who ruled that the plaintiffs waited too long to bring their suit in the first place.
A lawyer for the group says he’d like to see the highest court decide whether the Redskins name defames Native Americans.
Quick hitsComic Ray Romano is going to the golf doctor.
The Golf Channel says the Everybody Loves
Raymond star will be the focus of its new reality series, The Haney Project. The series follows Tiger Woods’ swing coach Hank Haney as he tries to improve the game of a celebrity. The first season of The Haney Project with former NBA player Charles Barkley was the second-highest rated pro-gram in the network’s history.
Baltimore center Matt Birk, Seattle linebacker Lofa Tatupu and Arizona receiver Sean Morey are the first active NFL players to “make plans to donate their brains after death” according to Boston Uni-versity’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. They join more than 150 former athletes, including 40 football players, in the dona-tion program, The Baltimore Sun reported.
NCAA Football is awarding 100 grants to youth football teams nationwide through its youth initiative. The grants, valued at $150,000, will provide each team with NCAA Football collegiate youth jerseys and pants from the team of their choice through Rus-sell Athletic, and recipients also will be considered for free footballs from the official ball provider of NCAA Football, Wilson Sporting Goods.
NAM Y. HUH / AP
Lawsuits claim combined maximum damages against Dwyane Wade of about $150 million.
MORE COVERAGE from sportingnews.com
Sporting Blog: sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/
THE WORLD’S FIRST DIGITAL DAILY SPORTS NEWSPAPER
CHAIRMAN & CEO . . . . . . . Ray Shaw (1989 to 2009)
PRESIDENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Whitney Shaw
PUBLISHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ed Baker
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeff D’Alessio
MANAGING EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Kasko
CREATIVE DIRECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keith Wood
DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MEDIA. . . . . . . . . . . . Geoff Shaw
VP, MARKETING & SALES DEVELOPMENT . .Eric Karp
EDITORIAL OFFICES
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ON NEWSSTANDS NOW
While the NCAA is regulating the distri-bution of bagels, fruits and nuts, find out what SN Magazine’s John Feinstein thinks they should be keeping an eye on.
TV market sizesWonder why, say, a Mets-Cubs game might show up as the “national” telecast on a Saturday afternoon? Television market size (read: potential viewers) is one reason. The number of U.S. TV households will be 114.9 million for the ‘09-10 season, up 400,000 from last year, but the smallest increase in 10 years, according to the latest estimates from Nielsen Media. The Top 25 TV markets for 2009-10, according to Nielsen Media:
RANK, CITY HOUSEHOLDS +/-
1. New York 7,493,530 0.8%
2. Los Angeles 5,659,170 0.1%
3. Chicago 3,501,010 0.2%
4. Philadelphia 2,955,190 0.2%
5. Dallas 2,544,410 2.2%
6. San Francisco 2,503,400 1.1%
7. Boston 2,410,180 0.0%
8. Atlanta 2,387,520 0.7%
9. Washington, D.C. 2,335,040 0.6%
10. Houston 2,123,460 0.8%
11. Detroit 1,890,220 -1.9%
12. Phoenix 1,873,930 1.0%
13. Seattle 1,833,990 0.8%
14. Tampa-St. Pete 1,805,810 -0.9%
15. Minneapolis 1,732,050 0.1%
16. Denver 1,539,380 1.0%
17. Miami 1,538,090 -0.6%
18. Cleveland 1,520,750 -0.3%
19. Orlando 1,455,620 -0.7%
20. Sacramento 1,404,580 0.4%
21. St. Louis 1,249,450 0.0%
22. Portland 1,188,770 1.2%
23. Pittsburgh 1,154,950 -0.1%
24. Charlotte 1,147,910 2.2%
25. Indianapolis 1,119,760 0.4%
Source: SportsBusiness Daily
QUICK HITS
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 3My Profile
Shaunteryous ‘Boo’ RobinsonSN preseason All-ACC defensive tackle at Wake Forest
(What you won’t find on Facebook … even if you are approved as a friend)
Born: Aug. 5, 1987, in Monroe, La.
Status: DatingAlma mater: Richwood High
(Monroe, La.)What’s on TV: Family Guy,
SportsCenter, The First 48What’s in my iPod: Drake, Lil
Wayne, Gucci, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross
What I drive: 2007 brown Toyota Tundra
Favorite flicks: Harlem Nights, Life, 300, Gladiator
What I’m reading: Race Against the Court: The Supreme Court and Minorities in Contemporary America, by Girardeau A. Spann
Magazine subscriptions: Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Maga-zine, King
Bookmarks: WakeForest-Sports.com, Facebook, Twitter
Superstition: I don’t go out on the field until the whole team goes on the field before the start of the game.
Worst habit: Staying up lateOn my walls: Pictures of my
daughter, a Kung Fu Pandaposter, Wake Forest football poster
Love to trade places for a day with
… Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He helped shape American
society with his non-violent approach to civil rights.
First job: I worked at the unemployment office in Monroe, La., helping people find jobs on the Internet. I was 16 and was making $6.75 per hour.
Talent I’d most like to have: I wish I could sing.
Favorite meal: Fried chicken,
macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and greens
Favorite athlete to watch in
another sport: Roy Halladay Favorite cities to visit: Las
Vegas, Miami and HoustonFavorite team as a kid: Dallas
CowboysFavorite value in others: TrustFavorite physical attribute about
myself: My smile
And least … My big head Dream date: Halle BerryMy greatest love: My motherMy hero: President ObamaMy bucket list: 1. Win a second
ACC football championship, 2. Jetski, 3. Climb a mountain, 4. Become a grandfather
My motto: You get out of it what you put into it.
— Jeff D’Alessio
NELL REDMOND / AP
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 4Next Gen: Recruiting
1. Marcus Lattimore, RB6-0/207,
Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.) Considering: North
Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Penn State, Auburn
2. Lache Seastrunk, RB5-10/183,
Temple (Texas) Considering: Auburn,
Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, USC
3. Seantrel Henderson, OL6-8/301,
Cretin-Derham Hall
(St. Paul, Minn.) Considering: Florida, Ohio
State, USC, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Minnesota
4. Matt Elam, DB6-1/205,
Dwyer (Palm Beach
Gardens, Fla.) Committed to: Florida
5. Justin McCay, WR6-4/200,
Bishop Miege
(Shawnee Mission, Kan.) Committed to: Oklahoma
6. Corey Nelson, LB6-1/200,
Skyline (Dallas) Committed to: Texas A&M
7. Gabe King, DL/LB6-5/260,
Northern Guilford
(Greensboro, N.C.) Considering: Alabama,
California, Oregon, Tennessee
8. Jackson Jeffcoat, DL6-4/233,
Plano West Senior
(Plano, Texas) Considering: USC, Texas,
Oklahoma, Arizona State, Houston
9. Demarco Cobbs, WR6-2/200
Tulsa Central (Tulsa, Okla.) Committed to: Tennessee
10. Trey Hopkins, OL6-4/260,
North Shore
(Galena Park, Texas) Committed to: Texas
11. Malcolm Jones, RB/LB6-0/210,
Oaks Christian
(Westlake Village, Calif.) Considering: Stanford,
UCLA
12. Michael Dyer, RB5-10/195,
Little Rock Christian
Academy (Little Rock, Ark.) Considering: Arkansas,
Auburn, Oklahoma, Notre Dame
13. Zack McCray, DL6-4/235,
Brookville (Lynchburg, Va.) Committed to: Virginia
Tech
14. Xavier Grimble, TE6-5/245,
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) Committed to: USC
15. Jake Heaps, QB6-2/195,
Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.) Committed to: BYU
16. Christian Jones, LB6-4/215,
Lake Howell (Winter Park, Fla.) Considering: Florida State,
Alabama, Florida, USC
17. Chris Martin, DL6-4/222,
The Hun School
(Princeton, N.J.) Committed to: Notre
Dame
18. Brennan Clay, RB6-0/190,
Scripps Ranch (San Diego) Committed to: Oklahoma
19. Phillip Sims, QB6-2/215,
Oscar Smith
(Chesapeake, Va.) Committed to: Alabama
20. Erik Kohler, OL6-5/265,
Oaks Christian
(Westlake Village, Calif.) Committed to:
Washington
21. Eduardo Clements, RB5-11/185,
Booker T. Washington (Miami) Considering: Miami,
Georgia, Michigan
22. Lamarcus Joyner, DB5-9/162,
St. Thomas Aquinas
(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Considering: Florida State,
Ohio State, Florida
23. Devin Gardner, QB6-4/196,
Inkster (Mich.) Committed to: Michigan
24. Jamel Turner, DE6-2/205,
Ursuline (Youngstown, Ohio) Committed to: Ohio State
25. Blake Bell, QB6-6/215,
Bishop Carroll
(Wichita, Kan.) Committed to: Oklahoma
— Brian McLaughlin
RECRUITING DISH CLASS OF 2010
TOP 25 RECRUITS
MORE COVERAGE from sportingnews.com
Top 100 recruits: sportingnews.com/blog/TheRecruitnik/tag/160168/sn100
COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN JONES
Christian Jones
Penn State and coach Joe Paterno continue to haul in some of the best players east of the Mississippi. After a busy June and July, the Nit-tany Lions had a quiet August, but they got some good news early this week.
Linganore (Frederick, Md.) FB Zach Zwinak has committed to the Nittany Lions, The Frederick News-Post in Maryland reported. He picked Penn State over Virginia Tech.
North Carolina, Maryland, Pitt, West Virginia, Michigan, Stanford, California, Boston College and Rut-gers also had extended scholarship offers to Zwinak.
The phone call to Paterno was one Zwinak said he will never forget.
“He told me congratulations on my decision and we’re happy to have you up here,” Zwinak told the newspaper. “It’s exciting. When you think of his legacy and every-thing that he is, having the chance to tell him something on the phone is unbelievable.”
The decision to bypass Virginia Tech, where his father once played, was a tough one.
“I don’t know. It just felt right,” he said. “Tech is a great school. My dad played there. I grew up rooting for them. That was my team for years. I couldn’t even tell you what my deciding factor was. There was just something about (Penn State).”
Zwinak (6-2, 230) rushed for 1,447 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior. On defense, he had 11 tackles
for loss, five sacks, seven forced fumbles and 53 tackles.
Rivals.com rates him the nation’s top fullback and a four-star prospect.
“No doubt about it, Zach has earned it,” Linganore coach Rick Con-ner said. “He has worked his butt off for everything he’s done. Zach just loves the game like not many kids (love it).”
Port St. Joe (Fla.) S Darrell Smith (6-2, 185) has committed to Arkan-sas, Rivals.com reported. He reported only one other scholarship offer—from Toledo. He said Duke, Tulane and Western Kentucky had shown interest in him.
“It seems like I will fit in with (Arkansas) football team,” Smith told Rivals.com. “... Auburn has talked about offering. Some others said they wanted to see how I played
this season. They said if I played like I did last season they would offer me after the season.
“I would say I’m 90 percent sure no matter who offers I’m going to Arkansas.”
Loyola (Los Angeles) athlete Anthony Barr, a member of the Sporting News Top 100, had surgery for a bro-ken ankle and will miss the rest of his senior season, his high school coach, Jeff Kearin, told the Los Angeles Times.
Barr, who plays running back for his high school team, was injured last week in Loyola’s game against Mission Viejo, Calif. He likely will need 2-3 months of rehabilitation.
Barr (6-4, 230) is scheduled to take an official visit to Notre Dame in early October, and he also lists California, Michigan, UCLA and USC in his top five.
— Brian McLaughlin
Nation’s top fullback Zwinak chooses Paterno, Penn State
CAROLYN KASTER / AP
Zach Zwinak said calling Joe Paterno and committing to PSU is something he won’t forget.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 5Overnight Report
BASEBALL / NATIONAL LEAGUE Dodgers 5, Pirates 4, 13 innings
Pittsburgh AB R H BI BB SO Avg.A.McCutchen cf 6 1 1 0 0 1 .269An.LaRoche 3b 4 0 1 0 1 0 .248G.Jones rf 5 0 0 0 1 1 .297Doumit c 5 0 2 1 1 3 .239Milledge lf 5 1 0 0 1 2 .272Pearce 1b 6 1 1 2 0 3 .222Cedeno ss 5 1 1 0 0 0 .287L.Cruz 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 .194Duke p 3 0 1 1 0 2 .231J.Chavez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Capps p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Moss ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .240Hanrahan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000R.Vazquez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .246S.Jackson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Bootcheck p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Dumatrait p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 46 4 8 4 4 13
Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Furcal ss 5 1 1 0 1 0 .255R.Martin c 6 0 1 0 0 2 .259Ethier rf 6 2 2 2 0 2 .283M.Ramirez lf 5 0 0 0 0 1 .302Kemp cf 5 1 2 1 0 2 .306Blake 3b 4 1 1 1 1 1 .281Loretta 1b 2 0 1 1 0 0 .224-Repko pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Thome ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .200Ja.McDonald p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Pierre ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .315Belisario p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000O.Hudson 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .287Wolf p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .175Troncoso p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Sherrill p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Belliard ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .251Loney ph-1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .281Totals 44 5 9 5 2 9
Pitt 030 000 000 000 1 — 4 8 0LA 000 020 001 000 2 — 5 9 1
E: Blake (10). LOB: Pittsburgh 8, Los Angeles 6. 2B: Doumit (14), Cedeno (3), R.Martin (19), Ethier (40), Kemp (25). 3B: Blake (6), Pierre (6). HR: Pearce (4), off Wolf; Ethier (30), off Dumatrait. RBIs: Doumit (31), Pearce 2 (15), Duke (4), Ethier 2 (98), Kemp (92), Blake (74), Loretta (23). CS: A.McCutchen (5). S: An.LaRoche, O.Hudson. SF: Loretta. Runners left in scoring position: Pittsburgh 4 (Milledge, G.Jones, Pearce 2); Los Angeles 4 (M.Ramirez, Furcal, Thome, Loney).
Pittsburgh IP H R ER BB SO NP ERADuke 7 1⁄3 4 2 2 0 7 104 3.96J.Chavez H, 12 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 8 4.05Capps BS, 5-30 1 2 1 1 1 0 22 6.02Hanrahan 2 0 0 0 1 2 34 4.94S.Jackson 1 1 0 0 0 0 17 3.60Bootcheck H, 1 1⁄3 1 1 1 0 0 9 12.00Dumatrait L, 0-1 BS, 1-1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 11.12Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAWolf 7 5 3 3 2 5 95 3.24Troncoso 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 6 2.54Sherrill 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.44Broxton 1 0 0 0 0 3 22 2.45Ja.McDonald 3 2 0 0 1 3 41 3.86Belisario W, 4-3 1 1 1 0 1 2 17 1.96
Dumatrait pitched to 1 batter in the 13th. Inherited runners-scored: J.Chavez 1-0, Dumatrait 1-1. IBB: off Belisario (G.Jones), off Ja.McDonald (Doumit). Umpires: Home, Mike Everitt; First, Gerry Davis; Second, Brian Gorman; Third, C.B. Bucknor. T: 4:02. A: 52,562 (56,000).
Giants 10, Rockies 2
Colorado AB R H BI BB SO Avg.E.Young 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .295C.Gonzalez lf 3 0 1 1 0 0 .284Helton 1b 3 0 0 0 0 3 .321Quintanilla 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .170Tulowitzki ss 3 1 1 1 0 1 .282c-Barmes ph-ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 .241G.Atkins 3b-1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .223Spilborghs rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .245Torrealba c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .276P.Phillips c 0 0 0 0 1 0 .326Fowler cf 3 1 2 0 1 0 .268Jimenez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .245Belisle p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000a-Murton ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .245Fogg p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111b-McCoy ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000Herges p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 31 2 5 2 2 9
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Velez lf 4 1 1 1 1 2 .269F.Sanchez 2b 5 1 1 0 0 1 .293Winn rf 3 3 1 0 2 0 .265Sandoval 3b 4 2 2 0 1 2 .322Rohlinger 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .100B.Molina c 4 1 2 2 0 0 .265Whiteside c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .213Uribe ss 5 2 2 3 0 2 .289Ishikawa 1b 3 0 1 2 0 1 .264Rowand cf 4 0 0 2 0 1 .266A.Torres cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250Zito p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .125Runzler p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Joaquin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 34 10 10 10 4 10
Colorado 001 001 000 — 2 5 2San Francisco 304 003 00x — 10 10 1
a-struck out for Belisle in the 5th. b-flied out for Fogg in the 7th. c-flied out for Tulowitzki in the 8th. E: G.Atkins 2 (9), Zito (2). LOB: Colorado 6, San Francisco 8. 2B: Sandoval (41), Uribe (24). HR: Tulowitzki (26), off Zito. RBIs: C.Gonzalez (25), Tulowitzki (77), Velez (25), B.Molina 2 (73), Uribe 3 (46), Ishikawa 2 (38), Rowand 2 (61). SB: C.Gonzalez (15). S: Jimenez, Zito 2. SF: Ishikawa. Runners left in scoring position: Colorado 2 (Tulowitzki, C.Gonzalez); San Francisco 5 (Rowand, F.Sanchez 2, Ishikawa, Zito). DP: San Francisco 1 (Zito, Uribe, Ishikawa).
Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAJimenez L, 13-11 2 2⁄3 6 7 6 2 6 92 3.55Belisle 1 1⁄3 2 0 0 0 1 19 6.46Fogg 2 2 3 3 2 1 40 3.77Herges 2 0 0 0 0 2 22 3.24San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAZito W, 10-12 7 5 2 2 1 9 93 3.94Runzler 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 0.00Joaquin 1 0 0 0 1 0 16 4.26
Inherited runners-scored: Belisle 2-0. HBP: by Jime-nez (B.Molina), by Zito (C.Gonzalez). Umpires: Home, Chuck Meriwether; First, Laz Diaz; Second, Eric Cooper; Third, Mike Reilly. T: 2:58. A: 30,353 (41,915).
L.A. Dodgers 5, Pittsburgh 4, 13 innings
San Francisco 10, Colorado 2
Walkoff specialist Ethier hits HR
Giants riding revitalized Zito
LOS ANGELES—Andre Ethier hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning—his major league-lead-ing sixth walkoff hit of the sea-son—giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Four of Ethier’s game-ending hits have been home runs.
The N.L. West-leading Dodg-ers moved five games ahead of Colorado, which lost 10-2 at San Francisco.
Ethier sent the first pitch from Phil Dumatrait (0-1) into the right field pavilion with one out for his 30th homer and 97th and 98th RBIs of the season.
Rafael Furcal opened the inning with a line drive single that struck Chris Bootcheck and ricocheted between first and second base.
The Pirates had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the inning on Ryan Doumit’s RBI single.
Los Angeles starter Randy Wolf gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked two.
— The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO—Barry Zito is pitching a lot like his old self and the San Francisco Giants are finally backing him with plenty of runs. And they’re right back in the playoff chase.
Zito struck out a season-high nine in his biggest win yet as a Giant, Juan Uribe drove in three runs and San Francisco shaved another game off Colorado’s hold on the N.L. wild card with a 10-2 victory over the Rockies on Tuesday night.
“We’re just clicking right now,” man-ager Bruce Bochy said. “Hopefully this is something we can continue and keep the momentum going. ... We still have some ground to make up.”
San Francisco won its third straight after a four-game skid and pulled within 2½ games of the wild-card leading Rockies, who dropped their fourth straight following an eight-game win-ning streak.
Zito, the 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner, is finally performing more like the standout pitcher San Francisco awarded with a $126 million, seven-year contract before the 2007 season. The Giants swept the Rockies from Aug. 28-30 to move even in the wild card, and could really benefit by doing so again this time. All-Star Matt Cain takes the mound in the series finale tonight for the Giants.
Randy Johnson is back, too, though the 303-game winner will work out of the bullpen following a two-month shoulder injury.
“It’s black and white,” Rockies man-ager Jim Tracy said. “There is no middle ground. We have the opportunity to win a game in this series and move ahead with a 3½-game lead, or we’ll have a 1½-game lead. That is what is up for grabs. It’s a big cushion versus giving it
back is what is on the table tomorrow. It doesn’t come easy.”
In San Francisco’s three straight wins, the Giants have outscored the Dodgers and Rockies 26-5 after being outscored 19-4 in the previous two with first-place Los Angeles. Travis Ishikawa singled in a run and added a sacrifice fly.
Troy Tulowitzki hit a solo home run in the sixth and Carlos Gonzalez singled in the Rockies’ first run in the third, but Colorado did little else against Zito (10-
12). Fans chanted “Barry! Barry!” for his second straight impressive home outing against Colorado.
The lefthander allowed five hits and two runs in seven efficient innings, walking only one in a 93-pitch effort.
“I definitely think it’s one of the better ones I’ve had as a Giants. It’s nice to go out there and have success,” Zito said.
—The Associated Press
BEN MARGOT / AP
The Giants’ Bengie Molina, right, slides past the tag of Yorvit Torrealba in the third inning.
Brawl in the Bronx, Page 24
National Leaguewild card standings W L Pct. GBColorado 82 64 .562 —San Francisco 79 66 .545 2½ Florida 77 68 .531 4½ Atlanta 76 68 .528 5Chicago 75 68 .524 5½
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 6Overnight Report
BASEBALL / NATIONAL LEAGUEBASEBALL / AMERICAN LEAGUE
Diamondbacks 4, Padres 2
Arizona AB R H BI BB SO Avg.C.Young cf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .204S.Drew ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .259J.Upton rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .300Montero c 4 0 1 0 0 0 .3011-Oeltjen pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 .246Hester c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333Reynolds 3b 4 1 1 2 0 2 .275R.Roberts 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .271Allen 1b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .219Byrnes lf 4 1 2 2 0 0 .216Haren p 3 0 1 0 0 2 .242J.Gutierrez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 34 4 8 4 1 10
San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Avg.E.Cabrera ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .258Gwynn cf 3 1 1 0 1 0 .262Ad.Gonzalez 1b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .276Headley 3b 4 1 2 1 0 0 .262Macias lf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .228Ed.Gonzalez rf 2 0 0 1 0 0 .216Hundley c 3 0 1 0 0 1 .221L.Rodriguez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .203LeBlanc p 2 0 0 0 0 0 .125Perdomo p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Gregerson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000a-Durango ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000H.Bell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 29 2 6 2 1 5
Arizona 001 000 102 — 4 8 0San Diego 000 200 000 — 2 6 1
a-bunted out for Gregerson in the 8th. 1-ran for Montero in the 9th. E: E.Cabrera (14). LOB: Arizona 4, San Diego 3. 2B: Byrnes (13), Headley (27). HR: Byrnes (6), off LeBlanc; Reynolds (42), off H.Bell. RBIs: Reynolds 2 (96), Byrnes 2 (26), Headley (58), Ed.Gonzalez (15). SB: Gwynn (7), Hundley (2). CS: E.Cabrera (5), Macias (1). S: Ad.Gonzalez. SF: Ed.Gonzalez. Runners left in scoring position: Arizona 1 (C.Young); San Diego 3 (E.Cabrera, Headley, Macias).
Arizona IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAHaren W, 14-8 8 5 2 2 1 4 106 2.79J.Gutierrez S, 5-6 1 1 0 0 0 1 21 3.88San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERALeBlanc 6 3 1 1 1 5 101 4.30Perdomo BS, 1-1 1 2 1 1 0 2 13 4.61Gregerson 1 1 0 0 0 2 11 2.81H.Bell L, 5-4 1 2 2 2 0 1 17 2.90
Umpires: Home, James Hoye; First, Mike Muchlinski; Second, Bob Davidson; Third, Jim Wolf. T: 2:31. A: 14,790 (42,691).
White Sox 6, Mariners 3
Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Podsednik cf-lf 4 0 2 0 0 1 .306Beckham 3b 5 0 0 0 0 1 .274Pierzynski c 5 2 3 2 0 0 .315Konerko 1b 3 1 2 1 1 0 .2841-Wise pr-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .203Kotsay rf-1b 5 0 1 2 0 0 .265Dye dh 3 0 0 0 1 1 .249Quentin lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .231Rios cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .242Getz 2b 4 2 2 0 0 1 .270Al.Ramirez ss 4 1 3 0 0 1 .280Totals 38 6 13 5 2 6
Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg.I.Suzuki rf 4 1 2 0 1 0 .354F.Gutierrez cf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .279Jo.Lopez 2b 5 0 0 1 0 1 .268Griffey Jr. dh 4 1 1 1 0 2 .219Beltre 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .264Hall lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .244Langerhans lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .206Johjima c 4 1 2 0 0 0 .250Carp 1b 4 0 2 1 0 0 .281Ja.Wilson ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .2242-Jo.Wilson pr-ss 1 0 0 0 0 1 .268Totals 36 3 10 3 2 5
Chicago 000 200 310 — 6 13 1Seattle 021 000 000 — 3 10 0
1-ran for Konerko in the 7th. 2-ran for Ja.Wilson in the 7th. E: Pierzynski (5). LOB: Chicago 8, Seattle 9. 2B: Konerko 2 (28), Kotsay (7), Johjima (8). 3B: Carp (1). HR: Griffey Jr. (15), off Garcia. RBIs: Pierzynski 2 (45), Konerko (83), Kotsay 2 (18), Jo.Lopez (87), Griffey Jr. (46), Carp (2). SB: I.Suzuki (25), F.Gutierrez (14). S: Podsednik, F.Gutierrez. Runners left in scoring position: Chicago 6 (Getz, Pierzynski, Quentin, Kotsay, Beckham 2); Seattle 7 (Ja.Wilson 2, Beltre, Carp, Griffey Jr. 2, Jo.Lopez).
Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAGarcia W, 2-2 6 7 3 3 1 1 97 4.41Dotel H, 15 2⁄3 2 0 0 0 0 12 3.38Thornton H, 24 1 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 2 14 2.77Jenks S, 29-34 1 1 0 0 1 2 28 3.44Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERASnell 6 5 2 2 2 4 84 4.86Kelley L, 4-3 H, 7 1⁄3 2 2 2 0 1 12 4.99M.Lowe BS, 7-9 2⁄3 2 1 1 0 0 20 2.97Messenger 2⁄3 2 1 1 0 1 10 5.63Olson 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 5 5.85Batista 1 1 0 0 0 0 11 4.48
Inherited runners-scored: Thornton 2-0, M.Lowe 2-2, Olson 2-1. WP: Snell. PB: Johjima. Umpires: Home, Marvin Hudson; First, Angel Hernandez; Second, Randy Marsh; Third, Lance Barksdale. T: 2:59. A: 17,153 (47,878).
Arizona 4, San Diego 2Chicago White Sox 6, Seattle 3
Big impact from ‘short’ HRPierzynski, Sox not willing to concede raceSAN DIEGO—One of Mark Reyn-
olds’ shortest home runs of the season might have made the biggest impact.
Reynolds hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off closer Heath Bell as the Dia-mondbacks overcame a bizarre play for a 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
Reynolds, who has had a number of long homers in his career, hit his 42nd home run on a 3-1 fastball off Bell (5-4) that barely made it into the first row in left field, 378 feet away.
“I was running out of the box,” Reynolds said. “In this yard you never know. I was sprinting. I still wasn’t sure until I got around second base and saw the outfielders looking at each other.”
Reynolds was hitless in three at-bats with two strikeouts before facing Bell.
“I hadn’t really been swing-ing it at all,” he said. “He chal-lenged me and I got the better of it.”
Reynolds ran his season strikeout total to a major league-leading 196, nine short of breaking the big league record he set last year.
“I threw the previous pitch pretty much in the same place and he swung through it,” Bell said. “But he got that one.”
Dan Haren (14-8) won his first road game since Aug. 3, a span of five starts, allowing two runs on five hits in eight innings.
— The Associated Press
SEATTLE—A.J. Pierzynski and the Chi-cago White Sox are still chasing the A.L. Central-leading Tigers, no matter how slim their chances are.
Pierzynski hit a two-run, go-ahead single in the seventh inning and the Chi-cago White Sox beat the Seattle Mari-ners 6-3 on Tuesday night cutting the Tigers’ division lead to 5½ games with 17 to play.
“(The score) is up on the scoreboard, so of course you look,” Pierzynski said. “Being on the West Coast is odd because their game is over before ours even starts. But you know, you would have to be lying to yourself if you say you don’t look.”
The White Sox are a game behind the second-place Minnesota Twins, who beat the Indians. Detroit fell to the lowly Kansas City Royals, 11-1.
“I think when the offense works, our team looks a lot better,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 626th home run—15th this season—for the Mariners in the second, a drive to right-center that landed about 20 rows up in the stands. It came off former Seattle ace Freddy Garcia, the 404th pitcher to give up a homer to Griffey.
Kenji Johjima then doubled and Mike Carp followed with an RBI single. In the third, Jose Lopez added an run-scoring grounder for a 3-0 lead.
The White Sox responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Ian Snell, who was sharp early, gave up a leadoff single to Pierzynski and then walked Paul Konerko. Mark Kotsay laced a dou-ble to right for two runs. But Snell then got three straight outs to escape further damage.
In the seventh, Shawn Kelley (4-3)
gave up a pair of singles to start the inning. The White Sox then scored three times for a 5-3 lead, taking advantage of a shaky Seattle bullpen. Pierzynski got his hit off Mark Lowe.
“This game is a lot about the bullpen,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “The last three innings—eight hits, three runs. You win games by getting your closer in the ballgame. We have to allow Lowe to pitch the eighth and (closer David) Aardsma the ninth.”
Despite earning the win, Garcia (2-2) looked nothing like the power pitcher Mariners fans came to know during his
5½ years in Seattle. Now the two-time All Star is trying to rely more on his control, having lost much of his velocity to shoulder surgery in 2007. Against the Mariners, Garcia topped out at 90-mph and lasted six innings, giving up three runs.
Octavio Dotel got two outs and Matt Thornton pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings before Bobby Jenks, worked an inning for his 29th save, striking out Lopez to end the game
— The Associated Press
Six shutout innings for Dice-K, Page 23
ELAINE THOMPSON / AP
Paul Konerko had two hits, knocked in a run and scored to lead Chicago.
NE NYJ MIA BUF BAL PIT CLE CIN IND TEN HOU JAC SD DEN KC OAKW-L Pct. PF PA
Div. AFC
1-01.000
25241-01-0
1-01.000
247
0-01-0
0-1.000
7190-00-0
0-1.00024250-10-1
1-01.000
38240-01-0
1-01.000
13100-01-0
0-1.00020340-00-0
0-1.000
7120-00-1
1-01.000
14121-01-0
0-1.00010130-00-1
0-1.000
7240-00-1
0-1.00012140-10-1
1-01.000
24201-01-0
1-01.000
127
0-01-0
0-1.00024380-01-0
0-1.00020240-10-1
1 BUF* @HOU @ATL @NE* KC TEN † MIN DEN JAC @PIT † NYJ @IND @OAK* @CIN @BAL SD*
2 @NYJ NE IND* TB @SD @CHI @DEN @GB @MIA* HOU @TEN ARI BAL CLE OAK @KC
3 ATL TEN @SD NO CLE @CIN @BAL PIT @ARI @NYJ JAC @HOU MIA @OAK @PHI DEN
4 BAL @NO BUF @MIA @NE SD CIN @CLE SEA @JAC OAK TEN @PIT DAL NYG @HOU
5 @DEN @MIA* NYJ* CLE CIN @DET @BUF @BAL @TEN IND @ARI @SEA — NE DAL @NYG
6 TEN BUF — @NYJ @MIN CLE @PIT HOU — @NE @CIN STL DEN † @SD* @WAS PHI
7 TB ^ @OAK NO @CAR — MIN GB CHI @STL — SF — @KC — SD NYJ
8 — MIA @NYJ HOU DEN — @CHI — SF JAC @BUF @TEN OAK @BAL — @SD
9 MIA — @NE — @CIN @DEN* — BAL HOU @SF @IND KC @NYG PIT* @JAC —
10 @IND JAC TB @TEN @CLE* CIN BAL* @PIT NE BUF — @NYJ PHI @WAS @OAK KC
11 NYJ @NE @CAR † @JAC IND @KC @DET @OAK @BAL @HOU* TEN* BUF @DEN SD PIT CIN
12 @NO* CAR @BUF MIA PIT @BAL @CIN CLE @HOU ARI IND @SF KC NYG § @SD @DAL §
13 @MIA ◊ BUF † NE ◊ NYJ † @GB* OAK SD DET TEN @IND @JAC HOU @CLE @KC DEN @PIT
14 CAR @TB @JAC @KC DET @CLE † PIT † @MIN DEN STL SEA MIA @DAL @IND BUF WAS
15 @BUF ATL @ TEN NE CHI GB @KC @SD @JAC † MIA @STL IND † CIN OAK CLE @DEN
16 JAC @IND HOU @ATL @PIT BAL OAK KC NYJ SD° @MIA @NE @TEN° @PHI @CIN @CLE
17 @HOU CIN PIT IND @OAK @MIA JAC @NYJ @BUF @SEA NE @CLE WAS KC @DEN BAL
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 7NFL
Colts defenders like newfound blitz freedom
Colts MLB Gary Brackett figures he blitzed four times Sunday vs. Jacksonville—more than he can remember having in any game during his seven-year NFL career.
Yes, these are the changes the Colts promised when bringing in new defensive coordinator Larry Coyer.
“I’d say we blitzed upward of 10 times Sunday, and that’s about 10 more times than we’ve done in the past,” Brackett joked. “Last year, that wasn’t really our philosophy. We had some blitzes, but they were mostly run blitzes.”
With the Jaguars starting rookies OTs Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton, the Colts took advantage. Monroe struggled mightily against the spin moves of former league sacks champ Dwight Freeney. The Colts cred-ited Freeney with one sack and four pres-sures. Britton had problems with Pro Bowl DE Robert Mathis, who was more disruptive than the stats indicated.
Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson sprained an ankle Monday night at Oakland and isn’t expected to practice today. The Chargers also have concerns on the offensive line after C Nick Hardwick (ankle) and rookie RG Louis Vasquez (knee) were hurt Monday night.
The Chargers were down to five healthy offensive linemen Monday night, which forced LT Marcus McNeill to stay in the game even after he rolled an ankle. Coach Norv Turner said Tuesday that Hardwick, Vasquez and Tom-linson could be game-time decisions Sunday.
Chiefs coach Todd Haley says QB Matt Cas-sel remains a question mark for Sunday’s game vs. the Raiders. Cassel missed last week’s game with a left knee injury he sus-tained Aug. 29. He returned to practice last week but limped slightly. Haley said Tues-day the decision to start Brodie Croyle last week was not made until shortly before
kickoff, but he hopes to get a good reading on Cassel much earlier this week.
The Chiefs also signed WR Bobby Wade on Tuesday and waived LB Turk McBride. Since 2003, Wade has appeared in 90 games, including 44 starts with the Bears.
Steelers ILB Lawrence Timmons (sprained ankle) didn’t practice Monday and might not practice today but remains hopeful he can play Sunday at Chicago, according to the Pitts-burgh Tribune-Review. Timmons sat out the
season opener, and his replacement, Keyaron Fox, played well and recorded a team-high 10 tackles while also recovering a fumble.
Titans rookie CB Ryan Mouton (high ankle sprain) is expected to return punts Sunday vs. Houston, according to Titans coach Jeff Fisher. Last week, against Pittsburgh, Cortland Finnegan had to handle the job but averaged only 3 yards on four returns. Mouton, who played in two preseason games before injur-ing his ankle, averaging 21 yards on two punt
returns against the Bills and 6 yards on two returns against the Bucs.
Bills coach Dick Jauron says MLB Paul Posluszny will be out for “several weeks” with a broken left arm and thus the team is looking to add a linebacker. Youngster Mar-cus Buggs or Keith Ellison could fill in for Posluszny, but neither have looked good. Another option could be Pat Thomas, who started eight games for the Chiefs in ’08 but was cut late in camp.
2009 SCOREBOARDAFC EAST AFC NORTH AFC SOUTH AFC WEST
2009 SCOREBOARD * MONDAY † THURSDAY ‡ SATURDAY § THANKSGIVING DAY ^ IN LONDON ° CHRISTMAS DAY ◊ IN TORONTO
WIN
LOSS
AFC DISH
A.J. MAST / AP
MLB Gary Brackett, left, said he blitzed more often Sunday than any time he can remember.
NYG PHI DAL WAS GB MIN DET CHI NO ATL TB CAR SEA SF ARI STLW-L Pct. PF PA
Div. NFC
1-01.000
23171-01-0
1-01.000
3810
0-01-0
1-01000
3421
0-01-0
0-10.000
17230-10-1
1-01.000
21151-01-0
1-01.000
34200-00-0
0-10.000
27450-10-1
0-10.000
15210-10-1
1-01.000
4527
0-01-0
1-01.000
197
0-00-0
0-10.000
21340-00-1
0-10.000
10380-00-1
1-01.000
280
1-01-0
1-01.000
20161-01-0
0-10.000
16200-10-1
0-10.000
0280-10-1
1 WAS @CAR @TB @NYG CHI @CLE @NO @GB DET MIA DAL PHI STL @ARI SF @SEA
2 @DAL NO NYG STL CIN @DET MIN PIT @PHI CAR @BUF @ATL @SF SEA @ JAC @WAS
3 @TB KC CAR* @DET @STL SF WAS @SEA @BUF @NE NYG @DAL CHI @MIN IND GB
4 @KC — @DEN TB @MIN* GB* @CHI DET NYJ — @WAS — @IND STL — @SF
5 OAK TB @KC @CAR — @STL PIT — — @SF @PHI WAS JAC ATL HOU MIN
6 @NO @OAK — @KC DET BAL @GB @ATL NYG CHI CAR @TB ARI — @SEA @JAC
7 ARI @WAS* ATL PHI* @CLE @PIT — @CIN @MIA @DAL NE ^ BUF — @HOU @NYG IND
8 @PHI NYG SEA — MIN @GB STL CLE ATL* @NO* — @ARI @DAL @IND CAR @DET
9 SD DAL @PHI @ATL @TB — @SEA ARI CAR WAS GB @NO DET TEN @CHI —
10 — @SD @GB DEN DAL DET @MIN @SF † @STL @CAR @MIA ATL @ARI CHI † SEA NO
11 ATL @CHI WAS @DAL SF SEA CLE PHI @TB @NYG NO MIA † @MIN @GB @STL ARI
12 @DEN § WAS OAK § @PHI @DET § CHI GB § @MIN NE* TB @ATL @NYJ @STL JAC TEN SEA
13 DAL @ATL @NYG NO BAL* @ARI @CIN STL @WAS PHI @CAR TB SF @SEA MIN @CHI
14 PHI @NYG SD @OAK @CHI CIN @BAL GB @ATL NO NYJ @NE @HOU ARI* @SF* @TEN
15 @WAS* SF @NO ‡ NYG* @PIT @CAR ARI @BAL DAL ‡ @NYJ @SEA MIN TB @PHI @DET HOU
16 CAR DEN @WAS DAL SEA @CHI* @SF MIN* TB BUF @NO @NYG @GB DET STL @ARI
17 @MIN @DAL PHI @SD @ARI NYG CHI @DET @CAR @TB ATL NO TEN @STL GB SF
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 8NFL
Back injury ends OT Shawn Andrews’ seasonEagles RT Shawn Andrews was placed on
I.R. on Tuesday, ending the two-time Pro Bowl lineman’s season. Andrews missed the entire preseason and season opener with a back injury. He briefly returned to practice, but his surgically repaired back flared up again.
Philadelphia revamped its offensive line in the offseason, replacing longtime bookend OTs Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan. The Eagles signed Andrews’ brother, Stacy Andrews, and acquired his college roommate, Jason Peters.
Winston Justice replaced Shawn Andrews in the starting lineup, but Runyan remains unsigned and worked out with the team last week.
Critics have questioned Andrews’ passion for football and wondered whether he’s more interested in a music career. Andrews, who sports a faux-hawk haircut that’s sometimes blonde or orange or red, loves to sing. He has posted various YouTube videos where he talks about his latest musical compositions. Andrews wrote a song, Gettin’ My Michael Phelps On, which he dedicated to the Olympic champion.
QB Jeff Garcia took Andrews’ spot on the roster, and the Eagles also elevated Michael Vick to the team’s 53-man roster and placed WR Hank Baskett on waivers.
Garcia was signed to provide insurance because Donovan McNabb has a cracked rib and is uncertain to play Sunday vs. New Orleans. The team now has four quarter-backs on the active roster: McNabb, Kevin Kolb, Garcia and Vick. Kolb is expected to start Sunday.
Vick is eligible to play September 27 vs. Kansas City. Vick, who had been on the exempt list, will begin practicing with the team today but cannot play Sunday.
Dallas QB Tony Romo has a sprained
ankle but pledges to practice today, accord-ing to The Dallas Morning News. It’s a normal sprain and not a “high ankle sprain,” which normally requires weeks, not days, to heal.
Cowboys RB Felix Jones sustained a bruised thigh in the first half of Sunday’s game vs. Tampa Bay and thus only got six carries, about half as many as what had been forecasted by the coaches. According to TheDallas Morning News, Jones was seen limping around the team complex Tuesday and is unsure if he’ll be able to practice today.
Giants CB Aaron Ross says his left
hamstring is feeling “better” but not good enough to practice this week or play Sun-day at Dallas, according to the New York Daily News. Ross says he is frustrated by the slow recuperation because the hamstring is injured in two placed. He has no timetable for when he’ll be ready to play.
Ex-Giants WR David Tyree, a hero of Super Bowl 42, worked out for the Rams on Tues-day but hasn’t been signed. Since being cut, Tyree also has visited with the Ravens.
The Lions brought in DE Paul Spicer, who has played for the Jaguars and Saints, on Tuesday for a workout, according to The Detroit News. The Lions, who gave up 143 yards rushing to journeyman Mike Bell last week, face Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson Sunday.
The Saints have brought back kick return specialist and reserve WR Courtney Roby, waiving TE Buck Ortega to make room on the roster. Roby, now in his fourth year in the
NFL, served as the team’s primary kickoff returner for five games last season before his season ended with an ankle injury.
Weakside LB Michael Boley, who was sus-pended by the NFL from the Giants season opener, was reinstated from the reserve-sus-pended list on Tuesday. The Giants also got running back Gartrell Johnson off waivers from the San Diego Chargers. The team needed a back because Danny Ware is out at least two weeks after he dislocated his elbow Sunday.
2009 SCOREBOARDNFC EAST NFC NORTH NFC SOUTH NFC WEST
2009 SCOREBOARD * MONDAY † THURSDAY ‡ SATURDAY § THANKSGIVING DAY ^ IN LONDON ° CHRISTMAS DAY ◊ IN TORONTO
WIN
LOSS
NFC DISH
CHRIS O’MEARA / AP
Felix Jones’ bruised thigh could cause him to miss practice today.
San Francisco sacked Arizona’s Kurt Warner
four times, harassing him all day, and inter-
cepted two passes en route to a 20-16 vic-
tory on Sunday. Sporting News Radio’s Tim
Montemayor caught up with Nate Clements to
talk about the big win, how they were able to
contain the Cardinals’ high-powered offense
and the Niners under coach Mike Singletary.
Q: Do you feel like you’re a different guy then
previous years?
A: No, I just try to be consistent in what I do and consistent
in my job and always consistent in my craft. I wouldn’t say I’m a different guy; I’m the same guy.
Q: You looked quick and strong against the Cardinals on
Sunday, ready to just blow receivers on every snap. I imagine you feel pretty good, right?
A: I definitely feel good and I feel like I’ve always been quick
and strong. We collectively played well against Arizona. The guys up front were the ones that really started it and made my job a lot easier.
Q: It seemed like the Niners had a tight game plan
against the Cardinals. Do you feel like you met your goals?
A: We definitely met some goals. Our No. 1 goal was to win. I
think we executed consistently. There were some things we could have done better, but we executed consistently and everybody did what they were supposed to do. And when you have guys taking care of responsibilities, that opens up opportunities for players to make plays such as sacks,
interceptions.
Q: Was the game plan just to keep it simple and not try
to do too much?
A: Yes, definitely—just take care of your responsibilities
and take care of your job. When you have all 11 players doing their job as a unit, it works. It’s hard to beat a defense when everyone is taking care of their responsibilities.
Q: How were you able to keep Arizona Pro Bowl
wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin in check?
A: We knew they would try to get the ball to their playmakers,
which would be Larry and Anquan. Our job in the secondary was to make sure we had tight coverage on those guys—to make it difficult and to mess up the timing and the flow of that offense—and that’s what we did.
Q: Niners linebacker Parys Haralson said you made
his sack of Warner possible. He said the secondary made it
possible for the guys up front to pressure the QB and stop the run.
A: They complement us, and we complement them. Our
mindset in the secondary is to keep tight coverage for as long as the play lasts, so our linemen can get to the QB. And I’m sure their mindset is to hurry up and get to the QB, so we don’t have to cover that long.
Q: You won at Arizona, which has become a tough
place to play. Was this a statement game for you guys?
A: It was definitely a step forward for us. We knew
this was going to be a challenge. They were just in the Super Bowl, so it wasn’t like we were going up against some slouches. They are a hard team, always competitive.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 9NFL
Standings
Schedule
AFCEast W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
New England 1 0 0 1.000 25 24 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0N.Y. Jets 1 0 0 1.000 24 7 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Buffalo 0 1 0 .000 24 25 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0Miami 0 1 0 .000 7 19 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0
South W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
Indianapolis 1 0 0 1.000 14 12 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0Houston 0 1 0 .000 7 24 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Jacksonville 0 1 0 .000 12 14 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0Tennessee 0 1 0 .000 10 13 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0
North W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
Baltimore 1 0 0 1.000 38 24 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Pittsburgh 1 0 0 1.000 13 10 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Cincinnati 0 1 0 .000 7 12 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Cleveland 0 1 0 .000 20 34 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0
West W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
San Diego 1 0 0 1.000 24 20 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0Denver 1 0 0 1.000 12 7 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Kansas City 0 1 0 .000 24 38 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Oakland 0 1 0 .000 20 24 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0
NFCEast W L T Pct PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div
N.Y. Giants 1 0 0 1.000 23 17 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0Dallas 1 0 0 1.000 34 21 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Philadelphia 1 0 0 1.000 38 10 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Washington 0 1 0 .000 17 23 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0
South W L T Pct PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div
New Orleans 1 0 0 1.000 45 27 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Atlanta 1 0 0 1.000 19 7 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0Carolina 0 1 0 .000 10 38 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Tampa Bay 0 1 0 .000 21 34 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0
North W L T Pct PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div
Green Bay 1 0 0 1.000 21 15 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0Minnesota 1 0 0 1.000 34 20 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0Chicago 0 1 0 .000 15 21 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0Detroit 0 1 0 .000 27 45 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0
West W L T Pct PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div
San Francisco 1 0 0 1.000 20 16 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0Seattle 1 0 0 1.000 28 0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0Arizona 0 1 0 .000 16 20 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0St. Louis 0 1 0 .000 0 28 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0
SundayHouston at Tennessee, 1 p.m.Minnesota at Detroit, 1 p.m.Carolina at Atlanta, 1 p.m.St. Louis at Washington, 1 p.m.New England at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.Oakland at Kansas City, 1 p.m.
Cincinnati at Green Bay, 1 p.m.New Orleans at Philadelphia, 1 p.m.Arizona at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 4:05 p.m.Seattle at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m.Pittsburgh at Chicago, 4:15 p.m.Baltimore at San Diego, 4:15 p.m.
Cleveland at Denver, 4:15 p.m.N.Y. Giants at Dallas, 8:20 p.m.
MondayIndianapolis at Miami, 8:30 p.m.
Betting linesFAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG
Sundayat Kansas City .............3 .............3 ..........(39) Oaklandat Tennessee ..............7 .............7 ..........(41) HoustonNew England ......... 4½ ..........5½ ..........(47) at N.Y. Jetsat Green Bay...............9 .............9 ..........(42) CincinnatiMinnesota .............. 9½ ...........10 ..........(47) at Detroitat Philadelphia ......OFF .........OFF ........ (OFF) New Orleansat Atlanta ............... 6½ ..........6½ ..........(43) Carolinaat Washington ....... 9½ ...........10 ..........(37) St. Louisat Jacksonville ........ 4½ ..........3½ ..........(43) Arizonaat San Francisco .........1 ..........1½ .......(39½) Seattleat Buffalo ...................4 ..........4½ ..........(42) Tampa Bayat Denver ....................3 .............3 .......(37½) Clevelandat San Diego ........... 3½ .............3 .......(40½) BaltimorePittsburgh ..................3 .............3 .......(37½) at Chicagoat Dallas ................. 2½ .............3 .......(43½) N.Y. Giants
MondayIndianapolis ...............3 .............3 ..........(42) at Miami
Off keyPhiladelphia QB questionable
Q&A with ... 49ers CB Nate Clements
‘It was definitely a step forward for us’
PAUL CONNORS / AP
Nate Clements had one of San Francisco’s two INTs against the Cardinals.
BY BILL [email protected]
Inconsistency and an inability to convert drives into touchdowns is one thing when learning a new offense under a rookie coach.
But it is entirely different when those problems persist, as they did Sunday for the Redskins and sec-ond-year coach Jim Zorn.
“I think we showed flashes of what we can do offensively, but we weren’t consistent,” tight end Chris Cooley said after the Redskins’ 23-17 loss at Giants Stadium. “We didn’t take care of the ball, we had some silly penalties and we stopped ourselves on drives.”
With Zorn calling the plays, Washington’s offense produced only a field goal and a touchdown in garbage time.
Typical was the Redskins’ failure to score a touchdown after an inter-ception in the third quarter gave them the ball at the Giants’ 11-yard line. That series began with Clinton Portis being dropped for a 6-yard loss and ended with a sack of Jason Campbell on third down, forcing the Redskins to settle for a 27-yard field goal that cut the Giants’ lead to 17-10.
“When we get in the red zone, we have to finish,” said Portis, who gained 34 yards on his first carry but only 28 yards on his remaining 15. “That hampered us last year—not scoring seven in the red zone.”
“This offense is not designed to settle for field goals,” said Zorn, clearly frustrated.
The Redskins did not take
advantage of a Giants secondary missing starting cornerback Aaron Ross and nickel back Kevin Dock-ery. Both were sidelined with ham-string injuries.
The Redskins did have success throwing underneath routes. Slot receiver Antwaan Randle El and Cooley led the Redskins with seven receptions apiece. But with the exception of one Randle El catch-and-run for 35 yards, all were for 17 yards or less.
The Giants double-covered wide receiver Santana Moss, the Red-skins’ main deep threat, and limited him to two catches for six yards.
“We really didn’t have a chance to get into our offense,” Portis said of the Redskins, who ran only five plays in the first quarter. “They dominated the time of possession and kept us off the field.”
Campbell had respectable num-bers, completing 19-of-26 passes for 211 yards. But he made a couple of costly mistakes on consecutive pos-sessions in the second quarter, the sort that have led to speculation that he might not be the long-term answer at quarterback.
He threw an interception on an ill-advised pass, then had the ball swatted out of his hand by Osi Umenyiora, who picked up the fumble and raced 37 yards for a touchdown to give the Giants a 17-0 lead.
Still, Campbell remains upbeat. “I’m not discouraged at all,” he
said. “We left a lot of plays out there. We’ve got to just forget about this, come back and execute better next week.”
Uneven Campbell continuesto confound as Redskins sputter
Gradual improvementThe Redskins had high hopes for fifth-year quarterback Jason Campbell this season. Those hopes remain. He completed 19-of-26 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown Sunday, but he also threw an interception and lost a fumble and thus keep alive the doubts of whether he’s the long-term answer.
YEAR STARTS COMP. PCT. TDS INT.
2006 7 53.1 10 6
2007 13 60.0 12 11
2008 16 62.3 13 6
BILL KOSTROUN / AP
Despite his inconsistent play against the Giants, Redskins QB Jason Campbell is upbeat.
BY DENNIS [email protected]
Ten observations and opinions after
Week 1 from two NFL scouts, one from an
NFC team and another from an AFC team:
1. When you lose an impact player like MLB Brian
Urlacher, I don’t know how you overcome that. He’s as important to the Bears’ defense as Ray Lewis is to the Ravens’ defense.
2. If there’s one rookie who could set the league on fire, it’s
Seahawks LB Aaron Curry. He plays hard, he plays fast and he plays with intensity. He’s physical, and he’s not intimidated by veteran players.
3. I think DE Richard Seymour is going to help the Raiders a
lot—if his attitude is right. You saw Monday night what he can do as far as making plays in the backfield and being disruptive. But coming from a winning organization like New Eng-land and going to Oakland is not a player’s dream. Let’s check in on him in about eight weeks and see if he’s doing the same things.
4. You hate to say Panthers QB Jake Delhomme isn’t as produc-
tive as he once was, but he has some issues with accuracy and decision-making. Maybe he’s not reading defenses as well as he once did, or opponents have just caught up to what he does. One thing he does is force throws, and I think defenses are tak-ing advantage of that.
5. The 49ers could be a dark horse in the NFC. They’re
not going to wow you on offense, but they have a good run/pass balance and a quarterback in Shaun Hill who manages the game and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. Going into Arizona and beating the defending NFC champs was no small thing.
6. It’s too early to tell if Bucs RB Cadillac Williams has revived
his career. He always has been a tal-ented player. The big question with him is being able to withstand pun-ishment and be durable enough to come back the next week.
7. Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell is making small strides. He’s
doing a better job of moving around in the pocket, feeling pressure and hanging in there. But the lack of accu-racy is what’s going to kill him. It’s not the physical talent or the arm strength. It’s the accuracy part.
8. I’m curious to see how people build off the Wildcat forma-
tion this year and take it to the next
level. Last year, you had mostly run-ning backs taking the snap in that scheme, but now you have real quar-terbacks who could fit into that role—Pat White in Miami, Michael Vick in Philly and Seneca Wallace in Seattle. All those guys could take the snap and do a variety of things as far as running it, throwing it or turning it into an option play.
9. I don’t think Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco’s eccentric
behavior is hurting his performance on the field. It’s kind of comical at times, to be honest. But it could become a powder keg if the Bengals were to lose four or five games in a row. Right now, it’s not an issue.
10. It’s impressive to see Saints QB Drew Brees put up all
those stats, but the Saints haven’t made the playoffs since 2006. I’d rather have a quarterback throw for 200 yards and two touchdowns (per game) and be there in conten-tion for the playoffs in December.
Scouts’ views
Beware of Curry; 49ers a dark horse
ELAINE THOMPSON / AP
Scouts are excited about Seahawks rookie Aaron Curry and his intensity.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 10NFL
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com NFL
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2009-10
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TOP 60 FANTASY PLAYERS
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SN INSIDER LOWDOWN
ON SALE SEPTEMBER 1
PITTSBURGH—Steelers coach Mike Tomlin offers two words of advice for those who would rush to judg-ment on the team’s running game: Be patient.
The Steelers ran for a paltry 36 yards on 23 carries while beating Tennessee 13-10 on Thursday, their lowest output in a season opener in nine years. Willie Parker appeared a bit slow and tentative in getting to the line of scrimmage, and Rashard Mendenhall looked confused at times.
So did an offensive line that, according to left tackle Max Starks, had trouble adjusting to some fronts offered by Tennessee’s 4-3 defense. Most of the Steelers’ AFC opponents use a 3-4 system.
Despite the Steelers’ uncharac-teristic ineffectiveness in running the ball, Tomlin said looking for ways to explain away the problems or pointing fingers won’t lead to improvement.
“You know, it’s a factor,” Tomlin said Tuesday of the 4-3, which is also played by Chicago, this week’s opponent. “I’m not going to allow it to be an excuse. We have to execute and play winning football, and we’re capable of that.
“We understand what we face schematically this week and how they play, but at the same time understanding and being able to function against it are two differ-ent things.”
It probably doesn’t help that Parker, limited by injuries, had only four carries in preseason games, or that Mendenhall had precious little time in the offense last year until going down with a season-ending shoulder injury.
To Tomlin, developing a running
game—even one as consistently good as Pittsburgh’s—is an evolv-ing process that sometimes takes more than one week.
“I believe, particularly in Sep-tember football, people make a commitment to stopping the run and it’s easier to make the commit-ment when everybody feels good and you’ve got all the horses in the stable,” Tomlin said. “I think over the course of a long haul, you see who’s good at it week in and week out.
“It’s usually tough sledding early in the football season. That’s been my experience.”
Someone who knows Pitts-burgh’s running game as well as
anyone, although he did not play under Tomlin, says the Steelers (1-0) will have ongoing problems running the ball.
Jerome Bettis, the No. 5 runner in NFL history, called the Steelers “a mediocre running team on their best day.” Bettis also said the offen-sive line lacks continuity and that fullback Frank Summers looked confused and missed many blocks in the season opener.
Despite winning the Super Bowl last season, the Steelers ranked only 23rd in rushing and did not have a 1,000-yard runner as Parker was bothered by knee and shoulder injuries.
— The Associated Press
Tomlin: Patience key to fixing run game
GENE J. PUSKAR / AP
Rashard Mendenhall had just six yards on four carries in the Steelers’ opener.
Dressing them downApparently, you really can get under The Senator’s skin.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel took some not-so-veiled shots at the Buckeyes fan base during his weekly press conference, calling some of the whiners who emailed him—and you know who you are—“miserable.”
Tressel, who is known for reading and responding to emails, got a boatload after the Buckeyes’ 18-15 loss to USC last weekend extended their losing streak to teams ranked in the top five to six games. In calling the fans “some of the most unhappy people in the world,” Tressel made a back-handed apology in the form of, “I hate to be part of making someone less happy. I mean, they’re already miserable and to make them less happy, I feel bad.”
Wow. Just wow.For the first time since he arrived in Columbus in
2001, we see a new side the successful conservative coach. Jimmy T. has a little attitude to his game.
And there’s not a thing wrong with that.
The polling gameLadies and gentlemen, your Colley Matrix ranking sys-
tem is up and running. You know, the Matrix that is one of the computer rankings used by the BCS to help deter-mine who plays in the BCS national championship game.
If the season ended today, the Colley Matrix would spit out—wait for it, everyone—Pittsburgh vs. LSU.
I ask you, what poll is more on the mark than the Col-ley Matrix?
The remaining top 10: Wisconsin, Texas, UCLA, Missouri, Arizona, Alabama, North Carolina.
For those interested, current AP, coaches and Sport-ing News No. 1 Florida is not in the Top 25. An educated guess: This has something to do with the strength of Florida’s first two games (I-AA Charleston Southern and Troy), which, of course, are light years behind that of Pitt (I-AA Youngstown State and Buffalo).
Please, ridicule at your own pace.
Road bluesSo this is what you get for your longest stretch of road
games in 45 years: Stay away from The Strip, fellas.You would think, maybe, just maybe, your coach
would give you some free time to, you know, see the sights in Las Vegas. I mean, if you’re 21.
But here is Hawaii, in the middle of a three-game road trip (Washington State, UNLV, Louisiana Tech)
and in the early stages of nearly two weeks in hotel rooms, and there’s no fun allowed.
“Even the ones who are 21,” Warriors coach Greg McMackin told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “I won’t be doing any gambling myself. This is a business trip.”
McMackin says the players can spend free time in Summerlin, Nev., near Las Vegas. Hawaii (2-0) has wins over Central Arkansas and Washington State—essentially, two I-AA teams—and if it can get one more victory from the rest of the road trip, should be set up to get six wins and become bowl-eligible.
MARCO GARCIA / AP
Coach Greg McMackin said Hawaii’s trip to Las Vegas is a business one.
WHAT WE LEARNED Sporting News Today’s Matt Hayes analyzes what Tuesday’s buzz means to college football
Kiffin wisely showers Florida defense with praiseBY DAVE CURTIS
In the beginning, Lane Kiffin’s comments about Florida and coach Urban Meyer were equal parts inflammatory and foolish. Why poke a beast that had just shown Georgia the cost of tweaking the Gators?
Things have changed in the past six weeks. At SEC media days, Kiffin all but conceded the national title to UF and another Heisman trophy to QB Tim Tebow. And in a news conference this week in Knoxville, Kiffin’s inflated the Gators’ rep a little more.
“They’re extremely talented,” Kiffin said of Florida. “I look at their defense, look at their 11 starters, and you have 11 NFL players. They’re maybe the most tal-ented defense ever to play, and maybe the best quar-terback ever to play college football.”
The lofty praise makes it sound like the Vols won’t be singing “Rocky Top” all night long after beating Florida on Saturday afternoon, as Kiffin once pre-dicted. The geniuses in Las Vegas sure don’t think so—the Gators opened as better than three-touch-down favorites over Tennessee.
But Kiffin’s change in tone doesn’t signal regret for his winter and spring comments. No, it’s merely a sign of reality. Maybe UF and UT someday will run stride-for-stride atop the SEC East again. But this year, the talent gap between the teams stretches wider than it has in at least a generation.
Florida’s defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown yet this season against two overmatched opponents. In its last big test, the Gators held Oklahoma’s record-setting, jug-gernaut offense to 14 points. And the sense in Gaines-ville is that this defense sees plenty of room to improve.
“We’re not anywhere near as good as we can be yet,” linebacker Ryan Stamper said. “But we’ve done real well so far. We’ve picked up right where we left off.”
So, too, has the Tennessee offense. The Vols managed just 208 yards offense in Saturday’s loss to UCLA and scored one offensive touchdown. The points came on a one-play, 11-yard drive that followed a fumble recovery.
The problems start with senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who won the starting job during August’s training camp despite a rough 2008. The box score pro-vides the perfect summation for Crompton’s day against the Bruins—13-for-26, 93 yards, no touchdowns, a fum-
bled snap, three interceptions and three sacks.Kiffin said he never considered inserting backup
Nick Stephens despite the offense’s troubles Satur-day. Still, the coach said this week, the quarterback needs to produce more.
“We need him to play well,” Kiffin said of Cromp-ton. “I need to help him with better play calls to get him rolling a little bit to get his confidence back.”
Facing almost an identical defensive line to what he’ll see Saturday, Crompton posted a so-so Saturday afternoon last year against the Gators. But Tennessee didn’t score until the fourth; by then, it trailed 27-0.
On paper, this game could play out in similar fash-ion for the Vols. A lack of talent, especially at quarter-back, means their offensive struggles figure to continue for much of the year. And that makes it tough to see how they fare well against maybe the most talented defense ever to play.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Tennessee at No. 1 Florida, 3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, CBS
WADE PAYNE / AP
Lane Kiffin seems to know his Vols face long odds against Florida.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 12College Football
1. Nick SicilianoNick who, you say? Get to know him, folks. Siciliano is the quarterbacks coach at Ohio State,
the guy who this season officially replaced long-time successful Buckeyes assis-tant Joe Daniels, who was moved to an administrative role while he courageously fights cancer. I say “officially” because Siciliano coached Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor last season while Daniels fought the disease.
Here’s the problem: When faced with the possibility of hiring an outsider that could expand his team’s methodology,
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel gave the third-most important assistant coaching spot (behind the two coordinators) to a 34-year-old whose coaching career includes jobs with Oklahoma (assistant video coordinator), Youngstown State (tight ends), Urbana (offensive coordinator/offensive line) and North Carolina A&T (receivers and quarterbacks).
Siciliano might be a terrific coach someday. But right now, one of the most talented players in the game (Pryor) isn’t reaching his full potential. The biggest jump a player makes is from his freshman to sophomore season, and Pryor doesn’t look any better—or any worse—than his freshman season.
He still makes bad decisions, still has poor mechanics, still bails and doesn’t trust his protec-tion or progressions. Bill Walsh once told me years ago a simple phrase that holds true to this day: Players play how they’re coached.
Look at the other side of the field in last week’s game against USC. When Pete Carroll needed a quarterbacks coach to replace Steve Sarkisian, he hired Jeremy Bates, a successful, experienced NFL coach. USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley didn’t win the game for USC, but he didn’t lose it, either. And he played with a ton of poise.
2. Mickey AndrewsFlorida State’s longtime defensive coordinator said
in fall camp that he could have his fastest defense ever
at Florida State. This, of course, begs the question: How open would receivers at Miami and Jacksonville State have been if not for the speed in the secondary?
Now the Seminoles travel to BYU on Saturday to play a program that, frankly, invented getting open. Talk to any of the pass-happy coaches in college football, and all say their offenses—in one form or another—have BYU principles from way back in the Norm Chow/LaVell Edwards days.
The young and inexperienced FSU defense doesn’t cover well, can’t get pressure from its front four and will be reduced to one of two scenarios: gamble with various blitz schemes and hope to create turnovers, or play zone and keep everything in front of them—and hope impatient BYU makes mistakes. That’s a bad plan for a team that desper-ately needs to avoid a potential 1-3 start.
Because if this team goes 1-3 in September, loose cannon president T.K. Wetherell is going to blame someone. It won’t be Bobby Bowden, his former position coach from the 1960s, nor will it be Jimbo Fisher, his $5 million coach-in-waiting who really is the head coach now, anyway.
It’s going to be Andrews, the guy who toiled and sweated and busted his tail at FSU for years, fielding some of the nation’s best defenses season after season, only to be told the hotshot offensive guru—let’s pause here for reflection—is the school’s next coach.
3. The Notre Dame defense
The Irish scored more than enough points last week to win at Michigan. The defense, on other hand, still has a long way to go.
ND doesn’t have big-hitting, physical safeties who can walk close to the line of scrimmage in run support and drop in coverage from anywhere on the field. And until the Irish figure out how to slow down the zone-read play, they’ll see more and more of it as the season progresses.
Michigan State, which has won six in a row at South Bend in the annual series, is more of a power running team. But you better believe after watching the Irish last week, the Spartans will use more zone-read principles on Saturday.
4. Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and QB Jonathan Crompton
Forget about the silly talk of payback for Flor-ida. Tennessee has a much bigger issue on its hands: what to do with Crompton.
Before we go further, let’s be fair and explain that Crompton has had four offensive coordinators in four years at Knoxville. But at this point, his confidence couldn’t be lower.
If the Vols had another option at the position, he would’ve played last week against UCLA when Crompton was—again—gift-wrapping a Bruins victory. Kiffin has to somehow keep Crompton mentally in the game no matter how bad it gets. Because if it gets zero points and multiple turnovers bad, Kiffin could lose Cromp-ton for the season.
That’s when a potential 7-5 season—with 15 extra bowl practices (huge for a young team)—quickly becomes a 4-8 disaster.
5. The Cal psyche
Two long road trips, two ugly nonconference losses. The common thread: Cal comes unglued early and never recovers.
Can this road game at Minnesota be any differ-ent than recent trips to Tennessee in 2006 (35-18 loss) and Maryland in 2008 (35-27)? And frankly, we may as well add a 2004 trip to Southern Miss, where an ugly 26-16 victory cost the Bears the Rose Bowl.
We’ve already seen that Minnesota plays better in its new on-campus palace instead of the road, and it won’t be an easy environment for Cal quarterback Kevin Riley.
This game is huge for a Cal team that feels like it can win the Pac-10 but still must play at Oregon on Sept. 26 before USC comes to Berke-ley on Oct. 3.
Two wins in the next two weeks will give the Bears the confidence they haven’t had since 2004, when a last-second Aaron Rodgers pass was knocked away in the end zone to preserve a USC victory.
FEELING THE HEATFIVE UNDER PRESSURE
Sporting News Today’s Matt Hayes looks at five under fire for Week 3
PHIL COALE / AP
If Florida State’s defense doesn’t stop BYU this weekend, veteran defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews could be the fall guy.
Matt HayesCOLLEGE FOOTBALL
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 13College Football
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com College Football
BY DEUNTA WILLIAMSFor SN Today
We had a pretty wild ending to our game against Connecticut on Satur-day. I’d never really been a part of something like that before (a holding penalty in the end zone resulted in a safety and 12-10 win for North Caro-lina), but it reminded me of the Miami-Ohio State national champi-onship game back in 2002. That pass interference against Miami (in the end zone) was a bad call, of course, but I remember that like it was yesterday. But I’d never person-ally experienced something like what happened on Saturday.
I knew as soon as the flag was thrown that it was a safety. I was standing right beside Coach Davis trying to get them to call that. It was a holding penalty, but I wasn’t sure if they were going to call it a safety. At first the ref didn’t make the safety signal, he was just saying it was a hold. But we were all yelling safety because he was in the end zone.
Both the offense and the defense had a part in the comeback, but T.J. (Yates) was definitely thanking us
after the game for giving the offense a chance to come back and do what they had to do. I think our offense did a tremendous job of stepping up and finishing.
We tell our offense, all we need is three points. That’s how much confidence we have. If they give us three points, we’ll get the win. It takes me back to the Baltimore Ravens and their Super Bowl run and the confidence their defense had every week.
They used to tell their offense to just score one time and they’d take care of the rest.
This week in practice is going to be tough on our scout team. I feel sorry for those guys, and that’s nothing personal against them, but this game against East Carolina is
personal for me. I’m not going to hold anything back this week.
I should have a lot of friends and family in the stands on Saturday. My aunt lived in Greenville, so during the summers I used to go down there and stay with her, and she lived just three minutes from the ECU stadium. I’d play basket-ball on the courts next to the sta-dium, and I know that school well.
Any time we have a chance to play another team from North Car-olina, it’s a huge game because we feel like we need to dominate the state… and there’s no better team to start with than ECU. I’m not trying to push anybody’s buttons with that, but they’ve proven themselves in the state these last few years.
— As told to James Boswell
JEFFREY A. CAMARATI / UNC ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
Deunta Williams loved the teamwork involved in UNC’s comeback win over Connecticut.
PLAYER DIARY
‘This game against East Carolina is personal for me’
Deunta Williams, North Carolina SA junior from Jacksonville, N.C., Williams enters Saturday’s
game against East Carolina with two interceptions and two breakups. The Tar Heels look to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 1997.
About the author
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 15College Football
Was he being facetious or speaking from the heart? Only Ohio State coach Jim Tressel knows the answer to that, but his comments about critical e-mails following a disheartening 18-15 loss to USC are not likely to play well in Buckeyes country.
“Honestly, the thing when I read some of them is I feel terrible for them because there’s no way they’re happy,” Tressel said at his weekly media luncheon. “They’ve got to be some of the most unhappy people in the world, and I feel bad because we just made them less happy.
“And I hate to be a part of making someone less happy. I mean, they’re already miserable and to make them less happy, I feel bad.”
Tressel, according to The Columbus Dispatch, went on to say that the loss didn’t exactly make him feel good, either. But he added that he doesn’t have time to mope with his team preparing for Saturday’s game against Toledo at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Illinois coach Ron Zook told reporters in a confer-ence call that QB Juice Williams has recovered from his quadriceps injury and should be ready when the Illini travel to Ohio Stadium for their conference opener Sept. 26.
Williams was injured early in last Saturday’s game against Illinois State when he was hit on an option keeper and had to yield to backup Eddie McGee. It was McGee who directed most of the team’s 45-17 rout.
The Illini are currently in a bye week.
Michigan State, coming off a stunning loss to Central Michigan, announced Tuesday that FS Tren-ton Robinson will make his first career start after being moved above Danny Fortener and Kendell Davis-Clark on the depth chart.
“I think he deserves that opportunity,” coach Mark Dantonio told The Detroit News.
The Spartans’ secondary will be challenged by the Irish’s receiving tandem of Michael Floyd and Golden Tate,
who have combined for 23 receptions, 494 yards and six touchdowns in two games.
Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi says the school is trying to work out problems with the new Gophers stadium before Saturday’s game vs. Cal.
Fans faced long lines to get in and long waits at con-cession stands at last Saturday’s inaugural game.
Maturi told WCCO Radio in Minneapolis on Tues-day that the stadium will open up 30 minutes earlier—two hours before game time—and will open a couple more gates. Express lines also will be added for people who aren’t carrying bags that have to be searched.
Trying to help his team that has been flagged for 21 penalties in two games—the total would be two dozen if three calls weren’t declined—Hoosiers coach Bill Lynch asked several referees to call practice Tuesday and today. Eight of the calls have been for illegal procedure.
Only a sophomore, Miami QB Jacory Harris already is regarded as one of the team’s best leaders.
“You’d think he’s a senior,” CB Brandon Harris told The Miami Herald.
So don’t expect Jacory Harris’ big night—386 yards passing, nine completions of 20 more yards to six dif-ferent teammates, two touchdowns—against Florida State to make him overconfident heading into Thurs-day night’s game against Georgia Tech.
Even if he received several reminders from former Hurricanes about how well he played.
“Gino Torretta, Ken Dorsey, William Joseph, Santana Moss texted me,” Harris told the newspaper. “Torretta and Dorsey congratulated me, told me to keep the team focused, make sure we don’t get bigheaded, keep this thing going.”
In other Miami news, the team will be without defen-sive backs DeMarcus Van Dyke (undisclosed injury) and JoJo Nicholas (illness) Thursday.
Van Dyke was hurt in the season-opening win at Florida State. WR Aldarius Johnson (groin) is listed as questionable and likely will be a game-time decision.
With two games in the books for most teams, Geor-gia Tech sophomore CB Jerrard Tarrant sits atop the nation’s leaderboard in punt returns.
Two of his four returns have gone for touchdowns, and he’s averaging 43 yards on runbacks.
“I think Jerrard is the best returner we’ve had in the two years we’ve been here,” special teams coordinator Jeff Monken told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Miami, Tech’s opponent Thursday night, punted four times, with none returned and three inside the 20, in the opener against Florida State.
Maryland fifth-year senior CB Nolan Carroll, one of the team’s four captains, likely is out for the rest of the season after having surgery for a broken leg.
Coach Ralph Friedgen told reporters that doctors inserted a screw to stabilize the bone. Carroll apparently was kicked near the shin by a teammate while making a tackle
in Saturday’s win over James Madison. Sophomore Cameron Chism, among others, likely will vie
for Carroll’s spot, according to The Baltimore Sun.Friedgen also said he didn’t expect starting S Jamari
McCollough (foot) or starting OT Bruce Campbell (turf toe) to play Saturday against Middle Tennessee. Both missed the James Madison game.
Clemson, which hosts Boston College on Saturday, actually feels pretty good about itself coming off a loss to Georgia Tech.
The Tigers, down 24-0 at one point, rallied to take the lead 27-24 in the fourth quarter before losing 30-27.
“When the picture’s all painted, it’s going to be a nice picture,” coach Dabo Swinney told reporters Tuesday. “You saw an effort and a will to win that’s uncommon.”
BIG TENINSIDE DISH
ACCINSIDE DISH
Former Hurricanes tell Harris to keep it up
PHIL COALE / AP
QB Jacory Harris wants to help bring back national glory to the ‘U.’
Tressel: I feel bad for our unhappy fans
JEFF ROBERSON / AP
A quad injury shouldn’t keep Juice Williams out of Illinois’ lineup.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 16College Football
It’s well-documented that Tim Tebow has claimed the two biggest honors in college football: he won a Heisman Trophy and was a part of two national title teams at Florida.
It has even been said that there’s nothing Tebow hasn’t done, but that would be untrue. He has another milestone approaching Saturday against Tennessee.
Tebow could become just the third quarterback to go undefeated against the Vols in a four-year span, The Gainesville Sun reported.
Tebow would join former Gator Danny Wuerffel and former Alabama QB Jay Barker as the only quarter-backs to accomplish that feat.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s been such a big game,” Tebow told The Sun. “It’s an intense rivalry. It’s a rivalry where you go out there and you play extremely hard. It’s one of the most physical games that we’ll play all year.”
Tennessee’s interim president has told a newspaper he talked to Lane Kiffin “early on” about the uni-versity having more than an ath-letic reputation, and he also said the Vols didn’t just lose Saturday to a better UCLA football team.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that in a Monday meeting with its editors, interim president Jan Simek said “Lane comes from the Pac-10, which is in many respects the epitome of great aca-demic institutions playing great
athletics, as this past weekend showed on several different levels, including to us. When we lost to UCLA, we lost to a better academic institution, too.”
No. 5 Ole Miss (1-0) play FCS opponent Southeastern Louisi-ana (2-0) on Saturday then makes a quick turnaround for a confer-ence game next Thursday at South Carolina.
Had things gone to plan, Houston Nutt’s squad would have come off a resounding victory over Mem-phis and then had a week of prep-aration to get ready for the challenges ahead. Instead, the flu sacked a third of the team,
including about a dozen starters and quarterback Jevan Snead, and knocked the Rebels off the rails.
Now the team is out of sync, and the flu’s only partly to blame. Ole Miss didn’t look like a top 5 team against Memphis and some of the confidence surrounding the squad has been wiped away.
Nutt’s making no apologies for a 31-point road victory over the Tigers, but he called the team “sluggish” earlier this week and vowed the Rebels would pick things up as game time nears.
“Offensively I think we can block better, run better routes and throw better,” Nutt said. “I think our total execution can get better, and our players know that. From start to finish—the way we break the huddle, take the line of scrimmage—you want to be on automatic pilot.”
Kentucky freshman line-backer Ridge Wilson has been sus-pended indefinitely by coach Rich Brooks after surrendering to cam-pus police on a charge of fourth-degree assault.
University campus interim police chief Joe Monroe said police received a call about 11 p.m. Monday about an altercation between a male and female out-side a university housing com-plex. The female complainant said Wilson struck her in the face during an argument.
Apparently the decision to move the Texas-Texas Tech football game from Week 10 on the schedule to Week 3 wasn’t the no-brainer it might seem—at least not from the perspective of the Red Raiders.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported that Tech athletic director Gerald Myers proposed the idea to coach Mike Leach, knowing the financial payoff would help the program. But he wasn’t about to do anything without Leach signing off first.
“There was discussion about it,” Myers told the newspaper. “ABC called to ask us if we’d consider mov-ing that game up to this week, then they’d put it on ABC national television. So I talked to Mike about it and he thought about it, and then he supported it, more from a scheduling standpoint than anything else, I think. It gave him a chance to break up all those games at the end of the year without an open date.”
Just how much Tech will benefit from the move on the field remains to be seen. But the school will reportedly receive $315,000 for the national telecast, considerably more than the $175,000 most televised games generate.
It was a good news/bad news announcement by Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. First the good: The ankle injury suffered by top RB Kendall Hunter in Satur-day’s loss to Houston is not as bad as expected.
And now the bad: “But the likelihood of him playing (Saturday against Rice) is not good,” Gundy told The Oklahoman. In Hunter’s place will be Keith Toston and Beau Johnson, who combined to rush for 148 yards and two touchdowns against the Cougars.
Colorado coach Dan Hawkins raised a few eyebrows with his winter prediction of “10 wins and no excuses” in Boulder. So far, it has been two ugly losses and plenty of questions for the Buffaloes.
First they had to watch the fans for rival Colorado State storm their home field after a 23-17 season-opening loss. Then they saw an underdog Toledo pull most of its start-ers in the fourth quarter of a 54-38 loss last Saturday.
Colorado’s defense already has allowed 1,000 yards, 77 points and nine touchdowns in two games—and it doesn’t figure to get any easier with Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma State on the schedule.
“We’ve been through this before, players and coaches, and you just have to stay with it,” Hawkins said. “I think we’re starting to find ourselves offensively and there’s a few things to clean up on defense, but there’s a lot of football left.”
The Oklahoman reported that Brody Eldridge, moving back to tight end and playing with a broken pinkie finger, got high marks from coaches after the Sooners’ victory last Saturday over Idaho State. “He’s a strong character out there, and makes a difference wherever he’s playing,” coach Bob Stoops told the newspaper. “He had another great game last week.”
The plan is for Eldridge, as a replacement for injured Jer-maine Gresham, to get most of his snaps at tight end, though he could get some at center.
INSIDE DISH INSIDE DISH
BIG 12 SEC
Rescheduling Texas-TT was not simple as ABC
LM OTERO / AP
Mike Leach, left, is OK with taking on Mack Brown in Week 3.
Tebow can complete four-peat vs. UT
JOHN RAOUX / AP
Tim Tebow has a chance at becoming the third QB to go undefeated against the Vols.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 17College Football
BY KEATON KRISTICKFor SN Today
We had a close game at UNLV last Saturday. Our defense did really well in the beginning, and the offense put up some points early in the second half. Then UNLV got a couple of breaks, and they got the momentum on their side. They came back at the end of the fourth quarter, and we held them off with a field goal with seven seconds left. We’re just glad we beat UNLV, because they were a good team, and we definitely respect them.
In the second quarter, I had a fumble recovery. There was an out route, and the guy caught it in open space and tried to jump over one of our players. Lance Mitch-ell, one of our safeties, really gave him a pop, and the ball came out. I just locked eyes with the ball and hoped I’d pick it up. I grabbed it and just started chugging away.
I was going to try and pitch it back, try and make a play, but at the same time my running back instincts from high school kicked in, and I tried to get upfield as far as I could. I ended up going about 18 yards to our 30 before one of their linemen came at me at full speed and just smashed me along the sideline. I just tried to hang onto the ball. Our offense scored after that, which really helped us.
After the game, there was a lot of excitement in the locker room. We haven’t been 2-0 in a while, and to be 2-0 heading into the Cincinnati game is good. Cincin-nati is going to be really tough.
They run a similar offense to
the last two teams we played, and it’s very potent. They scored 70 points against Southeast Mis-souri State last week. They spread the ball out really well. We just have to be ready for it.
We lost at Cincinnati a couple of years ago, so we have a sour taste in our mouths watching film and stuff. We were there for a couple of days, just trying to get acclimated to the time difference and stuff like that. It was a few hours forward,
and it was messing with our sleep a little bit. That’s no excuse, but then they got off to a good start, and we really couldn’t do much offensively that game.
This game could really help us as we try to get off to a good start before Pac-10 play. We’re back at home, where the fans will be on our side, and the momentum will hope-fully be on our side. It’s going to be a classic college football game.
— As told to Jim Ryan
USC QB Matt Barkley is still unable to throw in prac-tice, increasing the possibility the freshman might miss the No. 3 Trojans’ upcoming game at Washington.
Barkley has a bone bruise in his right shoulder from last week’s victory at Ohio State.
Although the injury feels better than it did after the game, sophomore Aaron Corp worked with USC’s first-team offense Tuesday while Barkley was held out of throwing drills.
“I tried this morning, and it felt pretty bad,” Barkley said. “I can’t really bring my shoulder back. ... I thought I was going to be able to throw today, but it has gotten better. I think it’s progressing.”
UCLA suspended four football players for violat-ing team rules, sidelining them for Saturday’s home game against Kansas State.
Starting cornerback Courtney Viney was suspended by coach Rick Neuheisel along with running back Milton Knox and receivers Morrell Presley and Randall Carroll. The school didn’t specify the nature of the rule violations.
Jeff Tedford still believes that his decision to fly cross country the day before an early start against Maryland had nothing to do with California’s flat performance in a loss.
With another 9 a.m. PDT start coming this Saturday against Minnesota, Tedford showed he’s not too stub-born to change his ways. The eighth-ranked Golden Bears (2-0) will fly to Minneapolis on Thursday after-noon, giving them all of Friday to get acclimated.
“I don’t want to be hardheaded about it,” Tedford told reporters Tuesday. “I’ll see if it’s better. I don’t think there’s ever an issue with going a day before the game.”
This will be Cal’s sixth game that started before noon Pacific time in Tedford’s tenure at Cal, but the first time he has flown out on Thursday instead of Friday.
Cal arrived in Maryland on Friday night, went straight to the stadium for a walkthrough, ate dinner and then went to bed. The players woke up and went straight to the stadium. The criticism only intensified after Cal fell
behind 21-3 one play into the second quarter on the way to a 35-27 loss to the Terrapins.
Washington State coach Paul Wulff is making a switch at quarterback, benching Kevin Lopina in favor of Marshall Lobbestael on Saturday against SMU. Wulff made the announcement on Tuesday. The Cougars are coming off a 38-20 loss to Hawaii last Saturday in Seattle, where they trailed 35-0 at one point in the second quarter.
Wulff also said the Cougars will not use a redshirt for freshman QB Jeff Tuel, and that the coaching staff is preparing to have Tuel play at some point this season.
The first two weeks of the season have done little to show where Oregon’s offense really is, although the Ducks say they’re starting to find a groove with No. 18 Utah set to visit on Saturday.
“It’s a work in progress,” coach Chip Kelly told the AP.That almost seems to understate how enigmatic Ore-
gon’s offense has been. In the opening 19-8 loss at Boise State, it was nearly nonexistent and the Ducks didn’t have a first down in the first half.
PLAYER DIARY
INSIDE DISH
PAC-10 ‘Cincinnati is going to be really tough’
DANIEL GLUSKOTER / AP
Justin Kahut’s kick in the final seconds gave Oregon State a win over UNLV.
About the authorKeaton Kristick, Oregon State LBA senior captain from Fountain Hills, Ariz., Kristick leads
the team in tackles with 14 through two games. He made the preseason Chuck Bednarik Award watch list.
Bruised shoulder might bench Barkley
JOHN FROSCHAUER / AP
Marshall Lobbestael (8) will get his shot at quarterbacking WSU.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 18College Football
Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd, injured in the loss to Michigan, is expected to play Saturday against Michigan State.
Coach Charlie Weis said Floyd needed 15 stitches in his right leg after scraping his knee on the track surround-ing Michigan Stadium. Weis said the Irish will be careful with Floyd this week in practice so the cut doesn’t reopen.
“He’s from Minnesota and we gave him a hockey analogy: that if you get 15 stitches in a hockey game, usually you’re out about five minutes and then you’re back in there,” Weis told reporters. “So we have been playing the Minnesota angle with him all week long.”
Floyd caught seven passes for 131 yards and a touch-down against the Wolverines. He leads the team with 320 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
Weis said RB Armando Allen, who was banged up at the end of the game against Michigan, is healthy. FB James Aldridge, who sprained his right shoulder in the opener against Nevada, is doubtful.
Houston has had a little longer to enjoy its big win over Oklahoma State with no game this week-end. The last time the program knocked off a top five opponent was Nov. 10, 1984, when Houston beat No. 3 Texas in Austin.
“There’s a lot of people excited about football around here now,” QB Case Keenum, who has passed for 725 yards and seven touchdowns in Houston’s 2-0 start, told reporters Tuesday. “Texas people are always in love with football during football season, but to see a lot of people excited about Cougar football is neat.”
Next up for Houston, a home game Sept. 26 against another Big 12 team, Texas Tech.
“Everybody is starting to recognize us a little bit,” CB Jamal Robinson said. “But if we lose next week that recognition that we’ve been having means abso-lutely nothing.”
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall says Saturday’s home game against Florida State is big for many reasons—and one of them is the Seminoles’ willing-ness to play at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
He said it is becoming more difficult to get bigger name programs such as Florida State to make a home-and-home agreement because most want BYU to visit
twice for one game in return.“I am really not willing to go two-for-one any lon-
ger,” Mendenhall said in a report by The Salt Lake Tri-bune. “And even if that was the philosophy at one point, I think our program has a different level of credibility now that has been earned, and the teams that suggest two-for-one now, I take that as an insult.”
BYU will visit Tallahassee next September, most likely the third week of the season.
San Jose State coach Dick Tomey named junior Jor-dan LaSecla the team’s starting quarterback for Satur-day’s game at Stanford.
LaSecla took over for Kyle Reed at the end of the first quarter in the Spartans’ 24-14 loss to Utah on Saturday and completed 21 of 33 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown.
Dorin Dickerson was a player without a position when Pitt recruited him in 2005. Three years later, he still was.
A multidimensional player at West Allegheny High in suburban Pittsburgh, Dickerson was labeled by recruit-ing services with the ambiguous tag of athlete. The prob-lem is there isn’t any such position in football.
Dickerson piled up touchdowns—36 in his senior season alone—against overmatched high school play-ers no matter where he played and initially was tried by Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt at wide receiver. A season later, he was a linebacker. By last season, he was a tight end.
Three seasons, three positions and Dickerson had yet to make the impact expected of a former Pennsylvania high school player of the year, one who was rated in 2005 as the nation’s fourth-best high school receiver by Scout.com.
Now, Dickerson appears to be trying to make up for three all-but-lost seasons in which he had 14 receptions, 15 tackles and not much impact. After two games, Dick-erson has four touchdown catches—three against Buffalo on Saturday—and eight other receptions for Pitt (2-0).
By contrast, starter Nate Byham, who went into the season considered as a top NFL prospect at tight end, doesn’t have a catch.
Where have you been, Dorin Dickerson?“We did a couple of things with him that you might
see a wide receiver do,” Wannstedt told The Associated Press. “We did a couple of things with him that a full-back or running back might do out of the backfield. And then we did some things with him that are strictly tight end things. ... If you’re defending, you better know where he’s at all the time.”
South Florida junior RB Mike Ford will return this week against Division I-AA Charleston Southern after serving his two-game suspension for violating team rules, but he has more competition at the spot now, according to The Tampa Tribune. Senior Mo Plancher rushed for 193 yards and four touchdowns, and freshman Lindsey Lamar aver-aged 6.2 yards per carry in his absence.
“He’s got some guys he has to compete with,” Bulls coach Jim Leavitt told the newspaper, referring to Ford.
“He knows he did wrong.”
Justin Burke can remember the dismal Mondays at school growing up in Lexington if Kentucky lost in football the previous Saturday.
While never explicitly a Wildcats fan—his mother is from the heart of UK country in eastern Kentucky, his dad is from Louisville—Burke wore orange to Ken-tucky home games in hopes of remaining neutral in the eyes of his parents. To be honest, he only rooted Big Blue because he didn’t want to deal with it if they lost.
“I hoped they did well just because it’d be a lot more fun around Lexington if they won or whatever, or at least people won’t be so depressed,” Burke told the AP.
Now, the kid who set records at Lexington Catholic—not far from Commonwealth Stadium—finds himself in a position to make Kentucky fans miserable as the quarterback at Louisville.
The Cardinals (1-0) will try to snap a two-game los-ing streak to the Wildcats (1-0) Saturday in the Gover-nort’s Cup.
INSIDE DISH
INSIDE DISH
BIG EASTPitt’s Dickerson lands at perfect position just in time
CHRIS O’MEARA / AP
RB Mo Plancher (193 yards, four TDs) has helped create a logjam at USF.
Notre Dame’s Floyd recovering from cut on leg
TONY DING / AP
Michael Floyd, Notre Dame’s leading WR, has 15 stitches in his leg.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 19College Football
USA Today / Coaches Record Pts Rk1. Florida (56) 2-0 1,472 12. Texas 2-0 1,399 23. USC (3) 2-0 1,368 34. Alabama 2-0 1,277 45. Penn State 2-0 1,216 56. Mississippi 1-0 1,060 87. LSU 2-0 1,051 97. California 2-0 1,051 109. BYU 2-0 941 1210. Boise State 2-0 913 1111. Ohio State 1-1 855 712. Oklahoma 1-1 794 1413. Georgia Tech 2-0 771 1314. Virginia Tech 1-1 709 1515. TCU 1-0 648 1616. Utah 2-0 533 1717. Oklahoma State 1-1 485 618. Nebraska 2-0 471 1819. North Carolina 2-0 341 1920. Georgia 1-1 333 2121. Cincinnati 2-0 328 2322. Miami 1-0 291 2223. Kansas 2-0 195 2524. Oregon State 2-0 118 2425. Missouri 2-0 104 —
Dropped out: Notre Dame (20)
Others receiving votes: Michigan 84, Houston 69, Texas Tech 68, Pitt 40, Notre Dame 32, Auburn 30, Iowa 27, Florida State 19, Oregon 16, West Virginia 16, South Florida 13, UCLA 13, Kentucky 9, Arizona 4, Central Michigan 2, Colorado State 2, Minnesota 2, Northwestern 2, Arkansas 1, South Carolina 1, Tulsa 1.
The Associated Press Record Pts Pvs1. Florida (56) 2-0 1,491 12. Texas (1) 2-0 1,404 23. USC (1) 2-0 1,396 34. Alabama (2) 2-0 1,328 45. Mississippi 1-0 1,145 65. Penn State 2-0 1,145 77. BYU 2-0 1,122 98. California 2-0 1,058 109. LSU 2-0 951 1110. Boise State 2-0 945 1211. Ohio State 1-1 840 812. Oklahoma 1-1 835 1313. Virginia Tech 1-1 749 1414. Georgia Tech 2-0 683 1515. TCU 1-0 609 1616. Oklahoma State 1-1 445 517. Cincinnati 2-0 407 2318. Utah 2-0 405 1719. Nebraska 2-0 365 2220. Miami 1-0 364 2021. Houston 2-0 341 —22. Kansas 2-0 271 2423. Georgia 1-1 260 2124. North Carolina 2-0 250 1925. Michigan 2-0 169 —
Dropped out: Notre Dame (18), Missouri (25)Others receiving votes: Missouri 93, Pitt 87, Oregon State 64, Texas Tech 54, UCLA 44, Notre Dame 40, West Virginia 30, Auburn 26, Iowa 23,
Boston College 19, Baylor 15, Clemson 10, Oregon 5, Arizona 4, Arkansas 3, Colorado State 2, Florida State 1, Minnesota 1, South Florida 1.
Sporting News Record Pvs1. Florida 2-0 12. USC 2-0 43. Texas 2-0 24. Alabama 2-0 35. California 2-0 136. Mississippi 1-0 57. LSU 2-0 98. Georgia Tech 2-0 79. BYU 2-0 1110. Penn State 2-0 811. Virginia Tech 1-1 1012. Ohio State 1-1 1413. Boise State 2-0 1514. Oklahoma 1-1 1215. Cincinnati 2-0 2116. Georgia 1-1 1917. Miami 1-0 1718. Houston 2-0 —19. Oklahoma State 1-1 620. TCU 1-0 —21. North Carolina 2-0 2222. Kansas 2-0 —23. Utah 2-0 2324. Michigan 2-0 —25. Oregon State 2-0 24
Dropped out: Notre Dame (16), Michigan State (18), Oregon (20), Missouri (24)).
Division I-AA Record Pts Pvs1. Richmond (122) 2-0 3,607 12. Villanova (13) 2-0 3,369 33. Northern Iowa (6) 1-1 3,271 44. Montana 2-0 3,075 55. William & Mary (2) 2-0 2,865 76. New Hampshire (1) 2-0 2,701 97. James Madison 0-1 2,618 68. McNeese State (1) 2-0 2,358 169. Southern Illinois 0-1 2,296 810. Appalachian State 0-2 2,241 211. Elon 2-0 2,219 1012. Cal Poly 1-0 1,885 1213. Weber State 0-2 1,719 1114. Wofford 1-1 1,612 1415. South Carolina St. (1) 2-0 1,515 1516. Central Arkansas 0-1 1,503 1317. Massachusetts 1-1 1,346 1718. South Dakota State 1-0 1,089 2119. Texas State 1-0 977 1920. Maine 2-0 973 2021. Eastern Washington 1-1 572 1822. Eastern Kentucky 0-1 505 2223. Holy Cross 2-0 476 2524. Jacksonville State 0-2 471 2325. Harvard 0-0 267 24
Others receiving votes: Eastern Illinois 241, Liberty 205, Florida A&M 182, Delaware 177, Furman 124, Colgate 100, Grambling St. 89, Hofstra 82, Ala-bama A&M 77, Samford 71, Montana St. 64, Youngstown St. 53, Pennsylvania
52, Northern Arizona 45, Gardner-Webb 42, Brown 36, Prairie View A&M 33, Stephen F. Austin 28, Western Illinois 26, Valparaiso 23, Sam Houston St. 19, Southern 18, Georgia Southern 15, Tennessee St. 15, Tennessee-Martin 13, Butler 12, Lafayette 8, Southeastern Louisiana 8, North Carolina A&T 7, North Dakota State 7, Alabama State 6, Jackson State 6, North Dakota 6, The Citadel 5, Albany 4, Drake 4, Rhode Island 4, Northern Colorado 3, Tennessee Tech 3, Missouri St. 2, Saint Francis 2, Murray St. 1, San Diego 1, Yale 1.
AFCA Division II Coaches Record Pts Pvs1. Grand Valley St. (Mich.) (25) 3-0 625 12. Abilene Christian (Texas) 3-0 592 23. North Alabama 3-0 577 34. Bloomsburg (Pa.) 3-0 541 55. Central Washington 3-0 526 66. Northwest Missouri St. 2-1 510 77. Minnesota St.-Mankato 3-0 432 88. Minnesota-Duluth 2-1 418 99. Delta St. (Miss.) 1-1 392 1010. Texas A&M-Kingsville 3-0 388 1111. Pittsburg St. (Kan.) 2-1 355 412. Central Missouri 3-0 320 1313. Albany St. (Ga.) 3-0 301 1214. Catawba (N.C.) 3-0 262 1715. Chadron St. (Neb.) 2-1 258 1516. Valdosta St. (Ga.) 1-1 230 1817. Tuskegee (Ala.) 2-1 211 1418. Ashland (Ohio) 2-1 183 1919. Tarleton St. (Texas) 3-0 178 2220. Wayne St. (Neb.) 3-0 157 2321. Indiana (Pa.) 3-0 136 t2422. Washburn (Kan.) 3-0 113 NR23. Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.) 2-1 88 1624. Midwestern St. (Texas) 3-0 69 NR25. Augustana (S.D.) 3-0 66 NR
POLLSThursdaySOUTHHoward at Florida A&M, 7:30 p.m.Georgia Tech at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
FridayFAR WESTBoise St. at Fresno St., 9 p.m.
SaturdayEASTBall St. at Army, NoonDelaware St. at Delaware, NoonDuquesne at Monmouth, N.J., NoonTemple at Penn St., NoonDayton at Robert Morris, NoonBucknell at Cornell, 12:30 p.m.Yale at Georgetown, D.C., 1 p.m.Harvard at Holy Cross, 1 p.m.Youngstown St. at Northeastern, 1 p.m.Colgate at Dartmouth, 1:30 p.m.Winston-Salem vs Morgan St. at East Rutherford, N.J., 2 p.m.The Citadel at Princeton, 3 p.m.Rhode Island at Massachusetts, 3:30 p.m.Maine at Albany, N.Y., 4 p.m.Fla. International at Rutgers, 5 p.m.Columbia at Fordham, 6 p.m.Liberty at Lafayette, 6 p.m.Navy at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.Brown at Stony Brook, 6 p.m.Villanova at Penn, 7 p.m.Northwestern at Syracuse, 7 p.m.Coastal Carolina at Towson, 7 p.m.
SOUTHBoston College at Clemson, NoonLouisville at Kentucky, NoonEast Carolina at North Carolina, NoonNorth Texas at Alabama, 12:20 p.m.Old Dominion at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.Morehead St. at N.C. Central, 1:30 p.m.Chattanooga at Presbyterian, 1:30 p.m.Miles at Samford, 3 p.m.Tennessee at Florida, 3:30 p.m.Middle Tennessee at Maryland, 3:30 p.m.Hofstra at Richmond, 3:30 p.m.Virginia at Southern Miss., 3:30 p.m.UAB at Troy, 3:30 p.m.Nebraska at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m.Grambling St. at Jackson St., 4:30 p.m.Campbell at Davidson, 6 p.m.VMI at James Madison, 6 p.m.Ark.-Pine Bluff at MVSU, 6 p.m.Hampton at N. Carolina A&T, 6 p.m.Gardner-Webb at N.C. State, 6 p.m.William & Mary at Norfolk St., 6 p.m.Elon at Wake Forest, 6:30 p.m.Jacksonville St. at Alabama A&M, 7 p.m.Tennessee Tech at E. Kentucky, 7 p.m.W. Carolina at Georgia Southern, 7 p.m.Louisiana-Lafayette at LSU, 7 p.m.Nicholls St. at Louisiana Tech, 7 p.m.Bowling Green at Marshall, 7 p.m.North Dakota at Northwestern St., 7 p.m.Florida Atlantic at South Carolina, 7 p.m.Charleston Southern at South Florida, 7 p.m.Tennessee St. at Southern U., 7 p.m.Mississippi St. at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m.Cent. Arkansas at W. Kentucky, 7 p.m.SE Louisiana at Mississippi, 7:30 p.m.Buffalo at UCF, 7:30 p.m.West Virginia at Auburn, 7:45 p.m.Edward Waters at Alabama St., 8 p.m.
Savannah St. at McNeese St., 8 p.m.Tenn.-Martin at Memphis, 8 p.m.
MIDWESTDuke at Kansas, NoonE. Michigan at Michigan, NoonCalifornia at Minnesota, NoonN. Illinois at Purdue, NoonOhio St. vs. Toledo at Cleveland, NoonWofford at Wisconsin, NoonHanover at Butler, 1 p.m.Furman at Missouri, 2 p.m.Indiana at Akron, 3:30 p.m.Alcorn St. at Cent. Michigan, 3:30 p.m.Michigan St. at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m.Arizona at Iowa, 3:35 p.m.Murray St. at Missouri St., 4 p.m.St. Francis, Pa. at N. Iowa, 5:05 p.m.Drake at South Dakota, 5:05 p.m.Iowa St. at Kent St., 7 p.m.Wagner at N. Dakota St., 7 p.m.Cal Poly at Ohio, 7 p.m.Indiana St. at S. Dakota St., 7 p.m.SW Baptist at S. Illinois, 7 p.m.E. Illinois at SE Missouri, 7 p.m.Miami (Ohio) at W. Michigan, 7 p.m.Stephen F.Austin at W. Illinois, 7:05 p.m.Austin Peay at Illinois St., 7:30 p.m.
SOUTHWESTTulsa at Oklahoma, 3:30 p.m.Connecticut at Baylor, 5 p.m.Rice at Oklahoma St., 7 p.m.Texas St. at TCU, 7 p.m.Utah St. at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.Texas College at Texas Southern, 7 p.m.Georgia at Arkansas, 7:45 p.m.Texas Tech at Texas, 8 p.m.
FAR WESTPortland St. at Montana, 3:05 p.m.Wyoming at Colorado, 3:30 p.m.Utah at Oregon, 3:30 p.m.Southern Cal at Washington, 3:30 p.m.Marist at San Diego, 4 p.m.N. Colorado at E. Washington, 4:05 p.m.Nevada at Colorado St., 5 p.m.San Diego St. at Idaho, 5 p.m.SMU at Washington St., 5 p.m.S. Utah at N. Arizona, 5:05 p.m.Cincinnati at Oregon St., 6:45 p.m.Florida St. at BYU, 7 p.m.Air Force at New Mexico, 7:30 p.m.UTEP at New Mexico St., 8 p.m.Idaho St. at Weber St., 8:05 p.m.San Jose St. at Stanford, 9 p.m.Louisiana-Monroe at Arizona St., 10 p.m.Kansas St. at UCLA, 10:15 p.m.Hawaii at UNLV, 11 p.m.
Schedule
Top 25
Thursday
No. 14 Georgia Tech at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
No. 10 Boise State at Fresno State, 9 p.m.
Saturday
No. 1 Florida vs. Tennessee, 3:30 p.m.
No. 2 Texas vs. Texas Tech, 8:05 p.m.
No. 3 Southern Cal at Washington, 3:30 p.m.
No. 4 Alabama vs. North Texas, 12:20 p.m.
No. 5 Mississippi vs. SE Louisiana, 7:30 p.m.
No. 5 Penn State vs. Temple, Noon p.m.
No. 7 BYU vs. Florida State, 7 p.m.
No. 8 California at Minnesota, Noon p.m.
No. 9 LSU vs. La.-Lafayette, 7 p.m.
No. 11 Ohio State vs. Toledo at Cleveland, Noon
No. 12 Oklahoma vs. Tulsa, 3:30 p.m.
No. 13 Virginia Tech vs. No. 19 Nebraska, 3:30 p.m.
No. 15 TCU vs. Texas State, 7 p.m.
No. 16 Oklahoma State vs. Rice, 7 p.m.
No. 17 Cincinnati at Oregon State, 6:45 p.m.
No. 18 Utah at Oregon, 3:30 p.m.
No. 22 Kansas vs. Duke, Noon
No. 23 Georgia at Arkansas, 7:45 p.m.
No. 24 North Carolina vs. East Carolina, Noon
No. 25 Michigan vs. Eastern Michigan, Noon
Betting linesFAVORITE TODAY UNDERDOG
Thursdayat Miami. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ½ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Georgia Tech
FridayBoise St. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Fresno St.
Saturdayat Army. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ball St.at Purdue . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N.Illinoisat Michigan . . . . . . . . . .24½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E.Michiganat Pittsburgh. . . . . . . . . . . .7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NavyNorthwestern . . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Syracuseat Clemson. . . . . . . . . . . .6½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Boston Collegeat Penn St. . . . . . . . . . . .29½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Templeat North Carolina . . . . . . . .7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .East Carolinaat W. Michigan . . . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miami (Ohio)at Vanderbilt . . . . . . . . . . . .9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mississippi St.at Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . .7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wyomingat Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arizonaat Akron . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indianaat Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dukeat Southern Miss.. . . . . . 16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Virginiaat Oregon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UtahSouthern Cal . . . . . . . . .20½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Washingtonat UCLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kansas St.at Virginia Tech . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nebraskaat Notre Dame . . . . . . .10½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michigan St.Ohio St.-x . . . . . . . . . . . .20½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toledoat Auburn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . West Virginiaat Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TennesseeSMU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Washington St.San Diego St.. . . . . . . . . .3½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .at IdahoNevada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Colorado St.Bowling Green . . . . . . . . . .3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at MarshallCalifornia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Minnesotaat UCF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Buffaloat Oklahoma St. . . . . . .32½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Riceat Oklahoma . . . . . . . . .15½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tulsaat Baylor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connecticutat Texas A&M. . . . . . . . . . 18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .UtahSt.at Kentucky . . . . . . . . . .13½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LouisvilleIowa St.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at Kent St.at BYU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Florida St. at Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GeorgiaAir Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .at New MexicoUTEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . at New Mexico St.at Texas. . . . . . . . . . . . . .17½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Texas Techat UNLV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hawaiiat Stanford. . . . . . . . . . .17½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .San Jose St.at Oregon St. . . . . . . . . . . .Pk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cincinnatiat Rutgers . . . . . . . . . . .14½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fla. Internationalat Alabama . . . . . . . . . . OFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .North Texasat Maryland. . . . . . . . . . .6½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Middle Tenn.at South Carolina . . . . . . 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fla. Atlanticat Troy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UABat LSU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . La.-Lafayetteat Arizona St.. . . . . . . . . . 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . Louisiana-Monroex-at ClevelandOff keyNorth Texas QB questionable
Conference standings, Page 20
Thursday7:30 p.m.No. 14 Georgia Tech at Miami, ESPNFriday9 p.m.No. 10 Boise State at Fresno State, ESPNSaturdayNoon*Temple at No. 5 Penn State, Big Ten NetworkNo. 8 California at Minnesota, ESPNDuke at No. 22 Kansas, VersusEast Carolina at No. 24 North Carolina, ESPN2*Eastern Michigan at No. 25 Michigan, Big Ten NetworkLouisville at Kentucky, ESPNU*Northern Illinois at Purdue, Big Ten Network*Wofford at Wisconsin, Big Ten Network3:30 p.m.Tennessee at No. 1 Florida, CBS
*No. 3 USC at Washington, ABCTulsa at No. 12 Oklahoma, FSN*No. 19 Nebraska at No. 13 Virginia Tech, ABCNo. 18 Utah at Oregon, ESPN*Arizona at Iowa, ABCMichigan State at Notre Dame, NBCIndiana at Akron, ESPNU6:45 p.m.No. 17 Cincinnati at Oregon State, FSN7 p.m.Florida State at No. 7 BYU, VersusLouisiana-Lafayette at No. 9 LSU, ESPNU7:45 p.m.No. 23 Georgia at Arkansas, ESPNWest Virginia at Auburn, ESPN28 p.m.Texas Tech at No. 2 Texas, ABCKansas State at UCLA, FSN*—Regional telecast
TV schedule
Listen on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 127, online at SportingNews.com or check your local listings for broadcast times in your area.
WEEKDAYS 10AM–1PM ET
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 20College Football
Conference standingsACC BIG TEN CONFERENCE USABIG EAST BIG 12 MAC
Atlantic Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PABoston College 0 0 0 0 2 0 88 7N.C. State 0 0 0 0 1 1 68 14Wake Forest 0 0 0 0 1 1 45 41Maryland 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 52Clemson 0 1 27 30 1 1 64 44Florida St. 0 1 34 38 0 1 34 38
Coastal Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAGeorgia Tech 1 0 30 27 2 0 67 44Miami 1 0 38 34 1 0 38 34North Carolina 0 0 0 0 2 0 52 16Duke 0 0 0 0 1 1 51 43Virginia Tech 0 0 0 0 1 1 76 44Virginia 0 0 0 0 0 2 28 56
Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PACincinnati 1 0 47 15 2 0 117 18Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 2 0 92 30West Virginia 0 0 0 0 2 0 68 40Louisville 0 0 0 0 1 0 30 10South Florida 0 0 0 0 1 0 40 7Connecticut 0 0 0 0 1 1 33 28Syracuse 0 0 0 0 0 2 27 51Rutgers 0 1 15 47 0 1 15 47
Saturday’s gamesLouisville at Kentucky, NoonConnecticut at Baylor, 5 p.m.Fla. International at Rutgers, 5 p.m.Navy at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.Cincinnati at Oregon St., 6:45 p.m.Northwestern at Syracuse, 7 p.m.Charleston Southern at South Florida, 7 p.m.West Virginia at Auburn, 7:45 p.m.
East Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PASouthern Miss. 1 0 26 19 2 0 78 19UAB 1 1 77 59 1 1 77 59East Carolina 0 0 0 0 1 1 49 59Marshall 0 0 0 0 1 1 41 80Memphis 0 0 0 0 0 2 28 76UCF 0 1 19 26 1 1 47 50
West Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PASMU 1 0 35 33 2 0 66 56Tulsa 1 0 37 13 2 0 81 23Houston 0 0 0 0 2 0 100 42UTEP 0 0 0 0 0 2 24 57Rice 0 1 24 44 0 2 34 99Tulane 0 1 13 37 0 2 16 91
East Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAAkron 0 0 0 0 1 1 48 31Bowling Green 0 0 0 0 1 1 51 41Buffalo 0 0 0 0 1 1 50 71Kent St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 25 34Ohio 0 0 0 0 1 1 47 53Temple 0 0 0 0 0 1 24 27Miami (Ohio) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 90
West Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PACent. Michigan 0 0 0 0 1 1 35 46N. Illinois 0 0 0 0 1 1 61 35Toledo 0 0 0 0 1 1 85 90Ball St. 0 0 0 0 0 2 26 43E. Michigan 0 0 0 0 0 2 38 54W. Michigan 0 0 0 0 0 2 26 54
Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAIndiana 0 0 0 0 2 0 42 32Iowa 0 0 0 0 2 0 52 19Michigan 0 0 0 0 2 0 69 41Minnesota 0 0 0 0 2 0 43 33Northwestern 0 0 0 0 2 0 74 38Penn St. 0 0 0 0 2 0 59 14Wisconsin 0 0 0 0 2 0 62 51Ohio St. 0 0 0 0 1 0 31 27Purdue 0 0 0 0 1 0 52 31Illinois 0 0 0 0 1 1 54 54Michigan St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 71 32
Saturday’s gamesWofford at Wisconsin, NoonTemple at Penn St., NoonOhio St. vs. Toledo at Cleveland Browns Stadium, NoonN. Illinois at Purdue, NoonE. Michigan at Michigan, NoonCalifornia at Minnesota, NoonIndiana at Akron, 3:30 p.m.Michigan St. at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m.Arizona at Iowa, 3:35 p.m.Northwestern at Syracuse, 7 p.m.
North Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAKansas 0 0 0 0 2 0 83 10Missouri 0 0 0 0 2 0 64 29Nebraska 0 0 0 0 2 0 87 12Iowa St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 37 52Kansas St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 36 34Colorado 0 0 0 0 0 2 55 77
South Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PATexas Tech 0 0 0 0 2 0 93 23Texas 0 0 0 0 2 0 100 30Baylor 0 0 0 0 1 0 24 21Texas A&M 0 0 0 0 1 0 41 6Oklahoma St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 59 55Oklahoma 0 0 0 0 1 1 77 14
MOUNTAIN WEST
Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PABYU 0 0 0 0 2 0 68 16Colorado St. 0 0 0 0 2 0 47 40Utah 0 0 0 0 2 0 59 31TCU 0 0 0 0 1 0 30 14Air Force 0 0 0 0 1 1 85 20San Diego St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 49 52UNLV 0 0 0 0 1 1 59 26Wyoming 0 0 0 0 1 1 39 63New Mexico 0 0 0 0 0 2 16 85
Saturday’s gamesUtah at Oregon, 3:30 p.m.Wyoming at Colorado, 3:30 p.m.San Diego St. at Idaho, 5 p.m.Nevada at Colorado St., 5 p.m.Texas St. at TCU, 7 p.m.Florida St. at BYU, 7 p.m.Air Force at New Mexico, 7:30 p.m.Hawaii at UNLV, 11 p.m.
PAC-10
Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAStanford 1 0 39 13 1 1 56 37Arizona 0 0 0 0 2 0 53 23California 0 0 0 0 2 0 111 20Oregon St. 0 0 0 0 2 0 57 28Southern Cal 0 0 0 0 2 0 74 18UCLA 0 0 0 0 2 0 52 29Ariz. St. 0 0 0 0 1 0 50 3Oregon 0 0 0 0 1 1 46 55Washington 0 0 0 0 1 1 65 54Washington St. 0 1 13 39 0 2 33 77
Saturday’s gamesCalifornia at Minnesota, NoonUtah at Oregon, 3:30 p.m.Southern Cal at Washington, 3:30 p.m.Arizona at Iowa, 3:35 p.m.SMU at Washington St., 5 p.m.Cincinnati at Oregon St., 6:45 p.m.San Jose St. at Stanford, 9 p.m.Louisiana-Monroe at Arizona St., 10 p.m.Kansas St. at UCLA, 10:15 p.m.
SEC
East Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAGeorgia 1 0 41 37 1 1 51 61Florida 0 0 0 0 2 0 118 9Kentucky 0 0 0 0 1 0 42 0Tennessee 0 0 0 0 1 1 78 26South Carolina 0 1 37 41 1 1 44 44Vanderbilt 0 1 9 23 1 1 54 23
West Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAAuburn 1 0 49 24 2 0 86 37LSU 1 0 23 9 2 0 54 32Alabama 0 0 0 0 2 0 74 38Arkansas 0 0 0 0 1 0 48 10Mississippi 0 0 0 0 1 0 45 14Mississippi St 0 1 24 49 1 1 69 56
SUN BELT
Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PALa.-Lafayette 0 0 0 0 2 0 59 34Arkansas St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 70 38La.-Monroe 0 0 0 0 1 1 78 59Middle Tenn. 0 0 0 0 1 1 45 51North Texas 0 0 0 0 1 1 50 41Fla. International 0 0 0 0 0 1 14 40Fla. Atlantic 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 49Troy 0 0 0 0 0 2 20 87W. Kentucky 0 0 0 0 0 2 20 98
Saturday’s gamesNorth Texas at Alabama, 12:20 p.m.UAB at Troy, 3:30 p.m.Middle Tennessee at Maryland, 3:30 p.m.Fla. International at Rutgers, 5 p.m.Louisiana-Lafayette at LSU, 7 p.m.Cent. Arkansas at W. Kentucky, 7 p.m.Florida Atlantic at South Carolina, 7 p.m.Louisiana-Monroe at Arizona St., 10 p.m.
WAC
Conference All Games W L PF PA W L PF PAIdaho 1 0 21 6 1 0 21 6Hawaii 0 0 0 0 2 0 63 40Boise St. 0 0 0 0 1 0 19 8Fresno St. 0 0 0 0 1 1 82 34Nevada 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 35San Jose St. 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 56Utah St. 0 0 0 0 0 1 17 35Louisiana Tech 0 0 0 0 0 2 27 69New Mexico St. 0 1 6 21 0 1 6 21
Friday’s gameBoise St. at Fresno St., 9 p.m.
Saturday’s gamesSan Diego St. at Idaho, 5 p.m.Nevada at Colorado St., 5 p.m.Utah St. at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.Nicholls St. at Louisiana Tech, 7 p.m.UTEP at New Mexico St., 8 p.m.San Jose St. at Stanford, 9 p.m.Hawaii at UNLV, 11 p.m.
INDEPENDENTS
W L PF PAArmy 1 1 46 49Navy 1 1 59 45Notre Dame 1 1 69 38
Saturday’s gamesBall St. at Army, NoonMichigan St. at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m.Navy at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
Saturday’s gamesEast Carolina at North Carolina, NoonUAB at Troy, 3:30 p.m.Tulsa at Oklahoma, 3:30 p.m.Virginia at Southern Miss., 3:30 p.m.SMU at Washington St., 5 p.m.Rice at Oklahoma St., 7 p.m.
Bowling Green at Marshall, 7 p.m.Buffalo at UCF, 7:30 p.m.Tenn.-Martin at Memphis, 8 p.m.UTEP at New Mexico St., 8 p.m.
Thursday’s gameGeorgia Tech at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s gamesDuke at Kansas, NoonBoston College at Clemson, NoonEast Carolina at North Carolina, NoonMiddle Tennessee at Maryland,
3:30 p.m.Nebraska at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m.Virginia at Southern Miss., 3:30 p.m.Gardner-Webb at N.C. State, 6 p.m.Elon at Wake Forest, 6:30 p.m.Florida St. at BYU, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s gamesDuke at Kansas, NoonFurman at Missouri, 2 p.m.Wyoming at Colorado, 3:30 p.m.Tulsa at Oklahoma, 3:30 p.m.Nebraska at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m.Connecticut at Baylor, 5 p.m.Utah St. at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.
Iowa St. at Kent St., 7 p.m.Rice at Oklahoma St., 7 p.m.Texas Tech at Texas, 8 p.m.Kansas St. at UCLA, 10:15 p.m.
Saturday’s gamesTemple at Penn St., NoonBall St. at Army, NoonOhio St. vs. Toledo at Cleveland Browns Stadium, NoonN. Illinois at Purdue, NoonE. Michigan at Michigan, NoonIndiana at Akron, 3:30 p.m.Alcorn St. at Cent. Michigan, 3:30 p.m.
Cal Poly at Ohio, 7 p.m.Iowa St. at Kent St., 7 p.m.Miami (Ohio) at W. Michigan, 7 p.m.Bowling Green at Marshall, 7 p.m.Buffalo at UCF, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s gamesLouisville at Kentucky, NoonNorth Texas at Alabama, 12:20 p.m.Tennessee at Florida, 3:30 p.m.Louisiana-Lafayette at LSU, 7 p.m.Florida Atlantic at South Caro-
lina, 7 p.m.Mississippi St. at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m.SE Louisiana at Mississippi, 7:30 p.m.Georgia at Arkansas, 7:45 p.m.West Virginia at Auburn, 7:45 p.m.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 21Baseball
Major League Baseball released its 2010 schedules Tuesday. The Red Sox and Yankees will open and close the season at Fenway Park, with their first meeting likely to be the official season opener on Sun-day, April 4. The Twins’ new sta-dium, Target Field, will make its debut on April 12 when the Red Sox come to town. The first weekend of interleague play will be May 21-23, and it will return from June 11-27. Intriguing matchups there include Braves at Twins (1991 World Series rematch), Yankees and Diamond-backs (2001 World Series rematch), Red Sox at Rockies (2007 World Series rematch), Phillies at Blue Jays (1993 World Series rematch) and Yankees at Dodgers.
Jake Peavy will make his first start for the White Sox on Saturday against the Royals. Peavy has not pitched since injuring his right ankle in June. In four starts with Class AAA Charlotte, Peavy was 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre told the Los Angeles Times that P Chad Billingsley will take his next turn in the rotation. The righthander is 0-4 with a 5.67 ERA in his past five starts and is 3-7 with a 5.30 ERA since June 15. “Physically he’s fine. Now it’s just a matter of getting that good feeling back,” Torre said. As for P Clayton Kershaw, the Los
Angeles Daily News reported he is expected to throw a simulated game by Sunday.
The Journal News reported Yan-kees P Andy Pettitte will be skipped until Monday because of shoulder fatigue. Manager Joe Girardi told the newspaper that the fatigue is nothing serious. Pettitte is 13-6 with a 4.14 ERA in 29 starts this season and has won his past five decisions.
After struggling Saturday in his first start since coming off the disabled list, Cardinals P Kyle Lohseadmitted to the St. Louis Post-Dis-patch that his forearm bothered him. An MRI exam revealed only
inflammation, but manager Tony La Russsa said that Lohse’s scheduled start for Friday is in question.
The Yankees are cutting the prices of some of their most expen-sive season tickets for 2010, accord-ing to The Associated Press. The price of the best field-level seats will drop from $325 to $250 or $235 as part of season plans, the team said late Tuesday night. A total of 3,400 field-level seats will have lower prices.
In addition to losing 1B Justin Morneau (back) for the season, the Twins likely will be without 3B Joe Crede. According to The Star Tribune
of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Crede told manager Ron Gardenhire that he couldn’t swing the bat the way he wanted to. Crede hit .225 with 15 homers and 48 RBIs in 90 games this season.
The Nationals announced No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburgwill pitch in the Florida Instruc-tional League. The seasons runs from Sept. 24 through Oct. 13. Strasburg also will pitch in the Ari-zona Fall League.
The Astros released a state-ment Tuesday that doctors repaired a full tear in P Mike Hampton’s rotator cuff Tuesday. As a result, Hampton is expected to miss the 2010 season. The 37-year-old lefthander went 7-10 with a 5.30 ERA in 21 starts for Houston this season. In other Astros news, SS Miguel Tejada, a pending free agent, told the Houston Chronicle that he would like to return to Houston and would be willing to play third base.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers will honor Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell before tonight’s game. Harwell is expected to address the team before the game and watch it from team owner Mike Ilitch’s suite. A video tribute will be shown. Doctors recently discovered a cancerous tumor in Harwell’s bile duct and advised him against further surgery.
THE LAUNCHING PADWhat to expect in the major leagues today
Critical clashThe Rockies will leave San Francisco with the N.L. wild-card lead tonight,
but it remains to be seen how big that lead will be. The N.L. West rivals will meet for the final time this season as they wrap up their three-game set. Colorado will start lefthander Jorge De La Rosa, who will be looking for win No. 15. After losing his first six decisions and falling to 2-7 with a 5.81 ERA on June 16, De La Rosa has been a different pitcher. In 16 games (15 starts) since then, the righthander is 12-2 with a 3.34 ERA. However, has a 5.40 in two starts vs. the Giants in that span. For San Francisco, Matt Cain will aim for just his second win since July 25 (see: lack of run support).
Kuroda to the rescue?The Dodgers, trying to piece together their rotation with Clayton Kershaw
(shoulder) still out and Chad Billingsley still struggling, will turn to Hiroki Kuroda in the finale of their three-game series against the Pirates this after-noon. Los Angeles would love to build some momentum heading into its big weekend series against the Giants. To do so, it will need Kuroda to be as effective as he was in his most recent outing. In what was his best start since late June, Kuroda tossed eight innings of two-run ball in a win over San Francisco.
Postseason auditionThe A.L. Central-leading Tigers have to feel confident about their playoff
chances, given the lateness of the season and the fact that the second-place Twins have lose first baseman Justin Morneau for the season. Tonight, Detroit will turn to newly appointed fifth starter Eddie Bonine against the Royals. Bonine is unlikely to make a playoff start but could secure a bullpen job with a strong finish this season.
— Chris Bahr
INSIDE DISH
Twins’ stadium, Red Sox-Yanks highlight ’10 sked
DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / AP
Despite a 5.40 ERA, Jorge De La Rosa is 2-0 against the Giants this season.
CRAIG LASSIG / AP
The Twins will open Target Field on April 12 against Boston.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 22Baseball
American League standingsEast W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home AwayNew York 93 53 .637 — — 6-4 L-1 51-23 42-30Boston 85 58 .594 6½ — 7-3 W-6 51-21 34-37Tampa Bay 73 72 .503 19½ 13 1-9 L-1 43-26 30-46Toronto 66 79 .455 26½ 20 6-4 W-1 38-36 28-43Baltimore 59 85 .410 33 26½ 5-5 W-1 35-38 24-47
Central W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home AwayDetroit 77 67 .535 — — 4-6 L-1 47-25 30-42Minnesota 73 72 .503 4½ 13 5-5 W-3 42-32 31-40Chicago 72 73 .497 5½ 14 6-4 W-1 40-32 32-41Cleveland 61 83 .424 16 24½ 2-8 L-3 31-41 30-42Kansas City 58 86 .403 19 27½ 7-3 W-2 30-44 28-42
West W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home AwayLos Angeles 86 58 .597 — — 6-4 L-2 44-27 42-31Texas 80 64 .556 6 5½ 4-6 L-3 45-29 35-35Seattle 74 71 .510 12½ 12 3-7 L-1 39-31 35-40Oakland 66 78 .458 20 19½ 7-3 W-2 34-36 32-42
National League standingsEast W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home AwayPhiladelphia 83 60 .580 — — 6-4 W-3 40-32 43-28Florida 77 68 .531 7 4½ 6-4 W-1 40-35 37-33Atlanta 76 68 .528 7½ 5 6-4 W-5 36-33 40-35New York 63 82 .434 21 18½ 2-8 L-3 36-36 27-46Washington 50 94 .347 33½ 31 4-6 L-1 29-43 21-51
Central W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home AwaySt. Louis 85 61 .582 — — 5-5 L-1 44-30 41-31Chicago 75 68 .524 8½ 5½ 8-2 W-3 44-28 31-40Houston 70 75 .483 14½ 11½ 5-5 L-3 42-33 28-42Milwaukee 69 75 .479 15 12 4-6 L-2 34-37 35-38Cincinnati 66 79 .455 18½ 15½ 4-6 W-2 33-37 33-42Pittsburgh 55 88 .385 28½ 25½ 2-8 L-2 36-34 19-54
West W L Pct GB WCGB L10 Str Home AwayLos Angeles 87 59 .596 — — 7-3 W-2 45-29 42-30Colorado 82 64 .562 5 — 6-4 L-4 45-27 37-37San Francisco 79 66 .545 7½ 2½ 5-5 W-3 48-25 31-41San Diego 65 81 .445 22 17 5-5 L-2 38-37 27-44Arizona 64 82 .438 23 18 3-7 W-2 32-40 32-42
z-first game was a win
Pitching matchups Today’s games (All times Eastern)
American League The Line
Cleveland (Laffey 7-5) at Minnesota (Blackburn 9-11), 1:10 p.m. at Min -155, Cle +145
Kansas City (DiNardo 0-0) at Detroit (Bonine 0-0), 7:05 p.m. at Det -155, KC +145
Tampa Bay (Sonnanstine 6-9) at Baltimore (Tillman 2-3), 7:05 p.m. at Bal -110, TB +100
Toronto (Tallet 7-9) at N.Y. Yankees (Gaudin 1-0), 7:05 p.m. at NYY -180, Tor +170
L.A. Angels (J.Saunders 13-7) at Boston (P.Byrd 1-1), 7:10 p.m. at Bos -115, LAA +105
Oakland (Cahill 8-12) at Texas (Nippert 5-2), 8:05 p.m. at Tex -170, Oak +160
Chicago W. Sox (G.Floyd 11-10) at Seattle (Rowland-Smith 3-3), 10:10 p.m. ChW -110, at Sea +100
National League The Line
Florida (Jo.Johnson 14-4) at St. Louis (Pineiro 14-10), 2:15 p.m. at StL -125 Fla +115
Pittsburgh (K.Hart 4-6) at L.A. Dodgers (Kuroda 6-6), 3:10 p.m. at LAD -260, Pit +230
Arizona (D.Davis 7-13) at San Diego (Mujica 3-4), 3:35 p.m. at SD -105, Ari -105
Washington (Li.Hernandez 8-10) at Philadelphia (Blanton 9-7), 7:05 p.m. at Phi -260, Was +230
Houston (Bazardo 0-1) at Cincinnati (Lehr 4-2), 7:10 p.m. at Cin -130, Hou +120
N.Y. Mets (Parnell 3-8) at Atlanta (D.Lowe 14-9), 7:10 p.m. at Atl -230, NYM +210
Milwaukee (Looper 12-6) at Chicago Cubs (Harden 9-8), 8:05 p.m. at ChC -170, Mil +160
Colorado (De La Rosa 14-9) at San Francisco (Cain 13-5), 10:15 p.m. at SF -135, Col +125
MORE COVERAGE Get everything you need to
dominate your fantasy league at sportingnews.com/fantasy/baseball
Fantasy Focus Start ’em, Sit ’em
LEAGUE LEADERSBatting Average
Runs
RBIs
HIts
Doubles
Home Runs
Stolen Bases
Pitching
Strikeouts
Saves
A.L.
Player Team
ISuzuki Seattle 202
Jeter New York 194
Cano New York 187
MiCabrera Detroit 177
AHill Toronto 175
Markakis Baltimore 175
Mauer Minnesota 171
N.L.
Player Team
HaRamirez Florida 186
Tejada Houston 172
Braun Milwaukee 171
Pujols St. Louis 168
Victorino Philadelphia 168
Three tied 167
A.L.
Player Team
Verlander Detroit 239
Greinke Kansas City 216
Lester Boston 211
FHernandez Seattle 193
Halladay Toronto 189
Beckett Boston 180
Sabathia New York 178
N.L.
Player Team
Lincecum San Francisco 244
JVazquez Atlanta 216
Haren Arizona 201
Gallardo Milwaukee 197
Wainwright St. Louis 183
WRodriguez Houston 176
Jimenez Colorado 173
A.L.
Player Team
Fuentes Los Angeles 41
Nathan Minnesota 40
MaRivera New York 40
Papelbon Boston 36
Aardsma Seattle 34
Rodney Detroit 32
Jenks Chicago 29
N.L.
Player Team
Franklin St. Louis 37
HBell San Diego 37
Cordero Cincinnati 36
Broxton Los Angeles 34
BrWilson San Francisco 34
Street Colorado 33
Hoffman Milwaukee 32
A.L.
Player Team
Teixeira New York 111
Longoria Tampa Bay 103
Bay Boston 102
Lind Toronto 101
Morneau Minnesota 100
CPena Tampa Bay 100
Two tied 98
N.L.
Player Team
Fielder Milwaukee 126
Pujols St. Louis 126
Howard Philadelphia 118
DLee Chicago 101
Braun Milwaukee 100
ADunn Washington 99
HaRamirez Florida 99
A.L.
Player Team
Figgins Los Angeles 106
Damon New York 102
Jeter New York 101
BRoberts Baltimore 101
Pedroia Boston 100
Scutaro Toronto 99
Cano New York 95
N.L.
Player Team
Pujols St. Louis 119
Braun Milwaukee 102
Utley Philadelphia 100
Zimmerman Washington 98
Victorino Philadelphia 94
HaRamirez Florida 92
Three tied 90
A.L.
Player Team
Mauer Minnesota .373
ISuzuki Seattle .354
Jeter New York .332
MiCabrera Detroit .331
Bartlett Tampa Bay .327
MYoung Texas .322
Cano New York .320
N.L.
Player Team
HaRamirez Florida .358
Pujols St. Louis .331
Sandoval San Francisco .322
Helton Colorado .321
DWright New York .312
LCastillo New York .310
Braun Milwaukee .308
A.L.
Player Team
CPena Tampa Bay 39
Teixeira New York 35
Bay Boston 32
NCruz Texas 32
AHill Toronto 32
Branyan Seattle 31
Four tied 30
N.L.
Player Team
Pujols St. Louis 47
Reynolds Arizona 42
Fielder Milwaukee 39
Howard Philadelphia 38
ADunn Washington 37
AdGonzalez San Diego 37
Two tied 33
A.L.
Player Team
Ellsbury Boston 61
Crawford Tampa Bay 57
Figgins Los Angeles 41
RDavis Oakland 37
BUpton Tampa Bay 37
BRoberts Baltimore 29
Two tied 28
N.L.
Player Team
Bourn Houston 56
Morgan Washington 42
Kemp Los Angeles 33
Rollins Philadelphia 28
Fowler Colorado 27
Pierre Los Angeles 26
Two tied 25
A.L.
Player Team
Sabathia New York 17-7
Feldman Texas 16-5
Verlander Detroit 16-8
FHernandez Seattle 15-5
Beckett Boston 15-6
JerWeaver Los Angeles 15-6
Halladay Toronto 15-9
N.L.
Player Team
Wainwright St. Louis 18-8
CCarpenter St. Louis 16-4
Marquis Colorado 15-11
JoJohnson Florida 14-4
Lincecum San Francisco 14-5
Haren Arizona 14-8
DLowe Atlanta 14-9
A.L.
Player Team
BRoberts Baltimore 52
Butler Kansas City 46
Lind Toronto 46
Longoria Tampa Bay 43
Pedroia Boston 43
Markakis Baltimore 42
Two tied 41
N.L.
Player Team
Sandoval San Francisco 41
Ethier Los Angeles 40
Tejada Houston 40
Hawpe Colorado 39
Pujols St. Louis 39
HaRamirez Florida 39
Three tied 37
Start ’em Ryan Rowland-Smith, SP, Mariners.
Since coming off the disabled list in July, Rowland-Smith has a respectable 4.07 ERA and a solid 1.06 WHIP. Use him tonight against the White Sox.
Orlando Cabrera, SS, Twins. Cabrera is batting .429 (6-for-14) lifetime against Indians lefthander Aaron Laffey.
Ryan Spilborghs, OF, Rockies. Expect Colorado to start Spilborghs tonight. He is 5-for-12 with two homers in his career against Giants righthander Matt Cain.
Sit ’em Clint Barmes, 2B, Rockies. Don’t be
surprised if Barmes is on Colorado’s bench. He is 0-for-12 with three strikeouts lifetime against Cain.
Derek Lowe, SP, Braves. Lowe has a career 7.89 ERA against the Mets, and New York torched him for eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings on Aug. 18.
Jhonny Peralta, 3B, Indians. Peralta has managed just three hits in 17 at-bats in his career against Minne-sota righthander Nick Blackburn.
— Matt Lutovsky
TED S. WARREN / AP
Mariners P Ryan Rowland-Smith
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 23Baseball
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Athletics 6, Rangers 1
Oakland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Kennedy 3b 4 1 1 0 2 3 .285R.Davis cf 4 1 3 4 1 0 .314R.Sweeney rf 3 0 1 1 1 0 .288K.Suzuki c 4 0 0 1 1 0 .267Cust dh 5 0 0 0 0 4 .234Hairston lf 5 0 1 0 0 1 .237M.Ellis 2b 5 1 1 0 0 2 .274D.Barton 1b 3 2 1 0 2 1 .235Pennington ss 5 1 2 0 0 2 .288Totals 38 6 10 6 7 13
Texas AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Borbon lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 .323M.Young dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 .322a-N.Cruz ph-dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .268Dav.Murphy rf 4 1 2 1 0 0 .273M.Byrd cf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .283Gentry cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Kinsler 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .252C.Davis 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .214I.Rodriguez c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .254German 3b 4 0 2 0 0 1 .343Andrus ss 2 0 0 0 2 0 .275Totals 31 1 5 1 4 4
Oakland 110 202 000 — 6 10 0Texas 000 100 000 — 1 5 3
E: I.Rodriguez (3), German (4), C.Wilson (2). LOB: Oakland 13, Texas 8. 2B: D.Barton (8), M.Byrd (41), German (4). 3B: Pennington (1). HR: Dav.Murphy (16), off Ed.Gonzalez. RBIs: R.Davis 4 (41), R.Sweeney (47), K.Suzuki (75), Dav.Murphy (46). SB: R.Davis (37). CS: R.Davis (11). S: Borbon. Runners left in scoring position: Oakland 7 (R.Sweeney 2, K.Suzuki 2, M.Ellis 2, Hairston); Texas 6 (Kinsler, I.Rodriguez, Dav.Murphy 4).
Oakland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAEd.Gonzalez 4 4 1 1 2 1 71 4.74Breslow W, 7-7 2 0 0 0 1 1 26 3.67Ziegler 2⁄3 1 0 0 1 1 22 2.95Blevins 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 5 5.56Wuertz 1 0 0 0 0 1 14 2.92A.Bailey 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 2.00Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAMcCarthy L, 7-3 3 4 4 3 3 2 80 4.97D.Mathis 2 3 0 0 0 3 33 2.70N.Feliz 1 2 2 2 2 3 36 1.46W.Eyre 1 0 0 0 0 2 21 2.51C.Wilson 1 1 0 0 1 1 22 3.15F.Francisco 1 0 0 0 1 2 16 3.59
McCarthy pitched to 2 batters in the 4th. Ed.Gonzalez pitched to 2 batters in the 5th. Inherited runners-scored: Breslow 2-0, Blevins 2-0, D.Mathis 2-2. HBP: by N.Feliz (R.Sweeney). Umpires: Home, Tim McClel-land; First, Kerwin Danley; Second, Marty Foster; Third, Mark Carlson. T: 3:20. A: 15,964 (49,170).
Red Sox 4, Angels 1
Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Figgins 3b 2 0 0 0 2 2 .299M.Izturis 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .297B.Abreu rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .299Guerrero dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 .297Tor.Hunter cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .311K.Morales 1b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .306J.Rivera lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .287E.Aybar ss 4 0 2 1 0 0 .303J.Mathis c 2 0 0 0 0 2 .208a-Matthews Jr. ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .241Bo.Wilson c 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---b-H.Kendrick ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .291Totals 33 1 6 1 3 8
Boston AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Ellsbury cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .300Pedroia 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .296J.Drew rf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .266Bay lf 2 0 1 1 2 1 .262D.Ortiz dh 4 1 2 2 0 1 .233Lowell 3b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .294Kotchman 1b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .196Varitek c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .215Ale.Gonzalez ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 .287Totals 30 4 9 3 3 6
Los Angeles 000 000 001 — 1 6 1Boston 000 002 02x — 4 9 0
a-struck out for J.Mathis in the 7th. b-grounded into a fielder’s choice for Bo.Wilson in the 9th. E: Lackey (2). LOB: Los Angeles 8, Boston 5. 2B: B.Abreu (26), E.Aybar (23). 3B: J.Drew (4). HR: D.Ortiz (24), off Arredondo. RBIs: E.Aybar (54), Bay (102), D.Ortiz 2 (83). SB: Figgins (41), E.Aybar (14). CS: Ellsbury (10). Runners left in scoring position: Los Angeles 4 (Guerrero, Figgins 2, Tor.Hunter); Boston 2 (Kotchman 2). DP: Los Angeles 2 (M.Izturis, E.Aybar, K.Morales), (Lackey, E.Aybar, K.Morales).
Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP ERALackey L, 10-8 7 2⁄3 8 3 2 3 6 120 3.47Arredondo 1⁄3 1 1 1 0 0 3 6.15Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAMatsuzaka W, 2-5 6 3 0 0 3 5 93 7.02R.Ramirez H, 11 1 0 0 0 0 1 12 2.80Wagner H, 3 2⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 13 1.42D.Bard H, 11 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 3 3.30Papelbon 1 2 1 1 0 1 20 2.00
Matsuzaka pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: R.Ramirez 1-0, D.Bard 1-0. Umpires: Home, Mark Wegner; First, Rick Reed; Second, Jeff Kel-logg; Third, Tim Timmons. T: 2:44. A: 37,942 (37,373).
Oakland 6, Texas 1Boston 4, L.A. Angels 1
Young’s return no helpMatsuzaka triumphant in comebackARLINGTON, TEXAS—Rajai Davis
scored the first run then matched a career best with four RBIs for the Oakland Athletics, who delivered another blow to the Texas Rangers’ playoff chances with a 6-1 victory.
Texas is 1-4 on its homestand and 5½ games behind A.L. wild-card leader Boston. The Rangers have their largest defi-cit for a playoff spot all season with only 18 games left.
David Murphy’s leadoff homer in the fourth snapped the Rangers’ 22-inning score-less streak, their longest in five years, but they were down 4-1 and didn’t score again.
Craig Breslow (7-7) worked two scoreless innings in relief for the last-place Athletics, who have won seven of nine.
Michael Young returned to the Texas lineup as the designated hitter after missing two weeks because of a strained left ham-string, but the All-Star third baseman left after he flied out his only at-bat in the first inning.
“I felt like I wanted to give them a lift any way I could,” Young said. “I figured the best way to do that was get back in the lineup.”
Young’s return was expected to be a huge boost for the Rang-ers, who are trying to end a 10-year playoff drought.
“A day without him is enough,” Marlon Byrd said. “To have him back, hopefully he goes out there and gives us the spark we need.”
— The Associated Press
BOSTON—Daisuke Matsuzaka returned from the disabled list just in time to show the Boston Red Sox he can help them in the playoffs.
And he gave the Los Angeles Angels a preview of what could be waiting for them in October, too.
Matsuzaka returned from a three-month stint on the DL with six shutout innings on Tuesday night to lead the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Angels, their likely first-round playoff opponent.
“We’re in the middle of a playoff race, and we don’t have a lot of leeway,” said Matsuzaka, who hadn’t pitched for Bos-ton since June 19 and hadn’t won since June 2. “I just want to do my best to contribute.”
David Ortiz hit his record-breaking 270th homer as a designated hitter and also added an RBI single after Boston broke a scoreless tie in the sixth thanks to a throw-ing error by John Lackey (10-8). The Red Sox have won six straight since returning to Fenway Park after Labor Day.
Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth and gave up an RBI double to Erick Aybar to spoil the shutout before Howie Kendrick hit a soft roller to third to end the game.
An 18-game winner last year, Matsu-zaka (2-5) did not allow a hit through four innings and got a standing ovation when he was relieved after one batter in the seventh. In all, Matsuzaka gave up three hits and three walks while strik-ing out five for his first win at Fenway in almost a year.
“I’ve been a burden on my teammates. I feel that I owe them,” he said. “There’s not much left in the season. In the lim-ited opportunity I do have, I want to show my appreciation to my teammates and the fans.”
The Angels won eight of their previous 11 and hold a six-game lead over Texas in the A.L. West; Boston leads the Rangers by 5½ in the wild-card race. If the stand-ings hold, the Red Sox and Angels would meet in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
That hasn’t worked out too well for the Angels, who have lost 12 of their last
13 playoff games against Boston dating to 1986 and are 0-4 all-time in postsea-son series against the Red Sox.
“People see it as the Boston Red Sox and a potential playoff matchup, but the playoffs are totally different,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. “Some guys show up and some guys don’t.”
— The Associated Press
American Leaguewild-card standings W L Pct. GBBoston 85 58 .594 —Texas 80 64 .555 5 ½
MICHAEL DWYER / AP
Prior to Tuesday, Daisuke Matsuzaka had not pitched in the majors since June 19.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 24Baseball
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Orioles 10, Rays 5
Tampa Bay AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Bartlett ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .327Crawford lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .300Longoria 3b 3 1 1 0 0 0 .276Zobrist rf-2b 4 2 3 1 0 0 .283Burrell dh 4 1 2 4 0 0 .230W.Aybar 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .247B.Upton cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .235Navarro c 2 0 0 0 2 0 .225Brignac 2b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .278a-Kapler ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .232b-Gross ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .241Totals 33 5 8 5 2 2
Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Pie cf 5 1 1 0 0 3 .264Fiorentino lf 4 1 1 0 1 2 .333B.Roberts 2b 4 1 3 1 1 0 .288Markakis rf 5 2 1 1 0 1 .301Mora 3b 5 1 1 0 0 0 .264Scott dh 4 1 2 2 1 0 .2581-Andino pr-dh 0 1 0 0 0 0 .231Wieters c 4 2 3 5 1 1 .272Aubrey 1b 5 0 1 0 0 1 .290C.Izturis ss 4 0 3 1 0 0 .255Totals 40 10 16 10 4 8
Tampa Bay 401 000 000 — 5 8 0Baltimore 002 130 13x — 10 16 1
a-flied out for Brignac in the 7th. b-grounded out for Kapler in the 9th. 1-ran for Scott in the 8th. E: Berken (2). LOB: Tampa Bay 4, Baltimore 10. 2B: Zobrist (21), B.Roberts (52), Scott (22), Wieters (12). 3B: Zobrist (7). HR: Burrell (14), off Berken; Scott (22), off Shouse; Wieters (6), off Bradford. RBIs: Zobrist (74), Burrell 4 (62), B.Roberts (74), Markakis (94), Scott 2 (69), Wieters 5 (32), C.Izturis (29). Runners left in scoring posi-tion: Baltimore 6 (Aubrey, Mora 2, Fiorentino 2, Pie). DP: Baltimore 3 (Mora, B.Roberts, Aubrey), (C.Izturis, Aubrey), (C.Izturis, B.Roberts, Aubrey).
Tampa Bay IP H R ER BB SO NP ERANiemann L, 12-6 4 1⁄3 11 6 6 1 6 83 3.80Cormier 1 2⁄3 1 0 0 1 0 35 3.31Shouse 1⁄3 1 1 1 1 0 9 5.25Springer 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 4.05Choate 1 1 1 1 0 2 20 3.90Bradford 2⁄3 1 2 2 1 0 12 4.82Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERABerken W, 5-11 6 1⁄3 7 5 5 1 2 83 6.08A.Castillo H, 4 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 3 2.45C.Ray H, 6 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6.42Baez H, 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 4.09Ji.Johnson 1 1 0 0 1 0 15 3.96
Springer pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: Cormier 1-0, Springer 1-0, Choate 2-0, Bradford 1-1, A.Castillo 1-0, C.Ray 1-0. HBP: by Baez (Longoria). Balk: Cormier. Umpires: Home, Rob Drake; First, Mike DiMuro; Second, Ron Kulpa; Third, Dale Scott. T: 2:55. A: 11,575 (48,290).
Blue Jays 10, Yankees 4
Toronto AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Scutaro ss 4 0 1 1 0 0 .284A.Hill 2b 4 1 0 0 0 1 .286Lind dh 4 2 2 1 1 0 .300V.Wells cf 5 0 2 1 0 0 .262Overbay 1b 5 1 2 0 0 2 .262Encarnacion 3b 4 2 2 2 0 0 .216Barajas c 5 0 1 1 0 0 .241J.Bautista rf 3 2 1 1 2 1 .226Snider lf 5 2 2 3 0 3 .227Totals 39 10 13 10 3 7
New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Jeter ss 4 0 2 1 1 0 .332Damon lf 5 0 1 0 0 1 .283Teixeira 1b 5 1 2 0 0 1 .286A.Rodriguez 3b 5 0 1 0 0 1 .285H.Matsui dh 4 0 2 1 1 1 .277Posada c 3 2 1 0 1 1 .281Cervelli c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .259a-Me.Cabrera ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .280Cano 2b 5 0 2 0 0 1 .320Swisher rf 4 1 2 0 0 1 .257Gardner cf 4 0 2 2 0 0 .276Totals 40 4 15 4 3 7
Toronto 003 202 111 — 10 13 0New York 020 000 011 — 4 15 0
a-flied out for Cervelli in the 9th. LOB: Toronto 8, New York 12. 2B: Barajas (17), A.Rodriguez (16), Swisher 2 (32), Gardner (6). 3B: Teixeira (2). HR: Snider 2 (8), off Mitre 2; Lind (30), off Mitre; Encarnacion (3), off Mitre; J.Bautista (6), off M.Dunn. RBIs: Scutaro (60), Lind (101), V.Wells (61), Encarnacion 2 (11), Barajas (65), J.Bautista (23), Snider 3 (20), Jeter (64), H.Matsui (82), Gardner 2 (23). SF: Scutaro. Runners left in scoring position: Toronto 4 (A.Hill 2, J.Bautista, Overbay); New York 7 (H.Matsui, Damon 3, Jeter 2, Posada). DP: Toronto 1 (Overbay, Scutaro, Overbay).
Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAHalladay W, 15-9 6 11 2 2 1 6 112 3.03Carlson 1 2⁄3 2 1 1 1 0 29 4.43Accardo 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 2.84S.Downs 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 3 2.74League 1 2 1 1 0 1 32 4.98New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAMitre L, 3-3 5 8 7 7 1 2 79 7.63E.Ramirez 1 1⁄3 2 1 1 1 1 21 5.73Melancon 1 1⁄3 1 1 1 1 2 23 3.86M.Dunn 1 1⁄3 2 1 1 0 2 21 6.75
Mitre pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Accardo pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored: Accardo 2-0, S.Downs 3-0, E.Ramirez 2-1, Melancon 2-1, M.Dunn 2-1. HBP: by Mitre (Encarnacion), by Melancon (A.Hill). WP: Melancon 2. PB: Posada. Umpires: Home, Jim Joyce; First, Greg Gibson; Second, Bill Miller; Third, Derryl Cousins. T: 3:52. A: 45,847 (52,325).
Baltimore 10, Tampa Bay 5Toronto 10, N.Y. Yankees 4
O’s find solace in rookiesRumble in the Bronx: Posada at center of brawlBALTIMORE—If the Baltimore
Orioles are looking for positive signs for next season, they got plenty of them in a gritty come-back win.
Despite being in last place with nothing to play for, the Orioles received solid contribu-tions from two rookies and ral-lied from a five-run deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-5 on Tuesday night.
“This late in the year, to not give in, that’s a lot of fight and determination,” manager Dave Trembley said.
Matt Wieters fueled the comeback with a homer and a career-high five RBIs, and righthander Jason Berken held the Rays in check after giving up four first-inning runs.
Wieters, a former No. 1 draft pick playing in his 78th game, appears to have justified the hype that surrounded his arrival in late May.
“It’s good for the organiza-tion, it’s good for the team,” Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts said. “There’s a lot of pressure, and it’s hard enough up here without having to deal with that. I think it was a little unfair, the expectations early on. Now he’s finally started to get comfortable and find his groove.”
Berken (5-11) kept the Orioles in the game after a rocky start. He gave up four hits in the first inning and only three more before being lifted with one out in the seventh.
— The Associated Press
NEW YORK—As soon as Jorge Posada bumped Toronto reliever Jesse Carlson after crossing home plate, almost every-one at Yankee Stadium knew a fight was coming.
Posada and Carlson got into a scrap near the New York dugout, leading to a frenzied, bench-clearing brawl during the Blue Jays’ 10-4 victory over the Yan-kees on Tuesday night.
“It got pretty heavy and pretty thick pretty quickly,” New York slugger Alex Rodriguez said. “I think we’re all fortu-nate and glad no one got hurt.”
Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion and All-Star second baseman Aaron Hill were hit by pitches before Carlson threw behind Posada in the eighth inning. Posada glared out at the mound and appeared to say, “You don’t want to do that.”
Carlson motioned toward Posada as the benches and bullpens emptied, though the teams never got close to each other and order was quickly restored. Johnny Damon and manager Joe Girardi aggressively pulled teammates away, aware an injury or suspension could be costly to the Yankees as they close in on a playoff berth. Plate umpire Jim Joyce warned both benches.
But moments later, a nasty rumble broke out.
After scoring on Brett Gardner’s dou-ble, Posada jostled Carlson, who was on his way to back up the plate. Joyce promptly ejected Posada as Carlson shouted curses at the star catcher.
“As he ran past Carlson, he gave him a little shove with his elbow. It was very unsportsmanlike,” Joyce told a pool reporter. “It was a cheap shot.”
Posada spun around, sidestepped Joyce and came back at Carlson, who took a high swing with a punch that missed.
The two wrestled to the ground as the benches and bullpens emptied and other scuffles broke out near home plate.
“He was just right there on the line to the dugout. We got carried away and hopefully that’s the end of it,” the 38-year-old Posada said. “I don’t want my kids to see that. ... Fight in the middle of the field, benches clearing—that’s a bad example.”
Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas and Yankees reserve Shelley Duncan got in a particularly rough tussle.
“Once he crossed the plate and threw that elbow at me or whatever, I just said, ‘Let’s go,’” Carlson said. “I’m probably the smallest guy in MLB and we were right near their dugout, so I was just
hoping I got out of there all right.”When things finally settled down,
there was catching equipment strewn all over the field behind home plate. New York pitchers CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte escorted Posada into the dugout.
The 6-1, 160-pound Carlson, also ejected, was left with a large red knot on the left side of his forehead.
“We were wrestling or whatever and we both went down to the ground. We were kind of right near their dugout and kind of got trampled on for a little bit. I was trying to cover up and I’m not sure who it was, but somebody moved my hands out of the way and got in a shot,” Carlson said. “I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt.”
— The Associated Press
KATHY WILLENS / AP
Yankees C Jorge Posada (20) took offense to an inside fastball from Jays P Jesse Carlson.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 25Baseball
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Royals 11, Tigers 1
Kansas City AB R H BI BB SO Avg.DeJesus lf 4 1 1 3 0 2 .280J.Anderson cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .244Bloomquist rf 5 2 3 0 0 0 .265Butler 1b 3 2 0 0 2 0 .301Olivo dh 4 3 2 3 1 0 .249Callaspo 2b 4 1 2 4 0 1 .298Maier cf-lf 5 0 0 0 0 1 .246J.Buck c 4 1 2 0 0 0 .224A.Gordon 3b 2 1 0 0 2 0 .200Y.Betancourt ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .239Totals 36 11 10 10 5 4
Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Granderson cf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .248W.Ramirez rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .364C.Guillen lf 4 0 1 1 0 2 .243Ordonez rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .294Thomas rf-cf 1 0 0 0 0 1 .243Mi.Cabrera 1b 2 0 0 0 1 1 .331Kelly 1b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .240A.Huff dh 4 0 0 0 0 0 .244Avila c 3 0 1 0 0 1 .302a-D.Ryan ph-c 1 0 0 0 0 1 .154Inge 3b 2 0 0 0 0 1 .233Dlugach 3b 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000Santiago 2b 2 0 0 0 2 1 .257Everett ss 3 1 1 0 1 0 .240Totals 32 1 4 1 5 10
Kansas City 400 310 300 — 11 10 1Detroit 000 010 000 — 1 4 0
a-struck out for Avila in the 8th. E: A.Gordon (6). LOB: Kansas City 4, Detroit 9. 2B: Bloomquist (10), Callaspo (34), J.Buck (10), Granderson (20). 3B: Bloomquist (8), Olivo (5). HR: Callaspo (10), off Washburn; DeJesus (13), off Fien; Olivo (20), off Bonderman. RBIs: DeJesus 3 (70), Olivo 3 (54), Callaspo 4 (62), C.Guillen (33). SF: Cal-laspo. Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 2 (Maier 2); Detroit 5 (Ordonez 2, Mi.Cabrera 2, Thomas).
Kansas City IP H R ER BB SO NP ERATejeda W, 3-1 5 2 1 1 4 5 102 3.09D.Hughes 2 2 0 0 0 3 28 3.38V.Marte 2 0 0 0 1 2 29 4.91Detroit IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAWashburn L, 9-9 1 3 4 4 2 2 30 3.78Miner 2 0 0 0 0 2 28 4.57Fien 3 3 4 4 2 0 49 9.82Bonderman 1 2 3 3 1 0 21 11.25Perry 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 4.00Ni 1 2 0 0 0 0 17 2.93
PB: Avila. Umpires: Home, Gary Darling; First, Bruce Dreckman; Second, Paul Emmel; Third, Scott Barry. T: 3:06. A: 20,422 (41,255).
Twins 5, Indians 4
Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Brantley cf 5 0 0 0 0 2 .321J.Carroll 2b 4 1 2 0 0 2 .295A.Cabrera ss 3 0 1 0 1 1 .308Jh.Peralta 3b 4 1 1 1 0 1 .274Hafner dh 3 1 1 0 0 0 .276A.Marte 1b 1 0 0 1 1 0 .227a-Valbuena ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .237LaPorta rf 4 1 2 2 0 0 .246Marson c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .154b-Choo ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .300Crowe lf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .225Totals 32 4 8 4 3 7
Minnesota AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Span cf-rf 5 1 1 0 0 2 .306O.Cabrera ss 4 1 2 1 0 1 .271Mauer c 3 0 2 1 1 0 .373Kubel rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .302Gomez cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .236Cuddyer 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .271Delm.Young lf 3 1 1 0 1 1 .265Buscher dh 2 2 1 1 1 1 .2411-A.Casilla pr-dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 .196Tolbert 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .197Punto 2b 4 0 3 2 0 0 .232Totals 32 5 10 5 3 7
Cleveland 000 300 001 — 4 8 1Minnesota 100 112 00x — 5 10 0
a-popped out for A.Marte in the 9th. b-struck out for Marson in the 9th. 1-ran for Buscher in the 8th. E: LaPorta (3). LOB: Cleveland 6, Minnesota 8. 2B: Hafner (16), Mauer (26), Delm.Young (12), Punto (13). HR: LaPorta (5), off Nathan; O.Cabrera (7), off Carmona. RBIs: Jh.Peralta (78), A.Marte (19), LaPorta 2 (14), O.Cabrera (61), Mauer (85), Buscher (12), Punto 2 (32). SB: J.Carroll (3), A.Cabrera (17), Crowe (5). S: Tolbert. SF: A.Marte. Runners left in scoring position: Cleveland 4 (Jh.Peralta, Marson, A.Marte, Brantley); Minnesota 6 (Buscher 2, O.Cabrera 2, Delm.Young, Span). DP: Cleveland 1 (Jh.Peralta, J.Carroll, A.Marte); Minnesota 2 (Tolbert, Punto, Cuddyer), (O.Cabrera, Punto, Cuddyer).
Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERACarmona L, 3-11 5 1⁄3 9 5 5 3 3 99 6.58Sipp 1 1 0 0 0 1 23 3.12Veras 1 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 3 29 5.89Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAS.Baker 5 1⁄3 5 3 3 2 5 101 4.35Mahay 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4.57Rauch W, 3-1 1 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 9 3.38Mijares H, 22 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 3 2.09Guerrier H, 29 1 1 0 0 0 0 12 2.24Nathan S, 40-45 1 1 1 1 1 1 21 2.28
Mahay pitched to 1 batter in the 6th. Inherited runners-scored: Sipp 1-0, Veras 1-0, Mahay 1-0, Rauch 2-0, Mijares 1-0. HBP: by Veras (Buscher), by Mahay (Hafner). WP: S.Baker. Umpires: Home, Gary Cederstrom; First, Fieldin Culbreth; Second, Jeff Nelson; Third, Adrian Johnson. T: 3:14. A: 19,035 (46,632).
Kansas City 11, Detroit 1Minnesota 5, Cleveland 4
Washburn done in by kneeTwins pull within 4 1/2 games of TigersDETROIT—Jim Leyland is out
of answers.Not only did his division-
leading Detroit Tigers drop a fifth straight game to the last-place Kansas City Royals, 11-1 on Tuesday night, he has to fill another spot in his patchwork rotation.
Jarrod Washburn lasted just one inning—the shortest start of his career—and gave up four runs before it became obvious that his sore left knee wasn’t up to pitching. The Tigers lost Nate Robertson (groin) and Armando Galarraga (elbow) last week, while Dontrelle Wil-lis and Jeremy Bonderman have been unavailable for almost the entire season.
“I don’t have any information for you right now, because I don’t have any information for myself,” Leyland said. “I have no idea who is going to pitch. We’ll get together and try to figure something out.”
Washburn (9-9) struck out David DeJesus to start the game, but Willie Bloomquist doubled and Billy Butler and Miguel Olivo walked to load the bases.
A passed ball allowed the first run to score before Alberto Callaspo hit a three-run homer into the Kansas City bullpen in left-center field.
“When you’ve got a pitcher on the ropes like that, you have to finish him off,” DeJesus said. “Even though he’s hurt, we still have to play the game.”
— The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS—Joe Nathan’s 40th save was what the rest of the Minnesota Twins’ season promises to be without Justin Morneau—a grind.
But Nathan bounced back from allowing a ninth-inning home run and the Twins fought back from a two-run deficit for a 5-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.
Minnesota improved to 2-0 since losing first baseman Morneau for the season and pulled within 4½ games of first-place Detroit in the A.L. Central.
Nick Punto had three hits and two RBIs for the Twins, who still have a daunting task to catch Detroit with only 18 games left—seven against the Tigers—without Morneau, a former A.L. MVP who has a stress fracture in his back.
“Morneau is a luxury, he’s as good as they get, but we can’t just lay down,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We know that we have to do other things. When you lose a power guy like that you have to figure out other ways to get it done, that’s all.”
The Twins got four hits, three RBIs and two runs from the bottom third of their order and 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief from their bullpen before Nathan gave up the solo homer to Matt LaPorta with one out in the ninth. Nathan walked Trevor Crowe with two outs, but got Michael Brantley to fly out for his 40th save in 45 chances.
Nathan reached 40 saves for the third time in his career and for the first time since recording 43 in 2005.
“It’s been a while, but it feels good,” Nathan said. “But we still know we’ve got some work to do. We still know if we’re 4½ back we’re going to have to do something special. We’ve got to win probably more than four games against (the Tigers), probably five to have even a glimpse of hope.”
The deficit had been 5½ games for six straight days, but the Twins beat Fausto Carmona (3-11) for the third time this sea-son to finally trim the margin.
Carmona, coming off a season-low outing in which he allowed five runs while only getting two outs against Texas on Sept. 9, had some tough luck to start the decisive sixth inning.
Delmon Young’s leadoff chopper off the Metrodome turf stayed high enough to tip off Jhonny Peralta’s glove and slowly rolled to the outfield for a double.
“That shouldn’t have been a double,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. “At the very least, he has to catch that ball. Ideally he catches it and makes a throw and it’s going to prob-
ably be a close play.”Buscher followed with a single to score Young, and Buscher
scored two batters later on Punto’s second RBI single that chased Carmona.
The righthander fell to 1-5 since he was recalled from Class AAA Columbus on July 31. He allowed five runs, nine hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings.
— The Associated Press
PAUL BATTAGLIA / AP
Minnesota 2B Nick Punto isn’t particularly known for his bat, but he did have three hits and two RBIs as the Twins won their third straight game.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 26Baseball
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Phillies 5, Nationals 0
Washington AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Maxwell cf 4 0 2 0 0 1 .226C.Guzman ss 3 0 0 0 1 1 .294Zimmerman 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .291A.Dunn 1b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .282Willingham lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .278Dukes rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .256J.Bard c 4 0 1 0 0 3 .234Alb.Gonzalez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .255Mock p 1 0 1 0 0 0 .100S.Rivera p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333Villone p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---a-Morse ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .294Kensing p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Totals 30 0 6 0 3 9
Philadelphia AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Rollins ss 4 1 2 1 0 0 .246Victorino cf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .300Utley 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .295Howard 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .270Ibanez lf 3 1 1 0 1 0 .279Werth rf 4 1 3 0 0 0 .270P.Feliz 3b 3 1 0 0 1 1 .268C.Ruiz c 4 1 2 3 0 0 .258Cl.Lee p 4 0 0 0 0 2 .259Totals 32 5 10 5 3 3
Washington 000 000 000 — 0 6 1Philadelphia 140 000 00x — 5 10 0
a-struck out for Villone in the 8th. E: A.Dunn (14). LOB: Washington 7, Philadelphia 7. 2B: J.Bard (16), Rollins (37), Ibanez (31), C.Ruiz 2 (24). RBIs: Rollins (66), Utley (90), C.Ruiz 3 (41). S: Mock, Victorino. Runners left in scoring position: Washington 2 (J.Bard 2); Phila-delphia 3 (Victorino, Ibanez, Cl.Lee). DP: Washington 2 (Alb.Gonzalez, Zimmerman, A.Dunn), (Zimmerman, Alb.Gonzalez, A.Dunn).
Washington IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAMock L, 3-8 6 7 5 5 2 2 107 5.89S.Rivera 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 7 5.46Villone 2⁄3 0 0 0 1 0 13 4.14Kensing 1 2 0 0 0 1 18 10.67Philadelphia IP H R ER BB SO NP ERACl.Lee W, 7-2 9 6 0 0 3 9 124 2.67
Inherited runners-scored: Villone 1-0. Umpires: Home, Joe West; First, Ed Rapuano; Second, Paul Schrie-ber; Third, Paul Nauert. T: 2:39. A: 44,521 (43,647).
Marlins 2, Cardinals 1
Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Coghlan lf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .304N.Johnson 1b 3 1 1 0 1 1 .302Ha.Ramirez ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .358Cantu 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .281L.Nunez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Uggla 2b 4 1 1 2 0 3 .244C.Ross rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .273R.Paulino c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .268Maybin cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 .228West p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .071a-Gload ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .2661-Bonifacio pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .251Sanches p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Donnelly p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Helms 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .279Totals 32 2 7 2 1 11
St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Schumaker 2b 4 0 2 0 0 2 .299Lugo ss 3 0 1 0 1 2 .297Pujols 1b 3 0 2 1 0 0 .331Holliday lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .363Ludwick rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .272DeRosa 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .230Y.Molina c 3 0 1 0 1 0 .283Ankiel cf 4 1 1 0 0 3 .235Wainwright p 2 0 0 0 0 0 .148b-Rasmus ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .260T.Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---M.Boggs p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .071c-Thurston ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .228Totals 32 1 7 1 3 13
Florida 000 002 000 — 2 7 0St. Louis 000 010 000 — 1 7 1
a-singled for West in the 7th. b-grounded out for Wain-wright in the 7th. c-struck out for M.Boggs in the 9th. 1-ran for Gload in the 7th. E: Lugo (2). LOB: Florida 5, St. Louis 8. 2B: Pujols (39). HR: Uggla (29), off Wainwright. RBIs: Uggla 2 (78), Pujols (126). SB: Bonifacio (21). CS: Cantu (1). S: West. SF: Pujols. Runners left in scoring position: Florida 3 (Maybin, Coghlan 2); St. Louis 3 (Holliday 3). GIDP: Ha.Ramirez, DeRosa. DP: Florida 1 (Ha.Ramirez, N.Johnson); St. Louis 2 (Lugo, Schumaker, Pujols), (Y.Molina, Y.Molina, Schumaker).
Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAWest W, 7-5 6 6 1 1 3 9 94 4.60Sanches H, 7 1 1 0 0 0 1 14 1.74Donnelly H, 7 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 1.66L.Nunez S, 21-27 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 4.04St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAWainwright L, 18-8 7 7 2 2 1 8 104 2.59T.Miller 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 7 1.77M.Boggs 1 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 3 25 4.00
Umpires: Home, Chris Guccione; First, Mike Winters; Second, Jerry Layne; Third, Tony Randazzo. T: 2:42. A: 42,895 (43,975).
Philadelphia 5, Washington 0Florida 2, St. Louis 1
Lee ends struggles with CGPitchers’ duel goes to rookie, not Cy candidatePHILADELPHIA—With a sellout
crowd standing and roaring in anticipation of another shutout, Cliff Lee reared back and fired his final fastball of the night.
Swing and miss. Game over.Lee threw a six-hitter, Carlos
Ruiz hit a three-run double and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 5-0 on Tuesday night.
“Every time I’m on the mound, I want to be the last guy out there,” Lee said. “I feel strong and good and hopefully I continue to feel that way.”
The N.L. East leaders have won six of eight and reduced their magic number for their third consecutive division title to 12 with 19 games remaining.
In his best outing in three weeks, Lee (7-2) struck out nine and walked three to record his second shutout and sixth com-plete game this season. He was 1-2 with a 9.60 ERA in his pre-vious three starts after giving up three earned runs in his first five with Philadelphia.
“My past few outings I got a little fastball happy,” Lee said. “Tonight, I tried to be more conscious of mixing speeds and it worked. That’s the name of the game. You have to be as unpredictable as possible.”
The defending World Series champions acquired the A.L. Cy Young award winner from Cleve-land in July to strengthen the top of their rotation. Lee has been out-standing for the most part, post-ing a 2.67 ERA in nine starts.
— The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS—One pitch kept Adam Wainwright from his 19th win. It kept the St. Louis Cardinals’ magic number at 10, too.
Dan Uggla golfed a two-run homer on an ankle-high curve-ball for the go-ahead hit in the sixth inning and rookie Sean West had a season-high nine strikeouts while outpitching Wainwright in the Florida Marlins’ 2-1 victory on Tuesday.
“I had a blast,” West said. “The main thing was I wanted to attack those guys and I said ‘Here you go’ and got some swings, got some strikeouts, and all around a good performance.”
Wainwright (18-8) allowed two runs in seven innings and struck out eight, not quite good enough to make him the major leagues’ first 19-game winner. He had been 6-0 with a 1.99 ERA in seven starts since Aug. 8.
“Almost every night with this team that’s going to win,” Wainwright said. “The guy on the other side pitched a great game.”
Wainwright said catcher Yadier Molina would have had to block the pitch in the dirt if Uggla had not made contact. Uggla wasn’t arguing the point.
“He didn’t make a mistake,” Uggla said. “I probably wasn’t supposed to hit the ball out of the ballpark, but somehow I did and I’ll take it.”
The 23-year-old West (7-5) topped his previous strikeout best of seven in six strong innings. The 6-8 lefthander escaped with minimal damage in the fifth when the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out and the middle of the order coming up. Albert Pujols settled for a sacrifice fly to give St. Louis the lead, but Matt Holliday struck out to end the inning.
“I kind of gave a little smirk when Pujols came up and the crowd went crazy,” West said. “I got a slider in at his feet and he popped it up and that was huge right there because I’m pretty sure he can hit it out of the park pretty easy.
“Holliday looked a little susceptible to sliders, that’s what I fed him, and I got him twice.”
Leo Nunez, the fourth Florida pitcher, worked the ninth for his 21st save in 27 chances.
The Marlins are now 4½ games behind Colorado for the N.L. wild card. The Central-leading Cardinals have lost four of five.
St. Louis is 26-20 against lefthanders, but 12-5 since acquir-ing Holliday on July 24. Ryan Ludwick thought hitters chased too many sliders out of the strike zone.
“I don’t like our lineup against anybody if we help the pitcher as much as we did tonight,” manager Tony La Russa said.
The sellout crowd of 42,895 put the Cardinals over 3 million
for the sixth straight season and 11th time in franchise history.They have had 29 sellouts this year.
Uggla hit his 29th homer and fourth in seven games. The two-run go-ahead shot to left with two outs in the sixth was the first homer allowed in five starts by Wainwright and only the fourth in 16 outings dating to June 26.
The homer lifted Uggla’s career numbers against the 6-7 righthander to 2-for-15 with two RBIs and seven strikeouts.
— The Associated Press
TOM GANNAM / AP
Marlins P Sean West struck out a career-high nine in six innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE Cubs 13, Brewers 7
Milwaukee AB R H BI BB SO Avg.F.Lopez 2b 2 1 0 0 2 1 .306Catalanotto 2b 1 1 1 1 0 0 .286C.Hart rf 5 1 1 3 0 1 .257Braun lf 4 1 1 1 1 2 .308Fielder 1b 3 1 0 0 2 1 .298McGehee 3b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .304Gamel ph-3b 1 0 0 0 1 1 .235M.Cameron cf 3 0 1 2 0 1 .257C.Patterson ph-cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .087Kendall c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .238Mi.Rivera ph-c 1 0 0 0 0 0 .232A.Escobar ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .278Gallardo p 3 1 1 0 0 2 .175Coffey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Villanueva p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111C.Smith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Axford p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Gerut ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 .215Totals 35 7 8 7 6 11
Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Theriot ss 2 3 1 1 4 1 .285Fukudome cf 4 1 0 0 1 2 .258D.Lee 1b 2 1 2 3 4 0 .307Ar.Ramirez 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .323Caridad p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000M.Hoffpauir ph 0 0 0 1 1 0 .235Samardzija p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Soto c 5 2 2 3 1 1 .225Bradley rf 4 0 0 1 0 1 .257Fontenot 2b 4 2 2 1 1 1 .235Scales lf 5 1 1 0 0 2 .239Zambrano p 1 0 0 1 0 0 .213Heilman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000-Miles ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .176Gregg p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Je.Baker ph-3b 2 2 2 0 0 0 .291Totals 34 13 11 12 12 8Milwaukee 000 050 002 — 7 8 2Chicago 010 315 21x — 13 11 1E: Kendall (7), Fielder (7), Theriot (15). LOB: Milwaukee 7, Chicago 13. 2B: C.Hart (24), D.Lee (32), Scales (6). 3B: Catalanotto (3), A.Escobar (1). HR: Soto (11), off Gal-lardo. RBIs: Catalanotto (9), C.Hart 3 (43), Braun (100), M.Cameron 2 (61), Theriot (52), D.Lee 3 (101), Ar.Ramirez (56), M.Hoffpauir (29), Soto 3 (43), Bradley (40), Fon-tenot (41), Zambrano (9). SB: Theriot (18), Fontenot (3). CS: C.Hart (5). SF: Zambrano. Runners left in scoring position: Milwaukee 4 (C.Hart, M.Cameron, Kendall, Gamel); Chicago 9 (Bradley 3, Ar.Ramirez, Scales, Fon-tenot 2, Soto 2). DP: Milwaukee 1 (F.Lopez, A.Escobar, Fielder); Chicago 1 (Soto, Soto, Fontenot).
Milwaukee IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAGallardo L, 12-12 5 1⁄3 7 7 7 5 5 107 3.84Coffey 0 1 3 2 1 0 17 3.15Villanueva 2⁄3 2 2 2 1 0 19 5.53C.Smith 1 0 0 0 2 2 29 3.50Axford 1 1 1 1 3 1 30 9.00Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAZambrano 5 6 5 5 4 9 103 3.94Heilman W, 3-3 1 0 0 0 0 1 13 4.15Gregg 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 4.70Caridad 1 0 0 0 1 0 17 2.38Samardzija 1 2 2 2 1 1 19 7.89
Coffey pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Villanueva pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: Coffey 2-2, Villanueva 2-2, C.Smith 2-2. IBB: off Zam-brano (Fielder). HBP: by C.Smith (Bradley), by Coffey (Ar.Ramirez), by Gallardo (Fukudome). WP: Gallardo, Axford, Zambrano 2. PB: Kendall. Umpires: Home, Dana DeMuth; First, Doug Eddings; Second, Brian Knight; Third, Hunter Wendelstedt. T: 3:20. A: 38,986 (41,210).
Reds 5, Astros 4
Houston AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Bourn cf 3 1 0 0 1 1 .293K.Matsui 2b 4 2 2 2 0 1 .252Pence rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .285Ca.Lee lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .306Tejada ss 4 1 1 1 0 1 .301Blum 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .258Keppinger 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .258Coste c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .2262-Manzella pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000Oswalt p 2 0 0 0 0 0 .122Brocail p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---a-Michaels ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .242Gervacio p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Hawkins p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---c-Boone ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000Totals 34 4 7 4 2 5
Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.Stubbs cf 4 1 1 1 0 2 .246Janish ss 4 2 3 1 0 0 .223Votto 1b 3 1 2 0 1 0 .301B.Phillips 2b 4 0 1 1 0 1 .276Rolen 3b 3 0 1 2 0 0 .260Bruce rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .211L.Nix lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .247C.Miller c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .1281-Arroyo pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 .111Hanigan c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270K.Wells p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .111Herrera p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000b-Sutton ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .192Masset p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 30 5 9 5 1 6
Houston 301 000 000 — 4 7 0Cincinnati 200 002 10x — 5 9 0
a-walked for Brocail in the 7th. b-sacrificed for Herrera in the 7th. c-flied out for Hawkins in the 9th. 1-ran for C.Miller in the 7th. 2-ran for Coste in the 9th. LOB: Houston 5, Cincinnati 5. 2B: Janish 3 (17), Votto 2 (25), Rolen (4). HR: K.Matsui (6), off K.Wells; Stubbs (6), off Oswalt. RBIs: K.Matsui 2 (40), Tejada (75), Blum (46), Stubbs (11), Janish (14), B.Phillips (89), Rolen 2 (13). SB: Bourn (56), K.Matsui (19), Tejada (5). S: Sutton. SF: Rolen. Runners left in scoring position: Houston 1 (Bourn); Cincinnati 2 (B.Phillips 2).
Houston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAOswalt 5 6 4 4 0 3 72 4.12Brocail BS, 1-1 1 2 0 0 0 0 13 3.55Gervacio L, 1-1 1 1 1 1 1 2 18 1.26Hawkins 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 2.34Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAK.Wells 6 2⁄3 5 4 4 2 1 98 5.23Herrera W, 4-4 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 5 2.91Masset H, 15 1 1 0 0 0 3 16 2.67Cordero S, 36-39 1 1 0 0 0 0 8 2.32
Oswalt pitched to 2 batters in the 6th. Inherited run-ners-scored: Brocail 2-2, Herrera 2-0. IBB: off Gervacio (Votto). HBP: by Gervacio (C.Miller). Umpires: Home, Tim Welke; First, Jim Reynolds; Second, Chad Fairchild; Third, Bill Welke. T: 2:27. A: 11,923 (42,319).
Braves 6, Mets 0
New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.L.Castillo 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .310Sullivan lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .261D.Wright 3b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .312Beltran cf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .330Dan.Murphy 1b 4 0 2 0 0 0 .260Francoeur rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .273Thole c 3 0 1 0 1 1 .409A.Hernandez ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .253Misch p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000a-Pagan ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .304Dessens p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Takahashi p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000b-N.Evans ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .222Stokes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---Totals 30 0 4 0 4 8
Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg.McLouth cf 5 0 2 3 0 0 .272Prado 3b 5 0 0 0 0 0 .287M.Diaz rf-lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .320McCann c 4 0 1 0 0 0 .281Y.Escobar ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 .303G.Anderson lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .275M.Gonzalez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---O’Flaherty p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000Ad.LaRoche 1b 4 4 4 3 0 0 .280Infante 2b 4 1 3 0 0 1 .301Hanson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .063Church rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .274Totals 33 6 13 6 1 1
New York 000 000 000 — 0 4 0Atlanta 010 301 01x — 6 13 0
a-struck out for Misch in the 6th. b-fouled out for Takahashi in the 8th. LOB: New York 7, Atlanta 8. 2B: Dan.Murphy (33), McLouth (25), G.Anderson (23), Ad.LaRoche 2 (32). HR: Ad.LaRoche (23), off Misch; Ad.LaRoche (24), off Dessens. RBIs: McLouth 3 (65), Ad.LaRoche 3 (70). SB: L.Castillo (16). CS: McLouth (4). S: Hanson 3. Runners left in scoring position: New York 4 (A.Hernandez 2, D.Wright, Beltran); Atlanta 4 (Y.Escobar, McLouth, Prado 2). DP: Atlanta 1 (Infante, Y.Escobar, Ad.LaRoche).
New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAMisch L, 1-3 5 8 4 4 1 0 79 4.21Dessens 1 2⁄3 3 1 1 0 0 21 3.10Takahashi 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2.88Stokes 1 2 1 1 0 1 17 4.04Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERAHanson W, 10-3 7 3 0 0 3 8 95 2.65M.Gonzalez 1 1 0 0 1 0 20 2.48O’Flaherty 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 3.14
Inherited runners-scored: Takahashi 1-0. HBP: by Misch (M.Diaz). Umpires: Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Mike Estabrook; Second, Dan Iassogna; Third, Larry Vanover. T: 2:27. A: 25,094 (49,743).
Chicago Cubs 13, Milwaukee 7
Atlanta 6, N.Y. Mets 0 Cincinnati 5, Houston 4
Zambrano gets fussy after Soto’s big game
LaRoche makes Hanson’s start stand Janish burns hometown team
CHICAGO—Carlos Zambrano tried to remain positive after a rough start. Talk about the Cubs wanting to trade him in the offseason got him riled up.
Geovany Soto homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago Cubs took advantage of 12 walks to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 13-7 on Tuesday night.
Zambrano continued to strug-gle. He handled the Milwaukee lineup with relative ease in the first four innings, striking out eight, but he got roughed up in the fifth for five runs.
“It’s been tough, but I’m not frustrated,” Zambrano said. Just try to help this team and do the best every time I go to the mound, but just have fun. I go out there to have and try to help this team every where I can.”
Zambrano became agitated when asked if he’s seen reports the Cubs will ask him to waive his no-trade clausen.
“I don’t care,” he said. “If the Cubs want to trade me it’s because they don’t like me any-more. I have to move on, what else can I do? Just move on.”
Would he waive his no-trade clause?
“No. I don’t want to. What kind of question is that?” That’s enough,” Zambrano said as he stormed out of the interviewing room.
— The Associated Press
ATLANTA—Thanks to Adam LaRoche, rookie Tommy Han-son didn’t have to worry about his 10th win slipping away again.
Hanson cruised through another start, pitching seven innings, and LaRoche homered twice and drove in three runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to their fifth straight win, 6-0 over the New York Mets on Tuesday night.
Nate McLouth had three RBIs, but this was largely a two-man effort.
Hanson (10-3) has allowed just one run in his last 20 innings to reach double-figure wins in a brilliant debut sea-son. He could have had No. 10 in his last start, pitching eight scoreless inning at Houston, only to have Rafael Soriano blow it in the ninth of a 2-1 loss.
“It was nice to get a few runs early,” said Hanson, who allowed three hits, walked three and struck out eight. “The last few outings, everything has felt good.”
The winning streak has likely come a little late for the Braves, who remained 7½ games behind Philadelphia in the N.L. East. They trail wild-card leader Colorado by five games.
“We have absolutely nothing to lose. We have zero pressure,” LaRoche said. “We’re in a bad position. Everyone is just going out there and doing their thing.”
— The Associated Press
C I N C I N N AT I — H o u s t o n native Paul Janish gave his family and friends some-thing to cheer about—even if he did help beat the Astros.
Janish drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning with his third dou-ble, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 victory over Houston on Tuesday night.
“I was kidding around with some of their guys before the game about it being televised in Hous-ton,” said Janish, who was born and still lives in Houston and went to Rice University. “I said, ‘I’ve got
to do something.’ It’s good playing in front of the home fans.”
Houston reliever Sammy Gervachio (1-1) opened the seventh by hitting Corky Miller. Pitcher Bronson Arroyo ran for Miller and was sacrificed to second by pinch hitter Drew Sutton.
Drew Stubbs struck out, but Janish lined up an opposite-field double to right-center to help send the Astros to their third consecutive loss.
Janish improved to 6 for 13 over his last three games after a 2-for-32 slump.
— The Associated Press
AL BEHRMAN / AP
Reds SS Paul Janish, a Houston native, drove in the go-ahead run.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 27Baseball
INSIDE DISH
Racing heartbeat benches Leafs goalie GustavssonJonas Gustavsson’s bid to land a goal-
tending job with the Toronto Maple Leafs was stalled Tuesday when he was diagnosed with a heart prob-lem that coach Ron Wilson described as a minor concern.
Gustavsson experienced a racing heartbeat following fitness tests on Saturday. But the big Swede took part in on-ice sessions Monday and, when he didn’t appear at the club’s practice facility Tuesday, Wilson was asked about his absence.
It turns out that doctors per-formed an ablation on him, a proce-dure that Wilson said requires an incision in the groin area.
“They go in and touch a part of his heart that was misfiring,” said Wilson. “It’s a simple procedure that’s actually fairly common with athletes. Our doctor said he’ll do 10 NHL players in a summer if they’ve ever shown this (problem). It’s not a difficult procedure. We don’t expect him to miss more than 48 hours.”
“You don’t want him to put his gear on until he’s comfortable and there’s no risk of infection (at the site of the incision).”
Tampa Bay G Mike Smith, seeing his first live action since Jan. 30 because of post-concussion syn-drome, took his first step toward reclaiming a starting job Monday when he stopped two of five shots in a team scrimmage.
“I wasn’t a very good goalie today,” Smith admitted to the St. Petersburg Times, before addressing the bigger picture. “It was good to get back into a real, live situation.”
Smith’s first scrimmage was an
important first step for a team that has hinged its hopes for a rebound season on his healthy return. Smith, 27, was considered the team’s MVP over the first half of last season before suffering the injury that has kept everyone guessing for more than seven months. Coach Rick Toc-chet was happy with what he saw.
“He’s square to the puck. He doesn’t look like he’s discombobulated,” he told the newspaper. “All the other stuff will come. He looks good.”
The Detroit News reported that F Darren Helm, whose surprising play helped energize the Red Wings in the playoffs last spring, could miss from two to four weeks after spraining an AC joint in his right shoulder.
“It’s never fun to get injured, especially for me right now coming in here trying to prove myself and prove that I belong here all year,” Helm told the newspaper. “It’s pretty frustrating.”
Helm, who could be the team’s fourth-line center, reportedly tripped over the stick of D Logan Pyett and crashed hard into the boards.
“Real disappointing,” coach Mike Babcock told the paper. “We are real fortunate it’s not worse than it is.”
Sharks coach Todd McLellan has ended any suspense about his top line, telling the San Jose Mercury News that new F Dany Heatley, a two-time 50-goal scorer, will be paired with one of the top playmakers in the game.
“Right now,” McLellan told the newspaper, “we’re thinking of play-ing him on the left side with Joe (Thorn-
ton) and probably Devin Setoguchi.”That Heatley, one of the game’s
top goal scorers, would be paired with Thornton, one of the NHL’s elite passers, came as no surprise. But McLellan’s choice of Setoguchi over Patrick Marleau puts Marleau on a second line, probably with Joe Pav-
elski and Ryane Clowe.“Jumbo (Thornton) is obviously a
pass-first guy,” McLellan told the paper. “We’d like him to shoot the puck a lot more, but when he’s pass-ing, it’ll be nice to see it go to Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi. Both of those guys love to shoot the puck.”
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed C Antoine Vermette to a five-year contract extension through the 2014-15 season.
Tuesday’s announcement from G.M. Scott Howson did not disclose terms of the deal, but The Columbus
Dispatch reported the extension is worth $3.75 million per year, for a total of $18.75 million.
Vermette, 27, had seven goals and six assists in 17 games after he was acquired from Ottawa last year for G Pascal Leclaire.
Montreal D Andrei Markov says he’s not interested in becoming team captain.
Markov called the responsibility a huge one and said Tuesday he just wants to concentrate on his on-ice performance. A published report said Markov had rejected the cap-taincy, but both the player and coach Jacques Martin denied he had even been approached.
Fred Cusick, the radio and televi-sion voice of the Boston Bruins for more than four decades, died Tues-day at age 90.
Cusick’s son, Ted, said his father died at his Barnstable, Mass., home after suffering from cancer. Cusick’s death came one day before he was scheduled to be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcast-ers Hall of Fame.
Cusick began his career with radio broadcasts of the Bruins in 1952. He moved to television in 1971 and retired from calling games in 1997.
The St. Louis Blues have exer-cised their contract option to keep coach Andy Murray through the 2010-11 season. Murray led St. Louis to a 41-31-10 record last season, includ-ing a 25-9-7 second-half surge that put the Blues in the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
MISHA JAPARIDZE / AP
Leafs’ coach Ron Wilson has called Jonas Gustavsson, right, the ‘best goaltender outside of the NHL.’
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 28NHL
SUMMARIES
Kunitz ends it in overtime for Pens
Columbus 1 2 1 0 — 4Pittsburgh 0 0 4 1 — 5
First Period: 1, Columbus, Voracek 1 (Brassard, Umberger), 16:14 (pp). Penalties: Fedotenko, Pit (boarding), 1:25; Dorsett, Clm (hooking), 7:10; Lynch, Clm, major (fighting), 9:36; Godard, Pit (roughing), 9:36; Engelland, Pit, major (fighting), 9:36; Sestito, Clm, major (fighting), 11:52; Godard, Pit, major (fighting), 11:52; Roy, Clm (cross-checking), 12:19; McKee, Pit (high-sticking), 15:23.Second Period: 2, Columbus, Mayorov 1 (Fila-tov, Moore), 15:21 (pp). 3, Columbus, Mayorov 2 (Blunden), 19:45. Penalties: Clitsome, Clm (interference), 10:26; Vitale, Pit (hooking), 14:05; Boll, Clm (goaltender interference), 15:49.Third Period: 4, Pittsburgh, Crosby 1 (Tangradi, Gonchar), 3:49 (pp). 5, Pittsburgh, Crosby 2 (Tangradi, Kunitz), 6:49. 6, Pittsburgh, Conner 1 (McKee), 13:44. 7, Columbus, Picard 1 (Murray, Roy), 17:58. 8, Pittsburgh, Kunitz 1 (Eaton), 18:15. Penalties: Roy, Clm (hooking), 2:57; Dorsett, Clm (roughing), 7:30; Fedotenko, Pit (roughing), 7:30; Brassard, Clm (slashing), 8:34.Overtime: 9, Pittsburgh, Kunitz 2 (Crosby), :44. Penalties: None.Shots on Goal: Columbus 9-10-7-2: 28. Pitts-burgh 12-9-20-1: 42.Power-play opportunities: Columbus 2 of 4; Pittsburgh 1 of 6.Goalies: Columbus, Garon (21 shots-21 saves), LaCosta 0-0-1 (0:00 third, 21-16). Pittsburgh, Fleury (19-16), Thiessen 1-0-0 (0:00 third, 9-8).A: 15,766 (16,940). T: 2:23.Referees: David Banfield, Stephane Auger. Linesmen: Derek Amell, Brad Kovachik.
Boston 1 0 1 — 2N.Y. Rangers 0 0 1 — 1
First Period: 1, Boston, Hamill 1 (Sturm, Wheeler), 7:30 (pp). Penalties: Byers, NYR (hooking), 6:01; Boyle, NYR (hooking), 9:16; Semenov, NYR (slash-ing), 12:52; Boyle, NYR (holding), 15:52.Second Period: None. Penalties: Chara, Bos (holding), 6:17; Bodnarchuk, Bos (holding), 17:08.Third Period: 2, Boston, Savard 1 (Lucic, Boychuk), 6:39 (pp). 3, N.Y. Rangers, Higgins 1 (Semenov, Kotalik), 10:05. Penalties: Kotalik, NYR (boarding), 5:14; Callahan, NYR (goaltender interference), 18:55.Shots on Goal: Boston 14-8-13: 35. N.Y. Rang-ers 5-14-13: 32.Power-play opportunities: Boston 2 of 6; N.Y. Rangers 0 of 2.Goalies: Boston, Rask 1-0-0 (32 shots-31 saves). N.Y. Rangers, Valiquette 0-1-0 (19-18), Zaba (11:17 second, 16-15).A: 11,111 (18,200). T: 2:13.Referees: Dave Jackson, Chris Ciamaga. Lines-men: Anthony Sericolo, Tim Nowak.
Phoenix (ss) 1 1 1 — 3Los Angeles (ss) 1 1 2 — 4
First Period: 1, Los Angeles, Johnson 1 (Purcell, Moller), 17:00 (pp). 2, Phoenix, Boedker 1 (Porter, Meyer), 19:48 (pp). Penalties: Meyer, Pho, major (fighting), 2:17; Fritz, Pho, major (fighting), 2:17; Westgarth, LA, major (fighting), 2:17; Clune, LA, major (fighting), 2:17; Pyatt, Pho (hooking), 3:49; Mikus, LA (tripping), 10:32; Lupaschuk, Pho (inter-ference), 16:31; Kopitar, LA (slashing), 18:32.Second Period: 3, Phoenix, Yandle 1 (Porter, Hol-lweg), 5:18. 4, Los Angeles, Williams 1 (Kopitar, Doughty), 16:11. Penalties: Purcell, LA (inter-ference), :50; Pyatt, Pho, major (fighting), 6:56; Teubert, LA (boarding, roughing, fighting), 6:56; Clifford, LA (roughing), 18:24.Third Period: 5, Los Angeles, Purcell 1 (Williams, Johnson), 8:39 (pp). 6, Los Angeles, Johnson 2 (Scuderi), 11:06 (sh). 7, Phoenix, Mueller 1 (Por-ter), 11:59 (pp). Penalties: Porter, Pho (hooking), 7:36; Yandle, Pho (roughing), 9:28; Clune, LA (roughing), 9:28; Clifford, LA (hooking), 10:52; Mueller, Pho (holding), 18:31.Missed Penalty Shot: Korpikoski, Pho, 4:43 second.Shots on Goal: Phoenix 9-4-11: 24. Los Ange-les 11-14-11: 36.Power-play opportunities: Phoenix 2 of 7; Los Angeles 2 of 4.Goalies: Phoenix, Montoya 0-1-0 (36 shots-32 saves). Los Angeles, Bernier 1-0-0 (24-21).A: 8,432 (18,118). T: 2:25.Referees: Mike Leggo, Kyle Rehman. Linesmen: Don Henderson, Thor Nelson.
Los Angeles (ss) 1 0 1 — 2Phoenix (ss) 1 1 2 — 4
First Period: 1, Phoenix, Vandermeer 1 (Aucoin), 14:20 (pp). 2, Los Angeles, Simmonds 1 (Voynov, Drewiske), 19:31 (pp).Second Period: 3, Phoenix, Fiddler 1 (Spina, Sauer), 13:05.Third Period: 4, Phoenix, Hoggan 1 (Lessard, Jovanovski), 14:50. 5, Phoenix, Spina 1 (Upshall, Stone), 16:41. 6, Los Angeles, Simmonds 2 (Hand-zus, Frolov), 16:56.Shots on Goal: Los Angeles 3-6-5: 14. Phoe-nix 7-9-14: 30.Goalies: Los Angeles, Ersberg, Zatkoff. Phoenix, Bryzgalov. A: 4,643 (17,125). T: 2:15.
Edmonton 1 1 2 — 4Calgary 0 0 1 — 1
First Period: 1, Edmonton, O’Sullivan 1 (Plante, Gilbert), 10:11. Penalties: Arsene, Edm, major (fighting), 1:49; Murray, Cal, major (fighting), 1:49; Strudwick, Edm (roughing), 3:56; Plante, Edm (tripping), 7:55; Stortini, Edm, major (fight-ing), 10:58; Prust, Cal, major (fighting), 10:58; Pardy, Cal (tripping), 19:44.Second Period: 2, Edmonton, O’Sullivan 2 (Comrie, Stone), 1:25. Penalties: Brennan, Edm (roughing), 2:21; Jaffray, Cal (holding), 5:33; Murray, Cal (slashing), 7:19; Schremp, Edm (high-sticking), 13:47; Jacques, Edm (hooking), 16:27.Third Period: 3, Calgary, Jaffray 1 (Lundmark), 10:26 (pp). 4, Edmonton, Gilbert 1 (Schremp, Comrie), 15:27 (pp). 5, Edmonton, Horcoff 1, 19:32 (en). Penalties: Moreau, Edm (elbowing), 2:39; Paukovich, Edm (tripping), 6:04; Gilbert, Edm (interference), 8:49; Stuart, Cal, double minor (high-sticking), 13:06; Pardy, Cal (hold-ing), 16:20.Shots on Goal: Edmonton 10-9-11: 30. Cal-gary 11-10-10: 31.Power-play opportunities: Edmonton 1 of 5; Calgary 1 of 8.Goalies: Edmonton, Drouin-Deslauriers 1-0-0 (13 shots-13 saves), Dubnyk (9:13 second, 18-17). Calgary, Keetley 0-1-0 (18-16), Irving (9:14 second, 11-10).A: 19,289 (19,289). T: 2:25.Referees: Tom Kowal, Brad Meier. Linesmen: Mike Cvik, Mark Wheler.
Florida 2 1 0 — 3Ottawa 1 0 0 — 1
First Period: 1, Ottawa, Picard 1 (Karlsson, Hen-nessy), 15:22 (pp). 2, Florida, Timmins 1 (Horton, Ellerby), 16:19. 3, Florida, Kreps 1 (Koistinen, Dadonov), 17:39. Penalties: Schubert, Ott (hooking), 2:24; Dadonov, Fla (interference), 7:25; Kulikov, Fla (holding), 18:57.Second Period: 4, Florida, Booth 1 (Weiss, Horton), 19:38. Penalties: Koistinen, Fla (hold-ing), 1:08; Bannister, Ott (hooking), 3:37; Carkner, Ott (cross-checking), 5:25; Condra, Ott (delay of game), 8:45; McArdle, Fla (holding), 11:22; Tar-nasky, Fla, major (fighting), 14:58; Neil, Ott, major (fighting), 14:58.Third Period: None. Penalties: Picard, Ott (boarding), 1:48; Kulikov, Fla (hooking), 4:11; Carkner, Ott (roughing), 8:25; Weiss, Fla (hooking), 8:33; Donovan, Ott (interference), 12:23; Koistinen, Fla (holding), 17:31; Neil, Ott (tripping), 18:12.Shots on Goal: Florida 11-10-9: 30. Ottawa 7-7-13: 27.Power-play opportunities: Florida 0 of 8; Ottawa 1 of 7.Goalies: Florida, Clemmensen 1-0-0 (14 shots-13 saves), Salak (0:00 third, 13-13). Ottawa, Leclaire 0-1-0 (16-14), Lehner (11:27 second, 14-13).A: 6,178 (0). T: 2:30.Referees: Stephane Auger, Ghislain Hebert. Linesmen: Pierre Champoux, Michel Cormier.
Minnesota 0 0 1 — 1St. Louis 2 0 1 — 3
First Period: 1, St. Louis, Kariya 1 (Boyes, Bell), 4:26. 2, St. Louis, Porter 1 (Armstrong, Palushaj), 4:55. Penalties: Brodziak, Min (hooking), 5:59; Kalus, Min (high-sticking), 8:33; Janssen, StL (hooking), 10:56; Kassian, Min (slashing), 13:55; Falk, Min, major (fighting), 15:55; Janssen, StL, minor-major-misconduct (instigator, fighting), 15:55; Smith, Min, served by Pouliot, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 18:54; Armstrong, StL, major (fighting), 18:54.Second Period: None. Penalties: Kalus, Min (high-sticking), 10:12; Backes, StL (tripping), 16:35; Perron, StL (holding), 16:35.Third Period: 3, St. Louis, Armstrong 1 (Bell, Weaver), 2:31. 4, Minnesota, Pouliot 1 (Sheppard, Irmen), 19:03 (pp). Penalties: Irmen, Min, major (fighting), 4:41; Perron, StL, major (fighting), 4:41; Reaves, StL (tripping), 5:52; Johnson, StL (interfer-ence), 8:41; Sydor, StL (holding), 12:35; Scott, Min, misconduct, 15:44; Janssen, StL, misconduct, 15:44; Armstrong, StL (interference), 18:56.Shots on Goal: Minnesota 6-12-16: 34. St. Louis 9-8-4: 21.Power-play opportunities: Minnesota 1 of 8; St. Louis 0 of 5.Goalies: Minnesota, Khudobin (17 shots-15 saves), Hackett 0-1-0 (0:00 third, 4-3). St. Louis, Mason 1-0-0 (10-10), Bishop (10:09 second, 24-23).A: 10,582 (19,150). T: 2:19.Referees: Tim Peel, Justin St. Pierre. Linesmen: Pierre Racicot, Mark Pare.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 29NHL
Preseason GlanceAll Times EDT
EASTERN CONFERENCEAtlantic Division
W L OT Pts GF GAPittsburgh 1 0 0 2 5 4New Jersey 0 0 0 0 0 0Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0 0N.Y. Islanders 0 1 0 0 1 2N.Y. Rangers 0 1 0 0 1 2
Northeast Division W L OT Pts GF GABoston 1 0 0 2 2 1Buffalo 0 0 0 0 0 0Montreal 0 0 0 0 0 0Toronto 0 0 0 0 0 0Ottawa 0 1 0 0 1 3
Southeast Division W L OT Pts GF GAFlorida 1 0 0 2 3 1Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 0Carolina 0 0 0 0 0 0Tampa Bay 0 0 0 0 0 0Washington 0 0 0 0 0 0
WESTERN CONFERENCECentral Division
W L OT Pts GF GASt. Louis 1 0 0 2 3 1Columbus 0 0 1 1 4 5Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0Nashville 0 0 0 0 0 0
Northwest Division W L OT Pts GF GAEdmonton 1 0 0 2 4 1Vancouver 1 0 0 2 2 1Colorado 0 0 0 0 0 0Minnesota 0 1 0 0 1 3Calgary 0 1 0 0 1 4
Pacific Division W L OT Pts GF GAPhoenix 1 1 0 2 7 6Los Angeles 1 1 0 2 6 7Anaheim 0 0 0 0 0 0Dallas 0 0 0 0 0 0San Jose 0 0 0 0 0 0Two points for a win, one point for over-time loss or shootout loss.
Sept. 14Vancouver 2, N.Y. Islanders 1
Tuesday’s gamesFlorida 3, Ottawa 1Boston 2, N.Y. Rangers 1Pittsburgh 5, Columbus 4, OTSt. Louis 3, Minnesota 1Edmonton 4, Calgary 1Phoenix (ss) 4, Los Angeles (ss) 2Los Angeles (ss) 4, Phoenix (ss) 3
Today’s gamesBoston at Toronto, 7 p.m.N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey, 7 p.m.Florida at Ottawa, 7 p.m.Philadelphia at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.Tampa Bay at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.N.Y. Islanders at Edmonton, 9 p.m.Phoenix at Anaheim, 10 p.m.
PITTSBURGH—Chris Kunitz scored his second goal of the game 44 seconds into overtime to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-4 preseason win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Penguins’ first game since win-ning the Stanley Cup in June.
Sidney Crosby had two goals and assisted on the winner for Pittsburgh.
Boston 2, N.Y. Rangers 1NEW YORK—Bruins goalie
Tuukka Rask made 31 saves in a rare complete-game preseason effort, and prospect Zach Hamill scored a first-period goal.
Rask, who stopped 35 Rang-ers shots on Jan. 31 for a 1-0 vic-tory in his only action with the Bruins last season, stymied New York again. A big test came in the second period when New York recorded 14 shots and had two power plays.
St. Louis 3, Minnesota 1ST. LOUIS—Paul Kariya scored
in his first game action in almost a year to help the St. Blues beat the Wild in the preseason opener for both teams. Erik Johnson also returned for St. Louis, which got goals from Kariya and Chris Porter 29 seconds apart in the first period.
Florida 3, Ottawa 1HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA—New Sena-
tors goalie Pascal Leclaire stopped 14 of 16 shots.
Scott Timmins and Kamil
Kreps put Florida ahead in the first period and David Booth added a goal in the second.
Phoenix (ss) 4, Los Angeles (ss) 2
GLENDALE, ARIZ.—With only a couple thousand on hand, if that, the Phoenix Coyotes began an uncertain preseason with a split-squad win over Los Angeles.
Minority owner and coach Wayne Gretzky was nowhere to be seen as the franchise awaits resolution of its case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and a final decision on its ownership. Ulf Samuelsson ran the bench.
Los Angeles (ss) 4,Phoenix (ss) 3
LOS ANGELES—Jack Johnson scored two goals and assisted on another to help Kings split the split-squad games aginst Phoenix.
Edmonton 4, Calgary 1CALGARY—Patrick O’Sullivan
scored twice for the Oilers.O’Sullivan only had two goals
in 19 games for Edmonton after he was acquired from the Kings.
Jarome Iginla sat for Calgary, as did 41-year-old Theo Fleury, who is attempting a comeback after six years away from the NHL.
— The Associated Press
Penguins C Sidney Crosby couldn’t sneak this shot past Columbus G Mathieu Garon, but he did manage to score twice in the Stanley Cup champions’ first preseason game.
PRESEASONSPOTLIGHT
Pittsburgh 5, Columbus 4, OT
GENE J. PUSKAR / AP
BY LARRY LAGESporting News Yearbooks
While contract talk in Ohio usually focuses on NBA great LeBron James, there was another Buckeye State sports star nearing the end of his deal over the summer.
But unlike James, Columbus captain and left winger Rick Nash chose not to toy with his team, quickly signing an eight-year extension worth more than $62 million to remain with the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall seven years ago.
“I didn’t want it to be a distraction to the locker room,” Nash said.
Nash, 25, could have declined the long-term offer and chosen to be a free agent next offseason—perhaps even returning home to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But instead of chasing riches and a better shot at hoisting the Stanley Cup, Nash listened to his loyal leanings after helping Colum-bus get to the playoffs last year for the first time in the franchise’s eight seasons.
He scored 40 times—one short of his pre-vious high that led the league in 2003-04—and had 79 points, surpassing a previous career high by 10.
“We took a huge step last year and I love being the leader of this team,” Nash said. “It would’ve been easy to go back to my home-town, all my friends and family, but I’ve invested a lot of time in this organization and the organization has invested a lot of time in me.”
Nash’s decision to stay gives professional hockey a chance to thrive in Columbus for much of the next decade. Nash acknowledged not knowing where the city was located when he was drafted as an 18-year-old phenom, but his spectacular skill set has put the Ohio state capital on the hockey map.
“I think his signing sends a message to our younger players that he’s in it for the long haul and they can be, too, with this franchise,” Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitch-cock said. “Our best young players—Steve Mason, Jakub Voracek, Derick Brassard and Rostislav Klesla—know they don’t have to leave us.”
Mason went from the AHL to Columbus last November, and helped turn the fran-chise around with a sparkling 33-20-7 record. He had a 2.29 goals-against average that ranked second in the NHL, as well as a league-leading 10 shutouts.
For his effort, Mason won the 2008-09 Calder Trophy in the most dominant per-formance by a rookie goaltender since Tony Esposito’s sensational 1969-70 season. But Mason came back to earth in the playoffs when he gave up 17 goals in a first-round sweep courtesy of the Detroit Red Wings. He and many of his teammates, who were in the playoffs for the first time, learned a valuable lesson.
“It took us two games to dial it up for 60 minutes the way you have to in the play-offs,” Hitchcock said. “In every game but the last one, we faded in the third period. We’ll learn from that. You can’t have credi-bility without making it to the playoffs con-sistently, and now it’s our task to get back there and take the next step.”
Columbus received key contributions from a handful of newcomers last season, getting more than 100 points combined from for-wards Kristian Huselius and R.J. Umberger, along with solid defense from Fedor Tyutin and Mike Commodore. Defenseman Jan Hejda had a plus-23 rating to break a fran-chise record he set the previous year.
A pair of rookies—forwards Brassard and Voracek—inspired hope for this season
and beyond. Brassard was leading all rook-ies in scoring before his season was stunted by injury after just 31 games.
The Blue Jackets’ biggest news of the
offseason was getting Nash to stay for the long term.
But the team made a few subtle, yet solid, moves in signing center Samuel Pahlsson
to a three-year deal, providing a veteran up front who can handle the puck, and acquir-ing dependable Mathieu Garon to back up Mason.
Now it’s up to Hitchcock to put it all together, and the Blue Jackets coach has a track record of doing just that.
In his 11th full season, Hitchcock has 511 career coaching wins and has led his team to the playoffs nine times.
Columbus earned 80 points under Hitch-cock last season and the team’s 92 points and 10 games over .500 were franchise highs.
— For much more on the Blue Jackets, purchase a copy of Sporting
News Hockey ’09-10 yearbook by calling 1-800-380-7404. Or order it
online at sportingnews.com or streetandsmiths.com
NHL countdown
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 30NHL
NumbersCATEGORY TEAM STATS RANKS
Goals per game 2.68 21
Penalty kill percentage 82.08 13
Power play goals 41 30
Power play percentage 12.73 30
Saves 2058 27
Save percentage .902 19
Shorthanded goals 8 12t
Shots against per game 27.82 3
Shots per game 28.90 21t
Shutouts 11 1
Total points 592 21
Faceoff percentage .512 11
Goals against per game 2.72 9t
Power play opportunities
322 22
Shorthanded goals against
12 4
Times shut out 6 7t
Offseason moves
AdditionsMathieu Garon, G (Penguins); Samuel Pahlsson, C
(Blackhawks); Pascal Pelletier, LW (Blackhawks);
Mathieu Roy, D (Oilers).
SubtractionsWade Dubielewicz, G (Wild); CraigMacDonald, F (Europe); Aaron Rome, D (Canucks);
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, D (Flyers).
NAM Y. HUH / AP
Rick Nash’s decision to stay in Columbus will continue to give the Blue Jackets a leader to build their team around.
15Every day in September leading into the Oct. 1 season openers, Sporting News Today will preview each of the NHL teams, counting backward from its July 24 Power Poll.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 2008-09 record: 41-31-10, 92 points
Last Playoff: 2009 (lost in conference quarterfinal)
Coach: Ken Hitchcock
1. Xavier Henry, freshman forward, Kansas. Opinions vary widely on Henry, a
McDonald’s All-American who believes he’s a one-and-done talent. Uh, maybe. He’s a physically powerful wing but is not a Kobe Bryant-style athlete. He’ll have to be a great shooter to make it big.
This works out fine for KU because the Jayhawks need a shooter. They did not have a double-figure scorer who made 38 percent or more of his 3s last season. Henry is an ideal fit, if he chooses to be. That’s where the “pivotal” part comes in. Henry has to take the scoring opportuni-ties that develop, not try to elbow his way into stardom.
If he’s a solid starter for an NCAA champion, there’ll be an opportunity for him in the 2010 draft.
2. Larry Drew, sophomore guard, North CarolinaThe Tar Heels lost their top four scorers,
but there is no shortage of replacements—except at point guard.
Drew was a McDonald’s All-American, but it was an odd choice given that Scout, Rivals and Hoopmasters all rated him outside the top 50. Drew played some when Ty Lawson was injured late last season but mostly was asked to stay out of the way.
It hasn’t been established whether he has the ability to excel at this level.
3. Robbie Hummel, junior forward, PurdueFor the Boilers to continue their gradual
climb, Hummel will need to recapture the promise of his youth. Yeah, it’s only been two years since he was a freshman star, and he was still pretty doggone good with an aching back, but Hummel at full strength could make this a special team.
Hummel said in June he was feeling much better, and he played OK for the U.S. in the World University Games. But if he were truly himself, he’d have been the best guy on that team.
4. Matthew Bryan-Amaning,junior center, Washington
Nagging injuries have hindered his development, but that’s not enough of an excuse for him struggling to get minutes as last season closed.
Bryan-Amaning moves well, has a reasonable amount of skill and is the UW big man best suited to complement the team’s blazing perimeter attack. He is capable of better performances than he’s delivered.
5. Corey Fisher, junior guard, VillanovaBased on glimpses of other publications’
preseason rankings, Sporting News is not quite as high on the Wildcats as most others. (We’re high on them, just not as high).
If they are to overcome the losses of Dante Cunningham, Shane Clark and Dwayne Anderson, which our competitors
seem to dismiss as no big deal, it would appear the Wildcats would have to take full advantage of the available talent. That
suggests a larger role for Fisher.He was the team’s third-leading scorer last
year but played only 24.3 minutes per game. Fisher is as good at breaking down defend-ers as most any college point guard. If we see more of that, perhaps the Wildcats will be as powerful as everyone (else) insists.
6. Delvon Roe, sophomore forward, Michigan StateA lot of Michigan State players could fit
this category: Raymar Morgan, bothered so much by illness last season; Durrell Summers and Chris Allen, who struggled to carve out consistent roles.
But after a freshman season affected by injuries that lingered from high school, Roe is best qualified to give the Spartans an inside presence. Is he healthy enough now?
7. Darius Miller, sophomore forward, KentuckyIt’s not like the Wildcats are hurting for
wing options. If it’s not Miller, it could be DeAndre Liggins or Ramon Harris. But Miller best fits the vacancy.
Darnell Dodson probably starts at shooting guard because he is the one true deep threat. But Miller can score a variety of ways and should take great advantage of opportunities that develop in the Dribble Drive offense.
8. Bobby Maze, senior guard, TennesseeWould it be unkind to say the Vols were a
dysfunctional mess by the end of last season? Sure, but it wouldn’t be wrong. A lot of what undid them started at the point guard position, where Maze shot poorly and made questionable decisions. And the defense that once was among the most disruptive in college basketball became easy to conquer.
It’s not uncommon for junior college players to take a year to completely adjust to Division I. With as much talent and experience as the Vols enjoy, they could be Final Four-good if they’re solid at the point.
The biggest college basketball games are decided by the biggest talents: Tyler Hansbrough, Emeka Okafor and Al Horford. That’s rather obvious. There are important stars in the team picture of nearly every NCAA champion.
There also were great players, though, on a lot of the losing teams. Gilbert Arenas, Derrick Rose and Deron Williams all fell in the national title game, and Dwyane Wade, Jameer Nelson and Allen Iverson didn’t get that far.
So what happens between now and April isn’t just about the big names. Somewhere out there is a Danny Green, whose role in determining the season’s outcome will be greater than anyone might have imagined.
Who might be such a player? These guys—the pivotal players for 2009-10:
From Kansas to UNC and beyond: Pivotal players for ’09-10
Mike DeCourcyCOLLEGE BASKETBALL
JAMES CRISP / AP
Darius Miller (5.3 ppg as a freshman) has a chance to take advantage of an opening on the wing for Kentucky.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 31College Basketball
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 32 College Basketball / NBA
Spurs forward Richard Jefferson could miss the start of training camp after dislocating his right thumb.
Jefferson was injured Tuesday while working out at the Spurs’ practice facility. X-rays were negative, and the 29-year-old swingman is expected to be re-examined next week.
The Spurs called the injury minor. Training camp begins Sept. 29.
Heat basketball operations employees—includ-ing team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra—have accepted up to a 20 percent pay cut in order to avoid layoffs.
The cuts also include assistant coaches and scouts. Player salaries are not being affected. The Heat laid off 20 members of its business operations staff in May as a result of the economic downturn.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel also noted that the team still hasn’t replaced former general manager Randy Pfund, who resigned on the eve of last season, with Riley, senior vice president Andy Elisburg and Nick Arison, son of owner Micky Arison, taking on many of Pfund’s old responsibilities.
Warriors G/F Stephen Jackson was fined $25,000 for public statements detrimental to the NBA, the league announced Tuesday. Jackson, speaking at a public event in New York on Aug. 28, told a crowd of fans, “I don’t think I’ll be a Warrior next year. I’m looking to leave.”
In its press release, the NBA said players are not permitted to make trade requests publicly.
The Suns reached an agreement on a contract buyout with SG Sasha Pavlovic, who was acquired from Cleveland as part of the trade that sent Shaquille O’Neal to the Cavaliers.
According to The Arizona Republic, Pavlovic accepted a buyout of $1.25 million, $250,000 less than his guar-anteed salary of $1.5 million and $3.7 million less than his full salary of $4.95 for the last year of his contract.
No. 1 NBA draft pick Blake Griffin has been
cleared to work out with the Clippers after hurting his shoulder during the summer league. Griffin strained his right shoulder July 16 in Las Vegas, causing him to miss a minicamp for USA Basket-ball. He averaged 19.2 points and 10.8 rebounds in summer league play.
The 76ers signed free agent G/F Rodney Carney a year after trading him away. Carney spent last season with the Timberwolves, averaging 7.2 points and 1.9 rebounds.
Raptors F Hedo Turkoglu, who’s been playing with Turkey at the European basketball championship, has had minor soreness in one of his knees that’s causing problems with his mobility, the Toronto Star reported. However, the Raptors aren’t expecting it to be a prob-lem heading into the season. In Tuesday’s EuroBasket games, defending champion Russia edged Macedonia 71-69, France defeated Greece 71-69 and Croatia earned the final quarterfinal spot from Group E with its 70-68 win over Germany.
Missouri coach Mike Anderson got the Tigers to the NCAA Elite Eight before he landed his first elite player. So how far can the Tigers go now that big-time players have started to choose the school?
Pit-bull PG Phil Pressey from the Episcopal School in Dal-las is the Tigers’ latest commitment. He is rated No. 33 among 2010 prospects by Scout.com and becomes the first top 50 prospect to pledge to Anderson at Mizzou.
Current freshman Michael Dixon, a 6-1 point guard from Lees Summit, Mo., was rated the No. 12 point guard in the 2009 class but did not crack Scout’s top 100.
Pressey’s tenacious approach to the game should be a perfect fit for Anderson’s pressure defense. Listed at 5-10 but possibly shorter, Pressey is a power point who can overwhelm weaker opponents at both ends.
Pressey is the second commitment for Mizzou’s 2010 class, joining 3-star prospect—and local product—Ricky Kreklow of Columbia.
— Mike DeCourcy
Former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie wants a law-suit that the school filed against him moved to federal court. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Gil-lispie asked that the case be moved to U.S. District Court in Frankfort from Franklin Circuit Court.
Gillispie sued the University of Kentucky Athletics Association in federal court in Dallas on May 27, claiming fraud and breach of contract stemming from his March firing. The university countersued in state court.
Meanwhile, Kentucky told the NCAA it disciplined former men’s basketball administrative assistant Bilal Batley for shagging rebounds with an unnamed student-athlete at a gym, a secondary rules violation.
Landing Ben Uzoh out of San Antonio a few years back has paid off in many ways for the Tulsa program, and it has helped lead to another important recruit.
Combo guard Jordan Clarkson of Wagner High is rated the No. 4 player in Texas. He committed to Tulsa in part because he believed he could follow the same career path as Uzoh, a double-figure scorer each of the past two seasons.
Tulsa already has three commitments for 2010, with Clarkson joined by big man Blondy Baruti of Mesa, Ariz.,
and G Tim Peete of Central High in Memphis.Peete is Tulsa’s first recruit from Memphis in nearly
four decades. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mem-phis sent Tulsa two of the greatest players in the school’s history: Bobby “Bingo” Smith and Willie Biles, both members of the school’s athletic hall of fame.
— Mike DeCourcy
Elsinore (Wildomar, Calif.) PF James Johnson has com-mitted to Virginia, Scout.com reported. Johnson (6-9) also took an official visit to California earlier this month and had scholarship offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, among others.
“James felt so good about the program,” his father, Ted Johnson, told Scout.com. “It’s the ACC; James always wanted to play in the ACC.
— Brian McLaughlin
COLLEGE BASKETBALL NBA
INSIDE DISH INSIDE DISH
Anderson’s first ‘elite’ recruit at Missouri fits his system
L.G. PATTERSON / AP
Mike Anderson is 65-35 in three seasons at Missouri.
Spurs’ Jefferson dislocates right thumb
L.G. PATTERSON / AP
Pat Riley, left, and Erik Spoelstra took cuts to help avoid layoffs.
BY REA WHITESceneDaily.com
Brian Vickers can’t put his fin-ger on any one thing that his team did to improve its performance. There was no significant change to the car, no perfect hire that caused things to meld more completely into a championship-contending team.
Crew chief Ryan Pemberton thinks it was more a case of time together. Pemberton joined the team this season, its third in the Sprint Cup Series, and the group began building notes and relation-ships—in other words, began crafting the pieces of a champion-ship team.
“They’ve both accomplished some things in their careers, but together they could do some spec-tacular things in their career,” team general manager Jay Frye said.
And look what happened. Vick-ers finished 35th at New Hamp-shire in June and left the track 17th in the standings and 197 points outside of the top 12 and a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. In the nine races that fol-lowed, Vickers posted seven top 10s, including a win at Michigan. He finished 11th and 12th in the other two races. He finished sev-enth at Richmond to clinch a spot in the Chase.
“The past 10 weeks, we really started to click as a group of people who really just built this chemistry and just became stronger and stronger,” Vickers said. “I think it shows. The past 10 weeks we have had unbelievable performance. It wasn’t one person, it wasn’t one
magical thing. It was a lot of things coming together, hard work and perseverance.”
It earned Vickers the eighth seed. The Chase starts Sunday at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
Pemberton said the team has capitalized on its time together. And now they are hitting tracks
for the second time—which has the potential to make the team even more formidable.
“The second time around, we can talk about what we did there before,” Pemberton said. “What we did the last time at Loudon, what will we do different. That first Loudon race, we didn’t have that. We couldn’t even have that conversation. All we had was that one practice session to build off of. So now we can start putting some-thing together. … I think we (will be) smarter and be able to put a better product on the racetrack and ultimately give him a little bet-ter racecar, and he does a little bet-ter with it.”
In that race, Vickers was col-lected in an accident and finished 35th. It was one of his three DNFs on the season.
So much has changed since then, and Vickers expects the team’s success down the stretch, when it faced pressure each week just to make the Chase, should carry into the final 10 races.
“I think there is a lot of confi-dence in this team,” he said. “I know there is. We’ve got to realize that this is new for us. If we stub our toe, that’s OK. We’ve just got to get back up and keep working hard. We can’t give up. That’s what got us to this position. But looking back, I know we’re capable of it.
“We are capable of winning this championship. It won’t be easy. It doesn’t mean we will. But we’re capable of it. If you look back the past 10 weeks, we’ve collected as much if not more points than any-one. That’s a tough order. But we’re capable of it.”
Vickers enters Chase full of confidence
STEVE HELBER / AP
Brian Vickers made up a 197-point deficit with nine races left just to make the Chase.
INSIDE DISH
JR Motorsports signs BiresKelly Bires has signed a two-year
deal to drive full time for JR Motor-sports in the Nationwide Series starting in 2010, the team announced Tuesday.
Whether Bires, 25, drives the No. 88 or No. 5 JRM Chevrolet next sea-son remains to be seen, given that JRM is still in the process of secur-ing sponsorship for its cars.
Bires, who has posted three top fives and 11 top 10s in the Nation-wide Series while driving for a variety of owners, will replace cur-rent No. 88 driver Brad Keselowski, who is leaving JRM for a Sprint Cup ride at Penske Racing next season.
“Kelly is a talented young driver, and we want to give him the oppor-tunity to showcase that talent,” JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in a team release. “Our whole premise at JR Motorsports from the beginning has been to take up-and-coming drivers, give them the chance to drive good equipment and help them reach the next level.
“Kelly has a lot of promise. I noticed his potential earlier this year, and we are glad to have him at JR Motorsports.”
Bires has started 12 of 29 Nation-wide events this season; he posted his best finish of the year (fourth) at Nashville in April, driving for Kevin Harvick Inc.
— Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Carl Edwards and his broken foot catch a break this weekend at New Hampshire. Edwards competes in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series, and the Nationwide Series is off this weekend.
The first on-track day the past two weeks has been filled with more
than five hours of Cup and Nation-wide practices and then qualifying for both series as well as a Nation-wide race. Edwards now will have
one 90-minute practice and quali-fying Friday, a cou-ple of hours of practice Saturday and then the Sylva-nia 300 on Sunday.
“Keep talking (about that), sounds good,” Edwards
said. “One race, 300 laps, at a finesse racetrack. That will be nice, I think, physically for me.”
— Bob Pockrass, SceneDaily.com
Robby Gordon returns to the Cup series this weekend after missing Saturday’s race at Richmond. David Gilliland drove the No. 7 Robby Gor-don Motorsports Toyota at Rich-mond, finishing 24th, while his boss was winning an off-road race in Primm, Nevada.
Gordon won the SCORE Terri-ble’s Primm 300 race for his ninth career SCORE Trophy-Truck vic-tory. Gordon leads the series standings.
Gordon started fifth in Satur-day’s 69-mile race and worked his way into the lead quickly. He held on and won with a time of 4 hours, 49 minutes, 18 seconds (57.24 mph), beating runner-up Rob MacCachren by 1 minute, 2 seconds.
Gordon first career Cup victory came at New Hampshire in 2001. It is his only Cup victory on an oval. His other two wins came in 2003 on the road courses of Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen.
— SceneDaily.com
Carl Edwards
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 33NASCAR
2010 Nationwide Series Feb. 13 Daytona International SpeedwayFeb. 20 Auto Club SpeedwayFeb. 27 Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayMarch 20 Bristol Motor SpeedwayApril 3 Nashville SuperspeedwayApril 9 Phoenix International RacewayApril 17 Texas Motor SpeedwayApril 24 Talladega SuperspeedwayApril 30 Richmond International RacewayMay 7 Darlington RacewayMay 15 Dover International SpeedwayMay 29 Lowe’s Motor SpeedwayJune 5 Nashville SuperspeedwayJune 12 Kentucky SpeedwayJune 19 Milwaukee MileJune 26 New Hampshire Motor SpeedwayJuly 2 Daytona International SpeedwayJuly 9 Chicagoland SpeedwayJuly 17 Gateway International RacewayJuly 24 O’Reilly Raceway ParkJuly 31 Iowa SpeedwayAug. 7 Watkins Glen InternationalAug. 14 Michigan International SpeedwayAug. 20 Bristol Motor SpeedwayAug. 29 Circuit Gilles VilleneuveSept. 4 Atlanta Motor SpeedwaySept. 10 Richmond International RacewaySept. 25 Dover International SpeedwayOct. 2 Kansas SpeedwayOct. 9 Auto Club SpeedwayOct. 15 Lowe’s Motor SpeedwayOct. 23 Memphis Motorsports ParkNov. 6 Texas Motor SpeedwayNov. 13 Phoenix International RacewayNov. 20 Homestead-Miami Speedway
2010 Camping World Truck SeriesFeb. 12 Daytona International SpeedwayMarch 6 Atlanta Motor SpeedwayMarch 27 Martinsville SpeedwayMay 2 Kansas SpeedwayMay 14 Dover International SpeedwayMay 21 Lowe’s Motor SpeedwayJune 4 Texas Motor SpeedwayJune 12 Michigan International SpeedwayJune 18 Milwaukee MileJune 26 Memphis Motorsports ParkJuly 11 Iowa SpeedwayJuly 16 Gateway International RacewayJuly 23 O’Reilly Raceway ParkJuly 31 Pocono RacewayAug. 7 Nashville SuperspeedwayAug. 18 Bristol Motor SpeedwayAug. 27 Chicagoland SpeedwaySept. 3 Kentucky SpeedwaySept. 18 New Hampshire Motor SpeedwaySept. 25 Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayOct. 23 Martinsville SpeedwayOct. 30 Talladega SuperspeedwayNov. 5 Texas Motor SpeedwayNov. 12 Phoenix International RacewayNov. 19 Homestead-Miami Speedway
NASCAR on Tuesday released the 2010 schedules for the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series.
There were no major surprises in the Cup schedule, following recent announce-ments of changes in the race order. The only series scheduled to visit a new track is the truck series, which will race at Pocono in July.
The first alteration to the Cup schedule comes in April, when the series will visit Phoenix before Texas. Then in May, Dover moves ahead of the all-star race and the points race at Lowe’s. The Lowe’s date remains the same, but Dover is moving because of the alignment of weekends next season.
The rest of the 36-race schedule remains essentially the same as this season, with no new tracks. The season will open in Daytona, with the Daytona 500 scheduled for Feb. 14. The season will end at Home-stead-Miami, as it has done since 2002.
Richmond remains the site of the final pre-Chase race, with New Hampshire open-ing the 10-race, championship-determining segment of the season. The 10 Chase races remain the same. The final three races of the season again will be companion events with the Nationwide and truck series.
In Nationwide, the companion races at Phoenix, Texas and Dover will move as well, along with the date for the race at Nashville. Those are the series’ only sched-ule changes.
The Pocono truck race replaces Auto Club Speedway in the lineup. Because of the change, the trucks take a long break early in the season, skipping the trip that was made to Auto Club Speedway in Cali-fornia this February. The season opens at Daytona on Feb. 12, then takes a break until the March 6 race at Atlanta.
The Pocono race is set for July 31, the same weekend as the Cup series’ second trip to Pocono. There also have been some major date swaps. In addition to Dover and Lowe’s swapping dates in the spring, the race at Iowa moves from its Sept. 5 date this season to July 11, Kentucky’s race moves from July to Sept. 3, and the Gate-way race moves from September to July 16.
— SceneDaily.com
Pocono added to truck series schedule in ’102010 Sprint Cup SeriesDates are subject to change.
Feb. 6 x-Budweiser Shootout,Daytona International Speedway
Feb. 14 Daytona International Speedway
Feb. 21 Auto Club Speedway
Feb. 28 Las Vegas Motor Speedway
March 7 Atlanta Motor Speedway
March 21 Bristol Motor Speedway
March 28 Martinsville Speedway
April 10 Phoenix International Raceway
April 18 Texas Motor Speedway
April 25 Talladega Superspeedway
May 1 Richmond International Raceway
May 8 Darlington Raceway
May 16 Dover International Speedway
May 22 x-Sprint all-star race,Lowe’s Motor Speedway
May 30 Lowe’s Motor Speedway
June 6 Pocono Raceway
June 13 Michigan International Speedway
June 20 Infineon Raceway
June 27 New Hampshire Motor Speedway
July 3 Daytona International Speedway
July 10 Chicagoland Speedway
July 25 Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Aug. 1 Pocono Raceway
Aug. 8 Watkins Glen International
Aug. 15 Michigan International Speedway
Aug. 21 Bristol Motor Speedway
Sept. 5 Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sept. 11 Richmond International Raceway
Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races:
Sept. 19 New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sept. 26 Dover International Speedway
Oct. 3 Kansas Speedway
Oct. 10 Auto Club Speedway
Oct. 16 Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Oct. 24 Martinsville Speedway
Oct. 31 Talladega Superspeedway
Nov. 7 Texas Motor Speedway
Nov. 14 Phoenix International Raceway
Nov. 21 Homestead-Miami Speedway
x-non-points races
CAROLYN KASTER / AP
The Camping World Truck Series has never visited Pocono Raceway, but it will in July of 2010, when it is paired with the Sprint Cup race being held the same weekend.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 34NASCAR
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 35Golf / Tennis
NEW YORK—Any chance he got, on TV and on the Web, Juan Martin del Potro wanted to watch replays of Roger Federer’s last shot sailing out to end the U.S. Open final.
It was as if del Potro himself could not quite believe that he is now a Grand Slam champion—or, perhaps, could not quite believe that Federer had failed to win his sixth consecutive title at Flushing Meadows and 16th major overall.
“I still feel chills,” the del Potro said Tuesday, a day after his startling 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 come-back victory over Federer. “I can’t explain with words.”
That pretty sums up the way this whole, wild U.S. Open went.
Seeing Federer clutching the runner-up’s silver tray under his left arm Monday night, a blank expression on his face, while del Potro’s big silver trophy was a few feet away, stood as only the latest of a series of extraordinary images from the past 15 days:
Serena Williams’ finger-pointing, profanity-laden tirade at a lineswoman;
Kim Clijsters’ 18-month-old daughter, Jada, cavorting on court, posing for a horde of photographers, after Mom won the U.S. Open;
The word “Believe” stamped on the sneakers of Melanie Oudin, the 5-foot-6 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., who knocked off Maria Sharapova and others on the way to the quarterfinals.
Even del Potro and his coach, Franco Davin, acknowledged Tuesday that they didn’t exactly arrive in New York con-vinced that a championship would be the end result.
Not this year, anyway.“I won’t say we prepared for this U.S. Open planning to win
it,” Davin said. “We came to the U.S. Open with a chance.”— The Associated Press
LEMONT, ILL.—The “Big Four” in last year’s FedEx Cup delivered a big flop for an encore.
Vijay Singh won the first two play-off events and mathematically clinched the $10 million prize before the Tour Championship. All he had to do was finish four rounds at East Lake to win.
He didn’t make it out of the second round this year. Singh missed the cut a career-high six times, had only three top 10s and is 60th on the money list with just over $1.2 million. He did not reach the Tour Champi-onship for the first time since 1994, when Nick Price was player of the year and Tiger Woods was a fresh-man at Stanford.
Singh indicated he will play some in the Fall Series as he tries to avoid going winless for the first time since 2001. Singh, 46, had knee surgery in January and never seriously contended.
“It wasn’t the season I was looking for,” Singh told Golfweek magazine. “A lot of mishaps along the way, and it ended up being a real crappy sea-son. ... I had a pretty ordinary year, to say the least, and I’m just going to go figure it out. There’s no other explanation.”
Camilo Villegas won the final two FedEx Cup playoff events in 2008 and was second to Singh in the stand-ings. Villegas, who rose to No. 7 in the world ranking at the end of the year, hasn’t won since. The Colom-bian has slipped to No. 16 in the world and didn’t come close to making it to the Tour Championship.
Sergio Garcia lost in a playoff twice during the FedEx Cup postseason and finished third. He closed the year with two victories in Europe
and five straight finishes in the top five to reach No. 2 in the world. Gar-cia had a chance to go to No. 1 in the world in March.
Garcia now is No. 7 in the world ranking and barely made it to the BMW Championship before he was eliminated.
And then there’s Anthony Kim, a two-time winner a year ago who fin-ished No. 4 in the final standings. Kim had only three top 10s this year, missed four cuts and has slipped to No. 20 in the world.
“I’ve been struggling all year, haven’t gotten putts to fall,” Kim said. “It’s disappointing, but I’ll tell you what, I’ve worked real hard for the last month. I’m going to keep work-ing hard and I’m going to be ready for next season.”
— The Associated Press
GOLF TENNIS
PGA Tour scheduleJan. 8-11 — Mercedes-Benz Championship (Geoff Ogilvy)Jan. 15-18 — Sony Open in Hawaii (Zach Johnson)Jan. 21-25 — Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (Pat Perez)Jan. 29-Feb. 1 — FBR Open (Kenny Perry)Feb. 5-8 — Buick Invitational (Nick Watney)Feb. 12-15 — AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (Dustin Johnson)Feb. 19-22 — Northern Trust Open (Phil Mickelson)Feb. 25-March 1 — WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (Geoff Ogilvy)Feb. 25-March 1 — Mayakoba Golf Classic (Mark Wilson)March 5-8 — The Honda Classic (Y.E. Yang)March 12-15 — WGC-CA Championship, (Phil Mickelson)March 12-15 — Puerto Rico Open (Michael Bradley)March 19-22 — Transitions Championship (Retief Goosen)March 26-29 — Arnold Palmer Invitational (Tiger Woods)April 2-5 — Shell Houston Open (Paul Casey)April 9-12 — The Masters (Angel Cabrera)April 16-19 — Verizon Heritage (Brian Gay)April 23-26 — Zurich Classic of New Orleans (Jerry Kelly)April 30-May 3 — Quail Hollow Championship (Sean O’Hair)May 7-10 — The Players Championship (Henrik Stenson)May 14-17 — Valero Texas Open (Zach Johnson)May 21-24 — HP Byron Nelson Championship (Rory Sabbatini)May 28-31 — Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (Steve Stricker)June 4-7 — The Memorial Tournament (Tiger Woods)June 11-14 — Stanford St. Jude Championship (Brian Gay)June 18-21 U.S. Open (Lucas Glover)June 25-28 — Travelers Championship (Kenny Perry)July 2-5 — AT&T National (Tiger Woods)July 9-12 — John Deere Classic (Steve Stricker)July 16-19 — The Open Championship (Stewart Cink)July 16-19 — U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (Bo Van Pelt)July 23-27 — RBC Canadian Open (Nathan Green)July 30-Aug. 2 — Buick Open (Tiger Woods)Aug. 6-9 — WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (Tiger Woods)Aug. 6-9 — Legends Reno-Tahoe Open (John Rollins)Aug. 13-16 — PGA Championship (Y.E. Yang)Aug. 20-23 — Wyndham Championship (Ryan Moore)Aug. 27-30 — The Barclays (Heath Slocum)Sept. 4-7 — Deutsche Bank Championship (Steve Stricker)Sept. 10-13 — BMW Championship (Tiger Woods)Sept. 24-27 — The Tour Championship, East Lake GC, AtlantaOct. 1-4 — Turning Stone Restort Chamnpionship, Atunyote GC at Turning Stone Resort, Verona, N.Y.Oct. 8-11 — The Presidents Cup, Harding Park GC, San FranciscoOct. 15-18 — Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, TPC Summerlin, Las VegasOct. 22-25 — Frys.com Open, Grayhawk GC, Scottlsdale, Ariz.Oct. 29-Nov. 1 — Viking Classic, Annandale GC, Madison, Miss.Nov. 12-15 — Children’s Miracle Network Classic, Walt Disney World Resort (Magnolia Course, Palm Course), Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Big flop for ‘Big 4’ in FedEx Surprises camein bunches at Open
ATP World Tour rankings(Through Sept. 14)x-qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Nov. 22-29Singles1. x-Roger Federer, Switzerland, 112402. x-Rafael Nadal, Spain, 88453. x-Andy Murray, Britain, 83904. x-Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 74805. x-Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, 68256. Andy Roddick, United States, 53107. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 39508. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia, 35359. Fernando Verdasco, Spain, 343010. Gilles Simon, France, 309011. Robin Soderling, Sweden, 301512. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile, 288513. Gael Monfils, France, 235514. David Nalbandian, Argentina, 222515. Marin Cilic, Croatia, 219516. Tommy Robredo, Spain, 204517. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, 203018. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 202519. David Ferrer, Spain, 178520. Tommy Haas, Germany, 178021. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain, 1670
22. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland, 155523. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany, 153024. James Blake, United States, 146025. Sam Querrey, United States, 139026. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 137527. Paul-Henri Mathieu, France, 133028. Victor Hanescu, Romania, 128629. Dudi Sela, Israel, 124430. Nicolas Almagro, Spain, 122531. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia, 122032. Viktor Troicki, Serbia, 121533. Jeremy Chardy, France, 120734. Feliciano Lopez, Spain, 120535. Philipp Petzschner, Germany, 117236. Julien Benneteau, France, 115937. Juan Monaco, Argentina, 111038. Dmitry Tursunov, Russia, 109039. John Isner, United States, 108440. Jurgen Melzer, Austria, 108041. Fabrice Santoro, France, 107242. Benjamin Becker, Germany, 106443. Igor Andreev, Russia, 104044. Andreas Beck, Germany, 99845. Igor Kunitsyn, Russia, 99246. Albert Montanes, Spain, 99147. Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia, 98648. Richard Gasquet, France, 98549. Martin Vassallo Arguello, Argentina, 96350. Mischa Zverev, Germany, 930
WTA Tour rankingsSingles1. Dinara Safina, Russia, 90702. Serena Williams, United States, 78073. Venus Williams, United States, 66454. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 60605. Elena Dementieva, Russia, 60356. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 58507. Vera Zvonareva, Russia, 54608. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, 53209. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 459210. Flavia Pennetta, Italy, 349011. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 315512. Nadia Petrova, Russia, 313013. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 300014. Samantha Stosur, Australia, 286015. Marion Bartoli, France, 282516. Virginie Razzano, France, 242017. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia, 240518. Li Na, China, 235219. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 231020. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 228121. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, 210522. Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, 204523. Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spain, 2030
24. Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 195524. Elena Vesnina, Russia, 195526. Zheng Jie, China, 194527. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 188028. Sabine Lisicki, Germany, 187029. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 182630. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia, 171031. Alisa Kleybanova, Russia, 168032. Gisela Dulko, Argentina, 167533. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, 166034. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, 162035. Aleksandra Wozniak, Canada, 157536. Alona Bondarenko, Ukraine, 157037. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain, 152038. Alize Cornet, France, 147539. Agnes Szavay, Hungary, 145940. Iveta Benesova, Czech Republic, 145541. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 144542. Aravane Rezai, France, 142042. Sara Errani, Italy, 142044. Melanie Oudin, United States, 141445. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland, 138946. Vera Dushevina, Russia, 132047. Sybille Bammer, Austria, 130547. Peng Shuai, China, 130549. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, 128050. Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic, 1250
STEW MILNE / AP
Vijay Singh won last year’s FedEx Cup, but he was a nonfactor in this season’s race.
ELISE AMENDOLA / AP
Juan Martin del Potro is still getting used to his win over Roger Federer.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GlanceGROUP ATeam GP W D L GF GA PtsBayern Munich 1 1 0 0 3 0 3Bordeaux 1 0 1 0 1 1 1Juventus 1 0 1 0 1 1 1Maccabi Haifa 1 0 0 1 0 3 0
Tuesday’s gamesJuventus (Italy) 1, Bordeaux (France) 1Maccabi Haifa (Israel) 0, Bayern Munich (Germany) 3Wednesday, Sept. 30Bayern Munich vs. JuventusBordeaux vs. Maccabi Haifa
Wednesday, Oct. 21Bordeaux vs. Bayern MunichJuventus vs. Maccabi Haifa
Tuesday, Nov. 3Bayern Munich vs. BordeauxMaccabi Haifa vs. Juventus
Wednesday, Nov. 25Bordeaux vs. JuventusBayern Munich vs. Maccabi Haifa
Tuesday, Dec. 8Juventus vs. Bayern MunichMaccabi Haifa vs. Bordeaux
GROUP BTeam GP W D L GF GA PtsWolfsburg 1 1 0 0 3 1 3Manchester United 1 1 0 0 1 0 3Besiktas 1 0 0 1 0 1 0CSKA Moscow 1 0 0 1 1 3 0
Tuesday’s games Besiktas (Turkey) 0, Manchester United (England) 1Wolfsburg (Germany) 3, CSKA Moscow (Russia) 1
Wednesday, Sept. 30Manchester United vs. WolfsburgCSKA Moscow vs. Besiktas
Wednesday, Oct. 21CSKA Moscow vs. Manchester UnitedWolfsburg vs. Besiktas
Tuesday, Nov. 3Manchester United vs. CSKA MoscowBesiktas vs. Wolfsburg
Wednesday, Nov. 25Manchester United vs. BesiktasCSKA Moscow vs. Wolfsburg
Tuesday, Dec. 8Wolfsburg vs. Manchester UnitedBesiktas vs. CSKA Moscow
GROUP CTeam GP W D L GF GA PtsReal Madrid 1 1 0 0 5 2 3AC Milan 1 1 0 0 2 1 3Marseille 1 0 0 1 1 2 0FC Zurich 1 0 0 1 2 5 0
Tuesday’s games FC Zurich (Switzerland) 2, Real Madrid (Spain) 5Marseille (France) 1, AC Milan (Italy) 2
Wednesday, Sept. 30AC Milan vs. FC ZurichReal Madrid vs. Marseille
Wednesday, Oct. 21Real Madrid vs. AC MilanFC Zurich vs. Marseille
Tuesday, Nov. 3AC Milan vs. Real MadridMarseille vs. FC Zurich
Wednesday, Nov. 25Real Madrid vs. FC ZurichAC Milan vs. Marseille
Tuesday, Dec. 8FC Zurich vs. AC MilanMarseille vs. Real Madrid
GROUP DTeam GP W D L GF GA PtsCChelsea 1 1 0 0 1 0 3APOEL Nicosia 1 0 1 0 0 0 1Atletico Madrid 1 0 1 0 0 0 1FC Porto 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Tuesday’s games Chelsea (England) 1, FC Porto (Portugal) 0Atletico Madrid (Spain) 0, APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) 0
Wednesday, Sept. 30APOEL Nicosia vs. ChelseaFC Porto vs. Atletico Madrid
Wednesday, Oct. 21FC Porto vs. APOEL NicosiaChelsea vs. Atletico Madrid
Tuesday, Nov. 3APOEL Nicosia vs. FC PortoAtletico Madrid vs. Chelsea
Wednesday, Nov. 25FC Porto vs. ChelseaAPOEL Nicosia vs. Atletico Madrid
Tuesday, Dec. 8Chelsea vs. APOEL NicosiaAtletico Madrid vs. FC Porto
GROUP ETeam GP W D L GF GA PtsLiverpool 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Lyon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Fiorentina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Debreceni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Today’s gamesLiverpool (England) vs. Debreceni (Hungary)Lyon (France) vs. Fiorentina (Italy)
Tuesday, Sept. 29Fiorentina vs. LiverpoolDebreceni vs. Lyon
Tuesday, Oct. 20Debreceni vs. FiorentinaLiverpool vs. Lyon
Wednesday, Nov. 4Fiorentina vs. DebreceniLyon vs. Liverpool
Tuesday, Nov. 24Debreceni vs. LiverpoolFiorentina vs. Lyon
Wednesday, Dec. 9Liverpool vs. FiorentinaLyon vs. Debreceni
GROUP FTeam GP W D L GF GA PtsBarcelona 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Inter Milan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Dynamo Kiev 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Rubin Kazan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Today’s gamesInter Milan (Italy) vs. Barcelona (Spain)Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) vs. Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Tuesday, Sept. 29Rubin Kazan vs. Inter MilanBarcelona vs. Dynamo Kiev
Tuesday, Oct. 20Inter Milan vs. Dynamo KievBarcelona vs. Rubin Kazan
Wednesday, Nov. 4Rubin Kazan vs. BarcelonaDynamo Kiev vs. Inter Milan
Tuesday, Nov. 24Barcelona vs. Inter MilanRubin Kazan vs. Dynamo Kiev
Wednesday, Dec. 9Inter Milan vs. Rubin KazanDynamo Kiev vs. Barcelona
GROUP GTeam GP W D L GF GA PtsSevilla 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Stuttgart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Unirea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Today’s gamesStuttgart (Germany) vs. Rangers (Scotland)Sevilla (Spain) vs. Unirea (Romania)
Tuesday, Sept. 29Unirea vs. StuttgartRangers vs. Sevilla
Tuesday, Oct. 20Rangers vs. UnireaStuttgart vs. Sevilla
Wednesday, Nov. 4Unirea vs. RangersSevilla vs. Stuttgart
Tuesday, Nov. 24Rangers vs. StuttgartUnirea vs. Sevilla
Wednesday, Dec. 9Stuttgart vs. UnireaSevilla vs. Rangers
GROUP HTeam GP W D L GF GA PtsArsenal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0AZ Alkmaar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Olympiakos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Standard Liege 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Today’s gamesOlympiakos (Greece) vs. AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)Standard Liege (Belgium) vs. Arsenal (England)
Tuesday, Sept. 29Arsenal vs. OlympiakosAZ Alkmaar vs. Standard Liege
Tuesday, Oct. 20AZ Alkmaar vs. ArsenalOlympiakos vs. Standard Liege
Wednesday, Nov. 4Arsenal vs. AZ AlkmaarStandard Liege vs. Olympiakos
Tuesday, Nov. 24AZ Alkmaar vs. OlympiakosArsenal vs. Standard Liege
Wednesday, Dec. 9Olympiakos vs. ArsenalStandard Liege vs. AZ Alkmaar
ZURICH—Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice from long-range free-kicks as Real Madrid beat FC Zurich 5-2 to open the Champions League group phase on Tuesday.
The nine-time European champion coasted to a three-goal lead in the first-half. Ronaldo gave Madrid the lead in the 27th minute, before Raul finished a neat move in the 34th and Gonzalo Higuain broke through to score in stoppage time.
But unheralded Zurich got goals from Xavier Mar-gairaz on a 64th-minute penalty and a header from Sil-van Aegerter moments later.
“If they want to win the Champions League they will have to play better,” Zurich goalkeeper Johnny Leoni said.
Madrid sealed victory as Ronaldo struck again in the 89th and Guti scored on a counterattack just before the final whistle.
“I never feel pressure,” Ronaldo said. “I just work to score goals. I scored two, and I’m really pleased for that but the important thing is to win games.”
On this evidence, Madrid’s $360 million offseason investment in players, including Ronaldo, looks a sure bet for exciting matches—win or lose.
Madrid returns to Group C action on Sept. 30 when it hosts Marseille, while Zurich travels to face AC Milan on the same date.
LONDON—Nicolas Anelka gave Chelsea a winning start to its Champions League campaign by clinching a 1-0 victory over Porto in the Group D opener on Tuesday.
On a rain-soaked Stamford Bridge pitch, the France forward struck three minutes into the second half to see off the Portuguese champions on an unimpressive night for Chelsea.
“It was a great result. We weren’t at our best tonight, but it was a difficult night and we got the win,” mid-fielder Frank Lampard said.
ISTANBUL—Paul Scholes scored with 13 minutes remaining Tuesday to give Manchester United a 1-0 win at Besiktas in the teams’ opening Champions League Group B match.
It was a slow start to the European season for United, which lost last season’s final 2-0 to Barcelona.
“It was difficult,” United captain Gary Neville said. “Coming away from home in Europe is always a bit hard. They create an atmosphere over here like no other country.”
MARSEILLE, FRANCE—Filippo Inzaghi’s two goals gave AC Milan a 2-1 victory over Marseille on Tuesday in the first round of the Champions League group stage, allow-ing his team to bounce back following a disappointing start to the season.
Milan, which missed last year’s tournament, opened the Serie A season with a win, but then lost to Inter Milan 4-0 before being held to a 0-0 draw at Livorno last weekend.
As expected, Milan coach Leonardo decided to bench out-of-form Ronaldinho and start with former Nether-lands midfielder Clarence Seedorf, who had two assists.
— The Associated Press
Ronaldo off to royal start
STEFFEN SCHMIDT / AP
Cristiano Ronaldo, left, had two goals to lift Real Madrid.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 36Soccer
BASEBALLAmerican League
BOSTON RED SOX: Activated RHP Daisuke
Matsuzaka from the 60-Day DL. Sent INF
Chris Woodward outright to Pawtucket
(IL).National League
CINCINNATI REDS: Activated OF Laynce
Nix from the 15-day DL.American Association
GRAND PRAIRIE AIRHOGS: Traded INF
Cesar Nicolas to Southern Maryland
(Atlantic) for a player to be named.
BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association
NBA: Fined Golden State G-F Stephen
Jackson $25,000 for public statements
detrimental to the NBA.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: Signed G-F
Rodney Carney.
PHOENIX SUNS: Agreed to terms on a
contract buyout with G-F Sasha Pavlovic.
FOOTBALLNational Football League
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: Signed KR-WR
Courtney Roby. Waived TE Buck Ortega.
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Placed OL Shawn
Andrews on injured reserve. Released
WR Hank Baskett.
WASHINGTON REDSKINS: Signed OT
William Robinson to the practice squad.
Released WR Onrea Jones from the
practice squad.
HOCKEYNational Hockey League
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Signed C
Antoine Vermette to a five-year contract
extension through the 2014-15 season.
Assigned D Cam Brodie, D Tim Filangieri,
LW Chris Higgins, C Brock McBride, C
Tyler Murovich and D Kevin Roeder to
Syracuse (AHL).
MONTREAL CANADIENS: Signed F
Philippe Lefebvre to a three-year
contract. Assigned D Mac Bennett to
Cedar Rapids (USHL), D Joe Stejskal to
Dartmouth (ECAC) and G Jason Missiaen
to Peterborough (OHL).
PHOENIX COYOTES: Assigned D Tim
Billingsley to Mississauga-St. Michael’s
(OHL), RW Jordan Szwarz to Saginaw
(OHL) and D Justin Weller to Red Deer
(WHL).
ST. LOUIS BLUES: Exercised their contract
option on coach Andy Murray through
the 2010-11 season.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Assigned G
Michael Zador to Oshawa (OHL), RW
Matias Sointu to Ottawa (OHL), D Mark
Barberio to Moncton (QMJHL), LW Alex
Hutchings to Barrie (OHL) and RW Kyle
DeCoste to Sault Ste. Marie (OHL).ECHL
CHARLOTTE CHECKERS: Agreed to terms
with F Derek Couture and F Kenny Roche.
IDAHO STEELHEADS: Agreed to terms
with F Evan Barlow, F Chris Myers, and F
Garrett Regan.
READING ROYALS: Signed F Max Taylor.
VICTORIA SALMON KINGS: Signed C
Yannick Tifu.International Hockey League
MUSKEGON LUMBERJACKS: Agreed to
terms with D Justin Dacosta and D Mike
Novak.
LACROSSENational Lacrosse League
CALGARY ROUGHNECKS: Signed D Craig
Gelsvik to a two-year contract and F
Carlton Schuss and D Rob Kirby to one-
year contracts.
SOCCERMajor League Soccer
FC DALLAS: Added D Steve Purdy to
the roster.
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS: Acquired F
Kei Kamara from Houston for F Abe
Thompson and allocation money.
COLLEGE
BOWLING GREEN: Suspended DB P.J.
Mahone indefinitely for a violation of
team rules.
CARTHAGE: Named Denae Fisher
women’s assistant basketball coach/
assistant director of intramurals.
CLARION: Named Joe Swick women’s
softball coach.
GENEVA: Announced the retirement
of women’s basketball coach Ron
Galbreath.
MANHATTAN: Promoted Doug Straley
to assistant athletic director for sports
medicine.
RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE: Named Scott
Virgulak baseball coach.
ROWAN: Named Tony Lisa men’s and
women’s swimming coach.
SACRED HEART: Named Brendan Flynn
graduate assistant for athletic com-
munications.
SHENANDOAH: Named Catherine Beuerle
assistant softball coach.
SIENA: Named Andy Christodoulou
women’s tennis coach.
STOCKTON: Named Kevin Zulauf men’s
lacrosse coach.
SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 37Back Page
IN BRIEFTRANSACTIONS
Deceased boxer’s manager admitted to hospitalLONDON—Darren Sutherland, a boxer
who won a bronze medal for Ireland at the Beijing Olympics, was found hanged at his home Monday. Frank Maloney, his manager, discovered the body of the 27-year-old fighter and was so unnerved he was admitted to a hospital.
Sutherland was unbeaten in his first four pro fights and was to have appeared with Maloney at a news conference Tuesday to talk about his next bout on Oct. 16.
The Metropolitan Police said Suther-land was pronounced dead in the mid-afternoon. Police said his death is not being treated as suspicious, a sugges-tion that no one else was involved.
Maloney, who once managed former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, was taken to a hospital. Tests revealed the 55-year-old manager had a heart attack, but it was not clear if the attack happened before Monday’s events. He is expected to remain in the hospital a few days.
BasketballDETROIT—The clock is running down
for Robert Traylor, the ex-NBA and University of Michigan basketball star who’s been given two weeks to arrange a payment plan on $178,000 in back taxes.
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn says he’ll send Traylor to prison for 60 days if he misses that deadline.
Traylor told Cohn Monday he’d been playing basketball in Turkey and Puerto Rico and wasn’t aware of the conse-quences of failing to make timely pay-ments. Traylor apologized and pleaded with the judge to not lock him up.
CyclingPUERTOLLANO, SPAIN—German rider
Andre Greipel won a sprint finish to
take the 16th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, and Alejandro Valverde of Spain held on to the overall lead.
Greipel, riding for Team Columbia-HTC, covered Tuesday’s 102-mile route from Cordoba to Puertollano in 4 hours, 50 minutes, 44 seconds.
The Vuelta ends Sunday in Madrid.
MILAN—Former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi, who lost both legs in a car accident, intends to compete for a place on Italy’s cycling team at the 2012 Paralympics in London.
Zanardi lost both legs in a crash
while competing at a Champ Car race at the Lausitzring in Germany 2001, but returned to racing in 2003. Since then, he has competed in the European and the World Touring Car Champi-onship each season.
Zanardi also took up hand cycling and finished 14th in last week’s indi-vidual time trial at the Para-Cycling Road World Championship in Bogogno, Italy, where he finished 4 minutes, 45 seconds behind Oz San-chez of the United States, who won gold at the Beijing Paralympics.
— The Associated Press
Major League SoccerEASTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts GF GAColumbus 11 4 9 42 36 26Chicago 10 6 9 39 34 29D.C. 8 6 12 36 39 38Toronto FC 9 9 7 34 33 36New England 9 8 6 33 28 32Kansas City 7 11 6 27 25 32New York 4 17 4 16 20 42WESTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts GF GAHouston 11 8 7 40 32 24Los Angeles 9 5 11 38 31 29Seattle 9 6 10 37 31 24Colorado 10 8 6 36 38 30Chivas USA 11 9 3 36 25 24Real Salt Lake 9 9 7 34 36 28FC Dallas 7 11 6 27 39 40San Jose 5 12 5 20 27 40
NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie.
Sept. 12Toronto FC 3, Colorado 2Seattle FC 2, D.C. United 1Kansas City 1, New York 0Real Salt Lake 1, Chicago 1, tieFC Dallas 6, Los Angeles 3Sept. 13Chivas USA 2, New England 0
Columbus 2, Houston 1Friday’s gamesNew England at New York, 7:30 p.m.Colorado at San Jose, 11 p.m.Saturday’s gamesChivas USA at Seattle FC, 3 p.m.Real Salt Lake at Houston, 8:30 p.m.FC Dallas at Kansas City, 8:30 p.m.Toronto FC at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.Sunday’s gameColumbus at Chicago, 3 p.m.
WNBA All Times ET
Playoff Schedule
FIRST ROUND(Best-of-3)
EASTERN CONFERENCEIndiana vs. WashingtonThursday: Indiana at Washington, 7 p.m.Saturday: Washington at Indiana, 7 p.m.x-Monday: Washington at Indiana, 8 p.m.
Atlanta vs. DetroitToday: Atlanta at Detroit, 8 p.m.Friday: Detroit at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.x-Sunday: Detroit at Atlanta, 3 p.m.
WESTERN CONFERENCEPhoenix vs. San AntonioThursday: Phoenix at San Antonio, 9 p.m.Saturday: San Antonio at Phoenix, 10 p.m.x-Monday: San Antonio at Phoenix, 10 p.m.
Seattle vs. Los AngelesToday: Seattle at Los Angeles, 10 p.m.Friday: Los Angeles at Seattle, 10 p.m.x-Sunday: Los Angeles at Seattle, 5 p.m.
(x-if necessary)
NAM Y. HUH / AP
Bronze medalist boxer Darren Sutherland had won his first four professional bouts.
