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(04/07/08 4:44am)
As hard as it is to imagine, Memphis keeps getting better just when it matters the most.\nThe Tigers claimed their piece of history Saturday, beating UCLA 78-63 in the NCAA men’s semifinals to become, at 38-1, the winningest team ever in a single season. Now they have a chance to do what the other 37-win teams – Duke, Illinois and UNLV – couldn’t do: cap it off with a national championship.\nWith Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts taking turns at basketball acrobatics, it’s certainly imaginable. And the Bruins certainly wouldn’t doubt it.\n“Going into the game, we knew that we was going to win. Ain’t too much to say,” Rose said. “We’re just a great team. With the team that we have, it’s hard beating us.”\nCoach John Calipari claimed his Tigers weren’t aware they had set a record for most wins in major college basketball.\n“My team’s like, ‘Is it? That’s the most wins?’” Calipari said. “And then I told them, ‘No, no. You’ve got to get to 39 to have the most wins.’ Hopefully we’ll have one more in us.”\nThe Tigers will get their chance Monday night against Kansas.\nAll season, this Memphis team from lightly regarded Conference USA played along with Calipari’s us-against-the-world theme. Now, the Tigers need only one more victory for their first championship.\nUCLA star Kevin Love put on his own show at practice Friday, hitting a full-court shot. He managed just 12 points – and missed both open 3-pointers – as the Bruins (35-4) again fell short in their third straight Final Four appearance.\n“As disappointing as this loss is, it’s hard to be here three years in a row and not come away with a championship,” coach Ben Howland said. “There’s a reason why they’ve only lost one game and they’ve won 38. They’re a very, very good team.”\nRose and Douglas-Roberts, especially.\nRose finished with 25 points and nine rebounds and a bunch of eye-opening moves that won’t show up in the final box.\n“Every once in a while, I go, ‘Oh my’ and I kind of sit down,” Calipari said. “And they usually come at inopportune times for the other team.”\nRose also hit 11 of 12 free throws. For a team supposedly vulnerable from the foul line, the Tigers did great in making 20 of 23.\nHe fittingly wound up with the ball in the final seconds and heaved it high. Only then did he crack the slightest of smiles.\nDouglas-Roberts played like an All-American, scoring 28 points and Joey Dorsey had the most peculiar line of all – zero points, but 15 big rebounds in keeping Love out of the middle.\n“It’s great, it’s great,” Douglas-Roberts said. “We all believe in each other and we expect great things to happen, so this isn’t new to us.”\nFour other teams had won 37 times in a season – Illinois in 2005, UNLV in 1987 and Duke in 1999 and 1986 – but all lost in the end.\nMemphis has won its five games in this NCAA Tournament by an average of nearly 16 points. The Tigers got off to a slower start this time, falling behind 5-0, before their suddenly chic “dribble drive motion” offense took over.\nMemphis led 50-45 with 13 and a half minutes left before pulling away. Rose made a couple of nifty passes, Dorsey came up with a monster block and later playfully popped Douglas-Roberts on the shoulder after a slam.\nThis was certainly no repeat of 1973, when the Tigers – then known as Memphis State – got routed 87-66 by UCLA in the title game.\nThe Tigers spent the whole season aiming at getting back to San Antonio. They lost to Ohio State on this same court last March in the regional final and adopted “Remember the Alamodome” as their motto this season.\nIn the first Final Four to feature four No. 1 seeds, Rose and Memphis cruised while Love could do little to stop them.\n“At this stage, I feel like Memphis is definitely the best team we’ve played,” Love said.
(09/04/07 1:37am)
NEW YORK – Andy Roddick reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals thanks to another abbreviated work day.\nRoddick, the 2003 champion and 2006 runner-up, advanced Monday when his fourth-round opponent, No. 9-seeded Tomas Berdych, stopped playing in the second set because he had trouble breathing and felt sluggish.\n“I’ll probably head out to the practice courts right now,” said the fifth-seeded Roddick, who could face No. 1 Roger Federer next.\nRoddick was leading 7-6 (6), 2-0 when Berdych quit, making him 0-9 against top-10 opponents at Grand Slam tournaments. Roddick’s second-round opponent, Jose Acasuso, stopped because of a bad knee while trailing two sets to one.\nAt a changeover early in the match, Berdych asked to see a trainer and indicated he was having a hard time taking deep breaths. He then went out and broke Roddick twice to take a 5-3 lead and serve for the set. But Roddick broke back at love, then saved a set point in the tiebreaker.\n“The body was so slow. It wasn’t any, like, straight one problem or one pain or something,” Berdych said. “Just, like, generally didn’t feel well.”\nHe saw a doctor after leaving the court, then headed for blood tests to try to figure out exactly what was wrong.\nEarlier Monday, 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova got off her stomach and closed the match, beating Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.\nKuznetsova needed five match points, finishing with a strong, cross-court forehand that Azarenka chased into the corner, losing her hat on \nthe way.\nEarlier in the second set, No. 4 Kuznetsova was the one who tried without success to track down a shot. In the sixth game, she charged toward the net and skidded, doing the splits and winding up sprawled on the court.\nThe Russian got up easily and went on to eliminate the 18-year-old from Belarus. Kuznetsova next plays another unseeded opponent, Agnes Szavay of Hungary.\n“She’s tough,” said Kuznetsova, who won a warm up tournament in New Haven, Conn., the weekend before the U.S. Open when Szavay retired during the final with a back injury.\nSzavay moved on by defeating Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine 6-4, 7-6 (1). Ranked No. 31, Szavay is playing in her first U.S Open – her two previous Grand Slam appearances ended in second-round losses at Wimbledon and the French Open this year.\nNo. 18 Shahar Peer became the first Israeli woman to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals by beating No. 30 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-1. Radwanska knocked off defending champion Maria Sharapova in the third round but couldn’t keep up with Peer, who built a 20-4 advantage in winners.\nLater in the day, No. 10 Tommy Haas knocked out No. 6 James Blake in a fifth set tiebreak, and Federer was to meet Feliciano Lopez at night.\nIf it’s the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, it must be time for Serena Williams vs. Justine Henin.\nThey have been at the forefront of women’s tennis the past few years – and they sure can’t seem to escape each other lately. When Williams and Henin square off Tuesday, they will be playing at that stage in a third consecutive major.\n“We both have a lot of character and a lot of personality. We both have been very strong mentally on the court in the last few years. She won Grand Slams; I did. She’s been No. 1 and I’ve been,” said Henin, who currently tops the rankings. “Now let’s go and play, and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”\nShe beat Williams at the French Open on clay and at Wimbledon on grass, although the American won their meeting in the final at Key Biscayne, Fla., on hard courts in March, saving two match points in the process.\n“I’m going in feeling like I don’t have anything to lose,” said Williams, who is seeded No. 8 after falling out of the top 100 last year because of a lack of activity. “I just feel different now, excited about the prospect of meeting her again.”\nIf Williams can get past Henin this time, she could find another, even more familiar foe in the semifinals: older sister Venus.\nBoth siblings were downright dominant against recent Grand Slam finalists Sunday, with Serena Williams beating Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4, a few hours before Venus Williams reached the quarterfinals by eliminating French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-2.\n“Serena reminds me of a pit bull dog and a young Mike Tyson, all in one. Venus reminds me of a gazelle that’s able to move, prance and jump,” father Richard Williams said. “Venus looks as if she is really enjoying herself out there more than Serena is right now. If they get by everyone and meet each other, it will be an interesting match.”
(08/29/07 3:52am)
NEW YORK – Lleyton Hewitt served up a shutout, Martina Hingis needed only an hour and Svetlana Kuznetsova neatly slid into the second round Tuesday at the U.S. Open.\nMaria Sharapova and Andy Roddick hoped to keep up that run by former champions in the featured night matches.\nA day after Roger Federer, Justine Henin and the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, breezed, the favorites followed with straight-set victories.\nHewitt won all 16 points on serve in the final set and beat Amer Delic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. The 16th-ranked Australian hit winners from all over and, changing the speed of his serves, never faced a break point.\n“I tried to mix myself up to use it smartly, work the angles, not let him get into a rhythm out there where he feels like he can just go for it, lash out on a few,” Hewitt said. “I felt like I was playing on my terms.”\nKuznetsova also coasted, defeating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. The fourth-ranked Russian covered the court exceptionally well, especially in the final game when she did a full split going to her right and again to her left.\nDespite losing both points, she quickly closed out the match. She showed a slight hobble walking off the court, but seemed fine a few minutes later.\nKuznetsova said she tried “to get to every ball back because she was missing a lot.”\n“I have to really be careful about my feet,” she said.\nHingis, back at Flushing Meadows a full 10 years after she won this tournament, beat Mathilde Johansson 6-0, 6-3. The 16th-ranked Swiss player had just eight unforced errors to 23 by her opponent.\nNow 26, Hingis has enjoyed New York ever since her breakthrough victory as a teenager.\n“Sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes like a lifetime,” she said. “It’s kind of funny. They put up this poster, me holding a trophy. I’m like, OK, I look really young – short haircut, all that.” \nOnly two seeded players lost in early session. In a match that lasted more than four hours, No. 32 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia lost to Arnaud Clement of France 7-6 (5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-4.\nOn the women’s side, No. 23 Tathiana Garbin of Italy fell to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3.\nAmong the early winners were No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 12 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, No. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and No. 23 Juan Monaco of Argentina.\nIn the women’s draw, No. 11 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, No. 13 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, No. 26 Sania Mirza of India and No. 30 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland advanced.\nWhile many young Americans won their first-rounders, 6-foot-6 Sam Querrey missed his chance. He dropped six set points in the first set and lost to Stefan Koubek of Austria 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-1.\n“Just kind of collapsed. Kind of got frustrated, didn’t know what to do. I was out of it a little bit,” Querrey said.
(08/04/07 4:00am)
It's hard to watch Lindsay Lohan's new movie "I Know Who Killed Me" without conjuring up associations to the actress's troubled personal life. It's harder still to believe that the young adult horror genre can successfully buttress a deluge of manic cultural references -- from Cindy Sherman to "Twin Peaks" to Edgar Allen Poe -- but you do what you can to justify an overpriced matinee ticket. \nIn "I Know Who Killed Me," Lohan plays double-duty as studious Aubrey Fleming and exotic dancer Dakota Moss, raven-haired doppelgangers with a shared secret past. \nThe film opens with a flickering montage of neon, touting in varying degrees of wit and subtlety the life and environs of stripper Dakota. As she slicks up, down and around a metal pole, a morass of blood oozes forth from her opera-length gloves. The intrigue, I suppose, is whether this image is an exercise in the surreal or the linchpin to the ensuing murder-mystery. \nAs the movie stammers along, Aubrey goes missing at the hands of a blue-gloved serial killer, only to turn up missing a forearm and tibia in a roadside ditch of wet leaves and mud. Much to the dismay of her parents (Neal McDough and Julia Ormond), Aubrey's path to recovery is hampered by her insistent belief that she is Dakota. The punch line is only slightly less inert than the film's title. \nTentative kudos to director Chris Siverston for attempting a new synthesis of the thriller genre, but the majority of "I Know Who Killed Me" plays out like a tedious slide show, with a color palette of punchy Kodachrome and a story line completely obliged to the perverse worship of imagery and intermittent sensations. Nevertheless, all judgments of exploitation aside, the film does place on display the spunk that at another time more properly defined Lohan's career.
(02/28/07 5:00am)
NEW YORK – The Hall of Fame pitched another shutout.\nRon Santo, Jim Kaat, Marvin Miller and all the other candidates were left out Tuesday when the Veterans Committee admitted no new members for the third straight election.\nThe blank slate could lead to changes before the next vote in 2009.\n“We’re being blamed because something hasn’t happened,” Hall member and vice chairman Joe Morgan said. “If you’re asking me, ‘Do we lower our standards to get more people in?’ my answer would be no.”\nSanto came the closest to the required 75 percent. A nine-time All-Star, the former Cubs third baseman was picked on 57 of 82 ballots (70 percent).\nKaat, a 283-game winner and strongly backed by Hall member Mike Schmidt, drew 52 votes. Gil Hodges, who hit 370 home runs, got 50 votes and three-time AL batting champion Tony Oliva had 47. Players needed 62 for election.\nUmpire Doug Harvey received 52 of the necessary 81 votes on the ballot for managers, umpires and executives. Miller, the union head who led players to free-agent riches, showed a strong increase in getting 51.\nThe vets committee was revamped after charges of cronyism when it elected Bill Mazeroski in 2001. That marked the eighth straight year the 15-member panel sent someone to Cooperstown.\nAfter that, the panel was expanded to include all living Hall of Famers. The new committee votes every other year for players and every four years for the others.\n“We are disappointed that no one has been elected in the three voting cycles,” Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. “We will be evaluating this process and its trends at our next meeting, which is March 13, and discussing whether there should be any changes.”\n“The board may decide that the trends are not what we thought they were going to be. Perhaps this hasn’t worked as well as some of the board members thought it would and maybe it needs a little bit of change,” she said.\nCal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were elected to the Hall by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in January. They will stand alone at the induction ceremonies July 29 in Cooperstown.\nThe 84 eligible voters on the vets committee included 61 Hall members, 14 broadcasters, eight writers and one holdover from the previous panel.
(10/25/06 4:14am)
The Boston Red Sox broke the curse. The Chicago White Sox won their first crown since Shoeless Joe Jackson. The Detroit Tigers could complete an unprecedented turnaround.\nIn this era of baseball parity, most everyone is invited to the World Series party.\nHeck, who's next? The Chicago Cubs?\n"No," said Dusty Baker, who was let go earlier this month as manager of the Cubs. "They think anyone can do this."\nOK, so it's not that easy to go from worst to first.\nStill, at a time when many fans figured Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees would dominate with a $200 million payroll, there's only one sure bet this October: For the seventh straight year, a different team will win the World Series.\n"I know some people immediately will say, 'Well, that's mediocrity,' and so on and so forth," commissioner Bud Selig said. "But in other sports, they call it parity and everybody thinks it's great. Well, that's what this is: parity."\nSince baseball expanded its playoff format in 1995, just seven of the 30 teams have been absent from the playoffs. Revenue sharing has helped, giving smaller-market clubs more room to maneuver.\nA decade ago, "I had dreams of things getting better, but in many ways this has exceeded my fondest expectations," Selig said.\nOther major sports have not seen lots of teams share in the success.\nThe New England Patriots won three of the last five Super Bowls. The Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs each took three of the last eight NBA titles. New Jersey, Detroit and Colorado combined to win eight of the past 11 Stanley Cups.\nBaseball, meanwhile, keeps welcoming new clubs to the Fall Classic. This year's matchup was among the most unlikely in a long while.\nThe St. Louis Cardinals limped in with 83 wins, the second-fewest in Series history (the 1973 Mets won 82).\nThe Tigers made it just three years removed since an embarrassing 119 losses. No club ever reached the postseason so quickly after such a terrible season.\n"I didn't think we would be in the playoffs this year. I'd be lying if I said I did," manager Jim Leyland said during the AL playoffs.\n"I thought we might next year," he said. "We caught lightning in a bottle with some of the chances we took."\nCertainly luck plays a part in winning it all.\nWith an $80 million-plus payroll, the Tigers got huge contributions from hard-throwing rookies Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya. The expensive free agents they signed in recent years -- Kenny Rogers, Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez -- paid off. Together, they helped Detroit stop a string of 12 straight losing seasons.\nThe big-money Red Sox and New York Mets, meanwhile, got hurt by injuries and fell short of this World Series. During the course of 162 games in the regular season and then the playoffs, it only takes one poor pitch or one bad swing to derail the drive to a championship.\nFormer Cubs manager Baker knows that firsthand.\nIn 2002, his San Francisco Giants were six outs from the World Series title when Anaheim rallied to win Game 6. The next day, the Angels won the championship.\nThe following year, Baker was five outs away from guiding the Cubs to their first World Series appearance since 1945. That's when a fan deflected a foul ball at Wrigley Field, and it all fell apart.\nThe Cubs never came close after that, and now Baker is out of a job.\n"You've got to have special people you put together in a group. The Tigers went through a tough time to get to this time. The hard part is keeping guys together," Baker said.\n"With arbitration, free agency and payrolls, teams can't afford to keep guys," he said. "It's hard to keep a Big Red Machine together. As guys get better, they're going to get paid. Look at the A's."\nA few years ago, the Athletics boasted a top pitching trio in Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. Zito is the only one left in Oakland, and he's expected to leave this offseason.\nGreg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Orlando Hernandez are among some of the World Series aces who were gone within a few years.\n"It takes time to build a pitching staff. It's hard to keep good pitching together, too," Baker said.
(04/28/06 4:28am)
NEW YORK -- Barry Bonds will have to wait until he passes Hank Aaron before baseball throws a party for him.\nMajor League Baseball is not planning any celebration for Bonds if and when he tops Babe Ruth's mark of 714 home runs, commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday.\n"Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record," Selig said. "We don't celebrate anybody the second or third time in."\nBonds has been the subject of steroids speculation for several seasons. The recent book "Game of Shadows" detailed allegations against him, and a federal grand jury is investigating whether he committed perjury when he told another grand jury that he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.\nBonds hit his 711th homer Wednesday. His San Francisco Giants were off Thursday, and open a three-game series Friday night at home against Arizona.\nSelig does not figure to be in San Francisco, Milwaukee or Philadelphia where the Giants play next week as Bonds nears Ruth.\n"We celebrate new records, that's what we do. We're being consistent," Selig said during the Associated Press Sports Editors annual meeting with league commissioners. "There's nothing to read into that."\nRuth is second on the career home run list, trailing Aaron's total of 755. When Aaron broke Ruth's record in 1974, commissioner Bowie Kuhn was not in attendance. Kuhn's absence rankled many, including Aaron.\nBonds has been hobbled by bad knees, and missed most of last season.\n"He's had a remarkable career. Whatever happens, happens," Selig said. "We're going to let nature take its course. Commissioners don't sit around and say, 'I hope this guy breaks it or not.'"\nSelig said he had read "Game of Shadows" but not seen "Bonds on Bonds," the ESPN reality show about the slugger's life.\nSelig said the book was among several factors that prompted him to launch a baseball investigation into steroids, headed by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. There is no timetable for completing the probe.\nBaseball's investigation, Selig said, is "not affected at all by the grand jury" looking into whether Bonds committed perjury.
(11/11/04 5:08am)
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Brian Cashman wanted to make this perfectly clear: The umpires were correct when they called Alex Rodriguez out for interference on that crazy play during the AL championship series.\n"They got it completely right, 100 percent," the New York Yankees' general manager said this week.\n"But you would hate to have a game, or a series or even a season come down to a play where they miss it and instant replay could have helped," he said. "So as far as instant replay, I'm in favor of it."\nNow, after a pennant race and postseason dotted with reversed rulings, baseball will get another chance to see who else wants to give replay a look.\nThe topic is on the agenda today at the GM meetings. And there seems to be growing support among teams to join the NFL, NBA and NHL in using instant replay on calls such as fair or foul and homer or not, but definitely not balls and strikes.\n"I think its time has come," Milwaukee assistant Gord Ash said. "The technology has improved and is there. I think there's a place for it."\nEven if replay comes up for a formal vote -- it did not go very far last year when GMs debated it -- there's no assurance it would show up during games anytime soon.\n"I don't see it," Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations, said yesterday. "And I don't think the commissioner is in favor of it, either."\nEarlier in the day, GMs were briefed on plans to play a spring training game next March in Athens, Greece -- Baltimore probably would be involved -- and efforts to hold a World Cup-style tournament in early 2006.\nThey also talked about letting teams trade first-round draft choices and were told to be vigilant in verifying the ages of players signed in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.\nBut with so many procedural issues to sift through this week, the prospect of adding instant replay is intriguing.\nThe Cincinnati Reds asked replay be included on the agenda. Their executives have talked about it internally for a couple of years, and they've heard from other clubs lately.\n"I think there seems to be some level of understanding that getting the play right is what underscores this thought process," Reds GM Dan O'Brien said. "I don't think any of us have any idea of a timetable."\nThat said, there's no guarantee that umpires would want it.\n"My sense is no," said former ump Richie Garcia, now an umpire supervisor. "I think we'd be fooling around with something that would take away from the game.\n"Baseball is very traditional, but I'm not going to rule it out," he said.\nGarcia worried that not every ballpark would be equipped with equal cameras to show replays from all angles. He also said he thought the concept of umpires huddling on close calls helped "take away the idea of instant replay."\nGarcia was involved in one of the most disputed calls in October memory. He was working the right-field line in the 1996 ALCS when young fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall and grabbed the ball before Baltimore's Tony Tarasco could make a play, and it wound up as a home run for Derek Jeter.\nThis year, the umps eventually did make the right calls in key spots at the end of the year.\nIn mid-September, Manny Ramirez circled the bases after his drive to left field was ruled fair. Moments later, the umpires correctly said the Boston star's shot hooked foul.\nIn Game 6 of the ALCS, Mark Bellhorn's drive to left field was originally ruled in play after it hit a fan in the front row at Yankee Stadium. After the umpires got together, it was rightly called a home run.\nLater in that game, Rodriguez wound up on second base after he swatted at Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo's arm and knocked the ball loose. After all six umpires huddled, plate umpire Joe West said he had a better view than first-base ump Randy Marsh and called Rodriguez out.\nAtlanta GM John Schuerholz looks forward to this morning's debate.\n"I think it's an appropriate topic to discuss," he said. "With modern technology, it's worth talking about.\n"I'm not sure how I ultimately feel about it," he said. "But I'm open-minded, and want to hear what people have to say"
(11/09/04 5:38am)
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa and Randy Johnson figured to attract plenty of attention once all 30 general managers got together Monday and set up shop for their annual meetings.\nMany of the general managers had already arrived at the ritzy oceanfront hotel by the time some other prominent guests -- members of the heavy metal band Metallica -- checked out. Quickly, the baseball folks got down to business.\nIn the first trade of the offseason, San Diego sent outfielder Terrence Long and pitcher Dennis Tankersley to Kansas City for pitchers Darrell May and Ryan Bukvich.\nAlso, the Montreal Expos -- still operating under that name, but expected to become the Washington Nationals real soon -- cut reliever Rocky Biddle. Count the San Francisco Giants among the teams that came to Florida looking for a closer.\nBesides deals, there are other things to talk about during these five days. There will be a discussion about moving the July 31 trade deadline, and the topic of instant replay also was listed on the agenda.\n"I think people want to see that the umpires get it right," said Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations. "I think the postseason proved they could do it without instant replay."\nPlus, there might be a debate about post-series hugs and handshakes, such as what took place between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers after their first-round NL matchup. Fact is, a lot of old school executives didn't like it too much.\nAlong with the GMs, there was at least one prime player in town. Scott Boras, who represents free agents Carlos Beltran, Adrian Beltre, Derek Lowe, Jason Varitek, Magglio Ordonez and J.D. Drew, breezed through the lobby.\n"I'm late for another meeting," he said.\nTraditionally, the GM gathering serves as a precursor for the winter meetings, to be held Dec. 10-13 in Anaheim, Calif.\n"This is where you can lay the groundwork," Atlanta GM John Schuerholz said. "I don't think you'll see a lot of action here because there are too many dynamic free agents still out there."\nCarlos Delgado, Nomar Garciaparra, Troy Glaus and Martinez are among the elite players eligible. Only their former teams can talk money with free agents until Friday. Just to be sure, baseball sent out a two-page memo to clubs last week reminding them no collusion is allowed on offers.\nStung by Boston in the AL championship series, the New York Yankees figure to make an impact sometime before opening day. That could mean trying to lure Martinez away from the World Series champion Red Sox and perhaps making a trade to get Johnson from Arizona.\nYankees GM Brian Cashman said he had spoken to most teams before flying south, with talks in the initial stages.\n"The way these winters have gone, things don't move too swiftly," he said.\nBefore tinkering with the roster, the Yankees might solidify their coaching staff. Don Mattingly plans to return and it looks as if pitching guru Mel Stottlemyre might also be back. Former big league reliever Neil Allen could become their bullpen coach.\nSpeculation kept swirling about a blockbuster trade that would send Sosa from the Chicago Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Shawn Green in a swap of big hitters.\nBut Sosa's contract is complex, and his agent did not foresee the slugger going anywhere.\n"I just think it's unlikely," Adam Katz said. "There are too many intricacies involved. And besides that, no one has called me. No one. I think I would've heard by now"
(10/28/04 6:14am)
ST. LOUIS -- The Boston Red Sox -- yes, the Boston Red Sox! -- are World Series champions at long, long last. No more curse and no doubt about it.\nThey sure got you, Babe.\nRidiculed and reviled through decades of defeat, the Red Sox didn't just beat the St. Louis Cardinals, owners of the best record in baseball, they swept them for their first crown since 1918.\nJohnny Damon homered on the fourth pitch of the game, Derek Lowe made it stand up and the Red Sox won 3-0 Wednesday night, wrapping up a Series in which they never trailed.\nChants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" bounced all around Busch Stadium, with Boston fans as revved-up as they were relieved. Only 10 nights earlier, the Red Sox were just three outs from getting swept by the New York Yankees in the AL championship series before becoming the first team in baseball postseason history to overcome a 3-0 deficit.\nIt was Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of frustration and futility, after two world wars, the Great Depression, men on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.\nAfter all that, on an eerie night when the moon went dark in a total eclipse, the Red Sox made it look easy.\nGone was the heartbreak of four Game 7 losses since their last title, a drought -- some insist it was a curse -- that really began after they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.\n"I'm so happy. I'm happy for the fans in Boston, I'm happy for Johnny Pesky, for Bill Buckner, for (Bob) Stanley and (Calvin) Schiraldi and all the great Red Sox players who can now be remembered for the great players that they were," pitcher Curt Schilling said.\nSchilling got himself traded from Arizona to Boston last November, eager to beat the Yankees and put the Red Sox in the World Series for the first time since 1986. He made it worth his while, with the win ensuring him of an extra $15 million in a contract he negotiated himself.\n"We wanted to do it so bad for the city of Boston. To win a World Series with this on our chests -- it hasn't been done since 1918," first baseman Kevin Millar said. "So rip up those '1918' posters right now."\nDamon's leadoff homer off starter Jason Marquis and Trot Nixon's two-out, two-run double on a 3-0 pitch were all that Lowe needed. Having won the first-round clincher against Anaheim in relief and then winning Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, Lowe blanked the Cards on a mere three hits for seven innings.\nRelievers Bronson Arroyo and Alan Embree worked the eighth and Keith Foulke finished it off for his first save.\nEven before Doug Mientkiewicz caught Foulke's toss on Edgar Renteria's grounder for the last out, the Red Sox were rushing out of the dugout. Boston players streamed in from the bullpen, and they all came together in a pulsating pile between the mound and first base.\nWith flashbulbs popping, the hugging and jumping was electrifying. And why not? The day that would never quite come for a generation of Red Sox players and fans had arrived.\nNow the Red Sox get to raise the World Series banner next April 11 in the home opener at Fenway Park, with the dreaded Yankees in town forced to watch. No telling who will be there -- 18 Boston players are potential free agents, including Pedro Martinez and Lowe.\nBoston became the third straight wild-card team to win the Series, relying on the guts of Schilling and the guile of Martinez. And they took it in the same year they traded away popular shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.\nLed by Series MVP Manny Ramirez, Boston got key contributions from almost everyone. Backup outfielder Dave Roberts did not play in the Series, yet it was his stolen base in the ninth inning of Game 4 in the ALCS that began the comeback against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.\nAnd while second baseman Mark Bellhorn was born in Boston, no one else on the roster came from anywhere near Beantown. And the only homegrown players on the team are Nixon and rookie Kevin Youkilis.\nNo matter, this win might make all of them as much a part of New England lore as Plymouth Rock and Paul Revere.\n"All of our fans have waited all their lives for this night, and it's finally here. These guys did it for you, New England," Red Sox owner John Henry said.\nThe Boston win also left no doubt which city is now the most jinxed in baseball. It's Chicago -- the Cubs last won it all in 1908, the White Sox in 1917.\nMeanwhile, the Cardinals team that led the majors with 105 wins never showed up. The timely hitting, solid pitching and sharp baserunning that served them so well all season completely broke down.\nAlbert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, the meat of the order, combined for just one RBI. Rolen got it on a sacrifice fly, and it was little consolation as he went 0-for-15.\n"They outplayed us in every category, so it ended up not being a terrific competition," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "We were ready to play. We didn't play good enough."\nRamirez, put on waivers in the offseason and nearly traded to Texas for Alex Rodriguez, was 7-for-17 (.412) with a homer and four RBIs. The left fielder's biggest contribution came in Game 3, when he bounced back from a couple of errors to throw out a runner at the plate and end an early St. Louis threat.\nLowe was loose from the start. While the Cardinals took batting practice, he sat alone in the Boston dugout, his hat backward and singing the little ditty, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."\nLowe was equally relaxed on the mound. He gave up a leadoff single to Tony Womack, then retired 13 straight batters until Renteria doubled in the fifth. Renteria made it to third on a wild pitch, but Lowe struck out John Mabry -- who unsuccessfully argued that it was a foul tip -- and got Yadier Molina on a routine grounder.\nAt that point, the Cardinals were going quietly. About the only noise they made came when Molina, a 21-year-old rookie catcher whose two brothers catch for Anaheim, began yapping at Ramirez when the Boston star came to the plate in the fourth.\nRed Sox manager Terry Francona quickly rushed out of the dugout to keep things calm.\nBest known before this year for being Michael Jordan's manager in the minors, Francona made plenty of smart moves. Oakland's bench coach in 2003, he took over after Grady Little was fired last fall. Baltimore and the White Sox also interviewed the man who managed Philadelphia to losing seasons from 1997-2000.\nAnd while many Boston fans hollered for him to bench the slumping Damon in the ALCS, Francona stuck with him and was rewarded when Damon hit a grand slam and two-run homer in Game 7.\nFacing Marquis, Damon yanked a shot over the right-center field wall and before he could circle the bases, the chants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" began echoing from the upper deck.\nDamon became the second Boston player to hit a leadoff homer in the Series. The other? Patsy Dougherty, who did it in 1903 for the Americans _ renamed the Red Sox five years later.\nA single by Ramirez and double by David Ortiz got the Red Sox ramped up again in the third. Pujols threw out Ramirez at the plate, trying to score on a grounder to first base, and a walk loaded the bases with two outs.\nNixon took three straight balls and Francona gambled, giving his good fastball hitter the green light. That's what Nixon got, and he drilled it off the right-center wall for a 3-0 lead.
(10/27/04 5:21am)
ST. LOUIS -- Get ready, Boston. There's no other outcome now: Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox will either win the World Series or add another historic collapse to their legend.\nThey'll either reverse The Curse that's plagued the team since 1918, or they'll fall apart, just as they did the last four times they got this close.\nMartinez made his long-awaited Series debut a special one, and was bailed out when Ramirez and David Ortiz did as much damage with their arms as bats. Backed by the surprising show of defense, Boston cruised past St. Louis 4-1 Tuesday night for a 3-0 lead and left a crowd that loves its Cardinals booing the home team.\nUntil this October, it was considered almost impossible for any baseball team to recover from such a deficit in the postseason. No one had ever done it -- that is, until the Red Sox bounced back to stun New York in the American League championship series.\nAnd now, after being only three outs away from getting swept last week, Boston is on the verge of sweeping the club that led the majors in wins this year and claiming the ultimate prize.\nDerek Lowe will try to finish it off Wednesday night, with Jason Marquis starting Game 4 for St. Louis.\nPitching a day after his 33rd birthday, Martinez threw seven innings of shutout ball, holding the limp Cardinals to three hits and retiring his final 14 batters.\nRamirez put Martinez ahead with a first-inning homer and the three-time Cy Young winner held it, helped by superb defense and shaky baserunning. Added up, the Red Sox set a team record with their seventh straight postseason win, bettering the streak of six capped off by Babe Ruth's win in the 1916 Series.\nThat Martinez won was hardly amazing. That Boston's defense contributed was downright shocking.\nThe Red Sox made eight errors and still won the first two games. This time, they were flawless in the field -- and maybe even better than that.\nRamirez threw out Larry Walker at the plate from left field to end the first inning. The lumbering Ortiz, in the lineup because Boston did not have the DH slot, alertly caught losing pitcher Jeff Suppan later.\nCombined with a couple of more two-out runs, the Red Sox were home free.\nRamirez was the MVP of the first inning, by far.\nAfter getting some pine tar from the top of his gooey batting helmet, he hit a solo home run with two outs into the loge level in left field. Ramirez was familiar with Suppan, going 7-for-18 with three homers against his former teammate.\nAhead 1-0, Boston did it again with defense in the third.\nSuppan started it with a swinging-bunt single and Edgar Renteria hit a double that sent Nixon sliding feet first into a warning track puddle.\nAgain the crowd came to its feet, sensing the big hit that St. Louis needed. Walker instead rapped a weak grounder to second baseman Mark Bellhorn, which should have easily been enough to advance the runners and score the tying run.
(10/25/04 5:41am)
BOSTON -- The bloody sock is now the very symbol of these Red Sox, a rallying cry in the shape of a stitched-up right ankle.\nPitching again through so much pain it put his start in doubt, Curt Schilling helped Boston move halfway to snaring its most elusive prize: a first World Series championship since 1918.\nBacked by another big hit from surprising Mark Bellhorn, and unfazed by a defense that still had trouble getting a grip, the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 Sunday night to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the Series.\n"I'm a little sore, but it don't matter right now," Schilling said. "Hopefully, I won't have to pitch again, but I guarantee you that team believes in themselves as much as we believe in ourselves."\nJason Varitek's rare triple, Orlando Cabrera's single off the Green Monster and a booming double by Game 1 star Bellhorn drove in all of Boston's runs with two outs -- enough to offset four errors, including a Series record-tying three by third baseman Bill Mueller.\nPedro Martinez will try to make it a 3-0 lead on \nTuesday night when he faces Jeff Suppan in Game 3 at St. Louis. The Cardinals are a perfect 6-0 at Busch Stadium in this postseason, and Suppan outpitched Roger Clemens there in Game 7 of the NLCS.\n"We like playing on the road," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "We love playing at home. We're disappointed we didn't get a game here."\nGetting stronger with each pitch, Schilling held St. Louis to four hits and an unearned run for six innings. Doctors once again used sutures to keep a tendon in place, as they did before he won Game 6 of the AL championship series at Yankee Stadium, and he looked even better this time.\nThat stained sock has become so much a symbol -- and target for TV cameras -- that Schilling turned it into a billboard of sorts by writing "K ALS" on his right shoe -- shorthand for "Strike out Lou Gehrig's disease."\n"I just wish everybody on this planet could experience the day I just experienced," he said.\nWhen he woke up, Schilling wasn't sure he could pitch.\n"I couldn't walk, I couldn't move. I don't know what had happened. But I knew when I woke up, there was a problem," he said.\nSchilling willed himself to the mound, combining with three relievers on a five-hitter, and kept focused on the main job of shutting down the St. Louis sluggers. Despite Albert Pujols getting three hits, the trio of Larry Walker, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds went a combined 0-for-11.\nSchilling improved to 8-2 lifetime in the postseason and became the first starting pitcher to win in the Series for three different teams, having also pitched for Arizona and Philadelphia.\n"You could see he was battling with his ankle," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We all know what the circumstances are. He was very, very good."\nAnd Schilling hobbled most of the way.\n"About the third inning, I think I tweaked my hip flexor a little bit," he said.\nRed Sox fans would be happy if they did not see their team play at Fenway Park any more this year. Of the 33 teams to open the Series with two victories at home, 28 have gone on to win the championship.\nThen again, Boston led 2-0 in its last appearance, winning twice at Shea Stadium in 1986 before losing in seven games to the New York Mets.\nSomehow, the Red Sox have won twice despite a pair of four-error performances -- the most ever in the opening two games of the Series.\nThe Cardinals were flawless in the field on a misty, 48-degree evening, yet their baserunning was shaky. A misstep by Reggie Sanders -- he stepped over second and had to retreat -- cost them a chance to score early.\nVaritek has hit exactly one triple in each of the last five regular seasons. He picked a good time for a bonus three-bagger.\nWorking on three days' rest, Morris retired his first two batters before walking Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz on full-count pitches. Varitek then launched a drive to the deepest part of the park, out toward the dirt triangle at the 420-foot mark, and tore his pants with a slide into third.\nFor the Cardinals, it was a familiar and unfortunate pattern. In their 11-9 loss in the opener, four runners scored after reaching on walks.\nBellhorn made it 4-1 in the fourth. Kevin Millar was nicked by a pitch, Mueller doubled and Bellhorn hit a drive off the base of the wall in dead center.\nOrtiz thought he'd added two more runs in the fifth when he hit a shot at Pesky's Pole in right field. A day earlier, his drive towered above the marker for a three-run homer.\nThis time, it looked foul to most everyone except Ortiz. He walked halfway to first base, spreading his arms wide and gesturing, showing how the ball hooked around the pole. First-base coach Lynn Jones made sure Ortiz didn't get too angry and Francona talked to the umpires, who huddled briefly before correctly saying it was indeed a foul ball.\nPujols hit his second double of the game and scored in the fourth when Sanders' two-hopper bounced off Mueller's chest.\nCabrera's two-run single made it 6-1 in the sixth. Rolen had a sacrifice fly in the eighth at a time when St. Louis needed a big hit.\nThe Cardinals threatened in the second when Sanders drew a one-out walk and was running on Tony Womack's single to right-center. Sanders stepped over the bag, however, and scrambled back to second.\n"I think we're one of the best baserunning teams I've ever seen," La Russa said. "He just missed it."\nLa Russa called for a double steal, and both runners got a good jump. Only one problem: Mike Matheny hit a line drive right at Mueller, who tagged Sanders for an easy double play.
(10/22/04 6:07am)
ST. LOUIS -- The best team in baseball now gets a chance to prove it in the World Series.\nAlbert Pujols hit a tying double, Scott Rolen followed with a home run and the St. Louis Cardinals suddenly erupted against Roger Clemens, startling the Houston Astros 5-2 Thursday night to take Game 7 of the NL championship series.\nIn a matchup where the home team won each time, the Cardinals broke through with two outs in the sixth inning. It came in a span of only two pitches, and Busch Stadium became a roiling sea of red.\nJeff Suppan overcame a leadoff home run by Craig Biggio to win an apparent mismatch against Clemens. The bullpen combined for three scoreless innings, shutting down Carlos Beltran and Co., with Jason Isringhausen working the ninth for his third save.\nAfter posting 105 wins and running away with the NL Central, the Cardinals advanced to their first World Series under manager Tony La Russa, and first overall since 1987.\nNext up, the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 on Saturday night at Fenway Park. By all accounts it should be a classic -- they also met in the 1967 and 1946 Series, and St. Louis won both, each time going the full seven games.\nPujols led the way, hitting .500 with four homers and nine RBIs. Overall, the teams combined for 25 home runs, the most in any postseason series.\nLarry Walker singled home an insurance run in the eighth, and the club sporting the famed birds-on-the-bat logo captured its 16th pennant.\nFor the Astros, it was total disappointment.\nThey have never reached the World Series since their expansion season of 1962, the same year Clemens was born.\nBut the Rocket could not hold an early 2-0 lead in his record fourth start in a Game 7.\nWhile Rolen and Pujols did the major damage in the sixth, Roger Cedeno surely deserved some credit for rattling the Rocket.\nCedeno opened the sixth with a pinch-hit single, his 11th hit in 25 lifetime at-bats against Clemens, and immediately began dancing off first base. Clemens made three pickoff throws and stepped off the rubber three times trying to hold Cedeno close.\nCedeno moved up on a bunt, and again his leads attracted Clemens' attention before the speedster took third on Walker's groundout. That brought up Pujols, and brought Astros manager Phil Garner to the mound.\nWith the count at 1-2, catcher Brad Ausmus again went to visit Clemens. Pujols lined the next pitch into the left-field corner, cocking his arm as he eased into second base with a tying double.\nThe crowd was going crazy by then, and Rolen seized the opportunity. Clemens tried to throw a first-pitch fastball by Rolen, and instead the All-Star slugger rocketed it just inside the left-field foul pole.\nWhile Rolen ran hard around the bases and several Cardinals spilled out of the dugout to meet him, Clemens could only stare ahead.\nAn inning earlier, Ausmus preserved a 2-1 lead by picking off Tony Womack at first base with two runners on.\nBiggio picked on Suppan's fourth pitch, hitting a no-doubt drive to left. At 38, it was the kind of big hit he hoped for much earlier in his career.\nJim Edmonds of St. Louis prevented a big inning with the type of catch that's made him a six-time Gold Glove winner. Shaded toward right-center, he raced back into the left-center alley and made a headlong dive to rob Ausmus with two runners on. Clods of grass kicked up as Edmonds' knees hit the ground, and he slid several feet on his stomach.\nWhen Edmonds came up in the bottom of the second with his grass-and-dirt stained uniform, he had a few fun words with Ausmus at the plate.\nAfter taking away a couple of runs, Edmonds was charged with an error that gave back a run in the third. Beltran walked with one out, stole second and tagged up on Jeff Bagwell's fly ball. Edmonds' strong throw and Beltran arrived at third base simultaneously, and the ball skipped into the dugout.\nEdmonds was charged with the error that let Beltran trot home. It was a tough error, and ended St. Louis' record streak of 12 straight postseason games without a mistake, dating to 2002.\nSuppan put down a perfect suicide-squeeze bunt that pulled the Cardinals to 2-1 in the third. Womack hustled for a leadoff double, running at will on Biggio's weak arm in left, and moved up on a grounder.\nOn the first pitch, Suppan bunted to the right side and the Astros' only play was at first base. Normally a good hitter, Suppan was awful at the plate this year, going 4-for-57.
(10/21/04 5:40am)
ST. LOUIS -- Jim Edmonds finished what Albert Pujols started for the St. Louis Cardinals.\nEdmonds blasted a two-run homer in the 12th inning and the rejuvenated St. Louis Cardinals forced the NL championship series to Game 7, beating the Houston Astros 6-4 Wednesday to even the series at three games apiece.\n"This what it's all about, right here," Edmonds said.\nNext up for St. Louis: Roger Clemens.\nClemens came out of retirement for the sole purpose of pitching his hometown Astros into their first World Series. Now, he'll get that chance Thursday night when he starts against former Boston teammate Jeff Suppan.\nIt will be will Clemens' fourth career start in a Game 7 -- he's 1-0 in those all-or-nothing outings after getting knocked out early last year in the ALCS for the New York Yankees.\nAfter Jeff Bagwell's two-out single in the ninth off Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen tied it at 4, Edmonds won it with a one-out shot off Dan Miceli.\nThe Astros' Brad Lidge blew away St. Louis for three perfect innings, striking out five before Miceli relieved in the 12th.\n"Of course you want him out of there," Pujols said of Lidge.\nPujols drew a leadoff walk and one out later, Edmonds homered way over the St. Louis bullpen in right field.\nThe Cardinals won a postseason game in extra innings for the first time since the 1964 World Series at Yankee Stadium. Righty Julian Tavarez, pitching with a broken left hand, went two innings for the win.\n"It's my understanding that it's the fingers that are broken as opposed to the hand, so I'm not surprised. He did throw well," Astros manager Phil Garner said.\nGarner picked journeyman Pete Munro to pitch Game 6, rather than going with the Rocket on three days' rest. But Pujols' first-inning homer landed in the Houston bullpen, and pretty soon some relievers were stirring in there, too.\nFor the Cardinals, it will be a chance to make their first World Series in four NLCS trips under manager Tony La Russa. For baseball, it marks the second straight year that both championship series went seven games.\nIsringhausen took a 4-3 lead into the ninth, but immediately put himself in jeopardy by hitting pinch-hitter Morgan Ensberg leading off. A bunt moved Ensberg to second and Craig Biggio hit a fly ball for the second out.\nThat brought up Carlos Beltran, and the Cardinals huddled on the mound. A big cheer broke out in the sellout crowd of 52,144 when catcher Mike Matheny signaled for an intentional walk.\nBut Bagwell foiled the strategy, hitting a hard RBI single on the first pitch. After a double steal, Isringhausen managed to keep it tied by striking out Lance Berkman.\nAfter hitting only .161 in three straight losses at Minute Maid Park, the Cardinals quickly found their stroke at Busch Stadium.\nPujols put St. Louis ahead with his sixth homer of the postseason, a two-run shot, and later added a double and single. He scored twice, and was nailed at the plate another time when he ran through a coach's stop sign.\nBeltran, continuing to build his October resume, hit two balls off the right-field wall and both times was held to a single by right fielder Larry Walker's fast relay. Beltran scored twice, and his 20 runs broke Barry Bonds' postseason record of 18 set in 2002.\nSt. Louis starter Matt Morris hung on for five innings.\nMunro lasted just 2 1-3 innings, half the distance he went for Houston in Game 2. The wild-card Astros hoped to get lucky with a guy who started the season in the minors with Minnesota and won only four games in the majors, but he never gave them a chance.\nMunro was tagged for four runs, with slumping Tony Womack, Edgar Renteria and Reggie Sanders all delivering. Houston's much-maligned middle relievers were effective, although it was too late.\nAfter totaling only four hits Monday -- a record low for any postseason game -- the Astros and Cardinals beat that in the first inning alone. They also scored three times following Houston's 3-0 win in Game 5 on Jeff Kent's ninth-inning homer.
(10/15/04 5:27am)
ST. LOUIS - Rain or shine, the St. Louis Cardinals' big bats always seem to come through in the end.\nAlbert Pujols led off the eighth inning with a tiebreaking home run, Scott Rolen followed with his second homer of the game and the Cardinals stormed back to beat Houston 6-4 on a miserable Thursday night for a 2-0 lead in the NL championship series.\nThe weather was awful all evening, with drizzle delaying the start for almost a half-hour and the rain lasting through the final pitch. By the time it was over, with temperatures falling into the mid-40s, no one in the sellout crowd at Busch Stadium was complaining.\nPujols and Rolen connected for the first consecutive home runs in the Cardinals' long, proud postseason history. Larry Walker also homered, enough to offset yet another shot by Carlos Beltran and a homer by Morgan Ensberg for the Astros.\nNow, the series shifts to Minute Maid Park for Game 3 on Saturday, with Roger Clemens set to start for Houston against Jeff Suppan. If the Rocket can pull the Astros close, then 20-game winner Roy Oswalt will have a chance to even it in Game 4.\nStill, the Cardinals hold a commanding edge.\nOf 61 clubs that have fallen behind 0-2 in a best-of-seven postseason baseball series, only 12 have come back to win.\nJulian Tavarez got the victory in relief. Jason Isringhausen worked around two walks in the ninth, getting Ensberg on a long fly out to finish for his second save of the NLCS.\nDan Miceli took the loss as the Astros' bullpen continued to falter. He took over to begin the eighth and gave up home runs to the first two batters he faced.\nRolen, nursing a strained left calf, was 0-for-14 in the postseason before hitting an RBI single in Game 1.\nHe showed no ill effects in Game 2, as he, Rolen and Walker hit two-run homers that put St. Louis ahead 4-3 in the fifth. Rolen was the first batter Chad Harville faced after he relieved journeyman starter Pete Munro.\nBeltran's sixth homer of the postseason helped the Astros to a 3-0 lead off Matt Morris.\nHouston later made it 4-all in the seventh when Lance Berkman doubled, stole third and scored when Ensberg grounded a single past the drawn-in infield. The tying hit off Kiko Calero came against an especially odd backdrop.\nDuring the at-bat, fireworks exploded high beyond the left-field roof. They came from the riverboat Becky Thatcher, which someone had commissioned for a party on the nearby Mississippi.\nCalero backed off the mound, Ensberg stepped out of the box, and fans cheered the multicolor show. Coincidentally, the Cardinals stopped shooting off fireworks after home runs this season because they posed a danger to construction workers building the team's new stadium set to open in 2006.\nThe Cardinals were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position before Walker delivered the big hit they needed. The slugger completed his cycle, albeit a day later -- he tripled, doubled and singled in a 10-7 win in the opener.\nMunro gave the Astros exactly what they needed, at least for a while. But like unheralded Brandon Backe in the opener, Munro was pulled after 4 2-3 innings with a one-run lead, falling one out shy of qualifying for the win.\nAnd for the second straight day, the Houston bullpen quickly gave away the edge.\nMunro pitched in and out of trouble all night. Even so, he did a lot better than most people expected from a guy who began the season at Triple-A for Minnesota, was released in June, signed with the Astros and got sent back to the minors in August.\nBeltran homered on the third pitch of the game, lining a shot into the right-field box seats. He hit a drive into almost the identical spot in the first inning in Game 1.\nWith each swing this October, Beltran figures to get richer. He's eligible for free agency after the postseason ends, and the Astros are expected to be among the bidders for the prime, five-tool player.\nEnsberg made it 2-0 with a leadoff shot in the fourth. That marked the Astros' ninth run of this NLCS, all of them coming on six homers.\nHouston finally found another way to score in the fifth, an inning that brought both managers onto the field.\nCraig Biggio opened with a single and moved up on a balk by Morris that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa contested. After Jeff Bagwell walked with one out, Lance Berkman lined an RBI single over Pujols' leap.\nPujols' glove flew off when he jumped, and the mitt missed the ball. Still, Houston manager Phil Garner wanted to be sure it was called correctly -- and it was.\nRule 7.05 (c) specifies that runners get to advance three bases if a fielder deliberately throws his glove and hits a fair ball. But the rules also spell out there is no penalty if the glove misses, or if it "flies off his hand as he makes an obvious effort to make a legitimate catch"
(10/13/04 4:57am)
ST. LOUIS -- In Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt, the Houston Astros have one of the best pitching tandems in all of baseball.\nOnly one problem going into the NL championship series: With no time to rest, those guys have been aced out of starting the first two games against the St. Louis Cardinals.\nInstead, Houston hopes Brandon Backe can shut down the likes of Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds in the opener Wednesday night at Busch Stadium. Then, Pete Munro gets the ball for Game 2.\nBacke, a converted outfielder from the Tampa Bay system, and Munro, cut by Minnesota in June, began the season in the minors. Together, they combined for nine wins in the majors.\n"We don't feel handicapped in any way whatsoever," Astros manager Phil Garner said Tuesday. "This is what it took for us to get here. This is what we'll go with."\nGarner leaned on his two aces to get the Astros through the first round of the playoffs. Both pitched on three days' rest, with Oswalt winning the decisive Game 5 in Atlanta on Monday night.\nClemens and Oswalt each went 2-0 against the Cardinals this year. Now, they're pushed back to pitching over the weekend in Houston -- not that St. Louis manager Tony La Russa is relaxing.\n"We're not going to fall into the trap tomorrow because Clemens or Oswalt is not pitching, that we've got some big advantage," he said. "They'll have a legitimate starting pitcher, a legitimate bullpen, a legitimate club behind them."\nStill, St. Louis slugger Larry Walker was a little curious, especially about Munro. With batting practice wiped out by rain, the Cardinals were talking and were certain Munro was starting the opener.\n"I just know he's pitching the first game," Walker said. "I don't even know if I ever have faced him, really."\nWalker had, going 1-for-3 with a double.\nComing off the first playoff series victory in their 43-season history, the wild-card Astros take on the team that led the majors with 105 victories. Backe will start on three days' rest for the first time in his career, opposed by Woody Williams, who grew up in Houston.
(10/05/04 4:44am)
Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez are revved up. Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt are rarin' to go. Baseball fans are ready, too.\nThe shadows are getting longer, the leaves are starting to turn and pumpkins are showing up. And that means just one thing: It's October, and it's playoff time!\nAll of a sudden, all those wins hardly matter. The St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees were the only teams to top 100 victories, yet both start the playoffs Tuesday without a true ace and concerns about their ailing pitchers.\nNow, Boston and Houston become truly dangerous as they hope to catch the wild-card wave that produced the last two World Series champs. The Red Sox and Astros feature potent 1-2 combos in their rotations, a perfect recipe for the postseason.\n"When you get down to a game or a short series, it's the beauty of the game of baseball," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Monday. "Bucky Dent can hit a three-run home run or your hottest hitter can go up there and the guy throws the best slider of his life and gets him out, or your best pitcher hangs a slider.\n"That's why you've got to play the games. To me, that's part of the thrill, that uncertainty," he said.\nStarting this week, Vladimir Guerrero gets a chance to really boost his reputation. He'll play in the postseason for the first time, as will stars Eric Gagne, Adrian Beltre, Carlos Beltran and Oswalt.\nBarry Bonds is out, as are Josh Beckett, Jack McKeon and the World Series champion Florida Marlins. Sammy Sosa and the Chicago Cubs faded and missed the playoffs this year, and so did Oakland's trio of Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Tim Hudson.\nAndy Pettitte, Tim Salmon and Darren Dreifort saw their teams reach the playoffs, but injuries denied them the opportunity to participate. Orlando Hernandez, Jason Giambi and Scott Rolen are banged up.\nThe chase begins anew Tuesday afternoon at Busch Stadium, when Woody Williams and the Cardinals face Odalis Perez and the Los Angeles Dodgers in their best-of-five NL series.\nCare to make a prediction, Mr. Perez?\n"If we beat St. Louis, we're going to win the World Series," he said. "If we beat them, this is it: Dodgers, champions."\nLater, Schilling and the Red Sox visit Jarrod Washburn and the Anaheim Angels in the AL.\n"When you get to the playoffs, you're not going to be facing pitchers who have ERAs of 7.00 or 8.00," Angels first baseman Darin Erstad said. "I mean, to win it all, you've got to beat the best, so we might as well face the best right away."\nSaid Boston first baseman Kevin Millar: "I don't think anybody wants to play us."\nAt night, superb lefty Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins take on Mike Mussina at Yankee Stadium.\nFrom the introduction of the starting lineups, the Twins will be on their toes in a rematch of a first-round series they lost in four games last year.\n"You remember a lot of the things," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "This may not mean much to you, but I looked over at the Yankees and they were standing inside the white line and our team was standing outside the white line.\n"They were like, champions stand inside the white line. We learned something. So I tell my guys, stand inside the damned white line now," he said.\nOn Wednesday, the other series starts when Clemens and the Astros visit Jaret Wright and the Atlanta Braves.\nFor Astros stars Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, it will be a chance at redemption. The Braves beat Houston in the first round in 1997, 1999 and 2001, with B&B going a combined 11-for-75 (.147) with no extra-base hits and zero RBIs in those 10 games.\n"I think the odds are in our favor," Astros owner Drayton McLane said. "It's our turn."\nIn any case, everyone is even, at least for a day.\n"I feel good about where we are right now. We're very comfortable," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "When I say comfortable, that doesn't mean we're taking someone for granted, but it's comfortable with who we are right now and how we're playing."\nTwins center fielder Torii Hunter also knows what to expect this time of year, especially at Yankee Stadium.\n"Your eyes get bigger, your heartbeat gets faster," he said.
(09/22/04 4:41am)
NEW YORK -- Jason Giambi homered to end the longest slump of his career, and Esteban Loaiza finally earned his 100th career victory and first for the Yankees, leading New York over the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 Tuesday night.\nGary Sheffield hit his 36th home run two days after getting a pair of cortisone shots. Alex Rodriguez almost homered for the Yankees, too, but was robbed on a spectacular catch by center fielder Vernon Wells.\nMariano Rivera matched his career-high with his 50th save as the Yankees held their 4 1/2-game lead over Boston in the AL East and stopped Toronto's three-game winning string.\nGiambi had been 0-for-32, with 11 of those at-bats coming since he returned from the disabled list after being diagnosed with a benign tumor. Manager Joe Torre kept the former AL MVP on the bench the previous three games but started him this time because he had good career numbers against Roy Halladay.\nGiambi made the move pay off, going the opposite way for a two-run shot to left-center in the second. Torre clapped in the dugout while Derek Jeter and several teammates came out to greet the slugger, who took a curtain call. Giambi later added a sacrifice fly.
(09/07/04 5:22am)
NEW YORK -- Andre Agassi made short work of marathon man Sargis Sargsian on Labor Day and moved on to an incredibly attractive matchup at the U.S. Open: Next up, top-seeded Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.\nLindsay Davenport won in straight sets, too, needing five match points in the final game to turn back Venus Williams 7-5, 6-4. It was the 25th time the former Open winners met -- Davenport leads 13-12, and they've split eight Grand Slam matches.\n"She appears to be struggling a bit for confidence," Davenport said.\nAgassi swept out his longtime friend and occasional practice partner 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in just 90 minutes. Sargsian's last two matches totaled nearly 10 hours, though he said he felt fresh instead of fatigued.\n"I never expect to win easily, and I think matches have the potential of looking that way more than feeling that way," Agassi said.\nTim Henman and Dominik Hrbaty also advanced on the men's side. Shinobu Asagoe moved into women's quarters against Davenport, while No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne played at night.\nFederer reached the Open quarterfinals for the first time, and did so in easy fashion. No. 16 Andrei Pavel withdrew with a herniated disc in his lower back long before their match started -- he missed six months last year with a bad back and wrist.\nPlaying on his 30th birthday, Henman gave himself a neat present: his first trip to the Open quarters in his 10th visit to Flushing Meadows. He led a testy Nicolas Kiefer 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (4), 3-0 when the German pulled out with an injured right hand.\n"I'm slowing up already," Henman kidded.\nHrbaty rallied to oust Olivier Rochus 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Hrbaty overcame 77 unforced errors to make it to a major quarterfinal for the first time.\nAsagoe upset No. 29 Eleni Daniilidou 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, making her the lowest-ranked U.S. Open quarterfinalist since Williams in 1997.\nAsagoe is ranked 62nd; Williams was 66th when she reached the final in her Open debut.\nThe sixth-seeded Agassi kept up his drive for a third Open championship and never let Sargsian get into a rhythm. Agassi broke him in his first service game of each set.\n"I don't think it's quite as comfortable playing against somebody that you root for," Agassi said. "I mean, if I were to lose, I probably wouldn't want to lose to anybody more than him, if that makes any sense at all."\nSargsian played the two longest matches of the tournament, needing 5 hours, 9 minutes to beat Nicolas Massu in the second round and then taking 4:44 to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu.\nAgassi saw that last match on television.\n"Never been so nervous in my life," Agassi said. "It's a lot easier playing than watching when you really care about it. I was pulling for him. It was a great display of tennis and heart, by both players."\nSargsian's knee wobbled in the second set, though he was able to continue. At 31, he's three years younger than Agassi.\n"It's strange to play Andre, to be honest," he said. "I really hope this is the last time I play him. I don't feel like I have a game plan against him. Like I don't know how to win the points."\nFederer is trying to become the first man since 1988 to win three Grand Slam championships in a season. He lost in the fourth round the last three years.\n"He does a lot of things really well. He does a few things really great. That makes him quite a tough player," Agassi said. "Most of the time, he's making it look too easy to enjoy."\nKiefer was up 3-1 in the second set before Henman came back to win 10 straight games. In the fourth set, Kiefer's temper got the best of him.\nKiefer began barking after being called for a foot fault. He later netted an easy forehand volley, and reacted by taking a big forehand swing and knocking a ball into the upper deck -- he was penalized a point for the outburst.\nMoments later, he took issue with two calls on the lines -- TV replays showed he was wrong both times. But that did not stop him for arguing, and he approached the chair umpire after an overrule and shouted "What is this?"\nKiefer was leading 30-love in the fourth game when he began flexing his hand before a serve. A trainer was called and after about 10 minutes, Kiefer was done. He walked up to Henman and extended his left hand for a shake.\n"I couldn't hold my racket," Kiefer said. "That was a tough decision. I wanted to finish it"
(04/06/04 5:49am)
SAN ANTONIO -- Emeka Okafor powered inside, slammed home a rebound and got the Connecticut cheering section to go crazy.\nAt the center of everything, Okafor put on an All-American performance in the biggest game of his life, punctuating it with that rim-shaking dunk late in Monday night's 82-73 win over Georgia Tech for the NCAA championship.\nAnd somehow, up in the stands, Pius Okafor managed to stay relaxed. With fans around him standing and shouting, he politely applauded his son's stuff while 10 other family members looked on.\n"I'm very calm," Okafor's father said in the closing minutes. "I'm so proud of him and so excited that he's playing at this level."\nOh, and this from Dad: "He's played better than this."\nMaybe, but certainly not in a game of this magnitude.\nThe most dominant player in college basketball was picked as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after scoring 24 points and getting 15 rebounds.\nOkafor raised his arms high after corralling the final carom. He controlled the glass at both ends by setting up shots on offense and altering attempts on defense.\n"It was a great season," the 6-foot-10 center said. "We had our ups and down. This moment makes it all worthwhile."\n"We came out and snuck by Duke. Then we came out and grabbed the national title," he said.\nBehind Okafor, it was never as close as the end result indicated as UConn won its second crown in six seasons. The Huskies' 15-point lead was the biggest in an NCAA title game in 37 years, and Okafor never let Tech get near until the outcome was decided.\nThe Yellow Jackets simply had no answer for him, despite trying to give 7-foot-1 Luke Schenscher as much double-team help as they could.\nTech tried to go at him, hoping to get him in foul trouble as Duke did in the semifinals. Okafor picked up his second foul just five seconds before halftime and it looked as if he got No. 3 only 2 and-a-half minutes into the second half.\nBut as Okafor slammed his hands in frustration, the officials said the foul was on Josh Boone.\nIt was that kind of night for Okafor -- everything went his way.\nOkafor will get his finance degree next month with a 3.8 grade-point average. He's expected to be among the top picks in the NBA draft in June.\nStill a junior, Okafor was met by chants of "One more year! One more year," by Huskies fans when he stepped up to cut down the net.\nAfter growing up in war-torn Nigeria, Pius Okafor said he was most proud that his son needed only three years to earn a college degree. As for his son's basketball talent, "I knew he'd be good, but not that good," he said after the game.\nConfetti cannons shot off after the game and Okafor made his way to the podium to collect his prizes. In the stands, his dad was finally beaming.\n"This is the American dream come true," Pius Okafor said.