The Seattle Mariners’ historical slide reached a new low — permitting something that had happened only one other time in 106 years. Kurt Suzuki hit his first career grand slam and Dan Johnson also hit one as the Oakland Athletics beat sinking Seattle 9-3 on Monday night. It was the second time in their 106-year history the Athletics had two slams in one game.
Jeff Salazar stood by his locker on a puffy, purple ankle as Arizona boss Jeff Moorad reached out his hand. “Congratulations. Outstanding,” said Moorad, the Diamondbacks’ general partner. Salazar didn’t start because of his bum left ankle, then came up big with a go-ahead, three-run homer in the ninth inning of the D-backs’ 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Monday night.
Alex Smith acknowledged he couldn’t have played much worse in the first 57 minutes of the San Francisco 49ers’ opener, which made his final three minutes even more stunning. Yet no matter the year or the coaching staff, there’s nothing surprising about another gut-wrenching loss for the Arizona Cardinals.
JaMarcus Russell and the Oakland Raiders agreed in principle Monday night to a six-year contract that will guarantee the quarterback more than $30 million in the richest contract ever for a rookie. The two sides met in person Monday for the third time in four days and were hashing out final details of the contract, according to a person familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity…
What was left of the Bengals held on for a win that hurt so good. With wounded players shuffling off the field in waves, Cincinnati pulled off the kind of victory Monday night that could set the tone for a season — that is, assuming no one else gets hurt. Carson Palmer threw his second touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and a suspect defense pulled off a goal-line stand in the closing seconds…
Georgie Boy rallied from next-to-last place to win the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity by a half length over Salute the Sarge on Wednesday. Ridden by Garrett Gomez, the 2-year-old colt covered seven furlongs in 1:25.34 over Polytrack and returned $13.60, $6.20 and $3.60. “We had a good trip and he did what he had to do,” Gomez said.
Pat Burrell’s second-half surge has Philadelphia on the brink of the wild-card lead. More games like this one and the Phillies just might get there. Ryan Howard doubled home the winning run in the 10th inning after Burrell tied the game with a dramatic homer in the seventh, leading the Phillies to a 6-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.
Scott Kazmir was so sharp even Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz might have had trouble hitting him. With Boston’s two sluggers out of the lineup in the same game for the first time this season, Tampa Bay’s ace struck out 10 and scattered five singles in seven innings in a 1-0 win over the Red Sox on Monday night.
Fans chanted “M-V-P!” when Magglio Ordonez came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth Monday night. Once again, he delivered. Ordonez hit a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning, capping a four-run rally that lifted the Detroit Tigers over the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4. The Tigers moved within 3 1/2 games of idle New York in the AL wild-card race.
The racing industry in Australia’s New South Wales state is counting the cost after an outbreak of equine influenza.
