Brad Hawpe is helping to put the wild in the wild-card chase. Hawpe hit an impressive opposite-field homer with two outs in the 14th inning and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 on Friday night to tighten the wild-card race. The Rockies snapped a seven-game winning streak by the Padres, who saw their wild-card lead trimmed to 1 1/2 games over Philadelphia.
Trying to avert a September collapse, the New York Mets stumbled upon a simple solution: Hit the ball to the Florida Marlins. Florida committed a team record six errors while allowing eight unearned runs, and the Mets put the brakes on their free fall by winning 9-6 on Friday night. New York retained a 1 1/2 -game lead in the NL East over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies, who beat Washington…
A pitcher who was supposed to start the season in the minors has helped put the Indians on the verge of their first division title since 2001. It’s been that kind of year for Cleveland. Fausto Carmona won his 18th game and Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta hit back-to-back homers as Cleveland beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3 on Friday night to lower its magic number for clinching the AL Central to two.
Titans quarterback Vince Young was fined $7,500 for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in last Sunday’s 22-20 loss to Indianapolis. The NFL fined Young for throwing the ball at Colts defensive back Kelvin Hayden just before halftime and it cost the team 15 yards. Hayden had pushed at Young’s head, and the quarterback responded by tossing the ball toward the ground at Hayden’s feet.
Poland prepares for early elections, with liberals in a close race with the outgoing traditional conservatives.
Clint Bowyer celebrated. Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick stewed.
Kurt Busch was penalized and demoralized the last time he left Dover.
This is a courtroom where Lenny Bruce would feel at home. Twenty-three floors above Manhattan, inside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan federal courthouse, the legal niceties are few and the obscenities plentiful in the sexual harassment trial of New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas. Four-letter words fly like three-point shots, along with a steady flow of gender slurs and crude sexual come-ons — all…
Chicago White Sox slugger Jim Thome hit career homer No. 504 Saturday, moving him into a tie with Eddie Murray for 22nd place on baseball’s all-time list. Facing Boof Bonser in the top of the third inning, Thome hit a high fly to right that sneaked inside the foul pole and a few feet over the wall. Thome is sixth in home runs among active players.
The San Francisco Giants saw no reason to let their decision about whether to bring back Barry Bonds in 2008 drag on all offseason. After all the home run records, memorable moments and controversy over steroids that marked Bonds’ 15-year tenure in San Francisco, it was finally time to say bye-bye Barry.
