Denny Hamlin had five days to think about his garage-area confrontation with Kyle Petty, which ended with Petty swiping at his helmet and Hamlin vowing to continue the fight.
Top NBA draft pick Greg Oden doesn’t remember much from immediately after knee surgery. He was with his mother at home when he found out how serious it was. “I kinda looked at my mom and said, ‘I’m out for the season? You kidding me?’ ” he said. Oden will be on crutches for six more weeks. Full recovery likely will take six to 12 months.
Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer could miss the start of training camp next week while his son recovers from a bone-marrow transplant in Miami. Camp starts Tuesday and runs through Oct. 6 in Boise, Idaho. “As soon as my son is home from the hospital and stable, I will join my teammates,” Boozer said in a statement released by the team Thursday.
Arizona manager Bob Melvin’s last-minute move to play Micah Owings would have been a great one even if Owings hadn’t pitched one of the best games of his career. Owings was 4-for-4 with three doubles and three RBIs while pitching 6 1-3 innings to boost the Diamondbacks over the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 Thursday and stop a three-game losing streak for the NL West leaders.
A day after clinching a playoff berth, the Yankees began preparing reliever Joba Chamberlain for a heavy postseason workload. The 22-year-old right-hander pitched on consecutive days for the first time Thursday night, helping fellow rookie Phil Hughes beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 3-1 to keep alive New York’s slim hopes in the AL East.
