Make it 99 years and counting for the Chicago Cubs. And this time, they can curse what happened at the plate and on the mound instead of a billy goat or a black cat. The Cubs’ “big three” hitters were a big disappointment, and things weren’t much better on the mound as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Chicago 5-1 on Saturday night to complete a three-game sweep in their NL division series.
With so many scorers, the Pittsburgh Penguins are capable of putting up a lot of goals in a short time. The dead-tired Ducks found that out — twice — as they ended a two-continent, two-week road trip. Petr Sykora scored twice and had an assist in his Pittsburgh home debut and the Penguins twice scored goals only seconds apart in a 5-4 victory over road-weary Stanley Cup champion Anaheim on…
Even a come-from-behind win over their biggest rivals will probably not be enough to silence the Toronto Maple Leafs’ critics for long. But it was certainly a welcome development for a team that believes it has been better than the early season results have shown. “Finally,” Leafs forward Alexei Ponikarovsky said Saturday night after a 4-3 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens.
If the New York Islanders had Mike Comrie last spring, they might have put quite a scare into the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Buffalo Sabres. Comrie made the most of his first two games with the Islanders, scoring two goals for the second straight night and lifting New York to a 3-2 victory Saturday that completed a sweep of the season-opening, home-and-home series against Buffalo.
English Channel squeezed through an opening along the rail and went to win the $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Sunday for the second straight year. The 2-length victory over Stream of Gold earned English Channel an automatic berth in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park on Oct.
Unbridled Belle edged stablemate Indian Vale at the finish and won the $600,000 Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on Sunday, earning an automatic berth in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff next month. With Ramon Dominguez aboard, Unbridled Belle outdueled favorite Ginger Punch and then passed Indian Vale in the final strides to give trainer Todd Pletcher a 1-2 finish in the Grade 1 race for…
The racing is always intense at Talladega Superspeedway, where drivers spend 500 white-knuckled miles trying to avoid the inevitable wreck known as “The Big One.”
Denver Nuggets guard Anthony Carter broke a bone in his right hand during practice Saturday morning. He fractured the third metacarpal, the team said. No timeline was set for his return. Carter averaged 3.0 points, 5.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds in two games for the Nuggets last season. In eight years in the NBA, Carter has averaged 4.7 points, 3.7 assists and two rebounds in 364 games for Miami, San…
Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 16 rebounds in his Celtics debut, and Boston ruined Andrea Bargnani’s homecoming with an 89-85 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday. Paul Pierce added 21 points for Boston, while Ray Allen had an off night with only 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. The start of the NBA Europe Live tour marked the Celtics’ first game since Garnett and Allen joined the…
