With or without Michael Strahan, the New York Giants defense has a lot of work to do after being exposed by the Carolina Panthers. Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith combined for an opening-drive touchdown pass and receiver Taye Biddle caught touchdown passes of 23 and 85 yards to lead the Panthers to a 24-21 victory on Saturday night in the matchup of teams looking to rebound from .500 seasons.
Donny Schatz promised the crowd at the Knoxville Raceway that he was more ready for Saturday night’s championship than anything else in his life. Then he went out and proved it. Schatz broke from the pack following a caution flag after the second lap and went on to repeat as champion of the world’s most prestigious sprint car race, the Knoxville Nationals.
After chasing Atlanta starter Lance Cormier with three runs in the fifth inning, the Philadelphia Phillies had runners on the corners and nobody out. With a raucous crowd rallying them on, they appeared ready to take the lead. That’s when reliever Ron Mahay stopped the Phillies — fast. The left-hander struck out Ryan Howard and Aaron Rowand before retiring Greg Dobbs on a grounder to preserve a…
Alex Rodriguez took a couple more swings up to No. 503. Mike Mussina saved mementos from No. 100. The Cleveland Indians? They got their usual two and stopped right there. Rodriguez kept up his unrelenting surge against the Indians — six homers in five games — and New York cruised to an 11-2 victory Saturday night that gave Mussina his 100th win with the Yankees, who have gone a month without slowing…
Jim Leyland usually gives his players all the credit for victories. Saturday, he gave it to someone else. “Dave Dombrowski showed today why he’s such a good general manager,” the Detroit Tigers manager said after a 5-2 win over Oakland on Saturday night. “He knows what we need and he takes care of it.” The Tigers came into the game with their bullpen in tatters after allowing 37 runs in four games,…
The coin flipped in Charlie Frye’s favor, and the rest of the night went his way, too. Frye played better than Derek Anderson in their competition to become Cleveland’s starting quarterback and the Browns got a late kickoff return for a TD in a 16-12 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday. Rookie Brady Quinn stood with a clipboard and studied his Cleveland playbook during his first NFL…
About the only thing new quarterback Trent Green led the Miami Dolphins offense to Saturday night was a smattering of boos. Green struggled in his Dolphins debut, underthrowing receivers and managing just 60 yards on 6-for-15 passing with one interception in Miami’s 18-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the exhibition opener for both teams.
Denver Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker says he still has the bloodied shirt from the night teammate Darrent Williams died in his arms after a drive-by shooting on New Year’s Day. In his first public comments about Williams’ unsolved death, Walker tells HBO’s “Real Sports” in a segment to be aired Tuesday night that he keeps the unlaundered shirt as a reminder of his friend and of the fragility…
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas scored an improbable win for Penske Motorsports on Saturday with an overall victory in the Generac 500 at Road America, the eighth round of the American Le Mans Series. Bernhard finished 1.783 seconds ahead of Audi’s Dindo Capello, giving the Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 a sixth consecutive overall victory.
By Bruce Martin PA SportsTicker Contributing Editor
