Johnson becomes first Cup pole sitter to win in California.
August 31, 2008
Jimmie Johnson overpowered the field Sunday night in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway, grabbing his third victory of the season.
The two-time reigning Cup champion was easily the class of the field in the Pepsi 500, leading 228 of the 250 laps on the 2-mile oval. He won the race at the former California Speedway for the second straight year and again gave notice to points leader Kyle Busch and series runner-up Carl Edwards — the two hottest drivers in the series coming into this race — that he remains a serious contender for a third straight title.
Runner-up Greg Biffle had the next best car throughout the race, but he couldn’t keep up with Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet, finishing more than two seconds behind the winner.
“This race car was unbelievable,” said Johnson, who has struggled at times this season, particularly on the bigger ovals. “We’ve been working hard to get it right. We’ve been burning the midnight oil, burning the wick at both ends, and it’s paid off. We clinched (a spot in the Chase for the championship) and we got 10 more bonus points, which is important.
“We’ve been doing all the right things,” he added, grinning.
In February, Johnson led the most laps here but lost the race when Edwards passed him with 23 laps to go. This time, nobody could touch Johnson, whose car was a rocketship from the start.
Time after time he built leads of between 5 and 12 seconds, only to see them erased by yellow flags. But it didn’t faze Johnson, who just rebuilt the margin after the next restart.
On a pit stop on lap 162, during a caution period, Johnson took four tires and found himself in sixth on the restart, trailing five drivers who had each taken two tires on the stop.
After the restart on lap 166, Johnson was fourth after one lap, second after two trips around the 2-mile oval and back in the lead on lap 168.
On the next pit stop, on lap 182 during another caution, Johnson’s jackman got tangled up in the air hose, costing the team valuable seconds. Johnson again came out of the pits in sixth. And, again, he rocketed back into the lead in just three laps after the green flag waved.
On lap 192, during yet another caution, Biffle’s crew pulled off a lightning stop that got the No. 16 Ford out just ahead of Johnson’s Chevy. But it took Johnson less than half a lap to zoom back into the lead this time.
And that was the race as Johnson pulled away over the last 28 laps to get his 36th career win.
“This is the same car we won with at Indianapolis (in July), and I’m real proud of that,” said Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief.
“The car was really good, especially the first 15 or 20 laps,” Johnson said. “When you have a car like that, it doesn’t really matter where you are on the track.”
Biffle just shook his head when asked how good Johnson was.
“He would get better as the run went anyway. But he had more grip up off the corners,” Biffle said. “The 48 was a better car tonight. If it’s not 18 (Busch) beating us, it’s the 48.”
For a change, neither Edwards, who had won two straight races and three of the last four, or Busch, the series leader with eight wins in 2008, were in contention.
Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Busch.
Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 11th, and Jeff Burton, who was 17th, clinched spots in the 12-man Chase for the championship that will begin after next Saturday night’s race at Richmond. They joined Busch and Edwards who had previously locked up spots in the postseason.
But the drivers vying for the final positions in the Chase remained in a close battle, with Kenseth moving past 15th-place Jeff Gordon into ninth in the points, and Hamlin and 10th-place Clint Bowyer remaining 11th and 12th in the standings. David Ragan, who finished 13th Sunday remained 13th, 17 points behind Bowyer, while Kahne stayed in 14th, 48 points out of the Chase lineup.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Packers’ 53 man roster for the 2008 season close to set.
August 31, 2008
The 53-man roster for the season opener isn’t quite set yet, but General Manager Ted Thompson addressed the roster as it stood on Sunday to a group of reporters in Lambeau Field’s media auditorium.
The long and short of it is the Packers have a somewhat surprise inclusion at running back, a void for the moment at long snapper, and a bevy of talented linebackers representing probably the deepest position on the team.
Here’s a quick look at those three segments:
Running back
Rookie Kregg Lumpkin, a non-drafted free agent out of Georgia, beat out not one but two veterans - Vernand Morency and Noah Herron - for the No. 3 halfback job.
Lumpkin got ample opportunity to show his skills during the preseason, leading the team with 38 carries for 153 yards (4.0 avg) and a rushing touchdown in the four games. He added seven receptions for 59 yards and another score, showing the coaching and personnel staffs his multi-faceted future potential.
“I thought Kregg was very steady,” Thompson said. “He was proficient in picking up in pass protection. He did a nice job on screens and getting out of the backfield. He obviously runs the ball hard. I thought he got yards after contact. I thought he had a very good training camp and preseason.”
It was not easy letting Morency and Herron go, however. Both had made significant contributions to the offense over two seasons each (Morency in 2006-07, Herron in 05-06) and had similar all-around skills at the position. But Thompson said the desire to keep two fullbacks - Korey Hall and John Kuhn - on the roster dictated they choose just one of the three halfbacks as depth behind Ryan Grant and No. 2 Brandon Jackson.
“Obviously Noah and Vernand have done an outstanding job here,” Thompson said. “They are unbelievable professional football players. They are skilled at what they do. They know what they are doing at all times, so you can put them in at different roles. Those two were extremely difficult decisions to make.”
Thompson added one additional piece of depth at running back on the practice squad, signing second-year pro DeShawn Wynn, who had been released in the first roster reduction to 75 players last week. Wynn, a seventh-round draft choice in 2007, was eligible for the practice squad because he had been on the active roster for only seven games as a rookie before going on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
Wynn rushed for 203 yards on 50 carries (4.1 avg) with four touchdowns last season but has had trouble staying healthy, going down with an ankle injury in training camp this year after rehabbing from the shoulder ailment last season.
“We’re all a little bit disappointed he’s been injured some, but he helped us win some games last year,” Thompson said. “I think he’s a talented back, and we’re going to put him back out there and let him compete some more.”
Long snapper
With rookie J.J. Hansen being placed on injured reserve with a knee injury suffered in the fourth quarter of the preseason finale against Tennessee, one position that has not been decided yet is long snapper.
Since the roster currently stands at 53 players, the team will have to make a corresponding move to make room to sign a snapper. Thompson did not confirm if the team had worked out any players for the position, but said the Packers are working on signing someone soon to handle the snapping duties.
“That’s something we’re still kind of working through,” Thompson said. “That’s part of the process. You juggle things around, you take something from here, you add something here, and you just kind of have to figure it out as you go.”
Thomas Gafford, who was with the Packers during OTAs and mini-camp but was waived early on in training camp, was waived yesterday by the Chicago Bears. It does not appear that will be the direction the team will go since Thompson said the team did not put a waiver claim in on Gafford.
Thompson added that he would probably not be confident going into a regular-season game using one of the players on the current roster as long snapper. Two players that have some experience snapping are guard/tackle Tony Moll and defensive tackle Johnny Jolly, though neither performed the duty during any preseason action this year.
Linebacker
One roster move will have to be made once a long snapper is signed, and based on sheer volume, it could come at the linebacker position. As of Sunday, there were seven linebackers on the 53-man roster, all veterans.
Behind starters Nick Barnett, A.J. Hawk and Brady Poppinga are free-agent signee Brandon Chillar, Desmond Bishop, Abdul Hodge and Tracy White. Bishop and Hodge, as middle linebackers, were thought to be battling for one backup spot behind Barnett, but both played so well during camp that they were kept, with Bishop playing some outside linebacker to test his versatility.
White is a veteran special teams ace who has also played linebacker in the goal-line defense the past couple of years, so all of them have proven they can contribute.
Whether or not they can all stick around remains to be seen. In addition to needing a long snapper, the Packers also have just three defensive tackles on the roster, not counting former tackle now end Cullen Jenkins and the other ends - Jason Hunter and Michael Mongtomery - who have played inside some during the preseason.
Hookscenter.com wire report (Spofford and Fanning).
Justin Wilson takes first Indy Car Series win in Detroit.
August 31, 2008
Helio Castroneves surely had another fence-climbing celebration running through his mind as he raced toward victory Sunday at the Detroit Indy Grand Prix.
Then came a caution flag that cut his lead over rookie Justin Wilson to less than a second.
With Wilson breathing down his neck, Castroneves moved his race car into Wilson’s path three times on lap 72, forcing IndyCar Series officials to make the rare and controversial decision to compel Castroneves to allow Wilson to speed ahead of him into first place.
Wilson held the lead the rest of the way, taking his first-ever IndyCar Series victory and sending Castroneves into a tizzy.
“I’m very surprised — very much surprised about this call,” he fumed.
Wilson had an altogether different take on the decision to penalize the flamboyant Brazilian.
“In my mind, it was so clear and so obvious that something had to be done,” he said.
Castroneves led for the majority of the road race on the Belle Isle course, holding the top spot for 53 of the 87 laps.
Series points leader Scott Dixon finished fifth. That result, coupled with Castroneves’ strong showing, means the IndyCar championship will be decided at next weekend’s final points race at the Chicagoland track.
The odds of winning the series title still favor Dixon, who entered the Detroit race 43 points ahead of Castroneves. Dixon needs to finish eighth or better next week to win his second title and first since his rookie year of 2003.
Dixon’s lead now stands at 30 points.
Wilson, an Englishman who started in the race’s fourth position and drives the No. 02 car for actor Paul Newman and his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team, had six top-10 finishes entering Sunday’s race, including a season-best third-place run at Edmonton.
He started the day in 16th place in the series standings.
Newman/Haas/Lanigan’s other victory of the season came with Graham Rahal in April in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“This is the most important win of my career,” Wilson said. “It’s been a long, difficult year. A lot of things have happened. A lot of things are going on, but we managed to pull through. This one means a lot, and this one is also for you, Paul.”
Castroneves dominated much of race and looked as if he was headed to another win after finishing first in California last weekend, but IndyCar officials ordered Wilson’s car to the lead after the blocking call was made by Brian Barnhart, IndyCar Series president of competition and operations.
“We did what we did because it was a pretty easy call,” Barnhart said. “He had a tremendous run out of Turn 12, and Helio crossed over almost the entire width of the track to impede the progress of the car behind him.”
The explanation did little to change the mind of Castroneves, who questioned whether Barnhart’s decision was personal and why no warning was given first.
When his crew relayed the decision to him over the radio, Castroneves asked whether anything could be done, and he was told the decision would not be changed.
“It was just an unusual call,” he said.
Wilson relayed a different message to his crew when Castroneves kept getting in his way.
“It was pretty severe,” Wilson said of the series of blocking maneuvers. “I was upset and even complained on the radio.”
The scheduled 90-lap race ended after 87 laps when the race hit the 2-hour time limit.
Tony Kanaan, last year’s winner at Detroit, finished third. Oriol Servia was fourth.
Dixon, the fastest qualifier, and second place-starter Castroneves remained in first and second place for the first 18 laps, then Dixon pitted on No. 19, allowing Castroneves to take the lead position.
Dixon never regained the lead.
“That was pretty much the race,” Dixon said.
On the 17th lap, Dan Wheldon made contact with rookie driver Jaime Camara. Wheldon spun into a tire barrier, but was able to restart.
Wheldon also had trouble with about 20 laps to go when he missed a turn and slowly ran into the barrier. He finished 20th and yielded third place in the series standings to Kanaan.
Castroneves didn’t initially pit until lap No. 32, but only briefly and didn’t lose the top spot.
Danica Patrick and Vitor Meira slapped tires a third of the way through the race, forcing Patrick’s car to stall and Meira’s No. 4 to head off the course. Meira, who started the race in 14th place, had to do the equivalent of a three-point turn before heading to pit road.
Patrick ended up 16th after starting 10th.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Patriots cut former Nine-time All-Pro safety John Lynch.
August 31, 2008
John Lynch, the nine-time Pro Bowl safety signed by the New England Patriots two weeks ago, was released Sunday.
“It goes without saying but John is an all-time great safety, one of the league’s classiest professionals and his elite play speaks for itself,” coach Bill Belichick said of Lynch, who turns 37 on Sept. 25. “As has been the case in other situations, I would not rule anything out down the road.”
During their decade-long run of success, the Patriots have regularly signed veterans and often released them, only to sign them again if needed. Belichick’s comments indicate Lynch may be in that category. He has played 15 seasons, 11 in Tampa Bay and four in Denver.
“I have no regrets about my time thus far with the Patriots,” Lynch said in a statement released by the club. “The immense respect that I’ve long held for the organization has been only heightened over the past couple of weeks. I am going to keep all options open and look forward with excitement to see what the future brings.”
New England signed Lynch after he was released by Denver early in training camp.
The Patriots also cut Chad Jackson, their second-round draft pick in 2006 from Florida. The wide receiver from Florida has been plagued by injuries, had 13 catches as a rookie and none last season when he played in only two games.
During the exhibition season, Jackson had seven catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns. His release could be a sign that Wes Welker, who missed the last exhibition game with a rib injury, is healthy enough to play in the season opener Sunday against Kansas City
The Patriots also signed six players to the practice squad — defensive lineman Titus Adams, safety Mark Dillard, running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, linebacker Vince Redd and defensive backs Mike Richardson and Antwain Spann.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Werth, Moyer help Phillies’ salvage split at Wrigley against Cubs.
August 31, 2008
Jayson Werth hit another home run against the Chicago Cubs and 45-year-old Jamie Moyer got his 12th win, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-3 victory that salvaged a split of their four-game series at Wrigley Field.
Werth hit a two-run double in the first and a solo drive in the fifth for his 21st homer of the season. Werth, who went deep twice and drove in four runs in Philly’s 5-2 win Saturday, is 11-for-21 with four homers and 10 RBI against the Cubs this season.
Chicago was without ace Carlos Zambrano, who was scratched to give him some time to rest his tired arm.
The Phillies remained a game behind the NL East-leading Mets, who won 6-2 against the Florida Marlins. The Cubs’ NL Central lead was trimmed to four games over Milwaukee, which blanked Pittsburgh 7-0 on Sunday.
Moyer (12-7), who started his career with the Cubs in 1986, gave up eight hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings, and the Phillies bullpen worked its way out of a couple of jams.
Moyer left after Kosuke Fukudome singled and Ronny Cedeno walked in the sixth. Chad Durbin entered and struck out pinch-hitter Ryan Theriot before Alfonso Soriano popped out to end the inning.
In Chicago’s eighth, pinch-hitter Henry Blanco delivered a two-out RBI single against J.C. Romero to make it 5-3 and another pinch-hitter, Daryle Ward, greeted Ryan Madson with another single. But Madson struck out Soriano with two on to end the threat.
Brad Lidge then worked a perfect ninth for his 33rd save in as many chances.
Sean Marshall (3-4), subbing for Zambrano, allowed three of his five runs in the first inning. He walked two and surrendered nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Marshall walked Chase Utley in the first and the Phillies came through with three straight two-out hits — singles by Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino and the two-run double by Werth.
Making just his fifth start of the season and first in two weeks, Marshall gave up Werth’s long homer with two outs in the fifth that made it 4-2. After a leadoff double by Carlos Ruiz and a sacrifice by Moyer in the sixth, Jeff Samardzija relieved and Jimmy Rollins greeted him with a sacrifice fly.
A bright sun helped the Cubs score twice in the third.
After Mark DeRosa and Geovany Soto opened with singles, a fielder’s choice grounder left runners at first and third. Cedeno hit a high fly to center that Victorino lost in the sun at the last minute as the ball dropped for an RBI single. With the Phillies playing for a bunt, Marshall grounded an RBI single to center, trimming the lead to 3-2.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
CC Sabathia tosses 1 hitter shutout as Brewers sweep Pirates.
August 31, 2008
To the Milwaukee Brewers, CC Sabathia pitched the no-hitter that wasn’t.
Even if Sabathia may have been the only player in their clubhouse who wasn’t upset that the best-pitched game of his career will go down as a one-hitter.
Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche’s infield single leading off the fifth inning, on a play Milwaukee manager Ned Yost argued was an error on the pitcher, and the Brewers beat Pittsburgh 7-0 Sunday for their eighth victory in nine games.
Sabathia (9-0) pitched the majors’ fourth one-hitter this season and couldn’t have come much closer to a no-hitter, with no Pirates batter except for LaRoche threatening to get a hit during the team’s 10th consecutive loss.
“He accomplished a no-hitter and wasn’t given what he deserved. That should have been a no-hitter,” Yost said. “That’s a stinking no-hitter we all got cheated from. I feel horrible for CC.”
The Brewers said they plan to send a DVD of the play and send it to Major League Baseball, asking that the call be overturned. However, according to baseball’s rulebook, only the official scorer may change a judgment scoring call.
If official scorer Bob Webb were to decide to change the call, it would be the first time in major league history a no-hitter was awarded retroactively.
LaRoche’s softly hit grounder on a 2-2 pitch rolled about 45 feet between the plate and the mound before Sabathia picked it up barehanded, only to drop it. The ball may have been hit too softly for Sabathia to get LaRoche at first, even if he had made the play cleanly.
Bob Webb, a major league official scorer for 20 seasons, immediately ruled a hit, explaining he watched LaRoche out of the batter’s box and the runner was two-thirds of the way down the line before Sabathia picked the ball up. Yost and several Brewers players disagreed — strongly.
“That’s a joke. That wasn’t even close. Whoever the scorekeeper was absolutely denied major league baseball a nice no-hitter right there,” Yost said. “They threw hit up on the board even before LaRoche hit the bag. That’s a play CC makes easily, throws him out by 10 feet — to me it’s a no-brainer.
“That’s sad. It really is sad.”
The Brewers’ Ryan J. Braun said, “There’s no question that’s a no-hitter.”
Despite the Brewers’ protests, the play in question is routinely called a hit and fielders often get angry when they are called for errors on easier plays. The Associated Press polled eight writers who have reported on the majors for 10 years or more, and six would have called it a hit.
Webb wouldn’t comment on Yost’s remarks, but said the play did not meet the rule book criteria for an error.
“The way the ball came off the bat, it was spinning, and it went to the left of the mound with a left-handed pitcher going to get it. It’s a difficult play,” Webb said. “The definition requires standard effort, and that would have taken more than an ordinary effort. The runner was well down the line.”
Also, Sabathia pitched with almost no pressure with a multiple-run lead in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, which wouldn’t have been the case if he had a no-hitter going and every late-innings pitch would have been critical.
Sabathia accepted the scoring call calmly, blaming himself for LaRoche getting on.
“The ball was still rolling and I probably should have picked it up with my glove. We probably wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Sabathia said. “I think if I pick it up with my glove, I get him.”
Sabathia wouldn’t speculate whether he would have gotten LaRoche if he had picked the ball up cleanly barehanded.
Maybe Sabathia felt he could make a play as he did the inning before, when he caught Nate McLouth’s line drive up the middle with the palm of his right hand and flipped the ball to first to turn a double play.
LaRoche was looking for a changeup but got a slider — the first one he’d seen from Sabathia in two at-bats — and barely got his bat on it.
“I just got it on the ground,” he said. “I’d like to think it was a hit. From a selfish standpoint I’d like it to be a hit, but you could make a case either way. But I’m hitting .160 — I need every hit I can get.”
Sabathia, 3-0 in five career starts against the Pirates, struck out 11 and walked three and faced only 29 batters, two above the minimum. He threw 79 of his 117 pitches for strikes.
Sabathia’s previous low-hit game was a three-hitter, accomplished three times, including a 3-0 win over the Cardinals on July 23. His 9-0 record since being dealt by Cleveland to Milwaukee on July 7 matches Doyle Alexander’s 9-0 with Detroit in 1987 as the best of any pitcher traded at midseason in the last 90 seasons.
“He’s been dominant since he came over and, hopefully, he and rest of the team will take us to the promised land,” Bill Hall said.
Three of Sabathia’s nine wins are shutouts, and he allowed one earned run in three others. His ERA is 1.43 for the Brewers.
“It’s fun to watch him pitch, unfortunately he was on the other side,” Pirates starter Jeff Karstens said.
Sabathia got the only run he needed when Rickie Weeks led off the game with his 11th homer, on a 3-2 pitch by Karstens. Karstens (2-4) is 0-4 since pitching 7 1/3 perfect innings against Arizona on Aug. 6, though two of the three runs against him Sunday came after he left the game.
Milwaukee, finishing its best month since September 1992, led 1-0 until Hall doubled in two runs against reliever Tyler Yates in the seventh. The Brewers scored four times against three relievers in the eighth, with Gabe Kapler’s single off Sean Burnett scoring two runs. Burnett also threw a run-scoring wild pitch.
The Brewers finished off a three-game sweep — they’ve won their last nine against the last-place Pirates — and have won 18 of 23. They went 20-7 in August, a year after falling apart while going 9-18 for the month.
The Pirates hadn’t lost as many as 10 in a row since dropping 13 consecutive games from June 15-28, 2006.
The other one-hitters this season were by James Shields of Tampa Bay against the Angels on May 9, Matt Garza of the Rays against Florida on June 26 and the Dodgers’ Hiroki Kuroda against Atlanta on July 7. Jon Lester of the Red Sox pitched the majors’ only no-hitter this season, beating Kansas City on May 19.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Badgers beat Akron, 38-17, in 2008 season opener in Madison.
August 31, 2008
No. 13 Wisconsin’s game plan couldn’t have been much more straightforward going into Saturday’s season opener against Akron: A heaping helping of P.J. Hill, P.J. Hill and more P.J. Hill.
And it certainly worked early on. The Badgers’ bulldozing running back rambled for 108 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter, on his way to 210 yards and two scores for the day.
But Wisconsin’s plans hit a slight hiccup when Hill fumbled on the goal line, helping Akron rally to within a touchdown at halftime. The Badgers then scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter and went on to put the pesky Zips away 38-17.
“We were in a position when it was 17-0, and everybody’s saying, ‘Oh, that’s just what we do,’” Badgers coach Bret Bielema said. “I don’t know if there was the urgency in the second quarter. But they restored the roar in the third.”
It was the second career game of more than 200 yards rushing for Hill, who gained more than 1,200 yards in each of his first two seasons despite nagging injuries.
The Badgers came pretty close to having three 100-yard rushers Saturday — backup running back Zach Brown added 87 yards and a touchdown and John Clay had 71 yards and a touchdown — but Hill is still the backbone of their offense.
“You want to show them that it’s going to be a long day,” Hill said. “It’s not going to be easy. Badger football — we play physical football, straight at you. Nothing too fancy. Eventually it’s going to wear you down.”
But not without a little drama.
Trailing 17-0, Akron used a shotgun spread formation — an offensive trend that gave Wisconsin’s defense fits last season — to put together a 10-play, 72 yard drive that ended with Chris Jacquemain’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Merce Poindexter to cut Wisconsin’s lead to 17-7.
After a long kickoff return and facemask penalty, the Badgers got the ball back at the Akron 18-yard line. They ran Hill three straight times — and he fumbled as he stretched toward the goal line on his third carry, sending the ball bouncing out of the end zone and giving the ball back to Akron.
“I was just being competitive,” Hill said. “I should have known better than reaching with the ball.”
The Badgers forced a punt and drove to the Zips’ 6-yard line. But new Badgers starting quarterback Allan Evridge was intercepted by safety Brian Williams, who ran the ball back to the Badgers’ 38-yard line with 22 seconds left in the half. After a field goal, Akron trailed 17-10 at halftime.
“We were excited,” Jacquemain said. “We closed out the first half pretty well. We were in it at halftime and we were excited coming out for the second half. It just fell apart for us.”
Hill broke free for a 34-yard run on Wisconsin’s first possession of the second half, then ended the drive by plunging into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line to put Wisconsin ahead 24-10.
Akron running back Dennis Kennedy fumbled on the first play of the Zips’ next possession, and the Badgers drove for a 2-yard touchdown by Brown to take a 31-10 lead with 6:20 left in the third quarter.
Akron coach J.D. Brookhart said his team made too many mistakes to pull off an upset.
“We’re going to have to play extremely well, and they’re going to have to make some mistakes to have that opportunity,” Brookhart said. “They did make those mistakes, but we didn’t take advantage of them, and then (had) a couple momentum shifts early in the second half that didn’t help us.”
And Akron needed to slow down Wisconsin’s running game more than they did.
“I thought our effort was good today,” Brookhart said. “Our inexperience and youth showed. Obviously up front defensively, they handled us pretty well and wore us down. I bet they do that quite a bit this year.”
Bielema said the Badgers presented a “unique problem” that Akron wasn’t likely to see in the Mid-American Conference, making Saturday’s game hard to prepare for.
“They’ve got some playmakers,” Bielema said. “I think that quarterback is a good football player. He missed some throws there, but hopefully we had something to do with that.”
Evridge also missed a few throws in his debut as the Badgers’ starter, and two of them could have been particularly costly — his second-quarter interception and another one that nearly was picked off near the end of the first quarter. Evridge watched in relief as Akron safety Tyler Campbell dropped the ball with nothing but space between himself and the other end zone.
Evridge was 7-of-10 for 75 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
“I think I did fairly well,” Evridge said. “I handed off the ball all right.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Cubs’ Zambrano is a scratch for Sunday’s game against Phillies.
August 31, 2008
Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano was scratched from his start Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies to give him some time to rest his tired arm.
Zambrano, a 13-game winner this season, is 1-1 over his past five starts and twice failed to get out of the fifth inning. He has seen a drop-off at times in his velocity.
Leading the NL Central and with the best record in the majors, the Cubs want a fresh Zambrano for the final month. He went through a similar tired arm period a year ago when he was winless in August before rebounding to go 4-1 in his final five regular-season starts.
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Zambrano isn’t in any pain and his arm feels good.
“It’s just that he’s gone through this every year the last four or five years, at a point in time where his arm feels a little bit heavy, tired,” Rothschild said. “I think everybody goes through that, I think it’s a little bit of a dead arm period.
“He has felt a lot better the last couple of days. … As he sees everything coming back, he’ll get better. He’ll get on his stride.”
Sean Marshall started the finale of a four-game series Sunday against the Phillies at Wrigley Field.
Zambrano’s next start probably will come Tuesday or Wednesday at Wrigley Field against the Houston Astros. Jason Marquis will face the Astros on Monday and Ryan Dempster will go either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on which day Zambrano pitches.
By giving Marshall the start and moving Zambrano back, the Cubs also will give right-hander Rich Harden — who pitched only five innings in his previous start Friday against the Phillies — extra rest. Harden had been slated to start Wednesday and the team has an off day on Thursday.
The Cubs’ staff will be bolstered by callups when major league rosters expand on Monday. They also will activate veteran Jon Lieber off the disabled list.
Zambrano, who got a $91.5 million, five-year contract last August, played long toss Sunday but didn’t comment after the workout.
On Saturday he said he was in no pain, unlike when he went on the disabled list in June with a sore shoulder.
“I just have to wait until my arm strength and power come back,” he said Saturday. “Not only me. It happens to other pitchers, especially when you are a power pitcher. The most important thing and the thing to learn here is to know how to pitch with this. … I think this is the time when you have 170 innings, close to 180 innings, you have to do whatever it takes to rest your arm.”
Rothschild said Sunday’s switch should set up the Cubs’ rotation for the final month’s playoff push.
“We’re looking at this over the long haul,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do, no matter what.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Cardinals name Kurt Warner as starting QB for 2008 season.
August 31, 2008
Experience beat out potential in the fight for starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said Saturday that Kurt Warner would be the starter over Matt Leinart when Arizona opens its season Sept. 7 at San Francisco.
“It was a fair evaluation of that position but it was also tough because both guys played well,” Whisenhunt said. “Both guys did a good job.”
The coach said he still considered Leinart, the No. 10 pick overall in the draft three years ago and a 16-game NFL starter in two seasons, the Cardinals’ quarterback of the future. But Warner is coming off a strong season and impressed the coaching staff with his consistency and willingness to adjust his game to suit Whisenhunt’s style.
Warner said he had mixed feelings when he was told of the decision.
“I was obviously excited for me and the opportunity but I’m also disappointed for Matt and know the position that he’s in,” Warner said, “Kind of bittersweet but definitely excited from my standpoint.”
Leinart was the opening day starter in Whisenhunt’s first season with Arizona a year ago, but the quarterback went down for the season with a broken collarbone on a vicious hit from St. Louis linebacker Will Witherspoon in the fifth game.
Warner came on to have one of his best seasons since his heady days with St. Louis, when he was a two-time MVP (1999 and 2001) and a Super Bowl MVP (2000).
He threw for 3,417 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Cardinals — compared with 17 interceptions — despite only 11 starts. Warner had multiple touchdown passes in each of his last eight games, the longest such streak of his career.
Still, the day after last season ended, Whisenhunt said Leinart was the No. 1 quarterback. That changed sometime this preseason. The most obvious turning point came Aug. 23 in Oakland, when Leinart was awful, throwing three interceptions in less than two quarters.
Whisenhunt insists that wasn’t the major factor in the decision, and Leinart came back with a strong showing in Friday night’s preseason finale against Denver.
“It really wasn’t anything specific,” Whisenhunt said. “There were a lot of things that we were looking at. It was a whole bunch of information.”
Whisenhunt said Leinart was understandably upset by the decision.
“Great competitors get upset emotionally,” the coach said. “Part of being a good player is reining those emotions in and being able to control them. That was one of the things that we got to see last night. He was able to do that after last week.”
It wasn’t enough to save his job, though.
Instead, Warner was put at the controls of a team that, after going 8-8 last season, believes it can contend in the NFC West. Warner acknowledged it is unusual in today’s NFL for a veteran to unseat such a high draft pick at quarterback.
“The bottom line is you just want to be on the football field and you want to play,” Warner said. “I still feel like I can do that at a high level.”
He said he was happy to “have another chance to compete and hopefully take us to someplace we haven’t been in some time and have another run at a championship.”
Whisenhunt also announced two other decisions in close competition. Travis LaBoy will start over Bertrand Berry at defensive end/linebacker, and Deuce Lutui got the nod at right guard over Elton Brown.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Joe Sakic returns to Avalanche for 20th season in the NHL.
August 31, 2008
Patience paid off for the Colorado Avalanche, who signed Joe Sakic to a one-year, $6 million contract on Wednesday after he decided to play a 20th season in the NHL rather than call it a career.
“Ultimately it came down to the fact that I still enjoy playing and competing,” the 39-year-old captain said in a statement released by the team. “I’m comfortable with my conditioning and my overall health. I’m ready for the start of camp and am looking forward to the upcoming season.”
Sakic’s agent, Don Baizley, said his client informed him of his decision late Tuesday. The sides had been talking over the summer, so it didn’t take long to finalize the contract.
Sakic was coming off his most difficult season, having missed 38 games following hernia surgery before returning to the lineup to help the team reach the playoffs after a one-year absence.
But unlike a year ago, when he signed a one-year, $6.75 million deal on the day after the season ended, Sakic left town this spring unsure whether he had worn the blue and maroon sweater for the last time.
And general manger Francois Giguere was fine with that. He told Sakic to take as much time as he needed, even if that meant informing the team of his decision on the eve of training camp in September.
Giguere explained that he wanted Sakic to be 100 percent committed either to returning or retiring lest he have any regrets.
Despite the uncertainly, that approach sat well with his teammates.
“He earned the right to take his time,” forward Ian Laperriere said. “He’s done everything for this organization.”
Sakic was drafted in 1987 and has spent his entire career with the franchise. In 1,363 career games, the Canadian has 623 goals and 1,629 points for eighth on the NHL’s all-time list.
An 11-time NHL All-Star, he was voted league MVP and the Lester B. Pearson Award as the players’ choice for the most outstanding player in 2001, when he helped Colorado win its second Stanley Cup.
Hookscenter.com wire report.