Westplex Today Sports Page:   July 1, 2008

Cardinals right-hander Kyle Lohse continued his remarkable climb last night from spring training scrap heap to becoming the Cardinals’ de facto ace of the starting rotation.  

Lohse pitched ahead in the count most of the night, keeping Mets batters off balance and earning his tenth win of the season with a 7-1 victory at Busch Stadium.  Lohse pitched seven innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits while walking two and striking out four.  He improved to 10-2 overall as the Cards won their third in a row. 

The Redbirds scored at least one run in each of the first five innings, aided by three New York errors, to chase Met starter John Maine in the fourth inning.  Albert Pujols had two hits and two RBI for the Cards.  Chris Duncan knocked his fifth home run of the year and Aaron Miles had three hits and two runs scored in the victory.  With the win, the Cards climbed 12 games above five-hundred to 48-36.  The Cubs were also winners last night so the Cardinals remain 2 ˝ games behind first-place Chicago in the National League Central Division.

Mark Mulder made the first relief appearance of his career last night and pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the win over the Mets.  The veteran left-hander took a major league mound for the first time since last September.  Mulder has been rehabbing his left shoulder for most of the last two years after undergoing a pair of surgeries.  Against New York he gave up two soft hits and struck out one as the Cards opened their seven-game homestand with a victory.

The St. Louis Cardinals recalled pitcher Brad Thompson from Triple-A Memphis on Monday.  In seven games with the Cards earlier this season, Thompson went 1-2 with a 4.37 ERA.  Meantime, the Redbirds optioned outfielder Nick Stavinoha to Memphis .  Stavinoha had four hits and two RBI in five games with St. Louis this season.

Mark DeRosa smacked two home runs, including a grand slam, driving in six runs and leading the Cubs to a 9-2 win over the Giants in the series opener in San Francisco last night.  Ted Lilly made the start and earned the victory, which snapped a four-game losing streak for the Cubs.  Lilly is 9-and-5 on the year.  Giants lefty Barry Zito remained winless at home, dropping to 0-8 in San Francisco and 3-12 overall. 

In the minor leagues:   A six-run sixth inning lifted the River City Rascals to a 9-6 win over Evansville last night in Frontier League action.  Gary Lee earned his first win for River City and Luke Barganier extended hit hitting streak to eleven games as the Rascals snapped a four-game losing streak.  River City is 20-19 overall and in a tie with the Gateway Grizzlies for the top spot in the West Division.   The Rascals begin a 6-game road trip against the Grizzlies tonight at Sauget.

Whether they're golf afficionados or just Tiger Woods fans a lot of people will be disappointed this week.  Woods says he will reluctantly comply with his doctors orders and will not host the AT&T National event at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda , Maryland .  The New York Times quotes the golf superstar as saying "I would love to be there."  However, Woods also says, quote, "flying, unfortunately, swells up my leg pretty good."  A team of doctors recently made major repairs to Woods right knee, the second time he has undergone surgery this year and his fourth surgery since 1994.  It was hoped an arthroscopic procedure done April 15th to clean some cartilage from the knee joint would allow him to finish this season.  When he developed stress fractures in his leg during rehabilitation from that procedure, he and his doctors decided to do the major surgery soon.  Playing in pain and against the wishes of some on his medical team, Woods still managed to play 91 holes over five days at Torrey Pines near San Diego to win the U.S. Open in June.

Floyd Landis lost his final chance to retain his 2006 Tour de France title Monday, the last step of a long, multimillion-dollar process that poked holes in the anti-doping establishment but ultimately left the cyclist as just another convicted cheater.

A three-person panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a previous panel's decision, ruling his positive doping test during the Tour two years ago was, indeed, valid. Landis also must pay $100,000 toward the legal fees of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

He has 30 days to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court.

In its 58-page decision, the panel at sports' highest court said the lab that analyzed Landis' positive test results used some "less than ideal laboratory practices, but not lies, fraud, forgery or cover-ups," the way the Landis camp had alleged.

In the end, the panel saved its harshest criticism for Landis, who it said essentially tried to muddle the evidence and embarrass the French lab, and continued on that course even after the evidence was shown not to exist.   Unless Landis wins his case on appeal, his ban from competitive cycling will expire in late January of next year.

Katie Hoff won yesterday's 400-meter freestyle, one night after setting a world record in the 400-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha , Nebraska .  The 19-year-old won the 400-meter freestyle in four-minutes, 2.32 seconds, just ahead of Kate Ziegler. 

Hayley McGregory and Natalie Coughlin had the two best times in the 100-meter backstroke semifinals.  Earlier Monday, Coughlin regained her world record in the race after McGregory had claimed the mark during heats.  Coughlin's time was 59.03.   Wentzville Timberland junior Taylor Wohrley was 85^th out of 112 swimmers who tried to qualify in that event.   The final is set for today. 

Brendan Hansen secured a spot in the Beijing Olympics by winning the 100-meter breaststroke ahead of Mark Gangloff.  Hansen won three Olympic medals four years ago.  Christine Magnuson earned her first trip to the Olympics by winning the 100-meter butterfly.

In the Olympic Track & Field Trials:   Bernard Lagat, who became an American citizen four years ago, won the 5,000-meter run in yesterday’s qualifying at the University of Oregon .   Lagat is a native of Kenya , and he probably is very thankful that he avoided the tribal unrest that plagued that country last year, which killed some Olympic athletes.

Meanwhile, Brian Clay made his second straight Olympics with a personal-record score of 8,832. That marked the best score by an American in 16 years, the best in the world in four years, and beat Dan O'Brien's Olympic trials record.

China is counting down the weeks before it hosts the 2008 Summer Olympics and now a new problem has cropped up.  The "International Herald Tribune" reports the city of Qingdao which will host an Olympic sailing event is dealing with a huge algae bloom.  As many as 20,000 people have either volunteered or have been ordered to take part in a clean up operation involving one-thousand boats scooping the algae from the Yellow Sea .  The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reports algae currently covers a third of the coastal waters designated for the Olympic races.  Once the algae is removed, an Olympic official says an attempt will be made to prevent its return to the racing area with installation of a 30-mile long fence. 

There has been some concern about water quality for sailing events in China since many coastal cities dump untreated sewage into the sea.