Sports
Westplex Today Sports Page: June 23, 2008
By Jay Murry
Jun 23, 2008 - 12:40:03 AM

Westplex Today Sports Page:   June 23, 2008

There was one man that kept the Cardinals from sweeping the World Champion Boston Red Sox:   Kevin Youkilis.   He clubbed a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 13th inning to lift the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Cardinals at Fenway Park .  Youkilis also hit a solo shot in the seventh, and Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo each drove in a run for Boston, which had dropped the first two games in the three-game interleague set.  Javier Lopez recorded two outs in relief to improve to 2-0 with the win.  Down to his last strike, Adam Kennedy tied the game in the ninth inning for St. Louis with a pinch-hit, RBI double off Red Sox relief ace Jonathan Papelbon.  Brian Barton and Ryan Ludwick each drove in a run for the Cards in defeat.  Mike Parisi was charged with the loss.   The Cardinals dropped to 4 ½ games behind the Cubs in the National League Central, with the loss to the Red Sox.

The Cardinals have today off before traveling to Detroit for a series with the Tigers.   Game 1 of that series will get underway in Detroit at 6:05 tomorrow night, and KWRE begins its broadcast at 5:22 .   The Tigers got off to a horrible start this season, but they have won 12 of their last 15 games to bring their record to 36-39 this season.  

Speaking of the Cubs:   Aramis Ramirez finished 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI, and Ryan Dempster hurled eight-plus innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 7-1 win over the Chicago White Sox, completing the three-game sweep at Wrigley Field.  The Cubs have won 14 home games in a row for the first time since 1936.   Derrek Lee added two hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Cubs, who had lost three in a row coming into the series and upped their major-league best home mark to 32-8. Eric Patterson hit safely twice, homered, walked twice and scored three times. Dempster improved his record to 9-2   by winning his fourth consecutive decision by allowing 10 hits and one run in his outing, striking out four with one walk.  He improved to 9-0 this season at Wrigley.

Chris Raniere had a career day with a 4-for-5 performance, two home runs and four RBI to give the Rascals a series opening win over the Gateway Grizzlies 10-5 Sunday afternoon.   For the Rascals, it was their fourth straight win to start the season over the Grizzlies. River City swept Gateway in their first home series back in May.

Adam Tollefson is 3-0 after the victory, and he had a rough start for the Rascals.   He gave up three quick runs in the first two innings, but lasted long enough for his bats to give him the lead and eventually the win in his first start after 12 relief appearances. Tollefson went 6 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and six walks.   Mike Benacka was stretched to 1 2/3 innings for his 8^th save of the season.  The Rascals play Gateway again tonight at 7:05 , at GCS Ballpark in Sauget.

Also in local sports, the River City Rage held off the Sioux City Bandits 37-33 at the Family Arena this weekend, in the first round of the UIF playoffs.   The Rage will travel to Bloomington , Illinois June 30^th, for a battle to decide the conference championship.
 

In the national sports scene, let’s start with auto racing:   Kyle Busch and the Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew made the right moves at the right times and he captured Sunday afternoon's Toyota Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway.  The #18 M&M's Toyota crossed the finish line 1.716 seconds ahead of David Gilliland. The victory was Busch's fifth of the season and ninth of his Sprint Cup career. Twice Busch made pit stops just before a caution flag and it set him up with the lead on the final run to the checkered flag. He was never really challenged over the final 40 laps and led a total of 78 laps.

On the Indy Racing League circuit:   Dan Wheldon won the Iowa Corn 250 this weekend, and after the race he announced that he is contributing his winnings to the flood victims in Iowa .
 

In tennis:   Top seeds Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic highlight Monday's schedule of play as Wimbledon 2008 commences at the All England Club.  Federer will be first on Centre Court when he squares off with Slovakia 's Dominik Hrbaty.  Federer has won 59 straight matches on grass, and is trying to become the first man in the Open era to captures six consecutive Wimbledon championships.  Ivanovic, who enters Wimbledon on the heels of winning her first Grand Slam title at the French Open, will face Paraguay's Rossana De los rios on Day One.  American and defending women's champion Venus Williams will not take the court until Tuesday.  The seventh-seeded Williams will meet British wild card Naomi Cavaday.   

In a troubling development from Wimbledon , British investigators are looking into claims eight tennis matches at Wimbledon were fixed by professional gamblers.  The "Sunday Times" of London reports the information is contained in a report compiled by major sportsbooks who monitor betting action for unusual patterns.  Four of the matches occurred during last year's tournament at Wimbledon .  They involved foreign players who each lost by three sets. 

An official with knowledge of the report said it shows some matches had very large sums wagered on them when compared to similar matches.  There are repeated allegations players deliberately tried to lose.  Players can make a lot more money throwing a match than they can by winning it in most cases.  The All England Club, which is host to Wimbledon , tightened security this year to prevent access to insider information.  The change followed a report that concluded "criminal elements" were trying to "corrupt" players or officials.  Authorities believe Russian and eastern European gamblers are behind much of the illegal gambling.

In Olympic news:   The United States men's Olympic basketball team will be announced on Monday.  A total of 12 players will don the red, white and blue uniform for the Summer Games in Beijing , and reports last week indicated that Cleveland superstar LeBron James and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade will headline the roster. Both were a part of the 2004 squad that won a bronze medal in  Athens .  Others already reported to be on this year's team include  Milwaukee sharpshooter Michael Redd and point guards Chris Paul of New Orleans and Jason Kidd of Dallas .

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin both earned spots on the women's Olympic gymnastics team after finishing 1-2 in the all-around competition at the trials this weekend.  Johnson, of West Des Moines , Iowa , successfully defended her U.S. all-around and floor exercise titles at the 2008 national Visa Championships earlier this month, and now she's headlining the women's team that's favored to win gold in Beijing .  The 16-year-old Johnson, the reigning world champion in the all-around category, won the trials with a final score of 127.65, and that included marks of 16.2 on both balance beam and floor, the best on the second day of competition.

The 18-year-old Liukin, a native of Parker, Texas and a two-time all-around winner at meets this year, had a total of 125.85 for the trials.

The top two all-around winners at this weekend's trials automatically
qualified for the Beijing Games.  The six-member women's Olympic team and three alternates will be named after a selection  camp in Houston on July 16-20.

In college baseball:   Georgia has advanced to the College World Series championship series after defeating Stanford 10-8 in Omaha , yesterday.  The Bulldogs are in the College World Series Final for just the second time in school history.  Their only other appearance was when they won the 1990 National Championship.  Georgia will face Fresno State , as Tommy Mendonca had three hits and drove in four runs, as Fresno State advanced to the College World Series championship series with a 6-1 win over North Carolina .

In golf:   Stewart Cink earned his fifth career PGA Tour victory with a one-shot triumph at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut .  Cink, who notched his first-ever PGA Tour win at this event when it was known as the Greater Hartford Open in 1997, parred the final hole to wrap up a three-under-par 67 in the final round at the TPC of River Highlands, finishing with a four-day total of 18-under 262.  He hadn't won a PGA Tour title since the WGC-NEC Invitational in 2004. Tommy Armour III and defending champion Hunter Mahan tied for second place at 17-under par, while Heath Slocum was next at minus-16.

August 8th will not only mark the opening of this year's Olympic Games in Beijing , it will also be the happy day thousands of Chinese couples tie the knot.  The BBC reports a surge of couples have applied to be wed that day and officials have vowed to grant marriage licenses to all the applicants.  In Chinese folklore, the number eight symbolizes good fortune, making the day particularly special as it will be the eighth day of the eighth month in 2008.  Around one-thousand couples lined up in Beijing for hours to register for their special day and another nine-thousand are expected to apply in the near future.