Sports
Westplex Today Sports Page: June 26, 2008
By Jay Murry
Jun 26, 2008 - 7:20:56 AM

Westplex Today Sports Page:   June 26, 2008

Fans in Detroit had to sit through a 2 ˝ hour rain delay last night, but they were treated to a lot of fireworks.   Cardinal outfielder Rick Ankiel smacked two home runs, but Gary Sheffield made sure that Tiger fans were sent home happy.   Sheffield ’s walk-off single in the bottom of the 9^th inning gave the Tigers an 8-7 victory over the Cardinals.   Ankiel provided 3 RBIs, and he and Skip Schmacher hit homers early for a 2-0 lead.   However, Cards relief pitcher Kyle McClellan gave up the game-winning hit and drops to 0-3 on the year.  And, the Cardinals dropped back to 4 ˝ games behind the Cubs in the NL Central with the loss last night.  

The Cardinals and Detroit play the deciding game of the series this afternoon in Detroit .   The first pitch is at 12:05 , and KWRE will have all the action for you at 11:22 this morning.

The Cardinals did receive some good news yesterday, regarding slugger Albert Pujols.   Albert could reportedly be in the starting lineup this afternoon in Detroit .  According to the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch," Pujols might be at first base or be the DH in the series finale if he comes off the 15-day disabled list when eligible today.  Pujols has been on the DL since straining his left calf on June 10th.

The Cubs increased their division lead over the Cardinals and they are back to 20 games above .500 with yesterday's 7-4 triumph over the Baltimore Orioles at Wrigley Field.  Geovany Soto went 2-for-3 with three RBI for the Cubs, who plated six runs in the first two frames.  Jim Edmonds continues to hurt his former Cardinal teammates from afar, by collecting a pair of hits, including his seventh home run of the season.  Ted Lilly turned in a quality start, allowing all four earned runs on five hits over seven innings for his eighth win of the season.  Kerry Wood struck out the side in the ninth for his 20th save.  The two teams finish their series on the north side of Chicago this afternoon.

The Brewers failed in their attempt to sweep the Braves, losing to Atlanta 4-2 on Wednesday.  Rickie Weeks and Mike Rivera drove in the runs for Milwaukee .  Jeff Suppan was the loser, allowing four runs on nine hits over six innings.  The Brewers had won four straight and the loss was just the second in the team's last 10 games, but they still dropped back to 6 ˝ games behind the Cubs with the loss.  The Brewers take a day off today. Tomorrow, they open a weekend series at Minnesota .

In the weirder side of Major League Baseball:   Umpire Brian O’Nora was released from a Kansas City hospital yesterday, after he received a concussion and a cut on his head from a piece of a shattered maple bat during a Royals-Rockies game Tuesday night.   And, Shawn Chacon of the Astros has been suspended for getting into a verbal altercation with GM Ed Wade that ended with Chacon grabbing Wade by the neck and throwing him down onto the floor of the Astros’ clubhouse.

In college baseball:   Fresno State became the lowest-seeded team to win a collegiate national championship game, after its 6-1 victory over Georgia last night to end the College World Series.   Fresno State was a 4^th-regional seed and a #9 seed entering the College World Series, but it stunned experts and higher-ranked teams en route to the Division-One national championship.

In minor-league action:   The Rascals outlasted Windy City 12-7 to start a series at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon last night.   The Rascals extended their lead in the Frontier League West Division to 2 games as a result.   Game 2 of their series begins tonight at 7:05 .

In hockey:   Blues prospects will once again be on display today at Scottrade Center .  The team is continuing its four-day development camp with a pair of practice sessions at 9:00 and 10:45 this morning.  Each workout is open to the public and free of charge.  The event comes to a close with a scrimmage on Friday night at 7:00 that is also at no expense to fans.

Home faceoffs with Toronto , Dallas and Atlanta highlight the Blues' upcoming preseason schedule.  The organization's exhibition slate was released yesterday and begins on September 22nd in Kansas City against Los Angeles .  Matchups with the Stars and Thrashers are on tap for September 23rd and 26th respectively at Scottrade Center .  Former Blues forward Jamal Mayers and the Leafs visit St. Louis on October 1st.  The Blues skate four other times on the road.

In pro basketball:   The Chicago Bulls are first on the clock for tonight's NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden .  Chicago is expected to take Memphis guard and Chicago native Derrick Rose first.  Miami is reportedly leaning toward USC's O.J. Mayo or Arizona 's Jerryd Bayless at number-two.   Kansas City native and Kansas Jayhawk Brandon Rush is expected to be chosen in the middle of the first round.   Also, the New York Knicks tried to trade up a spot from #6 to #5 in the first round, but St. Louisan David Lee reportedly rejected the trade to Memphis .

A big trade was worked out yesterday on the eve of the NBA Draft.  TSN of Canada reports the Pacers have agreed to send six-time All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal to the Raptors for guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and tonight's 17th-overall draft pick.

In tennis:   The top seeds on both sides were Wednesday winners at Wimbledon , but the third-seeded player on the men's bracket was a second-round casualty. 

Men's top-seed and five-time defending champion Roger Federer ran his grass winning streak to 61 matches with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over Swede Robin Soderling.  The win pushed the world's top men's player to 40-and-4 at the All England Club.  However, Novak Djokovic was ousted by former top-ranked player Marat Safin.  The unseeded Russian got past the men's third-seed with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 performance that lasted just over two hours.

There were no major surprises on the women's side, although it took top-seeded Ana Ivanovic all she had to advance over unseeded Nathalie Dechy of France .  The world's number-one women's player lost the first set and survived two match points on the way to a 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 10-8 win.  The match took three hours and 24 minutes to complete.  Also winning on Wednesday was fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and sixth-seeded American Serena Williams.  Kuznetsova was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Kateryna Bondarenko while Williams ousted Urszula Radwanska of Poland , 6-4, 6-4.

Today, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick will have their second-round matches among the top six men’s seeds.   Among the women, 2^nd seed Jelena Jankovic and 3^rd seed Maria Sharapova will be in action, along with 7^th seed and defending Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.

Athletes will compete for coveted Olympic spots at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, which begin tomorrow on the hallowed grounds of Hayward Field at the University of Oregon .  A strict format that allows only the top-three finishers per event to qualify for the China Games leaves open the possibility of major upsets at the 10-day meet track. 

U.S. Olympics women's coach Jeanette Bolden says there will be a good mixture of both veteran and up-and-coming athletes.  A lot of attention will be focused on sprinter Tyson Gay, who is favored in both the 100 and 200-meter races.  Other competitors include American pole vault record holders Brad Walker and Jenn Stuczynski in the men's and women's events, along with women's 200-meters world champion Allyson Felix and 400-meters favorite Sanya Richards.   Kara Goucher will also draw a lot of attention, as she tries to make the Olympic team in the 10,000 meter run after picking up a bronze medal in that event at the World Championships last year in Osaka , Japan .   She will duel with American recordholder Shalane Flanagan.   In the 1500 meter run, Alan Webb had the fastest time in the world last year, and he will try to parlay that into a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.  

For a schedule of events in the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, go to http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/OlympicTrials-TF/schedule.asp.   NBC and the USA Network will have TV coverage, starting at 11:00 Friday night on USA , and at 7:00 Saturday night on NBC.

The 1980 Olympic Team that never actually got to go to the Olympics due to President Jimmy Carter's boycott aimed at the Moscow Games hosts is being honored in Eugene this week at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.  

According to “Runners World” magazine, the American decision to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow was particularly crushing for athletes like 100-meter sprinter Stanley Floyd and hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah, gold medal favorites who never got to another Olympics.

The "Trials to Nowhere" were "tough from a motivational standpoint," explains Nehemiah, who was nicknamed “Skeets” and played in the NFL and is now a prominent athletes' agent. Nehemiah added, "If I can't control my own freedom to run, why should I continue to compete in something the government uses as pawns on a chessboard? The Winter Olympians went, we didn't. I knew it was political posturing." Nehemiah and other athletes were especially bitter because they knew that the U.S. Olympic Committee wouldn’t boycott its own Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , New York in 1980.   Stanley Floyd has something else to celebrate in Eugene , though. His daughter Ebonie is competing in the 200-meter dash at the '08 Trials.  

Westplex track fans hope that Duchesne alumnus Jason Leimkuehle has recovered from injuries earlier this year, to try and make the Olympic team in the 10,000 meter run.  There’s no word on whether he made it to the Trials.   Last fall, he placed 5^th in the Men’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials…just outside of the top three that were guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team.

And, on a sad note, Alicia Shay will not be able to compete for a spot on the Olympic team. Alicia’s husband Ryan Shay collapsed and died during the Men’s Marathon Trials in New York last November, and she was hoping to honor his efforts by making the Olympic team.   However, she suffered an abdominal injury in May while chasing her puppy to keep it out of the street in Flagstaff , Arizona .   The injury has not healed well, forcing Alicia to miss a chance to qualify in the 10,000 meter run.