National Digest

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Rays advance ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays held off the defending champion Boston Red Sox 3-1 Sunday night behind Matt Garza’s masterful pitching in Game 7 of the AL championship series, earning a date with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rays nearly let it slip away when they blew a seven-run lead late in Game 5 and lost meekly Saturday night. But when rookie David Price struck out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning, Tampa Bay showed it had plenty of resolve, too. Baseball’s doormat since starting play in 1998, the Rays were a 200-1 shot to win the World Series before the season started. Now, they’ll host Philadelphia in Game 1 Wednesday night. Willy Aybar homered and Evan Longoria and Rocco Baldelli also drove in runs to support Garza, who limited the defending champions to Dustin Pedroia’s first-inning homer and Jason Bay’s one-out single in the seventh to end Boston’s bid for a third pennant in five years. Greene runs wild IOWA CITY (AP) — Shonn Greene rushed for a career-high 217 yards and four touchdowns and Iowa pounded reeling Wisconsin 38-16 on Saturday, sending the Badgers to their first 0-4 start in the Big Ten since 1996. Greene had touchdown runs of 52, 34, 34, and 12 yards for the Hawkeyes (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten), who have answered a three-game losing streak with a pair of blowout wins. He became the first Iowa player to rush for four touchdowns since Tavian Banks did it against Iowa State in 1997. He’s the only player in the country with over 100 yards in his first eight games of the season. The Badgers (3-4, 0-4), who reached as high as No. 8 in the polls in late September, have been outscored 86-23 the past two weeks. Huskers roll AMES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Ganz passed for 328 yards and a touchdown and Marlon Lucky ran for two more scores to lead Nebraska past Iowa State 35-7 on Saturday. Nebraska (4-3, 1-2 Big 12) broke a three-game losing streak and avoided its first 0-3 start in conference play in 63 years. It was just the second victory for the Cornhuskers in their last 10 Big 12 games. Iowa State (2-5, 0-3) lost for the fifth straight time but had a chance to get back into it after trailing 21-0 at halftime. Alexander Robinson ran 67 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the third quarter to finally give the Cyclones some life. But they had to punt on their next two possessions, Rams win By The Associated Press Even without Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboys were expected to beat the St. Louis Rams. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts were supposed to have an easy time with a Green Bay Packers defense missing two starters in the secondary. It didn’t work out that way for either team, both losing 34-14 on the road Sunday. With Romo watching from the sidelines due to a broken right pinkie, 40-year-old backup Brad Johnson couldn’t keep up with the Rams’ suddenly potent and opportunistic offense. Steven Jackson ran for 160 yards with three touchdowns, and the Rams (2-4) won their second straight game under new coach Jim Haslett. Their defense did its part, too, forcing four turnovers for the second straight game. “It’s just the will of the players, more than anything,” Haslett said. “I thought they played extremely well today, in all three phases.” At Lambeau Field, safeties Nick Collins and Aaron Rouse both ran interceptions back for long touchdowns to help the Packers (4-3) win their second straight after a three-game skid. “I can’t really give you one simple answer, try to summarize what’s going on,” said Manning, who finished 21-of-42 for 229 yards. “We just need to play better. I need to play better and find a way to get into the end zone. Our offense needs to try to get the lead to help our defense out a little bit. We didn’t do our job.” In Sunday’s other games, it was Baltimore 27, Miami 13; Chicago 48, Minnesota 41; Buffalo 23, San Diego 14; Tennessee 34, Kansas City 10; the New York Giants 29, San Francisco 17; Pittsburgh 38, Cincinnati 10; Carolina 30, New Orleans 7; Houston 28, Detroit 21; Oakland 16, the New York Jets 13 in overtime; Washington 14, Cleveland 11; and Tampa Bay 20, Seattle 10. BASEBALL LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain apologized for “an error in judgment” after he was arrested early Saturday in Nebraska on suspicion of driving under the influence, speeding and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle. Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said Chamberlain was stopped for speeding on U.S. 77 south of his hometown of Lincoln. Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey will get paperwork on the case Monday and decide what, if any, charges will be filed. NFL KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs president Carl Peterson said the team is aware of an investigation into running back Larry Johnson’s alleged involvement in an altercation with a woman during the team’s bye week. Johnson already faces a December court date on a charge of simple assault involving an incident with a woman in February. He also was benched for Kansas City’s 34-10 loss to Tennessee on Sunday for violating team rules. The alleged bye-week incident occurred at a KC nightclub. No charges have been filed. GOLF LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc Turnesa completed a wire-to-wire victory for his first PGA Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The fourth rookie to win on the PGA Tour this season, Turnesa opened with rounds of 62, 64 and 69 at TPC Summerlin en route to a 25-under 263 total. He earned $738,000. Matt Kuchar finished with a 64. Former UNLV star Chad Campbell shot a 67 to tie for third at 22 under with John Mallinger (68) and Michael Allen (70). KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Morgan Pressel birdied the final hole for a 3-under 69 and a one-stroke victory over Suzann Pettersen in the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic. Kapalua’s tour pro, Pressel finished at 8-under 280 and earned $225,000 for her second career win. She won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year to become the youngest player in tour history to win a major. Administaff Small Business Classic THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Bernhard Langer won his second straight Administaff Small Business Classic title, shooting a 3-under 69 for a two-stroke victory over Lonnie Nielsen. Langer finished at 12-under 204 and earned $255,000 for his third victory of the year to take the money lead with $1,992,573. TENNIS MADRID, Spain (AP) — Fourth-ranked Andy Murray beat Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 7-6 (6) to win the Madrid Masters, becoming the first Briton to win four titles in a season. Murray also will be the first Briton in the Open era since Fred Perry in 1936 to finish the year at No. 4. Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman both reached No. 4 but never finished the year there and never won four titles and played in a Grand Slam final in one season. ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — Venus Williams won the Zurich Open for her second singles title of the season, beating Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (1), 6-2. The win should seal the 28-year-old American’s place at the WTA Tour Championship in Doha next month. She also won at Wimbledon this year. ROWING CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The University of Washington overcame gusty crosswinds to capture the men’s championship eights, the featured race on the second day of competition at the 44th annual Head of the Charles Regatta. Washington edged the French national team, rowing as Pole France Aviron Nancy, by 2 1/2 seconds in 14 minutes, 28 seconds on the 3-mile upstream course. Brown University actually had the second-best time, but a 1-minute penalty pushed the Bruins back to 24th. SPEEDSKATING KEARNS, Utah (AP) — Apolo Anton Ohno finished third in the men’s 1,500-meter final at the short-track speedskating World Cup, sealed off on the final lap by the top two finishers. Lee Jung-su finished in 2 minutes, 17.941 seconds, and runner-up Lee Ho-suk (2:17.966). South Korea swept the men’s races, as Sung Si-bak won the 500-meters and the Koreans set a world record in the 5,000-meter relay (6:38.486). In Sunday’s other finals, world champion Wang Meng added the women’s 500-meter title to her 1,000-meter victory and anchored China’s winning 3,000-meter relay team. Shin Sae-bom of South Korea won the women’s 1,500 meters. OLYMPICS BEIJING (AP) — A former Beijing vice mayor in charge of overseeing Olympic construction projects has been given a suspended death sentence for corruption, a court said Sunday, in a stern warning to wayward Communist officials. The Intermediate People’s Court in Hengshui delivered the sentence Saturday after finding Liu Zhihua guilty of taking bribes, said a court clerk who would only give his surname, Ma. The sentence will be commuted to life in prison in two years if Liu shows good behavior. Before his sudden dismissal in 2006 for unspecified corruption, Liu was in charge of urban development in the Chinese capital and headed the office overseeing the $40 billion being spent by the city on Olympics-related infrastructure projects.