The Washington Times stories: Sports

A.L. wins 13th straight All-Star game

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:03 -0400

ST. LOUIS | The American League's sheer dominance over the National League in the All-Star Game over the last 13 years isn't all that hard to explain. The AL, plain and simple, keeps doing the little things right and finds a way to beat its NL rivals, who keep finding ways to lose by the slimmest of margins. Put another way: Think of the NL as the Washington Nationals, and the AL as everyone who plays the Nationals. Get the idea? The junior circuit did it again Tuesday night, pushing across the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and then ...

AL wins All-Star game, 4-3

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Carl Crawford's glove and a dominant bullpen helped save the AL's streak. Crawford pulled back a home run with a leaping grab an inning before Curtis Granderson tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the eighth, giving the American League a 4-3 victory Tuesday night at the new Busch Stadium. The AL has won seven straight games since 2002's 7-7, 11-inning tie at Milwaukee and is 12-0-1 since its 1996 defeat at Philadelphia -- the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history. The AL has won all seven times the All-Star game has been used to determine ...

Armed for growth in the second half

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

On Sunday afternoon, after he had just taken reporters on a trip through a Washington Nationals loss for the 252nd and final time, Manny Acta closed his final news conference as Nationals manager with a prediction. "We're going to play better in the second half. I have no doubt about it," Acta said. "We're heading toward a better direction. The first month and a half of the season, it felt like we were winning once a week maybe. Since we started that series in New York [against the Yankees] and played good in interleague, most of those games we have ...

Knott: In Tour, it is valuable to be headstrong, too

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

If teammates Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador keep it up, one or the other is going to demand to be traded any day now. Cantador cannot win this one. Robin Williams, the manic actor, did not show up to the Tour de France to check on the weather conditions. He showed up to cheer the legend. "It's wild to see him back on the Tour," Williams said of Armstrong. "You'd think after seven wins, he'd think, 'C'est fini,' but no, he is back for one more time." And Armstrong is back with a fire in his 37-year-old belly and contempt ...

Woods: Turnberry may be quite rough

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

TURNBERRY, Scotland | Tiger Woods adopted a poker face Tuesday when asked about his strategy for this week's 138th British Open. In search of his 15th major title and first since last year's season-ending surgery, Woods confirmed the field's universal assessment of Turnberry's wicked rough and outlined the risk-reward choice that each player confronts this week. "You have to be committed to either putting the ball short of the bunkers or carrying them or skirting it past them," said Woods, a three-time British Open champion. "You have to make sure you really know what you're doing out there, especially with ...

WJFK adopts sports talk

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

A jovial group of local radio personalities and executives gathered on the floor of Verizon Center on Tuesday to announce details of Sportsradio 106.7 "The Fan," the new all sports-talk station set to debut next week. Former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington, local radio personality Chad Dukes and columnist Mike Wise of The Washington Post jogged into the arena past a crowd of advertisers and a row of cheerleaders, playfully tossing T-shirts with the logo of the new WJFK-FM. It was official: D.C. area sports fans soon will have two sports-centric stations to choose from, with WJFK featuring a largely local ...

Selig thinks Lerners are on the right track

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

ST. LOUIS | Baseball commissioner Bud Selig offered up full-throated support Tuesday for the Lerner family, insisting the Washington Nationals' ownership group has the franchise headed on a path toward success despite its struggles on the field, at the ticket gate and in the standings. "While obviously this has been painful for them, I have every confidence they know what they're going to do," Selig said. "And they're going to do it." Speaking to members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America at his annual All-Star question-and-answer session, the commissioner fielded three inquiries about the Nationals. He was asked twice ...

Coming to North America

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

Given the way the past two years have gone, Anton Gustafsson understandably was concerned when he crashed into the goal Monday with some help from roommate Dmitri Orlov. The 2008 first-round pick by the Washington Capitals has battled injuries the past two years, including a back problem that limited his time at development camp last summer to one day of work. "At first I was thinking, 'Oh my God, not again,' but it was OK," Gustafsson said. The son of former Caps star Bengt Gustafsson, Anton popped up from the ice, dusted himself off without any problems and went back ...

Selig pushes drug bans

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

ST. LOUIS | Before Manny Ramirez made his well-publicized and popular return to the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup earlier this month, the suspended slugger played two games for minor league affiliates as part of a rehab assignment that was equally well-publicized and popular. Thanks to a provision in the drug-punishment rules agreed to by Major League Baseball and the players union, players serving a 50-game suspension for a positive test are allowed to play up to 10 games on rehab stints before returning to the majors. If commissioner Bud Selig has his way, that provision won't be included in the ...

Beard rebounds in a new system

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

Alana Beard was a major reason Julie Plank was attracted to the Washington Mystics' vacant coaching position in the offseason. Plank wanted to take over a team with a solid foundation, and in Beard she saw a franchise player whose skill set fit her emphasis on defense and transition offense. A third of way through the season, Beard has been at the top of her game. The swingman, who was announced Tuesday as a starter for the All-Star Game, ranks fifth in the WNBA with 19.1 points a game and third in steals with 3.0 for the Mystics, who are ...

Unnecessary swing shift

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

TURNBERRY, Scotland Never has a threepeat bid seemed such a no-chance bust. Ten months ago, Ireland's Padraig Harrington stood astride the golf world, clutching the claret jug in one hand and the Wanamaker Trophy in the other. Admirably filling the void created by the absence of Tiger Woods, Harrington collected the season's final two majors in heroic fashion, blitzing Greg Norman and the rest of the field with a closing-nine 32 at blustery Birkdale, then cementing his ethereal status by slapping down Sergio Garcia at Oakland Hills. He became one of only five active players with three or more major ...

First Down

Scott Miller THE WASHINGTON TIMES — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

WEDNESDAYS BEST BET ON TELEVISION While no MLB games are on the slate tonight, some of the games future stars will be on display in the Class AAA All-Star Game. 10 p.m., ESPN2 NEWSMAKERS: WHO'S MAKING HEADLINES THIS WEEK ALLEN IVERSON Memphis and Miami were thought to be leading for Iverson's services, but now the Clippers seem to have joined the mix. TONY ROMO Much to the delight of Cowboys fans, their quarterback broke up with his girlfriend, pop star Jessica Simpson, earlier this week. BLAKE GRIFFIN Three possessions into his summer league debut, Griffin had seven points. He finished ...

Young drives Wizards

Steve Silver special to THE WASHINGTON TIMES — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

LAS VEGAS | Nick Young was the only Washington Wizards player to appear in every game last season, and that experience clearly carried over to the start of the NBA Summer League. Young scored a game-high 36 points, and the Wizards recovered from blowing a late 14-point lead to edge the Cleveland Cavaliers 96-93 on Tuesday night at Thomas & Mack Center. "Nick made himself hard to guard," Wizards summer league coach Randy Wittman said. "Sometimes a young guy that can score and shoot just runs around out there. Nick was moving with a purpose - stopping, starting, creating a ...

Maryland targets crab licenses

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

Flush with $15 million in federal blue crab disaster funds, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will offer to buy back 3,676 commercial limited crab catcher (LCC) licenses. The DNR has mailed letters to all LCC license holders informing them of this voluntary program, which seeks to reduce latent effort in Maryland's commercial blue crab fishery. Latent effort simply means the license is not being used. In the current program to sustain the state's rich blue crab fishery, the Chesapeake Bay-wide annual crab harvest will be limited to the removal of no more than 46 percent of the total population. ...

Sans radios, riders don't take chances

Jerome Pugmire ASSOCIATED PRESS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

ISSOUDUN, France | The tension is clear between teammates Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. That's nothing, however, compared to the anger many riders feel toward Tour de France organizers. On a day when Contador and Armstrong held their second and third spots in the overall standings and Britain's Mark Cavendish won the 10th stage, the Tour took a giant technological leap backward Tuesday. Riders were stripped of their customary earpieces, left to fend for themselves and denied contact with their teams during the 121-mile route. The decision to ban rider radios and TV sets in cars was made last month. ...

Serena pumps up District

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

Serena Williams isn't opposed to taking risks, especially if it means impressing President Obama. The Wimbledon champion met the president and his family during a visit to the White House on Tuesday and received a compliment on her 5-inch Fendi high heels. "He said he liked my shoes," she beamed, acknowledging that the elevation of her footwear created a dicey situation for a woman financially reliant on her feet. Later Tuesday, she replaced the strappy numbers for a pair of Nike tennis shoes as a member of the Washington Kastles of World TeamTennis. Her presence at Kastles Court downtown had ...

Time runs out for Nationals' Acta

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:45:03 -0400

All through the first half of the Washington Nationals' ramshackle season, when fans clamored for the dismissal of Manny Acta and pundits cast him as a stoic unable to provide a much-needed jolt, the team's front office stuck by its manager. Acta's ability to nurture developing young players, it was believed, outweighed the difficulty he had in coaxing wins from them. At some point over the weekend, the balance of those two qualities tipped out of Acta's favor. And on Monday morning, 2 1/2 years after proclaiming they had hired one of baseball's rising managerial stars, the Nationals formally cut ...

Loverro: Acta takes fall

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

Manny Acta is better off without the Washington Nationals. That, no doubt, is not what Acta thinks today after getting fired from the job he worked so long to get. No one likes to get fired, and Acta made it clear that he wanted to stay with the Nationals. But as the days and weeks pass, Acta probably will consider the pink slip a blessing. Most people who leave bad organizations are better off, particularly talented people. And despite the results on the field, those in the game know Acta is talented and believe he still has a future as ...

Cruelty awaiting on Ailsa

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

TURNBERRY, Scotland | Like a femme fatale reclining along the Scottish coastline, the sexy beast otherwise known as Turnberry's Ailsa Course beckons this week's British Open field toward disaster. Sprawling between its grand hotel and signature lighthouse and featuring breathtaking views of the Firth of Clyde and Ailsa Craig, Turnberry's 7,204-yard, par-70 links is clearly the aesthetic queen of the courses on the Open rota. But courtesy of an exceedingly wet spring and summer growing season, she might also be the cruelest mistress in recent Open history. "The rough might be as penal as I've ever seen at an Open," ...

First Down

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0400

TUESDAY'S BEST BET ON TELEVISION There's only one game in town: the MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis. 8 p.m., Chs. 5, 45 TAKE YOUR PICK WHAT'S MORE IMPRESSIVE: WINNING THE NBA'S SLAM DUNK CONTEST OR BASEBALL'S HOME RUN DERBY? Slam dunk contest -- This event has had many defining moments since it debuted in the ABA in 1976. Basketball greats Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan all have participated. Unlike the home run derby, the fans determine the winner. And to prevail, participants need to display athleticism, originality and execution. Home run derby -- Since its inception in ...