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2B – Daily News – Friday, May 14, 2010 Rangers top A’s in 12 innings GIANTS (Continued from page 1B) Park. ‘‘He pitched brilliantly last start against the Astros and followed that up with another gem,’’ Padres man- ager Bud Black said. ‘‘It’s the only way I can describe it.’’ Latos was drafted in the 11th round in 2006 by Joe Bochy, brother of Giants manager and ex-Padres skip- per Bruce Bochy. ‘‘He’s a big kid with a big arm and tons of talent,’’ Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘He had good command of all his pitches and he showed good poise, too. We got a great pitching effort by Sanchey. That gets lost in all this.’’ Latos singled in the Padres’ first run with two outs in the fifth, the second straight day a starter drove in a run to help his cause. ‘‘He just happened to make a mistake and I stuck the bat out there,’’ Latos said. ‘‘I can’t say I did it on pur- pose.’’ The Giants have scored just eight total runs in their six losses this year to San Diego. They didn’t do much in this one to help Sanchez, who allowed three hits and one run in eight sharp innings. He struck out five and walked one. Since losing its first two series of the season at Ari- zona and Colorado, San Diego has won seven of its last eight. NOTES: Padres C Yorvit Torrealba had the day off, as did Giants starting backstop Bengie Molina save for a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth. ... The earliest the Giants could welcome back sidelined 2B Freddy Sanchez is Wednesday at Arizona. He is on a rehab assignment as he works back from December surgery on his non-throwing left shoul- der. ... Giants LF Mark DeRosa received a cortisone injection Wednesday in his troublesome left wrist and was out of the starting lineup for a fourth straight game Thursday. He will be given a few more days of rest and hopes to test his wrist by tak- ing some swings this week- end. If he’s not much better by Sunday, the Giants would likely place him on the dis- abled list. Celtics eliminate LeBron, Cavilers BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers back to Cleveland to admire all of their regular-season accomplishments. It’s the Celtics who are still in the chase for an NBA title. MCT photo ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — After all the squawking about balking, Vladimir Guerrero left no doubt about the ending. Rajai Davis and Gabe Gross chase down the same fly ball during Thursday’s game in Texas. Washington came out for an 12th. Guerrero lined a one-out, RBI sin- gle deep into the left-center field gap in the 12th inning Thursday to give Texas a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athlet- ics in a game in which one balk became a base hit and another led to the ejection of the Rangers catcher. ‘‘It’s really a weird situation,’’ said C.J. Wilson, the Rangers starter who had the balks. ‘‘We won the game and that’s really the most important thing.’’ Guerrero was 0 for 5 before his liner off closer Andrew Bailey (0-1) drove home Michael Young. Texas took two of the three in the series matching the AL West’s top teams. Jake Fox had three hits for Oakland, including a single in the fourth on a pitch from Wilson that umpires had signaled was a balk. But Fox hit the ball, so he wound up with a base hit and Wilson wasn’t charged with a balk. ‘‘Everybody moves up, the balk’s ignored, and the runner can continue to try to advance and can be put out,’’ umpire crew chief Tim Tschida said. ‘‘It’s rare. It probably happens three, four times a year.’’ Wilson got called for another balk in the seventh, when he flinched his body while still on the rubber without delivering a pitch. Home plate umpire Bob Davidson immediately sent run- ner Josh Donaldson from second to third base. ‘‘He said he started and stopped,’’ manager Ron Washington said. ‘‘That was Balkin’ Bob back there. That’s all I can tell you.’’ extended conversation with Davidson only after catcher Matt Treanor got ejected. Treanor was facing the mound when he got tossed for a conversation with the umpire that quickly escalated. ‘‘I said something about the balk initially and it developed into some- thing more personal after that,’’ Tre- anor said. ‘‘He was grilling me basical- ly and it comes down to I was telling him I’m not disrespecting you the way you’re disrespecting me, I guess in so many words. ... I didn’t feel like I deserved to be tossed.’’ Tschida said Treanor was ejected for ‘‘excessive arguing’’ after being told to stop. Washington wasn’t thrown out of the game. Tschida said Treanor used profanity in disputing the call. ‘‘He balked. Matt’s reaction imme- diately was he turned around,’’ Tschida said. ‘‘He wouldn’t let it go. Over the shoulder, he kept doing it, and that was it.’’ On the pitch before that, Cliff Pen- nington hit a fly down the right-field line that he and manager Bob Geren both thought was fair and would have scored Donaldson. Geren came out to question first base umpire Alfonso Marquez. Pennington eventually grounded out to end the inning. Elvis Andrus led off the 12th with his fourth hit, but was then caught stealing. Young drew a walk and Josh Hamilton singled before Guerrero’s winning hit. Dustin Nippert (2-3), the fifth Rangers reliever and the loser in the 13-inning series opener Tuesday, worked around a leadoff single in the A balk was being discussed even before the game, when Geren ques- tioned the umpires’ postgame decision the previous night that resulted in a call against Athletics pitcher Gio Gonza- lez. In Oakland’s 10-1 loss Wednesday night, Gonzalez was initially charged with a throwing error after he awk- wardly stepped off the rubber and threw wildly to the plate when Ian Kinsler suddenly broke from third base. About a half-hour after the game after viewing a replay, the umpires called the press box and said it was actually a balk. After Fox’s balky single in the fourth Thursday, Landon Powell walked to load the bases before Don- aldson’s single made it 1-all. Andrus hit an RBI single in the third and extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest active in the majors. Wilson allowed a run and four hits in seven innings. The left-hander’s ERA dipped slightly from 1.51 to 1.48. Oakland starter Ben Sheets pitched into the seventh, allowing a run and three singles with eight strikeouts. He had given up 17 runs over 7 1-3 innings his previous two starts on the road, when he became the first A’s pitcher to give up at least eight earned runs in consecutive starts. He gave up only two runs in 6 1-3 innings Saturday at home. ‘‘I picked up right where I left off the last start,’’ he said. ‘‘I had good rhythm, made some key adjustments. I think six innings is a great start. I keep talking about getting deeper in the game.’’ Scoreboard MLB West Division Texas A’s American League WL Pct GB 20 15 .571 — 18 17 .514 2 Angels 15 21 .417 5.5 Seattle 13 21 .382 6.5 East Division WL Pct GB Tampa Bay 24 10 .706 — New York 22 12 .647 2 Toronto 20 16 .556 5 Boston 18 17 .514 6.5 Baltimore 11 24 .314 13.5 Central Division Minnesota 22 12 .647 — Detroit WL Pct GB 20 15 .571 2.5 Chicago 14 20 .412 8 Cleveland 13 19 .406 8 Kansas City 12 23 .343 10.5 ——— Thursday’s results Texas 2, Oakland 1, 12 innings Baltimore 6, Seattle 5 Detroit 6, New York 0 Kansas City 6, Cleveland 4 Today’s games Oakland (Braden 4-2) at L.A.Angels (J.Saunders 1-5), 7:05 p.m. Boston (Buchholz 3-3) at Detroit (Scherzer 1-3), 4:05 p.m. Cleveland (Masterson 0-3) at Baltimore (Guthrie 1-4), 4:05 p.m. Minnesota (S.Baker 4-2) at N.Y.Yankees (A.J.Burnett 4-1), 4:05 p.m. Texas (Harden 2-1) at Toronto (Cecil 2-2), 4:07 p.m. Seattle (Fister 2-1) at Tampa Bay (W.Davis 3-2), 4:10 p.m. Chicago White Sox (Buehrle 2-4) at Kansas City (Meche 0-4), 5:10 p.m. Wednesday’s late result Cleveland 4, Kansas City 0 West Division National League WL Pct GB Padres 22 12 .647 — GIANTS 18 15 .545 3.5 Dodgers 17 17 .500 5 Colorado 16 17 .485 5.5 Arizona 14 21 .400 8.5 East Division WL Pct GB Philadelphia 20 13 .606 — Washington 19 15 .559 1.5 New York 18 17 .514 3 Florida 17 18 .486 4 Atlanta 16 18 .471 4.5 Central Division WL Pct GB St. Louis 20 15 .571 — Cincinnati 19 15 .559 .5 Milwaukee 15 19 .441 4.5 Chicago 15 20 .429 5 Pittsburgh 14 20 .412 5.5 Houston 13 21 .382 6.5 ——— Thursday’s results San Diego 1, San Francisco 0 Houston 4, St. Louis 1 Florida 2, N.Y.Mets 1 Washington at Colorado, late Today’s games Houston (F.Paulino 0-5) at San Francisco (Wellemeyer 1-3),7:15 p.m. Pittsburgh (Burres 2-1) at Chicago Cubs (Gorzelanny 1-4),11:20 a.m. N.Y. Mets (O.Perez 0-2) at Florida (A.Sanchez 1-2), 4:10 p.m. St. Louis (J.Garcia 3-2) at Cincinnati (Harang 2-4), 4:10 p.m. Arizona (I.Kennedy 2-2) at Atlanta (Kawakami 0-6), 4:35 p.m. Philadelphia (Moyer 4-2) at Milwaukee (Wolf 3-2), 5:10 p.m. Washington (L.Hernandez 4-1) at Colorado (Jimenez 6-1), 6:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Ra.Ortiz 1-1) at San Diego (Garland 4-2), 7:05 p.m. Wednesday’s late results San Diego 5, San Francisco 2 L.A. Dodgers 6, Arizona 3 NBA Conference Semifinals Thursday’s result Boston 94, Cleveland 85 Boston wins series 4-2 Conference Finals Best-of-7 Sunday’s game Boston at Orlando, 12:30 p.m. Series tied 0-0 Monday’s game Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 6 p.m. Series tied 0-0 NHL Conference Semifinals Best-of-7 Today’s game Philadelphia at Boston, 4 p.m. Series tied 3-3 Other series San Jose defeated Detroit 4-1 Chicago defeated Vancouver 4-2 Montreal defeated Pittsburgh 4-3 MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Galaxy 7 0 1 22 15 2 Salt Lake 4 3 1 13 15 9 Houston 4 4 1 13 12 10 QUAKES 42 0 12 11 7 Colorado 3 3 1 10 8 7 FC Dallas 2 1 4 10 9 8 Chivas USA 3 4 1 10 10 11 Seattle 2 3 3 9 8 12 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA New York 5 2 0 15 8 8 Columbus 3 0 2 11 9 5 Toronto FC 3 4 0 9 11 13 Chicago 2 3 2 8 9 10 Kansas City 2 3 1 7 6 6 New England 2 5 1 7 10 14 Philadelphia 1 5 0 3 6 14 D.C. ——— Thursday’s result Real Salt Lake 3, Houston 1 PGA Valero Texas Open At TPC of San Antonio, Oaks Course San Antonio Purse: $6.1 million Yardgage: 7,435;Par 72 (36-36) First Round Leaders Matt Jones Paul Stankowski 33-34 — 67 -5 J.B. Holmes Matt Weibring Steve Lowery 36-30 — 66 -6 36-32 — 68 -4 34-34 — 68 -4 36-32 — 68 -4 Charley Hoffman 34-34 — 68 -4 Joe Durant Brett Wetterich 33-36 — 69 -3 Steve Flesch Arjun Atwal 36-33 — 69 -3 37-32 — 69 -3 34-35 — 69 -3 DEALS 1 6 0 3 4 15 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. Major League Baseball MLB—Suspended Washington INF Seth Bynum (Syracuse-IL) for 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in violation of the minor league drug and treat- ment program. American League KANSAS CITY—Fired manager Trey Hill- man.Named Ned Yost manager. NEW YORK—Recalled 1B Juan Miranda from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (IL). Optioned INF Kevin Russo to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. TORONTO—Assigned 3B Shawn Bowman outright to New Hampshire (EL). National League FLORIDA—Recalled C Brett Hayes from New Orleans (PCL). Optioned OF Bryan Petersen to New Orleans. National Hockey League MINNESOTA—Signed F Jean-Michel Daoust to a one-year contract. PHOENIX—Traded the rights to RW Jared Staal to Carolina for a 2010 fifth-round draft pick. Major League Soccer DALLAS—Announced F Milton Rodriguez will join the team on July 15. SEATTLE—Signed D Jeff Parke. National Football League ATLANTA—Released TE Leroy Banks. N.Y. JETS—Signed G Marlon Davis and C Robby Felix.Waived G Keith Buckman and C Michael Parenton. College BIG 12 CONFERENCE—Granted medical hardship waivers to Texas men’s basketball G Varez Ward and F Shawn Williams for the 2009-10 season. APPALACHIAN STATE—Named Rick Scruggs, Bobby Kummer and Justin Gainey men’s assistant basketball coaches. FORDHAM—Named Van Macon men’s associate head basketball coach, David Duke and Michael Kelly men’s assistant basketball coaches, John Corso director of men’s bas- ketball operations and Mike DePaoli video coordinator. KENTUCKY—Reassigned men’s assistant basketball coach Rod Strickland to opera- tions administrator. Announced deputy athlet- ics director Rob Mullens will also serve men’s basketball administrator. WAKE FOREST—Named Dan Ficke assis- tant coordinator of men’s basketball opera- tions. Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to beat Cleveland 94-85 in Game 6 on Thursday night. Boston advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, which begin Sunday in Orlando against the Magic, who are 8-0 in the playoffs after sweep- ing the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks in the opening rounds. Despite his fifth career playoff triple-dou- ble, James is headed for another early offseason after win- ning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA- best 61 wins and a home-court advantage they never got to use. This one is destined to define the future of the franchise — and the rest of the NBA, too. The LeBron watch began at 10:53 p.m., when Rondo dribbled out the last 14 seconds and the Celtics began celebrating. James is eligible to opt out of his contract this summer, a move that would make the two-time MVP — and zero-time NBA champion — a free agent and set off a scramble for his services from New York to Miami to Los Angeles and, of course, back in Cleveland. ‘‘We know their team is fueled by one guy, and he has a hell of a supporting cast,’’ Garnett said. ‘‘We knew that if we could somehow, someway control that supporting cast, then we had a good chance of beating this team.’’ James scored 27 points with 10 assists, and his 19 rebounds matched a career-high and were the most he’s ever had in a playoff game. But he also had nine turnovers. ‘‘I just told him, ’Keep your head up, man. I’ve been there,’’’ said Garnett, who toiled as a star without a title in Minnesota for more than a decade before winning one with Boston in 2008. ‘‘You have a very, very, very bright future. Continue to work and make decisions based on you and your family. Best advice I can give him.’’ Mo Williams scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half for the Cavaliers. Boston’s Paul Pierce scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half after playing just nine minutes — and shooting 1-for-5 — in the first with foul trouble. The Celtics had missed their first eight 3-point attempts when Pierce hit a 3 that gave them a 65-58 lead with 4:06 left in the third. It was 67-61 when Rasheed Wallace hit a 3-point- er, and then Ray Allen stole James’ pass and got the ball to Pierce for another 3 that completed a 16-4 run. James had- n’t made an outside shot before hitting back-to-back 3- pointers to cut it to four points, 78-74, early in the fourth quarter and force the Celtics to call a timeout. But Rondo drove for a layup, then set Pierce up for another 3. Pierce found Wallace for a 3-pointer and then Tony Allen’s steal led to a Garnett dunk at the other end that sent the Cavaliers into a timeout to regroup, down 88-74 with 5:53 left in their season. ‘‘You knew it was coming at some point with LeBron,’’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who reminded his players that they weren’t good enough to take over the game. ‘‘That’s what that timeout was about: to remind them that we can’t do that, what LeBron was doing.’’