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Friday World Cup — Netherlands vs. Brazil, 7 a.m., ESPN World Cup — Uruguay vs. Ghana, 11:30 a.m. Wimbledon — Men’s semis, 4 a.m., ESPN2, 9 a.m., NBC MLB— Reds at Cubs, 11 a.m., WGN MLB— Athletics at Indians, 4 p.m., CSNC MLB — Giants at Rockies, 5 p.m., CSNB Sports 1B Friday July 2, 2010 Rockies top Giants 7-3 Giants trade Molina ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The AL West-leading DENVER (AP) — Car- los Gonzalez hit an early tw o-run homer and Aaron Cook threw 6 1-3 sharp innings, lifting the Colorado Rockies to a 7-3 victory over the reel- ing San Francisco Giants on Thursday night. Dexter Fowler provided a spark on the basepaths, stealing two bases and scoring twice as the Rockies won for the third time in four games. The Giants are traveling in an oppo- site direction, their skid reaching a sea- son-high six games. Buster Posey had a solo homer as he took the place of Bengie Molina in the lineup after the veteran catcher was dealt to the Texas Rangers earlier in the day for reliever Chris Ray and a minor- league pitcher. Cook (3-5) allowed three runs and seven hits to win for the first time since May 29. He has thrived at Coors Field this sea- son, posting a 2.64 ERA in friendly confines as opposed to 6.70 on the road. The sinkerball specialist pitched into the seventh, strik- ing out counterpart Madison Bumgar- ner before being pulled for reliever Matt Belisle. Rafael Betancourt pitched the eighth and Huston Street finished in a nonsave opportunity. Bumgarner (0-2) lasted seven innings in his second start of the sea- son, giving up four runs and nine hits. The Rockies broke open a one-run game in the eighth by scoring three times. Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi had a run-scoring single while Miguel Olivo played a role in the other two runs. Olivo brought in one with a triple and then scored the other when he knocked the ball out of the glove of Posey on Clint Barmes’ infield chopper. Barmes had a run-scoring, broken- bat bloop single to center in the fourth, while Melvin Mora scored Fowler on a groundout in the fifth. Fowler just recently returned to the team after spending a month with Triple-A Colorado Springs to hone his mechanics at the plate. He finished 3 for 5 with a triple. The Giants moved Aaron Rowand back into the leadoff spot Wednesday, a move that paid dividends against Col- orado. With the bases loaded and two outs in the second, Rowand crushed a curveball to left that just curled foul. No matter, he followed that with a two-run single through the middle, tying the game at 2 apiece. With Molina gone, Eli Whiteside and Posey will split the catching duties, an opportunity Posey relishes. ‘‘You have to play to show what you can do. You don’t know unless you play,’’ Posey said. ‘‘I’m going to get more of an opportunity now.’’ Tritons strong at Scott Valley Meet Texas Rangers filled a significant need Thursday by acquir- ing veteran catcher Bengie Molina and cash from the San Francisco Giants for reliever Chris Ray and a minor league pitcher. Molina is expected to join the Rangers and be in the line- up Friday night, when they start a 10-game homestand lead- ing into the All-Star break. ‘‘Bengie brings an experience level that we were looking for,’’ general manager Jon Daniels said. ‘‘A strong defensive catcher, experience in the postseason and in the pennant race, and handling very good pitchers.’’ The 35-year-old Molina, who went to the playoffs three times with the Angels and won a World Series in 2002, is hit- ting .257 with three home runs and 17 RBIs. The two-time Gold Glove winner became expendable when the Giants recently promoted top prospect Buster Posey. ‘‘I’m excited. Why not? I get the opportunity to catch more,’’ Posey said. ‘‘At the same time you hate to see a guy like Bengie go. Good guy. Good teammate.’’ When Ivan Rodriguez didn’t stay in Texas after a short reunion with his original team last year, the Rangers began this season with Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagar- den as their catchers. Both are back in the minor leagues. Matt Treanor, acquired from Milwaukee during spring training, and Max Ramirez have split the catching duties since. Both opening day catchers were optioned to the minors April 27. ‘‘I don’t think we were crying out for help. We just want- ed a front-line guy,’’ Rangers manager Ron Washington said. ‘‘Treanor and Max are why we’re where we are now. It’s an upgrade. That’s no knock on anyone else. ‘‘ Treanor, in his seventh major league season, has already played 55 games, only 12 shy of his career high set for Flori- da in 2006. The Rangers had agreed to trade Ramirez last winter to Boston before the deal fell apart because of Mike Lowell’s thumb injury. ‘‘It’s that time of the year when the grind really starts,’’ Treanor said. ‘‘My situation is getting the opportunity to play in the postseason. However it takes us to get there I want that to happen.’’ Molina leaves a Giants staff that includes two-time NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and All-Star Matt Cain. ‘‘Everything he’s done for the last 3 1/2 years definitely helped all of us,’’ Cain said. ‘‘No one has had the effect on me as Bengie has. He has helped me mature through the game. He helped me suc- ceed,’’ Lincecum said. ‘‘He deserves half the credit for the awards that I have gotten. It’s tough watching him go.’’ The rotation for the Rangers, who haven’t been to the Courtesy photo Chloe Casey competes in a butterfly event at the Scott Valley Meet in Etna. The Red Bluff Tritons swim team was led by strong performances from Curtis Twitchell, Sarah Reineman, Chloe Casey and its relay teams at the Scott Valley Meet in Etna. Reineman and Casey finished 1-2 overall in the girls 7-8 division. Reineman picked up wins in the 25-meter butterfly, 50-meter breast- stroke, 100-meter individual medley and 25 and 100-meter freestyles. Casey finished first in the 25- meter breaststroke and was second in the 25-meter butterfly, 50-meter breaststroke and 100-meter individ- ual medley. Twitchell won the 50, 100 and 200-meter freestyle events on his way to an second place overall finish in the 13-14 boys division. The boys 13-18 relay team of Gre- gory Wilson, Larsen Dahl, Twitchell and Joshua Jackson won the 200- meter freestyle and finished second in the medley relay. Jackson and Dahl finished fifth overall in their respective age groups and Wilson was sixth. The girls relay team of Reineman, Chloe Casey, Zoe Casey and Hannah Huhn placed second in the medley relay and third in the freestyle. Huhn was 10th overall in the 9-10 girls division. Sevee Johnson placed second overall in the 9-10 division behind second place finishes in the 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter breaststroke and 100-meter individual medley. Nicole Sauve grabbed a pair of second place finishes in the 50 and 100-meter freestyles and was third in the 200-meter. Mitchell Sauve earned an AA time in the 100-meter breaststroke and was third in the 50-meter butterfly. Samara Robinson had three sixth place finishes in the 13-14 division. Jordan Johnson had a pair of fourth place finishes. Christopher Huhn finished in fifth place in the 7-8 division’s 100-meter individual medley. Samara Robinson, Abigail O’Sul- livan, Sosie O’Sullivan and Isaac Jackson also added to the Tritons strong showing. Cahill, Sweeney lead Athletics BALTIMORE (AP) — Oakland Athletics manag- er Bob Geren is touting Trevor Cahill as a deserving mem- ber of the AL All- Star team. A manager pushing to have one of his players in the game is not unusual. In this case, how- ever, the statistics back up Geren’s assessment. Cahill pitched seven innings of four-hit ball to earn his seventh straight win, and Oakland got four hits apiece from Ryan Sweeney and Cliff Penning- ton in an 8-1 rout of the Bal- timore Orioles on Thursday night. Cahill (8-2) gave up a run, struck out four and walked one in lowering his ERA to 2.74. The right-han- der is 7-0 with a 2.12 ERA over his past nine starts. ‘‘He’s just thrown quali- ty start after quality start,’’ Geren said. ‘‘He’s real good. He’s commanding both sides of the plate with his fastball, which is really opening up his changeup. He’s really using all of his pitches effectively. He has all the tools.’’ But does he have the stuff to be an All-Star? ‘‘Without a doubt,’’ Geren said. ‘‘I mentioned it to Joe (Girardi) about our best candidates, and he was def- initely one of them.’’ Cahill would be honored to join the AL squad, but that’s not what motivates him when he takes the mound. ‘‘It would be great. I’m really happy I’m in con- tention,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t try to think about it too much. I just try to go out there and win.’’ It would have been nice to put his first career com- plete game on the resume, but Cahill was pulled after throwing 95 pitches and with Oakland comfortably up by seven runs. ‘‘I got a little tired there at the end,’’ he said. ‘‘Up by that much, there was no point in risking it. I just fig- ured save it for next time.’’ Sweeney, Pennington and Jack Cust had two RBIs apiece for the A’s, who took two of three for their first road series win in five tries since May 29-31 in Detroit. Oakland has won four series away from home, half of them in Baltimore. Sweeney’s four hits (all singles) tied a career high. He was 10 for 56 (.179) in his previous 17 games. Making his fifth major league start, Baltimore’s Jake Arrieta (2-2) allowed four runs, three earned, and seven hits in six innings. ‘‘You know, there’s a lot to take out of that outing,’’ he said. ‘‘Although I’m not happy about it, I think it’s definitely something to build off.’’ After Arrieta left, Oak- land scored four seventh- inning runs against a bullpen that boasted an 0.77 ERA over the previous six games. Josh Bell made his major league debut as Baltimore’s starting third baseman after being recalled from Triple- A Norfolk earlier in the day. He went 1 for 4 and started two double plays in the field, but his throwing error in the fifth inning con- tributed to an unearned run. ‘‘Growing up as a kid, it’s your dream to get to the big leagues and have your team win,’’ Bell said. ‘‘We didn’t get the win, but it felt good to get the first one out of the way.’’ He kept the ball from his first hit, a sixth-inning sin- gle. The Orioles went up 1-0 in the first when Corey Pat- terson doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Markakis, only his fifth RBI in 20 games. It was the first time this season Cahill allowed a first-inning run. Oakland answered with three runs in the second. Cust hit an RBI double, and Pennington received credit for a two-run double when Patterson fell down after misjudging his liner to left. ‘‘It was hit right at me. Those are the toughest ones,’’ Patterson said. ‘‘I tried to play it the best I could, but that’s what hap- pened.’’ Sweeney hit an RBI sin- gle in the fifth, and Oakland sent 10 batters to the plate in seventh against relievers Frank Mata and Matt Albers. Sweeney singled in a run and Cust hit an RBI double before Mark Ellis and Gabe Gross delivered run-scoring singles. playoffs since 1999, includes Scott Feldman (5-6), who has struggled after being a 17-game winner last year, Colby Lewis (7-5, 3.28 ERA in his return from Japan) and former reliever C.J. Wilson. Rich Harden is on the disabled list. Ray, the right-handed reliever in the deal, is 2-0 with a 3.41 ERA in 35 games this season. The Rangers also sent right-hander Michael Main, their 2007 first-round draft pick (24th overall), to San Francisco. ‘‘We felt we could use the pitching help,’’ Giants manag- er Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘We had a couple of catchers here and thought the time was right.’’ When Saltalamacchia went on the disabled list last August and had season-ending shoulder surgery, the Rangers got Rodriguez from Houston. But Pudge stayed only for the end of last season and signed a two-year free- agent deal with Washington last winter. Saltalamacchia had the game-winning hit for Texas in its 2010 season opener, but played only two games before going on the DL with an upper back strain. He then was sent to the minors because of his troublesome inconsistency on the throws back to the pitcher. Teagarden hit .037 (1 for 27) in 10 games for Texas before being sent down, and is now at Double-A Frisco. Washington and Angels manager Mike Scioscia, whose team faced Texas on Thursday night, both said Molina’s top asset is his ability to connect with and communicate with pitchers. ‘‘This guy is a winner,’’ Daniels said. ‘‘He takes a lot of pride in his game-calling, working with his staff, under- standing the game plan. ... He’s excited to be here and really wants a chance to win again.’’ Serena Williams back in Wimbledon final again WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — After Serena Williams moved within a victory of her fourth Wimbledon champi- onship and 13th Grand Slam title overall, she was asked to assess the woman she’ll face in Saturday’s final, little-known Vera Zvonareva of Russia. ‘‘I don’t think she does any- thing terrible. I think that’s the best way to describe her game,’’ Williams said. ‘‘She does everything good.’’ That’s a fair, if not necessarily charitable, scouting report. Minutes later came a follow-up: Is there anything Williams herself does ‘‘terrible’’ in tennis or in life? She hemmed and hawed, then replied, ‘‘I don’t know. That’s a good question. I’m stumped.’’ It’s difficult to find any flaws in Williams’ play right now. The No. 1-ranked American has won all 12 sets she’s played this fortnight, set a Wimbledon record with 80 aces in the tournament, and reached a third consecutive final at the All England Club by beating Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-2 Thursday. ‘‘Well,’’ the defending champion said, ‘‘I’m hoping to still peak in the final.’’ That must be a daunting prospect for the 21st-ranked Zvonareva, who eliminated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bul- garia 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Thursday’s other semifinal. Zvonareva is the second-lowest-ranked woman to reach a Wimbledon final, had never gotten past the fourth round here, and will be playing in a title match for the first time in 30 Grand Slam tournaments. ‘‘I always believe in myself. I don’t care about what everyone says,’’ said Zvonareva, who drapes a pink, yel- low and blue Wimbledon towel over her head during changeovers to block distractions. ‘‘I know if I play my best tennis, I can beat anyone. ... I never look at any odds See SERENA, page 2B