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2B Daily News – Tuesday, May 28, 2013 Donaldson, Straily lead A's past Giants 4-1 OAKLAND (AP) — Josh Donaldson hit a tworun homer to back Dan Straily's strong start, and the Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 41 in the Bay Bridge Series opener Monday. Straily (3-2) tossed six innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and one walk. Buster Posey's groundout in the sixth inning drove in San Francisco's lone run. Donaldson connected against Madison Bumgarner (4-3) in the fourth, and Yoenis Cespedes added a two-run double against George Kontos in the seventh to extend Oakland's lead. Sean Doolittle pitched two perfect innings and Grant Balfour recorded his 11th save of the season for Oakland, which has won four straight and nine of 10. The usual sprinkling of green-and-gold clad fans mixed with San Francisco's orange-and-black following that traveled from across the bay to pack Oakland Coliseum. The announced sellout crowd of 36,067 traded chants of ''Let's go Oakland!'' and ''Let's go Giants!'' throughout the cloudy afternoon. Straily retired 14 of his first 15 batters and looked confident and in control from the start. Bumgarner struggled with his command —matching a career high with five walks — but didn't allow a hit until the fourth. That hit turned out to be Kanaan unsure about green-white-checkered finishes INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan is conflicted over green-whitecheckered flag finishes. Kanaan won his first Indy 500 under caution Sunday in an anticlimactic ending to a thrilling race. There were a record 68 lead changes, with the last one coming when Kanaan slid around Ryan HunterReay on a restart with three laps remaining. Moments later, Dario Franchitti's crash brought out the caution and the race ended with Kanaan following the pace car around Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the final two laps of the 500-mile race. Although NASCAR makes three attempts to finish a race under green even if means going beyond the scheduled distance, the IndyCar Series does not. NASCAR fans and even some commentators immediately took to Twitter to decry the muted ending. Kanaan said Monday green-white-checkered finishes should be considered but acknowledged it would be tough to do in the Indianapolis 500. ''I'm all about the tradition in this place. That was never done here,'' Kanaan said. ''I'm not saying that because I won under yellow, because I lost plenty of them under yellow, as well. Especially in a place like this, I think you want to see a finish under green. At the end of the day it's a race, it's the rules. People have different opinions.'' IndyCar took the unusual step of red-flagging last year's seasonfinale at Fontana to clean up an accident and allow the race to finish under green. Although it made for a better ending to the race, the move was unprecedented and purist race fans panned the decision. The red-flag at Fontana helped Hunter-Reay clinch his first series championship, but like Kanaan he didn't know if a greenwhite-checkered at Indy Also on the field was the Lady Spartans' Kayla Thayer, who qualified in shot put and discus. The junior last year didn't medal in the shot put event, but managed a fourth-place finish (35-06.5) on Friday, edging Corning High's Morgan Parker, who placed fifth (33-05.75). But what really excited Thayer was a discus throw of 117 feet. After she learned of her mark, Thayer excitedly turned to those watching her on the sidelines and pumped her fist. The distance earned her second-place honors. Parker, again, was right behind her in third with a mark of 115 feet. Sharks top Kings 2-1 to force Game 7 in West semis AP photo AP photo Tony Kanaan, of Brazil, celebrates with winners milk after winning the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday. was appropriate. After Kanaan got around him on the restart, Hunter-Reay slipped to third before the caution and didn't get a chance to race for the win. ''This is Indy, there's a certain way things are done,'' Hunter-Reay said. ''If tradition is tradition, you don't materialize results. We don't try to produce results out of green-white-checkereds. It can be a bit gimmicky.'' Hunter-Reay also said IndyCar has fuel mileage concerns that would make the overtime finishes more difficult than NASCAR BERKELEY (AP) — The topranked California men's golf team has no home course to call its own, typically shuttling among seven or eight local spots. Most of the Golden Bears were passed on by the elite college golf programs. Still, Cal is favored to win the NCAA championships beginning Tuesday in Georgia — quite an accomplishment for the recordsetting program that operates without any financial help from the university. The golf team has an annual budget of about (Continued from page 1B) 6 2-3 innings. The lefty has lost three of his last four starts. San Francisco squandered its best chance for a big inning when Posey grounded out in the sixth to score Gregor Blanco, snapping Straily's scoreless streak at 12 1-3 innings. Then Straily snared Hunter Pence's grounder to strand Marco Scutaro on third. Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) lays on the ice after San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (19) scored a goal during the first period in Game 6 of their second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in San Jose, Sunday. races. ''Where the greenwhite-checkered gets a little bit dicey is that you have some cars that gamble on maybe a yellow at the end for fuel, and some cars that don't,'' he said, adding Franchitti's accident was going to take at least three laps to clean. ''Some cars might not have had enough fuel to finish. We would have had fuel for it. If you can talk them into rolling us back out there, I'd be all for that.'' Kanaan's victory was the first for manufacturer Chevrolet since 2002, but U.S. vice president of performance vehicle and motorsports Jim Campbell said he wouldn't have wanted the race to go into overtime. Chevrolet also participates in NASCAR, and Campbell is used to both methods. ''I totally believe in the tradition of the Indianapolis 500 and the rules of the Indianapolis 500, and I respect that, just as I respect the rules of NASCAR,'' Campbell said. ''Series have rules and we all play by the same rules.'' Self-funded Cal golf team the favorite at NCAAs FINALS the difference. Donaldson sent a cutting 89 mph fastball over the right-center field wall to give the A's a 2-0 lead. Donaldson raised his right hand in the air after jogging around first base, celebrating his eighth home run with a little extra flair. Bumgarner struck out six, was tagged for all four runs and also hit a batter in $600,000. ''There's no story like this in intercollegiate athletics,'' coach Steve Desimone said. Cal sophomore Michael Kim, the nation's No. 1-ranked player, and Desimone walked across campus last week in their golf shirts when they encountered the business school's graduation festivities. A bystander asked aloud, ''Is he the next Tiger Woods?'' ''Please, not the next Tiger Woods in Cal territory,'' Desimone responded, no joke about it. "I was excited," Thayer said, adding, "When I got that, it made me more confident in myself." She said she's thrown farther, and the second-place finish will push her to, hopefully, make it to the state meet next year. It was the last chance for seniors, however, to have a shot at representing their school at the state level. And that realization affected expectations for some, such as Corning High's Jesus Diera. Diera impressively qualified for the 800- and 1600meter run events, but a third-place finish in the 1600 (4:43.17) left him thinking of what could have been. "It was my goal to beat our school record," Diera said as he waited to be Woods starred at Stanford. The South Korean-born Kim, all of 19, has helped bring national respectability to the golf being played in Berkeley. The Bears set an NCAA modern-era single-season record with 11 wins in their first 13 tournaments. ''It would have been 12 if (Michael) Weaver wouldn't have played the Masters,'' Desimone quipped. Now, they want to add to all those accomplishments. awarded his third-place medal. "I knew that if I got first today and went to the state meet I'd have a really good chance (at) beating it, but it's a disappointment." Diera's teammate, Rogelio Silva, added a medalworthy finish in the 3200-meter run. Silva finished fourth with a time of 9:57.46, and collapsed after crossing the finish line, where he was seemingly exhausted. After judges helped him up and he regained some strength, Silva found his way to the medal podium, where he flashed a smile as people snapped photos. Three-event qualifier Ivan Alvarado, a Corning High junior, was a threeevent medalist as he placed fourth in the long jump (2004.50), fourth in the 200- meter dash (22.80) and fifth in the triple jump (11.31). Red Bluff's Hackstaff finished fifth in the 200 dash (22.82). The 5-foot-7 Alvarado, who started his track and field career as a sophomore at Corning High last year, said going up against taller competition in the long jump is a challenge. But, he said, people still underestimate him. "I feel like I'm going to do better next year, a lot better. Hopefully grow a few more inches, actually," Alvarado said with a laugh. ——— Sports Editor Andre Byik can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 111 or sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TehamaSports SAN JOSE (AP) — The San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings have followed a familiar pattern for six games: The home team scores first on the way to the win. After using that formula to force a decisive seventh game in their second-round series, the Sharks know they need to reverse the trend if they want to advance to the Western Conference finals for the third time in four years. ''It's followed the script. Home team wins back and forth,'' Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. ''It's time for us to get there and try to change the story. We're going to have to play a much better game than we did last time in that building. But they earned the right for home-ice. It's our job to take it away from them.'' Joe Thornton got San Jose off to a fast start with a power-play goal in the first period and TJ Galiardi added a goal in the second to set up a winner-take-all game in this all-California series. Antti Niemi made 24 saves as the Sharks earned their third 2-1 home win of the series. ''We wanted this opportunity,'' said Joe Pavelski, who set up Thornton's goal. ''We wanted to go play. We feel like we've played some good games there before. It's been a while since we've won, so we're due.'' Game 7 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles. While the Kings seemingly have the advantage of home ice that has been so paramount this series, road teams in NHL history are 8-8 in seventh games of series where the home team has won the first six games, according to STATS. Dustin Brown scored the lone goal for Los Angeles and Jonathan Quick made 24 saves. The Kings have lost 11 of 12 road games but have been unbeatable at home, winning all six playoff games and 13 straight at Staples Center since the end of the regular season. ''It's come down to one game,'' forward Mike Richards said. ''We're a confident, comfortable team at home. The fans are loud and behind us. It should be an exciting game.'' The Kings tried to end it in San Jose, putting pressure on Niemi early in the final period in search of the equalizer. But they couldn't break through against a strong forecheck late in the game — much to the delight of the loud crowd chanting ''Beat LA! Beat LA!'' from the start. Los Angeles managed just one shot on goal in the final 2:50. After taking a 1-0 lead, the Sharks went more than 15 minutes without a shot before regaining their stride early in the second period. Galiardi beat Quick with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle for his first career playoff goal to make it 2-0 and San Jose had a chance to break the game open when Justin Williams was sent to the box with a double-minor for high-sticking. But Quick and the Kings killed off all 4 minutes of power-play time and then got back into the game with just over 6 minutes left in the second when Brown banked a shot from behind the goal line off Niemi and into the net. ''Every game has been close,'' Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi said. ''I'm sure it's not a shock it's come to a Game 7. I'm sure both teams didn't want it to go this far. Right now, it doesn't matter how we win it, just that we win it.'' The Sharks started fast thanks to three early power plays and the desperation of an elimination game to continue the trend in this series of the home team scoring first when they converted on a two-man advantage. With Richards already in the box for tripping Brent Burns, Anze Kopitar shot a puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty. San Jose patiently worked the puck around during the 5-on-3 advantage and took the lead when Pavelski slid a pass across the goalmouth to Thornton, who shot it in from the side of the net to end a drought of 102:14 dating to the second period in Game 4. ''The 5-on-3 in the first few minutes was big. We're just trying to slap down the ice but things like that happen,'' Scuderi said. ''We were trying to limit their start in this building but that got the fans into it early and that hurt us.''