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2B Daily News – Tuesday, June 4, 2013 Raiders hope Roach is the man in the middle ALAMEDA (AP) — Nick Roach lined up at middle linebacker, barked out a coverage adjustment, then quickly shifted behind the left side of the defensive line before bursting through to pressure Oakland rookie quarterback Tyler Wilson. After three years of getting little production out of the position, the Raiders think they've found a remedy in the 27-year-old veteran defender. Coach Dennis Allen has been gushing about Roach ever since the team signed him as a free agent in March as part of a defensive overhaul which included dumping former first-round draft pick Rolando McClain. ''Nick's highly intelligent and he's athletic,'' Allen said Monday. ''He's done a nice job of kind of being the quarterback of our defense. He really has a passion about leading that team ... and he's got some things that he can do from a coverage standpoint that lends some flexibility to us.'' Roach spent the past six seasons mostly playing on the strong side of Chicago's defense while pulling spot duty as a backup to middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. When Urlacher missed the final four games of the 2012 season with a hamstring injury, Roach took over and played well. The Bears had hoped to re-sign Roach in the offseason but the two sides failed to reach an accord. When he became a free agent, Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie was among the first to call. The Raiders have no intentions of moving him around, either. After releasing the troubled and unproductive McClain in the offseason, the plan is to put Roach in the middle and leave him there. Roach averaged 46 tackles over six years in Chicago while splitting time on special teams. He'll do the same in Oakland but expects his production to increase now that he's settled in inside. AP photo Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt Flynn, left, hands off the ball during practice Monday. ''The biggest difference is we're a lot more multiple,'' Roach said. ''Chicago is about as basic as it gets. We played pretty simple. Everybody knew what we were going to do, and we knew they knew. ''I didn't really know much about what had been going on (in Oakland) but I did know the staff was coming in trying to get things right, whatever that meant. They felt, and I felt, we could be a part of that together.'' Almost as impressive as his offseason workouts has been the rapid pace at which Roach established himself as a presence in an Oakland locker room that has been devoid of leadership for some time now. It hasn't been easy. Roach acknowledged few of his new teammates had even heard of him before he signed with the Raiders in March. Veteran defensive end Andre Carter, who was re-signed by Oakland in the offseason primarily to help with the leadership void, knew of Roach and wasn't surprised to see the 6-foot-1, 235-pounder take control as quickly as he did. ''It goes to show how he wants to be known as,'' Carter said. ''The Mike linebacker is the engine of the defense, so for him to be vocal is very vital because we need that on the field as well as off the field. He gets the communication to everyone, the defensive line, the cornerbacks, safeties. If you don't have that, you're not going to be successful.'' Notes: The Raiders confirmed they won't get first-round pick D.J. Hayden back on the field until training camp. Hayden attended practice but remains sidelined after undergoing surgery to remove scar tissue from his abdominal region. ''It's a little bit of uncharted waters but we still feel comfortable that he'll be back and ready to go in camp,'' Allen said. Djokovic, Nadal on course for semifinal in Paris PARIS (AP) — Less than 48 hours after learning of the death of his childhood coach, Novak Djokovic was on court at the French Open, determined to complete a career Grand Slam in honor of the woman he likened to a "second mother." Still grieving, Djokovic began shakily Monday. Six of the match's first seven unforced errors were his. After one poor exchange, he chucked his racket hard enough to break it. He dropped a set for the only time in four matches so far. After recovering quickly to dispatch 16th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the quarterfinals at a 16th consecutive major tournament, Djokovic spoke from the heart about the passing of Jelena Gencic, who was 76. "It hasn't been easy, but this is life. You know, life gives you things (but also) takes away close people," Djokovic said. "We were very close throughout my whole life, and she taught me a lot of things that are part of me, part of my character." Gencic connected with a 6-year-old Novak at a tennis camp, then worked with him for five years. "I feel even more responsible now to go all the way in this tournament," said the No. 1-ranked Djokovic, who owns six Grand Slam titles but none from Roland Garros. "I want to do it for her." He'll need to beat three more opponents to accomplish that, starting with 12thseeded Tommy Haas, who at 35 became the oldest French Open quarterfinalist since 1971 by eliminating Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in less than 11⁄2 hours. By the second set, Youzhny was so out of sorts he destroyed a racket by slamming it nine times against his sideline seat. Haas is a four-time Grand Slam semifinalist who climbed to No. 2 in the rankings at age 24. But recent times have been difficult because of serious injuries and operations, including to his right shoulder and hip. KINGS (Continued from page 1B) stewardship by the Maloof family. After making eight straight playoff appearances, the Kings have failed to make it to the postseason the last seven years and have the second-worst record in the NBA during that span. Ranadive's group closed a deal last week to acquire a 65 percent controlling interest in the team at a total franchise valuation of more than $534 million. That came after NBA owners blocked the Maloofs' agreement with investor Chris Hansen to buy and relocate the Kings to Seattle earlier in May. The next major decision for Ranadive will be filling the role of general manager. Geoff Petrie has run the basketball operations for the Kings since 1994, building the perennial contender that almost brought a title to Sacramento but also overseeing the recent downfall. His contract expires June 30 and he is expected to stay on through the draft. Ranadive has already interviewed potential replacements but does not want to rush into any decisions. He moved quickly to hire Malone because he didn't want to risk losing him to other interested teams. ''I'm not a person who shoots from the hip or makes quick decisions,'' he said. ''I'm a deliberate thinker. But this was not a case where I was 90 or 99 percent sure I had the best person. I was 100 percent sure I had the absolute best person in the league.'' The Kings also must decide what to do with volatile but talented center DeMarcus Cousins, who has averaged 16.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game his first three seasons. Cousins has struggled with defense and discipline and was suspended three times last season — twice by the NBA and once by the team. ''I'm going to go with him with open arms and accept him because we all know that on any given night he's the most talented big man in the NBA,'' Malone said. ''There aren't many guys out there. You just don't get rid of those guys. He could be and should be the cornerstone of this franchise for years to come. That's my hope.'' Ranadive said one of the first things he did after closing the deal for the team is contact Cousins. The two have talked multiple times already. Ranadive, the first NBA owner of Indian heritage, tried to sell Cousins on the global opportunities with the team. ''I would like nothing better than a billion Indians to know who DeMarcus Cousins is,'' Ranadive said. Malone also has to hire a staff but he said that his father, longtime NBA assistant and head coach Brendan Malone, will be part of it. Brendan Malone helped establish the ''Jordan Rules'' as an assistant in Detroit and his son is also known for defense, starting with his role on Jeff Van Gundy's staff with the New York Knicks. He has helped engineer defensive turnarounds at almost every stop, which also includes Golden State, New Orleans and Cleveland. Malone helped turn the Warriors into a capable defensive team that made the playoffs for only the second time since 1994. The Warriors finished 47-35, beat Denver in the first round of the playoffs and were eliminated by San Antonio in six games. He will try to do the same with a Kings team that ranked at or near the bottom in nearly every defensive statistic last season. ''There's a wide-held belief that you need to have a team full of great defensive players to be a good defensive team,'' Malone said. ''I would not agree with that. ... If you have a system in place where they can trust each other and they can communicate, you can cover up for those guys.'' WNBA GOLF WESTERN CONFERENCE World Golf Ranking Minnesota Sparks San Antonio Seattle Phoenix Tulsa W 1 1 1 1 0 0 L 0 1 1 1 2 4 Pct GB 1.000 — .500 .5 .500 .5 .500 .5 .000 1.5 .000 2.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GB Atlanta 3 0 1.000 — Chicago 3 0 1.000 — Indiana 1 1 .500 1.5 New York 1 1 .500 1.5 Washington 1 1 .500 1.5 Connecticut 1 2 .333 2 —————————————————— Wednesday's game Indiana at New York, 8 a.m. 1. Tiger Woods 2. Rory McIlroy 3. Adam Scott 4. Matt Kuchar 5. Justin Rose 6. Brandt Snedeker 7. Luke Donald 8. Graeme McDowell 9. Louis Oosthuizen 10. Phil Mickelson 11. Lee Westwood 12. Steve Stricker 13. Keegan Bradley 14. Sergio Garcia 15. Charl Schwartzel 16. Ian Poulter 17. Bubba Watson 18. Webb Simpson 19. Dustin Johnson 20. Jason Dufner USA NIR AUS USA ENG USA ENG NIR SAF USA ENG USA USA ESP SAF ENG USA USA USA USA 13.27 9.85 7.69 6.78 6.48 6.13 6.03 5.74 5.47 5.09 5.08 5.03 5.01 4.93 4.92 4.61 4.45 4.40 4.23 4.12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Leaders 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Carl Edwards 3. Clint Bowyer 4. Matt Kenseth 5. Kevin Harvick 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 7. Kasey Kahne 8. Brad Keselowski 9. Kyle Busch 10. Paul Menard 11. Jeff Gordon 12. Aric Almirola 13. Greg Biffle 14. Martin Truex Jr. 15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 16. Tony Stewart 17. Kurt Busch 18. Joey Logano 19. Jamie McMurray 20. Ryan Newman 473 443 423 399 399 398 392 375 374 371 361 354 353 343 343 338 337 335 332 323 Upcoming Schedule June 9 — Party in the Poconos 400 presented by Walmart, Long Pond, Pa. June 16 — Quicken Loans 400, Brooklyn, Mich. June 23 — Toyota/Save Mart 350, Sonoma June 29 — Quaker State 400, Sparta, Ky. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE FC Dallas Salt Lake Portland Galaxy Colorado Seattle Vancouver QUAKES Chivas USA W 8 7 5 6 5 5 4 3 3 L 2 5 1 5 4 4 4 6 8 T 4 3 7 2 5 3 4 6 2 Pts 28 24 22 20 20 18 16 15 11 GF 23 21 22 21 15 16 16 13 13 GA 17 15 14 15 12 13 17 23 26 EASTERN CONFERENCE Montreal New York Houston Kansas City Philadelphia N. England Columbus Chicago Toronto FC D.C. W 8 7 6 6 5 5 4 3 1 1 L 2 5 4 5 5 4 4 7 7 10 T 2 4 4 4 4 4 5 2 5 2 Pts 26 25 22 22 19 19 17 11 8 5 GF 22 23 19 18 19 15 16 9 12 6 GA 15 19 14 13 24 9 13 17 19 24 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. —————————————————— Wednesday's game Columbus at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. Saturday's games D.C. United at New England, 4:30 p.m. Portland at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Los Angeles at Real Salt Lake, 6:30 p.m. Vancouver at Seattle FC, 7:30 p.m. NORTH (Continued from page 1B) dling the fifth. "They were telling me to throw a meat ball," Salsbury said of her South teammates. "I don't throw a meat ball." Two of Salsbury's Paradise teammates, Danielle Kelm and Kaitlyn Wright, also pitched an inning for the South. The South scored its two runs in the first inning on singles from Willows' Megan Hughes and Corning's Kristin Cox and a three-base error, but Silva, with an assist from those two South arms, would not give up any more. The North broke through with three runs in the fourth inning. Modoc's Courtney Knoch scored on an RBI single from Chester's Emily LaGroue that started the outburst that also included a two-out error from the South's center fielder that led to two of the runs. The North could have gotten more in the fifth inning, but Pleasant Valley's Mattea Belmonte started an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play that saved a run. "I was glad I was able to make that play," Belmonte said. "It was just a fun time and a good atmosphere." The mood was light as players and coaches alike were more focused on enjoying themselves playing with former rivals that included Chico, Oroville, Paradise and Pleasant Valley among others. "I was telling Salsbury SOUTH (Continued from page 1B) to see our lower divisions pulling through for us. It was awesome." Most demonstrative of that was South starter Chad Perry of Marysville, who tossed two scoreless innings to open the game before he added two hits in as many at-bats, including a big tworun double that was part of a seven-run seventh inning for the hosts. Willows outfielder Clark Love opened the scoring in the first, yanking a two-run double inside the first base bag against Fall River's Sterling Humphry. Love was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and also drew a walk. With all the decorum the North's mighty roster can boast — the best players from the Northern Section Division I champions and runners-up, three alone from powerhouse Foothill and hard-throwing lefty Joey Beck of Lassen — the game reached laugher status by the fifth inning, when a four-run outburst keyed by an RBI single from Chico's Clayton Schuler made it 40. Oroville's Bodie Marikas, who reached base three times in four appearances, was hit by a pitch to make it 6-0. "When you see those while she was warming up, to bat I think, 'Don't take this the wrong way,'" said South coach Tony Tallerico of Pleasant Valley, '"but I'm not going to miss you at all.'" Tallerico said the same thing about Chico's Jade Smith, who made a successful return from an injury that cut short her season with the Panthers. The senior, who won a section title as a sophomore, singled and also pitched Saturday in her prep finale before playing for Willamette University in Salem, Ore. Tallerico also figured that his two all-stars in Belmonte and fellow Viking Kaylie Hull, who was a fixture at third base and in the No. 3 spot in the Vikings' lineup during her four-year varsity career, have drawn the same reactions from other coaches. "Mattea did a really good job playing shortstop for us, and with Kaylie moving on, I might actually have to think about the lineup," Tallerico said. The North's other three runs came in the seventh inning, highlighted by an inside-the-park home run from Lassen's Laken Cagle that also drove in Mount Shasta's Blakeley Bryan. Cagle ripped a drive to deep right-center field, and in spacious Hooker Oak Field she had enough time to sprint around the bases. Hayfork's Ivy Patton then singled and advanced on Silva's second double of the game. guys you're always competing against, you get other guys from the area you can compete with too," Henderson said of playing alongside typical Eastern Athletic League foes. "It was a cool thing to see a collective effort." But it wasn't just the EAL that was well-represented; along with Love's feats in the purple of Willows and the masterful work on the mound from the Indians' Perry, the Hamilton duo of Adolfo Diaz and Dylan Shippelhoute also did its school proud: Each singled off Foothill stud pitcher Colton Landreth, with Diaz's knock driving in a run, and Shippelhoute added a perfect ninth to cap it all off. It truly was a composite performance by Hogan Brown's roster, and the Hamilton skipper seemed to put everyone in the perfect spot to succeed. Granted, with the lightest of substitution and batting order rules being "enforced," he had the freedom to do so — Sanderson came back to deliver his two-run double well after he'd been pinch-hit for, as just one example — but his players banded together all the same, avenging last year's North victory. MLB MLB American League West Division Texas A's Angels Seattle Houston East Division W 35 35 25 24 20 L 21 24 32 33 37 Pct GB .625 — .593 1.5 .439 10.5 .421 11.5 .351 15.5 National League West Division Arizona GIANTS Colorado Padres Dodgers East Division W 32 30 30 26 23 L 25 27 28 30 32 Pct .561 .526 .517 .464 .418 GB — 2 2.5 5.5 8 W L Pct GB Boston 35 23 .603 — Baltimore 32 25 .561 2.5 New York 32 25 .561 2.5 Tampa Bay 31 25 .554 3 Toronto 24 33 .421 10.5 Central Division W L Pct GB Detroit 30 25 .545 — Cleveland 30 27 .526 1 Minnesota 25 29 .463 4.5 Chicago 24 30 .444 5.5 Kansas City 23 31 .426 6.5 —————————————————— Monday's results Oakland 10, Milwaukee 2 N.Y. Yankees 7, Cleveland 4 Chicago White Sox at Seattle, late Houston at L.A. Angels, late W L Pct GB Atlanta 35 22 .614 — Washington 28 29 .491 7 Philadelphia 28 30 .483 7.5 New York 22 32 .407 11.5 Miami 16 42 .276 19.5 Central Division W L Pct GB St. Louis 38 19 .667 — Cincinnati 36 22 .621 2.5 Pittsburgh 35 23 .603 3.5 Chicago 23 32 .418 14 Milwaukee 21 35 .375 16.5 —————————————————— Monday's results Atlanta 7, Pittsburgh 2 Cincinnati 3, Colorado 0 Oakland 10, Milwaukee 2 Philadelphia 7, Miami 2 St. Louis 7, Arizona 1 San Diego at L.A. Dodgers, late Today's games Oakland (Griffin 5-4) at Milwaukee (Lohse 1-6), 5:10 p.m. Cleveland (Kazmir 3-2) at N.Y. Yankees (D.Phelps 3-3), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (M.Moore 8-0) at Detroit (Ani.Sanchez 5-5), 4:08 p.m. Texas (Grimm 5-3) at Boston (Dempster 2-6), 4:10 p.m. Baltimore (Tillman 4-2) at Houston (Harrell 4-6), 5:10 p.m. Minnesota (Deduno 1-1) at Kansas City (Mendoza 1-2), 5:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Feldman 5-4) at L.A. Angels (Weaver 1-1), 7:05 p.m. Chicago White Sox (Peavy 6-3) at Seattle (F.Hernandez 6-4), 7:10 p.m. Toronto (Jo.Johnson 0-1) at San Fran. (Lincecum 3-5), 7:15 p.m. Today's games Toronto (Jo.Johnson 0-1) at San Fran. (Lincecum 3-5), 7:15 p.m. Miami (Nolasco 3-6) at Philadelphia (Pettibone 3-1), 4:05 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Hefner 1-5) at Washington (Zimmermann 8-3), 4:05 p.m. Colorado (Nicasio 4-2) at Cincinnati (H.Bailey 3-4), 4:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (Locke 5-1) at Atlanta (Minor 7-2), 4:10 p.m. Oakland (Griffin 5-4) at Milwaukee (Lohse 1-6), 5:10 p.m. Arizona (Skaggs 1-0) at St. Louis (Wacha 0-0), 5:15 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Feldman 5-4) at L.A. Angels (Weaver 1-1), 7:05 p.m. San Diego (Richard 1-5) at L.A. Dodgers (Lilly 0-2), 7:10 p.m. Wednesday's games Oakland at Milwaukee, 11:10 a.m. Cleveland at N.Y. Yankees, 10:05 a.m. Chicago White Sox at Seattle, 12:40 p.m. Toronto at San Francisco, 12:45 p.m. Chicago Cubs at L.A. Angels, 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay at Detroit, 4:08 p.m. Texas at Boston, 4:10 p.m. Baltimore at Houston, 5:10 p.m. Minnesota at Kansas City, 5:10 p.m. Wednesday's games Toronto at San Francisco, 12:45 p.m. Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 9:10 a.m. Miami at Philadelphia, 10:05 a.m. Oakland at Milwaukee, 11:10 a.m. Chicago Cubs at L.A. Angels, 4:05 p.m. N.Y. Mets at Washington, 4:05 p.m. Colorado at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m. Arizona at St. Louis, 5:15 p.m. San Diego at L.A. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.