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Monday MLB — Mets at Braves, 4 p.m., ESPN UFC — Countdown: Silva vs. Sonnen, 11 p.m., SPIKE NASCAR — US Cellular 250, 10:30 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Monday August 2, 2010 Giants complete sweep of Dodgers SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Matt Cain pitched four-hit ball into the eighth inning for the surging San Francisco Giants, earning his first career win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2-0 victory Sun- day night that completed a three-game sweep. Edgar Renteria hit a two-run triple in the sixth for San Fran- cisco, which moved to 8-2 in its last 10 games. Cain (9-8) allowed four hits in 7 2-3 innings, improving to 3-0 with a 1.52 ERA in his last four starts. The right-hander also raised his career record against San Francisco’s long- time rival to 1-8 with a 3.94 ERA in 15 games. Newly acquired Javier Lopez got the last out of the eighth and Brian Wilson finished the four- hitter for his 31st save. The Dodgers, who made three trades in the final four days before Saturday’s dead- line, were shut out for the 11th time this season. They scored two runs over the final 18 innings of the series and dropped eight games behind first-place San Diego in the NL West. It’s the Giants’ first sweep of the Dodgers since April 24-26, 2007, and their first at home since 2004. The timing couldn’t have been better. San Francisco maintained its two-game lead over Cincinnati in the wild-card race and stayed 1 1/2 games back of the Padres. Cain was the first pitcher in San Francisco history to lose his first eight decisions against the Dodgers, including a 4-2 setback on June 29 when he allowed four runs in five innings. Cain was much better this time around, facing four batters over the minimum before giv- ing way to the bullpen. He allowed just four singles while throwing a season-high 124 pitches and the Dodgers only managed to get one runner to third base. Scott Podsednik led off the fourth with an infield single, stole second and took third on a groundout but was stranded when Cain retired Dodgers newcomer Ryan Theriot on a comebacker and got Rafael Fur- cal to fly out. Lopez, acquired from Pitts- burgh on Saturday, got the ball to Wilson, who struck out two in his first game since he was hampered by back spasms Wednesday. Clayton Kershaw (10-6) Biffle wins for injured Roush at Pocono LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Greg Biffle won it for Jack Roush. Biffle raced to victory in an often-delayed Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday to snap a 64-race winless streak and take the checkered flag for his injured team owner. Biffle hadn’t won since the first two races in the 2008 Chase for the Cup championship. But with Roush in the Mayo Clinic for injuries sustained in a plane crash in Wisconsin, Biffle found Victory Lane. ‘‘We know he’s watch- ing,’’ Biffle said. ‘‘It’s been really tough.’’ It was also the first win of the season for both a Ford and Roush Fenway Racing. Tony Stewart was sec- ond and Roush driver Carl Edwards was third. Kevin Harvick and Denny Ham- lin, who won the last two Pocono races, round out the top five. Edwards spoke with Roush on Sunday morning and said his boss sounded in good spirits. ‘‘He was Jack,’’ Edwards said. ‘‘Don’t mess anything up. Don’t wreck. He’s been through a lot this last week. He really needed that victo- ry. That’s pretty cool. I’m sure he’s really hard to han- dle for all those nurses in the hospital.’’ The start of the 500-mile race was delayed by rain, then had two lengthy red flag stops that totaled nearly 50 minutes. Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch both walked away from scary wrecks that knocked them out of the race. Biffle’s crew kept the same car after driving the No. 16 Ford to a season- high third-place finish last week at Indianapolis. That finish put Biffle in 11th place in the points standings and now he’s strongly posi- tioned himself with five races for a spot in the 12- driver field for the champi- A’s stuggle against outstanding Floyd CHICAGO (AP) — Gavin Floyd is turning into a sure thing for White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. Floyd carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before settling for another outstanding outing, leading Chicago to a 4-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Brent Lillibridge hit a three-run triple for Chicago, which has won six of seven. The White Sox also improved to 20-2 in their last 22 games at U.S. Cellular Field. Floyd (7-8) allowed one run and four hits in seven-plus innings, improving to 5-2 with a 1.06 ERA in his last 11 starts. The 6-foot-6 right-hander hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a game since a loss to Texas on June 2. ‘‘This kid, like we all know, every time he’s on, he’s tough,’’ Guillen said. ‘‘He was facing a pretty good one, too.’’ Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (9-7), who was drafted by the White Sox in the first round of the 2004 draft, pitched eight innings for his first career complete game. He had a career-high 11 strikeouts without a walk, and yielded six hits. ‘‘You look at it bittersweet,’’ Gonzalez said. ‘‘I threw a complete game, we battled all the way through and kept the team in the game. The team fought all the way to the end. We didn’t give up and we stayed swinging.’’ Floyd walked Cliff Pennington with none out in the sixth for Oakland’s first baserunner. He then surrendered a one-out single to Matt Carson. Two more singles for Rajai Davis and Daric Barton cut Chicago’s lead to 4-1 and left the bases loaded. But Floyd struck out Jack Cust and got Kevin Kouz- manoff to ground out, limiting the damage. ‘‘I kind of go out there and expect the pitcher’s going to bring their ’A’ game, no matter who it is,’’ Floyd said. ‘‘He pitched real well today. Fortunately we got the four runs off him. onship chase. He won Chase races at New Hamp- shire and Dover in 2008 before falling into this win- less drought. Biffle was winless last year for the first full season of his career. He won’t be shut out in back-to-back seasons. allowed six hits in seven innings for the Dodgers. His lone mistake came in the sixth after Pat Burrell hit a one- out double and Aaron Rowand was intentionally walked. Renteria hit a 1-0 pitch into the gap in left-center and center fielder Matt Kemp appeared to momentarily lose sight of ball in the early evening shadows, allowing it to roll to the fence as both runners scored. Kershaw had allowed only three runs in 13 previous innings against the Giants this season. The Dodgers finished 1-5 on their six-game road trip. Langer pulls away to win Senior Open SAMMAMISH, Wash. (AP) — Bernhard Langer was more than willing to be the villain if it meant winning the U.S. Senior Open. Playing in an atmosphere more suited for a Ryder Cup than the final round of a major, Langer was undeterred by a partisan crowd that was rooting hard for hometown hero Fred Couples. The German shot a bogey-free 3-under 67 on Sunday, took advantage of Couples’ one critical mistake and com- pleted a daunting trans-Atlantic double by winning his sec- ond straight Champions Tour major. A week after winning the Senior British Open title at Carnoustie, Langer finished at 8 under for the tournament at Sahalee Country Club. He fought off jet lag and had to tune out crowded galleries hoping Couples could pull out victo- ry just 20 miles east of where he grew up. ‘‘It’s never much fun, but I’ve had it before. When you play in the same group with Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer or any of the big names in America, cer- tainly the Ryder Cups, I’ve played 10 Ryder Cups, five on American soil, you get a lot more of this,’’ Langer said. ‘‘So I knew what was coming, which doesn’t make it any easi- er.’’ Langer became the first German to win any U.S. Golf Association championship and the first Champions Tour player to win back-to-back majors since Tom Watson took the Senior British and JELD-WEN Tradition in 2003. But Watson didn’t travel eight time zones and win his titles on consecutive weekends like Langer, and with a mas- sive audience rooting for his playing partner. ‘‘They were definitely against me and for Freddy,’’ Langer said. While Langer could take extra satisfaction in overcom- ing the towering trees of Sahalee and the partisan crowd, Couples was again left with a twinge of disappointment playing a major championship at home. MCT photo Greg Biffle crosses the finish line to win the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway Sunday. ‘‘The whole company needed it,’’ Biffle crew chief Greg Erwin said. ‘‘I can’t really explain what this means. I know (Roush) is with us. This is a brand new car at Indianapolis and we brought it here because we liked it so much.’’ At the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee, Couples stumbled through the first round and finished tied for 13th. This time, he put himself in prime position for his first major title on the Champions Tour taking the lead with a birdie at No. 1 Sunday. Then came the second, and gone was any realistic chance of Couples winning the tournament. It was the easiest hole on the course all week, a par 5 at 503 yards. For the first time, Couples laid up with his sec- ond after pushing his tee shot right and deciding not to chance a hybrid from the first cut of rough. The layup left him about 65 yards to the pin for his third. The next two sounds left Couples in shock: chunk and plop. ‘‘It was a pretty easy shot,’’ Couples said. His pitch landed in a greenside pond, well short of the green. Azarenka beats Sharapova for Stanford title PALO ALTO (AP) — Victoria Azarenka looks forward to some cake and ice cream and a quick visit with friends and family in Arizona. She finally has some time to enjoy her 21st birthday. No. 8 seed Azarenka beat No. 5 Maria Sharapo- va 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Bank of the West Classic, her first title of the season. ‘‘This is one of the best, definitely,’’ said the young Belarusian. ‘‘I’m really excited to compete with so many great play- ers. It’s exciting to go out and show my spirit.’’ After the final point, Azarenka dropped her racket, covered her eyes and walked slowly to the net to shake hands with Sharapova. She went over to hug her coach and returned to the court to acknowledge the crowd. It was a subdued reac- tion, although she smiled all the way through the awards ceremony and her press conference. ‘‘I try to dig myself into the court,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m changing my game so as not to have the same patterns all the time. The MCT photo Victoria Azarenka returns a ball against Maria Sharapova during the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University on Sunday. most important thing is to be thinking on the court.’’ In the doubles final, Lindsay Davenport and fellow American Liezel Huber beat Chan Yung- jan of Taiwan and Zheng Jie of China 7-5, 6-7 (8), 10-8. It was Davenport’s first WTA victory since win- ning singles and doubles at Memphis in 2008. As for Azarenka, her birthday was Saturday and she wanted to delay any celebration until after the tournament. She’s not holding back now. ‘‘I want to see my friends and family if I have time,’’ said Azaren- ka, who opens with Amer- ican teenager Melanie Oudin in the San Diego tournament that begins Monday. ‘‘I want a cake. I want some ice cream, something beside cinna- mon.’’