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Sports 1B Heyward-Bey hopes work pays off Mercy High School’s 8-man Foot- ball program this season. The team will be having a player-parent meeting at 6 tonight inside the Mercy Gym. The first practice is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9. The school’s football program was put on hiatus in 2009. Giants beat Rockies 10-0 DENVER (AP) — Jonathan Sanchez limited Col- orado to three hits over six innings and the surging San Francisco Giants beat the Rockies 10-0 on Tuesday night. After five straight no-deci- sions, Sanchez (8- 6) won for the first time since July 5 and equaled his 2009 victory total. Sanchez struck out seven straight batters at one point and finished with nine strikeouts before leaving after a leadoff walk in the seventh. MCT file photo Wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey (12) bobbled a pass in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter in front of Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Brandon Carr (39) that led to safety Mike Brown intercepting the ball, Nov. 15, in Oakland. NAPA (AP) — Nearly every day after practice, Oakland Raiders receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey stays late to get some extra work in against Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. The Raiders’ best play- er and one of their most disappointing from a year ago work on getting off the line of scrimmage, getting separation and other key details a receiv- er needs to master to suc- ceed in the NFL. ‘‘It’s helping me out a lot,’’ Heyward-Bey said. ‘‘With him being the top DB in the league, picking his brain is key. When you go against those other guys from the league, if I can figure out Nnamdi and he can help me out, it’s going to work out for this team.’’ players saying he’s done MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — Even though Brett Just about nothing worked out for Heyward- Bey and the Raiders dur- ing his rookie season a year ago. Oakland drafted him seventh overall ahead of more accomplished college receivers like Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin in a pick that was widely mocked at the time as a typical Raiders choice of speed over production. Nothing Heyward-Bey did as a rookie silenced those critics. He struggled to hold onto the ball in practices and that carried over into the games. He finished his rookie year with nine catches for 124 yards and one touchdown before missing the final five games with a foot injury. If one play was See WORK, page 2B The Giants, who have won four straight games and 21 of their past 26, had a four-run first inning against Aaron Cook (4-8), who lasted three innings and allowed eight hits and five runs. In his past three starts, Cook is 0-3 with a 13.97 ERA. The Giants chipped away at Cook for four runs in a 36-pitch first inning. After Cook issued a one-out walk, putting runners at first and second with one out, con- secutive singles by Buster Posey, Pat Burrell, Travis Ishikawa and Pablo Sandoval resulted in four runs. Sanchez added a fifth single, but left fielder Ryan Spilborghs threw out Ishikawa at the plate to end the inning. Cook retired the side in order on seven pitches in the second but gave up a one-out homer to Burrell in the third. Burrell is 15 for 24 (.625) against Cook with one double, two homers and seven RBIs, which is the high- est average by any player, active or retired, with a min- imum of 20 plate appearances against Cook. The Giants matched their season-high with 19 hits, the most allowed by the Rockies this season. Taylor Buchholz relieved Cook and gave up a run- scoring single to Posey in the fifth and a solo homer to Freddy Sanchez in the sixth. Posey, who is hitting .356 since being recalled May 29, went 3 for 5. He and Bur- See GIANTS, page 2B Teammate: Favre texted Davis eager to get to regular season SANTA CLARA (AP) Favre has told some of his teammates he’s calling it a career, the Minnesota Vikings are hoping for one last change of heart from the quarterback who just can’t stay retired. Favre has started to contact teammates and Vikings officials to say he will not return for a 20th NFL season, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe said on Tuesday evening. Favre ‘‘He told a couple guys on our team he’s going to retire,’’ Shiancoe said after practice. ‘‘He hasn’t told me yet. I’m going to check my phone right now, but it hasn’t been said publicly yet so I don’t know what to believe.’’ Earlier Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the situa- tion told The Associated Press that the 40-year-old Favre contacted the Vikings to say he wouldn’t return this season because his injured left ankle is not responding as well to surgery and rehabilitation as he had hoped. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcements were made. Coach Brad Childress said Favre had not told him directly that he plans to retire as of Tuesday morning. The coach would not confirm Favre’s status with the team, calling it a ‘‘fluid situation,’’ and he was unavailable for comment after the evening practice. Owner Zygi Wilf declined to comment. ‘‘I’m not a big hearsay person,’’ Childress said. ‘‘I gotta hear it from the horse’s mouth.’’ As always with the former MVP, things could change. Favre and his agent, Bus Cook, did not return messages from the AP. ‘‘I plead the fifth on everything,’’ defensive end Jared Allen said. ‘‘I love Brett and he reserves the right to do what he wants to do. We obviously love him as a teammate. We’d like to have him back. But until it’s official, I’ll believe it when I see it.’’ Fair enough. With Favre, nothing ever seems final. He told the Vikings last year he wouldn’t play, but changed his mind and joined them imme- diately after they broke training camp. Childress even drove to the airport to pick him up for his 19th NFL season. Camp this year ends on Aug. 12. Favre can expect some calls from teammates urging him to reconsider. ‘‘I’m going to try to get him here every chance I get,’’ Shiancoe said. ‘‘I’m going to try to send him texts or something. But at the same time, I know he made a decision for a reason and hopefully that rea- See FAVRE, page 2B — Vernon Davis is sport- ing a new mohawk ’do and he’s even threatening to dye that remaining strip of hair gold. ‘‘Something to laugh about, keep guys laughing around here at training camp,’’ the Pro Bowl tight end joked. No gold hair yet. But there was plenty of good- natured trash talking from Davis toward the defense at training camp Tuesday, and vice versa. Keeping things light, all right. Aside from his appear- ance, San Francisco’s typ- ically outspoken offensive star insists he doesn’t want to draw any negative attention to himself by speaking out on his unset- tled contract situation. In early May, linebacker Patrick Willis received a five-year contract exten- sion from the 49ers — leaving many to wonder whether Davis would be next. Last Wednesday, Chargers tight end Anto- nio Gates was rewarded with a $36.175 million, five-year contract exten- sion, with $20.4 million guaranteed. Davis saw those num- bers. He reiterated at the start of camp this week that his time will come to get paid. For now, he’s all about focusing on foot- ball. And yapping at guys like cornerback Nate Clements along the way. ‘‘It’s just not some- thing that’s on my mind at the moment,’’ Davis said of the business side. ‘‘My main focus is concentrat- ing on football. That’s what I’m here to do. I don’t want to discuss the contract with anybody. I just don’t want to deal with it at the moment.’’ The 26-year-old Davis finished his fourth NFL season in 2009 with career highs of 78 catches and 965 yards and tied Gates’ NFL record for touchdowns by a tight end with 13. He plans to be even more productive in 2010 as long as he gets the opportunities, his regular mantra. If he continues to make big plays, he understands everything should take care of itself. ‘‘What it all boils down to is it really is not my concern,’’ Davis said of the contract. ‘‘I’m not really worried about that. My focus right now going into training camp, as well as through the sea- son, is to play as best I can to help this team win games. That’s my only focus.’’ Coach Mike Singletary doesn’t doubt it. He named Davis a captain last season after seeing the tight end mature into a leader on the field and off it. Davis used to be a guy known for scuffling with teammates in camp. This year, he doesn’t plan on any altercations — saying there’s no time for such nonsense. The 49ers have an offensive continuity this training camp with Davis, quarterback Alex Smith, running back Frank Gore and others like second- year pro Michael Crab- tree, who missed all of training camp last year. Davis has high hopes for the offense. ‘‘I definitely expect it to be different than last year because we have a lot of guys who are will- ing to step up to the table this year,’’ Davis said. ‘‘There will definitely be a lot more playmaking.’’ Davis would like noth- ing more than for that to start with him. He is determined to help get the 49ers back to the playoffs for the first time in eight years. At 8-8 last season, San Francisco ended a franchise-worst See DAVIS, page 2B Wednesday August 4, 2010 Football returns to Mercy Paul Vietti will be coaching MCT photo San Francisco 49ers Vernon Davis leaves the field at the end of morning practice at training camp in Santa Clara Monday.