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Thursday MLB — White Sox at Tigers, 10 a.m., WGN MLB — Giants at Atlanta, 4 p.m., CSNBA MLS — Columbus at Philadelphia, 5 p.m., ESPN2 MMA — MMA Live, 10 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Thursday August 5, 2010 Giants split with Rockies as Jimenez wins 17th DENVER (AP) — Ubaldo Jimenez normally baffles teams with his pitching, but he also used his legs to cool off the streaking Giants on Wednesday. Jimenez won his major league-leading 17th game and scored the decisive run from first base as the Colorado Rock- ies beat San Francisco 6-1. The Giants had been 10-2 against the NL West since the All-Star break. ‘‘Ooh, that was a long way,’’ Jimenez said, only half joking. ‘‘I couldn’t get my breath again until the fifth inning. I was real- ly tired.’’ Carlos Gonzalez homered twice and Troy Tulowitzki also went deep for the streaking Rockies, who have won five of six and also played their best baseball of the season since the break. Jimenez (17-2) became the fourth Rockies pitcher to win 17 games and the first since Jeff Francis did it in 2007, when Colorado reached the World Series. Kevin Ritz (1996) and Pedro Astacio (1999) were the other pitchers to win 17 games in a season for the franchise. ‘‘It’s not easy to win 17 games here. I really take pride in what I’ve been able to accomplish,’’ Jimenez said. ‘‘I’m honored to be on that list.’’ The Rockies’ ace rebounded from a rare poor start against San Francisco on July 3, when he allowed seven runs in the third inning in an 11- 8 loss. This time, he allowed only one run and four hits while striking out nine in seven daz- zling innings. ‘‘It’s his best start since the All-Star break,’’ Rockies man- ager Jim Tracy said. ‘‘He was in command and control of every- thing today.’’ San Francis- co manager Bruce Bochy agreed. ‘‘He had his pitches going today and put them where he wanted,’’ Bochy said. Jimenez helped his own cause, too, when the Rockies took the lead a 2-0 lead the sec- ond. Anderson’s first win since May OAKLAND (AP) — Brett Anderson just wants to keep pace with the rest of Oakland’s pitchers in the rotation. If he does that, he will know he’s back on track. He looked pretty good in his lat- est start. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the sixth inning to back Anderson, and the Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Wednesday to win the three-game series. Anderson (3-2) allowed three hits and two runs, struck out four and walked one in seven innings to win for the first time since May 29. It was a solid outing in his second start since coming off his second stint on the DL this year because of inflammation in his throwing elbow. The left-hander’s victory came two days after fellow second-year major leaguer Trevor Cahill pitched a three-hitter in a 6-0 victory over the Royals. ‘‘Hopefully I’ll just pitch on par with everybody else on our staff,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘It’s good to feel part of the team again. It’s going to be a work in progress another cou- ple starts but hopefully this is a step in the right direction.’’ Oakland fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but rallied by taking advantage of two Royals errors in the sixth, when Kurt Suzuki also drove in a run. The A’s won their fourth series in six tries since the All-Star break and improved to 6-1 against the Royals this season. Billy Butler hit a first-inning sac- rifice fly and Jose Guillen followed by driving in a run against his for- mer team, before Anderson settled down. He faced the minimum in the second and seventh along with 1-2- 3 innings in the third, fifth and sixth. Yuniesky Betancourt hit a solo homer in the eighth off Craig Bres- low. Michael Wuertz struck out the side in order in the ninth for his MCT photo Athletics' second baseman Mark Ellis is upended by Kansas City Royals' Kila Ka'aihue as he is thrown out during the fourth inning in Oakland Wednesday. fourth save in as many tries — fac- ing the middle of the Royals’ lineup to boot. ‘‘I’ve been kind of joking around with him, ’Finally we’ve got Rookie Iupati making strides early in 49ers camp SANTA CLARA (AP) — Just four days into train- ing camp, Mike Iupati already has become one of the most prominent and talked about figures on the San Francisco 49ers’ revamped offensive line. That’s sort of the way both Iupati and the 49ers had it planned when the team made him the No. 17 overall selection in the draft this spring. They just didn’t expect it to happen this soon. But now that the rookie is settling in at left guard and taking most of the snaps with San Francisco’s first-team offense, coach Mike Single- tary can’t deny he’s pleased with Iupati’s progress. ‘‘I’m liking what I’m seeing there,’’ Singletary said Wednesday. ‘‘He’s very mature, he’s hungry and he wants to play. He wants to take advantage of every opportunity he gets.’’ Iupati is getting plenty of opportunities during the early stages of camp after the incumbent starter at left guard, David Baas, went down with a concussion Mon- day. Iupati was drafted to challenge Baas for a starting role as the 49ers look to upgrade a unit that has been one of San Francisco’s primary weaknesses in recent seasons. Singletary already has stated that he expects Iupati and the team’s other first-round pick, No. 11 overall selection Anthony Davis, to become starters at some point during their rookie seasons. Iupati already is there, at least while Baas continues to sit out practice on a day-to-day basis. Could Iupati already be there to stay? ‘‘I can’t control that,’’ Iupati said. ‘‘That’s the big man’s call. There’s a lot of training camp to go and there are a lot of things I need to work on. But it’s intense and it’s physical out there, and I’m having fun. This is an early opportunity for me, and I just have to See 49ERS, page 2B Wuertz back,’’’ said Suzuki, the A’s catcher. ‘‘It’s nice to see him have that confidence again like he had last year.’’ See A'S, page 2B MCT photo Yankees' Alex Rodriguez hits his 600th home run in the first inning against the Blue Jays in New York Wednesday. NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to hit 600 home runs and did it with style, driving a pitch into Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park in center field exactly three years to the day after his 500th homer. A-Rod reached the milestone Wednesday after a 12- game drought with a first-inning homer off Toronto’s Shaun Marcum. Rodriguez connected with a 2-0 pitch over the middle of the plate for his 17th home run of the season, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead on a sweltering summer afternoon. By hitting the homer into Monument Park, a stadium worker could retrieve the ball for him. A-Rod raised a hand slightly in triumph as he round- ed first base, then completed his trot to the roar of the crowd. He was greeted at home plate by Yankees cap- tain Derek Jeter, both of them slapping outstretched See 600, page 2B Overton close to half of Ryder goals AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Even avid golf fans might be surprised to see who is No. 4 in the U.S. Ryder Cup team rankings this week. Tiger Woods? Nope. He’s ninth. Stewart Cink? He’s at No. 13. Try Jeff Overton, hard- ly the name that comes to mind when you consider the best American players in 2010. ‘‘It’s not like I’m Tiger Woods,’’ he said. ‘‘Maybe if we could ever win instead of finish second, maybe we’d have a little better chance of (being known).’’ Overton is listed so high among U.S. golfers for the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor because he’s played consistently well all year. He’s had three seconds and two thirds, barely missing out on his first career win sev- eral times. On Sunday at the Greenbrier Classic, it took Stewart Appleby’s stirring 59 in the final round to beat him. The 27-year-old Indiana Uni- versity graduate also was runner-up at the Zurich Classic and the Byron Nelson. ‘‘This year I’ve been able to get inside the top MCT photo Phil Mickelson hits a drive off the tee at the fourth hole during a practice round at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio,Wednesday. The World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational tournament starts today. three a lot, but I haven’t been able to get that win,’’ he said Wednesday, the day before the start of the Bridgestone Invitational. ‘‘Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep plugging along. Like (former British Open champion) Ian Baker- Finch said, ’You keep knocking on the door enough times, eventually something is going to happen.’’’ Overton’s scoring average is 69.81, third best on the PGA Tour. He is 12th on the money list with more than $2.4 mil- lion. He’s up to No. 47 in the world rankings after starting the year at No. 186. A native of Indiana, he is the son of a former baseball player and quar- terback at Indiana State. He said he gets his com- petitive fire from his dad. He also dates an opera singer. Asked where they met, he laughed and said, ‘‘Bloomington, Ind., the No. 1 opera school in America.’’ Overton said he knows about as much about opera as his girlfriend knows about golf. For instance, his girl- friend’s mother came out to see him play once. He made a bogey and she said, ‘‘What did he do? He made a bogus?’’ See RYDER, page 2B Chris Iannetta led off with a single and moved to third on Jimenez’s two-out infield sin- gle. Ryan Spilborghs followed with a double to the gap in left- center field and Jimenez raced around the bases as his helmet flew off. He said he was ready to slide until Giants first base- man Travis Ishikawa cut off the relay to throw out Spilborghs at third. ‘‘I saw Posey was in front of home plate and I was like, ’Uh oh,’’’ Jimenez said. ‘‘That ball See GIANTS, page 2B A-Rod hits home run No. 600