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2B – Daily News – Thursday, October 21, 2010 Yankees beat Rangers Texas 7 Game 5 New York 2 TEX3-2 NEW YORK (AP) — They were facing the end of their season and a miserable winter after that. Not to worry, Joe Girardi said. Speaking in the wee hours before his players went home for a few hours sleep ahead of Game 5, the New York Yankees manager implored them not to give up. ‘‘That was huge,’’ CC Sabathia said. ‘‘Just having us be able to relax and not panic.’’ No panic here. Sabathia pitched like a champion, and the Yankees are heading for Texas. Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano hit consecutive homers to build an early cushion, Sabathia made the lead stand up and the Yankees beat the Rangers 7-2 Wednesday to close within 3-2 in the AL championship series. ‘‘We’re right where we need to be,’’ Swisher said. A late-arriving crowd for the late- afternoon game wondered whether this would be it for the defending World Series champs after Texas outscored them 25-5 while winning three straight. A difficult comeback? Yes. Impossible? No. As Girardi remembered telling his players, ‘‘Before we lost the three games in a row, we won four in a row.’’ He added: ‘‘Just look at tomor- row. Win a game tomorrow.’’ By the time Curtis Granderson hit an eighth-inning homer for his sec- ond RBI of the game, belief among the Yankees was starting to grow. Now the teams will go deep in the heart of Texas to decide the pennant in the best-of-seven series. When they resume in Arlington for Game 6, Phil Hughes starts for the Yankees against Colby Lewis in a rematch of Game 2, won by the Rangers 7-2. ‘‘It’s great. We’re going back home,’’ Lewis said. ‘‘We’ve got to win one out of two.’’ Texas may be holding the ultimate postseason ace in the hole: Cliff Lee would start a Game 7 against Andy Pettitte. ‘‘Who cares about Cliff going in Game 7?’’ Texas right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. ‘‘We’ve got a game to win in Game 6.’’ Still, Lee’s 7-0 postseason record is on their minds. In the 50th anniver- sary of a franchise that has never reached the World Series, Texas remains one win away. ‘‘We’re in a good position,’’ sec- ond baseman Ian Kinsler said. New York is trying to overcome its first 3-1 postseason deficit 1958. Since the LCS went to a best-of- seven format, 24 of the 30 previous teams to take 3-1 series leads have won pennants. For Yankees fans, 2004 is still fresh. That’s when New York won the first three games of the ALCS, but the Boston Red Sox became the first major league team to rebound from 3- 0 postseason deficit. ‘‘Crazier things have happened,’’ Swisher said. NLCS (Continued from page 1B) hand by Oswalt’s fastball, but plate umpire Wally Bell said it was a foul. Uribe wound up with the game-winner moments later, leaving the Giants just one victory shy of reaching the World Series for the first time in eight years. Posey starred at the plate and behind it, too. He made a great play at the plate to save a run earlier, neatly handling a short hop and tagging out Carlos Ruiz at the plate. Werth hit a tying RBI double in the eighth after Ryan Howard doubled against Javier Lopez leading off the inning. Posey had an RBI double in the first and run-scoring single in the third — both coming with two outs — for his first RBIs of the postsea- son. He added a seventh- inning double as well, delighting the towel-waving faithful on a chilly fall night. Philadelphia’s Placido Polanco hit a two-run double in the fifth inning of a game that went back and forth. Manuel stuck with Joe Blanton rather than going to Halladay on short rest. Blan- ton hung tough in his first start in three weeks but was done after allowing Huff’s two-out single in the fifth. Pat Burrell drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and Ross followed with a double. San- doval swung at Chad the loss. Catherine Kinkle had six kills and 30 digs. Jessica DuBois made 15 assists and Kelsey Nooner had 10 digs. Corning fell to 1-3 in the Northern Athletic League and 11-11 overall. University Prep 20 25 19 25 15 Mercy 25 17 25 17 13 The Lady Warriors lost a five-game heartbreaker, Tues- day, at home to University Prep. Diana Van Ert led MErcy with 14 kills and 16 digs in the loss. Jennifer Gentry had five aces, 10 assists and 11 digs. Maggie Killer had 17 assists, 13 digs and four blocks. Alex McFadyen made 12 digs and Camille Crowley had 10. Mercy fell to 2-6 in Tri-Cities League play. FIELD HOCKEY MCT photo Nick Swisher celebrates a homer,Thursday, for the Yankees. Yankees players actually dressed for success. They all arrived at the ballpark ready for a postgame charter flight. ‘‘Our guys came in, everybody was wearing a suit,’’ Swisher said. Sabathia recovered from an erratic opener, staying away from too much trouble against Josh Hamilton and Texas’ big bats. Rangers slugger Nel- son Cruz made an early exit with hamstring trouble, a day after Yan- kees star Mark Teixeira was lost for the postseason with a hamstring injury. Cruz expects to play Friday. But no matter what, the season is over for Teixeira. The All-Star first baseman was removed from the postseason roster and replaced by Eduardo Nunez, and Teixeira would not be eli- gible for the World Series. Lance Berkman took over at first base and had a scare when he slipped chasing Kinsler’s foul pop, causing his head and back to snap back. Berkman needed smelling salts in the dugout at the half inning. He stayed in, and caught Elvis Andrus’ foul pop for the final out. ‘‘I hurt pretty much the entire back side from the top of the head to the rear-end area,’’ Berkman said. On what would have been Bob Sheppard’s 100th birthday and Mick- ey Mantle’s 79th, the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the second as losing pitch- er C.J. Wilson had trouble with the muddy mound and created a hole with a pair of four-pitch walks. Jorge Durbin’s first offering and the ball was ruled foul by first base umpire Jeff Nelson after right field umpire Ted Barrett jumped out of the way. Replays showed it was very close. Giants manger Bruce Bochy came out to argue. Moments later, San- doval made good with his two-run double for a 5-4 lead. That swing made the ‘‘Kung Fu Panda’’ an unlike- ly postseason contributor for San Francisco, which has been riding the reliable bat of Ross all series long. San- doval, coming off a disap- pointing year in which he batted just .268, earned his first start of the NLCS when Uribe couldn’t go. Sandoval grounded into an inning-ending double play in the seventh. That after he grounded into an NL-high 26 double plays this season. Ross produced again. He hit a go-ahead RBI single Tuesday after connecting for three home runs over the two games in Philadelphia. After Cole Hamels joked about hitting Ross as a way to slow him down, Blanton did just that to start the second. Not that it was on purpose: Blan- ton threw two wild pitches in the first. One fan waved a ‘‘Ross for Governor’’ sign. Another read: ‘‘This is Rosstober.’’ But by the end, the famil- iar chants or ‘‘U-ribe! U- ribe!’’ rang through the Giants’ packed waterfront ballpark. Aaron Rowand, a former Gold Glover earning a sec- ond straight start in center field, made a fabulous throw home to save a second run from coming in on Shane Victorino’s RBI single in the fifth. Posey, the rookie catch- er, made a tremendous pick- up on the short hop and applied the tag as the slow- footed Ruiz slid home. Rowand was replaced in a double switch by Andres Torres one batter later. Bochy again made all the right moves. He stuck with Rowand in center field in place of the slumping Torres until the midgame switch. Sandoval was fresh and ready to fill in for Uribe, a late scratch MLB NLCS Best-of-7 San Francisco leads series 3-1 Game 1:San Francisco 4, Philadelphia 3 Game 2:Philadelphia 6, San Francisco 1 Game 3:San Francisco 3, Philadelphia 0 Game 4 Wednesday’s result San Francisco 6, Philadelphia 5 Game 5 Ttoday Philadelphia (Halladay 21-10) at San Fran.(Lincecum 16-10), 4:57 p.m., FOX ALCS Best-of-7 Texas leads 3-2 Game 1:New York 6, Texas 5 Game 2:Texas 7, New York 2 Game 3:Texas 8, New York 0 Game 4:Texas 10, New York 3 Game 5 Wednesday’s result New York 7, Texas 2 Game 6 Friday New York (Hughes 18-8) at Texas (Lewis 12-13), 5:07 p.m. Posada and Granderson had run-scor- ing singles, and another run scored on an overthrow of third by Francoeur for an error in right field. Posada, a snail-like runner with just 20 steals in 16 seasons, sped home from first base. ‘‘He looked like Rickey Hender- son out there,’’ said Derek Jeter, Posada’s core four buddy. Girardi had sensed a change in attitude. ‘‘There was determination that we were going to go out and play our game today,’’ he said. ‘‘I saw it during BP.’’ Sabathia lasted just four innings in the opener, when he started on eight days’ rest and the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit. Leads of 5-0 and 6-1 never seemed comfortable in this one as he allowed two runs and 11 hits — matching his season high — in six innings with no walks. ‘‘I just wanted to fight, no matter what the situation was, no matter how many runners were on base in any given inning,’’ he said. His key outs came in the sixth, when the Rangers loaded the bases with one out. Matt Treanor, who had homered in the fifth, hit an RBI grounder. Then, culminating an eight-pitch at-bat, Sabathia froze No. 9 hitter Mitch Moreland with a curveball to strike him out. The big man responded with a fist pump. ‘‘Just threw a cutter,’’ Sabathia said. ‘‘Ended up backing him up.’’ before Game 2 at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday before playing Tuesday. The wrist had bothered Uribe when swinging, Bochy said. There was no sign of that on his final cut. Rookie Madison Bum- garner, a 21-year-old lefty who pitched the NLDS clincher Oct. 11 at Atlanta, struck out six in 4 2-3 innings in his first time fac- ing the Phillies. Manuel benched strug- gling Raul Ibanez, who is mired in an 0-for-15 funk dating to the division series with Cincinnati. Francisco replaced him in left field and he produced his first postsea- son hit with a leadoff single in the fifth. He had been 0 for 12. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA x-Galaxy 17 7 5 56 42 25 x-Salt Lake 15 4 10 55 43 18 x-Seattle 14 9 6 48 38 33 x-FC Dallas 12 3 14 50 41 26 x-Colorado 12 8 9 45 42 30 x-QUAKES 12 9 7 43 30 29 Houston 8 15 6 30 38 48 Chivas USA 8 16 4 28 30 38 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA x-New York 14 9 6 48 36 29 x-Columbus 13 8 8 47 37 33 Kansas City 10 13 6 36 32 34 Chicago 8 12 9 33 33 37 New England 9 15 5 32 32 48 Toronto FC 8 13 8 32 30 39 Philadelphia 8 14 7 31 34 46 D.C. ————————————————— Wednesday’s result Chivas USA at San Jose, late Today’s game New England at New York, 4:30 p.m., ESPN2 Pittsburgh at Atlanta NCAA Today’s Top 25 game No.1 Oregon vs.UCLA, 6 p.m., ESPN Yuba City 0 Corning 1 The Lady Cardinals’ defense shut down Yuba City in a 1- 0 shutout in Corning, Wednesday. Mayra Diera deflected a Jasmine Gravitt shot four min- utes into the second half for the game winner. Gravitt drove it from 25 yards out to Diera, who was in front of the Yuba City goalie. The ball went off of Diera’s stick and into the corner. Corning’s goalies never had to play the ball as the Lady Cardinals defense did an amazing job of attacking the ball and bringing it up field. Silvia Diaz, Claudia Lopez and Lania Fultz and Kelsey Henderson led Corning’s defense. Shae Mesker had a text book spin move to beat a Yuba City defender and Natalie Garcia moved the ball well on the outside. Sam Bobadilla led Corning with five shots. Corning travels to Bella Vista Monday and then hosts its 7th Annual Father-Mother-Daughter games beginning at 4 p.m. A’s overhaul coaching staff Oakland Athletics OAKLAND (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have hired Joel Skinner as bench coach and Ger- ald Perry as hitting coach as part of an overhaul of their coach- ing staff. The team announced the changes to manager Bob Geren’s staff on Wednesday. Skinner replaces Tye Waller, who will be the first- base coach. Waller replaces Todd Stever- son. Perry has been a hit- ting coach for 10 sea- sons in the majors, including 2006 in Oak- land when the A’s made it to the AL champi- onship series. He replaces Jim Skaalen, whose contract was not renewed after two years. The A’s also say they will not renew the con- tract of head athletic trainer Stephen Sayles. Pitching coach Curt Young, third-base coach Mike Gallego and bullpen coach Ron Romanick will return next season. NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division Dallas Kings Ducks WL OT Pts GF GA 4 1 0 8 20 15 3 1 0 6 10 6 2 4 1 5 14 26 Phoenix 1 2 1 3 8 10 SHARKS 12 1 3 9 14 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Chicago 5 2 1 11 25 21 Nashville 3 0 2 8 13 10 Detroit 3 1 1 7 14 12 Columbus 3 2 0 6 13 13 St. Louis 2 1 2 6 14 12 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA ODDS Glantz-Culver Line For Oct. 21 MLB Playoffs Today Philadelphia-120 at SanFrancisco +110 NCAAFootball Today at Oregon 24(61.5) Friday NFL Sunday 3 (40.5) 3.5(42.5) at New Orleans 13 (43) at Baltimore 13 (39.5) San Francisco 3 (35.5) at Tampa Bay 3 (38) at Seattle atMiami Cincinnati at Kansas City OFF(OFF) Jacksonville at Tennessee 3 (43) Philadelphia at Chicago 3 (40) Washington Cleveland Buffalo at San Diego 3 (47) NewEngland at Denver 5.5 (40.5) 7 (42.5) at Dallas Off Key Jacksonville QB questionable NHL at Toronto -145 N.Y.Rangers +125 Washington-115 6 19 4 22 19 44 NOTE:Three points for victory, one point for tie. x- clinched playoff berth at Philadelphia-190 Anaheim+165 at Detroit -190 at Montreal-115 New Jersey-105 at Florida -120 at Boston-105 Calgary +165 Dallas +100 at Tampa Bay -155 N.Y.Islanders+135 at Nashville-110 San Jose -130 Pittsburgh -110 atColorado+110 at Edmonton-110 Minnesota -110 at Phoenix -110 LosAngeles -110 Oakland at Green Bay 3(44 1/2) Minnesota Monday 3 (45) N.Y.Giants atCarolina St.Louis Arizona UCLA at Cincinnati 7.5 (48) SouthFlorida Colorado 4 2 0 8 19 19 Calgary 3 2 0 6 9 11 Vancouver 2 3 2 6 15 20 Minnesota 2 2 1 5 16 13 Edmonton 2 2 0 4 12 11 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA N.Y. Islanders3 1 2 8 20 17 Pittsburgh 4 3 0 8 23 16 Philadelphia 2 2 1 5 11 14 N.Y. Rangers 1 2 1 3 14 16 New Jersey 1 4 1 3 10 21 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Toronto 4 0 1 9 17 11 Montreal 3 1 1 7 14 13 Boston Buffalo Ottawa 3 1 0 6 12 7 2 4 1 5 16 19 1 4 1 3 12 21 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Tampa Bay 4 1 0 8 17 18 Washington 4 2 0 8 18 14 Carolina 3 2 0 6 14 14 Atlanta Florida ————————————————— Tuesday’s results Buffalo 4, Atlanta 1 Chicago 2, Vancouver 1, SO Columbus 3, Anaheim 1 Carolina at Los Angeles, late Today’s games San Jose at Colorado, 6 p.m.,CSNC Anaheim at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at Toronto, 4 p.m. Washington at Boston, 4 p.m., NHLN Calgary at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at Florida, 4:30 p.m. New Jersey at Montreal, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Nashville, 5 p.m. Minnesota at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. Los Angeles at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Tuesday’s late result Carolina 5, San Jose 2 3 3 0 6 18 20 2 2 0 4 12 5 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Lacrosse clinic A lacrosse clinic will be held Sunday, rain or shine, for fourth through 12th graders. This year Red Bluff Lacrosse is working on putting together a girls team and is looking for sixth through 12th graders interested in playing. The clinic will be held at Red Bluff High School’s soccer park on the corner of Baker Road and Park Avenue from 1 to 4 p.m. Tehama Tracker VOLLEYBALL Yreka 24 25 25 25 Corning 26 6 21 20 The Lady Cardinals won the first game, but then dropped the next three to lose a home match yo Yreka, Tuesday. Brittney Garrett had four blocks and 17 block assists in