Red Bluff Daily News

October 25, 2010

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Monday NFL 8:30 p.m. ESPN — N.Y. Giants at Dallas NHL 8 p.m. VERSUS — Los Angeles at Minnesota English Premier League 7 p.m. CSNBA—Chelsey vs. Wolverhampton Sports 1B Monday October 25, 2010 Raiders 59, Broncos 14. DENVER (AP) — The Oak- land Raiders scored touchdowns 8 seconds apart to kick-start a rout of the Denver Broncos that recalled so many of the lopsided scores between these former AFL teams in the 1960s. Behind Darren McFadden’s four touchdowns, the Raiders scored the most points in their Raiders rout Broncos, set record Bochy's decisions send Giants to Series 50-year history Sunday with a 59-14 thrashing of the demoral- ized Broncos. The Raiders (3-4) won for the third straight time at Invesco Field, fueled by a 38-point out- burst in the first 22 minutes. The Raiders kept the Broncos (2-5) guessing until announcing shortly before kickoff that back- up Jason Campbell would start at quarterback despite a sore knee in place of Bruce Gradkowski (sore shoulder). It didn’t seem to bother him one bit, and McFadden certainly showed no ill effects of a recent hamstring injury in scoring on a pair of 4-yard runs and a 19-yard reception in the first half and on a 57-yard run in the second. Michael Bush got the handoff on a 1-yard TD run in the third quarter that made it 59-14. The only other time the Raiders ran for five touchdowns was at Indi- anapolis a decade ago. The Raiders had never scored eight touchdowns before, and since the franchise’s inception in 1960, they had never piled up more than 52 points. Born that same year, the Bron- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bruce Bochy mixed and matched the San Francisco Giants all the way to the World Series. From Game 1 of the division series against Atlanta to the NL pen- nant clincher Saturday night in Philly, Bochy's moves have been right on this October. How about those three double- switches he made in a Game 4 victo- ry over the Phillies? It seems all the close games the Giants played this season were good not only for the players but for Bochy, too. "You certainly can't drift mentally, that's for sure, when you're not putting a lot of runs on the board and playing these tight games," Bochy said. Now Bochy and his Giants have a chance to win it all — something this franchise hasn't done since moving West in 1958. San Francisco will host World Series first-timer Texas in Game 1 on Wednesday night at AT&T Park. Bochy endured his share of play- off failure in the past. He had experi- enced little success this time of year until now, in his fourth season with San Francisco. Bochy lost 10 of his previous 11 postseason games while managing the Padres before this remarkable 2010 run by club he has referred to as "characters," ''castoffs" and "misfits." For all those amused by the former catcher's slow shuffle to the mound or penchant for using veterans, there's no question how much the 55-year- old Bochy cares about his players. Players appreciate knowing when they will be in the lineup or why they aren't out there — and Bochy is known for communicating such things and having the tough conversa- tions when necessary. Take the decision to leave strug- gling $126 million starting pitcher Barry Zito off the roster for the first two rounds. Not an easy call. Or the midseason benching of underachiev- ing outfielder Aaron Rowand, who behind Zito is the team's second- highest paid player. "You set aside your own agenda and do what's best for the team," Bochy said. "That's what it has to be at this point. Hopefully we have one priority, and that's to win. These guys have done a great job with it. A lot of guys who have been out there every day, their role has changed. They've done a great job of being a good teammate and accepting that and doing whatever they can to help out. It's not easy. They all want to be a part Velasquez stops Lesnar in 1st round for UFC title ANAHEIM (AP) — Brock Lesnar was downright stunned when Cain Velasquez took his biggest shots, escaped his violent takedowns and just kept coming at him at UFC 121. The baddest man in mixed martial arts was locked in the cage with an opponent who was just as tough, even more skilled — and totally unintimidated by his bad-boy aura. Four minutes later, Velasquez also was the UFC heavyweight champion. Velasquez stopped Lesnar late in the first round with a relentless flurry of punches Saturday night, claiming the title belt from the UFC’s biggest star. ‘‘It’s a great feeling to have the belt,’’ the former Ari- zona State wrestler said calmly, looking down at the gaudy ornament on the podium before him. ‘‘Now the hard work comes in, definitely.’’ Velasquez remained unbeaten and claimed MMA’s highest-profile belt by beating the fearsome Lesnar at everything he does best. The UFC’s top pay-per-view draw and champion for the past 23 months was largely helpless against Velasquez, who reduced him to a cow- ering defensive posture for the second half of their brief fight. Only a slight case of nerves even shook Velasquez at all. After a frenetic opening minute featuring huge blows by both fighters, Velasquez battled back from two take- downs and never stopped pursuing the bigger champion. ‘‘I felt great about the fight,’’ Velasquez said. ‘‘We MCT photo Giants' Buster Posey, left, and Brian Wilson celebrate the last out of their 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies Saturday. of it but there are only nine places out there." Bochy was swept in the 1998 World Series while with San Diego and eliminated in the minimum three games in the 2005 division series by St. Louis, then lost in four games to the Cardinals in the first round the very next year. That '98 team was Bochy's lone pennant in 12 seasons as Padres skipper. He got a fresh start in Northern California with the Giants in 2007, replacing Felipe Alou. Bochy's first Giants team went 71-91 and the one after that finished with just one more victory at 72-90. It was the 2009 squad that stayed in the wild card race Hamlin wins third straight at Martinsville Speedway MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Denny Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with 29 laps to go Sunday and won his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. ‘‘I don’t think I’ve ever closed that well, ever,’’ Hamlin said in Victory Lane. He became the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to sweep both races on the shortest, tightest track in the series, and both he and Harvick closed the gap on Johnson in the points race with four races to go. Hamlin cut his 41- point deficit to six points, and Harvick is 62 behind. The margin between the top two in the standings is the smallest with four races to go since 2004. Harvick finished third after Mark Martin passed him in the closing laps, but Harvick had his best showing in 19 career starts at the 0.526-mile oval; he’d never been better than seventh. ‘‘Everybody said it was a two-horse race, and we were right there in the middle of it,’’ Harvick said. He gained 15 points in the standings, with the series heading next to Tal- ladega, where he won in the spring. Johnson, the four-time defending champion, rallied to finish fifth, also finishing behind Kyle Busch. ‘‘For awhile I thought the 29, the 11 and us were just going to ride together all day long,’’ Johnson said of Ham- lin and Harvick, ‘‘but then the 11 got going there at the end.’’ Harvick led during most of a long green-flag run until Hamlin got to his rear bumper, then went to his inside. The two raced side-by-side for about five laps before Harvick checked up coming out of Turn 2, finally falling in line behind Hamlin on lap 472. until mid-September and showed this team was getting close to becoming a serious contender again — for the first time since home run king Barry Bonds carried the club. When things go poorly along the way, Bochy doesn't even like to go out in public, afraid of giving off the impression he's satisfied and not focused on making things better. Rowand, replaced in the starting lineup during the summer by long- time minor leaguer Andres Torres, acknowledges Bochy's hand in how far the club has come. Rowand started Games 3 and 4 of the NLCS for the slumping Torres, See GIANTS, page 2B knew his game plan going in, and it kind of did surprise me how hard he came forward. I froze. I wasn’t as relaxed as I should have been, but after that takedown he got on me, that’s when I was able to say, ’Relax, relax.’’’ Velasquez eventually staggered Lesnar across the octagon, with Lesnar stumbling to the canvas several times. Lesnar (5-2) tried to cover up near the cage, but Velasquez mercilessly rained down blows on Lesnar and eventually broke his guard, forcing referee Herb Dean to stop the fight with 48 seconds left in the round. ‘‘He looked incredible tonight,’’ said UFC President Dana White, who didn’t seem disappointed to see his top attraction’s demise. ‘‘The guy gets better every time he fights. He’s incredibly well-rounded. I think he answered all the questions tonight.’’ While Velasquez (9-0) scarcely made a mistake in the entire fight, Lesnar was left cut and seriously bloodied from Velasquez’s punches. Several ringside observers thought they heard Lesnar verbally ask for the fight to be stopped, although Velasquez said he was too busy punching to hear it. ‘‘What can I say? He was better than me tonight,’’ Lesnar said in the octagon. Velasquez exposed Lesnar’s clear deficiencies in standup fighting, just as Shane Carwin did in his own shot at Lesnar in July. But Velasquez didn’t punch him- self into exhaustion, as Carwin did in Las Vegas, instead being more judicious about his strikes. ‘‘We just had to pick our shots,’’ Velasquez said. ‘‘I knew that the ref wasn’t going to stop it that early. He was covering up well. I wanted some punches to con- nect, some elbows to get in there, so I really took my time and thought about where to land them.’’ 49ers hand Panthers first win CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Matt Moore made the most of his second chance, David Gettis atoned for a big drop, and the big mistake this time was made by the other team’s quarter- back. It added up to Carolina’s long-awaited first victory and left downtrodden San Francisco worried about another shoulder injury to Alex Smith. With Smith watching in a sling, backup David Carr threw into double coverage with just over a minute left on Sunday. Richard Mar- shall’s interception led to John Kasay’s 37-yard field goal with 39 seconds left and the Panthers beat the 49ers 23-20 for their first win in six tries. It made Moore, who threw for 308 yards and two scores after getting his start- ing job back, celebrate like the successful team in San Francisco, the Giants. ‘‘To get a taste of how it feels, you saw those guys MCT photo 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) leaps over Carolina Panthers cornerback Chris Gamble (20) during second-quarter action. celebrating for the baseball last night,’’ Moore said of the Giants clinching a World Series berth Satur- day. Carr, who struggled in his lone season in Carolina in 2007, then gave the Pan- thers a gift. Marshall’s pick gave Carolina the ball at its own 43. Moore, who had an interception returned for a TD earlier in the quarter, found Brandon LaFell for 35 yards to set up Kasay’s winner. The 49ers (1-6), who were to fly directly to Lon- don after the game to face Denver next week, have a tough road in the NFC West and uncertainty at quarter- back. Smith, who threw a touchdown pass to Vernon Davis on the first series, was driven to the turf by Charles Johnson for a sack on San Francisco’s first possession of the second half. He immediately winced in pain and remained on the ground for several minutes. Smith walked to the locker room and said he feared has a separated shoulder. cos allowed this many points only one other time, in the 1963 season opener, which they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 59-7. It got so bad that after McFad- den’s 57-yard jaunt down the Broncos’ sideline, the stream of fans heading to the exits became a rush, leaving the stadium with just a smattering of die-hard sup- See RAIDERS, page 2B

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