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1B Sports Raiders take different approach to bye week ALAMEDA (AP) — Oakland Raiders coach Dennis Allen is taking a different approach to the bye week this year. Almost half the team was excused from the first practice of this season's bye week as Allen gave almost all of the team's veterans and injured players time away from the field. After the team held morning meetings, the veterans got some rest and treatment while the younger players held a short practice to tune up the passing game and clean up some mistakes. That's a contrast to last year's approach, when Oakland held mostly full practices during its week off in Allen's first year as coach. ''I just felt like with where we're at as a football team, especially with the health of the football team, that I thought it was important for the veteran players to get some time to really take care of their bodies and get themselves back healthy and ready to go for next week,'' Allen said Tuesday. The Raiders (2-4) are riddled with injuries and were forced to cobble together a makeshift offensive line in Sunday's 24-7 loss at Kansas City. Guard Mike Brisiel was forced to play at center after backup Andre Gurode left the game with an injury with starter Stefen Wisniewski already hurt. That gave rookie Lamar Mady his first offensive action as a pro at right guard. Matt McCants, who played only a handful of snaps before starting against San Diego on Oct. 6, was forced back into action at right tackle after Tony Pashos got hurt. The Raiders have already had to move Khalif Barnes from right tackle to left tackle because of injuries to Jared Veldheer and Menelik Watson, and Lucas Nix made just his fourth career start at left guard. Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings also are nursing hamstring injuries, putting the bye week at a most opportune time. ''It's very important,'' receiver Rod Streater said. ''I think it's going to help get some linemen back. Just any nicks and bruises we have the week off will help us out.'' That led Allen to make the decision to keep his veterans out of practice as only 36 of the 61 players on the active roster and practice squad took part in the abbreviated workout. That included all the quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends, leading to a heavy emphasis on the passing game. Most of the time was spent in 7-on-7 passing drills with linemen doing individual work on the side. ''We've got a lot of guys that are banged-up, a lot of the veteran guys,'' Allen said. ''We need those guys to get their bodies back, get their minds back. We'll give them a little bit of time, but we're still bringing them in, still meeting with them and spending a lot of time in the training room.'' The other focus this week is mental as a young Raiders team tries to learn how to win games. Oakland has been in position to win five of the six games this season with the only blowout coming in Week 3 in Denver. The Raiders faltered late in losses to Washington and Kansas City as they made too many key mistakes at the most inopportune times. ''We've given ourselves opportunities to win games. We've got to continue to put ourselves in those types of positions,'' Allen said. ''The more we do that, the more experience we get with that, the better we're going to react to those situations and we'll begin to win some of these games and come out on the plus side instead of having to come back and make some adjustments after tough losses.'' Broncos unanimous No. 1 in AP Pro32 rankings (AP) — It's unanimous for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, even after their shakiest performance of the season. Denver received all 12 first-place votes for the first time in the AP Pro32 rankings released Tuesday. The Broncos (6-0) struggled with winless Jacksonville until scoring the last two touchdowns in a 35-19 victory Sunday. Manning matched his season low with two TD passes against the Jaguars but still has a record 22 through six games heading into Sunday night's return to Indianapolis, where Andrew Luck is in charge of the Colts' offense now. ''Coming to Peyton's Place should bring out the best in Mr. Manning,'' wrote Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. No. 2 Seattle (5-1) and third-ranked Kansas City (6-0) are separated by just two points. Both teams moved up one spot. The Seahawks won their 11th straight at home, 20-13 over Tennessee. ''They keep winning and overcoming injuries in the offensive line,'' wrote Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News. ''Their defense and run game will keep them in every game.'' The Chiefs had just 216 yards of offense in a 24-7 win over Oakland but intercepted Terrelle Pryor three times and had 10 sacks to give them 31 for the season. ''Not much to look at when they play offense, but it is must-see TV on defense,'' wrote Herm Edwards of ESPN. New England jumped from seventh to fourth after handing New Orleans its first loss 30-27 on Tom Brady's last-second touchdown pass. The Saints, who were second a week ago with the only other first-place vote, dropped to fifth. The Patriots and Brady got another chance in the final 2 minutes after Drew Brees and the Saints couldn't run out the clock following an interception by Keenan Lewis with 2:16 remaining. ''That pained expression of Rob Ryan on the sidelines said it all, as his Saints' defense can't hold off Brady at the end,'' wrote Bob Glauber of Newsday. San Francisco kept the No. 6 spot. Oakland was ranked 27th. Tehama Tracker Today's schedule FIELD HOCKEY Chico at Corning, 3:30 p.m. SWIMMING Corning, Orland, Sutter at Red Bluff Mercy, Gridley, Willows at Paradise VOLLEYBALL Los Molinos at Nike Invitational in Phoenix MLB PLAYOFFS National League Championship St. Louis at Los Angeles, 1:07 p.m. American League Championship Boston at Detroit, 5:07 p.m. Sports on TV GOLF • 1 p.m., TNT — PGA of America, Grand Slam of Golf, final day, at Southampton, Bermuda MLB • 1 p.m., TBS — Playoffs, National League Championship Series, Game 5, St. Louis at Los Angeles • 4:30 p.m., FOX — Playoffs, American League Championship Series, Game 4, Boston at Detroit NHL • 5 p.m., NBCSN — N.Y. Rangers at Washington Wednesday October 16, 2013 Boston takes ALCS lead AP photo David Ortiz celebrates with Mike Napoli Tuesday in Detroit after Napoli's game winning homer. DETROIT (AP) — Once again this October, one run was enough. John Lackey edged Justin Verlander in the latest duel of these pitchingrich playoffs, and Boston's bullpen shut down Detroit's big boppers with the game on the line to lift the Red Sox over the Tigers 1-0 Tuesday for a 2-1 lead in the AL championship series. Mike Napoli homered off Verlander in the seventh inning, and Detroit's best chance to rally fell short in the eighth when Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder struck out with runners at the corners. ''The runs are pretty stingy,'' Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ''This is what it's about in postseason, is good pitching.'' Despite three straight gems by their starters, the Tigers suddenly trail in a best-of-seven series they seemed to control just two days ago. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Comerica Park, with Jake Peavy scheduled to start for the Red Sox against Doug Fister. Lackey allowed four hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out eight without a walk in a game that was delayed 17 minutes in the second inning because lights on the stadium towers went out. ''I think that little time off gave him a chance to slow down a little bit. He was excited and pumped that first inning,'' Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. ''Kind of getting excited with his slider, throwing a little too hard and leaving it over the middle, but he was still pretty effective.'' It was the second 1-0 game in this matchup between the highest-scoring teams in the majors. That's been the theme throughout these playoffs, which have included four 1-0 scores and seven shutouts in the first 26 games. After rallying from a five-run deficit to even the series in Game 2, Boston came away with a win in Detroit against one of the game's best pitchers. The Tigers had a chance for their own comeback in the eighth when Austin Jackson drew a one-out walk and Torii Hunter followed with a single. But Cabrera, who failed to reach base for the first time in 32 postseason games for the Tigers, never looked comfortable against Junichi Tazawa, swinging and missing at the first two offerings and eventually chasing an outside pitch for strike three. ''He just did a great job pumping the fastballs away,'' Saltalamacchia said. ''He's so sneaky with that 94-95 (mph), it's tough to hit.'' Fielder was even more overmatched against Koji Uehara, striking out on three pitches. Uehara also pitched the ninth for a save, ensuring that Lackey's fine performance wouldn't go to waste. Lackey pitched poorly his first two seasons in Boston after signing an $82.5 million, five-year contract in December 2009. Then he missed all of 2012 following elbow ligamentreplacement surgery. He's been better this season, and he kept the Tigers off balance Tuesday by effectively changing speeds. ''He just never gave in,'' Saltalamacchia said. Napoli's first at-bat in the majors was against Verlander on May 4, 2006, at Comerica Park. He homered then, too. ''He's tough. He was on his game tonight. He was keeping all of us off balance,'' said Napoli, who rubbed his bat on teammate Jonny Gomes' beard before going up to the plate. ''I got to a 3-2 count and put a good swing on a pitch, was able to drive it.'' In the last two games, the Tigers have started Verlander and 21-game winner Max Scherzer — and the Red Sox won both. Throw in Anibal Sanchez's outstanding effort in the opener, when the Red Sox managed only a ninth-inning single in a 1-0 loss, and Detroit's three starters in the ALCS have combined to allow two runs and six hits with 35 strikeouts in 21 innings. Still, the Tigers have fallen behind because their bullpen blew a four-run lead late in Game 2 and the offense came up empty at home on Tuesday. Detroit stranded runners on first and third in the first, then wasted Jhonny Peralta's leadoff double in the fifth. Peralta reached third with one out, but an overanxious Omar Infante struck out and Andy Dirks grounded out. Verlander needed every bit of focus after Jacoby Ellsbury's one-out single in the sixth. The Tigers have not held runners well this year, but a number of pickoff throws helped prevent a steal. At one point, Verlander appeared to be pointing at his wrist, as if to ask the dugout if his delivery to the plate was quick enough. Amid all that, Verlander got Shane Victorino on a flyout, and after Ellsbury moved to second anyway on a wild pitch, Dustin Pedroia grounded out to end the threat. Napoli's homer was the first run allowed by Verlander since Sept. 18 — he pitched six scoreless innings in each of his last two starts in the regular season before blanking the opposition for 21 innings in the playoffs. That streak ended with one swing by Napoli. Lackey was pulled with one on in the seventh. Craig Breslow came on and walked Alex Avila, but Infante's groundout ended the inning. The Red Sox appeared to be in deep trouble when Detroit led 5-0 in Game 2, but David Ortiz tied it with an eighth-inning grand slam off closer Joaquin Benoit, and the Red Sox won it in the ninth. Verlander looked ready to halt any notion of momentum for the Red Sox. He struck out six straight in the second and third, matching a single-game postseason record. Lackey did his best to keep pace, retiring 10 in a row before Peralta's double. The Tigers had taken no-hitters into at least the sixth inning of the previous three games. Verlander fell an out short of extending that streak when Gomes hit a roller up the middle for an infield single in the fifth. ''We won a game with four hits tonight. It says a lot about this team,'' Gomes said. NOTES: Detroit reliever Phil Coke struck out seven straight over multiple outings during last year's World Series against San Francisco, according to STATS. Lee leads Warriors past Lakers in China BEIJING (AP) — David Lee scored 31 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 100-95 preseason win over a Kobe Bryant-less Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in China. Stephen Curry added 24 points for the Warriors, while Andrew Bogut had 14 rebounds and nine points. Lee finished 12 of 16 from the field. ''The way it's supposed to work is that we can get some stuff on the inside early in the game and that will open up the outside for guys like Steph to shoot 3s as the game goes on,'' the center said. Nick Young led the Lakers with 18 points. Pau Gasol had 15 points and Chris Kaman scored 14 with 10 rebounds. Although Bryant made the trip to China, he's sitting out the games to nurse a torn Achilles tendon and an ailing right knee. He was clearly missed by the Chinese fans, who chanted his name throughout the game. Gasol said the Lakers faded defensively in the third quarter without their star. ''We don't know when Kobe's going to get back,'' Gasol said. ''But until that point we just have to play hard as a team as we've been doing, and making sure we can't wait for him to get back and everything to fall into place at that point.'' The Lakers play a second exhibition game in Shanghai on Friday. The Warriors trailed 11 points at the end of the third quarter, but tied the score at 84 with just over seven min- utes remaining on a 3-pointer by Curry and never trailed again. Golden State coach Mark Jackson said Curry has been healthy the entire offseason. ''I thought tonight for the first time in a long time he had a rhythm and he was the best player on the floor,'' Jackson said. ''It was great to see and we expect tremendous (things) from him throughout the course of this season.'' Curry said the team played ''probably our best half in the second half all preseason.'' PREP ROUNDUP FIELD HOCKEY Corning 8, River Valley 0 The Lady Cardinalds hammered visiting River Valley 8-0 Monday afternoon in Corning. Every Lady Cardinal forward and midfield had at least one shot on goal and Corning's goalies never had to touch the ball once in the game. Audrey Mora scored a hat trick. Mora opened up the game's scoring nine minutes in when she took a Maria Diaz pass from a corner. Mora scored again about three minutes later on an assist from Bailey Jennings. She got the natural hat trick five minutes later. Chrystal Short then scored two more goals to give Corning a 5-0 halftime lead. Grace Mora struck twice to start the second half and Diaz finished the game off with Corning's eighth goal. Jessica Beckley had three key scoops in the game. Mirella O'Campo and Maribel Manzo had strong games. Melissa Vasque had six shots on goal.