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2B – Daily News – Thursday, April 14, 2011 Goalies take center stage A’s rally late San Jose Sharks SAN JOSE (AP) — Antti Niemi was a major reason the San Jose Sharks failed to make it past the Western Con- ference final a year ago with his spec- tacular play in goal for Chicago. Now that Niemi has traded in his Indian-head logo for a teal sweater, the Sharks are hoping he can play just as well in his second postseason as he did in his first when he helped end the Blackhawks’ nearly five-decade title drought. ‘‘I still have nightmares of the save he made on me in Game 1,’’ Sharks forward Ryane Clowe said. ‘‘It’s great to have him on our side. When you go against a Stanley Cup goalie and he beats you and then you get him over here the next year, that’s always nice. We love Nemo. We love the way he competes. He’s a workhorse and we expect big things from him.’’ Niemi delivered in the regular sea- son, posting the most wins (32), the third-best goals against average (2.11) and the fifth-best save percentage (.927) in the league after Dec. 1. Niemi started 36 of San Jose’s final 37 games, helping the Sharks move from 12th in the Western Conference to second in that span. He leads the Sharks into their first- round series against the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Kings beginning Thurs- day night in San Jose. The Kings have their own goalie capable of dominating a series in Jonathan Quick. ‘‘Being out on the West Coast, he doesn’t get as much credit as he should, but we’ve got a great guy in our net, and we have full confidence in him, even if not as many people know about him,’’ Kings defenseman Jack Johnson said. Few knew about Niemi before last season’s playoffs, when he started all BONDS (Continued from page 1B) to unanimous decisions on the rest. There was initial confu- sion when the jury informed Illston’s clerk, Tracy Forakis, that they had reached a ver- dict, and the court made a public announcement. But when Forakis went back to the jury room, the panel said the verdict form wasn’t com- pleted because there was a deadlock. The court then issued a retraction of its ver- dict announcement and Ill- ston convened the lawyers, first without jurors, then with them, and learned they were deadlocked on at least some of the charges. Bonds, the seven-time National League MVP, chatted with his lawyers while Illston and the jury went back behind closed doors. When they returned, Illston opened a manila enve- lope with the verdict and handed it to Forakis to read. Bonds leaned forward, looked at the clerk, but never reacted when the verdict was read. His mother, Pat, watched from a second-row bench. ‘‘Divided, not unani- mous,’’ on count one. ‘‘Divided, not unani- mous,’’ on count two. ‘‘Divided, not unani- mous,’’ on count three. And then, just when it appeared Bonds would escape unscathed, came the final word from the jury: ‘‘Guilty,’’ on obstruction of justice. Dennis Riordan, one of the lawyers on Bonds’ legal team that numbered as many as 13 some days, asked Ill- ston to throw out the guilty verdict and for a new trial on that count. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella asked the judge to set a sen- tencing date. Instead, Illston set a May 20 date for a status conference. ‘‘This case is about upholding one of the most fundamental principles in our system of justice — the obligation of every witness to provide truthful and direct testimony in judicial pro- ceedings,’’ Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said in a state- ment. ‘‘In the United States, taking an oath and promising to testify truthfully is a seri- ous matter. We cannot ignore those who choose instead to obstruct justice. We will decide whether to seek a retrial of the defendant on the remaining counts as soon as possible.’’ Now 46 and far trimmer 22 games for Chicago, winning 16 with a 2.63 goals against average as the Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup title since 1961. That performance gives him confi- dence and a comfort level heading into this year’s playoffs. ‘‘I don’t think it will be easy, but it is a little different having some experi- ence,’’ he said. ‘‘Last year, I played 30- something games and it was my first playoffs ever. It was really mind-bog- gling. Now I know I can play playoffs so it’s a different case.’’ He said that first game of the West- ern Conference final in San Jose, when he made the diving glove stop to rob Clowe late in the second period, was one of the most important he played during that run. That started Chicago’s sweep of San Jose in the latest postseason disap- pointment for the Sharks. ‘‘It’s nice to have him in the same color jersey,’’ forward Patrick Marleau said. ‘‘We know firsthand going up against him how tough he is. We’re looking forward to that in the playoffs. It’s great looking back there knowing he’s there to make the big save or the easy save.’’ Niemi was just the latest in a long line of hot goaltenders who have given the Sharks postseason anguish, from Anaheim’s Jonas Hiller in 2009 to Dal- las’ Marty Turco the previous year to Dominik Hasek and Dwayne Roloson in the more distant past. The Kings have a goalie more than capable of doing the same in Quick, who had 35 wins and a 2.24 goals against average this season. He will need to be at the top of his game to shut down an offense with seven 20-goal scorers led by Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Joe Pavelski. Quick has won six of his 10 career starts against the Sharks, holding them to two or fewer goals half the time. He than he appeared in the final years of his career, Bonds faces up to 10 years in prison on the obstruction convic- tion. Yet federal guidelines call for 15-21 months. For similar offenses in the Bay Area Laboratory Co- Operative steroids ring case, known as BALCO, Illston sentenced cyclist Tammy Thomas to six months of home confinement and track coach Trevor Graham to one year of home confinement. Baseball’s season (73) and career (762) record- holder for home runs, Bonds testified before a grand jury that Anderson told him the substances he was giving Bonds were flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, and that Bonds didn’t know they were designer steroids. ‘‘Did Greg ever give you anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with?’’ Bonds was asked. His answer meandered, talking about his friendship with Anderson. The under- lined part in the indictment, the crime he was convicted of, was this response: ‘‘That’s what keeps our friendship. You know, I am sorry, but that — you know, that — I was a celebrity child, not just in baseball by my own instincts. I became a celebrity child with a famous father. I just don’t get into other people’s business because of my father’s situa- tion, you see.’’ The jury instruction said that to be convicted, Bonds must be found to have ‘‘obstructed, influenced or impeded, or endeavored to obstruct, influence, or impede’’ the grand jury ‘‘by knowingly giving material testimony that was intention- ally evasive, false or mislead- ing.’’ The defense plans to argue that Bonds’ answer wasn’t relevant to the grand jury. The government ‘‘has determined it’s unlawful for Barry Bonds to tell the grand jury he’s a celebrity child and to talk about his friendship NHL PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) Wednesday’s results Detroit 4, Phoenix 2 Detroit leads series 1-0 Pittsburgh 3, Tampa Bay 0 Pittsburgh leads series 1-0 Washington 2, N.Y. Rangers 1, OT Washington leads series 1-0 Chicago at Vancouver, late Series tied 0-0 Nashville at Anaheim, late Series tied 0-0 Today’s games Los Angeles at San Jose, 7 p.m.,VS Series tied 0-0 Montreal at Boston, 4 p.m., VS Series tied 0-0 Buffalo at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. Series tied 0-0 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Philadelphia 3 1 0 9 3 1 Toronto FC 1 1 3 6 6 6 N. England 1 1 3 6 5 6 Houston 1 1 2 5 5 4 New York 1 1 2 5 2 2 Columbus 1 1 2 5 3 3 Chicago 1 1 1 4 5 5 Kansas City 1 1 1 4 8 8 D.C. 1 2 1 4 6 8 ————————————————— Wednesday’s results Toronto FC 0, Los Angeles 0, tie Real Salt Lake 1, Colorado 0 Today’s game Chicago at Portland, 8 p.m., ESPN2 shut out San Jose at HP Pavilion in December and was outstanding in a pair of shootout wins later this season. San Jose managed to knock him out with four goals in a little over 25 min- utes just over a week ago, but the Sharks know how formidable he can be. ‘‘He’s usually making the first stop,’’ Sharks forward Logan Couture said. ‘‘Obviously we got to him that last game in the regular season, but he’s always played well against us. He’s good moving laterally. His pads sit up so you can’t beat him along the ice. You have to get him up. He’s quick, one of the better goalies in the league statistically and how he played against us.’’ The Kings will likely need a big series from Quick considering they scored fewer goals than any other play- off team this year and will be without their biggest offensive threat in forward Anze Kopitar, who is sidelined by an ankle injury. If the Kings are going to have suc- cess against Niemi, they will have to do better on the power play than they did during the regular season. Los Angeles slipped from sixth in 2009-10 to 21st this season on the power play despite having most of the same players. That power-play success a year ago almost carried the Kings into the sec- ond round, as they converted 38.5 per- cent of their chances and got 10 of their 18 goals with the man advantage in a six-game loss to Vancouver in the first round. ‘‘We’re trying to work on moving more,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘Our power play really took a nose dive in the second half, and a lot of it had to do with stand- ing around on the ice. You can be mov- ing the puck back and forth really well, but if it’s not with a purpose, it’s point- less, and that’s kind of what we fell into lately.’’ with Greg Anderson,’’ Ruby said. Jurors said they unani- mously agreed Tuesday on the obstruction verdict. ‘‘When you’re in front of a grand jury you have to answer, and he gave a (exple- tive) answer,’’ said Fred Jacob, the 56-year-old jury foreman. ‘‘He gave a story rather than a yes-or-no answer.’’ Jurors generally spent one day of deliberations on each count. A 60-year-old juror, who identified himself only as Steve, thought the defense successfully impeached key prosecution witnesses Steve and Kathy Hoskins and Kimberly Bell during cross- examination. ‘‘They tried to discredit the witnesses. They tried to make the prosecutors look like bad guys. Were they suc- cessful in doing that? Yes,’’ he said. He also said the govern- ment was hurt by Bonds’ physician, Dr. Arthur Ting, who refuted many of Steve Hoskins’ allegations. ‘‘I think the prosecutors got a big bomb thrown in their lap,’’ Steve said. Jacob said the absence of Anderson — who was imprisoned during the trial on a contempt citation for refusing to testify — hin- dered the government’s abil- ity to prove Bonds lied about steroids. ‘‘We couldn’t connect the dots between steroids, Greg and Barry,’’ he said. On the HGH count, he said: ‘‘There just wasn’t any evidence. HGH is very hard to detect and there wasn’t any scientific evidence. Everything was circumstan- tial.’’ The holdout on the ‘‘nee- dle’’ count was a juror who identified herself as Nyiesha. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Salt Lake 4 0 0 12 8 1 Colorado 3 2 0 9 8 6 Galaxy 2 1 3 9 5 6 Seattle 1 2 2 5 5 6 QUAKES 11 2 5 5 4 Vancouver 1 2 2 5 9 10 FC Dallas 1 2 1 4 4 5 Chivas USA 0 2 2 2 3 5 Portland 0 2 1 1 2 6 She said she didn’t believe the testimony of Bonds’ per- sonal shopper Kathy Hoskins, who told the jury she watched Anderson inject the slugger in the belly. ‘‘They were family,’’ Nyiesha said of the Hoskins siblings. ‘‘That left me with reasonable doubt.’’ Nyiesha, a 28-year-old nurse, said she almost changed her mind Monday, but decided to remain stead- fast after ‘‘sleeping on it.’’ Other jurors said they found Kathy Hoskins to be the most credible of the cen- tral witnesses. Jacob didn’t hold out much hope for pros- ecutors gaining additional convictions in a retrial. If they want to ‘‘pursue this case,’’ he said, ‘‘they’re going to have to do more homework than they did.’’ Bonds became the 11th person — and fourth athlete — who either was convicted or pleaded guilty in the BALCO case, which began in 2002. Other athletes, besides Thomas, include NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield and Olympic track gold medalist Marion Jones, who also pleaded guilty in a check- fraud scheme. It was a messy end to a case that put the slugger — and baseball itself — under a cloud of suspicion for more than three years. MLB West Division Texas American League WL Pct GB Angels 7 5 .583 2 A’s Seattle 4 8 .333 5 East Division WL Pct GB Baltimore 6 4 .600 — New York 6 4 .600 — Toronto 6 6 .500 1 Tampa Bay 3 8 .273 3.5 Boston 2 9 .182 4.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Cleveland 8 4 .667 — Kansas City 7 4 .636 .5 Chicago 7 5 .583 1 Detroit 5 7 .417 3 Minnesota 4 7 .364 3.5 ————————————————— Wednesday’s results Oakland 7, Chicago 4, 10 innings Detroit 3, Texas 2 Kansas City 10, Minnesota 5 Los Angeles 4, Cleveland 3, 12 innings New York 7, Baltimore 4 Toronto 8, Seattle 3 Tampa Bay at Boston, ppd., rain Today’s games Detroit (Coke 0-2) at Oakland (G.Gonzalez 2-0),7:05 p.m.,CSNC Minnesota (Pavano 1-1) at Tampa Bay (Shields 0-1), 3:40 p.m. Baltimore (Arrieta 1-1) at New York (P.Hughes 0-1), 4:05 p.m. Seattle (Fister 0-2) at Kansas City (Chen 1-0), 5:10 p.m. Friday’s games Detroit at Oakland, 7:05 p.m. Baltimore at Cleveland, 4:05 p.m. Texas at New York, 4:05 p.m. Minnesota at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m. Toronto at Boston, 4:10 p.m. Los Angeles at Chicago, 5:10 p.m. Seattle at Kansas City, 5:10 p.m. Tuesday’s late results Los Angeles 2, Cleveland 0 Seattle 3, Toronto 2 9 3 .750 — 66 .500 3 Athletics 7 Chi. White Sox 4, 10 inn CHICAGO (AP) — Cliff Pennington’s swing had been off and he’d been lim- ited for two games because of an infected sweat gland under his arm. Entering with a .160 average and batting out of the No. 9 hole, Pennington faced a difficult situation in the ninth inning. The Oak- land Athletics had scored but still trailed the Chicago White Sox by two. And now the bases were loaded with two outs. Facing struggling closer Matt Thornton, Pennington delivered. He dropped a two-run single into center and the A’s added three more in the 10th for a 7-4 victory. ‘‘Matt Thornton on the mound throwing 97 miles per hour, I just tried to get a fastball I could hit and it fell in,’’ Pennington said. ‘‘That’s what we have to do offensively — scratch and claw.’’ With the White Sox lead- ing 4-1 in the ninth, Chris Sale gave up a leadoff dou- ble to Conor Jackson, an RBI single to Josh Willing- ham and a single to Hideki Matsui. Jesse Crain came on and walked pinch-hitter Daric Barton to load the bases before fanning Kurt Suzuki. Thornton then struck out pinch-hitter Ryan Sweeney for the second out but could- n’t get the ball past Penning- ton. ‘‘I guess it’s made news that those guys have been struggling a little bit, but you’re bringing in Sale, Thornton and Crain out of the bullpen, those guys are all nasty and they’ve been nasty for a while,’’ Penning- ton said. ‘‘They’re going to be a really good bullpen, we’re just trying to scratch a few runs across any way we can.’’ Coco Crisp entered in the ninth as a pinch runner and was in a 3-for-22 slump before singling off Thornton (0-2) to give the A’s the lead in the 10th. The hit came right after Thornton — who is 0 for 4 on save opportuni- ties this season — walked Jackson and Willingham. Barton followed with a two-run single and Thornton was booed as he walked off the mound after being replaced by Tony Pena. The White Sox now have lost late-inning leads three times in less than a week, twice to the A’s, who also rallied to win Monday night’s series opener. ‘‘Oh man,’’ Thornton said. ‘‘There’s nothing to even describe it right now. NBA MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB Colorado 8 2 .800 — Dodgers 6 5 .545 2.5 Arizona 5 5 .500 3 Padres 5 6 .455 3.5 GIANTS 56 .455 3.5 East Division WL Pct GB Philadelphia 8 3 .727 — Florida 6 5 .545 2 Washington 5 6 .455 3 Atlanta 5 7 .417 3.5 New York 4 7 .364 4 Central Division WL Pct GB Cincinnati 8 4 .667 — Milwaukee 6 5 .545 1.5 Chicago 6 6 .500 2 Pittsburgh 5 6 .455 2.5 St. Louis 4 7 .364 3.5 Houston 3 9 .250 5 ————————————————— Wednesday’s results Los Angeles at San Francisco, late Chicago 9, Houston 5 Colorado 5, New York 4 Florida 5, Atlanta 1 Milwaukee 6, Pittsburgh 0 Philadelphia 3, Washington 2 San Diego 3, Cincinnati 2 St. Louis at Arizona, late Today’s games Colorado (G.Reynolds 0-0) at New York (Dickey 1-1), 9:10 a.m. Colorado (De La Rosa 1-0) at New York(Capuano 1-0), 12:40 p.m. Milwaukee (Wolf 0-2) at Pittsburgh (Maholm 0-1), 4:05 p.m. Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 1-1) at Washington (Zimmermann 1-1), 4:05 p.m. Florida (Nolasco 1-0) at Atlanta (Beachy 0-1), 4:10 p.m. San Diego (Moseley 0-2) at Houston (Norris 0-1), 5:05 p.m. St. Louis (J.Garcia 1-0) at Los Angeles (Kuroda 2-0), 7:10 p.m. Friday’s games San Francisco at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Florida at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m. Milwaukee at Washington, 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m. New York at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. San Diego at Houston, 5:05 p.m. Chicago at Colorado, 5:40 p.m. St. Louis at Los Angeles, 7:10 p.m. Monday’s late results San Francisco 5, Los Angeles 4 Arizona 13, St. Louis 8 WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB y-Lakers 56 25 .691 — Phoenix 39 42 .481 17 WARRIORS 35 46 .432 21 Clippers 31 50 .383 25 KINGS 24 57 .296 32 Southwest Division WL Pct GB z-San Antonio61 20 .753 — x-Dallas 57 25 .695 4.5 x-Memphis 46 35 .568 15 x-N. Orleans 46 36 .561 15.5 Houston 43 39 .524 18.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB y-Okla. City 55 27 .671 — x-Denver 50 32 .610 5 x-Portland 48 33 .593 6.5 Utah 39 43 .476 16 Minnesota 17 65 .207 38 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB y-Boston 56 26 .683 — x-New York 42 40 .512 14 x-Philadelphia 41 41 .500 15 New Jersey 24 58 .293 32 Toronto 22 60 .268 34 Southeast Division WL Pct GB y-Miami 58 24 .707 — x-Orlando 52 30 .634 6 x-Atlanta 44 38 .537 14 Charlotte 34 48 .415 24 Washington 23 59 .280 35 Central Division WL Pct GB z-Chicago 62 20 .756 — x-Indiana 37 45 .451 25 Milwaukee 35 47 .427 27 Detroit 30 52 .366 32 Cleveland 19 63 .232 43 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division z-clinched conference ————————————————— Wednesday’s results L.A. Lakers at Sacramento, late Portland at Golden State, late Boston 112, New York 102 Charlotte 96, Atlanta 85 Chicago 97, New Jersey 92 Cleveland 100, Washington 93 Dallas 121, New Orleans 89 Detroit 104, Philadelphia 100 Houston 121, Minnesota 102 Miami 97, Toronto 79 Milwaukee 110, Oklahoma City 106, OT Orlando 92, Indiana 74 Utah 107, Denver 103 Memphis at L.A.Clippers, late San Antonio at Phoenix, late End of regular season Frustration is pretty high. ... Confidence isn’t the prob- lem. It’s my frustration right now. It’s the most frustrated I’ve been in a long time. I can’t remember a run of games like this where I haven’t gotten the job done that many times in a row.’’ Grant Balfour (1-1) pitched the ninth for the win and Brian Fuentes worked the 10th for his fifth save in five chances. Oakland finished its road trip to Toronto, Minnesota and Chicago at 5-4. ‘‘I just loved the attitude. The guys kept fighting right to the end,’’ manager Bob Geren said. ‘‘We were down and it was going to take putting some hits together, drawing some walks, and we did it. ‘‘I know their bullpen is struggling a little bit, it gives you a little bit of feeling of hope. They just battled. ... Think about the road trip, how many close games we’ve had, this one to finish it off, it’s a really good feel- ing. It’s going to be a nice flight home.’’ Oakland’s rally denied John Danks a victory after he gave up a run and five hits in eight solid innings. The White Sox broke a 1-all tie in the sixth against Oakland starter Brett Ander- son when Carlos Quentin was hit by a pitch, Alex Rios doubled and a sliding Quentin scored on Ramon Castro’s grounder to third that drew a high throw to the plate from Kevin Kouz- manoff. Brent Morel dropped down a bunt to score Rios from third for a 3-1 lead. Juan Pierre’s third single of the game chased Anderson (0-2), who was hurt by his own error in the fifth. Anderson gave up nine hits and three runs — two earned — in 5 2-3 innings. ‘‘I was (in the club- house), sitting here and Pen- nington flared one in,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘Especially as the starting pitcher on the hook for the loss, it’s not only a comeback for the team, but a no-decision for you. It’s good for every- body.’’ Matsui’s second homer of the season put Oakland up 1-0 in the fourth. Chicago tied it in the fifth when Pierre reached as Anderson fumbled his comebacker for an error and Gordon Beck- ham doubled. NOTES: Oakland’s Andy LaRoche made his sixth start of the season at a fourth different position, this time getting the nod at first base.