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2B Daily News – Monday, May 16, 2011 Scoreboard MLB American League At A Glance By The Associated Press East Division WL Pct GB Tampa Bay 23 17 .575 — New York 20 17 .5411 1/2 Toronto 20 20 .500 3 Baltimore 19 20 .4873 1/2 Boston 19 20 .4873 1/2 Central Division Cleveland 24 13 .649 — Detroit WL Pct GB 22 18 .5503 1/2 Kansas City 20 19 .513 5 Chicago 17 24 .415 9 Minnesota 12 26 .31612 1/2 West Division Los Angeles 22 19 .537 — Texas A’s Seattle ——— Saturday’s Games Seattle at Cleveland, ppd., rain Oakland 6, Chicago White Sox 2 Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 0 Detroit 3, Kansas City 0 L.A. Angels 3, Texas 2 Toronto 9, Minnesota 3, 11 innings Boston 6, N.Y. Yankees 0 Sunday’s Games Kansas City at Detroit, ppd., rain Seattle at Cleveland, ppd., rain Baltimore 9, Tampa Bay 3 Toronto 11, Minnesota 3 Texas 5, L.A. Angels 4 Chicago White Sox 4, Oakland 3 CHOI Continued from page 1B Into the grain, slightly uphill, he didn’t strike it solidly and missed. Choi tapped in his putt and pumped his fist, yet his heart felt for the 44-year-old Toms. ‘‘As a fellow player, I felt very sorry for him,’’ Choi said. ‘‘Because I know how that feels. And I felt bad for him.’’ Choi had reason to cele- brate for his own feats. Winless on the PGA Tour for three years, he took the outright lead with a 10-foot birdie on the 17th in regula- tion, saved par on the 18th with a putt from just in side 5 feet to close with a 2- DOVER Continued from page 1B opted for two tires instead of four, the right number for him to pull pass Martin on the restart and then pull away for the victory. ‘‘We were going to do WL Pct GB 21 19 .525 1/2 20 20 .5001 1/2 16 23 .410 5 Boston at N.Y. Yankees, late Monday’s Games N.Y. Yankees (A.J.Burnett 4-2) at Tampa Bay (Price 5-3), 3:40 p.m. Toronto (Drabek 2-2) at Detroit (Scherzer 6-0), 4:05 p.m. Baltimore (Tillman 2-3) at Boston (Matsuzaka 3-3), 4:10 p.m. Cleveland (Tomlin 4-1) at Kansas City (Davies 1-5), 5:10 p.m. Texas (C.Lewis 3-4) at Chicago White Sox (E.Jackson 3-4), 5:10 p.m. L.A. Angels (Pineiro 2-0) at Oak- land (Anderson 2-3), 7:05 p.m. Minnesota (S.Baker 2-2) at Seattle (Pineda 4-2), 7:10 p.m. Tuesday’s Games N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay, 3:40 p.m. Toronto at Detroit, 4:05 p.m. Baltimore at Boston, 4:10 p.m. Cleveland at Kansas City, 5:10 p.m. Texas at Chicago White Sox, 5:10 p.m. L.A. Angels at Oakland, 7:05 p.m. Minnesota at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. National League At A Glance By The Associated Press East Division Philadelphia 25 14 .641 — Florida Atlanta WL Pct GB 23 16 .590 2 23 19 .5483 1/2 New York 19 21 .4756 1/2 Washington 19 21 .4756 1/2 Central Division WL Pct GB Cincinnati 23 17 .575 — St. Louis 22 19 .5371 1/2 under 70 and kept his nerves steady. The South Korean lived in Jacksonville briefly when he first came to America and once practiced at the TPC Sawgrass, although he said his game wasn’t good enough then to break par. Now, Choi is The Play- ers champion, a winner of the biggest event on the PGA Tour. ‘‘For me to shoot under par every day on this course this week, it’s like a mira- cle, to be honest with you,’’ Choi said. Choi won for the eighth time in his PGA Tour career, picked up $1.71 mil- lion from the biggest purse in tournament golf, moved to No. 15 in the world and all but assured himself a spot on the Presidents Cup four, we got in the stall and decided to do two. That was the key,’’ Kenseth said. Kenseth overruled crew chief Jimmy Fennig and made the call for two tires. ‘‘When I was on the jack, I asked if he was sure we didn’t want to try two and he said to put two on,’’ Kenseth said. ‘‘It was real- Milwaukee 19 21 .475 4 Pittsburgh 18 22 .450 5 Chicago 17 21 .447 5 Houston 15 25 .375 8 West Division Giants WL Pct GB 22 17 .564 — Colorado 20 18 .5261 1/2 Los Angeles 19 22 .463 4 Arizona 17 22 .436 5 San Diego 17 23 .4255 1/2 ——— Saturday’s Games Florida 1, Washington 0 Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 3 San Diego 9, Colorado 7 Houston 7, N.Y. Mets 3 Milwaukee 8, Pittsburgh 2 Cincinnati 7, St. Louis 3 Arizona 1, L.A. Dodgers 0 San Francisco 3, Chicago Cubs 0, 7 innings Sunday’s Games Cincinnati 9, St. Louis 7 Washington 8, Florida 4 Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 2 N.Y. Mets 7, Houston 4 Milwaukee 9, Pittsburgh 6 San Francisco at Chicago, ppd., rain San Diego 8, Colorado 2 Arizona 4, L.A. Dodgers 1 Monday’s Games Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 2-3) at St. 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh (Maholm 1-5) at Wash- ington (Lannan 2-4), 4:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Zambrano 4-1) at Cincinnati (Bailey 2-0), 4:10 p.m. Florida (Jo.Johnson 3-1) at N.Y. Mets (Pelfrey 3-3), 4:10 p.m. Houston (Myers 1-3) at Atlanta team. Toms, winless in five years, had an easy time tak- ing away positives. He was the 36-hole leader, finished the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning only one shot behind and spent some five hours with his name atop the leaderboard in the final round. And his birdie on the 18th — one of only four birdies on the hardest hole at Sawgrass in the final round — he hit 6-iron out of a divot to 18 feet and forced a playoff. ‘‘It was the best putt I’ve had in an awful long time,’’ Toms said. Even so, it’s hard to get past a pair of mistakes. The first one came on the par-5 16th, when he had a one-shot lead over Choi and ly Jimmy’s call and a good suggestion by me.’’ Kenseth said he was having trouble during the green flag racing because the rubber that built on the track made the concrete slick — an obstacle for a loose car. When the short runs started coming, Kenseth (Hanson 4-3), 4:10 p.m. San Francisco (Lincecum 3-3) at Colorado (Mortensen 0-0), 5:40 p.m. San Diego (Richard 1-4) at Ari- zona (Galarraga 3-3), 6:40 p.m. Milwaukee (Marcum 4-1) at L.A. Dodgers (Garland 1-2), 7:10 p.m. Tuesday’s Games Houston at Atlanta, 10:05 a.m. Pittsburgh at Washington, 10:05 a.m. San Francisco at Colorado, 12:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m. Florida at N.Y. Mets, 4:10 p.m. Philadelphia at St. Louis, 5:15 p.m. San Diego at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. NHL Playoff Glance By The Associated Press FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) (x-if necessary) CONFERENCE FINALS (Best-of-7) EASTERN CONFERENCE Tampa Bay 1, Boston 0 Saturday, May 14: Tampa Bay 5, Boston 2 Tuesday, May 17: Tampa Bay at Boston, 5 p.m. Thursday, May 19: Boston at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m. Saturday, May 21: Boston at Tampa Bay, 10:30 a.m. x-Monday, May 23: Tampa Bay at Boston, 5 p.m. x-Wednesday, May 25: Boston at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m. tried to reach the green in two. His approach found the water, and Toms wound up making bogey. This is the guy famous for laying up on the par-4 18th at Atlanta Athletic Club when he won his lone major 10 years ago at the PGA Championships. Toms was trying to put pressure on Choi. ‘‘I thought I could hit the shot,’’ he said. And then came the putt, when part of him already was thinking about going to the second playoff hole that decided the tournament. One consolation for Toms, along with knowing his game is close, is that he moved to No. 46 in the world and can avoid U.S. Open qualifying if he can stay there one more week. found a cleaner track and clean air was enough to spark his run. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, won his 20th career Cup race. Martin earned his first top-five of the season. ‘‘Today, we finally got a finish,’’ he said. ‘‘It looked like we were going to get 15th again with a really fast race car. We’ve had a race car this good a lot this year. But it seems like for some reason or another we end up in the back of the back.’’ Kenseth dominated when he won at Texas to end a 76-race winless streak. He’s been strong this year and has four top fives, giving him the confi- dence that another victory was on the horizon. He started 24th and roared back to win. ‘‘The whole organiza- tion has been building bet- ter, faster race cars,’’ Kenseth said. x-Friday, May 27: Tampa Bay at Boston, 5 p.m. WESTERN CONFERENCE Vancouver 1, San Jose 0 Sunday, May 15: Vancouver 3, San Jose 2 Wednesday, May 18: San Jose at Vancouver, 6 p.m. Friday, May 20: Vancouver at San Jose, 6 p.m. Sunday, May 22: Vancouver at San Jose, 12 p.m. x-Tuesday, May 24: San Jose at Vancouver, 6 p.m. x-Thursday, May 26: Vancouver at San Jose, 6 p.m. x-Saturday, May 28: San Jose at Vancouver, 5 p.m. NBA Playoff Glance By The Associated Press CONFERENCE FINALS (Best-of-7) EASTERN CONFERENCE Chicago 1, Miami 0 Sunday, May 15: Chicago 103, Miami 82 Wednesday, May 18: Miami at Chicago, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, May 22: Chicago at Miami, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24: Chicago at Miami, 5:30 p.m. x-Thursday, May 26: Miami at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. x-Saturday, May 28: Chicago at Miami, 5:30 p.m. x-Monday, May 30: Miami at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. WESTERN CONFERENCE Oklahoma City vs. Dallas SHARKS Continued from page 1B pass across and back to a pinching Bieksa atop the right faceoff circle. Biek- sa’s wrist shot that caught Niemi sliding left and went past his blocker on the other side. Dany Heatley took an elbowing penalty 32 sec- onds later, and the Canucks’ power play, which looked terrible its first three chances after leading the NHL in the regular season, finally converted. A point pass from for- mer Sharks defenseman Christian Ehrhoff got Niemi moving right, and Sedin, whose only other goal in these playoffs was into an empty net, skated onto it the other way, wait- ing for Niemi to slide past before tucking a backhand shot into the empty net. San Jose, which almost blew a 3-0 series lead before beating Detroit, went up late in the first period thanks to a gener- ous pass from Luongo to Thornton. Luongo, who was felled by a teammate’s shot off the mask in the warmups, tried to pass the puck to the top of the left circle from behind the net. But Thornton stepped in front of it and fired his third playoff goal into an empty net. Vancouver tied it 1:49 into the second period after Niemi’s pass was picked off on the boards and sent back behind the net to Jannik Hansen, who hit Lapierre cutting in front between two defend- ers for a quick shot past Niemi s glove. But the Canucks, off since eliminating Oakland’s Trevor Cahill lost his undefeated record and gained the respect of Chica- go manager Ozzie Guillen and lefty Mark Buehrle. Shortly after the White Sox beat the Athletics 4-3 on Sunday and handed Cahill his first loss of the season, Guillen sat in his office and declared the Oak- land right-hander one of the best pitchers in baseball. Around the corner in the Chicago clubhouse, Buehrle also fawned over Cahill’s pitches. Even on a bad day, the ace of the A’s rotation is too good to ignore. ‘‘He has some of the best stuff in the game,’’ Guillen said. ‘‘We got lucky. He can be a serious candidate for the Cy Young Award. I know it’s early but he has the stuff.’’ Cahill (6-1) gave up four runs, just two of them earned. One came on a solo home run to Alexei Ramirez, who had three of the season-high 10 hits Cahill allowed. It could have been Tuesday, May 17: Oklahoma City at Dallas, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 19: Oklahoma City at Dallas, 6 p.m. Saturday, May 21: Dallas at Okla- homa City, 6 p.m. Monday, May 23: Dallas at Okla- homa City, 6 p.m. x-Wednesday, May 25: Oklahoma City at Dallas, 6 p.m. x-Friday, May 27: Dallas at Okla- homa City, 6 p.m. x-Sunday, May 29: Oklahoma City at Dallas, 6 p.m. MOVES By The Associated Press BASEBALL American League MINNESOTA TWINS—Placed LHP Jose Mijares on the 15-day DL. Optioned RHP Jim Hoey to Rochester (IL). Designated C Steve Holm for assignment. Recalled RHP Anthony Swarzak from Rockester. Selected the con- tract of LHP Phil Dumatrait from Rochester. National League ATLANTA BRAVES—Placed RHP Brandon Beachy on the 15-day DL. Recalled RHP Scott Proctor from Gwinnett (IL). Major League Soccer CHIVAS USA—Signed Chris Cortez. COLLEGE TEXAS A&M—Named Billy Kennedy men’s basketball coach. Nashville on Monday night, couldn’t convert the first three power plays of the game, failing to record even a shot on two. San Jose wasted little time scoring on its first chance, with Marleau left alone in the slot to deflect Boyle’s point shot over Luongo’s glove. It was the second goal in two games for the oft-criticized Mar- leau, whose first point of the conference semifinals turned into the Game 7 winner. For a while it looked as if Niemi would make it stand up as a second straight game winner, too. The Finnish stopper, who won a Stanley Cup with Chicago last year, made a handful of highlight reel stops as the Canucks pushed for the tying goal late in the second period, robbing Ryan Kesler with his right pad during a wild scramble around the crease, and Hansen in alone with the left pad. NOTES: San Jose D Jason Demers was a sur- prise late scratch because of an unidentified injury, and was replaced by Kent Huskins in his first game of these playoffs. F Benn Ferriero was replaced by Jamal Mayers on the Sharks’ fourth line after playing the previous seven games. Vancouver dressed big RW Victor Oreskovich on its fourth line in place of smaller speedster Jeff Tambellini, who made his playoff debut the final game against Nashville in the second round. ... Van- couver LW Mikael Samuelsson, who plays the point on the first power play unit, still has- n’t skated since getting hurt in Game 5 of the con- ference semifinals. A’s waste four DPs behind Cahill OAKLAND (AP) — worse, too. The A’s turned four double plays while sec- ond baseman Mark Ellis made several stellar defen- sive plays to shut down Chicago threats. Still, Cahill was good enough that Guillen could- n’t stop gushing about the right-hander. ‘‘To hear him say that, especially on a day like today when I didn’t feel I wasn’t as sharp, definitely is a confidence booster,’’ Cahill said. ‘‘I wouldn’t say it was my best start. I kind of battled through it.’’ Buehrle (3-3) won for only the second time in 15 appearances at Oakland. He gave up three runs, seven hits and struck out a season- best six, then later joined Guillen in praising Cahill. ‘‘If my sinker is half as good as his I’ll take it,’’ Buehrle said. ‘‘I don’t have to face him but I hear guys coming back to the bench talking about how much his stuff moves. And it’s not just the sinker, it’s also his changeup.’’ Sergio Santos pitched the ninth for his fifth con- secutive save, extending his scoreless streak to 19 innings for the White Sox who went 6-3 on their road trip, winning all three series. It was anything but rou- tine, though. Santos walked Cliff Pennington to lead off the inning and walked pinch hitter Hideki Matsui with two outs before Josh Will- ingham grounded out.