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CREDIT Oakland's Derek Norris hits an RBI single to score Josh Donaldson as Houston catcher Jason Castro, le , reaches for the ball. ByJohnHickey BayAreaNewsGroup HOUSTON – Before Monday's 7-3 loss to the Astros, the one thing about A's starter Jesse Chavez that was consistent through good times and bad was his ability to keep the ball in the park. He came into Houston having allowed just one homer in his last eight starts, and he'd never, ever, allowed more than two homers in a game in his big league career. Monday he allowed three home runs to the Astros, who are no- body's idea of murderer's row. The Astros finished with four homers on the night as for the third time in as many series Oak- land dropped the first game of the set. "I've just got to think of it as my mulligan for the year," Chavez said. "I've got to get back out there and know it won't happen again." For the moment the A's have bigger concerns than three hom- ers and one loss. The discovered Monday they will be without cen- ter fielder Craig Gentry to a broken right hand when an MRI revealed what a Sunday X-ray didn't, a non- displaced fracture near the wrist. The A's are hoping that Gentry will miss just a couple of weeks. But with the club's other center fielder, Coco Crisp, having an MRI of his own late Monday in the Bay Area, Oakland is having its depth tested. Oakland called up Billy Burns from Double-A Midland to fill in for Gentry, although for now Yoenis Cespedes will get most of the starts in center with Brandon Moss taking over in left. "I did the same thing last year when Jarrod Parker hit me on the left hand" Gentry said. He was playing for the Texas Rangers at the time. "I only missed two weeks then and I'm hoping that's the case again this time." Manager Bob Melvin concurred with the two-week timetable, al- though he also said he was look- ing at the bright side. AMERICAN LEAGUE AstroshitfourHRstobeatA's Oakland depth tested as Gentry will miss time with wrist injury RED BLUFF The Red Bluff Bulls will host the 2014 Area 1 Junior American League baseball Tour- nament Wednesday through Sunday at Red Bluff Union High School. The tournament begins with eight teams playing in the open- ing round Wednesday. The Bulls host the North Hum- boldt Giants in the 6:30 p.m. nightcap. In the other opening round Wednesday games Redding plays Chico Suns Blue at 11 a.m., Grass Valley meets Vacaville at 1:30 p.m. and Fairfield plays Auburn at 4 p.m. AMERICAN LEGION Bullshost Area 1 Junior tourney By Jenna Fryer The Assoicated Press INDIANAPOLIS Long before Jim- mie Johnson arrived on the NAS- CAR scene, Jeff Gordon was the fastest thing on wheels. He was the "Wonder Boy" who racked up wins at a record place. He brought the southern sport to Madison Ave. and became such a household name that even rap- per Nelly name-dropped Gordon in a song. Gordon won all the big races, collected four championships in seven years and had 58 victories before his 30th birthday. Then his pace began to slow, the rest of the field caught up to him and Johnson moved into NASCAR Gordon eyeing 5th title a er big Brickyard victory The House rejected consum- ers' complaints and easily passed legislation Monday letting airline advertising emphasize the base price of tickets, before taxes and fees are added. FLIGHT Housebillletsairlines advertise pre-tax fares FULLSTORYONPAGEB5 The Red Bluff Lady Spartans will start tryouts for the fall tennis season 3:30p.m. Aug. 11at the high school's tennis courts. Clearance slips from the student store are required to be completed. TENNIS Lady Spartans hosting tryouts Aug. 11 The Corning Senior Little League team is scheduled to play Oregon's Clackamas and Mountain View Little League 3p.m. today in pool play at the West Regional Tournament in Ontario. LITTLE LEAGUE Corning opens West Regional play WEAVERVILLE Red Bluff Tritons swimmers broke meet records and took home medals over the weekend at the Weaverville Invi- tational. The event featured nine swim teams. Megan Murray set a meet record in the 7-and 8-year-old girls breaststroke. In the same age group Nikko Munoz set meet records in the 50 and 100-yard breast- strokes. She placed third overall in the age group. Megan Snodgrass set meet records in the 11-and 12-year-old girls 50 and 100-yard breaststrokes. Julia Bellon and Jordan Johnson placed second overall in the girls and boys 17-and 18-year-old age groups. Mikaela Weber was third in the 15-and 16-year-old division, Jordan Munoz was third in the 13-and 14-year-old division and Lyric Wingo was third in the 6-and-under group. The Tritons compete at the North Valley Aquatic League championship this coming weekend in Redding matching skills with the best seasonal swimmers in the North State. SWIMMING TRITONS BREAK RECORDS AT INVITE Red Bluff Tritons swimmer Megan Murray (front) broke the Weaverville Invitational meet record in the 50-yard butterfly swimming alongside Weaverville's Madison McNeeley (middle) and Red Bluff's Bella Munoz (top). Residents in an eastern Ukrai- nian town fled their homes as shells exploded in the dis- tance, fighting that also pre- vented an international police team from reaching the site of the Malaysia Airlines crash. EASTERN EUROPE Ukraine town's residents leave as fighting erupts FULL STORY ON PAGE B8 AJ MAST – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jeff Gordon celebrates a er winning the NASCAR Brickyard 400. NASCAR PAGE 2 By Josh Dubow The Associated Press NAPA Menelik Watson's rookie season proved to be mostly a waste. Watson arrived at his first training camp with the Oakland Raiders with an injured calf that forced him to miss much of the preseason. A knee injury just be- fore the beginning of the regu- lar season cost Watson a shot at a starting job. By the time Watson was fi- nally healthy he got only limited playing time, mostly as a sixth offensive lineman. He couldn't overcome all the missed time. That wasn't exactly what the Raiders were counting on from a second-round pick, and it cer- tainly wasn't what the raw Wat- son needed considering he only played two seasons of football before entering the NFL. "It was frustrating last year. I'd wish that on nobody, espe- cially as a new guy coming in," Watson said. "I love this game. It was a lot to have it taken away last year. This is a new year. Last year is behind me. That's where it's going to stay." Watson said 2013 wasn't a complete loss. He learned the importance of taking care of his body and placed extra emphasis this offseason on conditioning, nutrition and hydration. He also got to watch how veterans prepare and got a bet- ter understanding of the game, which was needed since he didn't even start playing foot- ball until 2011. Watson is a former basketball player and boxer who played one year of junior college football at Saddleback Community Col- lege before transferring to Flor- ida State. He started 12 games for the Seminoles in 2012 and earned second-team All-ACC honors. RAIDERS Team relying on Watson to solidify line RAIDERS PAGE 2 A'S PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, July 29, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1