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2B Daily News – Thursday, September 8, 2011 Moscoso takes no-hit bid into 8th OAKLAND (AP) — Guillermo Moscoso had no intention of giving up the ball easily. Oakland manager Bob Melvin had to wrestle it from him with two outs in the ninth inning. Melvin appreciated Moscoso's competitive nature. Moscoso held Kansas City hitless until rookie Salvador Perez singled with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Athletics beat the Royals 7-0 Wednesday. ''I guess my one bad pitch came in the last inning,'' Moscoso said. ''They showed the last two games that they are good hitters and that just made me focus more. I was feeling great.'' Moscoso (8-8) wound up allowing two hits in 8 2-3 innings. The right- hander walked one and struck out four in his 18th major league start. ''A lot of guys may have better stuff or better location that Guillermo but no one has a bigger heart,'' Melvin said. ''The ninth inning was painful for me. I just couldn't stomach the fact he would throw 130 pitches. He wouldn't give me the ball. It was actually a wrestling match for a little while.'' Moscoso set an Oakland record by retiring 30 consecutive hitters — the final 13 against Seattle last Friday and the first 17 against the Royals. He NEW YORK (AP) — Rafael Nadal, Andy Rod- dick and Andy Murray got in about 15 minutes of ten- nis Wednesday — barely enough to work up a sweat, but more than enough to get into a snit. Rain washed out the matches for the second straight day at the U.S. Open, creating a logjam in the schedule and a bigger mess in the locker room, where the big-name players questioned the wisdom of putting them out on courts that were still damp thanks to a fine mist that was falling in the morning. Shortly after they started, play was called, then late in the afternoon, the men were sent home. Much later, and right after Serena Williams warmed up for her match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the U.S. Tennis Association finally scrubbed the women's matches, too, calling every- one back for an 11 a.m. start Thursday, when the weather forecast is every bit as dodgy — an 80 percent chance of rain. NFL (Continued from page 1B) Darren Sproles and first- round rookie Mark Ingram. ''There'll be plenty of touches not only for Pierre, but for Mark and Darren,'' Saints coach Sean Payton said. ''And it's our job to mix those up and also to let the running back get comfort- able and get in a rhythm when he's in the game.'' New Orleans will be without wide receiver Lance Moore, who has a nagging groin injury. When the Saints are on defense, coordinator Gregg Williams loves to call blitzes. But that's where Rodgers is at his best. ''The one thing about Aaron Rodgers that's most impressive is that he was the best quarterback last year against the blitz and the pres- sure,'' free safety Malcolm WNBA WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB z-Minnesota 25 7 .781 — x-Seattle 19 13 .594 6 x-Phoenix 18 13 .581 6.5 x-San Antonio16 16 .500 9 Sparks 13 19 .406 12 Tulsa walked Kansas City's Alcides Escobar with two outs in the sixth. ''It was a great day for everybody,'' Moscoso said. ''I always want to go deep into the game. This is something you never know if it will happen.'' Perez broke up the no-hit bid by lin- ing a clean, opposite-field field single to right. Moscoso recorded 16 of his outs on fly balls to the outfield, 10 to center fielder Coco Crisp. Crisp's diving catch on Billy Butler's sinking liner ended the first inning. ''You have to take your hat off to that pitching performance,'' Royals manager Ned Yost said. ''We've been swinging the bats really well. You know what? That kid threw a damn good game and that's just the way it is.'' Butler's eight-pitch at-bat in the ninth ended with A's third baseman Scott Sizemore making two errors on the play. That prompted Melvin to bring in Fautino De Los Santos, who got the final out on one pitch. Jemile Weeks had four hits and drove in a run for the A's, who won for the fifth time in seven games. Sizemore doubled home two runs and Hideki Matsui, Josh Willingham and Adam Rosales also drove in runs. ''He was putting the zeros up on the board,'' Weeks said. ''I didn't even know he had one going until they got their first hit. He located every pitch ''Right now, it's our intention to finish the tour- nament on time,'' said tour- nament director Jim Curley, while acknowledging all the things working against that possibility. If the weather cooper- ates, this will be a Grand Slam the likes of which very few of these players have seen. To win, a man on the bottom half of the draw — Nadal, Roddick or Murray, for example — would need to win four matches in four days. The men on the top of the draw — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic among them — had their quarterfi- nal matches postponed and are in for a long haul, as well. But well before Nadal and Company pondered the weekend, they expressed their concerns about being put in harm's way. When play was halted, they marched straight into the tournament referee's office to discuss the situation. ''If you know you're going to go on court only for 10 minutes, you don't have to lie to the fans at that point, and you don't have to Jenkins said. ''He gets the ball out of his hand quick, so we've got to find ways to cre- ate some things.'' Despite the condensed training camp, the Packers have added new wrinkles to their offense, including a no- huddle look that proved suc- cessful in the preseason. The Packers also are get- ting at least three likely starters back from season- ending injuries: tight end Jer- michael Finley, safety Mor- gan Burnett and running back Ryan Grant; Grant will split carries with James Starks. A fourth potential starter returning from injury, defensive lineman Mike Neal, has a nagging knee injury and his status for Thursday is unclear. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Galaxy 14 3 10 52 39 22 Seattle 13 5 9 48 42 29 FC Dallas 13 7 7 46 36 29 Salt Lake 12 7 6 42 35 21 Colorado 10 7 11 41 39 36 Portland 9 12 5 32 33 41 Chivas USA 7 10 10 31 32 30 QUAKES 510 11 26 27 35 Vancouver 4 13 9 21 27 42 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA 3 28 .097 21.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB z-Indiana 21 11 .656 — x-Connecticut 20 13 .606 1.5 x-Atlanta 19 14 .576 2.5 x-New York 18 14 .563 3 Chicago 14 17 .452 6.5 Washington 6 27 .182 15.5 x-clinched playoff spot z-clinched conference —————————————————— Wednesday's result Indiana 87, Washington 69 Today's games Chicago at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Tulsa at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Friday's games Indiana at New York, 4 p.m. Phoenix at Seattle, 7 p.m. Tulsa at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. Columbus 11 8 7 40 31 30 Kansas City 9 8 10 37 40 36 Philadelphia 8 7 11 35 35 30 Houston 8 8 11 35 34 33 New York 6 6 14 32 41 37 D.C. 7 7 10 31 34 35 Chicago 4 7 15 27 30 33 N. England 4 11 12 24 30 43 Toronto FC 4 12 12 24 26 49 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. —————————————————— Wednesday's result Philadelphia 4, New England 4, tie Friday's game Colorado at Los Angeles, 8 p.m. Saturday's games Chicago at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. Real Salt Lake at Seattle FC, 1 p.m. Houston at Sporting Kansas City, 1 p.m. Vancouver at New York, 4:30 p.m. Portland at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. FC Dallas at New England, 4:30 p.m. Toronto FC at Columbus, 4:30 p.m. D.C. United at Chivas USA, 7:30 p.m. and when he does that he usually has success.'' Bruce Chen (10-7) allowed six runs on eight hits in his 6 1-3 innings. ''I felt like I was making my pitches but in the end we lost,'' Chen said. ''Their pitcher did a good job and he beat us.'' Crisp, after missing four games with a sore right foot, doubled in the first inning, stole his 40th base and scored on Willingham's sacrifice fly. The A's added another run in the fourth when left fielder Alex Gordon misplayed Michael Taylor's fly ball into a two-base error, allowing Kurt Suzuki to score. Earlier, Taylor lost a hit when he was thrown at first base by strong- armed right fielder Jeff Francoeur. The 9-3 putout was just the fifth in the AL since 1974. NOTES: A's IF Brandon Allen was given the day off. ... Melvin said he'll wait until after Thursday's off-day to decide if he wants to use an extra pitcher into the rotation, with LHP Josh Outman the leading candidate. ...RHP Brandon McCarthy (8-7, 3.41) will start for the A's at the Texas Rangers on Friday. McCarthy has thrown back-to- back complete games, including a three-hit shutout in his last start. ... Crisp became the 10th A's player to record 40 stolen bases in a season. Astart-and-stop day at Flushing Meadows lie to the players, too,'' said Nadal, the defending cham- pion, who trailed unseeded Gilles Muller 3-0 when play was stopped. ''The players knew when we (went) on court that it was still raining, so it was a very strange decision, and we were upset about that.'' Curley, however, said player safety is the USTA's top concern and that only one player — Roddick — made any mention to a chair umpire of the slick condi- tions when he walked on the court. ''The players want to make sure they're playing under safe conditions,'' Cur- ley said. ''That's the con- cern they've expressed. We share that concern. But at the end of the day, it's the referee who makes the call on whether or not the court is fit for play.'' With rain showers lin- gering over the Billie Jean King National Tennis Cen- ter for the rest of the day, this debate about safety, weather and scheduling — along with whether the USTA should build a cov- ered stadium and whether The Packers think the reintroduction of those injured players, along with some incoming rookies who may play significant roles, will help them fend off any sense of complacency that may have prevented past Super Bowl winners from repeating. After spending last year's Super Bowl run on the side- lines, Finley isn't shy about his goals. ''Win the championship, man,'' Finley said. ''If the chemistry gets back to where it was last year, it's going to be all good from there.'' Rodgers thinks the Pack- MLB West Division Texas American League WL Pct GB Angels 77 65 .542 3 A's 81 63 .563 — 65 78 .455 15.5 Seattle 59 82 .418 20.5 East Division WL Pct GB New York 87 54 .617 — Boston 85 57 .599 2.5 Tampa Bay 78 64 .549 9.5 Toronto 71 72 .497 17 Baltimore 56 85 .397 31 Central Division WL Pct GB Detroit 81 62 .566 — Chicago 71 70 .504 9 Cleveland 70 70 .500 9.5 Kansas City60 84 .417 21.5 Minnesota 59 84 .413 22 —————————————————— Wednesday's results Oakland 7, Kansas City 0 Baltimore 5, N.Y.Yankees 4, 11 innings Detroit 8, Cleveland 6 Minnesota 5, Chicago 4 Tampa Bay 5, Texas 4, 10 innings Toronto 11, Boston 10 Seattle at L.A. Angels, late Today's games N.Y.Yankees (Nova 15-4) at Baltimore (Simon 4-8), 10:05 a.m. Boston (A.Miller 6-2) at Toronto (R.Romero 13-10), 4:07 p.m. Cleveland (D.Huff 2-3) at Chicago (Floyd 12-10), 5:10 p.m. Kansas City (Hochevar 10-10) at Seattle (Vargas 7-13), 7:10 p.m. Friday's games Oakland at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Minnesota at Detroit, 4:05 p.m. Baltimore at Toronto, 4:07 p.m. Boston at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m. Cleveland at Chicago, 5:10 p.m. N.Y.Yankees at L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m. Kansas City at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. the players should form a union — had to suffice for the day's entertainment. Murray and Roddick also weighed in. ''It didn't really make a whole lot of sense in the end to go out for nine or 10 min- utes when it's still raining,'' Murray said. Nadal conceded he let his reluctance get to him, which played into a pair of double-faults in his opening service game and his early 3-0 deficit. No. 4 Murray was trail- ing 2-1 to American Donald Young, but on serve. No. 21 Roddick got an early break and led No. 5 David Ferrer 3-1. Roddick said he did, in fact, speak to the chair umpire before play began. ''I was just wondering if he saw the same mist in the air that I saw,'' Roddick said. ''The back was still a little wet. I understand everyone wants to see it on TV and certainly, at the end of the day, we're a sport, but this whole thing is a busi- ness. Everyone here is kind of in the same boat, so they need a product on the court.'' ers can be perennial con- tenders. ''If you think about 'teams of the decades,' those teams won multiple Super Bowls,'' Rodgers said. ''The Steelers of the '70s, Niners of the '80s, Cowboys in the '90s, Patriots in the 2000s were multiple Super Bowl victors. We want to want to re-establish that tradition of going deep in the playoffs every year and making runs at Super Bowls.'' MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB Arizona 81 61 .570 — GIANTS 75 68 .524 6.5 Dodgers 69 72 .489 11.5 Colorado 67 75 .472 14 Padres 62 81 .434 19.5 East Division WL Pct GB Philadelphia 91 48 .655 — Atlanta 82 60 .577 10.5 New York 70 71 .496 22 Washington 65 75 .464 26.5 Florida 63 79 .444 29.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Milwaukee 85 59 .590 — St. Louis 76 67 .531 8.5 Cincinnati 70 73 .490 14.5 Pittsburgh 66 77 .462 18.5 Chicago 62 81 .434 22.5 Houston 48 95 .336 36.5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results San Diego 3, San Francisco 1 Chicago Cubs 6, Cincinnati 3 N.Y.Mets 1, Florida 0 Philadelphia 3, Atlanta 2 Pittsburgh 5, Houston 4 St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 0 Arizona at Colorado, late L.A. Dodgers at Washington, ppd., rain Today's games L.A. Dodgers (Eveland 1-0) at Washington (Wang 2-3), 10:05 a.m. Atlanta (Minor 4-2) at N.Y. Mets (Schwinden 0-0), 1:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Billingsley 10-10) at Washington (Detwiler 2-5), 1:35 p.m. Atlanta (Teheran 0-1) at N.Y.Mets (Gee 12-5), 4:40 p.m. Philadelphia (Hamels 13-7) at Milwaukee (Narveson 10-6), 5:10 p.m. San Diego (Luebke 5-8) at Arizona (I.Kennedy 18-4), 6:40 p.m. Thursday's games L.A. Dodgers at San Francisco, 7:15 p.m. Florida at Pittsburgh, 4:05 p.m. Houston at Washington, 4:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs at N.Y. Mets, 4:10 p.m. Philadelphia at Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m. Atlanta at St. Louis, 5:15 p.m. Cincinnati at Colorado, 5:40 p.m. San Diego at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Leaders 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Kyle Busch 3. Carl Edwards 4. Matt Kenseth 5. Jeff Gordon 6. Kevin Harvick 7. Kurt Busch 8. Ryan Newman 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 10. Tony Stewart 11. Brad Keselowski 12. Denny Hamlin 13. A J Allmendinger 14. Clint Bowyer 15. Greg Biffle 16. Martin Truex Jr. 17. Kasey Kahne 18. Joey Logano 19. Mark Martin 20. Paul Menard 21. Marcos Ambrose 25. Jamie McMurray 26. Regan Smith 27. Brian Vickers 28. David Reutimann 29. Bobby Labonte 30. David Gilliland 31. Casey Mears 32. Dave Blaney 33. Andy Lally 34. Robby Gordon 35. Tony Raines 36. J.J.Yeley 37. Bill Elliott 38. Terry Labonte 39. Ken Schrader 40. Michael McDowell 41. David Stremme 42. Boris Said 43. Michael Waltrip 44. Andy Pilgrim 45. Chris Cook 46. T.J. Bell 47. Brian Simo 48. Geoffrey Bodine 49. Brian Keselowski 50. Erik Darnell Race Wins 1. Kyle Busch 2. Brad Keselowski 2. Jeff Gordon 2. Kevin Harvick 5. Matt Kenseth 6. Kurt Busch 6. Paul Menard 6. Carl Edwards 6. Trevor Bayne 6. Denny Hamlin 6. Ryan Newman 6. Regan Smith 6. Marcos Ambrose 6. David Ragan 6. Jimmie Johnson 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Upcoming Schedule Sep. 10 — Wonderful Pistachios 400, Richmond, Va. Sep. 18 — GEICO 400, Joliet, Ill. Sep. 25 — Sylvania 300, Loudon, N.H. Oct. 2 — AAA 400, Dover, Del. 873 852 835 834 830 819 789 786 753 751 728 709 698 697 681 676 667 662 660 657 650 22. Juan Pablo Montoya 650 23. David Ragan 24. Jeff Burton 637 603 579 563 560 538 515 429 360 324 321 229 129 101 100 92 87 86 49 38 20 18 17 14 11 6 3 2 Harang, Padres hand Giants crucial loss SAN DIEGO (AP) — Aaron Harang threw seven strong innings and Cameron Maybin had two hits and an RBI as the San Diego Padres dealt a big blow to the San Francisco Giants' fading playoff hopes with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night. The Giants, who have 19 games left, came into the game trailing NL West-leading Arizona by six games. San Francisco rookie Brett Pill homered for a second straight game after he hit a home run Tuesday night in his first major league at-bat. Will Venable had a solo homer and scored twice, while Maybin doubled and tripled in a run in the ninth. The Padres got clutch defensive plays by Ven- able and Maybin. The first was by May- bin, who made a long running catch while crashing into the wall in left-center field to rob Justin Christian leading off the game. Maybin hit his forehead on the padded wall and was on the ground for about a minute before he got up and stayed in the game. Venable threw out Pill at home in the seventh when the rookie tried to score on a medium fly ball to right by pinch- hitter Pat Burrell. San Diego won for the second time in 13 games overall. The Padres had lost six of their previous seven home games against San Francisco. Harang (13-5) broke a two-start losing streak by allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. Harang, who struck out three and walked three, is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three starts this season against the Giants, all at Petco Park. Heath Bell got the final four outs for his 36th save in 40 chances. Bell replaced Chad Qualls in the eighth and threw one pitch to retire Carlos Beltran on a line drive to right with a run- ner on first and two outs. Matt Cain (11-10) gave up two runs and four hits over seven innings. The right-han- der struck out seven and walked three. Cain, making his 200th career start, dropped to 8-19 lifetime against San Diego. Venable led off the Padres' first with his seventh homer to right. It also extended his sea- son club record for lead- off homers to five. The home run was the third allowed by Cain in his last 20 starts. Over- all, Cain has given up only eight homers. Pill tied the game with a homer leading off the fifth. Pill joined John Bowker as the only two players in franchise his- tory to homer in their first two major league games. Pill homered off Wade LeBlanc on Tues- day night in his first major league at-bat, a two-run shot in the sec- ond inning of the Giants' 6-4 win. The Padres took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Jesus Guzman singled in Maybin, who reached on a two-out double. Notes: Cain has pitched 203 innings this season, the fifth straight season he has reached the 200-inning mark. ... After a day off, Giants RHP Tim Lincecum (12- 12, 2.75 ERA) will attempt to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time this season in four starts (0-2, 1.86) on Friday to open a six- game homestand. LHP Clayton Kershaw (17-5, 2.45) pitches for the Dodgers. NFL Week 1 Schedule Today's game New Orleans at Green Bay, 5:30 p.m. Sunday's games Seattle at San Francisco, 1:15 p.m. Atlanta at Chicago, 10 a.m. Buffalo at Kansas City, 10 a.m. Cincinnati at Cleveland, 10 a.m. Detroit at Tampa Bay, 10 a.m. Indianapolis at Houston, 10 a.m. Philadelphia at St. Louis, 10 a.m. Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 10 a.m. Tennessee at Jacksonville, 10 a.m. Carolina at Arizona, 1:15 p.m. Minnesota at San Diego, 1:15 p.m. N.Y. Giants at Washington, 1:15 p.m. Dallas at N.Y. Jets, 5:20 p.m. Monday's games Oakland at Denver, 7:15 p.m. New England at Miami, 4 p.m. NCAA AP Top 25 Games Today's game No. 9 Oklahoma State vs. Arizona, 5 p.m. Friday's game No. 21 Missouri at Arizona State, 7:30 p.m. Saturday's games No. 2 LSU vs. Northwestern State, 5 p.m. No.3 Alabama at No.23 Penn St., 12:30 p.m. No. 5 Florida St. vs. Charleston So., 3 p.m. No. 6 Stanford at Duke, 12:30 p.m. No. 8 Wisconsin vs. Oregon State, 9 a.m. No. 10 Nebraska vs. Fresno State, 4 p.m. No. 11 Virginia Tech at E. Car., 12:30 p.m. No. 12 S. Carolina at Georgia, 1:30 p.m. No. 13 Oregon vs. Nevada, 12:30 p.m. No. 14 Arkansas vs. New Mexico at Little Rock, Ark., 4 p.m. No. 15 Ohio State vs. Toledo, 9 a.m. No. 16 Mississippi St. at Auburn, 9:20 a.m. No. 17 Michigan State vs. FAU, 9 a.m. No. 18 Florida vs. UAB, 4 p.m. No. 19 W. Virginia vs. Norfolk St., 10 a.m. No. 22 South Florida vs. Ball State, 4 p.m. No. 24 Texas vs. BYU, 4 p.m. No. 25 TCU at Air Force, 12:30 p.m. ODDS NCAA Football Friday's games at Arizona St. 7.5 (53.5) Missouri at Louisville 4(48.5) Saturday's games at Wisconsin 21 (57) Iowa OregonSt. at Kentucky 13(46.5) Cent.Michigan San Diego St. 9.5 (55.5) at Ohio St. 19(50.5) Toledo Mississippi St. 6.5 (56.5) at Auburn at North Carolina10.5 (48) N. Illinois at SMU at Tennessee 6 (53) Tulsa Virginia Tech 6.5 (60.5) at Kansas 20(53.5) Rutgers UTEP Cincinnati 13.5 (63.5) at Tulane 18.5(64) at East Carolina at Minnesota 20 (52) New Mexico St. at Washington 6.5(51) at Oregon 26.5 (63) California Stanford Alabama TCU Hawaii Nevada 6.5(49) 21 (59) 10 (42) 2 (49) NC State Purdue Southern Miss. 7.5(53) South Carolina 3(51.5) Temple 15 (45) at Nebraska 28 (50) Virginia at Texas at Florida 6.5 (55.5) 7(48.5) 23(53.5) at South Florida 20 (50.5) at Colorado at Duke at Penn St. at Air Force 2 (49) at Wake Forest 1.5(51) at Rice at Marshall at Georgia at Akron Fresno St. at Indiana BYU UAB at Arkansas-x 36 (53) New Mexico at Washington St.14 (56) at Vanderbilt 2 (44) at Southern Cal 9 (52) at UCF at Michigan St.32.5 (50.5) FAU at Arkansas St.14.5(54.5) Memphis Houston Navy x-at Little Rock, Ark. 22 (64) at North Texas 10 (51) at W. Kentucky Georgia Tech 11 (56) atMiddleTenn. at Kent St. 9.5 (51) La.-Lafayette Ball St. UNLV UConn Utah Notre Dame 3.5 (55.5) at Michigan at UCLA 7 (44) Boston College 21 (48) San Jose St. 6.5 (43.5) at Iowa St. at Army FIU