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2B Daily News – Tuesday, April 24, 2012 not accomplished. San Jose Mercury News (MCT) ST. LOUIS— At the final horn, as the San Jose Sharks waited in defeat for the handshake line to begin, there was no talking and no consoling. Each player skated in his own small circle. No man used his stick to slap each other's legs in solace. No one patted another on the shoulder. Then, as the scoreboard blinked the Game 5 elimination result — Blues 3, Sharks 1 — the players did their oblig- atory grip-and-goodbye duties. Then they glided slowly to the rink exit, some with heads down. Dan Boyle was the last man off the ice, his face a por- trait of anger and disappointment. Not since 2003, when the Sharks missed the playoffs entirely, has the team been done playing hockey this early in April. Was this series loss as bad as 2009 when the Sharks were the No. 1 seed and went out in round one to Anaheim in six games? Probably not. But it's a stupid debate. Losing is losing. "It sucks," captain Joe Thornton said. "It's a terrible feeling right now. Hats off to the Blues. They played great. But it sucks right now." There is always a danger in reading too much into body language. But those little individual skating circles after Saturday's game, along with sub- tle other interactions on and off the ice, gave off the aura that something was amiss in team chemistry with this Shark team. And when asked about it, head coach Todd McLellan did not dis- pute the chemistry issue. "There was still work to do," McLellan acknowledged. "We had a lot of changes early and started to come together. Then at the trade deadline, we brought three people in — great play- ers who had an impact on our team. But it takes a while to become part of that group." McLellan was speaking specifically about the deals last offseason that brought about defenseman Brent Burns and forward Marty Havlat, fol- lowed by the trade-deadline acquisi- tions of Dominic Moore, T J Galiardi and Daniel Winnik. They were sup- posed to help push our beloved Los Tiburones up to the next level. Mission Sharks short postseason mirrored regular season Union Rags still the 1 in By Mark Purdy In the end, the Sharks' playoff team of 2011-12 suspiciously resembled the Sharks' regular season team of 2011- 12. They could not play a consistent 60 minutes to save their lives —or even save a one-goal lead with 13 minutes left to play in a desperate win-or-go- home game. Saturday, after doing a good job holding off the Blues' strong start, the Sharks settled into a solid road playoff performance, working hard to get a 1-0 lead at the end of the second period on a goal by Thornton. The Sharks then spent the first 10 minutes of the third period keeping the Blues a decent dis- tance away from the net, with goalie Anti Niemi making every save neces- sary. series. The Blues did more and better detail work, to win key faceoffs and battles. The Sharks had opportunities throughout to score more goals and make crucial plays but couldn't get there and couldn't be ... wait for it ... consistent. AP's Run to Roses Top 10 By RICHARD ROSENBLATT AP Sports Writer "The whole series, we just didn't capitalize," Boyle said. "We had guys in front of the net with Grade A chances and we couldn't capitalize." An empty-net goal for St. Louis fin- ished Saturday's scoring before a screaming home crowd. This was a moment of catharsis for the Blues fan base. The team had not won a playoff series since 2002 and had missed the postseason entirely in five of the last six years. But at the midway point of the peri- od, McLellan had sensed from behind the bench that the Sharks were back on their heels. He addressed it to the play- ers during a break in play. "And a minute later, we were down, 2-1," McLellan said. The inconsistency monster struck again. Blues forward Scott Nichol was sprung loose on a pass out of the Sharks' end. Skating fast over the Blue line, Nichol fired a puck at Niemi that hit his glove but somehow spit out in front of him. Shark defenseman Justin Braun could not keep the trailing Jamie Langenbrunner from getting the puck on his stick and lifting it up over Niemi. Blues 1, Sharks 1. Less than a minute later, the Sharks had a faceoff in the Blues' offensive zone and Patrick Marleau could not win the draw cleanly. The puck stayed inside the blue line and eventually made it's way over to St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who fired it toward the net and had David Perron tip it past Niemi's right shoul- der. Picking the favorite for the Kentucky Derby may be as tough as picking the winner. Without a breakthrough star heading into the May 5 Derby, there's a stable full of 3-year-olds worthy of the lead- ing role as horse to beat when a full field of 20 spring from the starting gate at Churchill Downs. Let's begin with Union Rags, who opened on top and now finishes No. 1 on the AP's final Run to the Roses' Top 10 list of Derby contenders. Other potential Derby favorites are Bodemeister, Creative Cause, Dullahan, Gemologist and I'll Have Another. Meanwhile, back in San Jose, there will be serious and meaningful ques- tions about whether the Sharks' win- dow to reach the Stanley Cup finals is closing and how much the roster should be shaken up again. The core, anchored by 32-year-old Thornton and 32-year-old Marleau and others slight- ly younger, might be disbanded. But it's also worthy to note that the Blues' best player in the series was 34-year- old Andy McDonald, who was born two years before Thornton and Mar- leau. Pavelski, Logan Couture and Mar- leau_had lived up to their regular sea- son form, things might have been dif- ferent. But of the three, only Couture scored against St. Louis. Meanwhile, late-season Shark reinforcement Marty Havlat had a great first game and then mysteriously vanished except to sur- face now and then in the penalty box after committing needless stick viola- tions. If the Sharks' best scorers — Joe Caution-free races aren't thrilling NASCAR fans Blues 2, Sharks 1. There was still time left to tie the game, of course, but the Blues' soul- crushing defensive execution went into effect. Not even when the Sharks were handed one last power play chance with 4:30 remaining could they get a puck past St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott. In fact, the Blues stopped the Sharks' last nine power plays of the CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The last 901.5 miles at NASCAR's top level have been quick and clean, the kind of races where a team can tinker on the car the entire day and not worry about artificial on-track action ruining a strong run. It's a racer's dream, but it's apparently a fan's nightmare. Three of the last four Sprint Cup races said. Boyle said. "It was a battle all year," Thornton "It was a bumpy ride all the way," "I think this team's too good to be going home right now," Couture said. But the bus was waiting outside, motor running. And it wasn't going to the next round. with the popular opinion. ''It seems like crashing to most is more important than racing,'' Johnson tweeted Monday morning, adding his disapproval for the sentiment. NASCAR finds itself in a conundrum have been accident-free, which has reignited the age-old debate: Do fans prefer racing or wrecking? Based on feedback five-time champion Jimmie Johnson has heard of late, he knows the answer and seems to disagree DRAFT (Continued from page 1B) organization after being hired in January and now is preparing for the team's first draft since Davis died last October. This will be the first Raiders draft that Davis has not run since 1962. McKenzie said. ''Coach Davis, this has been his deal since the Raiders were the Raiders. So, I am the new guy. This is my first time drafting after a legend has been drafting for the Raiders for so long. So, it's huge. But I am excited about it and I am looking forward to it. There are still so many people in the organization, so I get to hear everything about how he used to do it.'' ''It's an exciting time,'' 1. Union Rags ... Derby future wager odds: 9-2. 2. Gemologist ... Odds: 12-1. 3. Bodemeister ... Odds: 22-1. 4. Creative Cause ... Odds: 8-1. 5. Dullahan ... Odds: 23-1. 6. I'll Have Another ... Odds: 21-1. 7. Hansen ... Odds: 8-1. 8. Take Charge Indy ... Odds: 15-1. 9. Went the Day Well Odds: 19-1. 10. Alpha ... Odds: 21-1. following this unusually clean stretch of rac- ing. The on-track product is pure, and there's been no room for gimmicks or manufac- tured action during the races. It's what racing is supposed to be, and it gives teams the opportunity to let the race come to them. More times than not, in those kind of races, third-rounder to take quarter- back project Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft. Oakland also dealt a fourth-rounder to Washing- ton in 2010 for former start- ing quarterback Jason Camp- bell and a seventh-rounder last year for starting outside linebacker Aaron Curry. That leaves McKenzie with compensatory picks at the end of the third, fourth and fifth rounds and Oak- land's original picks in the fifth and sixth. With McKen- zie unable to trade compen- satory picks and unwilling to give up future high picks, it seems unlikely the Raiders will be able to pick before 95th. have to wait a while to make his first pick, which won't be until the final selection on Day 2 with the 95th overall pick at the end of the third round — the first of the team's three compensatory picks. McKenzie will likely first-round pick last October for quarterback Carson Palmer, a second-rounder during last year's draft for backup running back Taiwan Jones and offensive lineman Joe Barksdale, and spent a The Raiders traded their FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) ''We need some depth to compete and hopefully win jobs,'' he said. ''That's what we're targeting. When we say best player, whether it's D-line, linebacker, O-line, tight end ... it doesn't matter. We want to get a good play- er. We've got five picks. We need to make them all count.'' helped build championship teams in the 1970s and 80s. He got Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ken Stabler and Hall of Fame offensive line- man Art Shell in the second and third rounds in 1968; GOLF NHL PLAYOFFS 1. Rory McIlroy 2. Luke Donald Monday's results N.Y. Rangers 3, Ottawa 2 Series tied 3-3 Phoenix at Chicago, late Phoenix leads series 3-2 Today's game Florida at New Jersey, 4:30 p.m. Florida leads series 3-2 Other series St. Louis beat San Jose 4-1 Los Angeles beat Vancouver 4-1 Nashville beat Detroit 4-1 Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh 4-2 Boston and Washington tied 3-3 World Golf Ranking NIR 9.46 ENG 9.31 3. Lee Westwood ENG 8.40 4. Bubba Watson USA 6.40 5. Hunter Mahan USA 5.76 6. Martin Kaymer GER 5.46 7. Steve Stricker USA 5.44 8. Tiger Woods USA 5.42 9. Phil Mickelson USA 5.25 10. Justin Rose ENG 5.13 11. Louis Oosthuizen SAF 5.06 12. Adam Scott AUS 5.04 13. Charl Schwartzel SAF 5.03 14.Webb Simpson USA 4.88 15. Matt Kuchar USA 4.82 16. Jason Day 17. Dustin Johnson USA 4.75 18. Graeme McDowell NIR 19. Bill Haas USA 4.41 20. Keegan Bradley USA 4.25 AUS 4.81 4.70 Davis' drafting acumen big-play receiver Cliff Branch in the fourth round in 1972; Hall of Fame tight end Dave Casper in the second round in 1974; star corner- back Lester Hayes in the fifth round in 1977 and Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long in the second round in 1981. But there were more misses than hits in recent years, contributing to a run of nine straight seasons without a winning record or playoff berth. Of the 12 first-round picks since 2001, including six players in the top 10, Nnamdi Asomugha is the only one to make a Pro Bowl. More notable were busts like quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007 or NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Leaders 1. Greg Biffle 2. Martin Truex Jr. 3. Matt Kenseth 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5. Denny Hamlin 6. Kevin Harvick 7. Jimmie Johnson 8. Tony Stewart 9. Carl Edwards 10. Ryan Newman 11. Clint Bowyer 12. Joey Logano 13. Kyle Busch 14. Paul Menard 15. Brad Keselowski 19. Jamie McMurray 20. Aric Almirola 21. Marcos Ambrose 22. Regan Smith 23. A J Allmendinger 24. Mark Martin 25. Kurt Busch 26. Kasey Kahne 27. Bobby Labonte 28. Casey Mears 29. David Gilliland 30. David Ragan 31. David Reutimann 32. Dave Blaney 33. Travis Kvapil 34. Landon Cassill 35. J.J.Yeley 36. David Stremme 37. Brian Vickers 38. Michael McDowell 39. Brendan Gaughan 40. Ken Schrader 41. Tony Raines 42. Josh Wise 43. Terry Labonte 44. Hermie Sadler 45. Scott Riggs 46. Robby Gordon 47. Scott Speed 312 297 295 291 289 287 275 265 251 249 227 221 218 218 217 16. Juan Pablo Montoya 207 17. Jeff Burton 18. Jeff Gordon 201 200 190 187 187 187 185 181 174 166 161 137 126 123 121 111 104 101 73 69 66 51 50 47 35 31 27 13 13 6 1 it's the best car celebrating in Victory Lane. But it's action and drama that draws attention, and if you don't believe that, rewind to Juan Pablo Montoya crashing into a jet dryer in the season-opening Daytona 500. The accident, ensuing explosion and raging fuel fire drew worldwide headlines and gave NASCAR the literal spark it need- ed to start the season. Some of the most memorable moments of last season stemmed from crashes or conflict: An ongo- ing feud between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick led to a pit-road confrontation at taking offensive lineman Robert Gallery over Larry Fitzgerald in 2004. There was also the con- stant obsession with speed, most notably when Davis drafted Darrius Heyward- Bey seventh overall in 2009, ahead of far more accom- plished receivers. Heyward- Bey had a breakthrough sea- son last year but still has fewer receptions, yards and touchdowns than the five receivers taken after him in the first round that year. The infatuation with speed got to the point that as soon as a player clocked in at under 4.4 seconds in the 40- yard dash at the NFL com- MLB West Division Texas A's Seattle Angels East Division New York Baltimore Toronto American League WL Pct GB 13 4 .765 — 89 .471 5 7 10 .412 6 6 10 .375 6.5 WL Pct GB 10 6 .625 — 10 6 .625 — 9 7 .563 1 Tampa Bay 9 7 .563 1 Boston Central Division Detroit Chicago Cleveland Minnesota 5 10 .333 4.5 WL Pct GB 10 6 .625 — 9 6 .600 .5 8 6 .571 1 5 12 .294 5.5 Kansas City 3 13 .188 7 —————————————————— Monday's results Chicago at Oakland, late Boston 6, Minnesota 5 New York 7, Texas 4 Toronto 4, Kansas City 1 Today's games Chicago (Floyd 1-2) at Oakland (Milone 2-1), 7:05 p.m. Kansas City (J.Sanchez 1-0) at Cleveland (D.Lowe 2-1), 4:05 p.m. Seattle (Vargas 2-1) at Detroit (Scherzer 1-1), 4:05 p.m. Toronto (H.Alvarez 0-1) at Baltimore (Tom.Hunter 1-1), 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles (E.Santana 0-3) at Tampa Bay (Price 2-1), 4:10 p.m. New York (Kuroda 1-2) at Texas (Darvish 2-0), 5:05 p.m. Boston (Beckett 1-2) at Minnesota (Blackburn 0-1), 5:10 p.m. Wednesday's games Chicago at Oakland, 12:35 p.m. Kansas City at Cleveland, 4:05 p.m. Seattle at Detroit, 4:05 p.m Toronto at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. L.os Angeles at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m. New York at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Boston at Minnesota, 5:10 p.m. Darlington, Brian Vickers was involved in five of seven accidents at Martinsville, the road-course race at Sonoma resembled a demolition derby and featured intentional wrecking between Vickers and Tony Stew- art. There were plenty of shouting matches from Boris Said calling Greg Biffle ''a scaredy-cat'' while promising to deliver ''a whooping'' at Watkins Glen, and Johnson and Kurt Busch had to be separated during a jawing match on pit road at Pocono. But here we are, eight races into a new season, and nobody is fighting on or off the track. bine, jokes immediately started that the Raiders will draft him no matter what he's done on the football field. Last year's Raiders roster featured the fastest players at the last three combines and five other players clocked at 4.36 seconds or better in the 40 at the combine or their pro days. ''Speed is always going to be important,'' McKenzie said. ''But if you're insinuat- ing that speed only? No, we're not looking for just MLB West Division Dodgers GIANTS Colorado Arizona Padres East Division Washington 12 4 .750 — Atlanta New York Miami St. Louis Philadelphia 7 9 .438 5 Central Division WL Pct GB 11 6 .647 — Milwaukee 8 9 .471 3 Cincinnati Pittsburgh Houston Chicago 7 9 .438 3.5 6 9 .400 4 6 11 .353 5 5 12 .294 6 —————————————————— Monday's results San Francisco 6, New York 1, 1st game San Francisco 7, New York 2,2nd game Chicago 3, St. Louis 2 Milwaukee 6, Houston 5 Atlanta at Los Angeles, late Philadelphia at Arizona, late Colorado at Pittsburgh, ppd., rain Today's games San Francisco (M.Cain 1-0) at Cincinnati (Latos 0-2), 4:10 p.m. Colorado (Nicasio 1-0) at Pittsburgh (Ja.McDonald 0-1), 4:05 p.m. Miami (Jo.Johnson 0-2) at New York (J.Santana 0-2), 4:10 p.m. St. Louis (Wainwright 0-3) at Chicago(Samardzija 2-1), 5:05 p.m. Houston (Norris 1-0) at Milwaukee (Wolf 0-2), 5:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Worley 1-1) at Arizona (Collmenter 0-1), 6:40 p.m. Washington (G.Gonzalez 1-0) at San Diego (Richard 1-1), 7:05 p.m. Atlanta (Minor 2-1) at Los Angeles (Harang 1-1), 7:10 p.m. Wednesday's games San Francisco at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m. Colorado at Pittsburgh, 9:35 a.m. Houston at Milwaukee, 10:10 a.m. St. Louis at Chicago, 11:20 a.m. Philadelphia at Arizona, 12:40 p.m. Washington at San Diego, 3:35 p.m. Miami at New York, 4:10 p.m. Atlanta at Los Angeles, 7:10 p.m. Wednesday's games Charlotte at Orlando, 4 p.m. Chicago at Indiana, 4 p.m. Washington at Cleveland, 4 p.m. Denver at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. L.A. Clippers at New York, 5 p.m. Philadelphia at Milwaukee, 5 p.m. San Antonio at Phoenix, 7:30 p.m. WL Pct GB 10 6 .625 2 8 8 .500 4 7 8 .467 4.5 National League WL Pct GB 12 4 .750 — 97 .563 3 8 7 .533 3.5 8 8 .500 4 5 12 .294 7.5 guys that run fast. Of course we love size, and we're going to emphasize size. But we're going to make sure they're good football players. Make sure they're tough, they understand the game.'' It truly is a new era. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division x-Lakers WL Pct GB 41 24 .631 — x-Clippers 40 24 .625 .5 Phoenix WARRIORS 23 41 .359 17.5 KINGS 33 31 .516 7.5 21 43 .328 19.5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB z-San Antonio 48 16 .750 — x-Memphis 40 25 .615 8.5 x-Dallas Houston New Orleans 20 44 .313 28 Northwest Division WL Pct GB y-Okla. City 46 18 .719 — x-Denver Utah Portland 36 28 .563 10 34 30 .531 12 28 37 .431 18.5 Minnesota 26 39 .400 20.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division y-Boston WL Pct GB 37 27 .578 — x-New York 34 30 .531 3 x-Philadelphia 34 30 .531 3 New Jersey 22 43 .338 15.5 Toronto 22 43 .338 15.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 46 18 .719 — 38 26 .594 8 y-Miami x-Atlanta x-Orlando 36 28 .563 10 Washington 18 46 .281 28 Charlotte Central Division y-Chicago 48 16 .750 — x-Indiana Milwaukee 31 33 .484 17 Detroit 7 57 .109 39 WL Pct GB 42 23 .646 6.5 24 41 .369 24.5 Cleveland 21 43 .328 27 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division z-clinched conference —————————————————— Monday's results Indiana 103, Detroit 97 Memphis 109, Cleveland 101 Milwaukee 92, Toronto 86 Philadelphia 105, New Jersey 87 San Antonio 124, Portland 89 Washington 101, Charlotte 73 Today's games Sacramento at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. New Orleans at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Miami at Boston, 5 p.m. Phoenix at Utah, 7:30 p.m. 36 29 .554 12.5 33 32 .508 15.5 It was a maddening story that began in September and continued through Sat- urday. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. place finish in the Florida Derby after winning the Fountain of Youth. Not the most stellar credentials, but by finishing with a flourish in his last race after a tough trip trainer Michael Matz is hoping Union Rags will be at his best on Derby day. Union Rags comes into the 1 1/4-mile Derby off a third- Keeneland last week. Matz called the work ''nothing spec- tacular,'' but ''we will ask more of him in his next work,'' sometime next week at Churchill Downs. ''If he has an exceptional work next week, he could wind The colt worked four furlongs in 47.40 seconds at up the favorite,'' says longtime Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia, who will set the betting line a week from Wednesday. ''But in two losses, they made excuses for him. If he's as good as everybody says he would have been able to overcome that bad trip (in the Florida Derby).'' With that, Battaglia is leaning toward Bodemeister based on the colt's eye-catching, 9 1/2-length victory in the Arkansas Derby in just his fourth career start. Bodemeister is No. 3 this week. ''He ran a huge race in Arkansas, but the question is can he come back in three weeks and duplicate that?'' says Battaglia. Gemologist, No. 2 on our list, is unbeaten in all five of his starts, including a victory in the Wood Memorial. Dullahan, No. 5, came rumbling down the stretch and overtook Hansen in winning the Blue Grass, and the California-based duo of I'll Have Another and Creative Cause ran 1-2 in the Santa Anita Derby. ''They all have questions,'' says Battaglia, ''which is why it's so wide open.''