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2B Daily News – Friday, April 27, 2012 Pagan hits 3-run homer to lead Giants DRAFT Pagan made the Giants' long trip home a little easier. Pagan hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning Thursday, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds. ''We were all pumped when I got back to the bench,'' Pagan said. ''We were thinking about a happy flight home.'' CINCINNATI (AP) — Angel for me,'' said Marshall, who blew his first save after converting four opportu- nities. ''I've gotten some outs with it. The ball hung in the middle of the plate. He didn't get a good swing on it. What hurts is the guys played so well.'' Javier Lopez (2-0) allowed two hits ''The curveball's been a good pitch Reds starter Homer Bailey lasted 6 1-3 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs — two earned — with two walks and six strikeouts. Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong gave The Giant avoided a three-game sweep and snapped a seven-game los- ing streak at Great American Ball Park. ''It was one of those games that save your sanity,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. Wednesday when Aubrey Huff was placed on the disabled list with an anx- iety disorder, led off the ninth against Cincinnati closer Sean Marshall (0-2) with a walk, and Ryan Theriot fol- lowed with a single. After pinch-hitter Brett Pill struck out, Pagan lofted a 1-2 pitch 386 feet into the left field seats. Pagan was ready for the curveball after striking out against Marshall on the pitch Wednesday night. ''I knew he was going to throw it Joaquin Arias, who was called up again,'' Pagan said. ''I had to make an adjustment. I swung at one in the dirt last night. This one was in the strike zone.'' budding legend of Yoe- nis Cespedes grew some more on a steely-gray Wednesday of minimal- ist Oakland baseball, many odd occurrences and a stroke of baseball history that was eclipsed by the way this game ended. BY MARCOS BRETON McClatchy Newspapers OAKLAND — The Cespedes, the Cuban defector who is the A's only true offensive threat, hit a monstrous two-run home run that set the stage for a 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox in 14 innings. Washed away by this electrifying moment was a ninth-inning home run by White Sox slugger Paul Konerko, the 400th of his career. Konerko became the 48th slugger in baseball history to hit 400 bombs — a luminous achieve- ment — but he was soon crowded off the stage. Facing White Sox but no runs in the eighth to earn the win. Santiago Casilla struck out the side in the ninth for his second save. Casilla is replacing Brian Wilson, who will miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury. ''You have to throw strikes. That's number one,'' Casilla said. ''Having six saves last year helped and I pitched the ninth inning in the Dominican. When I pitch more I feel better.'' Casilla bailed out a bullpen that had a rough series. ''You can't throw the ball any better than Casilla did,'' Bochy said. ''Our bullpen has been struggling this series, too. We haven't played our best base- ball yet.'' Jay Bruce hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning and Scott Rolen led off the seventh with his second of the sea- son, both in the last two games. Giants third baseman Pablo San- (Continued from page 1B) beat out Luck for the Heis- man Trophy. up seven hits and four runs with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings. The Reds took a 2-0 lead in the sec- ond on Devin Mesoraco's sacrifice fly and Bailey's RBI single. The Giants capitalized on shortstop Zack Cozart's error to tie the score with two runs in the fourth inning. Bruce broke the tie with his fourth homer of the season, a 381-foot shot to right-center field that just cleared the glove of the leaping Pagan. The homer was Bruce's first since hitting two against the Miami Marlins on April 8. Pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco came up with a sacrifice fly to cut Cincinnati's lead to 4-3 in the seventh before Rolen's 429-foot homer. NOTES: Marshall's appearance doval went 1 for 5, extending his sea- son-opening hitting streak to 19 games, a franchise record. He went into the game tied with Johnny Rucker, who hit in the first 18 games of the 1945 season with the then-New York Giants. nate situational pitching. What was left of an announced crowd of 13,032 seemed stunned, but Cespedes wasn't. "He's a really tough kid," said A's manager Bob Melvin. was the 300th of his career. ... The Giants hadn't won in Cincinnati since a 3-0 win on June 8, 2010. ... Pagan extended his hitting streak to 11 games (16 for 52, .308) with a seventh-inning single. ... Giants C Buster Posey went 0 for 3 with a walk to see his hitting streak snapped at eight games. ... San Francisco RF Nate Schierholtz went 0 for 4 to extend his streak of consecutive hitless at bats to 12. The Athletics' Legend of Cespedes just grows more the leaders in the Amer- ican League. As he prepared to hit, Cespedes studied Santi- ago intently and quickly sized up the pitcher's repertoire — fastball, slider, changeup. In the past nine games, Cespedes has hit .324 with 11 RBIs. He was 3 for 5 Wednesday. These would be sterling numbers for any rookie, even a 26-year-old with years of international experience. He then conferred briefly with Chili Davis, the A's hitting instruc- tor, before digging in. "I had lots of oppor- tunities to decide games in Cuba," said Cespedes, who represented his country in the World Baseball Classic before defecting last year. "I was only looking to make contact." But what makes Ces- pedes' star turn all the more remarkable is that he is doing it on what is arguably the weakest hitting team in baseball. The 10-10 A's have scored only 59 runs, fewest in the A.L. The A's also have the He did, parking a Santiago changeup beyond the 368-foot sign. The game was tied 4-4. The A's would soon win. reliever Hector Santiago with a runner on and one out in the bottom of the 14th, Cespedes showed a keen eye and an ability to adjust to changing sit- uations that grows more impressive by the day. The A's had just fall- en behind 4-2 in the top of the 14th on a costly error by third baseman Eric Sogard that was fol- lowed by some unfortu- "That was the biggest at-bat of the game," said Kila Ka'aihue, the A's designated hitter whose single drove in the win- ning run. "It seemed like everything took care of itself (after the Cespedes homer)." It was the fifth home run of the season for the A's rookie center fielder. Cespedes drove in three runs and has 18 RBIs, which places him among lowest team batting average in the majors, the next-to-lowest on- base percentage, the lowest slugging average and the lowest OPS — on-base percentage plus slugging. doing this while still adjusting to a constant barrage of off-speed pitches from elite pitch- ers leery of his fastball- hitting prowess. He's doing it in the damp air and cavernous spaces of Oakland's football stadium after living his entire life in sweltering Caribbean heat. He's doing it with no English skills and far from his family that now lives in the Dominican Republic. Dressed in a light blue suit that didn't quite mesh with Redskins burgundy and gold — and wearing socks that fit the team's color scheme and pro- claimed ''GO CATCH YOUR DREAM'' — Grif- fin had some trouble get- ting the Redskins hat over his braids. He ended up wearing it just a tad crooked while he flashed big smiles for photos. ''Go catch that dream — because a lot of times when you chase something you never get to it,'' he said. ''So if you say, 'Hey, I'm going to go catch my dream,' you're already telling yourself that you're going to get it.'' team's fight song during a conference call: ''Hail to the Redskins! Hail vic-tor-y!'' Griffin said. ''That's how I felt. It felt that good.'' RG3 also sang the State's Justin Blackmon, the top receiver in this crop. ''It just goes to show you that anything can hap- pen,'' Blackmon said, referring to the Jaguars going after him. liked dealing down because the Rams did it again, trad- ing with Dallas, which was 14th overall. The Cowboys selected LSU's Morris Claiborne, the top corner- back, adding him to free agent signing Brandon Carr and shoring up what was a Swiss cheese secondary. St. Louis must have St. Louis got a second- rounder in the deal. Tampa Bay finished off a wild 30 minutes of barter- ing by grabbing Alabama safety Mark Barron sev- enth overall. Less than an hour before Goodell began the draft, Cleveland and Minnesota pulled off a trade in what would become a virtual swap shop, with eight deals on opening night. The Browns moved up just one spot, from fourth to third, to ensure getting running back Trent Richardson of national champion Alaba- ma. Minnesota received picks in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds and still was in position to get one of the elite prospects in this draft with the fourth spot overall, Southern Califor- nia offensive tackle Matt Kalil. Like Griffin, Richardson "It seemed like nobody was going to score," said Melvin, commenting on the huge swaths of a game marked by offensive futility save for Ces- pedes and Konerko. By the end of nearly four hours of baseball, three men in the A's lineup were hitting under .200 and four oth- ers were between .200 and .244. a redwood in a patch of lemon trees. That makes Cespedes Meanwhile, he's State Warriors became the first NBA team in modern history to start five rook- ies in one game for their season finale against the San Antonio Spurs on Thurs- day night. With a roster decimated by injuries, coach Mark Jackson fielded a unit of guards Klay Thompson and Charles Jenkins, forwards Chris Wright and Jere- my Tyler, and Mickell Gladness at cen- ter. Warriors draft picks, while Wright was a training camp invitee and Gladness joined the team after signing a 10-day contract earlier this month. Thompson, Jenkins and Tyler are all According to the Elias Sports Bureau, 49ERS (Continued from page 1B) ''You let the board speak, best player available. We had an opportunity to trade back and chose not to,'' Baalke said. ''Had we decided to trade back there's a good chance we would have lost him.'' Jenkins visited the 49ers earlier this month and told his agent it was his best meeting of all after also speaking to the Baltimore Ravens, the Jaguars he grew up rooting for in Jack- sonville, Kansas City, Detroit and St. Louis. Warriors become first team to start 5 rookies OAKLAND (AP) — The Golden which has been tracking the stat since the 1970-71 season, it's the first time an NBA team has started five rookies in a game. two years or less of NBA experience (James Anderson, DeJuan Blair, Danny Green and Patty Mills) alongside eight- year veteran forward Boris Diaw. The Spurs were also without coach Gregg Popovich, who is tending to a per- sonal matter. baugh's standard sports quiz for potential players — ques- tions such as the name of Green Bay's stadium and who won the Heisman Tro- phy two years ago, Jenkins recalled — he impressed with his route-running ability and speed. He ran a 4.31 40- yard dash at the NFL com- bine in February. Not only did he ace Har- ''Everything lined up,'' Harbaugh said. ''Trent put his name in an envelope and said, 'This is the guy we're going to pick,' and it held true. He's a strong, tough player.'' lowest pick since choosing 31st in 2004, when former The Niners owned their general manager Terry Don- ahue traded down twice from their original 16th spot. On Friday, San Francisco has the 61st overall pick in the second round and then No. 92 in the third round. NHL PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) Thursday's results N.Y. Rangers 2, Ottawa 1 N.Y. Rangers wins series 4-3 New Jersey at Florida, late Series tied 3-3 CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (Best-of-7) Today's games Nashville at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Series tied 0-0 Other series Los Angeles and St. Louis tied 0-0 The Spurs, still alive in the race with Chicago for the No. 1 overall record in the NBA, started quite a young team themselves after sending Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker home on Wednesday to rest for the playoffs. San Antonio started four players with Guarded and reserved in spring training — wary of questions about his politically tinged flight to freedom and riches — Cespedes is slowly opening up. He's smiling more amid increasingly famil- iar faces in the Bay Area. After Wednesday's win, a critical one before a nine-game Eastern trip, Cespedes was virtually nonchalant about his day and season so far. "I can't speak English and communicate with my teammates yet, but we all cheer for each other," he said. "This is a young team, and I think we are going to go far." Maybe, but it won't happen unless Cespedes is in the lineup. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division y-Lakers WL Pct GB 41 24 .631 — x-Clippers 40 26 .606 1.5 Phoenix WARRIORS 23 42 .354 18 KINGS 33 33 .500 8.5 21 44 .323 20 Southwest Division WL Pct GB z-San Antonio 49 16 .754 — x-Memphis 41 25 .621 8.5 x-Dallas Houston y-Okla. City 47 19 .712 — x-Denver x-Utah Portland 36 30 .545 13.5 34 32 .515 15.5 New Orleans 21 45 .318 28.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB 38 28 .576 9 36 30 .545 11 28 38 .424 19 Minnesota 26 40 .394 21 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division y-Boston WL Pct GB 39 27 .591 — x-New York 36 30 .545 3 x-Philadelphia 35 31 .530 4 Toronto y-Miami x-Atlanta 23 43 .348 16 New Jersey 22 44 .333 17 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 46 20 .697 — 40 26 .606 6 x-Orlando 37 29 .561 9 Washington 20 46 .303 26 Charlotte Central Division z-Chicago 50 16 .758 — x-Indiana Milwaukee 31 35 .470 19 Detroit 7 59 .106 39 WL Pct GB 42 24 .636 8 25 41 .379 25 Cleveland 21 45 .318 29 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division z-clinched conference —————————————————— Thursday's results L.A. Lakers at Sacramento, late San Antonio at Golden State, late Atlanta 106, Dallas 89 Boston 87, Milwaukee 74 Chicago 107, Cleveland 75 Denver 131, Minnesota 102 Detroit 108, Philadelphia 86 Houston 84, New Orleans 77 Memphis 88, Orlando 76 New York 104, Charlotte 84 Toronto 98, New Jersey 67 Utah 96, Portland 94 Washington 104, Miami 70 End of regular season was treated to lusty cheers from the crowd. Unlike Griffin, he had less trouble placing the Cleveland hat over his impressive dreads. ''This team really wants me,'' Richardson said. ''They ain't going to let me slip out of their hands at all.'' A third quarterback went eighth where Miami — can you believe it? — stayed put. The Dolphins took Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, who played wide receiver for most of his time in college. His coach at A&M, Mike Sherman, is the Dolphins offensive coordinator. Carolina selected Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, the nation's leading tackler. Buffalo chose cornerback Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina and Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe went to Kansas City before the next trade occurred. Philadelphia moved up from 15 to 12, giving Seat- tle two later picks, then took Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd went to Ari- zona, then the Rams finally got involved, taking LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers. Luck's good fortune put him in a similar position to Stanford predecessors Jim Plunkett, who won two Super Bowls for the Raiders, and John Elway, who led Denver to two NFL titles. He is the fourth consecutive quarterback chosen first and 12th in the last 15 years, dating back to Manning. Elway now runs the Broncos and recently signed Manning as a free agent after Manning missed all of last season following neck surgery. Indianapolis was the only team in the first seven picks to stay put. After Minnesota took Kalil, Jacksonville jumped up two spots, trading with Florida neighbor Tampa Bay to get Oklahoma MLB West Division Texas A's Seattle Angels East Division Baltimore American League WL Pct GB 15 4 .789 — 10 10 .500 5.5 10 10 .500 5.5 6 13 .316 9 WL Pct GB 12 7 .632 — Tampa Bay 12 7 .632 — New York Toronto Boston Central Division Cleveland Chicago Detroit 10 8 .556 1.5 10 9 .526 2 8 10 .444 3.5 WL Pct GB 9 8 .529 — 10 9 .526 — 10 9 .526 — Kansas City 5 14 .263 5 Minnesota Baltimore 5, Toronto 2 Boston 10, Chicago 3 Kansas City 4, Cleveland 2 Seattle 5, Detroit 4 Tampa Bay 4, Los Angeles 3 Today's games Oakland (McCarthy 0-3) at Baltimore (Arrieta 1-1), 4:05 p.m. Detroit (Verlander 2-1) at New York (Nova 3-0), 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles (Weaver 3-0) at Cleveland (Masterson 0-2), 4:05 p.m. Seattle (Beavan 1-2) at Toronto (R.Romero 3-0), 4:07 p.m. Tampa Bay (Shields 3-0) at Texas (M.Harrison 3-0), 5:05 p.m. Boston (Bard 1-2) at Chicago (Danks 2-2), 5:10 p.m. Kansas City (Duffy 1-2) at Minnesota (Pavano 1-2), 5:10 p.m. Saturday's games Oakland at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles at Cleveland, 10:05 a.m. Kansas City at Minnesota, 10:10 a.m. Detroit at New York, 1:05 p.m. Seattle at Toronto, 1:07 p.m. Boston at Chicago, 4:10 p.m. Tampa Bay at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Sunday's games Oakland at Baltimore, 10:35 a.m. Detroit at New York, 10:05 a.m. Los Angeles at Cleveland, 10:05 a.m. Seattle at Toronto, 10:07 a.m. Boston at Chicago, 11:10 a.m. Kansas City at Minnesota, 11:10 a.m. Tampa Bay at Texas, 5:05 p.m. 5 14 .263 5 —————————————————— Thursday's results Three more defensive players followed: West Vir- ginia end Bruce Irvin to Seattle, North Carolina end Quinton Coples to the Jets, and Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick to Cincin- nati. New England made two deals later in the first round, with Cincinnati to get Syracuse DE Chandler Jones, and with Denver to draft Crimson Tide line- backer Dont'a Hightower. Minnesota also traded back into the round, getting Bal- timore's No. 29 slot and selecting Notre Dame safe- ty Harrison Smith. Tampa Bay also got back into the first round at No. 31, dealing with Den- ver, then taking Boise State running back Doug Martin. The Super Bowl cham- pion Giants concluded a swift but hectic round by choosing Virginia Tech running back David Wil- son. MLB West Division Dodgers GIANTS Colorado Arizona Padres East Division Washington 14 4 .778 — Atlanta New York Central Division St. Louis Cincinnati WL Pct GB 12 7 .632 2.5 Philadelphia 9 10 .474 5.5 Miami 11 8 .579 3.5 7 11 .389 7 WL Pct GB 12 7 .632 — 9 10 .474 3 Milwaukee 9 10 .474 3 Pittsburgh Houston Chicago 8 10 .444 3.5 7 12 .368 5 6 13 .316 6 —————————————————— Thursday's results San Francisco 6, Cincinnati 5 New York 3, Miami 2 Washington at San Diego, late Today's games San Diego (Luebke 2-1) at San Francisco (Hacker 0-0), 7:15 p.m. Chicago (Maholm 1-2) at Philadelphia (Halladay 3-1), 4:05 p.m. Arizona (J.Saunders 1-1) at Miami (Zambrano 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Houston (Weiland 0-3) at Cincinnati (Leake 0-2), 4:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (A.J.Burnett 1-0) at Atlanta (Hanson 2-2), 4:35 p.m. Milwaukee (Estrada 0-0) at St. Louis (Westbrook 2-1), 5:15 p.m. New York (Schwinden 0-0) at Colorado (Pomeranz 0-1), 5:40 p.m. Washington (Detwiler 2-0) at Los Angeles (Kershaw 1-0), 7:10 p.m. Saturday's games San Diego at San Francisco, 6:05 p.m. Milwaukee at St. Louis, 10:05 a.m. Houston at Cincinnati, 1:10 p.m. Chicago at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m. Arizona at Miami, 4:10 p.m. Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 4:10 p.m. New York at Colorado, 5:10 p.m. Washington at Los Angeles, 6:10 p.m. Sunday's games San Diego at San Francisco, 1:05 p.m. Arizona at Miami, 10:10 a.m. Houston at Cincinnati, 10:10 a.m. Chicago at Philadelphia, 10:35 a.m. Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 10:35 a.m. Milwaukee at St. Louis, 11:15 a.m. New York at Colorado, 12:10 p.m. Washington at Los Angeles, 1:10 p.m. National League WL Pct GB 13 6 .684 — 10 9 .526 3 9 9 .500 3.5 9 10 .474 4 5 14 .263 8