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2B Daily News– Wednesday, May 9, 2012 OAKLAND (MCT) — Ryan Cook has transitioned from minor league starter to major league setup man in just over a year's time. throwing right-hander, but that's been a theme with the A's bullpen this season. Pitchers are growing into roles that even team officials weren't certain they were ready for. It's all come quickly for the hard- A's enjoy striking bullpen upgrade league. "We're mixing in more guys too," manager Bob Melvin said. "Norberto has been terrific. (Jerry) Blevins was huge for us (Sunday)." Left-hander Jordan Norberto came into this season with 39 major league appearances, having issued 29 walks in 262/3 innings. But he has been put in several difficult late-inning situa- tions this year and gotten key outs, even posting his first career save last week after veteran closer Grant Bal- four faltered against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. "They've responded under fire in critical situations," A's general manag- er Billy Beane said of Cook and Nor- berto. The A's went 5-4 on their recently completed trip and took two of three over the weekend from Tampa Bay, which sported the majors' best record when the series started. The A's won Saturday and Sunday But the biggest surprise has been Cook, acquired from Arizona in December along with starter Jarrod Parker and outfielder Collin Cowgill for Trevor Cahill. Complementing his high 90s fast- ball with a nasty slider, Cook has not allowed a run in 13 games this season. His 142/3 innings are the most among A.L. relievers who haven't given up a run. was a starter his first three years in Ari- zona's system, but the Diamondbacks converted him to relieving at the beginning of last season. "We knew Cook had a good arm when we acquired him," Beane said. "My expectation was he'd be a critical member of the bullpen. I just didn't expect it to come this quick." But a season-ending elbow injury Cook, who turns 25 next month, even though their starting pitchers did- n't make it past the fifth inning. That's largely because the relievers didn't give up a run in the series, allowing four hits over 152/3 innings. Oakland's bullpen entered Monday ranked fourth in the A.L. with a 2.59 ERA and has held opponents to a .204 batting average, tied for second in the to Joey Devine opened up a role for a late-inning right-hander, and Cook has established himself as the primary eighth-inning man. He has faced 52 batters and given up just three hits. His .068 opponents' average leads A.L. relievers. "He's disgusting," said A's starter Brandon McCarthy, keeping his praise of Cook brief and to the point. Cook is easygoing by nature, but he becomes tight-lipped when his 13- game scoreless streak is broached. He was asked to share thoughts on it. "I'd rather not," he said, not wanti- ng to jinx anything. Norberto has allowed just one of his eight inherited runners to score. Blevins, who has shuttled between Oakland and Triple-A Sacramento over the past five seasons, has a 1.42 ERA. Brian Fuentes, another left-hander who had absorbed eight losses last sea- son by the end of June, has shown bet- ter form early this season. He's allowed just one run over his past six outings. Mota will go down in PED history BY TIM KAWAKAMI San Jose Mercury News (MCT) Balfour converted his first six save opportunities but then blew two and has allowed six runs over his past five outings. Should he continue to falter, Cook would be an alternate closer option for Melvin. Cook's emergence might also give Beane flexibility to deal Balfour when the July trade deadline approaches. Balfour's name already is mentioned in trade rumors, and one major league scout told this newspaper he thinks Balfour is an excellent target for con- tending teams, more so as a setup man than a closer. Beane didn't comment on Balfour as a trade possibility, but he noted Cook's effectiveness and that Fuentes and Norberto also have saves this sea- son. Guillermo Mota was clear and unambiguous, took all blame for a positive test for performance-enhanc- ing drugs and swore it will never happen again. It sure sounded like he meant it. But that state- ment of contrition came six years ago, not now. And Mota, 38, was just suspended again Monday, this time for 100 games, after flunking a drug test. (The drug: clenbuterol, considered to be a stimulant.) This is probably the end of Mota's career — has to be the end of his Giants career, which was headed toward the end, anyway. A generation removed from the Barry Bonds tur- moil, the last thing the Giants can do is harbor a repeat PED offender. He's gone. Possibly to be replaced by potential future closer Heath Hembree, and the baseball world moves on. But it's clear Mota will be remembered for two things in the Bay Area: • He was a popular, if not the most crucial, mem- ber of the 2010 World Series team. His bellowing, dancing and dousing were club- house staples after all those playoff clinchers. There was something odd about Mota's outings this season, beyond the general decline. Mota was still throwing relatively hard, but he tried at least two or three quick pitches that I can remember — not the sign of a confident 38-year-old reliever. "When you have four guys that can close a game, it's a great option," Beane said. Raiders begin restructuring personnel department ALAMEDA (AP) — Oakland Raiders gener- al manager Reggie McKenzie started restructuring the player personnel department by announcing on Tues- day the departure of four longtime employ- ees. The Raiders said that Jon Kingdon and Bruce Kebric have been fired and George Karras and Kent McCloughan resigned. ''This was a very dif- ''We're grateful for their dedicated service to the Raiders.'' McKenzie said short- ly after taking over as general manager in Jan- uary that he wanted to build his own personnel department after the NFL draft in April. McKenzie is expected to announce the restructur- ing of the department later this month. ficult decision because these individuals have been part of this organi- zation for all or parts of four decades,'' McKen- zie said in a statement. Honoring Outstanding Tehama County Students created in cooperation with the Tehama County Department of Education. Selections of students featured will be made by schools and Teachers. "Students of Distinction" from middle and high schools across the county. This project has been supplement of photos and write-ups on 84 The Daily News will feature a special www.redbluffdailynews.com through May of 2013; The supplement will be published as a special section of the newspaper and as a digital page-turn online edition on the front page of To sponsor a student's photo and accomplishments is just $59 for 1 sponsorship and $55 each for multiples. Local businesses, professionals, educators, local citizens: All are welcome to support Tehama County's most accomplished students, and demonstrate your support of local education in the process. Thursday, May 17 Deadline: Sponsors will be identified in a 3" tall by 1 column wide space at the bottom of each student salute. This special will appear in the full run of the Daily News on Thursday, May 31, 2012 representatatives can help you decide what to say. Limited opportunity to support students from individual schools. For further information, contact your Daily News advertising representative or Nadine Souza at Daily News advertising NHL PLAYOFFS CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (Best-of-7) Tuesday's results New Jersey 3, Philadelphia 1 New Jersey wins series 4-1 Today's games N.Y. Rangers at Washington, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Rangers lead series 3-2 (530) 527-2151 advertise@ redbluffdailynews.com Other series Los Angeles beat St. Louis 4-0 Phoenix beat Nashville 4-1 first joined the organiza- tion in the mid-1960s as a standout cornerback, said he will still watch every Raiders game and wished McKenzie the best. McCloughan cred- ited late owner Al Davis McCloughan, who for giving him a chance. ''I owe him a lot. He was so nice to my fami- ly and me,'' McCloughan said. ''We had some great years, including when Ron Wolf was with us. We won a lot of games. I had the opportunity to work 47 years with one team. I enjoyed it so much. I thought Al Davis was an outstand- ing person and boss. I enjoyed the scouting department, the coaches and players I had the opportunity to work with, and I'll always be a Raider. I'm going out about as good as a per- son can go out. You couldn't have written a better story for me.'' The Raiders also signed free agent center Colin Miller to a con- tract to provide depth on the offensive Miller was signed last year by Pittsburgh as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Central Michigan. He was cut by the Steelers at the end of training camp. Miller played in 47 career games with 46 starts during his colle- giate career. He received second team all-Mid- American Conference honors following both his junior and senior seasons. line. Leaf pleads guilty to stealing painkillers GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Former NFL quar- terback Ryan Leaf pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he broke into a Montana home and illegally pos- sessed painkillers, part of a deal with prosecutors that recommends he spend nine months in a secure drug treatment facility. Chargers quarterback and Washington State standout was shackled hand and foot and wore a black-and-white prison stripes as he told Cas- cade County District Judge Kenneth Neill that he need- ed treatment. ''I'm very much looking The former San Diego of Corrections for the bur- glary charge. Olson said that recom- mendation will include a nine-month program at the Nexus Treatment Center in Lewistown, a center affiliat- ed with the DOC, where Leaf would be locked down and unable to leave. That would be followed by time in a pre-release program in which Leaf's movements would be restricted. forward to the opportunity presented,'' Leaf said. ''An intensive nine-month rehab facility is presently needed.'' It was one of the few statements Leaf made in the hearing under questioning by his attorney, Kenneth Olson. Leaf admitted that he broke into a home in Cas- cade County on April 1. He then admitted that a few days earlier, on March 28, he illegally possessed oxy- codone that was not pre- scribed to him. Leaf pleaded guilty to one count each of felony burglary and criminal pos- session of a dangerous drug. Under the agreement, Coun- ty Attorney John Parker agreed to dismiss two other counts of burglary and drug possession. The agreement recom- mends a separate five-year sentence for the possession charge, but all of it would be suspended, Olson said. Neill is not bound by the sentencing recommenda- tion, but indicated he may look favorably on it. ''There is no question he needs treatment,'' Neill said. Olson said he and Parker also will recommend that the sentence run together with whatever sentence Leaf is given for a probation vio- lation in Texas. James Farren, filed to revoke the former quarterback's 10- year probation from a 2010 plea deal. Leaf was charged with stealing prescription pain medicine from a play- er's home while he was a coach at West Texas A&M. An investigation also found he obtained nearly 1,000 pain pills from area pharma- cies in an eight-month span. Olson said he has A prosecutor there, Neill set sentencing for June 19. Parker and Olson are recommending a five- year sentence in the custody of the Montana Department received no sentencing com- mitment from Texas prose- NBA PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) Monday's results Indiana 105, Orlando 87 Indiana wins series 4-1 Atlanta 87, Boston 86 Boston leads series 3-2 Chicago 77, Philadelphia 69 Philadelphia leads series 3-2 Denver at L.A. Lakers, late L.A. Lakers lead series 3-1 Today's games New York at Miami, 4 p.m. Miami leads New York 3-1 L.A. Clippers at Memphis, 6:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers lead series 3-1 Other series Oklahoma City beat Dallas 4-0 San Antonio beat Utah 4-0 cutors, but he hopes to have one when Leaf goes to Texas to face the probation violation accusation. ''We all agree that Ryan needs treatment. He needs that more than he needs to go to prison,'' Olson said. Farren said if the Mon- tana judge approves the deal there, Leaf could return to Texas for a hearing to revoke his probation, either before or after the treatment pro- gram. He said he would like Leaf back in Texas as soon as is feasible to face ''exten- sive'' prison time that Farren will recommend to a judge in Amarillo. Leaf asked for a reduc- tion in bail — $76,000 in Montana and $50,000 in Texas — so that he can spend time with his family and get his affairs in order before sentencing. He told the judge that he was not a flight risk. Neill denied the request to reduce bail. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA QUAKES 72 1 22 21 11 Salt Lake 7 3 1 22 18 12 Seattle 6 1 1 19 11 3 Vancouver 5 2 2 17 9 7 Colorado 5 5 0 15 15 12 FC Dallas 3 4 3 12 10 14 Galaxy 3 5 1 10 11 14 Chivas USA 3 6 0 9 5 11 Portland 2 5 2 8 9 13 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Kansas City 7 2 0 21 12 5 D.C. 5 3 3 18 20 15 New York 5 3 1 16 19 14 Chicago 3 2 2 11 9 9 Montreal 3 5 2 11 11 15 N. England 3 6 0 9 8 12 Houston 2 2 2 8 7 8 Columbus 2 4 2 8 6 10 Philadelphia 2 5 1 7 5 9 Toronto FC 0 8 0 0 6 18 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. —————————————————— Today's games Houston at New York, 4 p.m. Real Salt Lake at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Seattle FC at FC Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Saturday's games Los Angeles at Montreal, 1 p.m. D.C. United at Houston, 1:30 p.m. FC Dallas at Columbus, 4:30 p.m. Vancouver at New England, 4:30 p.m. Kansas City at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Real Salt Lake at Seattle FC, 7 p.m. Sunday's games New York at Philadelphia, 9:30 a.m. Chivas USA at San Jose, 4 p.m. A's Angels Seattle East Division Baltimore New York Boston He consistently looked like he knew he was in trouble on the mound unless he tricked the hitter, and his 5.06 ERA in nine appearances was another tell- tale indicator of trouble. • And now, perhaps more lastingly, Mota will go down in PED history for the duality of his two sus- pensions. Mota's first suspension came when he was with the New York Mets, after the 2006 season, in the middle of the first big push to clear the sport of steroids. He got 50 games in '06, but he was relatively young then, still very serviceable, and the Mets signed him to a two-year extension about a month later. "I have no one to blame but myself," Mota said in a statement right after his 2006 suspension. "I take full responsibility for my actions and accept MLB's suspension. I used extremely poor judgment and deserve to be held accountable "| "To my teammates and the entire Mets organiza- tion, I am sorry. I truly regret what I did and hope that you can forgive me. To baseball fans every- where, I understand that you are disappointed in me, and I don't blame you. "I feel terrible and I promise this is the first and last time that this will happen. I am determined to prove to you that this was one mistake." It apparently wasn't just one mistake. There were at least two. Other players have been suspended multiple times (including Manny Ramirez in 2009 and his current 50-game suspension). But only Mota has been hit with suspensions both in the first wave of the crackdown (2005-06) and many years later, when PED use is theoretically almost out of the game. This is not a wonderful way for any player to go out. As Mota said in 2006, it is his fault and only his fault. Twice. And never again. RB ble for Foothill in the top of the sixth inning, but McColpin got Emily Harvey to fly out to end the inning. Then the Spartans offense (Continued from page 1B) Sarah Seely ripped a dou- erupted. a bunt single to start the bot- tom half of the sixth. Harris reached on an infield error and the table had been set. The runners moved over on a McColpin groundout and Jones scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. Etzler and Brittney Fletcher drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Then Zazueta laid down a Samantha Jones beat out MLB West Division Texas American League WL Pct GB 19 10 .655 — 15 14 .517 4 13 17 .433 6.5 13 17 .433 6.5 WL Pct GB 19 10 .655 — Tampa Bay 19 10 .655 — Toronto Central Division Cleveland 17 11 .607 — Detroit Chicago Kansas City 9 19 .321 8 Minnesota WL Pct GB 14 13 .519 2.5 13 17 .433 5 7 21 .250 10 —————————————————— Tuesday's results Toronto at Oakland, late Chicago 5, Cleveland 3, 10 innings Kansas City 6, Boston 4 Minnesota 5, Los Angeles 0 New York 5, Tampa Bay 3 Texas 10, Baltimore 3 Detroit at Seattle, late Today's games Toronto (Morrow 3-1) at Oakland (T.Ross 1-2), 12:35 p.m. Chicago (Peavy 3-1) at Cleveland (J.Gomez 2-1), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Niemann 2-3) at New York (Phelps 0-1), 4:05 p.m. Texas (Lewis 3-1) at Baltimore (W.Chen 2-0), 4:05 p.m. Boston (Lester 1-2) at Kansas City (B.Chen 0-4), 5:10 p.m. Los Angeles (E.Santana 0-6) at Minnesota (Pavano 2-2), 5:10 p.m. Detroit (Smyly 1-0) at Seattle (Vargas 3-2), 7:10 p.m. 16 13 .552 3 15 13 .536 3.5 12 16 .429 6.5 squeeze bunt, which Harris scored easily on. Weaver ripped a 2-RBI sin- gle and the Lady Spartans led 5-0. the Foothill lineup down in order to end the game, capped by a spectacular catch by Katie Hall for the final out. McColpin set the heart of to make up its game with Shasta for the third time, today in Redding at 4 p.m. Red Bluff (26-3-2) tries They close out the regular season with a home game against Enterprise on Thurs- day. MLB West Division Dodgers GIANTS Arizona Colorado Padres East Division Washington 18 11 .621 — Atlanta New York Miami St. Louis Philadelphia 14 17 .452 5 Central Division WL Pct GB 18 11 .621 — Cincinnati 15 14 .517 3 Houston 14 16 .467 4.5 Pittsburgh 13 16 .448 5 Milwaukee 13 17 .433 5.5 Chicago 12 18 .400 6.5 —————————————————— Tuesday's games San Francisco at Los Angeles, late Atlanta 3, Chicago 1 Houston 3, Miami 2 Milwaukee 8, Cincinnati 3 New York 7, Philadelphia 4 Pittsburgh 5, Washington 4 Colorado at San Diego, late St. Louis at Arizona, late Today's games San Francisco (Lincecum 2-2) at Los Angeles (Billingsley 2-2), 7:10 p.m. Cincinnati (Cueto 4-0) at Milwaukee (Greinke 3-1), 10:10 a.m. Atlanta (T.Hudson 1-0) at Chicago (Maholm 3-2),11:20 a.m. Colorado (Friedrich 0-0) at San Diego (Bass 1-3), 12:35 p.m. New York (Gee 2-2) at Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 0-1), 4:05 p.m. Washington (Detwiler 3-1) at Pittsburgh (Bedard 2-4), 4:05 p.m. Miami (Jo.Johnson 0-3) at Houston (Harrell 2-2), 5:05 p.m. St. Louis (Lohse 4-1) at Arizona (Miley 3-0), 6:40 p.m. WL Pct GB 19 12 .613 — 17 13 .567 1.5 15 15 .500 3.5 National League WL Pct GB 19 10 .655 — 14 15 .483 5 14 16 .467 5.5 12 16 .429 6.5 10 20 .333 9.5 Two batters later Morgan