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2B Daily News – Thursday, May 24, 2012 Smith facing higher expectations SANTA CLARA (AP) — Alex Smith looked one way, then another, finding open receivers with such ease that the toughest part might've been deciding whose turn it was in the rota- tion. a career-high 3,144 yards passing and struggled to find wide receivers in a 20- 17 overtime loss in the NFC title game to the eventual champion New York Giants. Smith's new choices at wide receiv- er — Randy Moss, Mario Manning- ham and first-round pick A.J. Jenkins — zipped all over the field during Wednesday's pad-free practice, giving the quarterback options he never had last season. ''It's like waking up on Christmas,'' Smith said. ''You have a lot of new toys out there, new presents.'' New expectations, too. A year ago, the unproven San Fran- cisco 49ers quarterback was organizing informal offseason workouts at San Jose State during the NFL lockout — dubbed ''Camp Alex'' by teammates — and not even certain to be the starter. Coming off a 13-3 regular season and an overtime loss away from the Super Bowl, the 49ers loaded up players around Smith. Now he also has a full offseason schedule to integrate the offense. ''Alex has really been, in the two days out here, has been spreading the ball very well,'' coach Jim Harbaugh said. ''He's got a lot of options. That's been evident, too, for two days. '' Often outplayed and overshadowed by the NFL's best defense, Smith and the 49ers offense became an easy target for San Francisco's shortcomings. Smith ranked 19th in the NFL with One thing the 2005 No. 1 overall pick out of Utah no longer seems to lack: confidence. ''This is the honest truth: I could absolutely care less on yards per game,'' Smith said. ''I think that is a totally overblown stat because if you're losing games in the second half, guess what? You're like the Carolina Pan- thers and you're going no-huddle the entire second half and, yeah, Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games. That's great. You're not win- ning, though.'' Newton, the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, ranked 10th in the league with 4,051 yards passing last season. The Panthers finished with a 6-10 record. reporters but has been Smith's No. 1 target during the open portions of prac- tice and, by all 49ers accounts, has daz- zled. ''It's neat to watch our players watch a guy like Randy that they've watched growing up,'' Harbaugh said. ''And we have two fields. The defen- sive field's on the far right and then the offensive field is over here on the left. And I can always see the defensive players will be looking over.'' Said Smith: ''The first day, it was surreal out there throwing balls to him. The physical skills everybody knows. The thing you appreciate a lot is the guy's a true pro. He's played a lot of football. He's incredibly smart out there.'' From boos to a breakout season, not much else has really changed with Smith's status in San Francisco. The 49ers flirted with free agent Peyton Manning — who ultimately chose Denver — until settling on Smith with a three-year deal that has some $16.5 million guaranteed. Josh John- son and 2011 second-round pick Colin Kaepernick also there. General manager Trent Baalke also signed former Giants receiver Man- ningham, drafted Jenkins out of Illinois and LaMichael James of Oregon. But no move made more splashes than signing the 35-year-old Moss to a one- year deal. Moss again declined to talk to — Kyle Williams walked out of San Francisco 49ers headquarters Tuesday ready to talk about — and move past — the most miserable moment of his career. Sport- ing a Chicago Bulls cap, a T- shirt and a new look on life, Williams spoke for the first time this spring since his two fumbles in the NFC championship game ended San Francisco's season. For more than six minutes, Williams stayed serious and intense, making it clear he's unfazed by all the criticism. The speedy wide receiver said he's motivated by all he has endured, including a barrage of hateful, hurtful — even threatening — com- ments via social media after his overtime fumble on a punt return set up Lawrence Tynes' winning field goal in San Francisco's 20-17 home loss to the New York Giants on Jan. 22. Williams returned to work a week after and hasn't stopped since. A's (Continued from page 1B) Ernesto Frieri finished by striking out the side for his first major league save on a day the Angels couldn't pro- vide enough offense to back starter Jered Weaver. Frieri hasn't given up a hit while striking out 19 in 8 2-3 innings since he was acquired from San Diego on May 3. ''I was waiting for this for a long time with the Padres, and they wouldn't give me a chance,'' said Frieri, a 26- year-old righty who has pitched in parts of four major league seasons. ''The Angels trust me a little more. Men- tally, I was ready.'' Parker struck out a career- best eight and walked one in seven innings, allowing one run and five hits. The right- hander is winless in four starts since beating Boston at Fenway Park on May 1 for his lone victory. Parker's one walk was a positive sign, considering he had issued at least four in each of his pre- vious three outings. Making his first career start against the Angels, Parker bounced back with a solid day after he was tagged for a career-high six runs in a career-low two innings in Friday's 8-6 loss at San Fran- cisco. NHL PLAYOFFS CONFERENCE FINALS (Best-of-7) Wednesday's result New Jersey 5, N.Y. Rangers 3 New Jersey leads series 3-2 Other series Los Angeles beat Phoenix 4-1 forget about something like that,'' Williams said. ''You want to build off of that. Learn from it, take it as a mistake and build off it. It was a tough time, obviously, for me and the whole team. But the way that these guys had my back, the way that they continue to have my back, that coupled with the work ethic has been good therapy for me.'' Indeed. Williams was made an instant villain by some. He insists part of his job is to face the criticism and not hide when times get tough, so he has no qualms talking about the worst time of his career. If anything, he seems to be the only one not mak- ing a big deal about what happened. Williams credits his teammates — not a single one blamed him for the loss — following the game, start- ing when All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis waited at his locker to make sure ''I was ''It's not like you want to good.'' offense needs to make strides. Smith showed incredible efficiency last season, tossing 17 touchdown passes to only five interceptions, and led two late touchdown drives in San Francisco's thrilling 36-32 division round playoff victory over Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. The problem that had been there all season — often masked in victories where the 49ers could build a lead, run the ball late and lean on their defense. Stuck in long third downs all sea- son, Smith relied so much on Vernon Davis and the other tight ends or run- ning backs. ''We were so inconsistent when we had to throw the football,'' he said. ''Third-and-mediums, third-and-longs, we weren't very good. Red zone, we weren't good at times. We got to get better there.'' Dashon Goldson, Michael Crabtree and Ted Ginn Jr. — whom Williams filled in for that game — were among the scores of teammates who left encour- aging messages on his phone. ''It's just one of those things where you can tell the kind of guys that we have in this locker room because they didn't turn their back on me,'' Williams said. ''And they could have, they really could have, and they didn't. They came to my side and they were there for me.'' of Williams' wild offseason. In April, the wide receiv- That's only the beginning er's name emerged as a main target in the New Orleans Saints' bounty pro- gram. A recording came out of former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams instructing players in Janu- ary to ''put a lick'' on Williams to see if he had lin- gering effects from a con- and have a good one after the last one,'' Parker said. ''I wanted to get out there Melvin called it Parker's ''best stuff of the year.'' Weaver allowed one run and three hits in eight innings but missed a chance to become the majors' first seven-game winner. Weaver surrendered a tying solo home run to Seth Smith on a changeup in the sixth and gave the Angels another strong performance following a one-hitter by C.J. Wilson and Frieri a night ear- lier in a 5-0 win. Scott Downs also pitched a hitless inning of relief — giving the Angels plenty of options in their suddenly reli- able bullpen late in the game. ''It was only a matter of time before those guys turned it around,'' Weaver said. Maicer Izturis hit an RBI single in the third inning against A's starter Jarrod Parker, but that wasn't enough to hold up for Weaver. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.66 ERA in his last three starts at the Colise- um. Oakland has been without its best bats with Brandon Inge and Yoenis Cespedes both on the disabled list, and Melvin said before the game NBA PLAYOFFS CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (Best-of-7) Wednesday's results Philadelphia 82, Boston 75 Series tied 3-3 Today's games Miami at Indiana, 5 p.m. Miami leads series 3-2 Other series Oklahoma City beat L.A. Lakers 4-1 San Antonio beat L.A. Clippers 4-0 suspended slugger Manny Ramirez might not be ready to be promoted from his Triple-A stint on May 30 — his 40th birthday — as planned when he's eligible. Ramirez has been dealing with a wrist injury. ''Offensively we have to get a lot better. We're putting a lot of weight on our starting pitchers,'' Oakland's Jonny Gomes said. ''We're not get- ting run out of the stadium every day. It's not like it's 10- 9. It's 2-1 or 1-0. We're in every game. We need to find ways to get guys on base.'' Albert Pujols went 1 for 4 and recorded a hit for 11th time in his last 12 games. The slugger singled in the sixth but was thrown out at third trying to take an extra base on Morales' single. The Angels won for just their third time in the last eight meetings with the AL West rival A's. Oakland leads the season series 5-4. Angels shortstop Erick Aybar had most of the day off to rest a day after he was WNBA WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Sparks Minnesota 2 0 1.000 — 2 0 1.000 — San Antonio 1 0 1.000 .5 Phoenix Seattle Tulsa 1 1 .500 1 0 2 .000 2 0 2 .000 2 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Connecticut 2 0 1.000 — Chicago Indiana Atlanta 1 0 1.000 .5 1 0 1.000 .5 0 1 .000 1.5 Washington 0 1 .000 1.5 New York 0 3 .000 2.5 —————————————————— Today's game Los Angeles at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Friday's games San Antonio at Connecticut, 4 p.m. New York at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Indiana at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. cussion. 49ers sign All-Pro punter Andy Lee through 2018 SANTA CLARA (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers have signed three-time All-Pro punter Andy Lee to a six-year contract extension through the 2018 season. The 49ers announced Lee's extension Wednesday. San Francisco selected Lee in the sixth round of the 2004 draft with the 188th pick overall. The 29-year-old has played in 128 games for the 49ers and holds team records in punts (723), yards (33,069), gross average (45.7), net average (38.9) and punts downed inside the 20-yard line (209). Since 2007, Lee's gross punting average (47.9) and net aver- age (40.7) rank second in the NFL. Lee set the NFL single-season record last year in net punting average (44.0), and his gross average (50.9) ranked third in NFL history. All the more reason the 49ers GIANTS (Continued from page 1B) Veras, Francisco Rodriguez and Axford com- bined for four scoreless innings. leading off the bottom of the first, then threw high to first for an error on Norichika Aoki's sacrifice. Ramirez drove Zito's 14th pitch of the game to the left-center field wall for a 3-0 lead. Zito walked Corey Hart Lucroy reached when shortstop Brandon Crawford booted a hard grounder for San Francisco's major league-leading 46th error, and a walk to Weeks reloaded the bases. Williams motivated by NFC title game gaffes SANTA CLARA (AP) The NFC West champi- on 49ers, coming off a 13-3 regular season and making the playoffs for the first time since 2002, beat Drew Brees and the favored Saints 36-32 in a thrilling division round game. ''I didn't really have a reaction to it,'' Williams, who had 20 catch- es for 241 yards and three touchdowns last season. 'I'm really not going to speak about anything like that because there's so much speculation of what could've been said and all that. I'm not even going to touch base on that.'' said After Carlos Gomez struck out, Cesar Izturis hit a run-scoring groundout. Estrada, who had been 0 for 8 at the plate this season, lined the ball down the left- field line for a two-run dou- ble and his first RBIs in 22 at-bats over five major league seasons. He jogged gingerly to second and, after meeting with trainers and manager Ron Roenicke, slowly walked off the field with an injury to either his right hip flexor or right quad. Hart then fouled out, end- ing Zito's first-inning misery. ''I couldn't find my release point there for a little bit,'' Zito said. ''After that, I felt like I was throwing some strikes a little bit better Only a limited number of 49ers players spoke Tuesday and coach Jim Harbaugh wasn't made available after the organized team activity. As he has done all offsea- LEAGUE (Continued from page 1B) son, Williams refused to wait to take another step for- ward. He worked out some in Arizona, where he went to high school after his fam- ily moved from Chicago. hit in the right knee by a pitch in the seventh inning. He flied out as a pinch-hitter in the 10th. Aybar said he feels much better and expects to start Thursday at Seattle. Los Angeles rookie Kole Calhoun doubled in the fifth for his first major league hit. He made his big league debut Tuesday night as a ninth inning defensive sub- stitute in right field for Mark Trumbo. NOTES: Injured A's CF Cespedes tested his strained left hand with 40 swings off a tee. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Salt Lake 8 3 2 26 19 12 QUAKES 72 3 24 23 13 Seattle 7 2 2 23 15 6 Vancouver 5 3 3 18 12 13 Colorado 5 6 1 16 17 16 Chivas USA 4 6 2 14 8 13 FC Dallas 3 7 4 13 13 21 Portland 3 5 3 12 11 14 Galaxy 3 6 2 11 12 16 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA New York 8 3 2 26 26 18 D.C. 7 4 3 24 25 17 Kansas City 7 3 1 22 15 9 Chicago 5 3 3 18 14 13 N. England 4 6 1 13 14 15 Houston 3 3 4 13 10 11 Columbus 3 4 3 12 9 12 Montreal 3 6 3 12 13 18 Philadelphia 2 6 2 8 8 13 Toronto FC 0 9 0 0 7 21 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. —————————————————— Wednesday's results San Jose at Los Angeles, late Chicago 2, FC Dallas 1 New York 1, Chivas USA 1, tie Columbus at Seattle FC, late Saturday's games Los Angeles at Houston, 11:30 a.m. Philadelphia at Toronto FC, 1:30 p.m. Chicago at Columbus, 4 p.m. New England at D.C. United, 4:30 p.m. FC Dallas at Real Salt Lake, 6 p.m. Montreal at Colorado, 6 p.m. Vancouver at Portland, 7 p.m. Seattle FC at Chivas USA, 7:30 p.m. Sunday's game San Jose at Kansas City, 1:30 p.m. West Division Texas A's Seattle Angels East Division Baltimore New York Boston A speedster, Robinson hit .345 this season, with 13 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. "The most improvement I've seen in four years of a player," coach Joe Gallaty said. Robinson turned into a player with great speed, a solid bat and strong defense. Ramirez batted .337 this season with a team high nine doubles. He also drove in 20 RBIs. through the middle of that lineup. But some weird things were happening.'' Aoki singled starting the second and scored with two outs on Lucroy's fifth home run of the year. Lucroy also doubled, and is batting .417 (30-for-72) with three home runs and 21 RBIs in his last 20 games. whenever you're ahead,'' Lucroy said. ''You play a lit- tle more comfortable and a little more relaxed.'' ''It's a lot easier to play Hector Sanchez had a three-run double in the third inning for San Francisco, which closed in the fourth when Brandon Crawford hit an RBI single and scored on Melky Cabrera's double. With runners on second and third, and two outs, Kameron Loe struck out Sanchez. ''We battled back, but we dug ourselves such a deep hole,'' San Francisco manag- er Bruce Bochy said. NOTES: Joaquin Arias had three singles for the Giants. ... Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval took 25 swings off a tee in Arizona on Wednesday and wrote on Twitter that he felt ''no pain at all.'' Sandoval has been on the DL since May 3 with a fracture to his left hamate bone. ... Giants C Buster Posey was out of the starting lineup for a day of rest, but pinch hit in the eighth and walked. played outfield, third base and even at times second and short stop. All the while, Lasby was compiling a .357 average and a team high 28 RBIs. He held down a 2.97 ERA in 37.2 IP and went 4-2, strik- ing out 39. uncanny pop with the bat," Gallaty said. "What an incredible arm, "He did one of the tough- est things to do in having back-to-back solid seasons," Gallaty said. Figgs had a .529 on base percentage, stole 14 bags and drove in 18 runs. As a pitcher he went 4-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 43.1 IP. Gallaty said Ramirez had to deal with the pressure of everyone realizing how good he was at the plate following his All-State junior season, but was still patient and good enough to put up similar numbers. as Mr. Utility. Gallaty described Lasby The senior pitched, MLB American League WL Pct GB 27 18 .600 — 22 23 .489 5 21 25 .457 6.5 20 25 .444 7 WL Pct GB 28 17 .622 — Tampa Bay 27 18 .600 1 Toronto Central Division Cleveland 25 18 .581 — Chicago Detroit 20 23 .465 5 Kansas City 17 26 .395 8 Minnesota 15 28 .349 10 —————————————————— Wednesday's results Los Angeles 3, Oakland 1, 11 innings Boston 6, Baltimore 5 Chicago 6, Minnesota 0 Cleveland 4, Detroit 2 New York 8, Kansas City 3 Seattle 5, Texas 3 Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 4, 11 innings Today's games Detroit (Verlander 5-1) at Cleveland (Masterson 1-3), 9:05 a.m. Minnesota (DeVries 0-0) at Chicago (Humber 1-2), 5:10 p.m. Los Angeles (Haren 1-5) at Seattle (Vargas 5-3), 7:10 p.m. Friday's games New York at Oakland, 7:05 p.m. Kansas City at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay at Boston, 4:10 p.m. Toronto at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Cleveland at Chicago 5:10 p.m. Detroit at Minnesota, 5:10 p.m. Los Angeles at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. WL Pct GB 22 22 .500 3.5 24 21 .533 4 23 21 .523 4.5 22 22 .500 5.5 outfielder I've had in 10 years," Gallaty said. "He's the best defensive The Red Bluff coach said all four seniors will be missed and also Tyler Reed, who was a deserving men- tion as well. MLB West Division Dodgers GIANTS Arizona Colorado Padres East Division Washington 26 18 .591 — Atlanta Miami New York St. Louis 24 20 .545 2 24 20 .545 2 Philadelphia 22 23 .489 4.5 Central Division WL Pct GB 25 19 .568 — Cincinnati 24 19 .558 .5 Houston 21 23 .477 4 Pittsburgh 20 24 .455 5 Milwaukee 18 26 .409 7 Chicago 15 29 .341 10 —————————————————— Wednesday's results Milwaukee 8, San Francisco 5 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta 1 Colorado 8, Miami 4 Houston 5, Chicago 1 New York 3, Pittsburgh 1 Philadelphia 4, Washington 1 St. Louis 6, San Diego 3 Los Angeles at Arizona, late Today's games San Francisco (Vogelsong 2-2) at Miami (A.Sanchez 2-2), 4:10 p.m. Atlanta (Delgado 2-4) at Cincinnati (Bailey 2-3), 4:10 p.m. San Diego (Stults 0-0) at N.Y. Mets (Hefner 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Blanton 4-4) at St. Louis (Westbrook 4-3), 5:15 p.m. Friday's games San Francisco at Miami, 4:10 p.m. Chicago at Pittsburgh, 4:05 p.m. Colorado at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m. San Diego at New York, 4:10 p.m. Washington at Atlanta, 4:35 p.m. Philadelphia at St. Louis, 5:15 p.m. Milwaukee at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Houston at Los Angeles, 7:10 p.m. WL Pct GB 26 19 .578 .5 National League WL Pct GB 30 13 .698 — 23 21 .523 7.5 19 25 .432 11.5 16 27 .372 14 16 29 .356 15