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NICKWASS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence dives for a ball that went for a double by the Washington Nationals' Trea Turner during the third inning Friday in Washington. ByAndrewBaggarly BayAreaNewsGroup WASHINGTON Puttingallelseaside, the two solo home runs would've doomed Jeff Samardzija. The San Francisco Giants offense once again amounted to a tree falling in the woods in a 5-1 loss to the Washing- ton Nationals. But Samardzija allowed so much more loud and disconcerting con- tact Friday night. And after such a promising beginning to his Giants career, there is enough evidence to tilt the ledger: he too closely resem- bles the pitcher who so frustrated the Chicago White Sox last season while giving up the most earned runs in the American League. Samardzija (9-8) put in the work but got hit hard while allowing five runs in seven innings, and the Gi- ants (62-47) lost for the 14th time in 19 games since the All-Star break. The club's losing ways on Sa- mardzija's day go back even further. The Giants are 1-6 in his starts since June 27, and less robust run support is just a partial explanation. Samardzija was 7-2 with a 2.54 ERA and five home runs allowed af- ter 10 starts. In a dozen outings since then, he is 2-6 with a 6.30 ERA and 16 home runs allowed. And recent trends are not promising. The $90 million right-hander is simply not equipped to win a 1-0 game right now. Samardzija has allowed 17 of his 21 home runs on the road, but the Nationals squared up plenty more pitches over the plate that did not leave the yard. In one seven-batter slice from the fourth to the sixth in- ning, the Nationals lined into a dou- ble play, flied out to the warning BASEBALL Samardzija'sstrugglescontinue Giants starter allows 5 runs in 7 innings as Nats hand them their 14th loss in 19 games since break NATIONALS5,GIANTS1 Up next: San Francisco Giants at Washington Nationals, 4:05p.m. Saturday, TV on CSN-BA. THESCORE By Mauricio Savarese and John Leicester The Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO With fireworks forming the word "Rio" in the sky and supermodel Gisele Bundchen shimmering to the tune of "The Girl from Ipanema," Rio de Janiero wel- comed the world to the first Olym- pic Games in South America with a serious message underlying the celebration: Let's take care of our planet. After one of the roughest-ever rides from vote to games by an Olympic host, the city of beaches, carnival, grinding poverty and sun- kissed wealth opened the two-week games of the 31st Olympiad with a high-energy gala celebration of Bra- zil's can-do spirit, biodiversity and melting pot history. The low-tech, cut-price opening ceremony, a moment of levity for a nation beset by economic and po- litical woes, featured performers as slaves, laboring with backs bent, gravity-defying climbers hanging from the ledges of buildings in Bra- zil's teeming megacities and — of course — dancers, all hips and wob- ble, grooving to thumping funk and sultry samba. But Brazil also packaged its party with solemnity, lacing the fun and frivolous show with sobering mes- sages about global warming. Im- ages of carbon dioxide, a green- house gas, swirling in the Earth's atmosphere were followed by pro- OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY RIO WELCOMES THE WORLD FOR GAMES Organizers put on show with sultry music, plea for conservation with march of 11,288 athletes MATT SLOCUM — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Australian athletes take a selfie as they march during the opening ceremony for the 2016Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday. LEO CORREA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Fireworks explode above the Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony of Rio's 2016Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday. By John Kekis The Associated Press WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. Chris Bue- scher is a giant step closer to qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup after notching a vic- tory at Pocono. Now, he has to take that small step — make it into the top 30 in points, the cut- off needed to become eligible for NASCAR's postseason. "I absolutely think we can get into the top 30," the rookie said Friday before practice on the road course at Watkins Glen. "We really shouldn't have been out of it." Buescher emerged from the fog at Pocono on Monday to be- come the surprising winner in a shortened Cup race, compli- ments of a race strategy call by Bob Osborne, veteran crew chief of the No. 34 for Front Row Mo- torsports. Buescher's best fin- ish this season before his break- through victory had been 14th. Osborne took a gamble and kept Buescher on track while others made pit stops with 28 laps left. Once the cars were halted because of the weather, the fog and rain settled in and Buescher was declared the win- ner. The victory left him 31st in the points standings, six points behind David Ragan for 30th as the teams prepare for Sunday's Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. Ragan was the driver who won Front Row's first race, at Talladega in May 2013, 118 races ago. Ragan also helped Buescher get his career off the ground by setting him up with living ar- rangements, signing him to his Legends car team as a devel- opment driver, and connecting him with Roush Fenway Racing. The irony of the moment is NASCAR SPRINT CUP Buescher has his win, needs points for Chase By Eddie Pells The Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO The chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee defended his support of the de- cision not to ban Russia's entire team from the Rio Games, fram- ing it as a done deal by the time he weighed in on it, and a stance that received wide support among athletes. Chairman Larry Probst was among the 84 International Olym- pic Committee members who, at president Thomas Bach's urging, gave approval to the IOC execu- tive committee's call to let indi- vidual sports federations review the athletes' doping pasts and determine which Russians could compete. At a USOC news conference Friday, Probst echoed Bach in saying the decision had wide support among athletes, includ- ing all eight athlete representa- tives on the IOC. But athlete support in Probst's home country was far from unan- imous. Sarah Konrad, the chair of the USOC athletes' advisory coun- cil, told The Associated Press, "I think the IOC made the wrong de- cision." "They should've shown stron- ger leadership and banned the en- tire Russian delegation," Konrad said. "To punt to the (sports fed- erations) was ridiculous." Probst quoted another IOC member, Dick Pound, an outspo- ken anti-doping advocate who also rubber-stamped the deci- sion, saying "the arrow has left the bow" by the time the full IOC was asked to show support. "The decision was made," Probst said. "What Thomas asked of the session was, 'Do you sup- port the decision?' The decision was not going to be changed." Only one IOC member raised his hand in opposition to Bach's question: Britain's Adam Pen- gilly, whose term on the commit- tee ends after these Olympics. The World Anti-Doping Agency was among several anti-doping groups that called for the com- plete ban of all Russia's 389 ath- letes. Bach went against that rec- ommendation, citing the "concept of individual justice" to justify the call to hand over the decisions to the sports. On Thursday night, about 24 hours before the open- ing ceremony, the IOC confirmed that 271 Russian athletes had been cleared to compete. Probst reiterated what he said in Tuesday's IOC meeting — that the anti-doping system is in need of repair, and that the problem goes deeper than Russia. "A complicated and difficult de- cision with no perfect solution," he called it. It was a sparsely attended news conference, held at the same time that French President Francois Hollande was also speaking to the media in a room on the other side of the building. Hollande is promoting the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympics. Also in that mix is Los Angeles, and USOC leadership has been OLYMPIC DOPING USOC leader defends stance USOC PAGE 2 NASCAR PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 CEREMONY PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, August 6, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1