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Tehama Giants Washington Boston Athletics Today's games MLB Giants Washington 4:05 p.m. CSNBA SF-Cain, 9-3, ERA 2.53 Wash-Detwiler, 9-3 ERA 3.30 Chestnut wins 6th straight title NEW YORK (AP) — Joey Chestnut won his sixth straight Fourth of July hot dog-eating contest at Coney Island, downing 68 dogs and buns on Wednes- day to tie his personal best in a sweaty, gag-inducing spectacle. Last year, the 28-year- old San Jose, Calif., man nicknamed ''Jaws''won with 62 hot dogs. He bested his main rival this year by 16 dogs, scarfing down all 68 in 10 minutes in the swel- tering summer heat to take home $10,000 and the mustard yellow belt. ''I feel good, it was a great win,'' Chestnut said after the contest, adding he wished he could have eaten a record number of hot dogs for the audience. ''I tried my best. I'm looking forward to next year already.'' Second place went to Tim Janus of New York with 52 hot dogs, who received $5,000. Third place went to Patrick Bertoletti of Chica- go with 51, who won $2,500. Chestnut was neck-and- neck with competitors dur- ing the first half of the con- test, but he pulled ahead in the remaining minutes, choking down dog after dog, while other competi- tors slowed as the clock wound down. ''I'm happy to come out with the win,'' he said. Sonya Thomas, of Alexandria, Va., downed 45 hot dogs to win the women's competition. She reached her goal of eating 45 in the time limit — her age — and took home her own pink champion's belt and $10,000. Thomas, known as the ''Black Widow'' of competi- tive eating, won last year as well, the first time a sepa- rate contest was held for women. Juliet Lee, of Ger- mantown, Md., took second place with 33 and won $5,000. Lee also won sec- ond place last year. Third place went to Michelle Lesco, of Tuscon, Ariz., who received $2,500 for downing 25 1/2. Thomas said she start- ed to feel sick while eating but kept pushing so she could win the title. ''There is a limit so I have to fight,'' she said. Thomas said next year she's going to beat her record again and eat 46. ''Because I'm going to be 46 next year,'' she said. The Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest has been a city tradition for 97 years. Tens of thou- sands of spectators gather to gawk as contestants shimmy, slither and bounce as they dip hot dogs in water and cram them down their throats. For some, it's a painful reminder of excess — especially as the U.S. bat- tles a growing obesity prob- lem. The American Medical Association opposes com- petitive eating, saying it's harmful to the human body. But the competitive eaters are quite trim. Chestnut is more than 6 feet tall and a muscly 210 pounds, and Thomas, who is 5-foot-5, weighed in at barely 100 pounds. Tracker Wednesday's results MLB 9 4 3 2 Moss' bat lifts A's to sweep Sports OAKLAND (AP) — Jemile Weeks hit a go- ahead RBI single in the sev- enth following Coco Crisp's leadoff triple, and the Oak- land Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 3-2 win Wednesday. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit his 400th career home run and also scored on Adrian Gonzalez's sixth- inning single, but Boston couldn't avoid its first sweep by the A's since May 23-25, 2008, also in Oak- land. The Red Sox lost just their fourth series in the last 17 and completed a disap- pointing 2-5 road trip through Seattle and Oak- land, the AL West's two bottom teams. Brandon Moss homered leading off the second for his 10th of the season, giv- ing the A's longballs in 15 straight games — most for the club since doing so in 17 in a row from April 12-May 1, 2002. Moss singled in the fourth and doubled in the sixth, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle. shutout in a 5-0 win at Seat- tle on Friday in which he didn't walk a batter for the second straight outing, was tagged for nine hits and three runs in six-plus innings. Facing Oakland for the first time since June 28, 2009, while with Colorado, the right-hander fell to 4-2 in six career starts versus the AL West. Griffin is still looking for his first major league win after six solid innings. Second baseman Weeks' fielding error in the sixth led to Boston's unearned run and cost Griffin a shot. Gon- zalez's RBI single extended his season-best hitting streak to 15 games, longest active in the majors. He had 10 hits during the seven- game road trip to Seattle and Oakland. Brandon Inge doubled home Moss to tie the game at 2 in the sixth. Ted Williams and Carl Yas- trzemski also hit their 400th home runs against the Ath- letics franchise. Williams hit his against the Kansas City A's. The A's also allowed Red Sox Hall of Famers Grant Balfour (2-2) went 1 2-3 innings for the win as the A's (41-42) moved with- in one game of .500 for the first time since they were 22-23 on May 23. Lone A's All-Star Ryan Cook fin- ished with a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save in 11 chances. Ortiz hit his 400th homer with a leadoff drive to right in the fourth inning against Oakland starter A.J. Griffin. MCT photo Coco Crisp pops up safely at third with a lead off triple against the Boston Red Sox in the 7th inning in Oakland,Wednesday. Papi's home runs rank eighth among active players and 49th on the all-time list. Next up for him to catch: Hall of Famer Duke Snider with 407. The 36-year-old Big Wimbledon inspiration WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Drawing inspiration from LeBron James and his new NBA title, Andy Murray is ready to win his first championship, too. The fourth-seeded Murray, who has lost in three Grand Ortiz's 22nd home run of the season tied the game at 1. Ortiz has 352 home runs and 1,142 RBIs as a desig- nated hitter for most all- time by a DH. Ortiz tipped his batting helmet as his milestone was announced to a standing ovation before he stepped in to hit in the sixth, then drew a five-pitch walk. Aaron Cook (2-2), com- ing off a career-best two-hit Paul Konerko's milestone 400th home run for the White Sox when he did it April 25 against Grant Bal- four in the Coliseum. Notes: The clubs met for the 30th time on July 4. ... Oakland leads the season series 5-1. ... Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia was held out to rest his troublesome right thumb, which he hurt again Tuesday night diving for a ball in right field. He will be evaluated back in Boston on Thursday. Murray looks to LeBron for Giants hit hard by Nationals Slam finals, advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals for the fourth straight year by beating No. 7 David Ferrer of Spain 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (4) Wednesday. ''He came very close to winning quite a lot of times,'' Murray, Britain's best tennis player and a big basketball fan, said of James. ''I would say for me I guess it's a sim- ilar situation. I've been close a lot of times and not quite made it. You know, just have to keep putting myself in the position, and hopefully it will click.'' Murray's three near-misses in major finals — twice at the Australian Open and once at the U.S. Open — have raised questions about whether he'll ever win the big one. But this year, with Rafael Nadal already out and Jo-Wil- fried Tsonga waiting in Friday's semifinals, could be his time — at least to make the final. Winning it all, like James did last month with the Miami Heat after two losses in the NBA Finals, would be even better. ''There's a lot of people out there that didn't want him to win,'' Murray said. ''There's a lot of people that said he would never win. There's a lot of people who said he never played his best in finals, in the fourth quarter of games he never steps up. ''Then you see how he played the whole of the finals, the whole of the playoffs. Sometimes it takes guys a bit longer than others.'' royal flourish, smacking his 18th ace on match point and setting himself up with yet another chance to reach the final match at the grass-court Grand Slam. ''I've had a good run here the last few years, but, yeah, I'm not satisfied with that,'' Murray said. ''I want to try and go further.'' For much of Wednesday's match, Prince William and his wife Catherine — also known as Wills and Kate — watched from the Royal Box. The pair sat in the front row, applauding politely at times and clapping loudly at others. ''It's always going to make a difference when you have Out on Centre Court, Murray finished off Ferrer with a WASHINGT ON (MCT) — San Francisco Giants fans don't just fill out All-Star ballots, they also fill enemy ballparks. They have been out in force at Nationals Park this week, but any feeling of home tends to dissipate once the Giants' pitcher takes the mound. 1B Thursday July 5, 2012 Madison Bumgarner became the latest victim of a disturbing trend Wednes- day, giving up a series of hard-hit homers in a 9-4 loss to the Washington Nationals. royalty in there,'' said Murray, then turning his attention to some former Wimbledon champions who also sat in the Royal Box. ''For me, also playing in front of someone like (Andre) Agassi as well and Steffi Graf. Rod Laver was there, too. You know, it was an unbelievable privilege to play in front of those people.'' Murray is trying to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. If Murray beats Tsonga, he will be the first British man to reach the Wim- bledon final since Bunny Austin in 1938. A win in the final will surely set "Murray Mania'' off to epic proportions in a summer already full of British pride — starting with the Queen's Jubilee last month and running through the 2012 London Olympics. ''There's obviously pressure there. ... I think if you think too much about it, you know, and you read the news- papers and you watch the stuff on TV that's said about you, I think it would become far too much,'' Murray said. ''But if you kind of shield yourself from it all and kind of just get into your own little bubble, only listen to the peo- ple that are around you, then it's something you can deal with.'' with seven earned runs and dropped to 4-4 on the road with a 4.43 ERA, a stark contrast to his 6-1, 1.88 mark at home. The team's splits are just as pro- nounced: a 2.42 ERA at pitcher-friendly AT&T Park and a 4.70 ERA on the road. "You always have a bet- ter sense of comfort at home," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We don't play out of our division a lot, and you've got to make adjustments. You can tell, it's an adjustment in this heat and something we're not used to. You have to travel cross-country and get acclimated to the time change, but it's part of the schedule and you deal with it." The Nationals were the ones adjusting Wednesday, primarily to the way the park was playing. Balls were flying out to right field on a hot day at Nationals Park, where the teams dealt with a rare 11:08 a.m. holiday start time. Bumgarner was charged MCT photo Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval singles against the Washington Nationals in the fourth inning in Washington, D.C,Wednesday. _ and I didn't," said Bum- garner, who put 11 runners on base in five-plus innings. "I've got to give their guys a lot of credit. They put a lot of good swings on the ball." The most effective ones came during a six-batter stretch that blew the game wide open. Little-used backup catcher Jhonatan Solano hit a solo home run to right-center in the fourth, and cleanup hitter Ryan Zimmerman found the same spot with a runner on in the fifth. Michael Morse followed with a blast to right, the third opposite-field homer in six at-bats for the Nationals. "You could see the ball carrying that way," said Pablo Sandoval, whose two-run shot to right-cen- ter helped stake the Giants to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. "They had that approach. It's going to fly out there." Bumgarner, a North Carolina native, said the weather and early start time didn't bother him. A lack of command, on all his pitches, did him in. "We have days like this all the time and it just depends on how good you can minimize the damage the Giants in consecutive games. "They're clicking offen- The Giants (45-37) weren't able to take advan- tage. They scattered seven hits and have been outscored 18-7 through the first two games of this series between first-place teams. The Nationals became the first team since 2009 to score nine runs off "He just started to catch too much of the plate," Bochy said. "Back-to- back, both guys (Lincecum and Bumgarner) were sim- ilar and made mistakes out over the plate. Madison got hit pretty hard. It's a good hitting club, and they took advantage of his mistakes." Bumgarner said he has no hard feelings about being left off the All-Star team. When teams were announced Sunday, he was 10-4 with a 2.85 ERA, which ballooned to 3.27 Wednesday. "I knew I was pitching good enough to have a shot at it," he said. "But there are a lot of guys better than me that were left off the rosters." sively, and we knew that coming in," Bochy said. "You've got to really pitch well and hit your spots." Instead, Bumgarner duplicated Tim Lincecum's performance from the pre- vious night. The seven earned runs were three more than he'd allowed in any start this season. The three home runs matched the worst of his previous 68 career starts.