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2B Daily News– Wednesday, August 29, 2012 GIANTS (Continued from page 1B) went to get the ball and Paredes trotted home ahead of the throw and over a div- ing Cain to put Houston up 2-1 and chase Cain. Santiago Casilla (5-5) retired the last two batters in the eighth for the win and Sergio Romo threw a per- fect ninth for his seventh save. behind 2-0 to Pagan. Trainers checked him out and chatted with him before he was replaced by Fernan- do Rodriguez. Injuries concern Raiders career-worst 10-game los- ing streak and hasn't won since May 21. He allowed six hits and a run with seven strikeouts. Norris is mired in a ALAMEDA(AP) — Long after practice began, Oak- land Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour and five of his injured teammates — including four projected starters — slowly made their way out to watch the work- out. Angel Pagan put San Francisco up 1-0 when he connected on a home run to right field with two outs in the fifth inning. Houston evened things up when Fer- nando Martinez opened the bottom half of the inning with a homer to right-center. The loss drops new Houston manager Tony DeFrancesco to 1-7 and came in front of 13,516 — the smallest crowd in the history of the 12-year-old ballpark. DeFrancesco took over on Aug. 19 after Brad Mills became the first man- ager fired in the majors this season. Norris was lifted in the sev- enth inning with a blister on his right middle finger. He retired the first two batters in the inning before falling Houston starter Bud A's (Continued from page 1B) at first to keep the shutout intact. McAllister struck out the side in the first inning, then yielded four singles to fall behind 2-0 in the second. Moss had Oakland's third straight hit to make it 1-0. Adam Rosales added a two- out RBI single. until Wallace doubled with one out in the fourth inning. Pagan fielded it near the wall in center field and threw to cutoff man Bran- don Crawford, who caught the throw right before Gre- gor Blanco came dashing in from left field and crashed into him. Cain, who pitched a per- fect game against Houston on June 13, allowed six hits and two runs with three walks in 7 1-3 innings. Cain didn't allow a hit The collision sent both players tumbling to the ground, but neither player was injured. Cain was helped by his defense in the first inning when Castro hit a pop fly into foul territory. Pablo Sandoval attempted to make the catch, but the ball bounced out of his glove and into the air. Crawford then made a diving play to grab it before it hit the ground for the out. starts in August. He had not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his pre- vious nine starts at Progres- sive Field. Moss made it 4-0 in the third by hitting a 3-2 pitch for his 14th homer. It came one out after Seth Smith doubled. the fifth for a 5-0 lead. It was his 12th homer in just 46 games since being recalled from the minors. Carter had an RBI double in the ninth off reliever Joe Smith, who allowed another run to score on a wild pitch. Carter homered to open career-high eight over only 4 1-3 innings. The right-han- der gave up nine hits and five runs to drop to 1-3 in six McAllister struck out a OPEN (Continued from page 1B) like just this summer I've come to acceptance. Like it takes a long time to come to acceptance, especially when you're an athlete. You see yourself as this healthy person that nothing can defeat you,'' Williams said. ''So it takes a while before you can kind of see yourself as someone with flaws and chips in the armor. Now that I have come to accept it, it helps me a lot in how I need to prepare for my matches, the mindset I need to come into it.'' Indians reliever Esmil Rogers struck out the side in the eighth and Carlos San- tana dropped each third strike, throwing to first base- man Kotchman for the putout. Santana also had to throw to first to complete two of McAllister's strike- outs. won six straight from Cleve- land for the first time since taking eight in a row from the Indians in 1998. ... One day after leaving a start with a sprained ankle, Indians RHP Roberto Hernandez threw in the outfield. The Indians still are not sure if Hernandez will miss his next scheduled start. ... Oakland OF Coco Crisp didn't play after fouling a ball off his right foot Monday. X-rays were negative and Crisp is day-to-day. NOTES: Oakland has 19-year-old Sloane Stephens, who is ranked 44th, eliminated 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4. And in doubles, 19- year-old Jack Sock and 22-year-old Steve Johnson knocked out the top-seed- ed team of Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6- 2, while brothers Ryan and Christian Harrison defeated last year's run- ners-up, Mariusz Fyrsten- berg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (7). After a shaky start, dropping the first two games — and even seven points in a row in one stretch — Williams used her own powerful serve to right herself and beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. 6-3, 6-1. One serve at 124 mph jammed Mattek-Sands' left index finger, shoving it into a racket string so hard she needed attention from a trainer. ''She was crushing her Mattek-Sands serves,'' said. ''I don't think any- one's returning those, so I'm not going to beat myself up too much.'' Venus Williams won the 2000 and 2001 U.S. Opens, two of her seven career Grand Slam titles. That's half as many as her younger sister, Serena, who began her bid for No. 15 in Tuesday's last match in Ashe, yet another all- American affair, against CoCo Vandeweghe. Three of the day's most notable upsets were turned in by young, up-and-com- ing Americans. In singles, 20, two years older than Christian — credits Rod- dick with helping in vari- ous ways. ''The older I've gotten, and the more my game has developed, he's been definitely teaching me about ... being energetic and learning how to let bad moments slide off your shoulder and keep moving forward,'' said the older Harrison, who faces Benjamin Becker in the first round of singles on Wednesday. ''One of the best things that he doesn't get recognized for is how persistent he is and how competitive he is. He's a guy that won't let you win Xbox.'' Ryan Harrison — he's The debate over whether any of the six will play in Thursday's preseason finale in Seattle has morphed into concern about their availability for the season opener against San Diego on Sept. 10. Seymour, who turns 33 in October, is nursing tendini- tis in his knees. Center Stefen Wisniewski (calf) and wide receivers Denarius Moore (hamstring) and Jacoby Ford (ankle) have also been out while linebacker Aaron Curry has been on the physically unable to perform list since camp began. Reserve cornerback Pat Lee recently joined the walking wounded with a sore back. That list doesn't include kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who injured his groin on a kickoff last week in Arizona. Janikowski has been cleared to practice but the Raiders (tied for No. 23 in the AP Pro32) say they might be tempted to hold him out the remainder of the preseason. Oakland coach Dennis Allen has not ruled any of the other six out for the opener, but the team signed return specialist Roscoe Parrish on Tuesday and will have him returning punts against the Seahawks. ''We're watching the waiver wires to see if there's any- body that we feel (has) a chance to help us,'' Allen said. ''We'll get a chance to get (Parrish) out there to return PAGAN (Continued from page 1B) makes clear is that he doesn't want to leave the Giants, who obtained him from the New York Mets in December for outfielder Andres Torres and reliever Ramon Ramirez. After playing on mostly non- contending Mets teams for four seasons, he is effusive about his first season in San Francisco. He said playing before the packed houses at AT&T Park energizes him, and he has quickly asserted himself as one of the team leaders in an evolving clubhouse. "It's been awesome," he said. "When I got traded, I was kind of nervous to see how I was going to fit into this club. But from Day One of spring training, they have accepted me with open arms and made me feel comfortable. Right now, I feel like I've been here for years, and the chemistry of the club- house is unbelievable. very locked in on this year and concentrating on just playing hard and getting on base for the guys to drive me in." What Pagan, 31, also This place is special. "I'm going to go into free agency and see what happens, but I would love to stay here," he contin- ued. "It just depends on how much interest they have in me." how he finishes, because Pagan has had his share of ups and downs. He had a rough spring training and started slowly in April. He was inconsistent in the outfield and on the basepa- ths. But he caught fire in May, batting .375 and hit- ting safely in 25 of 27 games. When Pablo San- doval went down with a fractured hamate bone May 2, Pagan moved to the middle of the order without complaint and provided valuable produc- tion in Sandoval's absence hitting predominately fifth. That might depend on and July, however, and the latter month was particu- larly bad. He hit just .210 with five RBIs and four runs scored. He started swinging at everything, as evidenced by his four walks in 86 plate appear- ances. He hit a skid in June some kicks on Thursday night and see what we've got.'' Parrish joined the Raiders one day after getting released by San Diego. He had signed a one-year contract with the Chargers in the offseason but was buried on the depth chart at receiver and lost out to Michael Spurlock in the battle for punt return duties. With Oakland, Parrish will handle the punt return chores until Ford or Moore returns. A second-round pick for Buffalo in 2005, Parrish led the NFL in punt return average in 2007 (16.3) and '08 (15.3), becoming the first player in league history to do so in consecutive seasons. ''I actually woke up as a Charger and went to sleep as a Raider,'' said Parrish, who missed all but two games in 2011 after suffering a season-ending ankle injury in a Week 2 loss to Oakland. ''Coming over here when they need a returner is a good feeling because that's what I do. I'm not going to take anything for granted ... but I look forward to being in that black and silver.''a Parrish's signing fills an immediate need but the rest of the Raiders injury situation remains clouded. Moore, who caught 33 passes as a rookie last season when he was quarterback Carson Palmer's favorite deep threat, missed most of training camp after injuring his hamstring in practice. Ford, limited to eight games in 2011 with an ankle injury, only recently got out of a walking boot after get- ting hurt against Arizona on Aug. 17. of the order, it's as if he received a critical transfu- sion. "Since he's assumed the leadoff spot, he's been a different player," Bochy said. "He's doing all he can to get on base via walk or base hit. I think he's shortened up his swing, and he's set the tone for us. He's played some great baseball, and he's been our catalyst." Bochy doesn't think the uptick in production is a fluke, either. But from the moment manager Bruce Bochy reinstalled Pagan at the top smiled and responded: ''I just want to be around for next week. That's all I want for my birthday.'' After a pause, he added: ''And then we'll renegotiate.'' Next up for Roddick is a second-round match against 19-year-old Bernard Tomic of Aus- tralia, who at last year's Wimbledon became the tournament's youngest quarterfinalist since Boris Becker. Another test against another kid. Roddick, a former No. 1 who is seeded 20th at MLB West Division Texas A's Angels Seattle East Division New York Baltimore American League WL Pct GB 77 52 .597 — 71 57 .555 5.5 66 62 .516 10.5 63 67 .485 14.5 WL Pct GB 75 54 .581 — 71 57 .555 3.5 Tampa Bay 70 59 .543 5 Boston Toronto Central Division Chicago Detroit 62 67 .481 13 57 71 .445 17.5 WL Pct GB 71 57 .555 — 69 59 .539 2 Kansas City 57 71 .445 14 Cleveland 55 74 .426 16.5 Minnesota 52 77 .403 19.5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results Appearing in his 13th consecutive U.S. Open — and wearing all-American sneakers for the occasion, replete with red and white stripes, and white stars on a blue background — Roddick sounded a bit willing to alter the expec- tations this time around. His own, and those of oth- ers. interview what sort of pre- sent he would like in a couple of days, Roddick Asked in an on-court Baltimore 6, Chicago White Sox 0 Oakland 7, Cleveland 0 N.Y.Yankees 2, Toronto 1 Texas 1, Tampa Bay 0 Kansas City 9, Detroit 8 Seattle 5, Minnesota 2 Boston at L.A. Angels, late Today's games Toronto (Happ 2-1) at N.Y.Yankees (Sabathia 13-3), 10:05 a.m. Chicago White Sox (Axelrod 1-2) at Balti- more (J.Saunders 0-0), 4:05 p.m. Oakland (Blackley 4-3) at Cleveland (Klu- ber 0-2), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Cobb 8-8) at Texas (M.Harri- son 15-7), 4:05 p.m. Detroit (A.Sanchez 2-3) at Kansas City (B.Chen 9-10), 5:10 p.m. Seattle (Vargas 13-8) at Minnesota (Deduno 4-2), 5:10 p.m. Boston (Z.Stewart 1-2) at L.A. Angels (C.Wilson 9-9), 7:05 p.m. Thursday's games Oakland at Cleveland, 9:05 a.m. Chicago White Sox at Baltimore, 9:35 a.m. Seattle at Minnesota, 10:10 a.m. Tampa Bay at Toronto, 4:07 p.m. Detroit at Kansas City, 5:10 p.m. Boston at L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m. Flushing Meadows, is coy when it comes to ques- tions about how much longer he can compete at the top of the game. ''I mean, I don't think you can ask him about retirement right now. I think as long as he's happy and he's playing well, I think he's going to keep playing,'' said 27th- seeded Sam Querrey of the U.S., who beat Yen- hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. Like Ryan Harrison, the 24-year-old Querrey MLB West Division GIANTS Dodgers Arizona East Division National League WL Pct GB 72 57 .558 — 69 61 .531 3.5 64 65 .496 8 San Diego 60 70 .462 12.5 Colorado Washington 77 51 .602 — Atlanta Central Division Philadelphia 61 68 .473 16.5 New York Miami Cincinnati 78 52 .600 — St. Louis 59 71 .454 19 WL Pct GB 71 58 .550 6.5 Pittsburgh 69 60 .535 8.5 Milwaukee 61 67 .477 16 Chicago Houston 49 79 .383 28 40 89 .310 37.5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results N.Y. Mets 9, Philadelphia 5, 10 innings Pittsburgh 9, St. Louis 0 Miami 9, Washington 0 Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 1 San Francisco 3, Houston 2 Colorado 8, L.A. Dodgers 4 Cincinnati at Arizona, late Atlanta at San Diego, late Today's Games L.A. Dodgers (Blanton 8-12) at Colorado (D.Pomeranz 1-7), 12:10 p.m. Cincinnati (Latos 10-4) at Arizona (Corbin 5-5), 12:40 p.m. Atlanta (Hanson 12-6) at San Diego (Stults 4-2), 3:35 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Harvey 2-3) at Philadelphia (Hamels 14-6), 4:05 p.m. St. Louis (J.Kelly 4-5) at Pittsburgh (W.Rodriguez 8-13), 4:05 p.m. Washington (Detwiler 7-6) at Miami (Ja.Turner 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Fiers 7-6) at Chicago Cubs (Samardzija 8-11), 5:05 p.m. San Francisco (Zito 10-8) at Houston (Keuchel 1-6), 5:05 p.m. Thursday's games N.Y. Mets at Philadelphia, 10:05 a.m. Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs, 11:20 a.m. St. Louis at Washington, 4:05 p.m. San Francisco at Houston, 5:05 p.m. Arizona at L.A. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. 53 75 .414 18.5 WL Pct GB 73 56 .566 4.5 60 69 .465 17.5 "Sometimes a change of scenery in the order is good for a player," he said. "Angel might have been trying to do too much in the five hole, but now he's back playing the small game, and he's doing a great job of it." Pagan concurred that the switch rejuvenated him. He had no hesitation moving down in the lineup for the good of the team, but it was restrictive as well. He acknowledged that he prefers being on the front end of a rally than in the middle of one. "When Blanco was playing so good at the top of the lineup, why would you move him?" he said. "I feel I have the versatili- ty to hit anywhere in the is one of several younger Americans who have benefited from Roddick's advice and offers to train together in Austin, Texas. Roddick extended that opportunity to Rhyne Williams after beating him Tuesday. ''He's kind of been the leader of American tennis amongst the guys for the last 10 years. He's been great. I mean, when I was 18, 19 — still to this day — he was always one of the first guys to invite me to NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Leaders 1. Greg Biffle 2. Jimmie Johnson 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4. Matt Kenseth 5. Martin Truex Jr. 6. Clint Bowyer 7. Brad Keselowski 8. Denny Hamlin 9. Kevin Harvick 10. Tony Stewart 11. Kasey Kahne 12. Carl Edwards 13. Kyle Busch 14. Jeff Gordon 15. Ryan Newman 16. Marcos Ambrose 17. Paul Menard 18. Joey Logano 19. Jamie McMurray 20. Jeff Burton 849 838 834 823 797 794 790 774 767 746 730 712 707 691 688 679 674 638 598 577 21. Juan Pablo Montoya 561 22. Aric Almirola 23. Regan Smith 24. Bobby Labonte 25. Kurt Busch 26. Casey Mears 27. David Gilliland 28. Mark Martin 29. David Ragan 30. A J Allmendinger 31. Travis Kvapil 32. Landon Cassill 33. Dave Blaney 34. David Reutimann 306 35. Brian Vickers 36. David Stremme 37. J.J.Yeley 38. Michael McDowell 39. Josh Wise 40. Ken Schrader 41. Stephen Leicht 42. Michael Waltrip 43. Scott Speed 44. Tony Raines 45. Terry Labonte 46. Brendan Gaughan 47. Scott Riggs 48. Boris Said 49. Bill Elliott 50. Hermie Sadler 557 516 513 452 436 425 417 409 400 399 372 308 177 172 135 122 107 102 89 75 69 67 66 50 41 34 14 13 Upcoming Schedule Sep. 2 — AdvoCare 500, Hampton, Ga. Sep. 8 — Federated Auto Parts 400, Richmond, Va. Sep. 16 — GEICO 400, Joliet, Ill. Sep. 23 — Sylvania 300, Loudon, N.H. lineup, but now that they need me at the top, that's where I want to be. I asked Bochy to put me back there because I was feeling better and thought I was ready to break out of my slump." That became doubly important when Cabrera departed Aug. 15. Pagan went 0 for 5 in the first game after Melky was sus- pended, and the Giants lost to the Washington Nationals. But from that point, he had 18 hits and three walks in an eight- game span, scoring 12 runs, and the Giants won seven of the eight games. Now Pagan has set his sights on finishing the job and helping lead the Giants to the playoffs. He's finding that a tight race and greater responsi- bility suit his aggressive mindset, and he expects to prove his value to the club once and for all in Septem- ber. and New York, and there were a lot of expectations — it's tough," he said. "But I like to play in this kind of atmosphere, under pressure. That's where I feel I'm at my best." "I played in Chicago Austin to practice,'' Quer- rey said. ''He's always there for motivation. He's always there to tell you if you had a good win or to tell you, 'Hey, step it up,' if you had a bad loss. He's really been a great mentor to everyone.'' NFL PRESEASON AFC West WL T Pct PF PA Chargers 3 0 0 1.000 61 43 Denver 1 2 0 .333 65 62 Kansas City 1 2 0 .333 58 92 RAIDERS 12 0 .333 58 54 East WL T Pct PF PA N. England 1 2 0 .333 52 63 Buffalo 0 3 0 .000 27 81 Miami 0 3 0 .000 30 66 N.Y. Jets 0 3 0 .000 21 60 South WL T Pct PF PA Houston 2 1 0 .667 73 56 Jacksonville 2 1 0 .667 76 103 Tennessee 2 1 0 .667 79 61 Indianapolis 1 2 0 .333 79 59 North WL T Pct PF PA Baltimore 2 1 0 .667 91 61 Cincinnati 2 1 0 .667 54 52 Cleveland 2 1 0 .667 64 54 Pittsburgh 2 1 0 .667 87 55 NFC West WL T Pct PF PA Seattle 3 0 0 1.000101 41 49ERS 21 0 .667 55 50 St. Louis 1 2 0 .333 53 75 Arizona 1 3 0 .250 85 103 East Philadelphia 3 0 0 1.000 78 50 Dallas WL T Pct PF PA 2 1 0 .667 43 47 Washington 2 1 0 .667 68 56 N.Y. Giants 1 2 0 .333 74 55 South WL T Pct PF PA Carolina 2 1 0 .667 53 55 Tampa Bay 2 1 0 .667 57 65 N. Orleans 2 2 0 .500 81 71 Atlanta 1 2 0 .333 59 61 North Chicago 2 1 0 .667 56 79 Detroit WL T Pct PF PA 1 2 0 .333 64 62 Green Bay 1 2 0 .333 50 69 Minnesota 1 2 0 .333 52 43 —————————————————— Wednesday's games Tampa Bay at Washington, 4 p.m. New England at N.Y. Giants, 4 p.m. Miami at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Thursday's games Oakland at Seattle, 7 p.m. San Diego at San Francisco, 7:05 p.m. Atlanta at Jacksonville, 3:30 p.m. N.Y. Jets at Philadelphia, 3:35 p.m. Baltimore at St. Louis, 4 p.m. Buffalo at Detroit, 4 p.m. Cincinnati at Indianapolis, 4 p.m. Kansas City at Green Bay, 4 p.m. Minnesota at Houston, 4 p.m. New Orleans at Tennessee, 4 p.m. Carolina at Pittsburgh, 4:30 p.m. Chicago at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m. Denver at Arizona, 8 p.m.