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5553. wabbit - 5/20/2007 6:19:52 PM  Finally! Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Sunday to win his fourth Hamburg Masters title and end Nadal's record winning streak on clay at 81 matches. Nadal, ranked No. 2 in the world behind Federer, had been unbeaten on the surface since April 2005, a run that included 13 titles. "If I have to lose against anyone, then he is the man," Nadal said. Federer's come-from-behind win was his first over Nadal on clay in six matches. Nadal leads the overall series 7-4. The win ended Federer's drought after he failed to win a title in his last four events, his worst run since he became world No. 1 in February 2004.
Jelena Jankovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-1 Sunday to win the Italian Open and join Justine Henin as the only three-time winners on the women's tour this year. Jankovic also won at Auckland, New Zealand, to open her season in January and took a clay-court title in Charleston, S.C., last month. This title -- also on clay -- established her as one of the favorites for the French Open, which begins next weekend. Kuznetsova dropped to 0-4 in finals this year. She was also runner-up in Doha, Qatar; Indian Wells, Calif., and Berlin last week. Both players struggled to hold serve -- Jankovic because her serve deserted her for long stretches and Kuznetsova because she committed too many baseline errors once she put the ball in play. Jankovic's foot speed enabled her to make Kuznetsova play more balls than she wanted in several long rallies.
Martina Hingis, a runner-up at Roland Garros in 1997 and '99, pulled out of the French Open because of a hip injury. The five-time Grand Slam winner will be replaced by Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, said French Open organizers on Wednesday. The French Open is the only major the 26-year-old Hingis hasn't won. Evgenia Linetskaya withdrew for personal reasons and was replaced by Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland. On the men's side, Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand are out because of wrist injuries. They will be replaced by Chris Guccione of Australia and Andreas Seppi of Italy, respectively. The clay-court tournament runs from May 27 to June 10.
5554. jexster - 5/23/2007 6:02:55 AM Another AWESOME performance!
Just back from the game. It is a joy to watch this boy pitch. 22 years old...nothing rattles him...two wins against his idol - Roy Oswalt...
SAN FRANCISCO - MAY 22: Tim Lincecum #55 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates at the end of the eighth inning against the Houston Astros during a game on May 22, 2007 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) 5555. wonkers2 - 5/23/2007 2:36:52 PM The U.S. was eliminated from America's Cup competition by Luna Rossa, the Italian boat 5-1. Chris Dickson BMW Oracle CEO and skipper was broomed by Larry Ellison and watched the last race on Television. Dickson's starting line screw-ups aside, it appeared to me that Luna Rossa was significantly faster upwind than the Bruce Farr designed BMW Oracle.
Meanwhile, Desafio Espagnol held on against Emirates New Zealand with a win on Sunday? leaving the score 4-2 in favor of Emirates. Nevertheless, the final match-up is likely to be Luna Rossa versus Emirates. 5556. jexster - 5/23/2007 3:58:18 PM Pretty damned pathetic. what do we have to do to convince the world we don't sail like girls? 5557. jexster - 5/24/2007 4:26:14 PM It all went to script. As Rice left the park in the eighth inning mostly to jeers -- she should have walked out with Mays --
Giants Sweep Astros 5558. wabbit - 5/25/2007 1:01:05 AM This shit really fries me. If you want to go out and get drunk off your ass, fine, it's your brain (or lack thereof), but don't get behind the wheel of a car. If you do, and you kill yourself, too damn bad, and thanks for taking yourself out of the gene pool. If you get pulled over and fail a breathalizer, your ass should be thrown in jail. There is NO excuse for driving drunk. NONE. I will not entertain anyone's bullshit about how they are an alcoholic and can't help it. Turn in your friggin driver's license. You do not, DO NOT, have the right to put anyone else at risk for your own problems. I have not one whit of sympathy for anyone who finds themselves in a bind because they CHOSE to drive drunk, or to get into a car with someone who was intoxicated. Boo hoo. What a load of crap. The father of Josh Hancock filed suit Thursday, claiming a restaurant provided drinks to the St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher even though he was intoxicated prior to the crash that killed him.
The suit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court by Dean Hancock of Tupelo, Miss., does not specify damages. Mike Shannon's Restaurant, owned by the longtime Cardinals broadcaster who starred on three World Series teams in the 1960s, is a defendant in the case along with Shannon's daughter, Patricia Shannon Van Matre, the restaurant manager... WTF? Does nobody have the character and integrity to accept responsibility for their own choices and actions? I am so sick of people who blame everyone and anyone for their own mistakes, who refuse to stand up and be accountable and accept the consequences of their actions, who spend every waking moment whining and feeling sorry for themselves and complaining and lying to anyone they can con. I can only hope that their lousy karma comes back to bite them in the ass. You'll notice that the lawsuit doesn't include anyone who can afford to hire an expensive lawyer. Scumbags who think they've won the legal lottery. Where were they the last time Josh Hancock was driving under the influence? May they reap what they sow. 5559. jexster - 5/25/2007 2:43:32 AM David Welles, serial DUI, actually BRAGGED the other day that, during his prime, he often pitched when three (maybe 2) sheets to the wind
Just like Wonk sails! 5560. jexster - 5/25/2007 2:44:19 AM Now Jason Giambi, meth-head
and they dare lynch Barry Bonds 5561. alistairconnor - 5/26/2007 9:03:08 PM Well jeez Wonk, my Americas Cup semi-final predictions in Message # 5545 were about as wrong as they could possibly be.
The only thing I got right : Team NZ did indeed beat the Spaniards. But 5-2, not 5-0 as I confidently predicted. The Spanish have come a long way, and in the 6th race, which they won, they looked every bit as good as any other team on the water.
The 7th and last race had a lot more wind : 16 to 17 knots. Desafaio are obviously the home team, but those were Auckland conditions, and experience won the day. I'll bet TNZ are praying for that sort of weather against the Italians, and against the Swiss.
I got the other semi-final even more completely wrong... I said Oracle would start winning when they stopped making mistakes... they made no more obvious mistakes, and won no more races. Wonk, I think you're being a bit harsh in Message # 5555 talking about Chris Dickson's starting line screw-ups... he was up against the young Australian James Spithill, who is the voodoo helmsman. Best in the world. Luna Rossa also have Torben Grael, the Brazilian voodoo tactician. He goes off chasing puffs of wind, gets half a mile separation, and gains a boatlength... Instinct and genius.
So the Italians are definitely the form team. The Louis Vuitton Cup final is going to be very tight.
Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand have had four match-ups in the past two years, the score is 2-2. Each time, the race was won by the boat which entered the starting box on starboard tack. This is rather like the advantage of playing white in chess.
Did I mention, it's going to be close?
Given my record of predictions, it'll probably be 5-0.
5562. alistairconnor - 5/26/2007 9:15:51 PM Oh boy. I haven't been following the Landis circus...
I am glad that Bjarne Riis has come clean about cheating (EPO) to win the Tour de France in 2006. That was so obvious to everyone who followed sport at the time.
As for Floyd : It doesn't matter how sloppy your lab procedures are, you can't invent synthetic testosterone if it isn't there. Bye bye. 5563. wonkers2 - 5/27/2007 1:08:39 AM Dickson was very gracious in his statement upon being replaced for the last race and his statement upon leaving the Oracle syndicate. 5564. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:40:37 PM  The Duke lacrosse team has taken its season of redemption to the brink of a championship. The top-seeded Blue Devils blew a seven-goal lead, then got the winner from Zack Greer with 3 seconds left to beat previously unbeaten Cornell 12-11 Saturday and advance to the NCAA Division I title game. Duke will seek its first championship Monday against Johns Hopkins, which defeated Delaware 8-3 in the lowest-scoring Final Four game in NCAA history. The women's champion will be decided at 7pm May 27, when Virginia will play Northwestern.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the Men’s Basketball Rules Committee’s proposal to move the three-point line to 20 feet, 9 inches effective with the 2008-09 season. The men’s three-point line shall be a contrasting color to the current three-point line. The women’s distance will remain at 19 feet, 9 inches.
Percy Sonn, the president of the International Cricket Council who was instrumental in fighting racial segregation in the sport, died Sunday of complications following colon surgery. He was 57. Sonn became president of world cricket's governing body in 2006 and had been in critical condition in a Cape Town hospital since May 21. Sonn, a lawyer, helped guide South Africa back into the international fold after years of isolation because of apartheid.
In a break from Floyd Landis news, a former massage therapist for cyclist Jan Ullrich claimed he gave the 1997 Tour de France winner and former Team Telekom rider an EPO shot. Jef d'Hont, who worked from 1992-96 as a massage therapist for Team Telekom, now known as T-Mobile. He said he never gave Ullrich a blood-boosting EPO shot in Germany - only once at an undisclosed race in France.
5565. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:41:20 PM  Tenacious from the start, Utah's Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer gave the home fans exactly what they expected in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. Once their teammates got into the act, the Jazz gave the crowd what it really wanted, a 109-83 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night that drastically changes the outlook of the series. Williams had 31 points and eight assists, and Boozer had 27 points and 12 rebounds, but it was the emergence of their supporting cast in the second half that helped the Jazz enjoy the kind of route the Spurs had the first two games -- and then some. The 26-point margin of defeat was San Antonio's worst of the season.
Detroit is up two games to none in their series. Shooting or passing, LeBron James is having a hard time beating the Detroit Pistons. James missed a shot with 7.9 seconds left, allowing Detroit to escape again with a 79-76 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. On the previous possession, Rasheed Wallace made a fadeaway jumper on the baseline over James to put Detroit ahead. James, who passed up a shot in the final seconds of the series opener, dribbled into the lane and missed a spinning shot in the lane with Richard Hamilton draped on him.
NBA scores
5566. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:41:46 PM  The 2007 French Open in underway, more or less. When rain forced players off the French Open courts after less then two hours of play Sunday, Marat Safin was the only person with a spot in the second round. Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champion, played through light rain at the end of his match to beat Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
Serena Williams, who was struggling in her opening match against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, was somewhat thankful for the conditions at Roland Garros. The Australian Open champion pleaded with the chair umpire to stop play while trailing 5-4 with Pironkova serving for the set for the second time. But play continued and Williams broke to get to 5-5. After Pironkova broke a third time, play was halted with the Bulgarian leading 6-5.
Of the 24 scheduled matches Sunday, only six started. And by 5:30 p.m., 17 matches had been postponed before the first serve. In the other matches, Dinara Safina of Russia led Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 7-5, 2-4; Tamira Paszek of Austria was one game away from the second round against Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 5-0; Potito Starace of Italy was ahead of Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 5-3; and Janko Tipsarevic led Dusan Vemic 7-6 (3), 2-1 in an all-Serb match.
5567. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:42:25 PM  Getting dropped in the New York Mets ' order was the perfect pick-me-up for Carlos Delgado. Batting in the No. 5 slot, one spot below his usual cleanup position, Delgado ended a long power drought with two home runs and five RBIs and carried the Mets past the Florida Marlins 7-2 on Saturday night. Delgado hit his first home run in 47 at-bats in the third inning, added a three-run shot in the fifth for his first multi-homer game since Aug. 22 and scored three times to help New York move a season-high 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.
Once again, the hits came in a hurry for the Los Angeles Angels. Gary Matthews Jr. lined a two-run triple that gave the Angels yet another fast start and Kelvim Escobar made the early lead stand up, beating the New York Yankees 3-1 Saturday. The AL West leaders took a familiar route, rushing to a 3-0 edge off Chien-Ming Wang before Escobar threw a pitch. They've now outscored opponents by an impressive 52-19 in first innings this season. Los Angeles won for the eighth time in 10 games and did it without manager Mike Scioscia, who was back in California for his son's high school graduation. Bench coach Ron Roenicke ran the team, and will do it again Sunday when the Angels go for the sweep.
The team with the best record in baseball now has surging Manny Ramirez on their side. Ramirez had four hits and keyed a five-run sixth inning with an RBI triple to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 7-4 Saturday night. Ramirez is 8-for-12 in his past three games and his batting average has improved 84 points in May to .272. Let's hope it doesn't all fade away after the All Star break.
MLB scores
5568. alistairConnor - 5/27/2007 9:58:32 PM Current pattern in France is : fine and hot during the week, cold and wet on the weekends... prospects for the next couple of days at Roland Garros are not good. 5569. wabbit - 5/28/2007 1:09:56 AM 
Dario Franchitti gambled on approaching rain and won an abbreviated Indy 500 Sunday, driving slowly to the checkered flag in a downpour as teammate Marco Andretti's battered car was carried alongside down the final straightaway on a wrecker. The race was interrupted by rain for three hours and then, after a restart, was stopped after 166 of the scheduled 200 laps.
Franchitti, one of five Andretti Green Racing drivers, won it with pit strategy. The Scotsman inherited the lead after staying on track when the two drivers ahead of him, teammate Tony Kanaan and defending champion Sam Hornish Jr., pitted during a caution just 10 laps before. Scott Sharp finished second, pole-winnner Helio Castroneves third, Sam Hornish Jr. fourth and Ryan Briscoe fifth. Danica Patrick ended up eighth, and Davey Hamilton, who survived a horrible crash six years ago, raced for the first time since and finished ninth. Franchitti made a victorious lap of the 2.5-mile oval in the heavy rain as actress wife Ashley Judd, soaking wet in a summer dress, climbed the pit wall and dashed toward the victory celebration.
Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa of Ferrari. The Spaniard finished 4.095 seconds ahead of Hamilton and 1:09.114 in front of Massa after 78 laps on the twisting 2.076-mile street circuit. It was Alonso's 17th overall win and the second this season as McLaren claimed its 150th F1 victory. Alonso and Hamilton share the lead in the standings with 38 points, five ahead of third-place Massa.5570. wabbit - 5/28/2007 2:06:08 PM  Rory Sabbatini had to settle for beating the No. 3 player in the world and a two-time Masters champion. As usual, Tiger Woods wasn't at Colonial. Sabbatini made a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the Crowne Plaza Invitational to beat Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer, then jokingly referred to an earlier verbal spat with the top-ranked player. Asked about the large skull and wings belt buckle he wore Sunday, Sabbatini said it was the same one he had on during the final round at Wachovia. Colonial was the fourth career PGA Tour victory for Sabbatini, the 31-year-old South African who won the Nissan Open last year and earlier this season had consecutive top-three finishes at the Masters, EDS Byron Nelson Championship and Wachovia.
Denis Watson took advantage of Eduardo Romero's late mistakes Sunday to win the Senior PGA Championship. Watson, from Zimbabwe, edged Romero by two strokes to win his first title in 23 years and become the first international Senior PGA winner since Gary Player in 1990. Romero, the Argentine star known as "El Gato," had handled The Ocean Course's famed sand dunes and Atlantic gusts the best of anyone the first three days. He was still ahead by two shots after birdies on the 11th and 12th holes pushed him to 10 under.
Young Kim won her first LPGA title Sunday, rallying with two birdies over the final five holes and capturing the Corning Classic by three shots over Paula Creamer and Mi Hyun Kim. Young Kim shot 4-under 68 and finished at 20-under 268, four shots off the tournament record set four years ago by Juli Inkster. The win came in Kim's fifth year on tour and her 103rd start, and more than doubled her season winnings to $328,442. Creamer, whose driver deserted her - she hit only 6 of 14 fairways - finished with a bogey for a 71 to fall into a tie with Mi Hyun Kim (70). Beth Bader, also bidding for her first victory, made double bogey on the final hole to finish in a tie for fourth with South Korean rookie In-Kyung Kim (69) at 16-under. It was a career-best finish for Bader, who began the day tied for the lead with Creamer and Young Kim. Diana D'Alessio (65), Japan's Ai Miyazato (67), and South Korean Seon Hwa Lee (67) were another shot back. Pat Hurst (65) made an impressive run at the outset, going 6-under on the front nine with eagles at both par-5s, but she started the day nine shots back and finished tied for ninth with Natalie Gulbis (68) at 14-under.
PGA news
5571. wabbit - 5/28/2007 2:06:39 PM  They dueled down to the final strike, Francisco Rodriguez vs. Derek Jeter with the outcome in jeopardy. In this game -- and in this season -- it was K-Rod's turn to win. After throwing a series of amped-up fastballs and wicked sliders, Rodriguez retired Jeter on a fly ball with a runner on third for the last out, lifting the Los Angeles Angels over the New York Yankees 4-3 Sunday for a three-game sweep.
Ryan Howard made his return from the disabled list official with a pair of two-run homers Sunday. Howard, who came off the disabled list Friday, had three hits and Greg Dobbs added a two-run homer of his own as the Philadelphia Phillies crushed the Atlanta Braves 13-6 to complete their first sweep of the season. Howard and Dobbs hit two-run homers in the first before the Phillies put the game away with seven runs in the fifth. Howard added another two-run homer in the eighth. The three hits lifted Howard's batting average to .220 and boosted the Phillies' confidence that the reigning MVP can return to his 2006 form. The sweep of the Braves put the Phillies (26-24) two games over .500 for the first time this season, but the showing by Howard may have been the team's most important development of the weekend.
Barry Bonds preferred to play right through his slump. Bonds broke out of a lengthy home run drought Sunday, hitting his 746th career homer in the sixth inning of a 6-4, 10-inning loss against Colorado to pull within nine of Hank Aaron's career record 755. The seven-time NL MVP went 14 games without a homer or an RBI, the second-longest RBI drought of his 22-year career. Bonds, who turns 43 on July 24, went 43 at-bats and 63 plate appearances without a homer and his last five games without a hit. Since the last homer, Bonds had drawn 20 walks with seven intentional free passes, struck out eight times and was batting .140 (6-for-43).
MLB scores
5572. iiibbb - 5/28/2007 3:32:29 PM Floy and the unscientific media.
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