The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 27

C2 wwwlennessean.com THE TENNESSEAN Saturday, August 26, 2000 5C SPORES: BASEBALL. MQTQRSPQRTS istoFs '0 ana run makes to A acnoi Br bump top i ttr AL wskl-card race Pet GB Boston 67 57 .536 Oakland 68 59 .535 Cleveland 66 58 .532 12 Anaheim 66 62 .516 2 12 "foronto 66 62 .516 212 cars on the high-banked track and you've got drama-a-lap racing. Earlier this month in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, there were just three lead changes under racing conditions and hardly any side-by-side competitioa Most of the "racing" was stale, follow-the-leader joy riding.Fans know they can see more action in 10 laps at Bristol than in 400 miles at the Brickyard. And it's all relatively safe. It's not white-knuckle, breath-holding su-perspeedway racing, where drivers are risking their necks every second.

Here drivers can beat and bang and swerve and skid without any great danger. It's wild and reckless, but its basically harmless. Fans crave action but don't want to see injuries. Bristol fills the bill. That's why the Speedway literally can't build enough seats to hold the fans.

It's tough, old-fashioned, smash-mouth racing. It's every man for himself, and politeness takes a holiday. "Bristol," said Jeremy Mayfield, "is about the last man standing." Larry Woody writes daily about BRISTOL Welcome to NASCAR's version of Survivor. Tonight 43 drivers will be stranded on a small concrete island known as Bristol Motor Speedway. Some 147,000 fans and a national ESPN audience will watch feverishly to see who is able to endure and triumph over the rigors.

In last summer's race several favorites were booted early. It finally came down to Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt "voted" Labonte off the island by ramming his car out of first place halfway through the final lap. "Racing at Bristol is a game of survival more than anything else," said Sterling Marlin as he prepared for tonight's goracing.com 500. "Bristol is about just keeping your fenders oa Tempers are a big deal here.

You hit, you get hit. You have to keep your cool. It's a 120-mile per hour parking lot out there." "I'll be honest as a driver this is not my favorite track," John An-dretti said. "You come here with a nice, pretty race car and by the end of the race you don't have any fenders or quarter panels, and your bumper is lying over in the pits. It's a grinding race for us drivers.

"But it's a great for the fans be- I LAl dm AP Pitcher Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks shows his disgust after committing a throwing error in the third inning against New York. The Mets chased Johnson in the third and went on to win 13-3. NL wild-card race JV Larry Woody Commentary cause this race screams excitement. I always loved watching it as a fan." Andretti is not alone. In a recent racing internet poll, fans voted Bristol their favorite track and, specifically, the summer night race their favorite among NASCAR's 34 Winston Cup events.

"There's something special about the night race," Marlin said. "You've got the lights flashing off the cars, the sparks flying it makes it all that more exciting. "Most of us drivers came from short tracks and Saturday night racing, like I did at Nashville. That makes it special for us. It's racing the way it used to be." Bristol twice a year draws the state's biggest sports crowds.

Each race is sold out months in advance. Track officials estimate they could easily sell 200,000 tickets if seats were available. Bristol's attraction? Non-stop bare-knuckle actioa Put 43 fast minutes so the track could be cleaned in time to finish the race under green. Jason Keller, who was running second at the time of the red flag, left his car idling during the stop. When it was time to go again, he stalled out.

Teammate Jeff Green tried to give Keller a push to get the car started, but Keller couldn't keep the engine oa He took a trip down pit road and NASCAR allowed him to move back into second place before the restart. "Tears came to my eyes because I felt like I ran hard all night and I had let it get away," Keller said. "I should have cut it off, but I left it running and then I got it stuck between gears and stalled out. Luckily my teammate helped me and NASCAR chose not to penalize me." But it made little difference because Harvick was quick oft' the restart and wasted no time pulling Rookie Harvick wins Busch at Bristol Associated Press BRISTOL, Tenn. Rookie Kevin Harvick survived a two-lap shootout to cap a dominating performance last night in the NASCAR Busch Series' Food City 250.

Harvick started on the pole and led 241 of the 250 laps around Bristol Motor Speedway. The only time he wasn't in command was when he gave up track position on a pit stop, but he passed Kyle Petty nine laps later to retake the lead. "All night long I could ride as hard as I wanted to," Harvick said. "We had an awesome race car, it was flawless. I had no problems at all and that made for a pretty fun race." Harvick, who raced to his first career victory July 29 in Madison, 111., appeared to be mnning away with the race until the eighth caution of the night on lap 245.

Kevin LePage hit the rear bumper of Jeff Fuller's car, causing him to spin out and wreck three other cars. NASCAR then decided to red-flag the race for just over seven 51110146 ,641 .52 Total Due IncepNon plus ii Athletics deal Cone 11th loss Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif Kevin Appier feels a little better about facing the New York Yankees. Appier, who had his worst outing of the year in Yankee Stadium early this month, came back with one of his best on last night, leading the Oakland Athletics to an 8-1 victory over New York. Appier (12-9) gave up four hits and an unearned run in eight innings. "This certainly made it sweeter considering what happened last time," Appier said.

Chavez hit a three-run double and Grieve had a two-run single during a five-run third inning against David Cone (3-11)." Angels 4, Indians 1 ANAHEIM, Calif Rookie Matt Wise pitched three-hit ball for 8 1-3 innings and Tim Salmon homered and drove in four runs as the Anaheim Angels beat the Cleveland Indians. White Sox 4 Mariners 1 SEATTLE Mike Sirotka beat Seattle for the second time this month and Herbert Perry had three RBI as the Chicago White Sox beat the slumping Mariners. Seattle lost its third straight and for the 11th time in 12 games. Royals 6, Red Sox 2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. Jeff Suppan pitched a five-hitter and the Kansas City Royals snapped a five-game losing streak, beating the Boston Red Sox 6-2 last night.

Mike Sweeney hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the seventh. Rangers 1, Blue Jays 0 ARLINGTON, Texas Doug Davis matched David Wells for eight scoreless innings and Rusty Greer's RBI single in the Uth gave the Texas Rangers a 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Orioles 4, Devil Rays 3 BALTIMORE Jerry Hairston homered and drove in a career-high four runs as the Baltimore Orioles rallied to beat Tampa Bay, foiling the Devil Rays' bid to escape last place for the first time since April. Twins 8, Tigers 3 MINNEAPOLIS Jay Canizaro hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs to in the Minnesota Twins' win over the Detroit Tigers. Sounds updsia Tonight's game: Nashville at Memphis, 6:05 p.m.

The Sounds will start LPH Brian O'Connor (0-2, 780 ERA) against RHP Jason Kamuth Radio: 560-AM. 5-run rally in 2nd spurs Sounds' win Associated Press MEMPHIS Chad Her-mansen's two-run double highlighted a five-run second inning that boosted the Nashville Sounds to a 6-3 victory last night over Memphis. Fred Rath (6-7) was the winning pitcher, while I.uther Hackman (6-9) took the loss. Mark Skrmette earned his second save. Tim Laker's sacrifice fly in the fourth gave the Sounds a final insurance rua Memphis scored one run in the fourth on an RBI single by Luis Garcia, who also added an RBI double in the seventh.

The Redbirds' final runcame on Steve Bieser's seventh-inning sacrifice fly. "He did a real good job and spotted his fastball real well," pitching coach Jim Bibby said of Rath, who was obtained in a trade with Memphis for Jarod Patterson this season. "Fifteen of the 28 first pitches he threw were strikes," Biddy said. "He used his forkball and his slider really welL" I I I I. Own one and you'll understand.

NASCAR at www.tennessean.com He can be reached at 259-8019 or lwaxiytenrwssean.com away from Keller and Greea Keller finished second, and Green was third. Harvick beat Keller to the finish line by two car lengths. It was a relief to Harvick, who thought a restart was the only way anyone was going to catch hira "Most races that I've seen at Bristol, when there's five laps to go all heck breaks loose," he said. "When they said red flag'I was a little worried because Jason's car was pretty good there at the end. I thought if he got a good jump he could get me, but once I got going it was all good." Kenny Wallace finished fourth, followed by fellow Winston Cup regular Sterling Marlin and Jay Sauter.

The race was slowed eight times for 38 laps. Only 10 cars finished on the lead lap and five didn't finish at all typical for Bristol. "They say you only have a 50 percent chance of finishing at Bristol and I was on the wrong side of it," Grubb said. 130 LUXURY SEDAN Bose CD Alum. Alloy Wheels ITIO 39 loose 2001 QX4 THEY ARE HERE! UMIUHtU wim POWER AND STYLE! Q45 Chipper's 3-runHR sparks win ATLANTA Tom Glavine is making a pitch for another Cy Young.

Glavine became the NL's first 17-game winner when Chipper Jones hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning, giving the Atlanta Braves a 7-4 victory over the Cardinals on last night. Glavine (17-6) won for the 10th time in his last 11 starts, pushing ahead of Arizona's Randy Johnsoa The Big Unit also began the night with 16 wins, but he lasted only 2 1-3 innings in a 13-3 loss to the New York Mets. Johnson, last year's Cy Young winner, still leads the NL with a 2.41 ERA more than a run ahead of Glavine's 3.77. But Jones said his teammate Is making a strong case to recapture the award he won in 1991 and "98. "If you talk to pitchers, the only stat that anyone talks about is wins and losses," Jones said.

"Right now, Tommy is the best pitcher in the league. 1 Ie's got 17 wins and every fifth day we know we're going to be in the game whether he has good stuff or not." Glavine gave up leadoff hits in four of his seven innings, but 15 of 21 outs came on grounders. "I threw well," said Glavine, who allowed eight hits and three earned runs. "It's one of those games where I felt like I shouldn't have given up three earned runs. "It seemed like more of a battle at times than it needed to be," he said.1 American Conference Central Division Pet.

GB .594 .519 10 .450 19 .391 27 .594 .492 13'? .473 16 .427 22 Albuquerque (Dodgers) 79 54 CcJ.Springs (Rockies) 68 63 Omaha (Royals) 59 72 Iowa (Cubs) 52 81 Eastern Division Memphis (Cardinals) 79 54 Oklahoma (Rangers) 65 67 New Orleans (Astros) 62 69 Nashville (Pirates) 56 75 Pacific Conference Southern Division Socrarnento (Athletics) 83 50 LosVeaaslPadres) 69 64 Pet. GB .624 .519 14 .473 20 .397 30 .632 .542 12 451 24 .417 28 Vi Tucson (Diamondbacks) 62 69 Fresno (Giants) 52 79 Northern Division Salt Lake (Twins) 49 Tocoma (Mariners) Edmonton (Angels) 60 73 77 Calgary (Martins) Thursday's results Colorado Springs 9, Albuquerque 7 Caigary 9, Edmonton 8 New OHeans 9, Iowa 6 Sacramento 6, las Vegas 5 Memphis 12, Nashville 2 Oklahoma 5, Tucson 2 San Lake 10. Omaha 3 Fresno 11, Tocoma 9 Yesterday's results Albuquerque at Colorado Springs Edmonton at Calgary Iowa at New OHeans Las Veaas at Sacramento Nashville at Memphis Oklahoma at Tucson Salt Lake at Omaha Tocoma at Fresno EL IIIttHHCa Sounds 6, Red birds 3 NASHVHif ab bi ab bi 5210 LUtted 2000 5010 Clapp2b 4000 402 1 Sutton lb 4000 4 111 Young rf 3 210 5120 PerezTf 4020 4111 Garcia3b 4022 4 122 Marreroc 2000 4000 McDonoldc 2000 3010 Martinez is 2100 Hackman 1000 Munozph 1000 iwuvvrnts Redman rf Nunez ss Hernandez If Laker lb Wehner2b Wilson Hermansencf Wood 3b Ramp Totals 38 611 5 lotah 29 3 5 3 Nashville 050 100 000 6 Memphis 010 100 100 3 Sutton, Wilson, Garcio 2. DP Nashville 1, Memphis 1. LOB Nashville 8, Memphis 4.

2B Garcia, Hermonsen. SB Martinez (4), Montgomery (3), Redman (23). SF Bieser, Laker. Nashville Rati 2-3 Bailey Skrmetta Memphis Hockmon Rodriguez McDill Dougherty HBP Little (by Roth). 2 39 A 14,114.

7 5 1 0 1 0 5 II 2 0 2 3 0 1 0 0 bb Sounds schedule Aug. 27 at Memphis, 2:05 p.m. Aug. 28 Albuquerque, 6 p.m. Aug.

29 Albuquerque, 6 p.m. Aug. 30 Albuquerque, 6 p.m. Aug. 31 Albuquerque, p.m.

Pet. GB 76 52 .594 -70 57 .551 5 12 New'vbrk Arizona Mets blast Arizona, Johnson Associated Press NEW YORK The New York Mets keep causing big problems for the Big Unit. Randy Johnson was anything but his dominant self against the Mets, failing to strike out a batter for the first time in 10 years and lasting only 2 1-3 innings as New York routed the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-3 Friday night. "Nothing worked," said Johnson, who is 0-3 with a 7.29 ERA in his last four starts, including a playoff game last year, against the Mets. "I just didn't pitch very well today.

I wish I could pitch tomorrow so I could redeem myself. But it doesn't work that way." The Mets lead Arizona by 5 12 games in the wild card race. The Diamondbacks, who trail first-place San Francisco by 3 12 in the NL West, have lost four in a row following a seven-game winning streak. "We've got to win baseball games regardless of whether it's our division or the wild card," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said. Giants 16, Phillies 3 PHILADELPHIA Pitcher Russ Ortiz (10-10) had a career-high three hits and recorded his fifth straight victory as the San Francisco Giants pounded out 21 hits in a 16-3 rout over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

The Giants, winners in nine of their last 11 games, extended their lead to 3 12 over Arizona in the West DivLsioa Rockies 6, Pirates 3 PITTSBURGH Ncifi Perez hit three doubles in going 4-for-4 and Julian Tavarez remained undefeated as a starter as the Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. Todd Helton went 0-for-2, dropping his average one point to 392. Dodgers 5-3, Cubs 3-1 CHICAGO Adrian Beltre drove in his fifth run of the day and Devon White hit an RBI triple as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs for a doubleheader sweep. The Dodgers have now won eight straight at Wrigley Field. In the first game, Beltre hit a three-run homer in the eighth and drove in another run to spark a Los Angeles victory.

Reds 6, Marlins 0 MIAMI Ken Griffey Jr. had three hits and Elmer Dessens ended his losing streak at four as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Florida Marlins. Padres 4, Brewers 0 MILWAUKEE Brian Tollberg allowed four hits over seven innings for his first victory since June 25 as the San Diego Padres beat the Milwaukee Brewers. Astros 3, Expos 1 MONTREAL Chris Holt pitched 7 13 strong innings and Richard Hidalgo went 3-for-5 with a two-run single to lead the I Ious-ton Astros to a win over the struggling Montreal Expos r- $1 2000 Q45 "Anniversary Edition" 2000 Leather vH Sunroof Tag, Tax and License. Srk 00593 5r Kt MORE Demo Models Anniversary Editions 2 To Choose Great Selection msrp $50,247 msrp savings 8,649 savings 6783 Slk O021 1 CAOl llipilNJpli mm iMsIilitliVlRi.