Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 11

SPORTS 16,2008 ISOTOPES B2 TRACK B4 BOXING B5 ALBUQUERQUEJOURNAL ABQjournal.com/sports Unstoppable The D-Backs drop the Rockies as Brandon Webb moves to 9-0 B5 MATT ASSOCIATED PRESS The Tony Parker, left, Manu Ginobili, center, and Tim Duncan enjoy the waning moments of their Game 6 blowout of New Orleans on Thursday night in San Antonio. Spurs Force Game 7 in N.O. LIZABETH HITE The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO The San Antonio Big Three came through. Now they have to win one on the road to keep their title defense alive. Manu Ginobili scored 25 points, Tim Duncan had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 15 points in the 99-80 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in Game 6 on Thursday night.

The win forced a seventh game in the Western Conference semifinals on Monday in New Orleans. Home teams are 20-1 in the second round. Chris Paul led the Hornets with 21 points and Tyson Chandler scored 14. David West had 10 points before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter after apparently aggravating a back injury. The aging defending champions and the injured Hornets now get three days of rest before playing Game 7.

have Parker said. won a lot of big games on the Despite the closeness of the series, Game 6, like the five before it, was won by double digits. It was also won, like those before it, in the third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Hornets 20-12. know what to Paul said. third quarter was The Spurs took the lead for good after jumper with 4:27 left in the first quarter broke a 17-all tie.

They led by as many as 24. The Spurs hit 11 of 21 3-point- Trigger Blowout Today Cleveland at Boston TV: TNT, 6 p.m. Series: Celtics lead 3-2 Utah at Los Angeles TV: TNT, 8:30 p.m. Series: Lakers lead 3-2 Running on Fumes See SPURS on PAGE B2 he skyrocketing price of gasoline has affected pretty much everyone, including Brian Urlacher. Url, the former Lovington Wildcat, ex-New Mexico Lobo and current Chicago Bears star middle linebacker, signed a nine-year, $57 million contract in 2003.

Now, five years into the deal with four to go, he says $6.33 million per annum enough. Can you blame him? In a gallon of regular could be had for around $1.50. In 2008 gasoline dollars, then, he should be pulling down about $15 million a year. Meanwhile, the Urlacher situation is enough to give Bears management gas. Stomach gas, and lots of it.

the Monsters of the Midway lock up services as their Monster in the Middle with that nine-year pact? a contract a contract? So, why is Urlacher planning to boycott the May 30-June 1 mini- camp, according to Yahoo! Sports, because of with lax response to his request for a Actually, stance difficult to understand whether one agrees with it or not. the rising cost of doing business in a cutthroat world. The salary cap has ILL EBBER Journal Staff Writer Chad Kuhn need the Weather Channel to tell him what a mess Mother Nature made of his baseball field at Valley High School on Thursday. With his Vikings scheduled to host Gadsden in the opening round of the Class 5A state tournament, the Valley coach sat in the dugout Thursday morning in search of the latest weather report. It take long to realize his team was destined to take the day off.

have satellite TV in the clubhouse and we kept an eye on the weather all morning, but it was clear we going to get a Kuhn said after the teams agreed to postpone opener of their three-game series until this morning. a swamp and the mound and area around the plate are a muddy Gadsden was hoping to get the entire series wrapped up by today at noon because the graduation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Anthony, N.M. Now the seniors will play today, drive four hours to attend the ceremony, the drive back for early game. Such is the way of things with the vastly popular three-game series to open the playoffs.

the first time in tournament history this format will be used. Coaches pushed for the change as long as two years ago. The New Mexico Activities Association agreed to implement the plan this season. Now that reality, coaches are mostly singing its praises. saying what an advantage it is for teams with pitching, but the one thing I like about it is it keeps us all in game condition the week before said St.

coach Ken Duran. get two or three games at home; what I Horsemen are the top seed in Class 3A and, like all district champions and top- eight seeds, they get home- field advantage in the first round. Three-time defending cham- See TEAMS on PAGE B6 JOURNAL FILE Santa Fe Herbie Romero has pitched and hit well enough to help lead the Demons to their first state appearance in 31 years. Baseball Hopes To Dodge the Rain Weather Stalls EN ICKENGER Journal Staff Writer elcome as they may have been, showers muddied a busy sports schedule around New Mexico. Collegiate, professional and high school sports were affected.

First, the Mountain West Conference baseball race bogged down as co-leaders New Mexico and TCU were unable to start their showdown three-game series at Isotopes Park. The Lobos and Frogs are scheduled to play a doubleheader today with Game 1 starting at 10 a.m. Later the Albuquerque Isotopes had the opener of their eight-game homestand postponed. The Isotopes and Omaha will play a doubleheader Sunday. Rain and hail also hammered the state high school softball tournament in Farmington, scrambling an already tight schedule and pushing games late into the night.

Valley and attempt to get the Class 5A baseball tourney started washed out, too. The National Weather Service is forecasting mostly sunny skies and a high of 70 today. More rain could really create a scheduling mess, however, as the Class state track meet and high school individual state tennis tournaments are set to begin today. Gadsden and Valley, meanwhile, will try to join most of the other Class 3A, 4A and 5A baseball teams starting their best-of-three, first-round state baseball series today. Game One was rescheduled for noon at Valley.

Perhaps most notable among cancellations was the UNM-TCU baseball game because it means the Mountain West regular-season title could be decided in twin bill. The second game will start 30 minutes after the first game is completed. UNM coach Ray Birmingham said postponement affect strategy, though it could make things tough on the first-game loser. could be kind of a double Birmingham said. only have a half-hour to pull things together if you lose.

Things could really swing one way or the UNM-TCU game was CANCELLATIONS PAT Isotopes field is covered with a giant tarp Thursday to protect it from the rain. The night game against Omaha, and the University of New noon game with TCU, were postponed because of the weather. See RAIN on PAGE B6 Forecast The National Weather Service is forecasting mostly sunny skies for Albuquerque and a high of 70 degrees with northeast winds of 5-10 mph. SPORTSSPEAK UP! AS A RESPONSE TO the attack on Lacrosse, I would first like to say that Lacrosse is spelled with an -e at the end. Furthermore, lacrosse is an amazing sport that requires you to have an extreme amount of eye-hand coordination and an amazingly tough skin.

the goalie on my team and I have never seen so much heart put into a game. For some of us more than just a sport, the reason that we keep out of trouble. There a kid on my team that try harder in school just so that they lose their spot as a starter. Lacrosse could be something great in New Mexico if people could give it a chance. Williams (Lacrosse Goalie and Fan), Albuquerque RICK WRIGHT Of the Journal Rain Wreaks Havoc With Local Sports Activities See URL on PAGE B6 Wet Blanket Inside High school state tennis and track advances, and how weather affected Day 1 of softball B4 THEDOWNS OnTheFairgroundsExpoNewMexic 505)266-5555 ww.abqdowns.com SATURDAY 250 000 Guaranteed EarlyPick4 Guaranteed LatePick4 1 000 000 ADVANCEWAGERINGONTHEPREAKNESS FRIDAY I I III I11111 1I "G11 -I I---- U11111 I.