The Daily News from Lebanon, Pennsylvania • 18

4C Lebanon Daily News, Thursday, June 9, 2005 Sports A-Rods 400th sparks Yanks win at Brewers BASEBALL MILWAUKEE (AP) -Alex Rodriguez became the youngest member of the 400-homer club and a change in their routine got the New York Yankees back on the winning track with a 12-3 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers last night. Manager Joe Torre went to drastic measures to snap his slumping team out of its latest funk, canceling batting practice, juggling his lineup sitting Hideki Matsui for the first eight innings, and even getting ejected for arguing. It worked. A team that had hit .195 overall and .140 with runners in scoring position while losing seven of their first eight games on a season-long 12-game road trip, collected 16 hits and scored its most runs in two weeks. Mike Mussina (6-4) was the beneficiary of the offensive breakthrough led by Rodriguez, who homered twice, went 4-for-4 and drove in four runs his first RBIs of the trip.

Red Sox 4, Cardinals 0 David Wells threw eight innings of four-hit ball, and the Boston Red Sox got big hits from David Ortiz and Jason Varitek. homered to lead the Astros. New York lost star catcher Mike Piazza to a bruised left wrist in the first inning after he appeared to be hit by a foul ball. X-rays were negative and he was day-to-day. Twins 10, D-backs 0 Johan Santana (7-2) threw a four-hitter and improved to 15-0 in 17 road starts since losing at Kansas City on May 29, 2004.

Cubs 2, Blue Jays 0 Sergio Mitre (1-1) allowed two hits in seven innings and added an RBI double off Roy Halladay (9-3), who had his five-game winning streak snapped. Nationals 7, Athletics 2 Esteban Loaiza (2-4) earned his first win in more than a month, and Ryan Church, Brian Schneider and Vinny Castilla homered to help Washington win its season-high sixth straight. Angels 8, Braves 4 Dallas McPherson matched his career high with three hits, including a tiebreaking two-run triple in the seventh, and Brendan Donnelly (4-1) got his second win of the series. Indians 6, Padres 1 Scott Elarton (3-2) won a road start for the first time in more than four years, The Red Sox avoided a three-game sweep in the World Series rematch, looking more like the team that swept the Cardinals last fall than the one that lost the first two games by a combined score of 16-3. Marlins 5, Mariners 4 Dontrelle Willis became the major leagues first 10-game winner, and Carlos Delgado drove in all of Floridas runs to help the Marlins snap a four-game losing streak.

Willis (10-2) wasnt particularly sharp, giving up a season-high 10 hits and four earned runs in 6 2-3 innings. Still, he became only the third pitcher in Marlins history to log 10 wins before the All-Star break. Pirates 6, Orioles 1 Rob Mackowiak drove in four runs to support the latest strong start by Kip Wells (5-4), and the Pirates dealt Baltimore its first road series loss since August. Astros 4, Mets 1 Brandon Backe (6-3) gave up four hits in six innings and worked around a career-high six walks, and pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro The Associated Press The Yankees Alex Rodriguez is congratulated by teammates (from left) Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield after hitting his 400th career home run last night in Milwaukee. drove in a run and scored twice, Matt Diaz added two RBIs, and Runelvys Hernandez (3-7) pitched six strong innings.

Reds 11, Devil Rays 9 Wily Mo Pena homered in his first and last at-bats, giving Cincinnati a win against the ALs worst pitching staff, which blew a five-run cushion for the second straight night. White Sox 15, Rockies 5 Orlando Hernandez (7-1) shook off a shaky start to win his sixth straight decision and Chicago had a sea-son-high 22 hits to complete a three-game sweep. Rockies starter Jeff Francis (5-3) lost for the first time in eight career starts at Coors. Aaron Boone hit two home runs, and the Indians handed Jake Peavy (5-1) his first loss. Dodgers 3, Tigers 1 Jeff Weaver (6-5) out-pitched Jason Johnson (4-5) with seven innings of two-hit ball and Jason Grabows-ki hit a two-run homer.

Royals 4, Giants 1 Tony Graffanino tripled. Phils make trade, then blank Texas Coaches share friendship, Finals able that way. The Rangers came in leading the AL in runs. They threw a lot of guys at us, first baseman Mark Teixeira said. We still have to get more than five hits no matter who they put out there.

(From page 1C) out at the plate by right fielder Richard Hidalgo on David Bells two-out single. He had a good fastball, good curve and an above-average change, Burrell said of Young. He has good stuff. You have to try to react. I got a hanging curve.

Tejeda, a starter in the minors, had pitched out of the bullpen since being recalled by the Phillies. I felt good, he said. I just tried to make good pitches. Ive been a starter my whole life. I feel comfort Jurors clear Learjet in Stewart crash (From page 1C) Spend a little time talking with their players and assistant coaches, and a picture emerges of two very similar but different men.

Brown is regarded as more of a basketball junkie, though he also relishes spending his free time with his wife, Shelley, his 9-year-old son L.J. and his 6-year-old daughter, Madison a family whose difficulties adjusting to life in suburban Detroit after seven years in Philadelphia is one of the factors behind Browns decision to consider taking a job elsewhere after this season. Popovich is the more worldly of the two, often spending his downtime reading books and periodicals to keep up with international politics and world events. Spurs center Nazr Mohammed is one of two players in the series, along with teammate Bruce Bowen, who played under Brown in Philadelphia and now plays for Popovich in San Antonio. There arent many differences.

You wont play unless you play thats the biggest similarity, Mohammed said. Theyre both teachers of the game, and I like the way they both get out there and they show you what they want you to do. Its not just about Do this and then dont explain it to you. The chess match between the two coaches will be particularly interesting in the NBA Finals because of the intricacies of the matchups. Brown will likely use his best defender, Tayshaun Prince, against guard Manu Ginobili, and Popovich also will likely assign a defensive-minded forward, Bowen, to try to shut down a guard, Richard Hamilton.

In each case, itll likely create a mismatch elsewhere, and itll be up to each coach to find ways to exploit those instances before the other coach makes an adjustment to mask them. Theres also each mans knowledge of what specific plays the other likes to run at the end of close games. When were standing there in timeouts, Carlesi-mo said, theres going to be a pretty good idea of what they other ones going to do, but theres not a lot of new things being done after you play 100 games. You pretty much come down to the things you do well, and it comes down more to execution than it does to surprising somebody. Theres tremendous familiarity and real insight into what the other guys thinking, but having said that, players are still going to decide it, Carlesimo said.

Orlando to Dallas. Leaijet argued that the plane lost pressure in another way and that the aircraft was poorly maintained by Sunjet, the now-defunct Florida company that operated the jet. In a statement after the verdict, the families said their hope in this effort was to make air travel safer. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) A jury in a $200 million lawsuit cleared Learjet of responsibility yesterday for the 1999 death of pro golfer Payne Stewart in a charter-plane crash.

The twin-engine jet went down in a pasture in South Dakota after flying halfway across the country on autopilot, as Stewart and the four others aboard apparently lay unconscious for lack of oxygen after the plane lost cabin pressure. Everyone was killed. Stewarts widow, Tracey, and their two children sued the aircraft manufacturer, claiming a cracked piece of equipment caused cabin air to escape as the plane made its ascent on its flight from John Deere NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEERE Nagy big part of Forces title run Now I want to start a new agenda and be successful in the big game, he said. What he brings is the Arena-certified ability to throw quick passes from odd angles and a knack for improvising in tight spaces. Theres also a little emotional edge to the package.

A photo of Nagy after the Force had survived against Orlando told it all. He was carrying on like he had just struck oil while planting his begonias, although he denies the impression that tears were involved. He gets kind of fired up. As the game goes on, he gets more into it. Hes pretty poised, but when a big play happens, he really gets into it and shows his emotions.

Its good to see, Thonn said. Apparently, Nagy will reserve his poker face for the tables. (From page 1C) the seasons fifth game, it was barely a spasm. Nagy, a graduate of Manheim Central and the University of Delaware, completed his first 10 passes, the Force eked one out against the Austin Wranglers, and it has ridden its backup from there all the way to Sundays ArenaBowl XIX against Colorado. That probably was the single biggest event for our team, Force coach Doug Plank said.

To have a setback of that magnitude losing your quarterback and then having Matt come in and perform the way he did, that started the momentum for the remainder of the season. It could have been a crash-and-bum situation. On that day, the world lost another real-estate agent and gained an indoor quarterback. Nearing his 27th birthday, Nagy was approaching a crossroads, one direction leading to the exciting world of surgically reduced football, the other to the real life of interest-only mortgages. Had he been a couple of years older when he was benched last season in Carolina, at about the same time his first child was bom, Nagy may well have taken his license and gone fulltime Realtor back home in Lancaster.

Instead, after injury-pocked and tumultuous Arena stops in New York and Carolina, he scouted around and settled on one more go, as Kubiaks backup here. He was all-in, holding a pair of deuces. Who would have thought last year at this time I would have been a starting quar terback on a team going to the ArenaBowl? You would have never guessed it. Good things are happening, and I just want to keep them going, Nagy said. His stats reek of the offensive excesses of Arena football: In 12 regular-season games, he completed 260 of 388 passes (67 percent) for 3,003 yards, 66 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

His two postseason starts were even gaudier: 47 of 74, 567 yards, 12 touchdowns, one skinny interception. Hes the third-ranked passer in the league. We didnt really miss a beat, Force offensive coordinator Steve Thonn said. The first play he got in, I called a short route. Then I said, Forget it, lets do the stuff we were doing.

He never lost confidence in himself, said receiver Chris Jackson, with whom Nagy has formed a smart, fast friendship. Yeah, he was looking to sign as a backup with a couple of teams, but deep down he still considered himself a starter in this league. Look at the numbers from that first week he was ready. There are a lot of backups who arent ready that first game. Now, here he is, playing in a game that bears Roman numerals but little else to mark it as important.

However the world may perceive the ArenaBowl, it is the biggest game of one former Delaware quarterbacks life. Nagy has a few semifinals in his closet one loss before 19,000 to Berwick at Her-sheypark Stadium in high school and two Division I-AA losses to McNeese State and Georgia Southern. DEERE SEASON CLEARANCE! THESE GREAT DEALS END SOON SEE YOUR DEALER NOW! Get No Interest and No Payments until March, 2006f Get $250 off attachments Get up to $300 in additional savings OFFERS END SOON! GET TO YOUR JOHN DEERE DEALER TODAY! www.JohnDeere.comMowers BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY Forestville, PA (570) 544-6434 June 10 8 PM Gates open at 6:00 PM 1981 Hall Of Fame Dodge Night, Sportsman Road Runners Tue, June 14 7:15 PM i Gates open at 6:00 PM Open Practice Night Next Race Friday, June 17 P.O. Box 298, Minersville, PA 17954 or www.bigdiamondraceway.com I 1-81 Exit 35 or Rt. 901 1 mi.

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