He started unveils the season indicates with nine consecutive no- decisions, setting a major league record. Meche, making his 200th career start, retired 11 of the first 13 batters he faced. Redd missed his first shot of the night and made six straight before the start of the second. Updated: February 11, 2005, 8: 38 PM ET Suit claimed Selig fraudulently conspired with Loria Email Print Share Associated Press MIAMI- The lawsuit by the former limited partners of the Montreal Expos against former owner Jeffrey Loria was dismissed Friday when a federal judge approved an arbitration panel' s ruling. Washington 1B Nick Johnson has reached base safely in 20 of his last 21 games. He had words with Cuzzi again after walking Dukes for the second time with one out in the seventh " Sometimes you make good pitches and get[ close calls Sometimes you make bad pitches and get them.

Alfonso Soriano homered, Derrek Lee had his first extra- base hit, a run- scoring double, and Aramis Ramirez raised his average to . Tolbert' s first big league homer, a three- run shot in the seventh, made it 20- 0 . He allowed six hits, walked three and struck out six and refused to blame his team' s shoddy defense " It' s going to happen, it just happened all together " Lannan said . Nuggets coach George Karl sounded almost prophetic before the game when he talked about how the suspensions could have a galvanizing affect on the team . It' s good to be hyped up, but we were a little bit too hyped up " Casey went to Frahm in the second quarter looking for a spark, and the third- year player delivered. A cadre of reporters with television cameras, microphones and recorders crowded around Williams' locker Wednesday; many ignored Beck, who was talking with reporters at the same time " We kind of forget that he' s here " defensive end Jason Taylor told reporters " He' s one of the guys, you just forget.

Roethlisberger, one of the leading faces of the NFL, also is featured on the cover of catalogues mailed out this week by Dick' s Sporting Goods " Those TV ads are probably the best public vote of confidence he could have' said Scott Becher, president of Sports& Sponsorships, a national sports marketing agency " He' s got a large company staking its reputation on their belief that he is OK, saying that he is a good guy . He bounced it in the dirt just in front of right- hander Chris Young, a Dallas native . Stanley checked himself out of the hospital last night and will be evaluated before he returns to the field . SAN FRANCISCO- No . The Houston Astros had stolen seven bases- the most by any team in the majors in nearly four years- against third- string catcher Matthew LeCroy. But the 20- year- old outfielder, considered one of the top prospects in baseball, began to display his talents Saturday.

Boston is 7- 3 in its last 10 games, but its lead in the division dropped to five games over the Yankees, who were idle . Associated PressKISSIMMEE, Fla- Mark Teixeira is fitting in quite nicely with the New York Yankees . The first, on a difficult drive by Figueroa over the drawn- in Ankiel, was ruled a triple . Corey Maggette had 18 points and nine rebounds for Los Angeles, Tim Thomas had 17 points, Cuttino Mobley scored 12 and Ruben Patterson added 10 " It feels good to get a win and weather the storm " said Maggette, who had nine fourth- quarter points " In the first half we reverted back to what we have been doing in the past . The Pirates put runners on base in each of his four innings and he left trailing 2- 1. The right- hander then walked Victor Martinez before being replaced by McClung, who struck out Ryan Garko but walked Shin- Soo Choo. He' s not one of those guys who gets in bad funks " Vanden Hurk( 2- 2) went six- plus innings for the Marlins and gave up six runs- five earned He walked two in his sixth major league start.

Oakland has won all four meetings in the series so far this season, including a sweep in Toronto from April 8- 10 . Ninety seconds later, Harrington sprinted the length of the floor, was fed by Tinsley and scored to give Indiana a 95- 94 advantage, its first lead since 58- 56 late in the first half . He sat out Arizona' s divisional playoff victory at Carolina with a strained hamstring, but played in the Philadelphia game . The Meadowlands are about 10 miles from Yankee Stadium " The commissioner' s office has advised us that the Montreal Expos will not be going into the Meadowlands, and we will vigorously object and exercise all our rights if any attempts are made to put any major league team there " Yankees president Randy Levine said . The deal also includes escalators based on innings pitched " It' s nice writing his name down every fifth day " manager Ken Macha said " It' s a tribute to the development he' s made I think his progress has been a steep upward curve. The Giants( 74- 74) are 3 1/ 2 games back of San Diego in the wild card race and four back of Los Angeles in the NL West. Then, there' s Kimberly Bell, the home run king' s girlfriend of 10 years, who dated him even after his first wedding.

I hit it with my middle finger and I just said something` Hey, Hey' and he[ Barrett] saw it, so he called it " Soto said . Jays ace Roy Halladay pitched seven shutout innings, but was lifted after being struck on the right temple by Nyjer Morgan' s line drive that deflected to third baseman Scott Rolen for an inning- ending out in the seventh . The deal allowed the Bulls to agree to a trade with New Orleans sending Tyson Chandler to the Hornets for forward P J Brown and swingman J R Smith The move puts the Pistons in a difficult position . Not only is star guard Gilbert Arenas not available for at least the first month of the season due to surgery on his left knee, but starting center Brendan Haywood is scheduled for surgery to repair torn ligaments in his injured right wrist next week . But we hired a coach I believe in, someone I can work with. He plays the game with a lot of passion and heart- he' s not afraid to stick his nose in there " The 30- year- old Guillen batted.

Howard is 9- for- 20 with five homers and 11 RBIs in the first six games of a seven- game road trip . Boston' s Mike Timlin pitched a perfect seventh, giving him 14 2/ 3 scoreless innings in his last 10 outings . Volstad( 9- 11) was charged with six runs in 1 2/ 3 innings, his shortest outing in 41 career starts, including a Florida- high 27 this season Entering August, Volstad' s season ERA was 4 35 In five starts since, his ERA is 9 . The Cubs threatened in the second when two walks and Jake Fox' s single loaded the bases, but Lee fanned Dempster to end it . As Peterson told Sims shortly after joining the team, there' s no reason for Sims to feel like he has to do everything by himself anymore " We always talk about football and techniques but one the best things J. He last pitched in a game on April 23 at Tampa Bay, when he bruised a bone in his right ankle.

For Washington, it must have been a relief to play a nine- inning game that finished a little after 10 p m After all, the Nationals' previous game went past 2 a m . 1 pick in the 2003 draft, and in four seasons, James has become one of the league' s star players as well as one of its most popular ones Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press . There were whispers this spring that Rice' s time in Tampa Bay might be growing short, even suggestions the Bucs would entertain trading him, and he was the subject of trade speculation right before the league' s trade deadline last month . AFC West blog ESPN' s Bill Williamson writes about all things AFC West in his division blog# 8226& nbsp; Blog network: NFL Nation Last week, the Raiders released safety Gibril Wilson, wide receiver Ronald Curry and defensive end Kalimba Edwards The five releases have saved the team$ 14 6 million in cap room, but it has also put$ 11 5 million of dead money onto their$ 123 million cap . General manager Brian Sabean heard requests all winter from teams interested in acquiring Cain, but the Giants were committed to keeping their talented young pitchers. The biggest sports book deal in recent memory was for tennis great Andre Agassi, who has an international following and reportedly received at least$ 5 million from Alfred A. A lot of teams can just falter from there and go on a downward spiral and we bounced back and swept a good team " We can compete with anybody and we' ve proven that " Hawpe hit his 14th homer, a two- run shot, in the second, and Helton' s sacrifice fly tied it in the third.

He had allowed three runs or fewer in each of his previous 16 appearances this season " You knew it was going to happen sooner or later " Baker said " He' s been on a tremendous roll . The Portland Trail Blazers forward suggested on Thursday that the NBA exploits young athletes simply to enrich itself " I ain' t no dumb- ass n- out here . He is also the second Dodgers pitcher to throw a complete game one- hitter vs the Braves since the team moved to L A . It was back and forth for a while " The Spurs were ahead 62- 46 at halftime, but Memphis went on a run in the third quarter that was capped by Miller' s 3- pointer, tying the game at 71 with 3: 38 left . 7 at Nashville, the last time he played " He played great on[ that] Friday. He left the team' s game at Buffalo two weeks later after taking a glancing blow to his head and hasn' t played since. Baez had 41 saves for Tampa Bay last season, but was acquired in a trade to be Gagne' s setup man.

Lopez, activated off the 15- day disabled list before the game, added a three- run drive and Mora homered with a man on . Updated: January 14, 2007, 8: 06 PM ET Overbay latest player to cash in with Jays Email Print Share Associated Press TORONTO- First baseman Lyle Overbay and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a$ 24 million, four- year contract, a team official said Sunday Overbay hit . New York shortstop Derek Jeter went 2- for- 3 with two walks . Quarterback Jason Campbell tweaked his hamstring during Wednesday' s practice, and running back Clinton Portis sat out with a minor hip flexor strain . Philadelphia has no triples in its first 11 games, three short of the team record to start a season. His hitting streak is the longest in the major leagues since Florida' s Luis Castillo hit safely in 35 consecutive games in 2002. He struck out five and stranded two runners in the first, fourth and fifth.

Ramirez left the game after the fifth inning because of soreness in his right knee . Our offense just isn' t going right now " Bonser, who is 0- 6 in 10 starts since a June 10 victory over Washington, gave up four runs and nine hits . I pitched a little more in situations where I didn' t early in the spring " The Cardinals played without manager Tony La Russa, who was in Richmond, Va, serving as a pallbearer at the funeral for his mother- in- law . Williams' head coaching contract expires July 31, though he remains under contract to the Knicks as an assistant coach for the upcoming season . 23, has Mutombo and his family thinking about one more year. One of the first came when Shaquille O' Neal had the ball on the perimeter and tried to execute a give- and- go with Dwyane Wade in the low post, Wade' s blind over- the- head pass failing to find its 340- pound target. Josh Howard scored 29 points and Keith Van Horn added 23- going 5- for- 5 from 3- point range in the first half- in the Mavericks' 110- 77 rout of the Nets on Saturday night.