The Trail determines Blazers led shows 52- 46 at the half and maintained a double- digit lead through most of the fourth quarter. Beckett Drew Boston got much better news about Josh Beckett, who felt strong in a 50- pitch side session and is on target to start Friday night against the Chicago White Sox. Petrino left last January, just a few months after signing a 10- year contract and telling fans that he wanted them to believe in his commitment to the school. We' ve got to work on it in terms of getting younger children playing, into the game, and getting communities behind the programs, like the RBI programs and the academies " Lapchick released the study on Jackie Robinson Day, the 61st anniversary of when Robinson broke the major league color barrier. The former Red Sox shortstop has been on the disabled list three times this season with a broken right hand, a strained left calf and left knee irritation Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. Former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne was hired as interim athletic director for the next several months to right the program.

I' m betting on Carolina, Pitt, Duke and Georgetown at this point . It' s not an indefinite situation " Heading into the intrastate series, the Indians had won eight of 10, vaulting them into first place in the AL Central Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press . Penn State' s loss to Iowa on Saturday left the Crimson Tide and Red Raiders as the only unbeaten teams in the BCS conferences, making it easy to sort out the all- important first two places in the BCS standings this week First- place Alabama 981 average) was No 1 in both the Harris and USA Today coaches' polls Second- place Texas Tech . Cockcroft says Ivan Rodriguez will get lots of playing time in Houston, but that doesn' t mean he' s a highly valued fantasy catcher at this point in his career . The club said he was put on the DL for evaluation and treatment of a nonbaseball- related medical issue. The Rangers said Young would have an MRI on Wednesday and be reevaluated at that time. She could not be reached by The Associated Press for comment on Thursday.

Reserve guard Ben Gordon also suited up while fighting a bad cold that has lingered for four days " Ben, I still don' t think he' s himself " Chicago coach Scott Skiles said . Scott said backup point guard Speedy Claxton, who missed his first game since November after spraining his left ankle Tuesday at Indiana, and starting forward Desmond Mason, who bruised his tailbone Wednesday against Utah, are both " pretty confident " they will return . practice Thursday at Valley High School " I don' t need the ball to be effective . New Hampshire went on to win 27- 17 " The record was a relief for not only myself, but for my teammates, the coaching staff " said Ball, whose team is 5- 0 and ranked No . A source close to Davidson coach Bob McKillop told ESPN that Rice recently made a major play for him. But Miami is looking for more consistency from him- and everyone else " We' ve got to come out with more fire " Wade said " We' ve got to come out with what' s inside of us " Game notesThis was Garnett' s 25th career game with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. Updated: September 18, 2008, 10: 51 AM ET Bedard to have shoulder surgery after rehab doesn' t work Comment Email Print Share ESPN news services SEATTLE- Seattle Mariners pitcher Erik Bedard, out since July with a tight left shoulder, has decided to undergo surgery.

The Dodgers, led by former Yankees manager Joe Torre, have not been to the Yankees in interleague play " It' s always good to see Mr T It will be kind of weird to face him in another uniform . 10 as part of the trade that sent Doug Christie to the Magic . Where in the past, he has completely dismissed questions of Garnett' s availability- including after last season when he said emphatically " We' re not going to trade Kevin Garnett- McHale is now qualifying those remarks . Witnesses told police that Meshawn Steward shot Parramore after William Steward argued with Parramore . My comments in regard to Florida quarterback Tim Tebow were misinterpreted and were intended to reflect the style of football that we play at LSU " We have great respect for Tim as a player and a competitor. The attention on Texas' defense intensified Tuesday when Brown suspended talented cornerback Tarell Brown and backup safety Tyrell Gatewood for Saturday' s game.

But the coaches selected Tate an offensive captain for Saturday, a strong indication they expect him to play " I' m optimistic he' ll look good " Ferentz said " Our intentions are that he will play " Tate threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns in Iowa' s 41- 7 win over Montana in the season opener on Sept 2, but woke up sore the next day . The Seahawks are developing a theme of making things exciting " We don' t think there' s anybody who can stop us going into the half or the end of the game " Alexander said " It' s good to have that confidence . But in my early GM days, he was a guy who played every day He didn' t want days off . The collective groan could practically be felt, and the sold- out crowd immediately started booing, even though the Marlins only had a one- run lead " To[ homer] in front of 50, 000 people, especially the situation at hand, it makes you feel good " Helms said . San Jose forwards Mike Grier, Jeremy Roenick and Claude Lemieux are all out of the lineup with injuries, although the 43- year- old Lemieux' s upper- body injury isn' t thought to be serious. There' s no getting around that " Orlando coach Johnny Davis said. He said he felt " enormous pressure " in talking about the team' s future and not trying to offend anyone in New Orleans or Oklahoma City.

The effort impressed Washington " They played really hard and have a lot of key components- it was kind of hard to call them an expansion team " said Antawn Jamison, who led the Wizards with 24 points " They' ve got some talented guys . For fourth- year center Eddy Curry, life in the NBA has never been this good " This is amazing " Curry said " I don' t think it can get any better . On the trail There is no real debate on which program is king of this state when it comes to reeling in top talent with LSU having the most success in the state of Louisiana . What could he possibly mean by " some other ball game? Ted Miller covers the Pac- 10 for the Seattle Post- Intelligencer . Unable to tolerate the pain anymore and concerned about doing further damage, Allen decided late last month to have surgery on his left ankle. Suddenly, the Sonics are an attractive destination for potential new GMs and coaches.

C- Aiken' s first appearance in the Sweet Sixteen round of the tournament . Kirilenko injured his right hip in the fall and stayed down for several minutes before getting up gingerly . Terry claimed public money was misused because White did not properly investigate the e- mail . Just take good shots and make free throws, that' s it " Bosh was 5- of- 13 from the field He also had a career- high nine offensive rebounds . He watched him benefit and knows Matt well enough to know what he was like emotionally had he come out after his junior year or as he was coming out after his senior year. Hopefully, when that time comes, I' ll be nice and comfortable " San Antonio played without point guard Tony Parker, who sat out the game with a stomach virus.

We have long- standing ties to high schools, coaches, locally and nationally, and we will fulfill their expectations . With Toronto struggling, Calderon told Mitchell he was willing to let Ford return to the starter' s role " It doesn' t tell me that Jose doesn' t want to play or doesn' t want to start " Mitchell said " It tells me that, with 12 games to go, he understands we' ve got to do something " Ford praised Calderon for his willingness to make the change " This is the time you try to search, try to find some type of momentum, something that works " Ford said " I think this is what this is all about . Charles receives numerous e- mails through the office of sports information wishing him the best of luck& bull; Delaware State has become more attractive to transfers in recent years . The Nets have defeated the Bulls six consecutive times and are 3- 0 against them this season . Because of that, details of what he told officers should not be made public, Avignone argued. The second tier among the unbeatens would be Boston College and South Florida.

Multiple sources told ESPN that South Florida athletic director Doug Woolard wants to give McCullum another season in the Big East . That was the coolest thing that I signed " Richardson was Arkansas' coach for 17 seasons . 779 percent of his conference games, trailing the success rate of just two coaches that were in the Big Ten for at least a decade: Michigan' s Bo Schembechler and Fielding Yost Against top- 10 teams, Carr was 17- 9 . It was checked by umpires and deemed acceptable during a game at Arizona in June, something Torre said he didn' t know about " I' m assuming if he' s still using it it' s OK " Torre said " But I think everybody should' ve had a little flier to that effect, too " Torre asked the umpires about Iwamura' s bat with runners at first and second in the second inning and the count 2- 2 . AP Photo/ Al BehrmanPrince Fielder is restrained by his teammates after shoving starting pitcher Manny Parra in the dugout during Monday' s game against the Reds " I' d much rather deal with this than a bunch of guys sitting on the bench getting their butts kicked every day and not caring about it, to be honest with you " Dugout flare- ups are becoming an annual event for Milwaukee On Aug. Email Print Share By Chris LowSpecial to ESPN Al Borges is the first to admit that he wasn' t a household name in the Southeastern Conference when he showed up on Auburn' s campus in February of last year.

Jacobson, a freshman who was tied for third in catches for BYU, left the game after making the catch and getting hit hard while converting a third- and- 2 on a 7- yarder from John Beck Jacobson finished the game with two catches for 26 yards . Those three and Bennett are the members of Oklahoma Professional Sports, LLC, the organization that partnered with the city and state in providing a revenue guarantee for the Hornets this season . And I' d be more inclined to award moral victory points for the comeback if the same thing hadn' t happened in their final two regular- season meetings with the Magic Chris Sheridan, ESPN: 9 . Houston went 3- 8 " You kind of[ get] lost in that, you know " Kolb said " You start looking at your personal accomplishments instead of the team' s . C( AP- When the Charlotte Bobcats couldn' t find enough playing time for Eddie House, the guard told them he wanted out. Golden State closes out its five- game road trip Friday at Detroit " We just have to salvage this trip and play well " Murphy said " If we don' t, we could lose by 30 " After a slow start in the first half( 5- for- 12, Webber got rolling in a wildly entertaining third where neither team played much defense or missed many shots.

3 rebounds before the injury, looks forward to his next trip to the playoffs with the Bucks . Central, Iowa 38, Olivet 17 PELLA, Iowa- Tim Connell threw four touchdown passes to lead undefeated Central to its first playoff win since 2000 . After being delivered in a 53- foot- long truck, the hood was removed so trade center responders could sign its underside " I don' t know much about NASCAR, but now I' ve become a huge fan " said retired fire Lt . That happened when he tried to knock the ball away from Amare Stoudemire in the third quarter He underwent surgery four days later and missed 31 games Before that, he was averaging 8 3 points and 4 0 assists in mostly a backup role . I' m nervous I forgot how to drive and we' re going to be no good " Bowyer said " His answer was you wouldn' t be a good race car driver if you weren' t[ nervous, and I believe that " Richard[ Childress] used to tell me that Dale[ Earnhardt] would come up to him and say' Man, I don' t know if I can get it done for you this year. With no apparent problems in the Cup series officials decided it was time to implement it in Nationwide " This is going to be extremely exciting for the Nationwide Series " series director Joe Balash said in a statement " As they have done in the Sprint Cup series, double- file restarts. The game against the Yellow Jackets( 6- 2, 4- 2) is the first of three more opportunities for Virginia to get a sixth victory and qualify for a bowl The Cavaliers also host No 8 Virginia Tech next weekend, then travel to No 3 Miami for the regular- season finale Nov 26 Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.

Wells( 1- 2) had a frightful first in the Rockies' 16- 10 loss, throwing 40 pitches and getting just one out before being yanked by manager Clint Hurdle The righty plodded off the field to a smattering of boos . But the two say they' ve worked well together and Bickerstaff was heavily involved in the coaching search " Bernie and I are doing a pretty good job " Jordan said " We have great conversations " Vincent, who has never been an NBA head coach, indicated he may hire an experienced assistant to help the transition One possibility is former coach of the year Del Harris . 22 Auburn re- enters the Top 25 for the first time since the preseason . Despite the injuries, Slaton set a school record with 1, 744 yards as a sophomore and was named a first team All- American . The Athletics ace has been on the disabled list four times in the last three years He was 10- 8 with a 2. With the two splitting time at quarterback, the Cowboys have been unhappy with their offensive production. Southern Illinois( 9- 3) moves on to face Appalachian State in the second round next Saturday.