Ryan Dempster surveys finished up reasons in the ninth in his first appearance since losing a 4- 3 lead in the ninth inning of a 7- 4 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday. 9 and be eligible to return against Cleveland in another home game three days later. Kansas City became the first major- league team in 107 years to lose a game after leading by at least six runs and thus extend a losing streak to 13- or- more games. Wade also had six assists and five rebounds in 45 minutes " We let him dribble all over the place and get where he wanted to get to " Raptors center Matt Bonner said. With mostly reserves on the court for both teams, the Blazers cut the deficit to 99- 84 on Martell Webster' s 3- pointer from the left side with 46 2 seconds left.

Fast Facts# 8226& nbsp; Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 27 and Chauncey Billups recorded his fourth double- double of the season# 8226& nbsp; The Nuggets have now won three straight and 15 of their last 18 and improved to 15- 4 with Chauncey Billups in the lineup# 8226& nbsp; The Warriors have lost 11 of 13 overall and nine of their last 10 in Denver- ESPN research " I' m falling off " Anthony said with a laugh " It' s all good We won . Outside linebacker Steve Foley was shot three times outside his suburban home on Sept . Salisbury: It' s not that McNair is done, it' s that his team is pretty close to being done . Lions coach Jim Schwartz wouldn' t use the word " start " in terms of Stafford . Associated PressPHOENIX( AP- Even though Chad Gaudin will be a reliever for Oakland this season, the Athletics wanted to see how he would fare as a starter.

Game notes Chicago closer Bobby Jenks is scheduled to pitch in a " B " game Monday after throwing 23 pitches off a mound Friday . Yankees fans and Red Sox fans were relentlessly taunting each other, and the fun of Boston' s comeback win in the 2004 ALCS was being lost . Information from The Associated Press was used in this report . Oakland DH/ 1B Jason Giambi got the day off to rest his sore body . Even if they weren' t going to talk about it " Obviously this is a big win for us " Suns coach Mike D' Antoni said " It' s a good one to take home with us " Grant Hill scored 22 points for the Suns and Leandro Barbosa added 18 in what was a close game to the end " It definitely was fun to play the last few minutes High intensity.

Rookie halfback Ahmad Bradshaw, who missed the Patriots games with a calf injury, returned to practice as did receiver Sinorice Moss, who was out the last two weeks with a back injury Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press . Towers( 1- 10) was charged with four runs- two earned- and five hits over 1 2- 3 innings in his first relief outing since Aug . Prince Fielder followed with another run- scoring single off Majewski, who has struggled since arriving in the eight- player trade " He' s probably putting pressure on himself " Narron said " I really believe he' s going to pitch well for us . With two outs and Jacobs on first after hitting a single, third baseman Jose Bautista and first baseman Adam LaRoche made throwing errors on the same play, allowing Jacobs to score on Willingham' s grounder to third . Lewis helped the Sonics rally from a 25- point deficit on Tuesday night to beat Minnesota 114- 106, finishing with 35 points " I thought we played well as a team " Lewis said. He also had the longest interception return in Super Bowl history of 100 yards in the win over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII James Walker covers the AFC North for ESPN. He' s also the handyman to the frontman who administered the holy grail of drugs to elite athletes around the world.

Abreu singled and both scored on what initially looked to be a double- play grounder by Jason Giambi to first baseman Adam LaRoche . He was playing on the second line with center Daniel Briere and right wing J P Dumont against the Blue Jackets . Cellular Field since being traded away by the White Sox after the 2004 season, doubled to right center and scored on an RBI double by Chris Burke to make it 2- 1, minutes after the two ejections Chicago tied it in the bottom of the inning on A J . The hard- throwing right- hander nicknamed " Franchise " by his teammates, the Giants' top pick at 10th overall last year out of Washington, didn' t walk a batter for the first time . Twins RF Michael Cuddyer took batting practice for the first time since he was placed on the DL at the end of June with a strained tendon in his left index finger. He earned his first shutout since a 4- 0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 20, 2004, and his first complete game since he tossed a six- hitter in a 6- 2 victory against the Chicago Cubs on Sept 20, 2006.

Team president Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher known for work ethic, has since emphasized tougher workouts for every pitcher while stressing that starters go deeper into games The Rangers hired Mike Maddux as their new pitching coach . His mental attitude was never down " Todd Williams( 1- 0) pitched two innings of one- hit relief and Chris Ray got three outs for his ninth save . The Padres were not happy Friday after Alfonso Soriano homered off David Wells, stopped at the plate to admire the ball and then started his home run trot with a few steps backward . Lopez' s RBI single in the second snapped an 0- for- 16 streak . Carlos Lee hit a homer and had three RBIs and rookie Hunter Pence drove in two runs to lead the Astros to an 8- 3 win over the Cardinals and hand Wells his major league- leading 10th loss. Of course, the rookie crop was far deeper on offense this year.

But rookies Dontrelle Willis and Cabrera helped revitalize baseball in South Florida, and the bandwagon grew rapidly during their September surge to win the wild- card race . It is something you don' t want to play with " Sanders, who had not homered since May 26, hit his milestone shot to left- center on an 0- 1 count " It is definitely exciting " he said " With this ballpark, you never know if it' s going to go out I was excited at first and then had some tears . Indians 2B Luna did him one better in the sixth, making a leaping stop on a grounder in the hole by Mauer and throwing him out at first Twins 3B Nick Punto sat out with a bruised knee . Despite his self- defense claim, Graziosa, 30, of Yonkers, was convicted Nov . Wells, on the DL since May 27 with a right knee contusion, will be re- evaluated Tuesday to see how he came through the outing and to determine when he might start a rehab assignment Chavez batted eighth for the first time since Sept 26, 2001. But he doesn' t have any kind of graduate degree on how to do a taped conversation for the first time in his life in such a way that it pleases everybody T J Quinn: Had you prepped him? Rusty Hardin: No.

Clark fired the ball back to third, where shortstop Stephen Drew tagged out Viciedo trying to advance " From then on I was in a groove " Haren said " That' s the kind of stuff that happens during the season, too . Victor Martinez doubled in a run and Mills followed with a two- run homer in the first for Cleveland Carl Pavano, slated to be the Indians' No . With a runner on and one out, Corey Hart hit a deep fly but Martinez slipped on the grass and then carved up a divot during his slip while the ball landed untouched about two feet away, giving Hart a double Santana then walked J J . Aside from Augmon, Orlando' s DeShawn Stevenson was fined$ 7, 500 for kicking the ball into the stands at the final buzzer of the Magic' s 98- 82 home loss to the Nets Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press . Austin Croshere added 17 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Pacers, who bounced back from a 106- 86 loss at Denver a night earlier that started their four- game West Coast swing. Brewers starters went seven innings or more only 33 times last season, compared to 62 in 2006. Willy Taveras drove in two runs on a sacrifice fly and groundout Taveras also stole two bases.

The investigator who made the remark didn' t testify in Williams' first trial and has since retired . Updated: August 28, 2009, 5: 53 PM ET Smith, Richardson suspended Comment Email Print Share Associated Press NEW YORK- The NBA has suspended Denver' s J R . Their targets: dozens of home- made drug labs that had taken root in the shadows of schools and supermarkets and now produced and sold steroids, human growth hormone, even Viagra The owners weren' t exactly secretive . Smith was acquired from the Yankees as part of the Bobby Abreu deal . 08 ERA before going on the disabled list May 26 with a sprained knee ligament. I' m happy to shake the rust off today because they pitched me tough. We went pretty hard " Heat coach Van Gundy said Friday " And he moved through it pretty well It was encouraging " O' Neal suffered the injury Nov.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Bills did not release that information . Story Quinn has been favored all along to win the starting job, and although it now appears to be his, the former first- round pick is playing along with Mangini' s wishes to guard his secret and keep the Vikings guessing . Louis Cardinals: Right- hander Dennis Tankersley and the Cardinals agreed Tuesday to a minor- league contract . You have to get out them if you want to be a closer " Wilson has earned saves in the Rangers' last three games, stamina that has impressed manager Ron Washington " He' s handled it very well " Washington said " He' s been out there three games in a row . He has been the subject of numerous jokes on late- night television. Dodgers LHP Hong- Chih Kuo faced hitters for the first time and breezed through an inning in a morning " B " game against the White Sox, throwing eight of his 12 pitches for strikes.