John Degenkolb sprinted to victory on the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, after a crash near the finish, and Luca Paolini retained the overall leader's jersey. Degenkolb won in 4 hours 37 minutes 48 seconds in a 123.6-mile leg from Cosenza to Matera.
When the Rangers explored trade possibilities with the Columbus Blue Jackets as the April 3 deadline approached, they insisted that Derick Brassard be included as part of what became a multiplayer deal. Now it is clear why.
Brassard, a former first-round draft choice by Columbus in 2006, followed a big offensive effort (three assists) in Game 3 by collecting two more Wednesday night, helping the Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals.
"It's incredible. His playmaking ability is so crucial," defenseman Ryan McDonagh said of Brassard's ability to suddenly spark an offense that was dormant the first two games.
"He finds space for himself, which helps other guys get open ice, and he's doing well defensively," McDonagh said. "He's doing it all right now."
Brassard wore a floppy black "Broadway hat" signifying that he had been chosen by his teammates as the most valuable player of the game. He also wore a smile that would not cease.
"When I'm on my game, I make plays," he said, "and that is what I have been doing the last two games."
After the Rangers were limited to one goal in the first two games in Washington, Brassard breathed life into the Rangers when they returned home.
He ended their 0-for-10 drought on the power play when he connected 1 minutes 23 seconds into the second period and assisted scores by Brian Boyle and Arron Asham in Monday night's 4-3 win. The three points were the most by a Rangers player making his home playoff debut since Sergei Zubov reached that total on April 17, 1994, against the Islanders.
On Wednesday night, Brassard produced a fitting encore. He fed Carl Hagelin for a blistering slap shot that extended the Rangers' margin to 2-0 at 10:13 of the second period. He asserted himself on the power play when he positioned defenseman Dan Girardi for another slap shot that whistled past goalie Braden Holtby on the stick side to snap a 2-2 tie early in the third period.
Brassard, 25, never experienced the postseason in five dismal seasons with Columbus.
"I play with emotion," he said. "I play with passion. It's a lot easier when you are playing at home."
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Capitals center Matt Hendricks with Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto and goalie Henrik Lundqvist. More Photos »
The Rangers hit every Capital in sight Wednesday night. They fearlessly blocked 33 shots. They won almost twice as many face-offs as Washington. They made Alex Ovechkin irrelevant. And with the outcome in doubt late, again, the defense and goaltending were stout.
The Rangers clawed their way to a 4-3 victory at Madison Square Garden, leaving the series a best-of-three duel. Game 5 will be Friday in Washington.
"They were working harder; they were coming harder," Washington defenseman Karl Alzner said.
The Rangers' Dan Girardi broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal 59 seconds into the third period off a fine setup from Derick Brassard. At 6 minutes 2 seconds, Derek Stepan finished a superb three-way passing play with Ryan Callahan and Carl Hagelin to make the score 4-2.
When Mathieu Perreault deflected a long shot past Henrik Lundqvist at 7:31, the Rangers had to hold off a Capitals onslaught, as they did in Monday's victory. Lundqvist stopped Washington's last nine shots.
"You just have to make up your mind — no more goals," said Lundqvist, who earlier Wednesday was named a Vezina Trophy finalist for the fifth time in his career.
Lundqvist (27 saves) got plenty of help from his teammates, who blocked 33 shots and handed out 38 hits.
Ovechkin's stat line was illuminating. He put one lonely shot on Lundqvist; five other attempts were blocked, and another three attempts missed the net.
Everyone got into the act of shutting down one of the league's most feared scorers. His shots were blocked by Hagelin, Callahan, Anton Stralman, Taylor Pyatt and Ryan McDonagh. He was hit five times, twice by Dan Girardi and once each by Pyatt, Stralman and Ryane Clowe, who was back in the lineup after being sidelined by a suspected concussion on April 25.
"He's a pretty dynamic player for them, so we want to finish hard whenever we can," Girardi said of Ovechkin. "He's going to keep coming, and we're going to keep hitting him."
Ovechkin sidestepped a question about what the Rangers did to suffocate him.
"I have to play better," he said. "When we get a chance to play in their zone, we have to use it. I don't think tonight we had enough opportunities to score goals."
The Rangers dominated play for most of the first two periods, yet the score was tied, 2-2, at the second intermission. They blew a 2-0 lead in the second period and almost blew another two-goal advantage in the third.
"It was a game of momentum swings by both teams," Rangers Coach John Tortorella said. "We bent at certain times, but we didn't break."
Brad Richards opened the scoring into a vacant net with 3 minutes 35 seconds left in the first period. Capitals goalie Braden Holtby had come out to clear a puck, only to have Pyatt knock down his clearance. The puck eventually fell to Richards, who cashed in the gift goal.
Hagelin made the score 2-0 midway through the second period with a slap shot off a setup from Brassard, who had two assists on the night. Hagelin had a goal and two assists.
At that point, the Rangers were outshooting Washington by 21-8, and they seemed in control. But Perreault halved the Capitals' deficit at 13:08, with the first of his two goals.
And with just 18 seconds left in the second, Troy Brouwer tied the score after bursting from the sideboards into the slot and backhanding a shot past Lundqvist.
At the end of the second period, though, Jason Chimera was sent off for interference, setting the table for Girardi's go-ahead power-play goal in the first minute of the third.
The Rangers went 1 for 4 on the power play and killed both Capitals power plays. They held a 34-19 face-off advantage.
Holtby finished with 30 saves.
The home team has won every game in the series so far, and every game has been close.
"It was close again," Lundqvist said. "A big win for us, though — much, much needed. They just kept coming back, but we did so many good things. You can see the confidence. We made a lot of good plays, and I thought we deserved this one."
SLAP SHOTS
Defenseman Marc Staal did not dress for the game, a surprising absence for the Rangers. Staal gave the team and its fans an emotional lift by returning to action for Game 3 after he had missed 29 games with a serious injury to his right eye, which was struck by a puck on March 5. Still experiencing blurred vision in that eye, he played for more than 17 minutes and went minus-1 but was generally steady. Staal participated in the morning skate but was not present for the pregame warm-ups. The Rangers did not provide an explanation for his absence. ... Steve Eminger took Staal's place alongside Michael Del Zotto.
DENVER — Before Wednesday's game, Joe Girardi made history of sorts by becoming the first Yankee manager since Casey Stengel in 1957 to put a pitcher eighth in the batting order. At the time, it seemed like a radical move, but then during the game he did something even more odd.
With his roster depleted by injury, Girardi put Vernon Wells at third base for the first time in Wells's career, and then watched as Wells made a perfect defensive play in the ninth inning to help preserve a memorable 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
"You have fun with this game," Wells said, "and that was one of the cooler moments of my career."
It was even better, he claimed, than the two-run homer he hit in the first inning, his seventh, or the winning run he scored in the top of the ninth on an infield hit by Brennan Boesch. Wells has been a revelation for the Yankees this year, and this may go down as the Vernon Wells game.
An outfielder his entire 15-year career, Wells had never played third base at any level, including little league, he said. He did play a little shortstop. He was an outfielder by trade at Bowie High School in Arlington, Tex., but in his senior year, he was forced to move in to short when the entire infield — all four members — failed to meet academic requirements.
"Report cards came out, and they all failed," he said. "It's a true story."
The circumstances that forced Wells to third Wednesday were nearly as extreme. Eduardo Nunez was unavailable because of a lingering strain in his left rib cage, so when third baseman Chris Nelson (who is filling in for the injured Kevin Youkilis) was due up with the base loaded and one out against right-handed reliever Rafael Betancourt, Girardi called upon Travis Hafner to pinch hit.
But Girardi had no more infielders for the bottom of the ninth. He considered using catcher Austin Romine at third, but decided to go with Wells, whom he had seen take ground balls at third during batting practice earlier this season. Wells said he takes grounders as a way to keep his hands active and to practice catching bouncing balls. And he uses his own glove, a small outfielder's mitt.
Knowing his bench was short, Girardi told Wells before the game that he might use him at third, and when Hafner came to the plate in the ninth, Wells was a runner on third, and he immediately knew he would go into the game.
"Panic set in," he said with a laugh.
Hafner struck out, but Boesch hit a ground ball to third and beat the throw to first on an extremely close play. Jayson Nix was caught in a rundown, but Wells had scored the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the inning, Wells said he got chills after the brief infield warm-up when he was able to throw the ball to closer Mariano Rivera.
"Throw the ball around, and I look up, and I'm throwing the ball to Mariano Rivera," he said. "It's a cool feeling."
It would get cooler. With one out, Carlos Gonzalez hit a bouncer to Wells's left, and he threw a strike to first baseman Lyle Overbay. Two batters later, Wilin Rosario popped out to end the game for Rivera's 12th save.
Asked about shifting Wells to third, combined with batting the pitcher eighth, Girardi seemed to take umbrage at what he thought was the suggestion that he was making moves without a strategic approach.
"It's not like I'm just going like this against the wall," he said, throwing his arm up over his head. "It's thought out. The situation came up where I could use Haf, and we pitched extremely well. That's why we won this game tonight."
Asked if it was personally gratifying, considering how it worked out, Girardi said, "Yeah, but the guys got the job done, not me."
Before the game, Girardi explained his decision to bat Phelps eighth and Romine ninth, which he said had to do with getting Robinson Cano as many at-bats as possible with runners on base in front of him.
"It's not like I'm trying to reinvent the game," he said. "It's not like I'm trying to make something up. I'm trying to maximize our pinch-hitters and the people I have in my lineup. That's the bottom line. So, how do you do that?"
The answer to that question was given to him six years earlier by one of the game's noted innovators. In 2007, when Girardi was a television broadcaster and he was working a game involving St. Louis, he asked the Cardinals' manager then, Tony La Russa, why he chose to bat the pitcher eighth in the lineup. The explanation made sense to Girardi, and he tucked it away for a rainy day.
That wet day arrived Wednesday at Coors Field as Girardi joined a small group of managers who have defied tradition. With rain lashing down on the white tarp in front of him, Girardi sat in the visitors dugout and explained why Phelps was batting eighth.
It was not something Girardi was particularly eager to do. He had managed many interleague games without the use of a designated hitter and never did it before this.
But he said a confluence of events existed Wednesday — including the Yankees' lack of a right-handed pinch-hitter, their heavy reliance on Cano, who batted second Wednesday, and the Rockies' reliance on their two left-handed relief pitchers — that made this the right moment.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a Yankees pitcher batted eighth in the starting lineup was Aug. 28, 1957, when Casey Stengel put Don Larsen in the No. 8 spot and had second baseman Bobby Richardson bat ninth. There were not so many strategic reasons for Stengel then. Larsen was a solid hitter, and so was Tommy Byrne, who also hit eighth at times.
La Russa brought back the tactic decades later, and Wednesday, Girardi reintroduced it to the Yankees for the first time in 56 years.
"Sometimes you have to do some things that are maybe more unorthodox," Girardi said. "But you have to do it."
At the time, he was talking about the lineup. Later in the game, those words would apply to his brand new third baseman, too.
The Rangers' 4-3 victory Wednesday was not a game dominated by big-scoring stars.
Alex Ovechkin, who came into the game with 15 shots on goal, was smothered by defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi and held to just one shot. Rick Nash, who came in with 14 shots, was likewise stymied and held to two and played only 16 minutes 49 seconds.
Rather, it was a night for other forwards to shine. On the Rangers' side, Carl Hagelin had a goal, two assists and a game-high plus-3 mark. Ryan Callahan and Derek Stepan each took game honors with six shots on goal, and Callahan blocked a game-high seven shots.
Brian Boyle logged 23:29, more than any forward, including Ovechkin. He won 11 of 16 face-offs. And Derick Brassard, with two assists and wins on eight of nine faceoffs, wore the Broadway Hat.
All the Rangers forwards played in various combinations, right from the opening face-off. Coach John Tortorella explained why he shuffled his lines so frequently, and why he felt free to do so. It was necessitated by the loss of the fourth-line center Darroll Powe, a center who has not scored a goal or assist all season but whom Tortorella prizes because of his ability to take faceoffs. Powe sustained a suspected concussion early in Game 3. The Rangers got Ryane Clowe back from a suspected concussion Wednesday, but Clowe is a wing.
"With my lineup, without a center for the fourth line, I had to use in a lot of different situations Brassard and Brian Boyle," Tortorella said, pointing out that Brassard made a great pass to set up Girardi's power-play goal at the start of the third period that gave the Rangers the lead for good. "He's stepped in here to try and make a difference, and he's made some big plays for us, and I'm not afraid to put him in a lot of different situations."
On the Washington side, it was not a night for Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom, both of whom finished at minus-1. But Mathieu Perreault had two goals, one of them off a terrific rush by Joel Ward, who fooled Michael Del Zotto and Henrik Lundqvist on the play. Ward had two assists, and Perreault led the Capitals with five shots.
Ovechkin was left to answer questions about what went wrong.
"They just put the puck in our net and made it a physical game," he said. "We knew it was going to be like that, especially in that building."
So far in this series Ovechkin has a goal, an assist and a minus-1 mark — not bad, but far from dominating. On Wednesday he looked forward to Game 5, in which he will have a chance to redeem himself.
"We will go home and play in our place," he said. "Our fans and our building — that will be much better for us."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Racing royalty visited the Churchill Downs paddock on May 2 as the Kentucky Derby champions Funny Cide (2003) and Mine That Bird (2009) returned for a visit. As they walked quietly across the plaza from the Kentucky Derby Museum, the crowd parted at the unusual sight of two thoroughbreds parading outside the customary tunnel entrance.
As Funny Cide turned the corner to enter the paddock he stopped, ears pricked and stood still surveying the scene in front of him. A large news media contingent had gathered. Their cameras were ready to record the return. With his head held high, he pranced into the paddock like a returning champion. Next, an iconic black cowboy hat floated above the gathered crowd as Chip Woolley proudly escorted Mine That Bird into the paddock.
The two champions mingled with the other horses that were getting ready for the next race. You had to wonder if the sights and sounds were bringing back memories of their racing years. Mine That Bird looked incredible. He walked around the ring with his head tucked looking like a well-trained western show horse. One lady in the crowd leaned forward and said "Chip, who is your horse? What race is he in? He looks good!" to the amusement of the crowd as she didn't realize who she was looking at.
As the connections were interviewed, the horses continued to walk the paddock after the horses in the next race had left during the call to the post. Photographers asked for the opportunity to photograph the two horses together which led to an interesting moment. The handlers asked the horses to pose while the current race call was echoing across the loud speakers. Both horses woke up and started circling excitedly around their handlers. Ears were in a "helicopter" mode swishing back and forth as they not only wouldn't pose, they just kept moving until the race call was over.
Do horses remember their racing days? It seemed obvious that we witnessed a magical moment with two Kentucky Derby champions together at Churchill Downs. For one brief second they posed with the twin spires behind them. Once done, they quietly walked through the crowded plaza back to the Kentucky Derby Museum. As we trailed behind them, a man asked, "Is that somebody special?" I turned around and told him that indeed they are something special: It's not often you get to visit with racing royalty.
In a bucket-list moment, Julie June Stewart bought a ticket to the 2008 Belmont. She hasn't stopped going to the races since. That is when she isn't taking on a wildfire, hurricane, volcano or oil spill as the nation's leading expert in disaster airspace coordination. She recently won third place in the 2012 Thoroughbred Times fiction contest with her suicide prevention story "Moses Finds A Jockey."
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If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov each scored one goal and assisted on another as Russia beat the United States, 5-3, in Stockholm to preserve its perfect start at the ice hockey world championship.
The latest news, notes and analysis of the N.F.L. playoffs.
Woody Johnson, the owner of the Jets, said at an N.F.L. symposium in Philadelphia that he was "extremely happy" to have Geno Smith on his team and that he looked forward to a "fun" quarterback competition. Johnson said Tim Tebow, who was cut last week after one disappointing season in New York, was not a perfect fit "or he would still be here."
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies wouldn't let Kevin Durant come through in the clutch for the second straight time.
This was Mike Conley's time to shine.
Conley scored 26 points and fueled a late Memphis run as the Grizzlies beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 99-93 on Tuesday night to tie the series at one and gain home-court advantage in the Western Conference semifinals.
Conley hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:58 left to put the Grizzlies ahead to stay and spark a string of 10 straight Memphis points.
The Grizzlies head home for the next two games, with Game 3 on Saturday in Memphis.
"Mike Conley is now one of the top five point guards in the league, whether anybody likes it or not," said Tony Allen, who had two of his five steals in the final minute.
"I know a lot of people have got their favorites on who they think it should be, but Mike Conley is in that conversation now, being able to do these types of things on the court night in and night out."
In the first round, Conley outdueled All-Star Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers.
And now, he filled the late-game void the Grizzlies created when they traded away leading scorer Rudy Gay in the middle of the season.
After Conley's go-ahead 3, he added an 18-foot jumper to stretch the lead to 94-90, then hit one of two free throws with 29.4 seconds left. He finished with 10 rebounds and nine assists, one shy of a triple-double.
"He played like he had been playing all season, and we needed that," coach Lionel Hollins said. "We needed to have somebody on the perimeter do something. He started getting to the basket a little bit and scored some big jump shots late."
After hitting the key baskets in Game 1, Durant couldn't provide an answer for the Thunder. He missed his last three shots, including a pair of 3-point attempts, and finished with 36 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
The Thunder caught a break when Allen tipped the ball away and Conley saved it from going out of bounds, only for it to end up in Durant's hands in the corner.
But Durant was off-target on a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, and Oklahoma City was forced to foul.
In all, the Thunder came up empty on five straight possessions after Conley's go-ahead 3.
"After they scored, there was such little time on the clock, we were just trying to get a quick basket," Durant said, "and it didn't go so well for us."
In Game 1, Durant was able to hit back-to-back jumpers in the final minute to put Oklahoma City in front to stay.
With fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook out for the rest of the playoffs following knee surgery, the load once again fell squarely on his shoulders.
"I can carry as much as coach needs me to carry," Durant said. "I made those shots last game. I missed them this game. I'm just going to continue to keep taking them."
Zach Randolph added two free throws with 13.7 seconds left, and Allen then stepped in front of Durant to steal a pass and provide the finishing touches with a dunk. Derek Fisher hit a 3-pointer at the final buzzer for Oklahoma City.
"The last game, we didn't execute down the stretch, didn't get the stops when we needed them and tonight we did vice-versa," Conley said. "We got the stops, got the rebounds, made big shots and free throws."
Neither team led by more than seven in the game.
Durant put the Thunder ahead 88-86 with a three-point play off a leaner along the lane, only for Gasol to answer right back with a three-point play.
Kendrick Perkins provided Oklahoma City its last lead with two free throws with 2:41 to play, and Conley connected two possessions later after receiving a pass from a double-teamed Gasol in the lane.
"He's a steady point guard that deserves more credit than he gets," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "I understand the value he has to that team. He plays for his team every night, and I appreciate the way he plays."
The Ottawa Senators have adopted the "Pesky Sens" nickname this season. They lived up to that role Tuesday night.
Kyle Turris scored at 2 minutes 32 seconds of overtime as the Senators fought back from a 2-0 third-period deficit to beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, in Ottawa to grab a 3-1 lead in their playoff series.
Turris took a shot from the sideboards that sneaked past the backup goalie Peter Budaj, who came on for the injured starter Carey Price at the start of overtime.
With only 22.6 seconds left in regulation, Ottawa had tied the score on a goal by Cory Conacher during a scramble in front of Price.
"That was a bit of a lucky shot tonight, but I'll take it," Turris said of his winner. "How we did it tonight, sticking around and kind of giving ourselves a chance to win — you know, pesky."
A team ravaged by injuries all season, the Senators found a way to make the playoffs with a patchwork roster and now have the East's No. 2 seed on the brink of elimination.
Mika Zibanejad had the other goal for Ottawa, which got 26 saves from Craig Anderson in a game the Canadiens controlled for lengthy stretches.
"We came to play and that's exactly what we did," said Canadiens Coach Michel Therrien, whose team will look to stay alive in Game 5 at home Thursday night. "We certainly deserved a better fate.
"It's one of those nights, tough to explain."
P. K. Subban and Alex Galchenyuk scored 62 seconds apart in the second period for Montreal.
Price, who made 30 saves for the Canadiens two nights after allowing all six goals in Ottawa's 6-1 victory in Game 3, sustained a lower-body injury at the end of regulation.
BLACKHAWKS 3, WILD 0 Patrick Sharp scored 2 goals and Corey Crawford stopped 25 shots as Chicago won at Minnesota and took a 3-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.
Sharp has four goals in the series for the top-seeded Blackhawks, who can close out the Wild on Thursday night in Chicago.
Minnesota goalie Josh Harding, who has multiple sclerosis, left the game with a left leg injury with nine seconds remaining in the first period.
SHARKS 4, CANUCKS 3 At San Jose, Patrick Marleau scored a power-play goal 13:18 into overtime as the Sharks completed their first playoff sweep in franchise history.
Joe Pavelski scored his second power-play goal of the game to tie it with 4:27 left in regulation. Brent Burns also scored for the Sharks, who will now get a break before beginning the second round of the playoffs next week.
"A win like this feels good; now we will get some rest," Pavelski said.
Mason Raymond, Alex Burrows and Alexander Edler scored for the Canucks, who were unable to hold onto a late third-period lead for the second time this series.
SABRES STICK WITH ROLSTON Ron Rolston was hired as head coach of the Sabres, dropping the interim title he was given on Feb. 20. He becomes the 16th head coach in Sabres history.
Rolston was the only candidate considered for the job by the Sabres. He led Buffalo to a 15-11-5 record after being promoted from Buffalo's A.H.L. affiliate, the Rochester Americans. The team began the season 6-10-1, leading to the firing of Lindy Ruff, the longtime Sabres coach. Ruff spent 16 years as coach of the Sabres and 10 years as a player.
John Tortorella was right after all: the Rangers-Capitals series was indeed a lot closer than a lot of people thought.
That point was driven home with the Rangers' narrow 4-3 victory in Game 3 Monday night at Madison Square Garden. It could have gone either way, even after Derek Stepan scored the tie-breaking goal with 6:25 left in regulation.
Monday afternoon, Tortorella pushed back against critics who said the Rangers were being outplayed in the series' first two games at Washington, a 3-1 loss followed by a 1-0 overtime loss.
"I think they have been a lot more even than a lot of people think," Tortorella said of those games, and he suggested that reporters and others critical of the team were not watching closely enough. "You guys have your heads stuck in your computers, but I'm not just saying you guys."
Perhaps he was right. Game 2 could have been won by the Rangers had Rick Nash's shot against the goalpost with less than 4 minutes left been a couple inches more to the right. And Game 3 could have been won by the Capitals had one of their cross-ice passes on the game-concluding power play been directed toward the net.
One of the keys for the Rangers Monday was shutting down Alex Ovechkin, whose 22 minutes 7 seconds led the Capitals in ice time. Ovechkin tried 11 shots on the evening, but only two reached goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Five were blocked, and four missed the net.
Ovechkin did not get to try a shot during the final 1:54, when the Capitals had a six-on-four skating advantage with goalie Braden Holtby pulled for an extra attacker after the Rangers' Brad Richards was sent to the penalty box for slashing Ovechkin.
"I think we didn't find the shooting lanes, and we moved the puck too slow," Ovechkin said. "You don't have a lot of chances to play six on four. It's a totally different picture out there. Again, it's a situation where you have to find the shooting lane and shoot it, find the rebound and make the play."
None of which Ovechkin or the Capitals did. Nicklas Backstrom attempted the only two shots in that final power play. Dan Girardi blocked one of those attempts, and Ryan McDonagh blocked the other.
"Obviously we would like to score there," Backstrom said. "We've got to execute and get some shots through at least. We have to do a better job."
That sounds awfully similar to what the Rangers were saying after the first two games. Narrow losses, vows to do better next time, a sense that this series will have "a lot of back and forth," as Backstrom said.
Tortorella was right: this series was close.
The Rangers had a daunting task. Ahead by a goal in the closing two minutes but down two games to none against the Washington Capitals, they were skating shorthanded by two men.
With the perennial Ranger killers Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin poised to net the tying goal, defenseman Ryan McDonagh and his partner Dan Girardi had to gyrate and contort themselves to prevent the Capitals from knotting the score and sending the game into overtime.
As the Madison Square Garden crowd held its breath, McDonagh fulfilled the mission — helping to prevent Washington's precision power play unit from even registering a shot on Henrik Lundqvist, who made 28 saves in the game's other 58 minutes, as the Rangers held on for the much-needed 4-3 victory.
"It certainly didn't feel like they didn't have a shot on goal during that power play," a relieved McDonagh said. "They are so dangerous every moment they are on the ice. We had to focus on keeping it tight and not giving them those one-timers."
The Rangers, who lost Game 2, 1-0, on Green's overtime goal Saturday, trail the opening-round series by two games to one.
"We had to apply the pressure in our own barn," added the 23-year-old McDonagh, who played his usual 20-plus minutes. "We talked about not being passive, about keeping our foot on the gas pedal all night. We were aggressive in a good way."
McDonagh also contributed to Derek Stepan's go-ahead goal at 13 minutes 35 seconds of the third period.
Going down by three games to none in the series was not an option the Rangers could afford to conjure.
"There was no way we could allow that to happen," McDonagh said. "The key for us was making the game simple and giving Ovechkin as little room along the walls as possible. You just can't give him any space."
McDonagh thought quickly midway through the second period to recover Lundqvist's wayward stick, which had been knocked out of the goaltender's grasp and lay harmless in the face-off circle to his left.
With the play in the Rangers' zone, McDonagh somehow found a moment to grab the stick, whirl around and hand it back to his grateful goalie.
"Hank is a great goaltender, which he proved for us once again tonight in a huge game," McDonagh said. "He's even better with a stick in his hands."
Stepan, who was out to kill the final Capitals power play, asked how long the penalty kill was.
"Three minutes? Was it a three-minute power play? It was just desperation," he said.
Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
Ricardo Portillo, shown with ball, was a 46-year-old soccer referee who died after a teenage player punched him during a game.
A little more than a week after a 17-year-old soccer player punched a recreation-league referee in the head in suburban Salt Lake City, the referee is dead, the player faces charges, and youth sports are left with questions about the seeming rise in severity of assaults on officials.
Ricardo Portillo, the 46-year-old referee, is only the second official in the United States known to have died as a result of referee assault, according to the National Association of Sports Officials. But Barry Mano, the organization's president, said that many serious assaults went unreported, and Portillo's eldest daughter, Johana, said her father had been assaulted before, sustaining broken ribs in another on-field attack about five years ago.
To some observers, Portillo's death is simply the most recent example of a growing problem. Mano said treatment of officials had deteriorated drastically since he began the organization in 1980. At that time, he said, the notion that an official would have insurance specifically against assault was "ludicrous."
"It wasn't on anyone's radar," he said. "But now it's part and parcel of what we do, and not a week goes by where we don't get at least two or three calls with reports of officials being assaulted."
Reliable data on referee assaults at all levels of all sports does not exist, but there have been several violent events worldwide in recent months. In December, a soccer official in the Netherlands died after being attacked by a group of players. Three months ago, a referee in Spain was hospitalized and had his spleen removed after being assaulted by a player. Last week, a New Jersey parent was arrested and charged with assault after he slapped a 17-year-old Little League umpire.
Youth sports leagues are the most problematic, Mano said, and his organization has lobbied to increase the states that have specific referee assault laws. (Utah is not one of them.)
Johana Portillo said her family was aware of the potential for violence in youth soccer matches. When she picked up the phone shortly after noon on April 27, she said, she was not surprised to hear from an uncle that her father had been injured while officiating.
"He said, 'Your daddy is hurt, and he is going to the hospital,' " Portillo, 26, said in an interview Monday. "I said, 'Again?' "
Ricardo Portillo was in a coma for a week. He and his family had planned a trip to Disneyland during those days, but his youngest daughter, Valeria, celebrated her 15th birthday by his hospital bed instead. "We brought cake there and sang to her there," Johana Portillo said. "We were hoping for a miracle."
Portillo died Saturday. The player has not been identified by the police because he is a minor.
"I have a lot of anger in me," Johana Portillo said. "People at these games — they act so stupid sometimes. They don't think that the referees have a family at home? That they have people who are waiting for them?"
Her father was working in La Liga Continental de Futbol, a recreational league formed in 2009 to give Hispanic children an opportunity to play soccer together in suburban Salt Lake City, according to the league's president, Mario Vasquez. The league is similar to many around the country, Vasquez said, in that it gives the Hispanic community a place to bond over a passion for soccer.
Vasquez said that he was at the game when the assault took place, and that the player had not played in the league before. "But this league isn't one where this kind of thing happens," he said.
Still, Vasquez said, he is considering having off-duty police officers provide security at league games.
James Yapias, the coach of the player's team, was approached by the player earlier that day about joining the team, Yapias's brother, Tony, said in an interview. Because the season was just beginning and the league is considered a community organization, Tony Yapias said, his brother did not hesitate to allow the boy to play.
After Portillo called a foul on the player for shoving an opponent following a corner kick, he cautioned the player and showed him a yellow card. While Portillo was writing the player's information in his notebook, the player swung at him, according to the police. Witnesses said the player threw only one punch before Portillo crumpled. Police officers found him lying on the field when they responded to a 911 call.
"He was laying on the ground, on his left side in a fetal position," a police officer wrote in his report, which was obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune. "Ricardo was complaining of pain in his face, back and being nauseated." The report added: "He had spit up a small amount of blood in his saliva."
Portillo was taken to a hospital, and his condition quickly deteriorated. The player's fate remains uncertain. He was arrested and charged with suspicion of aggravated assault. After Portillo died, the local police said additional charges would be considered, as would the question of whether he should be tried as an adult.
Johana Portillo said she did not know the player's name and was not sure "whether I want to know him."
As she planned her father's funeral Monday, she said, she thought of her family's plight: the Portillos moved to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, 16 years ago, she said, and her father had worked for a furniture company ever since. Her parents divorced about nine years ago, she said, but her father found happiness in his three grandchildren and loved being part of the local soccer scene.
Even after his previous assault, he brushed aside his family's requests to consider giving up officiating. Johana Portillo said that left her concerned for her father's safety, though she said she never imagined a player doing what this player did.
"Maybe he is a boy, but he was old enough to do what he did, so he must be old enough to be responsible and take the consequences," she said.
"Maybe he didn't mean to kill him. But he meant to hurt him. And because of that, he has to be responsible. He changed everything. He changed all our lives."
Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
Khalilah Williams-Webb in her boutique, Shirley + Alice, in Brooklyn. She is the personal stylist for the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony.
When Carmelo Anthony joined the Knicks in 2011, he joined the ranks of New York's most debonair athletes, with a rotating collection of pocket squares, tailored suits, chunky glasses and skinny ties.
But his look has a secret ingredient, one that has become nearly as crucial a part of his public image as his scoring prowess. That secret ingredient is Khalilah Williams-Webb.
She is the owner of a cozy boutique in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, and she can talk about Michael Kors as easily as about Michael Jordan. Williams-Webb has been designing Anthony's look since 2008, when he played for the Denver Nuggets.
With Williams-Webb's assistance, Anthony has become the latest in a long line of fashionable New York athletes that includes Joe Namath, famous for his fur coats, and Walt Frazier, champion of the fedora. Anthony favors custom-made suits, vintage jackets and high-end cargo pants, a look that has caught on among his peers in professional sports.
He dresses with flair even when he struggles on the court, as he has recently. After shooting a dismal 10 for 28 from the field during a loss at home in the opening game of the second-round series against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, Anthony wore a burgundy blazer over a black T-shirt, along with a black fedora, to the postgame news conference.
When Williams-Webb met Anthony, he had cornrows and favored baggy clothes. She helped turn him into the kind of person who attends fashion shows and offers style tips in the British edition of GQ.
"The goal was to make him look more like a gentleman, to make him be more relatable, in a sense," said Williams-Webb, 31. "He was known for being kind of on the wild side, especially when it came to dressing for games, so we wanted to tone it down and take it to a level as far as style is concerned. And I feel like we've accomplished it tenfold."
Her responsibilities include ridding Anthony's closet of oversize T-shirts and dated outfits. But she does far more than that.
Every few weeks, Williams-Webb meticulously selects outfits for Anthony, down to his socks, underwear, belt and shoes. She then places each outfit into a garment bag, with instructions for Anthony pinned to the bag. She sometimes arranges more than a dozen outfits at once.
Anthony was not available to comment for this article, his representative Jill Fritzo said. Fritzo added that she, too, was a fan of Wiliams-Webb, saying in an e-mail, "She's fab."
Williams-Webb's client list includes the N.B.A. players Rudy Gay and Brandon Bass and the N.F.L. player Donte Whitner and the former player James Hardy. She spends her days shopping, meeting with designers and hunting for extra-long pants and size 14 shoes. It is all a long way from her years working in retail in Midtown Manhattan.
"She totally got the athlete lifestyle," said Hardy, a former receiver with the Buffalo Bills who is a model and an actor in Los Angeles. "You called and asked her about the Kanye West shoes, and she would have them at your door in 48 hours and knew about them weeks in advance."
In 2005, the N.B.A. instituted a dress code that banned tank tops, sweats and chunky medallions in favor of sport coats and dress shoes. The unintentional effect has turned the sidelines into a runway.
"It's different now," Williams-Webb said. "Basketball players are into it, athletes in general are into it. They're into clothes, they're into suiting."
As a child, Williams-Webb loathed when her mother dragged her along on shopping trips. But she later developed a passion for vintage clothing, and her boutique, Shirley + Alice, is named after her vintage-loving grandmothers.
Williams-Webb was also exposed to sports early on, through her older brother and father, who were huge basketball fans.
"I always knew who people were because my dad and my brother forced me to watch ESPN," she said. She was voted best dressed in her high school senior class, then attended college in Maryland before moving to New York City with hopes of entering the fashion business.
Williams-Webb worked at Express and Tommy Hilfiger, and as a cocktail waitress. But her life changed drastically in the next few years. First, she met her husband, Richard Beavers, an art dealer who now owns a gallery a block from her store.
Then, she met Anthony through his manager, Robert Frazier, whom she knew from Baltimore. In an early meeting, Williams-Webb picked out a full suit for Anthony, down to the shoes. "He loved the look," she said. "And they were like, 'Let's do this.' "
Now that Anthony lives in New York, Williams-Webb said she met with him at least two or three times a month.
She finds inspiration in the glory days of the American Basketball Association and in Jordan's era, the 1990s N.B.A., as well as in old movies, photographs and contemporary street fashion.
These days, she is juggling the playoffs, meetings with designers and creating Anthony's wardrobe.
"I'm always looking for what's next," she said.
Major League Soccer's players union released salary figures for the league's players on Monday, an annual rite that opens a window into how much (and how little) value the league gets for its money.
Red Bulls striker Thierry Henry remained the league's highest paid player ($4.35 million) even though his base salary dropped by more than $1 million this season (to $3.75 million). The No. 2, Robbie Keane of the Galaxy, actually makes a higher guaranteed salary ($4 million) but a fraction less than Henry over all ($4.33 million).
Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill was third ($3.5 million base, $3,625,000 over all) and the Galaxy's Landon Donovan ($2.5 million base and total) was fourth, feeding the critics who think New York and Los Angeles get everything. Montreal forward Marco Di Vaio was fifth, with a total compensation package of $1,937,508, proving that they don't.
Liviu Bird has a thorough breakdown of the numbers on SB Nation, and his colleague Jeremiah Oshan pointed out on Twitter that total compensation was down (to $89 million from $99 million), average salary was down (to $160,000 from $179,000) but that the median salary was up ($89,000, from $85,000). Some of those figures were no doubt affected by the departures from the league of David Beckham and Rafa Marquez — two of last season's top earners.
And Sporting Intelligence and others noted that the entire M.L.S. payroll of $89 million — not per team, that's the total paid to every player in the league — is less than half of what Manchester City pays its first team. Which may explain why Manchester City has better players than the average M.L.S. team, but then that's comparing apples and orange Lamborghinis.
Still, the annual release is a gold mine for voyeuristic fans and journalists, and it is of even more value to the players and their agents in contract bargaining ("I'm certainly worth more than that guy."). But rather than focus on who took home the most, or the least, let's focus on a better story, that of a player who gave something away on Monday night.
Sporting Kansas City's Kei Kamara returned to the United States this week after a four-month loan at Norwich City in England's Premier League. Kamara, a 28-year-old Sierre Leone international, had one goal for Norwich, which declined its option to purchase him. He could be back in a Kansas City uniform this week, but before then he found his own way to celebrate his return with Sporting fans by inviting them out for burritos on Monday night.
Dinner party at Chipotle on the plaza tonite 6:30pm. Leave you piggy bank at home and bring ya empty belly. #ChipotlePartyWithKei
— KEI KAMARA (@keikamara) May 6, 2013
As the day went on, Kamara — whose devotion to Chipotle is so well-established that fans in M.L.S. cities sometimes send him Twitter messages when they're in one, or when a new one opens — could barely contain his excitement. At dinner time, he arrived, dug in and posted photos. Sporting K.C. later posted video from the event.
#ChipotlePartyWithKei let's eat. http://t.co/AwtFdZ7Prd
— KEI KAMARA (@keikamara) 6 May 13
Emmmmmmmmmmm. #ChipotlePartyWithKei http://t.co/5ieB7cxrp9
— KEI KAMARA (@keikamara) 6 May 13
Would you like chips with your good will, Mr. Kamara?
Follow Andrew Das on Twitter.
Rhona Wise/European Pressphoto Agency
The Bulls' Marquis Teague, left, and Jimmy Butler defending the Heat's LeBron James on Monday.
MIAMI — When Nate Robinson chased after a loose ball in the second quarter of Monday's second-round playoff game, he quickly discovered that he had company in the form of the 6-foot-8, 250-pound LeBron James. At 5-8, Robinson paid the price. He retreated to the locker room to receive 10 stitches on his upper lip, and the Bulls pressed on without him.
Robinson soon returned, and so did his team's determined attitude. During this most surprising postseason run, little has been able to slow the undermanned, injury-ravaged Bulls. No Luol Deng? No Derrick Rose? No problem. The Bulls opened their series against the defending champion Heat with a 93-86 victory that left a once-festive crowd at American Airlines Arena in near disbelief.
"Nobody had us winning any games," said Robinson, who finished with 27 points and 9 assists. "I heard we were going to get swept."
Not quite, not after Robinson broke open a tie game by scoring the final 7 points. It was a one-man surge that featured a step-back, 19-foot jumper and a finger-roll layup over a cluster of Miami defenders. He stifled the crowd as well as James, who had done his best to keep the Heat involved late.
"He's as confident as they come," Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau said of Robinson, adding: "He always thinks he's hot. He's never afraid."
The Bulls limited the Heat to 39.7 percent shooting, held a 46-32 rebounding advantage and seized early control of the series.
"We're not going to make excuses," Chris Bosh said. "We have to do a better job of getting into rhythm. We never found it."
Coming off a seven-game series against the Nets, the Bulls have refused to buckle without the considerable services of Deng, who experienced complications after having a spinal tap to test for viral meningitis; Kirk Hinrich, who has a bruised left calf; and Rose, a former most valuable player who has not dressed at all this season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the playoffs a year ago.
"They have a no-excuse mentality," James said before the game. "No matter who's in the lineup, they play the same style of basketball: hard-nosed, together and with a sense of urgency each and every possession. That's why they continue to win games."
The Heat, meantime, were fully rested and raring to go since sweeping the Milwaukee Bucks more than a week ago. The latest homage to James took shape in the hours before the game. The front facade of the arena suddenly featured a huge black-and-white mural of his profile, along with the headline "2013 MVP." In a pregame ceremony, Commissioner David Stern presented James with his fourth M.V.P. trophy.
The Bulls took all this in and promptly made James's life as miserable as possible. He went 1 of 6 from the field in the first half, and much of the credit belonged to Jimmy Butler, who was dealt the challenge of defending James in Deng's absence. Butler, who played a full 48 minutes for the third straight game and finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, said he conferred with Deng by telephone before the game.
"I just tried to make everything difficult for him," Butler said of guarding James. "It's all about containment."
James finished with 24 points, and his 3-point play put the Heat ahead, 76-69, late in the fourth quarter. But the Bulls responded with a 9-1 run, which set the stage for Robinson's dramatics — stitches and all.
"I've played on some tough teams, but this is a little different," said Robinson, an eight-year veteran. "There's something special about this group."
During the Heat's extended layoff since dispatching the Bucks, Coach Erik Spoelstra tried to keep his players sharp at practice by creating what he described as a "training camp" vibe. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to replicate the toughness of the Bulls, who are surviving and thriving against all odds.
REBOUNDS
Bulls guard Marco Belinelli was fined $15,000 by the N.B.A. for making an obscene gesture in the fourth quarter of Chicago's 99-93 victory at Brooklyn in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series. Belinelli made the gesture as he made his way back down the court after connecting on a 3-pointer that gave Chicago a 91-81 lead. (AP)
SPURS 129, WARRIORS 127 Manu Ginobili's 3-pointer from the wing with 1.2 seconds left in double overtime lifted the San Antonio Spurs to a thrilling victory Monday night over the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry, who had 44 points in the opener of the Western Conference semifinals in San Antonio.
The game-winning shot came 43.7 seconds after Ginobili took an ill-advised 3 that appeared to cost the Spurs the game.
"I went from wanting to trade him on the spot to wanting to cook breakfast for him tomorrow morning," Coach Gregg Popovich said. "That's the truth. When I talk to him and say, 'Manu,' he goes, 'This is what I do.' That's what he's going to tell me. I stopped coaching him a long time ago."
Ginobili's 3 capped an improbable comeback for the Spurs, who trailed by 16 points with 4 minutes left in regulation before going on an 18-2 run to close the fourth quarter and force overtime.
Golden State trailed by five with one minute left in the second overtime before the Warriors scored 6 straight points to take a one-point lead on Kent Bazemore's reverse layup that gave the Warriors a 127-126 advantage with 3.9 seconds left.
Bazemore's layup was set up by Ginobili's errant 27-foot 3-pointer with 44.9 seconds left.
"I took a really bad shot," Ginobili said. "I was on the top of the key. I had no chance whatsoever to make it to the basket. I couldn't penetrate; I was very tired. Jack gave me a couple of feet and I thought I could make it." (AP)
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Juan Mata's shot deflected off the leg of defender Phil Jones for an 87th-minute own goal, and Chelsea won, 1-0, on Sunday at Manchester United to boost its chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
¶ Host Juventus clinched its record 29th Serie A title and second in a row, beating Palermo, 1-0, on Arthur Vidal's penalty kick in the 59th minute.
With three games left, Juventus (26-4-5) holds an 11-point lead over second-place Napoli (21-5-9). (AP)
¶ Lionel Messi entered as a second-half substitute and scored twice to reach 60 goals for the second straight season, helping host Barcelona rally for a 4-2 victory over Real Betis and move to the verge of the title in Spain's top league.
Bradley Wiggins, the winner of the Tour de France, powered his Sky team to victory in the second stage, the team time trial, at the Giro d'Italia. He moved to second place over all, behind his teammate Salvatore Puccio, who is regarded mainly as a support rider.
Pageau, a 20-year-old rookie, lost a tooth while getting his first N.H.L. hat trick in a fight-filled and emotional 6-1 win.
The teams combined for 236 penalty minutes, and nine players were given a game misconduct.
The Senators took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Ottawa.
Pageau, with his first career playoff goal, gave the Senators a 2-1 lead early in the second as he slipped between defensemen P. K. Subban and Andrei Markov to beat Carey Price over the shoulder.
But after Pageau's second goal of the game and a Kyle Turris score made it 4-1, emotions overflowed and a line brawl broke out at center ice.
Turris's goal, his first of the series, at seven minutes of the third period put the game out of reach. On the ensuing face-off, five different fights broke out.
"I thought we handled ourselves well under the circumstances and the duress we were put under, and we defended ourselves," Ottawa Coach Paul MacLean said.
The Senators ended up with the man advantage after the brawl, and Jakob Silfverberg scored on the power play as he beat Price up high to make it 5-1 only eight seconds after Turris's goal.
More penalties were taken, and at one point, Ottawa was left with just five players on the bench, while Montreal had six.
Ottawa's veteran forward Daniel Alfredsson finished the game playing defense.
After the game, Montreal Coach Michel Therien took exception to MacLean's calling a timeout with 17 seconds left.
In Therien's opinion, MacLean was trying to embarrass and humiliate the Canadiens.
"As far as I'm concerned, that was classless," Therien said.
With so few players on his bench and things already out of hand, MacLean felt he had no other option than to call a timeout to get his message to his players.
"I didn't want anyone to get hurt, it was already getting dumb enough as it was," MacLean said. "I have two important players on my team and I still have games to play."
MacLean went on to say that he was protecting his players and he would do it again.
This is the second time Therien has taken issue with MacLean.
"I don't like when a coach is making comments," Therien said. "I don't like a coach when trying to humiliate our team. I don't like that."
MacLean wasn't impressed by the actions of the Canadiens and is hopeful the league will review certain aspects of the game, including Josh Gorges's shooting the puck at Turris at the end of the game.
WILD 3, BLACKHAWKS 2 The rookie Jason Zucker scored 2 minutes 15 seconds into overtime to give Minnesota a victory at home, cutting Chicago's series lead to 2-1.
Zach Parise scored for the Wild early in the third period, but Duncan Keith got one back for the Blackhawks with 2:46 left in regulation to force the second overtime in three games of this best-of-seven series. Minnesota hosts Game 4 on Tuesday night.
SHARKS 5, CANUCKS 2 At San Jose, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture each scored twice to spoil Cory Schneider's return to the nets for Vancouver, and the Sharks won their third straight game to open the playoffs.
Pavelski scored the first two goals, and Couture and Patrick Marleau added scores nine seconds apart to break the game open early in the third period and give the Sharks a 3-0 series lead.
Couture added a second power-play goal early in the third to end Schneider's night and give him a playoff-best four points for the game. Antti Niemi made 28 saves.
San Jose will attempt to complete the first series sweep in franchise history at home on Tuesday night.
RED WING SUSPENDED Detroit's Justin Abdelkader has been suspended for two games for his hit Saturday on Anaheim's Toni Lydman.
The suspension means Abdelkader will miss Games 4 and 5 of the first-round Western Conference series between the Red Wings and the Ducks.
Anaheim leads, 2-1, with Game 4 set for Monday night in Detroit.
Anaheim Coach Bruce Boudreau called Lydman "very questionable" for Game 4.
If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.
Switzerland stunned Canada in a penalty shootout to win, 3-2, at the hockey world championships in Stockholm. Switzerland is 2-0 after upsetting Sweden in its opener.
Ilya Kovalchuk's three goals led Russia to a 4-1 victory over Germany in Helsinki, Finland. Also in Helsinki, the United States beat Latvia, 4-1, to improve to 2-0.
Brett Rumford became the first Australian in 41 years to win back-to-back European Tour titles with a victory at the China Open in Tianjin.
Rumford shot a final-round 68 to win by four shots with a 16-under 272 total. Mikko Ilonen of Finland shot a 71 to finish second at 12 under.
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Isaac Brekken/Associated Press
Floyd Mayweather, left, defeated Robert Guerrero in a one-sided welterweight bout, which was scored 117-111 by all three judges.
LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s latest boxing triumph followed a familiar pattern. For weeks, he toyed with Robert Guerrero, made him angry, made him jumpy, drew him right into the usual vortex of opponent overconfidence.
Guerrero insisted, over and over, that Mayweather would not get to him.
By then, he already had.
That is part of Mayweather's ring brilliance, the mental part. He wants his opponents riled up, overaggressive, and then he turns their aggression into weakness. That is the other part, the physical part, the feet that dance and the hands that flash and the dazzling precision.
Guerrero suffered from both, suffered from Mayweather's mind games and from Mayweather's right hands and right hooks. Early into this World Boxing Council welterweight title fight, it became clear which boxer was undefeated — the one in the audacious yellow shorts, the best boxer of his generation, a candidate for one of the best boxers of all time. Mayweather won easily, handily, by a unanimous decision, scored 117-111 by all three judges, and he did so despite hurting his right hand in the middle rounds.
"What else can I say?" Mayweather said, and he appeared to personally thank half of those assembled in Grand Garden Arena. "We did it again."
When it ended, Mayweather hardly celebrated. He thumped his chest and hugged his father and all but yawned. He made it look easy, and it had been. He had landed a staggering 60 percent of his power punches.
As Mayweather (44-0) stalked back to his corner after the 10th round, his eyes never left Guerrero (31-1-2), who refused to return the eye contact. He was beaten, bloodied, bludgeoned. He fell in line with so many other Mayweather opponents in that he promised to make the fight a rugged one. In some ways, it was rugged, as evidenced by the damage to Guerrero's face.
Already, talk had turned to Mayweather's choice of opposition, to whether he is simply better than all challengers or whether he picks the right guys at the right moments, and how that factored into his legacy and his status among the greats. Regardless, his precious zero in the loss column remained intact.
"That's why he's undefeated," Guerrero said.
He added, in what qualified as a major understatement, that he was "a little better than I thought."
Guerrero made his way into the ring first, clad in a "GOD is GREAT" T-shirt. Mayweather followed, the rapper Lil Wayne by his side, microphone in hand, performing "No Worries" before the action started. Mayweather wore yellow trunks that looked as if they had been made from snake skin with black trim.
The opening bell rang, and Guerrero attacked Mayweather as promised. He shot in close and held and grappled. As the rounds went on, though, Mayweather found his timing, and he tagged Guerrero from a safe distance, including with one right hand that sneaked between Guerrero's gloves and snapped his head back.
Most opponents who fight Mayweather believe they can wear him down, out-tough him, win by way of brawl. The more the fight wore on, the more Mayweather picked Guerrero apart, like in the fifth round, when he struck Guerrero with a series of right hooks. When Guerrero lunged back, Mayweather ducked punches and slipped out of corners. He always seemed a step ahead.
Between rounds, Guerrero's father, Ruben, unleashed flurries of punches in the corner as he gave his son instructions. His son connected about as often in the ring.
By the seventh round, the crowd began to boo, the bout a clear mismatch. Guerrero looked tired, outclassed, overmatched, and his body had reddened from all the blows. He continued to press forward anyway, in search of the one shot that would change the tenor of the fight.
By the eighth, blood dripped from Guerrero's left eye and down his face. Mayweather toyed with him, like a puppet master with a puppet, and he landed a roundhouse right hand that brought the crowd to its feet. Guerrero's wife held their son close as tears welled in her eyes.
The latest news and analysis from all of the 2011 major tournaments.
Tommy Haas will play the defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final of the BMW Open in Munich. The third-seeded Haas defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia, 6-4, 6-3. Kohlschreiber edged Daniel Brands, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (5), to set up the first all-German final in Munich in 48 years.
¶ Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Spain's Carla Suárez, 7-5, 6-2, to win the Portugal Open in Oeiras. Pavlyuchenkova, a 21-year-old Russian, won her second title of the year.
If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.
The United States rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to beat Austria, 5-3, in its opening game at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland.
David Moss began the Americans' comeback off a rebound in the first period, and defenseman Erik Johnson opened and closed the second period with power-play goals. In between, Tim Stapleton and Aaron Palushaj also scored.
In Stockholm, Norway beat Slovenia, 3-1, behind two goals from Anders Bastiansen.
Keep up with the latest news on The Times's baseball blog.
The Oakland Athletics put Chris Young on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left quadriceps and recalled outfielder Michael Taylor from Class AAA Sacramento. Young was batting .172 with 4 homers and 15 runs batted in. Taylor, 27, was hitting .329 with 5 homers and 16 R.B.I.
MURRAY, Utah (AP) — A Utah soccer referee who slipped into a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game a week ago died Saturday night, police said.
The Times's soccer blog has the world's game covered from all angles.
Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following an assault, Unified police spokesman Justin Hoyal said.
Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.
"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Hoyal said in a press release.
The teen has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault.
Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since Portillo has died.
He said an autopsy is planned. No cause of death was released.
Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
The victim's family, which publicly spoke of Portillo's plight this past week, has asked for privacy, Hoyal said.
Johana Portillo, 26, said last week that she wasn't at the April 27 game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she said she's been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head.
"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," she said.
Accounts from a police report, Portillo's daughter and others further detail what occurred.
The teenager was playing goalie during a game at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville when Ricardo Portillo issued him a yellow card for pushing an opposing forward trying to score a goal. In soccer, a yellow card is given as a warning to a player for an egregious violation of the rules. Two yellow cards lead to a red card and expulsion from the game.
The teenager, quite a bit heavier than Portillo, began arguing with the referee, then unleashed a punch to his face. Portillo seemed fine at first, then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. He sat down and started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance.
When police arrived around noon, the teenager was gone and Portillo was laying on the ground in the fetal position. Through translators, Portillo told EMTs that his face and back hurt and he felt nauseous. He had no visible injuries and remained conscious. He was considered to be in fair condition when they took him to the Intermountain Medical Center.
But when Portillo arrived to the hospital, he slipped into a coma with swelling in his brain. Johana Portillo called detectives to let them know his condition had worsened.
That's when detectives intensified their search for the goalie. By Saturday evening, the teenager's father agreed to bring him down to speak with police.
Portillo's family said he had been attacked before, and Johanna Portillo said she and her sisters begged their father to stop refereeing because of the risk from angry players, but he continued because he loved soccer.
"It was his passion," she said. "We could not tell him no."
Normally, the kind of season that Houston's James Harden has had would be garnering all kinds of attention and accolades. His combination of raw scoring output, relentless effectiveness, and well-rounded point creation stands with some of the greatest players of the modern era.
Yet Harden has managed to hover just under the radar.
In his first season as the primary option on an N.B.A. team, after arriving from star-laden Oklahoma City, Harden scored 25.9 points per game for the Rockets, fifth-best in the N.B.A. It was an improvement of more than 9 points over his best season as a super-sub for the Thunder.
Increased playing time explains some of this jump but not all of it: Harden's scoring output rose more than 25 percent on a per-minute basis as well. Impressive, yes, but hardly unique. Since 1986, the list of 25 points-per-game seasons is 173 lines long and includes mere mortals like Orlando Woolridge, Jim Jackson, and Purvis Short.
What sets Harden apart is his shot selection and the attempts it takes him to generate so many points. Harden took nearly 75 percent of his attempts this season either at the rim or from 3-point range compared to less than 20 percent from between 10 and 23 feet.
This is a rarity for a perimeter player with such a heavy scoring burden; Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, to name two notable examples, each took about 35 percent of their shots from 10 to 23 feet out. Harden's approach, consisting so heavily of layups (and the accompanying free throws) and 3-pointers (whose degree of difficulty is recognized by the extra point awarded), gave him a true shooting percentage of 60 percent.
This number, which adjusts Harden's field-goal percentage for free throws and 3-pointers, is a benchmark for efficient scoring typically reserved for big men and one-dimensional spot shooters.
Harden's performance in Wednesday night's Game 5 against the Thunder — 31 points on 16 field goal attempts and 5 free-throw attempts, for a remarkable 85.2 percentage true shooting percentage — was just the latest illustration of the value of his lethal inside/outside game.
This level of efficiency is a rarity for such a high-volume scorer: only 31 players since 1986 have averaged 25 a night while matching Harden's 60 percent mark in true shooting. Nearly all of those players are either in the Hall of Fame or headed there.
Harden's ability to limit misses is especially impressive given his primacy in Houston's attack.
Although Harden's skills were well-known before this season, some still cited his tertiary place in the Thunder's crunch-time offense as cause for skepticism. Those concerns have been put to rest. Harden's 29.0 percent usage rate means only eight N.B.A. players had the ball end up in their hands more frequently than he did — and only two of those players, his former teammate Kevin Durant and LeBron James in Miami, created more points per shot than Harden. Of the 31 high-scoring, high-efficiency seasons cited above, just 23 (less than one per year since 1986) were achieved with usage exceeding 27.0 percent.
This is rare air, even in the context of elite N.B.A. scorers.
Shot-making, though, is only one part of good offense; play-making and passing remain important skills for even the league's top scorers. Here is where Harden's 2012-13 season really stands out. Harden's 5.8 assists per game look nice, sure, but do not seem particularly remarkable.
But given how many of Houston's possessions end with the ball in Harden's hands, his ability to create so many baskets for his teammates on the relatively few offensive trips that remain is extraordinary. His 25.7 percent assist rate – a statistic measuring the percentage of teammates' baskets on which a player assists – underscores this point; only a handful of non-point guards in the league have such a high number.
Now, put all of this together: 25 points per game, 60 percent true shooting, usage on more than 27 percent of team possessions, and an assist rate exceeding 25 percent. How rare is such a combination of statistics? What does the achievement mean for any player, especially one as young as Harden? Below, I've listed every season since 1986 that hits all four marks.
This is the company that James Harden now keeps.
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John Amis/Associated Press
In the 10th inning, the Mets' Jordany Valdespin scores on a single off Ruben Tejada to break a 5-5 tie.
ATLANTA — The Mets roughed up the National League's best bullpen. They handled the league's best hitter in a key situation, and they beat the best team in the East. So it took Manager Terry Collins no time at all when asked if this was the Mets' best win of the season.
"I think it is," Collins said.
The Mets (12-15) beat the Braves, 7-5, at Turner Field on Friday with improbable late-game heroics, especially considering the way the Mets blew two games in Miami this week.
Marlon Byrd homered off the left-hander Eric O'Flaherty, perhaps the best eighth-inning pitcher in the league, in the eighth to tie it, 4-4. In the ninth, with one out, David Wright belted a home run off one of baseball's best closers, Craig Kimbrel, to tie the game again, 5-5.
In the 10th, the electric reserve outfielder Jordany Valdespin drew a two-out walk and stole second base. He hopped around as if he was going to steal third, but he did not have to. Ruben Tejada lashed a single to center to give the Mets a 6-5 lead. Daniel Murphy followed with another single, and it was 7-5.
Jeurys Familia pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 10th, and the Mets had a signature win.
"To be a good team you've got to win close games and you've got to win a majority of those extra inning games, so yeah, it felt good especially with what we went through in Miami," Wright said.
The hitters delivered, and so did the Mets' bullpen. In the ninth, the Braves had the winning run on third in a 5-5 game with one out when the closer Bobby Parnell got Jordan Schafer to hit a weak fly ball to center field for the second out. Justin Upton, the Braves' No. 3 hitter and the April Player of the Month, grounded out to third to end the threat.
"I think speeding him up with the inside fastball on the previous pitch really helped me with him," Parnell said. "Then I threw him a get-me-over curveball that was down, and I think the speed difference was in my favor."
The wind whipped the flag on top of the scoreboard as if Turner Field were Wrigley Field. Hot dog wrappers flew around the ballpark and fly balls were blown off course. The Mets had some fun right away with the gusts.
Tejada, the game's lead off hitter, reached on a bloop double down the right-field line that carried away from second baseman Dan Uggla. After Daniel Murphy and David Wright made outs, John Buck clubbed his 10th home run of the season off Atlanta starter Mike Minor.
In the second, Lucas Duda homered into the seats in left-center, and it was 3-0. Minor set down 18 straight before he left the game.
Atlanta's relievers were 6-1 with a 1.94 earned run average before Byrd and Wright delivered their big blows.
"He's as dominant as anybody in the game, you just hope he makes a minor mistake or you don't have a chance," Wright said of Kimbrel.
"That's Captain America," Byrd said of Wright. "We just jump on his back offensively."
Trying to hit against a pitcher with stuff like Felix Hernandez's is hard. Trying to catch him is not too easy, either.
Hernandez pitched eight shutout innings to win his third straight start, Kyle Seager and Jason Bay homered, and the Seattle Mariners beat the host Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0, on Friday night.
Mariners catcher Jesus Montero was the target of playful teasing from Hernandez and his teammates after he dropped several late-breaking pitches.
"Sometimes it's hard to catch him," Montero said. "It's crazy; his talent is so great."
Montero said there were not many pitches in Hernandez's arsenal that were easy to handle. "The special one is the changeup," Montero said. "It goes down like a split. That's why he strikes out so many guys."
Hernandez (4-2) allowed five hits, walked none and struck out seven, improving to 3-0 with a 0.60 earned run average in his past four starts. He is 95-24 in his career when he receives two or more runs of support.
RANGERS 7, RED SOX 0 Adrian Beltre had a three-run double among his four hits, and Derek Holland (2-2) pitched eight scoreless innings for his fifth consecutive victory over visiting Boston.
The Rangers had a season-high 18 hits, 12 of them against Red Sox starter Felix Doubront (3-1), who was chased after three and two-thirds innings.
TIGERS 4, ASTROS 3 Alex Avila hit a two-run home run against closer Jose Veras (0-2) in the ninth inning, rallying Detroit from a 3-2 deficit. Host Houston, which has the American League's worst record (8-22), lost its fourth straight and its eighth game in nine.
RAYS 7, ROCKIES 4 Evan Longoria broke a 4-4 tie in the 10th with a run-scoring single and then scored on Kelly Johnson's two-run homer for visiting Tampa Bay.
INDIANS 7, TWINS 6 Drew Stubbs's fourth hit, a one-out double in the 10th inning, drove in Mike Aviles and sent host Cleveland to its fifth straight victory. The winning streak is the Indians' longest since a seven-game streak in April and May 2011.
REDS 6, CUBS 5 Jay Bruce had two runs batted in and scored a run, and Shin-Soo Choo drove in a run and scored twice for Cincinnati at Chicago.
The Reds scored five times with two outs as they improved to 4-10 on the road. "The team that gets the two-out hits is the team that wins the games," Reds Manager Dusty Baker said.
PIRATES 3, NATIONALS 1 The former Yankee A. J. Burnett (3-2) allowed one run and struck out nine in seven shutout innings for host Pittsburgh. Burnett won his third straight, and his 57 strikeouts lead the National League.
Jordy Mercer, called up from Class AAA Indianapolis before the game, hit a two-run homer to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning.
PHILLIES 4, MARLINS 1 Jonathan Pettibone (2-0), in his third start filling in for the injured John Lannan, allowed one run and five hits in six and one-third innings for host Philadelphia. The Phillies are 9-2 combined against the Marlins (8-22) and the Mets (12-15) but 5-14 against other teams.
CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 1 Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran homered, and Shelby Miller (4-2) held host Milwaukee to one run and seven hits in six innings.
Before the game, St. Louis reliever Mitchell Boggs, who began the season as the stand-in closer for the injured Jason Motte, was sent to Class AAA Memphis after amassing a 12.66 E.R.A. Boggs has allowed 17 hits and 10 walks in 102/3 innings.
Motte will have season-ending Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery next week. He was placed on the disabled list on March 29 and was eventually found to have a torn ligament in his right elbow.
PIRATES' WALKER ON D.L. Pittsburgh put second baseman Neil Walker on the 15-day disabled list with an injured right hand. He could return May 12. The Pirates also called up pitcher Jose Contreras, 41, who made six appearances in the Pirates' farm system. ... The Los Angeles Dodgers placed the left-hander Ted Lilly on the disabled list with a strain in his rib cage. ... The San Francisco Giants activated the left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt, sidelined since April 17 with a strained muscle in his right side.
