Molina Wins Sixth Gold Glove at Catcher

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina won his sixth straight Gold Glove award Tuesday, making him one of four players in the World Series rewarded for superior defense this season.

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and right fielder Shane Victorino also were honored, along with Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright. Boston has a 3-2 edge over St. Louis going into Game 6 on Wednesday night.

Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado became the first rookie to win a Gold Glove since Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. Atlanta shortstop Andrelton Simmons and Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado also were among the eight first-time recipients.

"It's pretty awesome," Simmons said in a brief interview on ESPN during the awards show.

The Orioles and Royals had three winners apiece, tied for the most of any team. Baltimore finished with the fewest errors in the majors (54) and set a big league record with a .991 fielding percentage.

Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon took his third Gold Glove in a row, while first baseman Eric Hosmer and catcher Salvador Perez each received their first.

"I've got a trophy case back in Lincoln, (Neb.), so this one won't be the chip-and-dip tray. This one will actually go up in the trophy case," Gordon said. "It means a lot. The first one was pretty special, just because it's the first one, but to be able to share it with two teammates makes this one the best one of all."

Baltimore shortstop J.J. Hardy and center fielder Adam Jones were repeat winners, as was Rockies left fielder Carlos Gonzalez.

His 22-year-old teammate, Arenado, became the 10th rookie to win.

"I'm still kind of in shock. I still can't believe it," he said on ESPN.

Center fielder Carlos Gomez became the first Gold Glove winner for Milwaukee since shortstop Robin Yount in 1982, ending the longest drought for any team in the 57-year history of the award.

Toronto knuckleballer R.A. Dickey was the winner among American League pitchers.

Arizona's Gerardo Parra won in right field after taking the National League honors in left two years ago. Other recipients in the NL were Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips, his fourth, and Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, his first.

"Pretty cool," said Goldschmidt, who also won the Hank Aaron Award as the NL's top hitter this season.

Now, a Gold Glove for Goldschmidt as well. Fits like a ... well ... you know.

"It's a huge honor to get recognized," he said. "There's so many great players around the league."

Since 1957, Rawlings has presented Gold Gloves to the finest fielders at their positions.

Managers and coaches vote for players in their league but cannot choose their own guys. For the first time this year, Rawlings added a sabermetric element to the balloting. The SABR Defensive Index made up about 25 percent of the process.

"Wow, hard work pays off," Phillips said. "I take pride in my defense and try to go out there to make the pitching staff feel comfortable while they're on the mound. I like being the pitcher's best friend. People overlook defense these days."

Six teams accounted for 14 of the 18 winners. Only two clubs had multiple winners last season, when the Orioles claimed three and the New York Yankees two.

"To win three Gold Gloves this year was very impressive I think for our team, for our organization," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "These young men who won these Gold Gloves have worked their tails off defensively, and the thing that impresses me so much is I think these kids are only going to get better and better defensively."

Rawlings announced three finalists at each position last week. Tampa Bay's entire infield was picked, but none of those four players won. Baltimore led all teams with six finalists, including first baseman Chris Davis, right fielder Nick Markakis and catcher Matt Wieters.

At perhaps the most competitive spot, the 21-year-old Machado supplanted Texas' Adrian Beltre and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, who combined to win the previous six AL Gold Gloves at third base. Machado became the first Orioles third baseman to win since Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson took the last of his 16 straight in 1975.

Gomez earned a $200,000 bonus, while Phillips gets $100,000, Hardy and Jones $75,000 each, and Gordon, Molina, Pedroia, Perez, Victorino and Wainwright $50,000 apiece. Gonzalez earns $25,000.

___

AP Sports Writers Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Mo., Joe Kay in Cincinnati and Ronald Blum in Boston contributed to this report.

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Nets Head Into Opener With Assortment of Aches

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Jagr Sets Record With 119th Game-Winning Goal

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On Tennis: On Road to Fed Cup Final, Top Russians Jump Off

Bud Collins, a tennis commentator and gadfly, once wrote that the Fed Cup was "a splendid idea with a lame name."

But it is not just the name that is lame this year as the Fed Cup prepares for the finals between Italy and Russia.

The Italians have a full-strength team — including Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci and Flavia Pennetta — and are playing host in a lovely spot: Cagliari on the island of Sardinia, where the 5,000-seat stadium is reportedly sold out.

The problem is the Russians. Once the dominant force in women's tennis, they have arrived without any of their top-ranked players. Their team will be Alexandra Panova (the 12th-ranked Russian and No. 136 in the world), Alisa Kleybanova (No. 16 and No. 183), Irina Khromacheva (No. 19 and No. 236) and Margarita Gasparyan (No. 26 and No. 315).

A lame lineup indeed for a nation that no longer reigns in the game but still has six players in the world's top 30.

The woefully underwhelming squad is a reflection of much that continues to plague tennis: alphabet-soup organizations working at cross purposes, a flawed calendar, tension among national federations and the individuals who represent — or choose not to represent — them.

But this is above all an embarrassment to an event that has too rarely felt like a main event. Women's tennis remains the premier sport and most reliable starmaker for female athletes worldwide — a sport in which Serena Williams earned more than $12 million in prize money in 2013.

But the premier team competition in women's tennis continues to punch below its weight.

"To have these stars for women's tennis that we have today, these global icons, and then when we look at the financial growth of women's professional tennis, when you put that up against the Fed Cup, I do believe it's undervalued," Stacey Allaster, the Women's Tennis Association's chairwoman and chief executive, said in a telephone interview.

The WTA is no bystander. Allaster was speaking from Sofia, Bulgaria, where the tour is staging the Tournament of Champions, its second-tier, year-end championships. This minor event is presumably good for the players involved and the tour's bottom line, but it tends to feel like a pale, anticlimactic copy of the first-tier WTA Championships that took place last week in Istanbul and featured the world's top eight players.

The Tournament of Champions, which features players from the next tranche who are eligible (and willing) to take part, was created in 2009 and was initially staged in Bali, Indonesia. For the last four years, it has conflicted on the calendar with the Fed Cup finals.

This is clearly less than ideal, and until now, the players who had the choice of playing in either event have opted to play for their country. But this year is different with three Russian women — Maria Kirilenko, Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova — choosing Sofia and its guaranteed payday and potential ranking points over the Fed Cup.

In contrast, the 11th-ranked Vinci, who also would have been eligible to play in Sofia, has chosen to play singles and doubles for Italy in Cagliari.

The paradox is that Kirilenko, Vesnina, Pavlyuchenkova and Ekaterina Makarova were all willing and able to play on the Russian team that won its thrilling semifinal series against Slovakia, 3-2, in April in Moscow. But the finals, which are supposed to matter most, did not get their support, leaving the longtime Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev — the bushy-browed, era-crossing patriarch who once taught tennis to Boris N. Yeltsin — with the equivalent of a farm team.

Vesnina, ranked 25th and part of one of the world's top doubles teams with Makarova, said she chose Sofia long ago and informed Tarpischev and her teammates.

"For me, it was the first time that I get into this championship, and I really wanted to be there and for me it was the goal to finish the year in the top 20," she said in Istanbul. "I was thinking that I'm going to be the only one who was not going to play the final, but this is the situation now. And I think it's not actually a good idea to put Fed Cup final on the same week with a championship. It's not fair for the players."

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On Pro Basketball: Bulls Star Returns, but Heat Own Stage

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The Bulls' Derrick Rose, driving against the Heat's Mario Chalmers in the teams' opener Tuesday, missed last season with a knee injury.

MIAMI — In what is considered to be a renaissance era for exceptional point guards, the two-time defending N.B.A. champion Heat — who, in effect, play without one — welcomed the most intriguing of the little-man lot back to the regular-season grind Tuesday night.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were pleased to see Derrick Rose on the court again with the Chicago Bulls after a full season lost to a harrowing knee injury. Both offered a standard platitude — "good for the league" — for a fellow member of the industry elite.

Then James, Wade and friends received their championship rings, watched the Miami franchise's third banner rise to the rafters of American Airlines Arena and proceeded to coast to a 107-95 victory over Rose and the Bulls. The timing of the season-opening occasion could not have been a clearer admonition, a metaphorical pat on Rose's head. Son, we're not the same ring-less team you last played against.

The global N.B.A. village is thrilled to have Rose back attacking the seams of opposing defenses. He isn't yet accustomed to the intensity of real games, but his knee looks fully repaired, and we can all agree he was right to hold himself out as the limping Bulls valiantly struggled against Miami last spring in the playoffs.

"He's gotten better, man — you guys are going to see it," said Bulls forward Carlos Boozer, who provided most of their Game 1 offense with 31 points, while Rose shot 4 for 15, scoring 12. "His point-guard skills have improved a lot. His passing is precise. His leadership is better. He trusts us more."

The typically humble Rose agreed, acknowledging that watching from a different perspective, the bench, has made him a more learned floor general. He nodded to the questionable suggestion that this is the best Bulls team he has played on, though he graciously added, "No disrespect to my former teammates."

No disrespect to Rose or the stalwart defenders in Coach Tom Thibodeau's core lineup, but the Bulls at first glance did not look very deep (their bench was outscored by Miami's, 30-6, over the first three quarters) or big enough. History also tells us that there have been few N.B.A. championship teams whose most dominant player was a superstar in miniature.

At 6-foot-1, Isiah Thomas comes to mind as the backbone of the 1989 and 1990 champion Detroit Pistons. John Stockton, also 6-1, came mighty close with his tag-team partner, Karl Malone, in Utah. But in the modern game, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, James, Wade and a few very large men have been the primary difference makers.

Tony Parker was San Antonio's best player as the Spurs came within a stroke of good fortune of beating the Heat in the 2013 finals. But Tim Duncan played close to the level of his prime, when he keyed the Spurs' four titles. Chauncey Billups was the glue to Detroit when the 2004 Pistons took out the Lakers in five games for the title. But he was no transcendent star, in the way Allen Iverson was when his Philadelphia 76ers fell in five games to the Shaq-and-Kobe Lakers in 2001.

Rose, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry are part of a group that has been celebrated for elevating — though hardly inventing — the hybrid point-guard game, combining explosive scoring ability with playmaking flair. An earlier generation produced true visionaries in Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, but also the me-first indulgences of Iverson and Stephon Marbury.

It is no simple chore to balance blinding quickness and a soft touch with essential team needs. Iverson never did, but that didn't stop James on Monday from calling him "pound for pound probably the greatest player to ever play."

Maybe James was just being respectful in advance of the Heat's visit to Philadelphia on Wednesday night, where Iverson's retirement is scheduled to be ceremonially upgraded to official from obvious. Or he merely meant to say that Iverson got more out of a skinny little body than anyone he could recall.

Players often have a different take on the game than critics. First and foremost, they respect pure talent. That is why Wade said of Iverson: "One of my favorite players of all time. I took pride in wearing No. 3 because A. I. wore it. He changed the game, in a sense."

But the game moves on, its spotlight on the ascendant. Iverson may have gotten the most out of his body, but never did grasp the meaning of figurative growth, via practice. This is where Rose has a chance to become a champion's little big man, according to Thibodeau.

"Even though he couldn't play last year, he studied," Thibodeau said. "He made the best of his circumstances. He's a stronger player, a smarter player. And now the challenge is for us to put it together as a team."

It's an intriguing team, with tough, versatile players like Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Jimmy Butler. But with a history of injuries to key players, can the Bulls play Thibodeau's relentless style for 82 games and win 16 more against the league's best teams? Can Thibodeau deepen his bench and make use out of a soft player like Mike Dunleavy?

Against the Heat and in an upgraded Eastern Conference, we know the Bulls will be gritty, but are they really good enough to help Rose become that rare exception in a sport where bigger men rule?

On championship-ring night, the Heat gave us several reasons to doubt it. But in the interests of variety, that would, as they say, be good for the league.

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Rangers 3, Islanders 2: Shifting to Higher Gear, Rangers Rally to Beat Isles

Barton Silverman/The New York Times

Chris Kreider, with Mats Zuccarello, after beating the Islanders' Evgeni Nabokov for a first-period goal.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Benoit Pouliot wore a wide smile of relief after his wrist shot late in the third period lifted the goal-starved Rangers past the Islanders, 3-2, Tuesday night at Nassau Coliseum.

Pouliot, a lanky left wing and a newcomer to the rivalry, was fed the puck in the slot by his speedy linemate Carl Hagelin, then whipped a shot past Islanders goalie Evengi Nabokov.

Pouliot's second goal of the season at 13 minutes 46 seconds of the final period helped erase the memory of a listless 2-0 loss in the Rangers' home opener on Monday against Montreal.

"We came with speed, skill and work ethic," said Pouliot, a free agent who signed with the Rangers last summer. "It felt good to be part of such a fast-paced game."

Pouliot's winner came after defenseman Ryan McDonagh scored a power-play goal early in the third period to tie the score at 2-2. The road victory was a much-needed tonic for the Rangers, who have scored just 18 goals in 11 games.

Cam Talbot, making his third start in the last four games, had 22 saves for the Rangers, who improved to 4-7-0.

The Islanders fell to 4-5-3. The game was the Islanders' debut for the high-scoring left wing Thomas Vanek, who was acquired from Buffalo on Sunday for forward Matt Moulson and two draft picks.

Islanders Coach Jack Capuano said his team had to play better defense in coming contests at Ottawa on Friday and against Boston on home on Saturday.

"We're not poised enough with the puck," Capuano said. "We're making the same mistakes too often."

The Rangers, skating without the injured top scorer Rick Nash and the captain Ryan Callahan, needed the injection of speed that Hagelin provided. Hagelin missed the first 10 games of the season after having a shoulder operation in the summer.

"We kept working and stuck with our plan," Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault said. "And we used our speed well."

The Islanders led, 2-1, entering the third period after Peter Regin and Cal Clutterbuck scored second-period goals.

McDonagh scored the tying goal on the power play at 4:59 of the third, blasting the puck past Nabokov from the point for his second goal of the season.

Chris Kreider opened the scoring for the Rangers with a power-play goal at 12:30 of the first, the only score of a brisk period in which the Islanders outshot the Rangers, 9-4.

A shot by Brad Richards from the point rebounded to Kreider in front of Nabokov. The goal was the first of the season for Kreider, who was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Oct. 20.

After bursting on the Rangers' scene with five playoff goals in the spring of 2012, Kreider struggled last season amid multiple trips back and forth to Hartford.

"The guys showed a lot of resiliency," Kreider said. "It was a great character win."

Clutterbuck tied the score at 1-1 with his first goal as an Islander at 3:40 of the second, breaking down the right wing and beating Talbot high to the glove side.

Talbot started a night after Henrik Lundqvist lost the team's dreary match against the Canadiens. The 26-year-old Talbot, who made his N.H.L. debut against Philadelphia last week, was promoted from Hartford after the Rangers waived the backup goalie Martin Biron two weeks ago. Talbot recorded his first win against Detroit last Saturday.

SLAP SHOTS

John Tavares, the Islanders' captain, had his 10-game point-scoring streak snapped. He had four goals and nine assists during the streak. ... The Islanders continued to be without defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky (concussion).

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Gasquet Stays in the Running

Richard Gasquet beat Fernando Verdasco, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-3, in the second round of the Paris Masters to stay in the race for a World Tour Finals spot.

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Juan Martín del Potro and Tomas Berdych have already qualified for the tournament in London next week. Three spots remain up for grabs.

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Bats: 1975 Redux for Red Sox: Do You Agree With Obstruction Call?

The Red Sox win Game 1 of the World Series at home, by a lopsided score.

They lead Game 2 but lose it late, and the Series is tied 1-1.

In Game 3, the National League team wins in its last at-bat as a matter of obstruction proves crucial to the outcome.

This, of course, is this year's Series. But the story was the same in 1975, between the Red Sox and the Reds.

Boston won Game 1, 6-0; the Reds won Game 2, 3-2, after rallying with two runs in the ninth; and the Reds won Game 3 in the 10th inning moments after the famous play in which Ed Armbrister, having bunted, bumped Carlton Fisk, who then threw wildly to second base. Larry Barnett ruled (correctly, though we didn't know that until quite a while later) that interference should not be called because the contact was inadvertent.

My guess is that the similarities will end Sunday, since Luis Tiant can't come out of retirement to throw a complete-game victory on three days' rest, as he did in Game 4 in 1975. But so far, this is a little weird.

Inside Pitch I agree with Jim Joyce's call. If Allen Craig hadn't had to disengage himself from Will Middlebrooks's legs, he'd have scored easily. What do you think?

15.04 | 0 komentar | Read More

N.H.L. Roundup: Rangers and Devils Win on Road

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Sports Briefing | Soccer: FIFA Looks at Racism Claims

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Sports Briefing | Baseball: Rodriguez Inquiry Defended by Selig

Keep up with the latest news on The Times's baseball blog.

Commissioner Bud Selig said he was satisfied baseball's investigators did nothing wrong in obtaining evidence against Alex Rodriguez in the Biogenesis case.

"I'm very comfortable with what they did and how they did it," Selig said in St. Louis before Game 3 of the World Series. "I've been in baseball 50 years and I thought I had seen everything — but apparently I haven't."

Rodriguez, who has disputed receiving performance enhancers from the shuttered Biogenesis clinic in Florida, is suing Major League Baseball as he appeals his 211-game ban.

■ Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg had bone chips removed from his surgically repaired right elbow. The team said Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche also had surgery. All three players are expected to be ready for spring training. (AP)

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South Carolina 27, Missouri 24 (Two Overtimes): Gamecocks Change Passer, and Fortune

COLUMBIA, Mo. — It seemed like a desperate move. South Carolina was trailing in the third quarter, 17-0, and quarterback Dylan Thompson had looked lost and claustrophobic against Missouri's swarming defense. So the Gamecocks turned to Connor Shaw, usually the team's starter, who had sprained his knee a week earlier.

Shaw led them back, throwing for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to force overtime and then another touchdown to force a second overtime. South Carolina then took the lead on a 40-yard field goal by Elliott Fry, and Missouri kicker Andrew Baggett banged his 24-yard attempt off the left upright to seal a 27-24 victory by the Gamecocks and send their players storming onto the field.

"I thought we were dead," Coach Steve Spurrier said after the Gamecocks had completed their comeback Saturday.

Despite the loss, Missouri (7-1, 3-1) remained in control of the Southeastern Conference's East division, still a game ahead of South Carolina (6-2, 4-2) in the loss column. If the Tigers win the rest of their regular-season games, including their finale against Texas A&M, they will earn a spot in the SEC championship game.

Missouri was playing a third straight game against a ranked opponent, having beaten Georgia and then Florida, a game the Tigers played without the senior quarterback James Franklin. With Franklin, who separated his shoulder against the Bulldogs, expected to be out for several weeks, the redshirt freshman Maty Mauk had been keeping the Tigers on track.

There was still reason to be skeptical of Missouri and its coach, Gary Pinkel. His teams had collapsed before. The Tigers started 5-0 in 2008, rose to No. 3 in the Associated Press rankings and lost their next two games. They started hot in 2010, too, going 7-0 and rising to No. 7 in the rankings. Again, they lost their next two games.

But South Carolina was reeling. The Gamecocks were upset last week by Tennessee, Shaw had a sprained knee, and Jadeveon Clowney, their star defensive end, had been mostly neutralized and surrounded by drama.

Clowney was such a dominating player last season that teams were focusing their game plans on him, double- and triple-teaming him. He asked his coaches to be moved around, to be used differently. He was frustrated. And he was hurt.

He had a bruised shoulder and then a stomach virus. He had bone spurs in his foot, and he had bruised ribs, which bothered him so much that he approached Spurrier minutes before an Oct. 5 game against Kentucky and told him he would not play.

After the game, Spurrier expressed frustration with Clowney, leading to national speculation that Clowney was trying to avoid injury ahead of the N.F.L. draft. Two days later, Spurrier changed course and came to Clowney's defense, but the public was already forming its opinions.

On Saturday, Clowney found himself on the ground, helpless, as Marcus Murphy scored Missouri's first touchdown. Murphy had bounced a run around the left side from 11 yards, breaking two tackles before Clowney grabbed his shoulders. Murphy, who is listed at 5 feet 9 inches and 195 pounds, shrugged him off and skipped into the end zone.

Clowney, though, rebounded to finish with five tackles, one quarterback hurry, and a batted pass.

On the possession after Murphy's score, Thompson was driving the Gamecocks when the sophomore running back Mike Davis fumbled. Missouri, backed up by two penalties, had its next drive stall, and Thompson again had South Carolina moving, this time almost to the goal line. Again, Davis fumbled.

Three plays later, on a third-and-long, in the shadow of his own uprights, Mauk fired a pass to L'Damian Washington, who had lined up to Mauk's right, darted in and shot upfield. He caught Mauk's pass in stride and accelerated past two defenders to finish the rest of a 96-yard touchdown reception that gave Missouri a 14-0 lead.

Thompson tried to turn the momentum with one play, lofting a pass 54 yards. But John Gibson, a redshirt freshman cornerback playing in place of the injured E. J. Gaines, intercepted him near the sideline. That extended Missouri's streak of forcing a turnover to 38 games, the longest active streak in the nation.

With the Gamecocks still without a score in the third quarter, Shaw replaced Thompson and ignited South Carolina.

"I wasn't even supposed to be playing in this game," Shaw said. "They said I was supposed to be out two to three weeks."

Meanwhile, Missouri's offense stalled: in the second half, the Tigers punted three times, made one field goal and missed on another attempt.

South Carolina scored on three consecutive possessions, the last capped by a 2-yard pass from Shaw to Nick Jones with 42 seconds left in regulation.

"I thought it was a very courageous effort on his part," Pinkel, Missouri's coach, said of Shaw.

In overtime, South Carolina and Missouri traded scores — a Murphy touchdown run and then a Shaw touchdown pass. In the second overtime, Shaw completed one pass for 3 yards, and South Carolina settled for a field goal.

There was still a sense the Tigers would pull through until Baggett's kick struck the upright and shook the crowd awake, like cold water splashing the face.

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Hopkins Retains Light Heavyweight Belt

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Retiring his "The Executioner" nickname in favor of the "The Alien," Bernard Hopkins tried to give Karo Murat a close encounter of the knockout kind.

With his first KO in almost a decade within reach, the 48-year-old Hopkins turned his title defense with Murat into a brawl, and retained his share of the light heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision Saturday night.

Hopkins walked to the ring in a green mask with black eyes, and a cape, attire straight out of a campy sci fi flick. He had the "The Alien" emblazoned on the green waistband of his black trunks. "The alien don't get old," Hopkins said.

Hopkins (54-6-2) was dominant in his most convincing — and entertaining — bout in at least a decade. He turned the later rounds into his own personal mission to score his first knockout win since beating Oscar De La Hoya in September 2004 — 15 fights ago.

He battered Murat and busted open the challenger with a series of rights to the face to help successfully defend his championship at Boardwalk Hall.

Hopkins won 119-108, 119-108, 117-110.

"I really wanted the knockout, but he was tough," Hopkins said. "You know you've got to take some punches. Yeah, I have a little bit of blood on me but this is what they want to see. They wanted to see the knockout, so I took some shots."

Already the oldest fighter to win a major championship, Hopkins wants to keep fighting until he's 50. Up next, he'd like a date with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the spring — when Hopkins would be 49.

"We're going to do everything we can to get the biggest possible fight," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said.

The Philadelphia fighter also had the crowd on his side, with chants of "B-Hop! B-Hop!" echoing through the arena with each right hand in the late rounds.

He also heard encouragement from undefeated Philly fighter Danny Garcia, groomed as the next big star, who screamed "throw that right hand into the body! All day, every day!" from press row.

Hopkins, who weighed in at 172 1/2 pounds, pretty much did that as he pounded away at Murat.

He smiled and shook his head no after absorbing some blows in the third round. Hopkins kissed Murat on the back of his head coming out of a clinch in the fifth. He also taunted Murat's corner late in the fight, barking at them to stop the fight.

"I'm just glad he brought the dog out of me," Hopkins said. "I saw this guy was all cut up and I'm just going to keep beating him. They didn't listen."

Hopkins finally busted open Murat in eighth, with cuts above the left eye and the cheek. The blood didn't appear to seriously affect Murat.

But Murat (25-2-1) didn't do himself any favors with a series of questionable blows. Hopkins fell in the sixth round and sat on his rear as Murat hit him twice in the face. He didn't lose a point.

He did lose one in the seventh round for hitting after the break. Referee Steve Smoger shoved Murat in the face after another hit after the bell to end the 12th.

Murat, born and raised in Iraq before moving to Germany, came out swinging and attacked Hopkins from the opening round. Hopkins built a successful career with a methodical style of doing just enough in the ring to win. But he answered Murat and they spent most of the bout exchanging big punches.

"He figured if he roughed me up, he'd get some sort of advantage," Hopkins said. "It didn't bother me."

In the co-main event, Peter Quillin retained the WBO middleweight title with a 10th-round TKO over Gabriel Rosado. Rosado was busted open above the left eye and could not stop bleeding, forcing the ringside doctor to call for the stoppage. Rosado was irate and yelled profanities from the top rope.

"They knew he was getting hurt and they stopped it," Rosado said. "I was hurting him in the later rounds. I deserve a rematch."

Quillin, one of the best knockdown fighters in the sport, sent Rosado to the canvas in the second and was ahead on the three scorecards when the bout was stopped 40 seconds into the 10th.

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Cardinals 5, Red Sox 4: In a Bizarre Finish, the Cardinals Stumble Into a Victory

ST. LOUIS — Of all the teams participating in this sloppy World Series, only the one in blue seems at the top of its game.

In Game 1, the Cardinals made a series of mistakes, the Red Sox countered in Game 2, and both looked suspect in Game 3. So it was left to the umpires to make the decisive call in the game — perhaps the series — and by most accounts they made the right one, even celebrating it after the game.

Ed Armbrister, Carlton Fisk and Larry Barnett, the three central characters in a World Series obstruction controversy from 1975, can now step aside.

In one of the more confusing and disputed endings to a World Series game, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4, in Game 3 on Saturday night, on a game-ending obstruction call on third baseman Will Middlebrooks, made by the third-base umpire, Jim Joyce, with two outs in the ninth inning.

Upon seeing Joyce's call, the home plate umpire Dana DeMuth signaled Allen Craig safe at home, even though he had clearly been tagged out before touching the plate. Unsure of exactly what had happened, the Cardinals came pouring out of their dugout to celebrate. The Red Sox, led by John Farrell, their stunned manager, came out, too, but their purpose was to argue.

For several chaotic moments, all parties were on the field by home plate, arguing, explaining or celebrating as the Cardinals took a two-games-to-one lead in the Series.

"I think maybe 75 percent of the guys didn't know what happened," Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran said of his teammates. "I've never seen anything like that."

But once he came into the clubhouse, he asked the coach Jose Oquendo about it, then saw for himself on the video screen.

The play evoked memories of the famous noncall in the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, which also went against Boston. The Red Sox claimed that Armbrister had interfered with Fisk on a bunt play, and pleaded with the home plate umpire Barnett for the call, which never came. The Red Sox lost that game, too.

The setting for Saturday's ending, which will be added to World Series lore, was a tie game with one out in the ninth inning after the Red Sox scored twice in the eighth to draw even. The Cardinals had Yadier Molina at third and Craig at second, so Boston brought the infield in for Jon Jay, who slapped a grounder up the middle.

Dustin Pedroia made a great play to snare the ball and throw home to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who tagged Molina out. But for the second time in the series, the Red Sox made the costly mistake of forcing a throw to third base. Saltalamacchia's throw was wide and forced Middlebrooks to lunge to the second-base side of the bag.

He dived but couldn't get it, and the ball went into foul territory as Red Sox closer Koji Uehara squatted and put his hands to his head, assuming the game was over on the throwing error. Then Uehara saw left fielder Daniel Nava pick up the ball, throw it back to Saltalamacchia, who applied the tag to the sliding Craig in plenty of time.

It appeared the Red Sox had squeezed out of it and had a reprieve, despite their mistake. But while he was on the ground, Middlebrooks was in the path of Craig, who tripped over him on his way home, got up and scampered home.

Joyce, the same umpire who blew the call at first base to prevent Armando Galarraga from getting a perfect game in 2010, saw the play clearly and immediately made the call. Middlebrooks, on his stomach, lifted up his legs. Whether or not it was intentional didn't matter. Craig, who called his route home an obstacle course, stumbled over him.

"The base runner has every right to go unobstructed to home plate," Joyce said. "and unfortunately for Middlebrooks, he was right there. There was contact, so he could not advance to home plate naturally."

The rule states that if a fielder who is not in the act of fielding a ball — including if he dives for a ball that gets past him — obstructs a runner, he gets the next base, regardless of his intent.

"I don't see how it's obstruction," Saltalamacchia said.

DeMuth did. He saw Joyce's call, and despite seeing Craig tagged out, he pointed to Joyce and then made the safe call. The left-field umpire and crew chief John Hirschbeck saw the play develop from the outfield, and was certain Joyce made the right call, which also received the endorsement of Joe Torre, baseball's vice president for operations, including the umpires.

"We're trained to look for those things," Hirschbeck said. "It's out of the ordinary, but when it happens and it's the World Series, you expect to get it right."

Farrell didn't see it quite the same way, echoing Middlebrooks's claim that there was nothing he could have done differently.

"I don't know how he gets out of the way when he's lying on the ground," he said. "And when Craig trips over him, I guess by the letter of the rule you could say it's obstruction. It's a tough pill to swallow."

Pedroia, who was incredulous in the immediate aftermath, scampering about on the field with his arms held out in disbelief, was asked how he became aware something was amiss.

"The guy at home called him safe," he said. "He was out by three feet."

In Game 1, DeMuth made a bad call on a play at second base when he called a runner out when the ball clearly never landed in Pete Kozma's glove. But the umpires huddled and reversed the call to get it right.

In Game 3, they were all in agreement on what happened, and that the initial call was the correct one. So when the arguments and the celebrations were over, they retreated into their own locker room and held their own form of celebration.

"Immediately after we got off the field and into our locker room, we congratulated Jim," Hirschbeck said, "and said, 'Great call.' "

Only in this World Series, where mistakes are piling up, would the umpires come away having had the best game of all.

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Sports Briefing | Golf: Ace Helps Pettersen Increase Lead

Suzann Pettersen, the defending champion, had a hole in one and increased her lead to five strokes in the second round of the L.P.G.A. Taiwan Championship in Yangmei.

■ Keegan Bradley made seven birdies in a six-under-par 66, opening up a four-stroke lead over Ryan Moore at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

■ Luke Guthrie handled another day of strong wind at the BMW Masters in Shanghai with a one-under 71, giving him a four-shot lead. Simon Dyson, who had been tied for second, was disqualified for a rules violation Saturday.

■ Kenny Perry birdied five of the first six holes and finished with a seven-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Champions Tour's AT&T Championship in San Antonio.

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Sports Briefing | Hockey: Bailey Leads Islanders Past Penguins

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Sports Briefing | Tennis: Li to Face Kvitova in Semifinals

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League Plans to End a Longtime Relationship With Riddell, Its Helmet Maker

The N.F.L. will end its nearly quarter-century-long sponsorship with Riddell, the helmet manufacturer, at the close of the season.

The league first granted Riddell an exclusive license in 1989 as a way to stabilize the industry, according to a league spokesman. Since then, Riddell has been the only company allowed to display its name on an N.F.L. helmet and to produce miniature souvenir helmets. Players, though, could wear any helmet they chose.

In recent years, thousands of retired players sued the N.F.L. and Riddell claiming they hid information about the dangers of concussions.

The league agreed to pay the retirees $765 million to settle the case. The retirees' suit against Riddell remains unresolved.

The league has not decided whether to form an exclusive sponsorship with another helmet manufacturer. SCHIANO FACING CRITICISM Disgruntled Tampa Bay fans showed up Friday at Raymond James Stadium calling for the firing of Buccaneers Coach Greg Schiano, a day after a lopsided nationally televised loss to the Carolina Panthers.

The Buccaneers dropped to 0-7 for the sixth time in franchise history. The team has never gone on to win more than three games after losing the first seven to begin a season.

Schiano fended off questions about whether he still had the respect and support of his players. The Bucs have lost 12 of 13 games dating to last season and are 7-16 over all since Schiano left Rutgers in January 2012 to take over a team that dropped the final 10 games of 2011. "Have I lost the locker room? No," Schiano said. "Are they listening? Yes. Are we getting everything we need out of them? Well, obviously not because we're 0-7." (AP)

VICK PROBABLE FOR SUNDAY Michael Vick, who missed the last two games at quarterback for Philadelphia with a strained left hamstring, practiced fully and was listed as probable for Sunday's game against the Giants.

Although Coach Chip Kelly had been noncommittal about his quarterback situation, the Giants were expecting Vick to rejoin the lineup.

TOM PEDULLA

CORDLE TO START FOR GIANTS Jim Cordle will assume the starting role at center for the Giants, replacing David Baas, who was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.

Cordle filled in almost seamlessly when Baas missed three successive games with a neck injury from Sept. 29 to Oct. 10 and again Monday night when Baas injured his knee on the game-opening drive in a 23-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings that gave the Giants their first win in seven games.

The Giants listed cornerback Corey Webster (groin) as questionable. Cornerback Jayron Hosley (hamstring), running back Brandon Jacobs and defensive tackle Shaun Rogers are considered doubtful. The second-year running back David Wilson remains out with a neck injury. TOM PEDULLA

INDIANS AND LEAGUE TO MEET Oneida Indian officials who oppose the Redskins' nickname will meet with N.F.L. officials Wednesday in New York, a tribe spokesman said. (AP)

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Sports Briefing | Pro Basketball: Wizards Acquire Gortat From Suns

Adding a frontcourt piece in hopes of returning to the playoffs, the Washington Wizards acquired center Marcin Gortat from the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix got center Emeka Okafor, who is injured, and a top-12-protected first-round draft pick in 2014.

■ In Milwaukee, officials called off a preseason game between the Bucks and the Toronto Raptors because of concerns about the condition of the floor at Bradley Center. Officials stopped the game with 5 minutes 58 seconds left in the first quarter after several players slipped and fell. After about 20 minutes of discussion, it was announced that the game would not be played.

■ The Golden State Warriors extended the contract of the often-injured center Andrew Bogut. Terms were not released.

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Ortiz Will Play First Base for Red Sox in Game 3

ST. LOUIS — David Ortiz fidgeted, shuffling his feet at first base Friday at Busch Stadium. He bent his knees, leaned over and took grounders while wearing a windbreaker and a cold-weather cap.

Under different circumstances, it would have been an innocuous sight. But Ortiz, usually the Boston Red Sox' designated hitter, will start at first on Saturday night, replacing Mike Napoli for Game 3 of the World Series against the Cardinals. With the Series shifting to St. Louis, and a National League ballpark, designated hitters will not be used.

In Ortiz's two previous World Series — 2004 and 2007 — he started at first base but was replaced late in four games, for defensive purposes or by a pinch-runner.

Manager John Farrell suggested Napoli could replace Ortiz for defense. Ortiz played six games at first base during the regular season.

"Obviously, David's bat, at all costs, needs to be in the lineup," said pitcher Jake Peavy, who will start Game 3 for Boston.

He added: "David is a game changer. He's as clutch as anybody I can remember playing with or against. It just seems like he has a flair for the dramatic. When the situation is the biggest, he's at his best."

Napoli has come through as often as Ortiz this postseason. He hit crucial home runs off the dominant Detroit right-handers Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez in Games 3 and 5 of the American League Championship Series, and he ripped a bases-loaded double off another right-hander, Adam Wainwright, in Boston's opening game against St. Louis, an 8-1 victory.

The Cardinals also face a dilemma, over what to do with Allen Craig. He missed the last month of the season and the first two rounds of the playoffs with a sprained left foot but started Games 1 and 2 of the World Series as St. Louis's D.H., singling twice in seven at-bats.

Craig took grounders at first base Friday, and Manager Mike Matheny said Craig could potentially play in the outfield. But Matheny made clear he would be cautious with Craig.

"Right now we're not rushing it to where we feel we could put him in a spot to where he compromises his health and he goes backwards and we can't use him either as a pinch-hitter or potentially as a D.H. again," Matheny said.

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Learning From Veterans, Giants Lineman Earns Trust and Playing Time

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — In a season filled with blunders for the one-win Giants, even the equipment staff is not immune.

When center Jim Cordle put on the jersey hanging at his locker Wednesday and hurried to the practice field, he quickly became a target for needling teammates. He had inadvertently worn No. 64, which belongs to David Baas, rather than his own 63, which was later found at Baas's locker.

Cordle turned the situation into an impromptu tribute by continuing to wear the jersey that belonged to Baas, who was placed on injured reserve that day with a knee injury.

"Now, he's really coaching me. It's great that he's going to be around," said Cordle, who was signed by the Giants as an undrafted rookie out of Ohio State in 2010. He will make only his fourth N.F.L. start — all coming this season — in Sunday's game at Philadelphia.

He noted that Chris Snee, the Pro Bowl right guard, had also provided tutelage after going on injured reserve Oct. 5 with a hip problem. Such is the esprit de corps that has benefited the Giants' offensive line through most of Tom Coughlin's 10 years as coach.

"When I came in as a rookie, I was really surprised how gracious players were with their knowledge," Cordle said. "Coming in as a rookie, I thought they would not even be aware of me."

Cordle (6-foot-3, 320 pounds) was viewed as a prospect worthy of drafting after he started at center for the Buckeyes as a sophomore. But circumstances forced him to move to different positions along the line, giving him limited knowledge of all of them but command of none. A senior year filled with injuries, including an ankle problem that required in-season surgery, led teams to drop him from their draft boards.

The Giants, though, never lost sight of him, and their patient development is reaping rewards. Cordle filled in almost seamlessly when Baas missed three successive games with a neck injury from Sept. 29 until Oct. 10. Cordle stepped in again Monday night, when Baas hurt his knee on the opening drive in a 23-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings that gave the Giants a boost after an 0-6 start.

"Cordle has been a man who's ready to go, and he's demonstrated that many times this year," Coughlin said. "He never knows when he's going to get called upon, such as last week. All of a sudden, boom, he's in the game for the majority of the game. He's done that on a number of occasions, and whether he knows he's going to start and play or whether he doesn't, he's prepared. And that's the best thing you can say about him."

Kevin Gilbride, the offensive coordinator, also saluted Cordle for his preparedness.

"You never know how someone who has been a backup that is now all of a sudden a starter is going to perform on the big stage," Gilbride said. "But he's done a great job."

The Giants' reconfigured line — David Diehl, an 11th-year player, replaced Snee — appears to be righting itself. The linemen helped the offense maintain possession for 36 minutes 22 seconds against Minnesota. In the previous game, a 27-21 loss at Chicago on Oct. 10, they helped Brandon Jacobs put up the team's first 100-yard rushing effort this season.

Cordle recognizes the urgency he must bring to every start.

"Opportunity can go as quickly as it comes," he said.

EXTRA POINTS

MICHAEL VICK, who missed the Eagles' last two games with a strained left hamstring, practiced fully and was listed as probable. Although Coach CHIP KELLY had been noncommittal about his quarterback situation, the Giants were expecting Vick to rejoin the lineup. ... The Giants listed cornerback COREY WEBSTER (groin) as questionable. Cornerback JAYRON HOSLEY (hamstring), running back BRANDON JACOBS and defensive tackle SHAUN ROGERS were considered doubtful. Hosley was the only one of the three able to practice, participating on a limited basis. ... DAVID WILSON, a second-year running back, remains out with a neck injury.

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Sports Briefing | Golf: Moore Shoots a 63 in Malaysia

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N.F.L. Roundup: Newton Helps Push Carolina Over .500

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Sports Briefing | Tennis: Williams in Semifinals in Istanbul

Top-ranked Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Championships in Istanbul by defeating Petra Kvitova, 6-2, 6-3, on Thursday. Williams, the defending champion, won all three matches in her group without dropping a set. She is bidding for her fourth title in the eight-woman season-ending tournament.

Earlier, Li Na outlasted Jelena Jankovic, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, for her second victory, and eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber upset No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2, 6-2, to remain in contention for the semifinals. Radwanska was eliminated.

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Sports Briefing | Womens Basketball: Panel Backs Earlier Final Four Start

The N.C.A.A. women's basketball committee is backing a move to play the Final Four two days earlier, starting next season. The Final Four would be played from Friday to Sunday instead of from Sunday to Tuesday. The committee also decided that the top 16 seeds should host in the first two rounds, starting next year. The regionals will move to a neutral site.

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Week 8 N.F.L. Matchups

1 p.m. Sunday Line: Lions by 3

It is important to note that Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant was not comparing himself to Detroit's Calvin Johnson when he told a local radio show, "I believe I can do whatever he can do."

On a conference call this week, Bryant said his comments had been misconstrued and rather than comparing himself directly to Johnson, he was stating that he was also good at skills like catching the ball. Bryant, 25, went as far as to say that Johnson, 28, was one of his favorite players when he was growing up.

Bryant's boasting and recanting — he executed a similar maneuver before the season when he said 2,000 receiving yards was possible, then said he was not predicting that total for himself — makes him into a bit of a cartoon character. But on the field he is not as far behind Johnson as some may think.

Starting with a 12-reception game against Cleveland last November, Bryant has had a remarkable 14-game run in which he has amassed 89 receptions, 1,361 yards and 15 touchdowns. Those numbers trail Johnson's over the same period, but they put Bryant in the conversation about best receivers not nicknamed Megatron.

Bryant and Johnson are not the only similar elements in a matchup of teams that are strong on offense and terrible on defense. Each team also prefers to play at home, and that may be all Johnson and the Lions need to win.

Pick: Lions

Packers (4-2) at Vikings (1-5)

8:30 p.m. Sunday Line: Packers by 11

In a recantation that even Dez Bryant would be unlikely to attempt, wide receiver Greg Jennings contended that he was just kidding when he repeatedly criticized Aaron Rodgers and the Packers during the preseason. In March, Jennings signed a contract with rival Minnesota after spending his first seven seasons with Green Bay. By June, he was declaring his preference for Brett Favre over Rodgers. In July, he referred to Rodgers as No. 12 and accused him of creating a spotlight for himself separate from the team. But now, with Rodgers and the Packers visiting Minnesota, suddenly Jennings wants everyone to know it was all in good fun.

It is possible that after half a season of catching passes from Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel and Josh Freeman, Jennings realizes what he had in Rodgers.

Jennings can hardly be blamed for the Vikings' failures. The quarterback carousel, along with a terrible defense, have made them hard to watch. If Rodgers, who has taken the high road all along, wants to send a message, he could easily unleash a scoring barrage that would make the 11-point spread seem conservative.

Pick: Packers

Browns (3-4) at Chiefs (7-0)

1 p.m. Sunday Line: Chiefs by 9

In 2008, quarterback Jason Campbell and led Washington to an 8-8 record. Drafted in the first round in 2005, Campbell accounted for more than 3,200 yards in the air, and was considered the future of the franchise.

Quarterback Alex Smith, the No. 1 draft pick in 2005, did not play in 2008. The San Francisco 49ers put him on injured reserve with a broken bone in his shoulder and acknowledged that they expected to release him after the season.

Five seasons later, Smith has completed one of the most remarkable career turnarounds in memory and has helped lead Kansas City, the N.F.L.'s only unbeaten team. Campbell has been reduced to emergency fill-in status for a desperate Cleveland team that seems to have realized that Brandon Weeden is not the answer.

"I'm excited to see what Jason will do with this opportunity," Coach Rod Chudzinski told reporters.

No one else shares his sentiment.

Pick: Chiefs

49ers (5-2) and Jaguars (0-7)

1 p.m. Sunday Line: 49ers by 17

Jacksonville's players should take a good look around London. The Jaguars will play a home game in Wembley Stadium for four seasons, so finding a favorite place for fish and chips seems in order. They can visit with the team's delightfully mustachioed owner, Shahid Khan, and truly embrace spending time in a place far different from home.

As for football, they can expect to be crushed by San Francisco, which is better at every aspect of the game. A matchup between a Super Bowl contender and a contender for an 0-16 record is probably not what the league wants for a showcase game, but the Jaguars can still enjoy the trip.

Pick: 49ers

Dolphins (3-3) at Patriots (5-2)

1 p.m. Sunday Line: Patriots by 7

Times are Eastern. Picks do not reflect the betting line.

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Cardinals 4, Red Sox 2: This Time, Error Benefits Cardinals

C. J. Gunther/European Pressphoto Agency

Jon Jay slid into third in the seventh inning Thursday night as Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew leapt for an errant throw from Craig Breslow. Jay then ran home to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.

BOSTON — The St. Louis Cardinals returned to playing the brand of baseball they cherish: clean and crisp, coolheaded and clutch. And it still was not working.

Still they trailed by a run in the seventh inning, thanks to a go-ahead home run by the irksome Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, sinking toward a two-games-to-none deficit in the World Series. So they took a chance — a double steal, with one out, putting two runners in scoring position and pressuring the Red Sox' defense.

And in a redemptive twist, Boston proceeded to throw away its lead Thursday, one night after the Cardinals' defensive miscues were the focus in Game 1.

The result was a 4-2 victory for St. Louis at Fenway Park, evening this World Series at one game apiece and affirming that, yes, the Cardinals can loosen up in the spotlight and, yes, the Red Sox can be beaten on this stage.

It had not happened since October 1986, Game 7 against the Mets — a streak of nine consecutive Boston victories in the World Series — but St. Louis had seen and heard just about enough of all that.

"The guys stayed aggressive," Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said. "That's the difference between yesterday and today. You saw the aggressiveness offensively."

It was to be expected that the Cardinals, considered among the soundest teams in baseball with 97 regular-season wins, would regroup after Wednesday's defensive collapse: three errors that ushered in three unearned runs during the Cardinals' unsightly 8-1 loss.

Matheny called it a wake-up call and said his players were embarrassed by their lackluster Series debut. For good measure, he replaced the struggling shortstop Pete Kozma, who committed two errors, and center fielder Shane Robinson, who bobbled a ball, in the Cardinals' lineup.

The result was a near-flawless defensive effort, and a plucky offensive performance that did not wilt after the homer by Ortiz in the sixth tarnished another sensational Michael Wacha performance.

In the seventh, the Cardinals put two runners aboard with one out against Boston reliever Craig Breslow, with Kozma pinch-running for David Freese at second base. On a 2-2 pitch to Daniel Descalso, Kozma broke for third (with Jon Jay trailing him to second) and both players reached without a throw after Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia bobbled the pitch.

Jay said the steal call was not something issued from the dugout; Kozma read the situation on his own, and Jay alertly followed.

"It's one of those situations where I know he might take a chance and go for it," Jay said.

After Descalso walked, Matt Carpenter hit a fly ball deep enough to left field to score Kozma on a sacrifice fly, as the throw from Jonny Gomes skittered a bit up the first-base line.

But after backing up the throw, Breslow tried to nab Jay, who was advancing to third. His throw sailed into the photographers' pen along the left-field line, allowing Jay to jog in with the go-ahead run while Descalso moved to third. Carlos Beltran, back in the lineup after a bruised rib knocked him out of Game 1, drove in the third run in the inning with a single to right.

It was the second time in the game that St. Louis held a lead — noteworthy, considering that in 2004, the Cardinals trailed Boston in every inning of the four-game sweep that ended the Red Sox' 86-year title drought.

The Cardinals did not have Wacha then — he was 13 years old — but the rookie right-hander continued his dominating postseason run on Thursday, limiting the Red Sox to two hits in his first five innings.

Only one player on the Red Sox had faced Wacha before, and that was Will Middlebrooks, in high school in Texarkana, Tex. At one point they were teammates on an American Legion squad.

Whatever scouting report Middlebrooks could have provided from those memories served little use on Thursday. Wacha, now 22, with his own deep and dark playoff beard, seemed as comfortable as he might have looked on those playing fields of East Texas.

His fastball seemed to explode off the top of his 6-foot-6 frame, mixed with a changeup that died off his fingertips. The potent Boston offense that bombarded St. Louis for eight runs on Wednesday was muzzled early.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

On Baseball: Mr. Ortiz, a Modern Version of Mr. October

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

David Ortiz, left, with his former teammate Pedro Martinez for a ceremonial pitch before Thursday's game. Ortiz later hit his 17th postseason homer.

BOSTON — They are all scattered now, the legends of the fall of 2004. All except David Ortiz, who welcomed back seven of his former teammates before Game 2 of another World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday at Fenway Park. Then he reprised what he did that October.

"This is what you get prepared for all year round," Ortiz said, hours later, after another World Series home run. "I don't play for July. I play for this, right now."

Ortiz was trying to join Scott Brosius of the 1998-2000 Yankees as the only player to play for the winning team in each of his first 10 World Series games. The homer was his 17th in the postseason, and with two hits, Ortiz raised his career World Series average to .382. But he also endured something the 2004 gang never did: a World Series loss.

The Cardinals used two walks, two singles, two steals and two errors to rally past the Red Sox, 4-2, and send the series to Busch Stadium even at one game apiece. With no designated hitter in the National League park, Ortiz will bring his first baseman's glove. Expect Mike Napoli, who also plays only one defensive position, to be on the bench, with Ortiz in the field.

"It's likely that, Game 3, he'll be at first base at this point, just a quick look at it," Manager John Farrell said after Thursday's game. "And how we go from there, we'll go day to day. We're going to lose one of the middle-of-the-order bats, and that's understood going in. But David's in a pretty good place offensively right now."

Ortiz is 4 for 6 in the World Series, with five runs batted in, and he would have had three more if Carlos Beltran had not pulled back a grand slam with a catch at the wall in Game 1. Ortiz is the first player in seven years to homer in the first two games of the World Series.

The last to do it was Craig Monroe of the Detroit Tigers in 2006, also against the Cardinals. The Tigers split the first two games of that World Series, then lost three straight in St. Louis. The Red Sox cannot fathom such an outcome, even after a messy inning led to their demise in Game 2.

"It's baseball; things are going to happen," shortstop Stephen Drew said. "This team is really good at not dwelling on it, and moving past it."

No team did that as stylishly as the 2004 Red Sox, the only team to overcome a 3-0 deficit and win a best-of-seven series. By the time those Red Sox finished off the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, the Cardinals had no chance.

One by one on Thursday, they marched to the emerald infield for a ceremony: Jason Varitek, Keith Foulke, Mike Timlin, Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon, Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez, a seven-man first-pitch firing squad. Ortiz delivered their baseballs from a small bucket, flipping one to each of his former teammates as he worked the line, like a jolly Easter bunny giving out eggs.

Ortiz is not the cuddly caricature he is so often made out to be. He can be profane and prone to violent outbursts, as a telephone in the Camden Yards dugout can attest. He never really explained his positive test for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, when the results were supposed to be anonymous.

But he gets a pass for all of it here, for helping produce two championships and for embodying the spirit of the city in a defiant speech at Fenway when baseball returned after the marathon bombings in April. The fans here turn to Ortiz, and so often, he delivers.

He did it in Game 2 with one out in the sixth inning, connecting on a full-count changeup from Michael Wacha and lifting it over the left-field wall. Wacha had entered the at-bat with a shutout and 97 pitches. He finished it trailing, 2-1, with his pitch count up to 103.

"You always say you don't want the best player to beat you, and it seems like they're pitching around him," Boston's Jonny Gomes said. "But it just takes one strike for him, and today he shot one the other way over the Green Monster."

With one swing, Ortiz did more damage to Wacha than all other hitters had done to him in the last month. Before the homer, Wacha had thrown 35 innings across his last five starts, one in the regular season and four in October, allowing one earned run for a 0.26 earned run average.

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Wise Dan Remains Horse to Beat

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Red Sox 8, Cardinals 1: Red Sox Take Game 1 From Bumbling Cardinals

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World Series Game 1: Red Sox 8, Cardinals 1: Fall for St. Louis; Classic for Boston

Cj Gunther/European Pressphoto Agency

David Ortiz scoring on Mike Napoli's three-run double in the first inning. Ortiz, who later homered, finished 2 for 3 with three runs batted in.

BOSTON — Getting to this, baseball's biggest stage, had never been the Boston Red Sox' strong suit. Generations passed without World Series appearances. Seasons were too often marred by misfortune, blunders, collapses; promise was unfulfilled, and hopes were annually dashed.

The team won titles in 2004 and 2007, of course, but success has been so coveted that the Red Sox still greet the World Series with what seems like an unquenchable thirst. It was palpable in Fenway Park on Wednesday night, all that coiled aggression, and the Red Sox took less than an inning to unleash it.

With five runs in the first two innings, and with the help of multiple defensive miscues by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox steamrollered to an 8-1 win in Game 1 in front of a capacity crowd.

It was their ninth straight victory in World Series games, dating to 2004, a streak during which the Red Sox have barely even trailed.

"Regardless of who's on the roster," Manager John Farrell said, "we're more than prepared to play."

The Red Sox flipped the calendar back to 2007 — or maybe more like 2004, when they swept St. Louis as their Cowboy Up crew of misfits and mangy stars banded together in a memorable October run. Only one Red Sox player remains from that team (David Ortiz), but the ingredients are echoed in this year's roster — with the team's play as well as its members' beards.

Wednesday was the ninth anniversary of the beginning of that series, and in the lead-up to the game, figures like Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar and Keith Foulke were around, in roles with the news media or just lingering. Boston trotted out other celebrated players from its history, too, like the Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who threw out the first pitch, and the former pitcher Luis Tiant, who delivered the game ball.

But as gloomy gray skies gave way to a brisk and hazy night, the Red Sox needed no help from their past.

From the start, they put pressure on St. Louis's ace, Adam Wainwright, who walked the leadoff hitter, Jacoby Ellsbury, on seven pitches.

Two batters later, after Dustin Pedroia had singled, Ortiz grounded to second baseman Matt Carpenter, who flipped to shortstop Pete Kozma. Although Kozma mishandled the ball, Pedroia was initially ruled out at second as the umpire Dana DeMuth thought the drop occurred during Kozma's attempt to turn a double play.

Farrell immediately sprinted out of the dugout to contest the call, and replays clearly showed Kozma never had a handle on the ball. The umpires convened and overturned the call.

"I thought from the dugout it was pretty clear that that ball just tipped off the fingertips of his glove," Farrell said.

DeMuth told a pool reporter, "I stayed with the foot too long is how I ended up getting in trouble."

After the call was changed, Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny also went out to argue. He said he had never seen a call like that reversed.

"It's a pretty tough time to debut that overruled call in the World Series," Matheny said. "Tough one to swallow."

The swing in fortune was compounded by the next batter, Mike Napoli, who lashed a double to left-center. All three on base came around to score, even Ortiz, who thundered home as center fielder Shane Robinson momentarily bobbled the ball. Napoli stood on second pumping his fists, and the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead.

"A lot of things went right for us, but we've got to take advantage of those opportunities," Napoli said. "And we did."

The early lead made for a comforting feeling for the Red Sox, who scored four runs in the first inning of Game 1 in the 2004 World Series and three runs in the opening frame of the 2007 Series, against Colorado, setting the tone early in two eventual sweeps.

Wainwright, on the other hand, needed 31 pitches to get out of the first inning, two hits, one walk and one critical error later.

The Cardinals' defensive struggles only worsened.

In the second, Stephen Drew hit a pop-up just short of the mound. But it dropped between Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, who looked blankly at each other, their stares signaling, "Who, me?"

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Sports Briefing | Cycling: Tour de France Time Trials Trimmed

The 2014 Tour de France, starting in Leeds, England, will have only 33 miles of time trials, all on the second-to-last stage. It is the smallest total since the time trial was introduced in 1934. The race, marking the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, will visit Ypres and pass through the Verdun battlefields.

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Sports Briefing | Horse racing: Champions Return in Breeders’ Cup Classic

Fort Larned will be back to defend his title in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, which he led all the way last year. Eight other defending champions were entered for the races at Santa Anita on Nov. 1-2. Royal Delta will defend her title in the Distaff. The trainer Chad Brown had a leading 11 horses pre-entered, including Last Gunfighter in the Classic. Todd Pletcher was second with nine.

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Week 8 N.F.L. Game Probabilities

The standard N.F.L. matchup is hard to predict. In terms of probabilities for the favorite and underdog, a game is typically about a 62-38 percentage affair. When the underdog wins almost 4 out of 10 games, it can make for an exciting Sunday afternoon. But this Sunday probably won't be one of them.

With a usual weekly average split of 24 percentage points (68 minus 38), there are likely to be lots of close games that come down to the final minute and a handful of minor upsets.

But this week, the average split between favorite and underdog is 44 percentage points, nearly twice as big as usual.

We can expect a few lopsided snoozers, including Kansas City over Cleveland (a 48 percentage-point split), New Orleans over Buffalo (48 percentage-point split), Carolina over Tampa (54 percentage-point split), Green Bay over Minnesota (56 percentage-point split), Denver over Washington (70 percentage-point split), San Francisco over Jacksonville (70 percentage-point split), and Seattle over St. Louis (78 percentage-point split).

On the other hand, when there are so many mismatches, there is bound to be a big upset. Statistically, it's very unlikely that all those favorites will win. In fact, given the game probabilities this week, there is only a 21 percent chance that all of those favorites will win, and there's a complementary 79 percent chance that at least one of those underdogs will pull off an upset.

Brian Burke operates Advanced NFL Stats.

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On Baseball: An Even Tougher Start for the Cardinals Than in 2004

BOSTON — Mike Matheny was behind the plate at Fenway Park in the bottom of the first inning of the opening game of the 2004 World Series. By the time he returned to the St. Louis Cardinals' dugout, Boston had a 4-0 lead.

That series ended as the most emphatic sweep possible: the Red Sox never trailed in their four-game triumph. Still, Matheny took exception on Tuesday to the idea that the games were not competitive.

"I don't remember them not being competitive," Matheny said.

Matheny, now the Cardinals' manager, probably heard the term "noncompetitive" as a synonym for lack of effort. In any case, on Wednesday — nine years to the day later — in another Game 1 between the Cardinals and the Red Sox, his team somehow came through even worse.

In 2004, the Cardinals at least tied the game before losing on Mark Bellhorn's homer off the Pesky Pole in the eighth. This time, they fell behind by five runs in the second inning — making two errors and two more misplays — and never recovered in an 8-1 loss. Their star right fielder, Carlos Beltran, was at a hospital by the middle innings with a rib contusion.

"We had a wake-up call," Matheny said after the game. "That is not the kind of team that we've been all season. And they're frustrated. I'm sure embarrassed, to a point. We get an opportunity to show the kind of baseball we played all season long, and it didn't look anything like what we saw tonight."

Beltran hurt himself while robbing David Ortiz of a grand slam in the second inning, and he was whisked away for X-rays and a CT scan, leaving behind his first World Series in a dazzling 16-year career. Matheny said that the tests came back negative and that Beltran was day to day.

But even before Beltran left Fenway, there were ominous signs for the Cardinals. Their ace, the 6-foot-7 Adam Wainwright, bumped his head on the ceiling of the cramped visitors' dugout before the first inning. He said he forgot about the bump within seconds and did not blame it — or his defense — for the loss.

"I pitched terrible," said Wainwright, who gave up five runs (three earned) in five innings. "My delivery stunk, and I didn't make any adjustments. When your delivery stinks and you don't make adjustments, you're going to be in big trouble."

Wainwright's fastball was sailing. His cutter, he said, was spinning like a cement mixer. Even his signature curveball abandoned him at times. He said he could count on one hand the number of times he had felt so out of sync.

"I was making the wrong adjustments," Wainwright said. "I thought I was in one place, and I was in the other. I had no body awareness tonight, which is very uncharacteristic. Usually I have very good control of my body, and if I'm not, I can feel it really quick, and tonight I had sort of a disconnect between where I thought I was and where I actually was."

Where he was was in trouble, right away, after he walked Jacoby Ellsbury on seven pitches. By the time Mike Napoli cleared the bases with a three-run double, Wainwright had thrown 20 pitches to get one out.

This is the strategy of the Red Sox, who saw more pitches than any other team in the regular season. It worked to devastating effect in the American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers, helping the Red Sox win both games started by Max Scherzer, the likely A.L. Cy Young Award winner. They ran up Scherzer's pitch count, drove him from the games and flattened the Tigers' weak bullpen.

Wainwright departed after 95 pitches, and Matheny held out the possibility of using him on short rest in Game 4 on Sunday. The Cardinals cannot help but field better than they did for him on Wednesday.

Shortstop Pete Kozma starts strictly for his defense; he may be the worst-hitting everyday position player in the majors. Yet when Wainwright induced a ground ball from Ortiz that could have ended the first inning without a run, Kozma missed the flip from second baseman Matt Carpenter.

The umpire Dana DeMuth initially called Dustin Pedroia out at second, but he reversed the call after conferring with the rest of the crew. Kozma had no explanation for his mistake.

"He had a good feed; I just missed it," Kozma said. "I looked at it on tape. I had Pedroia by enough, and I didn't take time to Ortiz."

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Wainwright Sees Beltran in Pinstripes, and Then Wakes Up

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A Rematch Red All Over (Except the Green Monster)

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Sports Briefing | Baseball: Mets’ Harvey Has Tommy John Surgery

Matt Harvey had successful Tommy John surgery to repair a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. Dr. James Andrews performed the operation in Gulf Breeze, Fla.

Keep up with the latest news on The Times's baseball blog.

Sandy Alderson, the Mets' general manager, previously said Harvey would perhaps return by February 2015. Although the surgery has become more common in baseball, it is hardly guaranteed that Harvey will return to his dominant form. And if he does, it could take two seasons, as it did for the St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright.

■ The Reds stayed in-house for their next manager, giving the pitching coach Bryan Price a three-year deal. Dusty Baker had led the Reds to three 90-win seasons and three playoff appearances in the last four years. But he was fired after Cincinnati was knocked out in the first round of the postseason each time. Price, 51, one of the most successful pitching coaches, has never managed at any level. (AP)

■ Tim Lincecum, who went 10-14 but had 193 strikeouts in 1972/3 innings, reached agreement with the San Francisco Giants on a two-year, $35 million contract through the 2015 season. (AP)

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Sports Briefing | Soccer: Messi Rescues Barcelona in Champions League

Lionel Messi scored a first-half equalizer to earn visiting Barcelona a 1-1 draw against A.C. Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday. Robinho gave Milan a lead after only nine minutes, steering the ball home from close range. Messi evened the score in the 23rd minute from a similar range after being left in space by Milan's rear guard.

Barcelona dominated the second half, but created little in the way of scoring chances against a packed Milan defense. In the other Group H game, host Celtic beat Ajax, 2-1.

Borrusia Dortmund forward Robert Lewandowski scored a late clincher in a 2-1 win at Arsenal in Group F. Napoli put host Marseille on the brink of elimination with a 2-1 victory.

Fernando Torres scored twice as Chelsea won by 3-0 at Schalke to move to the top of Group E. And host Steaua drew against Basel, 1-1.

In Group G, Diego Costa scored twice as visiting Atletico Madrid beat Austria Vienna, 3-0, and Aleksandr Kerzhakov scored five minutes from full time to give visiting Zenit St. Petersburg a 1-0 win over 10-man Porto.

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Sports Briefing | Road Running: Hall to Miss New York City Marathon

Ryan Hall withdrew from next month's New York City Marathon because of a hip injury. Hall, a two-time Olympian, also pulled out of Boston this year and New York last year because of injuries. Hall said in a statement that in his "zealous efforts to have redemption" he had "overstepped" the need to stay healthy.

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N.H.L. Roundup: Canucks Beat Isles, but Tortorella Has Other Reasons to Smile

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — John Tortorella called the game a mess, but he was in a cheerful mood on Tuesday after his first visit to the New York area since being fired last spring by the Rangers.

He wore a broad smile, not because his Vancouver Canucks had beaten the Islanders, 5-4, in overtime, but because he encountered two friends from East Islip after the game.

Tortorella addressed reporters with his arms around Taylor Ryan, 11, who has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer for three years, and her younger sister, Samantha.

"Taylor's had a few things going on with her health-wise; she's fighting very hard," Tortorella said. "They're great friends of mine from last year."

Teresa Ryan, the girls' mother, said that her family met Tortorella at a hospital visit last year.

"He and Taylor just hit it off — they text each other a lot," she said. "He's been wonderful."

The warm scene could not have presented a greater contrast to Tortorella's stormy five-year Rangers tenure, which was marked by numerous outbursts in postgame news conferences.

At the morning skate, Tortorella answered reporters' questions courteously. He even kept his composure, sidestepping a question regarding the Rangers' 2-5 start.

"That's not fair — I'm not getting involved in that," Tortorella said, without anger. "I loved working for the Rangers, and I love everything about this area. I don't work here anymore, and I'm certainly not going to criticize. I know nothing about what's going on with the club. That's not fair to anybody."

Tortorella kept his cool after the Canucks blew a 4-3 lead with 1 minute 12 seconds left on Frans Nielsen's fifth goal of the season. But Brad Richardson won it when his pass slipped under the pads of Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov 2:16 into the extra session.

BLUE JACKETS 4, DEVILS 1 Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots and James Wisniewski had a goal and two assists to lead host Columbus. The loss dropped the Devils to 1-5-3.

Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and an assist, and Cam Atkinson and Marian Gaborik also scored for the Blue Jackets, who won for the second time at home after four consecutive losses. (AP)

MAPLE LEAFS 4, DUCKS 2 Phil Kessel scored three goals to rally host Toronto from a two-goal deficit and deny Anaheim a club-record eighth straight win. (AP)

OILERS 4, CANADIENS 3 Jeff Petry and Ryan Jones scored in the third period to lift visiting Edmonton. Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves. (AP)

BLACKHAWKS 3, PANTHERS 2 Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp each scored in the shootout to lead visiting Chicago. Florida has lost four of its last five. (AP)

WILD 2, PREDATORS 0 Josh Harding stopped 16 shots for his first shutout of the season as Minnesota won at home. Justin Fontaine scored in the second period and Jason Pominville had an empty-net goal. (AP)

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