BLOG SITE IS CLOSING AND MOVING

To all the readers who have read and supported this site, there is some bad news to report but with some good news to tell you.

Starting tomorrow, the 8 AM Sports Wake Up or what was formally Sports West Weekly will close down the blogging doors for good. This is a sad day for everyone on the site. I am sad to see this site go but unfortunately not that many people were interested in regional sports coverage on the west coast.

Many of you that have enjoyed the site can go directly to a site that I highly recommend.

It is at http://www.weeklysportsjournal.blogspot.com or THE SPORTS MACHINE.

The Sports Machine is an up and coming site filled with sporting news from around the country. For the west coast fans, this site does offer regional coverage, which is a plus. Please go to this site and support it. It is an awesome site filled with tons of information.

Again thank you for the support over the last three months.

Sincerely and God Bless You,

Bobby W.

ARIZONA BASEBALL GETS RUN OVER

The No. 6-ranked Arizona baseball team lost its season-high third straight game, falling 7-4 to Sacramento State at Hornet Field in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday. The loss dropped the Wildcats to 27-14 overall and marked the first time this season that Arizona has been held winless over a weekend series.



CSUS’s Brian Blauser hit a two-out, three-run homer off of Arizona reliever Sean Rierson in the fourth inning to provide Sac State with the winning margin. UA’s Derek Decater hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the second, to highlight Arizona’s offensive output.



Arizona starter David Coulon (2-2) was charged with the loss after giving up six runs, only two of which were earned, on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. CSUS’s Ethan Katz (5-6) picked up the win with seven solid innings, giving up four runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and



The Wildcats tied their season high of five errors in a 12-1 loss to UC Irvine earlier on Saturday. The loss was Arizona’s second straight to the Anteaters in Sacramento.



Arizona will return to Pac-10 play next weekend when USC visits Tucson for a three-game series. Game times are 7 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday and 12:20 p.m. on Sunday.

The offense busted out the bats early on Sunday, and Shawn Estes was cruising, as the Diamondbacks built an 8-1 lead by the fifth inning.
Then the game got interesting.
In the end, Brandon Lyon had to shut the door on a Padres comeback, notching his eighth save (tying him for the Major League lead with Francisco Cordero) as the Diamondbacks held on for an 8-6 win, sweeping a three-game series from San Diego in front of 30,471 at Bank One Ballpark.
The Diamondbacks enjoy the home cooking. Coming off of a rough 2-7 record in their first road trip of the season, this three-game series, which culminated in the Diamondbacks winning their seventh in a row at home, was just what the team needed.
"We've played very well at home, especially offensively. It's always nice to know that when we come home, a lot of times if we're a little bit sick, we get well, " said manager Bob Melvin.
"We came out and swung the bats really well today," he said. "Sometimes when you have a couple of wins against a team you want to try and put pressure on them right away, but they didn't quit. It was 8-1 and it looks like the game is out of hand, but here they come, they come battling back."
The Diamondbacks, already up 1-0 thanks to a Troy Glaus RBI double in the first, jumped all over Padres starter Brian Lawrence in the third, chasing him with five runs in the frame, culminated by a three-run homer by Tony Clark, who was in the lineup to give Chad Tracy a day of rest.
"This is a guy that has been a 30-homer guy, and the last couple of years he's hit 16 homers and that's pretty impressive for a guy that doesn't get to play every day," said Melvin of Clark. "He's learned that role and he's learned how to keep himself ready. He's gotten big pinch-hits for us and when he gets a start he does something like he did today."
After the Padres scratched out a run in the fourth on a Dave Roberts triple and an Estes wild pitch, Quinton McCracken put two more on the board for the Diamondbacks to make it 8-1, as the switch-hitter parked just his second career home run from the right side of the plate, with the first coming back in 1997.
"(McCracken's) had success here. Not only is he a good player, he's a consistent player and a safe guy that's going to do all the things right. He's just a solid player," said Melvin.
Armed with some early runs, Shawn Estes kept setting down the Padres hitters en route to the twelfth quality start from an Arizona pitcher in the last 14 games.
"He pitched great, mixing speeds again, and throwing a good curveball, " said Melvin. "He's a veteran guy and he's giving us the performances we expected him to give us. It shouldn't have been that hard at the end, it got a little closer than we would have liked at the end."
The Padres comeback began with a two-run homer by Jesse Garcia off Estes in the seventh.
"He got one ball up, but when he had to make a pitch today he made a pitch. He made one bad pitch today, and that was to Garcia for the homer," said Melvin.
Estes experienced a minor injury earlier in the inning.
"He just semi-tweaked his Achilles, " Melvin said. "It's not a problem, but he felt it when he bounced off the mound one time, and that was going to be his last inning."
Estes escaped the inning without further damage, but the Padres struck again off Brian Bruney in the eighth, scoring three runs after a couple of two-out walks, with Ryan Klesko's two-run homer creating some nervous moments in the stands before Lyon came on to put out the fire.
"Two-out walks end up getting you a lot and (Bruney's) well aware of that," remarked Melvin. "Two outs and nobody on you have to go after guys, and he put himself in a tough position, and I have to bring my closer in (during) the eighth inning."
Still, despite Sunday's anxious moments, the Diamondbacks head out on the road to take on the division-leading Dodgers with some momentum, and serving notice that, unlike last year, they won't be leaving the National League West race anytime soon.

Two innings away from a sweep of the team with the best record in the National League, the Colorado Rockies' bullpen served up an ugly reminder why Colorado's record hovers at the opposite end of the standings on a drizzly Sunday afternoon.
Three relievers served up a five-run, four-hit, four-hit batsman eighth inning to hand the Los Angeles Dodgers an 8-6 victory -- and ruin a chance at a three-game sweep -- at Coors Field in front of 28,117.
Left-hander Jeff Francis pitched six innings and held a 5-3 lead, giving Colorado another start representative of the rotation's recent work, which was the chief reason the Rockies won four of five going into Sunday.
But mainly because Byung-Hyun Kim (0-3, two blown saves) continued to be more off than on, the bullpen blew its baseball-leading seventh save of the season, putting Colorado a fifth of the way to eclipsing last year's all-time record of 34 blown saves. It was also Colorado's seventh relief loss, after the bullpen lost a record 39 games in 2004.
The Rockies, who face the hot pitching of the Florida Marlins in a three-game series starting Tuesday night at Coors, have reason not to feel blue.
Preston Wilson knocked a two-run homer, his second roundtripper in as many games, Clint Barmes extended his hitting streak to 10 games and Matt Holliday's two-run triple gave him at least one hit in eight of his last 10 games. But the always-struggling bullpen is the difference between a team looking at snippets of progress and one winning at a faster pace than the look of its roster would dictate.
"I don't think there's any doubt," manager Clint Hurdle said. "If somebody had told us we were going to take 2-of-3 from the Dodgers and have the lead in the eighth inning, I'd take it in a heartbeat. It all depends on what you look for.
"I still find a lot of positives. The bullpen has been an issue since Day 1. It was an issue in Spring Training. It will continue to be until some of these guys find that comfort zone where they're going to slow the game down, they're going to repeat their delivery, they're going to pound the zone with strikes and throw secondary pitches for strikes."
Brian Fuentes, who pitched a clean seventh, hit J.D. Drew with an 0-2 pitch to open the eighth. The primary setup man for closer Chin-hui Tsao, Fuentes struggled in Saturday night's 8-6 Rockies victory, giving up a run and having to be rescued with the bases loaded in the eighth after hitting a batter and walking another.
Kim, who threw a simulated game on Saturday to work on his mechanics, hit Jeff Kent with a two-strike pitch, and gave up a Milton Bradley two-run double and an Olmedo Saenz RBI single before heading to the dugout with Colorado's seventh blown save of the season. Kim has more earned runs allowed (10) than hits (six) or innings pitched (9 1/3). He also has more walks (11) than any of those categories.
Ryan Speier gave up Jason Phillips' RBI double and Norihiro Nakamura's two-run single to leave the Rockies behind, 8-5.
"When you have the lead and you lose it, it's tough," second baseman Aaron Miles said. "But there are lots of teams out here that are blowing saves and giving it up in the late innings. Very few teams have that Eric Gagne effect or that John Smoltz effect, last year when he was closing (for Atlanta)."
The Dodgers' Giovanni Carrara (3-0) was effective enough in pitching the seventh and eighth, and holding the Rockies to one run. Drew helped.
With two out and two on in the eighth, JD Closser singled to drive in Matt Holliday. But on the play, Dodgers right fielder Drew threw out Brad Hawpe at third, where Nakamura used his left foot to stop Hawpe's slide before it reached the bag. Yhency Brazoban pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save.
Francis had a chance to become the second pitcher in Rockies history (behind Denny Stark in 2002) to begin his career with four straight winning decisions at Coors. He wasn't nearly as effective as he was Tuesday, when he held Arizona to one run in 7 2/3 innings. But as has been the case several times since breaking in late last season, he showed that he is good enough without his best stuff.
Francis hit two batters, helping Los Angeles tie a 105-year-old franchise record for most times hit in a game with four (last accomplished July 17, 1900, against the New York Giants). Francis also walked two to match his strikeout total.
But all three Dodgers runs off the lefty scored on sacrifice flies, meaning he didn't give up big hits that could lead to bigger innings.
"In situations, I have made good pitches when I've needed to and I've had some great defensive plays behind me," Francis said. "Once you get runners on, you have to bear down and do what you need to do."

Sunday was a day of firsts for the Brewers. For the first time in a long time, most of them were welcome.
Carlos Lee clubbed a pair of two-run home runs for his first multihomer game as a Brewer and his first multi-RBI game in nearly two weeks, Derrick Turnbow notched his first career save and the Brewers held off the Giants, 8-5, for their first series win at SBC Park in four years.
Lee homered on a pair of two-strike, two-out fastballs in his best offensive performance in a Brewers uniform and went 6-for-13 in the series with six RBIs and one highlight-caliber catch Saturday.
"I didn't remember what a fastball looked like," said Lee, who has gotten a steady diet of breaking stuff in his first season in the National League. "Then I go to Houston and I come here, and everybody is coming after me with fastballs. It was a matter of time."
But it only happened when Lee started laying off the sliders in the dirt that he had waved at during his first three weeks in a Brewers uniform. His 10th career multihomer game powered the team to a 2-1 series win after suffering three consecutive sweeps.
"He's a special player," Brewers manager Ned Yost said of Lee. "The thing I like about him is his desire and hustle. He's swinging the bat pretty good, too."
Yost switched Geoff Jenkins' and Lyle Overbay's spots in the batting order this weekend, and it seemed to spark the offense. With Jenkins hitting in front of Lee and Overbay behind, the trio combined to go 7-for-14 Sunday with six runs scored.
"Everyone kind of feeds off each other," Jenkins said. "[Third] is my natural slot I've always hit in. Who knows? Maybe it's good for everybody. We had some great two-out hitting today."
Lee began his day with a single in the second inning and scored when Jeff Cirillo hit a two-run single that glanced off the glove of shortstop Omar Vizquel, who celebrated his 38th birthday by finishing a home run shy of the cycle.
That hit gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead, and Lee made it 4-1 in the third inning when he followed a Jenkins single with his second home run of the season on an 0-2 fastball from Giants starter Jerome Williams (0-2). Moises Alou countered with a fourth-inning solo homer off Brewers starter Gary Glover (1-1), but Lee came back in the fifth with another two-run shot. Again, it came on a two-strike fastball from Williams and scored Jenkins, who had doubled.
"I felt comfortable from the first day I was here," said Lee, acquired in a Winter Meetings trade with the White Sox. "That's what you work hard for, to be an all-around player."
Glover threw only 88 pitches in five innings, allowing four Giants runs on seven hits and two walks. He was one of six Brewers pitchers to appear in a game closed out for the first time by Turnbow, who appears to be the team's closer of the moment.
"Closers are sort of like your No. 1 pitcher -- it's an elite role," said Turnbow, who worked around two walks in his 1 1/3-inning stint. "It's definitely a big role [that] comes with a lot of responsibility."
A responsibility Turnbow welcomes. He has 11 Minor League saves but until Sunday had none in 44 career relief appearances since 2000. Against the Giants, Turnbow's fastball topped out at 95 mph on the Brewers' radar gun; in Spring Training it was clocked at 97-98 mph at times.
"Turnbow's a big strong guy. He can handle it," Yost said. "I would say if we had a save situation in the ninth inning, Turnbow is going to be pitching it [on Monday]."

The Angels managed just one run against A's rookie Joe Blanton on Sunday, but Kelvim Escobar didn't care.
"I always tell myself, keep the team in the ballgame," Escobar said. "You can't worry about how the other guy is pitching."
Making his first start of the year after returning from the disabled list, Escobar followed his own advice. He didn't pick up a win, but he threw six shutout innings. Throw in a seventh-inning Steve Finley solo shot, three scoreless innings by Scot Shields (3-1) followed by Francisco Rodriguez's fourth save, and you have a narrow but nice 1-0 win for the Angels.
"It's all about scoring enough runs to win," said Finley, who raised his batting average to .176. "I've been putting a lot of good swings on the ball [and making outs]. It's nice to put one where they can't get it."
Escobar served notice in the first inning that he was fully recovered from the right elbow strain that placed him on the disabled list at the start of the season. The right-hander struck out the side in the first on 14 pitches and finished with seven strikeouts while allowing just two hits, the fewest he's allowed while with the Angels.
"I felt good warming up in the bullpen and I went up there pitching aggressive and pounding the strike zone," said Escobar, who threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of 21 batters. "When I can command my fastball the way I did tonight. ... I have three out-pitches I can throw in any count and that makes it very hard for the hitters."
Escobar worked in the low-90 mph range all game and threw 82 pitches. But after six innings, the game was deadlocked at zero, thanks to another strong outing by Blanton.
The 24-year-old right-hander struck out just two men in throwing his first Major League complete game, but he kept the Angels off balance at the plate and stranded Angels in scoring position in the first, fourth and fifth innings.
"He knows how to work both sides of the plate, he's got terrific control of all his pitches, and he's got just enough fastball to keep guys honest," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He pitched a great game today."
Blanton only made one significant mistake, a middle-in fastball that Finley jacked over the 365-foot marker in right field to lead off the seventh inning.
"It was the right pitch," Blanton said. "Just bad location."
Poorly located or not, though, Finley was sitting on it.
"I was just looking for a fastball," Finley said. "Leadoff batter, 1-0 count. ... He was throwing strikes all night."
Blanton didn't get rattled, though, retiring the next six Angels in order. But Shields and Rodriguez made the narrow lead stand up, and the hard-luck Blanton fell to 0-2 in four starts despite a 1.75 ERA.
Shields relieved Escobar to start the seventh, and it initially looked like Scioscia might have pulled his starter too soon. Scott Hatteberg -- who was 7-for-11 in the series -- doubled to lead off the inning. Erubiel Durazo grounded to shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who tried to nab Hatteberg heading to third. The ball sailed past third baseman Dallas McPherson and the A's had runners on the corners with no outs.
Bobby Kielty lined a smash up the middle, but Shields knocked it down, looked back Hatteberg to third and got the force out at second. Eric Byrnes hit a hard grounder, but McPherson fielded it and whipped it to catcher Jose Molina, who easily tagged Hatteberg between third and home. Keith Ginter then popped up and Shields was out of the inning.
Rodriguez relieved Shields with two outs and a man on second in the eighth and got Eric Chavez to line out to end the inning. In the ninth, Rodriguez had to face the A's four through six hitters, starting with Hatteberg.
Not only was Hatteberg the hardest man to strike out in the American League last year, he also hit the two-run single on Friday that saddled Rodriguez with his first loss and blown save of the year.
Even so, Hatteberg proved no problem for Rodriguez this time around. The Angels' closer struck out Hatteberg and then got Durazo to ground out. Then, third baseman Maicer Izturis, who entered the game an inning earlier as a defensive replacement, threw away Bobby Kielty's infield single. But even with Kielty on second, Rodriguez wasn't rattled, getting pinch-hitter Adam Melhuse to ground out to end the game.
"It was a great ballgame and I wanted to shut the door," Rodriguez said. "Friday was a rough day, today was a good day."

After a subpar season in 2004 got him demoted to the role of utility infielder, Alex Cintron knows that he's got to make things happen in his diminished playing time if he's going to become an everyday player again in Arizona.
Cintron certainly made things happen Saturday night with three hits in four trips to the plate, including the game-winning single in the ninth in a 2-1 Diamondbacks victory over San Diego that gave Arizona the first two games of the three-game set at Bank One Ballpark.
The third baseman's two-out single off loser Akinori Otsuka (0-1) came on the first pitch he saw and scored Chad Tracy, who easily beat left fielder Xavier Nady's high throw up the third-base line. Cintron also drove in Arizona's other run with a two-out double in the seventh off Padres starter Jake Peavy that tied the game at 1.
"When you're in a situation like that, and you come off the bench and you get some playing time, you've got to take advantage of that," Cintron said. "You've got to do your best and help yourself."
Cintron's offensive heroics might have overshadowed a splendid performance from right-hander Brandon Webb, who literally grounded the Padres' hitters. Webb limited the Padres to five hits and one earned run in eight innings, using his sinker to record 18 of his 24 outs on the ground. He struck out five.
Mark Loretta's fly ball that ended the Padres' eighth was the only aerial out Webb allowed.
Webb, however, picked up a no-decision. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth after throwing 105 pitches.
Reliever Mike Koplove (2-1) worked a scoreless ninth to pick up the win.
"I was getting tired, but I still felt good getting outs in the later innings," Webb said. "My changeup was working well over the last three or four innings. Maybe we could have put everybody in the infield and made sure nothing got through."
Peavy also was solid, leaving the game for a pinch-hitter after tossing seven innings and allowing only four hits and a run with eight strikeouts.
"Both those guys pitched unbelievable," D-Backs manager Bob Melvin said. "We weren't getting good swings, let alone a hit, off Peavy for a while there."
Peavy retired the first two Arizona hitters in the seventh before Shawn Green doubled to right-center. Cintron then belted a double into the right-field corner that scored Green with the D-Backs' first run.
Before the game, Melvin opted to give third baseman Troy Glaus a rest after 17 consecutive starts at third base. Melvin replaced him with Cintron in the sixth spot of the batting order, with Tracy moving into Glaus' cleanup spot.
There was mention about Cintron's work ethic in 2004, when he fell to .262 with four homers after a brilliant rookie season in 2003, when he hit .317 with 13 homers.
Melvin was raving about Cintron's work ethic Saturday night.
"It shows you that the kid is working hard," Melvin said. "And we told all our guys -- you have to stay ready. We told Alex for some time that when you're opportunity comes, you need to be ready. This is a guy that could be an everyday player somewhere else."
Cintron lost his starting job at shortstop when the D-Backs raided available infielders in last year's free agent crop, acquiring Glaus, Royce Clayton and Craig Counsell.
"I'm a young guy and I would like to play every day," Cintron said. "This gives me a lot of confidence in myself. I showed everybody that I'm ready to play, and that's what I did tonight."

Russell Branyan needed all of two swings to announce his return to the Brewers' lineup.
In his first-ever game at SBC Park and his first game back from a shoulder injury, Branyan launched a solo home run over the right-field arcade and portwalk and into McCovey Cove on the fly. He was the eighth visitor to accomplish the feat, and it was only the 47th baseball hit that far in five-plus seasons at Barry Bonds' bayside ballpark.
It also put Milwaukee ahead, but they could not hold off old nemesis Brett Tomko and the Giants, who sent the Brewers into a last-place tie by beating them Saturday, 6-2, in front of 37,341 fans.
Yorvit Torrealba, San Francisco's catcher and No. 8 hitter, matched a career high with three hits, including a game-tying solo home run in the third inning and an RBI double and run scored in the Giants' four-run fourth.
The game left the Brewers searching for positives. They found one in Branyan.
"Did it go in the water?" Branyan asked later.
It did, even though Branyan hit a down-and-away pitch from Tomko off the end of his bat and hit a ball that many of his teammates thought was hooking foul. Because of rain Friday and a Giants pregame event on the field Saturday, Branyan had never even taken batting practice at SBC Park.
Lyle Overbay knew how hard it is to put one into the cove.
"I've tried every batting practice since I've been here and I think I've hit one, out of probably 200 pitches," Overbay said.
But the Brewers did not muster much else against Tomko (1-3), who worked 6 1/3 innings, chipped in a two-run single and ran his winning streak against the Brewers to five games. Milwaukee has not beaten Tomko since 1998.
The game came down to one bad inning on both sides of the ball for the Brewers, who snapped a seven-game losing streak Friday but have lost 11 of 14 games since being the only Major League team off to a 3-0 start.
Brewers left fielder Carlos Lee hit an RBI single for a 1-0 lead in the third inning, and Branyan's third home run of the season made it 2-1 in the fourth. But the Giants rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning against Milwaukee left-hander Chris Capuano (0-2).
Capuano surrendered five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings and lost his second straight game. Again, command was an issue.
"He was better than last time," manager Ned Yost said. "Still, command-wise, he was getting too many pitches where he didn't want them."
Yost said one of those mistakes was a pitch to Tomko. After the Giants tied the game on a sacrifice fly and went ahead on Torrealba's RBI double, Tomko fought off a 2-1 pitch and dropped it into shallow right field, scoring two runs and giving the Giants a 5-2 lead.
"We didn't really make the pitches we wanted on Tomko," said Yost, who thought the pitch was too high in the strike zone and said, "It wasn't in a quality location."
Capuano disagreed.
"I didn't think it was elevated," Capuano said. "I thought it was down and away. He hit it off the end of his bat. I actually felt I made a pretty decent pitch there."
To be fair, the Giants' fourth-inning rally was aided by a pair of infield hits to Branyan that may have been playable. Branyan has been held out of infield and batting drills the past five days because of soreness in his throwing shoulder and said Saturday, "I felt kind of new out there."
"I threw the ball, I felt, the best today of any of my four starts and had the worst result," Capuano said. "I just had some bad bounces out there."
The Brewers rallied but could not cash in three innings later. After J.J. Hardy's seventh-inning sacrifice pushed runners to second and third with one out and prompted a call for reliever Jason Christiansen, Bill Hall was caught off third base in a rundown when Geoff Jenkins hit a bouncer to the pitcher.
"I should have waited longer to make sure it was going to get by the pitcher," Hall said.
But that was only the second out, and had Hall held, the Giants would have probably intentionally walked Carlos Lee to load the bases. When Lee drew a walk from reliever Jim Brower, the Brewers found themselves in the identical situation.
Giants manager Felipe Alou called for left-handed reliever Scott Eyre, who escaped potential damage by inducing a Lyle Overbay flyout.
Yost shook up his lineup this weekend and is hoping Branyan's return sparks some more offense. Branyan had a cortisone injection in his right shoulder early in the week and said he still feels some soreness.
"I'm not out of the woods yet," he said. "I think we've got it under control."
Branyan became the eighth Giants opponent to hit a homer on the fly into McCovey Cove. Arizona's Luis Gonzalez has done it twice, and the Mets' Cliff Floyd was the last to do it, last Aug. 21 off Tomko.
"He's another big bat we can put in there," Yost said.

One peculiar trait of last year's Dodgers team was its streakiness, and here they go again.
After a four-game win streak the first week and an eight-game roll that ended in San Diego, their losing streak reached three on Saturday night with a wasteful, 8-6 loss to the last-place Colorado Rockies.
Starter Odalis Perez spotted the Rockies a 7-0 lead after two innings, and the Dodgers spent the rest of this typical Coors Field scramble mounting a sputtering comeback. They scored six but stranded a staggering 16 baserunners. Four batters came to the plate with the bases loaded, and only Ricky Ledee got a hit, a two-run bloop single.
"Blame it on me," said Perez. "I let my team down, 7-0. It was a tough game for me. It's tough to pitch in Colorado, for real. You leave a pitch up, you're going to pay for it."
Perez was one of those batters with the bases loaded, as manager Jim Tracy allowed him to hit with two out in the top of the fifth, with the Dodgers trailing, 7-4.
Tracy succeeded with a similar tactic in last year's division-clinching win over the Giants, allowing reliever Wilson Alvarez to bat in the fifth inning with runners on second and third, trailing by two runs, because he was short in the bullpen that day, as he was on Saturday night.
Agree or not, he explained the method to his madness.
"With a good-hitting pitcher, I don't know you'd get a much better at-bat than the vicious line drive he hit to right field," said Tracy of Perez's lineout to end the inning. "With what happened later [an injury to Jose Valentin], we'd run out of players. And if you're quick on the trigger in this park, you can wreck a bullpen.
"There's no guarantee you win this game, and you could mess yourself up for three days. Tomorrow we've got a pitcher with a pitch count [issue] and no day off Monday."
Because of roster juggling to cover for six disabled players, Tracy is already short a position player and narrowly escaped losing another in the eighth inning. Valentin was struck by a Brian Fuentes pitch on the right wrist and hand, but X-rays were negative, and he was diagnosed with a contusion.
Tracy's bullpen was also short two relievers, Elmer Dessens and D.J. Houlton. Dessens will go on the disabled list on Sunday if Brad Penny is activated to start the series finale. If the predicted inclement weather scratches Penny, D.J. Houlton will replace him, thus Houlton also was unavailable on Saturday night.
In addition, Buddy Carlyle had pitched in three of the previous four games. As it was, Tracy used four relievers (Steve Schmoll, Duaner Sanchez, Kelly Wunsch and Giovanni Carrara) to stop the bleeding with a combined three scoreless innings.
Tracy milked one more inning out of Perez after that bases-loaded at-bat, but the left-hander allowed one more two-out run in the bottom of the fifth.
Still, the Dodgers had 11 baserunners in the final four innings and scored only twice. They left the bases loaded in the eighth when pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz flied to center off Ryan Speier, and they ended the game with the bases loaded when Jeff Kent grounded to short against Chin-hui Tsao.
"We had genuine opportunities in the eighth and ninth, and the hitters you want at the plate," said Tracy.
Milton Bradley had two of the Dodgers' 11 hits and drove in a run, but he flied out with two on in the fifth and popped out with runners on second and third in the eighth.
"Somehow, some way, their pitchers got out of it," said Bradley. "They must be Houdini. I'd trade the couple I did get for the one I didn't get in the eighth, but the game doesn't work that way."
Perez was charged with eight runs and 10 hits in five innings, but the tone was set in a four-run first inning, when first baseman Hee-Seop Choi booted Aaron Miles' grounder and Perez failed to cover first. Clint Barmes then bunted for a single, Todd Helton singled in a run, Preston Wilson doubled in two and Todd Greene singled home Wilson.
Barmes doubled in the second, was singled home by Helton and Wilson homered. It was the third consecutive game in which a Dodgers starting pitcher had allowed at least five runs by the fifth inning.

Holding a 3-0 lead after four innings Saturday, Angels starter Paul Byrd yielded five runs before exiting the game. It was the biggest inning by an Angels opponent all season, and in order to avoid another loss, the Angels' still had to contend with A's starter Dan Haren, who swiftly retired the Angels over the first two innings.
In their half of the fifth inning, though, the Angels didn't try to do anything big. They did, however, patiently turn six hits, two stolen bases, a sacrifice fly and a two-run error into six runs -- their most productive inning of the season.
Three relievers and four scoreless innings later, the Angels had themselves a surprisingly comfortable 9-5 victory.
"A lot of things fell into place tonight," manager Mike Scioscia said. "The bullpen was there to pick us up [and] we had some nice things happening on the basepaths."
The Angels stole a season-high five bases, all off Haren and All-Star catcher Jason Kendall. In a three-run third and the six-run fifth, it was like clockwork: base hit, steal, run-scoring single. The Angels didn't hit many balls hard, but they still touched Haren (1-2) for nine hits and eight runs in 4 2/3 innings.
"We're not a team built around the home run," Scioscia said. "We have a lot of situational hitters, our team speed is an asset and we have to use it in different ways."
In the third inning, the Angels put on a clinic in offensive efficiency. Jeff DaVanon worked a walk, stole second and scored on Darin Erstad's single to center. Erstad took second on the throw home and scored on Chone Figgins' opposite-field single. Figgins, in turn, scored when Vladimir Guerrero dumped a ball in the right-field gap for a soft double to give the Angels a 3-0 lead.
Byrd and Haren traded perfect fourths, setting the stage for two equally improbable half-innings.
In the top of the fifth, the A's erased their deficit with one swing. After Scott Hatteberg doubled and Mark Ellis walked to lead off the inning, Bobby Kielty -- who entered the game 1-for-16 -- corked his first homer of the year to right-center to tie the game.
After a groundout, a single and a fielder's choice, Kendall slapped an RBI double on the 11th pitch of his at-bat. Eric Chavez followed with his first hit of the year with a runner in scoring position, singling to center to put the A's up, 5-3, and chasing Byrd -- who had allowed just one hit in the previous four frames.
"[Byrd] lost a little bit of his command in that one inning," Scioscia said. "There were a lot of pluses going in his game early, but he missed with a few pitches [in the fifth]."
The Angels got the lead back in an awful hurry. DaVanon again singled and stole second, scoring on Figgins' RBI single. On the next pitch, Figgins stole second. Two pitches later, Guerrero's double tied the game. Anderson singled on the next pitch, and on the pitch after that, Steve Finley hit a sacrifice fly to give the Angels the lead. Orlando Cabrera followed with a single to chase Haren and bring in Justin Duchscherer and his 0.90 ERA.
No matter -- Dallas McPherson singled to score Anderson and Josh Paul hit a drive into the left-field gap which Charles Thomas dropped for an error, allowing Finley and Cabrera to score, making it 9-5.
The production didn't stop at the plate, though. Having seen its scoreless-innings streak snapped at 22 Friday, the bullpen started building another one. Jake Woods got the last out of the fifth inning and pitched into the sixth for his first Major League win; Esteban Yan added 1 1/3 shutout innings of his own and Brendan Donnelly didn't allow a hit in the final two frames.
Thanks to the hitters and the bullpen, Byrd's lackluster effort -- 4 2/3 innings, six hits, five runs -- didn't cost the Angels a win.
"I was very disappointed in my performance, but very excited my teammates came back," Byrd said. "The starting pitching will get going here and then we'll be a complete team."
The Angels couldn't have had a much more complete offensive effort Saturday. All nine starters reached base and eight of them scored. Figgins, batting second led the way with a two-hit, two-run, two-RBI day at the plate, while nine-hitter DaVanon walked, singled, scored twice and stole two bases.
"It's a team effort and you just never know what you'll need on a particular day," Erstad said. "You can't just rely on the middle of the lineup every night. You need to get production from everywhere, and we did tonight."

Bob Melvin said before Friday night's game that he thinks that Brad Halsey is one of those pitchers that just knows how to win.
Halsey then did his best to prove his manager right, hurling seven strong innings to pick up his second win of the season, 5-3 over the San Diego Padres, before 26,407 at Bank One Ballpark.
"If you look at the record of this guy, he wins, and he had good numbers in the Minor Leagues," said Melvin. "He has certainly proved all the way up through the Minor Leagues that he's a winner and I think that's kind of his focus when he goes out there...whatever he needs to do to win. He has a good idea of how the game is going along and he's going to pitch according to the score and he's going to the pitch according to the bottom line, which is a win or a loss."
Halsey required just 86 pitches to post his third quality start in as many outings this season, allowing just seven baserunners and two runs in his seven innings of work to lower is ERA to 2.74. He's allowed just five run total in his three starts thus far.
Melvin considered leaving him in the game for more with that pitch count, but pinch-hit for him with a man on first and two out in the eighth inning. Scott Hairston singled, but the Diamondbacks were unable to pad their lead.
"There was a thought, "said Melvin. "But the way things were going with us we'd like to try and score another run or two."
The Diamondbacks offense, which struggled mightily on its recent seven-game road trip, averaging less than three runs per game, put up three in the first inning against Padres starter Tim Redding on a solo home run by Royce Clayton, and a two-run shot by Troy Glaus, his National League-leading sixth, two batters later.
In fact, most of the runs in the game came via the long ball, as the Padres tallied their runs with three solo shots from Phil Nevin, Ramon Hernandez, and a ninth inning blast from Xavier Nady off closer Brandon Lyon. Royce Clayton's bases-loaded infield single in the fourth and Luis Gonzalez's ensuing sacrifice fly were the only runs that were not a result of a baseball leaving the yard.
Outside of a fourth inning where the Padres loaded the bases after Nevin's home run, before he was able to get out of it, Halsey didn't have much trouble.
"He's one of those guys that shows a different look from a lefty and until you face him you don't realize it," said Melvin. "It's the (Andy) Pettitte effect; if he throws that pitch where he wants to, if you get the barrel on it you're going to hit it foul. If you don't you're going to get jammed. He reads pretty well about when to pitch inside and when to go away. He's not afraid to shake off. He definitely knows what he wants to do out there. His poise is very impressive. Even if he is rattled a little bit he goes out there and shows no signs of anything."
Mike Koplove worked a scoreless eighth, and despite the home run by Nady, Lyon shut the door in the ninth for this National League-leading seventh save.
The Diamondbacks racked up fourteen hits, but were also just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Though they left 12 men on base, that didn't concern Melvin.
"Not when we win," he said.
Still, he was happy to see his team's bats wake up with the home cooking.
"We had some success hitting in (this park) in the first homestand. Maybe when you get home after a not-so-great road trip where you don't hit, you feel back at home where you've had some success offensively, and (success) happened tonight," he said.
The Diamondbacks, coming off of a 2-5 mark in their initial road trip of the season, won their fifth in a row at home, and play five more games in the next week against this tough division rival.
"They have a good team," said Melvin. "They also have a balanced team. They have a good pitching staff and some guys that can hit. They were forecasted to win this division going in by a lot of speculators out there. They are one of the stronger, more balanced clubs not just in the division but the league."
But at least for this night, a strong and balanced effort from Halsey and the Diamondbacks offense was enough to win.
THE REST OF FRIDAY'S SCORES CAN BE SEEN AT THIS LINK: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/scoreboard/sb_20050422.html

Urgency is a word better left for September. Must-wins are months away. Every game is important; none more important than the next.
But as much as they try to stick to the conventional wisdom of running the 162-game marathon, this was one April game the Padres really wanted, there's no mistaking that.
Having lost their first four meetings to the red-hot Dodgers, the Padres entered Thursday night's finale of a two-game set at PETCO Park wanting to avoid an 0-for-5 start against their rivals to the north.
"We didn't want to go up against them in June and not have a win against them by then," slugging first baseman Phil Nevin said.
Mission accomplished. San Diego battled on the mound and at the plate, riding a 15-hit attack to take a 6-1 victory over the Dodgers that sent the Padres out on a six-game road trip in a much better frame of mind than the alternative.
"They're all big games, but we probably had to have this one just to stop that little streak there," said Padres manager Bruce Bochy.
After playing well enough to win the night before but coming up short, the Padres played a winning brand of baseball again, using all phases of the game to put together one of their strongest games among their first 16 contests.
They did it with pitching. Starter Adam Eaton took a shutout into the sixth inning and got spotless relief from Chris Hammond and Rudy Seanez the rest of the way.
They also did it with hitting, unleashing their highest hit total of the season. Ryan Klesko and Ramon Hernandez led the Padres' offense, each with his first three-hit night of the year and each driving in a pair of runs. Leadoff man Dave Roberts, Mark Loretta and Sean Burroughs each collected a pair of hits as the Padres got a measure of revenge against Dodgers starter Scott Erickson (1-1), who defeated them last weekend.
The common denominator? The Padres battled, whether it was Eaton getting through a night when he didn't have his best stuff or it was Hernandez delivering two of his three hits with two strikes on him.
Eaton (2-1) allowed one earned run on five hits in five-plus innings, and Hammond and Seanez each pitched two shutout innings behind him. The Dodgers scored their lone run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly after Eaton had left the game.
It wasn't the most efficient of outings for Eaton, who came out after two batters in the sixth with 102 pitches thrown.
Adam Eaton / P
Born: 11/23/77 Height: 6'2" Weight: 190 lbs Bats: R / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

"My goal was just to get to five innings once I saw I had 50-some pitches after two," Eaton said.
But it was ultimately an effective night from Eaton, judging from the five zeros he put up before allowing just the one run.
"Even though I had some of the worst stuff I've had in a long time, I can take some pride in how I battled and put up some zeros," Eaton said.
And with the veteran tandem of Hammond and Seanez wrapping things up, the Padres finished out their eighth home game with a collective 1.78 ERA at home thus far. The Padres have yet to allow more than three earned runs in a home game.
"That's our strength -- our pitching," Bochy said. "I think it can be our offense, too. We'll get some more consistency out of this offense as we go along."
This time, the Padres' bats were in the battle from the very outset of the game.
Roberts and Loretta both singled and scored in the first inning, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Nevin and a single by Klesko. The Padres have scored the bulk of their runs in the later innings, so a good start was a good sign.
And it all began with Roberts, who looked sharp throughout his third game since being activated from the disabled list.
"He changes the lineup," Bochy said. "We go as he goes."
After Eaton held off the Dodgers and his own internal struggles through the early innings, the Padres tallied three in the fifth, with Klesko's RBI double and Hernandez's two-run single driving in the runs. Roberts tacked on an RBI double in the sixth.
Just like that, the Padres have a win against the Dodgers and a 3-for-4 homestand.
"It's a long road," Roberts said. "We had a good homestand. We've still got to be ready to play our division rivals in Arizona and San Francisco, and keep playing this brand of baseball."
THE REST OF THURSDAY'S SCORES CAN BE SEEN AT THIS LINK : http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/scoreboard/sb_20050421.html

With his shaved head and comfortable demeanor, Colorado's Clint Barmes seems older and more distinguished than the 25-year-old rookie shortstop he is.
On the field since the season started, he's been an all-seeing, all-hitting force well beyond his years.
Barmes went 4-for-5 to extend his torrid hitting streak to six games, and he made a dazzling catch and throw for a double play when the Rockies' 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies was still a one-run game.
The list of reasons Colorado is 4-10 is as obvious as the scant stat tables on the back of most of the players' baseball cards, as well as some bullpen stats that didn't get better as Jose Acevedo, Brian Fuentes, Byung-Hyun Kim and Chin-hui Tsao provided a scary finish. But the early consistency of Barmes is one of the reasons Colorado believes things will get better.
"It looks like he's slowing the game down at times, and it does look like there are a couple of him out in the field at times," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's a special time for him right now."
A Citizens Bank Park crowd of 25,961 unhappily watched the Rockies win for the first time in seven road games, ending a franchise-record-tying 10-game road skid dating to last season, and fashioning their first two-game win streak of the season.
As the fans booed, they probably didn't realize they saw another tough streak came to an end. Jamey Wright (1-1) held the Phillies to one run -- a Jimmy Rollins leadoff homer in the first -- in six innings, and the bullpen held on to give Colorado its first win by a right-handed starter since Wright, who gave up five hits and walked four but struck out five with a seemingly bottomless sinker, won last Sept. 1 at San Francisco. A run of bullpen blowouts is a huge part of that streak.
But add the Philly fans to the growing list of witnesses to what's looking like a coming-out party for Barmes, Colorado's 10th-round pick in 2000 out of Indiana State. During his streak, Barmes is batting .652 (15-for-23).
Barmes raised his overall average to .463, well above the .438 that San Francisco's Edgardo Alfonzo carried into the day to lead the Majors.
The defensive play came with Wright trying to protect a 2-1 lead with one out and two on in the bottom of the sixth. Barmes sprinted down David Bell's soft liner near the foul line in short left and made a leaping throw to second to double off Jim Thome and end a threat.
"I thought the whole time I was going to have to dive for it," Barmes said, before revealing how all-seeing he was at that point.
"I saw him [Thome] take off," he said, even though he couldn't have seen Thome for long because he had to turn and run for Bell's ball. "I should have set my feet, turned and made a decent throw, but I was surprised I got to it."
Barmes is surprising himself somewhat with the bat. Last year at Triple-A Colorado Springs, he had six hitting streaks of at least seven games. But this is the Majors.
Clint Barmes / SS
Born: 03/06/79 Height: 6'0" Weight: 175 lbs Bats: R / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

"Last year's season was by far my best career season, and I started off hot then," he said. "This is by far the best I've ever swung the bat."
Barmes doubled off Cory Lidle (0-2) and scored on Preston Wilson's single in the first, and singled in a run with two out in the second.
"Barmes is locked in right now," said Lidle, whose club has scored just three runs in his last two starts. "I tried to go hard in, soft away. I tried to double up with soft. He was just on everything."
Fresh off his play to end the sixth, Barmes' seventh-inning single off Lidle drove in the first run of a four-run seventh inning that also included one of Matt Holliday's three hits -- he has seven over the last two games -- and rookie Brad Hawpe's second homer in three games, a two-run shot off Ryan Madson.
Barmes' was one of two key defensive plays from the middle of Colorado's infield.
Aaron Miles, who tripled off Lidle in the seventh and added an RBI single off Rheal Cormier in the eighth, helped rescue a struggling bullpen in the bottom of the seventh.
Acevedo served up a two-strike leadoff homer to Mike Lieberthal, a double to Jose Offerman and a one-out RBI single to Kenny Lofton. Fuentes hit a batter and walked one to load the bases with two out, but escaped with a Chase Utley popup that Miles caught while crashing into right fielder Cory Sullivan.
Kim pitched a scoreless eighth despite a walk and two wild pitches. Tsao, repeatedly throwing his fastball at 97 and 98 mph, gave up a run in the ninth on a hit, a walk and a wild pitch.
Miles said the victory, however it came, was bigger than just a single win.
"Anytime we're winning a game right now, it's a big spirit-lifter," Miles said. "Winning two in a row, the guys are going to settle back down and say, 'Hey, we can play.'
"We've still got to get better in some areas. But confidence is a big key, and I think we're going to get a lot of that back now."

Prior to the series opener with the Indians on Wednesday, manager Mike Scioscia said his team's success begins with the starting pitching and follows suit from there.
If the starters can open games by throwing zeros, the offense is fully capable of generating some runs. Or so the theory goes.
Fortunately for the Angels, Bartolo Colon understands the mission. Wednesday night the former Tribe hurler tossed a little déjà vu their way with eight zeros and four hits in the 2-0 shutout of the Indians at Angel Stadium.
Darin Erstad and Chone Figgins supplied the offense. Erstad knocked in a run with a shallow single in the third and Figgins provided some insurance with his second homer of the year in the eighth.
But it was Colon who carried the evening and it didn't go unnoticed as he left to a standing ovation from a crowd that clearly would appreciate a command performance.
"It feels really good because I know I let them down the last time I pitched here," Colon said through an interpreter. "I try to do my best every time."
Colon (3-1) has been at his best lately, putting together a pair of solid outings in his last two starts.
Last Friday in Oakland, the right-hander was dominating as he gunned his fastball repeatedly into the mid 90s. On Wednesday, Colon did not possess the same velocity but instead relied on savvy, location and his full repertoire of pitches.
"He threw every pitch good tonight and that is the key," said Jose Molina, who started behind the plate and was given credit by both Colon and Scioscia for the success the Angels had on the mound. "He threw everything for strikes."
Colon was never really in trouble, but he had his roughest moments early in the contest. After two quick outs to open the game, Victor Martinez roped a double to right-center. Colon then walked Travis Hafner and it appeared the Indians had some momentum. But he got a ground ball from Casey Blake to end the inning.
He struck out the side in the second, but then allowed a one-out double down the left-field line to Coco Crisp in the third and issued a two-out walk to Martinez. Colon again appeared close to giving up the big hit, but he rallied and then rolled.
Colon would retire the next 10 batters before Blake singled to lead off the seventh and was quickly erased by Molina while attempting to steal second.
"Early on he got in some deep counts and he had to work through it," Scioscia said. "I thought the way he used his fastball command was key, moving it in and out."
Colon left his last start after seven innings with a sore left ankle. That did not bother him Wednesday and he had gas left to go the distance, but Scioscia opted for Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth.
"Where the game was coupled with the fact that Francisco needed to pitch," Scioscia said of calling on his closer. "It was time to give the middle of their lineup a different look."
Rodriguez needed 13 pitches to convert his third save of the season.
For Colon, it was a night where he felt a little more complete. Though he has that rare ability to command a mid-90s fastball in the strike zone, he realizes he needs more than the heater. Colon threw more breaking balls and offspeed pitches Wednesday and Molina was there to guide him through the process.
"He has to move the ball in and out to be effective," Molina said. "That was the thing. He was moving the ball in and out and throwing strikes."
Colon prefers to work that way and would like to be known more as a pitcher than just another hard thrower.
"Today I followed Jose really well," Colon said. "That is the type of pitcher I want to be. Not just a one-pitch pitcher."
Colon is also aware that his current success is not a guarantee of a great first half, but he is encouraged by what he sees.
"I feel really good the way things are going right now," Colon said. "But I know I have at least 14 more starts in the first half so I'm not going to let up."

A's outfielder Eric Byrnes was talking about whether he and Eric Chavez had commiserated over their early season struggles.
He might have hit on Chavez's reason for ducking out of the clubhouse before the media was allowed in Wednesday night rather than sticking around to discuss his crucial eighth-inning at-bat.
"In this game," Brynes said, "trust me, misery does not love company."
With the bases loaded and two out, Oakland trailing by two runs, Chavez had Mariners reliever Ron Villone in a tough spot, down 3-1 in the count.
Two called strikes later, Chavez was flipping his helmet toward the dugout in frustration, his season-long drought with runners in scoring position extended to 0-for-15.
An inning after that, the A's trudged off the field with a 7-6 loss in the opener of a two-game series at Safeco Field.
"He's our money guy," A's manager Ken Macha said of Chavez. "I didn't see where the pitches were, but apparently [Chavez] questioned where the 3-1 pitch was."
Replays showed that it was well off the outside corner of the plate. The punchout pitch was right on the black, dropping Chavez's batting average for the year to an even .200.
Pressed, Macha said simply, "I want my guys to swing the bat."
Some of them did. For instance, it was another good night for the two Marks and Marco. Kotsay went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, raising his average to a team-high .355. Ellis went 2-for-5 and scored twice, bumping his average to .333. And Scutaro, the team's hottest hitter of late, went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. He's 7-for-12 (.583) over the past four games and up to .325 overall.
"There were some positive things offensively," Macha said, adding Erubiel Durazo's solo homer in the ninth to the list.
But there was just enough negative, particularly from the Erics, to lead to a loss.
Byrnes, whose 0-for-3 night dropped his batting average to .195, was lifted for a pinch-hitter when his fourth turn came up.
"If I want that fourth at-bat, I sure as [heck] better do something with my first three, and I didn't."
Being lifted added insult to the figurative injury that was his failed attempt to keep the score tied at 4 with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh.
With pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs' soft liner sinking toward the turf in left field, Byrnes came up about a foot and a half short with his dive, and the ball bounced past him and to the wall.
"When it was hit, I knew I was gonna have to take a chance," Byrnes explained. "I just came up short. If I got that same ball again, I'd take that same chance."
Added Macha: "I'm not gonna question one way or another on that. ... He was trying to put a zero up there."
Instead, all three runners scored, the third being what turned out to be the game-winner, and Byrnes took full responsibility.
"It's one of the worst feelings you can have on a baseball field," he said. "That was the game. ... I've got nobody to blame but myself."
It all served to sour what was shaping up as a pretty nice night for the A's. Lefty Barry Zito gave up a first-inning grand slam to Bret Boone, but he was excellent thereafter, throwing five shutout innings -- with the help of his new "slurve," which buckled no less a hitter than Ichiro Suzuki -- before closing his night by striking out Randy Winn with runners on the corners to end the sixth on the same kind of pitch.
"It's a new little wrinkle," said Zito, who unveiled the new weapon last Friday against Angels star Garret Anderson. "I throw it mostly to lefties, and I only want to throw it a few times a game as a 'show' pitch, but it's something different to go to when I need a big out, and it felt pretty good tonight."
While Zito righted himself, the A's offense chipped away at Mariners starter Joel Pineiro. They picked up three runs on RBI single from Scutaro and a two-run double from Kotsay in the second, and Scutaro tied it up with another RBI single in the sixth.
After Byrnes' ill-fated dive helped put the Mariners back on top, Oakland loaded the bases in the top of the eighth against reliever Jeff Nelson. Nelson was replaced by Villone with one out, and Villone hit Kotsay with a pitch to make it 7-5.
Then came Chavez's strikeout, and despite Durazo's first homer of the year to open the ninth, Mariners closer Eddie Guardado closed things out for his fifth save.
"I liked the way things were going there for a while," Zito said. "It just kind of fell apart there at the end."

They knew they hadn't seen the real Javier Vazquez yet.
Three times he took the ball for the Diamondbacks and while he maintained he had good stuff, it didn't show up on the scoreboard as Arizona lost all three games.
Wednesday, though, at SBC Park, the Diamondbacks saw the Vazquez they had seen all those years with the Expos. The right-hander tossed seven shutout innings as the Diamondbacks beat the Giants, 2-1, in front of 36,955 on a chilly night by the bay.
"Three starts and you don't have a win, so I needed that win," said Vazquez, who improved to 1-2 on the year.
It was a win the Diamondbacks needed as well. SBC Park has been a house of horrors for them over the past couple of seasons as the Giants turned what had been a heated rivalry into a one-sided affair. Arizona had lost 10 of 12 to San Francisco and 16 of the last 19 here.
"Today was right on time," D-Backs manager Bob Melvin said of Vazquez's outing, with the Giants sending their ace, Jason Schmidt, to the mound Thursday in the series finale.
Vazquez was matched up against Noah Lowry, who had not lost in his 16 prior starts at the big league level. Like most teams, the D-Backs struggled trying to square up Lowry's changeup, but the young left-hander was let down by a defensive lapse in the third.
Vazquez led off the third inning by coaxing a walk and Craig Counsell then hit a grounder to first, with Lance Niekro throwing to second to start a double play. His throw was a bit wide, and Vizquel fielded it off the bag and couldn't touch second before throwing to first, where Counsell was also safe.
After Royce Clayton grounded into a fielder's choice, Luis Gonzalez stepped to the plate. Gonzalez had not seen much of Lowry before Wednesday, and after seeing how effective his changeup was in his first at-bat, he started his at-bat in the third by getting into a two-strike stance and proceeded to line a double to center that scored Counsell.
"He left a slider out over the plate," Gonzalez said.
Troy Glaus then followed with a sacrifice fly, and the D-Backs led, 2-0.
Meanwhile, Vazquez mixed up his pitches and had his two-seam fastball working throughout the evening. He pitched out of jams in both the sixth and seventh innings, a necessity given the limited options Melvin had available to him in the bullpen Wednesday.
With Mike Koplove, Lance Cormier and Michael Gosling pretty much unavailable, Melvin stuck with Vazquez even after the Giants loaded the bases with two out in the seventh. Vazquez wound up getting Ray Durham to ground to first to end the frame.
"Javy was outstanding," Melvin said. "We knew we were going to get a game like this out of him pretty soon. We really needed him to get through that [seventh] inning. We were a little limited down there in the bullpen today and for him to give us seven full ... really picked us up big time."
Defense picked up Vazquez throughout the game as Arizona turned a pair of double plays to end the first two innings and Counsell at second turning in his usual stellar glove work.
"Great defense behind me," Vazquez said. "I know the guys are going to catch the ball."
And the Diamondbacks knew Vazquez had a game like this in him when they received him in a trade this winter that included sending ace Randy Johnson to the Yankees.
"We got him because we know he's a good pitcher," Gonzalez said.
Brian Bruney started the eighth for Arizona, but he couldn't finish it as he was removed in favor of closer Brandon Lyon with runners at first and third and two out.
Lyon struck out Marquis Grissom looking to end the inning and, despite allowing a run in the ninth, held on to pick up his sixth save.

WEDNESDAY'S WESTERN DIVISION MLB HIGHLIGHTS: Continuing their start for the ages, the Dodgers did it again on Wednesday night, rallying for another 10th-inning comeback victory, 3-1, over the Padres.
An eighth consecutive win raised the best record in the Major Leagues to 12-2, the franchise's best beginning in 50 years. The 1940 and 1955 clubs are the only other Dodgers teams to do it.
Whether Jose Valentin and J.D. Drew take their place in Dodgers lore alongside the Boys of Summer might be a reach, but they were heroes on this night.
Drew got the Dodgers even in the eighth inning with his second home run of the season en route to a four-hit game, and Valentin won it with a two-run triple off Scott Linebrink, atoning for a questionable throwing error in the first inning that led to San Diego's unearned run.
The Dodgers overcame the Padres and what they felt were dubious umpire calls to record their fifth come-from-behind win and retain their lead in the National League West of 4 1/2 games.
"It was an intense game for April," said catcher Jason Phillips, a native San Diegan. "It was like an intense football game. If you can withstand the first quarter, you've got a game. We feel confident we can hang with anybody and win later in the game."
Derek Lowe, who followed his shutout on Sunday with eight innings and one tainted run, said this bolt from the gate has caused less surprise inside the clubhouse than outside it.
"The people that were brought in here during the offseason didn't get enough respect, as far as the talent goes," said Lowe, echoing a theme that has provided internal motivation. "Look around the room. There's a different guy every game.
"It plays into the guys' style. The last seven years I'd been told the Red Sox would never win a World Series. This team has the same trait as that one -- starting pitchers one through five; the middle of the lineup is loaded; the bullpen is awesome."
The Dodgers believe they can win any bullpen game, and they pretty much have this young season. Dodgers relievers are 5-1 this year.

"It's not about luck. It's the way we play. Our pitchers keep us in the game and we get clutch hits."
-- Jose Valentin on the Dodgers

This one was complicated by what the Dodgers considered to be a series of umpire calls that went against them, starting with the first inning, when first base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled that Norihiro Nakamura came off the bag too soon when receiving Valentin's throw on Mark Loretta's grounder. One out later, Phil Nevin singled home Loretta.
"I don't think he came off the bag, but he flinched after he caught it and moved out of the way of the runner, and he came off quick and maybe that's how it looked to the umpire," said Valentin. "But Lowe did a great job after that, and the bullpen shut them down."
Duaner Sanchez pitched the ninth for the win, and Yhency Brazoban pitched the 10th for the save, striking out Nevin and Miguel Ojeda after Brian Giles singled, stole second and took third on Phillips' throwing error. That was one of the Padres' five stolen bases.
The key at-bat for the Dodgers belonged to Drew, who came into the game hitting .159. He tied it with an opposite-field homer off San Diego reliever Akinori Otsuka.
"You've really got to hit the ball here to get one out of the park," Drew said of spacious PETCO Park. "When I reached first and saw [Ryan] Klesko at the wall, I was lucky it snuck out of here."
J.D. Drew / RF
Born: 11/20/75 Height: 6'1" Weight: 200 lbs Bats: L / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

The Dodgers' winning rally in the 10th came off Linebrink, and it began with a trickler from Drew back to the mound with one out.
Linebrink bobbled the ball, then threw it into the Dodgers' bullpen, allowing Drew (credited with a single after a scoring change) to take second. Jeff Kent walked for the third time, Milton Bradley popped out and Valentin guessed correctly on a 1-1 changeup, launching it off the out-of-town scoreboard in right field.
"It's not about luck. It's the way we play," said Valentin, who has balanced five errors as Adrian Beltre's replacement at third base with 10 RBIs and a .308 average. "Our pitchers keep us in the game and we get clutch hits."
Valentin punctuated his pop-up slide at third by pumping his fist as the Dodgers' dugout erupted, as it's been doing pretty much all season.
"I don't try to show anybody up," said Valentin. "You have to react that way. We feel confident and happy."
The Dodgers were so happy, they bit their tongues about the calls that had them chirping from the dugout all game.
"As bad as things were going, we're still in a one-run game, and you can't let such things affect you," said Lowe, who disagreed with some of plate umpire Paul Schreiber's ball-and-strike calls. "When Boston goes into Yankee Stadium, you're not going to get calls. You get squeezed on some pitches -- that's nothing."

The Phoenix Suns didn't plan on slowing down in the postseason. It remains to be seen if anyone else can slow them down, either.

With Steve Nash at the controls, the Suns continued their season-long sprint with a 114-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the opener of their Western Conference first-round series.
Entering the postseason, many believed the Suns would see their relentless running game limited, forcing them to slow down and use more halfcourt sets. However, the eighth-seeded Grizzlies had no success in that area.

"We are going to play that way," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We can play that way and it does work. If we D it up and rebound, we can be pretty damn good. As everyone says, the key is defensive rebounding, and sometimes we relax and have mental breakdowns. But the style of play does not dictate if you can't play defense. There is no reason why we can't run and fire them up."

The Suns ran at every opportunity, scoring 25 fast-break points and sinking 15-of-32 3-pointers. Phoenix had five players in double figures, including reserve center Steven Hunter , who scored a playoff career-high 16 points.

"You can say what you want to about the 3-point line, but you still have to make the shot," Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello said. "To stop them, you have to rebound first, run back second, know who is guarding who. It is not like there is an easy answer solving what they do because they do it so well."

Nash handed out 13 assists and scored 11 points. The All-Star point guard, who heard chants of "MVP" from the America West Arena crowd, directed the offense to 39 points in the first quarter, when the Suns made 7-of-8 shots from the arc and took the lead for good.

"They made their shots in the first quarter and we knew they would with the excitement of the building," Grizzlies guard Mike Miller said. "They scored entirely too many points in the first quarter and it is tough when you start in a hole like that. After that every time we made a push, they made big shots."

The only time the Grizzlies appeared to be in the game was when Nash was out of it. They made a push in the second period before Nash returned to help rebuild the lead to 59-50 at halftime.

Memphis closed to 81-76 late in the third quarter before Phoenix widened the lead to 87-78 entering the final period, this time with Nash on the bench.

"We were teasing ourselves," Fratello said. "We stayed in striking distance but never got the big stop that we needed."

Backup Leandro Barbosa made a 3-pointer for a 96-84 bulge and was replaced by Nash at the 7:24 mark. Nash made a 3-pointer with 5:27 left, then added the finishing touches with a 35-foot lob pass that Amaré Stoudemire hammered home while drawing a foul for a 107-91 lead with 4:18 remaining.

Quentin Richardson scored 22 points and Joe Johnson added 16 for the Suns, who host Game 2 on Wednesday and fully intend to press the pace.

"We kind of expect we will get some open shots," Richardson said. "They help out a lot so a lot of times you catch guys running at you and trying to rotate out of the rotation. We just honed in tonight and hit some big shots."

Miller made five 3-pointers and scored 19 points for the Grizzlies, who dropped to 0-5 all-time in the postseason. Jason Williams added 17 points and Pau Gasol 16.

In the regular season, Memphis held Phoenix below 100 points three times. It was thought to have an advantage with its 10-deep rotation compared to Phoenix's shorter bench, but held just a 38-30 edge in bench points.

"I think we do have depth," Hunter said. "We have Leandro Barbosa, who does a great job for us with his speed. Jimmy Jackson is a veteran who can score and myself. I can come in and supply energy, block some shots and play some defense. I don't think you win 63 games without having a bench."

Hunter made 7-of-11 shots and shattered his previous playoff high of four, helping Phoenix to a 19-9 advantage in second-chance points.

"I just wanted to come out with a lot of energy," Hunter said. "I saw Amaré struggling out there because Memphis really packs the lane. I wanted to go out there and get some hustle points and play good defense."

About the only thing that slowed down the Suns was Marion's frightening tumble. His 3-pointer gave Phoenix a 72-59 lead and was looking to add more when he elevated on a drive and was fouled by Shane Battier .

Marion tried to break his fall and nearly broke his right wrist. He remained down for a couple of minutes but shook it off and made 1-of-2 free throws as Battier was called for a flagrant foul.

Denver 93, San Antonio 87
Marcus Camby stared down Tim Duncan and the Denver Nuggets stood up to the San Antonio Spurs.

Camby held Duncan scoreless in the fourth quarter and the Nuggets made all the plays down the stretch in a surprising 93-87 victory over the Spurs in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series.
A two-time MVP, Duncan missed 12 games late in the season due to a sprained ankle. Although he had 18 points and 11 rebounds, he was not at full strength and wilted against Denver's fleet of big men, most notably Camby, who had 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

"We felt confident," Camby said. "Everyone thought that the Spurs would run through us and everyone is talking about the Spurs vs. the Suns in the conference finals. This team has a lot of heart and a lot of pride."

Second in the NBA in blocked shots, the 6-11 Camby helped harass Duncan into 7-of-22 shooting. Three of those misses came in the final minute, when San Antonio had to have a basket from its superstar.

"There were a lot of shots around the basket that I should have made," Duncan said. "We were just missing our shots tonight. I felt like we had some great looks."

"I thought we benefited a little bit from Timmy being rusty," Nuggets coach George Karl said.

Jerome James was there to clean up after his teammates.

James had the game of his life with 17 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks as the Seattle SuperSonics held on for an 87-82 victory over the Sacramento Kings in Game One of their Western Conference first-round series.

Houston 98, Dallas 86
Many were wondering how the Houston Rockets were going to guard Dirk Nowitzki . They should have been wondering how the Dallas Mavericks were going to guard Tracy McGrady .

McGrady scored 34 points and helped harass Nowitzki as the Rockets surprised the Mavericks, 98-86, in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series.
With power forward Juwan Howard sidelined by a heart ailment, the Rockets do not have a viable defender for Nowitzki, a 7-footer with the ballhandling and range of a guard who led Dallas to 58 wins this season.

Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy opted for 6-8 Ryan Bowen , a journeyman forward who appeared to be overmatched. But Bowen battled, managed his fouls and got some help from McGrady as they held Nowitzki to 21 points on 5-of-19 shooting with six turnovers.

Ghost Trees Pebble Beach Tow Surfing Spot

It will be remembered as the day Ghost Tree, the mysto deep-water break off Pebble Beach, California, went huge, perfect and nearly homicidal. And if personal watercraft (PWCs) are eventually banned in the Monterey Bay Sanctuary, tow-surfers may look back on March 9th as the most memorable day of a short-lived golden era.

At first light, Ghost Tree saw a 17-foot swell approaching from due west at 20-second intervals. Roughly two hours later, Don Curry, the man who named the wave, and his partner Ed Guzman rolled up on the channel just in time to watch a pair of 30-foot wave faces boom over the spot’s infamous boneyard and into Stillwater Cove. Not far behind them were Adam Replogle and Alistair Craft.

After trading off on some mid-size sets with Craft, Curry caught a solid one with a face estimated at 45 feet, and Craft followed with one that was slightly larger. Then the set of the morning rolled through and Curry let go of the rope on a wave that was clearly 10 feet bigger than his last. Wrapped in the hangar-sized “barrel of a lifetime,” photographers on hand captured images that placed Curry firmly in the running for the Billabong XXL Award.