Thursday, October 7, 2010

Latest Sports Buzz

Latest Sports Buzz

Halladay Becomes Fifth Legend to Achieve Two No-Hitters in a Year

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 10:04 PM PDT

Roy Halladay

Roy Halladay, by throwing the second no-hitter, led Philadelphia Phillies to win over Cincinnati Reds by 4-0 in Game 1 of NL division ongoing series.

He patiently waited for the warm up tosses to finish up and to finish up the commercial before he could display his state of the art action.

Neither the early innings rain nor the long breaks from television could stop Halladay debuting postseason.

The other genius pitcher that can be recollected is Don Larsen who threw a postseason no-hitter. 54th anniversary of his unforgettable game that he played 1956 World Series for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers is being celebrated today.

In October, Halladay took the Year of the Pitcher. On May 29 he threw a perfect game thereby dominating the Reds. The deed by this All-Start right hander was achieved by a powerful slow curve in the first playoff start after a sharp fastball. The Reds had no reply to it.

Halladay, deciding to allow only one runner walked a full count with 2 outs in the fifth and then again hit eight. 104 pitches out of which 79 went for strikes were thrown by him.

Joey Votto, the Reds Slugger commented afterwards – "It’s no fun out there, It’s like trying to hit nothing. He’s an ace among aces.”

In past Halladay associated with Toronto for 12 seasons. With the deal struck in last December, he got a chance to get into the NL champions. Halladay overwhelmingly acknowledged his achievements by commenting – "It’s been a great year, a fun year, we obviously have a ways to go.”

The crowd went mad to cheer him up, when Halladay was warming up before the start of the innings.

With this achievement of throwing two no-hitters in one year, Halladay has become the fifth pitcher and has joined the elite club with Vander Meer (achieved in 1938), Allie Reynolds (achieve in 1951), Virfil Trucks (achieved in 1952) and Nolan Ryan (achieved in 1973).

Big Ben Back At Practice As Steelers Prep For Browns

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

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John Nestor – AHN Sports Correspondent

Pittsburgh, PA, United States (AHN) – Ben Roethlisberger finally started his 2010 season on Tuesday as the Pittsburgh Steelers held practice in their indoor facility.

Roethlisberger returned to the Steelers on Monday with his four-game league suspension completed. Tuesday was his first practice and he was rearing to go.

“It was good,” said Roethlisberger. “I was one of the first ones over there, waiting for the horn to go. It was good to get out there with the guys.”

Pittsburgh has a bye this week and then a home game on Oct. 17 against the Cleveland Browns. The bye will give Roethlisberger some extra time to get reacquainted with his receivers.

The Steelers are scheduled to practice on Wednesday and Thursday before getting a few days off and then returning for a normal week of work before the Browns come to town.

“I knew my arm would be strong and good,” said Roethlisberger. “It’s just a matter of hitting the guys and timing. That’s why we had a 30 minute individual time. I told the receivers sorry I made you run, but I wanted to get back on the timing. That is the biggest key. I think it was a good step. It won’t take as long as I thought.”

Hines Ward did not practice Tuesday, but even he could see it was good to have Roethlisberger back under center.

“He said it was like the first day of school. He was the first one out there. It’s great to have him back,” Ward said. “No discredit to the other guys, they did a phenomenal job, they are why we are 3-1. This whole team came together. But we have our main guy back and we are excited about it. Having him on the field we are a better ball club.”

Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Strong Lines, But Questions In Goal For Eastern Champion Flyers

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

John Nestor – AHN Sports Correspondent

Philadelphia, PA, United States (AHN) – Another season, more goaltending questions for the Philadelphia Flyers.

After a trip to the Stanley Cup finals last season, the Flyers have some questions regarding their goaltending, but is there really a reason to be concerned?

With a bolstered defense and a look at recent Stanley Cup winning netminders, the answer is likely no.

The Flyers will be without goaltender Michael Leighton for the first month of the season. Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky have played well during the preseason and Flyers coach Peter Laviolette does not seem to a bit alarmed.

“Our goaltenders have played pretty well,” said Laviolette. “Yes, your team has to play well in front of the goaltender, but the goaltenders who have played for us, have played well for us. We have two guys that are capable of stopping the puck right now and we feel confident with them.”

Veteran Boucher was 1-1-0 with a 1.90 goals-against average and .939 save percentage in the preseason. Bobrovsky, a 22-year-old rookie, was impressive with a 3-0-1 mark with a 1.79 GAA and .939 save percentage.

Regardless of who is in net for Philadelphia to start the season, they will have an improved defensive corps in front of them.

Philadelphia was two wins away from the Cup and might have won it with a deeper blueline. It addressed the problem by adding defensemen Sean O’Donnell and Andrej Meszaros.

With stalwart Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn already in place, the Flyers arguably have the best group of defensemen in the league.

Plus Laviolette knows first hand that you don’t need a marquee goaltender to win it all. In 2006 he guided Carolina to the title with rookie Cam Ward in goal.

Chris Pronger has also been a part of a winning team with an unknown goalie as he was a part of Anaheim’s Stanley Cup-winning team in 2007 that had Jean-Sebastien Giguere in goal.

Chris Osgood won his third Cup in 2008 with Detroit and Marc-Andre Fleury helped the Penguins knock off Detroit in 2009.

Then there is the story of Antti Niemi, who led the Chicago Blackhawks over the Flyers in the finals last season.

Chicago was so impressed that it let Niemi go elsewhere as a free agent. He was available for a whole month before signing with the San Jose Sharks for $2 million.

You’ll notice names like Buffalo’s Ryan Miller and New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur missing from this list and maybe that’s for a reason.

It takes more than just a goalie to win a Cup and maybe the question in Philadelphia should be, did they get all the remaining parts in order to do it?

Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

PBA Adopts Instant Replay Rule For Foul Line Infractions, Pinfall

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

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AHN Sports Staff

Seattle, WA, United States (AHN) – The Professional Bowlers Association has adopted a formal policy allowing the use of “instant replay” at the tournament director’s discretion in nationally-televised competition.

The “instant replay rule,” along with a new rule allowing coaching at all levels of PBA competition, are included in the 2010-11 Professional Bowlers Association Rule Book which went into effect on Oct. 1. The rule book can be found on pba.com under the “Resources” tab.

While “instant replay” is rarely needed in PBA competition, issues of foul line infractions and pinfall – where a pinsetter may touch a falling pin have created a handful of disputes over the years.

The PBA uses a foul line judge and carefully monitors pinfall, but situations have occurred that made an accurate ruling difficult without closer review.

“Use of instant replay is an issue with all major sports in this age of technology,” said PBA Vice President and Tour Director Kirk von Krueger. “Our concern is simply to be accurate with judgment calls. Until now, we have not had a formal policy on whether instant replay can or should be used. Now we have a rule that governs the issue.

“When the use of instant replay will allow us to make the correct decision, we’ll use it. It will be employed at the discretion of the tournament director.”

The most memorable use of instant replay in a PBA Tour event occurred in the title match of the 1999 Columbia 300 Open in Austin, Texas, when Parker Bohn III appeared to foul on a spare attempt in the title match against Pete Weber.

Ironically, von Krueger was tournament director for that event. During the next commercial break, von Krueger reviewed the instant replay of the shot and determined that Bohn had, indeed, fouled, negating the spare.

Bohn went on to win the title, 225-211, but the following week, PBA players – who at the time had control over rules policies – voted against any future use of instant replay. Since that time, there has been no published policy on whether or not instant replay can be used to enforce decisions by the tournament director.

In addition to the instant replay rule, all coaching rules and limitations, with a few exceptions, were eliminated to allow coaching across the board at all levels of PBA competition. The new rules define coaching and specific limitations as they apply to televised and non-televised rounds.

The new PBA rules also establish a member policy on appropriate conduct in using social network platforms which have created new levels of world-wide interaction between players and fans, and outline a change back to a voting system for selection of PBA Player of the Year for 2010-11.

The new tournament formats which will be employed this year make the Player of the Year points system used the past two seasons impractical.

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Lee Stellar As Rangers Take ALDS Game 1 From Rays

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

Kareem Shaker – AHN Sports Reporter

Tampa Bay, FL, United States (AHN) – In a battle of division champion aces, the Rangers’ Cliff Lee got the best of Tampa and David Price.

Lee worked up and down the strike zone for seven innings of one-run ball as Texas worked a 5-1 victory over the Rays Wednesday afternoon.

The win gives the underdog Rangers a 1-0 lead in their American League Division Series.

Price gave up homers to Nelson Cruz and No. 9 batter Bengia Molina, coughing up five runs (four earned) in 6 2-3.

Molina had three hits in all, pacing the Rangers 10-hit attack.

Vlad Guerrero knocked in a run and Jeff Francouer added an RBI double for the AL West champion Rangers, who took a 2-0 lead after two innings and tacked on single runs the next three frames.

The Rays 3-7 batters in the lineup went an abysmal 2-for-18 with no extra base hits.

Carl Crawford did swipe his first base of the postseason for Tampa.

Ben Zobrist accounted for the Rays lone run, a solo homer in the seventh that failed short of starting a rally.

The Rays, who committed a pair of infield errors, will look to tie the series at one game apiece Thursday at 2:37 pm ET.

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Baylor`s Dunn Arrested, Suspended For Alleged Assault Of Girlfriend

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

Jojo Doria – AHN Sports Contributor

Waco, TX, United States (AHN) – Baylor senior guard LaceDarius Dunn, one of the key members of the Bears’ run to the Elite Eight last season, has been indefinitely suspended following his arrest in Waco, Texas, on charges of aggravated assault involving his girlfriend, the school announced Tuesday.

Multiple reports indicated Dunn, 23, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday to face an aggravated assault charge, in which he is accused of breaking his girlfriend’s jaw during an incident last week.

According to police reports, the alleged assault occurred on Sept. 27 during an argument between the 6-foot-4, 205 Baylor star guard and his longtime girlfriend, LaCharlesla Edwards, 21.

She reportedly went to the hospital to seek treatment after Dunn punched her in the face.

Dunn and Edwards, the mother of his 3-year-old son, have been dating for nearly a decade.

Meanwhile, Edwards indicated Wednesday that she has no interest in pressing charges in the case.

In a statement released through her attorney Jason Darling Wednesday, Edwards stated that Dunn “has never struck me during our long term relationship.”

Edwards also indicated that she and her family are “deeply disturbed” about the “misinformation and half truths” reported by media regarding the incident.

She also added: “What happened on the night of September 27 was an accident and I went to the hospital for precautionary reasons. I never expressed any interest in pressing charges nor will I in the future press charges on this incident. I am fine and my jaw is not broken as is being reported.”

Dunn was released from the McLennan County Jail Tuesday.

In a release, Baylor said it was gathering all the facts pertaining to the incident and will not issue further comment until more information becomes available.

The news of Dunn’s suspension came a day after Baylor’s leading scorer was named as one of the 50 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award.

During his junior year, Dunn set single-season records for points (704) and free throw shooting percentage (85.7 on 126-of-147 attempts).

He also established marks on three-point field goals (116), while becoming the career-leader in three pointers (299) in the program’s history.

Dunn was also named a second-team All-Big 12 selection as he averaged 19.6 points and 4.8 rebounds last season when Baylor set a school record 28 victories.

The Bears got within one win of making it first NCAA Final Four appearance in 60 years.

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Surgery Completed: Phils` Doc Tosses No-Hitter In NLDS Opener Vs. Reds

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

Ed Condran – AHN Sports Correspondent

Philadelphia, PA, United States (AHN) – Roy Halladay made his playoff debut a special one, tossing a a no-hitter to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in game one of the NLDS Wednesday. ‘Doc’ allowed just one walk in a masterful performance

Halladay pounded the plate with 46 of his 61 pitches called strikes through five frames.

Halladay kept the Reds off-balance with a good fastball, a-plus change-up and a sharp breaking curveball.

The Phillies gave Halladay ample support by scoring four runs in the first two innings.

Shane Victorino led the attack with a double, a single and a pair of RBIs.

Halladay helped himself with a run batted in.

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Seeds Flourish At CWG Tennis; England`s O`Brien Tumbles

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

Jojo Doria – AHN Sports Contributor

New Delhi, India (AHN) – Top seeds Somdev Devvarman of India and Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova highlighted second-round winners Wednesday by dismissing their opponents in the men’s and women’s singles tennis event, respectively, at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Devvarman, ranked No. 100 in the world, eliminated Sri Lanka’s Amresh Jayawickrene in 6-0, 6-1 fashion, while Russian-born Rodiova pasted Larikah Russell of Bahamas, 6-1, 6-3.

England’s Katie O’Brien, third seed, was the only major casualty Wednesday as seeds advanced into the quarterfinals. O’Brien succumbed to local bet Rushmi Chakravarthi, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5.

Peter Luczak and Matt Ebden, second and third seed, respectively, led the Australian charge into the last eight. Luczak thumped India’s Bopanna Rohan, while Ebden conquered Qureshi Aisam-ul-haq of Pakistan.

English fourth seed James Ward also advanced after eliminating Scotland’s Jamie Murray, brother of world No. 4 Andy Murray.

Crowd favorite Sania Mirza, the first Indian female player to win a WTA tournament, booked a spot in the quarterfinal after posting a 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Brittay Teei of the Cook Islands.

Australian fourth seed Sally Peers also moved through the last eight following a straight sets conquest of Irufa Mahir of the Maldives.

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Oh, Roy! Phils Ace Halladay No-Hits Reds To Kick Off NLDS

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 04:23 PM PDT

Ed Condran – AHN Sports Correspondent

Philadelphia, PA, United States (AHN) – During spring training Roy Halladay talked about his dream of pitching in the postseason.

His dream was a nightmare for the Cincinnati Reds.

Halladay became just the second pitcher to throw a no-hitter in a post-season game.

The Phillies blanked the Reds 4-0 Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park to take a 1-0 lead in their best of five NLDS series.

Halladay spanked the Reds throughout the game. The robotic righthander was perfect, save a fifth inning walk.

Halladay pounded the plate as a remarkable 79 of his 104 pitches were strikes.

“He was tremendous,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Great command. Absolutely unreal. I felt he used all of his pitches pretty good.”

Halladay, who flashed a brief smile while detailing his special performance, acknowledged the significance of his accomplishment but noted that it takes a back seat to his ultimate goal, winning a World Series.

“It was one of those special things that you’ll always remember,” Halladay said. “But the playoffs take priority. It’s pretty neat for me to be able to go out and win a game like that and know there’s more to come for us and more to accomplish. We’re one game up. We’ve got to win two more.”

If the Phillies offense generates runs for Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels like they did for Halladay, it could be a short series. The Phillies gave Halladay, who tossed his second no-hitter of the season, ample support by scoring all four runs in the first two innings.

Shane Victorino led the attack with a double, a single and a pair of RBI.

It was clearly Halladay’s night. The robotic righthander drove in a run with a single. “That made it fun for me,” Halladay said.

His pitching performance made it fun for his teammates and Phillies fans. Everyone at the soldout park in South Philly was ecstatic except Reds manager Dusty Baker and his team.

“That is the best pitched game I’ve seen since I’ve been going to the playoffs and the World Series,” Baker said. “I don’t think he threw anything down the heart of the plate tonight. We got beat by a great performance tonight.”

“It was like a situation where you’re almost helpless because the guy was dealing. It’s the second time this year he’s done that against two pretty good hitting teams, our team and the Florida Marlins. Like they say, good pitching beats good hitting and that was great pitching tonight.”

Article © AHN – All Rights Reserved

Wrestler Geeta takes Indian gold tally to 14

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 06:47 AM PDT

CWG

CWG

NEW DELHI: India's fine run in the Commonwealth Games continues on Thursday as Wrestler Geeta bagged a gold medal in the 55kg freestyle event, the first women's wrestling gold for the nation to take their gold tally to 14.

Geeta outclassed Emily Bensted (Australia) in the final round. Lovina Edward of Nigeria had to be contented with the bronze medal in this event.

Suman Kundu also joined the party, bringing home the bronze medal in the 63kg freestyle event for women wrestlers.

The Indian shooters were not to be left far behind. Omkar Singh and Gurpreet Singh bagged gold in the 10m air pistol pairs event for men while Ronjon Sodhi missed the top spot in the singles Double Trap shooting event where he took the silver medal back home. This event was won by Stevan Walton of England.

In another event, Archery Compound Team event, India had to be contended with silver as England got the better of them and grabbed the top slot.

Shooters Gurpreet Singh and Vijay Kumar won the first gold on the 4th day of the 19th Commonwealth Games and took the hosts gold tally to 12. Meanwhile, women compound team did India proud by getting their first ever medal in archery back home.

Gurpreet Singh and Vijay Kumar kicked off the gold rush in the 25m pistol pairs event where Kumar scored 587 and Singh got 575 to make a total of 1162 which ensured their top slot in the event.

The women's team in the compound team event of archery comprising of Bheigyabati Chanu, Gagandeep Kaur and Jhano Hansdah won the bronze medal by beating the Malaysian team by 223-217.

The badminton duo of Jwala Gutta and V Diju beat Grace Gao and NG Toby by 21-8, 21-12. Chetan Anand defeated David Snider by 21-18, 21-17 whereas Saina Nehwal overcame Anna Rice by 21-6, 21-13 to ensure the place in the semi-finals.

This year, Women Wrestling is being introduced in 48kg, 55kg, 63 kg and 72 kg for the first time ever in the Commonwealth Games both in the freestyle and Greco-Roman format.
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