THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MAY 7, 2007
SPORTS
9B
MLB
...
Dick Whipple/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas City Royals' Mark Grudzielanek, right, can't get to second in time to break up the throw by Detroit Tigers' shortstop Carlos Guillen, who completed a double play in the fourth inning of Sunday's game in Kansas City, Mo. Detroit won 13-4.
Tigers find luck at Kauffman
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Maybe it's Kansas City's juicy barbecue ribs that bring out the best in the Detroit Tigers. Or maybe it's the fact the Tigers are very good these days and the perpetually rebuilding Royals are losing 100 games a year.
BY DOUG TUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
For whatever reason, the Tigers are almost unbeatable when they set foot in Kauffman Stadium.
Craig Monroe, Curtis Granderson and Gary Sheffield hit two-run homers in the second inning Sunday and Detroit beat the Royals 13-4 for its seventh straight victory overall and 14th victory in its last 15 games in the Royals' home park.
"All the games we win are not in this park," said Ivan Rodriguez, who had two singles as the Tigers finished with a season-high 17 hits. "We've been winning in other parks, too. We play the game hard every day."
Monroe and Neifi Perez, who also homered, had four RBIs and himerson drove in three runs. The Tigers, who haven't lost since April 28, outscored the Royals 26-12 in sweeping the three-game series.
"We swung the bats obviously very well," manager Jim Leyland said. "We're swinging pretty good."
The defending AL champions had
"We come out and prepare to win every day." Monroe said. "We know how to prepare. The attitude on this team is we're going to accomplish the things we're trying to accomplish."
six doubles, a triple and four homers in their latest win.
Chad Durbin (2-1) gave up two runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings, with three strikeouts and no walks. He cruised into the eighth with a two-hit shutout but the Royals loaded the bases with three singles and scored a run on Shane Costa's double-play grounder, Tony Pena Jr, then chased Durbin with an RBI double.
Right-hander Aquilino Lopez, who was called up Saturday night after Joel Zumaya went on the disabled list with a strained right middle finger, came in and got Bill Butler to fly out to end the inning.
Zack Greinke (1-4) allowed six runs and nine hits in four innings. In his previous outing against the Tigers on April 16, he failed to get out of the first inning, allowing three hits and four runs on Rodriguez's grand slam.
"Greinke, the last two times we caught him, we caught him on days he wasn't very good. But he's got outstanding stuff," Leyland said.
Greinke kept getting behind hitters all day and said he was not surprised to see the home runs start
flying over the fence.
"No, because I pitched bad enough and they were hitting it hard enough," he said. "I gave them too many pitches up and over the plate. I wasn't getting them off balance and I wasn't getting them hit pitchers' pitches. There was no rhythm and I never got into a groove at all."
The home runs in the second inning by Granderson, Sheffield and Monroe gave Durbin a 6-0 lead to work with.
Then the Tigers added three in the sixth on RBI doubles by Monroe and Perez and Granderson's RBI single.
Monroe's run-scoring single ignited a four-run seventh for the Tigers. After Brandon Inge's double made it 11-0, Perez hit his first home run of the year.
The Tigers said after the game that Zumaya would see a hand specialist in New York on Monday and only then would they know the extent of his injury.
Zumaya heard a "pop" while warming up in the bullpen Saturday night. He had a thick bandage on the finger Sunday and described the sensation as a "shocking pain."
"It's hurting now. It hurts, and that's it," he said. "And it's swollen."
Detroit's only loss in Kansas City since 2005 was a 3-1 setback on April 6.
>> NBA PLAYOFFS
Spurs win bloody match-up
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY BOB BAUM
PHOENIX — The San Antonio Spurs left the Phoenix Suns bloodied and beaten in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Tim Duncan had 33 points and 16 rebounds — eight offensive — and Tony Parker added 32 points and led the Spurs to a rough-and-tumble 111-106 victory on Sunday.
Steve Nash scored 31 for Phoenix but missed a crucial 45 seconds in the final minute because of a bloody cut on his nose, the result of a head-on collision with Parker with 2:53 to play. The cut required six stitches after the game.
Michael Finley added 19 points for San Antonio, which with the victory has home-court advantage the rest of the series.
Amare Stoudemire had 20 points and 18 rebounds but was just 6-for-19 shooting. Leandro Barbosa scored 18 points for the Suns. Shawn Marion, after a slow start, scored 16, 11 in the final quarter.
After Parker stole Nash's pass, the two collided to-head in the San Antonio backcourt. Parker fell to the floor and Nash walked away bleeding.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Matt York/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash has his nose attended to by the team trainer after running into San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker during the fourth quarter of a NBA Western Conference semifinal round playoff basketball game in Phoenix Sunday. The Spurs won 111-106.
Nash made a three-pointer and tied it at 102 with 2:25 to play, then Duncan gave the Spurs the lead for good with a 10-foot baseline hook shot. Nash missed a three-point shot, then Parker sank a 23-footer, putting San Antonio ahead 106-102 with 1:23 remaining.
Nash's driving layup with 1:13 left cut it to 106-104 1:13 from the finish, and Raja Bell drew an offensive foul on Parker to give Phoenix the ball. But Nash had to come out with 54.8 seconds to go because of blood oozing around the bandage.
Nash returned with 9.1 seconds to go, but by then San Antonio led 110-106.
After Nash's departure, Barbosa missed a three-pointer that would have given Phoenix the lead. Manu Ginobill made one of two free throws to make it 107-104 with 32.8 seconds to play, then Stoudemire's two free throws sliced the lead to 107-106 with 26.7 seconds to go.
After a San Antonio time-out, Barbosa was called for a foul before the ball was thrown inbounds. That meant Finley got a free throw, and made it, and San Antonio kept possession.
The Spurs were 5-for-9 at the foul line down the stretch.
the 82 seconds of the fourth quarter. His three-pointer, followed by a fastbreak layup, put Phoenix ahead 84-83 with 9:38 remaining.
Marion broke out of a subpar offensive game to score seven in
Phoenix cut it to two late in the third quarter and twice had a chance to tie before the period ended, but Barbosa missed a layup, then his baseline jumper at the buzzer was swatted away by Robert Horry. San Antonio led 77-75 entering the fourth.
NHL
Sabres aim for Stanley Cup
BY IRA PODELL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK—Chris Drury and the Buffalo Sabres waited a year to get back to the Eastern Conference finals.
After vanquishing the other two New York teams, the Sabres are one round from a shot at the very elusive Stanley Cup.
Drury had a goal and assist in the Sabres' four-goal second period that erased an early deficit and sent Buffalo to a 5-4 victory Sunday against the Rangers in Game 6. Dmitri Kalinin, Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht joined Drury in the offensive onslaught that lasted 9:46.
Michael Nylander gave New York a 1-0 advantage in the first period, Paul Mara tied it in the second, and Jaromir Jagr scored his 72nd career goal in the third to bring the Rangers within 4-3.
It was the jolt the Sabres needed to get Lundqvist off his game and send them into a full press. Buffalo outshot New York 11-8 in the first period, but the margin was much larger before Nylander broke through with 2:50 left in the period.
Drury and the Sabres now can erase last year's bitter memories of losing Game 7 at Carolina with a trip to the Stanley Cup finals on the line. Buffalo will have home-ice advantage this time when they face Northeast Division-rival Ottawa next.
Drury again led the Sabres, who eliminated the Islanders in the first round and are shooting for their first Cup title after posting the league's best regular-season record. He tied Game 5 by scoring with 7.7 seconds left in regulation to keep the Rangers from a third straight win that would've given New York a chance to end the series the other way on home ice.
Hecht tipped in his second of the game — and the playoffs — with 5:10 left. Daniel Briere, co-captain with Drury, had three assists. Nylander added his second of the game with the Rangers' third power-play goal
New York's lead was lost quickly when Kalinini tied it at 1:29 of the second. Kalinini took a pass from Ales Kotalik at the left point and wound up for a shot as New York
forward Nigel Dawes dived in front to block the puck.
to make it 5-4 with 2:59 remaining. It just wasn't enough against the NHL's highest-scoring team, Ryan Miller made 32 saves for the Sabres. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 shots in the net for New York, which dropped its first home game in the playoffs (4-1).
The Rangers rookie, a surprise addition to the lineup Sunday, got a piece of it but it was just enough to change the flight and send it knuckling past Lundgvist to make it 1-1.
That was forgotten when Pominville gave the Sabres their first regulation lead since midway through the third period of Game 2. Again a deflection proved costly to the Rangers as Pominville's shot hit defenseman Karel Rachunek before darting past Lundqvist at 2:53.
But Mara restored the faith into a suddenly nervous Madison Square Garden crowd when he fired a shot in from above the right circle to tie it at 2, just 1:14 after the Rangers fell behind. The goal came on New York's first power play of the game that produced after going 0-for-7 in Game 5.
New York Rangers' Fedor Tyutin reacts after the Rangers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 5-4, in NHL hockey action Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Sabres won the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Julie Jacobson/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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