Augusta Chronicle, The

Matchup Stirs Ghost of a Forgotten League

RALEIGH, N.C. - Skip Cunningham has pretty much seen it all. Dingy arenas. A standoff involving a Zamboni. Thirteen-hour flights with three connections. "I keep trying to block those things out," said Cunningham, the longtime equipment manager of the Carolina Hurricanes. "You couldn't make up some of that stuff up, it was so bad."

Mourning's Time has Come

DALLAS - Alonzo Mourning walked into the arena, took his spot at a podium set up along a sideline, looked around and smiled. After a career of waiting, his chance has finally arrived.

Fireball Players Feel Spark

Freddie Moojen hasn't been at Clemson long enough to witness a fall football Saturday, so the Brazilian soccer star for the Tigers and Augusta's FireBall has some learnin' to do about Southern sports. "I'd never heard about the Super Bowl before I got (to America) in 2004," Moojen said. "Somebody said to me, 'Fred, let's go watch Super Bowl,' and I did not know what that is. It didn't seem like such a big deal, but now I understand."

All in All, Wieters Looks Like Another Star On Jackets' Wall

ATLANTA - Matt Wieters sat as far away as possible from "the wall" in Georgia Tech's players' lounge, as if anticipating the obvious question. So, Matt, do you belong among the best players in Yellow Jackets baseball history?

Grimsley Cut After Search

PHOENIX - Pitcher Jason Grimsley was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, a day after his home was searched by federal agents following his admission he used human growth hormone, steroids and amphetamines. The raid - and Grimsley's implication of other major league ballplayers - was the latest sign that widespread investigations into drug use by athletes are still active, even in the era of tougher testing.

'Soccer Is First' ; Importance of Event Will Take Over Lives of Many Starting Friday

The ball has stopped wars and started them, whipsawed financial markets and sent shivers of ineluctable joy and cardiac arrest rippling across entire countries at the same moment. And the way it rolls at the World Cup means everything.

Cox: Reitsma Is Still Closer, Not Ray

ATLANTA - Ken Ray will close more games for Atlanta, manager Bobby Cox said Wednesday, but Ray has not supplanted Chris Reitsma as the team's designated closer. "I'm still picking and choosing," Cox said, adding that Ray "is pitching real good right now."

Overtime

Minor League Baseball GreenJackets earn sweep of twinbill

Gimmick Doesn't Help Braves

ATLANTA - So much for the Atlanta Braves' mustache mojo. Atlanta lost for the eighth time in 10 games Wednesday, 5-2, to the Washington Nationals before a Turner Field crowd of 32, 001 fans.

Sacrifice Pays Off in Colorado's Rout

DENVER - The Colorado Rockies turned the flyout into a weapon, tying a major league record with five sacrifice flies in their 16-9 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. Colorado matched the mark for a nine-inning game set by the Seattle Mariners against Oakland on Aug. 7, 1988. Yorvit Torrealba tied his career-high with five RBI with a second- inning grand slam and sacrifice fly in the fourth. His first home run off Oliver Perez (2-7) gave the Rockies a 9-2 lead.

Top Picks Are Trained by Pletcher

NEW YORK - Kentucky Derby runner-up Bluegrass Cat was made the favorite for Saturday's $1 million Belmont Stakes, which drew a field of 12 3-year-olds. Without Derby winner Barbaro and Preakness winner Bernardini in the race, New York Racing Association oddsmaker Eric Donovan went with trainer Todd Pletcher's colt as the 3-1 morning-line choice Wednesday for the final leg of the Triple Crown.

Swimming

STRATFORD 533, RAYS 122

Overtime

Soccer Greenbrier senior makes Elite team

Believers Will Have Their Faith Tested in Matchup

DALLAS - The NBA finals are a new phenomenon in this part of Texas and in Pat Riley's part of Florida. The Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat have never been this far in the postseason, and there's plenty of rafter room for the banner to be won in the next two weeks. Yet Riley knows how teams get this far, and it isn't just with the buzzer-beating shots and star-making performances that have run rampant in the most exciting postseason in recent memory.

Wie has Already Put Pga Disappointment Behind Her

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. - Playing in the U.S. Open wasn't the only thing on Michelle Wie's mind. Her chances of getting to Winged Foot might have been better had she stayed in Hawaii for the 36-hole sectional qualifier instead of trying to get one of the 18 spots in a large field of PGA Tour players. The one spot available at Poipu Bay - there were only 10 players in that field - went to 15-year-old Tadd Fujikawa, whom Wie beat by two shots in the first stage of qualifying.

Golf

Georgia State Golf Association Junior Sectional

Today in History

1935 Omaha, ridden by Willis Saunders, becomes the third horse to win the Triple Crown by capturing the Belmont Stakes with a 1 1/2- length victory over Firethron.

Trivia

Hurricanes Seize Control of Series

RALEIGH, N.C. - It didn't matter who was in goal for Edmonton. Cam Ward turned aside everything the Oilers sent his way, and the Carolina Hurricanes were simply unstoppable. Ward saved 25 shots for his second shutout of the playoffs and the Hurricanes overwhelmed his counterpart, seizing control of the Stanley Cup finals with a 5-0 rout Wednesday night to go up 2-0 in the series.

Childers Beans Seagull

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Seagulls shouldn't fly between Bisons and Bulls. One of the birds had the misfortune to learn that during Sunday's Triple-A game between the Buffalo Bisons and the Durham Bulls. The seagull was struck by a pitch, carried off the field by a player and later flew away.