Derek Jeter tied the New York Yankees all-time career hit mark as his Major League-best team rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Wednesday.
The Yankees captain made three hits to join Lou Gehrig with 2,721 for his career, a record that stood for more than 70 years.
Catcher Jorge Posada smashed a three-run homer in the eighth to help New York (91-50) take the four-game set against the Rays (72-68).
It was a celebratory night for the home crowd, who showered Jeter with applause in the seventh inning as the Yankees shortstop stood at first base and doffed his batting helmet after reaching the franchise mark.
“I didn’t know what to do — we were losing at the time,” Jeter told reporters, of his special moment. “I took a moment to soak it in. When I saw them giving me an ovation I really appreciated it. The fans have been great this whole homestand, I’ve been trying to do it for them. That’s why I bunted (for a hit) in the first inning, because I needed to get at least one hit.”
Jeter was mired in an 0-for-12 slump heading into the night but snapped it with an emphatic performance. He will have a chance to break the record Friday when the Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles.
Trailing 2-0, New York rallied when Alex Rodriguez led off the eighth with a single and later scored on a throwing error from Tampa Bay first baseman Chris Richard.
Posada came on to pinch-hit and sent a drive over the right-field fence against reliever Grant Balfour, his 21st homer of the year.
New York relievers Brian Bruney and Phil Coke combined to close out the ninth inning, stranding Rays third baseman Evan Longoria at third.
Starter Joba Chamberlain was pulled after the third inning for the third straight start and has now gone six outings without a win.
Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett led off the game with a solo home run and Pat Burrell added an RBI single as the visitors scored twice in the first inning.
Rays starter Jeff Niemann struck out eight Yankees and allowed one run in seven innings before being relieved in the eighth as Tampa Bay lost for a season-high eighth consecutive time.
The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news stories that occurred overnight. Look for updates throughout the day on Yahoo! News and in the news box on Yahoo.com.
Top story overnight: A suicide truck bomber attacked a Kurdish village in northern Iraq today, The Associated Press reported. At least 19 people were killed and another 30 injured in the blast. At the time of this writing, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In other news: The death toll from two mine accidents that happened earlier this week in central China climbed to 56, The AP reported. That number could rise as rescue crews continue searching for 36 other miners who are still listed as missing. To date, more than 20 officials and mine managers have been fired, suspended or arrested for the incidents.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle denounced Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for disrupting President Barack Obama’s health care reform speech to Congress last night, The AP reported. Wilson shouted “You lie!” after Obama said extending health care to all Americans who seek it would not mean insuring illegal immigrants. “I was embarrassed for the chamber and a Congress I love,” Vice President Joe Biden said. “It demeaned the institution.” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) agreed, calling Wilson’s behavior “totally disrepectful.” “There is no place for it in that setting, or any other, and he should apologize for it immediately,” McCain said. Wilson later issued a statement, extending his “sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.” He also tried to call Obama to apologize personally, but ended up giving his regrets to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel instead.
Finally, oil prices climbed above $72 a barrel overnight, helped by a weaker dollar and steady OPEC production levels. According to The AP, crude prices have jumped nearly $4 in just two days.
Most-read stories overnight: Hugh Hefner filed for divorce last week from his wife Kimberly, The AP reported. The 83-year-old founder of Playboy magazine asked a judge to order him to pay $20,000 a month in spousal support, which is half of what he’s been paying since the pair separated in 1998. The couple wed in 1989, the same year she was named Playmate of the Year.
Readers were also intrigued by this AP story about a California lawmaker who bragged about his extramarital affairs. Mike Duvall, a conservative Republican representing Orange County, became a YouTube hit when racy comments he made about sexual conquests were caught by an open microphone in a Capitol hearing room. He resigned on Wednesday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now has 14 days to call for a special election to fill Duvall’s seat. Orange County officials said that election will cost taxpayers between $330,000 and $440,000, The L.A. Times reported.
Looking ahead: Nancy Ann DeParle, the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, will answer questions from Yahoo! readers about the administration’s health care reform goals. Watch the live video stream today at 3 p.m. EST/12 p.m. PST. General Motors is expected to announce whether it plans to sell its Opel unit to one of two rival bidders today. And space shuttle Discovery will try to return to Earth this evening, but thunderstorms could keep the astronauts in orbit for an extra day or two.
Today’s poll: President Obama pitched his health care reform legislation to the American public during a televised joint session of Congress last night. One part of his legislation would bar insurance companies from canceling or refusing coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions. What are your thoughts about this provision? Click here to vote.
Yesterday’s poll: Do you wear white after Labor Day? Seventy-nine percent of respondents said yes and 21 percent said no.
Today in history: In 1977, convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi became the last person to be executed by the guillotine in France.
Birthdays: Singer Sanjaya Malakar, 25. Musician Matthew Followill (Kings of Leon), 25. Figure skater Timothy Goebel, 29. Musician Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance), 29. Tennis player Gustavo Kuerten, 33. Actor Ryan Phillippe, 35. Director Guy Ritchie, 41. Rapper Big Daddy Kane, 41. Musician Robin Goodridge (Bush), 44. Former Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.), 45. Baseball player Randy Johnson, 46. Actor Colin Firth, 49. Writer/director Christopher Columbus, 51. Actress Amy Irving, 56. Musician Joe Perry (Aerosmith), 59. Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, 61. Former Canadian first lady Margaret Trudeau, 61. Singer Jose Feliciano, 64. Singer Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night), 67. Golfer Arnold Palmer, 80.
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–Jade Walker is the overnight editor of Yahoo! News. News doesn’t stop when the lights go out, and neither does Jade.
The New York Knicks are apparently getting very close to signing restricted free agents David Lee(notes) and Nate Robinson(notes) to one-year deals, according to New York Newsday. Team president Donnie Walsh would only say that things are “at the point where we should start talking real numbers.” One would hope so with camp coming up so soon.
It appears that no quality sign-and-trade deal could be found that Walsh was happy to do, but it does look like Walsh is going to at least give the two players more money than are in the initial qualifying offers: $2.9 million for Robinson and $2.7 million for Lee.
There’s no doubt Walsh will be happy next summer when he can clear these guys out of the system (though some think he might want to retain Lee) and use that money to go after other free agents with bigger names like Chris Bosh and Amar’e Stoudemire as well as two who are much more unlikely to move to new teams: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
The AP Top 25 college football rankings are now out, as the AP college football poll has a few notable shakeups.
The AP top 25 college football poll mostly looks the same from last week, but the college football rankings have one very big change. With Oklahoma falling to BYU, the AP college football poll has the Sooners out of the top 10, and BYU in. As such, the college football rankings will now center on whether BYU could possibly make a run to the top – at least until the Cougars lose a game.
The AP Top 25 college football poll is the same in the top 2, of course, according to the Associated Press itself,. Florida and Texas had far less problems in their first game than Oklahoma, so the Gators and Longhorns are even more solid favorites.
The rest of the top 10 college football poll has the major changes. Though USC is now number 3 in the college football rankings, Alabama has two first place votes at fourth, after their win over Virginia Tech. Oklahoma State rises into the top 5 after defeating Georgia, followed by Ole Miss, Penn State, and Ohio State – which actually dropped down after their win over Navy.
But the BYU Cougars took the biggest jump in the AP top 25 college football poll. After their upset of Oklahoma, the Cougars are now ninth in the nation, and will be at the center of BCS dark horse talk for some time.
Of course, BYU plays in the ultra-competitive Mountain West with Utah and TCU, and faces Florida State in two weeks, so getting an undefeated season will still be very difficult. The other mid-major BCS buster, Boise State, is at 12’th after defeating Oregon.
As for the Sooners, they dropped to 13’th in the college football rankings, with a lot of turmoil still ahead. Sam Bradford is expected to be out for 2-4 more weeks, as Sooner Nation hopes that he will at least be back for the showdown against Texas in October.
Until then, the Sooners face a relatively easy schedule until they take on Miami in a few weeks. The Hurricanes jumped into the college football rankings at 20’th, after their thrilling win over Florida State.
(ESPN.com) — The newest AP Poll is out, and it includes both Penn State and Ohio State in the Top 10. And that does it, at least from a Big Ten perspective.
Penn State moves up two spots to No. 7, while the Buckeyes dropped two spots to No. 8 after their too-close-for-comfort victory against Navy last Saturday. USC moves up to No. 3, setting up a matchup of two Top 10 teams Saturday at Ohio Stadium (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET).
Iowa tumbled out of the rankings after barely beating FCS-member Northern Iowa last week. The Hawkeyes fell behind Michigan State in the “also receiving votes” category, a spot ahead of Michigan, which looked impressive in a win against Western Michigan. Michigan State finishes second in others receiving votes, meaning a jump into the rankings is possible next week.
Needless to say, the Big Ten really needs to improve its stock beginning this week.
ESPN.com’s Power Rankings are also out. Penn State comes in at No. 6, four spots ahead of No. 10 Ohio State. Iowa, Michigan State and Michigan are receiving votes.
Here’s how I voted in this week’s power rankings:
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Alabama
5. Oklahoma State
6. Mississippi
7. Penn State
8. California
9. Ohio State
10. BYU
11. Oklahoma
12. LSU
13. Boise State
14. Virginia Tech
15. Georgia Tech
16. TCU
17. Notre Dame
18. Utah
19. Cincinnati
20. Nebraska
21. Miami
22. North Carolina
23. Georgia
24. Florida State
25. Michigan State
“You can’t beat this, Taylor Dent said. And he proceeded to take a victory lap around the Grandstand court, slapping hands with fans who repeatedly were chanting, “Dent! Dent! Dent! Dent!” during his four-hour, nine-minute 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (9) second-round victory over Spain’s Ivan Navarro.
NEW YORK (AP) — After 4 hours, five sets and a match he won’t soon forget, Taylor Dent grabbed the umpire’s microphone and thanked the raucous U.S. Open crowd.
Really, though, they should have been thanking him.
Dent kept his inspiring comeback story on track with a crowd-pleasing victory over Spain’s Ivan Navarro.
The American won on his fourth match point, with a backhand return winner past Navarro that brought the fans at the Grandstand court to their feet. Really, they had been on their feet through most of this match, a tussle between a pair of serve-and-volleyers who played a lot of short points and high-risk, high-reward tennis.
Dent had a bigger game. He finished with 121 winners and 50 unforced errors, with his serve topping out at 147 mph. One of his serves, a 138-mph offering, broke the strapping on the net and caused a 7-minute delay.
None of this, of course, seemed possible two years ago when the 28-year-old, once ranked as high as No. 21, was bedridden with a back injury that some doctors said would never allow him to play tennis again.
He underwent delicate surgery and proved them wrong.
“When they told me I had the opportunity to play tennis again, how could I pass that up?” he said. “A select few get to play professional sports. It would have been naive and irresponsible of me to not try to capitalize and come out here and give it my best.”
Ranked 195th and playing in his first U.S. Open since 2005, Dent’s best has been good enough so far.
Next up, though, is a third-round match against No. 2 Andy Murray. He’ll be a huge underdog. He has overcome these kind of odds before.
“It’s going to be rough, there’s no way around it,” Dent said. “My execution is not where I want it to be, but that’s not going to stop me from battling. That’s how I won today. Even if it’s 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, I’m going to go out and hustle and give everything I’ve got.”
* * *
Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a tennis player from the United States.
He has won 4 ATP singles titles during his career: Newport (2002), Bangkok (2003), Memphis (2003), and Moscow (2003), and reached the finals of three other events on tour.
Dent’s most memorable performance of his career so far came at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he made a push all the way to the semifinals, where he was defeated by eventual gold medalist Nicolás Massú of Chile. Even more memorable was his bronze medal match against Fernando González, also of Chile, which he lost 16-14 in the 3rd set.
Dent, paired with Lisa Raymond, won the 2006 Hopman Cup, defeating the Netherlands two rubbers to one in the final.
In 2006 Dent did not play very many competitive matches, due to the recurring back and groin problem. Dent had back surgery on March 19, 2007.
On May 26, 2008 Dent received a wild card and played at the Carson challenger in the United States. It was his first match since February 2006. He lost his first round match to Cecil Mamiit. In July 2008 Dent took a wild card into his first ATP tour event for two seasons at the Hall of Fame tennis tournament in Newport, Rhode Island. He lost in three sets to Canada’s Frank Dancevic.
On November 12, 2008 Dent won his first comeback match at the Champaign challenger against Frederic Niemeyer 6-3 7-6(3). He followed this win up by defeating number 2 seed and fellow American Robert Kendrick. In the third round Dent had to withdraw against Sam Warburg.
Using his protected ranking of 56, Dent played the 2009 Australian Open, where he was eliminated in the first round by Amer Delic.
As a qualifier, he reached the fourth round of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, defeating Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo in the process. He lost to Roger Federer in the fourth round, 3-6, 2-6. Despite the scoreline, the first set was a very entertaining encounter, with Federer’s longest service game lasting just short of a quarter of an hour; Dent had 8 break point opportunities. He had a poor run of form following this, but reversed the poor form by qualifying for Wimbledon, having entered the qualifying via a wildcard. He won his way through to the main draw, where he lost to Daniel Gimeno-Traver in five sets in the first round.
Unusual for a contemporary tennis player, Dent favors a pure serve-and-volley style of play. He possesses a powerful serve and strong volleys. He is the owner of the fourth fastest serve in the world, at a velocity of 243 km/h. Andy Roddick, Ivo Karlović and Joachim Johansson are the only three players to have served faster.
Dent is the son of former ATP player and 1974 Australian Open finalist Phil Dent. Taylor’s mother, Betty Ann (Grubb) Stuart, who has remarried, reached the U.S. Open doubles final in 1977 with Renée Richards and was a former Top 10 player in U.S. His stepbrother, Brett Hansen-Dent (born July 2, 1972), played on ATP circuit briefly after reaching the NCAA singles final while representing the University of Southern California. His godfather is former top ten player, Australian John Alexander, who was also Phil Dent’s doubles partner when they won the 1975 Australian Open doubles title. His first cousin Misty May-Treanor is one of top pro volleyball players in the world and a gold medalist at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Dent appeared in a US television commercial for insurer Genworth Financial as the opponent of a young boy playing the role of Jaden Agassi, the son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
Dent attended Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California, whom he played for. He also attended Monte Vista High School, also in California. He has a tattoo of American and Australian flags on his right shoulder. On December 8, 2006, he married WTA Tour player Jennifer Hopkins. Wedding guests included Maria Sharapova, Nick Bollettieri, Jan-Michael Gambill, Tommy Haas and Mashona Washington.
(Strotty) — If you have been watching ESPN at any time over the past two weeks or so, you knew that yesterday marked the beginning of the 2009 NCAA Football season. I’m more of an NFL man myself but over the last couple of years have began to get into the college game as well. Marquette has no football team so I haven’t picked a school to root for (despite my man-crush on Tim Tebow), but I am starting to respect and enjoy the game more.
The year was kicked off on ESPN with a top-25 matchup between the 14th ranked Boise State Broncos and 16th ranked Oregon Ducks. The bordered rivals entered the game with BCS berth aspirations, full-well knowing that the loser of the game was pretty much out of the running with Boise State playing in a non-BCS conference and Oregon having USC in theirs, the Pac-10.
Much hype was made of the game, but a lackluster 19-8 Boise State win became a whole lot more exciting after the final whistle blew. As the two teams congregated on the field in a standard post-game handshake, Boise State sophomore defensive end Byron Hout ran by Oregon running back LeGarette Blount and said something. Blount then stared at Hout for a moment and delivered a sucker-punch, knocking Hout to the ground.
Blount then punched a teammate trying to hold him back as he attempted to get back to where Hout was. He was escorted off the field by a few teammates and security as he got into it with a group of fans who, Blount says, punched him and held up a chair as if to throw at him.
The melee was a mess and really took away from the start to what looks to be an excellent college football season. Blount will have repercussions from his actions, but the real question is this: is Byron Hout at fault as well?
The beginning of this story goes way back to last season, after Boise State had defeated the Ducks 37-22 in Oregon. Two late hits in the game by the Broncos were the talk of the town, and last month Blount told Sports Illustrated that Oregon owed Boise State “an ass-whooping”.
Here’s a lesson that young (OK, he’s older than me) Byron Hout needs to learn: bulletin board talk is supposed to psych you up before the game and during it, not after. How many times we seen players come out in the media and say something to rile the other team up before a huge rivalry? It’s part of sports and something that happens all the time.
Mature players speak with their actions on the field, something all but one Bronco did Thursday night. I played four years of high school football, and while I would never compare it to a meeting between a Pac-10 school and a WAC powerhouse, the jist of what goes on is the same.
Trash talk happens in every facet of the game during all minutes of the game. From the second the kickoff takes place to the final whistle, kids are hooting and hollering at the opposition to get their squad jacked up. In Hout’s case, he had 60 minutes to say anything and everything he wanted to Blount. Odds are he said quite a bit during the game, meaning he clearly got his point across enough that he could have shut up after the game.
The other aspect of all this is that Boise State won the game handily. Despite the score, Boise State controlled the game and never let Oregon back in it. Blount rushed for negative yards on eight carries and caught just two passes on the evening. He was shut up in every aspect as the Broncos delivered him his self-proclaimed “ass-whooping”.
The term “leaving everything on the field” does not just apply to work ethic and heart. It applies to the trash-talking and bitterness towards your opponent. After the game, Blount was seen shaking hands with Boise State players just as any normal player would do. The game was over and so was the trash-talking.
(LeGarrette Blount was extremely wrong for punching Byron Hout, but why did Hout talk in the first place?)
If Hout wants to hate Oregon and LeGarrette Blount for the rest of his life, that’s his prerogative and something I wouldn’t blame him for. After all, the rivals have had a battle of words but in the end, Boise State has two “W’s” that any Oregon Duck wishes they had. Those two wins in the last two years were enough for everyone on the Smurf Turf expect one Byron Hout.
For some reason he needed more than just a victory to settle the score with Blount. The Oregon running back had just started off his senior year in the worst way possible, had just blown any realistic chance at a BCS berth, and had one of the worst games of his football career. Hout taunted him like a child and basically kicked him while he was down. Hout does not deserve to be suspended, but some internal action needs to be taken so Hout knows he wasn’t just a victim in this incident.
As for Blount, the proverbial last straw has been taken from his and his days in an Oregon uniform need to be over. First year head coach Chip Kelly suspended Blount in the off-season for “failing to fulfill team obligations” before being re-instated for the start of the season. Out of high school, Blount did not qualify academically and had to jake the JUCO route before winding up at Oregon.
If Kelly wants to make a statement with his new program, he will sacrifice his starting running back to show that Oregon is not full of punks. It’s true that Hout is at fault for talking after the game, but if a player can not show enough restraint to not sucker-punch a player, his own teammate, and go after fans after the fact of the matter, then he has no place on a respected Division-I football team.
It’s sad that the end of a game between two great football teams had to end in such a poor way, but don’t think that Blount is the only one at fault here. Hout had no place going and taunting, not talking to, Blount after the game. He was jumping around him, patted him on the back and said something that clearly angered Blount. It was immature and stupid of Hout, but Blount’s even dumber actions seem to be covering that up.
Whatever happens to Blount, likely a suspension of some sort, Hout needs to come out publicly and apologize for his words and actions to clean this act up. Not only will it make him look better, but it will remove some of the dark cloud that is being put over the heads of the poor winners of Boise State. Only one person took it too far, but every second Hout wears the Boise State blue, he represents the school and has to know that anything he does is a representation of the school.
(LeGarrette Blount was extremely wrong for punching Byron Hout, but why did Hout talk in the first place?)