A HALT Treasure Hunt Rockies Finish Sweep; Mahan (62) N.Y
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SPORTS EDITOR C GARY ROGO CONNECTICUT POST 330-6210 FRIDAY [email protected] SPORTSPLUS JUNE 22, 2007 King, Simms bring boxing to Arena By MICHAEL FORNABAIO word: unification. Oscar De La Hoya in May. Simms, at the Arena at Harbor Yard. It [email protected] Simms, of Norwalk, will fight who is 25-0 with 19 knockouts, noted probably could not have happened, Joachim Alcine on July 7 at the that both of those fighters moved general manager Lynn Carlotto BRIDGEPORT — The champ Arena at Harbor Yard in defense of up to that weight class; he’s the noted, had another event not pulled was stuck in Simms’ WBA super welterweight natural super welterweight, never out of a July 5-6 date. traffic, so Don Joachim Alcine title. fighting at less than 153 pounds. “You never want to lose a show,” King got to do vs. Travis Simms But Floyd Mayweather Jr., who “Basically, unifying the title, Carlotto said. “But you know that what he does holds the WBC title, and Cory becoming the undisputed old line, things happen for a best: WBA super Spinks, who has the IBF belt, are on champion, is something I’ll always reason?” evocation, welterweight his mind, too. long for,” Simms said. Tickets ($35-200, some ringside education, title bout “I want to show, hey, I’m 36 years Still, this fight means a lot to seats at $350) are available at the elaboration, July 7, Arena at old, and I’m still at an elite level,” him, bringing title fights to arena box office and through Harbor Yard Ned Gerard/Connecticut Post pontification. Simms said at a press conference Fairfield County, defending his belt Ticketmaster. Carlotto said sales Loquacious Don King, left, supports Norwalk’s Travis Simms Then Thursday outside the arena. “I’m near his own hometown in a bout started well. Thursday at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The boxing promoter Travis Simms showed up from ready to unify the division.” that will air on Showtime. also touched on subjects from George W. Bush to P.T. Barnum. Brooklyn and threw in another big Mayweather took the title from This will be the first boxing card ➤ Please see KING on C3 YANKEES T RAVELERS C HAMPIONSHIP SKID TO A HALT Treasure hunt Rockies finish sweep; Mahan (62) N.Y. slips back to .500 shows flair; By PETE CALDERA The (Hackensack N.J.) Record scores go low DENVER — Tripped at Coors Field, and robbed of all their forward momentum, the Yan- By LOU PINTEK kees couldn’t merely bow to the Rockies’ sudden [email protected] superiority. Blown signs and ROCKIES 4 CROMWELL — From the new baserunning gaffes com- YANKEES 3 route through the main grounds of pounded the Yankees’ mis- the TPC at River Highlands — by- ery Thursday afternoon. passing the quarry-like development Roger Clemens even blamed a that will house a state-of-the-art prac- hot, dry wind for some of his tice facility — to the corporate struc- command issues. And when tures situated throughout the golf the Rockies had finished off a course, it’s apparent that the Travel- three-game sweep with a 4-3 ers Insurance Group is sparing little victory, all that good Yankee By the expense to house what it hopes will karma had vanished into be a premier stop on the PGA Tour. Denver’s thin air. numbers Though the first installment of “Sure, the good feeling Runs the newly christened Travelers has gone away,” manager 41scored by Championship was ultimately de- Joe Torre said of his club, Yankees in railed by inclement weather, it wasn’t which had won 11 of its pre- three-game lacking for spectacular golf. vious 12 games. “But the re- series at From unheralded Michael Sim’s ality of what kind of team Colorado in record-tying 29 on the front nine to we are … we have to recap- 2002 Hunter Mahan’s afternoon charge to ture that.” Runs scored the top of the leaderboard with a 62, That new start begins 5by Yanks in the only damper was the second of tonight, with Kei Igawa’s re- last three two weather delays that eventually turn to the majors against games at caused play to be halted shortly after the slumping San Francisco Colorado. 7 p.m. with 39 players still on the Giants — amid the RBIs by course. Play is set to resume at 7:30 sideshow of Barry Bonds’ 0A-Rod in last a.m. today, but will have no bearing home run chase. three games. on the Round 2 starting times. At this point, the Yan- Mahan, who finished tied for sec- kees who fell back to .500 10½ ond behind Fairfield’s J.J. Henry a will use any distraction nec- Games Yanks essary to forget Thursday’s trail Red Sox in ➤ Please see RELAXED on C5 performance. AL East Bobby Abreu missed a Leaderboard hit-and-run sign in the first inning, which caused Derek Jeter to be hung up Hunter Mahan.............31-31—62 ..-8 between first and second and started a brutal Chris DiMarco.............33-31—64 ..-6 trend. Carl Pettersson...........35-30—65 ..-5 Bob Heintz..................31-34—65 ..-5 Robinson Cano was doubled off second base Michael Sim ................29-36—65 ..-5 to end the fifth, and Jeter’s ill-conceived sprint Kenny Perry ................31-34—65 ..-5 from second to third on a ball hit right at the Brad Faxon .................33-32—65 ..-5 shortstop doomed a sixth-inning rally. Notables “We made mistakes that can’t happen,” Torre Woody Austin..............33-33—66 ..-4 said. “Especially when you’re not scoring runs.” David Toms .................33-34—67 ..-3 “It’s something we certainly didn’t expect,” J.J. Henry....................35-33—68 ..-2 Torre said of the run drought. “Not that we Vijay Singh ..................34-34—68 ..-2 took anything for granted.” (40 golfers did not finish) Over the first two games, the Yankees (35-35) ➤ Scores on C5, tee times on C4 were partly stumped by their inexperience ➤ against starters Josh Fogg and Jeff Francis. But Today’s ➤ Today’s they’d seen plenty of Rodrigo Lopez (4-0) before Associated Press TV: forecast: Thursday, and could only manage a two-run Hunter Mahan, coming off a tie for 13th at the U.S. Open, reeled off four birdies in a row on the back nine and 3-6 p.m. High 74, low 59; homer by Hideki Matsui in 5ª innings. threatened the TPC course record of 61 before carding a 62 on Thursday afternoon at Cromwell. (Golf Channel) partly cloudy Entering the game, the ex-Orioles right-han- der was 7-8 with a 6.02 ERA lifetime vs. the Yanks. But Clemens (1-2) handed back his 2-0 lead, Clarke endures ache surrendering second-inning solo homers. Garrett Solid start for J.J. ROMWELL — He tugged his visor down over his ➤ Please see ROCKIES on C2 By NEILL OSTROUT eyes and grabbed the pack of smokes from his [email protected] golf bag. Darren Clarke found the lighter in his BASEBALL INSIDE Cpocket, lit the cigarette and CROMWELL — On the way to claiming his first took a deep drag. ■ Jason Giambi agrees to meet with George PGA Tour win last season at the TPC of River High- As he blew out the smoke, Clarke Mitchell on steroids investigation. C2 lands, J.J. Henry owned the par-4 ninth hole. plopped himself on the steps leading ■ Yanks need Kei Igawa to just give them a The 406-yard dogleg right, with its deep fairway down to the putting green. Above him chance vs. Giants. Yankees watch on C2 bunkers and elevated green, was no match for a hot was a cloudless blue sky. Below was a ■ Henry. The Fairfield native sea of rich, green grass. Hopefully, Matt Beech’s eight walks hurt Bluefish in ➤ 5-4 loss to Road Warriors. C3 rolled in a 9-foot putt for birdie Follow the Travelers Clarke saw both. He took one last puff on www.connpost.com in Thursday’s first round, and flipped what was left of the with tournament CHRIS made a 23-footer on Saturday updates, Web exclusives cigarette over the hedge. A couple of ELSBERRY during his dramatic 63, and and staff blogs. minutes later, Clarke lit up another one. in the sank another putt for three His caddy, Casey Kerr, sat down beside him on the spotlight during Sunday’s final round as he strolled to victory. steps. Kerr talked. Clarke smoked. It was time to a daily profi le of regional athletes As he began the defense of his crown Thursday at decompress. Put the round behind and put reality back the Travelers Championship, No. 9 came back to bite in front. Clarke dug a cell phone out of his pocket and Henry just a bit. His approach from the fairway went made a call as Kerr put his arm around Clarke’s This date in sports long and he three-putted the tricky green for a bogey. shoulders and gave him a friendly squeeze. “I made two sloppy bogeys,” said Henry, who also His two boys, Tyrone and Conor, are Clarke’s priority 1994 — The Houston Rockets, led by three-putted the par-5 sixth. “Other than that, I played now. Tyrone is 9, Conor 6. Together, they are learning Hakeem Olajuwon, win their first NBA title, pretty solid.” Brian A. Pounds/Connecticut Post how to live without their mother. Clarke, however, has to beating New York 90-84 in Game 7 of the Henry shot a 2-under-par 68 Thursday morning.