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NEW YORK —Robinson Cano was not going to risk facing Johan Santanas wicked
changeup, so he swung at the first two pitches he saw from the Mets ace. Ed
Reed Jersey . Good plan. Cano homered on each of his first two
swings against the two-time Cy Young Award winner and the New York Yankees hit
four long balls off an ineffective Santana in a 9-1 rout of the Mets on Friday
night. Canos second shot was the first of three straight homers off Santana, who
was coming off a no-hitter against St. Louis. “Thats a guy you want to go and be
aggressive because you dont want to get behind the count,” Cano said. “Hes got
some great pitches.” In the first Subway Series game of the season,
Hiroki Kuroda allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings before leaving with a
bruised left foot. Kuroda (5-6) gave up only a two-out double in the sixth to
Omar Quintanilla but ended the night hopping out of the clubhouse on crutches.
Kurodas first appearance in the crosstown rivalry was cut short when
Daniel Murphy scorched a liner off the pitchers foot, eliciting “oohs” from the
crowd of 48,566—just the second sellout at Yankee Stadium this season. The
ball popped up high and was caught by third baseman Alex Rodriguez for the final
out of the seventh. Kuroda limped off the field and down into the clubhouse,
followed by several teammates and trainers. Yankees manager Joe Girardi wasnt
sure whether Kuroda will make his next start. “I think any time you get hit in
the foot like that you have to be somewhat concerned,” Girardi said. Cody Eppley
worked the eighth and former Mets reliever Ryota Igarashi gave up an RBI double
to Lucas Duda in the ninth in his Yankees debut before finishing the two-hitter.
Santana (3-3) was given two extra days of rest after throwing a career-high 134
pitches last Friday in the first no-hitter in Mets history. But he didnt have it
this time, serving up a career-high four homers during New Yorks fourth loss in
five games “A couple of extra days and I felt fine,” Santana said. “I just didnt
have my feeling for a couple of my pitches. There were times when they stayed up
and when you leave pitches up, you know, theyre a pretty good team and in this
ballpark, you keep pitches up, they end up out of the park, and thats what
happened.” Mets manager Terry Collins had a different take on Santanas
performance. He blamed himself, saying the two extra days between starts left
Santana rusty. “Its my doing, its not his,” Collins said. “We erred on the side
of caution and it cost us the game tonight.” Santana is 0-3 with a 12.21 ERA in
three starts at the new Yankee Stadium. The Mets fell to 35-50 against their
crosstown rivals during the regular season. After a perfect first inning,
Santana walked Rodriguez to start the second, his last two pitches missing
badly. Cano lined the next pitch into the right-field seats for the first runs
off Santana since May 21, three starts ago. He had a scoreless streak of 19
innings. Rodriguez singled with two outs in the third. Cano then set off a
barrage of long balls in an 11-pitch span with a drive into the second deck in
right, again on a first pitch, for his eighth multihomer game. Nick Swisher
followed with a liner to left field and Andruw Jones hit a high-arcing drive to
left for a 6-0 lead. It was the first time Santana allowed three homers in a
row. Cano had two tries for a third homer but popped out and grounded out. There
was no need to worry about a pitch count for Santana. He was lifted after five
innings, having allowed six runs and seven hits. He threw 86 pitches. Kuroda had
a poor history against the Mets, going 1-5 with a 5.75 ERA against them with the
Los Angeles Dodgers. This time he had the Mets flailing at a slider that fooled
lefties and righties. There wasnt a hard-hit ball until Quintanillas double. The
most difficult play until then came after Josh Thole reached on Derek Jeters
error at shortstop. David Wright broke his bat near the handle, sending much of
it spiraling toward Rodriguez, while hitting a grounder to third. A-Rod calmly
fielded the ball and started a double play as the bat soared over his head. As
Kuroda worked his way through the Mets lineup, Girardi started thinking the
right-hander might be able to give New York a no-hitter for a second straight
Friday. “With what Santana did last week you kind of thought, maybe this could
happen here,” Girardi said. Kuroda has made three solid starts in a row, giving
up just two runs in 22 innings. This time he struck out seven and walked one.
Swisher had an RBI double and Jones a run-scoring single in a three-run seventh.
NOTES: Jason Bay went 0 for 3 in his return to the Mets lineup. He had not
played since April 23 because of a broken rib. ... The previous time the Yankees
hit back-to-back-to-back homers was Aug. 28 at Baltimore. ... Yankees reliever
Joba Chamberlain threw off a mound for the first time since hurting his ankle
jumping on a trampoline in March. Chamberlain made 25 throws in a batting cage
at the teams minor league complex in Tampa, Fla. Chamberlain, also coming off
Tommy John surgery, has no doubt he will pitch this season. “Is that even a
question?” he said. Torrey Smith Womens Jersey . Amare Stoudemire
led six Suns players in the double digits on the way to a 96-79 victory over the
defending champions on Wednesday night. “Any time you come here its a good win,”
Steve Nash said. Torrey Smith Jersey . Webber has won two
races this season, including the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, two
weeks ago, and is second in the driver standings, 13 points behind Fernando
Alonso. http://www.shoptheravens.com/ray-rice-jerseys
. New NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr was in Chicago for
meetings. He says negotiations will begin after Wednesdays meeting of the NHLPAs
executive board. Haloti Ngata Womens Jersey . It still wasnt
enough to take down the sharpshooting Toronto Raptors. Andrea Bargnani scored a
season-high 25 points, Jermaine ONeal added 16 points and 17 rebounds, and the
Raptors were 8-for-8 on three-pointers in the second half to overcome Wades huge
effort and beat the Miami Heat 101-95 on Wednesday night. Torrey Smith Elite Jersey . Dunleavy had 27
points and 11 rebounds and the Pacers kept their faint post-season hopes alive
by edging the Milwaukee Bucks 105-101 on Friday night. MASON, Ohio—Novak
Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer won their opening matches at the Western
& Southern Open in straight sets Wednesday, getting accustomed to the heat
after spending the last two weeks in London and Canada. Djokovic got the bronze
medal at the Olympics in London, then won the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday
night. He was a little off in his opening set on a court baked in sunshine and
86-degree heat, before pulling away from Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (4), 6-2.
“Sometimes its really hard to try to stay fit for every single tournament and
try to perform your best,” Djokovic said. “I mean, in the last three, four
weeks, I have changed three different cities, places, surfaces, conditions. Im
still trying to figure out where I am.” Murray had the best moment of his career
at Wimbledon, winning the Olympic gold on home soil. He had to withdraw from the
Rogers Cup because of a sore knee, which he blamed on the transition from grass
to hard courts. Murray, the defending champion in Cincinnati, moved around the
court well during his 6-2, 6-4 win over Sam Querrey. The American repeatedly
missed open shots while falling behind and managed only two break points during
the match, both of which Murray saved. “It felt fine,” Murray said of his knee.
“I moved well today. It still was giving me a little bit of trouble in practice
for a couple of days before the tournament, but it felt fine, much better on the
court today. I moved well, so Im hoping it wont be a problem.” Federer had no
trouble in his evening match against Russias Alex Bogomolov, winning 6-3, 6-2 in
exactly one hour. He served 12 aces and didnt face a break point until the final
game of the match. Federer skipped the Rogers Cup, so it was his first match
back on a hard court. “Its nice to be back on the hard courts,” Federer said. “I
served really well. He struggled to get into some rallies.” On the womens side,
top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland also advanced to the third round with a
6-4, 6-3 win over Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden. Venus Williams moved on with her
second three-set victory in two days. Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan quit her
match while trailing in the second set, overcome by the heat, and also dropped
out of her later doubles match. Radwanska, who received a first-round bye, felt
a little rusty. “The first match is always more difficult, with the different
balls and conditions,” she said. “I was happy to get through it, especially
since it was very hot. Hopefully, Ill better (Thursday).” Radwanska, who lost to
Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final and is ranked No. 3 in the world, will
meet Sloane Stephens of the United States, who got into the tournament as a wild
card. “Ill just go out and play my game,” Stephens said, adding with a smile,
“Im not going to tell you how Im going to play, because shell probably read this
and know how to play.” Venus Williams won the gold medal in doubles with her
sister in London and arrived for the tournament in suburban Cincinnati upbeat.
She needed three sets and 2 hours, 23 minutes to win her opening match Tuesday,
then followed it with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Russias CChanelle Scheepers
in the afternoon heat that lasted an hour and 46 minutes. Ray
Rice Jersey. After Scheepers long return ended it, Williams briefly
raised her arm in celebration, walked slowly to the net to shake hands, and sat
down and rubbed her forehead with both hands. Eleventh-seeded Dominka Cibulkova
withdrew with an injury after losing the first set in a tiebreaker against
qualifier Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic. Chinas Shuai Peng also
advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Roberta Vinci of Italy. In mens action,
Canadian Milos Raonic struggled for more than two hours before finally
overcoming former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 to
reach the third round of the Western & Southern Open. The 21-year-old got
out of trouble repeatedly with his serve, which produced 22 aces. He had 12
Tuesday night when he opened with a victory over Rogers Cup finalist Richard
Gasquet. Raonic improved to 2-0 over the recently married Baghdatis after
beating the Cypriot last October at an indoor tournament in Stockholm, Sweden.
Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., hit 46 winners, and broke Baghdatis for a 5-4 lead
in the final set. But he had trouble finishing out the win, and had to save
three break points in the next game. He finally got an opening as he earned a
match point and finished the job on a Baghdatis error. Baghdatis was treated for
a back and hip problem in the second set, but didnt seem to affect his play.
Raonic saved all six of the break points he faced and he profited from 33
Baghdatis errors. “It was hot and maybe the ball was just going through the
court a little bit quicker, but I started off the match not playing aggressive
enough,” said Raonic. “I started playing too flat, just to the way he likes, and
then I was sort of figuring out a few points here and there. “I didnt really
have a solution consistently throughout the match, so that sort of made it
difficult.” Raonic, ranked a career-high 19th in the world, next faces Tomas
Berdych of the Czech Republic, a regular in the ATP top 10. The two have never
played each other before. “Were both going to be going for our shots,” said the
Canadian, “For myself, on my serve its going to be a priority to really try to
dictate as much as possible; on the returns, just sort of make him try to play
as much as possible and hopefully create some opportunities with it.” No.
10-seeded Mardy Fish of the United States advanced to the third round by
defeating Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-1. Serbian Victor Troicki moved on
to the third round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Nikolay
Davydenko of Russia beat Florian Meyer of Germany 6-3, 6-3. Fish was happy to
advance relatively easily against an unfamiliar opponent while still working
back into form after a surgical procedure to correct a heart condition in May.
“It was nice to get on and off quickly, especially with a win,” said Fish, whod
never played Berlocq in singles. “You also can get on and off quickly with a
loss. Its somewhat tricky. You never know what to expect. I played as well today
as I have all summer. Hes a good player. If youre not on top of your game, you
could be in trouble.” ’ ’ ’