>> bob: we've endured delay of 47 minutes here at land shark stadium in south florida. no sign of the rain letting up. not coming down as hard as it was a half hour ago, but still very steady and it's supposed to be forecast to be raining for quite a while. again, at the top of the hour, we'll keep you posted. for now, back to espn news. if something happens between now and 11:00, we will let you know immediately. who looked the part of a former winner? espnews starts now. >> hello, welcome to espnews, where we always help you stay current with the latest news, scores and highlights. will sell virginia is here, i'm

mark morgan. busy 30 minutes ahead 126789:01 eastern time, the nba free agency period begins. espn the magazine writer rick ueker to taushg about it in a few minutes. >> first, the phils and the bravos. some drama in this one. bottom eight, marquis prado, well that one is a base hit, that goes in. ties it up 4-4. prado's night would continue. bottom ten, runners at second and third, one out, prado, over the left field, these it, game over. braves end up winning 5-4, prado had a solo home run in the fifth. he had three career home runs entering the season. he now has four.

batting .500 his last seven games. he's on fire. chase utley, a solo home run in the fifth. just his second round-tripper in 17 games. >> cubs and the pirates, bottom seven, pirates leading 2-0. one on, two out for freddy sanchez. that will drop into left center. one run scores, pirates end up winning it 3-0. cubs shut out for the second time in three games. they've lost 7 of 9 overall, ted lilly, his first career loss versus pittsburgh, 3-1 against them. pirates now have won 5 of 7 overall. >> meantime, the d-backs trying to snap a five-game losing streak. dan haren on the mark. check him out, against jerry hairston. hairston swinging. brandon phillips, same deal. haren in control.

top of the fifth, haren, look here. deep left center, and gone. first row of the stands. hey, he's a pitcher, he cleared the fence. >> that's the important thing. >> haren, seven innings pitched, struck out ininto, he has given up two earned runs or less in seven straight starts. mark reynolds, 26 rbi in june, the most he has had in a single month in a season. >> making a funny. joe maddon and the rays, visiting the blue jays. first pitch of the game, gone. b.j. upton, seventh home run of the season for him, rays lead 1-0. top three, game tied at one, carl crawford, well he just untied it. number eight for him. rays lead it 2-1. top six, willie aybar, just gets around on this one.

in a hurry. rays setting a franchise record for home runs in the month, with 41, they've won seven straight overall. toronto has lost four straight, 5 of 6 overall. rolen went 1 for 4, extends his hitting streak to 18 games with a single in the second. >> nba news, carlos boozer of the jazz has decided not to opt out of the last year of his contract. he will stay in salt lake city as will his teammate, oku, who is also decided to forego free agency and stay with the jazz. allen iverson is out there, to be had, looking for a new team. iverson came to the pistons in the november trade, never really meshed with his teammates. detroit swept by the cavs in the first round of the playoffs. jason kidd apparently courted by several times teams, he is in new york, talking to the knicks and the mavs after mid night. and magic forward turkoglu also testing the free agent market, turkoglu averaged 17 points, 5 boards and 5 assists a game last

season. another player likely to attract a lot of attention, ben gordon, he had 24 points in the seven-game playoff loss to the celtics. >> and with the nba free agency period beginning at 12:01 a.m. eastern this evening, espn the magazine senior writer rick buicker joins us now. rick, can you hear me? i guess we are ehaving a couple of audio problems with rick. espn the magazine senior writer. we'll get to rick in a moment. >> meantime, the michael curry era is over in detroit. pistons firing him today. detroit starter, the regular season with high hopes, but never really recovered following the iverson trade. the pistons' campaign ended with the cavs playoff sweep. >> pistons president joe dumas said, quote --

>> espn the magazine's chris broussard on what the move means. >> the fire of michael curry in detroit means that harmony could return to the pistons' locker room. curry had problems with several players last year, most notably richard ham hamilton. another season like that would have ruined another campaign in motown. now on the short list are doug collins, avery johnson and sam mitchell. collins appears to be the frontrunner right now, but it's early in the process, and we've heard collins mentioned as a favorite for many coaching jobs in the past. stay tuned. >> wimbledon, ladies quarters, venus williams and radwanska, comparison serves here, first serve, crushed by venus. average 93 miles an hour for radwanska. venus loads up, fires away, 117-mile-an-hour heater. takes the first, in 27 minutes.

venus can come back from down 0-2 to lead 4-2, and the backhand crosscourt winner, takes that game to make it 5-2. match point, venus, the forehand winner. lost only 19 games thus far, she advances 6-1, 6-2 victory. sister serena seeded number 2, taking on victoria azarenka of belarus. we pick it up, near court, serena leading 5-26789 the blistering return of serve from williams, azarenka just can't get there. all she can do is find a grin. 26 minutes for serena to win the first set. second set, serena serving for the match at 5-3. almost hits the ball boy in the head. ace for serena, serena serves wide, it's 40-love. match point, for serena williams. serena, closes the deal, 2-3, she advances.

venus happy for her sister, 9 hiel 8, seven unforced errors. >> i really wanted to do well today. i didn't do well the last time we played i was not feeling great. and, you know, i felt like i wanted to really show up today. >> are you thinking at all about a final against venus? >> no, right now you'll just thinking about winning my next round. which is another tough match. and i'm just thinking about, usually when i go into a match, when i play the winner of this and this, and now it's the finals. >> march to a finals meeting continues. venus and serena have reached the semias combined 14 times, in 23 appearances. combined the sisters have won 7 of the 9 wimbledon titles handed out this decade. . >> for the second time in four years the top four seeds all reach the semifinals at the all england club.

venus williams, must get past safina. venus, an astounding 7-0 in the wimbledon semis. little sister serena gets dementieva who she defeated in the semis of the australian open earlier this year. >> we have the kinks worked out, rick buker will join us with an update on looming free agency in the nba. 12:01 a.m. eastern. tiger woods in a moment answers one of his critics, nhl hall of famer jim brown. >> at the top of the hour, staying or leaving, take a look at the nba free agency period, with our very own rik bucher. the five cy young winners on the mound. and sister, sister, venus and serene setting up for an all-wimbledon final. ♪

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