in baseball, it's been one-sided this season. the yankees are on the verge of snapping out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine tuning the other trying to get his tune back. see how they're doing in round one at firestone. it could be a game changer by the front office. could be looking at a major headache. >> lebron james is filthy on the court. but we'll tell you what, who is going to be at his mercy this coming season

[closed captioning provided by espn, inc.] >> >> there they go. the fight, and the bases empty. >> a three-run home run for bucky dent. the red sox are still breathing. there it goes! the yankees are going to the world series. >> the red sox, called the greatest victory in team history. >> there they go again.

>> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights. this is espnews. now available in high definition. while j.w. stewart and mike yam with you. jw coming into thursday, the yankees haven't beaten the red sox at all this year. the yanks 0-# against their archrivals. they began the night with a two and a half game lead in the al east. >> first of four game series in the bronx. david ortiz stepping up to the plate at yankee stadium for the first time since the new york times report that he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. top of the first. out of the right field corner. bottom two, swisher. that's into centerfield. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing. posada decides not to slide. victor martinez tags him out. worth another look. great relay throw by dustin pedroia. melky cabrera in the on deck circle there. didn't look like he was telling jorge to get down and slide.

so posada's out. top of the third, pedroia going op owe. opposite field and gone for his eighth home run of the year. the first opposite field home run of his career. bottom three, derek jeter, deep drive center field. jacoby ellsbury makes the sliding grab at the base of the wall. but, it would only hold off those yankee bats for a little while. because later in the third, johnny damon off john smoltz and gone. 20th homer of the year for damon. the yankees tie it at 1 in the fourth. casey kotchman, his first home run as a member of the red sox. boston up 3-1. looking good. but john smoltz has been a victim from the beginning of the year. and thursday night the big inning was the fourth. cabrera's 3-run home run, his 11th. nine hits, 8 earned. bottom four, billy trainer on in relief. that's no relief. jorge posada.

another three-run blast. his 14th. the yanks score 8 in the fourth and leave it 9-3. top 8, a 95 mile an hour heater over pedroia's head. a couple of pitches later, the things getting a bit heated as posada trying to calm pedroia down. 13-6 is the final in the bronx. the yankees beat the red sox for the first time this season. snap a nine-game losing streak going back to last year. and now lead boston by three and a half games in the american league east. >> a pair of aces. this is the friday starting pitcher. josh beckett against a.j. burnette. burnette has been shelled in two starts against the red sox. while beckett held the yankees scoreless over six innings. >> it's almost like phillies gm is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. world siers champ almost landed

roy haladay. that didn't workout, so instead they acquired cliff lee in a deal that might have had other team owners emailing the commissioner trying to veto the trade. in his debut, lee threw a complete game. had a no hitter working into the sixth. fans in phillie watched it on tv. thursday they got to see him up close and personal in his home debut. there is mr. lee, running up for the first time in citizens field. phillies manager said he keeps good composure out there. i'd say so. chris iannetta in second. garret atkins, lee seven innings one earned. clint barmouth one of those victims. game tied at 1 apiece. and launching this thing to centerfield. his first home run of the season. actually his first home run since june 2008, coming off aaron cooke who loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. of as colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is improving. he is a second half pitcher.

now 15-1 with a 2.38era after the all-star break the last two seasons. after the game, he made it clear he wasp happy to get his first one in front of the fans out of the way. >> the initial, you know, shock and adrenaline type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first one here at home, so i was anxious to kind of get that behind me. and now i have. so, to give the team a chance and, you know, the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has a team debut like lee since paul bird 11 years ago. in the divisional era, only fourth time has a starter gone 7 innings and allowed one run in his first two starts with the team. lee now 2-0 with a 1.13era in those two starts. >> teammates had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball stepped into the

fray. >> and we call lebron james the king. but in eight minutes hear why he's ready to defer to the godfather of the nba. >> in two and a half minutes tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's hometown, akron, ohio. we're back after

>> tiger woods and phil mickelson playing at the bridgestone invitational at firestone. tiger has won this event six times. phil mickelson playing the first time since the u.s. open. dealing with his wife and his mother's cancer. mickelson struggled on the front nine. started on the back near 11. his second hole, would double

bogie that hole. then on 18. this is for par. the lefty shot a 3 over 30 on the front nine. but on his back nine, mickelson turned it around. the third shot on the par 5, second hole. high, flop shot gets it close. he would birdie from there. par 3, 7th, this is for birdi birdie. lefty shot a 3 under 3 # on his back nine to finish at even par at 70. shot of the day comes from ernie els. second shot of the par 4 first hole. from 137 yards away. in for an eagle. lefty or big easy shot a 71. tiger woods started his day on the front nine. here on the 15rbgs chipping for birdie. almost went down. he'd tap in for par. on the par 3, 12th. this for birdie. that one does go in. tiger gets to 1 under. tiger on the par 4, 13th this

for birdie as well. >> >> tiger shot a 68. but he and everyone else chasing this guy right now. paddy harrington for birdie on the 7th. his 16th hole. this for the lead. you you betcha. paddy harrington shot a season best 64. leads by two strokes. on a calm day, 40 players were at par or better. paul casey, the number three player with drew midway through the first round with a rib injury. a week ago a, tigers with a tied at 5th. this time he's tied for eighth. >> i had some good shots on the back nine. it was nice. some of the things that i was working on monday, tuesday at home put it together for a little bit in stretches today. i hit it good on the front nine in stretches. starting out i hit a couple of bad shots there in the middle part of the round. got it back. started hitting it good again. hit it a little scratchy coming

in. it was kind of in spurts today. kind of the way it's been this year. even though, you know, i don't know. i've done all right this year, i think. you know, four times. people thought i was done after the players and should fire hank. i've had a pretty good season, i think. >> this is tiger's tenth bridgestone. he's shot 68 or better all ten times. he won the event in each of his last three starts. didn't didn't break par in those wins. >> playing in his first event since the u.s. open in june. phil mickelson carded a 3 under 32. mickelson hit just 5 of 14 fairways, but one-putted eight greens. phil on his return. >> i was excited to get back out and play. i got off to a shaky start. i didn't commit to a lot of shots.

didn't playa gressive or make agressive swings. was 3 over at the turn and 3 over through ten. so i was fortunate to get it turned around and make a few birdies. >> what turned it around for you? >> i think when you get into playing a little bit and realize you can't play swinging afraid or tenative. i started to trust my swing and make more agressive shots. and ended up giving myself a few birdie chances and made those. >> how much did you miss competing? >> more than i thought i would. ful. >> phil has played at the bridgestone ten times in his career and has never won. though he finished in the top 10 half of the time. the 70 he posted in round one is right in line with his career scoring average at the tournament. >> to update you, derek lowe going for his fifth straight win against his former team, the dodgers in the atl on top. 2-1: matt die as, and adam laroche in the second inning. manny ramirez had some struggles. he's coming on here.

his fourth ribbie over the last three games after having no rbis in his previous ten. >> mota and milwaukee's brins fielder were fined but not suspended after tuesday's game. mota, and fielder with the pitch. and after the contest, the brewers first baseman charged the clubhouse yelling obscenit obscenities looking for mota a his teammates convinced him to walk back into the dodger clubhouse. >> after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dh ea, a steroid's precursor which combats fatigue. rashard lewis says i take full responsibility for this. and accept the corning penalty. over the season i took an over-the-counter supplement which i didn't realize was a substance banned by the nba. i apologize to fans, my

teammates and this organization for not doing the research that should come with good judgment. i hope every athlete can learn that supplements no matter how innocent they seem should only be taken after consulting an expert in the field. >> thep superstar from the cavs was asked if he'd be in cleveland after 2010. his response, i hope so. we know he's looking forward to playing with the man he calls the godfather of the nba. saying:

>> michael crabtree wasn't the first wide receiver taken in the draft. why he might be in next year's draft. >> why the al central race is the tightest in

>> white sox looking for the three game sweep of the al west leading angels. top of the third, vlad does it

again. impaling another baseball. vladimir guerrero's first home run since coming off the dl. his fifth of the year. in the fifth. bobby abreu. solo home run. 250 yaght of his career. bobby abreu joins barry bonds craig biggio and willie mayes as the only players with 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 rbis, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. pretty good company there. >> a.l. central leading tigers facing the orioles. hernandez on the mound for baltimore. bottom two here. brandon inge, sends it to left field. his 22nd of the year. he was 2 for 4 with two ribbies. bottom three. here's a 4-0 game. al aexavila down the right field it goes. that's his first major league hit. and this is his first major

league r.b.i. tigers go on to win. the orioles now just 5-15 since the all-star break. rick wins his 10th game of the season. becoming the fifth tigers pitcher with ten wins since world war ii. >> keep talking about the tight nl central. the al is no joke as well. tigers with a win, couple the with the white sox loss, puts the twins four and a half games back. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season and reenter the nfl draft next year. david wells, crabtree's cousin and advisor tells our joe schad he believes the niners have made an offer, but it's not acceptable. wells says michael just wants fair market value.

>> i really want our coaches and everybody here to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree, you know, that's his career. and he's got to, you know, he's got people around him that he's counting on to make decisions for him. and you know, i can't worry about that. and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. would love to get him in when everything works itself out, he'll be here. but until that time, i can't waste any time not one moment looking around wondering i wonder if he's coming in today. no. we've got to continue to bork here and get these guys going. >> cleveland's donte stalworth was suspended indefinitely by the league for killing mario reyes while driving drunk in

miami. the wide receiver reached an undisclosed financial settlement with reyes' family. besides his time in jail, his sentence included two years of house arrest. stalworth met with roger goodell in new york on wednesday about a possible reinstatementment. and released this. >> the defending national champion florida gators opened fall practice, trying to become the first team in school history to go undefeated. returning almost every starter. tim tebow and florida have a chance to win their third crown

in four years. >> we knew if we wanted to reach our goals we were going to have to come out here and work. if that meant to get up early before 6:00 a.m. workouts, we were going to do it. >> i have such a relationship with these kids because they teld tell me exactly what they did. the chemistry between those kids is just tremendous. >> i worked on routes, scramble drill. every possible throw we'll ever make. with all of them. and just spent time together. still adding things together. so just feel each other. they see it coming out of my hand, i know when they're going to break, just to get a good feel for each other. >> the florida defense returns all 11 starters, while the gator offense has 7 back. florida put eight players in the all sec coaches team. including its kicker and punter. two more returning starters. >> still to come, the yankees were able to end a long losing streak against the red sox.

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six new members of the buff low football hall of fame. 12-time pro bowler, randall m mcdaniel and a gold medal winning receiver, bullet bob hayes. join us for the hall of fame

enshrinement ceremony, saturday, august 8, 7:00 eastern on espn. >> welcome into nfl live. trey wingo here with herm edwards and matt millen. one of the great weekends of the entire football year, and it happens preseason. hall of fame enshrinement. canton, ohio. six members of the of class of 2009. we have special players going in, matt. including the all time sack king in bruce smith. >> you think this was going to happen the day he decided to call it quits. bruce smith did some things that very few guys can do. he's a big man who can get on the edge, and run on his inside half. you'll see him just cutting off the outside edge and getting the corner. those are things that are just inate. you either have them or don't. he obviously had them for a long time. and piled up the sacks. like i said, he leaves them all. >> he certainly did. he wrecked a lot of on februarysive coordinators plans with that lean in move right there. >> rod woodson wrecked their plans as a safety late in his

career. >> you're talking about a guy 17 year career. 71 interceptions. all around athlete. he played corner, he played safety. if you're building a corner, this is the guy that you want to build it on. this guy right here. the way he played. his style, he could cover, return punts, kicks. he was a complete player. >> came back from a knee injury to make it to super bowl 30 that the steelers lost to the cowboys. then he went on to win the super bowl with the ravens a few years later. bullet bob hayes, a guy you idolized. >> everybody wanted to run like bob hayes. coming off the olympics he had a couple of gold medals. comes into the national football league. that kind of speed didn't really exist in the national football league until bullet bob made it all possible. this is a guy that it's been long overdo. if if you look at the numbers, the game is different. the numbers aren't as big as you see now. but the game was completely different then than it is now. but what he could do, and he

would do today is get past the corners. that can break a defense. he broke it then. he'd break it now. >> gold medal winner in the 1964 olympics in japan. >> kevin: bob hayes no longer with us. neither is derek thomas. what a special, special linebacker he was. >> yeah, he was really special. you talk about a guy that could change the complexity of a football game. especially in the fourth quarter. he was a guy that could come off the edge, similar to bruce smith. he had a lot of sacks, a great football player and great human being. >> tragically taken too soon. >> way too soon. the thing that amazed me about those two pass-rushers is you'd have a game plan going in. saying these are the guys we have to stop. right. and then they'd get four or five sacks on you and just kill you. so when i guy can do that, beat your scheme, that's a great one, they belong in the hall of fame. >> also going in, ralph wilson, owner of the bills, and randall mcdaniel started 12

consecutive pro bowls. one of the greatest offensive linemen the league's seen. you can see the hall of fame enshrinement ceremony saturday 7:00 eastern oaps. >> >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball. this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a funk against the red sox. >> one is fine tuning. the other just trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are to get those goals at round one at firestone. the 49ers are hoping they drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. while the front office could be looking at a major headache. >> lebron james is an mvp. but who is ready to defer to?

>> and they have a fight. there they go. and the benches empty. >> a three-run home run for bucky dent. >> the red sox. there it goes. and the yankees are going to the world series. red sox. called the greatest victory in team history. there they go again. >> oh, boy.

we are keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights available in high definition. along with j.w. stewart, and mike yam. heading into thursday's game, the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox this year. >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals. yet they began the night with a two and a half game lead until the al east. >> first of a four game series in the bronx. david ortiz at yankee stadium for the first time since the new york times report that he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. first at bat, he flies out to nick swisher in the corner. billing papi went 0 for 5. bottom two, swisher sends this one into centerfield. ellsbury comes up throwing. posada tries to score. he doesn't slide. victor martinez tags him out easily. posada looking for the the ball. and cabrera there in the on-deck circle. didn't look like he was telling him to get down and slide. great relay throw by pedroia.

speaking of relay throw, here he is going opposite field and gone for his eighth home run of the year. first opposite field home run of his career. bottom three, derek jeter. deep drive centerfield. s look at jacokie ellsbury. slide and grab at the base of the wall. johnny damon off john smoltz. 20th home run of the year for his first home run since 2006. casey kotchman, two-run blast. his home run with the red sox, and they were up 3-1. but in the bottom of the fourth, melky cabrera connects. three-run home run his 11th. john smoltz, 3 and a third. nine hits, eight earned. his era an 8.32. bottom four, posada off trainer.

that's gone for a three-run home run. his 14th. yearks score 8 in the fourth. they lead it 9-3. normally joba chamberlain's throwing at kevin youkilis. but on thursday night. it was mark throwing at pedroia. so as things are always interesting and heated, the yankees win it 13-6. three and a half game lead in the al east. snap a nine-game losing streak dating back to last year. joba chamberlain's won four straight starts for the first time in his career, even though he walked a career high 7 batters. here's joe girardi on the yankees beating the sox this year. >> that's a good win for us. we've got a lot of production out of our order. joba gets through the fifth and getting out of the jam with the bases loaded and one out which kind of changed the game a little bit to me. we played a pretty decent game. i felt like we walked too many

people. we got away with some situations and we can't continue to do that to this lineup or they're going to hurt you. is this a different team right now than a team that lost eight to this other club? >> i had think so. we've been playing well for two or three months. our bullpen's different. our starteres have been different. so i think it's a different club. >> jorge posada more than makes up for his base running blunder in the second is. >> yeah, we got ten rbis in the base of the order. that's nice. matsui had three. posada had three. cabrera had three. and melky had a three run hoper in the fourth. >> did that fourth offensive win seem a long time coming against the red sox? >> no, not necessarily. at times we've scored some runs, at times our games have been real close. it was a nice inning. i'm not going to lie to you. it was a nice inning to put together, and big hits all around from a lot of different guys. but it was an important inning

for us. it gave us a cushion, and we kept adding on. >> seem like second time through, some better swings? >> dwreaf, i thought we had some better approaches. knew exactly what it was. we hit some balls heard. >> what about joba? how would you talk about that? >> he got through five for us. he's been much better than that the last three starts. he was up in the zone a little bit tonight. had a hard time getting some balls down in the zone tonight. got out of the big jam for me in the fifth. to me that was a big part of the game. he was okay. not as sharp as he's been. but i thought he did a decent job. >> seeing you come out there in the first inning is not something that we see often. what did you see that made you go out there? >> i just wanted to talk about a situation with him. and i talked about it. and i don't want to be too

explicit what i said to him. >> [inaudible] >> i just, i don't want to talk about it. it's not a big secret or nothing on. but it's just some things that i wanted to talk to him about. >> joe, just a subject i talked to you about before the game. trying to throw strikes, he is pcial ely strike one, was that particularly frustrating especially with joba that you kept opening the door to them. especially him? >> yeah, i think we walked more than ten. that is frustrating. because you can't give an offense like theirs free passes because they're going to hurt you. and that's something that we didn't do well tonight. fortunately we won the game. and joba made some big pitches when he had to. but that's something you don't want to continue to do against this club or any club. >> he was up in the zone.

you know, usually when you're up in the zone it's mechanical. you're not finishing your pitches. it's such a fine line to being everything being on time. that if everything's not on time every pitch, you're not going to make the pitches that you need to make. >> we just came in and swung the bat well, you've got to give credit to the offense for picking us up and doing the things they've done great. >> it was going on for a long time, huh? >> yeah, it was. i rode the bike and did everything i could to try to stay ready. we kept getting hits. but it's not too bad of a deal when we're scoring # runs in an inning. >> joe came out to you there in

the first inning. what did he have to say? >> oh, it wasn't anything with pitching. i think it was making sure we had our signs and everything down. it was just to make sure we kept switching everything up. >> is it hard to control your pitching with the rest and in this situation the opener of the series, that you get a little too amped up at times? >> no, not at all. i knew their game plan from the git-go was to take pitches. they've done that all year. that is the type of lineup that they have. i knew it was going to be a battle from the git-go. the guys in the top lineup dictate. especially jacoby getting on base, and pedroia doing what he does to stay successful. it's all those guys taking pitches. they were good for a reason, they get deep in the counts and get the starters out there quick. >> how big was it for you to battle through that fifth? >> it was big. it could have been worse. you know, you've got to take positives out of it.

when you get in those situations, limit the damage as much as you can do because you put yourself into them. but baz as a positive, i got myself out of some jams. >> what's it like to finally beat the red sox? >> it was good. we came out, swung the bats well. played good defense. it's always good to get the first one in a four-game series at home. >> lately it's been the long ball that's victimized john smoltz. he's allowed eight homers in his last 15 inns pitched. and over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning. while the red sox offense didn't help him out thursday night. sox went 3 for 21 with runners in scoretion position. left 16 men on base. >> it's almost like phillies gm is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay. that didn't workout. so instead they acquired the reigning cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might

have had other team owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. he had a no hitter working into the sixth. fans watched that on tv. thursday they got to see him up close and personal in his home debut. >> here's cliff lee, running out for the first time at citizen's field. lee's manager keeps good composure out there. >> i'd say so. chris iannetta goes down. in the fourth, no shot. clint takes the seat. seven innings, warner, nine k's for cliff lee. game tied at 1. centerfield, off aaron cook, his first home run of the year. first home run since june of 08. cook loses for the first time in eight decisions. as colorado lost two straight.

>> the initial shock and adrenaline type stuff that quoaz along with that was kind of over you know, it was my first one here at home. so i was anxious to kind of get that behind me, and now i have. so to give the team a chance, and, you know, the team gets the win. that is all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lees since paul byrd. >> teammate insecurity had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo moto.

-- mota. major league baseball, you're going to be cavalier after the 2010 season. in eight minutes, he gives us some insight. in two and a half minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's hometown. ( percussion music playing ) ( crowd chanting ) ( cheering ) announcer: gatorade. that's "g."

>> mickelson playing for the first time since the u.s. open. mickelson struggled on the front nine. he started on the back. here on 11. his second hole. he went double bogie the 11th hole.

got off to a good start. here he is for par. lefty shot a 3 over 38 on the front nine. but on his back nine, he turned it around. third shot on the par 5, 2nd. >> high, flop shots to within a few feet. he would birdie from there. on the par 3, 7th. this for birdie. mickelson, shot a 3 under 32 on his back nine. finished an even par 7. shot of the day, ernie els. second shot of the par 4, first hole from 137 yards away. >> >> in for an eagle. he went on to shoot a 71. tiger woods started his day on the front nine. here on the fifth chipping from the rough for birdie almost went down. he'd tap in for par. on the par 3, 12th. this for birdie. that one does go in. tiger gets to 1 under. tiger on the par 4, 13th this

for birdie as well. >> tiger shot a 68. but he and everyone else chasing this guy right now. paddy harrington for birdie on the 7th. his 16th hole. this for the lead. paddy harrington shot a season best 64. leads by two strokes. on a calm day, 40 players were at par or better. paul casey, the number three player in the world with drew midway through the first round with a rib injury. a week ago a, tigers with a tied at 5th. this time he's tied for eighth. >> i had some good shots on the back nine. it was nice. some of the things that i was working on monday, tuesday at home put it together for a little bit in stretches today. i hit it good on the front nine in stretches. starting out i hit a couple of bad shots there in the middle part of the round. got it back. started hitting it good again. hit it a little scratchy coming

in. it was kind of in spurts today. kind of the way it's been this year. even though, you know, i don't know. i've done all right this year, i think. you know, four times. people thought i was done after the players and should fire hank. i've had a pretty good season, i think. >> this is tiger's tenth bridgestone. he's shot 68 or better all ten times. he won the event in each of his last three starts. didn't didn't break par in those wins. >> playing in his first event since the u.s. open in june. phil mickelson carded a 3 under 32. mickelson hit just 5 of 14 fairways, but one-putted eight greens. phil on his return. >> i was excited to get back out and play. i got off to a shaky start. i didn't commit to a lot of shots.

didn't playagressive or make agressive swings. was 3 over at the turn and 3 over through ten. so i was fortunate to get it turned around and make a few birdies. >> what turned it around for you? >> i think when you get into playing a little bit and realize you can't play swinging afraid or tenative. i started to trust my swing and make more agressive shots. and ended up giving myself a few birdie chances and made those. >> how much did you miss competing? >> more than i thought i would. ful. >> phil has played at the bridgestone ten times in his career and has never won. though he finished in the top 10 half of the time. the 70 he posted in round one is right in line with his career scoring average at the tournament. >> to update you, derek lowe going for his fifth straight win against his former team, the dodgers in the atl on top. 3-2

2-1: matt dias, and adam laroche in the second inning. manny ramirez had some struggles. manny ramirez has an r.b.i., his fourth ribbie over the last three games after having none in his previous ten. our top stories tonight. john smoltz roughed up again. 3 and a third. 8 earned. nine hits. his era8.32. first time the red sox have lost to the yankees this year. our postgame coverage continues with terry francona. >> e., i think there's a lot of frustration. you know, it's not a lack of effort on his part. we know that. we do some things different tonight. he didn't have his hands over his head in his delivery. a little lower arm spot. he tried to get some people off the plate. and first couple of innings looked good. melky hit the ball. we did a great job on a replay.

got a throw at the plate. when it went, it went fast. game got out of hand, it was tough all the way around. >> it's a team, he left 15 on base. how tough is it to not capitalize on this? >> when you're down that much. a lot has to go right. we had some chances, we worked our pitchers. they didn't throw a lot of strikes. we're in a pretty big hole we dug ourselves. we needed a lot to go right after a lot went wrong early. >> jeff came out of the game early, how's he doing. we're going to have to talk to him and our medical people more tonight. he had a stinger down his forearm. we got him out. we need to get him looked at and see where to progress. because we actually don't know. a half hour after it happened. we'll have to look into this further. >> all right, thank you. >> the injuries continue to mount for the red sox. talking about jet lowery coming

back off on wrist surgery. trying to get it going. a.j. burnette. the six innings. rashard lewis, in the first ten games of the regular season. after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. the nba is suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dh ea which combats fatigue. >> rashard lewis says i take full responsibility for the situation, and accept the corning penalty.

>> more nba at the national association of black journalists conference. lebron will be in cleveland past 2010? his responses? i hope so. he is looking forward to playing with the man he calls the godfather of the nba. he said i know one thing that's going to happen. you can't check shaq one-on-one. >> michael crabtree wasn't the first wide receiver taken in the draft. straight ahead he. >> the aflt l race was the tightest in baseball. find out why the tigers are big fans of the angels.

>> yankees lead the red sox by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat boston for the first time this year. they roughed up john smoltz, thursday night, 3 1/3 innings, nine hits, eight earned runs, hit two home runs off him. big inning for john smoltz on thursday, was the fourth inning where the yankees scored eight runs and smoltz's e.r.a. now 8.32. what did here is what the 42-year-old had to say about his

performance, moments ago. >> a lot of things go into making changes. we'll see what i can do. >> are you surprised to be in the situation? >> am i surprised? yeah. very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give up the runs i'm giving up, sometimes. that's the way the game is. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. you can't dig a hole and hide. i had to provide some innings. i didn't do it. >> john, you said time may not be on your side. [inaudible] >> i don't know. i don't know. i just know that i can't keep doing what i'm doing. >> does it help being a veteran pitcher? that you might be able to correct it quicker?

>> it helps, but there is only one guy that can change it, and that's me. i'm not making any excuses, just when i go out there i feel like the pitch i'm going to make is the right one, it just happens to not be in the position i want to be in. i knew coming into this that everything was going to be a little bit more challenging than i was ready for. >> still to come, the yankees were able to end a long losing streak against the red sox. we'll show you how the yankees were able to live up to th

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♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning and the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are to achieving those goals after round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had drafted a wide receiver that could be a game-changer. why the front office could be looking at a major headache. and we know that lebron james is an m.v.p. but we'll tell you who in the king's court is ready to refer to.

captioning by captionmax >> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights -- this is espnews, available in high definition. along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, and j.w., coming into thursday the yankees, they hadn't beaten the red sox all season. >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. first of a four-game series in the bronx, david ortiz playing at yankee stadium for the first time since that "new york times" report that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first inning flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing. jorge posada trying to score. doesn't even slide.

he gets tagged out by victor martinez. looking around for the baseball, melky cabrera in the on-deck circle doesn't look like he's telling him to get down and slide. great relay throw by dustin pedroia. >> doesn't want to get dirty. >> catchers should always get dirty. in the third inning, dustin pedroia -- gone, his eighth home run of the year, first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three, derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury. that's getting dirty, yammer. sliding catch at the base of the wall. but later in the third inning, nobody's catching this one. johnny damon off john smoltz. 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-home run season since 2006. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run. his first with the red sox. they're up 3-1. john smoltz gave it all back in the fourth. melky cabrera.

the no-doubter. three-run home run. his 11th. smoltz lit up -- nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3. his e.r.a. is 8.32. in the fourth, jorge posada off billy traber. that's gone for a three-run home run, his 14th. the yankees score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis. on thursday night, it was dustin pedroia -- as it always is between these two old rivals, interesting, chippy, 13-6 the final, yanks lead the a.l. east by 3 1/2 games. they beat boston the first time this season, snap a nine-game losing streak to them dating back to last season. joba chamberlain walked a career-high seven. johnny damon and the yanks are 15-5 since the all-star break. >> it's definitely better to be 1-8 than 0-9, but obviously,

we're still not happy about it, but those are eight games that we can't get back, but we went out, we played all right, we walked too many guys but we swung the bats ok. >> you lefties were good but second time through against smoltz did you feel like you got more of a handle? >> i think when he struck me out in the first we got an idea of the way he was going to pitch. he threw me a nasty slider 3-2, teixeira came up and walked and seemed like the lefties were able to lay off that pitch later on in the game. >> when they get two of those right field homers that you kind of liked, did any part of you say "no way, what's going on?" >> every single inning because we were walking so many guys, one swing of the bat could have gotten them back into the game, and especially here at this ball park, so we feel fortunate we were able to add on. matsui's two-run double was huge

for us, and so were so many other hits. >> no 345er9 how you did it, do you feel like you got a monkey off whiure bat? >> sort of. we had to keep answering those questions from anybody for the past couple of days, and we still had to play toronto last night, and we got one now, you know, and our next goal is to win our second game and hopefully, it comes tomorrow. >> how is this team different than the team lost those eight consecutive games, john? >> anytime you can add a-rod into the equation, he's definitely one of the better players of all time, and then you start to get more depth in your starting pitching -- we only got five today from joba but that's better than we had earlier in the season when we had guys going one and two innings, so it definitely was better. >> do you see this weekend's series as a chance to open up daylight? >> that's going to be tough to

do. boston's too good of a team. tampa's too good of a team. this race is going to come down to the end -- i mean, we hope it didn't, but -- you know, these are all good teams here. >> the fourth inning was definitely the key thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since june of 2000. time may have just run out on 42-year-old john smoltz. >> am i surprised? yeah, i'm very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give up the runs i'm giving up, sometimes. that's the way the game is. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. there is only one guy that can change it, and that's me. i'm not making any excuses, just when i go out there i feel like the pitch i'm going to make is the right one, and it just happens to not be in the position i want to be in.

>> lately it's been the long ball that has victimized john smoltz. he's allowed eight homers in his last 50 innings pitched and he has yet to go deeper than six innings this season. didn't get much help from the red sox offense thursday night. boston went 3-21 with runners in scoring position and left 15 on base. with more, here is our "baseball tonight" crew. >> steve berthiaume with eduardo perez and buster olney. john smoltz has allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts. eduardo, thursday against the yankees it was eight earned on five hits and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams are hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning. the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flad. jorge posada jumps all over that fastball for a double. robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle which

smoltz could not cover his position. then on that 1-2 pitch, melky was able to get on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering and right there you see -- a flat slider, hits it to right. posada then can hit the home run to straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz. major league average vs. what he did in the game against the yankees tonight -- only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over the plate. it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches, only two missed swings, big question for the red sox, will they keep him in the rotation? >> whether boston could survive another of these remains to be seen, the yankees 3 1/2 on top of the red sox in the a.l. east, they need josh beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett. the stopper.

>> the pressure is building on the red sox. they have clay buchholz going on saturday against cc sabathia. they've lost 11 of their last 18, eduardo. >> it's not going to be an easy task. a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett, you've got to love it, after losses he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a. >> we'll have it for you twice on "baseball tonight." >> it's like phillies g.m. rubeen amaro jr. is playing fantasy baseball. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay. that didn't work out. instead they acquired reigning cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other team owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. thursday fans got to see him up close and personal in his home debut. there is mr. lee, taking them out for the first time ats bank

park. lee pitching well. his manager, charlie manuel said "he keeps good composure out there." chris iannetta, clint barmes down. he struck out nine. bottom five, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launching this one to center field. it's his first home run of the year. actually, his first since 2008 in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's now 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a. after the all-star break the last two seasons and after the game made it clear he was happy to get his first in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin-type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first one here at home so i was anxious to kind of get

that one behind me, and now i have, so to give the team a chance, and you know, the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for. >> no philly pitcher has had a team debut like lee's since paul byrd 11 years ago, and in the divisional era only four times has a starter gone seven innings and allowed at most one run in his first two starts with a team. lee is 2-0 with a 1.13 e.r.a. in those starts. >> teammates in security had to stop prince fielder if going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus the biggest question surrounding lebron james -- will he be a cavalier after the 2010 season? a in eight minutes he gives us some insight. >> in 2 1/2 minutes tiger and phil renew their rivalry in phil renew (announcer)ry in the edge pizza from pizza hut is back.

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♪ >> tiger woods and phil mickelson playing in the bridgestone invitational at firestone. tiger's won this event six times. mickelson playing for the first time since the u.s. open. mickelson struggled on the first nine. he started on the back. this is his second hole. he would double-bogey the 11th. mickelson on 18. this for par. phil shot a three-over 38 on his front nine, but on his back nine he turned it around. third shot on the par 5 second. the high flop shot within a few feet. he would birdie from there. this for birdie. mickelson shot a three-under 32

on his back nine, finned at even-par 70. ernie els on the par 4 first from 137 yards away. in for an eagle. he went on to shoot a 71. tiger woods started his day on the front nine. here on the fifth, chipping in from the rough for birdie. almost goes in. tiger would tap in for par. on the par 3 12th, this for birdie. that does go in. he's at one under. on the par 4 13th, this for birdie as well. tiger shot a 68, but he, phil and everybody else chasing this guy, paddy harrington, long birdie putt on the seventh, his 16th, for the lead. you bet you, paddy harrington shot a season-best 64 and leads by two strokes.

on a calm day, 40 players were at par or better. paul casey, the number three player in the world withdrew midway through his third round with a -- through his ruined with a rib injury. -- through his round with a rib injury. >> i hit good shots on the back nine, it was nice, some of the things i was working on monday, tuesday at home, put it together for a little bit in stretches today and i hit it good on the front nine in stretches. starting out, i hit a couple bad shots there, in the middle part of the round, got it back, started hitting it good again, hit a little scratchy coming in, so it was kind of in spurts today -- kind of the way it's been this year even though -- i've done all right this year, i think, four times and people thought i was done after the players, i have had a pretty good season, i think. >> this is tiger's 10th bridgestone and he shot 68 or

better in the opening round all 10 times. he won the event in each of his last three starts but didn't break par in two of those wins. in 2007 and 2005 he followed up low first round by cooling off to shoot par in the second. playing in his first event since the u.s. open in june, phil mickelson carded a three-under 32 on the front nine. his second nine of the day. to finish at even par. mickelson hit just five of 14 fairways but one-putted eight greens. phil on his return. >> i was excited to get back out and play. i got off to a shaky start. i didn't commit to a lot of shots. i didn't play aggressive. i didn't make aggressive swings and was three over at the turn and three over through 10, so i was fortunate to get it turned around and it felt good to make a few birdies. >> what turned it around for you? >> i think when you get into playing a little bit and you realize that you can't play swinging afraid or swinging tentative, i started to trust my swing, i started to make more aggressive shots and ended up giving myself a few birdie

chances and made those. >> how much did you miss competing? >> i missed it more than i thought i would. >> like tiger, phil has also played at the bridgestone 10 times in his career but has never won although he's finished in the top 10 half of the time. the 70 he pested in round one is right in line with his career scoring average at the tournament. >> let's update you on the dodgers and braves. a 4-2 game. atlanta on top thanks to chipper jones, had a solo shot a few minutes ago, his first home run of august. keep in mind, he had two home runs last august. dodgers reliever guillermo mota and milwaukee's prince fielder both were fined, not suspended, for their actions tuesday night -- mota actually hit fielder and fielder after the game went to the dodgers clubhouse -- he wanted to have a little talk with mota, i think may be the best way to describe that little incident.

>> magic forward rashard lewis will miss the first 10 games of the regular season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dhea, a steroids precursor which combats fatigue. rashard lewis says, "i take full responsibility." for the situation and accept the corresponding penalty." >> more nba at the national association of black journalists conference, lebron james was asked if he would be in cleveland past 2010. his response? "i hope so." there is one thing we do know -- the king is very much looking

forward to the man he calls the godfather of the nba. the king said, "i know one thing that's going to happen. you can't check shaq one-on-one." >> michael crabtree wasn't the first wide receiver taken in the draft. straight ahead, why he might be the first wide receiver taken in next year's draft. plus, while the a.l. central race is one of the tightest in baseball, find out why, on wednesday, the tigers were big fans of the angels.

>> don: white sox a three-game sweep of the a.l. west-leading angels -- vlad the impaler is is at it again, impaling another baseball -- vladimir guerrero his first home run since coming off the d.l., his fifth of the year, angels win 9-5 and avoid the sweep. bobby abreu joins barry bonds, craig biggio, joe morgan, rickey henderson and willie mays as the only players in history with 250

home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 r.b.i.'s, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. >> good company. a.l. central-leading tigers facing the orioles. brandon inge sending it to left, two-run shot for him, his 22nd of the year, his first home run since june 12. orioles now just 5-15 since the all-star break. rick porcello won his 10th game of the season. he becomes the fifth tigers pitcher with 10 wins in his first big-league season since world war ii. we keep talking about the tight n.l. central. the tigers win coupled with the white sox loss puts detroit two games up on the a.l. central with the twins 4 1/2 games back. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season and re-enter the nfl draft next year. david wells, crabtree's cousin

and advisor tells our joe schad he believes the niners have made an offer but it is not acceptable. wells says, "michael just wants fair market value. they took him with the 10th pick and you have darrius heyward-bey getting $38 million? >> niners coach mike singletary weighs in. >> i really want our coaches, and everybody here, to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree, that's his career and he's got people around him that he's counting on to make decisions for him, and i can't worry about that, and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. i would love to get him in. when everything works itself out, he will be here. but until that time, i can't

waste any time -- not one moment looking around wondering, "i wonder if he's coming in today." no. we've got to continue to work here and get these guys going. >> still to come, the yankees able to end a long losing streak against the red sox. one man who was there was jeremy schaap -- a live report coming undefeated professional boxerg floyd "money" mayweather has the fastest hands boxing has ever seen. so i've come to this ring to see who's faster... on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can browse the web faster, email business plans faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free.

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>> let's update you on notable home run hitters. mark reynolds one of those guys, hit his 33rd, his eighth home run over the last 10 games. top stories straight ahead. including yankees and red sox. ♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning, the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are to achieving those goals after round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. why their front office could just be looking at a major headache. and, we know lebron is the m.v.p. but we'll tell you who in the king's court he's ready to defer to.

>> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, j.w., heading into thursday the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox all year. >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. >> first of a four-game series in the bronx. david ortiz playing at yankee stadium for the first time since that "new york times" report came out that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first at-bat, flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing, jorge posada trying to score but he doesn't slide.

gets tagged out by victor martinez. take a look in the on-deck circle. melky cabrera is there. doesn't look like he's telling posada to get down. >> yankees doing their own laundry. >> budget cutbacks. pedroia in the third. gone. eighth home run of the year for the reigning a.l. m.v.p. first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three. derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury. sliding catch into the base of the wall. but later in the third inning, nobody's catching this. johnny damon off john smoltz. 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-homer season since 2006. top four. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run. his first with the red sox. they are up 3-1. the yankees teed off on john smoltz in the fourth. melky cabrera -- the no-doubter

-- three-run home run, his 11th. smoltz tagged. nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3 -- his e.r.a. 8.32. bottom four, jorge posada off former yankee billy traber, and that's gone for a three-run home run -- his 14th. yanks score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis but on thursday night it was mark melancon throwing at dustin pedroia. it will be interesting to see if this carries over to friday night. the yankees win it 13-6. they lead boston by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat the red sox for the first time this season. they snap a nine-game losing streak to them going back to last season. joba chamberlain wins four straight starts for the first time in his career even though he had walked a career-high seven. with more on this game, here is our "baseball tonight" crew. >> thanks. steve berthiaume with eduardo perez and buster olney. john smoltz has now allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts.

eduardo, thursday against the yankees it was eight earned on nine heights and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning and the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flat and you see right there, first pitch to jorge posada, jumps all over that fastball for a double. then robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle. which smoltz could not cover his position. then on that 1-2 pitch, melky was able to get on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering, and right there you see a flat slider -- hits it to right. posada, then, can hit the home run to straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz. major league average vs. what he did in the game against the yankees, tonight -- only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over

the plate. look, it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches. only two missed swings. big question for the red sox. will they keep him in the rotation? >> there is certainly need there for boston. whether they could is survive another of these remains to be seen. the yankees are rolling, 15-5 since the all-star break, 3 1/2 up on the red sox atop the a.l. east, they need beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett, the stopper. >> they have clay buchholz going saturday against cc sabathia, they've lost 11 of their last 18, edward oechlt >> it's not going to be an easy task, a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett, you've got to love it -- after losses he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a. >> we'll have it for you on friday, 9:30 and midnight eastern time. >> lately it's been the long ball that has victimized john smoltz.

he's allowed eight homers in his last 15 innings pitched and he's yet to go deeper than six innings this season. over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning. >> the fourth inning was the key on thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since 2000. >> g.m. ruben amaro playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay. instead they landed cliff lee in a deal that might have had other team owners emailing the

commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a complete game and a no-hitter working into the sixth. fans in philly watched that on tv. thursday they got to see him up close and personal in his home debut. there is lee at citizens bank park. lee pitching well. his manager, charlie manuel said "he keeps a good composure out there." chris iannetta, garrett atkins and clint barmes all go down. he struck out nine. bottom five, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launching this one to center field. it's his first home run of the year. his first since 2008, in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a., after the all-star break the last two seasons and after the game made it clear he was happy

to get his first one in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first one here at home so i was anxious to get that behind me, and now i have. to give the team a chance, and the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lee's since paul byrd 11 years ago and in the divisional era only four teams times has a starter gone seven innings and allowed at most one run in his first two starts with the team. lee is 2-0 with a 1.13 e.r.a. in those two starts. >> teammates and security had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus the biggest question surrounding lebron james. be a

season? a in eight minutes he gives >> in 2 1/2 minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. renew thei (announcer)enew thei the edge pizza from pizza hut is back. it's toppings on top of toppings with no outer crust to fence them in. go to the edge with either the works, meaty, or pepperoni for just $9.99 for a medium. pizza hut. now you can order america's favorite pizza on your iphone. this is the year you take the trail less traveled. the year you come home with one less round

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...and pennzoil motor oil actively cleans out up to 15 percent of sludge the first time you use it. so feel the clean. not just oil, pennzoil. >> once again, our top story tonight -- the yankees beat the red sox 13-6, game one of a four-game series in the bronx. yankees beat the red sox the first time this year, lead them by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. jeremy schaap covering the game at the new yankee stadium. he joins us now on espnews. jeremy, muhammad ali was there at the game tonight and the yankees with the knockout blow to john smoltz and the red sox. what are the yankees saying about finally beating the red sox for the first time this year? >> you know, j.w., in the

clubhouse after the game they said all the things you would expect them to say. "it's just another win. you guys talk about the streak, 0-8. to us it didn't mean anything." that's what you would expect them to say but you could also tell, at the same time, that it does mean more. this team had been -- if this team had been 4-4 against the red sox in their first eight meetings this season this game would not have been as significant as it was. i don't think you can deny that they were feeling some pressure about the streak. they didn't want to answer any more questions about it and even if it's just a matter of a controversy generated by the media and perpetuated by the media, the fact that the streak is over and the fact they don't have to talk about it anymore is in its own way significant, if that makes any sense. >> it does but of course now they'll be facing questions if they lose again tomorrow, why are you 9-1 against the red sox? and on and on we go. what do the yankees feel the difference is on this team right

now, beating the red sox as opposed to earlier in the year when they couldn't beat them? >> there are quite a few things, actually, j. w., you we know the yankees have been playing great baseball since the last time they played the red sox, 32-16 in that span, second best record in baseball behind the angels. the big differences are the pitching. starting pitching is more consistent. the bullpen has settled down. there are five guys who pitched against the red sox in the first eight games this season who are aren't even on the roster right now. the other big factor is alex rodriguez who missed some of those early games and then in the last few games against the red sox had just gotten back from the disabled list. he is a different player now and as mark teixeira and nick swisher and guys said in the clubhouse before the game, "when alex rodriguez is in that lineup, even if he's not playing a significant role in that particular game, it's a different yankee team, quite frankly." >> a-rod 1-4 tonight, the yankees 15-5 since the all-star break. we have three games left in this

series. what can we expect the rest of the way, jeremy? >> well, j.w., we can expect a lot of pitches, a lot of long innings, a lot of typical red sox-yankees games -- i was joking before the game tonight that after 2:22 we would probably be in the fourth inning. i think after 2:07 we were still in the fourth inning. these games are endless -- 375 total pitches tonight. but beyond that there is a lot going on. josh beckett's going for the red sox friday. he's historically, of course, a yankees killer. then on saturday, david ortiz will have a press conference a couple hours before the afternoon game to address the steroids issue with the incoming head of the players association, so that's going to dominate the news on saturday, regardless of what happens in the game at 4:00. >> jeremy, game time tonight only 3:52 -- less than four hours. for a red sox-yankees game

that's manageable, jeremy. >> for those of you who had the under at four hours, you win tonight but i wouldn't count on that remaining the pattern. >> it will be interesting to see if there is any payback tomorrow, mark melon conhitting dustin pedroia tonight. jeremy schaap, thanks for joining us on espnews. have a great night. >> let's give you an update now. braves on top of the dodgers 4-2 the count -- chipper jones, his 14th home run of the season, his first home run of august. keep in mind, last august he only hit two home runs. he's already halfway there and still plenty more days left in the month. manny ramirez has an r.b.i. single, his fourth r.b.i. over the last three games after having no r.b.i. in his previous 10. >> yammer, the espnews orchestra has never sounded so good. >> i like the bass. >>

>> tiger woods and phil mickelson playing in the bridgestone invitational at firestone. tiger's won this event six times. mickelson playing for the first time since the u.s. open. struggled on his front nine. started on the back. here on number 11, his second hole of the round, double-bogeyed it, shot a three-over 38 on the front nine. on the back nine, mickelson turned it around, third shot on the par 5 second hole. the high flop shot. he would birdie from there. the par 3 seventh. this for birdie as well. lefty with a three-under 32 on the back nine. finished with an even-par 70. shot of the day, ernie els. second shot of the par 4 first from 137 yards away. in for an eagle. shot a 71. tiger woods chipping from the

rough for birdie. tiger normally makes these. it's a shot when it doesn't go down. he did tap in for par. this for birdie on the par 3 12th. that looked like it was going to miss the hole but it comes back. he birdies to drop to one under. on the par 4 13th. this for birdie as well. tiger shot a 68. but he, phil and the rest of the field chasing this guy right here. paddy harrington. long birdie putt on the seventh. his 16th hole for the lead. you bet you. paddy harrington shot a season-best 64 and leads by two strokes. on a calm day 40 players were at par or better. paul casey left with a rib injury. >> magic forward rashard lewis will miss the first 10 games of the regular season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without

pay because lewis tested positive for dhea -- a steroids precursor which combats fatigue. rashard lewis says, "i take full responsibility for the situation and accept the corresponding penalty." >> more nba at the national association of black journalists conference, lebron james was asked if he would be in cleveland past 2010. his response? "i hope so." there is one thing we do know -- the king is very much looking forward to playing with the man he calls the godfather of the nba.

>> michael crabtree wasn't the first wide receiver taken in the draft. straight ahead, why he might be the first wide receiver taken in next year's draft. plus, while the a.l. central race is one of the tightest in baseball, find out why, on wednesday, the tigers were big fans of the angels. dn y, the ti y, the ti fans of the angels. hi, may i help you? yeah, i'm looking for car insurance that isn't going to break the bank. you're in the right place. only progressive gives you the option to name your price. here. a price gun? mm-hmm. so, i tell you what i want to pay. and we build a policy to fit your budget. that's cool. uh... [ gun beeps ] [ laughs ] i feel so empowered. power to the people! ha ha! yeah! the option to name your price -- new and only from progressive. call or click today.

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>> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the a.l. west-leading angels, top of the third, vlad the impaler at it again, impaling another baseball. vladimir guerrero with his first home run since coming off the d.l., his fifth of the year. angels win 9-5 and avoid the sweep. bobby abreu joins barry bonds, craig biggio, joe morgan, rickey henderson and willie mays as the only players in major league history with 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 r.b.i.'s, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. >> the a.l. central-leading tigers facing the orioles, bottom two, brandon inge. goodbye. a two-run home run for him to left field. his 22nd of the year. his first home run since june 12. orioles now just 5-15 since the

all-star break. rick porcello won his 10th game of the season. he becomes the fifth tigers pitcher with 10 wins in his first big-league season since world war ii. we keep talking about the tight n.l. central? a.l. no joke either. detroit two games up in the a.l. central with the twins 4 1/2 games back. >> bruce chen -- the royals beat the mariners 8-2. the story here is bruce chen gets his first win since october of 2005 with baltimore. he said, "i feel like a gorilla with a bunch of kids, maybe a family of five soff my back. to get this one out of the way is a tremendous relief for me." >> almost forgot what he looked like. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season re-enter the nfl draft next

year. david wells, his cousin and advisor says he believes the niners have made an offer but it is not acceptable. he says "michael wants fair-market value." >> niners coach mike singletary weighs in. >> i really want our coaches and everybody here to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree -- that's his career, and he's got people around him that he's counting on to make decisions for him, and i can't worry about that, and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. i would love to get him in. when everything works itself out, he will be here, but until

that time i can't waste any time, not one moment looking around wondering, "i wonder if he's coming in today." no, we've got to continue to work here and get these guys going. >> more nfl. cleveland's donte' stallworth was suspended indefinitely by the league for killing mario reyes while driving drunk in miami. the wide receiver reached an undisclosed settlement with the victim's family. stallworth met with roger goodell in new york about a possible reinstatement and released this. >> still to come, the yankees were able to end a long losing streak against the red soxment we'll show you how the yankees were able to live up to the nickname. ♪ to the point of no return... ♪

♪ return there for you and your guilty pleasures. ♪ how long... ♪ how long ♪

>> the call to canton comes for six new members of the pro football hall of fame. buffalo bills sack king bruce smith, and owner ralph wilson. defensive standouts rod woodson and derrick thomas. 12-time pro bowler randall mcdaniel and a gold medal winning sprinter turned receiver, bullet bob hayes.

join us frts pro football enshrinement saturday -- on espn. >> matthew berry here from espn.com fantasy with your fantasy news for friday, august 7 and you know i have a soft spot for guys with two first names. i also like guys who pitch well. brett cecil of the blue jays qualifies for both. 3-0 with a 1.67 e.r.a. over his last four games, 24 strikeouts in 27 innings, i like him for his start on friday. i have no idea what joe blanton needs to do to be owned in every league but whatever it is he must not be doing it. still available in over 80% of leagues, blanton has been on fire recently. his 2.42 e.r.a. over his last 10 starts, i like blanton at home against the marlins. speaking of the marlins, let's stay with florida teams and talk about the rays' jeff niemann

goes for tampa bay and he's been ridiculous lately, 6-1, 2.97 e.r.a. over his last seven starts. he should do well against seattle. i want to remind you fantasy fans, you can play fantasy football free this season, free live scoring only on espn.com. ♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning, the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are achieving those goals after round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. why their front office could just be looking at a major headache. and, we know lebron is the m.v.p. but we'll tell you who in the king's court he's ready to defer to.

captioning by captionmax >> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, j.w., heading into thursday the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox all year. >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals, yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. >> first of a four-game series in the bronx. david ortiz playing at yankee stadium for the first time since that "new york times" report came out that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first inning, flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing, jorge posada trying to

score, but he doesn't slide. gets tagged out by victor martinez. >> i'm convinced the yankees are doing their own laundry -- he didn't want to get dirty. take a look in the on-deck circle. melky cabrera is there. doesn't look like he's telling posada to get down. pedroia in the third. gone. first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three. derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury. sliding catch into the base of the wall. but later in the third inning, nobody's catching this. johnny damon off john smoltz. his 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-homer season since 2006. top four. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run.

his first with the red sox. they are up 3-1. the yankees teed off on john smoltz in the fourth. melky cabrera -- the no-doubter -- three-run home run, his 11th. smoltz tagged. nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3 -- his e.r.a. 8.32. bottom four, jorge posada off former yankee billy traber, and that's gone for a three-run home run -- his 14th. yanks score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally, it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis, but on thursday night it was mark melancon throwing at dustin pedroia. it will be interesting to see if this carries over to friday this carries over to friday. the yankees win it 13-6. they lead boston by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat the red sox for the first time this season. they snap a nine-game losing streak to them going back to last season. joba chamberlain wins four straight starts for the first time in his career even though he had walked a career-high seven. joe girardi and the yanks are 15-5 since the all-star break.

>> fortunately we won the game and joba made some big pitches when he had to, but that's something you don't want to have to do against this club or any club. >> swung the bat well, you have to give credit to the offense for pichardoing us up. >> we're playing better than we were at the beginning, we're pitching better and doing things well on the mound and at the plate, so hopefully we can carry on and do what we did today. >> we got one now, and our next goal is to win our second game and hopefully it comes tomorrow. >> the fourth inning was the key thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since june of 2000. time may have just run out on 42-year-old john smoltz. >> am i surprised? yeah, i'm very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give

up the runs. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. >> it's not a lack of effort on his part, we know that, did some things differently tonight, a little different, his delivery, didn't have his hands over his head in his delivery, a little lower arm slot and threw his fastball in early, tried to get some people off the plate and the first couple innings looked good. >> there is only one guy that can change it, and it's me. i'm not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i'm trying to make is the right one. just happens to not be in the position i want to be in. >> lately it's been the long ball that has victimized john -- that has victimized john smoltz. he is yet to go deeper than six innings this season. over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning -- it didn't help that the red sox went 3-21 with runners in scoring position and left 15 on base. with more, here is our "baseball

tonight" crew. >> steve berthiaume here with eduardo perez and buster olney -- john smoltz has allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts. eduardo, thursday against the yankees it was eight earned on nine hits and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> he's always scuffled in the fourth inning so far this season -- john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning and the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flat and you see the first pitch to jorge posada, jumps all over it for a double, robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle which smoltz could not cover his position, then on that 1-2 pitch melky was able to get on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering. right there, you see a slider -- a flat slider. hits it to right. posada then can hit the home run straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz.

major league average vs. what he did in the game against the yankees. tonight only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over the plate. it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches. only two missed swings. big question for the red sox. will they keep him in the rotation? >> there is need for boston. whether they could survive another of these remains to be seen. the yankees rolling, 15-5 since the all-star break, 3 1/2 on top of the red sox in the a.l. east, red sox need josh beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett -- the stopper. >> the pressure is building on the red sox, clay buchholz going saturday against cc sabathia. they've lost 11 of their last 18, eduardo. >> it's not going to be an easy task. a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett -- you've got to love it. after losses he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a.

>> we'll have it all for you friday, twice on "baseball tonight," 9:30 and midnight eastern time. >> it's almost like phillies g.m. ruben amaro jr. is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay, that didn't work out. they acquired the reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners trying to email the commissioner to veto the lead. he had a no-hitter into the sixth. thursday they got to see him up close and personal in his home debut. mr. lee, his first time at citizens bank park, the phillies host the rockieses, lee pitching well, his manager charlie manuel says, "he keeps a good composure out there." lee seven innings, one earned, he struck out nine. bottom five now, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launch thanksgiving one to center field. it's his first home run of the

year. his first since 2008 in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's now 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a. after the all-star break the last two seasons and after the game made it clear he was happy to get his first in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first at home, so i'm anxious to get that behind me and now i have. to give the team a chance, and the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lee since paul byrd 11 years ago. in the divisional era, only four times has a starter gone seven

innings and allowed at 340e69 one run in his two starts with the team. -- in his first two starts with the team. >> teammates and security had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus, the biggest question surrounding lebron james -- will he be a cavalier after the 2010 season. in eight minutes, he gives us some insight. >> in 2 1/2 minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town.

when your engine's running clean... you feel it. ...and pennzoil motor oil actively cleans out up to 15 percent of sludge the first time you use it. so feel the clean. not just oil, pennzoil. ♪ >> tiger woods and phil mickelson playing in the bridgestone >> tiger woods and phil mickelson playing in the bridgestone invitational at firestone.

tiger's won this event six times. mickelson playing for the first time since the u.s. open. struggled on his front nine. started on the back. here on number 11, this is his second hole of the round, double bogeyed it. on his back nine, he turned it around. third shot on the par 5 second. the high flop shot within a few feet. he would birdie from there. the par 3 seventh. he finished with an even-par 70. shot of the day, ernie els, second shot on the par 4 first from 137 yards away. in for an eagle. he went on to shoot a 71. tiger woods chipping from the rough for birdie.

almost goes in. tiger would tap in for par. on the par 3 12th, this for birdie. that does go in. he's at one under. on the par 4 13th. this for birdie as well. tiger shot a 68. but he, phil, and the rest of the field chasing this guy. paddy harrington. long birdie putt on the seventh. his 16th hole for the lead. you bet you. paddy harrington shot a season-best 64 and leads by two strokes. on a calm day, 40 players were at par or better. paul casey withdrew midway through his first round with a rib injury. >> i hit some good shots on the back nine. it was nice. some of the things that i was working on, monday, tuesday at

home, put it together for a little bit in stretches today and i hit it good on the front nine in stretches, starting out i hit it good, hit a couple bad shots there in the middle part of the round, got it back, started hitting it good again, hit a little scratchy coming in -- it was kind of in spurts today, kind of the way it's been this year even though -- i don't know, i've done all right this year, i think, four times and people thought i was done after the players and should fire hank. i have had a pretty good season, i think. >> this is tiger's 10th bridgestone and he shot 68 or better in the opening round all 10 times. he won the event in each of his last three starts but didn't break par in two of those wins. in 2007 and 2005 he followed up low first rounds by cooling off to shoot par in the second. playing in his first event since the u.s. open in june, phil mickelson card aid three-under 32 on the front nine, his second

nine of the day to finish at even par. mickelson hit just 5-14 fairways but one-putted eight greens. phil on his return. >> i was excited to get back out and play. i got off to a shaky start. i didn't commit to a lot of shots. i i didn't play aggressive. didn't make aggressive swings. i was three over at the turn and three over through 10. i was fortunate to get it turned around and felt good to make a few birdies. >> what turned it around for you? >> i think when you get into playing a little bit and you realize that you can't play swinging afraid or swinging tentative, i started to trust my swing, i started to make more aggressive shots and ended up giving myself a few birdie chances and made those. >> how much did you miss competing? >> i missed it more than i thought i would. >> like tiger, phil has played at the bridgestone 10 times in his career but has never won although he's finished in the top 10 half the time. >> let's update you on the

braves and dodgers. still a 4-2 count. bottom nine right now. juan pierre is up at the dish. keep in mind, chipper jones hitting his 14th home run of the year -- his first home run of this month. last august he only hit two home runs the entire -- derek lowe in line for the victory if the braves are able to hold on. >> magic forward rashard lewis will miss the first 10 games of the regular season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dhea -- a steroids precursor which combats fatigue.

>> more nba. at the national association of black journalists conference, lebron james was asked if he would be in cleveland past 2010. his response? "i hope so." there is one thing we do know -- the king is very much looking forward to playing with the man he calls the godfather of the nba. >> michael crabtree wasn't the first wide receiver taken in the draft. straight ahead, why he might be the first wide receiver taken in next year's draft. plus, while the a.l. central race is one of the tightest in

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>> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the >> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the a.l. west-leading angels, top of the third, vlad the impaler at it again, impaling another baseball. vladimir guerrero with his first home run since coming off the d.l., his fifth of the year. angels win 9-5 and avoid the sweep. bobby abreu joins barry bonds,

craig biggio, joe morgan, rickey henderson and willie mays as the only players in major league history with 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 r.b.i.'s, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. >> the a.l. central-leading tigers facing the orioles, bottom two, brandon inge. goodbye. a two-run home run for him to left field. his 22nd of the year. his first home run since june 12. orioles are now just 5-15 since the all-star break. rick porcello won his 10th game of the season. he becomes the fifth tigers pitcher with 10 wins in his first big-league season since world war ii. we keep talking about the tight n.l. central? a.l., no joke either. detroit two games up in the a.l. central with the twins 4 1/2 games back.

>> bruce chen. this might be the only time we do this shot with bruce chen in it. the royals beat the mariners 8-2. the story here is bruce chen gets his first win since october of 2005 with baltimore. he said, "i feel like a gorilla with a bunch of kids, maybe a family of five, is off my back. to get this one out of the way is a tremendous relief for me." >> almost forgot what he looked like. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season re-enter the nfl draft next year. david wells, his cousin and advisor tells our joe schad he believes the niners have made an offer but it is not acceptable. >> niners coach mike singletary weighs in. >> i really want our coaches and

everybody here to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree -- that's his career, and he's got people around him that he's counting on to make decisions for him, and i can't worry about that, and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. i would love to get him in. when everything works itself out, he will be here, but until that time, i can't waste any time, not one moment looking around wondering, "i wonder if he's coming in today." no, we've got to continue to work here and get these guys going. >> crabtree's advisor uses darrius heyward-bey as a measuring stick for what he thinks he should get. based on deals that other rookie

wideouts signed crabtree is in the ball park for a five-year deal worth between $16-30 million. cleveland's donte' stallworth was suspended indefinitely by the league for killing mario reyes while driving drunk in miami. the wide receiver reached an undisclosed settlement with the reyes family. stallworth met with roger goodell in new york about a possible reinstatement and released this. >> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston.

>> the call to canton comes for six new members of the pro football hall of fame -- buffalo bills sack king bruce smith and owner ralph wilson. defensive standouts rod woodson and derrick thomas. 12-time pro bowler randall mcdaniel and a gold medal-winning sprinter turned receiver -- bullet bob hayes. join us for the pro football hall of fame enshrinement ceremonies. saturday, august 8, 7:00 eastern on espn. >> bottom nine, dodgers down by

two. andre ethier hitting it over the wall in right field -- his fourth career walk-off home run, his third walk-off home run this season. he leads baseball with five walk-off hits. he is the hero on thursday night for the dodgers. derek lowe against his former team not able to pick up the win. he was in line for it. no decision. he's got a 2.97 e.r.a. over his last six starts. >> andre ethier with his 23rd home run. the d'backs tie a franchise record with 21 hits. they beat the pirates 11-6. they scored five runs in the 12th inning -- mark reynolds, his 33rd home run. that's second in the majors to albert pujols. reynolds's eighth home run over his last 10 games. adrian gonzalez of the padres went deep in a win over the mets. his 29th.

♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning, the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are to achieving those goals after round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. why their front office could just be looking at a major headache. and, we know lebron is the m.v.p. but we'll tell you who in the king's court he's ready to defer to.

♪ >> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, j.w., heading into -- coming into thursday the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox all season long. yam with you, j.w., heading into >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals, yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. >> first of a four-game series in the bronx. david ortiz playing at yankee stadium for the first time since that "new york times" reported he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first inning, flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. he was booed throughout.

bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing, jorge posada trying to score, but he doesn't slide. gets tagged out by victor martinez. an easy out for the red sox. melky cabrera in the on-deck circle. doesn't look like he's telling posada to get down and slide. great relay throw by dustin pedroia. in the top of the third. pedroia going oppo -- opposite field and gone for his eighth home run of the year and his first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three. derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury. into the wall to make the grab. but later in the third inning, nobody's catching this one. johnny damon off john smoltz. his 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-homer season since 2006. top four. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run. his first with the red sox. they are up 3-1.

but in the fourth, the yanks tee off on john smoltz. melky cabrera -- the no-doubter -- three-run home run, his 11th. smoltz tagged. nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3 -- his e.r.a. is 8.32. jorge posada off former yankee billy traber, and that's gone for a three-run home run -- his 14th. yanks score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally, it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis, but on thursday night it was mark melancon throwing at dustin pedroia. it will be interesting to see if on friday night there will be any retaliation. it will be interesting to see if the yankees win it 13-6. they lead boston by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat the red sox for the first time this season. they snap a nine-game losing streak to them going back to last season. joba chamberlain wins four straight starts for the first time in his career, even though he had walked a career-high seven. joe girardi and the yanks are 15-5 since the all-star break.

>> fortunately, we won the game, and joba made some big pitches when he had to, but that's something you don't want to have to do against this club, or any club. >> swung the bat well, you have to give credit to the offense for picking us up. >> we're playing better than we were at the beginning, we're pitching better and doing things well, on the mound and at the plate, so hopefully we can carry on and do what we did today. >> we got one now, and our next goal is to win our second game and hopefully it comes tomorrow. >> the fourth inning was the key, thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since june of 2000. time may have just run out on 42-year-old john smoltz. >> am i surprised? yeah, i'm very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give

up the runs i'm giving up sometimes. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. >> it's not a lack of effort on his part, we know that, did some things differently tonight, a little different, his delivery, didn't have his hands over his head in his delivery, a little lower arm slot, and threw his fastball in early, tried to get some people off the plate, and the first couple innings looked good. >> there is only one guy that can change it, and that's me. i'm not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i'm trying to make is the right one. just happens to not be in the position i want to be in. >> lately, it's been the long ball that has victimized john smoltz. he is yet to go deeper than six innings this season. over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning -- it didn't help that the red sox went 3-21 with runners in scoring position and left 15 on base. with more, here is our "baseball tonight" crew.

>> steve berthiaume here with eduardo perez and buster olney -- john smoltz has now allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts. eduardo, thursday against the yankees, it was eight earned on nine hits, and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> he's always scuffled in the fourth inning, so far this season -- john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning, and the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flat and you see the first pitch to jorge posada, jumps all over it for a double, robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle, which smoltz could not cover his position, then on that 1-2 pitch, melky was able to get on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering. right there, you see a slider -- a flat slider. hits it to right. posada then can hit the home run straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz. major league average vs. what he did in the game against the

yankees. tonight only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over the plate. it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches. only two missed swings. big question for the red sox. will they keep him in the rotation? >> there is need for boston. whether they could survive another of these remains to be seen. the yankees rolling, 15-5 since the all-star break, 3 1/2 on top of the red sox in the a.l. east, beckett and burnett friday, buster, at the stadium. they need beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett -- the stopper. >> the pressure is building on the red sox, clay buchholz going saturday against cc sabathia. they've lost 11 of their last 18, eduardo. >> it's not going to be an easy task. a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett -- you've got to love it. after losses, he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a. >> we'll have it all for you friday, twice on "baseball tonight," 9:30 and midnight eastern time.

>> it's almost like phillies g.m. ruben amaro jr. is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay, that didn't work out. so instead they acquired the reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee. in a deal that might have had other owners trying to email the commissioner to veto the lead. he had a no-hitter into the sixth. thursday they got to see him up close and personal in his home debut. here is mr. lee, his first time at citizens bank park, the phillies host the rockieses, lee pitching well, his manager charlie manuel says, "he keeps a good composure out there." lee seven innings, one earned, he struck out nine. bottom five now, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launch -- paul bako launching this one to center field. his first home run of the year.

actually, his first since 2008, in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's now 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a. after the all-star break the last two seasons, and after the game, made it clear he was happy to get his first in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first at home, so i'm anxious to get that behind me and now i have. to give the team a chance, and the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lee's since paul byrd 11 years ago. in the divisional era, only four times has a starter gone seven innings and allowed at most one

run in his two starts with the team. -- in his first two starts with the team. >> teammates and security had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus, the biggest question surrounding lebron james -- will he be a cavalier after the 2010 season. in eight minutes, he gives us some insight. >> in 2 1/2 minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. tiger and phil renew their rivalry in phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. this is the year you take the trail less traveled. the year you come home with one less round and one more story. this is the year you do a little team building with the team that matters most. during the bass pro shops fall hunting classic, you can get great deals on the latest gear. and friday through sunday, take advantage of free seminars by over 50 top pros nationwide. bass pro shops. your adventure starts here.

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>> tiger woods and phil mickelson playing in the bridgestone invitational at firestone. tiger's won this event six times.

mickelson playing for the first time since the u.s. open. mickelson struggled on his front nine. he started on the back. here on 11, this is his second hole, and he would double bogey the 11th. mickelson on 18. this for par. phil shot a three-over 38 on his front nine, but on his back nine he turned it around. third shot on the par 5 second. the high flop shot within a few feet. he would birdie from there. on the par 3 seventh, this for birdie. mickelson shot a three under 32 on his back nine. finished at even-par 70. shot of the day -- ernie els. second shot on the par 4 first from 137 yards away. >> in for an eagle. he went on to shoot a 71. tiger woods started his day on the front nine. here on the fifth chipping from the rough for birdie. almost goes in.

tiger would tap in for par. on the par 3 12th, this for birdie. that does go in. he's at one under. on the par 4 13th. this for birdie as well. tiger shot a 68, but he, phil and everybody else chasing this guy. paddy harrington. long birdie putt on the seventh. his 16th for the lead. you bet you. paddy harrington shot a season-best 64 and leads by two strokes. on a calm day, 40 players were at par or better. paul casey, the number three player in the world withdrew midway through his round with a rib injury. a week ago tiger was tied for 95th upon after the opening round but rallied to win the buick open. this time he's tied for eighth. >> i had some good shots on the back nine. it was nice. some of the things i was working on, monday, tuesday at home, put

it together for a little bit in stretches today and i hit it good on the front nine in stretches, starting out i hit a couple bad shots there, in the middle part of the round and got it back, started hitting it good again, hit a little scratchy coming in, so it was kind of in spurts. kind of way the way it's been this year, even though -- i don't know, i've done all right this year, i think, you know, four times and people thought i was done after the players and should fire hank. i have had a pretty good season, i think. >> this is tiger's 10th bridgestone and he shot 68 or better in the opening round all 10 times. he won the event in each of his last three starts but didn't break par in two of those wins. in 2007 and 2005 he followed up low first rounds by cooling off to shoot par in the second. playing in his first event since the u.s. open in june, phil mickelson carded a three-under 32 on the front nine, his second nine of the day to finish at

even par. he hit 5-14 fairways but one-putted eight greens. phil on his return. >> i was excited to get back out and play. i got off to a shaky start. i didn't commit it a lot of shots. i didn't play aggressive. i didn't make aggressive swings and was three over at the turn and three every over through 10, so i was fortunate to get it turned around and make a few birdies. >> what turned it around for you? >> i think when you get into playing a little bit and you realize that you can't play swinging afraid or swinging tentative, i started to trust my swing. i started to make more aggressive shots and ended up giving myself a few birdie chances and made those. >> how much did you miss competing? >> i missed it more than i thought i would. >> like tiger, phil has also played at the bridgestone 10 times in his career but has never won although he's finished in the top 10 half of the time. the 70 he posted in round one is right in line with his career scoring average at the tournament. if you like drama, this is the game for you -- braves and

dodgers, bottom seven, dodgers down 4-2, two on for manny. he's going to have to take a seat. he was 2-4 with an r.b.i. bottom nine here. dodgers down 4-2, andre ethier sending it over the wall in right field. his fourth career walk-off home run. his 23rd jack of the season. it's actually his third walk-off home run this year. he leads baseball with five walk-off hits. rafael soriano gives up three earned runs without recording an out in the ninth for his third blown save of the season. derek lowe against his former team was in line for the victory but he gets the no decision. he's got a 2.97 e.r.a. over his last six starts. >> >> magic forward rashard lewis will miss the first 10 games of the regular season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dhea, a steroids precursor which combats fatigue.

rashard lewis says, "i take full responsibility for the situation." >> more nba. at the national association of black journalists conference, lebron asked if he would be in cleveland after the 2010 season. his response? "i hope so."

>> michael crabtree wasn't the first wide receiver taken in the draft. straight ahead, why he might be the first wide receiver taken in next year's draft. plus, while the a.l. central race is one of the tightest in baseball, find out why, on wednesday, the tigers were big wednesday, the tigers were big fans of the angels. - girls: yeah! - announcer: welcome to the now network. population 49 million. 145,000 teenagers are typing a text message at 70 words a minute. average speed of their parents: 8. right now, 90 high schoolers are shopping for new kicks on zappos.com. - none of them got game. - ( buzzer sounds ) 19,000 teenagers are flipping 354,000 burgers - to get the new samsung exclaim. - ( sizzles ) - ( gasps ) - just one of four iming, texting and twittering back-to-school phones you can get from sprint, starting at $19.99. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

>> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the >> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the a.l. west-leading angels, top of the third, vlad the impaler at it again, impaling another baseball. vladimir guerrero with his first home run since coming off the d.l., his fifth of the year. angels win 9-5 and avoid the sweep. bobby abreu joins barry bonds, craig biggio, joe morgan, rickey henderson and willie mays as the only players in major league history with 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 r.b.i.'s, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. >> the a.l. central-leading tigers facing the orioles, bottom two, brandon inge. goodbye. a two-run home run for him to left field. his 22nd of the year. his first home run since june 12. orioles are now just 5-15 since the all-star break. rick porcello won his 10th game of the season. he becomes the fifth tigers pitcher with 10 wins in his first big-league season since world war ii.

we keep talking about the tight n.l. central? a.l., no joke either. detroit two games up in the a.l. central with the twins 4 1/2 games back. do this shot with b it. the royals beat the mariners 8-2. the story here is bruce chen gets his first win since october of 2005 with baltimore. he said, "i feel like a gorilla with a bunch of kids, maybe a family of five, is off my back. to get this one out of the way is a tremendous relief for me." >> almost forgot what he looked like. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season re-enter the nfl draft next year. david wells, his cousin and advisor tells our joe schad he believes the niners have made an

offer but it is not acceptable. >> niners coach mike singletary weighs in. >> i really want our coaches and everybody here to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree -- that's his career, and he's got people around him that he's counting on to make decisions for him, and i can't worry about that, and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. i would love to get him in. when everything works itself out, he will be here, but until that time, i can't waste any time, not one moment looking around wondering, "i wonder if he's coming in today."

no, we've got to continue to work here and get these guys going. >> crabtree's advisor uses darrius heyward-bey as a measuring stick for what he thinks he should get. based on deals that other rookie wideouts signed crabtree is in the ball park for a five-year deal worth between $16-30 million. cleveland's donte' stallworth was suspended indefinitely by the league for killing mario reyes while driving drunk in miami. the wide receiver reached an undisclosed settlement with the reyes family. stallworth met with roger goodell in new york about a possible reinstatement and released this.

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and there's even more discounts! it's no "secret" that you can save hundreds with esurance. make it your "mission" to click or call esurance today. >> matthew berry here from espn.com fantasy with your fantasy news for friday, august 7, and you know i have a soft spot for guys with two first names. i also like guys who pitch well.

brett cecil of the blue jays qualifies for both. 3-0 with a 1.67 e.r.a. over his last four games. 24 strikeouts in 27 innings. i like him for his start on friday. i have no idea what joe blanton needs to do to be owned in every league but whatever it is he must not be doing it. still available in over 80% of leagues, blanton has been on fire recently -- his 2.42 e.r.a. over his last 10 starts. i like blanton at home against the marlins. speaking of the marlins, let's stay with florida teams, talk with the rays' jeff niemann goes for tampa bay later today and he's been ridiculous lately -- 6-1, 2.97 e.r.a. over his last seven starts. he should do well against seattle. you can play fantasy football free this season -- free live scoring and it's only on espn.com. >> the diamondbacks pounded the pirates