their franchise history they've hit 21 times in a game. last time, 1999. >> mark reynolds homered in that game -- his 33rd. second of the majors to albert pujols who has 36th. ♪ ♪ >> 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.

♪ >> 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, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the 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 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 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 fans of the angels. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free".

>> 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.

>> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston. ? 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. he's 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 about 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. i want to remind you fantasy fans you can play fantasy football free this season, free live scoring and it's only on espn.com. >> the diamondbacks had it going. they pounded out 21 hits en route to a victory. it's only happened twice in

their franchise history they've hit 21 times in a game. last time, 1999. >> mark reynolds homered in that game -- his 33rd. second of the majors to albert pujols who has 36th. ♪ ♪ >> 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.

♪ >> 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, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the 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 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 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 fans of the angels. n

>> 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.

>> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston. 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. he's 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 about 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. i want to remind you fantasy fans you can play fantasy football free this season, free live scoring and it's only on espn.com. >> the diamondbacks had it going. they pounded out 21 hits en route to a victory. it's only happened twice in

their franchise history they've hit 21 times in a game. last time, 1999. >> mark reynolds homered in that game -- his 33rd. second of the majors to albert pujols who has 36th. ♪ ♪ >> 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.

♪ >> 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, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the 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 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. >> this is jeff norman. he doesn't get health insurance from an employer, so he's been buying it himself for years. he's healthy, so he wonders why his rates keep going up. liz sloan wants health insurance but doesn't think she can afford it. we're assurant health, and we've been customizing plans to meet the needs of individuals

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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 fans of the angels. n

>> 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.

>> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston. 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. he's 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 about 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. i want to remind you fantasy fans you can play fantasy football free this season, free live scoring and it's only on espn.com. >> the diamondbacks had it going. they pounded out 21 hits en route to a victory. it's only happened twice in

their franchise history they've hit 21 times in a game. last time, 1999. >> mark reynolds homered in that game -- his 33rd. second of the majors to albert pujols who has 36th.

♪ ♪

>> 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. ♪ >> 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, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to

veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the 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 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 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. 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.

>> 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. >> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston. ?

♪ ♪ >> 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. ♪ >> 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, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter

going into the 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

>> 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

>> 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. >> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak

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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, 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. ♪ >> 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, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to

veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the 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 lebron's home town.

>> 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 fans of the angels. n

>> 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. >> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston. >> this is jeff norman. he doesn't get health insurance from an employer, so he's been buying it himself for years. he's healthy, so he wonders why his rates keep going up. liz sloan wants health insurance but doesn't think she can afford it. we're assurant health, and we've been customizing plans to meet the needs of individuals for over 110 years.

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