every night >> coming up on espnews, coors or cable cars, take your pick. we check in on colorado and san francisco in the nl wildcard chase. >> after punching an opponent, oregon's star running back gets suspended for the season. but there is a catch. brett favre didn't take any hits in friday's game, except one big hit to the wallet. and the williams sisters danced their way into the sweet 16 at the u.s. open. espnews now.

[closed captioning provided by espn, inc.] >> welcome inside the espnews stiewd yoaz, alongside mike yam, i'm anish shroff. we're here to keep you current. heading into labor day weekend, the wildcard race has yet to be decided. the rockies are leading, but they still have work to do. >> yeah, anish, if you ask any rockies fan, they'll tell you that right now, the postseason every game at this point is crucial for them. colorado actually came in with a one-game lead over san francisco in the wildcard standings, and right now, the diamondbacks are top 3-2. two r.b.i. single in the third, ian stewart was able to get colorado on the board. solo shot was his 21st of the season. >> told you the giants were a

game back of the rockies entering play. tied at 2. given up just one earned run in his previous starts. prince fielder, an r.b.i. ground out. aaron an r.b.i. single, tied at two. top 8 in beer town. >> trying to inch closer to that wildcard spot. the braves taking on cincinnati. top of the sixth. brandon phillips to right field. joey vato would come in to score, reds go up 2-0. cincinnati, now they've won five straight. 10 of the last 12. nate mccloud's first home run since july 24th. >> the very function alomar lynns visiting the nats, florida entered the night four out in the wildcard chase, top three. john home run baker, 3 for 5.

ties a career high with four ribbies. ramirez, by the way, was in the lineup. remember, he's got that hamstring issue. 2 for 3, two ribbies. >> so you look at the nl wildcard race. the rockies, one game up on the giants. >> he's been dominant in the second half of the season. looking to become baseball's first 17-game winner. albert pujols, supplying a little on feps. he goes in the sixth. his # 3rd home run of the season, number 362 in his career. passing joe dim mawng yo on the all time list. ryan ludwig, now centerfield.

that is gone. he was 5 for 5. two home runs, five ribbies, it's his first career five-game or five-hit game. the cardinals with 14 runs, the season high, four home runs that ties a season high. adam wainwright allows six six earned. snapping a streak of 12 straight starts. but he still gets the w. >> now wainwright is just one of several pitchers battling for the nl cy young award. tim lincecum having another great season. reigning cy young winner trying to become the first back-to-back n.l. winner since randy johnson won four straight since 1999 to 2002. >> the college football season began thursday night. friday afternoon, it ended for or on or running back legarrette blount. the universe pit suspended blount for the remainder of the season in the aftermath of oregon's loss to boise state. blount was tawbted by byron how the. blount responded by punp muching how the in the face.

now blount did apologize. he said it was something i shouldn't have done. i lost my head. blount score aid school record 17 t.d.'s last year. he will remain on scholarship, and will practice with the team. but for the senior, his playing days are over. >> it is my belief and this university's belief that playing football at the university of oregon is a privilege. and with that privilege goes responsibilities. but legarrette blount will still be on our team, legarrette blount will just not play for us on is saturdays. he need this is football program. he needs structure. i think he's taken this very hard, and he he understands that he made a mistake, and that he has to pay for that mistake. but we're not going to throw legarrette blount out on the street. i love legarrette blount. and what i told on legarrette when we met together is that i don't want people to see the legarrette blount that they saw last night. that's not him. and that moment last night will

not define him as a person. we'll provide him with the structure that is necessary for him to succeed. he's going to practice with this football team. he's going to get the student support services. he's going to go to class. and we're going to make sure legarrette gets a degree. and if this is a teachable moment for him, then he can bounce back from this. and that legarrette blount won't just be a you tube clip of this is what happened to him september 3rd in boise, idaho. there is a lot more to legarrette blount. he understands his actions last night are unacceptable. and that we will not put up with that. that is not the university of oregon football, that is not the university of oregon. >> the pac 10 released this statement a: we ask chris

fowler and the game day crew is the suspension enough for blount? >> legarrette blount was a junior college transfer. his career is over at oregon. it's a nightmare situation for chip kelly in his head coaching debut at any level. his offense was terrible. his team loss was supposed to be a payback game. now he has to deal with this tough situation. what about the severity of tun punishment against blount? >> i was surprised b but when you think about what happened after he punched how the, then he tried to attack a fan in the stands. i think that's what warranted his year suspension. i hope that punch was worth it for blount. >> it definitely was not worth it. for oregon to have the night that they had against boise state, and then to lose their best offensive player and as chris said for chip kelly who was just the last few years one of the great minds in kong

football, all of a sudden he becomes a head coach and gets this thrown in its lap, oregon goes from a contender to a pretender in the pac 10. >> where they go from here will be interesting to watch. blount cost himself a lot of money with that one punch on thursday night. >> now byron how the who taunted blount was not suspended by boise state sm chris petersen said the event that took place thursday night following the game between byron and running back legarrette blount was very in front, and we do not condone byron's actions. but there will be disciplinary consequences for byron as a result of the incident thursday night. and they'll be handled internally again. how the won't be suspended: >> still to come on espnews, we'll tell you how the nfl punished brett favre for an illegal block. plus, more of the favorites to win a u.s. open title. they were on the hard courts. who cruised and who struggled.

>> and the two hottest pitchers in baseball. one you know, the other you might not. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa?

hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly.

>> this one for all the hosiery lovers. paul bird, six shutout innings in his first start with boston. oh, alexei ramirez, two-run single. tagged for seven earned runs in two and a third. the white sox win this one by a final of 12-2. they bang out 20 hits. mark kotsay released by the red sox earlier this year. 3 for 4. cruing a two-run home run in this game. freddy garcia gets his first win

of the season with the sox. it's funny, we're on labor day weekend, bird against garcia, the pitching match-ups were both out of baseball on memorial day weekend. garcia now, 7-2 lifetime against boston. >> texas's scott sellman, look at the rangers pitcher, more than 19 years to win seven straightaway from home. needs some offensive help. in the sixth. nelson cruise comes up big. his 31st home run of the season. he's got a hot bat going. four home runs, ten ribbies in the last six games. the rangers win their fourth straight game. and improve to 25-17 against the a.l. east. becomes the first rangers pitcher to reach 15 wins since kevin millwood, and padilla did it in 2006. >> crucial ten-game stretch coming for the rays. they get the tigers, yanks and red sox in succession, beginning with detroit. sixth inning, miguel can a barrera. initiating launch sequence,

yeah. his 28th of the year. we're tied at 1. bottom 7, justin verlander and evan longoria with the 98 mile per hour heater. top nine, tie game, adam everett, lines it to left. the tigers score three in the top of the ninth. go up 4-1. bottom nine. rays with two on. aybar grounds to first, detroit hangs on 4-3. the tigers end a four-game losing streak at tampa. justin verlander now 4-0 in had i see career against the rays, he's won he three straight overall, and ties c.c. sabathia with his 16th win. that is the most in the american league. >> so, in the american league wildcard race, the red sox lose. the rangers win. so texas now within two games of boston. tampa cannot gain any ground. they are six back, and fading fast. >> yankees looking for their eighth straight win. taking on toronto and roy

haladay. he's struggleling lately. lost five of his last 7. wouldn't know it watching this game though. mark teixeira take a seat. haladay a complete game 1 hitt hitter. nine k's in this one. the last pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout on a team seven or more games, kimmie he key, he was pitching for the bluejays in 1986. the complete game was his sixth of the season for haladay. tieing him for the major league lead. aaron hill doubled twice. he had two ribbies and that gives him six r.b.i. in his last six games. winding up with the receiver in the wildcat formation, favre crouched down and threw his body against wilson on the play. and wilson injured his knee. >> u.s. open tennis for you, rafa nadal, taking on nicholas keifer. the second set here.

nadal took the first set, but keifer got some fight in him. an ace. he takes the second set 6-3 on nadal. just the second time so far in this tournament that a top 10 seeded player is dropped a set. andy murray actually the other one. but as of right now. i mentioned andy murray. but they're even right now. take a look at & hey murray. taking on paul cap deville. murray having trouble in the second. backhand winner murray can't reach it. murray the first men among the top 10 seed to drop a set so far in the u.s. open. but andy taking control in the third. the forehand winner, oh, that's nice. 44 winners for murray. his opponent, just 29. murray using the backhand this time, wins the third set 6-love. in the third set, more from murray on the hottest day of the tournament, he wins in four sets. >> venus williams battling knee trouble. she needed to get past

rybarikova venus serving up 4-2. strong forehand finish. second set, 3-all. that he knee, look like it's not bothering venus here. covering a lot of ground. and wins the point! venus would win that game. go up 4-3. venus would advance in straight sets. she wins despite double faulting seven times, so venus on to round four of the sweet 16. and there she'll face 05 champ kim clistjers. >> serena facing maria jose martinez sanchez in the third round. that's one person. last time they faced each other was in the french open. and serena called sanchez a cheat.

serena up 6-56789 from there it was all bookkeeping. serena in straight sets. she improves to 28-1 in her last five majors. serena said can't spell dynasty without nasty. >> coming up, the appetite for college football's first saturday. with friday battling the big easy. and it was a rough day for too the for tiger. the for tiger. see where hemore cash over here!

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that makes sense.

>> oh yeah, college football overdrive all starts tomorrow. the games get underway as well. 3:30 eastern on abc. georgia oak state got byu-oklahoma. a big one late at night on abc. bama and virginia tech. if you're wondering who do i take in these games, we've got that figured out for you. reese davis, mark may and lou holtz pick some of saturday's biggies. is. >> four games matching ranked games none of them with a greater mar he quay value.

alabama and virginia tech, lou, take your pick snieflt i love alabama. i love coach saban. he loves this football team. when you think about coach saban, his team played well in the opening ballgame. on the other hand, virginia tech lost to usc and got beat decisively by lsu in big ballgames in he recent years. in addition to that, virginia tech is 0-20 versus top 5 teams away from home. i could go on and on about cody, and the talent they have at alabama. i'm just saying alabama's enough for me. >> i love this team particularly the way they play defense, and that is ceet. >> if you look at last year they were able to run stop just about everybody they were playing against. they've got nine starters back on defense. i think with virginia tech you'll see eight or nine men in the box. they'll force tierod to throw the football last year. just two touchdown passes and seven interceptions, so the pressure's going to be on virginia tech, that's why i like alabama. >> touchdown passes not a problem for either sam bradford

or max hall. oak on oak and byu or jerry mahal or whatever they're calling the cowboys new stadium, take your pick. >> i think when you break it down, there isn't a lot of deference. they both have great quarterbacks, and problems in the offensive line. i'm going with oklahoma, because they are oklahoma. byu have seven offensive linemen who are eligible and healthy to make this trip. on the other hand, i love oklahoma's defense. they weren't good last year. they return nine starters, they should be good enough to beat byu. because after all it's still oklahoma. >> i also like oklahoma in had game. keep an eye on gerald mccoy. he'll put a lot of pressure on his quarterback. but i do like the talent oklahoma has. even without their offensive lineman, they have one starter returning. sam bradford was the heisman trophy winner last year. and they average 15 points a game. they'll figure out a way to put points on the board. >> do you figure he'sp copying

you? is. >> that's the only he way he can get them right is is if he follows me. >> let's put him to the test. what about the battle in stillwater? >> i'm going with the bulldogs in this game. are you kidding me? it's sec football. defense, defense, defense. i'm going with georgia in this game, because on fence and defense they have the most experience, and depth combined of anybody on both lines combined of anybody in the country. they have got running backs at georgia, they always have and always will. i look for georgia to go in this game, play great defense, which the big xii usually doesn't see often, and win this game. >> when you put him on his own he always he blows it. it's going to be oklahoma state, mark. i didn't want to tell you because of this. oklahoma state is so talented on fence. you go and talk about all the different people, but here's the other thing about oklahoma state. i love the fact they've got a defensive coordinator named bill young. he was at kansas when their number 12 in the country on defense. he goes last year to miami, and raises them to number 28 in the

country. i know oklahoma state hasn't been very good on defense in the past. but you look to on explosiveness on fence, bill young on defense. and you're playing them at home, yeah. >> coach, i'll just give you information. oklahoma state's defense was a 93rd ranked defense in total defense last year, and bill young doesn't buckle up. >> you didn't hear me. oklahoma state will win the football game. >> what about nevada and notre dame. >> oh, this is easy. nevada wins this game. colin cowell the quarterback rushed for 1100 yards on the ground. not only that he threw for 2800 yards and 22 touchdowns, and they have two running backs, not one, that are coming back that have rushed for over 1,000 yards. and the two defensive ends are 21 and a half sacks. nevada in the upset. >> i am convinced you are completely uncorrectable. there is no way in this world. they're 119th in the country on pass defense. they're only 119 teams played last year. 120 this year. in addition to that, notre dame

has too much talent. >> don't forget they lost to syracuse last year. >> a new year, a new beginning, new opportunity. and some of the same old arguments. >> entertaining. >> they certainly are. the green wave just six wins taking on tulsa in a conference usa battle. first quarter, golden hurricanes up oh, boy. that's gj kenny. the play action for him. he had 78, and that's a touchdown. first play ensuing possession, joe kemp picked off. mike bryant takes it down to the tulane five. on the next play, it's a 17-0 game. positive for kemp by the way. a career high in passing, 278 yards. johnson returns to punt, and this is his 66 yards. he is in. tulsa wins. they've now won five straight against the green wave. looking more like a flash. >> round one of the deutsche abank championship.

tiger woods current fedex points leader. on 14. tiger, the birdie putt, gets that one to go. he moves to even par. but the putter which betrayed him last week at liberty national, betrayed him again here. >> tiger missed five birdie putts inside 12 feet. but the 35-foot birdie putt on 8, that, of course, goes straight in. of tiger finishes the day with a 1 under 70. he said i didn't do much of anything positive today. how about steve stricker? second to tiger in the fedex standings. they both finished tied for second at liberty national last week. striker on number 3. that is a nice tee shot. he birdied 5 of his first six holes. how about jim furyk on 17. that's to within ten feet. furyk, like stricker, shot a 63. 8 under for furyk, his lowest round of the year.

mickelson had a tough ninth ho hole. short par putt misses by six feet. then for bogie, misses again. he would four putt. lefty finishes the round at even par. >> so, steve stricker and jim furyk your co-leaders. they're both at 8 under. stricker seeking his third win on tour this year. furyk seeking his first win since 07. >> coming up on espnews, the game day crew debates the suspension of oregon running back legarrette blount. in every game of the wildcard race in the national league, it counts in a big way. counts in a big way. which team took a stepgreat. but put a ring of cheese in the crust and...jackpot! courtside...great. in between them... jackpot! pizza night...great. stuff crust pan pizza night...jackpot!

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monday. the longest day of the week. which gives you time to reflect on your unfortunate job history. he looks like a villain from a soap opera. boss: (clears throat) but with monday comes monday night football on espn.

which is the closest you'll ever get to your dream job... what? i cut the sleeves off because it looks awesome... get your head in the game! so keep that day job. because on monday nights, football does all the work. every night it's the team that i >> coming up on espnews, coors and cableng cars, take your pic. we check in on colorado and san francisco in the wildcard chase. after punching an opponent, oregon's star running back gets suspended for the season. but there is a catch. brett favre didn't take any hits in friday's game. well, except one big hit on the wallet. >> and the williams sisters danced their way into the sweet 16 at the u.s. open. espnews coming your way now.

>> let's get your college football on. green wave, just six wins in the last twoit seasons. taking on tulsa. conference t usa battle first quarter. golden hurricanes up 3-0. gj kenny, running a play action for him. 78 yards on the yankees for the quarterback rushing. that's impressive. first play, ensuing possession, not impressive. joe kemp picked off by mike bryant. tulsa would score on the next play to make it 17-0. into the fourth quarter, johnson, taking the punt. got some blockers, and he's got some major yardage. 66 yards for the touchdown. tulsa wins in that one, five straight against the green wave. while postgame extra with rodney gilmore. >> conference usa play now

underway here. got started tonight with tulsa coming down to new orleans to face an improved tulane team, but not a team that could hang with tulsa at the end of the day. especially with the defensive pressure that the golden hurricane was bringing on joe kempp. >> yeah, i think that was a surprise to see tulsa's defense play as well as they did tonight. and it was james locket bringing a lot of it from the outside. lot of pressure, getting after kemp in the back field. causing him to hurry his passes, really knocking the ball around. causing an

things done for the team. with a sac bunt in the sixth inning. but as you can see, the rockies coming back strong so far in the seventh inning at this point it was a big play by haren there evening things up. but as you can see, a one one-game -- even game right now. a one-game cushion for colorado. >> colorado up by a game. the giants nipping away. they're going to be paying close

aattention. that game between the d'backs and the rockies. right now the giants have a 3-2 lead on the brewers. one out away from closing it o out. bengie molina, a solo home run in the eighth. that broke a 2-2 tie. again, one out away. the giants are, from sneaking to within a half game of colorado. >> inched a little closer to the wildcard spot. the braves have the reds. top of the since sixth. brandon phillips, right field it goes. joey vato would come in to score. the reds have now won a season high five straight. much and 10 of the last 12. they continue to tear it up, and you look at bronson arroyo's era as of late. a 1.17 era. nate mcleod's first home run since july 24th. >> the function alomar lynns adviseiding the nats. florida entered the night four out of the wildcard chase. top three, home run baker. john baker.

two-run shot to left. his ninth of the year. baker 3 for 5. the home run tied a career high with four ribbies. the fish beat the nats, 9-6, seven straight losses now for washington. florida has won three straight. >> your up-to-the-minute wildcard standings, the giants just beat the brewers, so they're now a half game. and it updates right in front of your eyes. >> adam wainwright has been dominant in the second half of the season. looking to become baseball's 17 game winner. he needs on fensive help, top of the sixth. albert pujols to left field. his # 3rd of the season eighth

inning now, ryan ludwig, that's gone. he was 5 for 5. two home runs in five ribbies. his first career five-hit game. the cardinals have 14 runs. that is a season high. the four home runs set ties this season high. and adam wainwright, in the last six earned. all in the fifth. snapping a streak of 12 straight starts. allowing few runs, but he still gets the win. wainwright is one of several pitchers battling for the nl cy young award. tim lincecum, reigning cy young winner, trying to become the first back-to-back n.l. winner since randy johnson won four straight from 1999 to 2002. >> brewers and giants, just ended in milwaukee. ninth inning, brian wilson against casey mcgee gets him to pop off. and san francisco with a win. the solo home run in the eighth. to break the 2-2 tie. the big hit in this game.

san francisco wins, and the pressure now on colorado. as the giants now within a half game. the rockies need to win to maintain their one-game advantage. otherwise we'd have a tie. atop the nl wildcard standings. >> the college football season began thursday night. friday afternoon it ended for garret blount. the university suspended blount for the remainder of the season. in the aftermath, blount was taunted by broncos defensive end byron how the. blount respond bid punching how the in the face. blount did apologize of the he said it was just something that i shouldn't have done. i lost my head. blount who scored a school record 17 t.d.'s last year will remain on scholarship, and will practice with the team. but for the senior, his playing days are over. >> it is my belief and this university's belief that playing football at the university of of oregon is a privilege. and with that privilege goes responsibilities. legarrette blount will still be

on our team. legarrette blount will just not play for us on saturdays. i think he's taken this very hard, and he understands he made a mistake, and he has to pay for that mistake. but we're not going to throw legarrette blount out on the street. >> i love legarrette blount. and what i told him when we met together is i don't want people to see the le garret blunt that they saw last night. that's not him. and that moment last night will not define him as a person. we'll provide him with the structure that's necessary for him to succeed. he's going to practice with this football team, he's going to get student support services, he's going to go to class, and we're going to make sure that legarrette gets a degree. if this is a teachable moment for him, he can bounce back from this. and legarrette won't just be a

you tube clip of this is what happened to him at boise, idaho. there's a lot more to blount than that. he understands his actions last night are unacceptable. we will not put up with that. that is not university of oregon football, that is not the university of oregon. >> the official statement from the pac 10. >> legarrette blount was a junior college trance fer, his career is over at oregon. it's a nightmare situation for chip kelly and his head coaching debut at any level. his offense was terrible. his team loss was supposed to be a payback game.

now he has to deal with what about the severity of the punishment against blount? >> i was surprised. but when you think about what happened after he punched how the, and then he tried to attack a fan in the stands, i think that's what warranted a year's suspension. he's a senior. his college career is finished. i hope that punch was worth it for blount. >> it definitely was not worth it. for chip kelly who was just kind of in the last few years one of the great minds in college football, all of a sudden, he becomes a head coach and gets this thrown in his lap? boy, oregon goes from a contender to a pretender in the pac 10. >> where they go from here will be interesting to watch. blount cost himself a lot of money if you believe the nfl personnel people that one punch on thursday night. >> byron how the the instigator in this won't be suspended. chris peterson said the event that took place thursday night following our game:

>> still to come on espnews, we'll tell you how the nfl punished brett favre for an illegal block. #. >> and for the favorites to win a u.s. open title. we're on the hard courts, three are in, one is trying to get to the next round. we'll tell you how he's doing. they're two of the hottest pitchers in baseball. one you know, the other you might not. why both flame flow throwers stayed scorching. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa?

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>> white sox beat the red sox 12-2. byrd threw six shutout innings in his first start with boston. freddy garcia 7-2 lifetime against boston, gets his first win of the year for the white >> texas in baltimore, want some offense? nelson cruz to right field, his 31st of the year, swinging a hot bat, four home runs, 10 r.b.i.'s in his last six games. the rangers win their fourth straight and improve to 25-17 against the a.l. east this

season. feldman becomes the first rangers pitcher to reach 15 games since kevin millwood and vicente padilla in 2006. >> rays have the tigers, red sox, begins with the tigers. tied at 1-1 at the trop. we go to the bottom of the seventh, tied at 1-1, two outs, justin verlander, 98-mile-an-hour heater. the ninth, adam everett, tigers score three in the ninth to go up 4-1. in the bottom of the ninth, fernando rodney gets willie aybar to ground out, tigers hold on for a 4-3 win, detroit ends a four-game losing streak at the trop. justin verlander gets his 16th win of the year, ties him with cc sabathia of the yankees for most in the american league.

here is your a.l. wild card picture. red sox lose. the rangers win. texas two back. tampa misses a chance. they are six back and fading fast. >> yankees looking for their eighth straight win taking on toronto. roy halladay has been struggling as of late. lost five of his last seven. wouldn't know it, watching this game -- a complete-game one-hitter. struck out nine, did halladay -- the last pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout on a team with a winning streak of seven or more games, jimmy key of the blue jays in 1986. key, by the way, did play for the yankees. the complete game was the sixth of the season for halladay tying him with kansas city's zack greinke for the american league lead. >> the nfl fined brett favre 10 grand for his crackback block during monday's preseason game, when lining up at receiver in

the wildcat formation favre crouched down and threw his body at the feet of defensive back eugene wilson. on the play, wilson injured his knee. favre a spectator in the vikings' preseason finale, minnesota hosting dallas, first quarter, it's tarvaris jackson. improvising. finds jeff dugan, his tight end. 36-yard touchdown. jackson 2-4, 42 yards and that score. third quarter, cowboys down two touchdowns. sage rosenfels picked off, patrick watkins, 23 yards, dallas within seven, 21-14. later in the third, john david booty picked off by steve octavius, returning it 44 yards for the score. that tied it up at 21-21. dallas with two interception returns in the quarter. they win 35-31.

>> u.s. open tennis, rafa nadal, number three seed on the men's side taking on nicolas kiefer. tied at a set apiece. break point in the third, kiefer eventually hits the backhand into the net, nadal getting fired up and for good reasonment won the third set 6-3. we're in the fourth set now. >> men's number two seed andy murray taking on paul capdeville from chile, after winning the first set murray having trouble in the second, backhand winner from capdeville, murray the first man among the top-10 seeds to drop a set. third set, murray takes control, the forehand winner -- that's nice. murray, 44 winners in the match, cruising in the third. murray would end up winning the set 6-0. advances to the fourth set. murray dealing on the hottest day of the tournament, andy

moving on in four. >> venus williams battling knee trouble, had to face rybarikova in round three. venus a big forehand finish. she would take the first set 6-2. has the brace on the left knee still. second set, tied at 3-3, looks like the knee is not bothering venus here, great court coverage and she puts it away with the backhand volley, venus up 4-3 in the second. match point now for venus. she would finish it off at net. venus wins despite double faulting seven times. she will face kim clijsters in the fourth round -- clijsters the 2005 champ. sister serena facing maria jose martinez sanchez, faced each other in the french open -- just one person. when they played in france, serena called sanchez a -- 1-3,

second set, serena one of her 30 winners. this wasn't that much of a contest. serena got a little bit of a challenge in the second set but she would take this in straight sets 6-3, 7 hiv had foov -- 6-3, 7-5. after the win, serena, the defending champ, said, "can't spell dynasty without "nasty." coming up on espnews we whet our appetite with college football's first saturday with a battle in the big easy. >> keeping you current on espnews. (announcer) what does greatness taste like? round of miller lite. (announcer on call) ...here it comes... watch this now... got it! my goodness! now you have seen it all. (announcer) that's what greatness tastes like.

triple hops brewed. great pilsner taste. miller lite. taste greatness.

>> "college football overdrive is back. it's year four on espnews. every saturday from 3:00 to 8:00 eastern, we take you live to the most exciting games from across the country. we offer expert analysis from kordell stewart and shaun king. our kickoff is september 5th, 3:00 eastern on espnews. >> conference u.s.a. battle,

tulsa-tulane, g.j. kinne, 77 yards rushing, and that rushing touchdown. not what joe kemp had in mind. pass tipped. intercepted by mike ryan. takes it to the five. 17-0 count at that point. fourth quarter, damaris johnson returns the punt 66 yards for the touchdown. tulsa now has won five straight against the green wave making them look more like splash. >> round one, deutsche bank championship, tiger woods the current fedexcup points leader knocks down the birdie putt here on 14. that gets him to even par. but the putter didn't really help him out for much of the day -- tiger missed five birdie putts inside 12 feet. he said, "i didn't really do much of anything positive today." he can go home with this --

35-foot birdie putt on eight. that goes in. tiger finished the day with a one-under 70. steve stricker -- he was tied with tiger for second at liberty national. he was good -- real good, five birdies in his first six holes. that's a nice tee shot on three. stricker shot an eight-under 63, lowest round of the year. jim furyk, on 17 -- this is nicely done. his second shot rolls to within 10 feet. furyk hits every green in regulation. he shot an eight-under 63 as well. phil mickelson, short par putt here on nine. no. then the bogey putt the other way. no. that's a four-putt. lefty would finish the day at even par. after round one, steve stricker and jim furyk your co-leaders. they have a two-shot lead. both shot eight under. stricker seeking his third win on tour this year.

furyk hasn't won since 2007 on tour. >> cliff lee coming off his first loss in about two months. taking on the astros. third inning, facing hunter pence and that's gone -- cliff lee struggling in this one, six earned runs allowed, he's now given up 12 earned in his last two starts. only three earned in his first three starts with philadelphia -- he was running that insane scoring streak. philadelphia scored only three runs in their last four games, falls to just 2-2. still to come, every game counts in the n.l. wild card race. we'll show you which team took a step backward. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar,

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♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews. coors and cable cars -- take your pick. we check in on colorado and san fran in the wild card chase. after punching an opponent, oregon's star running back gets suspended for the season. but there is a catch. brett favre didn't take any hits in friday's game -- well, except one big hit to the wallet.

and, the williams sisters dance their way into the sweet 16 at the u.s. open. espnews coming your way now. captioning by captionmax >> welcome to the espnews studios, with mike yam, i'm anish shroff. helping you stay current. jason giambi, good waiver-wire pickup by the rockies. >> i think it's more the facial hair. >> he's got a cool-looking mustache. >> good karma. you mentioned the rockies. a little cushion for them in the wild card standings, just a one-game lead but the rockies on top 5-4 and they can thank jason giambi for that -- able to give them the lead here in the eighth inning. before that, seth smith a two-r.b.i. double in the seventh. arizona was on top 4-2.

smith, seven r.b.i.'s in his last seven games. >> the giants entered friday a game behind the rockies in the wild card hunt. san francisco visiting milwaukee, top eighth, 2-2 game, bengie molina, 3-2 san francisco. how about that guy. something tells me it's not his first. brian wilson gets casey mcgee to pop out, giants win 3-2, the pressure now on colorado as san francisco within a half game of the rockies -- colorado, as we told you, up 5-4 against arizona. the giants have won five of their last seven overall. san francisco wins despite allowing a season-high 10 walks. >> trying to edge closer to a wild card spot, the braves have the reds. top of the sixth inning, brandon phillips to right field.

that would score joey votto, and the reds have now won a season-high five straight and 10 of their last 12, bronson arroyo, the e.r.a. for him a miniscule 1-7 over his -- -- 1.17 over his last five starts. >> florida against the nats, john home run baker, ninth of the year, opposite-field shot, baker 3-5, a career high -- tying a career high with four r.b.i.'s. florida beat washington 9-6. the fish have won three straight, the nats have lost seven in a row. we take a peek at the up-to-date wild card standings.

>> adam wainwright's been dominant in the second half of the season. looking to become baseball's first 17-game winner. he needs a little offense, so the machine, albert pujols, coming up big for him in the sixth, to left field, his 43rd of the year. for the career, number 362 passing joe dimaggio for 69th all time. moving to the eighth, ryan ludwick, dead center. it is gone. a three-run shot. he was 5-5, two home runs, five r.b.i. -- it's his first career five-hit game. the cardinals, the 14 runs, that's a season high. the 14 home runs, that ties a season high. adam wainwright allows six earned. he gets the win. wainwright is one of several pitchers battling for the n.l. cy young award. tim lincecum having another great season. he's the reigning cy young

winner and trying to become the first back-to-back n.l. winner since randy johnson won four straight from 19know99 to 2002. >> the college football season began -- from 1999 to 2002. >> the college football season began thursday night. friday it ended for oregon running back legarrette blount. in the aftermath of the loss to boise state blount was taunted by defensive end byron hout. blount responded by punching hout in the face. blount did apologize. he said "it wasn't something i should have done. i lost my head. "blount who scored a school record 17 t.d.'s last year, will remain on scholarship and will practice with the team but for the senior his playing days are over. >> it is my belief and this university's belief that playing football at the university of oregon is a privilege and with that privilege goes responsibility. legarrette blount will still be on our team. legarrette blount will just not play for us on saturdays.

legarrette blount needs this football program. he needs structure. i think he's taking this very hard and he understands that he made a mistake and that he has to pay for that mistake, but we're not going to throw legarrette blount out on the street. i love legarrette blount. and what i told legarrette when we met together was that i don't want people to see the legarrette blount that they saw last night. that's not him. and that that moment, last night, will not define him as a person. we will provide him with the structure that's necessary for him to succeed. he's going to practice with this football team, he's going to get the student-support services, he's going to go to class and we're going to make sure legarrette gets a degree, and if this is a teachable moment for him that he can bounce back from this, and that legarrette blount won't just be a youtube clip of what happened to him on september 3rd in boise, idaho. there is a lot more to legarrette blount, but he understands his actions last night are unacceptable.

and that we will not put up with that. that is not university of oregon football, that is not the university of oregon. >> the official statement from the pac-10. >> chris fowler and the "gameday" crew weigh in on blount's suspension. >> legarrette blount, who was a junior-college transfer, his career is over at oregon. it's a nightmarish situation for chip kelly in his head-kechg debut at any level, his offense was terrible -- head-coaching debut at any level. what about the severity of the punishment against blount? >> i was actually surprised, but i guess when you think about what happened after he punched

hout and then he tried to attack a fan in the stands, i think that's what warranted a year's suspension. he's a senior. his college career is finished. i hope that punch was worth it for blount. >> it definitely was not worth it. for oregon to have the night that they had against boise state, and then to lose their best offensive player, and as chris said, for chip kelly who the last few years was one of the great minds in college football, all of a sudden he becomes a head coach andee gets this thrown in his lap, oregon goes from a contender to a pretender in the pac-10. >> where they go from here interesting to watch. blount cost himself a lot of money if you believe the nfl personnel people with that one punch on thursday night. >> byron hout, the instigator in this won't be suspended.

>> still to come here on espnews, we'll tell you how the nfl punished brett favre for an illegal block. >> the favorites to win a u.s. open title on the hard court. three are in, one still going. we'll tell you how rafael nadal is doing. the two hottest pitchers in baseball, one you know, the other you might not. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains.

drink responsibly. so we lick race for it, right here with double stuf gold. but mr. trump, my brother and i are the defending champions. and, let's be honest, you don't even have a partner. oh, i've got a partner.

no you don't. yes i do. no you don't. yes i do. me! no way, it's... double trump. and we're gonna be yooge. (eli) let's get this party started. >> this one's for all the hosiery lovers out there, wild card leading red sox visiting the white sox. >> i'm a sandals guy.

>> what am i, 50 years old? >> alexei ramirez, two-run single off paul byrd. white sox beat the red sox 12-2. byrd threw six shutout innings in his first start with boston -- yeah, 2 1/3, seven earned runs on friday. freddy garcia now 7-2 lifetime against boston gets his first win of the year for the white sox. 500th win as white sox skipper for ozzie guillen. >>' scott feldman in baltimore, need a little offense, nelson cruz, his 31st of the year. four home runs, 10 r.b.i.'s in his last six games. rangers win their fourth straight and improve to 25-17 against the a.l. east this season. feldman becomes the first rangers pitcher to reach 15 wins since kevin millwood and vicente padilla did it in 2006.

>> crucial 10-game stretch for the rays -- the tigers, yanks and red sox in succession. begins with detroit, top sixth, miguel cabrera feasts on that, his 28th of the year. tied at 1-1 at the trop. we go to the bottom of the seventh, tied at 1-1, two outs, justin verlander, 98-mile-per-hour heater gets evan longoria. in the ninth, adam everett. tigers scored three in the top of the ninth. go up 4-1. gets interesting in the bottom of the ninth. fernando rodney gets willie aybar to ground out. tigers hold on for a 4-3 win. detroit ends a four-game losing streak at the trop. justin verlander gets his 16th win of the year. that ties him with cc sabathia of the yankees for most in the american league. here is your a.l. wild card picture -- the red sox lose, the rangers win. texas two back. tampa misses the chance.

they are six back and fading fast. >> yankees looking for their eighth straight win, taking on toronto. roy halladay -- he's been struggling as of late, lost five of his last seven. wouldn't know it, though, watching this game -- a complete-game one-hitter. he struck out nine, did halladay -- the last pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout against a team on a winning streak of seven or more games, jimmy key of the blue jays in 1986. key, by the way, did play for the yankees. the complete game was the sixth of the season for halladay tying him with kansas city's zack greinke for the mierlg lead. aaron hill two r.b.i.'s and six r.b.i.'s in the last six games. >> the nfl fined brett favre 10 grand for his crackback block during monday's preseason game, when lining up at receiver in the wildcat formation favre crouched down and threw his body at the feet of houston defensive back eugene wilson. on the play, wilson injured his

knee. favre a spectator in the vikings preseason finale, minnesota hosting dallas, first quarter, it's tarvaris jackson. improvising, and finds jeff dugan, his tight end. 36-yard touchdown. third t.d. pass of the preseason for jackson. he was 2-4, 42 yards and that score. third quarter, cowboys down two touchdowns, sage rosenfels picked off. patrick watkins, 23 yards. dallas within seven. 21-14. later in the third, john david booty, picked off by steve octavius. he's returning it 44 yards for the score. that tied it up at 21-21. dallas with two interception returns in the third quarter. they win 35-31. >> u.s. open action, number three seed rafael nadal going up against nicolas kiefer. the fourth set here, 3-3 in the fourth, nadal a break

opportunity, dropshot, kiefer going backhand, it is long, nadal gets the break, he goes up 4-3. after that, match point here. for nadal. rafa played a relatively clean game -- just 22 unforced errors, unlike kiefer, his opponent -- 60 unforced errors in the match, and rafa moving on to the next round. with a four-set win. men's number two seed, andy murray taking on paul capdeville from chile, after winning the first set, murray having some trouble in the second, backhand winner, capdeville, murray the first man among the top-10 seeds to drop a set. third set now, murray takes control, the forehand winner -- nice. murray 44 winners in the match, cruising in the third, murray would end up winning the set 6-0.

advances to the fourth set. murray just dealing. on the hottest day of the tourney. andy moving on in four. >> venus williams battling knee trouble. she had to face slovenia's magdalena rybarikova in round three, venus the big forehand finish. she would take the first set 6-2, has the brace on the left knee, still. looks like the knee is not bothering venus here. great court coverage and she puts it away with the backhand volley, venus up 4-3 in the second. match point now for venus. she would finish it off at net. venus wins despite double faulting seven times. she will face kim clijsters in the fourth round -- clijsters the 2005 champ. sister serena facing maria jose martinez sanchez. they met in the french open. when they played in france, serena called sanchez a cheat.

serena won the first set 6-3. second set, serena, one of her 30 winners. this wasn't that much of a contest. serena got a little bit of a challenge in the second set but she would take this in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. serena 28-1 in her last five majors. after the win, serena, the defending champ, said, "can't spell dynasty without nasty." coming up on espnews. we whet our appetite for college football's first saturday with a friday battle in the big easy. >> it was a rough day for tiger. see where the world's best golfer fell short. (announcer) what does greatness taste like? a miller lite. (announcer on call) ...he throws it across the field. he's got something! 30...40...50...he's got it! 40! he's got it! 20...10...he's got it! 5!...endzone! touch down! there are no flags on the field! it's a miracle!

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gonzalez, right off the >> diamondbacks and rockies, colorado entering the night with a one-game lead in the wild card standings. bottom seven, they're down 4-2, but seth smith, that's a big double for him. that would score two. we've got ourselves a tied ballgame at 4-4, smith seven r.b.i. for him in his last seven games. bottom eighth, still the same count, jason giambi rips it up the middle. he's got four r.b.i.'s in his last four games with colorado. they go up 5-4 after that. move to the ninth now, franklin

morales in for the save, justin upton pops up. huston street not available -- remember, he's dealing with the right-arm tendinitis. rockies have won three of their last four. morales's second career save. dan haren the no-decision. >> to the hard courts, rafa nadal, number three seed at the u.s. open, lost the second set, double match point, though, against nicolas kiefer. kiefer, 60 unforced errors in the loss. nadal will move on. when it was over, pam shriver caught up with rafa. >> well, rafa, in spain, it's

quarter past 12:00 midnight, the night is young, they're just getting started -- a lot of this new york crowd stayed for you tonight. what does that mean? >> yeah. thank you. just can say thank you very much, to be here in new york is really special, the crowd fantastic, i'm just very happy to be here and to be in this tournament. >> the first set, 6-0, looked like it might be a routine match and it was also the biggest test on your leg since you came back. how are you feeling after three hours on the court? >> i feel good. yes, i playing well but i think he started slow and later he play better, and when you win the first set, easy, like this, the opponent start to play better, is difficult, you know, because you are not on rhythm,

but anyway, nicolas is a great player, he had a very good match, i'm very happy to beat him. today. >> you have another nicholas next, nicholas almagro from your home country of spain. last time you played him you thumped him. what about the hard court? >> he won a very good match today. i'm going to work hard and try to play well. >> rafa, you always work hard. thanks so much, great to have you back, rafael nadal. >> college football, green wave just six wins the last two seasons taking on tulsa in a conference u.s.a. battle, first quarter, tulsa up 3-0, g.j. kinne, 15-yard touchdown, finished the day with 77 yards on the ground. first play, tulane's ensuing

possession, joe kemp -- his pass not what he intended. mike bryan takes the ball to the tulane five, they score on the next score, a 17-0 deficit for the green wave. fourth quarter now, tulsa still on top, demaris johnson fielding the punt, 66 yards. he is gone. tulsa victorious. they've now won five straight against the green wave. making them look like a splash. >> round one of the deutsche bank championship, tiger woods the leader in the fedexcup points standings, on 14, tiger the birdie putt, that rattles in. he moves to even par. the putter betrayed him from short distance. he missed five birdie putts inside 12 feet. said tiger, "i didn't do much of anything positive today." he did do this. on eight, tiger, 35-foot birdie attempt, it's in the hole." tiger shot a one-under 70 for the day. tiger told his caddie after the first two holes which steve

stricker birdied that stricker was going to shoot a 62. he was close. stricker fired a 63. this, his approach on 12. very nicely done. stricker, eight under after round one. he's your co-leader. big day for jim furyk as well. his second shot on 17. that's to within 10 feet. furyk hits every green in regulation. he also fired an eight-under 63. furyk had five birdies in his first six holes. phil mickelson on nine misses the par putt there, then the bogey here. no. a four-putt on nine. mickelson would finish the day at even par but stricker and furyk your co-leaders after round one. they shot an eight-under 63. stricker has won twice on tour this year, furyk seeking his first tour win since 2007. >> oh, how i miss basketball. >> here we go. >> north carolina, the alumni game, dean smith, m.j. -- that's

the 2009 championship banner, got to love it, this is vince carter. >> vince carter is nasty. if jordan was on the floor against vince. >> he's probably thinking i'm still good for 50. >> a flash back to 1998 for vince carter, dealing it out. >> still to come here on espnews. the "gameday" crew debates the suspension of oregon running back legarrette blount. >> and every game counts in the n.l. wild card race. wassup man. keys. keys. stacy, keys. girl. um. billy. hi, boy. saddle. hermes wassup, little buddy, wing-tipped sandals. let's go. nobody flying tonight. hold it there big guy.

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♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews. coors and cable cars -- take your pick. we check in on colorado and san fran in the wild card chase. after punching an opponent, oregon's star running back gets suspended for the season. but there is a catch. brett favre didn't take any hits in friday's game -- well, except one big hit to the wallet. and, the williams sisters dance their way into the sweet 16 at the u.s. open. espnews coming your way now.

♪ ♪ >> welcome inside the espnews studios. helping you stay current, he's mike yam, i'm anish shroff. heading into the labor day weekend the rockies might be the wild card leader but work to be done. >> it's not the postseason just yet but if you ask rockies fans they'll tell you every game is crucial. a one-game lead in the wild card standings over san francisco entering play, rockies down 4-2, bottom seven, not any longer, seth smith coming up with the double. that would score two. he's 4-5. he has seven r.b.i. in his last seven games. a 4-4 count. bottom eighth. same score, pinch-hitter jason giambi, mustache and all to center field. four r.b.i.'s in four games with colorado. had a clutch hit in the series against the mets. the rockies have won three of

their last four, franco morales picked up his second career save, huston street dealing with right-arm tendinitis, arizona's one through five hitters 1-19 with six k's. >> pressure on the giants. they entered friday a game behind the rockies in the wild card hunt. san fran visiting milwaukee, top eighth, 2-2 game, bengie molina. his 17th of the season. san fran goes up 3-2. he's got four r.b.i.'s in his last five games. it's the ball park not the beach. bottom nine, brian wilson gets casey mcgee to pop out and san francisco, down 2-0 in this game, they come back for a 3-2 win. give credit to the giants bullpen. six relievers combined for five innings of three-hit ball. san fran has now won five of seven. >> trying to inch closer to the wild card spot, the braves. they have the reds.

top of the sixth. brandon phillips. r.b.i. opportunity to be had, and he comes up with it in a big way. joey votto comes in to score. reds have won a season-high five straight, 10 of their last 12. bronson arroyo -- he's dealing. a 1.17 e.r.a. over his last five starts. >> the oh, so functional marlins visiting the nats, florida entered play four out in the wild card chase, john "home run" baker, two-run shot to left, his ninth of the year. the fish beat the nats 9-6. baker 3-5. he ties a career high with four r.b.i.'s. florida has won three in a row, the nats have lost seven straight. we look at the wild card standings in the national league. >> adam wainwright's been

dominant in the second half of the season, looking to become baseball's first 17-game winner. he needs a little offense, so the machine, albert pujols, coming up big for him in the sixth, to left field, his 43rd of the year. for the career, number 362. passing joe dimaggio for 69th all time. moving to the eighth, ryan ludwick, dead center. it is gone. a three-run shot. he was 5-5, two home runs, five r.b.i.'s. it's his first career five-hit game. the cardinals, the 14 runs, that's a season high. the four home runs ties a season high, and ad-- adam wainwright snaps a streak of 12 straight starts allowing two or fewer runs but he still gets the win. wainwright is one of several pitchers battling for the n.l. cy young award. tim lincecum having another great season. he's the reigning cy young winner and trying to become the first back-to-back n.l. winner since randy johnson won four straight from 1999 to 2002.

>> the college football season began thursday night. friday afternoon, it ended for oregon running back legarrette blount. the university suspended blount for the remainder of the season. in the aftermath of oregon's loss to boise state, blount was taunted by broncos defensive end byron hout. blount responded by punching hout in the face. blount did apologize. he said "it was just something i shouldn't have done. i lost my head." blount who scored a school record 17 t.d.'s last year will remain on scholarship and will practice with the team, but for the senior, his playing days are over. >> it is my belief and this university's belief that playing football at the university of oregon is a privilege and with that privilege goes responsibility. legarrette blount will still be on our team. legarrette blount will just not play for us on saturdays. legarrette blount needs this football program. he needs structure. i think he's taking this very hard and he understands that he made a mistake, and that he has to pay for that mistake, but

we're not going to throw legarrette blount out on the street. i love legarrette blount. and what i told legarrette when we met together was that i don't want people to see the legarrette blount that they saw last night. that's not him. and that that moment last night will not define him as a person. we will provide him with the structure that's necessary for him to succeed. he's going to practice with this football team. he's going to get the student-support services. he's going to go to class. and we're going to make sure legarrette gets a degree. and if this is a teachable moment for him, that he can bounce back from this and that legarrette blount won't just be a youtube clip of just what happened to him on september 3rd in boise, idaho. there is a lot more to legarrette blount, but he understands his actions last night are unacceptable. and that we will not put up with that. that is not the university of oregon football. that is not the university of

oregon. >> the official statement from the pac-10. >> chris fowler and the "gameday" crew weigh in on blount's suspension. >> legarrette blount, who was a junior-college transfer, his career is over at oregon. it's a nightmarish situation for chip kelly in his head-coaching debut at any level, his offense was terrible. what about the severity of the punishment against blount? >> i was actually surprised, but i guess when you think about what happened after he punched hout and then he tried to attack a fan in the stands, i think that's what warranted a year's suspension. he's a senior. his college career is finished. i hope that punch was worth it

for blount. >> it definitely was not worth it. for oregon to have the night that they had against boise state, and then to lose their best offensive player, and as chris said, for chip kelly, who the last few years was one of the great minds in college football, all of a sudden he becomes a head coach and he gets this thrown in his lap, oregon goes from a contender to a pretender in the pac-10. >> where they go from here interesting to watch. blount cost himself a lot of money if you believe the nfl personnel people with that one punch on thursday night. >> byron hout, the instigator in this, won't be suspended. >> still to come here on espnews, we'll tell you how the

nfl punished brett favre for an illegal block. >> four of the favorites to win a u.s. open title were on the hard courts. two cruised in round four while two had a hiccup. two hottest pitchers in baseball. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly.

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it's no "secret" that you can save hundreds with esurance. make it your "mission" to click or call esurance today. >> this one's for all the hosiery lovers out there, wild card leading red sox visiting the white sox. >> i'm a sandals guy. >> you don't wear socks? >> i thought that was in. >> what am i, 50 years old? >> alexei ramirez, two-run single off paul byrd. white sox beat the red sox 12-2.

byrd threw six shutout innings in his first start with boston -- yeah, 2 1/3, seven earned runs on friday. freddy garcia now 7-2 lifetime against boston gets his first win of the year for the white sox. 500th win as white sox skipper for ozzie guillen. >> attacks's scott feldman looking to become the first rangers pitcher in more than 19 years to win seven straight away from home. he's in baltimore. need a little offense, nelson cruz, his 31st of the year. four home runs, 10 r.b.i.'s in his last six games. rangers win their fourth straight and improve to 25-17 against the a.l. east this season. feldman becomes the first rangers pitcher to reach 15 wins since kevin millwood and vicente padilla did it in 2006. >> crucial 10-game stretch for the rays -- the tigers, yanks and red sox in succession. begins with detroit, top sixth,

miguel cabrera feasts on that, his 28th of the year. tied at 1-1 at the trop. we go to the bottom of the seventh, tied at 1-1, two outs, justin verlander, 98-mile-per-hour heater gets evan longoria. verlander eight innings, one earned run, seven strikeouts. in the ninth, adam everett. tigers scored three in the top of the ninth. go up 4-1. gets interesting in the bottom of the ninth. fernando rodney gets willie aybar to ground out. tigers hold on for a 4-3 win. detroit ends a four-game losing streak at the trop. justin verlander gets his 16th win of the year. that ties him with cc sabathia of the yankees for most in the american league. here is your a.l. wild card picture -- the red sox lose, the rangers win. texas two back. tampa misses a chance. they are six back and fading fast. >> yankees looking for their eighth straight win, taking on toronto. roy halladay -- he's been

struggling as of late, lost five of his last seven. wouldn't know it, though, watching this game -- a complete-game one-hitter. he struck out nine, did halladay -- the last pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout against a team on a winning streak of seven or more games, jimmy key of the blue jays in 1986. key, by the way, did play for the yankees. the complete game was the sixth of the season for halladay tying him with kansas city's zack greinke for the major league lead. aaron hill two r.b.i.'s and six r.b.i.'s in the last six games. >> the nfl fined brett favre 10 grand for his crackback block during monday's preseason game, when lining up at receiver in the wildcat formation favre crouched down and threw his body at the feet of houston defensive back eugene wilson. on the play, wilson injured his knee. favre a spectator in the vikings preseason finale, minnesota hosting dallas, first quarter, it's tarvaris jackson.

improvising, and finds jeff dugan, his tight end. 36-yard touchdown. third t.d. pass of the preseason for jackson. he was 2-4, 42 yards and that score. third quarter, cowboys down two touchdowns, sage rosenfels picked off. patrick watkins, 23 yards. dallas within seven. 21-14. later in the third, john david booty, picked off by steve octavien. he's returning it 44 yards for the score. that tied it up at 21-21. dallas with two interception returns in the third quarter. they win 35-31. >> u.s. open tennis, number three seed rafael nadal going up against nicolas kiefer. first set, nadal up 2-0, rafa whipping that one. takes the first set 6-0. second set. kiefer up 4-2, this part of a

23-shot rally. kiefer in the second set had 18 winners, nadal 11, and kiefer wins the second set 6-3. third set, now. nadal working. kiefer at the baseline, and nadal, pumped up, breaks kiefer and wins the third set. into the fourth. match point. nadal a four-set winner. he's moving on to round number three. men's number two seed, andy murray taking on paul capdeville from chile, after winning the first set, murray having some trouble in the second, backhand winner, capdeville, murray the first man among the top-10 seeds to drop a set. third set now, murray takes control, the forehand winner -- nice. murray 44 winners in the match, cruising in the third, murray would end up winning the set 6-0.

advances to the fourth set. murray just dealing. on the hottest day of the tourney. andy moving on in four. >> venus williams battling knee trouble. she had to face slovenia's magdalena rybarikova in round three, first set venus the big forehand finish, she would take the first set 6-2, has the brace on the left knee, still. looks like the knee is not bothering venus here. great court coverage and she puts it away with the backhand volley, venus up 4-3 in the second. match point now for venus. she would finish it off at net. venus wins despite double faulting seven times. she will face kim clijsters in the fourth round -- clijsters the 2005 champ. sister serena facing maria jose martinez sanchez. they met in the french open. when they played in france, serena called sanchez a cheat. serena won the first set 6-3.

second set, serena, one of her 30 winners. this wasn't that much of a contest. serena got a little bit of a challenge in the second set, but she would take this in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. serena 28-1 in her last five majors. after the win, serena, the defending champ, said, "can't spell dynasty without nasty." coming up on espnews. we whet our appetite for college football's first saturday with a friday battle in the big easy. >> it was a rough day for tiger. see where the world's best golfer fell short. >> keeping you current on espnews. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and i've got plenty of room for the internet.

and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. do you know what's wrong with your cooler? i'll tell you what. it's not a grill. i want you to say hello to the bud light grooler! it's a grill and a cooler. ring, ring, ring, ring. it's the future. are we here? ( crowd gasps ) i think we are. it's a grill and a cooler? it's a grooler. tailgate tested! tailgate approved! ♪ it's back to being hit with all the stresses of work. how was your weekend? it's day one of that 3 o'clock lull. and that guy who always asks, mind if i jump in? but monday night football is returning to espn,

where adrian's moves will be making the guys in the booth say lean back! re-donk-ulous! play on playa! so relax and run steady. because on monday nights you roll with us- three deep in the booth.

>> college football overdrive is back, year four on espnews, each saturday at 3:00 eastern we offer expert analysis from kordell stewart and shaun king. our kickoff september 5, 3:00 eastern on espnews. >> notable games this saturday.

>> green wave just six wins the last two seasons, taking on tulsa in a conference u.s.a. battle. first quarter, golden hurricane up 3-0, you can add a couple more points, g.j. kinne, play action, 15-yard touchdown, quarterback had 77 yards rushing. ensuing possession, first play, pass picked off, tulane down to the five yard line, tulsa would score on the next play to make it 17-0. fourth quarter, dedamaris johnson fields the punt 66 yards for the score. >> round one, deutsche bank championship from t.p.c. boston. second of four fedexcup events, tiger woods the leader in the fedexcup points standings,

knocks down the birdie putt on 14, moves to even par. he struggled from short distance, though -- tiger missed five birdie putts inside 12 feet. he said, "i didn't really do much of anything positive today." he can go home with this. on eight, tiger a 35-foot birdie attempt. bingo. he finishes the day with one under. tiger shot a 70. tiger paired up with steve stricker. after the second hole, tiger said to his caddie "stricker's going to shoot a 62." close. stricker fired a 63. this his tee shot on 12. part of a five-birdie streak. stricker shot an eight-under 63, your first-round co-leader with jim furyk. furyk's second shot on 17. he hit every green in regulation. furyk also shot an eight-under 63 -- his lowest round of the year. tough ninth hole for lefty. phil mickelson misses the short par putt. now looking at a bogey putt the other way.

he would four-putt for double bogey. lefty finishes at even par for the day. stricker and furyk your co-leaders at eight under. they have a two-shot lead, stricker seeking his third win on tour this season. furyk seeking his first tour win since 2007. >> cliff lee coming off his first loss in about two months, taking on the astros. moving to the third, hunter pence with one man on. cliff lee all of a sudden struggling. six earned runs allowed. he's got 12 earned in the last two starts. he only had three earned in the first five starts with philadelphia. stros win. >> take a look at the angels and the royals. that is a final. jered weaver seven innings, six k's, career-high 14th win of the season, vlad guerrero had two r.b.i., gives him six r.b.i. in the last four games. >> if you are an offensive coordinator in the nfl, make

sure that resume is up to date. friday the bills canned their offensive coordinator, turk schonert, the third o.c. fired this week. bills quarterback coach alex van pelt assumes the play-calling duties for buffalo. >> bring me some hoops. north carolina the alumni game, dean smith, michael jordan, roy williams, who's who, 2009 championship banner unveiled, 1998, vince carter's last year wearing the uniform. a who's who list. >> m.j.'s got that itch to scratch. "i wish i could play 15 minutes. it is >> when he was talking about going into the hall of fame, he said "you guys," talking about the media, "still think i can play." i'm one of them. an impressive showing for vince. >> coming up "the gameday crew" debates the suspension of oregon

running back legarrette blount. >> every game counts in the n.l. wild card race. gentlemen, oreo has rejected my bid to buy the dsrl. so we lick race for it, right here with double stuf gold. but mr. trump, my brother and i are the defending champions. and, let's be honest, you don't even have a partner. oh, i've got a partner. no you don't. yes i do. no you don't. yes i do. me! no way, it's... double trump. and we're gonna be yooge.

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(announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly. ♪ >> matthew berry here from espn.com fantasy with a couple of really deep, late-round, wide receiver sleepers for you and how about troy williamson of the jacksonville jaguars, one of the leading receivers in the

preseason and whatever you think of williamson, he's better than they had last year in jacksonville when david garrard was top 10 in the nfl in passing yards. david clowney of the jets has won that starting job off jerricho cotchery, he has under 300 yards -- i like him as a safety valve for mark sanchez. the jets are going to throw more than people think. clowney could be a nice sleeper in deep leagues. finally a guy you want to spend -- a late-round player on malcom kelly of the redskins. he's 6'4" and they really like him a lot. jason campbell needs that big target in the red zone and i think malcolm kelly could be it -- he's now the starter for the redskins. fantasy news available free on espn.com.

♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews. coors and cable cars -- take your pick. we check in on colorado and san fran in the wild card chase. after punching an opponent, oregon's star running back gets suspended for the season. but there is a catch. brett favre didn't take any hits in friday's game -- well, except one big hit to the wallet. and, the williams sisters dance their way into the sweet 16 at the u.s. open. espnews coming your way now.

♪ captioning by captionmax >> welcome inside the espnews studios. with mike yam, anish shroff here to keep you current. we head into the labor day weekend with the rockies the wild card leader but plenty of work to do. >> anish, if you talk to colorado rockies fans they'll tell you the postseason is not right now but every game they play is absolutely crucial. heading into play, colorado came with a one-game lead in the wild card standings over san francisco, bottom seven, rockies down 4-2. not any longer. seth smith to center field. he was 4-5 with two doubles. this would score two and tie the game at 4-4. he had seven r.b.i.'s in his last seven games. bottom eighth. still the same score. pinch-hitter jason giambi, the power of the mustache. had a clutch hit on wednesday against the mets.

when it's all said and done, the rockies have now won three of their last four. franklin morales his second career save. huston street dealing with tendinitis. >> pressure on the giants. they entered friday a game behind the rockies in the wild card hunt. san fran visiting milwaukee, top eighth, 2-2 game, bengie molina. his 17th of the season. san fran goes up 3-2. he's got four r.b.i.'s in his last five games. it's the ball park not the beach. bottom nine, brian wilson gets casey mcgee to pop out, and san francisco, down 2-0 in this game, they come back for a 3-2 win. give credit to the giants bullpen. six relievers combined for five innings of three-hit ball. san fran has now won five of seven. >> trying to inch closer to the wild card spot, the braves. they have the reds. top of the sixth. brandon phillips.

r.b.i. opportunity to be had, and he comes up with it in a big way. joey votto comes in to score. reds have won a season-high five straight, 10 of their last 12. bronson arroyo -- he's dealing. a 1.17 e.r.a. over his last five starts. >> the oh, so functional marlins visiting the nats, florida entered play four out in the wild card chase, john "home run" baker, two-run shot to left, his ninth of the year. the fish beat the nats 9-6. baker 3-5. he ties a career high with four r.b.i.'s. florida has won three in a row, the nats have lost seven straight. we look at the wild card standings in the national league.

>> adam wainwright's been dominant in the second half of the season, looking to become baseball's first 17-game winner. he needs a little offense, so the machine, albert pujols, coming up big for him in the sixth, to left field, his 43rd of the year. for the career, number 362. passing joe dimaggio for 69th all time. moving to the eighth, ryan ludwick, dead center. it is gone. a three-run shot. he was 5-5, two home runs, five r.b.i.'s. it's his first career five-hit game. the cardinals, the 14 runs, that's a season high. the four home runs ties a season high, and ad-- adam wainwright allows six earned on the fifth. snaps a streak of 12 straight starts allowing two or fewer runs but he still gets the win. wainwright is one of several pitchers battling for the n.l. cy young award. tim lincecum having another great season. he's the reigning cy young winner and trying to become the first back-to-back n.l. winner since randy johnson won four straight from 1999 to 2002.

>> the college football season began thursday night. friday afternoon, it ended for oregon running back legarrette blount. the university suspended blount for the remainder of the season. in the aftermath of oregon's loss to boise state, blount was taunted by broncos defensive end byron hout. blount responded by punching hout in the face. blount did apologize. he said, "it was just something i shouldn't have done. i lost my head." blount who scored a school record 17 t.d.'s last year will remain on scholarship and will practice with the team, but for the senior, his playing days are over. >> it is my belief, and this university's belief, that playing football at the university of oregon is a privilege and with that privilege goes responsibility. legarrette blount will still be on our team. legarrette blount will just not play for us on saturdays. legarrette blount needs this football program. he needs structure. i think he's taking this very hard, and he understands that he made a mistake, and that he has to pay for that mistake, but

we're not going to throw legarrette blount out on the street. i love legarrette blount. and what i told legarrette, when we met together, was that i don't want people to see the legarrette blount that they saw last night. that's not him. and that that moment last night will not define him as a person. we will provide him with the structure that's necessary for him to succeed. he's going to practice with this football team. he's going to get the student-support services. he's going to go to class. and we're going to make sure legarrette gets a degree. and if this is a teachable moment for him, that he can bounce back from this and that legarrette blount won't just be a youtube clip of just what happened to him on september 3rd in boise, idaho. there is a lot more to legarrette blount, but he understands his actions last night are unacceptable. and that we will not put up with that. that is not the university of oregon football. that is not the university of oregon.

>> chris fowler and the "gameday" crew weigh in on blount's suspension. >> legarrette blount, who was a junior-college transfer, his career is over at oregon. it's a nightmarish situation for chip kelly in his head-coaching debut at any level, his offense was terrible. his team lost what was supposed to be a payback game. now he has to deal with this tough situation. what about the severity of the punishment against blount? >> i was actually surprised, but i guess when you think about what happened after he punched hout, and then he tried to attack a fan in the stands, i think that's what warranted a year's suspension. he's a senior.

his college career is finished. i hope that punch was worth it for blount. >> it definitely was not worth it. for oregon to have the night that they had against boise state, and then to lose their best offensive player, and as chris said, for chip kelly, who the last few years was one of the great minds in college football, all of a sudden he becomes a head coach, and he gets this thrown in his lap, oregon goes from a contender to a pretender in the pac-10. >> where they go from here interesting to watch. blount cost himself a lot of money if you believe the nfl personnel people with that one punch on thursday night. >> byron hout, the instigator in this, won't be suspended.

>> still to come on espnews, we'll tell you how the nfl punished brett favre for an illegal block. >> plus, four of the favorites to win a u.s. open title were on the hard courts. two cruised in round four while two had a hiccup. we'll tell you who did what. two hottest pitchers in baseball. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly.

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>> this one's for all the hosiery lovers out there, wild card leading red sox visiting the white sox. >> i'm a sandals guy. >> you don't wear socks? >> i thought that was in. >> what am i, 50 years old?

>> attacks's scott feldman looking to become the first rangers pitcher in more than 19 years to win seven straight away from home. he's in baltimore. need a little offense, nelson cruz, his 31st of the year. four home runs, 10 r.b.i.'s in his last six games. rangers win their fourth straight and improve to 25-17 against the a.l. east this season. feldman becomes the first rangers pitcher to reach 15 wins since kevin millwood and vicente padilla did it in 2006. >> crucial 10-game stretch for the rays -- the tigers, yanks and red sox in succession. begins with detroit, top sixth,

miguel cabrera feasts on that, his 28th of the year. tied at 1-1 at the trop. we go to the bottom of the seventh, tied at 1-1, two outs, justin verlander, 98-mile-per-hour heater gets evan longoria. verlander eight innings, one earned run, seven strikeouts. in the ninth, adam everett. tigers scored three in the top of the ninth. go up 4-1. gets interesting in the bottom of the ninth. fernando rodney gets willie aybar to ground out. tigers hold on for a 4-3 win. detroit ends a four-game losing streak at the trop. justin verlander gets his 16th win of the year. that ties him with cc sabathia of the yankees for most in the american league. here is your a.l. wild card picture -- the red sox lose, the rangers win. texas two back. tampa misses a chance. they are six back and fading fast. >> yankees looking for their eighth straight win, taking on toronto. roy halladay -- he's been

struggling as of late, lost five of his last seven. wouldn't know it, though, watching this game -- a complete-game one-hitter. he struck out nine, did halladay -- the last pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout against a team on a winning streak of seven or more games, jimmy key of the blue jays in 1986. key, by the way, did play for the yankees. the complete game was the sixth of the season for halladay tying him with kansas city's zack greinke for the major league lead. aaron hill two r.b.i.'s and six r.b.i.'s in the last six games. >> the nfl fined brett favre 10 grand for his crackback block during monday's preseason game, when lining up at receiver in the wildcat formation favre crouched down and threw his body at the feet of houston defensive back eugene wilson. on the play, wilson injured his knee. favre a spectator in the vikings preseason finale, minnesota hosting dallas, first quarter, it's tarvaris jackson.

improvising, and finds jeff dugan, his tight end. 36-yard touchdown. third t.d. pass of the preseason for jackson. he was 2-4, 42 yards and that score. third quarter, cowboys down two touchdowns, sage rosenfels picked off. patrick watkins, 23 yards. dallas within seven. 21-14. later in the third, john david booty, picked off by steve octavien. he's returning it 44 yards for the score. that tied it up at 21-21. dallas with two interception returns in the third quarter. they win 35-31. >> u.s. open tennis, number three seed rafael nadal going up against nicolas kiefer. first set, nadal up 2-0, rafa whipping that one. takes the first set 6-0. second set. kiefer up 4-2, this part of a

23-shot rally. kiefer in the second set had 18 winners, nadal 11, and kiefer wins the second set 6-3. third set, now. nadal working. kiefer at the baseline, and nadal, pumped up, breaks kiefer and wins the third set. into the fourth. match point. nadal a four-set winner. he's moving on to round number three. men's number two seed, andy murray taking on paul capdeville from chile, after winning the first set, murray having some trouble in the second, backhand winner, capdeville, murray the first man among the top-10 seeds to drop a set. third set now, murray takes control, the forehand winner -- nice. murray 44 winners in the match, cruising in the third, murray would end up winning the set 6-0.

advances to the fourth set. murray just dealing. on the hottest day of the tourney. andy moving on in four. >> venus williams battling knee trouble. she had to face slovenia's magdalena rybarikova in round three, first set venus the big forehand finish, she would take the first set 6-2, has the brace on the left knee, still. looks like the knee is not bothering venus here. great court coverage and she puts it away with the backhand volley, venus up 4-3 in the second. match point now for venus. she would finish it off at net. venus wins despite double faulting seven times. she will face kim clijsters in the fourth round -- clijsters the 2005 champ. sister serena facing maria jose martinez sanchez. they met in the french open. when they played in france, serena called sanchez a cheat. serena won the first set 6-3.

second set, serena, one of her 30 winners. this wasn't that much of a contest. serena got a little bit of a challenge in the second set, but she would take this in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. serena 28-1 in her last five majors. after the win, serena, the defending champ, said, "can't spell dynasty without nasty." coming up on espnews. we whet our appetite for college football's first saturday with a friday battle in the big easy. >> it was a rough day for tiger. see where the world's best golfer fell short. >> keeping you current on >> keeping you current on espnews. we can still be really good friends. we'll just be together a lot less, like almost never. - are you breaking up with me? - what? no! break up? ( chuckles ) ( ding ) silly. are you breaking up with me?

( thud, grunt ) ( ding ) not too heavy, not too light. bud light. ( ding ) the difference is drinkability. i'll facebook you! the difference is drinkability. it's back to being hit with all the stresses of work. how was your weekend? it's day one of that 3 o'clock lull. and that guy who always asks, mind if i jump in? but monday night football is returning to espn,

where adrian's moves will be making the guys in the booth say lean back! re-donk-ulous! play on playa! so relax and run steady. because on monday nights you roll with us- three deep in the booth.

>> "college football overdrive is back. it's year four on espnews. every saturday from 3:00 to 8:00 eastern, we take you live to the most exciting games from across the country. we offer expert analysis from kordell stewart and shaun king. our kickoff is september 5th, 3:00 eastern on espnews. >> notable games this saturday. >> green wave just six wins >> green wave just six wins the last two seasons, taking on tulsa in a conference u.s.a. battle.

first quarter, golden hurricane up 3-0, you can add a couple more points, g.j. kinne, play action, 15-yard touchdown, quarterback had 77 yards rushing. first play of tulane's ensuing possession, joe kemp's pass picked off, tulane down to the five yard line, tulsa would score on the next play to make it 17-0. fourth quarter, damaris jackson fields the punt, 66 yards -- he is gone for the score. tulsa, they've now won five straight against the green wave making them looking more like a little splash. >> round one, deutsche bank championship from t.p.c. boston. second of four fedexcup events, tiger woods the leader in the fedexcup points standings, knocks down the birdie putt on 14, moves to even par. he struggled from short distance, though -- tiger missed five birdie putts inside 12 feet. he said, "i didn't really do much of anything positive today."

he can go home with this. on eight, tiger a 35-foot birdie attempt. bingo. he finishes the day with one under. tiger shot a 70. tiger paired up with steve stricker. after the second hole, tiger said to his caddie, "stricker's going to shoot a 62." close. stricker fired a 63. this his tee shot on 12. part of a five-birdie streak. stricker shot an eight-under 63, your first-round co-leader with jim furyk. furyk's second shot on 17. he hit every green in regulation. furyk also shot an eight-under 63 -- his lowest round of the year. tough ninth hole for lefty. phil mickelson misses the short par putt. now looking at a bogey putt the other way. he would four-putt for double bogey. lefty finishes at even par for the day. stricker and furyk your co-leaders at eight under. they have a two-shot lead, stricker seeking his third win on tour this season.

furyk seeking his first tour win since 2007. >> cliff lee coming off his >> daddies and dodgers. jim thome making his debut as a pinch-hitter. not bad for a first impression. base knock into right center puts men at the corners. dodgers down 2-0, san diego calls for its closer -- heath bell. bell would get the four-out save. gets james loney to fly out to end the threat in the eighth. pads win 2-0. san diego's won four in a row. the dodgers a .500 team at the all-star break. >> phillies and astros. cliff lee, six earned runs for him, given up 12 earned in his last two starts. the phillies have scored only three runs in their last four games. >> angels and royals. kansas city they top the

>> if you're an offensive coordinator in the nfl, make sure that resume is up to date. friday the bills canned their o.c., turk schonert. the third offensive coordinator fired this week. bills quarterback coach alex van pelt will assume the play-calling duties for buffalo. north carolina the alumni game, dean smith, michael jordan, roy williams, who's who, 2009 championship banner unveiled, 1998, vince carter's last year wearing the uniform. a who's who list. m.j.'s on the bench. he could still do this. maybe not the dunks. >> he said everybody in the media still thinks i can play."

>> our top stories on the way. the game day" crew debates the suspension of oregon running back legarrette blount. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly.

so we lick race for it, right here with double stuf gold. but mr. trump, my brother and i are the defending champions. and, let's be honest, you don't even have a partner. oh, i've got a partner. no you don't. yes i do. no you don't. yes i do. me! no way, it's... double trump. and we're gonna be yooge. (eli) let's get this party started.

>> matthew berry here, from espn.com fantasy with a couple of really deep, late-round, wide receiver sleepers for you, and how about troy williamson of the

jacksonville jaguars, one of the leading receivers in the preseason and whatever you think of williamson, he's better than they had last year in jacksonville when david garrard was top 10 in the nfl in passing yards. david clowney of the jets has won that starting job off jerricho cotchery, he has under 300 yards -- i like him as a safety valve for mark sanchez. the jets are going to throw more than people think. clowney could be a nice sleeper in deep leagues. finally, a guy you want to spend -- a late-round player on malcolm kelly of the redskins. he's 6'4" and they really like him a lot. jason campbell needs that big target in the red zone and i think malcolm kelly could be it -- he's now the starter for the redskins. fantasy news available free on espn.com.

♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews. coors and cable cars -- take your pick. we check in on colorado and san fran in the wild card chase. after punching an opponent, oregon's star running back gets suspended for the season. but there is a catch. brett favre didn't take any hits in friday's game -- well, except one big hit to the wallet. and, the williams sisters dance their way into the sweet 16 at the u.s. open. espnews coming your way now.

♪ captioning by captionmax >> welcome inside the espnews studios. with mike yam, anish shroff here to keep you current. we head into the labor day weekend with the rockies the wild card leader but plenty of work to do. >> anish, if you talk to colorado rockies fans they'll tell you the postseason is not right now but every game they play is absolutely crucial. heading into play, colorado came with a one-game lead in the wild card standings over san francisco, bottom seven, rockies down 4-2. not any longer. seth smith to center field. he was 4-5 with two doubles. this would score two and tie the game at 4-4. he had seven r.b.i.'s in his last seven games. bottom eighth. still the same score. pinch-hitter jason giambi, the power of the mustache. had a clutch hit on wednesday against the mets.

when it's all said and done, the rockies have now won three of their last four. franklin morales his second career save. huston street dealing with tendinitis. >> pressure on the giants. they entered friday a game behind the rockies in the wild card hunt. san fran visiting milwaukee, top eighth, 2-2 game, bengie molina. his 17th of the season. san fran goes up 3-2. he's got four r.b.i.'s in his last five games. it's the ball park not the beach. bottom nine, brian wilson gets casey mcgee to pop out, and san francisco, down 2-0 in this game, they come back for a 3-2 win. give credit to the giants bullpen. six relievers combined for five innings of three-hit ball. san fran has now won five of seven. >> trying to inch closer to the wild card spot, the braves. they have the reds. top of the sixth.

brandon phillips. r.b.i. opportunity to be had, and he comes up with it in a big way. joey votto comes in to score. reds have won a season-high five straight, 10 of their last 12. bronson arroyo -- he's dealing. a 1.17 e.r.a. over his last five starts. >> the oh, so functional marlins visiting the nats, florida entered play four out in the wild card chase, john "home run" baker, two-run shot to left, his ninth of the year. the fish beat the nats 9-6. baker 3-5. he ties a career high with four r.b.i.'s. florida has won three in a row, the nats have lost seven straight. we look at the wild card standings in the national league.

>> adam wainwright's been dominant in the second half of the season, looking to become baseball's first 17-game winner. he needs a little offense, so the machine, albert pujols, coming up big for him in the sixth, to left field, his 43rd of the year. for the career, number 362. passing joe dimaggio for 69th all time. moving to the eighth, ryan ludwick, dead center. it is gone. a three-run shot. he was 5-5, two home runs, five r.b.i.'s. it's his first career five-hit game. the cardinals, the 14 runs, that's a season high. the four home runs ties a season high, and ad-- adam wainwright allows six earned on the fifth. snaps a streak of 12 straight starts allowing two or fewer runs but he still gets the win. wainwright is one of several pitchers battling for the n.l. cy young award. tim lincecum having another great season. he's the reigning cy young winner and trying to become the first back-to-back n.l. winner since randy johnson won four straight from 1999 to 2002.

>> the college football season began thursday night. friday afternoon, it ended for oregon running back legarrette blount. the university suspended blount for the remainder of the season. in the aftermath of oregon's loss to boise state, blount was taunted by broncos defensive end byron hout. blount responded by punching hout in the face. blount did apologize. he said, "it was just something i shouldn't have done. i lost my head." blount who scored a school record 17 t.d.'s last year will remain on scholarship and will practice with the team, but for the senior, his playing days are over. >> it is my belief, and this university's belief, that playing football at the university of oregon is a privilege and with that privilege goes responsibility. legarrette blount will still be on our team. legarrette blount will just not play for us on saturdays. legarrette blount needs this football program. he needs structure. i think he's taking this very hard, and he understands that he made a mistake, and that he has

to pay for that mistake, but we're not going to throw legarrette blount out on the street. i love legarrette blount. and what i told legarrette, when we met together, was that i don't want people to see the legarrette blount that they saw last night. that's not him. and that that moment last night will not define him as a person. we will provide him with the structure that's necessary for him to succeed. he's going to practice with this football team. he's going to get the student-support services. he's going to go to class. and we're going to make sure legarrette gets a degree. and if this is a teachable moment for him, that he can bounce back from this and that legarrette blount won't just be a youtube clip of just what happened to him on september 3rd in boise, idaho. there is a lot more to legarrette blount, but he understands his actions last night are unacceptable. and that we will not put up with that. that is not the university of oregon football. that is not the university of oregon.

>> chris fowler and the "gameday" crew weigh in on blount's suspension. >> legarrette blount, who was a junior-college transfer, his career is over at oregon. it's a nightmarish situation for chip kelly in his head-coaching debut at any level, his offense was terrible. his team lost what was supposed to be a payback game. now he has to deal with this tough situation. what about the severity of the punishment against blount? >> i was actually surprised, but i guess when you think about what happened after he punched hout, and then he tried to attack a fan in the stands, i think that's what warranted a year's suspension.

he's a senior. his college career is finished. i hope that punch was worth it for blount. >> it definitely was not worth it. for oregon to have the night that they had against boise state, and then to lose their best offensive player, and as chris said, for chip kelly, who the last few years was one of the great minds in college football, all of a sudden he becomes a head coach, and he gets this thrown in his lap, oregon goes from a contender to a pretender in the pac-10. >> where they go from here interesting to watch. blount cost himself a lot of money if you believe the nfl personnel people with that one punch on thursday night. >> byron hout, the instigator in this, won't be suspended.

>> still to come on espnews, we'll tell you how the nfl punished brett favre for an illegal block. >> plus, four of the favorites to win a u.s. open title were on the hard courts. two cruised in round four while two had a hiccup. we'll tell you who did what. two hottest pitchers in baseball. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly.

>> this one's for all the hosiery lovers out there, wild card leading red sox visiting the white sox. >> i'm a sandals guy. >> you don't wear socks? >> i thought that was in. >> what am i, 50 years old?

>> attacks's scott feldman looking to become the first rangers pitcher in more than 19 years to win seven straight away from home. he's in baltimore. need a little offense, nelson cruz, his 31st of the year. four home runs, 10 r.b.i.'s in his last six games. rangers win their fourth straight and improve to 25-17 against the a.l. east this season. feldman becomes the first rangers pitcher to reach 15 wins since kevin millwood and vicente padilla did it in 2006. >> crucial 10-game stretch for the rays -- the tigers, yanks and red sox in succession. begins with detroit, top sixth,

miguel cabrera feasts on that, his 28th of the year. tied at 1-1 at the trop. we go to the bottom of the seventh, tied at 1-1, two outs, justin verlander, 98-mile-per-hour heater gets evan longoria. verlander eight innings, one earned run, seven strikeouts. in the ninth, adam everett. tigers scored three in the top of the ninth. go up 4-1. gets interesting in the bottom of the ninth. fernando rodney gets willie aybar to ground out. tigers hold on for a 4-3 win. detroit ends a four-game losing streak at the trop. justin verlander gets his 16th win of the year. that ties him with cc sabathia of the yankees for most in the american league. here is your a.l. wild card picture -- the red sox lose, the rangers win. texas two back. tampa misses a chance. they are six back and fading fast. >> yankees looking for their eighth straight win, taking on toronto. roy halladay -- he's been

struggling as of late, lost five of his last seven. wouldn't know it, though, watching this game -- a complete-game one-hitter. he struck out nine, did halladay -- the last pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout against a team on a winning streak of seven or more games, jimmy key of the blue jays in 1986. key, by the way, did play for the yankees. the complete game was the sixth of the season for halladay tying him with kansas city's zack greinke for the major league lead. aaron hill two r.b.i.'s and six r.b.i.'s in the last six games. >> the nfl fined brett favre 10 grand for his crackback block during monday's preseason game, when lining up at receiver in the wildcat formation favre crouched down and threw his body at the feet of houston defensive back eugene wilson. on the play, wilson injured his knee. favre a spectator in the vikings preseason finale, minnesota hosting dallas, first quarter, it's tarvaris jackson.

improvising, and finds jeff dugan, his tight end. 36-yard touchdown. third t.d. pass of the preseason for jackson. he was 2-4, 42 yards and that score. third quarter, cowboys down two touchdowns, sage rosenfels picked off. patrick watkins, 23 yards. dallas within seven. 21-14. later in the third, john david booty, picked off by steve octavien. he's returning it 44 yards for the score. that tied it up at 21-21. dallas with two interception returns in the third quarter. they win 35-31. >> u.s. open tennis, number three seed rafael nadal going up against nicolas kiefer. first set, nadal up 2-0, rafa whipping that one. takes the first set 6-0. second set. kiefer up 4-2, this part of a

23-shot rally. kiefer in the second set had 18 winners, nadal 11, and kiefer wins the second set 6-3. third set, now. nadal working. kiefer at the baseline, and nadal, pumped up, breaks kiefer and wins the third set. into the fourth. match point. nadal a four-set winner. he's moving on to round number three. men's number two seed, andy murray taking on paul capdeville from chile, after winning the first set, murray having some trouble in the second, backhand winner, capdeville, murray the first man among the top-10 seeds to drop a set. third set now, murray takes control, the forehand winner -- nice. murray 44 winners in the match, cruising in the third, murray would end up winning the set 6-0.

advances to the fourth set. murray just dealing. on the hottest day of the tourney. andy moving on in four. >> venus williams battling knee trouble. she had to face slovenia's magdalena rybarikova in round three, first set venus the big forehand finish, she would take the first set 6-2, has the brace on the left knee, still. looks like the knee is not bothering venus here. great court coverage and she puts it away with the backhand volley, venus up 4-3 in the second. match point now for venus. she would finish it off at net. venus wins despite double faulting seven times. she will face kim clijsters in the fourth round -- clijsters the 2005 champ. sister serena facing maria jose martinez sanchez. they met in the french open. when they played in france, serena called sanchez a cheat. serena won the first set 6-3.

second set, serena, one of her 30 winners. this wasn't that much of a contest. serena got a little bit of a challenge in the second set, but she would take this in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. serena 28-1 in her last five majors. after the win, serena, the defending champ, said, "can't spell dynasty without nasty." coming up on espnews. we whet our appetite for college football's first saturday with a friday battle in the big easy. >> it was a rough day for tiger. see where the world's best golfer fell short. >> keeping you current on >> keeping you current on espnews. ( horn beeping ) taxi. taxi. taxi. ( ding )

taxi! hey! broadway and 5th. ( ding ) not too heavy, not too light. bud light. ( ding ) the difference is drinkability. monday. the longest day of the week. which gives you time to reflect on your unfortunate job history. he looks like a villain from a soap opera. boss: (clears throat) but with monday comes monday night football on espn.

which is the closest you'll ever get to your dream job... what? i cut the sleeves off because it looks awesome... get your head in the game! so keep that day job. because on monday nights, football does all the work.

>> "college football overdrive is back. it's year four on espnews. every saturday from 3:00 to 8:00 eastern, we take you live to the most exciting games from across the country. we offer expert analysis from kordell stewart and shaun king. our kickoff is september 5th, 3:00 eastern on espnews. >> notable games this saturday. >> green wave just six wins >> green wave just six wins the last two seasons, taking on tulsa in a conference u.s.a. battle.

first quarter, golden hurricane up 3-0, you can add a couple more points, g.j. kinne, play action, 15-yard touchdown, quarterback had 77 yards rushing. first play of tulane's ensuing possession, joe kemp's pass picked off, tulane down to the five yard line, tulsa would score on the next play to make it 17-0. fourth quarter, damaris jackson fields the punt, 66 yards -- he is gone for the score. tulsa, they've now won five straight against the green wave making them looking more like a little splash. >> round one, deutsche bank championship from t.p.c. boston. second of four fedexcup events, tiger woods the leader in the fedexcup points standings, knocks down the birdie putt on 14, moves to even par. he struggled from short distance, though -- tiger missed five birdie putts inside 12 feet. he said, "i didn't really do much of anything positive today."

he can go home with this. on eight, tiger a 35-foot birdie attempt. bingo. he finishes the day with one under. tiger shot a 70. tiger paired up with steve stricker. after the second hole, tiger said to his caddie, "stricker's going to shoot a 62." close. stricker fired a 63. this his tee shot on 12. part of a five-birdie streak. stricker shot an eight-under 63, your first-round co-leader with jim furyk. furyk's second shot on 17. he hit every green in regulation. furyk also shot an eight-under 63 -- his lowest round of the year. tough ninth hole for lefty. phil mickelson misses the short par putt. now looking at a bogey putt the other way. he would four-putt for double bogey. lefty finishes at even par for the day. stricker and furyk your co-leaders at eight under. they have a two-shot lead, stricker seeking his third win on tour this season.

furyk seeking his first tour win since 2007. >> cliff lee coming off his >> daddies and dodgers. jim thome making his debut as a pinch-hitter. not bad for a first impression. base knock into right center puts men at the corners. dodgers down 2-0, san diego calls for its closer -- heath bell. bell would get the four-out save. gets james loney to fly out to end the threat in the eighth. pads win 2-0. san diego's won four in a >> phillies and astros. cliff lee, six earned runs allowed. he's given up now 12 earned in his last two starts. the phillies have scored only three runs in their last four games. angels and royals, the angels top kansas city. jered weaver a career high 14th

win of the season. angels only have 13 hits in their last three games. vlad guerrero, two r.b.i.'s >> if you're an offensive coordinator in the nfl, make sure that resume is up to date. friday the bills canned their o.c., turk schonert. the third offensive coordinator fired this week. bills quarterback coach alex van pelt will assume the play-calling duties for buffalo. north carolina the alumni game, dean smith, michael jordan, roy williams, who's who, 2009 championship banner unveiled, 1998, vince carter's last year wearing the uniform. a who's who list. m.j.'s on the bench. he could still do this. maybe not the dunks. >> he said everybody in the media still thinks i can play."

>> our top stories on the way. the game day" crew debates the suspension of oregon running back legarrette blount. i heard this bar is crazy. i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly. 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.

>> matthew berry here, from espn.com fantasy with a couple of really deep, late-round, wide receiver sleepers for you, and

how about troy williamson of the jacksonville jaguars, one of the leading receivers in the preseason and whatever you think of williamson, he's better than they had last year in jacksonville when david garrard was top 10 in the nfl in passing yards. david clowney of the jets has won that starting job off jerricho cotchery, he has under 300 yards -- i like him as a safety valve for mark sanchez. the jets are going to throw more than people think. clowney could be a nice sleeper in deep leagues. finally, a guy you want to spend -- a late-round player on malcolm kelly of the redskins. he's 6'4" and they really like him a lot. jason campbell needs that big target in the red zone and i think malcolm kelly could be it -- he's now the starter for the redskins. fantasy news available free on espn.com.