[captioning made possible by espn, inc.] we're going to have an inside-the-park home run. standing up. this is "sportscenter." yankees in anaheim with a chance to clinch a playoff spot. the red sox meanwhile run into a cy young buzz saw in kansas city. the twins just keep winning. tigers, trying to hang on. and from the bright spotlight of the super bowl, to the harsh reality of life behind bars. plaxico burress begins his two-year sentence. >> he wasn't perfect but he was good enough. >> a little disappointed our players had so much to say. >> the rumors of him having a broken foot are incorrect. >> plus three high-profile quarterbacks still hurting. and is the u officially back? we head to coral gables to find out on "sportscenter."

hey, what's up? i'm carmelo anthony. you're watching "sportscenter" l.a. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- hi. welcome to "sportscenter." along with neil everett, i'm stan verrett here in los angeles. carmelo anthony didn't just drop by to say what's up. he's going to be in the studio with us a little bit later for top 10 plays. meanwhile, right down interstate five from here the yankees face the angels with the red sox in their rear-view mirror and with bost in the fast lane that object in the mirror was a little too close for comfort. five-game lead for the yankees who had lost their last five in anaheim and the angels, 18-5 against the yankees at home since 2005. we got a-rod and kate hudson. they've been linked and this is supposedly -- we're spoofing the show "blind date." i haven't seen it. i probably shouldn't. a-rod, two-run home run.

27th. the yankees would be up 5-0 in this game. and it looks like time to go to the cashier's window. bottom six, so it's 5-4. vladimir guerrero with the bases loaded. a-rod the diving stop. guerrero out at first. let's keep it at 5-4. >> you got to pace yourself. save some material for later. >> chone figgins. howie kendrick steals on the pitch. figgins throws his bat at the ball. kendrick at third on the error. the tying run at third. next batter, maicer izturis. one out. and he singles. and this game went from 5-0 to 5-5. top nine, bases loaded. alex rodriguez, facing darren oliver. they just walked teixeria to load the bases. with one out and a-rod, he lines out to torii hunter and brett gardner on third wearing his p.f. flyers. he's safe. the yankees up 6-5 but remember they're up 5-0.

strike him out, throw him out. the yankees win. the yankees win. 6-5 is your final. and with that, the yankees are playoff spot. and they clinch a playoff appearance for the 14th time in the last 15 seasons. their last three postseason appearances have been forgettable as they've lost in the l.d.s. all three times. memorable if you're the team that beat them. for manager joe girardi, this >> obviously where we -- expect to be every year, obviously the division is always the main goal. i mean, it's a point to win a game here. we battled hard yesterday and made a run with swisher and perhaps make it a one-run game yesterday. and the team's playing hard. and it's good to be in. and we got a lot of work ahead of us. >> it looks like these are the teams that are going to be at the adult table with the yankees in the playoffs. angels, they don't have a good history against them, new york doesn't.

4-5 this season. 5-1 against the tigers and will be the team they would face. -9 against the red sox. three mowill be his first playo appearance as a big league skipper. so the red sox, five back trying to keep pace in kansas city. trying to keep pace with the yankees and with zack greinke. looking for his 15th win on the season. and he had it working. top first, no score. kevin youkilis. got him. that will end the inning. the yankees -- greinke's record would be better if his offense was, too. that wasn't a problem in this game. bases loaded for mike jacobs. paul byrd walked jacobs on four straight pitches. next batter is alberto callapso, base hit. he had three hits and a walk. mitch maier comes in to score. the royals up 2-0. later in the first, royals up 3-0. alex gordon, that's going to drop. here comes jacob and callapso. the royals with a five-run first for greinke to give him some support. top third now, jason varitek, check out alex gordon. hustling. later in the third, greinke

facing alex gonzalez. and he got him. top four, here comes youkilis again. and there goes youkilis again. david ortiz got him, too. top five, jason bay. i think you're getting the picture here. top six, ortiz, back at the plate, yuniesky betancourt will handle that one. greinke, six innings of work, struck out five, didn't give up a run. the royals win it 5-1. the 15th win for greinke makes him the first royals pitcher with 15 since his opponent on tuesday night, paul byrd, back in 2002. so now the yankees' win with the red sox loss puts boston back six games. the yankees in the playoffs either as a wild card or a.l. east champs. boston's been the hotter team over the last 10 games at 7-3 but the yankees the first team to lock up a place in the postseason. more on greinke. fighting for that cy young award in the american league, wins his fourth straight decision and gets to 15-8 and leads the majors with a 2.08

e.r.a. second with 229 strikeouts. his last five starts, 3-0, .26 e.r.a. peter gammons, peter gammons. there are still two and in some cases three starts to go before the cy young will be decided in the american league. but right now, zack greinke is the leader. the knock on him had been he hadn't start add game against either the yankees or red sox and started against the red sox on tuesday, two hits, no runs, brilliant. so now, ok, he's only got 15 wins but does have a 2.08 earned run average, tied with felix hernandez for the most quality starts. probably going to come down to greinke and hernandez. but right now, it's greinke's lose -- greinke's to lose. go to youtube for peter gammons. it's hilarious. greinke, 2.08 e.r.a. felix hernandez as peter mentioned having a great year as well. justin verlander leads the a.l., 245 strikeouts. but that number for sabathia, jumps out at you. the 18 wins, that's already in the playoffs.

plaxico burress caught over 500 pass in his nine-year nfl career including the game winner and a super bowl. he fumbled just nine times. then there was the fumble off the football field. burress brought an unregistered handgun into a new york city nightclub. it slipped down his pants, he grabbed for it. it discharged. the fallout, two years in prison. beginning tuesday. here's sal paolantonio. the scene inside courtroom 1100 was very emotional. plaxico burress asked the judge for permission to say one last goodbye to his wife and young son. and then was led away by new york city police officers to the jail at rikers island. a surreal moment for a man who less than two years ago was holding up the lombardi trophy. >> i think what just happened in the courtroom with mr. burress being sentenced and remanded is terribly sad and

very tragic. what i said on the record, i will repeat. you can violate the law, be subject to severe punishment, and not be a criminal. >> nfl commissioner roger goodell has already ruled that burress will be eligible to play again as soon as he's released from jail. which should be sometime in the spring of 2011 when burress will be nearly 34 years old. >> he's sad about what he's done to his life, his career. and more importantly, to his family. and he's a fundamentally good man who has used bad judgment and is going to pay a very, very severe penalty. >> before plaxico burress was escorted off to jail, the last words he heard from a family member came from his father. who said in a confident but somber voice, "be strong." in manhattan, sal paolantonio, espn. plaxico burress, eighth overall pick, 2000 nfl draft,

steelers took him out of michigan state and still owns the steelers' single game receiving record and moved to new york in 2005 and from 2005 to 2007, his 29 touchdown catches were third most during that span. and then there was the game winner in super bowl xlii. roger cossack with more on burress' life now. it's never easy to serve time in prison. but it may turn out that plaxico burress' time in prison is going to be tougher for him than it is for most prisoners. because he is such a high celebrity individual and because the guys in prison are going to know who he is, to protect him is going to be the number one responsibility of the new york prison system and to do that, they may have to put him in places away from general population and sometimes that means that he may be serving prison time in a cell all by himself. prison time is tough enough. but when you have to do it, some of the time, all alone, it gets even tougher.

plaxico burress is not going to have an easy two years. if he gets credit for good behavior, it will be 20 months. now, 20 months from now, is may of 2011. nfl teams will be done drafting and preparing for the upcoming season. burress will be a 33-year-old wide receiver who hasn't played in 30 months. more from the nfl on the way. featuring a redskins legend calling out the current skins head coach. about a particular play in the red zone that let's just say didn't work. and from a nasty case of turf toe to sore shoulders, the latest on three would be starting quarterbacks aching to play. the tigers scratching and clawing their way to the postseason. twins using home run power to try to catch them. it's "sportscenter" from the west coast. coach ditka, it's hot up here...

and we're out of cold coors light. - what do we do? - go get it! great idea but we've only got ten bucks. what do you want, eleven? what do you want, eleven? - we need more than that. - ditka's wallet! and we got it. we just found your wallet. we'll just use a credit card for the cold coors light. hey! hey! hey! hey! frost-brewed coors light. official beer sponsor of the nfl. coach, i just bought a coors light t-shirt. what do you think? ain't no stretch there, baby. no stretch there. it's a little snug. tigers' hunt for october got a little more interesting because of the twins' recent run. detroit's lead in the central, 2 1/2 games. detroit in cleveland on tuesday and they had edwin jackson on the mound.

that was a good thing for them. bottom second, trevor crowe up with two on and two out. crowe with the base hit and if you're counting crows he had two base hits. matt laporta trying to score from second but thrown out at the plate by ryan raburn. laporta out by several steps. hurt on the play, he would leave the game. raburn would remain in the game. this ball would not. raburn going along the or way, his 1/4. tigers up 1-0. miguel cabrera had an up-and-down night. top of the third, cabrera up with one on. this one off jhonny peralta's glove but asdrubal cabrera, in time at second. cabrera left five runners on through six. top eight, cabrera up again with two runners on. he'll bring a runner home this time. it's placido polanco. and he gives the tigers a 2-0 lead. bottom eight now, 3-1 tigers. bases loaded. and two out. brandon lyon in a bit of a situation. but he gets luis valbuena to get himself out of the situation. tigers win it 3-1.

jackson is their good luck charm against the indians. he's 4-0 against cleveland this season. the twins also on the road, taking on the white sox in chicago. so they needed a win to keep pace. rookie jeff manship getting the start in a crucial spot for minnesota. top first, orlando cabrera up with a man on. that's off john danks. and it's not coming back. two-run shot. eighth of the year. for cabrera. twins are on the board early. 2-0. and manship, hanging a breaking ball to gordon beckham. and beckham going deep for his 13th. two-run shot. white sox up 4-3. manship lasted just 2 2/3, five hits, four runs. top five, game now tied at four, joe mauer up with two out and one on. scott podsednik almost got to it. but this isn't the almost "sportscenter." cabrera scores all the way from first on a close play. the twins back on top 5-4. bottom of the fifth, francisco liriano on in relief of manship. paul konerko getting to him.

beckham will come all the way around from first. and chicago comes back to tie the game at five. but michael cuddyer did it for the twins. solo shot for him. his 29th of the year. minnesota regains the lead at 6-5. later in the inning, matt colbert off danks. off the top of the fence. they say it was a home run. tolbert's second home run of the year. big sixth inning for the twins helped them pull away and win 8-6. tigers and twins both remain so detroit's lead remains at 2 1/2 games in the a.l. central. twins, 12-8 this month, that's just one game better than the tigers. cardinals in a bit of a lull. they've lost 6-10. albert pujols, top three, two outs, two on, he singles. skip schumaker scores. and pujols with the r.b.i. sole possession of third place on the all-time r.b.i. record in

franchise history behind stan musial, one, and eno slaughter, two. hunter pence, bottom sixth, 7-1 game, did pujols hurt his wrist? >> oh oh. >> he stayed in the game and was replaced in the bottom of the eighth inning. top seven, one out, bartender. jack. colby rasmus. his 16th. the cardinals are going to win 11-2 and they get 15 hits for the second straight game. joel pineiro back in form. the ninth loss in a row for the astros. you don't have to look any further than college football's preseason top five to see how injuries, especially at quarterback, can change the complexion of an entire season. rankings should come with if they stay healthy asterisk. move matt barkley from u.s.c.'s lineup and the trojans go 0-10 on third down at washington. take sam bradford from oklahoma, and they score 13 against b.y.u. which gave up 54 to florida state. those injuries change the season not only for those two teams but for others looking to

take those spots if they can stay healthy. here's your update on those injured quarterbacks. barkley throwing at practice each of the last two days. pete carroll said he would like barkley to start if his jurt shoulder can hold up -- his injured shoulder can hold up. otherwise aaron corp gets the start at washington state. to our surprise in general, that matt barkley practiced throughout the practice. he wasn't perfect but he was -- but he was good enough to perform yesterday. i'm anxious to see how he feels today after throwing quite a bit yesterday and took half the snaps, he and aaron shared the snaps. but looked his best since he was injured a couple of weeks ago. so we'll see what that story to find out how it goes. monday, we reported that reigning heisman trophy winner sam bradford made some throws at oklahoma's practice that day. tuesday coach bob stoops had nothing to report on that report other than to say he wished nothing had been reported.

i'm not going to detail day to day a little disappointed our players had so much to say. not that we're at all trying to be coy or anything that's behind the scenes outside of we just don't want -- i don't want sam to have to deal with the pressure of everybody's expectations. too early to speck lately. -- to speculate. i'm not going to get into the speculation. so once he's comfortable, and ready to play, i'll have something to say. and until then, i'm not going to deal with it every day and don't want our players and team giving percentages or he did this much and not that much. and everybody gets determined, well, that's enough to play or that isn't enough to play. i just don't want to do it. so i'm going to choose not to. >> notre dame not a title contender unless you ask lou holtz but they're dealing with injuries, too. they won't have receiver michael floyd for the rest of the season but charlie weis says there's no truth to the rumor that jimmy clausen is out for the year. he's got a turf tturday depends heals.

the m.r.i. came back negative other than the turf toe. so rumors of him having a broken foot and being done for the year are incorrect. but he does have a turf toe. and probably hold him from practice today. our plan is to give jimmy some of it on wednesday, all of it on thursday, and see how it goes from there. >> notre dame at u.s.c. on a collision course in south bend on october 17. here's what they have in the meantime. saturday, u.s.c. takes on washington state. notre dame will be at purdue. that game on espn. october 3, the trojans, big game against number six cal. notre dame takes on the washington team. they beat u.s.c. both teams off on october 10. before they meet up in south bend. nfl. former notre dame quarterback brady quinn hurting statistically, not physically. quinn will start against the ravens on sunday. quinn won a training camp battle with derek anderson but hasn't won anything since. the browns are 0-2 with the nfl's worst offense.

vince lombardi called redskins quarterback sonny jurgensen the best he had ever seen. high praise. jurgensen would later be inducted into the pro football hall of fame. the highest praise. now radio analyst for washington, jergen sen with no praise for a third quarter play call by skins coach jim zorn this past weekend. third and five, jergen sen blitzing the coach on the postgame show. third down, i'm the quarterback, or you are the quarterback, and you call the halfback throwing the ball for me? i'm calling time-out or calling an audible. i'm not letting halfback throw it. that's what you pay me for. >> then i would have to take you out of the game as soon as you called time-out. i would say what's wrong with my play? because i'm -- >> it didn't work. >> no, but i called it to work, all right? we called it to work and didn't work. there are a lot of plays that didn't work. and i take you out of the game. sorry, sonny. >> and he put in billy kilmer because they had juergensen and

kilmer. the red zone play calling might be questionable. washington has scored a touchdown on less than 45% of its trips inside the red zone since coach zorn took over last season. that's the fifth worst mark in the nfl during that time period. they scored just two touchdowns more college football news on the way. the current miami hurricanes starting to look like the old miami hurricanes. are they officially back or just better? and arguably the best soccer player in the world, lionel messi, with two great goals on tuesday while his national team may miss out on the world cup. and back to baseball. the giants pretty much in a win or else scenario. especially if the rockies keep doing what they're doing. another rally, another dramatic finish next. you can settle down. you can fire it up. you can tune it in, but it's still not summer...

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>> ♪ i don't think you're ready to go stop me when you've had enough ♪ national league wild card. colorado with a four-game lead. san diego, now 45 degrees, no wonder carmelo is hanging out in l.a. bartender, how about a mojito or mohica? brad hawpe off edward mujica. 20th of the season. first since august 29. 4-2 rockies. troy tulowitzki. every time you see him he's knocking in somebody. scores here. scores a run here. rockies up 7-6. how about top five? chase headley grounding into todd helton. he's been doing that forever. 3-6-1 turns two.

bottom seven, locked up in a tight one. rockies, 8-6. clint barmes lines it to right. edgar gonzalez dives. he needed longer arms. do we have an inside-the-park job? for gonzalez, he was hurt, and didn't mean to make fun. 10-6. 11-8 padres done. two outs, top nine. oscar salazar with the bases loaded. two score. the padres down a run. next batter, tying run on third. nick hundley, hits it hard but right at seth smith. that ends the game. and the rockies, they'll win it 11-10 is your final. the giants are running out of games. they were four back of colorado when the day began. san francisco, in arizona. but san francisco's got matt cain on the hill but this matt cain, 1-4 in his last 10 starts. he was so hot so early. san francisco gave him a 3-0 lead. mark reynolds going to make it 3-1. his 100th r.b.i. on the season. miguel montero scores. bottom three, diamondbacks down 4-3. this time it's montero doing the hitting.

he singles to center. two score. the diamondbacks up 5-4. matt cain lasts 2 1/3, gives up seven earned. he doesn't leave until he does this. to reynolds. later in the third. fastball by you. 204 strikeouts for reynolds. that ties the mark he set last season. we go bottom four. d-backs are up 9-4. that's why cain's gone and madison bumgarner gets reynolds. that's a record-setting strikeout. i'm not sure that's the record you want. randy johnson in relief. call knee ryal. rusty ryal, home run. diamondbacks win it 10-8. and the giants running out of games, running out of time. time ticking away. we'll take you "next level." to show you how mark reynolds says he struck out more than he'd care to remember this season. 206 strikeouts, reynolds, 107 times on fastballs, 58 sliders,

25 curveballs, and 16 other off-speed pitches. "next level" brought to you by miller lite. there's light beer and then there's triple hops-brewed miller lite. taste greatness. plirke a lame radio -- like a lame radio promotion, double-header with the phillies for the marlins. florida at&t back with an opportunity -- eight back with an opportunity. top five, 2-0 phillies. two on for jason weather. that will bring in two. allowing four runs is not so good. joe blanton was better. bottom six, facing manly ramirez. -- hanley ramirez. got him. blanton went seven. didn't give up a run and struck out nine and gave up just two hits. top eight, 4-0 phillies. great season for raul ibanez continues. that's off burt badenhop.

ibanez's -- the phillies get their eighth straight win at florida. so anibal sanchez trying to salvage game two of the double-header for the marlins and a completely different story with him on the mound in that one. top second, no score. pedro feliz got him on the check swing. sanchez struck out the side in order in the second. bottom second, no score, bases empty for dan uggla. and this a big moment for uggla. off jamie moyer, solo shot. uggla's 30th. three straight seasons with 30 plus homers. first marlin ever to do that. it's 1-0. bottom four, same score, bases empty for cody ross. that's another solo shot. ross' 23rd and the marlins up 2-0. sanchez still doing his thing. top seven, he's got a 3-0 lead facing ryan howard. sanchez eight, no runs, two hits. chase utley got the phillies' only two hits and the marlins win it 3-0. they snap a three-game losing streak but the split still leaves them eight back in the

east. the braves are staying alive. great bee gees song. jair jurrjens. 1.69 e.r.a. this season against the mets. david wright has hit him well in the past. not well there. 4-6-3 double play. top four, braves down a run. yunel escobar facing nelson figaroa. how about escobar? came into this game 27 hits against the mets. excuse me. that's -- he had 27 after this game. batted .415 against them. the braves take a 2-1 lead. jeff francoeur, he's going to be 0-10 career against jurrjens after that. 5-4-3 double play and in the bottom of the seventh, cory sullivan flies out. the braves have beaten the mets seven straight this season. jurrjens, seven innings, one earned, five hits, two k's. 3-1 is your final. let's check it out. the rockies win. giants lose. that means colorado now has a five-game lead in the n.l. wild card race. over san francisco and atlanta. the marlins split the

doublehooder tuesday, they're 5 1/2 back. the three backup quarterbacks who all transferred from miami before the season to get playing time somewhere already knew what florida state and georgia tech found out. jacory harris is young, but he's ready. his sophomore year so far, five touchdowns, to five different receivers. a 2-0 start, and some early heisman talk. he has the cannes -- the canes halfway through the toughest start. four straight games against top 20 teams. they play virginia tech followed by a visit from oklahoma. hank goldberg has more on the storm brewing in south florida. head coach randy shannon knows what the good old days were like at the university of miami, having won a national championship as a player under jimmy johnson in 1987. the hurricanes ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2005. shannon is making sure that the 2009 version of the u does more walking the walk than talking

the talking. >> you got to take one game at a time and tell the players, after four galms you're going to -- games you're going to find out where we are as a football team but one at a time. go one game at a time because you cannot defeat the first opponent trying to think about the fourth. and those guys, so far, they've done a great job of concentrating. >> coach smith, compartmentalizing each game, ok, this game's over with, let's go. next game. >> sophomore quarterback jacory harris has carried shannon's personality on to the field. bringing a quiet confidence to the rest of his team to feed off. >> the pressure that comes with winning and the hype that comes with winning, and i don't let it get to me. and i try to carry that -- i try to let this mentality brush off on the rest of the team. and so far, it has done a wonderful job. >> he's worked all he can in practice now to -- the game should come to him easy.

and i think it does come to him easy and that's what's fun about watching jacory operate. >> while the team isn't ready to say the u is back, the buzz around campus would suggest otherwise. i stopped by the ticket office and asked the lady behind the counter if business was brisk. she said things are getting a little crazy around here. in coral gables, i'm hank gold berg, espn. things were a little crazy, the canes went .500 with only two wins against ranked opponents. the canes are 2-0 this year. both wins over ranked opponents, they're ranked higher than they've been since 2005 with those two big games that we mentioned coming up. kirk herbstreit with his breakdown on the canes. i don't think there's any question that this miami hurricane football team is the real deal. based on what they've done and their first two games. on the road at florida state, found a way to win the game. dominated georgia tech. jacory harris with his ability and the way he's playing this game with such poise, the

playmakers around him, the way this team is feeding off of jacory harris, the confidence that they now have as they head to lane stadium against virginia tech, i put him up at number five this week in the a.p. poll. there's no doubt in my mind the athletic ability and now the confidence is there as they head up to lane stadium this week to take on the hokies. we get to see how they deal with success because the schedule doesn't get any easier. virginia tech and then oklahoma , so finish off the four-game start and a couple of out of conference rivals from florida, hot shot. shortstop. guzman. desmond. lastings thrillage. >> throw to first, close. all right. stan was talking about two for tuesday promotion. how about this? 10 for tuesday and carmelo anthony. part of the action. the first, why byron leftwich putting up better numbers than

tom brady and possibly some good news for tony romo, concerning monday night. i would like to hear that. still trying to clinch the division dodgers put up a football score and check this out. they're putting tommy lasorda in the smithsonian. why not? to the top, here comes kurt busch!

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sony is a proud partner of espn and the new l.a. live studio. what were your career goals when you were 11, did you peen know what your career goal was? lorena ochoa wanted to be the best golfer in the world and it is argued at 27 she is the best mexican golfer of all time. with hispanic heritage month, shelley smith sat down with the only mexican gosmer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world. being number one, do you feel pressure to sell the sport, to be the dominant figure? >> i don't feel that pressure. i think in a way, i think american players probably feel

that pressure a little more than me. most of the tournaments are in the states. we have the history that many -- american or u.s., they need -- in that way, to really help, i think it's important that -- not only them but all of us that we do more job with the media to make sure that we see them and continue for the fans. and none of -- those things are very important. >> how important is it to put a bad day or a bad performance behind you and look at the next? >> not playing the best in the last few months butness a crazy game. -- but this is a crazy game. you try to get the positive things from that and learn. and keep working hard. >> woufer play, would you want to be -- would you ever play, would you want to golf in the olympics? >> for sure. hopefully in my time so i can

play. but any way, something that i guess unreal, fantastic. just like any other athlete when you're little, you always dream of winning the olympics. and i know that we have the opportunity, golf could be there. and just give me this one. hopefully. >> does the lpga need a dominant player to become even more popular? >> i don't think i can answer that. for sure, i'm trying to do my best. and it's becoming so global. you have so many decent players from all over the world that i think it will be hard. i think it's more important just to keep that way, to be a global sport and all of us trying to help in different parts of the world. all right. since turning pro in 2003 lorena ochoa has won 26 lpga events. >> wow. >> in season she's got two wins, seven top 10's. how about this for career

earnings? she's passed $14 million. whether your favorite nfl team won or lost it's time to look to sunday's key games. titans lost three times all last season. they're heading to new york at 0-2 trying to hand the jets their first loss. patriots, unbooten rolling into foxboro with some handy game seats from last week on how to slow down tom brady and the new england offense. 49ers might be the most surprising 2-0 team. vikings expected to be there. one of them will lose for the first time sunday at the metrodome. kevin cobb looks like he'll get another try for the eagles. their defense also needs to bounce back game two. they'll try to keep matt cassel and the chiefs from their first win. sunday night the cowboys get a mulligan at their new stadium but face a panthers team that's 0-2 and desperate to get its season on track. too soon to know whether the barber shop will be open monday for that game. marion barber, day to day with a strained quad muscle heard late in sunday's loss to the giants. he had 124 yards on 18 carries. and matthew berry, he's already moved on to week three.

before you make your roster claims for week three, i got a question for you. what do tom brady, aaron rodgers and kurt warner have in common? less fantasy points this year than byron leftwich. 275 yards in back-to-back starts, it means good fantasy numbers for leftwich. wide receiver now and if he keeps this up, he won't be known as the other steve smith. over 200 yards and a score through two games the giants' steve smith is legit. and with marion barber banged up, tashard choice will get a lot of playing time for a cowboys team that leads the nfl in rushing yards. i want to remind you every sunday morning, we have last-second injury updates, everything else you need to win. it's fantasy football now, 11:30 a.m. eastern until kickoff on espn.com and this sunday, on tv, espn2. if you want to read more on the patriots game that should be good and the boston sports news, log on to espnboston.com.

and for you windy city fans get the latest on the bears, the bulls, the sox and the cubs at espnchicago.com. best record in the national league once again belongs to the dodgers. they're taking on the nationals. bottom three. hiroki kuroda against adam dunn. i got some if you need it. two-run shot. his 38th and the nationals up 2-1. we go top four. we're tied at two. rafael furcal, bases loaded. he singles to left. casey blake scores. josh willingham's throw not on target. pearl jam in target. ronnie belliard slides into home. furcal takes second on the error. the dodgers take a 4-2 lead. let's go top seven. let's move ahead in the action. it's 10-2. bases loaded again for furcal. he went 4-5, four r.b.i.'s, scored three runs, belliard and russell martin there, 12-2. how about clayton kershaw back from injury? getting a little work. ian desmond with two outs. that will work.

kershaw, two innings, four k's, nothing earned. dodgers, 14-2. gave up the safety. the dodgers decrease their magic number in the n.l. west to seven after the win over washington. the los angeles has homered in 11 straight games. power hour. kuroda now 3-1 with a 2.16 e.r.a. since being hit in the head by that line drive last month. just in time for the dodgers' trip to d.c. look who's on display at the national portrait gallery at the smithsonian. hall of fame manager tommy lasorda and in time for his 82th birthday. the paint something by everett kinsler, part of a collection of baseball art that's on display through november 15. spanish league soccer from madrid. barcelona looking for its fourth straight win in la liga. they took on racing santander, 20th minute, no score, free kick for barcelona. lionel messi crosses it for zlatan ibrahimovic. his header in the goal. 24th minute, messi and the give-and-go. it's gone. barcelona up 2-0.

more. 27th minute, ibrahimovic surrounded by defenders but finds gerard pique and pique knocks it home. barcelona leads 3-0. a nice pass by ibrahimovic. and barcelona picking up where they left off. 63rd minute. same score. messi with the ball rips it and scores. his second goal of the game. take another look at this. with his head down, he still had his game up. and he knocks that one in for the goal. barcelona goes on to win 4-1 and they have the maximum 12 points in three games so far in la liga. and messi's two goals give him five in three league matches this season and also scored twice on saturday against madrid. he's finished second for the fifa world player of the year award. each of the past two years. when it comes tones. on the road to south africa, the united states has its own fate clearly at its own

feet with two qualifying matches remaining while two popular powers around the world are in danger of not qualifying for next summer. it's south american qualifying that nation is argentina. before their most recent loss in paringway, diego march donna's side lost to brazil. the argentine nation is in crisis over this with final matches against peru and pat uruguay. argentina is fifth with the top four nations qualifying, and the fifth place team in a playoff against the fourth place nation from the u.s. region. in that region, concacaf, the united states has climbed into first place. >> he does. the goal. and the u.s. leads. >> the road win in trinidad and tobago guaranteed the u.s. no worse than that home-and-home playoff with the south american team. two matches remain. a win in honduras, and that's a tall order, would qualify the u.s. for south africa. and failing that, the u.s. need only draw with costa rica in the final qualifying match in

washington, d.c. the headline in europe is in group one where portugal and cristiano ronaldo are in trouble. and time is running out. portugal is third in this group. yes, they close with two home matches against hungary and malta but only two wins, six points, would give the portuguese any hope of staying alive for the playoffs that when "sportscenter" rolls on we return with tuesday's "top plays." the best part, no, no, not the beards. we got something way bigger. and someone way bigger, too, with neil. still ahead on "sportscenter," we got "top plays" with one of the nba's top players. carmelo anthony. "top plays," this should be a slam dunk, hey? fix your tie. what are you doing?

joe girardi, his first playoff game since managing the yankees. the slam by carmelo anthony. melo from 18 feet. good. >> steal by anthony. they're not going to catch him. >> by carmelo -- >> melo attacks the rim. goes up and scores. >> carmelo hits it. he hit a three. back for "sportscenter's" "top plays." and look who dropped in. it's carmelo anthony, star of the denver nuggets. who will be contribute being to "top plays" in a different way come november but he will help out with the plays on this

show. >> i sure will. >> you know how it works, right? >> yes. >> harder than it looks. >> you better bring it. >> a slam dunk. slam dunk. >> all right. let's go. here's number 10. on "sportscenter." on the field at texas a&m. this student made a shot from the third deck at kyle field. have you ever hit a shot anywhere near this long? >> that's fake. that's fake. >> supposedly the wind brought the ball back online to make it go in. you aren't buying it? >> i'm not buying that. >> take a look at it from the field. you can check it out on youtube, phrase "dude perfect." >> who is your favorite av? >> why would you make me pick one? i like all of them. >> number eight, the world beard and mustache championships. melo, you got a little fuzz growing there. >> i can't grow nothing like that. that's crazy. >> 160 people in frankfurt, germany, judging 17 different

categories. we don't know what. >> soccer. ibrahimovic. no look. to pique. who's the best no look passer in the nba? >> probably jason kidd. i would give it to jason kird. >> your olympic teammate. >> of course. >> number six cubs and brewers. ryan braun. deep. but not deep enough. tyler colvin. you would be a good stfleder. -- center fielder. 6'8". >> that has to hurt. >> more than the stanchion going in for the bucket? >> got to hurt. >> let's check out dodgers and nationals. cristian guzman is going to start the double play. is rockies fever running around denver right now? >> yeah. this is the "top plays" right here. this has got to be the "top plays." i don't know where it's at right now but got to be the "top plays." >> don't get ahead of yourself, cowboy. we got more to come. >> he's got rocky fever so bad he's sweating. >> number in our orioles and bluejays. jose bautista over to third. baltimore in the house. >> my orioles, made number

four. >> orioles lost, though. 6-5 in 11 innings. >> they made "top plays." >> get used to that. >> this cat's name is lionel messi. and he is perhaps the best soccer player on the planet. check him out here. let it breathe and remind everyone to check out thisis melo.com. >> you might find this play there, too. >> more from the pentagon bs and leafs -- from the penguins and leafs. tyler bozak, viktor stalberg gets the goal. who's the best passer on your team? >> myself. >> don't feel like you have to be modest, carmelo. >> at one, luis valbuena, makes the nba all-defensive team with in play. you guys aren't that big on defense in denver, are you? >> yeah, we are. >> coach karl trying to change that. >> yes, we are. >> the tigers, they won the game 3-1. all right. back out with carmelo anthony. i saw ron artest down at venice

beach, muscle beach. i know you hang out there as well. how much better are the lakers with artest in your opinion? >> they're great. they're great. they still have it. they're the defending champs. we got to guard them and take that from them. and we're ready. we're ready for that. >> you're on the court getting ready to face the lakers. they break the huddle. one of two defenders is coming at you. it's either kobe or artest. which one do you want to see? >> it really doesn't matter. but i doubt if i just see one defender playing against the lakers. i'm going to see all five. >> all right. carmelo anthony, hanging out with us for all 10 on "sportscenter's" top 10 plays. when "sportscenter" returns, from l.a., we do some major league math. tuesday at least one magic number, reduced by two. top 10 perfect plays brought to you by lexus. and the new h.s

coach ditka, it's hot up here... and we're out of cold coors light. - what do we do? - go get it! great idea but we've only got ten bucks. what do you want, eleven? what do you want, eleven? - we need more than that. - ditka's wallet! and we got it. we just found your wallet. we'll just use a credit card for the cold coors light. hey! hey! hey! hey! frost-brewed coors light. official beer sponsor of the nfl. coach, i just bought a coors light t-shirt. what do you think? ain't no stretch there, baby. no stretch there. it's a little snug.

magic number in the national league are combination wings or losses to make it into the playoffs. the dodgers' number is seven and cardinals down to two. phillies' imagine he can number is five and the rockies' wild card magic number is seven. in the a.l. the yankees' imagine he can number to win the east, drops from eight to six. yankees already have secured at least a wild card. angels' number also six. tigers' magic number in the central is 10 and the red sox number is six for the wild

card. but the red sox certainly would like to make things interesting. >> what's easier to explain aggregate scoring or magic numbers? ck. thanks nor watching.

[captioning made possible by espn, inc.] we're going to have an inside-the-park home run. standing up. this is "sportscenter." yankees in anaheim with a chance to clinch a playoff spot. the red sox meanwhile run into a cy young buzz saw in kansas city. the twins just keep winning. tigers, trying to hang on. and from the bright spotlight of the super bowl, to the harsh reality of life behind bars. plaxico burress begins his two-year sentence. >> he wasn't perfect but he was good enough. >> a little disappointed our players had so much to say. >> the rumors of him having a broken foot are incorrect. >> plus three high-profile quarterbacks still hurting. and is the u officially back? we head to coral gables to find out on "sportscenter."

hey, what's up? i'm carmelo anthony. you're watching "sportscenter" l.a. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- hi. welcome to "sportscenter." along with neil everett, i'm stan verrett here in los angeles. carmelo anthony didn't just drop by to say what's up. he's going to be in the studio with us a little bit later for top 10 plays. meanwhile, right down interstate five from here the yankees face the angels with the red sox in their rear-view mirror and with bost in the fast lane that object in the mirror was a little too close for comfort. five-game lead for the yankees who had lost their last five in anaheim and the angels, 18-5 against the yankees at home since 2005. we got a-rod and kate hudson. they've been linked and this is supposedly -- we're spoofing the show "blind date." i haven't seen it. i probably shouldn't. a-rod, two-run home run.

27th. the yankees would be up 5-0 in this game. and it looks like time to go to the cashier's window. bottom six, so it's 5-4. vladimir guerrero with the bases loaded. a-rod the diving stop. guerrero out at first. let's keep it at 5-4. >> you got to pace yourself. save some material for later. >> chone figgins. howie kendrick steals on the pitch. figgins throws his bat at the ball. kendrick at third on the error. the tying run at third. next batter, maicer izturis. one out. and he singles. and this game went from 5-0 to 5-5. top nine, bases loaded. alex rodriguez, facing darren oliver. they just walked teixeria to load the bases. with one out and a-rod, he lines out to torii hunter and brett gardner on third wearing his p.f. flyers. he's safe. the yankees up 6-5 but remember they're up 5-0.

strike him out, throw him out. the yankees win. the yankees win. 6-5 is your final. and with that, the yankees are playoff spot. and they clinch a playoff appearance for the 14th time in the last 15 seasons. their last three postseason appearances have been forgettable as they've lost in the l.d.s. all three times. memorable if you're the team that beat them. for manager joe girardi, this >> obviously where we -- expect to be every year, obviously the division is always the main goal. i mean, it's a point to win a game here. we battled hard yesterday and made a run with swisher and perhaps make it a one-run game yesterday. and the team's playing hard. and it's good to be in. and we got a lot of work ahead of us. >> it looks like these are the teams that are going to be at the adult table with the yankees in the playoffs. angels, they don't have a good history against them, new york doesn't.

4-5 this season. 5-1 against the tigers and will be the team they would face. -9 against the red sox. three mowill be his first playo appearance as a big league skipper. so the red sox, five back trying to keep pace in kansas city. trying to keep pace with the yankees and with zack greinke. looking for his 15th win on the season. and he had it working. top first, no score. kevin youkilis. got him. that will end the inning. the yankees -- greinke's record would be better if his offense was, too. that wasn't a problem in this game. bases loaded for mike jacobs. paul byrd walked jacobs on four straight pitches. next batter is alberto callapso, base hit. he had three hits and a walk. mitch maier comes in to score. the royals up 2-0. later in the first, royals up 3-0. alex gordon, that's going to drop. here comes jacob and callapso. the royals with a five-run first for greinke to give him some support. top third now, jason varitek, check out alex gordon. hustling. later in the third, greinke

facing alex gonzalez. and he got him. top four, here comes youkilis again. and there goes youkilis again. david ortiz got him, too. top five, jason bay. i think you're getting the picture here. top six, ortiz, back at the plate, yuniesky betancourt will handle that one. greinke, six innings of work, struck out five, didn't give up a run. the royals win it 5-1. the 15th win for greinke makes him the first royals pitcher with 15 since his opponent on tuesday night, paul byrd, back in 2002. so now the yankees' win with the red sox loss puts boston back six games. the yankees in the playoffs either as a wild card or a.l. east champs. boston's been the hotter team over the last 10 games at 7-3 but the yankees the first team to lock up a place in the postseason. more on greinke. fighting for that cy young award in the american league, wins his fourth straight decision and gets to 15-8 and leads the majors with a 2.08

e.r.a. second with 229 strikeouts. his last five starts, 3-0, .26 e.r.a. peter gammons, peter gammons. there are still two and in some cases three starts to go before the cy young will be decided in the american league. but right now, zack greinke is the leader. the knock on him had been he hadn't start add game against either the yankees or red sox and started against the red sox on tuesday, two hits, no runs, brilliant. so now, ok, he's only got 15 wins but does have a 2.08 earned run average, tied with felix hernandez for the most quality starts. probably going to come down to greinke and hernandez. but right now, it's greinke's lose -- greinke's to lose. go to youtube for peter gammons. it's hilarious. greinke, 2.08 e.r.a. felix hernandez as peter mentioned having a great year as well. justin verlander leads the a.l., 245 strikeouts. but that number for sabathia, jumps out at you. the 18 wins, that's already in the playoffs.

plaxico burress caught over 500 pass in his nine-year nfl career including the game winner and a super bowl. he fumbled just nine times. then there was the fumble off the football field. burress brought an unregistered handgun into a new york city nightclub. it slipped down his pants, he grabbed for it. it discharged. the fallout, two years in prison. beginning tuesday. here's sal paolantonio. the scene inside courtroom 1100 was very emotional. plaxico burress asked the judge for permission to say one last goodbye to his wife and young son. and then was led away by new york city police officers to the jail at rikers island. a surreal moment for a man who less than two years ago was holding up the lombardi trophy. >> i think what just happened in the courtroom with mr. burress being sentenced and remanded is terribly sad and

very tragic. what i said on the record, i will repeat. you can violate the law, be subject to severe punishment, and not be a criminal. >> nfl commissioner roger goodell has already ruled that burress will be eligible to play again as soon as he's released from jail. which should be sometime in the spring of 2011 when burress will be nearly 34 years old. >> he's sad about what he's done to his life, his career. and more importantly, to his family. and he's a fundamentally good man who has used bad judgment and is going to pay a very, very severe penalty. >> before plaxico burress was escorted off to jail, the last words he heard from a family member came from his father. who said in a confident but somber voice, "be strong." in manhattan, sal paolantonio, espn. plaxico burress, eighth overall pick, 2000 nfl draft,

steelers took him out of michigan state and still owns the steelers' single game receiving record and moved to new york in 2005 and from 2005 to 2007, his 29 touchdown catches were third most during that span. and then there was the game winner in super bowl xlii. roger cossack with more on burress' life now. it's never easy to serve time in prison. but it may turn out that plaxico burress' time in prison is going to be tougher for him than it is for most prisoners. because he is such a high celebrity individual and because the guys in prison are going to know who he is, to protect him is going to be the number one responsibility of the new york prison system and to do that, they may have to put him in places away from general population and sometimes that means that he may be serving prison time in a cell all by himself. prison time is tough enough. but when you have to do it, some of the time, all alone, it gets even tougher.

plaxico burress is not going to have an easy two years. if he gets credit for good behavior, it will be 20 months. now, 20 months from now, is may of 2011. nfl teams will be done drafting and preparing for the upcoming season. burress will be a 33-year-old wide receiver who hasn't played in 30 months. more from the nfl on the way. featuring a redskins legend calling out the current skins head coach. about a particular play in the red zone that let's just say didn't work. and from a nasty case of turf toe to sore shoulders, the latest on three would be starting quarterbacks aching to play. the tigers scratching and clawing their way to the postseason. twins using home run power to try to catch them. it's "sportscenter" from the west coast. ( music playing ) someday, the driver will get to choose how efficient or powerful their car will be. the first ever hs hybrid, only from lexus-- the most fuel efficient of all luxury vehicles.

garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go. personalize your card by uploading... your own photo at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? ♪ tigers' hunt for october got a little more interesting because of the twins' recent run. detroit's lead in the central, 2 1/2 games. detroit in cleveland on tuesday and they had edwin jackson on the mound.

that was a good thing for them. bottom second, trevor crowe up with two on and two out. crowe with the base hit and if you're counting crows he had two base hits. matt laporta trying to score from second but thrown out at the plate by ryan raburn. laporta out by several steps. hurt on the play, he would leave the game. raburn would remain in the game. this ball would not. raburn going along the or way, his 1/4. tigers up 1-0. miguel cabrera had an up-and-down night. top of the third, cabrera up with one on. this one off jhonny peralta's glove but asdrubal cabrera, in time at second. cabrera left five runners on through six. top eight, cabrera up again with two runners on. he'll bring a runner home this time. it's placido polanco. and he gives the tigers a 2-0 lead. bottom eight now, 3-1 tigers. bases loaded. and two out. brandon lyon in a bit of a situation. but he gets luis valbuena to get himself out of the situation. tigers win it 3-1.

jackson is their good luck charm against the indians. he's 4-0 against cleveland this season. the twins also on the road, taking on the white sox in chicago. so they needed a win to keep pace. rookie jeff manship getting the start in a crucial spot for minnesota. top first, orlando cabrera up with a man on. that's off john danks. and it's not coming back. two-run shot. eighth of the year. for cabrera. twins are on the board early. 2-0. and manship, hanging a breaking ball to gordon beckham. and beckham going deep for his 13th. two-run shot. white sox up 4-3. manship lasted just 2 2/3, five hits, four runs. top five, game now tied at four, joe mauer up with two out and one on. scott podsednik almost got to it. but this isn't the almost "sportscenter." cabrera scores all the way from first on a close play. the twins back on top 5-4. bottom of the fifth, francisco liriano on in relief of manship. paul konerko getting to him. beckham will come all the way

around from first. and chicago comes back to tie the game at five. but michael cuddyer did it for the twins. solo shot for him. his 29th of the year. minnesota regains the lead at 6-5. later in the inning, matt colbert off danks. off the top of the fence. they say it was a home run. tolbert's second home run of the year. big sixth inning for the twins helped them pull away and win 8-6. tigers and twins both remain so detroit's lead remains at 2 1/2 games in the a.l. central. twins, 12-8 this month, that's just one game better than the tigers. cardinals in a bit of a lull. they've lost 6-10. albert pujols, top three, two outs, two on, he singles. skip schumaker scores. and pujols with the r.b.i. sole possession of third place on the all-time r.b.i. record in

franchise history behind stan musial, one, and eno slaughter, two. hunter pence, bottom sixth, 7-1 game, did pujols hurt his wrist? >> oh oh. >> he stayed in the game and was replaced in the bottom of the eighth inning. top seven, one out, bartender. jack. colby rasmus. his 16th. the cardinals are going to win 11-2 and they get 15 hits for the second straight game. joel pineiro back in form. the ninth loss in a row for the astros. you don't have to look any further than college football's preseason top five to see how injuries, especially at quarterback, can change the complexion of an entire season. rankings should come with if they stay healthy asterisk. move matt barkley from u.s.c.'s lineup and the trojans go 0-10 on third down at washington. take sam bradford from oklahoma, and they score 13 against b.y.u. which gave up 54 to florida state. those injuries change the season not only for those two teams but for others looking to

take those spots if they can stay healthy. here's your update on those injured quarterbacks. barkley throwing at practice each of the last two days. pete carroll said he would like barkley to start if his jurt shoulder can hold up -- his injured shoulder can hold up. otherwise aaron corp gets the start at washington state. to our surprise in general, that matt barkley practiced throughout the practice. he wasn't perfect but he was -- but he was good enough to perform yesterday. i'm anxious to see how he feels today after throwing quite a bit yesterday and took half the snaps, he and aaron shared the snaps. but looked his best since he was injured a couple of weeks ago. so we'll see what that story to find out how it goes. monday, we reported that reigning heisman trophy winner sam bradford made some throws at oklahoma's practice that day. tuesday coach bob stoops had nothing to report on that report other than to say he wished nothing had been reported.

i'm not going to detail day to day a little disappointed our players had so much to say. not that we're at all trying to be coy or anything that's behind the scenes outside of we just don't want -- i don't want sam to have to deal with the pressure of everybody's expectations. too early to speck lately. -- to speculate. i'm not going to get into the speculation. so once he's comfortable, and ready to play, i'll have something to say. and until then, i'm not going to deal with it every day and don't want our players and team giving percentages or he did this much and not that much. and everybody gets determined, well, that's enough to play or that isn't enough to play. i just don't want to do it. so i'm going to choose not to. >> notre dame not a title contender unless you ask lou holtz but they're dealing with injuries, too. they won't have receiver michael floyd for the rest of the season but charlie weis says there's no truth to the rumor that jimmy clausen is out for the year. he's got a turf tturday depends heals.

the m.r.i. came back negative other than the turf toe. so rumors of him having a broken foot and being done for the year are incorrect. but he does have a turf toe. and probably hold him from practice today. our plan is to give jimmy some of it on wednesday, all of it on thursday, and see how it goes from there. >> notre dame at u.s.c. on a collision course in south bend on october 17. here's what they have in the meantime. saturday, u.s.c. takes on washington state. notre dame will be at purdue. that game on espn. october 3, the trojans, big game against number six cal. notre dame takes on the washington team. they beat u.s.c. both teams off on october 10. before they meet up in south bend. nfl. former notre dame quarterback brady quinn hurting statistically, not physically. quinn will start against the ravens on sunday. quinn won a training camp battle with derek anderson but hasn't won anything since. the browns are 0-2 with the nfl's worst offense.

vince lombardi called redskins quarterback sonny jurgensen the best he had ever seen. high praise. jurgensen would later be inducted into the pro football hall of fame. the highest praise. now radio analyst for washington, jergen sen with no praise for a third quarter play call by skins coach jim zorn this past weekend. third and five, jergen sen blitzing the coach on the postgame show. third down, i'm the quarterback, or you are the quarterback, and you call the halfback throwing the ball for me? i'm calling time-out or calling an audible. i'm not letting halfback throw it. that's what you pay me for. >> then i would have to take you out of the game as soon as you called time-out. i would say what's wrong with my play? because i'm -- >> it didn't work. >> no, but i called it to work, all right? we called it to work and didn't work. there are a lot of plays that didn't work. and i take you out of the game. sorry, sonny. >> and he put in billy kilmer because they had juergensen and

kilmer. the red zone play calling might be questionable. washington has scored a touchdown on less than 45% of its trips inside the red zone since coach zorn took over last season. that's the fifth worst mark in the nfl during that time period. they scored just two touchdowns more college football news on the way. the current miami hurricanes starting to look like the old miami hurricanes. are they officially back or just better? and arguably the best soccer player in the world, lionel messi, with two great goals on tuesday while his national team may miss out on the world cup. and back to baseball. the giants pretty much in a win or else scenario. especially if the rockies keep doing what they're doing. another rally, another dramatic finish next. this is onstar reporting a stolen blue chevy tahoe, south on i-75, near exit 5. we're on it.

onstar, we may have that tahoe. ok, i'll flash the lights. we got it. it's in the clear. i'm sending a signal to cut the power. we got him. mr. ross, the police have recovered your tahoe. how come they separate the hash browns from the rest of the platter? maybe there's just not enough room. or,

maybe the hash browns were a little late and no one saved them a seat. maybe if the platter got a text message... from the hash browns saying they were on their way. or, maybe if the p-- pull up a chair to a mcdonald's breakfast platter: fluffy hotcakes, freshly cooked eggs and sausage off the griddle. with a warm biscuit and hash browns, it's an all-together good morning. ♪ ba da ba ba ba what's the temperature on the field? ninety-eight? ( all groan ) oh, that is hot! i wish we could give you some of our cold coors light. come on, for crying out loud! it's aged cold, it's filtered cold. - just throw it! - sorry, there's only enough for us. - come on, man! - dag it! dang on it! frost-brewed coors light. official beer sponsor of the nfl. first one to say "cowboy" gets our last coors light after the game. - cowboy! - cowboy. - ditka! - oh, michael!

>> ♪ i don't think you're ready to go stop me when you've had enough ♪ national league wild card. colorado with a four-game lead. san diego, now 45 degrees, no wonder carmelo is hanging out in l.a. bartender, how about a mojito or mohica? brad hawpe off edward mujica. 20th of the season. first since august 29. 4-2 rockies. troy tulowitzki. every time you see him he's knocking in somebody. scores here. scores a run here. rockies up 7-6. how about top five? chase headley grounding into todd helton. he's been doing that forever. 3-6-1 turns two. bottom seven, locked up in a tight one.

rockies, 8-6. clint barmes lines it to right. edgar gonzalez dives. he needed longer arms. do we have an inside-the-park job? for gonzalez, he was hurt, and didn't mean to make fun. 10-6. 11-8 padres done. two outs, top nine. oscar salazar with the bases loaded. two score. the padres down a run. next batter, tying run on third. nick hundley, hits it hard but right at seth smith. that ends the game. and the rockies, they'll win it 11-10 is your final. the giants are running out of games. they were four back of colorado when the day began. san francisco, in arizona. but san francisco's got matt cain on the hill but this matt cain, 1-4 in his last 10 starts. he was so hot so early. san francisco gave him a 3-0 lead. mark reynolds going to make it 3-1. his 100th r.b.i. on the season. miguel montero scores. bottom three, diamondbacks down 4-3. this time it's montero doing the hitting. he singles to center. two score.

the diamondbacks up 5-4. matt cain lasts 2 1/3, gives up seven earned. he doesn't leave until he does this. to reynolds. later in the third. fastball by you. 204 strikeouts for reynolds. that ties the mark he set last season. we go bottom four. d-backs are up 9-4. that's why cain's gone and madison bumgarner gets reynolds. that's a record-setting strikeout. i'm not sure that's the record you want. randy johnson in relief. call knee ryal. rusty ryal, home run. diamondbacks win it 10-8. and the giants running out of games, running out of time. time ticking away. we'll take you "next level." to show you how mark reynolds says he struck out more than he'd care to remember this season. 206 strikeouts, reynolds, 107 times on fastballs, 58 sliders, 25 curveballs, and 16 other

off-speed pitches. "next level" brought to you by miller lite. there's light beer and then there's triple hops-brewed miller lite. taste greatness. plirke a lame radio -- like a lame radio promotion, double-header with the phillies for the marlins. florida at&t back with an opportunity -- eight back with an opportunity. top five, 2-0 phillies. two on for jason weather. that will bring in two. allowing four runs is not so good. joe blanton was better. bottom six, facing manly ramirez. -- hanley ramirez. got him. blanton went seven. didn't give up a run and struck out nine and gave up just two hits. top eight, 4-0 phillies. great season for raul ibanez continues. that's off burt badenhop. ibanez's -- the phillies get

their eighth straight win at florida. so anibal sanchez trying to salvage game two of the double-header for the marlins and a completely different story with him on the mound in that one. top second, no score. pedro feliz got him on the check swing. sanchez struck out the side in order in the second. bottom second, no score, bases empty for dan uggla. and this a big moment for uggla. off jamie moyer, solo shot. uggla's 30th. three straight seasons with 30 plus homers. first marlin ever to do that. it's 1-0. bottom four, same score, bases empty for cody ross. that's another solo shot. ross' 23rd and the marlins up 2-0. sanchez still doing his thing. top seven, he's got a 3-0 lead facing ryan howard. sanchez eight, no runs, two hits. chase utley got the phillies' only two hits and the marlins win it 3-0. they snap a three-game losing streak but the split still leaves them eight back in the east.

the braves are staying alive. great bee gees song. jair jurrjens. 1.69 e.r.a. this season against the mets. david wright has hit him well in the past. not well there. 4-6-3 double play. top four, braves down a run. yunel escobar facing nelson figaroa. how about escobar? came into this game 27 hits against the mets. excuse me. that's -- he had 27 after this game. batted .415 against them. the braves take a 2-1 lead. jeff francoeur, he's going to be 0-10 career against jurrjens after that. 5-4-3 double play and in the bottom of the seventh, cory sullivan flies out. the braves have beaten the mets seven straight this season. jurrjens, seven innings, one earned, five hits, two k's. 3-1 is your final. let's check it out. the rockies win. giants lose. that means colorado now has a five-game lead in the n.l. wild card race. over san francisco and atlanta. the marlins split the doublehooder tuesday, they're 5

1/2 back. the three backup quarterbacks who all transferred from miami before the season to get playing time somewhere already knew what florida state and georgia tech found out. jacory harris is young, but he's ready. his sophomore year so far, five touchdowns, to five different receivers. a 2-0 start, and some early heisman talk. he has the cannes -- the canes halfway through the toughest start. four straight games against top 20 teams. they play virginia tech followed by a visit from oklahoma. hank goldberg has more on the storm brewing in south florida. head coach randy shannon knows what the good old days were like at the university of miami, having won a national championship as a player under jimmy johnson in 1987. the hurricanes ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2005. shannon is making sure that the 2009 version of the u does more walking the walk than talking the talking.

>> you got to take one game at a time and tell the players, after four galms you're going to -- games you're going to find out where we are as a football team but one at a time. go one game at a time because you cannot defeat the first opponent trying to think about the fourth. and those guys, so far, they've done a great job of concentrating. >> coach smith, compartmentalizing each game, ok, this game's over with, let's go. next game. >> sophomore quarterback jacory harris has carried shannon's personality on to the field. bringing a quiet confidence to the rest of his team to feed off. >> the pressure that comes with winning and the hype that comes with winning, and i don't let it get to me. and i try to carry that -- i try to let this mentality brush off on the rest of the team. and so far, it has done a wonderful job. >> he's worked all he can in practice now to -- the game should come to him easy. and i think it does come to him

easy and that's what's fun about watching jacory operate. >> while the team isn't ready to say the u is back, the buzz around campus would suggest otherwise. i stopped by the ticket office and asked the lady behind the counter if business was brisk. she said things are getting a little crazy around here. in coral gables, i'm hank gold berg, espn. things were a little crazy, the canes went .500 with only two wins against ranked opponents. the canes are 2-0 this year. both wins over ranked opponents, they're ranked higher than they've been since 2005 with those two big games that we mentioned coming up. kirk herbstreit with his breakdown on the canes. i don't think there's any question that this miami hurricane football team is the real deal. based on what they've done and their first two games. on the road at florida state, found a way to win the game. dominated georgia tech. jacory harris with his ability and the way he's playing this game with such poise, the playmakers around him, the way

this team is feeding off of jacory harris, the confidence that they now have as they head to lane stadium against virginia tech, i put him up at number five this week in the a.p. poll. there's no doubt in my mind the athletic ability and now the confidence is there as they head up to lane stadium this week to take on the hokies. we get to see how they deal with success because the schedule doesn't get any easier. virginia tech and then oklahoma , so finish off the four-game start and a couple of out of conference rivals from florida, hot shot. shortstop. guzman. desmond. lastings thrillage. >> throw to first, close. all right. stan was talking about two for tuesday promotion. how about this? 10 for tuesday and carmelo anthony. part of the action. the first, why byron leftwich putting up better numbers than tom brady and possibly some good news for tony romo,

concerning monday night. i would like to hear that. still trying to clinch the division dodgers put up a football score and check this out. they're putting tommy lasorda in the smithsonian. why not? - ( music playing ) - a work of art. a finely-tuned machine. a sanctuary. a command center. ( both revving ) a sophisticated sedan. a sports car. together.

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sony is a proud partner of espn and the new l.a. live studio. what were your career goals when you were 11, did you peen know what your career goal was? lorena ochoa wanted to be the best golfer in the world and it is argued at 27 she is the best mexican golfer of all time. with hispanic heritage month, shelley smith sat down with the only mexican gosmer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world. being number one, do you feel pressure to sell the sport, to be the dominant figure? >> i don't feel that pressure. i think in a way, i think american players probably feel that pressure a little more

than me. most of the tournaments are in the states. we have the history that many -- american or u.s., they need -- in that way, to really help, i think it's important that -- not only them but all of us that we do more job with the media to make sure that we see them and continue for the fans. and none of -- those things are very important. >> how important is it to put a bad day or a bad performance behind you and look at the next? >> not playing the best in the last few months butness a crazy game. -- but this is a crazy game. you try to get the positive things from that and learn. and keep working hard. >> woufer play, would you want to be -- would you ever play, would you want to golf in the olympics? >> for sure. hopefully in my time so i can

play. but any way, something that i guess unreal, fantastic. just like any other athlete when you're little, you always dream of winning the olympics. and i know that we have the opportunity, golf could be there. and just give me this one. hopefully. >> does the lpga need a dominant player to become even more popular? >> i don't think i can answer that. for sure, i'm trying to do my best. and it's becoming so global. you have so many decent players from all over the world that i think it will be hard. i think it's more important just to keep that way, to be a global sport and all of us trying to help in different parts of the world. all right. since turning pro in 2003 lorena ochoa has won 26 lpga events. >> wow. >> in season she's got two wins, seven top 10's. how about this for career

earnings? she's passed $14 million. whether your favorite nfl team won or lost it's time to look to sunday's key games. titans lost three times all last season. they're heading to new york at 0-2 trying to hand the jets their first loss. patriots, unbooten rolling into foxboro with some handy game seats from last week on how to slow down tom brady and the new england offense. 49ers might be the most surprising 2-0 team. vikings expected to be there. one of them will lose for the first time sunday at the metrodome. kevin cobb looks like he'll get another try for the eagles. their defense also needs to bounce back game two. they'll try to keep matt cassel and the chiefs from their first win. sunday night the cowboys get a mulligan at their new stadium but face a panthers team that's 0-2 and desperate to get its season on track. too soon to know whether the barber shop will be open monday for that game. marion barber, day to day with a strained quad muscle heard late in sunday's loss to the giants. he had 124 yards on 18 carries. and matthew berry, he's already moved on to week three.

before you make your roster claims for week three, i got a question for you. what do tom brady, aaron rodgers and kurt warner have in common? less fantasy points this year than byron leftwich. 275 yards in back-to-back starts, it means good fantasy numbers for leftwich. wide receiver now and if he keeps this up, he won't be known as the other steve smith. over 200 yards and a score through two games the giants' steve smith is legit. and with marion barber banged up, tashard choice will get a lot of playing time for a cowboys team that leads the nfl in rushing yards. i want to remind you every sunday morning, we have last-second injury updates, everything else you need to win. it's fantasy football now, 11:30 a.m. eastern until kickoff on espn.com and this sunday, on tv, espn2. if you want to read more on the patriots game that should be good and the boston sports news, log on to espnboston.com.

and for you windy city fans get the latest on the bears, the bulls, the sox and the cubs at espnchicago.com. best record in the national league once again belongs to the dodgers. they're taking on the nationals. bottom three. hiroki kuroda against adam dunn. i got some if you need it. two-run shot. his 38th and the nationals up 2-1. we go top four. we're tied at two. rafael furcal, bases loaded. he singles to left. casey blake scores. josh willingham's throw not on target. pearl jam in target. ronnie belliard slides into home. furcal takes second on the error. the dodgers take a 4-2 lead. let's go top seven. let's move ahead in the action. it's 10-2. bases loaded again for furcal. he went 4-5, four r.b.i.'s, scored three runs, belliard and russell martin there, 12-2. how about clayton kershaw back from injury? getting a little work. ian desmond with two outs. that will work.

kershaw, two innings, four k's, nothing earned. dodgers, 14-2. gave up the safety. the dodgers decrease their magic number in the n.l. west to seven after the win over washington. the los angeles has homered in 11 straight games. power hour. kuroda now 3-1 with a 2.16 e.r.a. since being hit in the head by that line drive last month. just in time for the dodgers' trip to d.c. look who's on display at the national portrait gallery at the smithsonian. hall of fame manager tommy lasorda and in time for his 82th birthday. the paint something by everett kinsler, part of a collection of baseball art that's on display through november 15. spanish league soccer from madrid. barcelona looking for its fourth straight win in la liga. they took on racing santander, 20th minute, no score, free kick for barcelona. lionel messi crosses it for zlatan ibrahimovic. his header in the goal. 24th minute, messi and the give-and-go. it's gone. barcelona up 2-0. more.

27th minute, ibrahimovic surrounded by defenders but finds gerard pique and pique knocks it home. barcelona leads 3-0. a nice pass by ibrahimovic. and barcelona picking up where they left off. 63rd minute. same score. messi with the ball rips it and scores. his second goal of the game. take another look at this. with his head down, he still had his game up. and he knocks that one in for the goal. barcelona goes on to win 4-1 and they have the maximum 12 points in three games so far in la liga. and messi's two goals give him five in three league matches this season and also scored twice on saturday against madrid. he's finished second for the fifa world player of the year award. each of the past two years. when it comes tones. on the road to south africa, the united states has its own fate clearly at its own

feet with two qualifying matches remaining while two popular powers around the world are in danger of not qualifying for next summer. it's south american qualifying that nation is argentina. before their most recent loss in paringway, diego march donna's side lost to brazil. the argentine nation is in crisis over this with final matches against peru and pat uruguay. argentina is fifth with the top four nations qualifying, and the fifth place team in a playoff against the fourth place nation from the u.s. region. in that region, concacaf, the united states has climbed into first place. >> he does. the goal. and the u.s. leads. >> the road win in trinidad and tobago guaranteed the u.s. no worse than that home-and-home playoff with the south american team. two matches remain. a win in honduras, and that's a tall order, would qualify the u.s. for south africa. and failing that, the u.s. need only draw with costa rica in the final qualifying match in

washington, d.c. the headline in europe is in group one where portugal and cristiano ronaldo are in trouble. and time is running out. portugal is third in this group. yes, they close with two home matches against hungary and malta but only two wins, six points, would give the portuguese any hope of staying alive for the playoffs that when "sportscenter" rolls on we return with tuesday's "top plays." the best part, no, no, not the beards. we got something way bigger. and someone way bigger, too, with neil. still ahead on "sportscenter," we got "top plays" with one of the nba's top players. carmelo anthony. "top plays," this should be a slam dunk, hey? fix your tie. what are you doing? xwxwxwxwxwxww

joe girardi, his first playoff game since managing the yankees. the slam by carmelo anthony. melo from 18 feet. good. >> steal by anthony. they're not going to catch him. >> by carmelo -- >> melo attacks the rim. goes up and scores. >> carmelo hits it. he hit a three. back for "sportscenter's" "top plays." and look who dropped in. it's carmelo anthony, star of the denver nuggets. who will be contribute being to "top plays" in a different way come november but he will help out with the plays on this show.

>> i sure will. >> you know how it works, right? >> yes. >> harder than it looks. >> you better bring it. >> a slam dunk. slam dunk. >> all right. let's go. here's number 10. on "sportscenter." on the field at texas a&m. this student made a shot from the third deck at kyle field. have you ever hit a shot anywhere near this long? >> that's fake. that's fake. >> supposedly the wind brought the ball back online to make it go in. you aren't buying it? >> i'm not buying that. >> take a look at it from the field. you can check it out on youtube, phrase "dude perfect." >> who is your favorite av? >> why would you make me pick one? i like all of them. >> number eight, the world beard and mustache championships. melo, you got a little fuzz growing there. >> i can't grow nothing like that. that's crazy. >> 160 people in frankfurt, germany, judging 17 different

categories. we don't know what. >> soccer. ibrahimovic. no look. to pique. who's the best no look passer in the nba? >> probably jason kidd. i would give it to jason kird. >> your olympic teammate. >> of course. >> number six cubs and brewers. ryan braun. deep. but not deep enough. tyler colvin. you would be a good stfleder. -- center fielder. 6'8". >> that has to hurt. >> more than the stanchion going in for the bucket? >> got to hurt. >> let's check out dodgers and nationals. cristian guzman is going to start the double play. is rockies fever running around denver right now? >> yeah. this is the "top plays" right here. this has got to be the "top plays." i don't know where it's at right now but got to be the "top plays." >> don't get ahead of yourself, cowboy. we got more to come. >> he's got rocky fever so bad he's sweating. >> number in our orioles and bluejays. jose bautista over to third. baltimore in the house. >> my orioles, made number

four. >> orioles lost, though. 6-5 in 11 innings. >> they made "top plays." >> get used to that. >> this cat's name is lionel messi. and he is perhaps the best soccer player on the planet. check him out here. let it breathe and remind everyone to check out thisis melo.com. >> you might find this play there, too. >> more from the pentagon bs and leafs -- from the penguins and leafs. tyler bozak, viktor stalberg gets the goal. who's the best passer on your team? >> myself. >> don't feel like you have to be modest, carmelo. >> at one, luis valbuena, makes the nba all-defensive team with in play. you guys aren't that big on defense in denver, are you? >> yeah, we are. >> coach karl trying to change that. >> yes, we are. >> the tigers, they won the game 3-1. all right. back out with carmelo anthony. i saw ron artest down at venice

beach, muscle beach. i know you hang out there as well. how much better are the lakers with artest in your opinion? >> they're great. they're great. they still have it. they're the defending champs. we got to guard them and take that from them. and we're ready. we're ready for that. >> you're on the court getting ready to face the lakers. they break the huddle. one of two defenders is coming at you. it's either kobe or artest. which one do you want to see? >> it really doesn't matter. but i doubt if i just see one defender playing against the lakers. i'm going to see all five. >> all right. carmelo anthony, hanging out with us for all 10 on "sportscenter's" top 10 plays. when "sportscenter" returns, from l.a., we do some major league math. tuesday at least one magic number, reduced by two. top 10 perfect plays brought to you by lexus. brought to you by lexus. and the new h.s. hybrid. - ( rock music playing ) - ♪ lights out...

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wednesday, first game of a double-header, phillies take on the marlins. florida hanging on for dear life. playoff, rick vandenhurk against cole hamels. hamels has an e.r.a. under 1.5 in his last five starts. game at 7:00 p.m. eastern on espn. another team on life support is the giants. they're facing the diamondbacks and going to turn to jonathan sanchez looking for some of that no-no magic. they got earlier in the season from him. that's game two of our

double-header on espn. that's at 7:00 p.m. pacific. 10:00 eastern and that is 4:00 hawaiian. let's say aloha to some magic numbers. dodgers' number seven. cardinals down to two. phillies, five, and the rockies' number, in the wild card, is seven. we love the magic numbers. they're fun. we got even more of them. the yankees' imagine he can number from eight to six to win the american league east. the yankees' number is zero to get in and they're in with a wild card. angels number six in the west, tigers' magic number 10 in the central and the red sox number is six for the wild card. so there's an oregon fan, you're a duck, an oregon fan spent $439 to go to boise state for the season opener and saw the fight, and his team lose, so he sent their new coach, chip kelly, a letter with an invoice for $439. and kelly sent him a check. >> i'm real sorry. i wonder if