Scoreboard B-2 In brief B-3 Prep roundup B-3 College football B-3 Baseball B-5 Business B-6 Time
Out B-7 Classifieds B-8
SPORTS
Braves manager Bobby Cox reacts
during the seventh inning against
the Giants before pulling pitcher
Derek Lowe on Monday.
CURTIS COMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Giants
take out
Atlanta
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — San Francisco cel-
ebrated its first playoff win in eight
years, then paused to honor the man
whose career they
Giants 3 had just ended.
Braves 2 As Bobby Cox
came out of the
Atlanta dugout to tip his cap to the
chanting crowd one last time Monday
night, the Giants stopped what they
were doing on the other side of the
field. They began clapping, too, and
tipped their caps in Cox’s direction.
The Braves manager waved back.
Then the Giants headed off to
savor a 3-2 victory that sent them to
the NL championship series for the
first time since 2002. Twenty-one-
year-old rookie Madison Bumgarner
pitched six strong innings, late-sea-
son pickup Cody Ross homered and
drove in the go-ahead run with a
two-out single in the seventh, and the
San Francisco bullpen closed it out.
For Cox, there are no more games,
only the reality of what he’s going to
do with the rest of his life without a
group of ballplayers to manage.
He can put away that familiar No. 6
uniform for good.
“It doesn’t feel like the last time I’m
putting it on, but it certainly is,” Cox
said, his voice cracking. “I won’t put
it on again.”
The series was tight and tense to
the very last out. Giants closer Brian
Wilson walked two in the ninth,
giving the Braves one more shot
to extend Cox’s career. But Omar
Infante struck out attempting to
check his swing on a nasty slider, and
Melky Cabrera grounded out to third.
“This series had everything,”
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
“Just the intensity and excitement
of the series, it had to be thrilling
for the fans. There was never an
easy moment for Bobby or myself,
because these games could have
gone either way.”
Indeed, every game was decided
by one run, but the Giants won three
of them to take the best-of-five series
and earn a shot against the two-time
defending NL champion Phillies.
Game 1 is Saturday at Philadelphia
and features a marquee matchup:
Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay.
Atlanta starter Derek Lowe pitched
no-hit ball into the sixth inning, and
still it wasn’t enough. The Braves
have yet to win at Turner Field with
a series on the line, losing for the
eighth straight time in that situation
since the Ted opened to baseball in
1997. Cox won’t get a chance to end
that streak, deciding more than a
year ago to call it a career at age 69.
A Braves fan held up a sign plead-
ing for the team to “Win It For
Bobby,” but Ross and the Giants were
in no mood for sentimentality. Not
even with the comfort of knowing
that Game 5 would’ve been back in
San Francisco, and Lincecum was all
rested and ready to go after a two-hit,
14-strikeout shutout in Game 1.
Now, the Giants ace is lined up to
face Halladay, who pitched a no-hit-
ter last week in his postseason debut.
The Phillies and Giants split six
games this season.
“I can’t say enough about our
pitching,” Ross said.
“They keep us in it the whole time.
We just need to score a few.”
INSIDE
u Rays try to complete comeback
against Rangers. PAGE B-5
Sports information: James Barron, 986-3045, jbarron@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Elizabeth Herrera Lauer, ehlauer@sfnewmexican.com
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2010 THE NEW MEXICAN
PREP BOYS SOCCER SANTA FE PREP 1, ST. MICHAEL’S 0
St. Michael’s captain Leland Pascual, left, and Santa Fe Prep’s Alex Delgado fight for the ball during the
first half of their match Monday at Santa Fe Prep. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
One for the money
Santa Fe Prep narrowly defeats
rival St. Michael’s in key match
By James Barron
The New Mexican
F
ive days ago, McCall Sides talked about the
pressure that boils during a Santa Fe Prepara-
tory-St. Michael’s boys soccer match.
“It gets into your head, and you either play
good or you play bad,” Sides said after a 3-0 Blue Grif-
fins win over Monte del Sol on Thursday. “You either
take in the pressure or you don’t.”
On Monday, he had to live those words.
With 68 minutes gone in a key District 2A-AAA
boys soccer match against archrival St. Michael’s, Sides
marched through three Horsemen defenders and
scored the winning goal to give Santa Fe Prep a 1-0 win
in front of a crowd of about 100 at Brennand Field.
With one swing of Sides’ right leg, the Blue Griffins
(12-3 overall, 8-1 2A-AAA) pulled with St. Michael’s
(13-4, 9-1) in the loss column and assumed the point for
the Santa Fe City Soccer Championships (2-0). They
have a Thursday nondistrict tilt with Capital for the
city title.
Sides took an errant ball in the backfield, knocked
the ball over a Horsemen defender and to himself,
then slipped right past Dominic Medina. Jeff Groene-
wold swooped in to try and slow him down, but Sides
juked right, took a dribble then locked in on the lower
right frame.
The ball ripped past a flailing Arthur Dejarnette in
goal to break the tension and the scoreless knot.
It was not Sides’ prettiest goal, but this wasn’t
“
It gets into your head, and you either play good or you play
bad. You either take in the pressure or you don’t.”
McCall Sides, Santa Fe Prep soccer player on the rivalry with St. Michael’s
Spain’s David Villa, right, duels for the ball with
Lithuania’s Marius Stankevicius during their Euro
2012 Group I qualifying soccer match Friday in
Spain. DANIEL OCHOA DE OLZA/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phillies on fire: Team eyes
World Series after sweeping
Reds. Page B-5
about style.
The blister on his left foot attested to that.
“It meant I worked extra hard,” Sides said. “I guess it
must. I did a lot of sprinting.”
Blue Griffins head coach Hersch Wilson credited
Sides’ striker mentality for the extra effort.
“The mentality of a striker is, ‘At some point, I have
to score. I have to do it,’ ” Wilson said. “And he did.
(Santa Fe Prep head girls soccer coach) Stephanie
Coppola and I were talking (before the match) and she
said, ‘This game will go to the last 10 minutes before
someone scores.’ So guys have to be patient, they have
to be to get one.”
St. Michael’s almost made patience a worthless
virtue in the first half. They controlled possession for
most of the first 40 minutes and managed four shots
on goal. It was up to Blue Griffins ’keeper Danny
Quinn to keep the Horsemen off the scoreboard.
He did it with four saves and also a couple of break-
ups of St. Michael’s breakaways, including one in
which he kicked a through ball to Jackson Baca away
and then collided with Baca. It left both of them shar-
ing pain — Quinn in his chest, while Baca grabbed his
thigh.
The scoreless half also left Horsemen head coach
Merritt Brown wincing at missed opportunities.
“Our finishing was not what it needed to be,” Brown
said. “We’ve got time to work on that.”
That continued into the opening moments of the
second half. After Dejarnette saved a shot off of Sides’
leg, he quickly initiated a counter-attack that had
Lorenzo Medina alone on a one-on-one with Quinn.
But Medina’s floater over the on-rushing goalie sailed
Please see SOCCER, Page B-3
SOCCER
Villa stays course for record
The Associated Press
GLASGOW, Scotland — David Villa’s coach
and teammates are sure it won’t be long before
he breaks Spain’s all-time scoring record despite
his recent barren streak in front of goal.
After five goals in Spain’s run to the World
Cup title, the Barcelona striker has not scored in
his last two internationals. That doesn’t sound
like long, but Villa took just 66 games to match
the Spanish record of 44 international goals.
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque acknowl-
edged Monday that the loss of momentum may
be playing on Villa’s mind but said the player has
not shown it in his performances.
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
B
Jets steal
Favre’s
thunder
Vikings QB reaches
500 touchdown passes
By Dennis Waszak Jr.
The Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —
Brett Favre was at his dazzling best
after a miserable start that put the
Vikings in a hole.
Jets 29 There would
Vikings 20 be no classic
comeback this
time, though, for the record-breaking
quarterback.
Hit hard early and often by Rex
Ryan’s physical defense, Favre nearly
led Minnesota back with a milestone
night, but Dwight Lowery returned
an interception 26 yards for a touch-
down with 1:30 left as New York beat
the Vikings 29-20 on Monday night
in a game that was delayed 45 min-
utes at the start by lightning.
Lacking fireworks early, Nick Folk
kicked five field goals for the Jets
(4-1), two after fumbles by Favre, and
now the 41-year-old quarterback is
left wondering if an even bigger pun-
ishment is in store from NFL Com-
missioner Roger Goodell.
Favre finished 14 for 34 for 264
yards for Minnesota (1-3) hours after
he apologized to teammates for the
distraction caused by an NFL inves-
tigation into allegations that he sent
racy messages and lewd photos to a
Jets game hostess in 2008.
He became the first NFL player to
throw 500 touchdown passes and for
70,000 yards, but two early fumbles
against his former team helped put
the Vikings in a 12-0 hole.
Favre threw three touchdowns,
including two to Percy Harvin — the
second bringing the Vikings within
two points with 3:09 left in the game.
The Vikings offense had the ball with
1:43 remaining and poised for a win-
ning drive — until Favre’s big mistake.
He connected with new teammate
Randy Moss from 37 yards out late in
the third quarter to cut the Jets’ lead
to 12-7. Favre zipped down the field
and jumped into Moss’ arms in the
end zone to celebrate the score.
Less than 5 minutes later, Favre
hit Harvin for a 34-yard touchdown
that made it 15-13 with 12:47 left.
But Favre’s tying 2-point conver-
sion try was intercepted by Antonio
Cromartie in the end zone.
Shonn Greene’s 23-yard touch-
down run with 4:30 left gave the Jets
a 22-13 lead that appeared to seal the
victory, but Favre still had plenty of
time to try for a comeback victory.
The game marked the Vikings
debut for Moss, who finished with
four catches for 81 yards, includ-
ing the touchdown, while being
defended mostly by Cromartie.
Vikings QB Brett Favre, right, and
Randy Moss celebrate after Moss
caught a touchdown pass from
Favre at the Jets game Monday.
SETH WENIG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
“In terms of his state of mind, forwards are
almost like a different breed anyway,” Del
Bosque said. “They live on their nerves almost,
whether they’re on a good goal scoring run or
they’ve got a dry period without goals.”
Villa is tied with Raul Gonzalez on 44 goals
ahead of today’s European Championship qualifier
against Scotland. But Raul played 102 games for
Spain, making Villa by far the more potent force.
Villa was leading scorer when Spain ended its
44-year wait for a trophy at the 2008 European
Championship and only missed out on the Golden
Boot at the World Cup because he had made
fewer assists than Germany’s Thomas Mueller
— who also scored five goals.