Morning Briefing April 22, 2011
Garrett Willis had a run of six straight birdies for a 7-under 64 and a one-stroke lead Thursday at The Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Willis was a shot in front of Arjun Atwal, Matt Bettencourt, Chad Campbell and Tim Herron at Harbour Town Golf Links. Mark Wilson, Camilo Villegas and 2009 Heritage champion Brian Gay were two strokes back.
Willis, the 2001 winner in Tucson in his first event as a PGA Tour member, planned to switch to a belly putter this week, but stuck with his longtime Scotty Cameron model putter he called “Old Faithful.”
Basketball
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player.
Love earned 66 of a possible 116 first-place votes and 400 points. LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trail Blazers was second with 157 points.
Love averaged 20.2 points and led the NBA with 15.2 rebounds per game this season.
Baseball
With both sides expressing support for adding two playoff teams in 2012, negotiators for baseball players and owners are considering having the new wild-card round be best-of-3 or winner-take-all.
Because longer series would push playoffs deeper into cold weather, the sides are not considering have the new first round be best-of-5 of best-of-7.
In the new format, the two wild cards in each league would meet, and the winners would advance to the following round against division winners.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Mets 9, Astros 1: David Wright hit a homer and a two-run double and host New York welcomed Jason Bay back to its lineup with a win over Houston.
Bay hit a ground-rule double and later raced around the bases on a rare four-base error in the eighth inning to give the Mets a lift. The former North Idaho College and Gonzaga standout was out with a strained rib cage since late March and hadn’t played since July 25, when he went out with a concussion.
Marlins 9, Pirates 5: At Miami, Scott Cousins hit a grand slam, leading Florida past Pittsburgh.
Dodgers 5, Braves 3, 12 inn.: Matt Kemp’s homer in the 12th lifted Los Angeles past visiting Atlanta.
Cardinals 5, Nationals 0: Kyle Lohse threw a two-hitter and St. Louis beat visiting Washington.
Reds 7, Diamondbacks 4: Mike Leake threw seven solid innings, leading host Cincinnati past Arizona.
Phillies 3, Padres 0: Roy Oswalt and three relievers pitched a combined four-hitter, leading Philadelphia at San Diego.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
White Sox 9, Rays 2: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Gavin Floyd struck out seven and Chicago beat Tampa Bay.
Twins 3, Orioles 1: Scott Baker tossed seven scoreless innings, leading Minnesota at Baltimore.
Royals 3, Indians 2: Melky Cabrera’s two-run single in the ninth lifted Kansas City past visiting Cleveland.
Red Sox 4, Angels 2, 11 inn.: At Anaheim, Calif., Adrain Gonzalez’ RBI double in the 11th lifted Boston past Los Angeles.
Bruins 5, Canadiens 4, OT: Michael Ryder scored 1:59 into overtime to give visiting Boston a victory over Montreal, tying the first-round series 2-2.
Game 5 is Saturday night at Boston.
Blackhawks 5, Canucks 0: Duncan Keith had two goals and two assists and visiting Chicago cut Vancouver’s lead to 3-2 in the first-round series.
Chicago hosts Game 6 on Sunday night.
Sharks 6, Kings 3: Ryane Clowe scored twice and visiting San Jose beat Los Angeles to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
San Jose hosts Game 5 on Saturday.
— The Associated Press