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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2015)
SPORTS TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015 Sports shorts Woods’ presence boosts TV ratings NEW YORK (AP) — With Tiger Woods in contention and looking to extend his season, the Wyndham Championship on Sunday produced a solid rating for CBS. The ¿ nal FACES round had a 3.9 rating — the best for a nonmajor on any network since NBC drew 5.7 in Woods May 2013 for Woods’ win at The Players Championship. The rating was also the highest for a nonmajor on CBS since Woods’ win at the AT&T National in 2012. Woods began play Sunday two strokes off the lead but struggled in the ¿ nal round. He needed a victory to earn a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs opener next week. Davis Love III won by one stroke. Ratings represent the percentage of U.S. homes with televisions tuned to a program. OREGON TRAIL PRO RODEO Minor ‘milks’ Heppner all-around title Oregon Trail comes down to oddball event By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Half a point and a drop of milk. That was the difference between a disappointing night and taking home the all-around title at the 93rd Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo (OTPR) for Jason Minor. It’s not every rodeo that can be won on wild cow milking, which was added to the OTPR last year, but by one-upping Yoncalla’s Randy Thompson in one of rodeo’s most oddball events, the Ellensburg, Washington cowboy was able to edge past roughstock ironman Cameron Craig and take the all-around saddle on Saturday night at Morrow County Fair- grounds in Heppner. “It’s kind of a fun event, they don’t have it at all of them,” said Minor, who made Thompson’s run atop the leaderboard short-lived by following his 18.6 with an 18 À at. Minor also competed in tie-down where he split fourth with a 10.1, and team roping where he and heeler Matt Funk had a no-time. Unlike his ¿ rst two draws, Minor’s “wild” cow didn’t put up much of a ¿ ght. “I just had a good cow, she was pretty gentle and allowed me to move fast,” said the ¿ ve-time North- west Pro Rodeo Associ- ation (NPRA) all-around champion. “There’s de¿ nitely techniques, but it certainly helps when the cow doesn’t want to ¿ ght as much. A lot of cow milking they rope big beef cows and here, these cows have been roped before and they kind of know the drill.” That may have been the case for Minor, but it didn’t guarantee cooperation for the other competitors in Saturday’s section and Eugene’s Buck McKay had the only other complete run in 29.2 seconds. Since there is no short round at the single-go OTPR, many of Saturday’s competitors were going for broke as they looked to secure the top payouts. As a results, broken barriers and illegal catches helped keep the leaderboard mostly intact. Only two other events saw shake-ups at the top, and both involved bucking broncs. Craig made his ¿ rst turn out of the chutes in Heppner his best with an 83 on B-Bar-D’s Slinky that See RODEO/2B MLB M’s blow early lead, fall to A’s Packers’ Nelson out for season GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)–The Green Bay Packers’ worst fears about the severity of receiver Jordy Nelson’s knee injury have come true. The team said Monday only that the star receiver suffered a ³signi¿ cant right knee injury” would cost FACES that him the season. Nelson, one of the top targets for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was injured Sunday in Nelson a preseason game at Pittsburgh. ³It’s dif¿ cult to lose a guy like that in a meaningless game,” Rodgers said after the 24-19 loss to the Steelers. The Packers will be without a playmaker who set career highs in receptions (98) and yards receiving (1,519) in 2014. Nelson had 13 touchdown catches last year and 43 over the last four seasons. “I would never tell young people to break the law to avoid prosecution. It was bad advice. I really regret my words.“ — Cris Carter ESPN analyst and NFL Hall of Famer explaining his part in the video that surfaced over the week- end that showed Carter telling NFL rookies at the 2014 rookie symposium to have a “fall guy” in place in case they ever fi nd themselves in trouble with the law. Carter publically apologized on Sunday for what he said. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1922 — In one of base- ball’s wildest games, the Cubs beat the Phillies 26-23. The Cubs led 25-6 in the fourth inning, but held on as the game ended with the Phillies leaving the bases loaded. 1991 — Carl Lewis reclaims his title of world’s fastest human by setting a world record of 9.86 seconds in the 100-meter ¿ nal in the world championships in Tokyo. 2006 — Japan’s Yusaku Miya]ato becomes the ¿ rst golfer to make two holes- in-one in the same round of a PGA Tour tournament when he aces a pair of par 3s at the Reno-Tahoe Open. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Seattle Mariners’ Franklin Gutierrez, center, is greeted at the plate by teammates Robinson Cano, left, and Nelson Cruz, right, after Gutierrez hit a three-run home run to score Cano and Cruz in the third in- ning of the game against the Oakland Athletics Monday in Seattle. Iwakuma allows a season-high seven runs as M’s fall continues By Associated Press SEATTLE — Danny 9alencia homered and Stephen 9ogt doubled twice in Oakland’s seven-run ¿ fth inning, and the Athletics climbed out of a big hole against Hisashi Iwakuma for an 11-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night. Josh Reddick also went deep and Seattle drove in three runs for the A’s, who rallied after starter Felix Doubront exited early with a bruised foot. Oakland trailed 5-0 in the ¿ fth after Iwakuma, who tossed a no-hitter Aug. 12 at Safeco Field against Baltimore, allowed just one single through four innings. 5 9ogt got the outburst started with a leadoff double. Two outs later, Billy Burns and Mark Canha connected on consecutive two-run doubles to make it 5-4. Reddick tied it with an in¿ eld single and 9alencia hit his 12th home run, bouncing it off the top of the left-center wall. 9ogt doubled again before Brett Lawrie lined out to left ¿ eld, ¿ nally ending the inning. Oakland It was Oakland’s second seven-run inning this season, matching the eighth on May 1 at Texas. Iwakuma (5-3) lasted 4 2-3 innings — the ¿ rst time he failed to pitch at least ¿ ve this season. He allowed seven runs and seven hits with a walk and four See MARINERS/2B 11 INDYCAR Driver dies after Sunday’s accident By JENNA FRYER Associated Press IndyCar driver Justin Wilson died Monday night from a head injury suffered when a piece of debris struck him at Pocono Raceway. He was 37. IndyCar made the announcement at Indianap- olis Motor Speedway. Wilson, a British driver who lived outside Denver in Longmont, Colorado, was hit in the head during Sunday’s race by piece of debris that had broken off another car. Wilson’s car veered into an interior wall at the track, and he was swiftly taken by helicopter to a hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Can’t even begin to describe the loss I feel right now. He was my Brother, my best friend, my role model and mentor. He was a cham- pion!” his younger brother, Stefan, also an IndyCar driver, tweeted. Stefan Wilson said his brother’s organs would be donated. The last IndyCar driver to die from an on-track incident was Indianapolis 500 cham- pion Dan Wheldon, who was killed in the 2011 season ¿ nale at Las 9egas after his head hit a post in the fence when his car went airborne. After Wheldon’s death, Wilson became one of three driver representatives to serve as a liaison between the competitors and IndyCar. It was no surprise: The 6-foot-4 Wilson, easily the tallest in the series, was well liked. “Justin’s elite ability to drive a race car was matched by his unwavering kindness, character and humility — which is what made him one of the most respected members of the paddock,” said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., the parent company of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Wilson won seven times over 12 seasons in open- wheel racing and ¿ nished as high as ¿ fth in the India- napolis 500. An acclaimed sports car racer, Wilson won the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona with Michael Shank Racing, and he competed in 20 Formula One races in 2003 before moving to the U.S. to join Champ Car. He ¿ nished third in the Champ Car standings in See INDYCAR/2B NFL Seahawks moving closer to settling on offensive line starters Inconsistency versus Chiefs sign of concern By TIM BOOTH Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — The constant shufÀ ing along the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line could be coming to an end. Coach Pete Carroll and offensive line coach Tom Cable said Monday that the starting ¿ ve the Seahawks used in last week’s preseason loss at Kansas City could be the unit that starts Week 1 of the regular season against St. Louis. It’s been an arduous stretch through the ¿ rst three weeks of training camp for the Seahawks trying to get their offensive line settled. But Cable and Carroll are moving forward with the current con¿ gura- tion in the hope that a solid performance in this week’s preseason game at San Diego will be validation it’s the right group. “We’ll see if they can hold it together and hold AP Photo/Charlie Riedel Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) passes to a teammate during the fi rst half of a pre- season game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Ar- rowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. on Friday. off the other guys that are battling with them but we feel good enough about it,” Carroll said. “We like the way that they mix together and they have a real chance.” The two spots on the line that have been settled from the start have been left tackle with Russell Okung and right guard with J.R. Sweezy. But center, right tackle and left guard have been a revolving door of players working with the ¿ rst unit. The latest adjustment last week had starting right tackle Justin Britt move to left guard and backup Garry Gilliam, in his second season, step in at right tackle. Seattle also had Drew Nowak, a former defensive tackle in college, stepping in as the starting center. The results were mixed. Seattle’s offense failed to score a touchdown against the Chiefs and running lanes were scarce. But the protec- tion for quarterback Russell Wilson was solid coming against the Chiefs’ talented defensive front. “A little more consis- tency. Really good commu- nication. Probably the most impressive thing was making some moves and then having everybody be on the same page,” Cable said. While it seems set that Britt and Gilliam will remain in their positions, center appears to be the one remaining competition. 9eteran Lemuel Jeanpierre started the preseason opener against Denver, with Nowak getting the nod against Kansas City. Nowak was a defen- sive tackle in college at Western Michigan and the Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year as a senior. He started the transition to offense with Jacksonville in 2012 and spent last season on Seattle’s practice squad. “He’s stronger than the guys that we’ve played with over the years,” Carroll said. “He’s got hand strength. He’s a brute in there and a very physical player. He’s really smart. He under- stands it. Of course he’s still learning. This is still new to him. But because he’s applied himself so well and he’s a good competitor, and he’s got this nice strength about him.” The Seahawks are also still seeing what’s out there. 9eteran Evan Mathis visited the Seahawks over the weekend and Carroll said there could be others they bring in for a look. NOTES: LB Bruce Irvin suffered a concus- sion against Kansas City and is going through the league-mandated concus- sion protocol. ... Carroll said there was nothing new to report with SS Kam Chancellor and his holdout. Chancellor has missed 24 days of camp. ... Backup QB Tarvaris Jackson is still recovering from a high-ankle sprain suffered in the preseason opener, but Carroll said the target is having him available by Week 1.
