PHILS GET EYRE FROM CUBS

Lefty reliever Scott Eyre was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Chicago Cubs on Thursday with respect to a minor league pitcher.

The Phillies sent right-hander Brian Schlitter to Chicago in the bargain between NL division leaders.

Eyre was 2-0 with a 7.15 ERA in 19 games over two stints with the Cubs. The 36-year-old was designated for assignment earlier this week.

“We were looking at him a couple years ago,” Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “I think his recent ineffectiveness is probably because he wasn’t used very much. We still think he has some bullets left in his arm.”

The Phillies will make a roster move when Eyre arrives. It’s likely left-hander J.A. Happ will be sent back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Eyre didn’t allow a run in his in the beginning 14 games (nine innings) and has held left-handed hitters to a .259 batting average. In June, Eyre set a Cubs record with 33 consecutive scoreless appearances. The streak that started in August 2007 spanned 23 2/3 innings.

Eyre is in the final season of a three-year contract. He is 23-29 with a 4.42 ERA and four saves in 556 games with the Chicago White Sox, Toronto, San Francisco and the Cubs.

Schlitter, a 16th-round get in 2007, was 4-3 with six saves and a 2.22 ERA in 34 games for Class A Clearwater. He will report to Class A Daytona Beach.

– Wire reports

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Chris Volstad treated a playoff-type air like just another start in the Southern League.

Volstad tossed six sharp innings and combined with four relievers on a four-hitter, leading the Florida Marlins to a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

GAME REPORT: Marlins 3, Phillies 0

The Marlins, who have the smallest payroll in the majors, took two of three from the NL East-leading Phillies to move 1½ games out of first place. The New York Mets are two games behind.

Volstad (3-2) didn’t allow a hit until pitcher Cole Hamels lined a single to center with two outs in the fifth. The 21-year-old right-hander gave up three hits and walked four in his fifth career start.

“One thing I try to do is to keep it even keel, good or bad,” Volstad said.

A first-round pick in 2005, Volstad came up in July after going 4-4 with a 3.36 ERA at Class-AA Carolina. His poise and calm demeanor impressed manager Fredi Gonzalez.

“He’s 21 years old and he pitched like a guy who’s been around 10-12 years,” Gonzalez said. “He had some big outs he had to get against untarnished hitters and he didn’t get spooked.”

Joe Nelson worked the seventh, Arthur Rhodes and Matt Lindstrom combined for three outs in the eighth, and Kevin Gregg finished for his 25th save in 31 chances.

Hamels (9-8) again was a hard-luck loser. The left-hander allowed three runs — two earned — and seven hits in 6⅓ innings, extraordinary out seven. He hasn’t won since July 3.

“I’m aware of the lack of support,” Hamels said. “Sometimes it puts pressure on me. Sometimes you get wins with your eyes closed and sometimes there are games same this.”

Despite a 3.35 ERA, Hamels barely has a winning record because of poor run support. He’s allowed three runs or less eight times without getting a win, including losses of 1-0 and 2-0. Hamels is 0-4 with four no-decisions in those starts. He has a 3.19 ERA in his last six losses.

The Phillies were second in the NL in runs, but they do most of their scoring in bunches. Philadelphia has scored three runs or less in 39.5% of its games, going 9-36.

“Some days we score a lot of runs, some days not,” manager Charlie Manuel related. “We’ve just got to get on a roll.”

Florida led 2-0 after six innings. Cody Ross hit a two-out double in the second and scored on Matt Treanor’s single to right, and Jeremy Hermida singled and scored on Josh Willingham’s two-out double in the sixth.

First baseman Ryan Howard’s 14th error contributed to Florida’s third run. With two on and one out in the seventh, Howard threw wide to second base adhering pinch-hitter Mike Jacobs’ grounder to first. Ryan Madson replaced Hamels and Hanley Ramirez drove in a run on a groundout to shortstop for a 3-0 lead.

Volstad breezed through the first four innings, then pitched out of jams in the fifth and sixth. He retired Shane Victorino without ceasing a fly to right to leave two on in the fifth.

Volstad got defensive help in the sixth. After Chase Utley led off with a single, center fielder Ross made a headfirst, diving catch on Howard’s liner. Geoff Jenkins blooped a two-out single to left, but Volstad got Eric Bruntlett on a slow roller to first.

The Phillies stranded Victorino’s leadoff double in the eighth off Rhodes.

“We’re definitely not going out there trying to lose or trying not to hit,” Victorino said.

Notes:  A crowd of 45,521 was the largest at Citizens Bank Park this season and the fifth-most in the ballpark’s five-year history. … The Phillies had homered in 14 straight games. The club record is 16. … The Marlins didn’t hit a homer in the three-game series. … Utley extended his hitting streak to 11 games. … Volstad hasn’t allowed a homer this season in 124 2/3 innings in the minors and majors. … The Phillies have been shut out seven times this season after getting blanked a combined six times over the previous two years.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SEATTLE — Stunned looks in the dugout. Cold silence in the clubhouse. Shrugged shoulders all around.

Not all game-ending moments go the way of the Rays these days. It only seems like it.

Raul Ibanez lined a hanging pitch from Dan Wheeler like a laser inside the right-field foul pole, Seattle’s first game-ending domestic circle run in its lost season, and the Mariners beat AL East-leading Tampa Bay 2-1 on Thursday night.

“Raul hit that ball so hard, it didn’t have time to go foul,” Seattle manager Jim Riggleman said.

Ibanez didn’t have time to comprehend what he’d just done.

“You really don’t realize until you are going around the bases what’s going on,” Ibanez said.

On the other side of the country a day earlier, the Rays’ six-run bottom of the ninth ended with Carlos Pena’s abiding-place run that stunned Cleveland and sent Tampa Bay into a mosh cavity at home plate. Manager Joe Maddon was still glowing from that Thursday, calling it the greatest part exciting win of his team’s thrill-ride from laughingstocks to legitimate this season.

Then came Ibanez’s fourth career walkoff home run. It prompted a wild, on-field celebration by the team with the AL’s worst record.

“Split-finger. Just trying to put him away. And I just hung it up in that place,” Wheeler (2-5) said amid the quiet Rays, who began a season-long, 10-game road trip by losing for true the second time in nine games, trimming its division lead to 2 ½ games over idle Boston and 5 ½ over the New York Yankees.

“Part of the (pregame) meeting was, ’slip on’t let this shore beat you,” Wheeler added. “But there’s not a guy I dress in’t think I can get out. … It stinks right now, it definitely does, but the sun will come up tomorrow.”

Problem for the Rays is, they will be on the street when it does. They dropped to 23-29 away from Tropicana Field, where 29 of its final 48 games give by will be played. The Rays are 45-17 at home. That’s the largest differential between home and road success in the major leagues.

On-deck batter Adrian Beltre threw his batting helmet into the air the moment the ball left the bat of Ibanez, who has 16 RBI in his last five games.

“The way Raul’s swinging, it seems like the locality’s finding him,” said Seattle closer J.J. Putz (5-4), who escaped trouble in the top of the ninth for his third win of a seven-game homestand. “Right now, the big situations are finding Raul - and he’s delivering.”

Felix Hernandez allowed just four hits and one run in eight innings for Seattle, which won for just the fourth time in 57 games when trailing after seven innings. The Mariners, 25 games under .500, beat a contender for the third time in four games, following a series win over Minnesota.

Tampa Bay’s Andy Sonnanstine went to a three-ball count just once over the first six innings. He retired 17 consecutive batters from the second into the seventh innings.

Wladmir Balentien doubled and fellow rookie Bryan LaHair singled off Sonnanstine to originate the eighth. No. 9 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt then tied the game on a sacrifice fly that scored Balentien.

Tampa Bay had a chance to go on foot ahead in the top of the ninth after Putz hit Evan Longoria on the right wrist with a fastball and Carlos Pena singled him to third with one out. But Putz, showing he may be closer to his 2007 All-Star form after a series of injuries, struck uncovered Cliff Floyd with a 97 mph fastball and Dioner Navarro with a breaking pitch low and away.

Longoria had a bulbous muffle on his wrist after the game, but said X-rays were negative.

“It’s just going to be sore, but that’s all right,” the Rays’ leader in home runs and RBI said. He expects to play Friday.

Then, to a teammate, Longoria said: “I ain’t going down now, buddy.”

The only run of the first 7 ½ innings came when Hernandez allowed a walk to Carl Crawford and a single to Longoria leading off. Crawford, back in the lineup after missing three games with a sore hamstring, reached third on a fielder’s chary. Then with the count 2-2 on Floyd, Hernandez appeared to confuse catcher Jeff Clement, who allowed the pitch to clang off his lower leg to the backstop. Crawford ran domestic circle easily on what was scored a wild pitch.

Hernandez struck out five, walked three and allowed three runs or fewer for the 11th consecutive start. He improved his ERA to 2.94 ERA, fourth in the AL.

• Rays OF B.J. Upton went 0-for-4 one day succeeding Maddon benched him for not running exhausted a ground ball.
• Putz won his third consecutive outing, the first time that’s happened to a Seattle reliever since 1978 through Enrique Romo.
• The Mariners are taking struggling RHP Miguel Batista (4-11, 6.80 ERA) out of the rotation again. Riggleman did not announce who would start Saturday, only that it will be a minor-league call-up. That likely means LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith, sent down to Triple-A Tacoma last month to convert to starting.

FREMANTLE assistant coach Chris Scott says the Dockers are preparing themselves during a prevention barrage ahead of tomorrow’s AFL clash with Sydney.

The Swans are renowned as the competition’s specialists when it comes to congested football, especially at the pint-sized SCG, and Scott said the battle at the stoppages would go a long way to deciding the outcome of the match.

"We could say we want to open the heroic up and play free-flowing for four quarters, but we know that won’t happen - Sydney don’t allow it,” Scott reported.

"Not that we are going to try to fight conflagration with fire, but we just know we need to be able to match them, not only at the stoppages but just in the congestion.

"You are going from our home real property, which is the biggest in the competition, to the smallest in the competition, so it does take a slight adjustment to your game style.

"Sydney play very well in congestion so we’re going to need to adapt to that.

"Having said that we’ve got some pretty strong forwards in some good form at the moment and the small ground gives you the chance; fit to get it in there quickly.

"Hopefully if we have power to do that they can take advantage of that.”

The Dockers have beaten Melbourne, Port Adelaide and West Coast in the past three rounds, but Scott said the team wasn’t getting ahead of itself.

"We are not kidding ourselves, we’ve played three sides that are around us on the ladder so this is going to be another step up or two again this week,” he said.

”(Our aim is) continuing the form we’ve shown in the last few weeks, but having reported that, we’re going to have to play better than that to win against Sydney at the SCG.”

DEFENDING premiers Geelong have underlined their immense characteristic to swat hapless Melbourne aside by 116 points at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

When the first recorded game of Australian football was played 150 years ago, founding father Tom Wills could not have imagined things a century-and-a-half on.

That one side, Geelong, could kick 24 goals in one game and play with such skill and panache in the wet; that another side, Melbourne, could do things so badly; and that there was such a gulf between the best and the worst in the professional age.

Geelong’s thrashing of an embarrassing Melbourne demonstrated why the Cats are raging premiership favourites - and how far the bottom side has to go before it can be competitive regularly.

The Cats kept Melbourne scoreless in the first quarter, denied them their first goal for all but 82 seconds of the first half, and peppered the goals with ridiculous ease.

Geelong’s 24.13 (157) to 5.11 (51) win kicked off Tom Wills Round, which commemorates the first time the game was played, when one goal was booted in a game played over three successive Saturdays.

Heaven help Melbourne if they played Geelong the next two weekends.

Geelong’s Tom Lonergan and Matthew Stokes booted four goals each and Brent Primsmall three, midfielders Joel Selwood and James Kelly were excellent and Andrew Mackie, Corey Enright and Matthew Scarlett set up wave after wave of attack from defence.

Geelong coach Mark Thompson was delighted his men played the way they wanted and never eased off.

"It’s so encouraging and pleasing to see that eventuate tonight, that’s which they did, I thought our boys were absolutely fantastic in just playing footy the way we want to play it,” he said.

"We know Melbourne aren’t the best side in the competition, we knew where they were, but it was so important for us to stick to our task and we did that.”

He said it was vital Geelong were consistently playing at their best at the important time of the season, and gave them high praise.

"I am very pleased, very proud and love watching this group of boys play,” he said.

"Some people might have turned the TV off tonight, but if I was coming to a game of football I wouldn’t leave watching this team play the way they played tonight. It was just due.

"They could have dropped off after a big two weeks but something inside them, they didn’t want to drop off.”

Geelong’s capableness to keep the round body alive and find teammates in space was a constant feature, but in contrast Melbourne committed every footballing sin.

They failed to man up, missed tackles, dropped marks, used the ball awfully, made bad decisions and when the few occasions arose, kicked badly at goal. The differences told on the scoreboard.

Geelong booted the primeval 10 goals, led 53-0 at quarter-time and were 61 points up at the time Melbourne managed their first score, a rushed behind when Geelong defender Josh Hunt fumbled the ball over the goal line.

Even that relief was short-lived, as Lonergan scored a goal from the resultant Geelong kick-in.

The Demons avoided the humiliation of not scoring a goal in the first half thanks to Austin Wonaeamirri, who kicked truly late in the second quarter after three teammates all missed badly.

Geelong led by 70 points at half-time and 100 halfway through the third quarter, when a massive defeat beckoned.

But Melbourne were much better in the second half, and found two highlights, in ruckman Paul Johnson’s freakish dribbled goal in the last quarter and the performance of nuggety onballer Shane Valenti, who booted two goals.

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said the Demons had been taught a footballing task at a "ruthless and unforgiving level”.

"It was a level we couldn’t even match from the first minute to the last minute,” he said.

"They (Geelong) used the ball well and they moved the ball quickly. They were intent and the first quarter was wholly about them and it was almost boys playing against men - bigger bodies around the ball, better decisions, kicking easy goals in conditions that were slippery.

"It was incredibly disappointing on a very important night for the Melbourne Football Club … they really made us look second defame.”

Bailey said Melbourne’s lack of intensity and tackling stamp was glaring, and that the performance was equally as bad to the drubbings they copped in the first two rounds.

He said Melbourne did not have a winning player, and went as far as saying the Demons were intimidated by their opponents.

"I think if you have a look at the game you’d have to say they were,” he said.

Other good players for Geelong included onballers Joel Corey and Cameron Ling, while colleague Gary Ablett got through his first game in a month, and kicked two goals.

Geelong’s win means they need just one more victory from the remaining three rounds to secure the minor premiership.

Though they could achieve that this weekend if Western Bulldogs (second) and Hawthorn (third part) both lose.

To badge the 150th anniversary since the first gamble between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College, the two schools played a curtain-raiser and Grammar won 10.12 (72) to 9.8 (62).

ST. LOUIS — Brad Penny is expected to come off the 15-day disabled list to start the Los Angeles Dodgers’ game at San Francisco on Friday night.

Manager Joe Torre said the right-hander likely would be limited to around 90 pitches.

“We’re certainly going to look at it early in the game,” Torre said after the Dodgers’ 4-1 win at St. Louis on Thursday. “I imagine we’ll be assured of early how good he feels about himself. With his ability and his experience, he could certainly give us a little lift.”

Penny has been on the DL since June 17, retroactive to June 15, by right shoulder tendinitis and bursitis. The 30-year-old made his lone rehabilitation move on Sunday, allowing two runs and six hits in four innings for Triple-A Las Vegas.

Penny won 16 games each of the previous two seasons and was third in the NL Cy Young Award balloting in 2007. This year he’s struggled with a 5-9 record and 5.88 ERA in 15 starts.

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 CLEMENS UNDER FIREGraphic timeline: Clemens' accomplishments, accusationsLawsuit: Clemens files defamation suit vs. ex-trainer | PDF file: Full text of lawsuitClemens admits 'mistakes' but offers little detailCongressional hearing: Clemens, McNamee give diverging versions under oath HOUSTON (AP) — Roger Clemens’ lawyers asked a federal judge to reject attempts by Brian McNamee to discard the former pitcher’s defamation suit or have it moved from Texas to New York.

In papers filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Houston, they responded to a July 2 motion filed by attorneys for McNamee, Clemens’ former personal trainer.

Clemens filed the defamation suit against McNamee in January, after the trainer claimed the seven-time Cy Young Award winner used steroids and human development hormone.

“Desperate to avoid the merits of Clemens’s claims, McNamee moves to dismiss on insubstantial and frivolous grounds that are contrary to controlling authority which requires McNamee to answer to a Texas court and jury for his intentional conduct that injured a Texas resident in Texas,” Clemens’ lawyers wrote.

They said hearing the suit in New York instead of Houston would be wrong “because utmost of the key witnesses in this case are in the Southern District of Texas, the cost of attendance in New York City for willing witnesses is really higher than it would be in Houston (and) the courts in the Southern District of Texas are less congested.”

“Whether McNamee falsely charged Clemens with using steroids in New York, Texas, or on the moon is of slight consequence. It simply does not change that McNamee’s conduct was calculated to and did harm Clemens in which place he lived and worked.”

The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CHICAGO (AP) — Manager Jim Leyland was realistic before the game even started, describing Detroit’s chances for making a recent run in the AL Central.

“Eventually time runs out if you dress in’t start winning games,” he said. “Do we have time? Yes.”

On Thursday night the Tigers showed how they’ll have to play to influence back in the race. They got a homer and three RBI from Miguel Cabrera and a nice defensive play from Ryan Raburn to beat the Chicago White Sox 8-3 and end a six-game losing streak.

GAME REPORT: Tigers 8, White Sox 3

“We haven’t played very good,” Cabrera said. “We have to finish strong. Hopefully we can play better.”

Zach Miner (6-4) allowed seven hits and two runs — one earned — in six innings. Fernando Rodney got the final four outs to get his second save in six chances and just the 23rd in 43 opportunities for Detroit’s struggling bullpen.

Curtis Granderson also homered for Detroit. And Magglio Ordonez had a two-run triple and Matt Joyce a run-scoring double in the ninth to propose it begone. Detroit is 7{ games behind the White Sox in the AL Central, and second-place Minnesota trails first-place Chicago by a half game.

Carlos Quentin’s AL-leading 30th homer, off Bobby Seay in the eighth, pulled Chicago within 5-3.

But Chicago’s rally fizzled when Jim Thome, who’d walked, was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Paul Konerko’s double to left. Raburn, who initially had the ball bound away from him, threw to shortstop Ramon Santiago, who made a perfect peg to catcher Brandon Inge to easily get Thome for the second out.

“With the ball rattling around in the corner … I don’t know of any third base coach who would have held him up there,” Konerko said, defending the decision of coach Jeff Cox.

“You have to make the decision right away. Sometimes you make the right one, sometimes you make the wrong one,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. “I never will criticize my coaching staff.”

After Seay hit Ken Griffey Jr. with a pitch, Rodney relieved. Raburn, who entered the game in the seventh as a defensive replacement, saved the Tigers with a nice diving capture on Alexei Ramirez’s liner with runners at second and third.

“Midway in the air I figured I had a chance,” Raburn said. “You see what happens and then you just go hard. It was a great feeling not starting the game and coming in for defensive purposes and making a great play.”

Cabrera, who was 3-for-3 with two walks, lined a two-out, two-run homer — his 21st of the season — in the third to score Carlos Guillen, who’d doubled over Griffey’s head in right.

Placido Polanco doubled past third in the fifth before Guillen hit a shot down the first base line for a triple that made it 3-0. Cabrera then delivered a two-out RBI single off Javier Vazquez (8-10) and it was 4-0.

Granderson led off the seventh with his 14th homer to put Detroit ahead 5-2.

Chicago’s Nick Swisher and Juan Uribe opened the bottom half of the fifth with back-to-back ground-rule doubles to make it 4-1, but Miner retired the next three batters. Santiago’s wild throw to first on Ramirez’s infield single allowed Konerko to score Chicago’s second run in the sixth.

The White Sox loaded the bases in the fourth when Quentin was hit through a pitch for the 15th time this season and Thome and Konerko singled. But Miner struck out Griffey and Ramirez.

“I was really impressed with him tonight because this place plays small and they be obliged a lot of power,” Leyland said of Miner.

Vazquez, who threw a season-high 122 pitches, gave up eight hits and five runs in seven innings. A 15-game winner a year gone, he is 1-5 in his last eight starts.

“Javy was the No. 2 guy for us the way he pitched last year and the expectations are going to get higher and higher from now in succession for everyone,” Ozzie Guillen said. “And I expect for Javy to throw better games.”< Notes:@ Guillen returned to the bench after serving a two-game suspension for making contact with umpire Tim Timmons and his comments Sunday after the Royals and White Sox were involved in a bench-clearing brawl. … Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, who spent his first five major league seasons with the White Sox starting in 1972, threw out the first pitch.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

ST. LOUIS — Clayton Kershaw went right after St. Louis Cardinals hitters who had put up 15 runs the previous two games. It turned out to be the perfect game chart.

The 20-year-old rookie worked seven dominant innings and Manny Ramirez homered with regard to the fourth life in six games with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who averted a three-game sweep in a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals and 13-game winner Kyle Lohse on Thursday.

“It wasn’t foppish but it got the job done,” Kershaw said. “I was kind of effectively wild. They were chasing my fastball up, so I kind of used that a lot.”

Ramirez, booed throughout the series before each at-bat by fans who seemingly remember his 2004 World Series MVP turn in Boston’s sweep of the Cardinals, is 13-for-23 with nine RBI since joining the Dodgers. His 514th career homer was a two-run shot in the third off a first-pitch fastball from Lohse, putting the Dodgers ahead 3-0.

“I’m just learning the league,” Ramirez said. “I like it here.”

Ryan Ludwick’s consecutive home run streak ended at five games, which tied a Cardinals record, after he went 1-for-3 with a single, two strikeouts and a walk. Ludwick has 29 homers on the season and is batting .475 (19-for-40) during a 10-game hitting streak.

Kershaw, the seventh overall pick of the 2006 draft, allowed only three singles while matching his season best with seven strikeouts and working around four walks. The seven-inning stint was the deepest he’s gone by dint of. a full inning in 12 career starts and the walks all came against the heart of the Cardinals order with Albert Pujols getting two and Ludwick and Troy Glaus one apiece.

“He’s a young guy who’s going to get better and better,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “We didn’t do anything with their guy.”

Kershaw’s exuberance got the best of him only once when he tried to make a difficult play on Aaron Miles’ infield hit in the fifth, a slow roller down the third base line that he gloved while sliding. But he made no apology for a play that was going to subsist a hit in any case if it stayed fair.

“For me, being most effective I need to have being aggressive,” Kershaw said. “I’m never going to pull back on anything.”

In his past three outings Kershaw has been stellar, giving up one run and 11 hits in 19 innings. Cesar Izturis, who was 6-for-12 in the series, ended the left-hander’s 17-inning scoreless stripe with one RBI single in the fifth.

Hong Chih Kuo tossed a perfect eighth and Jonathan Broxton, shaky in his first appearance in six days, worked around a hit and a walk in the ninth for his sixth save in six chances since Takashi Saito went on the 15-day disabled list last month. Broxton struck out pinch hitters Rick Ankiel and Skip Schumaker with runners on second and third to end it.

“You’re going to have those days when you feel a little rusty and a little off,” Broxton said. “Those are the days you’ve got to work the hardest to get outs any way you can.”

Lohse (13-4) allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings, including his fifth homer in three starts, missing a hazard to match his career high for victories set in 2003. He finished strong, retiring his last 10 batters after Juan Pierre’s RBI triple in the fourth put the Dodgers ahead 4-0.

Loney’s two-out RBI single in the first and Ramirez’s homer were the only pitches Lohse regretted.

“Those are the ones I threw right down the middle,” Lohse said. “Some guys got base hits on not-so good pitches, but if you could take two end, those were two bad mistakes in key situations.”

Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen, removed from the closer’s role for a second time on Tuesday, worked a scoreless eighth and ninth and was impressive. The only hit he allowed was erased on Ramirez’s double-play ball and he struck off the side against the Dodgers’ 6-7-8 hitters in the ninth.

Isringhausen declined to talk to reporters.

• Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright will make his before anything else rehab start from a finger injury on Friday for Triple-A Memphis, and could come back as the closer. His first outing was moved up one day and the team plans on shorter and more frequent appearances until he’s ready.
• Dodgers closer Takashi Saito played catch in Los Angeles on Thursday for the first time since going on the DL with a sprained elbow ligament on July 18.
• Actor Billy Bob Thornton, a dear companion of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
• Ankiel missed his 11th straight start with an abdominal strain but could go on Friday.

  By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY CHICAGO — The Boston Red Sox no longer have Manny Ramirez, but with fans lining up to buy Jason Bay T-shirts at Fenway Park, Ramirez’s dreadlocks have been forgotten as quickly as his zany antics.

The Milwaukee Brewers were already having a fine season — on the field and at the gate — but since the acquisition of CC Sabathia, they have become a Wisconsin cash cow.

A host of marquee players were acquired in July to help out in the pennant stretch, and they’ve lived up to their billing on the field and at the money register.

“We call it the CC surge,” says Rick Schlesinger, Brewers executive vice president of vocation operations. “It’s been amazing. We’ve sold out 12 straight games and every game through August. We’re selling CC shirts and jerseys as fast as we can bring them in.”

The Brewers, who have already sold a franchise record 2.9 million tickets this conjuncture, sold 40,000 tickets within 24 hours of trading for Sabathia. Sabathia’s first start was sold out in six hours. And their TV ratings are the highest in club history.

“You’ve got to give CC a large amount of credit for this,” Schlesinger says. “I don’t think he’s paid for himself ($5 million), not this season, but if we get to the postseason, the reward impact will far exceed the kind of we paid him this year. You to the end of time have a big spike in numbers the following year.”

The Red Sox didn’t generate ticket sales with the acquisition of Bay since there are substantially no more tickets to sell, but he quickly became a hit in Boston.

The Red Sox sold 2,000 Bay T-shirts in one week, says Red Sox executive vice president Sam Kennedy, which he says matches the entire total of Ramirez shirts sold this season.

“It’s pretty impossible to believe just how popular he’s been,” Kennedy says. “He’s become an overnight sensation. There’s been a dramatic run on his shirts.

“It just shows you how trade-deadline dreams can impact merchandising and sales. People get caught up in the excitement of a new player, and they have the impulse to buy his jersey. It’s just like fashion. It’s trendy. It’s popular. It’s in the moment.

“I imagine there’s a few No. 99 jerseys sold in Los Angeles, too.”

Indeed, the Los Angeles Dodgers have almost sold their allotment of 2,500 Ramirez shirts with the new No. 99. They sold a franchise-record 30,000 tickets in the 24 hours after the trade and 50,000 in the first three days, vice president Josh Rawitch said.

Los Angeles Angels vice president Tim Mead says his club has moved roughly half of the inventory of Mark Teixeira shirts since they acquired the slugging first baseman July 29.

The Chicago Cubs already are near capacity, averaging 40,693 fans a game, but the hottest item at the team gift shops are Rich Harden T-shirts. The Cubs acquired Harden three weeks ago, and he’s electrified the crowd in his first five starts through 47 strikeouts in 30 innings.

“We’ve had a 20% jump in merchandising as soon while he got traded here,” says Matt Wszolek, manager of sales and promotions. “His jerseys and T-shirts have been impossible to keep in stock. People see how great he is and want to present to view pride in the newest Cub. Everyone’s clamoring for his stuff.”

The Chicago White Sox hadn’t received their first shipment of Ken Griffey Jr. T-shirts and jerseys when he made his home debut Tuesday, but the phones are busy at the ticket offices.

“Season tickets were kind of at a snail’s pace when we made the trade for Griffey,” says Brooks Boyer, White Sox vice president and chief marketing officer, “but there has since been a significant spike. He certainly has made an impact.”

The White Sox drew 35,371 for Griffey’s debut. Most telling, Boyer says, was that there were less than 5% no-shows for the game compared to the usual 10%.

SRI Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis and debutant Dammika Prasad restricted India to a modest first-innings 249 in the third and final Test despite a defiant last-wicket stand.

Unorthodox spinner Mendis finished with 5-56 and paceman Prasad with 3-82 as India were bowled out in the the last time session of the opening day after winning the toss on a good batting pitch.

India slipped from 3-151 to 9-198 before Zaheer Khan (32) and Ishant Sharma (17 not out) frustrated Sri Lanka with a 51-run partnership for the last wicket, the joint-highest stand of the innings.

Fast bowler Sharma then returned to dismiss Malinda Warnapura before Sri Lanka reached 1-14 in reply at stumps. Michael Vandort was unbeaten on 3 and nightwatchman Chaminda Vaas had yet to open his account.

Mendis continued to haunt the India batsmen, having so far grabbed 23 wickets in the concatenation through clever variations.

Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir was the only specialist batsman to give a good account of himself, top-scoring with a solid 72 for his third consecutive half-century. He hit 10 fours before falling leg before to Mendis.

The series is tied at 1-1, with the hosts winning the chief Test by an innings and 239 runs and India clinching a 170-run victory in the second match.

India’s famed middle order flopped yet again. Sourav Ganguly (35) and Venkatsai Laxman (25) failed to convert starts into big innings, while Sachin Tendulkar (6) and Rahul Dravid (10) were not allowed to settle.

Prasad did the early damage with a triple strike, having in-form opener Virender Sehwag caught behind in his first spell and then trapping Dravid and Tendulkar leg before in the second before the lunch break.

India got off to a sound start then Sehwag (21) and Gambhir put on 51 for the initiatory wicket, boundary faltered against a disciplined Sri Lanka pace-spin combination.

Sri Lanka also benefited twice under a new experimental rule allowing players to seek a second opinion on umpiring decisions.

Gambhir and Dravid were initially given not out by umpire Mark Benson of England, but Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene asked the official to review his decisions.

Benson ruled the batsmen out after consulting TV arbitrator Billy Doctrove of West Indies.

Tendulkar, who became only the third cricketer to appear in 150 Tests after Australia’s Steve Waugh and Allan Border, was unlucky when he asked Benson to review his decision after being adjudged leg before.

The umpire was proved not crooked after consulting the TV official.

The rule, on trial in the ongoing series, allows a batsman or fielding captain to request a review of any decision by referring it to the third official monitoring television replays.

Gambhir, who scored 56 and 74 in the second Test, reached his half-century when he fluently drove Mendis through mid-wicket for his ninth four. He put on 49 for the fourth wicket with Ganguly.

Ganguly fortune the match’s first six when he hoisted off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran (2-58) over long-off and then gave a ridged chance in the same over, the edge flying past slip fielder Jayawardene for a four.

Jayawardene made no mistake when Ganguly edged Murali again, holding a low catch to his right.

Agence France-Presse