7070088's blog: "123"

San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Mike Hampton was solid on the mound to pick up his first win since August 14, 2005, and added an RBI double, as the Atlanta Braves pounded the San Francisco Giants, 11-4, in the second contest of a three-game set. 49ers Steve Young Jersey . Hampton (1-0), who has been sidelined by two elbow surgeries, a strained chest muscle and an injured groin, tossed seven frames and was touched for just two runs on four hits to move to 14-4 lifetime against the Giants. "It can put me on my way and I do feel like that," Hampton said of the win. "Im a believer that winning builds confidence and doing things right and doing things well builds confidence." Yunel Escobar and Omar Infante had a hit and two RBI apiece for the Braves, who still only have three wins over their last 11 games. Kelly Johnson went 3- for-3 with an RBI and scored three times. Jonathan Sanchez (8-8) took the loss as he yielded three runs on seven hits while striking out five. Sanchez is 0-4 over his last six starts, recording his last win on June 29 and his last home win on June 2. Fred Lewis had a solo home run, the first homer since July 27 for the Giants, who have dropped two of their last three overall. Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina and Jose Castillo each added an RBI in defeat. "We got some guys that can drive the ball and to go that long (without one) is surprising," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But these things run in streaks sometimes, so hopefully well start driving the ball, hit the gaps and its not just home runs." The Braves added five insurance runs to a 6-4 lead in the ninth. Martin Prado was hit by a pitch and Johnson dropped down a sac bunt, which Rich Aurilia threw away, putting runners on the corners. Pinch-hitter Greg Norton golfed a single into right field to score pinch-runner Gregor Blanco before Escobar popped up for the first out. Mark Kotsay then brought home another run with a single to right and Casey Kotchman added an RBI ground-rule double to left-center. Infante kept it going with a two-run double on a bloop hit to left and it was 11-4. Mike Gonzalez was on the hill trying to close it out for the Braves in the ninth, but gave up a lead off single to Castillo. Emmanuel Burriss, though, grounded into a double play, and Eugenio Velez went down swinging to make it official. The Braves hung a three-spot to break the scoreless tie in the fifth. Brian McCann got things going with a single and Jeff Francoeur put runners on the corners with another base hit. Prado then grounded into a double play, allowing McCann to cross home, before consecutive doubles from Johnson, Hampton and Escobar knocked in two runs to make it 3-0. The Giants got a run back in the home fifth. Lewis led off with a single, moved to third on Aurilias single and crossed home as Castillo grounded into a force out. Osiris Matos took the hill for San Fran in the seventh and gave up consecutive singles to Francoeur, Prado and Johnson, the last scoring Francoeur. Hamptons sac bunt moved both runners into scoring position and Escobars sac fly scored Prado and left Johnson at third. Kotsay then worked a walk before Geno Espineli was called on in relief. Espineli uncorked a wild pitch, which scored Johnson and made it 6-1. Lewis led off the home seventh with a long homer to right field, making it a 6-2 ballgame. Jeff Bennett took over on the hill for Atlanta in the eighth. Randy Winn singled with one out and moved to second as Bennett uncorked a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter John Bowker then drew a walk and Rowand had an RBI single, leaving runners on the corners. Molina followed with another RBI single and it was 6-4. Game Notes Hampton made his first appearance in the majors since August 19, 2005 when he started Atlantas 10-9 loss at Philadelphia on July 26. The left-hander was understandably rusty on that day and wound up with a no-decision after giving up six runs in four innings..The Braves and Giants are meeting for the first time this season after Atlanta took four of seven games in the 2007 series. The clubs split four games in San Francisco. Frank Gore Youth Jersey . Andrew Bynum, who missed the final 13 games of the regular season with a strained right Achilles tendon, was back in the starting lineup and gave Los Angeles a big boost with 13 points, 12 boards and four blocks. Derek Fisher added 11 points and sank a big three-pointer late in the fourth with Oklahoma City threatening to make it a one-possession game. Authentic Mario Manningham Jersey .J. Redick led the Magic with 17 points and hit three clutch free throws in the waning moments to help Orlando hold off a late charge from Detroit in a 91-86 final at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Aldon Smith Jersey . Jorge Vazquez belted a solo shot for New York, while Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada and Jesus Montero each drove in a run in the victory. Ivan Nova got the start and tossed two perfect innings, and Sergio Mitre earned the win by throwing a scoreless third frame. Hakeem Nicks Authentic Jersey . The number of Americans continuing to draw unemployment benefits surged to a 25-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, and the nations retailers saw their sales plummet last month to the weakest October level since at least 1969. Authentic Victor Cruz Jersey . - Jim Mora threw his hands above his head. MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Mardy Fish advanced to his second semifinal of the year Friday when Teimuraz Gabashvili retired from their Regions Morgan Keegan Championships quarterfinal match because of a viral illness. Fish led 6-2, 4-1 when Gabashvili became the third player this week to retire because of a viral illness. The fourth-seeded Fish will play defending champion Tommy Haas on Saturday. The second-seeded Haas advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Sam Querrey. Scot Andy Murray beat Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-3, 6-2 in 61 minutes. He will play top-seeded Andy Roddick or Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei in the semifinals. On the womens side in the Cellular South Cup, Venus Williams was to play qualifier Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania in the semifinals in Friday night. Earlier, Shahar Peer of Israel beat Meilen Tu 6-4, 7-5 to reach the championship. Fish has reached the quarterfinals or better in each of his four tournaments this season and now is in his second semifinal of 2007. His serve couldnt be more effective this week. He won each point on 19 of his first serves and had 11 aces to one for the Russian who never had a chance. I didnt know that he was sick or anything. It didnt reeally look to be that way in the first set. Jason Pierre-Paul Womens Jersey. The second, all of a sudden he called the trainer. I felt I had the match pretty much in my grasp though, Fish said. He called the trainer at 3-0, I just assumed it was a frustration trainer call more than anything. Haas needed only 44 minutes to beat Querrey for the second time in as many tournaments. The German, who won here in 1999 and in 2006, has not faced a break point this week and had seven aces to only one by the big-serving Querrey. That prompted Haas to back up a big more to see the serve well. Maybe then he was trying to overhit the serve. Hes still a young kid. He has to figure out how to change his game up here and there. Im sure hell do that shortly, Haas said. The 19-year-old Murray, who successfully defended his title last week at San Jose, rolled into his second consecutive semifinal by saving two break points on his serve. He now has won eight straight matches going back to San Jose, and he said it feels good. I feel like these are the sort of runs I need to go on to prove to people I can go deep in the slams and keep up play for two weeks. I havent done that before, and I hope I can do it now, Murray said. ' ' '