The men in stripes are back

UNDATED (AP) — Never have officials from a sports league been so welcome. A tentative agreement was reached last night between the NFL and its officials, ending the labor dispute between the two sides. The bottom line is this: The veteran referees are back and will be in action tonight in Baltimore when the Ravens play host to the Browns.

After two days of marathon negotiations, and mounting frustration throughout the league, the NFL and the officials’ union announced at midnight last night that a tentative eight-year agreement had been reached to end a lockout that began in June.

The deal came on the heels of Seattle’s chaotic last-second win over Green Bay on Monday night in which the replacement officials struggled.

The agreement hinged on working out pension and retirement benefits for the officials, who are part-time employees of the league. The tentative pact calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Will the fans in Baltimore tonight cheer the referees? It’s not often that sports officials get cheers but that could be the case this evening as the veteran NFL referees return to work in the Ravens-Browns game. The visitors from Cleveland enter the game with a record of 0-3 while the Ravens are 2-1, fresh off a thrilling last-second win over the Patriots last Sunday night.

Stanford facing Washington

SEATTLE (AP) — There’s a top-25 game tonight in Seattle as the Washington Huskies entertain eighth-ranked Stanford. The Cardinal sport a record of 3-0 while the Huskies are 2-1. In Pac-12 play Stanford is 1-0 while Washington is playing its first conference game of the season.

A year ago the Cardinal beat the Huskies 65-21 with a quarterback named Andrew Luck. He is now guiding the NFL Colts after being the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Busy afternoon of play

UNDATED (AP) — The afternoon schedule in baseball is comprised of seven games. In the key outings, the now first-place Tigers are home to Kansas City. Detroit took over the top spot in the American League Central last night, replacing Chicago. The Sox, who are a game back, are hosting Tampa Bay tonight. The Rays are 3 games back of the last AL wild card berth.

A big series starts this afternoon in the AL West as the Rangers play host to Oakland. The Rangers lead the Athletics by 3 games while the A’s top the Angels by 2 games in the AL wild card race. The Angels are home this afternoon to Seattle. The remaining day games have Pittsburgh in New York to face the Mets, the Cubs at Colorado, Arizona at San Francisco and Milwaukee at Cincinnati. The Brewers are still hoping for a wild card berth in the National League.

The Yankees tonight can build on their lead over Baltimore in the American League East. The New Yorkers, who lead Baltimore by 1 ½ games, open up a series in Toronto while the Orioles have the night off.

The rest of tonight’s schedule has Washington at Pittsburgh, Miami at Atlanta and the Dodgers in San Francisco. LA maintains the hope of securing a wild card berth as they trail St. Louis in that race by 3 ½ games.

Nice gesture by the Marlins

MIAMI (AP) — Adam Greenberg made his Major League debut 12 years ago. It lasted one at bat. On July 9, 2005, while playing in his first game for the Chicago Cubs, Greenberg was hit in the head by the first pitch thrown his way. The impact of the 92 mph fastball lingered and he was later diagnosed with vertigo.

Well, it’s taken this long but Greenberg is going to get a second at bat in the big leagues as the Miami Marlins say they will sign Greenberg to a one-day contract effective Oct. 2, and play him that day against the New York Mets.

Greenberg will donate his one-day salary to the Marlins’ foundation, which will donate to the Sports Legacy Institute, a group that furthers the study of the effects of brain trauma in athletes and others.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City at Detroit 12:05 p.m.
Oakland at Texas 1:05 p.m.
Seattle at L.A. Angels 2:35 p.m.
N-Y Yankees at Toronto 6:07 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Chi White Sox 7:10 p.m.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee at Cincinnati 11:35 p.m.
Pittsburgh at N-Y Mets 2:10 p.m.
Chi Cubs at Colorado 2:10 p.m. (LISTEN LIVE on ESPN Radio 1410)
Arizona at San Francisco 2:45 p.m.
Washington at Philadelphia 6:05 p.m.
Miami at Atlanta 6:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at San Diego 9:05 p.m.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Cleveland at Baltimore 7:20 p.m.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy is welcoming word that star first baseman Todd Helton plans to play at least one more year.

Helton had season-ending surgery on Aug. 10 to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.

Helton told The Denver Post that he intends to return in 2013 to play out the final year of his contract. He turned 39 last month.

Tracy says he thinks Helton can bounce back with a good season. Helton is a lifetime .320 hitter, but batted a career-low .238 in 69 games.

Tentative deal between NFL and refs

UNDATED (AP) — The NFL’s regular officials are coming back.

The league and the referees’ union have reached a tentative contract agreement following three tumultuous weeks that included several blown calls by replacement officials. Although the contract must still be ratified by the union’s 121 members, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the officials will be back on the field beginning with tonight’s game between the Ravens and Browns.

The contract ends a three-month lockout that led to replacement officials. Negotiations really began to heat up after a missed call cost the Packers a win on a Hail Mary pass in Seattle on Monday night.

NFL-COACHES FINED

League hands out $75,000 in coaches fines

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL fined Patriots coach Bill Belichick $50,000 and Redskins assistant Kyle Shanahan $25,000 for their conduct toward replacement officials.

Belichick grabbed an official’s arm at the end of Sunday night’s game after the Ravens kicked a winning field goal. Shanahan was cited by the league for “abuse of officials” in Washington’s loss to Cincinnati.

On Monday, the league fined Broncos coach John Fox $30,000 and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $25,000 for berating officials during a loss to Atlanta on Sept. 17.

And Steelers safety Ryan Mundy was fined $21,000 by the league for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Oakland WR Darrius Heyward-Bey. Mundy knocked Heyward-Bey unconscious after slamming into him during a pass into the end zone during the fourth quarter last weekend. No penalty was called.

Tigers pass White Sox…Yankees, Orioles win

UNDATED (AP) — There’s a new leader in the American League Central. The Tigers put themselves in position to take over first place when they beat Kansas City 5-4. It became a one-game lead once the Chicago White Sox were beaten by Cleveland 6-4.

The Tigers snapped a 4-4 tie when Andy Dirks broke up a potential inning-ending double play in the eighth inning, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Alex Avila had two RBIs for the Tigers, but Triple-Crown threat Miguel Cabrera went 0-for-4 and was robbed of a home run.

The White Sox fell for the seventh time in eight games. Shin-Soo Choo had a go-ahead RBI grounder in the seventh and Vinny Rottino hit his first homer for the Indians to cap the scoring. The Indians also took advantage of 12 walks by Chicago hurlers in knocking off the White Sox for the second straight night,

It marks the first time the Chisox haven’t owned at least a share of the division lead since July 24.

Just three games separate first-place Texas and No. 2 Oakland in the AL West. Yoenis Cespedes had one of two triples during a five-run first inning that carried the Athletics to a 9-3 win over the Rangers. Stephen Drew had four of Oakland’s 16 hits, including a double leading off the game before scoring on Cespedes’ triple into the right-center gap.

The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles enjoyed lopsided victories, which keeps the Bombers 1 1/2 games ahead of the Birds in the American League East.

The Yankees scored six times in the third inning to break open an 8-2 win at Minnesota. Curtis Granderson hit a two-run triple and Robinson Cano (kuh-NOH’) poked a two-run double during the third-inning rally.

Chris Dickerson added a two-run homer to back CC Sabathia, who’s 14-6 after holding the Twins to two runs and six hits while striking out 10 in eight innings.

The Orioles kept pace and ended a two-game skid by slamming a team record-tying seven homers in a 12-2 laugher against Toronto. Chris Davis and Manny Machado each homered twice to support a strong outing by Miguel Gonzalez, who allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.

The Angels stayed within two games of Oakland for the AL’s final wild-card berth. Torii Hunter furnished the tying and game-winning singles as Los Angeles downed Seattle 4-3. Hunter tied it with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh before slapping the walk-off hit.

Erick Aybar hit a two-run double for the Angels, who’ve won five in a row to stay in the playoff hunt.

Tampa Bay made it seven straight wins as Carlos Pena and Ben Francisco hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning of the Rays’ 4-2 win at Boston. Alex Cobb left after holding the Red Sox to a run and three hits in five innings.

Over to the National League, where the St. Louis Cardinals saw their lead for the second wild card shrink to 3 1/2 games over Milwaukee and Los Angeles.

Bud Norris gave up just two hits over 7 1/3 innings to pitch Houston past the Redbirds 2-0. Jose Altuve to help Norris end his career-worst 12-game losing streak which spanned 18 starts.

Ryan Braun socked his league-leading 41st homer and Norichika Aoki also went deep in Milwaukee’s 8-1 trouncing of Cincinnati. Shaun Marcum allowed only four hits in six innings for his first victory since returning from an elbow problem.

Matt Kemp’s four hits and four RBIs highlighted the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-2 rout of San Diego. He hit a two-run double and a two-run homer before falling a triple shy of the cycle.

Paul Maholm combined with three relievers on a six-hitter as Atlanta blanked Miami 3-0. Martin Prado hit a solo homer and an RBI single to help the Braves hand the Marlins their sixth straight loss and eighth in nine games.

Washington’s magic number to clinch the NL East is four after homers by Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Kurt Suzuki powered the Nationals past the Phillies 8-4. The Nats are four games ahead of second-place Atlanta with seven to play.

The rest of the NL action was decided by six-love scores.

Matt Cain allowed four hits in seven innings of San Francisco’s 6-0 shutout of Arizona. Pablo Sandoval had two RBIs and Brandon Belt had three of the Giants’ 12 hits.

David Wright is the Mets’ all-time hits leader after going 2-for-4 in a 6-0 shutout of Pittsburgh. Wright entered the game tied with Ed Kranepool on the team’s hit list with 1,418.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
N-Y Yankees 8 Minnesota 2
Detroit 5 Kansas City 4
Baltimore 12 Toronto 2
Tampa Bay 4 Boston 2
Oakland 9 Texas 3
Cleveland 6 Chi White Sox 4
L.A. Angels 4 Seattle 3

NATIONAL LEAGUE
L.A. Dodgers 8 San Diego 2
Washington 8 Philadelphia 4
Atlanta 3 Miami 0
Milwaukee 8 Cincinnati 1
N-Y Mets 6 Pittsburgh 0
Houston 2 St. Louis 0
Colorado 6 Chi Cubs 0
San Francisco 6 Arizona 0