Armstrong stripped and banned

GENEVA (AP) — The International Cycling Union agrees with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, stripping Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France titles and banning him for life.

ICU President Pat McQuaid says his federation accepted USADA’s report on Armstrong and will not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

USADA said Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen” within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams.

Today’s decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong’s name from the record books.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said the race would go along with whatever cycling’s governing body decides and will have no official winners for those years.

Never-say-die Giants

UNDATED (AP) — Major League Baseball is going to have a third winner-take-all game in four postseason series, and it’ll be played tonight in San Francisco.

The Giants pushed the NLCS to a decisive seventh game by beating the visiting Cardinals 6-1. It’s San Francisco’s second straight win with their backs to the wall and fifth of the playoffs.

Ryan Vogelsong worked seven outstanding innings and Marco Scutaro sparked a pair of early rallies. Vogelsong limited the Cards to a run and four hits while striking out nine. He blanked the Redbirds until Carlos Beltran doubled and scored on Allen Craig’s single in the sixth.

Scutaro walked and scored the Giants’ first run in the opening inning. He also scored in the second after slapping a two-run double.

Redbirds starter Chris Carpenter was reached for five runs and six hits in four innings.

Tonight’s winner will host the Detroit Tigers for Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday. Detroit completed an ALCS sweep of the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Red Sox name new skipper

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have hired John Farrell away from the Blue Jays to be their new manager.

The Red Sox obtained the rights to their former pitching coach by trading infielder Mike Aviles to Toronto. Farrell had been the Jays skipper the past two seasons, posting a 154-170 record with two fourth-place finishes.

Texans blast Ravens…Giants rally

UNDATED (AP) — The Houston Texans bounced back from their lone loss of the season by trouncing the only other AFC team with a winning record heading into Week 7.

The Texans improve to 6-1 by blasting Baltimore 43-13, dropping the Ravens to 5-2. It is Houston first victory over Baltimore in seven meetings.

Matt Schaub threw two touchdown passes and Arian Foster ran for two scores for the Texans, whose defense bounced back big time from an embarrassing loss to Green Bay. Antonio Smith had two sacks and J.J. Watt deflected a pass that Johnathan Joseph intercepted and returned 52 yards to pay dirt.

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco threw two interceptions and was sacked four times.

Elsewhere:

— Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz for a 77-yard touchdown pass with 73 seconds remaining as the New York Giants defeated Washington 27-23 to improve to 5-2. The go-ahead scoring strike came just 19 seconds after Santana Moss hauled in a 30-yard TD toss from Robert Griffin III to put the Redskins ahead 23-20.

— Chris Rainey scored the tiebreaking touchdown on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh’s 24-17 comeback win at Cincinnati. Ben Roethlisberger passed for 278 yards and a touchdown for the Steelers, who trailed 14-3 before improving to 3-3.

— At Foxborough, Stephen Gostkowski drilled a 48-yard field goal at 3:58 of overtime before Mark Sanchez fumbled with 7:28 left on the clock to secure the Patriots’ 29-26 win over the New York Jets. Gostkowski also hit a 43-yard field goal at the end of regulation after the Patriots blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

— Drew Brees threw for 377 yards and four touchdowns to lead New Orleans to a 35-28 come-from-behind road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He extends his NFL record for consecutive games with a TD pass to 49. Brees led long scoring drives on four straight possessions to turn a 14-point deficit into a 28-21 halftime lead. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma played for the first time while appealing a season-long suspension for his role in the Saints bounty program.

— After opening the season 4-0 the Arizona Cardinals sit 4-3 following a 21-14 loss at Minnesota. Adrian Peterson ran for 153 yards and a first-quarter touchdown, and the Vikings survive an ugly second half to run their record to 5-2.

— The Green Bay Packers defeated the St. Louis Rams 30-20 for their first two-game winning streak of the season. Aaron Rodgers completed 30 of 37 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns to help the Pack get to 4-3 on the season.

— Dan Bailey’s foot lifted the Dallas Cowboys to a 19-14 victory at Carolina. Bailey’s 28-yarder with 3:25 left in the game gave the Cowboys the lead. He capped the scoring with 53 seconds left on the clock, kicking his fourth field goal of the game.

— Matt Hasselbeck engineered the 22nd fourth-quarter comeback of his NFL career and second in as many weeks, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a 35-34 win over Buffalo on the Bills’ home field. Hasselbeck’s 15-yard scoring pass to Nate Washington with 1:03 on the clock was the game winner.

— There was overtime in Oakland as Sebastien Janikowski hit a 40-yard field goal at 2:02 of the extra session to give the Raiders a 26-23 triumph over Jacksonville. The game-winning boot came after Cecil Shorts lost a fumble to set up the Raiders deep in Jacksonville territory.

— The Colts surpassed last year’s win total in game six of the 2012 season. Indianapolis improves to 3-3 with a 17-13 victory over visiting Cleveland.

Kenseth takes checkered flag

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Matt Kenseth was the winner of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Kenseth’s second victory in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship leaves him 55 points behind overall leader Brad Keselowski (kehz-LOW’-skee) with four races remaining.

Jimmie Johnson led 44 laps early but crashed hard after spinning by himself. He managed to finish ninth and remains second in the Sprint Cup standings, still seven points behind Keselowski.

Denny Hamlin’s 13th-place finish keeps him third in the points race, 20 off the lead and five ahead of Clint Bowyer.

Earnhardt good to go

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Team owner Rick Hendrick says Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been cleared by his doctor to race next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR’s most popular driver just sat out his second consecutive race because of two concussions in six weeks. Hendrick says Earnhardt has been headache-free for more than a week, and tests by a specialist in Pittsburgh show no lingering issues.

Regan Smith replaced him in the Hendrick Motorsports ride.