A wild card kind of day

UNDATED (AP) — The Braves and Cardinals will make history today. They’ll play the first game between two baseball wild cards (5:07 p.m. Eastern).

Atlanta sends Kris Medlen to the home mound to face Kyle Lohse. The Braves have won a major league record 23 straight games started by Medlen, who went 10-1 during the regular season. Lohse was 16-3.

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez will sit struggling catcher Brian McCann in favor of David Ross. McCann has been plagued by injuries and had the worst year of his career, batting just .230 with 20 homers and 67 RBIs.

This will be the first game between the Cardinals and Braves since May.

An American Leaguer matchup of wild cards follows with Baltimore at Texas.

The Orioles are going with late-season acquisition Joe Saunders. The Rangers are going with rookie Yu Darvish.

Valentine fired

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox fired manager Bobby Valentine after one season and a record of 69-93.

The Sox went 7-22 in September and October to put a punctuation mark on its worst season in almost 50 years.

In a statement released by the Red Sox, Valentine says he understands the decision and is as disappointed as anyone in the results. Says Bobby V: “I’m sure next year will be a turnaround year.

Phillies upgrade Sandberg…Coaching scapegoats…Red Sox, Dodgers finish blockbuster

UNDATESD (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies have promoted Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg to their coaching staff as third-base coach and infield instructor. Sandberg had spent the past two seasons managing Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The Phillies also promoted Steve Henderson to hitting coach and Rod Nichols to bullpen coach. The Phillies finished 81-81 this season after winning five straight NL East titles and the 2008 World Series title.

Also:

— Two straight last-place finishes are causing the Minnesota Twins to shake up things. The Twins fired longtime bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek, third base coach Steve Liddle, first base coach Jerry White and head athletic trainer Rick McWane. They also resassigned bench coach Scott Ullger and hitting coach Joe Vavra in a significant shake-up of manager Ron Gardenhire’s staff.

— The Royals have chosen not to renew the contract of hitting coach Kevin Seitzer after the team finished 72-90 for its ninth consecutive losing season. Seitzer worked with a team that put together a .265 average this season, seventh-best in baseball, but struggled to score. Kansas City finished 20th in runs scored.

— The Seattle Mariners will not retain hitting coach Chris Chambliss for 2013 after another season during which their offense was among the worst in baseball. The rest of the team’s staff will return next season. Chambliss held the Seattle job for the past two seasons. The 63-year-old previously was the hitting coach for the New York Yankees and Mets, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

Over .500-Rams prevent Cards from 5-0 start

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The high-flying Arizona Cardinals came back to earth hard in St. Louis. Coach Jeff Fisher’s upstart Rams upset the previously undefeated Cardinals 17-3 to improve to 3-2. It’s the first time since 2006 — a span of 93 games — that the 4-3 Rams have been over .500.

Sam Bradford busted a lengthy slump with a 52-yard touchdown pass to rookie Chris Givens. Lance Kendricks caught a 7-yard TD pass in the first quarter and rookie Greg Zuerlein kicked a 53-yard field goal for the Rams.

Robert Quinn had three of the Rams’ nine sacks on Kevin Kolb to keep the Cardinals grounded. Arizona had scored at least 20 points in each of its first four games, but had no luck containing a pass rush that entered the game with only six sacks.

Arizona fell to 4-1. The only undefeated teams in the NFL are Houston and Atlanta.

13th-ranked Trojans win high-scoring affair in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) — It took Southern California, the 13th-ranked team in The Associated Press poll, 95 years to return to Salt Lake City to play a road game against Utah. Coach Lane Kiffin’s team figured that as long as it was making the trip, the Trojans ought to make it worthwhile.

The Trojans did. After a slow start, Matt Barkley engineered a 38-28 win over the Utes. Barkley completed 23 of 30 passes for 303 yards, the 13th time in his career he has surpassed the 300-yard figure. He tossed three TD passes.

The Trojans are 4-1 and 2-1 in the Pac-12, while the Utes fall to 2-3 and are 0-2 in the Pac-12.

Williams gets good news: no further surgery planned

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina says Roy Williams’ second kidney tumor isn’t cancerous.

The school announced test results Thursday night, a day after the Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach had a biopsy of the tumor discovered on his left kidney. The school says the tumor is a benign growth often indistinguishable from kidney cancer on X-rays. It doesn’t spread like a cancerous tumor would.

Doctors removed the same kind of growth from Williams’ right kidney during a 3½-hour procedure on Sept. 19.

League wipes out start of the season

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Hockey League has announced the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through October 24. A total of 82 regular-season games were scheduled for Oct. 11 through the 24th.

The league says the cancellations were necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL.

Representatives for the two sides have met sporadically and agreed to some of the minor, non-economic issues.

Players union executive director Donald Fehr called the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season a “unilateral choice of the NHL owners.”

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says the league is “deeply disappointed” to cancel the games.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
St. Louis 17 Arizona 3
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
(13) Southern California 38 Utah 28

The Nebraska football team began to wind down its week of practices on Thursday afternoon. The team took to the Ed and Joyanne Gass Practice Field and the Hawks Championship Center for 90 minutes, working out in jerseys and shorts in preparation for their matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend.

Following practice, Head Coach Bo Pelini spoke with the media about what he believed the keys to Saturday’s game will be.

“Play hard, be efficient, win the turnover battle,” Pelini said. “That’s always a big part of it. Execute our football. The team that executes the best is going to win the football game.”

When asked about Ohio State’s tendency to sling quick passes to receivers on the outside and count on them to break tackles, Pelini said his defense’s aggressiveness should lend well to countering that style of play.

“We play pretty aggressive in coverage,” Pelini said. “We’re going to challenge routes and challenge everything they do. I think our style of play lends to that. We don’t play really soft in our coverage. It’ll be a good challenge for our guys on the outside.”

Pelini also commented on the Big Ten’s decision to allow Youngstown, Ohio native and Husker wide receiver Tim Marlowe to travel with the team this weekend.

“Tim’s a big part of this football team,” Pelini said. “I wish he was playing in the game, but we’re happy that he’s able to go. He’s a real leader on the football team.”

— Makayla Hipke, Nebraska Sports Information

To listen to Bo Pelini’s comments, click play:

Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 4, 2012 — University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman today announced the appointment of Shawn Eichorst as director of intercollegiate athletics. Eichorst, who has served as director of athletics at the University of Miami since April 2011, will join the University of Nebraska Oct. 9 as a special assistant to the chancellor, and will succeed Tom Osborne as director of intercollegiate athletics when Osborne becomes athletic director emeritus on Jan. 1.

“After consideration of a large number of candidates, I was impressed with Shawn’s credentials and experience but more importantly his respect for and appreciation of the tradition of the Nebraska athletics program,” Perlman said. “He expressed from the onset his hope to draw on the experience and knowledge of Tom Osborne and the rest of the current staff in working to continue the department’s success both on and off the field.”

Eichorst said: “It is truly an honor and privilege to be a part of one of the great universities in America and one of the strongest athletic departments in all of college sports who has the welfare of its student-athletes at the heart of everything they do. I am humbled by both the responsibility and opportunities that lie ahead and I hope to carry on the rich tradition of Husker excellence set by Coach Osborne and so many others.”

Osborne, who last month announced his intention to step down as athletic director effective Jan. 1. He has served as director of intercollegiate athletics since October 2007. Osborne will retire from the university on Aug. 1, 2013, will work with Eichorst until then to make a smooth leadership transition in the department, Perlman said.

Eichorst, a 1990 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, previously served as deputy athletics director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under director of athletics Barry Alvarez.

There Eichorst served as the department’s chief operating officer, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the highly successful athletics program.

In his first year at Miami, Eichorst helped raise the university’s academic reputation, building on the school’s NCAA Top 10 Percent recognition in Academic Progress Rates for five programs, including football, baseball, men’s diving, women’s cross country and women’s golf. He also was successful in enlarging the Hurricane Club of donors and fans, increasing memberships by 500 in one year.

The Miami men’s and women’s basketball programs both advanced to the postseason under his leadership. The women posting the highest national ranking in school history at No. 5 overall, and advanced to the NCAA second round, while the men set a program record for conference wins and advanced to the NIT second round. The women’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.

The baseball program extended its NCAA postseason appearances record streak to 40 straight seasons and the women’s soccer team posted the first NCAA postseason win in program history. Volleyball advanced to the NCAA postseason for the third consecutive year.

At Wisconsin, Eichorst oversaw a department of 23 intercollegiate athletic programs, 850 student-athletes, 320 full-time employees and operated a multi-million-dollar budget. He was involved in the design and planning of a new ice hockey and swim facility, as well as a student-athlete performance center. He joined the Badgers’ staff in 2006 as senior associate athletic director and was promoted to executive associate athletic director in 2007.

From 2004-2006 he served as senior associate athletic director for administration at the University of South Carolina, where he also served as interim athletic director in June 2005.

A native of Lone Rock, Wis., Eichorst was an all-conference defensive back, three-time letter winner and 1990 team captain for the UW-Whitewater football team. He graduated magna cum laude in business from UW-Whitewater in 1990 and earned a law degree from Marquette University in 1995. In 2006 he was awarded the Sports Law Alumnus of the Year by Marquette. He also is a graduate of the Sports Management Institute and serves on its executive committee. Eichorst practiced law in Milwaukee until 1999, when he was hired by UW-Whitewater as director of athletics, a position he held until 2003. Under his tenure, UW-Whitewater developed into one of the nation’s top Division III athletic programs, with one NCAA team championship (volleyball), four NCAA team national runner-up finishes and seven individual NCAA champions. The program also featured an NCAA Student-Athlete of the Year for Wisconsin, 84 All-Americans, 38 Academic All-America selections and nine NCAA postgraduate scholarship winners.

He is a past member of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee and State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors. He also previously served as an assistant adjunct professor of law at Marquette University Law School, where he taught classes in sports law. He serves on the Marquette University National Sports Law Institute board of advisers.

Eichorst and his wife Kristin have three sons, Jack, Joseph and Bennett.

Eichorst’s salary has been set at $973,000. His contract is for five years. It provides for a substantial financial penalty if he leaves UNL within the five-year period and a $750,000 payment by the university if he stays for five years.

— Meg Lauerman, Nebraska Sports Information

Thursday night game has Rams entertaining Cards

ST. LOUIS (AP) — This evening’s NFL game is being played in St. Louis with the Rams entertaining the Cardinals. The last time the Cards were 4-0 to start a season was 38 years ago and the franchise was based in St. Louis. The Rams, who 38 years ago were based in Los Angeles, enter the game with a record of 2-2. The Cardinals have a seven-game winning streak in St. Louis.

Cards quarterback Kevin Kolb has completed 67 of 107 passes for 752 yards and 7 touchdowns. Sam Bradford of the Rams has completed 77 of 125 attempts for 881 yards and four scores. Arizona averages 22.8 points game while the Rams are scoring 19.8 points per contest. The Rams defense is allowing more than 7 points per game more than the Arizona D, 22.8 per game compared to 15.2 per outing.

Utah entertains No. 13 USC

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) — Southern California, the 13th-team in The Associated Press poll, is on the road tonight for a game against Utah. The Trojans are 3-1 and 1-1 in the Pac-12, while the Utes are 2-2 and 0-1. This is the eleventh meeting between the two schools with USC holding the advantage, 7-3. This is the first meeting of these schools in Salt Lake City in 95 years.

Pro hoops in Olympic city

LONDON (AP) — Some might argue that London had pro basketball this summer with the Olympics, but the NBA has announced that a regular season game will be played in the city next January. The contest will feature the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks and will take place on Jan. 17 at the O2 Arena, the site of this year’s Olympic gold-medal game.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Arizona at St. Louis 7:20 p.m.

TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
(13) Southern California at Utah 8:00 p.m.

Braves-Cardinals, Rangers-Orioles jump-start baseball’s new-look postseason.

UNDATED (AP) — Baseball’s postseason will start Friday with a pair of one-game playoff series among the four wild card teams.

St. Louis will send out 16-game winner Kyle Lohse against Kris Medlen and the Atlanta Braves Friday evening at Turner Field. The Braves have won the last 23 games in which Medlen has started. He is 16-1 this year.

Following that game, Yu Darvish will start the Texas Rangers’ first playoff game, a one-game wild-card playoff against Baltimore in Arlington. The 26-year-old Darvish is 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA in 29 starts. The 6-foot-5 right-hander has 221 strikeouts to just 89 walks and was an All-Star.

The Washington Nationals await the Atlanta-St. Louis winner on Sunday. NL Central winner Cincinnati opens Saturday night against the Giants in San Francisco. Johnny Cueto goes for the Reds against 16-game winner Matt Cain of the Giants.

The AL East champion New York Yankees play the Texas-Baltimore winner on the road Sunday. AL Central winner Detroit sends out 17-game winner Justin Verlander when they host AL West champ Oakland on Saturday evening.

Low-budget Athletics shock Rangers, win AL West…Yanks clinch AL East

UNDATED (AP) — The Oakland A’s were 13 games out of first place on June 30th. Today, they are American League West champions for the first time since 2006.

Needing a three-game sweep over Texas to have a shot at the West title, the A’s did just that. Oakland, with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, rallied from a 5-1 deficit and beat the Texas Rangers 12-5 on a sun-splashed afternoon at an electric Oakland Coliseum.

The sun was an enemy to Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton in the fourth inning. He dropped a two-out fly ball by Yoenis Cespedes (yoh-EHN’-ehs SEHS’-peh-dehs) allowing two runs to score and giving Oakland a 7-5 lead. Texas squandered a five-game division lead in the final nine days.

— It took until the 162nd game, but the New York Yankees captured the American League East by routing Boston 14-2. The Yanks did it with the long ball. They ripped Daisuke Matsuzaka (DYS’-kay maht-soo-ZAH’-kah) for five runs in less than three innings. Curtis Granderson hit a three-run home run in the second and a solo shot in the seventh to give him 43 homers. Robinson Cano (kuh-NOH’) connected for a pair of two-run homers and drove in six. The Yanks have hit a club-record 245 home runs. It’s the Yanks’ 13th AL East title in 17 years.

— Baltimore goes to the playoffs as the wild card. The Orioles lost at Tampa Bay 4-0. Evan Longoria hit three solo homers. Longoria’s second career three-homer game came a year after the three-time All-Star hit two of them of the final night of last season, including a 12th-inning game-ending shot that clinched a postseason berth. His bid for the first four-homer game in franchise history ended when he grounded out in the eighth.

In other AL finals:

— The AL Central champion Detroit Tigers, with Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera going 0-for-2 before leaving to a standing ovation, prepped for the playoffs by blanking Kansas City 1-0.

— Casper Wells tied a career-high with five RBIs including a three-run homer in Seattle’s six-run seventh inning, and the Mariners closed out the 2012 season with a 12-0 rout of the Los Angeles Angels. Angels’ starter Jered Weaver pitched just one inning before leaving the game. Weaver finished 20-5. He had a chance to become the fourth pitcher in Angels’ history to reach 21 wins, but called it a season early after giving up two runs, two hits and walking two batters in the first inning. The team said Weaver had “general fatigue” as the reason he threw just one inning.

— Brandon Morrow struck out a season-high 11, Omar Vizquel wrapped up his 24-year career and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 2-1 to complete a three-game sweep.

— Dan Johnson hit his first three homers of the season and Chicago added two more in the game as the White Sox routed the Cleveland Indians 9-0.

Over in the NL:

— The Washington Nationals have wrapped up home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Nats, who had already clinched the National League East, secured home-field with a 5-1 win over Philadelphia. They end the regular season with 98 wins, just three seasons after they won just 59 games.

Nationals manager Davey Johnson is expected to be all right for the playoffs. He left the dugout in the seventh inning Wednesday because of numbness in his left leg, the result of pinched nerves in his back.

— The playoff-bound Braves beat the Pirates in Pittsburgh 4-0. The game was the regular season swan song for Chipper Jones, who had a pinch-hit single in the final regular-season game of his career. The Pirates finished 79-83, extending their record streak of losing seasons to 20.

— Rookie right-hander Shelby Miller took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in his first career start, Matt Carpenter had a run-scoring single and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0. Both teams already had wrapped up playoff spots.

— Bryan LaHair’s walk-off single gave the Chicago Cubs a 5-4 win over Houston. The Cubs wind up 61-101 and Houston finishes its final National League season with a dreadful 55-107 record. This was the first series between two 100-game losers since 1962. Houston’s 107 defeats set a club record. The Astros became the first team with 106 or more losses in consecutive seasons since the 1964-65 New York Mets.

— Clayton Kershaw finished with a major league-leading 2.53 ERA, Adrian Gonzalez singled in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-1.

— The Mets beat the Marlins 4-2. Ike Davis hit his 32nd home run. Scott Hairston and Andres Torres also went deep.

— San Diego nipped Milwaukee 7-6. Chase Headley drove in two runs, finishing the season with an NL-leading 115 RBIs.

Cabrera gets first Triple Crown since Yaz in 1967

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera became the first player in 45 years to win baseball’s Triple Crown on Wednesday night, joining an elite list that includes Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. He’s the 10th Triple Crown winner in baseball history.

Cabrera received a standing ovation after flying out and striking out in his only two at-bats Wednesday night, and leaving the Tigers’ game against the Kansas City Royals in the fourth inning with the Triple Crown in sight.

Cabrera high-fived his teammates as he entered the Detroit dugout, then walked back to the top step and waved his helmet as a crowd of mostly Royals fans gave him a standing ovation.

Cabrera finished the regular season with a .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs, wrapping up baseball’s first Triple Crown since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

Jets’ Holmes out for season

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Receiver Santonio Holmes of the Jets will miss the rest of this season with an injured left foot. The club reports that Holmes will require surgery and that he has been placed on season-ending injured reserve. The team signed free agent wide receiver Jason Hill to help replace him.

The news came just over a week after star cornerback Darrelle Revis was likely lost for the season with a torn ligament in his left knee.

In other NFL news:

— The New England Patriots have re-signed veteran linebacker Bobby Carpenter. The Patriots had released Carpenter on the final cut of training camp on Sept. 1 after signing him as a free agent following two seasons with the Detroit Lions.

— Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams is questioning why he’s been fined $15,000 by the NFL for a roughing the passer penalty against New England’s Tom Brady. He intends to appeal.

Bulldogs lose receiver… Gators get linebacker back

UNDATED (AP) — As his team gets ready for a big SEC game this Saturday with South Carolina, Georgia coach Mark Richt has had to announce that leading wide receiver Michael Bennett will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his right knee. Richt says that Bennett tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee on the last play of practice Tuesday.

Bennett leads the fifth-ranked Bulldogs with 24 catches for 345 yards and four touchdowns. The Gamecocks enter the game ranked No. 6.

In other Top-25 football news:

— Florida linebacker Jelani Jenkins is expected to play Saturday against No. 4 LSU after missing the last two games. Jenkins broke his right thumb Sept. 8 at Texas A&M and missed games against Tennessee and Kentucky.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Oakland 12 Texas 5
Seattle 12 L.A. Angels 0
N-Y Yankees 14 Boston 2
Chi White Sox 9 Cleveland 0
Toronto 2 Minnesota 1
Tampa Bay 4 Baltimore 1
Detroit 1 Kansas City 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 4 Pittsburgh 0
Washington 5 Philadelphia 1
Chi Cubs 5 Houston 4
N-Y Mets 4 Miami 2
Colorado 2 Arizona 1
L.A. Dodgers 5 San Francisco 1
San Diego 7 Milwaukee 6
St. Louis 1 Cincinnati 0

Today on ESPN Radio 1410, the North Platte Bulldog softball team begins play in the A7 district tournament at the Dowhower Softball Complex. The Bulldogs are the seventh overall seed in Class A and the top seed in their district with a 17-10 record. They face a familiar foe in fourth-seed Kearney in their first game at 2 PM. North Platte swept a double-header from Kearney back on September 11. Second-seed Bellevue West plays third-seed Omaha Central. The winners and losers play each other at 4 PM. ESPN Radio 1410’s coverage of the Bulldogs starts at 1:45.

The Nebraska football team practiced for just over two hours on Wednesday on the Ed and Joyanne Gass practice fields in preparation for its Big Ten road showdown against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Husker defense will have their work cut out for them against dual-threat quarterback Braxton Miller from Ohio State. Linebackers coach Ross Els and the rest of the NU defense preparing for Miller’s running threat he poses on defenses. “He runs like a running back.” Els said, “He is a really good quarterback though.”

Els also talked about how he really enjoyed seeing multiple linebackers step up against the Badgers last Saturday night, including senior linebacker Sean Fisher. “I think Sean finally got to see his kind of offense.” Els said, “If you look at that fourth and one play at the end, Sean was the one they were trying to isolate and he went up and plugged the whole to stop the play.”

One thing that has been a high point for the Huskers is the relationship between running backs Rex Burkhead and Ameer Abdullah. The duo has combined for 759 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. Running backs coach Ron Brown really likes how they have built a solid relationship on and off the field, “Those two guys are like a magnetic force that attracts to one and another.” Brown said, “They have that competitive, I want to excel kind of mentality.”

— Gage Peake, Nebraska Sports Information