NCAA – Football:
Defending national-champion Florida State is No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason college football poll for the sixth time after receiving 57 of 60 first-place votes from the media panel. Second-ranked Alabama, third-ranked Oregon and No. 4 Oklahoma all received one first-place vote. Ohio State is fifth, followed by Auburn, UCLA, Michigan St., South Carolina and Baylor.
MLB:
In Major League baseball, in the American League, the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 yesterday. Hiroki Kuroda pitched into the seventh inning, retiring 17 straight batters after allowing consecutive one-out singles to Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce in the first. Brett Gardner drove in two runs.
Jose Altuve's grand slam lifted the Houston Astros over the Boston Red Sox 8-1 yesterday. Elsewhere, the White Sox topped Toronto 7-5, Baltimore defeated Cleveland 4-1, Kansas City blew out Minnesota 12-6, Texas edged the Angels 3-2, and it was Seattle over Detroit 8-1.
In the National League, the Cubs slid past the Mets 2-1, Miami blew out Arizona 10-3, St. Louis edged San Diego 7-6, San Francisco beat Philadelphia 5-2, Milwaukee beat the Dodgers 7-2, Washington edged Pittsburgh 6-5 in 11, and in a double header Colorado beat Cincinnati 10-9 in the first game and again 10-5 in the second.
In interleague play Atlanta edged Oakland 4-3.
NFL:
In NFL preseason action, Denver shut out San Francisco 34-0, and Carolina defeated Kansas City 28-16.
Horse Racing:
At Saratoga Race Course, jockey Rajiva Maragh (mirage) rode Main Sequence to win the $500,000 dollar Grade I Sword Dancer Invitational.
NASCAR:
Pole sitter Jeff Gordon picked up his third Sprint Cup win of the season by taking the Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Gordon finished in front of Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano for his first victory at Michigan since 2001. Tony Stewart skipped the event, in the wake of the accident last week that took the life of dirt track racer Kevin Ward Jr.
NBA:
The LeBron James recruiting machine has scored again. A person familiar with the negotiations says veteran free agent forward Shawn Marion has agreed to a one-year, league-minimum contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 36-year-old Marion is a four-time All-Star and gives the Cavs another veteran with postseason experience to complement James. The team has previously signed shooters Mike Miller and James Jones, who won two NBA titles with James in Miami.
WNBA:
In WNBA, Connecticut bested Atlanta 84-55, New York won against Indiana 73-61, San Antonio bested Chicago 84-72, and Phoenix defeated Seattle 78-65.
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