8 I Monday, Aug. 2, 2010 Pirates drop finale, get swept by Cards Albert Pujols hits a two-run homerun in the fifth inning of the Cardinals’ win Sunday. Myers gets 2-year extension By Kristie Rieken ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER HOUSTON - The Houston Astros signed starting pitcher Brett Myers to a two-year con tract extension with a club option for a third year on Sunday. The guaranteed value of the two-year deal, including a buyout on the third season, is $2l million. If Myers stays through 2013 it will guarantee the right-hander $2B million and it contains per formance bonuses that could up the value to $29.5 million. General manager Ed Wade said the club option for the third year will be based on Myers stay ing healthy in 2012. Myers missed three months of last season after hip surgery, but returned to make eight appear ances at the end of the year before the Astros picked him up in the offseason. Myers is 8-6 with a 3.10 ERA and has pitched at least six innings in each of his 21 starts this season. The 29-year-old pitcher signed a one-year, $3.1 million contract with a mutual option for 2011 in January. "We were extremely pleased to add Brett to our baliclub in the wintertime," Wade said. "We felt this was a great oppor tunity for us and for him to come into Houston and re-establish himself as a solid front-line starter. We couldn’t be prouder of what he's done for us." Myers said he hadn’t thought about his future with the team too much before Wade approached him about the exten sion. "I like the youth movement that’s coming through right now and the acquisition of J.A. Happ,” Myers said of the left-hander who was acquired in the deal that sent Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia. “It’s an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I’m comfortable here. I’m comfortable being around Ed and the people that he has work ing for him and the coaching staff. So it was a pretty easy deci sion.” Biffle wins Pennsylvania 500 on wet Pocono track Dan Gelston ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER -- Greg Biffle won LONG POND - it for Jack Roush. Biffle raced to victory in an often-delayed Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday to snap a 64-race winless streak checkered flag for his injured team owner. Biffle hadn’t won since the first two races in the 2008 Chase for the Cup championship. But with Roush in the Mayo Clinic for injuries sustained in a plane crash in Wisconsin, Biffle found Victory Lane. “We know he’s watching,” Biffle said. “It’s been really tough. We worked so hard.” It was also the first win of the season for both a Ford and Roush Fenway Racing. Tony Stewart was second and Roush driver Carl Edwards was third. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, who won the last two Pocono races, round out the top five. Edwards spoke with Roush on Sunday morning and said his boss Wade said the team wanted to keep Myers to lead their rotation after the departure of Oswalt. "Being able to have someone like Brett in our rotation to anchor that staff is going to be a huge step forward for us," Wade said. Myers is the only pitcher in the majors this season to last six or more innings in all 21 starts. He has pitched two complete games this year and is 81-69 in his career. Despite his performance this season, he wouldn't say if he thinks this is the best he's pitched in his career. He attributed much of his suc- Brett Myers throws a pitch in a game against Pittsburgh earlier this season. Myers signed a two-year extension with Houston Sunday. sounded in good spirits. “He was Jack," Edwards said. "Don’t mess anything up. Don't wreck He’s been through a lot this last week. He really needed that victory. That’s pretty cool. I’m sure he’s really hard to handle for all those nurses in the hospital." The start of the 500-mile race was delayed by rain, then had two lengthy red flag stops that totaled nearly 50 minutes. Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch both walked away from scary wrecks that knocked them out of the race. Biffle’s crew kept the same car after driving the No. 16 Ford to a season-high third-place finish last week at Indianapolis, that finish put Biffle in 11th place in the points standings and now he’s strongly positioned himself with five races for a spot in the 12-driv er field for the championship chase. He won Chase races at New Hampshire and Dover in 2008 before falling into this winless drought. Biffle was winless last year for the first full season of his career. He won’t be shut out in back-to back seasons. “The whole company needed it,” Biffle crew chief Greg Erwin v Iv • S Brett Myers’ Last 5 Seasons. 2006: 12-7, 3.91 ERA 2007: 5-7, 4.33 ERA 2008: 10-13, 4.55 ERA 2009 4-3, 4.84 ERA This Season: 8-6, 3.10 ERA cess to Houston's coaching staff. "I'm just trying to execute pitches," he said. “They really make it easy on me out there with not having to think too much with the plan that they give me." said. "I can’t really explain what wrecks. Sadler was forced to lay came a day after he was the this means. I know (Roush) is with down on the triangle track and Trucks Series race winner here, us. This is a brand new car at suffered a sore chest and stomach Busch’s No. 2 Dodge was hit Indianapolis and we brought it after smacking the inside wall, from behind on a bump drafting here because we liked it so much.” The engine on his No. 19 Ford was attempt by four-time defending Sadler and Bush were the bene- ripped from the body and smol- series champion Jimmie Johnson, ficiaries of NASCAR’s safer Car of dered nearby. He called it his That brought out the first red Tomorrow after two violent hardest hit ever in a race car. It flag, for 28 minutes, 46 seconds. Greg Biffle celebrates his victory by skidding on the start/finish line Sunday. By The Associated Press ST. LOUIS - Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer and Adam Wainwright stayed unbeaten at home with seven s== __ = _ strong innings and the go-ahead RBI for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 9-1 win against the Pittsburgh Pi rates on Sunday. Pujols’s 25th homer capped a five-run fifth inning. Wainwright (15- 6) allowed one earned run and six hits. He struck out five and did not walk a batter, bouncing back strong from one of his worst out ings of the season. He improved to 11-0 at Busch Stadium with a 1.22 ERA, both major league bests. St. Louis broke a 1-1 tie with a fifth-inning explosion against Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke (5- 10), who gave up six earned runs in five innings. The Cardinals outscored Pittsburgh 21-2 in sweeping the three-game series. St. Louis has won 11 of 12 at home. Wainwright retired 10 in a row at one point and lowered his ERA Tom Gannam/AP Alex Rodriguez doffs his batting helmet in the dugout Friday. A-Rod sits out, stuck on 599 HR’s By The Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Alex Rodriguez is not in the lineup against the Tampa Bay Rays, put ting his chase of 600 home runs temporarily on hold. Yankees manager Joe Girardi decided to rest A-Rod on Sunday, and plans to give other regulars a break in the near future. “He’s played 13 days in a row,” Girardi said. “We’ve got to make sure that we keep him healthy and strong. My key is keeping our guys healthy the rest of the way. It could be a very tough two months. If you don’t do that, shame on us.” The Yankees’ third baseman went 0 for 3 with a walk a strike out and a run scored Saturday in a 5-4 win. It was his ninth game since hitting his 599th homer on July 22. “My swing is a little out of whack” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said he really didn’t need a day off, but understands Girardi’s desire to keep his play ers fresh. He is hitting .243 (9 for 37) with The Daily Collegian to 2.19, a huge improvement over his last start in New York. Wainwright allowed six runs in five innings in the loss to the Mets. But he usually gets well against the Pirates. He improved to 7-2 against Pittsburgh. The right-hander’s two-strike bloop hit to left-center brought in Colby Rasmus for a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Aaron Miles and Jon Jay fol lowed with run-scoring hits to push the lead to 4-1. Pujols ripped a 3-2 pitch into the left-field bleachers for his fourth career home run in 42 at-bats against Duke. It was Pujols’ 391 th career home run moving him into 51st place in the career list. Matt Holliday added a solo home run in the eighth inning off Pittsburgh reliever Steven Jackson. St. Louis Pittsburgh It was Holliday’s 20th homer of the season. Pittsburgh outfielder Jose Tabata had a first-inning single to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. Ronny Cedeno drove in the Pirates’ only run with a second inning single that plated Lastings Milledge, who tripled to lead off the inning. This was the 13th time the Pirates have been swept in a series this season. eight RBIs since getting within one homer of 600. His next opportunity for 600 could be at Yankee Stadium on Monday night against Toronto. “It will come,” Rodriguez said. “Everything is going to be fine.” The Yankees have the best record in baseball. “That’s been the good part, we’ve been winning,” Rodriguez said. “The team has been playing well and we’ve been getting picked up by different guys.” Girardi said it was a tough deci sion not starting Rodriguez against the Rays, who are second in the AL East. “But it’s not September 25th,” Girardi said. “If I run him out there and he gets hurt today, people are going to say, why did you play him 13,14 days in a row. You’ve got to be smart about it.” Also, left-hander Andy Pettitte (strained left groin) threw 25 pitches halfway up a bullpen mound and could have a full mound session Tuesday or Wednesday. “Everything is going good,” Pettitte said. “It’s another step.” Mike Carlson./AP
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