World Best Sports

San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson has been fined by major league baseball for wearing orange cleats during Tuesday's 6-4 win over the Florida Marlins.

The shoes, a gift from Nike presented to Wilson at the All-Star game, apparently violated the league's dress code. It was the first time Wilson has worn them in a regular season game.

"They all have to have the majority of your team's color on the shoe you wear," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday. "I was aware of it. It's going to be up to me to make sure these guys stay in uniform. I agree with it. We'll make sure his shoes are acceptable."

Wilson was already on top of it. He sat in front of his locker before Wednesday's game against the Marlins and used a black marking pen to color in a portion of his cleats. "The magic doesn't come from the shoes," Wilson said.

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Alex Rodriguez filed an objection to aspects of next week's auction of the Texas Rangers, saying he and other former players may not get the millions owed them.

Rodriguez is due $24.9 million in deferred compensation six years after he was traded to the New York Yankees, and he tops the list of the unsecured creditors in the Rangers' bankruptcy case.

Rodriguez's concerns will not be an issue if the team is sold to a group led by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and sports attorney Chuck Greenberg, who are Major League Baseball's preferred buyers. Their $575 million bid includes paying the full $204 million owed to A-Rod and other unsecured creditors.

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Hiroki Kuroda threw eight outstanding innings, Matt Kemp drove in both runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the offensively inept New York Mets 2-0 Thursday night. It was the Dodgers' second consecutive 2-0 win, having edged San Francisco a night earlier.

The Mets lost their fourth in a row and fell to 1-7 on their 11-game road trip, with three shutout losses. They are scoreless in their last 17 innings after going 24 straight innings without a run last weekend in San Francisco.Kuroda outpitched countryman Hisanori Takahashi in the sixth major league meeting of starters born in Japan.

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Josh Beckett  was in command in his return from two months on the disabled list, and Bill Hall homered in the seventh inning to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 2-1 victory over the squabbling Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Beckett was much like most pitchers against the team with the lowest batting average, fewest runs and fewest hits in the major leagues — barely threatened.

Throwing fastballs that clocked at 95 mph, Beckett allowed just five hits and one run in 5 2-3 innings. He struck out five in his first start since he felt a strained low back on May 18. His only issue was efficiency. He walked three and threw 98 pitches, 62 for strikes.

Hall golfed a low first pitch from Seattle starter Jason Vargas (6-5) leading off the seventh inning. Hall dropped his bat and admired the high drive, watching to see if it stayed inside the left-field foul pole. It did, for his 10th home run — and second in as many nights against the team for which he played 34 games last season.

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Felipe Lopez hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the 11th inning to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 on Sunday night and avoid a weekend sweep. Lopez drove a 3-2 pitch from Brian Schlitter (0-1) over the right-field wall for his sixth homer of the season to put the Cardinals back in the NL Central lead, a half game ahead of Cincinnati.

The big hit came one day after Lopez was scratched from the starting lineup for reportedly arriving late to the ballpark. It also made a winner of closer Ryan Franklin (5-1), who pitched two innings.

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A pinch-hit RBI single in the 14th inning by Chris Snyder gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a 4-3 victory over New York on Wednesday night, completing a three-game sweep of the fading Mets.

Snyder, the last position player available for Arizona, hit a 2-2 pitch from Fernando Nieve (2-4) over the head of left fielder Jason Bay to bring home Justin Upton, who had led off the inning with a double.

The Mets fell to 1-6 on their 10-game Western trip after the All-Star break and remained 6 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. They finish the trip with three games against the Dodgers in Los Angeles starting Friday night. Five Arizona relievers shut out New York on one hit over the last eight innings. Blaine Boyer (2-2) was perfect over the final two, striking out two, to get the victory.

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John Danks combined with two relievers on a two-hitter and Alexei Ramirez homered, helping the Chicago White Sox beat the woeful Seattle Mariners 4-0 on Tuesday. Danks (10-7) allowed Casey Kotchman's infield single in the second and Ichiro Suzuki's two-out single in the eighth on his final pitch of the night. He struck out eight and walked four, then got a dugout bear hug from manager Ozzie Guillen as Chicago increased its lead in the AL Central to a season-high 3 1/2 games over Detroit and Minnesota. J.J. Putz got the final out of the eighth and Bobby Jenks pitched a perfect ninth in his first appearance since he failed to record an out on Sunday, when he was charged with four runs in a loss at Minnesota.

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Manager Ozzie Guillen's pre-second half meeting Thursday reminded his White Sox players how they rebounded from.

A 9 1/2-game deficit to move into first place while enduring criticism over their terrible start amid the threat of breaking up the team.

"If we go to the playoffs, it will be most satisfying year I have had in seven years with this ballclub," Guillen said before the game.

"This one will be more exciting than the two playoffs (years) for me." The Sox didn't lack for entertainment in stretching their lead in.

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All-Star slugger Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer to key a five-run outburst and Jon Garland threw six strong innings, leading the San Diego Padres to a 12-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

Gonzalez put the NL West leaders ahead 2-1 in the fourth when he connected off Dan Haren (7-8) for his 19th homer. San Diego added three more runs in the inning.

Garland (9-6) finally beat the Diamondbacks after having tough luck in his first two starts against them this season. The right-hander allowed one run and three hits with five strikeouts and two walks. He combined with three relievers on a four-hitter.

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Roy Halladay hit Marlon Byrd twice and gave up two-run homers to Geovany Soto and Alfonso Soriano after each errant throw, sending the Chicago Cubs to an 11-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night.

Byrd became the first Cubs player in 105 years to be hit by a pitch 16 times in a season and Chicago took advantage of a rare wild night for Halladay, winning three of four in its first series since the All-Star break.

Halladay had tossed 18 consecutive scoreless innings before Chicago's four-run second, which began with All-Star Byrd getting nailed. Soto hit a two-run homer with one out and the Cubs added two more.

A similar scenario played out in the sixth, only this time it was Soriano hitting a drive to left after Byrd got hit in the back by a breaking ball. Soriano's 17th homer made it 6-2.

Gorzelanny (5-5) allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. The left-hander walked five and struck out five while improving to 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA in his last three starts.

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