PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ The head of the Rhode Island agency whose board approved a $75 million loan guarantee for former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s now financially troubled video gaming company has resigned.

A statement from Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s office says Keith Stokes resigned Wednesday as executive director of the Economic Development Corp.

Schilling’s 38 Studios asked the state for additional help after defaulting May 1 on a $1.1 million payment to the EDC.
Stokes told The Associated Press on Thursday that he had been considering stepping aside for a while.

As to whether 38 Studios played a role in his decision to resign Stokes quoted novelist William Faulkner, saying that all of us fail to “match our dreams of perfection.”

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The Celtics captain put in 24 points in Boston’s 101-91 Game 3 victory over the 76ers in Philadelphia, putting his knee injury behind him and getting aggressive when it came to pretty much every aspect of the game.

“Whether I shot the ball well or not, everything I was going to do was being with aggression,” Pierce said.

Aggressive might be an understatement. Pierce was in attack mode early on, even if his shots weren’t falling. Early in the first quarter, he missed four shots from close range, but it was the fact he fought for the three put-backs in the paint that showed he was determined to make a difference after scoring just seven points in Boston’s Game 2 loss.

He continued to go strong to the basket, following up his early misses with two ferocious dunks. Pierce finishing with nine points in the first 12 minutes of the game. He ended up hitting six of his 17 attempts from the floor, but did most of his damage at — and getting to — the free throw line. After just two trips to the charity stripe on Monday, Pierce found his way to the line 14 times in Game 3, scoring 11 of his points at the line.

Special Coverage: NBA Playoffs

He made it known to all of Philly when he was making his way to the line, following each drive to the hoop with an aggressive scream that would make Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” jealous.

“Everything I was going to do was going to be aggressive because they were really collapsing on me on the down-screens, on my jumpers,” said Pierce. “I just tried to get to the hole and I was able to get to the line; able to get to the rim a number of times. It’s something I have to continue to do.”

“Paul is just a grinder,” head coach Doc Rivers said following the win. “He really is. You look at him at times and you wonder, ‘How is this guy getting open?’ He just has great fundamentals. He never does it with speed. He just knows how to play basketball. He’s a throwback guy, that he knows how to play basketball. We jokingly call him our ‘professional scorer’ and that’s what he is in a lot of ways.”

“[Pierce] played great for us tonight,” said point guard Rajon Rondo, who scored 23 points of his own while dishing out 14 assists. “Paul has been struggling scoring, but he has been doing the intangibles. On those [first-quarter] drives, he didn’t get some calls early in the game and thought they were fouls, so he went out and was aggressive and finished strong.”

Recap: Thunder Go Up 2-0 On Lakers

Pierce had been just 5-for-20 in the series in the first two games, but helped the Celtics send a message as they took a 2-1 series lead. While he only added four assists, he credited the team’s ball movement for getting the offense going.

“Our offense finally came alive,” Pierce said. “We moved the ball. We knew that’s what we were going to have to do to score 100 points.”

“We just wanted to come out and establish who we are as a team,” Pierce said.

They certainly did that. Now they just need to keep it going on Friday night.

Box Score | Playoffs Schedule

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder scored the final nine points to rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

Oklahoma City trailed by seven with 2 minutes left before surging back with a series of defensive stops by its stars to take a 2-0 lead.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points apiece for the Lakers, who came up empty on their last six possessions after Bynum’s hook shot made it 75-68 with 2:09 remaining.

Game 2 Photo Gallery (Photo:Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

After struggling throughout the second half, the Thunder suddenly came alive after Scott Brooks called timeout following Bynum’s basket that gave Los Angeles its largest lead of the game.

James Harden drove for a layup before Durant used his height advantage to reach up and tip away a pass from Bryant, who he was guarding. Durant ran out for a right-handed dunk at the other end before Russell Westbrook forced another turnover by aggressively challenging an outlet pass to Bryant along the sideline.

Harden made the next stop, blocking Bryant’s jumper on the next Lakers possession and getting a layup in transition off it to cut the deficit to one in the final minute.

Bryant couldn’t connect again, this time on a 3-pointer, to give the Thunder the ball back with the chance to take the lead and Durant was able to make it happen.

Steve Blake missed a 3-pointer from the right side with about 5 seconds left after Metta World Peace couldn’t get the ball to Bryant on the inbounds play. Durant was then fouled with 0.3 seconds left and made his first try before missing the second on purpose – failing to hit the backboard or rim for a violation.

The Lakers got a desperation try but World Peace’s long pass for Bynum was intercepted by Harden.

Westbrook added 15 points for Oklahoma City, which matched its lowest scoring total of the season but still gutted out the win.

Historically, the loss makes a huge difference. Los Angeles is 29-12 when splitting the first two games of a seven-game series and has lost 17 of 19 when falling into a 2-0 hole. The Lakers’ last comeback was in the 2004 West semifinals against San Antonio.

The Thunder have won all nine of their series after leading 2-0, dating back to the franchise’s days in Seattle.

In a game that was nip-and-tuck throughout, the Lakers started inching away early in the fourth quarter while Westbrook was on the bench.

Bryant drilled a jumper from the left wing and Blake followed with a 3-pointer before World Peace hit one of two free throws for a 69-63 advantage with 7:27 remaining – the Lakers’ largest lead to that point.

Westbrook returned then but only provided the briefest of sparks for the struggling Oklahoma City offense, and Bynum’s second straight basket – on a left-handed hook shot at the left block – made it 75-68 with 2:09 to play.

Until that point, Oklahoma City had made only 7 of 27 shots in the second half while committing eight turnovers.

After getting ripped apart by the Thunder’s pick-and-roll attack and giving up 119 points in Game 1, the Lakers made it an emphasis to put up more resistance in the rematch and it showed. Matt Barnes shuffled back and forth around three Nick Collison screens to contest Harden’s jumper and preserve the Lakers’ 22-21 lead after one quarter.

The Lakers’ defense was at its best just after halftime as they got out of a 48-45 deficit by holding Oklahoma City scoreless for the first 4 minutes and allowing just two baskets in the first 8 minutes. But Los Angeles still couldn’t create any sort of a cushion and Westbrook’s wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner – after World Peace airballed a similar shot on the opposite end – had the Thunder back within 57-56 with 3:31 left in the third.

Notes: The NBA on Wednesday fined Devin Ebanks $25,000 for actions related to his Game 1 ejection and Bynum $15,000 for failing to speak to reporters Tuesday. Bynum, who has had recent disciplinary issues within the team, talked at the Lakers’ morning shootaround Wednesday and called it a make up for skipping the previous day. “I think he’s learning. Is he going to be a perfect citizen the rest of his career? I don’t know,” coach Mike Brown said. “He’s bound to make mistakes. I think everybody makes mistakes.” … World Peace has said he supported Scott Brooks to become Sacramento’s coach back in 2007, when Brooks had been an assistant under Eric Musselman. “Little does he know, if I would have got the job, I was going to ask for him to be traded,” Brooks joked. He then called World Peace, or Ron Artest at the time, the third-best two-way player at the time behind Bryant and Kevin Garnett. … Harden caught World Peace with an inadvertent elbow to the face in the first quarter.

It worked twice, and the Eastern Conference finals are all even, as a result.

David Clarkson scored a tip-in goal off Adam Henrique’s shot 2:31 into the third period to break a tie and lift the Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Rangers that squared the series at one game apiece on Wednesday night.

“It’s a very hard building to play in, and 1-1 sounds much better than down 2-0,” Devils captain Zach Parise said. “We’re happy. We would have liked to have snuck out of here with two wins, but it didn’t happen.

“We’ll take 1-1.”

For the third straight series, the Rangers are wondering what went wrong in Game 2 after they took the opener. They stressed how important it would be to grab a 2-0 lead, which would have been their first two-game edge in this postseason, but didn’t provide the necessary effort to get it done.

New York was riding high after its 3-0 series-opening win on Monday night, but now has relinquished home-ice advantage again.

“You need to improve as a hockey team every game,” said succinct and disappointed coach John Tortorella, who declined to say what areas were deficient.

Game 3 will be Saturday in New Jersey.

Clarkson built off the momentum created by Ryan Carter’s deflected goal late in the second that tied the game, 2-2. Ilya Kovalchuk had given the Devils a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first. Defenseman Bryce Salvador added two assists, and Martin Brodeur stopped 23 saves for his 108th playoff win.

Clarkson has three goals in this postseason, and every one has been a winner, including the clincher against Philadelphia in Game 5 of the second round.

“Mr. Clutch? I don’t know about that,” Clarkson said. “I’m going to skate up and down and finish the checks and just bounce off people. It’s just a great feeling to be able to contribute. To get a tip on that felt pretty good.”

New Jersey had 26 attempted shots blocked in Game 1, five more than they got through to goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The Devils cut the blocks to 16 on Wednesday and managed to get 27 on goal — two more than New York.

“That team blocks so many shots,” Clarkson said. “It’s unbelievable how many. I think we found a way to shoot it and get sticks on it, and definitely that was big for us.”

Marc Staal and Chris Kreider scored power-play goals in the second for the top-seeded Rangers, who received 24 saves by Lundqvist.

New Jersey got even at 2 when Salvador wound up for a shot at the blue line and fired a drive that Carter — with his back to the net — brilliantly deflected past Lundqvist with 1:51 left in the second. Marian Gaborik stood up straight in front of Salvador, but didn’t drop down as many of his teammates have to try to block the shot. For that, he was pinned to the bench by Tortorella, even through New York’s power play in the third.

Gaborik returned to the ice with 8:40 remaining as the Rangers pressed to tie.

The Devils kept the pressure on the Rangers at the start of the third and wiped out the good work the Rangers displayed in the second.

“It was a much different reaction when we went down by a goal than it was in the first game,” Parise said. “We didn’t change the way we played, and I think that was a big difference. We were comfortable with how we were playing.

“All I think they got was really on their power play.”

After spending much of the first trapped in their own end, the Rangers rebounded to erase their early deficit and briefly take the lead thanks to the previously inept power play.

With Alexei Ponikarovsky off for interference, Staal fired a shot that sailed wide of the net and struck the back boards before popping back in front and pinballing into the net off Salvador and Brodeur at 2:23. The goal was originally credited to Derek Stepan, who was in front, but the puck managed to miss him both on the way toward the net and on the bounce back.

“I saw most of the pucks, but the Rangers came out hard,” Brodeur said. “They were around me a lot, and there were some bad bounces. It’s such a tough place to play sometimes here. There are bad bounces, and the boards are terrible.”

Staal nearly netted another moments later when he ripped a drive that Brodeur had to lunge fully to his left to snare with his glove.

Kreider, the rookie from Boston College, scored for the second straight game to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 12:19. Anton Stralman let go a shot from above the right circle that ticked Kreider’s stick and fluttered past Brodeur for the rookie’s fourth goal. He had to wait to get it because it was first given to Stralman before being changed during a commercial break.

But that was hardly the longest delay of the night. Before Kreider’s power-play goal, the action was stopped for about eight minutes as arena workers struggled to get the door to the Devils’ penalty box opened. Travis Zajac stood patiently as he waited to have a seat in the box. He even managed to laugh as did New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer and the usually stoic and agitated Tortorella.

Zajac, who first was sent to the Rangers’ box, stayed in New Jersey’s sin bin for only 1:47 before Kreider scored the Rangers’ second power-play goal of the night.

New York registered the first six shots of the period before New Jersey had its first about eight minutes in, but the teams were even at 17 through 40 minutes.

Lundqvist had a bit of glove magic of his own midway through the second when a shot by Anton Volchenkov was deflected by Kovalchuk but tracked and grabbed by Lundqvist.

The Devils got their elusive first goal of the series, and the all-important lead in the game, when Kovalchuk connected on the power play late in the first period.

After Brian Boyle was sent off for slashing Parise, the Devils continued their puck-possession prowess in the Rangers’ end. New Jersey moved the puck all around the zone in search of a clean shot that could get past the diving New York defense and perhaps challenge Lundqvist, who made 21 saves in the series-opening win.

Marek Zidlicky curled with the puck to the center of the blue line and slid a pass down to the left circle to Kovalchuk, who calmly and patiently drifted in and snapped a shot up and under the crossbar in the upper corner of the net for his sixth goal of the playoffs and fourth on the power play.

“We had to keep going to the net, and I think we were doing some good things,” Clarkson said. “We’ve been playing some good hockey and we’ve got to continue to do it. That is a big win for us.”

The Devils didn’t record a shot on goal until 6:01 in when Patrik Elias put a wrist shot in on Lundqvist, but New Jersey finished the first period with an 8-5 edge in shots — despite having six more blocked by the Rangers.

Whether Brodeur was kidding or not about wanting Rangers to be injured by blocking shots, the home team wasn’t deterred from getting in front of drives. New York forward Brandon Prust was doing a bit of a dance in front of the dangerous Kovalchuk, trying to deny any potential drive, even though he was defending without a stick.

“We have to try to get in lanes,” Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. “Try to limit their time with the puck. If we do that, they are not going to have time to shoot.”

When Kovalchuk finally scored later in the period, he let out a big yell — part celebration and an exclamation of relief — as he skated in front of the glass behind the net.

“We have built some momentum,” Brodeur said. “And now, we have to try to take that into our building, and make our building a tough place to play.”

NOTES: The Rangers were 10 for 61 (16.4 percent) on the power play in the postseason before Wednesday. This marked the second time they netted a man-advantage goal in consecutive games, but the fourth time they scored two in a game. … The Devils returned defenseman Peter Harrold to the lineup and sat rookie Adam Larsson. Harrold replaced Larsson in the lineup late in the season and started the first nine postseason games. Larsson played in the previous five games.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Assistant Police Chief Jim Mathan says the 36-year-old officer, whose name has not been released, fell about 20 feet from a bridge abutment over Interstate 95 in Norwalk early Thursday morning, and was undergoing surgery at Norwalk Hospital.

Police arrested 30-year-old Frank Douglas after the chase. He faces numerous charges including robbery, assaulting a police officer and cruelty to animals. Police say he choked a police dog during the struggle to apprehend him.

Police say the chase began shortly after 1 a.m. when a witness reported that a man was being beaten and robbed in Stamford. Police chased the suspect’s car from Stamford into Norwalk, where it crashed.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The Republican-American reports the badly-burned victim was pulled by rescue workers from the complex on Bucks Hill Road just after 7 p.m. Wednesday.

She was found in the kitchen on the second floor of the three-story town house and was pronounced dead at Saint Mary’s Hospital.

Fire officials declined to release her name, saying her family was still being notified.

They are investigating the cause of the fire, which they say apparently began in the woman’s living room.

___
Information from: Republican-American, http://www.rep-am.com

     (Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

More than 350 members of Teamsters Local 1035 walked off the job
at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Their contract expired in December. Workers say they are
unwilling to pay more for health care unless the company gives back
$2.65 an hour in concessions that the union agreed to five years
ago in order to maintain its current benefits package.

The company issued a statement Wednesday night saying it is
disappointed by the strike and looks forward to resuming
negotiations. The company also said there should be few, if any,
disruptions to deliveries.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Fire officials say the accident occurred at about 11 p.m. on Tyler Street. The driver of the car was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford. His condition was not available Thursday morning.

The residents of the home were not injured.

It’s not clear what caused the accident.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The Democratic governor is scheduled to hold a mock bill-signing ceremony on Thursday afternoon at the Enfield Town Hall.

Malloy actually signed the bill Monday. It will be effective starting this coming weekend.

Under the new law, Sunday sales will be allowed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at package stores. Supermarkets, which already sell beer, will be able to sell beer on Sundays as well.

Besides sales on Sundays, the new law also allows alcohol sales on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day, and Mondays following any Independence Day, Christmas or New Year’s Day that fall on a Sunday.

     (Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The New Haven Register reports Ashley Armstrong was shot as she was driving four other women in a car on Shelton Avenue in the Newhallville neighborhood.

Police spokesman David Hartman said Armstrong was shot in the head and neck at about 12:17 a.m. Wednesday.

Tyrell Trimble of New Haven was shot at 1 p.m. Tuesday on Elm Street near the Stop and Shop Plaza in the Dwight neighborhood. Witnesses told police he was shot from a van that was found abandoned a short time later.

The killings bring New Haven’s 2012 homicide total to five, compared with 13 at the same time last year.

___
Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com

     (Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

No one was injured in the May 2010 incident.

The Middletown Press reports that a judge found Wednesday that 54-year-old Lori Fappiano wasn’t guilty of criminal attempt of first-degree assault and criminal use of a firearm because of mental illness. Judge Susan Handy also found that prosecutors didn’t’ prove a charge of criminal attempt to commit murder.

Fappiano will be sent to a psychiatric facility for at least 60 days while a mental health report is prepared for the court. She could then be sentenced to a psychiatric facility, with periodic court review.

___
Information from: The Middletown Press, http://www.middletownpress.com

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Kevin Garnett yapped his way down the court
after big baskets and clearly enjoyed taking it to the 76ers.

Rajon Rondo pushed the ball and relentlessly attacked the lane.

Paul Pierce gutted out a knee injury and grinded his way to the
free throw line.

Boston hears the whispers that it’s too weary and too old to win
another championship. By the time they forced Sixers fans to flee
their seats, the Celtics proved it’s still too early to count them
out.

Garnett scored 27 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and used a
dominant second quarter to help the Celtics beat the 76ers 107-91
on Wednesday night and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference
semifinals.

Whistled for a costly illegal pick late in a Game 2 loss,
Garnett crushed the Sixers early and never let them think about a
fourth-quarter rally.

Garnett scored 13 of Boston’s 32 points in the second quarter
and the Celtics became the first team to win by double digits. Game
1 and Game 2 were each decided by one point.

Rondo had 23 points and 14 assists. Pierce, playing with a
banged-up knee, had 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Game 4 is Friday in Philadelphia.

“We just wanted to come out and establish who we are as a
team,” Pierce said.

That started with making Garnett a focal point.

Garnett had somehow become forgotten in Boston’s offense in Game
2 until the fourth quarter. Coach Doc Rivers said the Celtics
simply weren’t going to the 16-year veteran because they had
established an offensive presence in the low post.

The Celtics wouldn’t let that happen again.

They needed Garnett at his best in Philadelphia, where the
Sixers had won their last four postseason games.

So much for that minor streak. Garnett made 12 of 17 shots and
helped the Celtics outrebound the Sixers by 11 on the defensive
boards. He buried those 10 to 16 footers with ease in the second
quarter to turn a seven-point deficit into a 13-point lead.

“He got the ball in his spots,” Rondo said. “He hit a couple
of fadeaways. A lot of those guys are smaller than him, so he was
just able to turn around and shoot over them.”

Pierce had an MCL injury in his left knee rob him of his jumper
and slow him down on both sides of the ball. He scored only 21
points combined in the first two games and failed to be the impact
player the Celtics needed if they want to play deeper in the
postseason.

All that changed in Game 3. He charged the lane in the first
quarter for a couple of angry-looking dunks. He even pounded the
backboard for emphasis after one as if to show the Sixers he still
had some lift in those legs.

“That’s who he is,” Rivers said. “That’s how he’s been even
when he’s healthy. Paul’s just a grinder.”

He’ll need to do it again to hold off the Sixers.

Thaddeus Young scored 22 points and Jrue Holiday had 15 for the
Sixers. Lou Williams and Jodie Meeks each scored 13. Starters Elton
Brand, Spencer Hawes and Evan Turner combined for only 11 points.

“Sometimes you’ve got to take it and go with it and come back
the next game,” Young said. “That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Wearing their matching red 76ers logo T-shirts, fans fled for
the exits at the 6-minute mark and the Sixers down 101-76.

The Sixers hadn’t hosted a second-round game since 2003, when
coach Larry Brown and All-Star Allen Iverson ruled the town. Julius
Erving walked out to a roaring ovation when he presented the game
ball and Eagles quarterback Michael Vick watched from a suite.

The Sixers hoped all the stars and hoopla that helped them knock
off top-seeded Chicago would work again.

Back to the drawing board. Young scored three baskets and the
rest of the Sixers had only two in the decisive second quarter.

“We ran into a Celtics team that had a real sense of purpose
about them,” coach Doug Collins said. “You could see in moment
one, they were looking to push that ball in every situation.”

Garnett tortured them from long range, toyed with them from
inside, and got some deserved rest on the bench in the final
minutes wearing a long-sleeve shirt.

Garnett was whistled for a critical offensive foul late in Game
2 on a potential game-tying possession for the Celtics. All seemed
forgiven by the time the Celtics raced to a 25-point lead.

“Our offense finally came alive,” Pierce said. “We moved the
ball. We knew that’s what we were going to have to do to score 100
points.”

Rivers kept Rondo, Pierce and Ray Allen in the game until the
final minutes even though the game was well out of reach. The Bulls
were burned by that in the opening round in Game 1 when they left
Derrick Rose in with a 20-point lead. He tore his ACL and was lost
for the season _ and the Sixers rolled to a series win.

The Celtics intend to keep up the pressure in Game 4 _ and
beyond.

“When you beat a team like this at home, you have to expect
them coming out with a lot of energy,” Garnett said. “But we’ll
be ready and we’ll have a lot of energy ourselves.”

Notes: Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and several other Eagles were
at the game. … Former Sixers owner Ed Snider watched the game
from a courtside seat. … Rivers was named to the NBA’s
Competition Committee. He said he had no idea until he received a
letter saying he had been selected. … The Celtics missed their
first seven shots of the game, then made their next five.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

NEW YORK (AP) _ David Clarkson’s deflected goal 2:31 into the
third period snapped a tie and lifted the New Jersey Devils to a
3-2 victory over the New York Rangers that evened the Eastern
Conference finals at one game apiece on Wednesday night.

Clarkson built off the momentum created by Ryan Carter’s goal
late in the second period that tied the game, 2-2. Ilya Kovalchuk
had given the Devils a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the
first. Defenseman Bryce Salvador added two assists, and Martin
Brodeur stopped 23 saves for the win.
“We had to keep going to the net, and I think we were doing
some good things,” Clarkson said. “We’ve been playing some good
hockey and we’ve got to continue to do it. That is a big win for
us.”

Marc Staal and Chris Kreider scored in the second for the
Rangers, who lost their third straight Game 2 after winning the
series opener. Top-seeded New York, which had 24 saves by Henrik
Lundqvist, hasn’t had a two-game lead at any point in these
playoffs.

Game 3 will be Saturday in New Jersey.

New Jersey got even at 2 when Salvador wound up for a shot at
the blue line and fired a drive that Carter _ with his back to the
net _ brilliantly deflected past Lundqvist with 1:51 left in the
second. Marian Gaborik stood up straight in front of Salvador, but
didn’t drop down as many of his teammates have to try to block the
shot. For that, he was pinned to the bench by coach John
Tortorella, even through New York’s power play in the third.
Gaborik returned to the ice with 8:40 remaining.

The Devils kept the pressure on the Rangers at the start of the
third and wiped out the good work New York displayed in the second.
After spending much of the first penned in their own end, the
Rangers rebounded to erase their early deficit and briefly take the
lead thanks to their previously inept power play.

With Alexei Ponikarovsky off for interference, Staal fired a
shot that sailed wide of the net and struck the back boards before
popping back in front and pinballing into the net off Salvador and
Brodeur at 2:23. The goal was originally credited to Derek Stepan,
who was in front, but the puck managed to miss him both on the way
toward the net and on the bounce back.

Staal nearly netted another moments later when he ripped a drive
that Brodeur had to lunge fully to his left to snare with his
glove.

Kreider, the rookie from Boston College, scored for the second
straight game to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 12:19. Anton
Stralman let go a shot from above the right circle that ticked
Kreider’s stick and fluttered past Brodeur for the rookie’s fourth
goal. He had to wait to get it because it was first given to
Stralman before being changed during a commercial break.

But that was hardly the longest delay of the night. Before
Kreider’s power-play goal, the action was stopped for about eight
minutes as arena workers struggled to get the door to the Devils’
penalty box opened. Travis Zajac stood patiently as he waited to
have a seat in the box. He even managed to laugh as did New Jersey
coach Peter DeBoer and the usually stoic and agitated Tortorella.

Zajac, who first was sent to the Rangers’ box, stayed in New
Jersey’s sin bin for only 1:47 before Kreider scored the Rangers’
second power-play goal of the night.

New York registered the first six shots of the period before New
Jersey had its first about 8 minutes in, but the teams were even at
17 through 40 minutes.

Lundqvist had a bit of glove magic of his own midway through the
second when a shot by Anton Volchenkov was deflected by Kovalchuk
but tracked and grabbed by Lundqvist.

The Devils got their elusive first goal of the series, and the
all-important lead in the game, when Kovalchuk connected on the
power play late in the first period.

After Brian Boyle was sent off for slashing Zach Parise, the
Devils continued their puck-possession prowess in the Rangers’ end.
New Jersey moved the puck all around the zone in search of a clean
shot that could get past the diving New York defense and perhaps
challenge Lundqvist, who made 21 saves in the series-opening win.

Marek Zidlicky curled with the puck to the center of the blue
line and slid a pass down to the left circle to Kovalchuk, who
calmly and patiently drifted in and snapped a shot up and under the
crossbar in the upper corner of the net for his sixth goal of the
playoffs and fourth on the power play.

The Devils didn’t record a shot on goal until 6:01 in when
Patrik Elias put a wrist shot in on Lundqvist, but New Jersey
finished the first period with an 8-5 edge in shots _ despite
having six more blocked by the Rangers.

Whether Brodeur was kidding or not about wanting Rangers to be
injured by blocking shots, the home team wasn’t deterred from
getting in front of drives. New York forward Brandon Prust was
doing a bit of a dance in front of the dangerous Kovalchuk, trying
to deny any potential drive, even though he was defending without a
stick.

When Kovalchuk finally scored later in the period, he let out a
big yell _ part celebration and an exclamation of relief _ as he
skated in front of the glass behind the net.

NOTES: The Rangers were 10 for 61 (16.4 percent) on the power
play in the postseason before Wednesday. This marked the second
time they netted a man-advantage goal in consecutive games, but
they fourth time they scored two in a game. … The Devils returned
defenseman Peter Harrold to the lineup and sat rookie Adam Larsson.
Harrold replaced Larsson in the lineup late in the season and
started the first nine postseason games. Larsson played in the
previous five games. … Salvador already had a career-best six
points in the playoffs before Game 2.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Hellickson (4-0) allowed one run and five hits en route to
winning a career-best sixth consecutive decision, dating to Sept.
4. The right-hander struck out six and walked two.

Tampa Bay second baseman Will Rhymes left in the eighth inning
after being hit by a pitch near his right elbow. While standing at
first base he gestured that he wanted to come out of the game, took
a couple of steps and collapsed into the arms of first base coach
George Hendrick. Trainers worked on Rhymes in the coach’s box
before he was assisted to a utility cart and left the field.

After Jake McGee and Joel Peralta both threw a scoreless inning,
Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 12th save.
Clay Buchholz (4-2) gave up two runs and six hits over five-plus
innings for Boston. Buchholz, who took a grounder off his leg
during the sixth, had allowed four or more runs in all seven of his
previous starts this season.

Matt Joyce opened the sixth with an infield single that went off
Buchholz’s lower leg. He went to third on a single by Carlos Pena.
Andrew Miller replaced Buchholz and gave up Scott’s sacrifice fly
that put Tampa Bay ahead 2-1.

The Rays, winners of four straight, loaded the bases with two
outs later in the sixth, but Miller struck out Elliot Johnson on a
3-2 pitch.

Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the second when Buchholz was called
for a balk on a pickoff move to first with runners on the corners
and two outs. Pena, who had a leadoff single, scored on the play.
The Red Sox wound up with three balks overall.

Daniel Nava’s fourth-inning RBI single got Boston even at 1-all.
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said left-hander Felix Doubront,
who was hit on the ear by a ball during batting practice Tuesday,
was cleared to make his start Thursday.

Meanwhile, Boston left-hander Rich Hill left the field after
being struck by a ball in batting practice before Wednesday night’s
game. The team said Hill is OK.

NOTES: Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey (right thumb) is set to
resume throwing next week. … Boston 3B Kevin Youkilis (lower
back) started a rehab assignment as the DH with Triple-A Pawtucket
and could play in the field Friday. … Valentine doesn’t believe
RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (right elbow), scheduled to start for
Pawtucket Thursday, is close to pitching in the majors. … Rays 3B
Evan Longoria (left hamstring) took batting practice, but has not
started running. … Red Sox LF Carl Crawford (left wrist) could
start swinging a bat next week. … The Rays acquired OF Rich
Thompson from Philadelphia for minor league OF Kyle Hudson.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Blue Jays right-hander Kyle Drabek (3-4) snapped a four-start
losing streak, scattering three hits over seven innings to win for
the first time since April 15 against Baltimore. He walked four and
struck out five.

Luis Perez worked the eighth and Francisco Cordero finished in
the ninth for Toronto.

Arencibia had three hits and scored twice, helping Toronto snap
a three-game losing streak and giving the Blue Jays their seventh
win in their past 11 home games against the Yankees.

Kuroda (3-5) allowed eight hits and a season-high three homers
in five-plus innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Arencibia got the Blue Jays started with a two-out drive to left
in the second inning, his fourth. Encarnacion made it 5-0 with a
two-out shot to center in the third, his 13th of the season and
second in as many days.

Arencibia doubled and scored on a two-out single by Johnson in
the fourth and Bautista drilled a leadoff shot into the second deck
in left in the sixth, his ninth.

New York broke up Drabek’s shutout bid in the sixth when Mark
Teixeira singled home Robinson Cano, who had doubled. Teixeira’s
hit was the 1,500th of his career.

Johnson restored Toronto’s seven-run lead with a milestone hit
in the seventh, smacking a leadoff drive to right off Clay Rapada,
his 100th career home run and eighth this season.

The Yankees dropped to 1-13 when scoring three runs or fewer,
and 0-8 when failing to hit a home run. New York is the only team
in the majors this season to not win a game in which they did not
homer.

NOTES: New York SS Derek Jeter got the day off and was replaced
by Jayson Nix, with Curtis Granderson moving up to the leadoff
spot. It was Jeter’s first day off this season. … Yankees RHP
Ivan Nova (right ankle) did not throw his scheduled bullpen session
Wednesday but is expected to throw a side session Thursday. Manager
Joe Girardi said he still expects Nova to make his next scheduled
start, Saturday against Cincinnati. … Blue Jays 3B Brett Lawrie
was suspended four games and fined an undisclosed amount for
Tuesday night’s altercation with umpire Bill Miller. Lawrie is
appealing and can play until there is a hearing, which could be
held next week via video conference. … The Blue Jays were
unsuccessful in detaining the fan who hit Miller on the shoulder
with a cup of beer as the umpires walked off the field Tuesday.
Umpires and stadium security pointed at the fan, but he managed to
evade security as he exited the building. … OF Vladimir Guerrero,
who signed a minor league contract with Toronto last week, has
started taking batting practice at extended spring training in
Florida and could see his first game action next week.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Clark made the announcement Wednesday from his campaign headquarters in Farmington. It comes as Republicans are scheduled to meet Friday for the state convention to endorse candidates.

While he has trailed the other four GOP candidates in raising cash, Clark recently made news after filing a federal elections complaint over payments made to former Gov. John G. Rowland for consulting work for a company owned by the husband of another candidate, Lisa Wilson-Foley. She said Rowland was a volunteer adviser to her campaign and the payments were unrelated.

Clark called Roraback a New England-style Republican who can win the politically mixed northwestern Connecticut district.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Martin Rutchik, attorney for 73-year-old Maria Balaban, said he and a lawyer for the Congregation Ahavath Achim in Colchester reached a tentative deal in the middle of the trial, which started last week. Terms weren’t disclosed. The congregation’s board of directors and members must approve the agreement.

Balaban, a member of the congregation’s board of directors, sued last year over the burial of Juliet Steer in 2010, saying the synagogue broke its own rules against burial of non-Jews at the cemetery. Balaban, a white Hispanic who grew up in Cuba, initially wanted Steer’s body exhumed and relocated, but later dropped that request.

The Jamaican-born Steer, who lived in nearby East Hampton, chose her plot in an interfaith section of the congregation’s cemetery before her death from cancer at age 47. Her brother said she thought it was a peaceful spot.

A lawyer for the congregation, George Purtill, said in court documents that Balaban was only suing because Steer was black, which Balaban denied. Purtill didn’t immediately return a message Wednesday.

Traditional Jewish laws and practices prohibit the burial of non-Jews in Jewish cemeteries. Steer is the only person buried in a section of the cemetery that other congregation members say was set aside for interfaith couples, their children and other non-Jews.

Rutchik said race was never a factor in the dispute. He said Balaban would have filed suit over the burial of any non-Jew in the cemetery.

“Mrs. Balaban hopes from all of this there will be a healing, and they can get back to being a Jewish community,” he said.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Roger Clemens’ lawyer toyed with Brian McNamee’s memory and attacked him from several directions at once.

The attorney even put an easel next to the witness with the words: “MISTAKE. BAD MEMORY. LIE.” Eventually, there came the inevitable question: “Do you sometimes just make stuff up?”

McNamee has frequently taken long pauses before answering questions in three days on the witness stand, but he didn’t
hesitate this time. He leaned into the microphone and said softly but assuredly: “I didn’t make it up.”

Clemens’ chief accuser was on the stand for two hours of aggressive cross-examination Wednesday on one of the most important days _ perhaps the most important– in the perjury trial of the seven-time Cy Young Award winning pitcher. Clemens is –arged with lying when he told Congress in 2008 that he never used steroids or human growth hormone.

McNamee has testified he injected Clemens with both, and the credibility of Clemens’ former friend and longtime strength coach will no doubt be the No. 1 topic when the jury starts deliberating the case.

Going for style over substance, Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin was as colorful as his outfit — bright orange tie, cream-colored suit– and continued his practice of mispronouncing the witness’ name as mac-nah-MAY instead of  AC-nah-mee.

He skipped from topic to topic without warning, often confusing McNamee while trying to sow seeds of doubt in the jurors’ minds.

McNamee, who has now spent 12 hours on the stand with more to come on Thursday, alternated between fidgety and focused. At various times he looked curiously at the courtroom ceiling, draped his arm around his chair, or leaned forward to scratch an itchy foot while Hardin was asking questions. McNamee sometimes seemed perplexed by simple yes-or-no questions and stumbled through an answer about his birthday.

Other times, he was more firm and direct. He complained when Hardin asked him a convoluted, multipart question: “Which one do you want me to answer?” “Pick one,” Hardin replied.

Hardin was perhaps most effective when he got McNamee to agree that his memory about events connected to Clemens had improved once McNamee began cooperating with federal investigators looking into steroids and baseball.

“Is it true that ever since you began making these accusations about Mr. Clemens, your memory and versions of what happened and details have sort of evolved?” Hardin asked.

“Yes sir,” McNamee answered. Hardin asked if McNamee had “intentionally lied” to investigators.

“Yes sir,” McNamee replied. McNamee testified earlier in the week that he originally minimized Clemens’ involvement with performance-enhancing drugs in what he said was an effort to protect the pitcher.

Hardin worked the same angle when McNamee had trouble remembering what was written on the cover of a book McNamee started writing but never published.

“You remember little details all the way back to 1998 … but you have to have me show you the cover of your book before you know what’s on it,” Hardin said.

Referencing the easel, Hardin would cite various statements and ask McNamee to put them in the category of “mistake,” “bad memory” or “lie.” McNamee conceded to one case of a “bad memory” before court adjourned for the day at noon because of a juror’s schedule conflict. McNamee returns to the stand Thursday.

McNamee says he gave Clemens injections of performance-enhancing drugs in 1998, 2000 and 2001. During questions about the 1998 injection, Hardin inadvertently introduced evidence he had sought to keep away from the jury.

McNamee testified that he overheard a conversation between teammates Clemens and Jose Canseco about steroids in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse, a conversation the judge had ruled could not be brought up by prosecutors.

Having overheard Clemens and Canseco, McNamee said he therefore was certain Clemens was referring to steroids when Clemens later asked for a help with a “booty shot” in early June 2008. Hardin stressed that Clemens didn’t use the word “steroids” and could have been referring to a shot for the vitamin B12. McNamee has said he first injected Clemens with steroids later that month.

McNamee also testified for the first time about a conversation he said he had with Clemens about steroids following Clemens’ 2003 season with the New York Yankees. McNamee said that Clemens had planned to retire and “wanted to change his workout program and get bigger.” McNamee said Clemens asked, “Do you still have that guy?” who can supply the drugs. Clemens eventually decided to keep playing and returned in 2004 with the Houston Astros.

Hardin was incredulous that McNamee didn’t relate that conversation to federal investigators or while being interviewed
for the 2007 Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

“Bad memory,” McNamee said, adding that nothing ever came of the conversation.

Hardin also sought to prove that McNamee had tried to profit from the publicity following the 2008 congressional hearings, again pointing out a tie with the logo of a friend’s company that McNamee wore to grand jury testimony and an appearance McNamee made on Howard Stern’s radio show.

“Is it true you have been seeking to take advantage of the fame you have achieved by making accusations against Roger Clemens?” Hardin asked.

The government objected to the question, and Hardin withdrew it before McNamee could answer.

The trial is in its fifth week and is danger of losing a third juror to boredom. Prosecutors expressed concern Wednesday as to whether Juror No. 13 has been sleeping during testimony. Two other jurors have been dismissed for sleeping, leaving 12 jurors and two alternates.

The juror would have certainly stayed wide awake if she could’ve heard the bitter exchange before the jury was brought in for the start of Wednesday’s testimony. Clemens lawyer Michael Attanasio was upset that McNamee has repeatedly implied that he gave HGH shots to former Clemens teammate Andy Pettitte, a fact ruled inadmissible by the judge.

Attanasio said the McNamee-Pettitte connection was further implied by the way the government had redacted an email exchange between McNamee and Clemens.

“Mr. Hardin will come tackle me if I move for a mistrial, so I won’t,” Attanasio said angrily. The first attempt to try Clemens last summer ended in a mistrial when prosecutors showed the jury a snippet of videotaped evidence that had been ruled inadmissible.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton didn’t disagree with Attanasio’s point, but he scolded Attanasio for taking such an
accusatory tone toward the government over what could just be an honest mistake.

“That’s what our political world is now, and it’s coming into the court,” Walton said.

“You fight hard,” the judge added, “but you don’t have to throw dirt at each other.”
___
Associated Press writer Frederic J. Frommer contributed to this report.
___
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(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

BERLIN, Conn. (AP) _ The new chief executive of Northeast Utilities said Wednesday that New England’s largest utility has its work cut out for it following two storms last year that damaged power lines and the company’s reputation.

CEO Thomas J. May told reporters he is reassuring customers and regulators that Northeast Utilities has learned from last year’s problems that resulted from a tropical storm in late August and a freak snow storm two months later.

Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power for as long as 11 days after the October storm.

“We just have to win back the hearts and souls,” he said.

May also is meeting with employees to boost morale.

“They got no sleep for two weeks and people say, `You’re a bum,”’ he said. “That’s a tough thing.”

May previously headed Boston-based NStar, which was bought for $5 billion by Northeast Utilities. He broke from precedent, meeting reporters in a 30-minute question-and-answer session at Northeast Utilities’ sprawling campus in Berlin as part of an effort to reach out to its 3.5 million electric and gas customers and regulators in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

May said recently enacted Connecticut legislation requiring performance standards for emergency preparation and service restoration will have costs, but it’s too early to know what they are.

And he refused to criticize his predecessors over the power outages.

“I do not want to Monday morning quarterback anyone,” he said. “It was a horrendous situation.”

May also said the utility is interviewing candidates for the vacant position of president and chief operating officer of subsidiary Connecticut Light & Power. Jeffrey Butler resigned under pressure in November after he was criticized by customers and Connecticut officials over the extensive outages.

May said the criteria for the next president are no different than before the storm.

“Someone who’s really good at keeping the lights on,” he said.

May would not say whether Northeast Utilities would settle a dispute with federal regulators over complaints by several states that utilities, including Northeast Utilities, are making excess profit.

Jonathan Arnold, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said in a note to investors that Northeast Utilities is willing to entertain settlement discussions but is unwilling to make major concessions.

“He’s had a history of settling issues with the attorney general,” Arnold said in an interview, referring to NStar’s agreement to buy power from a wind power producer that helped pave the way for regulatory approval from Massachusetts for the Northeast Utilities deal.

The attorneys general, regulators and others in several New England states are asking federal regulators to find that utilities are making an “unjust and unreasonable” return on equity, a measure of profitability. The attorneys general want refunds.

Northeast Utilities’ chief financial officer, James Judge, told investor analysts on May 3 that the case could go to court, which he said would take 15 months. A settlement is an alternative that could avoid legal action, he said.

May would not say which direction the dispute could take.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Police say he and three others were drinking near the carnival ride company Tufano Amusements, when the gun went off accidentally,  hitting another man in the chest.

Schilling briefed Gov. Lincoln Chafee and the state’s Economic Development Corp. board in a closed-door session.

Following the meeting, Chafee would not say what Schilling is seeking from the state. The governor said the question before state economic development officials was, “How do we avoid throwing good money after bad?”

Schilling declined to answer questions, saying only: “My priority right now is to get back to my team.” According to Baseball-Reference.com, Schilling made nearly $115 million from his playing career.

Concerns about 38 Studios’ financial health arose when it failed to make a scheduled $1.1 million payment to the Economic Development Corp. on May 1.

The business was lured from Massachusetts in 2010 after Rhode Island offered a $75 million loan guarantee that state officials said would help bring hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue.

No action was taken on 38 Studios’ new request. The board’s next scheduled meeting is Monday.

Chafee, an independent, has vowed to do “everything possible” to assist the company, named after Schilling’s number as a player, and prevent the state from having to pay the company’s debts.

“The most important thing, going forward, is the viability of the company,” said Chafee Tuesday. “We’re looking at everything.”

House Speaker Gordon Fox said he began hearing “inklings” about trouble at the company a few weeks ago, but still doesn’t have the necessary information to gauge the company’s health.

Under the terms of the loan guarantee agreement, 38 Studios promised to bring to Rhode Island a total of 450 jobs over three years. An outside monitor was to follow the company’s progress.

The company released its much-anticipated first game, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” to strong reviews in February.

Chafee and others criticized the loan guarantee at the time it was offered, saying it was putting taxpayer money at risk to help a company with no track record of success. During his run for governor, Chafee called it “one of the biggest risks I’ve ever seen.”

Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Keith Stokes said at the time the board determined the loan agreement was a calculated risk well worth taking. Stokes said the board performed months of due diligence in analyzing the video game sector and 38 Studios and crafted a loan guarantee agreement that included strict performance benchmarks.

He said the agreement went “to great lengths to safeguard taxpayers and ensure economic performance.”

A 2010 memorandum prepared by the state says company was working in Massachusetts on developing a massively multiplayer online game dubbed “Copernicus.”

The initial target market size for the game was estimated to be $3.2 billion in net revenue in North America and $1.6 billion in western Europe, the memo said.

Still, the memo acknowledges that the video game business, is “highly speculative and inherently risky.” It says the market for massively multiplayer online games is dominated by “World of Warcraft,” but that some of its competitors have been “commercially successful” despite being unable to match the game’s subscription figures.

Four months before economic development officials held a bond sale to raise money for 38 Studios, the company took out a revolving line of credit of $2.5 million to support its operations, the memo said.

The credit line was to be capped at $4 million and was secured by Schilling, the memo said. The company anticipated that all or a portion of the bond proceeds would be used to pay down the outstanding amounts on the credit line.

Two months later, the company took out a 120-day credit line worth $3 million that was expected to be paid down with the bond proceeds, the memo said.

Under legislation passed in 2010, the General Assembly created a program giving the economic development agency the authority to back up to $125 million in loans to businesses promising to create permanent, full-time jobs.

The loans would come from lending institutions, not the state, but Rhode Island would agree to repay the lender if a company defaulted.

The corporation issued bonds in 2010 and set aside the proceeds of the bond sale for 38 Studios to tap when the company met financial milestones.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

In the past year, similar stories have included a quadriplegic man in Pennsylvania who made a robotic arm give a high-five and stroke his girlfriend’s hand, and a partially paralyzed man who remotely controlled a small robot that scooted around in a Swiss lab.

It’s startling stuff. But will the experimental brain-controlled technology ever help paralyzed people in everyday life?

Experts in the technology and in rehabilitation medicine say they are optimistic that it will, once technology improves and the cost comes down.

The latest report, which was published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, comes from scientists at Brown University, the Providence VA Medical Center in Rhode Island, Harvard Medical School and elsewhere.

It describes how two people who lost use of their arms and legs because of strokes years before were able to control free-standing robotic arms with the help of a tiny sensor implanted in their brains.

The sensor, about the size of a baby aspirin, eavesdropped on the electrical activity of a few dozen brain cells as the study participants imagined moving their arms. The chip then sent signals to a computer, which translated them into commands to the robotic arms.

The computer was taught how to interpret the brain patterns through practice as the paralyzed participants watched the robot arms move and then imagined that they were moving their own arms the same way.

In one task to test the system, the two participants tried to direct a robot arm to reach out and squeeze foam balls in front of them. The man succeeded in less than half his attempts, but the woman was able to do it about 60 percent of the time.

The woman, Cathy Hutchinson of East Taunton, Mass., was also asked to use the arm to drink the coffee. That involved picking up the bottle, bringing it to her lips so she could sip from a straw, and putting the bottle back on the table. She succeeded in four out of six tries with the arm, which was specially programmed for this task.

“The smile on her face … was just a wonderful thing to see,” said Dr. Leigh Hochberg, a researcher with the Providence VA, Brown and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Researchers said in Hutchinson’s case that the results show that the implanted chip still worked after five years, and that her brain was still generating useful signals even though she hadn’t moved her arms in almost 15 years.

The ultimate goal, researchers said, is an implanted device that would reactivate a person’s own paralyzedlimbs. Another goal is to operate high-tech prostheses for amputees.

Andrew Schwartz, who is doing similar research at the University of Pittsburgh, said the coffee-sipping was encouraging because it represents an everyday task a paralyzed person might want to do. “I think it’s showing this technology has therapeutic potential,” he said.

“The field is rapidly advancing, and I think this offers hope for people who are paralyzed,” Schwartz said. “The types of movements we’ll be able to do are getting more and more sophisticated at a rapid pace.”

But he and others said the technology faces a number of hurdles to widespread use, like reducing its high cost, making it more reliable, and refining the technology. For example, the brain implant now sends signals out with a wire through the skull, and researchers want to develop a completely implanted version that communicates wirelessly.

Another step toward wide use will be enticing companies to invest the money to make commercial products. Just when that might happen is an open question, Schwartz said, but it could be in the next couple of years, with prostheses or free-standing robotic arms on the market a few years after that.

Dr. Bruce Gans, executive vice president and chief medical officer of the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J., said the technology is too expensive now for widespread use. But if brain control finds uses outside the relatively limited market of paralyzed people, that might drive improvements in technology and dramatically reduce the cost, he said.

Gans suggested other uses might involve industrial applications; neuroscientist Andrew Jackson of Newcastle University in England suggested it might be in rehabilitation for victims of less severe strokes.

At some point, Gans said, “It may even turn into something that allows a person with paralysis to go back to work, so it becomes a tool a vocational rehabilitation program could eventually endorse and support.”

Dr. Preeti Raghavan, an expert in physical rehabilitation of the arms and hands at the New York University Langone Medical Center, noted that the cost of the technology would be weighed against the significant expense of caregiving for paralyzed people who can’t do much on their own.

She said she expected that within a decade, many people may be using the technology to control their own limbs or robotic arms. Gans said that wider use of robotic arms might be feasible within five years, but that reactivating paralyzed limbs could be decades away.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Applications will be taken through May 29.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Brian McNamee testified that Roger Clemens’ lawyers pushed him from reluctant turncoat to angry accuser when they allowed details of McNamee’s oldest son’s illness to be revealed during a nationally televised news conference.

“I was furious,” McNamee told the jury in Clemens’ perjury trial Tuesday. As soon as he could, McNamee said, he went to his house and retrieved the medical waste he had collected from injecting Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs. McNamee turned the materials over to his lawyers, who in turn gave the materials to federal law enforcement officials. It’s now the physical evidence prosecutors are using to try to prove Clemens lied to Congress in 2008 when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone.

The prosecution is expected to show that the evidence contains Clemens’ DNA. The defense has called the evidence “garbage” and is expected to claim it is tainted.

McNamee claimed that he kept the evidence a secret– even when he was telling investigators about injections he gave to Clemens– in an attempt to minimize the impact on the seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher.

“I didn’t want to hurt the guy,” McNamee said. “I knew that would hurt Roger even more.”

But in a televised 2008 news conference, when Clemens’ lawyers played a taped phone call between the two men that contained references to medical details about McNamee’s oldest son, who was suffering from diabetes, McNamee turned against his friend and client.

“My son was 11 years old at the time,” he said, as Clemens stared from across the room. “It’s beyond inhuman to do that to a kid.”

McNamee said he turned over the evidence against Clemens “because of what he did to my son.”

McNamee, Clemens’ longtime strength coach, testified Tuesday for a second day, pushing his running total to roughly 10 hours on the stand, including the first few moments of what portends to be a grueling cross-examination that will continue Wednesday.

The broad outline was familiar from McNamee’s previous statements: He said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone in 2000 and with steroids in 2001, and he gave Debbie Clemens a shot of HGH in 2003. That was in addition to the testimony he gave Monday, when he spoke of a series of steroids injections he said he gave Clemens in 1998, when he was pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.

He went on to describe his marital problems, money problems and the legal mess that came about when he got entangled in the federal drugs-in-sports investigation that led him to become a reluctant but cooperating witness against one of the most successful baseball players of all time.

“It destroyed me. It killed me. … I put myself in a situation where I had to do this,” McNamee said. “I had to tell the truth.”

Some details were new and fascinating, especially hearing them spoken out loud in a courtroom with Clemens sitting a few feet away. At one dramatic point, the adversaries were actually both standing, when McNamee rose from the witness stand and identified Clemens with an outstretched left arm: “He’s right there with the brown tie.” Clemens looked straight at McNamee, stone-faced and silent.

When McNamee left the courtroom so the parties could discuss an issue out of earshot of him and the jury, Clemens turned and glared at his former coach all the way to the door _ a fierce stare he used to deliver from a major league pitcher’s mound.

McNamee is far and away the government’s key witness, the only person who will claim firsthand knowledge of Clemens taking performance-enhancing drugs.

McNamee again gave vivid and colorful details about injections. He appeared less nervous than he did on Monday, and his voice rose as he spoke of marital problems that he said developed in part because of his relationship with Clemens.

The time away from home training Clemens meant McNamee didn’t have time to take his wife and children to water parks and other family outings, he said, and his wife was concerned that her husband would become a fall guy at Clemens’ expense.

“You’re going to go down! You’re going to go down! You’re going to go down!” Brian McNamee said his wife, Eileen, told him in the “middle of a battle royal” argument.

McNamee said he thought “she might be right,” so he kept the needle, swab and cotton ball from a steroids injection he said took place in Clemens’ New York City apartment in 2001. He said he put the items in a beer can that he salvaged from the recycling bin in Clemens’ kitchen _ a means of protecting the used needle from accidently stabbing himself _ and brought the can home. It was put in a FedEx box and kept in the house, an effort to “keep the home front nice and smooth,” McNamee said.

Years later, McNamee and his wife began divorce proceedings, which are ongoing.

In his 2008 congressional deposition, McNamee said he also kept the leftover waste from the injection because he distrusted Clemens “to a degree.” He didn’t mention that reason on the stand Tuesday.

The defense is expected to attack McNamee’s integrity and motives, and Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin offered a brief taste during 10 minutes of cross-examination before the trial recessed for the day. Hardin suggested that McNamee purposefully wore a tie with a logo to a grand jury appearance in 2010 to advertise a company for financial gain.

McNamee said he has no financial interest in the company and that he wore the tie because his other one was wrinkled.
The trial is in its fifth week, and the tedium cost the proceedings another member of the jury Tuesday. Juror No. 1, a supermarket cashier, became the second member of the panel to be dismissed for sleeping. Her departure leaves 14 jurors, including two alternates.
___
AP Sports Writer Joseph White contributed to this report.
___
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(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Police say 30-year-old Tomas Rivera was a passenger in a vehicle driven by 40-year-old Danny Gonzalez.  The other passenger, Luis Colon Ortega,  is charged with shooting Gonzalez in the head as he was driving.    Police say the car crashed and both Rivera and Ortega fled.  Ortega,  suspected of pulling the trigger,  is held as a fugitive from justice in Puerto Rico.  Rivera is charged with murder conspiracy for his role in the case.

Playing for the sixth time in 11 days, Los Angeles gave San Antonio its toughest first half of the playoffs before fading fast. And unlike their stunning Game 1 comeback at Memphis in the first round, the Clippers didn’t have the wind this time.

Manu Ginobili added 22 points for the Spurs, who’ve won 15 in a row. It’s the longest winning streak sustained in the NBA playoffs since the 2004 Spurs won 17 straight.

“It’s the playoffs. It’s going to be physical. We knew that coming in,” Duncan said. “We just expected to attack the basket as much as possible.”

Eric Bledsoe led the Clippers with 23 points.

Game 2 is Thursday night.

That gives the beat-up and banged-up Clippers one full day of rest — which is all the time they’ve had to recover between games for the past week and a half.

Los Angeles couldn’t even fly home first after knocking out the Grizzlies on Sunday in Game 7 of a grueling series that had the Clippers hobbling next to Texas. Blake Griffin scored 15 points in 28 minutes a day after estimating his sprained left knee had him feeling “80 percent” at best.

The Clippers said the injury is bad enough that their All-Star and leading scorer might be missing up to two weeks if this were the regular season. But unlike in Game 7 on Sunday, Griffin didn’t take a seat in the fourth quarter until the Spurs were safely ahead in the final minutes.

Rookie Kawhi Leonard added 16 points, hitting all three of his 3s, and Danny Green added 15 points for the Spurs.

The marquee matchup of the series — All-Star point guards Tony Parker and Chris Paul — was a fizzle. Paul, who ended the first round with an aching hip, scored just six points and didn’t make a single basket in the second half. Parker had seven points and 11 assists.

Caron Butler scored 15 points and Nick Young had 13 for the Clippers. Los Angeles cut the deficit to single digits with a 10-burst in the fourth quarter before San Antonio, which hasn’t lost in a month, ran away with its 11th double-digit victory during this dominating winning streak.

The Clippers didn’t even need San Antonio’s help getting more bumps and bruises: Mo Williams, already playing with his sore right fingers taped, took a lump on the head when teammate Reggie Evans kicked him with an errant foot after Williams fell on his back in the lane.

Williams wobbled when he tried standing, sat back down, and the Clippers burned a timeout. He never left the game, but the Clippers weren’t getting any fresher.

Parker, meanwhile, finally felt the hard knocks and slow-him-down shoves that Utah repeatedly promised but never delivered in the first round. Sometimes, the All-Star looked in vain to officials when the whistle didn’t blow. When that didn’t work once in the first quarter, he kept jabbering about a no-call on the last possession while lining up to shoot free throws on the current one.

Popovich, pacing and sensing an impending technical foul, silenced his leading scorer.

“Tony!” Popovich snapped from the sideline. “Shoot!”

Parker waved off the NBA Coach of the Year — he was under control. But his frustrations didn’t end there. He was 1 for 9 despite playing 38 minutes, scoring all but two of his points at the foul line.

Notes: Before this became the deepest Spurs team yet under Popovich, Butler said he came so close to signing with the Spurs after the lockout that he canceled a flight to San Antonio when the Clippers counteroffered. “They made a great pitch,” Butler said. …Leonard finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting, the highest finish for a Spurs player since Ginobili finished fourth in 2003. Said Popovich: “He’s done a good enough job to make me trust him to be in the starting lineup. I’m happy for him.”

David West scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, George Hill added 15 and the Indiana Pacers took home-court advantage away from Miami by beating the Heat 78-75 in Game 2 of the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday night.

LeBron James scored 28 points for Miami and Dwyane Wade finished with 24, but both missed big chances for the Heat late. James missed two free throws with 54.3 seconds left and Miami down one, and Wade was short on a layup that would have tied the game with 16 seconds remaining.

Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer to tie bounced away on the final play, and the series was tied 1-1.

Danny Granger scored 11 points and Paul George added 10 for Indiana, which took advantage of Heat forward Chris Bosh’s absence and outrebounded Miami 50-40.

Game 3 is Thursday in Indianapolis.

James had a chance to give Miami the lead with 1:22 left, but his shot was blocked from behind by George, who was fouled two seconds later. He missed both free throws, keeping the Indiana lead at 76-75. And after Wade missed a jumper, James was fouled by Granger — his sixth — battling for the rebound with 54.3 seconds remaining.

James couldn’t connect on either, and the Heat didn’t score again.

Bosh is expected to miss the rest of the series with a strained abdominal muscle. Without him, James and Wade combined for 52 points — and no other Miami player scored more than five.

A dreadful third quarter by Miami — 3 for 17 shooting — allowed Indiana to lead by as much as 11, before the emotions picked up considerably in the fourth.

Wade was steaming when he missed a shot after trying to create contact with Indiana’s Dahntay Jones with 9:53 left. As Wade argued, Jones went the other way and set Leandro Barbosa up for a score that put the Pacers up 63-56.

Chalmers turned the ball over on the next possession, and as the Pacers took off for what set up as a 2-on-none break, Wade caught Darren Collison from behind and knocked him over. A flagrant-1 was called, Collison hit both free throws, the Indiana lead was nine and tensions were suddenly high.

It all seemed to spark Miami.

The Heat scored the next six points, James — who got hit in the head by Granger with 7:25 left, sparking a bit of shoving that led to double-technicals given to both players — added a putback off an offensive rebound and Wade did the same about a minute later, getting Miami within 69-66 with 5:57 left.

James missed a free throw that would have tied it with 4:30 remaining, but after George got the rebound, James dove in to create a jump ball situation. The MVP easily won the tap, sending it to Wade, whose bank shot over West put Miami back on top 72-71.

Barbosa scored on the next Indiana possession. The Pacers weren’t rattled, and left celebrating minutes later.

Indiana scored 16 points in the first seven minutes of the first half, then scored 17 in the next 17 minutes. And even after a drought like that, Miami’s lead was only 38-33 at the break.

George missed four shots in a 60-second span early on, setting the tone for an icy-cold half by the Pacers. Indiana was up 16-9 midway through the first when the Heat went to a smaller lineup that paid quick dividends.

Three baskets at the rim — a layup by Wade, then James firing a pass to Turiaf for a dunk, followed by a Wade touch pass to James for another slam — erased most of the early deficit, and defense did the rest. Indiana missed 24 of 29 shots in one stretch, and after Hibbert used his size advantage to get three shots in the first 1:11, he only got two attempts over the rest of the half.

Miami was 0-for-7 on shots that would have pushed its margin to double digits in the first half, continuing a trend from Game 1. Neither team ever led the series opener by more than nine either, and when George made a 3-pointer with 6:09 left in the third, the Pacers had pulled into a 46-all tie. A steal and dunk by George followed on the next possession, putting the Pacers back on top.

Before long, the Pacers had that first 10-point edge of the series. Collison’s jumper with 1:29 left in the third put Indiana up 59-49, and the margin was 61-52 entering the fourth.

For as bad as Indiana’s first half was offensively, Miami’s third quarter was equally dreadful — the Heat were outscored 28-14 on 3-for-17 shooting in the period, the third-worst shooting effort by the reigning East champs in any quarter this season.

Lillie Holliday’s site, www.ostmemorialfund.com , is set up as a memorial for her son, Omar Thornton and solicits donations to fight institutionalized racism.

“As a mother, I do not want any other mother to experience what I did in losing a son as a result of the impact of racism in the workplace,” she says in a statement on the website.

The site provides a link for donations, saying they will “assist in shaping a safer environment for our families and loved ones.”

Thornton, who was black, shot 10 people, eight of them fatally, within three minutes on Aug. 3, 2010 at the Hartford Distributors warehouse, before killing himself in what police said was the worst mass shooting ever in Connecticut.

Immediately before the shootings, Thornton was fired for stealing beer. Before killing himself, he called 911 and told an operator: “This place is a racist place. They’re treating me bad over here. And treat all other black employees bad over here, too. So I took it to my own hands and handled the problem. I wish I could have got more of the people.”

A police investigation concluded there was no evidence to support the claim of racism.

Claudette Carveth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Consumer Protection, said Wednesday that her department became aware of the website after details about it were reported on WTIC-TV.

She said they have no record of that memorial fund being registered with the state and are investigating to determine if it is legal.

Christopher Roos, a manager of the Teamsters local that represents workers at the warehouse, said he and other employees are upset by the site, which he said has opened even more wounds.

“It’s basically her insinuating that these guys were racist, the company was racist and that the Teamsters are racist, and that isn’t true,” he said. “If she wants to have a fund for her son, that’s fine, but don’t say it’s for racism, because that isn’t why he did it. He did it because he had psychological problems.”

Holliday, who did not immediately return phone calls and emails from The Associated Press, told WTIC-TV she should be allowed to grieve in her own way.

“That is my son. That’s my baby. And as his mother, I should have the right to do whatever I want to do in my son’s honor,” she said. “And I don’t know why would that make them upset.”

Holliday also said that she plans to use the funds donated to the website to conduct an independent investigation of the shootings.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Los Angeles dominated the opener and was even better in Game 2, withstanding Phoenix’s initial push and string of penalties for a 2-0 series lead.

Dwight King scored his third goal in two games and Quick tied a team record with his third career playoff shutout to give the Kings a dominating lead heading into Game 3 Thursday night in Los Angeles.

The Kings have won nine straight road playoff games in two seasons, matching the NHL record set by the New York Islanders from 1982-83.

The Islanders won the Stanley Cup both of those years.

Quick matched Felix Potvin’s team record for playoff shutouts and Carter finished off his first career playoff hat trick in the third period, securing the Kings’ seventh straight win overall.

The Coyotes played better early and fell apart late, becoming frustrated after being unable to contain the more-skilled Kings.

Phoenix was hit with a string of penalties starting late in the second period, including a game misconduct to captain Shane Doan for boarding Kings center Trevor Lewis. Martin Hanzal also received one for boarding Dustin Brown in the third period and the Coyotes had 13 penalties for 56 minutes — most coming after the final 5 minutes of the second period.

The Kings won the opener 4-2 by outplaying and outhustling Phoenix.

Knowing Phoenix’s makeup, the Kings figured to get more of a pushback in Game 2.

And the Coyotes were much more aggressive early, winning some of the individual battles they lost in Game 1 while creating some decent scoring chances.

Even with all of Phoenix’s hard work and a couple of line changes by coach Dave Tippett, the Kings still managed to score first. King got it, redirecting a shot by Drew Doughty that beat Mike Smith stick side late in the period.

Hard work in the corners by Mike Richards set up Los Angeles’ second goal, by Carter. He muscled the puck past Smith’s glove side as he was going down on a feed from Dustin Penner that made it 2-0 early in the second period.

“I’ve been working hard in practice to get my game where I wanted it,” Carter said.

Then things completely unraveled for the Coyotes.

Doan, who was suspended three games for elbowing earlier in the season, was given a game misconduct and a five-minute boarding penalty for ramming Lewis from behind. Defenseman Keith Yandle was already in the penalty box and Daymond Langkow joined him after a slashing penalty, giving Los Angeles a two-man advantage for more than 2 minutes.

Brown was sent off for diving on a slash by Smith, but that didn’t bother the Kings. Carter scored his second a few seconds later on a redirect of a shot by Anze Kopitar, putting Los Angeles up 3-0.

“It’s no secret we been struggling a bit with the power play and to get some goals will give us confidence on it,” Carter said. “We have some pretty skilled guys out there on the power play.”

With the Coyotes racking up penalties seemingly on every shift, Carter finished them off with his fifth career hat trick, punching in a rebound with the Kings on a two-man advantage after Hanzal’s hit on Brown.

Notes: The Kings were without D Colin Fraser, out of the lineup attending to a family matter. … Coyotes LW Ray Whitney played in his 100th career playoff game. D Michael Stone played his first with Adrian Aucoin still out of the lineup and David Schlemko still not fully healthy. … Rocker Alice Cooper, who lives in the Valley, attended the game. … The last team to win seven straight road playoff games in one season was Chicago in 2010.

“We received a call close to six this morning that the buses had been vandalized,” Ortiz said. “We got a call from the manager of the garage. My understanding was mud put into tanks and also some water into some of the buses.”

State police are investigating. Ortiz hopes classes can resume as normal Thursday, but isn’t sure. She says surrounding towns are helping with bus aid.

BALTIMORE (AP) _ Wei-Yin Chen pitched seven innings of four-hit
ball, Adam Jones homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat CC Sabathia
and the New York Yankees 5-2 Tuesday night.
J.J. Hardy drove in two runs for Baltimore, which earned a split
of the two-game series and improved to 1-4 at home against New
York.

Chen (4-0) allowed two runs, struck out four and walked two in a
masterful performance. Making his seventh major league start, the
26-year-old Taiwan native took a shutout into the seventh inning
and retired 10 straight before Robinson Cano’s leadoff double.

Two outs later, Curtis Granderson hit his 13th home run, an
opposite-field drive that barely cleared the 7-foot wall in left _
a fan wearing a Yankees jacket knocked his glove into the mitt of
rookie outfielder Xavier Avery.

It was only the third homer yielded by Chen in 44 innings this
year, and it got the Yankees to 4-2.

Chen came out to the mound for the top of the eighth but was
pulled by manager Buck Showalter when the Yankees sent up a pinch
hitter. That enabled the Orioles fans in the crowd of 24,055 to
give the left-hander a hearty standing ovation.

Pedro Strop got Cano to hit into an inning-ending double play in
the eighth, and Jim Johnson got three outs for his 12th save in 12
tries.

Chen outpitched Sabathia (5-1), who came in 16-2 lifetime
against the Orioles, including 10-1 at Camden Yards. The husky
right-hander was seeking to go 6-0 for the first time in his
career, but instead absorbed his first loss in Baltimore since
April 2009

Sabathia gave up four runs, eight hits and a season-high four
walks in six innings. He had pitched eight innings in each of his
previous four starts.

Jones gave Baltimore a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his
team-high 11th home run, the first surrendered by Sabathia since
April 29. Eight of Jones’ homers have either tied the game or put
the Orioles in front.

Baltimore loaded the bases with no outs in the third but got
only one run, on a 6-4-3 double-play grounder by Hardy. Hardy
didn’t receive credit for an RBI on that one, but in the fifth
inning he lined a run-scoring double to left following a walk to
Avery. The Orioles then put runners at the corners with two outs
before Matt Wieters popped out.

In the sixth, Chen showed his deftness in the field by stabbing
a liner by Nick Swisher at eye level for the final out.

Baltimore went up 4-0 in the bottom half during an inning in
which only one ball got out of the infield. Bill Hall walked and
Steve Tolleson singled to right before infield hits by Robert
Andino and Hardy produced a run. Hardy’s RBI single behind second
base handcuffed Cano, whose high throw to shortstop Derek Jeter was
too late to force Andino.

Granderson’s homer halved the lead, but the Orioles made it 5-2
in the bottom of the seventh when Jones singled, stole second,
advanced on a grounder and scored on a wild pitch.

NOTES: Baltimore went 4-5 on a homestand against Texas, Tampa
Bay and New York. … The Yankees placed RHP David Robertson
(strained left oblique) on the 15-day DL and recalled RHP Cody
Eppley. … Orioles RHP Tommy Hunter takes the mound for the
Orioles on Wednesday for the opener of a two-game series in Kansas
City. The Yankees head to Toronto for a two-game swing beginning
Wednesday night. … Doug O’Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner
I’ll Have Another, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He’s in
town for the Preakness, which will be run Saturday.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

NEW YORK (AP) _ Zack Greinke overcame his road woes and ran his
scoreless streak to 15 innings, Travis Ishikawa homered twice and
drove in a career-high five runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat
the New York Mets 8-0 Tuesday night for a split of the two-game
series.

Greinke (4-1) pitched five-hit ball for seven dominant innings.
He pitched eight innings in his start last Wednesday but
Milwaukee’s bullpen was beaten by the Reds.

Ishikawa led off the fifth with his third homer of the year and
connected for a three-run shot in the sixth, both drives coming on
the first pitch of the at-bat against Dillon Gee (2-3). He also had
a run-scoring groundout in the second inning as fog started rolling
in, a misty haze that hung over the outfield for the remainder of
the game.

Rickie Weeks homered to deep left in the seventh inning,
snapping an 0-for-21 skid. Mets reliever D.J. Carrasco hit NL MVP
Ryan Braun on the next pitch and was immediately ejected by plate
umpire Gary Darling.

Mets manager Terry Collins pinch hit for David Wright leading
off the bottom half. Wright had two of the Mets’ hits off Greinke,
a double and a broken-bat single in the fourth inning _ a shard of
wood whirling past Greinke.

Tim Dillard worked the eighth and John Axford gave up a hit in
the ninth while finishing the six-hitter. It was Axford’s first
appearance since his string of 49 straight saves ended Friday night
and he left a note of apology to the media in the clubhouse when he
went to be with his wife, who was in labor.

The Mets had a chance to move six games over .500 for the first
time since July 18, 2010, but managed little against Greinke.
The Mets struck out seven times and did not make an out to the
outfield against Greinke. Only Wright and pinch-hitter Mike Baxter,
who doubled to left in the sixth, reached second.

Greinke came in 30-46 away from home _ he is 80-74 overall. His
only poor start this season came at the Chicago Cubs, when he gave
up eight runs.

The Brewers gave Greinke an early lead on Ishikawa’s groundout
and Cesar Izturis’ RBI single. Ishikawa homered off the “Wise
Snacks” sign above the New York bullpen in right-center on the
first pitch of the fifth inning.

Braun and Aramis Ramirez singled off Gee to start the sixth.
Jonathan Lucroy had a one-out RBI single before Ishikawa hit
another long ball for the first multihomer game of his career.
Ishikawa added a third hit in the eighth, an infield single.
Weeks returned to the Brewers’ starting lineup after being
limited to one pinch-hit at-bat in three games because of a bruised
hand. He struck out twice and grounded to shortstop before getting
his first hit since May 6.

Gee was very upset after giving up 10 hits and four runs in 5
2-3 innings in his previous start. This one was worse. He matched a
season high by allowing seven runs and yielded eight hits in 5 1-3
innings. Gee has not won in three starts.

NOTES: Brewers OF Carlos Gomez (strained left hamstring) is set
to begin a rehab assignment with Class-A Wisconsin on Wednesday.
Manager Ron Roenicke said he should be back Sunday. … Major
League Baseball will officially name the Mets host of the 2013
All-Star game at Citi Field with a ceremony at City Hall on
Wednesday morning. … Mets 2B Daniel Murphy singled in the fifth
to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Beckett (3-4) scattered four hits over seven innings before
being pulled as a steady rain started to fall late in the
afternoon.

Beckett was celebrating his 32nd birthday and could not have
atoned better for his previous start, when he was pulled after
allowing seven runs in 2 1-3 innings. Boston fans already were
seething that day over news Beckett had played golf the week before
after being scratched from a start because of back stiffness.

David Ortiz hit his eighth homer and scored a run after putting
down a surprise bunt to lead off the fifth inning. Mike Aviles hit
a pair of doubles and drove in two runs as Boston completed a 5-1
homestand.

The Mariners fell to 1-4 on a 10-game road trip and were shut
out for the fifth time this season. Blake Beavan (1-4) went four
innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks.
Ichiro Suzuki was the only Seattle player with more than one
hit, singling twice.

Beckett didn’t give the fans a much of a chance to boo him in
this outing. He started the game by striking out Dustin Ackley,
picked up two more strikeouts in the second and then struck out the
side in the third with the game still scoreless.

Ortiz changed that quickly with a solo shot into the Red Sox
bullpen on a 3-2 pitch in the third.

Boston added two more runs in the fourth when Cody Ross walked
with one out, Daniel Nava singled and Aviles hit an RBI double.
Nava scored on Ryan Sweeney’s groundout.

Ortiz caught the Mariners _ and everybody else at Fenway Park _
off-guard when he laid a bunt down the third-base line for a
leadoff single in the fifth. Seattle’s infield was shifted toward
the right and nobody had a chance to field the ball in time.
Ortiz advanced to second when Adrian Gonzalez hit a grounder and
shortstop Munenori Kawasaki pulled his foot off second base before
throwing out Gonzalez at first. Ortiz took third on Charlie
Furbush’s wild pitch to Will Middlebrooks, who followed with a line
drive single.

NOTES: Retired knuckleballer Tim Wakefield threw out the
ceremonial first pitch after the Red Sox honored him with a pregame
ceremony for his 17 seasons in Boston. Wakefield’s No. 49 was also
cut into the grass in center field. … Justin Smoak hit a high
shot to the right-field corner that was reviewed after 1B umpire
Eric Cooper called it a foul ball. Seattle manager Eric Wedge came
out to question it and the umpire crew went inside to review. After
a few minutes, it was still a foul ball. … Beckett’s previous
this season eight strikeouts on April 29 against the White Sox. …
Seattle continues its long road trip Wednesday, opening a two-game
series in Cleveland followed by three games at Colorado in
interleague play.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Amid his year-by-year narrative of his complex relationship with Roger Clemens and performance-enhancing drugs,

Brian McNamee weaved in a tale of two wives. He said it was his own wife who nagged him into keeping evidence that has become crucial in the trial of the storied pitcher, and it was a request from Clemens’ wife that led to what McNamee  called a “creepy” injection scene in a bathroom.

Clemens’ longtime strength coach testified Tuesday for a second day in the perjury trial, pushing his running total to roughly 10 hours on the stand, including the first few moments of what portends to be a grueling cross-examination that will continue Wednesday. The broad outline was familiar from McNamee’s previous statements: He said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone in 2000 and with steroids in 2001, and he gave Debbie Clemens a shot of HGH in 2003. That was in addition to the testimony he gave Monday, when he spoke of a series of steroids injections he said he gave Clemens in 1998, when he was pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.

He went on to describe his marital problems, money problems and the legal mess that came about when he got entangled in the federal drugs-in-sports investigation that led him to become a reluctant but cooperating witness against one of the most successful baseball players of all time.

“It destroyed me. It killed me. … I put myself in a situation where I had to do this,” McNamee said. “I had to tell the truth.”

Some details were new and fascinating, especially hearing them spoken out loud in a courtroom with Clemens sitting a few feet away. At one dramatic point, the adversaries were actually both standing, when McNamee rose from the witness stand and identified Clemens with an outstretched left arm: “He’s right there with the brown tie.” Clemens looked straight at McNamee, stone-faced and silent.

McNamee is far and away the government’s key witness, the only person who will claim firsthand knowledge of Clemens taking performance-enhancing drugs. The former baseball great is accused of lying when he told Congress in 2008 that he had never used steroids or HGH.

McNamee again gave vivid and colorful details about injections.

He appeared less nervous than he did on Monday, and his voice rose as he spoke of marital problems that he said developed in part because of his relationship with Clemens. The time away from home training Clemens meant McNamee didn’t have time to take his wife and children to water parks and other family outings, he said, and his wife was concerned that her husband would become a fall guy at Clemens’ expense.

“You’re going to go down! You’re going to go down! You’re going to go down!” Brian McNamee said his wife, Eileen, told him in the “middle of a battle royale” argument.

McNamee said he thought “she might be right,” so he kept the needle, swab and cotton ball from a steroids injection he said took place in Clemens’ New York City apartment in 2001. He said he put the items in a beer can that he salvaged from the recycling bin in Clemens’ kitchen– a means of protecting the used needle from accidently stabbing himself– and brought the can home. It was put in a FedEx box and kept in the house, an effort to “keep the home front nice and smooth,” McNamee said.

Years later, McNamee and his wife began divorce proceedings, which are ongoing.

In his 2008 congressional deposition, McNamee said he also kept the leftover waste from the injection because he distrusted Clemens “to a degree.” He didn’t mention that reason on the stand Tuesday.

McNamee said he kept the evidence a secret– even when he was telling investigators about injections he gave pro baseball players  –because he was hoping he could minimize the impact on Clemens. It wasn’t until 2008, after McNamee was angered by a news conference at which Clemens’ lawyers played a taped phone call that contained medical details about McNamee’s oldest son, that McNamee retrieved his collection of medical waste and turned it in.

It was “beyond inhuman to do that to a kid,” McNamee said.

“He had nothing to do with steroids in baseball, my son.”

The prosecution is expected to show that the evidence contains Clemens’ DNA. The defense has called the evidence “garbage” and is expected to claim it is tainted.

McNamee said Debbie Clemens, whom McNamee described as a “fitness enthusiast,” started asking about HGH during one of McNamee’s regular multiday visits to train Clemens at the pitcher’s home in Houston in 2003. On a later visit, he said Roger Clemens summoned him to the couple’s master bathroom, where McNamee said Clemens’ wife lifted her shirt so she could receive an injection near the belly button.

McNamee said he felt “creepy” because of the setting and because it was his friend’s wife. According to McNamee, Debbie looked at her husband, and said, “I can’t believe you’re going to let him do this to me,” and Clemens responded,

“He injects me, why can’t he inject you?”

Later in 2003, Roger and Debbie Clemens appeared together in a photo for the annual swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.

While McNamee said Clemens was present for the injection, Clemens has said he was not. One of the false charges Clemens is alleged to have made to Congress is that McNamee injected his wife without Clemens’ prior knowledge or approval.

McNamee also frustrated the Clemens team by implying several times that he supplied Clemens’ friend and ex-teammate Andy Pettitte with performance-enhancing drugs, a fact that the judge has ruled can’t be uttered before the jurors because it might prejudice them against Clemens. While the jury was on a break, defense lawyer Michael Attanasio said McNamee’s references to Pettitte were “shameful” and asked that it “stop and stop right now.”

“He needs to be told again,” U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said, “not to make any reference to Mr. Pettitte.”

The defense is expected to attack McNamee’s integrity and motives, and Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin offered a brief taste during 10 minutes of cross-examination before the trial recessed for the day. Hardin suggested that McNamee purposefully wore a tie with a logo to a grand jury appearance in 2010 to advertise a company for financial gain.

McNamee said he has no financial interest in the company and that he wore the tie because his other one was wrinkled.

“I needed a tie,” McNamee said matter of factly.

Even before Hardin got his turn, the government tried to pre-empt such questions by having its witness refer to several
less-than-savory incidents. McNamee referenced false statements he gave to police during an investigation in Florida in 2001, and he spoke of financial worries resulting from a failed investment in a proposed new gym and his inability to find steady work after his name became publicly linked to steroids and HGH.

“I couldn’t get a job. I have to work for myself,” McNamee
said. “I blame myself.”

The trial is in its fifth week, and the tedium cost the proceedings another member of the jury Tuesday. Juror No. 1, a
supermarket cashier, became the second member of the panel to be dismissed for sleeping. Her departure leaves 14 jurors, including two alternates.
___
Associated Press writer Frederic J. Frommer contributed to this
report.
___
Follow Fred Frommer at http://twitter.com/ffrommer
Follow Joseph White at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Prosecutors say 47-year-old Moses Antonio Shepard was sentenced Monday to a 100-month prison term.

Shepard was convicted in January by a U.S. District Court jury in Tucson.

Authorities say Shepard pursued a woman for more than 18 years after meeting her at a New York City running club in 1992.

The victim repeatedly told Shepard she wasn’t interested in him and asked him to leave her alone.

Authorities say Shepard continuously contacted the woman by phone, mail and email and tracked her down as she moved across the country.

They say Shepard traveled to the woman’s Connecticut home, school and workplace and sent her some threatening emails in 2009 to 2010.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)