Tigers

Tigers players are angry at Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr. for making an obscene gesture and yelling an obscenity toward their dugout after hitting a game- clinching homer in the eighth inning of Seattle's 9-5 win Sunday. As he neared home plate, Griffey looked into the Tigers' dugout and grabbed his crotch. Then, still looking at the dugout, he yelled a two-word obscenity. "It was the most classless thing I've seen on a field," said Tigers catcher Chad Kreuter. ESPN's cameras were following Griffey in his home-run trot and showed the incident live.

The Marple Newtown Tigers finished their regular season in high fashion when they beat the Strath Haven Panthers, 61-50, at home Tuesday night. The win brought the Tigers' overall season record to an even 12-12 and their Central League record to 8-10. Strath Haven slipped to 11-7 in the league and 14-9 overall. Tigers coach Brian McMahon said the victory was especially important because his team will play in the opening round of the District 1 playoff tomorrow night at Quakertown.

Marple Newtown basketball coach Vince Clarke did not have to wait as long as he might have feared to get his first present of the holiday season. It came in the form of a 56-53 win over Delco Christian on Thursday. "That was the one I was waiting for," said Clarke, whose Tigers won for the first time after three losses. "We started with a tough schedule. You have to play tough people to get ready for the Central League. Now I think we're on the verge. " The host Tigers showed that they could hang tough for 32 minutes and protect a narrow lead against a pretty fair club.

Princeton has settled on a risky formula for winning the NCAA lacrosse championship. Jesse Hubbard scored 34 seconds into overtime yesterday to give the top-ranked Tigers their third title in five years, 13-12, over Virginia. Each of Princeton's titles has come on an overtime goal. The Tigers beat Syracuse in two overtimes in 1992 and topped Virginia in 1994 in an ending that was eerily similar to yesterday's dramatic conclusion. "You have to thank God and your lucky stars to win three overtime games of this importance," Princeton coach Bill Tierney said.

When a basketball team is small - and Marple Newtown's is very small - it has to do the little things to win. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they didn't do the little things in a 57-48 loss to West Chester Henderson in the first round Monday of the West Chester Knights of Columbus Tournament. "I was very disappointed in the way we played," said Marple Newtown coach Vince Clarke, whose squad also fell to Plymouth-Whitemarsh, 66-44, in the consolation game Tuesday. "We didn't box out. We turned the ball over, which we hadn't done this year.

Who were those masked men wearing Marple Newtown uniforms? Marple Newtown coach Jim Smith thought he knew, even though the team that lost to Upper Darby, 20-19, Friday night bore little resemblance to the team that went into the game with only one win. "They're the same kids we've had all year," Smith said. "It's unbelievable. " Upper Darby coach Jack Shingle thought he knew even though the Tigers had shown little spark all season until Friday's near-monster- upset. The Royals (9-1 overall, 7-1 league)

Conestoga basketball coach Pete Fredrickson doesn't consider shooting to be one of his team's strengths, so the Pioneers coach was surprised Friday night at Marple Newtown when his squad shot 53 percent from the field through three quarters. But that percentage isn't difficult to attain if most of the shots are layups. The Pioneers held onto second place in the Central League with an 83-66 win over the Tigers. All five Conestoga starters scored in double figures, and 10 players scored.

Harry S Truman went into its Suburban One American Liberty Division matchup at Methacton Saturday with two missions. The Tigers wanted to go home with a victory, and they wanted to stop the turnover problem that had plagued them. They were only partially successful. They improved in the turnover department - they had only 2 - but lost, 22-20, despite a solid effort on both sides of the ball. "It seems like we're always one step, one fumble, one block away from winning the game," Truman coach Jan Cechak said.

Holy Family College nursing student Chris McFadden was finishing her shift at Einstein Medical Center on Thursday when she struck up a conversation with a patient, Edward Stil. "He was watching TV," McFadden recalled, "and some basketball action came on. He started talking to me about basketball, and I told him I played. 'Who do you play for?' he asked, and I told him Holy Family. "Then I told him I would score a point for him. " If it had been Hollywood, McFadden, a senior point guard, would have scored a bundle and led her team to victory.

DETROIT - Prince Fielder waved his arms frantically, gleefully calling off his teammates while the crowd at Comerica Park roared. From the moment the big first baseman signed his massive contract in January, an entire city had waited for a chance to celebrate like this. After another dazzling effort by Detroit's starting pitchers and another soaring home run by Miguel Cabrera, Fielder caught the final out to send the Tigers to the World Series - with a sweep of the New York Yankees, no less.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - A weekend filled with sharp words between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia came down to one last showdown yesterday in The Players Championship, this one staged across the water in a tiny, terrifying section of the TPC Sawgrass. Tied for the lead with two holes to play, Woods kept his shots on land and made two pars. Garcia hit three balls into the water for a quadruple bogey-double bogey finish. If there was special satisfaction in beating Garcia again, Woods kept that to himself.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Tiger Woods had the last word on Sergio Garcia by winning the Players Championship on Sunday. Woods ended a weekend of testy exchanges with Garcia by doing what he does best - closing out tournaments, even if he let this one turn into a tense duel over the final hour at the TPC Sawgrass. Tied with Garcia with two holes to play, Woods won by finding land on the last two holes for par to close with a 2-under-par 70. If only it had been that simple for Garcia.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Sergio Garcia made seven straight putts - six of them for birdie - on his way to a 7-under 65 to match his best score at The Players Championship. That gave him a 1-shot lead over Tiger Woods, who again made short work of the par 5s and posted his second straight 67. Woods broke his own 36-hole record at TPC Sawgrass by 6 shots and can't find much wrong with his game at the moment. Garcia ran off five straight birdies, ending the streak with putts from 20 feet and 25 feet, and then he added a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth.

THE TELEVISION viewer who reported the illegal drop Tiger Woods took during the second round of the Masters was more than just a golf fan. Sports Illustrated reported yesterday it was David Eger, a rules expert who has worked for the USGA and the PGA Tour. Eger said he was watching the Masters from his home in Florida when he replayed the 15th hole to see how Woods had made bogey. Woods hit the pin with his third shot and it caromed back into the water. He dropped from around the same area, hit into 4 feet and made bogey.

You knew when the Dodgers sold for more than $2 billion last March that the eye-popping price tag was going to have repercussions. One of those things shaken up was the carefully crafted divorce settlement of former owners Frank and Jamie McCourt. Jamie, or rather her lawyers, said Wednesday in a nonjury civil trial in Los Angeles that she was entitled to more than the puny $131 million she received in the settlement because the team was worth a lot more than Frank led her to believe.

TOM CARPUS has had less hectic weeks. That's what happens when you become part of a moment. He's the head golf professional at Kennett Square Golf & Country Club. He's also a rules expert who has worked at 18 PGA Championships and a couple of Ryder Cups. He was doing his fourth Masters, where in the second round he was one of the three rules officials stationed at the 15th hole. In case you missed it, Tiger Woods had to take a drop there after hitting the flagstick with his third shot to the par 5 and watching his ball richochet into the water.

La Salle went on a 9-0 run to overtake Temple en route to a 14-13 women's lacrosse win Sunday, its first Atlantic Ten Conference victory of the season. The Owls (8-6, 3-2 A-10) led, 13-5, with a little less than 18 minutes remaining but did not score again. Melanie Sarcinello (Marple Newtown) paced host La Salle (9-5, 1-4) with four goals. Lauren Ignacio netted three, including the game-winner off a free position with 12 seconds remaining. Caitlyn Brostrand (Camden Catholic) also had a hat trick.

AUGUSTA. Ga. - More and more, at the National, it is less and less about the golf. Perhaps it never really was about the golf. Perhaps it was always about a scene, an ethic, a morality; and, lately, a commentary on the glacial pace of change. It was never less about the golf than this, the 77th edition of the Masters. The richest and most controversial man in the sport's history added a complex chapter to his legacy, simply by being too masterful. Other subplots surfaced, or evolved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - You could say the 2-stroke penalty assessed Saturday morning to Tiger Woods kept him from making a serious charge at the leaders on Sunday in the Masters. But you could look at the other side and say Woods was extremely fortunate to have been competing at all on the weekend after signing an incorrect scorecard following the second round. One of the strangest Masters in memory concluded with Woods' falling short in his attempt to win his fifth green jacket and his first major since 2008.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - As the sun approached the western horizon Friday, Jason Day tapped in for par on the 18th hole to cap a grueling day that lasted almost six hours from the first tee to the finish but ended for him with a 1-stroke lead entering Masters weekend. "I'm just very tired," a weary Day said. "This round today was very difficult. It was a big grind out there. " Still the 25-year-old Day, seeking to become the first Australian to win a green jacket, shot the best second round, a 4-under-par 68, for a 6-under 138 at the halfway point that gave him the narrow advantage over 53-year-old Fred Couples and Marc Leishman.