2 SPORTS • Friday, July 10, 2015 • Section B • Daily Chronicle / Daily-Chronicle.com WHAT TO WATCH MLB White Sox at Cubs, 3:05 p.m., WGN/CSN Regional coverage, N.Y. Yankees at Boston or Washington at Baltimore, 6 p.m., MLBN Arena football New Orleans at San Jose, 10 p.m., ESPN2 Auto racing NASCAR, Sprint Cup, practice for Quaker State 400, at Sparta, Ky. (same-day tape), 10:30 a.m., NBCSN NASCAR, Sprint Cup, “Happy Hour Series,” final practice for Quaker State 400, at Sparta, Ky., noon, NBCSN NASCAR, XFINITY Series, pole qualifying for July Kentucky race, at Sparta, Ky., 2:30 p.m., NBCSN NASCAR, Sprint Cup, pole qualifying for Quaker State 400, at Sparta, Ky., 4:30 p.m., NBCSN NASCAR, XFINITY Series, July Kentucky race, at Sparta, Ky., 6:30 p.m., NBCSN Canadian Football League Montreal at Winnipeg, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Cycling Tour de France, Stage 7, Livarot to Fougeres, 7 a.m., NBCSN Golf European PGA Tour, Scottish Open, second round, at Gullane, 4:30 a.m., TGC Champions Tour, Encompass Championship, first round, at Glenview, Ill., 12:30 p.m., TGC USGA, U.S. Women’s Open, second round, at Lancaster, Pa., 1 p.m., FS1 PGA Tour, John Deere Classic, second round, at Silvis, Ill., 3 p.m., TGC Web.com Tour, Boise (Idaho) Open, second round (same-day tape), 6 p.m., TGC Pan American Games Opening ceremony, at Toronto, 6:30 p.m., ESPN Soccer CONCACAF, Gold Cup, group Stage, United States vs. Haiti, at Boston, 7:30 p.m., FS1 Tennis Wimbledon, men’s semifinals, at London, 7 a.m., ESPN
SPORTS BRIEF Ex-49er McDonald faces mutiple charges
SAN FRANCISCO – Former San Francisco 49er defensive tackle Ray McDonald was charged with domestic violence and false imprisonment in connection with allegations he assaulted his ex-fiancee while she held their 2-monthold child, prosecutors said Thursday. McDonald was also charged with child endangerment and violating a court order, the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office said. The false imprisonment charge is a felony while the other counts are misdemeanors. He was arraigned Thursday but did not enter a plea. He is due back in court in August. Calls to McDonald’s attorney, Steve Defilippis, were not immediately returned. Prosecutors said police responded to a domestic disturbance at a home around 4 a.m. May 25 and found McDonald had broken into the woman’s bedroom and assaulted her while his driver tried to stop him and she tried to get away. McDonald cornered the woman in a dining room and trapped her there before she told investigators he chased her into a bathroom and repeatedly bumped her while trying to grab her cellphone, according to investigators. It continued in the bedroom, where the woman said McDonald jabbed at her head with a finger and tried to pull her off the bed. Part of the incident was caught on cellphone video the woman took. – Wire report
WHITE SOX 2, BLUE JAY 0
Samardzija keeps Sox on roll By DARYL VAN SCHOUWEN dvanschouwen@suntimes.com CHICAGO – Jeff Samardzija sure was great at whatever he was doing. The White Sox right-hander, who pitched a complete game shutout against one of baseball’s best hitting teams Thursday, was either enhancing his trade value for his employer or nudging his team closer to a point where the Sox won’t deal him before the July 31 trade deadline. The Sox’s 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on a sunny, cool-for-July day before 23,298 fans at U.S. Cellular Field gave them seven wins in nine games and three wins in a four-game series. The Sox are 39-44 going into a three-game series against the well-equipped Cubs at Wrigley Field, and have to stay hot – real hot – to keep general manager Rick Hahn from turning into a seller. The dozen or so scouts on hand from teams looking to buy before the deadline no doubt filled out glowing reports on Samardzija, who flirted with a no-hitter, allowed four hits and struck out five while walking one. Samardzija started strong by striking out the side in the first, didn’t allow a hit until the sixth and finished by getting Josh Donaldson to hit into a double play and striking out Jose Bautista. His ERA is 2.40 over his last six starts. Samardzija, who is eligible for free agency after the season, knows the drill. He got traded to the A’s by the non-contending Cubs last year for prospects. “I assume we’re going to handle everything in the clubhouse,” he said. “If we go out and play, we know what the outcome will be. If we don’t and we don’t have a strong last couple of weeks in the month, we know what that result will be, too. It’s
AP photo
White Sox starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija celebrates throwing a complete-game victory against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox won, 2-0.
Next at Cubs, 3:05 p.m. today, CSN,WGN, AM-670, AM-780 in our hands here and we need to take care of it.” The Sox’s poor hitting and defense in the first half has them marked in the minority group of sellers as the deadline approaches. With good pitching, improved defense and just enough timely hitting of late, though, they are finally winning at the kind of clip they expected when Hahn and vice president Ken Williams put this team together. Is it too late? Probably. But a favorable trend has provided a glimmer of hope that all optimists will embrace. “You like it because of who you’re [beating],” Sox manag-
er Robin Ventura said. “You’re playing some of the top teams. Starting with St. Louis [twogame road sweep last week] we played some good baseball and gritty stuff where we scored late. With Toronto’s lineup, you pitch well and play well defensively and get three of four, which is nice. They’re [the players] feeling good. You like the feel of it now.” So it would be tough to see Samardzija yanked from a rotation that is clicking with Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon. “For us to lose a frontline pitcher, it would be tough, absolutely,” Ventura said. The Sox scrounged together five hits against R.A. Dickey (310), whose knuckler was on, but Samardzija’s frontline effort and crisp defense were enough. Adam Eaton tripled leading off the sixth and scored on Russell Martin’s passed ball. Two
batters later, Melky Cabrera homered to extend his hitting streak to eight (.379, two homers, eight RBIs during that stretch). Gordon Beckham (0 for 3), in a horrendous 5-for-67 slump over his last 27 games, made one diving stop at shortstop (filling in for injured Alexei Ramirez) and turned a slick double play in the ninth. Second baseman Carlos Sanchez (.170) also made pretty play behind the bag as the Sox continue glean the most from what little they have. Samardzija is certainly a valuable piece, no matter how he’s utilized. “Yeah, they’ve got a couple pieces that could be leaving next year,” Toronto manger John Gibbons said. “That’s one of those things. “Samardzija. Yeah. We’d love to have him. He’s more than just a good pitcher. He brings a toughness.”
NBA
Jordan’s 180 has some doubting freeze By TIM REYNOLDS and BRIAN MAHONEY The Associated Press Doc Rivers gave a quick answer when asked about DeAndre Jordan coming back to the Los Angeles Clippers. “He never left,” the coach said. Technically, that’s true. The Dallas Mavericks might disagree as they reel from the fallout of Jordan’s Texas twostep, which renewed the debate about when a deal is a deal, and whether change is needed to the NBA’s moratorium period. “From afar, it’s a little bit concerning from a team perspective just because of the precedent. You’d like to think when you look somebody in the eye and shake their hand and say, ‘We have a deal,’ that you have a deal,” Suns general manager Ryan McDonough said Thursday. “But at the same time, you understand that the way the rules are written from the current moratorium structure, the agreements aren’t binding until the player puts pen to paper and signs a contract.” The moratorium, starting July 1 and lasting until the salary cap is set for the coming season, could be a hot topic now at NBA meetings in Las Vegas next week. The National Basketball Players Association said it
AP file photo
Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan celebrates after dunking as Houston Rockets Trevor Ariza (from left) Josh Smith and guard Pablo Prigioni watch during an NBA playoff game May 10 in Los Angeles. supports the right of both players and teams to consider their options during the moratorium, which is scheduled to last 11 days next year. Hey, could be worse. It lasted all of July when first implemented in 1999. “Everybody realizes it’s something that has to be looked at,” Brooklyn general manager Billy King said. Jordan formally re-signed with the Clippers on Thursday, ending one of the strangest sagas in recent free-agent history. He verbally committed to
the Mavericks on July 3, then a Clippers contingent arrived at his Houston home Wednesday for what apparently was a lastditch push to keep him, and the Mavericks lost their man. A handshake deal, in this case, was no deal. “We all walk into these conversations understanding that as with any business contract, it’s not a deal until the paper is signed,” union spokeswoman Tara Greco said. Dallas owner Mark Cuban was predictably unhappy. He got fined $25,000 by the NBA ear-
lier in the week for raving about what Jordan would mean to the Mavericks – he violated a rule of the moratorium by talking about a player who wasn’t under contract – then wound up not getting the deal signed. Cuban turned to social media to vent, never mentioning Jordan by name. “I don’t think the time is right to say anything beyond the facts that he never responded to me at all yesterday,” Cuban wrote on the Cyber Dust messaging app. “Not once. To this minute I have not heard anything from him since Tuesday night.” That was one of the biggest talking points around the league Thursday: It wasn’t so much that Jordan changed his mind, but apparently no one actually told the Mavericks when the rest of the NBA world seemed to be following it in real time on Twitter. Rivers flatly said “no” when asked if Jordan should have told Dallas of his change of heart. Not everyone agreed. “I don’t see anything wrong with changing your mind, but you need to be a man and just tell them why you decided,” Miami guard Goran Dragic told The Associated Press. It’s impossible to say how much of a domino effect Jordan’s last-minute flip affected free agency for other franchises and players.
Butler, GM Gar Forman practice damage control • BULLS
Continued from page B1 shutdown-mode, more anxious to get on the exercise bike than deal with Matthew Dellavedova. Not that a collision of egos by the two wasn’t expected. Sources indicated in training camp that Bulls personnel were concerned Butler’s attitude was this was becoming his team, while Rose wasn’t looking to hand that torch over to anyone. While the two have always maintained a friendly enough relationship
off the court, come playoff time Butler wasn’t about to concede key shots to anyone. That included the hometown kid in Rose. And now that Butler has a tax bracket much closer to Rose’s? New coach Fred Hoiberg better hope that his high-octane offense has enough shots in it to keep everyone happy. If so, Butler feels like the best backcourt in the NBA just might reside in the United Center. “I think we can play well off of each other well, especially with the offense that we’re go-
ing to be running now,” Butler said. “We can both get out in transition, we can both score, and we can both get the ball to the open guy. I think that’s what team players do. [Rose is] really good at that. I think I’m pretty good at it too. I like our chances of being one of the best backcourts.” What Butler and general manager Gar Forman did go out of their way to do damage control with was the idea that Butler wanted to play hardball with the Bulls once the season ended, looking for a shortterm deal so he could hit the open market sooner.
Sources continued to stand by that idea, but after betting on himself by walking away from $40 million plus in the fall, doing it again for $90 million was leaving too many chips on the table. “No short-term offer ever came across the table,” Butler said. “Chicago is where I wanted to be. I love playing here, I love the city, the fans like me a little bit. I think the media does. You all won’t like me all the time, I understand, that’s OK. “Rumors are rumors. I guess that’s what they’re there for, to entertain you all.”
MLB NATIONAL LEAGUE Central Division W L Pct GB St. Louis 56 30 .651 — Pittsburgh 50 35 .588 5½ Cubs 46 38 .548 9 Cincinnati 38 45 .458 16½ Milwaukee 37 50 .425 19½ East Division W L Pct GB Washington 46 38 .548 — New York 44 42 .512 3 Atlanta 42 43 .494 4½ Miami 36 50 .419 11 Philadelphia 29 58 .333 18½ West Division W L Pct GB Los Angeles 48 38 .558 — San Francisco 43 43 .500 5 Arizona 42 42 .500 5 San Diego 39 48 .448 9½ Colorado 35 49 .417 12 Thursday’s Results St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 1 Miami 2, Cincinnati 0 Atlanta at Colorado (n) Philadelphia at L.A. Dodgers (n) Today’s Games White Sox (Rodon 3-2) at Cubs (Hendricks 4-4), 3:05 p.m. St. Louis (Lynn 6-4) at Pittsburgh (G. Cole 12-3), 6:05 p.m. Washington (G.Gonzalez 6-4) at Baltimore (Tillman 6-7), 6:05 p.m. Arizona (Ch.Anderson 4-2) at N.Y. Mets (Syndergaard 3-4), 6:10 p.m. Cincinnati (Leake 5-5) at Miami (Undecided), 6:10 p.m. San Diego (Kennedy 4-8) at Texas (W.Rodriguez 5-4), 7:05 p.m. Atlanta (S.Miller 5-4) at Colorado (Hale 2-4), 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Nelson 6-8) at L.A. Dodgers (Bolsinger 4-3), 9:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Hamels 5-6) at San Francisco (Bumgarner 8-5), 9:15 p.m. Saturday’s Games White Sox at Cubs, 3:05 p.m. Arizona at N.Y. Mets, 3:10 p.m. Atlanta at Colorado, 3:10 p.m. Cincinnati at Miami, 3:10 p.m. St. Louis at Pittsburgh, 6:15 p.m. Washington at Baltimore, 6:15 p.m. San Diego at Texas, 8:05 p.m. Philadelphia at San Francisco, 9:05 p.m. Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers, 9:10 p.m. Sunday’s Games White Sox at Cubs, 1:20 p.m. Arizona at N.Y. Mets, 12:10 p.m. Cincinnati at Miami, 12:10 p.m. Washington at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m. San Diego at Texas, 2:05 p.m. Philadelphia at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m. Atlanta at Colorado, 3:10 p.m. Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers, 3:10 p.m. St. Louis at Pittsburgh, 7:05 p.m.
AMERICAN LEAGUE Central Division W L Pct Kansas City 50 33 .602 Minnesota 46 40 .535 Detroit 44 41 .518 Cleveland 41 44 .482 White Sox 39 44 .470 East Division W L 46 39 43 42 44 44 43 45 41 45 West Division W L Houston 49 39 Los Angeles 46 38 Texas 41 44 Seattle 39 46 Oakland 39 49 New York Baltimore Toronto Tampa Bay Boston
GB — 5½ 7 10 11
Pct .541 .506 .500 .489 .477
GB — 3 3½ 4½ 5½
Pct .557 .548 .482 .459 .443
GB — 1 6½ 8½ 10
Thursday’s Results White Sox 2, Toronto 0 N.Y. Yankees 6, Oakland 2 Kansas City 8, Tampa Bay 3 Cleveland 3, Houston 1 Detroit 4, Minnesota 2 L.A. Angels at Seattle (n) Today’s Games White Sox (Rodon 3-2) at Cubs (Hendricks 4-4), 3:05 p.m. Washington (G.Gonzalez 6-4) at Baltimore (Tillman 6-7), 6:05 p.m. Houston (McHugh 9-4) at Tampa Bay (E.Ramirez 7-3), 6:10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees (Pineda 8-5) at Boston (Buchholz 7-6), 6:10 p.m. Oakland (Graveman 6-4) at Cleveland (Salazar 7-4), 6:10 p.m. San Diego (Kennedy 4-8) at Texas (W.Rodriguez 5-4), 7:05 p.m. Detroit (Verlander 0-2) at Minnesota (E.Santana 0-0), 7:10 p.m. Toronto (Estrada 6-4) at Kansas City (D.Duffy 2-4), 7:10 p.m. L.A. Angels (Santiago 5-4) at Seattle (Montgomery 4-2), 9:10 p.m. Saturday’s Games White Sox at Cubs, 3:05 p.m. Toronto at Kansas City, 1:10 p.m. Detroit at Minnesota, 3:05 p.m. Houston at Tampa Bay, 3:10 p.m. Oakland at Cleveland, 5:35 p.m. N.Y. Yankees at Boston, 6:15 p.m. Washington at Baltimore, 6:15 p.m. San Diego at Texas, 8:05 p.m. L.A. Angels at Seattle, 9:10 p.m. Sunday’s Games White Sox at Cubs, 1:20 p.m. Houston at Tampa Bay, 12:10 p.m. Oakland at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees at Boston, 12:35 p.m. Washington at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m. Detroit at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m. Toronto at Kansas City, 1:10 p.m. San Diego at Texas, 2:05 p.m. L.A. Angels at Seattle, 3:10 p.m.
CYCLING THE TOUR DE FRANCE LE HAVRE, France (AP) – A brief look at the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday: Stage: A mostly flat stage for sprinters, taking the pack over 119 miles from Abbeville to Le Havre, France’s biggest commercial port. Winner: Czech rider Zdenek Stybar, after defending champion Vincenzo Nibali was caught in yet another crash near the finish caused by race leader Tony Martin, who pulled out of the race with a broken collarbone. Yellow jersey: Chris Froome, who inherited the lead because of Tony Martin’s withdrawal. Froome, who has a 13-second lead over American Tejay van Garderen, could decide not to wear the coveted shirt in Stage 7 as a mark of respect for the injured German rider. How did the “Fab Four” perform? Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana hit the tarmac after getting involved in the crash but did not suffer any serious injury. Chris Froome leads Alberto Contador by 36 seconds, Nibali is 1 minute, 38 seconds adrift and Nairo Quintana lags 1:56 behind. Quote of the day: “It’s the Tour de France; it’s just crazy, crazy. You don’t know what will happen around each corner.” – stage winner Zdenek Stybar. Stat of the day: 2 – The number of Tour de France leaders – Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin – who have pulled out with injuries after just six days of racing. Next stage: Friday’s seventh stage is another for sprinters. It starts from Livarot in the Normandy region – home to a cheese of the same name – and ends 118 miles later in Fougeres, in the Brittany region.