Sports

TORONTO — Olympic viewers are bound to be inspired as they watch the world’s best swimmers vie for gold at the upcoming Summer Games in London.
But while Canada’s medal hopefuls spend countless hours training and competing in chlorinated waters, recreational swimmers sometimes shun the pool for a very superficial reason: dry hair.
Elite swimmers can relate to the problem.

TORONTO—The Tampa Bay Rays lost starting pitcher Jeff Niemann after one inning with a fracture in his right fibula last night.
But it didn’t stop them from dumping the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 as they took advantage of miscues, including an error by first baseman Adam Lind, and put up five unearned runs in a six-run fifth inning.

OKLAHOMA CITY—When the L.A. Lakers and Oklahoma City last met, Metta World Peace delivered an elbow that sent the Thunder’s James Harden home with a concussion.
It’s the Lakers who are smarting after the playoff rematch.

NEW YORK—Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 21 shots by the New Jersey Devils that got through to him.
The other 26 attempts blocked in front by his teammates were every bit as important in the N.Y. Rangers’ Eastern Conference final opening win.
“We know that’s happening,” Devils’ captain Zach Parise said after the Rangers’ 3-0 win last night.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—The L.A. Clippers refused to let a third chance to knock the Memphis Grizzlies out of the playoffs slip away.
Kenyon Martin scored seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Clippers advanced to the Western Conference semi-finals with an 82-72 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 7 yesterday.

MINNEAPOLIS—Ricky Romero had his shortest outing since opening day—and the Blue Jays’ rally fell just short.
Yunel Escobar and Eric Thames knocked in runs for Toronto, which had the tying run on third base in the eighth inning, but lost 4-3 to Minnesota yesterday afternoon, settling for a split of their four-game series.

DARLINGTON, S.C.—Those Busch brothers can’t seem to avoid the spotlight at Darlington Raceway.
A year after Kyle Busch tangled with Kevin Harvick in the pits following Regan Smith’s first Sprint Cup win, the crew for Kurt Busch scrummed with Ryan Newman’s group while Rick Hendrick and Jimmie Johnson celebrated the car owner’s 200th career victory at the Southern 500 on Saturday night.

HELSINKI, Finland—Beware of the sleeping giant.
Canada’s collection of NHL stars might never have been treated to more indifference at the IIHF World Hockey Championship than in the last week at Hartwall Arena, where locals have packed the building for games involving Finland and virtually ignored everything else.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—The TPC Sawgrass would seem to be the last golf course where a player can relax.
That might explain why Ian Poulter and Martin Laird were atop the leaderboard yesterday in The Players Championship at seven-under 65—even if their mood was for entirely different reasons.

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece—The flame that will burn during the London Games was lit at the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics today, heralding the start of a torch relay that will culminate with the opening ceremony July 27.