SAN JOSE, Calif.—Rob Blake is heading up the California coast, hoping to end his stellar NHL career with a shot at another Stanley Cup title in San Jose.
The veteran defenceman signed a US$5-million, one-year contract with the Sharks yesterday, leaving Pacific Division rival Los Angeles for a more immediate chance at playoff success.
Blake is the longtime face and soul of the Kings, spending 13 1/2 of his 18 NHL seasons with Los Angeles, including the past two campaigns.

The Arizona Diamondbacks only managed one good inning in their game against Milwaukee. Unfortunately for the Brewers, it was the ninth.
In one of the more improbable victories in team history, Conor Jackson singled home the winning run and the Diamondbacks overcame a five-run deficit in the final inning to defeat the Brewers 6-5 yesterday.
After being shut out for eight innings, the Diamondbacks sent seven men to the plate in the ninth, and every one reached base.

TORONTO—Jesse Lumsden and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats steamrolled the Toronto Argonauts last night.
Lumsden rushed for 189 yards and two touchdowns while Hamilton amassed 311 yards on the ground en route to a convincing 32-13 win to spoil Toronto’s home opener. And the timing couldn’t have been worse as the Rogers Centre gathering of 30,822 was the largest crowd for an Argos home opener since 1992.
“We wanted to establish the run because they’re a very tough defence to get after,” Lumsden said. “This is a big win for us, but it’s just one win.

SEATTLE—Maybe Miguel Cairo is one of those players who was born ready.
Cairo, making his 16th start of the season and just the second at second base, drove in three runs with two doubles in the Seattle Mariners’ 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays last night.
The 34-year-old utilityman has built an 11-year major league career out of hard work and preparation. He said if he didn’t have his strong work ethic, ‘‘I’d be home (retired) already by now.”

LONDON—Defending champion Venus Williams beat Elena Dementieva 6-1, 7-6 (3) to advance to the Wimbledon final today, setting up a potential championship matchup with sister Serena.
Venus Williams, a four-time Wimbledon winner, overpowered the fifth-seeded Russian in the first set and then prevailed in an error-strewn tiebreaker to improve her record to 7-0 in semifinals at the All England Club.
Her opponent in Saturday’s final could be two-time champion Serena, who was next up on Centre Court to face 133rd-ranked Chinese wild-card entrant Zheng Jie at press time.

TORONTO—Soccer fans across Canada had their eyes glued to television sets yesterday as Germany faced off against Spain in the finals of Euro 2008. Spain won a tight contest 1-0 on a first half goal by Fernando Torres, sending Spanish Canadian supporters into frenzy.
It was Spain’s first tournament victory since 1964, when the country defeated the Soviet Union in the finals.
In Toronto on Sunday, Spanish fan Angelo Marchini had special reason to rejoice.

The Edmonton Oilers shore up their blueline last night by trading forward Jarret Stoll and defenceman Matt Greene to the Los Angeles Kings for puck-moving defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky.
Stoll of Melville, Sask., had 14 goals and 22 assists last season. The 26-year-old assistant captain had 59 goals and 106 assists in 186 games with the Oilers.
Greene, 25, had one assist last season with Edmonton, missing 34 games with an ankle injury. He has one goal and 12 assists in 151 games since being selected by the Oilers in the second round, 44th overall in 2002.

TORONTO—A.J. Burnett and pitching coach Brad Arnsberg were scanning some video from last season recently when they noticed that the enigmatic right-hander had slightly altered his delivery.
A reason for his erratic pitching so far? Perhaps.
Either way, the adjustment to his pitching motion seems to be working wonders, as Burnett book-ended a solid Toronto Blue Jays homestand with a pair of gems, including seven dominating innings in yesterday’s 1-0 interleague win over the Atlanta Braves.

TORONTO—It appears T.J. Ford’s days in Toronto are done.
On the eve of the NBA draft, Raptors president and GM Bryan Colangelo agreed in principle to a deal to send Ford, plus Rasho Nesterovic, the team’s No. 17 pick in today’s draft, and a player to be named later to Indiana for forward Jermaine O’Neal.
The deal cannot be finalized until July 1, when Ford’s base-year compensation tag comes off the books.

GRAND BLANC, Mich.—The Buick Open’s golden anniversary at Warwick Hills lost a lot of lustre without Tiger Woods, making Jim Furyk the tournament’s top player and John Daly the fan favourite.
Even though Woods was recovering yesterday from major surgery on his left knee the previous day, his likeness was everywhere and his legacy was a topic of discussion.
Woods’ image is plastered on three sides of Buicks in the parking lot, on pairings sheets and billboards in the Detroit and Flint areas.
Buick Open officials expected Woods to be in the field for the ninth time since 1997.