SPORTSCENE

Published Sunday, June 17, 2007

Cardinals put Eckstein on disabled list

St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein was placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with a lower back strain, and the Cardinals called up Brendan Ryan from Triple-A Memphis to start in his place.

Eckstein left Wednesday’s game at Kansas City with tightness in his lower back and sat out Thursday against the Royals and again in Friday’s series opener with Oakland. The move is retroactive to June 14, and Manager Tony La Russa believes Eckstein will be back in the minimum time.

"We are really encouraged," La Russa said. "He’s feeling better, but he’s got enough bumps and bruises that if we don’t give him an extended period, he’s going to have a lot of lingering aches."

St. Louis also brought up right-hander Anthony Reyes and optioned righty reliever Kelvin Jimenez to Memphis. Reyes - who won the World Series opener for the Cardinals last fall but has lost 10 straight regular-season decisions and was demoted to the minors - is scheduled to start today against the Athletics in place of Brad Thompson, who will be available out of the bullpen.

The Cardinals, bolstered by a 10-run fifth inning that included a Chris Duncan pinch-hit grand slam, were leading the A’s 15-6 through six innings last night.

Bryant meets with Lakers owner

Kobe Bryant remains of the same mind - he should be traded if the Lakers can’t change dramatically for the better - and conveyed that feeling to Los Angeles Lakers Owner Jerry Buss in person while vacationing in Spain recently.

The Lakers remain of their same mind - they do not intend to trade Bryant - but are increasingly concerned about Bryant’s thoughts of leaving the team.

"Whatever was discussed between Kobe and Dr. Buss will remain private between the two of them," Lakers spokesman John Black said.

Bryant was in Barcelona on a family holiday at the suggestion of Shammond Williams, who is returning to play in Spain after one season with the Lakers. Bryant met with Buss on Friday after visiting soccer team FC Barcelona on Thursday.

Buss had been vacationing in China but went to Spain and met Bryant before going on to London. Buss is expected back later this month before leaving again for another month-long European vacation.

The Lakers have been trying to upgrade the roster around Bryant, who asked for significant changes at the end of the season. But the Lakers have declined the Indiana Pacers’ overture to trade Jermaine O’Neal, a longtime Bryant friend and six-time All-Star power forward-center, because they refuse to give up both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum.

USA beats Panama in soccer

Landon Donovan and Carlos Bocanegra scored second-half goals as the United States survived some sloppy defense late in the game to beat Panama 2-1 yesterday in Foxboro, Mass., and advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The defending champion Americans, who jumped from 29th to 16th in the latest FIFA rankings, play Canada on Thursday in Chicago for a berth in the final. Canada defeated Guatemala 3-0 in the opener of yesterday’s doubleheader.

Blas Perez scored in the 84th minute for 57th-ranked Panama, which lost to the United States on penalty kicks in the 2005 final of the Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Perez’s goal was the first allowed by the United States in this year’s tournament.

In today’s quarterfinals at Houston, Honduras plays Guadaloupe and Mexico meets Costa Rica.

Donovan scored in the 60th minute, converting a penalty kick for the second time in two games, and Carlos Bocanegra made it 2-0 in the 62nd with a header off DaMarcus Beasley’s free kick. The United States was awarded the penalty kick when Carlos Rivera ran up Donovan’s back and wrapped his arms around him in the penalty area. Donovan scored on a soft, low shot to the right as goalkeeper Jaime Penedo went in the other direction.

Wizards settle for tie with Red Bulls

Juan Pablo Angel scored his second goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 90th minute to give New York a 3-3 tie with Kansas City yesterday in East Rutherford, N.J.

Angel, a former star with Aston Villa of the English Premier League who joined the Red Bulls last month, beat Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman on the penalty kick after Jose Burciaga pulled down New York forward John Wolyniec in the box.

The Red Bulls (6-3-3) took a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes, but Kansas City (7-2-2) rallied to take a 3-2 lead.

Clint Mathis also scored for New York.

Yura Movsisyan, who entered the match in the 55th minute, scored in the 70th and 79th minutes for the Wizards. Kerry Zavagnin also scored.

Brigade outgun Kats in KC

Raymond Philyaw threw five touchdown passes to lead the playoff-bound Kansas City Brigade to a 66-63 victory over the Nashville Kats last night in an Arena Football League contest in Kansas City.

Philyaw was 20 of 33 for 242 yards for the Brigade (10-5). Charles Frederick had eight catches for 98 yards and a touchdown and also ran for two scores.

Matt Kohn threw five touchdown passes for the Kats (6-9).