D2
S THE SIDELINE
Forward has career night to help Mystics win fourth in a row
by Katie Carrera
The Washington Mystics en- tered Sunday’s contest planning to attack the defending WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury in the lane and capitalize on their size advantage, but never did forward Crystal Langhorne think she’d be quite so unham- pered in the post.
Early on it became apparent
that Phoenix — known for not only scoring the most points in the league but also giving up the most — wouldn’t double-team Langhorne or any of Washing- ton’s other post players. It proved to be a fatal error. Lang- horne burned the Mercury for 10 rebounds and a career-high 31 points, three shy of the fran- chise record set by Chamique Holdsclaw in 2003, en route to her third consecutive double- double as she led the Mystics to a 95-85 win at Verizon Center. The Mystics tied their season high in scoring and never trailed during their fourth win out of their last five games. In Washington’s past three con- tests, Langhorne has accounted for 83 of the Mystics’ 235 points on 34-for-52 (65.3 percent) shooting while adding 37 re- bounds. “Things are just going well this week,” said Langhorne, who went 13 for 18 against the Mer- cury. On Sunday “our coaches emphasized getting it in [the lane]. They were playing one- on-one coverage, and it was easy for our post players to score. I’m not mad. If they want to play me one-on-one, that’s no problem with me.” Through the first 23 days of
June, as the Mystics (9-5) played just four games, Langhorne yearned for more live competi- tion and less practice. When she got her wish, as Washington em- barked on a stretch of six games in 10 days, Langhorne thrived. Against the Mercury (5-9) and its notorious lack of defense, there was nothing to stop Lang-
KLMNO
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Langhorne is nearly unstoppable
the only ones hitting their shots, though. Also led by point guard Lindsey Harding (24 points), the Mystics shot an impressive 54.4 percent (37 for 68) and forced Phoenix into foul trouble early. When Mercury forward Penny Taylor (seven points) fouled out late in the third quar- ter and guard Diana Taurasi (18 points) left the game with a low- er back injury, all the momen- tum appeared to swing in Wash- ington’s favor. Langhorne took advantage of the opportunity to put the game out of Phoenix’s reach, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter including a nearly four-minute span in the frame when she tal- lied 11 in a row. “She’s playing really great
basketball,” Taurasi said. “To people who followed her career, I don’t think it’s much of a sur- prise. She’s tough down there. She’s got really good footwork. She can finish with either hand, and she’s playing phenomenally right now.”
carrerak@washpost.com Dream rallies past L.A. GARY DINEEN/NBA ENTERTAINMENT/GETTY IMAGES
Mystics forward Crystal Langhorne, center, scored 31 points, three shy of the franchise record set by Chamique Holdsclaw.
horne from fielding all the put- backs and forcing all the three- point plays she could muster. Fueled by the success of their posts, the Mystics recorded new season highs for points in the first quarter (28) and first half (49) — Langhorne, Nakia San- ford and Chasity Melvin com- bined for 24 points before the break.
“Lang’s doing the same thing
that she’s always done,” said Sanford, who posted 12 points. “Our offense just flows through her sometimes. Tonight was es- pecially a night where one of our focuses was to exploit them in- side because we knew they didn’t have a lot of bigs. This was a post-player game.” Washington’s posts weren’t
Iziane Castros Marques scored 21 of her 25 points in the second half and Atlanta rallied from a 16-point second-quarter deficit to beat visiting Los Ange- les, 89-81. The Sparks have lost three straight since losing Can- dace Parker for the season. STORM 83, SHOCK 72: Svet- lana Abrosimova scored 19 of her season-high 21 points in the second half and Seattle over- came a 13-point second-half def- icit in Tulsa. LIBERTY 77, SUN 68: Cappie Pondexter scored 19 points and New York rallied to win at home. After trailing by 16 in the first half, the Liberty held Connecti- cut to 22 points after halftime. FEVER 70, SKY 64: In Rose- mont, Ill., Ebony Hoffman scored 13 points as Indiana held off a late Chicago rally for a vic- tory. The Fever, which never trailed in the second half, hit 6 of 8 free throws in the final 64 seconds to pull away after Chi- cago tied the score at 64. The victory was the fourth straight for Indiana (9-5) and the third this season over Chicago (6-9). — Associated Press
Maryland, so I’ve been doing this for a long time and, trust me, it involves a lot of parking tickets and Pabst Blue Ribbon — you need to look no further than Stephen Strasburg and Eliot Spitzer, two self-made-in-the-- USA-in-their-own-way success stories. Strasburg has come tumbling into our homes the old-fashioned way: through sporting achievement. Spitzer soon will be tumbling into our homes again the newfangled way: through public embarrassment. (In sports, you still pretty much have to succeed to make it to the top; outside of sports, you can fail, even spectacularly, and make it to the top.) In the last decade or so, we
T
have had three hyped-to-the-hills athletes: Tiger Woods, LeBron James and, now, Stephen Strasburg. Improbably, all three have met — if not exceeded — expectations. (Imagine if that
ever happened with our elected leaders.) Of course,
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TELEVISION AND RADIO
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 7 p.m.
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES 7:30 p.m.
SOCCER 10 a.m.
Washington at Atlanta » MASN, ESPN2, WDCW (Channel 50), WJZ (Channel 13), WWXT (92.7 FM), WWXX (94.3 FM), WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM), WTEM (980 AM)
Championship series Game 1, UCLA vs. South Carolina » ESPN
World Cup round of 16, Netherlands vs. Slovakia» ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univisión, WXTR (730 AM)
2:30 p.m. World Cup round of 16, Brazil vs. Chile » ESPN, WMAR (Channel 2), ESPN Deportes, Univisión, WXTR (730 AM)
TENNIS 10 a.m. 1 p.m.
Wimbledon » WRC (Channel 4), WBAL (Channel 11) Wimbledon » ESPN2
POLL QUESTION
Should there be some form of instant replay
at the World Cup? YES
91% 8%
NO Total votes: 1,594 at 10 p.m. Sunday
A referee incorrectly ruled that a Frank Lampard shot didn’t go in, costing Wayne Rooney’s England a vital goal on Sunday.
EDDIE KEOGH/REUTERS only from Comcast. DIGEST GOLF
Kerr wins LPGA Championship by 12 strokes Cristie Kerr soared to a 12-
stroke victory at the LPGA Cham- pionship on Sunday in one of the most lopsided wins at a major, leaving her in position to become the first American ranked No. 1. Kerr closed with a birdie for 6- under-par 66, finishing at 19- under 269 in Pittsford, N.Y., for her second major title, the other coming at the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open. Kerr began the final round with an eight-stroke lead at Lo- cust Hill Country Club, and opened with six straight pars be- fore birdieing three of her next four holes.
By winning the $337,500 purse
at the $2.25 million tournament, Kerr is projected to overtake Ja- pan’s Ai Miyazato when the world rankings are released Monday. Miyazato needed to finish second to remain No. 1, but finished in a tie for third. Song-Hee Kim (69) finished second. Kerr is the first American to win the LPGA Championship
since Juli Inkster in 2000. Kerr’s margin of victory beat the previous LPGA Champion- ship record by one stroke set by Betsy King in 1992. . . . Bubba Watson won for the
first time on the PGA Tour, com- ing from six shots down to win the Travelers Championship in a three-way playoff in Cromwell, Conn. Watson sank a three-foot par putt on the second playoff hole to beat Scott Verplank and Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, after they all finished at 14 under. Justin Rose had a three-stroke
lead after three rounds but was 1 over on the front nine, then col- lapsed on the back nine to finish with a 5-over 75. . . . In Endicott, N.Y., Loren Rob-
erts birdied the final hole for a closing 7-under 65 to win the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sport- ing Goods Open by one stroke over Fred Funk. Roberts rallied from five shots behind with eight holes to play.
AUTO RACING Jimmie Johnson surged past
Kurt Busch with two laps left to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Lenox Industrial Tools 301 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. Busch grabbed the lead with
seven laps left, then was side-by- side with Johnson. The four-time defending champion pulled away to win his second straight race. Tony Stewart finished second and Busch was third. Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth round out the top five. . . . Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, dominating from the pole. Vettel won his second grand prix of the season, complet- ing 57 laps of the Valencia street circuit ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
SWIMMING Michael Phelps received “a
wakeup call” during a weekend of mixed results at the Paris Open. The 14-time Olympic champi- on capped the two-day meet by winning the 200-meter medley in
1 minute 58.95 seconds, but struggled in freestyle races and said he needs to train harder. “I’m not worried,” Phelps said.
“Am I upset? Yes. Very.” Also winning Sunday was world and Olympic champion Ce- sar Cielo of Brazil, who posted a season’s best 21.55 seconds to claim the 50 freestyle. Phelps faded to 1:47.54 in the
200 meter free, in which Yannick Agnel of France set a national rec- ord by winning in 1:46.30. Sebas- tiaan Verschuren of the Nether- lands was second in 1:46.97.
MISC. Wallace Spearmon and Con- suella Moore won national titles in the 200 meters at the USA Out- door Track and Field Champi- onships in Des Moines. Spear- mon finished in a wind-aided 19.77, and Moore won in 22.40. Shot putter Christian Cantwell won his second straight outdoor title (71 feet 1
⁄2 inch). . . .
Fred scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute to help the Philadelphia Union open their new stadium in suburban Ches-
DREW HALLOWELL/GETTY IMAGES
Jimmie Johnson celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
ter with a 3-1 win over the Seattle Sounders. . . . Marco Poppa’s first-half goal extended the Chica- go Fire’s MLS unbeaten streak to five matches with a 1-0 victory over the host New England Revo- lution. . . . Cat Osterman struck out 10 in a complete game and Alissa Ha-
ber drove in four runs as the United States defeated Australia, 9-2, to remain unbeaten at the world softball championship in Caracas, Venezuela. Olympic champion Japan also improved to 5-0 with a 2-1 win over Canada. — From news services
Strasburg could still flame out — a pitcher’s arm is more dicey than a Goldman Sachs hedge fund — but, at the moment, he’s the greatest thing to hit the nation’s capital since the 23rd amendment. Strasburg is two parts Sidd Finch, one part Roy Hobbs— except he’s real. In his first three starts at home for the Washington Nationals, Strasburg has 33 strikeouts and no walks. In a 1-0 loss last week to the Kansas City Royals, he threw 75 strikes in 95 pitches. He has such command of four pitches, if you gave him a military convoy, I’d bet he could strike out and find Osama bin Laden by nightfall. Every five days Strasburg comes onto my TV, and every five days I stop everything I’m doing — granted, that isn’t much — to watch the 21-year-old pitch. I witnessed every pitch
MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010
WASHINGTON POST LIVE WITH IVAN CARTER 5 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet The Post’s Barry Svrluga and Michael Lee, CSN Wizards analyst Ron Thompson and MMA fighter Kris “Savage” McCray.
NORMAN CHAD Couch Slouch
Behold the Strasburg and Spitzer success stories
o understand America — I was an American studies major at the University of
fall. With Pulitzer Prize-winning, pro-life columnist Kathleen Parker, Spitzer will host a discussion program — sort of “Crossfire” with condoms. Spitzer solicited high-priced
call girls while in office: What better qualifications do you need to host your own TV show? Actually, if Spitzer wanted to see prostitutes, that’s fine by me. But if Spitzer wanted to see prostitutes after previously prosecuting others for seeing prostitutes, that makes him a first-ballot Power Punk Hall of Fame inductee. Client 9’s CNN gig proves again that, in America — particularly on TV — you can be rewarded for vice as easily as virtue. As a rule, the more notorious you are, the more notoriety you get; the more notoriety you get, the better time slot you’re given. In fact, all of television is a
larger version of “The Price Is Right,”with disgraced public figures replacing common, everyday folk.
THE WASHINGTON POST
Strasburg has met, if not exceeded expectations. So far.
Oliver North, come on down! Rod Blagojevich, come in down! Eliot Spitzer, come on down! (Spitzer calls himself a “pragmatic liberal.” I would call him a “pragmatic opportunist.” Give him credit: In short order, he’s gone from punch line to prime time.)
Spitzer’s new
program doesn’t debut until September. Who knows? By then, Stephen Strasburg might be out of baseball, rob a string of convenience stores and have his own show on truTV.
Ask The Slouch
Q. Every once in a while, you write something very stupid (you hate baseball statistics) or very incendiary (auto racing should be abolished). Do you have a fallback position when you’re fired? (Martin A. Barry; Houston) A. I ain’t got squadoosh. Q.Why is baseball so outdated
Strasburg threw in his first three starts; I don’t even think I blinked. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him or his 89-mph change-up. And we’re talking baseball on TV! My friends, I had not watched a regular season baseball game on television start to finish since Tim McCarver was bloviating from a crouched position. (To be sure, when the
Nationals were at-bat and Strasburg was in the dugout, I made myself a grilled cheese, yelled at my stepkids and checked my pre-nup. And the moment Strasburg was pulled from each game, I switched over to a TiVo-ed “Sopranos” episode faster than you can say “Sammy Gravano.”) Meanwhile, back outside the ballpark in America, former New York governor/pay-per-view womanizer Eliot Spitzer, it was announced, will be on CNN this
that the communication between the dugout and bullpens is with landlines instead of cellphones or Skype? (C.J. Tompkins; Denver) A. Skype? You think Diamondbacks Manager A.J. Hinch actually wants to see who’s in his bullpen? Q. Championship teams get to visit the White House. Perfect-game pitchers get to visit David Letterman. Who gets to visit The Slouch? (Frank Alioto; Milwaukee) A. Process servers. Q. In the divorce-lawyer community, does the status of your current marriage get more press than the pending free agency of LeBron James? (Craig Gerlock; Macedonia, Ohio) A. Pay the man, Shirley.
You, too, can enter the $1.25 Ask The Slouch Cash Giveaway. Just e-mail
asktheslouch@aol.com and, if your question is used, you win $1.25 in cash!
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