ABCDE SPORTS saturday, july 24, 2010 SOCCER


Not exactly Premier Woeful Portsmouth of England visits D.C. United. D3


TOUR DE FRANCE


Fast and steady Mark Cavendish sprints to a stage win as Alberto Contador nears title. D2


BASEBALL


Riggleman will be back GM Mike Rizzo says Jim Riggleman will manage the Nats next season. D4


PRO BASKETBALL


Shooting for first The Mystics have a chance to take the conference lead tonight vs. Indiana. D6


“If My-Way Mike knows what’s good for him, he will bend.” by Adam Kilgore


milwaukee — For part of Friday night, the Washington Nationals built on the rare momentum they had gathered. They had won two straight games away from home, something they hadn’t done in two months, and then took control with four RBI from their underused slugger and solid pitching from their burgeoning third starter. Then, like all of their other attempts at one, the Nationals’ winning streak died on the vine. After Craig Stammen stifled the Mil- waukee Brewers for 42⁄3


innings and Mi-


chael Morse clobbered two home runs, the Nationals imploded and fell, 7-5, to the Brewers before 34,822 at Miller Park. After the Nationals had already blown a four-run lead, Jim Edmonds — in the game only because all-star Corey Hart had left after crashing into the right-field wall — broke a tie in the seventh inning by tomahawking a Sean Burnett fastball over the right field fence for a two-run ho- mer.


One day after Liván Hernández gave the bullpen a day off, the Nationals’ re- lievers — namely Burnett and Tyler Clip- pard — responded by allowing four runs on four hits and two walks in their first


nationals continued on D4 D S


Nationals find little relief in Milwaukee


Bullpen implodes as modest two-game win streak ends with 7-5 loss to Brewers


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan should embrace the art of compromise . . .


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST and let Albert Haynesworth come to training camp with a clean slate. Shanahan should be the bigger man


million to the ingrate and, unfair as it may sound, now have to give more. Don’t misunderstand. Given the past few months, if the Redskins tell Albert Haynesworth to hand-wash Colt Brennan’s athletic supporter and hang it out to dry in the 400 section of FedEx Field on game day — using the zigzag ramps, not the elevators — he should feel honored and reach for the Woolite. But that’s not reality. The reality is


T


they need to make this work. And the person who needs to compromise now might not be Big Al. People close to Haynesworth have told The Post that the two-time


he benevolent people of Ashburn have already doled out $32 million of a guaranteed $41


MIKE WISE


All-Pro defensive lineman is in shape. They say he will report to camp on time next week. They also say he is still not happy about having to play nose tackle in a 3-4 defense. But he understands this is the hand dealt in a regime change, that he has no choice but to go back to work. Mike Shanahan, your move. The biggest wild card emerging days before Thursday’s inaugural


Camp Shanny is not whether a $100 million malcontent wants to be here. (Haynesworth has wanted out for months. If he could hold out and keep his money he probably would.) The game-changer is how Shanahan deals with the $100 million malcontent. And if My-Way Mike knows what’s


good for him, he will bend. He doesn’t have to cave. He doesn’t


even have to meet Haynesworth halfway. But he needs to show he isn’t just interested in making Haynesworth’s life miserable in the steam and humidity of August in Ashburn. No matter how furious Shanahan is over one of the most dominant defensive players in the game


shunning offseason workouts — after taking a $21 million bonus check on April 1 and then essentially separating from the organization as if he was in a bad marriage — the coach has to put part of his effusive pride aside and realize the truth: A hungry, healthy and apparently slimmed-down Albert makes the Redskins a much more formidable team, even if he doesn’t like the position he’s playing. If Haynesworth lives up to his end of the collective bargaining agreement — and with the exception of one mandatory practice missed last month, believe it or not he has — Shanahan has to know that giving a


wise continued on D6


A Brazilian soccer star to rank with


the men Freedom faces Gold Pride and Marta, the four-time world player of year


by Jorge Castillo


Ronaldo. Ronaldinho. Kaká. Over the past decade, those three names have been synonymous with Brazilian soccer. But another Brazilian may be the most accomplished. She just happens to be a woman.


At just 24 years old, Marta Vieira da


Silva, simply known as Marta, has been named FIFA women’s world player of the year an unprecedented four years in a row and could very well earn the award again this year. Saturday night, she will lead Women’s


McGee’s improved play earns invitation from Team USA


Summer league success of Wizards center


catches Colangelo’s eye by Michael Lee


JaVale McGee’s expected brief visits to


Las Vegas have turned into extended stays the past two years. His above-the- rim acrobatics for the Washington Wiz- ards’ summer league team keep catch- ing the eye of Team USA Managing Di- rector Jerry Colangelo and allowing McGee to cash in — like a bucket full of poker chips — with an invitation to work out for the U.S. men’s national team.


But unlike last summer, when McGee


participated in a minicamp for up-and- coming NBA players, the third-year cen- ter this year is auditioning for the 12- man roster that will compete in the world championships in Turkey next month.


“I feel like it shows someone sees


something special,” McGee, 22, said in a telephone interview. “So I got to take ad- vantage of it and make sure that no one is disappointed.” McGee has not been added to the 34- man national team roster — which in- cludes Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony and is in contention for the 2012 Lon- don Olympics — but he does have an outside shot at making the final cut for Turkey with the scarcity of big men available. The U.S. team is already limited. All 12 members of the 2008 Olympic gold medal-winning team declined invita- tions to compete in this summer’s world championships — including front-court players Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. And, in the past week, the New York Knicks forced Amare Stoude- mire to back out because they couldn’t insure his surgically repaired right knee, Phoenix center Robin Lopez had to pull out with a back injury and Golden State forward David Lee dislocated his right


wizards continued on D6


Professional Soccer’s FC Gold Pride against the Washington Freedom. Led by forward Abby Wambach, Washington (4- 5-5) sits in a tie for fourth placewith Chi- cago at 17 points, one point behind Sky Blue FC. FC Gold Pride (11-3-1) heads into the match in first place in the seven- team league. The teams have met twice this season, both in California. On June 5, they tied, 1-1, and on July 11 FC Gold Pride won, 3-2. FC Gold Pride, based in the San Fran- cisco Bay Area, has accumulated 34 points and has a comfortable 13-point lead over second-place Philadelphia. Marta has been at the center of the team’s dominance. Coming from the Los Angeles fran- chise that folded after compiling the best regular season record in the league’s in- augural campaign last year, Marta broke her own single-season scoring record with her 11th goal of the season against Boston on Wednesday.


marta continued on D3 Freedom vs. FC Gold Pride LAURA RAUCH/REUTERS


“I feel like it shows someone sees something special,” Washington center JaVale McGee said of being asked to audition for Team USA for the world championships.


When: 7 p.m. Where: Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds. Records: Freedom 4-5-5 (17 points); Gold Pride 11-3-1 (34 points).


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