ABCDE SPORTS tuesday, november 2, 2010


PROBASKETBALL Mystics promote


from within Trudi Lacey, the team’s director of basketball operations, takes over as coach and GM. D2


BLOGS,MULTIMEDIAANDCHATS washingtonpost.com/sports First Things First Today, 9:30 a.m. Join Tracee Hamilton as she gets your day started with a Q&A. Football Insider Live Today, 10:30 a.m. Maese, Arrington and Steinberg talk Redskins. Football Insider 2010 Download a free iPhone app for Redskins news in the iTunes store.


JOHNFEINSTEIN


On stable footing For the moment, the Terps have saved Ralph Friedgen’s job, thanks to their 6-2 start. D3


BY BARRY SVRLUGA Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan, who


“The fact is, the benching of McNabb was defensible.”


—Sally Jenkins, on Shanahan’s decision to sit McNabb late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Lions. D7


on Sunday said he benched quarterback Donovan McNabb late in the loss to the Detroit Lions because McNabb had not mastered the two-minute offense, on Monday introduced an additional expla- nation for his decision.McNabb, Shanah- an said, has battled lower-body injuries that have eliminated his practice time in the hurry-up offense and hindered his conditioning. Shanahan said McNabb’s physical problems — strains in both hamstrings, unspecified contusions and a strained quadriceps muscle — had him so con- cerned that he called McNabb into his office last Tuesday and asked him if he should sit out against the Lions. Though McNabb, by Shanahan’s tell-


ing, hadn’t been able to practice the two-minute offense in five weeks, and Shanahan was concerned that his leg injuries were affecting his throwing ac- curacy, the veteran quarterback con- vinced him he was well enough to play. “He felt like he wanted to play, that


he’d be fine,” Shanahan said. Still, Shanahan said he decided before


the game that if the Redskins found themselves trailing with two minutes remaining, no timeouts and a long dis- tance to cover — exactly the situation they faced against the Lions—he would insert backup Rex Grossman because Grossman had played in the same offen- sive system in 2009 with Houston and was in better physical shape. “When you deal with a two-minute


offense,” Shanahan said, “and you don’t have any timeouts, and you haven’t done it in five weeks, and you’re calling some-


times two plays [simultaneously] — you’ve got to hustle to the line of scrim- mage, and you’re calling plays that you haven’t called in the two-minute attack— and you’re actually working on cardio- vascular endurance at the same time [you’re] working on the clock, it’s really hard to do that when you haven’t prac- ticed it and you haven’t really put your- self in any strenuous activities because of yourhamstrings. So I thought itwouldbe in our best interest to go in a different direction.” With that one decision, though, Sha-


nahan sent the Redskins into a bye week with fundamental questions surround- ing future of the team’s quarterback that were being asked by many of McNabb’s teammates as well as a number of promi- nent NFL analysts.


redskins continued onD8


—Michael Wilbon, on Shanahan’s decision to bench McNabb. D7


D EZ SU


Shanahan: Injuries led toMcNabb decision


“Bringing in Rex Grossman to relieve your starter ... is stunningly dumb.”


WIZARDS VS. 76ERS 7 p.m. at Verizon Center. TV: Comcast SportsNet


Despite his injury, Wall set for home debut


Sprained right ankle won’t keep rookie from playing against 76ers


BY MICHAEL LEE The day before his expected regular


season debut at Verizon Center against the Philadelphia 76ers, John Wall emerged from theWashingtonWizards’ locker room with a protective walking boot covering his right foot. Wall sprained his right ankle during his spectacular breakout performance against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday but said the bootwas precautionary and shouldn’t force himtomiss any action. When told that Coach Flip Saunders


said he planned on having the No. 1 overall pick available against Philadel- phia,Wall said, “I feel the same way.” But theWizards have some reason for


concern, with right ankle injuries to its two best players expected to keep at least one of themout against the 76ers. Gilbert Arenas participated in some


drills and rebounded shots for team- mates after practice onMonday. He had a follow-up MRI exam later in the afternoon on the strained tendon in his right ankle that has sidelined him through the first two games andmuch of the preseason. Arenas will be listed as a game-time


decision, but Saunders all but ruled out wizards continued onD4


B BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS From left, Giants Pat Burrell, Brian Wilson, AubreyHuff and Buster Posey come together in triumph after the final out of the 106thWorld Series.


the San Francisco treat arlington, tex.


elieve it, San Francisco. Open your eyes. Let out your breath. Watch the sun hit the Golden


Gate Bridge in the morning as you rub your eyes. Those of you that went to bed anyway. Bobby Richardson isn’t going to


snag WillieMcCovey’s line drive to end Game 7 of theWorld Series with the tying and winning Giant runs at second and third base. A tragic earthquake isn’t going to


strike during the sameWorld Series when your local rivals from Oakland sweep you. And, with a 5-0 lead and eight


outs to go in Game 6 of the 2002 Series, when the odds say you have a 98.5 percent chance of becoming champions, your manager Dusty Baker isn’t going to hand the ball to


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST


JohnWall showed his potential with a 28-point performance against Atlanta. But back courtmate Gilbert Arenas is not expected to play on Tuesday.


1954 THOMAS BOSWELL


Russ Ortiz so he can have it for his trophy case.No, this isn’t that ’02 nightmare, when the Angels stole your title. This time it’s real, final and


official. With a 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 5 of this Series, with Tim Lincecumwinning his second pitching battle from October deity Cliff Lee and with Edgar Renteria supplying the three-


boswell continued onD5


Last year the Giants won theWorld Series (4-0 vs. Cleveland—as the N.Y. Giants)


1962 A day after Halloween,


franchise’s first World Series crown since 1954 BY DAVE SHEININ


arlington, tex. — They all con- verged near the mound, this trium- phant collection of misfits and cast- offs: The proud shortstop reduced to a part-timer this year. The left fielder who had been released 10 weeks ago. The first baseman no one but the San Francisco Giants wanted last winter. The pitcher passed over by nine teams in the 2006 draft because he was too small and had too violent a delivery.


Baseball has produced all sorts of champions in the past 10 years, rep- resenting nine different franchises, fromthepowerfulYankees of2009to the83-win Cardinals of 2006, but it is fair to say there hasn’t been one quite like this one, quite like these colorful, quirky, logic-defying Giants.


Lost theWorld Series as the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 to the Yankees


1989 Lincecum beats Lee again, 3-1, to claim With one last display of pitching


mastery, this time by ace Tim Lince- cum, and one last out-of-nowhere home run by a castoff, shortstop Edgar Renteria, the pitching-rich Gi- ants beat the Texas Rangers, 3-1, in Game5 of theWorld Series, complet- ing their improbable journey and bringing San Francisco its first championship since the Giants moved there in 1958. They were all there in the joyous


scrum at the center of stunned-silent Rangers Ballpark: The $126 million pitcher who wasn’t good enough to make the Giants’ postseason roster. The lefty reliever who was trash- heaped by the worst team in baseball in August. The strikeout-machine of a designated “hitter,” whose whiff for the second out of the seventh inning


world series continued onD5


Year of the San Francisco earthquake, swept in four games by Oakland


2002


Giants rise above 106th World Series


Lost theWorld Series, 4-3 to the Angels— third time since move to S.F. in 1958


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