Jorge Toca's grand slam and two-run double gave the Charlotte Knights a 6-5 win over the Syracuse SkyChiefs Sunday in the International League.
Toca blasted the grand slam off of Syracuse starter Josue Matos (5-3) in the third inning. Toca's double built a 6-1 lead.
Bryant Nelson gave Syracuse its only lead when he doubled and scored on a double by Julius Matos in the second inning. Anton French hit his league-leading 10th triple in the fifth inning.
Guillermo Quiroz hit his first home run of the season. Quiroz, the Toronto Blue Jays' top catching prospect, saw his first Triple-A level action after spending the first four months recovering from a shoulder injury and then surgery for a collapsed lung.
Jeff Bajenaru retired Syracuse in order in the ninth for the save. Charlotte starter Jon Adkins is 4-8.
Corey Koskie, on major league rehab from the Toronto Blue Jays, went 0-2. Koskie is scheduled to rejoin the Blue Jays on Tuesday.
FOOTBALL: Running back Ricky Williams reported to Miami Dolphins training camp on Sunday morning, nearly one year to the day after he told the team he was retiring from football.
Williams, driving a blue sport utility vehicle, arrived at the team's training facility around 8:45 a.m. He did not comment to reporters waiting outside the complex. The team's first formal training-camp media availability is scheduled for Monday.
The 2002 NFL rushing champion decided to seek reinstatement after sitting out last season, saying at the time he'd lost the urge to continue playing. Williams faces a four-game suspension at the start of the season for violating the league's substance abuse program, yet likely will be able to play in preseason games.
Williams acknowledged shortly after retiring that he failed drug tests and faced a suspension for testing positive three times for marijuana.
Williams rushed for 3,225 yards and 25 touchdowns in two seasons with the Dolphins. He informed former coach Dave Wannstedt of his retirement plans last July 23, one week before the start of training camp - a move that stunned teammates, and played a role in Miami's downward spiral. The Dolphins were 4-12 last season.
A court later found the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner in breach of contract by retiring, and ordered him to repay the team $8.6 million. The team has not yet sought to collect the settlement, and new coach Nick Saban offered Williams another chance to play for the Dolphins.
GOLF: Tom Watson made a par on the third playoff hole Sunday to beat Ireland's Des Smyth and win the Senior British Open.
Watson, a five-time British Open champion, won the Senior British for the second time in three years. In 2003, he beat Carl Mason in a playoff at Turnberry.
The 55-year-old Watson joins Gary Player (1988, 1990, 1997), Bob Charles (1989, 1993), Brian Barnes (1995, 1996) and Christy O'Connor Jr. (1999, 2000) as multiple winners of the championship.
Watson won his seventh senior title and first since the 2003 Jeld-Wen Tradition. The victory is his fourth senior major, including the 2001 Senior PGA Championship, the Senior British in 2003 and the Tradition.
Watson, who held a one-shot lead heading into the final round, closed with a 1-under 70, finishing tied with Smyth (67) at 4-under 280.
Greg Norman, making his Champions Tour debut, shot a final-round 68 and finished third at 3 under. Craig Stadler closed with a 72 and was fourth, and Loren Roberts, also playing his first senior event, had a 67 and finished four back.
SWIMMING: Michael Phelps won't match his medal haul from the Athens Olympics at the world swimming championships.
In his very first race in Montreal, Phelps shockingly failed to qualify for the final of the 400-meter freestyle and an expected showdown with Australian star Grant Hackett.
Phelps faded badly in the seventh of eight preliminary heats on a warm, sunny morning at Parc Jean-Drapeau. The 20-year-old American was third at the final turn, but dropped all the way to seventh - next-to-last - when he touched in 3 minutes, 50.53 seconds.
That wasn't even close to putting him among the eight fastest swimmers, who moved on to the evening final. Hackett, as expected, was the top qualifier in 3:44.63 - nearly six seconds ahead of Phelps.
"Not the way I wanted to start off," Phelps said. "It's pretty disappointing. I felt good in the warmup, but then in the race it wasn't there."
Phelps was the biggest star of the Athens Olympics, winning six golds and eight medals overall. He sought to duplicate that feat in Montreal, qualifying for five individual events with the expectation of swimming all three relays.
Looking to take his program in new directions leading up to the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps dropped two of his world-record events: the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley.
He picked up two events where he's less accomplished -- the 100 and 400 free -- but the gamble backfired on his first morning at the Montreal pool.
Phelps will likely get to swim in the evening finals as part of the 400 freestyle relay. But he won't get what he really yearned for -- a chance to go head-to-head against Hackett, who finished second to countryman Ian Thorpe in the 400 at the last three world championships.
The Thorpedo is sitting out these championships.
"I'm going to have to be ready from day one," Phelps said. "Obviously, I wasn't ready for this morning. I've got a relay tonight. I've got to step up and hopefully be better than this. I've got to put this behind me."
Australia's Jess Schipper set a meet record in the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly. Her time of 57.91 broke the mark set by American Jenny Thompson, now retired, at the championships in Barcelona two years ago.
The last two Olympic champions, Australia's Petria Thomas and world-record holder Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands, skipped this meet. But Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak, the silver medalist in Athens, advanced to the evening semifinals.
Also moving on: Mary Descenza and Rachel Komisarz of the United States, Australia's Libby Lenton, Inge Dekker of the Netherlands and Slovakia's Martina Moravcova.
"It's so amazing," Descenza said. "There's going to be some great races to come."
Bryant Nelson gave Syracuse its only lead when he doubled and scored on a double by Julius Matos in the second inning. Anton French hit his league-leading 10th triple in the fifth inning.
Guillermo Quiroz hit his first home run of the season. Quiroz, the Toronto Blue Jays' top catching prospect, saw his first Triple-A level action after spending the first four months recovering from a shoulder injury and then surgery for a collapsed lung.
Jeff Bajenaru retired Syracuse in order in the ninth for the save. Charlotte starter Jon Adkins is 4-8.
Corey Koskie, on major league rehab from the Toronto Blue Jays, went 0-2. Koskie is scheduled to rejoin the Blue Jays on Tuesday.
FOOTBALL: Running back Ricky Williams reported to Miami Dolphins training camp on Sunday morning, nearly one year to the day after he told the team he was retiring from football.
Williams, driving a blue sport utility vehicle, arrived at the team's training facility around 8:45 a.m. He did not comment to reporters waiting outside the complex. The team's first formal training-camp media availability is scheduled for Monday.
The 2002 NFL rushing champion decided to seek reinstatement after sitting out last season, saying at the time he'd lost the urge to continue playing. Williams faces a four-game suspension at the start of the season for violating the league's substance abuse program, yet likely will be able to play in preseason games.
Williams acknowledged shortly after retiring that he failed drug tests and faced a suspension for testing positive three times for marijuana.
Williams rushed for 3,225 yards and 25 touchdowns in two seasons with the Dolphins. He informed former coach Dave Wannstedt of his retirement plans last July 23, one week before the start of training camp - a move that stunned teammates, and played a role in Miami's downward spiral. The Dolphins were 4-12 last season.
A court later found the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner in breach of contract by retiring, and ordered him to repay the team $8.6 million. The team has not yet sought to collect the settlement, and new coach Nick Saban offered Williams another chance to play for the Dolphins.
GOLF: Tom Watson made a par on the third playoff hole Sunday to beat Ireland's Des Smyth and win the Senior British Open.
Watson, a five-time British Open champion, won the Senior British for the second time in three years. In 2003, he beat Carl Mason in a playoff at Turnberry.
The 55-year-old Watson joins Gary Player (1988, 1990, 1997), Bob Charles (1989, 1993), Brian Barnes (1995, 1996) and Christy O'Connor Jr. (1999, 2000) as multiple winners of the championship.
Watson won his seventh senior title and first since the 2003 Jeld-Wen Tradition. The victory is his fourth senior major, including the 2001 Senior PGA Championship, the Senior British in 2003 and the Tradition.
Watson, who held a one-shot lead heading into the final round, closed with a 1-under 70, finishing tied with Smyth (67) at 4-under 280.
Greg Norman, making his Champions Tour debut, shot a final-round 68 and finished third at 3 under. Craig Stadler closed with a 72 and was fourth, and Loren Roberts, also playing his first senior event, had a 67 and finished four back.
SWIMMING: Michael Phelps won't match his medal haul from the Athens Olympics at the world swimming championships.
In his very first race in Montreal, Phelps shockingly failed to qualify for the final of the 400-meter freestyle and an expected showdown with Australian star Grant Hackett.
Phelps faded badly in the seventh of eight preliminary heats on a warm, sunny morning at Parc Jean-Drapeau. The 20-year-old American was third at the final turn, but dropped all the way to seventh - next-to-last - when he touched in 3 minutes, 50.53 seconds.
That wasn't even close to putting him among the eight fastest swimmers, who moved on to the evening final. Hackett, as expected, was the top qualifier in 3:44.63 - nearly six seconds ahead of Phelps.
"Not the way I wanted to start off," Phelps said. "It's pretty disappointing. I felt good in the warmup, but then in the race it wasn't there."
Phelps was the biggest star of the Athens Olympics, winning six golds and eight medals overall. He sought to duplicate that feat in Montreal, qualifying for five individual events with the expectation of swimming all three relays.
Looking to take his program in new directions leading up to the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps dropped two of his world-record events: the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley.
He picked up two events where he's less accomplished -- the 100 and 400 free -- but the gamble backfired on his first morning at the Montreal pool.
Phelps will likely get to swim in the evening finals as part of the 400 freestyle relay. But he won't get what he really yearned for -- a chance to go head-to-head against Hackett, who finished second to countryman Ian Thorpe in the 400 at the last three world championships.
The Thorpedo is sitting out these championships.
"I'm going to have to be ready from day one," Phelps said. "Obviously, I wasn't ready for this morning. I've got a relay tonight. I've got to step up and hopefully be better than this. I've got to put this behind me."
Australia's Jess Schipper set a meet record in the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly. Her time of 57.91 broke the mark set by American Jenny Thompson, now retired, at the championships in Barcelona two years ago.
The last two Olympic champions, Australia's Petria Thomas and world-record holder Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands, skipped this meet. But Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak, the silver medalist in Athens, advanced to the evening semifinals.
Also moving on: Mary Descenza and Rachel Komisarz of the United States, Australia's Libby Lenton, Inge Dekker of the Netherlands and Slovakia's Martina Moravcova.
"It's so amazing," Descenza said. "There's going to be some great races to come."
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