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Longoria leaves early with injury in Rays' loss

The Tampa Bay Rays hope they don't have to find a way to jumpstart their sputtering offense minus slugger Evan Longoria.

The three-time All-Star third baseman left Saturday's night game against the Baltimore Orioles with a sore oblique muscle in his left side and the defending AL East champions are not sure of the severity of the injury or how long the their best player might remain out of the lineup.

"I'm hopeful it's only going to be a week or so," Longoria said after a 3-1 loss in which the Rays were held hitless for six innings by right-hander Chris Tillman. "I doesn't feel like something's that's going to keep me off the field for a long time."

The Rays said Longoria, 0 for 1 with a walk before being removed from the game in the sixth inning, will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

"We're just going to try to be cautious with it," manager Joe Maddon said.

Brian Roberts hit a three-run homer and Nick Markakis made a leaping catch at the wall in the ninth to preserve Baltimore's victory, but Longoria's injury was the biggest concern in the Rays' clubhouse.

Through two games the offense has produced two runs on just eight hits, however, Maddon and his players insisted they are not alarmed.

"We've just been outpitched," Maddon said.

"We're fine," center fielder B.J. Upton offered. "It's too early to start panicking. We'll move past this and be fine."

Tillman, making the 24th starter of his career, lost his bid for a no-hitter when manager Buck Showalter lifted him after 101 pitches. Upton lined a two-out single off Jeremy Accardo (1-0) for Tampa Bay's first hit with two outs in the seventh.

The 22-year-old right-hander wasn't surprised by removed from the game.

"No, I was real inefficient the first couple innings," Tillman said. "Maybe a month down the road from now, I might still be in the game."

Roberts drove in two runs with a triple on Friday night when Jeremy Guthrie pitched eight shutout innings in Baltimore's 4-1 season-opening victory. His eighth-inning homer off Jake McGee came after Mark Reynolds singled and J.J. Hardy drew a one-out walk from Rays starter James Shields (0-1).

With two runners on base, Ben Zobrist hit a drive to right and Markakis, taking a running leap into the padded wall, made the game-ending catch.

"I've said over and over again, it's a crime he hasn't won a Gold Glove by this point," Roberts said of Markakis. "To me, he's the best right fielder in the game. If you didn't believe before now, I hope you do now."

Tillman walked three and struck out five in a start that was moved up a day after lefty Brian Matusz was scratched due to soreness on the left side of his mid-back. Matusz underwent an MRI exam Friday that found a strain in a muscle between the ribs and the back and is expected to be sidelined three to four weeks.

Accardo allowed two hits and escaped without allowing a run in the seventh when Felix Pie, who had entered the game as a pinch runner in the top half of the inning, made a perfect throw to the plate from left field to stop Upton from scoring on Kelly Shoppach's sharp single to left field.

Tampa Bay's Manny Ramirez singled off Koji Uehara to drive in a run charged to Michael Gonzalez in the eighth inning.

Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for Baltimore and benefited from Markakis' catch to earn his first save as an Oriole.

"I really thought Zo's ball was over the wall when he hit it," Maddon said.

The Rays finished with four hits after being limited to the same number the previous night. Maddon conceded that two runs in two games is not getting the job done, however he found no fault with his team's effort.

"It's hard to win those games unless you shut the other team out two times," the manager added. "We've got to score more runs, obviously. ... And we will."

Shields is coming off a season in which he lost a career-high 15 games, allowed an AL-leading 34 homers and led the majors by yielding 127 runs and 246 hits. He was winless over his final six outings of the season, going 0-4 after Aug. 29 and also lost his only start in the Rays' loss to Texas in the opening round of the playoffs.

On Saturday, he showed why he made three consecutive opening day starts for Tampa Bay before David Price, a 19-game winner a year ago, drew this year's assignment.

"Sometimes you can look good and you don't come out with the win," said Shields, who allowed two runs and four hits in 7 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out seven. "I hung in there as long as I could ... but Tillman was on his game."

NOTES: Rays RHP Wade Davis will start Sunday's series finale. He's set to have his head shaved by a young pediatric cancer patient following the game as part of the pitcher's participation in "Cut for a Cure," benefiting the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Vincent Lecavalier Foundation.

Without stars, Cardinals fall to Padres again

Down two stars, the St. Louis Cardinals lost big-time.

Clayton Richard had two RBIs to match his career high without getting the ball out of the infield and pitched six solid innings in the San Diego Padres' 11-3 victory on Saturday.

Albert Pujols homered on the 10th anniversary of his major league debut and Allen Craig, subbing for ailing Matt Holliday, had a two-run single for the Cardinals. St. Louis led 2-0 after one inning and 3-2 after three but Jake Westbrook (0-1) was knocked out after retiring only one of six batters in the Padres' six-run sixth.

Even though Holliday is expected back in a week or so after undergoing an appendectomy on Friday, it's another hit for a team that lost 20-game winner Adam Wainwright to reconstructive elbow surgery in February.

"You can't think about Matt because he's out of the lineup. Everybody knows that," Pujols said. "We need to go out there and those nine guys that Tony (La Russa) puts in the lineup, those are the guys that are going to do the job."

Chase Headley had a career best-tying four RBIs, including a two-run homer in the ninth for the Padres, who are 6-14 at 6-year-old Busch Stadium but clinched their first series win in St. Louis since September 2006. They'll go for their first three-game sweep in St. Louis since May 23-25, 1980, on Sunday with Dustin Moseley facing Jaime Garcia, third in NL rookie of year voting but coming off a rough spring.

Cardinals pitchers totaled eight walks, two of them intentional but also two with the bases loaded.

Three of the Cardinals' five hits off Richard (1-0) came in a first capped by Craig's two-run single. The only other damage came from Pujols' first hit of the season, a drive into the visitors' bullpen leading off the third put St. Louis ahead 3-2 and ended an 0-for-6 start that featured a career-worst three double play balls in the opener.

Richard, who had entered 2-9 with a 5.63 ERA on the road, allowed only two baserunners the rest of his outing.

Richard has nine career RBIs, including three two-run games. His perfectly executed squeeze bunt tied it at 2 in the second and Jason Motte walked him on four pitches for the fifth run in the Padres' fifth.

A pair of infield hits, a sacrifice and an intentional walk loaded the bases in the fifth ahead of Ryan Ludwick's five-pitch, run-scoring walk to snap a 3-all tie and Headley's two-run single chased Westbrook, whose five walks were one off his career worst.

"I feel great. It's just a matter of finding it, harnessing it and being more consistent," Westbrook said. "I was very excited but I've played long enough to where I was able to harness it.

"I wasn't too amped up, but bottom line I wasn't able to get the job done."

San Diego was 3-6 to start the 2010 season, in which it was eliminated on the final day of the season.

NOTES: Padres RHP Mat Latos, on the DL with a shoulder injury, threw out of the bullpen and is scheduled to throw a simulated game Monday in Arizona. ... Nick Hundley has a pair of two-hit games to open the year and had two RBIs Saturday. ... Despite the poor start, the Cardinals have the major leagues' best record in the opening month since 2006 at 76-50 (.603). ... Pujols has homered in the first or second game of the season the last three years.

The Real World: D.C. house to become museum

document and expose the Laogai, China’s vast andbrutal system of forced labor prison camps”, according to the tourist attraction’s website. In Chinese, “Laogai” roughly translates to “reform through labor.” The museum currently focuses on China’s forced labor prisons and political prisoners.

“There was some pretty outrageous wallpaper that might have been left over from The Real World that had to go,” Lisa, a Laogai Museum program administrator, told D.C. Curbed. “But it was pretty bare bones when construction started.”

The brick house served many purposes before turning into a nook for The Real World. According to the , the residence had previously been a lesbian bar, a Blockbuster video, an Ethiopian restaurant, and a church, so transitioning into a museum probably won’t be too much of a stretch.

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

5 Wash. peace demonstrators sentenced to prison

Two priests, a nun, and two other women in their 60s who cut through fences at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor to protest submarine nuclear weapons were sentenced Monday to prison terms ranging from two to 15 months.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle sentenced Jesuit priest Stephen Kelly, 61, of Oakland, Calif., and retired teacher Susan Crane, 67, of Baltimore, to 15 months in prison, the News Tribune reported.

Jesuit priest Bill Bichsel, 82, of Tacoma, was sentenced to three months in prison and three months' home monitoring. Sister Anne Montgomery, 84, of Redwood City, Calif., got two months in prison and four months' home monitoring, and social worker Lynne Greenwald, 61, of Tacoma, got six months in prison.

The judge ordered Kelly to be taken to prison immediately. Settle was going to allow the other defendants to report to prison next month, but when they told the judge they might not show up, he also ordered them to be taken to prison immediately.

A federal jury convicted the five anti-war demonstrators of conspiracy, trespass and destruction of government property in December. They had face up to 10 years in prison, and prosecutors recommended sentences ranging between six months and 36 months.

Court documents say the group cut through fences on Nov. 2, 2009, to reach an area near where nuclear warheads are stored in bunkers. The protesters put up banners, sprinkled blood on the ground, scattered sunflower seeds and prayed until they were arrested.

The Bangor base, about 20 miles west of Seattle on Hood Canal, is home to 10 Ohio-class submarines, eight armed with Trident ballistic missiles and two with conventional weapons.

About 250 demonstrators gathered outside the federal courthouse before Monday's sentencing. Some demonstrators carried signs saying, "Blessed are the Peacemakers," according to Seattle radio station KOMO.

Kelly told KOMO before the sentencing that he was prepared to go to prison.

"I think it's really worth it. I have the solace of my conscience, as I think this is just one little step against nuclear weapons and someday we'll be free, and maybe not in my lifetime, but I have hope."

The five defendants said nuclear warheads stored at the base and on submarines there are illegal under international, national and humanitarian law, but a judge prohibited them from using international law and the lethality of nuclear weapons as a defense. The trial hinged on straightforward charges relating to trespassing and property damage.

Montgomery said in a sentencing document filed last week that she and others have taken responsibility for their actions. She wrote that they trained for the action and went over every aspect, including discussing that a Marine might shoot one of them.

"We accept personal responsibility for bringing attention to the policies of our government, and for the responsibility of protesting nuclear weapons," she wrote. "We know that the manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is immoral and criminal under International Law and, therefore, under United States Law."

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Information from: The News Tribune,

New Hampshire beats Albany (NY) in overtime, 62-59

DURHAM, N.H. – Chandler Rhoads scored 15 points to lead New Hampshire over Albany (N.Y.) 62-59 in overtime on Wednesday night.

With 1:01 remaining in regulation and the Wildcats (10-13, 4-7 America East Conference) trailing 49-47, Rhoads stepped to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the score. Rhoads knocked down both attempts and both teams missed a pair of free throws down the stretch to force the overtime period.

Another free throw from Rhoads gave New Hampshire a 60-56 lead with 13 seconds left in OT and the Wildcats held on for the victory.

The Great Danes (11-14, 4-6) shot 28.1 percent in the second half (9 of 32), but were able to force the extra frame thanks to a 25-percent effort (7 of 28) by New Hampshire after intermission.

Tim Ambrose scored 15 points and Luke Devlin added 14 rebounds for Albany.

Scott Morris had 14 points and Dane Diliegro 12 for the Wildcats.