Rush roll over Rock in NLL championship opener

The series switches to Edmonton on Friday, June 5. If a third game is necessary it would be in Toronto the following Saturday.

The Toronto Rock’s mission was to crush the Rush.

On this night, however, the Edmonton Rush did the crushing, and the Rock crumbled.

The Edmonton Rush came into Toronto’s house Saturday night and pushed them around.

At one point in the second half, “The Locomotion” played on the loud speakers during play, and Toronto took some inspiration from Little Eva with a goal by Colin Doyle.

They should have put that song on a loop.

Edmonton overcame an early 2-0 deficit and pounded the Rock 15-9 in Game 1 of the best-of-three National Lacrosse League championship at the Air Canada Centre. Game 2 is in Edmonton on Friday, with Game 3, if necessary, back in Toronto June 13.

Edmonton outworked Toronto right from the start and found holes in the Rock’s defence.

Were they surprised how strong the Rush came out?

“We shouldn’t have been,” Doyle said post-game. “I mean, we knew what they were capable of. I certainly hope it wasn’t a case of us underestimating them.”

Doyle felt this was the worst game of the season for Toronto.

Head coach John Lovell didn’t even recognize the team wearing the Rock colours.

“That wasn’t the team I know,” he said.

He said he couldn’t single out any one player for blame.

“There were mistakes by 16 guys,” he said.

And Rock goaltender Brandon Miller was pulled not once but twice.

“I don’t think he made the saves that Brandon normally makes,” Lovell said.

The coach didn’t give up totally on Miller.

“Brandon is one of the reasons we’re here in the first place,” Lovell said. “So he needed an opportunity to go back in and see if we could rally around it.”

Mark Matthews, of Oshawa, Ont., and Robert Church led Edmonton with three goals each. Matthews was the league’s second-leading scorer during the regular season.

Matthews had two words to describe his team’s victory: “Work ethic.”

He said the Rush came in with a game plan to outwork Toronto, and they succeeded.

Edmonton played the up-tempo offence and pressure defence that makes them so dangerous.

“When we sit back and play a more traditional style, we’re not a very good defensive group,” Rush head coach Derek Keenan said. “When we play at a high tempo, and make teams play faster, then we’re better.”

Jim Furyk has four-shot lead at World Golf Championship

It’s a familiar position for Furyk at Firestone, where he has done everything right except leave with the trophy.

AKRON, OHIO—Jim Furyk is two rounds away from erasing a couple of bad memories at Firestone.

Even with a bogey on his last hole for the second straight day, Furyk did plenty right Friday in the Bridgestone Invitational for another 4-under 66 that gave him a four-shot going into the weekend of this World Golf Championship.

Furyk ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch late in his round to reach 8-under 132.

It’s a familiar position for Furyk at Firestone, where he has done everything right except leave with the trophy. During a seven-hole playoff against Tiger Woods in 2001, Furyk missed three birdie putts inside 12 feet for the win, and Woods finally closed him out on the 79th hole of the tournament.

More painful was three years ago, when Furyk led wire-to-wire and was in the 18th fairway on Sunday when one bad swing led to a double bogey and he lost by one.

Furyk doesn’t see this as a shot at redemption.

“I would say that I’m disappointed I’ve never won here,” he said. “It’s one of my favourite courses we play. But to have like a chip on my shoulder? No. It’s another year and opportunity, and we’re only halfway. I’m going to try to do the same things this weekend and not really look at the leaderboard that much and go try to shoot under par.”

It might take every bit of that considering the cast behind him.

Bubba Watson (66) and Dustin Johnson (67), whose power is suited for this monster of a course, joined Shane Lowry of Ireland (66) at 4-under 136. Henrik Stenson (69) and Graeme McDowell (71) were among those another shot behind.

Masters and U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth got within two shots of the lead when he chipped in for birdie on the third hole (his 12th of the round). He followed with back-to-back bogeys to drop back about the time Furyk was starting to pull away.

The wind was swirling, and Spieth says he didn’t miss a shot during a four-hole stretch when he made two bogeys. The good news? In his sixth round at Firestone, Spieth finally broke par with a 68 that left him six shots behind.

“It goes with the bigger goal of trying to give myself a chance to win this championship,” Spieth said. “It wasn’t going to happen shooting even.”

Bautista’s blast gives Blue Jays victory over Yankees

It wasn’t until the 10th inning, with Jose Bautista driving a Branden Pinder 1-2 fastball into the left field seats, that the Jays were able to solve the pitching duel and take a 2-1 win before 42,839 at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK—Jose Bautista exited the trainer’s room with an ice pack strapped to his shoulder and a reason to boast about his game-winning home run.

After all, it wasn’t just another homer. The blast, in the 10th inning no less, vaulted Toronto to a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees in the opener of a weekend series that has gripped Toronto ball fans with playoff fever.

A statement? Yes, but not about Bautista himself.

“The home run is not what I’m concerned about,” Bautista said about his 25th of the season and, arguably, the most important of the season to date, which came off reliever Branden Pinder on a 1-2 pitch.

“Winning the first game in this series, on the road, that’s the statement I think. Everyone knows what our offence is capable of, and we have David Price going tomorrow (Saturday). I don’t think they (Yankees) feel good right now. I’ve been in that spot before so trust me, it doesn’t feel good.”

That alone was enough to underline the significance of the Jays win and the fact they hold the hammer in this three-game series, with Price going Saturday. Beyond that, Toronto established the fact that even in this clash of the only two major league teams with 500 runs or more scored, it was a slight upper hand in pitching and defence that made the difference for Toronto on Friday night.

Back on the scoreboard, which players say they don’t necessarily look at right now, the Jays picked up a full game on the Yankees, climbing to within 3 1/2 games of the division lead and cutting their deficit in the loss column to five games.

Jays manager John Gibbons is definitely enjoying the ride — his first real run at a post-season in his two tenures as Toronto’s manager — but he saw one detail that stood out among a host of them that added up to the big win.

Ruthless England complete Ashes demolition job

England ripped out the last three Australia wickets for 12 runs to win the fourth test by a crushing innings and 78 runs and regain the Ashes at a euphoric Trent Bridge on Saturday.

Ben Stokes had Mitchell Starc caught by Ian Bell at second slip for nought and Mark Wood bowled Josh Hazlewood for a duck.

Wood produced another ferocious full-pitched delivery to shatter Nathan Lyon's stumps for four and complete the rout, sparking wild celebrations on the pitch and around the ground.

The England players celebrated in a huddle before going on a lap of honour to strains of "Rule Britannia" and "Land of Hope and Glory" as the crowd basked in the sunshine.

"It's unbelievable. I couldn't be happier," England captain Alastair Cook told reporters.

England were whitewashed 5-0 in the last Ashes series in Australia in 2013-14 and the touring side had been strong favourites to retain the famous urn.

"For what we've been through over the last 18 months, to play like we did has been fantastic," Cook said.

"I'm so proud of this young team and the way they've taken this opportunity."

TEST-BEST FIGURES

Adam Voges was left unbeaten on 51 in Australia's total of 253 and Stokes finished with test-best figures of 6-36.

"Our goal was to come here and try and have some success," Australia captain Michael Clarke said at the presentation ceremony after announcing he will retire from international cricket at the end of the final test in the series.

"Alastair Cook and the England team deserve a lot of credit -- they've shown us how to execute good swing and seam bowling.

"It's not for want of trying but the boys have been beaten by a better side.

"England when they've had momentum have grabbed it with both hands and run with it. James Anderson and Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes in this game showed what you need to do in games like this.

"Once you find the edge you need to hang on to those chances and England have done that really well."

England won the first test in Cardiff by 169 runs but Australia bounced back to level the series with a crushing victory by 405 runs at Lord's.

The hosts dominated the third test at Edgbaston and won by eight wickets inside three days before dismissing Australia for 60 on the first day at Trent Bridge to set up another overwhelming victory.

"When you lose 5-0 there's a big turnaround and a new side develops pretty quickly," Cook said. "There's a lot of talent and the guys have come in and done incredibly well.

"It all comes down to hard work. A lot of that work has been done over the last 18 months," Cook said.

"I had to take a big step forward as captain. I am quite stubborn and it took a while. But ultimately you are only as good as the other 10 players."

England lead the series 3-1 with one match to play at the Oval starting on August 20.

Benitez keen for duo to stay

Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez remains confident Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema will both still be at the Bernabeu this coming season despite ongoing speculation about their futures.

Bale has long been linked with a move to Manchester United and, with Angel Di Maria poised to leave Old Trafford for Paris St Germain, fresh talk about a possible bid for the world's most expensive player has re-emerged in the media.

It is a similar story with Benzema, with Arsenal the latest in a long line of reported suitors believed to be keen on the 27-year-old France international.

However, new Madrid boss Benitez is not expecting either forward to be leaving the club any time soon.

He told a press conference ahead of Tuesday's Audi Cup clash against Tottenham in Munich: "Gareth is a huge player for us and I know that he's happy.

"I'm not going to talk about offers. Everything is well and he's going to have a good season with us I'm sure."

On speculation about Benzema, former Liverpool boss Benitez added: "My answer is that I think Benzema is going to stay with us. I'm very happy with him. There's no reason to think that he's going to go."

Another player whose future has been heavily in the spotlight this summer is Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea.

Real want to bring the former Atletico Madrid number one back to the Spanish capital, but so far United have only wanted do a deal with the 10-time European champions if defender Sergio Ramos joins the Red Devils in return.

Asked about De Gea, Benitez said: "I've said in five previous press conferences that I don't want to talk about players who are in other teams. We have three very good keepers. I can talk about them, not other goalkeepers."