Thome's homer gives Chicago White Sox 1-0 win
CHICAGO, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Jim Thome's seventh-inning homer Tuesday lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 1-0 playoff victory over the Minnesota Twins for the American League Central title.
John Danks (12-9) gave up just two hits with four strikeouts and three walks over eight shutout innings for the White Sox, who needed the one-game playoff victory to snare the division.
Losing pitcher Nick Blackburn (11-11) gave up just four hits and one run in 6 1/3 innings. The Twins had lost two of three at home to the Kansas City Royals to close the regular season when another win would have clinched the division.
The White Sox will play the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS starting Thursday at St. Petersburg, Fla.
The win ensures that both Chicago baseball clubs will play in the post-season for the first time since 1906, when the White Sox defeated the 116-win Cubs in six games.
Cabel replaces Kiffin as Raiders coach
OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis fired second-year Coach Lane Kiffin Tuesday and named offensive line coach Tom Cable the interim head coach.
Davis fired Kiffin without pay via telephone and explained the issues he had with his former coach in a Tuesday news conference.
"I called Lane and told him that he no longer is the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, and I was dismissing him with cause," Davis said.
Davis said Kiffin's firing was not performance-based, because he knew he had hired an inexperienced coach in Kiffin.
Consecutive losses to the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers dropped the Raiders to 1-3.
Cable, 43, is the fifth coach in the past six seasons for Oakland. Cable joined the Raiders as offensive line coach prior to the 2007 season after a one-year stint in the same position for the Atlanta Falcons.
Rams' new coach names Bulger starting QB
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger was named the starter for the remainder of the season Tuesday by the Rams' new head coach, Jim Haslett.
The move came one day after Haslett replaced Scott Linehan, who was fired after an 0-4 start. Linehan benched Bulger last week in favor of Trent Green, but the Rams still lost to Buffalo 31-14.
"(Bulger) is going to be the quarterback and he will be the starting quarterback for the rest of the year unless something happens," Haslett said. "I talked to (Bulger) and (Green) about it, and it is more of a gut feeling on my part."
Bulger passed for 519 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions through the first three games. In July 2007, the Bulger was signed to a six-year, $65 million extension that made him the highest paid player in franchise history.
Venus Williams advances in Stuttgart
STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Wimbledon champion Venus Williams highlighted Tuesday's action at the $650,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with an easy opening-round win.
The sixth-seeded Williams defeated German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2.
In other Tuesday action, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated Czech Sandra Zahlavova 6-3, 6-2 and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka beat Hungarian Agnes Szavay 7-5, 6-3.
Also, Russian Nadia Petrova breezed by Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 6-2, Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova eliminated France's Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-1 and Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli defeated Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-1.
Top-seeded U.S. Open champion Serena Williams will meet Chinese Na Li and fourth-seeded Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva will face Austria's Sybille Bammer in the second round Wednesday.
