Dodgers win playoff series
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Vicente Padilla pitched seven shutout innings Saturday to help the LA Dodgers beat St . Louis 5-1 and advance to the NL Championship Series.
Padilla (1-0), picked up off waivers from Texas during the season, allowed four hits and a walk for the Dodgers, who swept the best-of-five series, 3-0, and have now won six straight Division Series games.
Los Angeles will start the NLCS at home Thursday against either defending World Series champion Philadelphia, which beat the Dodgers in five games in last year's NLCS, or Colorado, which LA beat 14 times this season in 18 games.
Andre Ethier hit a two-run homer and added a triple for the Dodgers, while Manny Ramirez had three hits and two RBI. All five LA runs came with two outs.
Joel Pineiro took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in just four innings.
USA leads by 3 at Presidents Cup
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker completed a sweep of their four team matches Saturday and pushed the United States to a 3-point lead at the Presidents Cup.
Woods hit two magical shots at the end the morning foursomes match to produce a 1-up victory over Mike Weir and Tim Clark and Stricker made seven birdies in the afternoon fourballs en route to a 4-and-2 decision over Y.E. Yang and Ryo Ishikawa.
Woods and Stricker became the first pairing in the eight playings of the Presidents Cup to win four team matches.
With 12 singles matches remaining to be played Sunday, the Americans led the International Team 12 ½-9 ½. The United States won six of the 10 points at stake Saturday.
Woods and Stricker went to the 17th hole 1-down in their morning match, but Woods holed a 25-foot birdie putt to win that hole. He then hit a tremendous second shot to within 10 feet on the par-5 18th and his eagle was conceded when neither Weir nor Clark could make birdie.
In the afternoon, Stricker's heroics helped build a 6-up lead with six holes to play.
Phil Mickelson won his third match of the competition in the morning, teaming with Sean O'Hair for a 5-and-3 decision over Retief Goosen and Camilo Villegas. He then settled for a halve in the afternoon when again paired with O'Hair against Vijay Singh and Clark.
Logano wins Nationwide Copart 300
FONTANA, Calif., Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Joey Logano survived several late-race wrecks Saturday to win the Nationwide Copart 300.
Logano, who earlier was involved in an accident with Greg Biffle, took the lead from Brad Keselowski and then held off Brian Vickers for his fifth victory of the season and the sixth of his Nationwide Series career.
Vickers finished second, while Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Keselowski completed the top five.
Denny Hamlin relieved Kyle Busch in the No.18 Toyota early in the 300-mile race. Busch, who is suffering from flu-like symptoms, led 36 laps before hopping out of the car and handing it over to his teammate during the first caution.
Hamlin, Keselowski and Biffle battled three-wide for the lead with 10 laps to go, with Hamlin and Biffle making contact and slamming into the wall. Busch was credited with a 31st-place finish and saw his series lead over Edwards cut to 155 points with five races to go.
Sacramento's Garcia has arm and wrist surgery
SACRAMENTO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Francisco Garcia of the Sacramento Kings underwent surgery Saturday to repair a break in his forearm and ligament damage to his wrist.
Garcia, 27, will spend eight weeks immobilized in a cast and will miss at least four months of action.
Dr. Mark Lee performed the three-hour procedure at the UC Davis Medical Center.
Garcia, the former first-round pick, injured his forearm while working out Friday.
He averaged personal bests of 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 65 games last season.
Franchitti wins IndyCar series title
HOMESTEAD, Fla., Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Dario Franchitti conserved just enough fuel Saturday to win the Firestone Indy 300 and claim the IndyCar series championship.
Franchitti held on to defeat Ryan Briscoe by 4.7 seconds and Scott Dixon by 6.0 seconds. Any of those three drivers would have won the championship with a victory in the final race of the season.
The triumph for Franchitti came one year after his return to the IndyCar series following a brief try on the NASCAR racing circuit. He ended the season 11 points ahead of Dixon and 12 points ahead of Briscoe.
Franchitti made his final pit stop with 50 laps remaining at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, and in the final moments of the race had to drive a fine line between saving fuel and holding off the charging Briscoe.
Both Briscoe and Dixon had to pit with less than 10 laps left to keep from running out of gas.
It was the fifth victory of the season for Franchitti, who became the third driver to win multiple championships in the series. He joined Dixon and Sam Hornish, Jr., who has the most with three.
The 300-mile race was caution-free, the first time that has happened in the history of the series. It was the second-fastest race ever, with Franchitti winning in an average speed of 201.420 miles per hour.
