FanFare Friday 10/3/03

Briefly

Baseball

Braves second baseman Marcus Giles took ground balls Thursday and said he expects to be back in the lineup for Game 3 tonight. Giles was out of the starting lineup Wednesday for Game 2 of the playoffs against the Cubs because of a bruised thigh. He pinch-hit in the sixth inning and he had RBI single.

Astros right-hander Roy Oswalt and outfielder Jason Lane are set to have surgery next week for different ailments. Oswalt will undergo groin surgery next Wednesday in Philadelphia and Lane will have a hernia repaired in Massachusetts the following day, Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker said.

Basketball

The Knicks expect Antonio McDyess to play this season, though they won't give a timetable for his return. At a barbecue and briefing for the media, the Knicks served hamburgers, hot dogs and morsels of information regarding the health and prospects of their best frontcourt player -- the former All-Star and Olympian who fractured his kneecap almost a year ago and was lost for the entire 2002-03 season.

Football

Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich will start Sunday against San Diego, leaving a healthy Mark Brunell on the bench. For the second straight day, Leftwich said, he took the majority of the snaps with the first team during practice. Brunell said he didn't take any.

Golf

Sergio Garcia shot a 5-under 65, one of only 12 sub-par scores at the American Express Championship, and he held a one-stroke lead over Rocco Mediate and Tim Herron. Defending champion Tiger Woods made two long birdie putts and five good par saves and was another stroke back at 67 on the Crabapple course at Capital City Club.

Hidemichi Tanaka, Carlos Franco and John Huston shot 6-under 66s and shared the lead after the first round of the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. Patrick Sheehan and David Edwards were at 67 and six golfers were two strokes at the 7,199-yard course at Annandale Golf Club.

Sophie Gustafson shot a 6-under 66 and held a one-stroke lead over three golfers at the Longs Drugs Challenge. Gustafson, a three-time LPGA Tour champion and a member of the recently victorious European Solheim Cup team, had eight birdies and a double bogey at the 6,465-yard Lincoln Hills Club course. Karrie Webb, Michelle Ellis and Grace Park were tied for second at 67.

Hockey

Thrashers star Dany Heatley was transferred from Grady Hospital to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition. Heatley was the driver in a one-car accident Monday night that left teammate Dan Snyder unconscious and in critical condition. Snyder's condition had not changed as of late Thursday afternoon, according to Thrashers team physician Dr. Scott Gillogly and Snyder's neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Tennis

Two-time major champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov lost to unseeded Sargis Sargsian 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup. The eighth-seeded Kafelnikov, who won this tournament five times, was joined on the way out by No. 5 Max Mirnyi, eliminated by Stefan Koubek 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8). Sargsian's quarterfinal opponent will be second-seeded Agustin Calleri a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 winner over Irakli Labadze. In other action, Taylor Dent of the United States got past Olivier Rochus 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 111th-ranked Igor Andreev knocked off Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 7-6 (7), and defending champion Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated qualifier Tuomas Ketola 6-2, 6-4.

Wrestling

Olympic champion Rulon Gardner won his first two matches at the Greco-Roman World Championships and moved within a victory of clinching a berth in the 2004 Athens Games. Gardner dominated Sweden's Eddy Bengtsson 4-0 in his opening 264 1/2-pound match, then overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat Israel's Uri Yusiechik 5-2.