Sea Dogs are Eastern League champs

Baseball

Portland Sea Dogs fans haven't had to endure many decades of frustration, as Red Sox supporters did between championships, though they've had their share of heartache. The Sea Dogs, the Red Sox' Double A affiliate since 2002, played their first game in 1994. Twelve years later, in their fourth appearance in the Eastern League Championship series, they became champions for the first time. Brian Myrow belted a two-run homer, Keoni De Renne tripled with the bases loaded, and Devern Hansack pitched eight strong innings as host Portland beat the Akron Aeros, 8-5, yesterday to win the series, three games to two. Portland grabbed a 4-0 lead against the defending champs in the second inning. Chris Durbin singled to lead off, Myrow belted Ronald Bay's 3-and-2 offering into the right-field seats, and George Kottaras, acquired from the Padres in the deal that sent David Wells to San Diego, added an RBI single. De Renne's three-run triple was the key hit in Portland's four-run third. Hansack struck out eight, walked none, and gave up three runs over eight innings. Portland outfielder Brandon Moss was named playoff MVP. He hit .361 in the postseason with five home runs and 10 RBIs . . . The Brockton Rox were denied a title, falling, 5-4, to the Quebec Capitales, who won the Can-Am League Championship, three games to two. Ed Montague knocked in the winning run with a double in the top of the ninth. Cristian Mendoza induced Francisco Lebron to fly to right for the final out with the potential tying run at second, as Brockton was unable to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the series.

Just when the Detroit Tigers were hoping to have Placido Polanco back in the lineup, the second baseman said his season is over. Polanco was put on the disabled list Aug. 16 with a separated left shoulder after making a tumbling catch at Fenway Park. He was expected to be out 4-6 weeks. Polanco recently started to hit and was sore after batting practice Saturday. If Polanco is out for the season -- and not just reacting emotionally to a setback -- it would be a blow to the slumping Tigers. Since leading the AL Central by 10 games Aug. 7, Detroit has lost 24 of 37 games and had its lead over Minnesota cut to one game. Tigers trainer Kevin Rand said Polanco still has day-to-day status, according to a team spokesman. He is one of Detroit's best players in the field and at the plate, where he ranks among AL leaders with a .374 batting average with runners in scoring position.

Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee could be out for the rest of the season because of his 3-year-old daughter's undisclosed illness. Lee had missed the last two games before he said yesterday he was taking a leave of absence to be with his wife and child. Jada is the only child of Lee and his wife, Christina . . . Bruce Sutter, inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, had his No. 42 jersey retired by the Cardinals.

Tennis

Italy won its first Fed Cup title, beating Belgium, 3-2, after Justine Henin-Hardenne was forced to stop because of searing knee pain during the deciding doubles match. The French Open champion won her singles matches this weekend despite assorted health issues. She abandoned the final during the third set of doubles. The Italian duo of Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci beat Henin-Hardenne and Kirsten Flipkens, 3-6, 6-2, 2-0. A weakened Henin-Hardenne had given Belgium a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Schiavone in the first reverse singles. But Mara Santangelo thrived in her Fed Cup singles debut, beating Flipkens, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-0, to tie it at 2-2 . . . Top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a slow start and beat Marion Bartoli, 7-5, 6-2, in Bali, Indonesia, for her third Wismilak International title . . . Marcos Baghdatis won his first career ATP title, defeating Mario Ancic, 6-4, 6-0, in the China Open in Beijing. Baghdatis won the last eight games to finish off Ancic in 72 minutes. It was Baghdatis's third career final and the first since the Australian Open. He beat Ancic for the first time in four matchups . . . Jurgen Melzer won his first ATP title by beating Filippo Volandri, 6-1, 7-5, in the BCR Open in Bucharest, Romania . . .

Basketball

Diana Taurasi scored 15 points and Tina Thompson added 12 to help the United States overpower France, 76-41, in the second round of the Women's World Basketball Championships in Barueri, Brazil. The US, 4-0, will finish second-round play today against the Czech Republic, second in Group F at 3-1 after an 85-83 victory over Russia.

Miscellany

Pat Valenzuela's return to racing was a winning one when the jockey guided Becrux to a neck victory over Rebel Rebel in the $1 million Woodbine Mile in Toronto. Valenzuela, out for two months with a back injury, replaced Corey Nakatani, who hurt his shoulder in a training accident at Santa Anita. Becrux, bred in Italy, overtook Remarkable News in the stretch, held off the challenge of Rebel Rebel, and won in a photo finish. Becrux covered the mile on Polytrack in 1 minute 33.99 seconds and earned $600,000 for Team Valor, a syndicate headed up by Barry Irwin . . . Allen Johnson of the US beat 110-meter hurdles world record-holder Liu Xiang of China at track's World Cup in Athens. The 35-year-old Johnson crossed the line in 12.96 seconds. Liu started slowly and finished second in 13.03 . . . Alexandre Vinokourov won the Spanish Vuelta cycling race. Vinokourov was 1:12 ahead of runner-up Alejandro Valverde and 3:12 in front of Andrey Kashechkin. His overall time was 81 hours 23 minutes 7 seconds. Erik Zabel won the 21st stage . . Andy Herron scored his seventh goal of the season in the 62d minute and the second-place Chicago Fire held on for a 1-0 victory over first-place D.C. United in Bridgeview, Ill., and moved six points ahead of the third-place Revolution in MLS's Eastern Conference . . . An apparent goal on a header by Houston's Alejandro Moreno in the final seconds of stoppage time was wiped out by an offside call, leaving the Dynamo and visiting Chivas USA in a scoreless tie . . . Defenseman Alexander Khavanov, who played 64 games last season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, signed a one-year contract with Switzerland's HC Davos that includes an out clause if he draws interest from an NHL team.