WPPA / T-102 SPORTS / Thursday

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Andrej Meszaros scored the go-ahead goal in
the third period to keep the Philadelphia Flyers undefeated with a
5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks last night. James van
Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux, Chris Pronger and Jakub Voracek scored for
the Flyers in their home opener and goalie Ilya Bryzgalov won his
third straight start.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ryan Howard could miss the start of next
season after the Phillies' slugger had surgery yesterday to repair
his torn Achilles' tendon. Howard ruptured his left Achilles'
tendon while making the final out in Philadelphia's 1-0 loss to St.
Louis in the deciding game of the NLDS last Friday night.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Still stinging from an early postseason
exit, Charlie Manuel isn't ready to lower his team's expectations.
The Philadelphia Phillies didn't win the World Series title that
everyone expected this season. But Manuel says the Phils will
contend again.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Hines Ward says he will retire when he looks
across the line of scrimmage and thinks he can't get open. That
doesn't appear to be anytime soon. The 35-year-old wide receiver
put together his first two-touchdown game in two years last weekend
as the Steelers topped Tennessee 38-17.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Michael Vick's passes are landing in
defender's hands at an alarming rate. Vick has thrown more
interceptions - seven - five games into this season than he did all
of last year when he led the Philadelphia Eagles to the NFC East
title. But a closer look shows Vick isn't really at fault for most
of them. A combination of mistakes by receivers and poor protection
has hurt him.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - The keys to Penn State's recent
success sound about as vanilla as their blue-and-white uniforms.
Strong defense has led the way, with an assist the last few weeks
from the running game. The Nittany Lions (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) aren't
complaining about the results, especially after a 13-3 win last
week over Iowa.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Wednesday's Score
Texas 7, Detroit 3, 11 innings - Texas leads series 3-1

Todays' Game
Texas (Wilson 16-7) at Detroit (Verlander 24-5), 4:19 p.m.


NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Wednesday's Score
St. Louis 4, Milwaukee 3 - St. Louis leads series 2-1

Thursday's Game
Milwaukee (Wolf 13-10) at St. Louis (Lohse 14-8), 8:05 p.m.

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Wednesday's Scores
Colorado 3, Columbus 2, SO
Philadelphia 5, Vancouver 4
Carolina 3, Boston 2

Thursday's Games
Los Angeles at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at N.Y. Islanders, 7 p.m.
Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Calgary at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Detroit, 8 p.m.
Phoenix at Nashville, 8 p.m.
Edmonton at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Winnipeg at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
St. Louis at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.


MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

Wednesday's Scores
FC Dallas 2, Chicago 1
Vancouver 2, D.C. United 1

Today's Games
No games scheduled