September 2006 in Sports - 24 September 2006 (Sunday)

24 September 2006 (Sunday)

• Major League Baseball playoff races
  • American League:
    • Detroit Tigers 11, Kansas City Royals 4: The Tigers clinch a post-season spot for the first time since 1987.
    • Minnesota Twins 6, Baltimore Orioles 4: The Tigers remain 1½ games ahead of Minnesota in the American League Central.
    • Los Angeles Angels 7, Oakland Athletics 1: Oakland's magic number for the AL West title remains at 2.
  • National League:
    • San Diego Padres 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 1: Trevor Hoffman earns his 479th career save, setting a major league record previously held by Lee Smith.
    • Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Arizona Diamondbacks 1: Nomar Garciaparra hits a walk-off grand slam, and the Dodgers remain 1½ games behind the Padres in the NL West.
    • Philadelphia Phillies 10, Florida Marlins 7: Chase Utley hits two homers in the win, keeping the Pheightin' Phillies ½ ahead of the Dodgers for the Wild Card.
    • Colorado Rockies 9, Atlanta Braves 8: This loss, combined with the Phillies' win, mathematically eliminates the Braves from the NL wild card race. This will be the first time since 1990 that the Braves will have missed the postseason.
    • Cincinnati Reds 3, Chicago Cubs 2
    • Houston Astros 7, St. Louis Cardinals 3

• World Chess Championship
  • Vladimir Kramnik takes a 2–0 lead over Veselin Topalov

• Golf: 36th Ryder Cup Matches
  • Team Europe retains the Ryder Cup by an 18½–9½ margin over Team United States. The victory, by the same margin as in 2004, also makes this European team the first to win three straight Ryder Cups outright.

• National Football League Week 3:
  • Carolina Panthers 26, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24: John Kasay's fourth field goal, a 48-yarder on the last play, gives Carolina its first win. The loss is tempered by Bucs' QB Chris Simms having emergency spleen-removal surgery and a blood transfusion following the game. Simms' life is not in danger.
  • Chicago Bears 19, Minnesota Vikings 16: Rex Grossman hits Rashied Davis on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 1:52 to play for the only offensive touchdown in a game dominated by defense.
  • Cincinnati Bengals 28, Pittsburgh Steelers 20: Two fourth-quarter Pittsburgh fumbles lead to two T.J. Houshmandzadeh touchdown receptions.
  • Green Bay Packers 31, Detroit Lions 24: Brett Favre becomes the second NFL quarterback, after Dan Marino, to throw 400 touchdown passes in his career.
  • Indianapolis Colts 21, Jacksonville Jaguars 14: Terrence Wilkins returns a punt 82 yards for an Indy touchdown, but Peyton Manning's first rushing TD since 2002 proves to be the difference.
  • New York Jets 28, Buffalo Bills 21 – The Bills record 475 total yards but commit three costly turnovers and go 0-for-3 on fourth-down conversions.
  • Miami Dolphins 13, Tennessee Titans 10: Travis Daniels seals the game with an interception after Olindo Mare kicks a 39-yard field goal with 3:39 left.
  • Washington Redskins 31, Houston Texans 15: Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell completes his first 22 passes, breaking the previous NFL single-game record of 21 straight completions by Rich Gannon in 2001.
  • Baltimore Ravens 15, Cleveland Browns, 14: The Ravens sack Charlie Frye seven times and win on a last-minute 52-yard field goal from Matt Stover.
  • Seattle Seahawks 42, New York Giants 30: Seattle takes a 35–0 lead in the second quarter and withstands a furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt. Matt Hasselbeck ties a career high with five touchdown passes.
  • Philadelphia Eagles 38, San Francisco 49ers 24 : Brian Westbrook puts up 164 yards from scrimmage and scores three touchdowns as the Eagles bounce back from last week's humbling loss in overtime to the Giants.
  • St. Louis Rams 16, Arizona Cardinals 14: Kurt Warner throws three interceptions, then fumbles a snap in Rams territory with less than two minutes left after the Rams fumble inside their 20 yard line.
  • Denver Broncos 17, New England Patriots 7: Javon Walker catches touchdown passes of 32 and 83 yards for Denver.
  • Idle: Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers.

• Basketball: University Athletics Association of the Philippines 69th basketball tournament – Championship round (Philippine Daily Inquirer):
  • Men's Finals: (1) Ateneo Blue Eagles 73, (3) UST Growling Tigers 72 – a tightly contested game all throughout, the Tigers converted a fadeaway jumper with a second remaining in the final period to put them up, 72–71. After a time out, the Eagles had an open man in the paint, in which they capitalized, escaping with a 73–72 finish.
  • Women's Finals: (2) FEU Lady Tamaraws 75, (3) UST Tigresses 67 – the Lady Tamaraws avenged their last-second loss in Game 1 to set up a deciding third game in their series against the Tigresses.
  • Juniors' Finals: (1) Ateneo Blue Eaglets 73, (2) FEU-FERN Baby Tamaraws 65 – the Eaglets shook off rust and lead practically from start to finish as they extend the series to a deciding third game.

• Auto racing:
  • Chase for the NEXTEL Cup: Jeff Burton wins the Dover 400 and claims the points lead.
  • Champ Car: A. J. Allmendinger wins the Grand Prix of Road America, marred by a major accident involving Katherine Legge.