Rangers defeat Diamondbacks 9-8 in 12 innings

Chris Davis and David Murphy hit back-to-back homers in the 12th inning, Andruw Jones also homered and the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-8 on Thursday night.

Davis matched a career high with four hits as the Rangers wrapped up a 2-4 road trip and moved a half-game ahead of the idle Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.

With one out in the 12th, Nelson Cruz doubled to the right field gap off Esmerling Vasquez (1-2), snapping an 0-for-18 slump. One out later, Davis drove a 2-2 pitch into the right-field seats for his 14th homer.

Two pitches later, Murphy followed with a shot to the same vicinity for his fourth homer.

Eddie Guardado (1-1) pitched a scoreless 11th and Jason Jennings earned his first save in two chances despite yielding two runs in the 12th. Jennings gave up a two-out, two-run single to Miguel Montero before retiring Ryan Roberts to end the game.

Mark Reynolds hit a pair of two-run homers for the Diamondbacks, who dropped to 2-10-1 in home series this season. They haven’t won a series at Chase Field since taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs April 27-29.

Reynolds’ first homer came in the first inning against Scott Feldman and gave the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead.

With Arizona down 6-4 in the eighth, Reynolds hit a 3-2 delivery from Frank Francisco an estimated 433 feet into the left field seats to tie the game.

It was the second time this season, and the sixth in his career, that Reynolds has homered twice in a game. He has 21 homers, fourth in the NL.

After spotting the Diamondbacks a 2-0 first-inning lead, Texas used two singles, two walks and two errors to rally for three runs in the third against Arizona starter Jon Garland.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Davis opened with singles and moved up on a bunt. After Garland walked Ian Kinsler to load the bases, Reynolds allowed a run to score on his 12th error.

Garland walked Young to force in another run, and then third baseman Augie Ojeda booted Andruw Jones’ hot grounder to give Texas a 3-2 lead.

After Kinsler led off the fifth with a double, the Rangers made it 5-2 on a two-run homer to left field by Jones, his ninth.

In the first, Texas shortstop Omar Vizquel singled for his 2,678th career hit, most by a native of Venezuela. The 42-year-old Vizquel moved ahead of Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio, who played in 107 fewer games.

Clippers take Griffin with No. 1 pick in NBA draft

On a draft day that felt like the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Clippers never considered a deal. Not when they were the ones who could take Blake Griffin. Following a flurry of head-turning trades around the NBA, the Clippers started Thursday night’s draft with the obvious choice: Griffin, the only player considered a sure thing in a class full of question marks.

Griffin was the consensus college player of the year after leading the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game while averaging 22.7 points last season for Oklahoma. Now he’ll try to turn around the long-suffering Clippers.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Griffin said. “I know what’s happened in the past, everybody keeps telling me that. But you know, I’m not going to say, ‘OK, we haven’t had that many winning seasons, why don’t we give up now?’”

That attitude, as much as his hardworking style of play that helped him lead the nation in double-doubles, immediately won over Los Angeles. The Clippers said they would take the forward with the top pick just hours after they won the draft lottery last month, and never considered changing their minds.

“The fact is we’re getting an incredible player, incredible person, an impeccable work ethic and a guy that we plan on having in L.A. for many years to come,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “He’s going to be a great, exciting fit for our ballclub.”

The draft followed a day of big trades in the NBA.

The deal that sent Shaquille O’Neal to play alongside LeBron James in Cleveland was completed earlier Thursday, and Eastern Conference champion Orlando acquired Vince Carter from the Nets in a swap completed shortly before the first pick was made.

San Antonio landed Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee on Tuesday, and more big names could be available this summer as teams are forced to slash payroll. The best way to improve quickly this year was through trades, because the draft was considered weaker than in recent years.

It lacked the star power of 2007, when Greg Oden and Kevin Durant battled it out for top pick honors, or when Derrick Rose beat out Michael Beasley last year.

There was no debate this time.

The Clippers began a marketing campaign featuring Griffin the day after the lottery, and are hoping the forward turns out better than their last No. 1 overall pick. They opened the 1998 draft by taking center Michael Olowokandi, a bust who is out of the league.

“Hopefully I can bring something they don’t have,” Griffin said. “I know they have a lot of great players but at the same time I’m excited about the opportunity and hopefully I can bring something to the table that they don’t have or maybe they need.”

The Memphis Grizzlies then grabbed Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet, a dominant rebounder and shot blocker who doesn’t have strong offensive skills.

After the two big men, the rest of the first round was dominated by guards — the Minnesota Timberwolves going for a few of them — with at least 10 players selected who could play the point. Seven guards went in the first 10 selections.

The Timberwolves snapped up Spanish teenager Ricky Rubio at No. 5, a pick they acquired from Washington earlier this week, before going for Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn with the next pick.

It was thought Rubio might go as high as No. 2, but that never worked out for Memphis. Instead the Grizzlies went with Thabeet, the 7-foot-3 native of Tanzania who switched from soccer to basketball just a few years ago. He has rapidly developed his defensive skills, but still has work to go on the other end.

“The whole season I spent working on my offense and working with so many different people, and to me this is a great opportunity to come out here and go play,” Thabeet said.

Rubio has to pay a multimillion dollar buyout to his Spanish club team to get out of his contract, and he said Wednesday his mother doesn’t like cold weather. So he sounded lukewarm about heading to Minneapolis.

“I have to think about that, because I’m just three minutes from a Timberwolves player,” he said. “So I’m going to talk with my agent about that and we are going to see.”

Oklahoma City took high-scoring Arizona State guard James Harden with the No. 3 pick and Sacramento followed by drafting Memphis freshman Tyreke Evans. Stephen Curry, the NCAA scoring leader from Davidson, went at No. 7 to Golden State.

Jordan Hill (New York), Demar DeRozan (Toronto) and Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee) rounded out the top 10, but Jennings didn’t come out to don his Bucks hat and shake hands with commissioner David Stern. His agent, Bill Duffy, released a statement earlier Thursday saying he had advised Jennings and his family not to attend the draft and wait in the green room because he was unsure of his client’s draft position.

However, Jennings — the point guard who skipped college to spend a year playing in Europe — came out from behind the stage, wearing the Milwaukee cap, to greet Stern and wave to the fans after the 14th pick was announced.

A run of forwards followed before Philadelphia grabbed another point guard, UCLA’s Jrue Holiday, who was considered a top 10 pick but tumbled to No. 17. Minnesota followed with its third point guard of the draft, Ty Lawson of national champion North Carolina — though he was shipped to the Denver Nuggets in yet another deal. Atlanta grabbed still another playmaker, Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague, at No. 19. Utah kept up the run by selecting Eric Maynor from Virginia Commonwealth.

The Knicks made a pair of trades, acquiring the No. 29 pick, guard Toney Douglas, from the Los Angeles Lakers for a future second-round pick and cash. New York also acquired former No. 2 overall pick Darko Milicic from Memphis for Quentin Richardson and cash.

Minnesota grabbed another playmaker, Florida’s Nick Calathes, in the second round, but dealt his rights to Dallas. The Wolves needed backcourt help after trading Randy Foye to Washington.

Second-round highlights included Pittsburgh teammates Sam Young and DeJuan Blair going with consecutive picks to Memphis and San Antonio at Nos. 36 and 37; and Taylor Griffin, Blake Griffin’s older brother, going to Phoenix with the 48th pick.

Patti Blagojevich back in Chicago from the jungle

Former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich said Friday that making new friends during her time on NBC’s reality show “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” helped her get over those she’s lost since her husband’s arrest on federal corruption charges.

Blagojevich arrived back in Chicago shortly after midnight after spending several weeks in Costa Rica for the show. She was greeted at O’Hare International Airport by her husband, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, daughters Annie and Amy, and her sister, Illinois State Rep. Deborah Mell.

Annie jumped into her mother’s arms as Patti Blagojevich got off the escalator at baggage claim, where the ousted former governor stood signing autographs and having his picture taken with onlookers.

Patti Blagojevich said the hardest part of appearing on the show was being away from her daughters. But she acknowledged the experience was a welcome distraction from her family’s troubles.

“It was nice to go down there and meet people that didn’t have an agenda with me, that became my friends and it helped restore my faith in people,” she said.

Now that Blagojevich has returned to real life in Chicago, she’ll resume dealing with the ongoing legal problems of her husband. Bounced out of office by lawmakers, Rod Blagojevich faces federal corruption charges for trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. He has pleaded not guilty.

The reality series was an image-changer for Patti Blagojevich, who came off as a down-to-earth, well-liked mom. She spent 23 days on the show before getting voted off during Tuesday night’s episode. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips went on to win.

“I was totally flattered by the votes I received,” she said Friday.

Before the show, Blagojevich was mostly known for being a foul-mouthed political spouse caught on federal wiretaps prosecutors had made of her husband.

When she was asked if she thought she’d now be more famous than the former governor, Rod Blagojevich jumped in: “She’s a heckuva lot more popular.”

Patti Blagojevich has said she lost 12 pounds eating rice and beans in the jungle; one of the first things she wants to do at home in Chicago is eat ribs.

She also said her family has recorded all the shows for her and, after a good night’s sleep, she plans to watch them for the first time.

Autopsy set after Michael Jackson’s sudden death

Michael Jackson, defined in equal parts as the world’s greatest entertainer and perhaps its most enigmatic figure, was about to attempt one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Then his life was cut shockingly — and so far, mysteriously — short.

The 50-year-old musical superstar died Thursday, just as he was preparing for what would be a series of 50 concerts starting July 13 at London’s famed 02 arena. Jackson had been spending hours and hours toiling with a team of dancers for a performance he and his fans hoped would restore his tarnished legacy to its proper place in pop.

An autopsy was planned for Friday, though results were not likely to be final until toxicology tests could be completed, a process that could take several days and sometimes weeks. However, if a cause can be determined by the autopsy, they will announce the results, said Los Angeles County Coroner Investigator Jerry McKibben.

Police said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.

Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him at his home for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.

“It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known,” his brother Jermaine said.

Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.

Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

His 1982 album “Thriller” — which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” — is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

As word of his death spread, MTV switched its programming to play videos from Jackson’s heyday. Radio stations began playing marathons of his hits. Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital. In New York’s Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.

“No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow,” Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend had sent him. “It’s like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died.”

The public first knew him as a boy in the late 1960s, when he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the singing group he formed with his four older brothers out of Gary, Ind. Among their No. 1 hits were “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There.”

He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks, as was his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.

“For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words,” said Quincy Jones, who produced “Thriller.” “He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. He united two of music’s biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie. Jackson’s sudden death immediately evoked comparisons to that of Presley himself, who died at age 42 in 1977.

“I am so very sad and confused with every emotion possible,” Lisa Marie Presley said in a statement. “I am heartbroken for his children who I know were everything to him and for his family. This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me.”

As years went by, Jackson became an increasingly freakish figure — a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grown-up life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He often wore a germ mask while traveling, kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions and surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, a storybook playland filled with toys, rides and animals. The tabloids dubbed him “Wacko Jacko.”

“It seemed to me that his internal essence was at war with the norms of the world. It’s as if he was trying to defy gravity,” said Michael Levine, a Hollywood publicist who represented Jackson in the early 1990s. He called Jackson a “disciple of P.T. Barnum” and said the star appeared fragile at the time but was “much more cunning and shrewd about the industry than anyone knew.”

Jackson caused a furor in 2002 when he playfully dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin while a throng of fans watched from below.

In 2005, he was cleared of charges that he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior with other children.

The case followed years of rumors about Jackson and young boys. In a TV documentary, he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.

Despite the acquittal, the lurid allegations that came out in court took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born Aug. 29, 1958, in Gary. He was 4 years old when he began singing with his brothers — Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito — in the Jackson 5. After his early success with bubblegum soul, he struck out on his own, generating innovative, explosive, unstoppable music.

The album “Thriller” alone mixed the dark, serpentine bass and drums and synthesizer approach of “Billie Jean,” the grinding Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on “Beat It,” and the hiccups and falsettos on “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

The peak may have come in 1983, when Motown celebrated its 25th anniversary with an all-star televised concert and Jackson moonwalked off with the show, joining his brothers for a medley of old hits and then leaving them behind with a pointing, crouching, high-kicking, splay-footed, crotch-grabbing run through “Billie Jean.”

The audience stood and roared. Jackson raised his fist.

During production of a 1984 Pepsi commercial, Jackson’s scalp sustains burns when an explosion sets his hair on fire.

He had strong follow-up albums with 1987’s “Bad” and 1991’s “Dangerous,” but his career began to collapse in 1993 after he was accused of molesting a boy who often stayed at his home. The singer denied any wrongdoing, reached a settlement with the boy’s family, reported to be $20 million, and criminal charges were never filed.

Jackson’s expressed anger over the allegations on the 1995 album “HIStory,” which sold more than 2.4 million copies, but by then, the popularity of Jackson’s music was clearly waning even as public fascination with his increasingly erratic behavior was growing.

Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and they divorced in 1996. Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, now 12; and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11. Rowe filed for divorce in 1999.

Jackson also had a third child, Prince Michael II. Now 7, Jackson said the boy nicknamed Blanket as a baby was his biological child born from a surrogate mother.

Billboard magazine editorial director Bill Werde said Jackson’s star power was unmatched. “The world just lost the biggest pop star in history, no matter how you cut it,” Werde said. “He’s literally the king of pop.”

Jackson’s 13 No. 1 one hits on the Billboard charts put him behind only Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey, Werde said.

“He was on the eve of potentially redeeming his career a little bit,” he said. “People might have started to think of him again in a different light.”

Mystery surrounds Michael Jackson’s sudden death

One day after Michael Jackson’s sudden death, speculation was already turning on Friday to what killed the 50-year-old “King of Pop” just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts.

Jackson, a former child star who became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time before a descending into a strange and reclusive lifestyle, died on Thursday afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been rushed in full cardiac arrest after collapsing at his nearby rental home.

His passing was front page news around the world, airwaves were filled with his greatest hits from “Thriller” to “Billie Jean,” social networking sites were bombarded with messages and tributes from fans and musicians continued to pour in.

“It’s so sad and shocking,” said former Beatle Paul McCartney. “I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever.”

Few details were known about the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death, but the entertainer was reportedly unconscious and not breathing by the time he arrived at UCLA Medical Center, and doctors were unable to revive him.

His body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner’s office late on Thursday.

Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN on Thursday the family had been concerned about his health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months.

“Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals,” Oxman said of Jackson’s preparations for a series of 50 concerts that were scheduled to begin in London in July.

“His use of medications had gotten in the way, his injuries which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebrae and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way,” Oxman told CNN.

Authorities have scheduled an autopsy for Friday. But they cautioned it could take weeks to determine a cause of death, which will likely have to wait for the return of toxicology tests. Those tests will determine if Jackson had any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications in his system.

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson’s home in the upscale Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles at the behest of Chief William Bratton. But they called the investigation an “every day” event.

TAINTED TALENT?

Jackson dominated the charts in the 1980s and is considered one of the most successful entertainers of the past century, with a lifetime sales tally estimated at 750 million records, 13 Grammy Awards and several seminal music videos to his name.

“Michael was and will remain one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived,” said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jackson’s first label boss.

“He was exceptional, artistic and original. He gave the world his heart and soul through his music.”

But Jackson’s reputation as a singer and dancer was overshadowed in recent years by his increasingly abnormal appearance, and bizarre lifestyle, which included his friendship with a chimp and a preference for the company of children.

He named his estate in the central California foothills Neverland Valley Ranch, in tribute to the J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan stories, and filled it with amusement park rides and a petting zoo.

Jackson was twice accused of molesting young boys and was charged in 2003 with child sexual abuse. He became even more reclusive following his 2005 acquittal and vowed he would never again live at Neverland.

Facing a battered reputation and mountain of debts the Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500 million, Jackson had spent the last two months rehearsing for the London concerts, including Wednesday night at the huge Staples Center arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

Despite reports of Jackson’s ill-health, the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March Jackson passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

“I can’t stop crying over the sad news,” Madonna said in a statement. “I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats but his music will live on forever.”

Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children and first performed with his brothers as a member of the Jackson 5.

His 1982 album “Thriller” yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million internationally.

The following year, he unveiled his signature “moonwalk” dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing “Billie Jean” during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.

“I’m so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. … This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me,” Presley said in statement.

Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother.

He is survived by three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

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