Fast Break

Baseball

A save to savor

Trevor Hoffman, the San Diego Padres’ 38-year-old closer, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning in front of a roaring crowd to become baseball’s career saves leader with 479 in a memorable 2-1 win for the N.L. West leaders over the Pittsburgh Pirates at San Diego.

As soon as N.L. batting leader Freddy Sanchez grounded out to shortstop, Hoffman had passed Lee Smith and the celebration was on.

“It’s overwhelming,” Hoffman said. “It becomes a very humbling experience. It’s hard to put into words what it truly feels like.”

Baseball

Call it men’s intuition

The odds of such an occurrence seem insurmountable, yet Jay Gibbons pulled off the unimaginable feat: He hit a foul ball that injured his wife.

The scene occurred in the ninth inning of the Baltimore Orioles’ home game against Minnesota on Saturday. Gibbons fouled a ball straight back over the screen and into the rib cage of his wife, Laura.

“She’s just a little bruised up. She’s going to be OK,” Gibbons said Sunday.

Long before the matter became personal, Gibbons had asked team officials to raise the height ofthe screen in the area or insert an overhead screen that would extend to the back of the lower deck.

Football

Rutgers – yes Rutgers – ranked

No joke. Rutgers is ranked.

The Scarlet Knights, long a college football laughingstock, moved Sunday into The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since the final poll of the 1976 season.

No. 23 Rutgers (4-0) is off to its best start since 1980 after beating Howard 56-7 on Saturday.