Baseball

CASPER, Wyo. -- The Orem Owlz turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the third inning, then made that stand up for a 2-1 victory over Casper in Pioneer League action Tuesday.

The Owlz used an error and two wild pitches to score their first run in the third. Luis Jimenez got aboard on the error and scored on the two wild pitches that came with Ryan Groth at the plate. Groth then made the wild pitches academic by blasting a home run to center field, accounting for Orem's second run.

The Owlz had several other chances to score, including loading the bases with one out in the fourth, but weren't able to push anything else across.

But defense and sharp pitching made the 2-1 lead enough. In the bottom of the sixth, two singles and a sacrifice bunt to open the inning put Casper runners on second and third with one out. But Owlz starter Manuarys Correa. coaxed the next Ghost hitter to ground to third, keeping the runner on the bag, before ending the inning on a strikeout.

Chris Scholl, Michael Kohn and Jeremy Thorne each went an inning after that, giving up no hits and combining for four strikeouts to keep the Owlz on top.

• Bees fall to Portland: At Portland, Ore., Shawn Estes worked 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a major league rehab start and Matt Antonelli hit an RBI triple and scored a run as the Portland Beavers snapped a five-game skid with a 2-0 victory over the Salt Lake Bees in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday night at PGE Park.

Auto Racing

Sorenson to join Gillett Evernham Motorsports

Reed Sorenson isn't waiting for Chip Ganassi Racing to figure out the Car of Tomorrow.

The 22-year-old driver signed a multiyear contract to join Gillett Evernham Motorsports next season, where he'll join Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler.

Sorenson said his decision to leave Ganassi, where he began his NASCAR career as a precocious 18-year-old, was difficult but necessary.

"I'm going over here to try to make myself a better racecar driver," Sorenson said during a conference call Tuesday shortly after the announcement. "I wanted to be more competitive and I wanted to have some more opportunities to win races and things like that."

Sorenson made a splash in the Nationwide Series, finishing fourth in 2005. He moved full-time to the Sprint Cup the next season, but his team has struggled to compete. He has never finished better than 22nd in the season points race and enters this weekend's stop in California 31st in the standings.

"It seems like this year it has been (the) worst year out of the three, so I guess you could say that probably factored in on things like that," said Sorenson, who plans to finish out the season with Ganassi.

Sorenson has 97 Sprint Cup starts with five top-five finishes, but just one this year. He's still searching for his first Sprint Cup win and has been unable to duplicate his Nationwide success, where he's won three times and has 20 top-five finishes in 95 career starts.

"I felt like I've done everything I can with the situation I'm in now," he said. "Like I said, it just seems like this last year, it got a little bit worse as far as not being able to find some speed at some of these places."

Speed hasn't been much of a problem for GEM this season. Kahne has picked up two wins and remains in contention for NASCAR's postseason, ranking 14th with two races to go before the cutoff to the chase. Sadler is 20th in the points standings, but has six top-10s to his credit.

"It seems like they are definitely on an uphill climb towards the top," Sorenson said. "They have definitely made progress. ... It's a team that I think will be here for a long time and seems to be heading in the right direction to win races."

GEM has 15 victories and 27 poles since it began racing full-time in the Cup in 2001.

"Reed is a highly talented driver with a wealth of experience and accomplishments for a 22-year-old," said Mark McArdle, the team's vice president and managing director of competition. "We believe he has a great future ahead of him here at Gillett Evernham Motorsports. He will be a great fit with our drivers, sponsors and employees."

It's a show of confidence Sorenson concedes he needed after a bumpy ride this season.

"I think they believe in me as a driver, and that means a lot, and I believe in them as a team," he said.

NFL

Super Bowl hero Tyree on PUP list

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Wide receiver David Tyree was placed on the physically-unable-to-perform reserve list by the New York Giants on Tuesday, meaning the player who made a game-saving catch in the Super Bowl won't be making any for at least the first six weeks of the season.

Tyree, whose spectacular one-handed catch against his helmet sparked the Giants' late game-winning drive against the previously unbeaten New England Patriots, has not practiced since training camp opened in July because he is rehabilitating a surgically repaired right knee. He had surgery in May.

The Giants can take Tyree off the PUP list any time from the first day after the sixth week of the season until the last day of the ninth week. Once he is taken off the list, he has 21 days to either be activated or he is finished for the season.

The move was expected with the Giants set to open the season at home against Washington a week from Thursday.

"At one point I argued with the decision, but I am still about three weeks away," Tyree said. "I have been running routes and I have not had any drawbacks which is good."

Tyree had four catches for 35 yards and no touchdowns in 12 regular-season games last season. He added four catches for 47 yards and a TD (in the Super Bowl) in the postseason.

The one everyone remembers was in the fourth quarter of the title game.

Eli Manning somehow escaped the clutches of would-be sackers and heaved a pass 32 yards downfield that Tyree snares, pinning it against his helmet while falling to the ground with safety Rodney Harrison draped all over him.

The Giants on Tuesday also waived receiver Michael Jennings and waived safety Terrance Stringer from the injured list. Safety Craig Dahl was waived injured on Monday. Receiver D.J. Hall and safety Miguel Scott were also waived.

New York signed linebacker James Terry and acquired receiver Marcus Monk on waivers from Chicago.

Track

Report: Jones whisked to Bay Area prison

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors briefly moved disgraced sprinter Marion Jones from a Texas prison to the San Francisco Bay area three months ago in case they needed her to testify against her former track coach on trial for lying to investigators, according to a published report.

The New York Times, citing an anonymous source, reported on its Web site that prosecutors would have called Jones to the witness stand if track coach Trevor Graham had testified in his own defense.

Prosecutors didn't list Jones on a formal witness list turned over to Graham's attorneys before the May trial, which barred them from calling her while the government presented its initial case.

But prosecutors probably could have called her as a so-called rebuttal witness if Graham took the stand and denied setting up Jones and numerous other athletes he trained with steroids.

"We were not aware that Jones was in the Bay Area," said Graham's attorney, William Keane.

A jury convicted Graham of lying to a federal investigator during the government's probe of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative about phone calls he made to a confessed steroid dealer. The jury deadlocked on two other related charges, which prosecutors later dismissed.

Jones is scheduled to be released from prison after serving most of a six-month sentence after she pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about her performance-enhancing drug use.