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The Boston Red Sox bolstered their bullpen Wednesday by acquiring reliever Ramon Ramirez from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for center fielder Coco Crisp.Right-hander Ramirez, 27, is a power pitcher who went 3-2 with one save and a 2.64 ERA in 71 games for the Royals last season.

The Dominican Republic native limited right-handed opponents to a .153 batting average, the lowest in the American League.

“In Ramirez, we believe we’ve acquired a young, controllable reliever who can really help our bullpen,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told the team’s website (http://boston.redsox.mlb.com).

“He has a plus fastball, 92-95 mph, and an outstanding power changeup…And (he has) a pretty good slider to go with it.

“He’s very quietly had a tremendous amount of success in the major leagues over the last two-and-a-half seasons…we were looking for an upgrade in depth to add to our bullpen.”

Epstein paid tribute to 29-year-old Crisp, a speedy defender and switch-hitter who batted .283 with seven homers and 41 RBIs for the Red Sox in 2008.

“Coco is a good player,” Epstein said. “We want to take a second to just thank him for his efforts while he was with the Red Sox for three seasons.

“He played through injuries while he was with us, he played hard. He was a big part in us winning a world championship. His efforts here were certainly appreciated. He did it with a lot of class along the way.”

Crisp, who stole 20 or more bases in each of his three seasons with Boston, ended his 2008 campaign on a high by hitting .375 in September.

Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday when Roman Pavlyuchenko scored in injury time to give Tottenham Hotspur a 2-1 comeback win to complete a dream first week for new manager Harry Redknapp.

Chelsea took over at the top of the Premier League after Nicolas Anelka’s hat-trick inspired a 5-0 rout of Sunderland. In a thriller, Hull City came from 4-1 down to push Manchester United all the way before losing 4-3 at Old Trafford.

Arsenal went down 2-1 at Stoke City, a red card for Robin van Persie and a bad injury to Theo Walcott completing their miserable day.

Chelsea have 26 points, the same as Liverpool, but lead on goal difference. United are third on 21, with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Hull all on 20. Spurs climb off the bottom after a memorable week.

Liverpool seemed to be cruising after an early goal by Dirk Kuyt but a Jamie Carragher own goal in the 69th minute opened the door and Spurs, who fought back to draw 4-4 at Arsenal on Wednesday after beating Bolton Wanderers last week, seized their chance.

Last weekend Spurs sacked manager Juande Ramos, instantly brought in Redknapp from Portsmouth and then secured their first win of the season.

On Wednesday they netted twice in the last five minutes to draw at Arsenal and the next day announced plans for a new 60,000-seater stadium.

On Saturday they dumped Liverpool with another last-gasp goal, having seen local rivals Arsenal lose at Stoke.

Liverpool will wonder how they lost, having totally dominated and hitting the woodwork three times.

Unlikely Winner

Pavlyuchenko snatched the unlikely winner after David Bentley’s shot was parried by Pepe Reina.

“I can’t believe we lost, everybody could see we were the better team,” Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez told Setanta Sports television. “We were controlling everything.”

Redknapp said: “We rode our luck at times for sure but once we got a goal back we were back in it.”

Asked what he had done to change things in such a short time, he said: “I just got among the lads and made them believe in themselves a bit. We’ve had a great week”.

Arsenal, stunned at home by Hull a month ago, became the latest team to fall foul of Rory Delap’s long throw-ins.

Ricardo Fuller outjumped everyone to head one in before Seyi Olofinjana got the second after another Delap missile left Arsenal’s defence flailing.

Arsenal then lost Van Persie, five minutes after he came on as a substitute. Walcott was carried off on a stretcher clutching his shoulder and striker Emmanuel Adebayor also went off injured.

Gael Clichy’s late effort was no consolation for manager Arsene Wenger.

Two goals for Cristiano Ronaldo and one each by Michael Carrick and Nemanja Vidic had United seemingly cruising after an hour.

But Hull, who netted earlier through Daniel Cousin, pulled one back through Bernard Mendy and set up a tense last eight minutes with a Geovanni penalty.

“Not many teams will come to Old Trafford, score three goals and come away with nothing,” said Hull manager Phil Brown.

Chelsea were on song from the start at Stamford Bridge with Alex and Frank Lampard also on target in a dominant display.

Harbhajan Singh smashed his fifth test fifty to frustrate Australia after left-arm Mitchell Johnson had ripped through India’s top-order with a four-wicket haul in the first test on Saturday.Harbhajan (54) put on 80 with Zaheer Khan (35 not out) for the eighth wicket to help India recover from 232 for seven on the third day after Johnson’s three-wicket opening burst.

At the close, India were 313 for eight in reply to Australia’s first innings 430.

Skipper Anil Kumble, who had yet to score, was at the crease with Zaheer after play was extended following a rain interruption of almost half an hour.

The morning belonged to 26-year-old Johnson, whose opening burst dismissed opener Virender Sehwag (45), Sachin Tendulkar (13) and Vangipurappu Laxman (0).

The Queenslander trapped Saurav Ganguly for 47 in his second spell in the final session to thrust India into deep trouble before Harbhajan anchored a recovery.

Earlier, a dogged half-century by Rahul Dravid (51) and Ganguly’s three useful partnerships averted a total collapse after paceman Brett Lee dismissed opener Gautam Gambhir (21) in the second over of the day.

India had pinned their hopes on Sehwag, known for his ability to play big innings at a frantic pace, after the hosts resumed on 68 without loss.

But Johnson, playing in his 10th test, enticed the dangerman to play loosely on the off-side to be caught by Matthew Hayden in the lone slip position after adding just two runs to his overnight 43.

Johnson troubled Tendulkar with subtle changes of pace twice before having him caught at short cover by debutant spinner Cameron White.

Tendulkar began the match needing 77 to overtake West Indian Brian Lara’s test record tally of 11,953 runs.

A scratchy start by Laxman was short-lived as he edged Johnson behind to leave India struggling at 106 for four before Ganguly put on 126 runs in the company of Dravid, Mahendra Dhoni (9) and Harbhajan.

Medium-pacer Shane Watson trapped Dravid leg before and part-time spinner Michael Clarke dismissed Dhoni with a straight ball.

Australia looked set for a commanding lead but a fired-up Harbhajan changed the script with some gutsy batting before Watson induced an edge.

Harbajan hit five boundaries in his 110-ball effort, including two consecutive fours off Lee after the second new ball was taken.

Australian Test captain Ricky Ponting has said that Andrew Symonds, who was sent home from Bangladesh last month for missing a crucial meeting for fishing, was showing signs of an early comeback.He said Symonds is showing all the signs of a man on his way back.

“I’d love to have him back in the side sooner rather than later. I actually think there were some really positive signs over the last couple of days with Andrew. He’s actually fronted the media and admitted that there’s some room for improvement in certain parts of his life,” The Age quoted Ponting as saying.

Though, Ponting admitted Symonds needed to show more responsibility.

Ponting said while speaking to media persons in Canberra where he and Matthew Hayden had just finished a meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

The skipper admitted Symonds would be missed on the up-coming tour of India. “He’s a terrific player and his Test record and one-day record over the last couple of years for Australia has been outstanding,” Ponting said and added: “Hopefully for him as a person, if he can get those things sorted out, then we’ll have him back in the team.”

Expect America’s multi-millionaire National Basketball Association heroes to continue sacrificing their summers in quest of Olympic gold, even after returning the United States to global supremacy.

Smiles were still locked on the faces of the US NBA superstars after their 118-107 triumph over Spain in Sunday’s gold medal game when USA Basketball general manager Jerry Colangelo said half of them were ready to return in 2012.

“We’ll celebrate and then we will talk about going forward,” Colangelo said. “Five or six of these guys have said they want to be part of us going forward. But now it’s time for a rest.”

“Hell yeah,” answered US forward Carmelo Anthony. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years.”

Anthony, only 24, joined LeBron James and Dwyane Wade as seldom-seen reserves on the 2004 US team that settled for Olympic bronze. Their quest to redeem US honor and restore the once-mighty dynasty drove the US march to gold.

In the wake of that disappointing third-place finish, three US losses in Athens being one more than Americans had suffered at all prior Games combined, a new program was put in place to revive the US dynasty.

USA Basketball asked players for a three-year comittment to keep playing in the NBA off-season, assembling the same talent pool for the 2006 World Championships, 2007 Americas Olympic qualifying and 2008 Olympics.

The payoff was golden. Now James says NBA stars will continue signing on for three-year stints for the chance to uphold American honor starting in London in four years.

“I think so,” James said. “It has been a great experience for all 12 of us. Not all 12 of us are going to be together again 2012, but we can tell other guys this is one of the best experiences I ever had in my life.

“This is great. You’re playing basketball and you’re representing your country. It doesn’t get any better than this.

“Winning an NBA championship would never compare to winning a gold medal for my country.”

But with a rapidly improving group of global rivals, US players know they can no longer afford to deliver less than their best and expect to win gold.

“It means a lot,” US forward Chris Bosh said. “This is what you sacrifice your summers for. We’ve sacrificed being with our families - been away from home for a long time now.”

The core of the US team has had three years of bonding and learning about each other, the international style and its differences from the NBA and the value of reclaiming global supremacy for basketball’s birthplace, dominating rivals through an 8-0 Olympic run.

“A two- to three-year program is definitely working,” guard Jason Kidd said.

“It’s huge to see the maturing of a 19-year-old from 2004 to 2008. You talk about LeBron, you talk about Melo, you talk about the guys that were on that team that lost, they’ve all matured and they’ve all gotten better.

“That’s a big part when you’re playing against different countries because they’ve been together for a long time and they play together.”

US women ran unbeaten to gold as well, beating Australia 92-65 in the final for their fourth consecutive gold medal. The US women went 8-0, stretching their Olympic win streak to 33 and winning by an average of 37.6 points a game.

But the team that captured the hearts of Chinese fans was the US men, NBA stars adored from afar but cheered by sellout crowds in a rare Asian visit that produced memories to last a lifetime.

Poland’s Robert Kubica was fastest for BMW Sauber in Saturday’s final free practice for Sunday’s European Grand Prix at the new Valencia street circuit.

The 23-year-old driver from Krakow lapped in one minute and 38.754 seconds to top the timesheets on a humid and overcast morning after heavy overnight rain.

The slightly cooler conditions encouraged drivers to set fast times, but few were pushing to the limit before Saturday’s qualifying session in the knowledge that one error could cause serious damage on such a track.

German Nico Rosberg in a Williams was second fastest, one-tenth of a second behind Kubica with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais third in a Toro Rosso and Rosberg’s Williams team-mate Japanese Kazuki Nakajima fourth.

The likely frontrunners concentrated on conservation of their tyres for qualifying and Sunday’s 57 laps around the 5.42-kms Mediterranean harbour circuit.

Brazilian Felipe Massa, in a Ferrari, was the quickest of the title challengers in fifth place.

His team-mate and world champion Kimi Raikkonen was 15th and one behind fellow-Finn Heikki Kovalainen, winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix three weeks ago for McLaren.

Championship leading Briton Lewis Hamilton clocked the seventh best time in the other McLaren behind German Sebastian Vettel’s Toro Rosso.

Double world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso was also among those not pushing for a fastest lap time and wound up 13th for Renault.

All of the drivers in the top 10 clocked times that were faster than that set by Raikkonen when he topped the times in Friday’s second free practice session.

Usain Bolt makes it three out of three as another world mark tumbles in Beijing, but Jamaica miss sprint sweep

Usain Bolt earned a triple-triple of sprint gold medals and world records Friday, an unprecedented Olympic feat that elevated him alongside Michael Phelps as the stars of the Beijing Games.

With his giant strides, he ran a lightning final bend that set anchor Asafa Powell on the way to a record 37.10 seconds in the 4×100 metres, chopping .30 off the mark the United States had held for 16 years.

“Go Asafa!” Bolt shouted after handing over the baton, pointing Powell in the direction of a golden record. And his team mate did exactly that — completing the only great run of his disappointing Olympics to turn reggae into the Olympic anthem of the celebrating Bird’s Nest.

And Bolt, never at a loss for words, was not going to wait for IOC president Jacques Rogge to anoint the superlative of the Beijing Games.

“You can’t explain the feeling after the greatest Olympics ever,” Bolt said.

And who to question him.

Bolt also became only the fourth man, and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, to win all three Olympic sprint events.

He had already set the world record in the 100 and the 200, but that funky Jamaican was aching for an encore.

And Powell, a former 100 world record holder who only finished fifth in the 100, provided it. He crossed the line almost a full second in front of silver medallists Trinidad and Tobago, who finished in 38.06. Japan took the bronze in 38.15.

“I said to Asafa, ‘Can we do this?’ And he was like, ‘Don’t worry, man, we got this one’,” Bolt said.

The celebrations were boisterous as usual, but four times bigger, with the whole relay team joining, slamming chests together, bear hugs and — obviously — Bolt’s signature bow-and-arrow move.

Dibaba’s double

If Bolt was again all about the shiny golden shoes, oversize celebrations and wiggling dances to reggae, Tirunesh Dibaba achieved a landmark almost as impressive in total serenity.

The Ethiopian claimed an unprecedented long-distance double, winning the 5,000 metres to achieve something Ethiopian greats such as Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele have been unable to do. In an intense battle with rival Meseret Defar, Dibaba kicked for home with 500 metres to go. Defar, the defending champion, just cracked.

Bekele is going for a similar double in the 5,000 on Saturday, after barely missing out four years ago.

Not perfect

Just ahead of Bolt’s triple, Jamaican sprinters finally proved they were fallible, however, botching the handover of the baton in the women’s 4×100 relay they were overwhelmingly expected to win.

“I did what I was supposed to do, she did what she was supposed to do,” said Kerron Stewart, who botched the handover with Sherone Simpson. “I guess it wasn’t God’s will.”

Russia profited, unexpectedly adding another gold, and Belgium got their first medal of the Olympics when Kim Gevaert followed close behind. Nigeria took bronze. The United States were eliminated in the heats.

Michael Phelps hung on the lane rope in a familiar pose, admiring another world record while his rivals gasped for breath. Make it 6-for-6 at the Beijing Games.

Next up: Mark Spitz and the grandest of Olympic records.

Blowing away the field, Phelps won the 200-meter individual medley in a record 1 minute, 54.23 seconds — more than two seconds ahead of the next guy. He knocked off his own mark of 1:54.80 set at last month’s U.S. trials, his sixth world record in China.

Phelps matched his wins from Athens four years ago, where he also took six golds along with two bronzes. He’s already the most successful athlete in Olympic history with 12 golds, but his sights are on eight.

Spitz won seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps has two more events to leave little doubt he’s the greatest Olympian ever.

Ryan Lochte tried to pull off a daunting double, going against Phelps just 29 minutes after swimming the final of the 200 backstroke. He couldn’t keep up, though he did hold on for bronze. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary picked up his third silver of the games — all of them trailing Phelps.

When the official results were posted, Phelps extended his right hand to Lochte in the next lane. The friends shook hands and patted each other on the head.

Later, they yukked it up on the medal stand before Phelps hustled off to grab his racing gear; he had to come back right for the semifinals of the 100 butterfly.

“I switched from my dress sweats to my parka, shoes, threw my cap and goggles on and then they pushed us on out. No time,” he said. “The medal was in my warmup jacket.”

History can’t wait.

A half-hour after winning another gold, Phelps was second fastest behind Milorad Cavic of Croatia in the 100 fly, setting himself up to tie Spitz’s record in Saturday’s final. World record-holder Ian Crocker of the U.S. bounced back from a disappointing swim in the prelims to post the third-fastest time.

“There wasn’t much time,” Phelps said, “but I think there’s going to be a lot of time for me to rest over the next 18 hours or so, and I’ll be able to be ready for tomorrow morning’s 100.”

If all goes according to plan, Phelps will get No. 7 in the fly — his signature stroke — and have the coronation Sunday in the 400 medley relay. The Americans are always heavily favored for gold in that one.

Nevertheless, he’s taking nothing for granted, especially in the fly.

“It’s definitely a tough race,” he said. “With (Cavic) and Ian having a great semifinal, it’s going to be a good race tomorrow. I’m going to do everything I can to be a little bit closer in the first 50. … and, hopefully, if I’m there at the 50, I’ll be there at the finish.”

Lochte got quite a consolation price: a world record and the first individual gold medal of his career in the backstroke. The laid-back Floridian edged teammate Aaron Peirsol in 1:53.94 to break the mark he shared with Peirsol.

“I touched the wall and was like, ‘Thank you, finally,’” Lochte said. “It felt good the whole way.”

Lochte was known as “Mr. Runner-up” for his frequent second-place finishes to Phelps and Peirsol. Then, he stunned Peirsol at last year’s world championships in 1:54.32, before Peirsol matched the time in beating Lochte at the U.S. Olympic trials last month.

Lochte won despite a problem with his LZR Racer.

“My suit came undone after the first 50,” he said. “I was just trying to control my legs.”

Peirsol won the 100 back in Beijing, but failed to match his backstroke double from Athens four years ago. He earned the silver in 1:54.33, while Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin claimed the bronze.

“That’s the theme of the meet. You have to break a world record to win. I gave it my all and I had nothing left,” Peirsol said. “I’m very proud of what I’ve done. Ryan swam well. He earned it.”

Rebecca Soni gave the U.S. women’s swim team a much-needed boost, setting a world record in the 200 breaststroke with an upset of Australia’s Leisel Jones.

Soni had already claimed a surprising silver behind Jones in the 100 breast, a race she wasn’t even supposed to be in. She took over when Jessica Hardy failed a doping test at the U.S. trials and was dropped from the team.

Jones was out front over the first 100, but Soni came on strong at the end, finishing a full body length ahead of the Aussie in 2:20.22. She beat Jones’ mark of 2:20.54, set two 2 1/2 years ago in Melbourne.

Soni’s victory came about 14 hours after American distance hopes Katie Hoff and Kate Ziegler failed to make the final of the 800 freestyle, and two summers after Soni underwent a minor heart operation.

“It’s been a long road to get here, and I really can’t believe that just happened,” she said.

Jones claimed silver and Norway’s Sara Nordenstam took bronze.

“I really couldn’t breathe that last 50. I was just digging deep and couldn’t breathe,” Jones said. “A silver medal is still a silver medal in the Olympics. I gave it everything, I couldn’t have given more.”

Britta Steffen of Germany won the 100 freestyle, edging Australia’s Libby Trickett by four-hundredths of a second. American Natalie Coughlin claimed the bronze for her fifth medal of these games, matching her haul from Athens with the medley relay still to go.

Steffen won in an Olympic-record 53.12.

Phelps’ win was the 21st world record set in swimming during the Olympics, with two days left.

The Milwaukee Brewers and CC Sabathia cruised to another easy win Wednesday night, the team capturing its eighth in a row and the big left-hander his 10th straight decision.

And still, Milwaukee dropped another game behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs.

Rich Harden and Jason Marquis each shut down the Braves, Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto provided the offense and the Cubs swept a doubleheader in Atlanta to run their road winning streak to seven.

Marquis (8-7) got some retribution against his former team, leading the Cubs to a 10-2 rout in the opener. Then Harden (2-1) tossed five sharp innings in the ninghtcap, an 8-0 victory that put the Cubs to 26 games over .500 for the first time since ending the 1984 season 96-55.

“Let’s not talk about that and just hope it continues,” said manager Lou Piniella.

Alright, how about this: The Cubs now lead the NL Central by 3 1/2 games, even after Milwaukee’s 7-1 rout at San Diego.

In other NL games, it was: Los Angeles 7, Philadelphia 6; Colorado 6, Arizona 5; New York 12, Washington 0; St. Louis 6, Florida 4; Pittsburgh 5, Cincinnati 2; and Houston 6, San Francisco 2.

Sabathia (7-0) has been sensational for the Brewers in eight starts since being acquired from Cleveland in a trade on July 7. The reigning AL Cy Young winner won his 10th straight decision to extend his career high.

Sabathia allowed one run and nine hits and lowered his ERA with Milwaukee to 1.55. He struck out eight and walked one, getting some run support from Prince Fielder’s home run off Josh Banks (3-5) and his own RBI groundout.

“They did have some good at-bats, made me work and put the bat on the ball,” Sabathia said. “I was just trying to make pitches when I needed to.”

San Diego had its chances against Sabathia, who retired the Padres in order just once. But Sabathia pitched out of enough trouble to strand nine runners and struck out the side in his final inning, sandwiched around an infield single.

“We just couldn’t break through,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the big leagues.”

No matter what the Brewers do, though, they can’t seem to make up any ground on the Cubs, who are 5-0 against the Braves and have outscored them 38-11 in the season series.

“We scored two runs in 18 innings,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox, who was ejected in the first game. “We were behind 4-0 by the second inning both games.”

Aramis Ramirez had a run-scoring single and Jim Edmonds also drove in a run in the nightcap, before Fukudome’s two-run single off Jorge Campillo (7-5) gave Chicago its second 4-0 lead.

After retiring the first eight batters, Harden walked three straight with two outs in the third. Harden escaped the bases-loaded jam when Casey Kotchman grounded out to first base.

“I didn’t really have good stuff,” said Harden, who nevertheless helped the Cubs to their fifth shutout of the season. “I had to throw a lot of pitches.”

Marquis (8-7) gave up two runs and six hits over 5 1-3 innings for his first win against the Braves. He had been 0-3 with a 14.04 ERA in his first four starts against his former team.

Soto, who finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs, hit a two-run double in the opener off Charlie Morton (3-6) and a two-run homer in the ninth off Francisley Bueno.

“We struggled from the first pitch,” said Braves catcher Brian McCann. “It’s frustrating to play so poorly today. We just didn’t do anything good.”

Dodgers 7, Phillies 6

At Los Angeles, Nomar Garciaparra hit a one-out homer in the bottom of the ninth off Clay Condrey (3-3) to give the Dodgers their third straight win over the Philllies.

The Dodgers moved into a first-place tie with Arizona in the NL West. The Phillies, who have lost five of seven, dropped into a first-place tie with New York in the East.

Jonathan Broxton (3-3) pitched a perfect ninth to earn the victory.

Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 5

At Denver, reliever Brian Fuentes issued an intentional walk with two outs in the ninth to load the bases, then retired Adam Dunn on a grounder to preserve the win.

Brad Hawpe hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Jon Rauch (4-3) that put Colorado ahead 6-4. Taylor Buchholz (5-3) pitched the eighth and Fuentes held on for his 22nd save.

Mets 12, Nationals 0

At Washington, Dan Murphy homered and drove in three runs to help John Maine (10-7) in his first start since going on the DL with a mild right rotator cuff strain.

The Mets sent 13 batters to the plate in the third and scored eight runs on just four hits off starter Jason Bergmann (2-9), who walked five in a 51-pitch inning.

Cardinals 6, Marlins 4

Troy Glaus had four hits, Jason LaRue added a go-ahead double and visiting St. Louis tagged reliever Renyel Pinto (2-4) with the loss.

Braden Looper (11-9) gave up one earned run and five hits in seven innings for St. Louis. Chris Perez closed for his third save.

Pirates 5, Reds 2

Paul Maholm (8-7) pitched eight innings and Jason Michaels and Brandon Moss homered to lead host Pittsburgh.

Josh Fogg (2-5) allowed four runs and six hits in four-plus innings.

Astros 6, Giants 2

Mark Loretta walked and was hit by a pitch — one of three hit batters during the sixth inning — and host Houston won its season-high seventh straight.

The Astros’ winning streak is their longest since a nine-game string in September 2006.

Randy Wolf (8-10) improved to 2-0 in four starts since Houston acquired him from San Diego on July 22. Barry Zito (6-15) shut out the Astros on two hits through five innings.