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October

Oct. 1 -- Baltimore's 12-0 shutout of Cleveland was the Ravens' third of the season. They became the first NFL team to shut out consecutive opponents since the 1985 Chicago Bears beat Dallas 44-0 and Atlanta 36-0. Baltimore blanked Cincinnati 37-0 the week before.

Oct. 1 -- Detroit's Shane Halter became the fourth major leaguer to play all nine positions in a game, and capped his adventure by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Tigers over Minnesota 12-11.

Oct. 1 -- In Sydney, Australia, American boxers went home from an Olympics without a gold medal for the first time since 1948. Ricardo Williams Jr. lost 27-20 to Abdullaev Mahamadkadyz of Uzbekistan in the 139-pound final. World champion Rocky Juarez lost 22-14 to Bekzal Sattarkhanov of Kazakstan at 125 pounds, snapping the American's two-year winning streak at 68 bouts. The United States led the way in the final medal tally, collecting 97 (39 gold, 25 silver and 33 bronze). Russia was second with 88 (32, 28 and 28), and China third with 59 (28, 16, 15). Australia was fourth, with 58.

Oct. 3 -- Cardinals rookie Rick Ankiel became the first pitcher in 110 years to throw five wild pitches in one inning of a major league game. Ankiel lost control in the third inning of St. Louis' postseason opener against the Atlanta Braves and also walked four in the inning. The only other time five wild pitches were thrown in one inning of a major league game was on Sept. 15, 1890, when Bert Cunningham did it for Buffalo of the Players League. The Cardinals hung on for a 7-5 win over the Braves.

Oct. 6 -- Marty McSorley was found guilty of assault with a weapon for his two-fisted stick attack on an opponent. A Canadian court found McSorley guilty for the Feb. 21 blow that sent Vancouver Canucks forward Donald Brashear sprawling to the ice. McSorley, a 17-year NHL veteran who was with the Boston Bruins at the time, won't have any charges go on his record as long as he completes 18 months of probation. He was ordered not to play against Brashear during that time, in Canada or the United States.

Oct. 7 -- Zamir Amin of Menlo College set an NCAA all-divisions record, passing for 731 yards in the Division III school's 37-32 loss to Cal Lutheran. Amin, 39-of-66 with four TDs and three interceptions, broke the mark of 716 set by David Klingler of Division I-A Houston against Arizona State on Dec. 2, 1990.

Oct. 7 -- Quentin Griffin set an Oklahoma record with six rushing touchdowns in the Sooners' 63-14 victory over Texas.

Oct. 8 -- Bobby J. Jones pitched the sixth complete game one-hitter in postseason history as the Mets eliminated the Giants with a 4-0 win in Game 4 of their NL division series. It was the first one-hit shutout in the postseason since Boston's Jim Lonborg beat St. Louis in the 1967 World Series.

Oct. 9 -- Brett Hull scored his 611th goal, breaking a tie with his Hall of Fame father, Bobby, for ninth place on the NHL's career list as the Dallas Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1.

Oct. 10 -- Men and women will receive equal prize money at the 2001 Australian Open in January. Winners of the men's and women's singles crowns will each earn $450,000. Only the U.S. Open among the four Grand Slam tournaments had paid equal prize money.

Oct. 11 -- Eric Desjardins scored midway through the third period to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-3 tie with Minnesota in the expansion Wild's first regular-season NHL game.

Oct. 12 -- A jury awarded Heather Mercer, a female place-kicker, $2 million in punitive damages, ruling Duke University cut her from the team solely because of her gender.

Oct. 13 -- Shaquille O'Neal agreed to a contract extension at maximum terms of three years and $88.5 million with the Los Angeles Lakers. The extension placed O'Neal under contract for six more seasons for over $152 million.

Oct. 13 -- Australia's Matt Welsh broke the world short-course record in the 200-meter backstroke at the Australian short-course swim championships. Welsh recorded a time of 1 minute, 51.62 seconds, beating American Lenny Krayzelburg's mark of 1.52.43 set in February.

Oct. 14 -- Roger Clemens pitched a one-hitter and struck out an ALCS record 15 as the New York Yankees beat Seattle 5-0. Clemens tied the LCS record with San Francisco's Livan Hernandez who struck out 15 in a Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS between Florida and Atlanta.

Oct. 15 -- Tony Meola made 10 saves, including three in the final 10 minutes, and the Kansas City Wizards beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 to win their first MLS Cup. Miklos Molnar scored in the 11th minute, while Meola added the game's MVP award to the season MVP trophy he won.

Oct. 15 -- For the first time in NFL history, a game started with back-to-back touchdown returns on kickoffs. Atlanta's Darrick Vaughn returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, and St. Louis matched the Falcons immediately as Tony Horne took the ball 3 yards deep in the end zone and ran down the sideline for a game-tying score. Kurt Warner passed for 313 yards and three touchdowns in St. Louis' 45-29 victory. It was Warner's sixth straight 300-yard games which tied an NFL record set by Steve Young. Marshall Faulk also rushed for a career-high 208 yards and had a touchdown and two 2-point conversions.

Oct. 15 -- Edgerrin James of the Indianapolis Colts rushed for three touchdowns and a franchise-record 219 yards in a 37-24 victory over Seattle.

Oct. 16 -- Mike Hampton pitched a three-hitter and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-0 to win the NL championship series 4-1. The Mets joined the 1997 Florida Marlins as the only wild card teams to make the World Series.

Oct. 17 -- The New York Yankees followed the Mets into the World Series, rallying from a four-run deficit to beat the Seattle Mariners 9-7 and win the AL championship series 4-2. David Justice, who hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 6, was the MVP. Mariano Rivera, who had his postseason scoreless streak end at 33 1-3 innings over three years, held on in the ninth as the Yankees won their record 37th American League pennant and their third in a row.

Oct. 17 -- Patrick Roy set an NHL record with his 448th career victory as Colorado defeated Washington 4-3 in overtime. Roy snapped a tie with Terry Sawchuk, who held the mark since 1970. Sawchuk earned his 447th victory in his 968th game, while Roy won No. 448 in his 847th game.

Oct. 18 -- Marian Gaborik, the franchises' first-ever draft pick, scored twice in the final 2:28 as the Minnesota Wild beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 for the team's first NHL victory.

Oct. 20 -- Carlos Delgado soared past Roger Clemens and became baseball's highest-paid player, agreeing to a record $68 million, four-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Oct. 21 -- Southern Utah quarterback Matt Cannon ran for 262 yards and broke the NCAA Division I-AA record for career rushing yards by a quarterback in a 62-24 win over Idaho State. Cannon, with 4,146 yards, surpassed the previous record was 3,957 yards set by Western Kentucky's Willie Taggart.

Oct. 21 -- In the first Subway Series since 1956, the New York Yankees earned a record 13th straight World Series victory, a 4-3 win over the New York Mets, surpassing their record set in the late 1920's.

Oct. 22 -- Bengals running back Corey Dillon rushed for an NFL single-game record 278 yards in a 31-21 victory over the Denver Broncos. Three years after he broke Jim Brown's single-game rookie record with 246 yards against Tennessee, Dillon went 3 yards farther than Walter Payton's 27-year-old mark.

Oct. 22 -- Karrie Webb won her seventh LPGA title of the year and wrapped up the Player of the Year Award, beating Dottie Pepper in a playoff in the AFLAC Champions. The Australian star, with 13 victories in two years, is the most in a 24-month stretch on the LPGA Tour since Nancy Lopez won 17 in 1978-79.

Oct. 22 -- Khalid Khannouchi set the American marathon best by winning the Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 1 second.

Oct. 22 -- Gary Anderson of the Minnesota Vikings became the NFL's career scoring leader, with 2,004 points, surpassing George Blanda. He had three field goals and two extra points in a 31-27 win over Buffalo, breaking the mark with a 21-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining.

Oct. 22 -- Washington's Albert Connell had career highs of 211 yards in receptions and three touchdowns the Redskins beat Jacksonville 35-16. Connell caught scoring passes of 11, 49 and 77 yards.

Oct. 22 -- In their first matchup since Roger Clemens beaned Mike Piazza in July, Clemens came close to hitting Piazza again -- this time with the jagged barrel of a broken bat. Piazza fouled a grounder off a letter-high inside pitch and his bat shattered, with the largest chunk -- the barrel head -- going back to the mound. Clemens picked up the splintered wood and threw it angrily in front of Piazza as he ran toward first, missing the Mets' star by about 2 feet. Clemens then pitched the best World Series game of his career with a two-hit, nine-strikeout shutout before leaving after eight innings in the Yankees' nervous 6-5 victory.

Oct. 23 -- The NCAA placed the Minnesota men's basketball program on probation for four years and cut an additional scholarship as penalties for academic fraud in the program.

Oct. 23 -- The International Olympic Committee stripped German freestyle wrestler Alexander Leipold of his Olympic gold medal after he failed a drug test. The gold went to silver medalist Brandon Slay, of Amarillo, Texas, who lost 4-0 to Leipold in the final of the 1671/2-pound division.

Oct. 24 -- New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens was fined $50,000 for throwing the jagged barrel of a shattered bat toward New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza in Game 2 of the World Series. The fine matched the largest ever levied against a player, equaling the amount Albert Belle was fined for his profane tirade toward a TV reporter during the 1995 World Series.

Oct. 24 -- Benny Agbayani hit a go-ahead double in the eighth inning as the New York Mets handed Orlando Hernandez his first postseason defeat, beating the Yankees 4-2 to cut their World Series deficit to 2-1. The Mets also ended the Yankees' record 14-game winning streak in the World Series.

Oct. 25 -- NBA commissioner David Stern came down hard on the Minnesota Timberwolves for their secret salary agreement with Joe Smith, taking five first-round draft picks away from the team and fining them $3.5 million. Stern also voided Smith's contract, making him a free agent.

Oct. 26 -- The New York Yankees became the first team in more than a quarter-century to win three straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets 4-2. The Yankees matched the Oakland Athletics' three in a row from 1972-74, and won their fourth title in five years.

Oct. 28 -- R.J. Bowers of Division III Grove City College broke the NCAA all-division career rushing record, gaining 128 yards in a 20-14 win over Bethany College. Bowers, with 6,999 yards, broke the record of 6,958 yards set by Brian Shay of Division II Emporia State from 1995-98.

Files from AP