With Hamit Alt?ntop putting his side up 3-1 in penalties, Mladen Petri?’s shot was saved by backup keeper R?? clinch the victory for the comeback kids of Euro 2008. Whether the Croatian players were exhausted or still in shock from the late equalizer we will never know, but they truly never got any momentum going having missed two of their penalties while the Turks calmly buried each one they took. The game itself saw many chances for both countries but neither side could find the back of the net as the game went into extra time. The first frame of extra time came and went as everyone in the stadium assumed penalties were on the agenda. However as Luka Modric went into the 18-yard box in the dying minutes of the second frame, R??llowed him out there only to see a cross go to a lone Ivan Klasnic who headed the ball into an empty net giving the Croats the 1-0 lead. However, the goat would be a hero as he delivered the cross from outside the midfield mark that would eventually find ?ent? Modric would go on to miss the first penalty with a shot that sailed way past the net while his Turkish counterpart Arda Turan would beat Pletikosa.

Darijo Srna would tie things up but only to see ?ent?regain the lead for the Turks. Ivan Rakiti? would too miss for his side as Alt?ntop gave Turkey the commanding 3-1 lead. Having needed to score to continue on, Petric fired a hard shot only to be met with a great save by R?? seal Turkey’s first European Championship semi final berth. They now will play Germany on Wednesday in Basel for the right to play in the final. .

Beane has seen players like Miguel Tejeda, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Jason Giambi, Dan Haren, and Jason Isringhausen come and go yet somehow has kept this team competitive year after year.Take this past offseason moves for Oakland.  Mr. Beane traded ace starter Dan Haren (7-4 with a 3.26 ERA this season) to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a package of prospects that included SP Dana Eveland (5-5 with a 3.86 ERA this season), SP Greg Smith (4-5 with a 3.51 ERA this season), stud OF prospect Carlos Gonzalez, along with a couple other minor league players.Nick Swisher was sent packing to the Chicago Whitesox for a package that included Ryan Sweeney (.304 avg. with 2 HR and 23 RBI this season) and possible future ace starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez (185 Ks in 150 innings during his 2007 season).Last but certainly not least the A’s traded fan favorite and often injured CF Mark Kotsay to the Atlanta Braves for RP Joey Devine(3-0 with a 1.23 ERA this season).  Joey was being groomed to be the “closer of the future” in Atlanta and may take over for Street if/when Beane decides to trade him away. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, GMs around the league have to be nervous when they see their phone light up and hear Billy’s voice on the other end.  He has systematically picked apart many a farm club on his way to keeping the A’s payroll near the bottom of the league.Maybe there is something to this “Moneyball” theory after all?. We are on the eve of tennis’ grandest tournament the championships Wimbledon. As always there will be strawberries and cream, there will be rain and there will be great tennis. The debate going into Wimbledon is weather or not Roger Federer can win his 6th straight Wimbledontitle. He has been far from his best this year and is coming off an embarrassing loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open Final. All the talk has been whether Federer can win in Paris, but to me we ought to talk about Nadal Winning Wimbledon He made last years final pushing Federer to a 5th set Just last week he claimed his first title on grass.