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Mehdi Benatia signs for AS Roma
Tour de France 2013, Stage 15: Route, TV schedule and more
Scottish Open 2013: Tee times, TV schedule and streaming for Sunday's round
Wellington Phoenix add New Zealand U20 captain Luke Adams
Scott Dixon scores pole for Honda Indy Toronto Race No. 2, Target Ganassi sweeps front row
Hunter Pence saves the no-hitter with this catch
Tim Lincecum throws no-hitter as Giants beat Padres, 9-0
Tim Lincecum throwing a no-hitter through 8 innings

Posted: 14 Jul 2013 02:46 AM PDT

AS Roma have secured the signature of Mehdi Benatia for €13.5m. The Moroccan international played for Udinese the last 3 seasons, and as part of the deal, two young Roma players, Nico Lopez and Valerio Verre, will now be co-owned by the two clubs.

The signing of the 26 year old defender should help improve the part of AS Roma's team that was most problematic in recent years: the back line. However, Benatia missed almost half of last season with injury, so many will wonder if he was worth the money and talent necessary to bring him to Rome. It's also been noted that he has always played in a 3 man defense at Udinese, while new AS Roma coach, Rudi Garcia, will almost certainly use a 4 man defense. Yet Benatia has been a reliable defender with the zebrette in recent years, and such a signing makes sense for a club shaky on defense.

In other Roma news, the club has also made official the signings of two interesting young talents. Defender Tin Jedvaj signed from Dinamo Zagreb for €5m, defeating rumors of his imminent arrival at Tottenham Hotspur, while the giallorossi also secured Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Skoropski from Gornik Zabrze.

Tour de France 2013, Stage 15: Route, TV schedule and more

Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:00 AM PDT

The 15th stage out of 21 in the 2013 Tour de France will get underway early Sunday morning, as teams will have to climb to the top of Mont Ventoux.

Mont Ventoux is one of the highlights of every tour: the peak is one of the most well-known stops during the race. Through 14 stages Chris Froome is the owner of the yellow jersey and is in position to take control with another solid showing on the 15th stage.

Stage 15 is the longest stage of the Tour de France at roughly 242.5 kilometers, or 151 miles, and the grueling mountainous climb will bring riders to an altitude of 1,912 meters.

SB Nation's cycling blog, Podium Cafe, offered a prediction for the winner of the stage.

Chris Froome. While Sky have shown itself vulnerable as a team there have actually been very few signs that Froome is any less dominant than he was on Ax3-Domaine. Be it helped by the team or by himself he looks likely to take even more time on his nearest competitors. Dark horse contender: Andy Schleck. Pinot is probably not the only one that has noted the lack of decents on this stage. Look for Andy to try and underline his comeback on this climb where he has done well in the past.

Live television coverage of the stage will begin at 8 a.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

Stage 15 map route and profile via Podium Cafe:

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Scottish Open 2013: Tee times, TV schedule and streaming for Sunday's round

Posted: 13 Jul 2013 11:00 PM PDT

The 2013 Scottish Open comes to a close Sunday with the final round from Castle Stuart. Henrik Stenson will open the day with the lead as players play their final competitive round before next week's British Open.

More: Complete Scottish Open Coverage

Stenson opens the final round with a two-shot lead. He's 16-under for the tournament after shooting a 6-under 66 on Saturday. Stenson will be joined in the final pairing by Phil Mickelson who is tied for second at 14-under. Mickelson is playing the Scottish Open as a warmup for the British Open, but as Shane Bacon of Yahoo! Sports noted, a good showing in the Scottish Open won't guarantee British Open success. Mickelson finished second in the 2007 Scottish Open, but missed the cut the next week at the British Open.

Viewers in the United States will be able to watch Mickelson in the final round without waking up in the middle of the night. Mickelson and Stenson are scheduled to tee off at 10:25 a.m. ET. Mickelson won't be the only American playing in the final few pairings. Peter Uihlein will begin the day three strokes back at 13-under. He's scheduled to tee off at 9:55 a.m. ET.

Golf Channel will have live coverage of Sunday's final round, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and continuing until noon. Viewers registered for Sky Sports service will be able to watch the action live online via a simulcast stream.

Here is the complete list of Sunday's tee times, all times Eastern:

4:30 a.m.: Lee Slattery, Thorbjørn Olesen
4:40 a.m.: Craig Lee, Sam Little
4:50 a.m.: Johan Edfors, Richard Green
5:00 a.m.: Darren Fichardt, Paul Lawrie
5:10 a.m.: David Howell, Grégory Bourdy
5:20 a.m.: Scott Henry, Marc Warren
5:30 a.m.: Jorge Campillo, Matthew Baldwin
5:40 a.m.: Joakim Lagergren, Thongchai Jaidee
5:50 a.m.: Chris Lloyd, James Morrison
6:05 a.m.: Seve Benson, Chris Wood
6:15 a.m.: Bernd Wiesberger, Paul Mcginley
6:25 a.m.: David Drysdale, Shane Lowry
6:35 a.m.: Matteo Manassero, Gary Orr
6:45 a.m.: Richard Bland, Matteo Delpodio
6:55 a.m.: Victor Dubuisson, Greig Hutcheon
7:05 a.m.: Damien Mcgrane, Marcel Siem
7:15 a.m.: Robert-Jan Derksen, Jaco Van Zyl
7:25 a.m.: Simon Dyson, Søren Kjeldsen
7:40 a.m.: Francesco Molinari, Garth Mulroy
7:50 a.m.: David Horsey, Niclas Fasth
8:00 a.m.: Mikko Ilonen, Richard Sterne
8:10 a.m.: David Lynn, Morten Ørum Madsen
8:20 a.m.: Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Alvaro Quiros
8:30 a.m.: Alejandro Cañizares, Keith Horne
8:40 a.m.: Ross Fisher, Chris Paisley
8:50 a.m.: Martin Laird, Ricardo Gonzalez
9:00 a.m.: Brooks Koepka, Eddie Pepperell
9:15 a.m.: Nicolas Colsaerts, Hennie Otto
9:25 a.m.: Paul Casey, Chris Doak
9:35 a.m.: Matthew Southgate, Tommy Fleetwood
9:45 a.m.: Lorenzo Gagli, Simon Khan
9:55 a.m.: Raphaël Jacquelin, Peter Uihlein
10:05 a.m.: Jb Hansen, Gareth Maybin
10:15 a.m.: John Parry, Branden Grace
10:25 a.m.: Henrik Stenson, Phil Mickelson

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Wellington Phoenix add New Zealand U20 captain Luke Adams

Posted: 13 Jul 2013 10:39 PM PDT

Ernie Merrick has added a Junior All White defender to the Wellington Phoenix first team with the signing of Luke Adams. The captain of New Zealand's U20 side that just played in the U20 World Cup in Turkey, has joined the A-League club after an impressive week-long trial.

Said Merrick in a club press release:

"Luke has been a standout at training and fits into our plans for the squad, both as a player and a person. He has proved himself at international level with the New Zealand under 17s and under 20s, not just as a player but as a leader through being captain of both teams.

Luke ticks all the boxes and that is what we are about. I want to help develop young New Zealand players while at the same time signing the right players for the Phoenix."

The last part is the key for Wellington, as far as the Merrick hiring is concerned. His background of a dozen years at the Victorian Institute of Sport is part of the reason the Phoenix hired him and Adams' signing represents the beginning of the process of using the national team to the club's advantage, and vice versa.

Merrick was quoted in FourFourTwo Australia at the time of his hiring in May:

"It is unusual for one team to represent a country and it presents me with a great challenge. There is a great potential at the club and there must be a lot of talented young players in New Zealand to draw on. I focused on producing young players at the Victorian Institute of Sport and at Melbourne Victory, and one of my most important roles at the Phoenix will be to provide input into the type of structure that will groom up-and-coming players for the first team."

As for Adams, he prefers center back but can play the wide defensive positions, as well. With the Phoenix currently listing just four defenders on the club's website, Adams will be a welcome addition and will at the very least get a chance to challenge for playing time, even if he is not an immediate regular.

Scott Dixon scores pole for Honda Indy Toronto Race No. 2, Target Ganassi sweeps front row

Posted: 13 Jul 2013 10:30 PM PDT

Scott Dixon will start on the pole for race No. 2 of the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network), one day after winning his second-consecutive IndyCar Series race on Saturday at Exhibition Place.

The pole starting position actually comes as a result of his turning the fastest lap in the qualifying session that preceded Race No. 1, which had set the grid for Sunday's race.

Qualifying for the Saturday race was held on Friday and that pole was won by Dario Franchitti.

Dixon won his pole after turning a fast lap of 58.969 seconds in the second group to defeat Franchitti's best time of 59.191 seconds in group one. The results place both Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars on the front row at the start of Sunday's race, just one day after they finished first and third respectively in the Saturday opener.

"The lap just came together," Dixon said. "I left a little on the table yesterday and the guys put in some work on the car last night, making a few adjustments, and it's definitely has the speed. It's been a little while since we've been on pole for a road or street course so we're definitely very happy about it."

It was Dixon's first pole since Belle Isle in 2012 and the first front row sweep for Team Ganassi since taking the first two spots in Oct. 2010 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Under the doubleheader qualifying format for Race No. 2, the remainder of the cars from the pole sitter's qualifying group will occupy the odd-numbered positions on the starting grid, ranked by lap time, beginning with third. Even-numbered starting positions will be filled by the other group, ranked by lap time, starting with second.

Championship points leader Helio Castroneves and reigning series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will make up the second row. Will Power and Tony Kanaan will start on row 3. Both races pay full championship points to the competitors.

The complete results of Saturday's qualifying session can be found below. A starting lineup will be released before the race and this page will update as soon as possible.

Scott Dixon
Dario Franchitti
Helio Castroneves
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Will Power
Tony Kanaan
Sebastien Bourdais
Ryan Briscoe (Will not start race due to injury)
Alex Tagliani
Simona De Silvestro
EJ Viso
James Hinchcliffe
Simon Pagenaud
Justin Wilson
Takuma Sato
Charlie Kimball
Tristan Vautier
Marco Andretti
Josef Newgarden
Graham Rahal
James Jakes
Sebastian Saavedra
Ed Carpenter
Mike Conway

Hunter Pence saves the no-hitter with this catch

Posted: 13 Jul 2013 10:22 PM PDT

Tim Lincecum throws no-hitter as Giants beat Padres, 9-0

Posted: 13 Jul 2013 10:03 PM PDT

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum has thrown the first no-hitter of his career and the first no-hitter at Petco Park, leading the Giants to a 9-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Lincecum struck out Chase Headley to begin the inning, his 13th strikeout of the game. Carlos Quentin flied out to Gregor Blanco for the second out of the inning, then Yonder Alonso flied out to Blanco for the final out of the game.

It took Lincecum 148 pitches for the feat -- he fell one short of Edwin Jackson's 149-pitch no-hitter on June 25, 2010. Lincecum walked four.

Lincecum becomes the fourth pitcher to throw a no-hitter on the road against the Padres. Pittsburgh Pirates starter Doc Ellis threw a no-hitter on June 12, 1970 at San Diego Stadium, A.J. Burnett threw a no-hitter as a member of the Marlins at Qualcomm Stadium on May 12, 2001, and St. Louis Cardinals starter Bud Smith threw a no-hitter at Qualcomm later that season.

The Giants were the last team to be no-hit, when Homer Bailey no-hit them on July 2 of this year. The Marlins were the last team to have a no-hitter thrown against them and then throw the next no-hitter; Ramon Martinez threw a no-hitter against the Marlins back in 1995, then Al Leiter no-hit the Colorado Rockies the next May.

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Tim Lincecum throwing a no-hitter through 8 innings

Posted: 13 Jul 2013 09:48 PM PDT

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum sits three outs away from throwing the first no-hitter of his career, as he has thrown eight no-hit innings against the San Diego Padres.

Lincecum retired the first two Padres in the eighth inning. The starter struck out catcher Rene Rivera to start the inning, his 12th strikeout of the game. Chris Denorfia then hit a groundout to third baseman Pablo Sandoval for the second out of the inning, but Everth Cabrera drew a walk to extend the inning, bringing Alexi Amarista to the plate. Giants right fielder Hunter Pence made a great catch in right field to keep the no-hitter intact.

Lincecum is scheduled to face Chase Headley, Carlos Quentin and Yonder Alonso in the ninth inning. Headley has reached base twice tonight against Lincecum with two walks.

Lincecum has pitched well in Petco Park throughout his career. He entered Saturday with an 2.48 ERA in 80 innings at San Diego, striking out 102 batters while issuing 30 walks. Overall, Lincecum has an 11-6 record against the Padres with a 2.34 ERA in 24 starts.