Leading Off

Clay's pigeons

With two outs inthe top of the ninth inning, the Fenway park scoreboard showed nothing butzeroes for the Orioles last Saturday as Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz deliveredto batter Nick Markakis. With his 115th pitch, Buchholz struck out Markakislooking, giving the 23-year-old from Nederland, Texas, a no-hitter in just hissecond major league appearance. Catcher Jason Varitek embraced Buchholz (inset)after the 10-0 win.

Zack attack

After Callinebacker Zack Follett drilled Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge from behind,fellow LB Worrell Williams (inset) picked up Ainge's fumble and raced 44 yardsfor the opening score last Saturday in Berkeley. In the only matchup betweenranked teams last week, No. 12 Cal defeated No. 15 Tennessee 45-31.

Lagat-a LoveIt

With the finishline in sight, Bernard Lagat surged to victory in the 1,500-meter final on aug.29 in Osaka, Japan, becoming the first U.S. runner to win the event at theworld championships (page 54). Three days later Leroy Dixon (inset) celebratedanother of the U.S.'s 14 gold medals after a victory in the 4 √ó 100 relay.

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Photographs by Winslow Townson/AP

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Photograph by Brad Mangin

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Photographs by Bill Frakes