The Astros are 6-2 so far on the residency and ended a brief two-game slide
with Tuesdays 3-2 win over the Marlins thanks to pinch-hitter Brian
Bogusevics RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning. Marlins infielder
Omar Infante had a miscue in the field during the sixth inning, allowing two
runs to score for a 2-2 ballgame.

I think pinch-hitting is one of those things where the more you do it, the
more comfortable you get, Bogusevic said. You kind of get a feel for things
you want to and things you might want to stay away from in that situation.

Aneury Rodriguez made his first start of the season for the Astros and did not
record a decision, as he held Miami to a pair of runs and two hits in six
innings with six strikeouts and two walks. Rodriguez did allow home runs to
Infante and John Buck. Brandon Lyon tossed a scoreless seventh, Wilton Lopez
got the win with an unblemished eighth inning and Brett Myers closed the door
in the ninth for his eighth save.

Houston will begin a five-game trek to Pennsylvania against the Pirates and
Phillies after Wednesdays game.

Lucas Harrell will make his seventh start of the season for the Astros tonight
and is looking to build on his latest performance. Harrell was 0-2 with a 6.23
earned run average in four starts before squeezing out a victory over St.
Louis last Friday. In the 5-4 win versus the Cardinals, Harrell was reached
for four runs — three earned — and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The right-hander evened his 2012 mark at 2-2, but raised his ERA slightly from
4.71 to 4.76. Harrell is 2-0 in two home starts this season, and faced the
Marlins for the first time in his career during a 5-4 loss in south Florida on
April 13 this season. He did not record a decision after permitting four runs
and seven hits in four innings.

Miami was perfect (7-0) on its nine-game road trip until last night.

Ryan Webb was saddled with the loss for giving up Bogusevics game-changing
hit and starter Anibal Sanchez gave up only two unearned runs in seven innings
for the no-decision. Sanchez struck out eight batters and walked two.

Infantes error in the sixth inning could have changed the outcome, but
Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen was understanding.

Omars one of the best second basemen in the league, Guillen said. Guys
make errors, thats part of the game and I have no problem with it.

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts to
have his 10-game hitting streak come to an end. The Marlins will head home for
a five-game residency versus the Mets and Pirates after tonight.

Miami ace Josh Johnson had his season cut significantly short last year and
could be suffering from an injury hangover since hes still winless in 2012.
Johnson will take another shot at win No. 1 tonight against the Astros and is
0-3 with a 6.61 earned run average in six starts.

Johnson, who was shelved early on in 2011 because of a shoulder injury, lasted
only 2 2/3 innings in last Fridays 9-8 win at San Diego and luckily avoided
the loss column after yielding six runs and six hits. He has given up 11 runs
through his last two starts, and is also aiming for his first road win as
evidenced by his 0-1 mark in three tries as the guest.

In four career games (3 starts) against the Astros, the righty is winless
(0-3) to go along with a 5.82 ERA.

Houston dropped two of three games in Miami from April 13-15, including two
contests in 11 innings. The Marlins are 9-3 in the last 12 matchups between
the teams.

Down by 21 points in the fourth quarter, Utah salvaged a bit of dignity with one final run at the San Antonio Spurs, only to come up short — 87-81 — in Game 4 of its Western Conference playoff series.

Posted at 02:33 PM ET, 05/09/2012

TheWashingtonPost

Bengals’ Jacob Bell retires, with Junior Seau suicide a factor
By Cindy Boren

Scott Fujita intercepts a pass as Jacob Bell (63) offered pursuit in a November game in Cleveland.
(Matt Sullivan / Getty Images)
At the age of 31, Jacob Bell, an offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals, is quitting the game.

The recent suicide of Junior Seau was only one factor, Bell said, calling it “the cherry on top.”

“There were a lot of factors that went into it for me,” Bell, who recently signed a one-year deal with the Bengals after four years with the St. Louis Rams, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday night. “I’ve had a lot of fun playing. I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve played in a lot of games. The reality is that for me it came down to risk and reward. I think you’ve always got to weigh that out. At some point, you’ve got to kind of figure out what you’re in the game for.

“One of my biggest concerns when it comes to the game in general is my personal health. One thing that’s obviously on the minds of a lot of people lately is brain research and all the stuff that’s going on with that. One of the big things that I thought about when I was considering this is how much do I love the game? How much can they pay me to take away my health and my future and being able to be with my family and just have a healthy lifestyle?”

Bell, a fifth-round draft pick out of Miami by the Tennessee Titans, started 100 games over his eight-year career and admitted he has considered retiring for about a year. Jim Thomas asked if Junior Seau’s suicide was a catalyst for making the decision now.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about some different things, thinking about health, thinking about the future of my family having to deal with some kind of crazy disease that nobody even knows about, where people want their brains studied after they’re dead. Donating their brains to research.

“It’s just crazy to see how someone like Junior Seau took his own life over — God knows what he was really struggling and dealing with. But you have to believe it came from the game of football. I want to get out before the game makes me get out, where I can get out on my own terms, and I can limit the amount of stress and negative impact that the game would leave on me.”

At this point, researchers are only beginning to compile information on the long-range effects of concussions and constant hits to the head. That so much is unknown was a factor for Bell, who said he has no problems at the moment.

“Is a concussion, ‘Oh, I saw stars?’ ” Bell said. “Is a concussion, ‘Oh, I got a little wobbly for a second — I’m okay now?’ Or is a concussion, ‘I got hit and I can’t go back in the game because I truly don’t know where I’m at and what day it is?’

“If you’re telling me ‘I’m seeing stars’ is some sort of concussion, then you’re getting a couple a week. You’re going to get a minimum 30 concussions in a season. That just gives you a ballpark figure of what people are truly dealing with.”

Follow us: @CindyBoren | @MattBrooksWP

More from Washington Post Sports

Emmitt Smith: “Why wouldn’t I worry?”

Junior Seau dies

Player reaction to Seau’s death

Seau in March: “The game needs to change”

By Cindy Boren
 | 
02:33 PM ET, 05/09/2012

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Safety Yeremiah Bell signs with Jets

Tonight, May 9, the controversial art collector/writer/entrepreneur/investor will inaugurate his new gallery, located in the Aby Rosen-owned 980 Madison Avenue (home to Larry Gagosian uptown), a project he claims has been in the works since he turned 50 last summer. The gallery, “Venus Over Manhattan,” is named for the figures on the exterior of the building.

Ever brash, ever direct, Lindemann quickly jotted down a few answers to questions I sent him via e-mail on the eve of his gallery debut. And if some of his responses seem evasive or lacking in direction, take heart, and remember what they say about being US President: it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know what he’s doing, so long as he surrounds himself with those who do.

Abigail R. Esman: Let’s start with the basic question: Why? After years of collecting art, looking at art, writing about art, why now get commercial?

Adam Lindemann: It’s on Madison Ave, it’s public, it needs to have a commercial aspect. I want to borrow things from dealers, and invite artists to make shows, I want the space to have a life. It’s not about my personal collection.

ARE: How did you begin collecting? At what point did it become a real passion for you?

AL: Never really, I bought art to feel good and my brain work. I never collected anything ever – but I buy things all the time, I love to.

ARE: You recently wrote a (wonderful) piece about the brashness of Art Basel and the hysteria of art fairs (where people used to go to look at art). Do you plan, now, to take part in any fairs going forward?

AL: Yes, we plan on attending the fairs, that’s where the people are so we will go to them !

ARE: How would you describe your program?

PARIS (AP) — Art lovers should expect the unexpected in the latest offering of the ground-breaking and normally roof-scraping Monumenta exhibit, as artist Daniel Buren brings the Grand Palais’ lofty ceiling for the first time — literally — down to earth.

Monumenta, the hugely-mediatized annual art project that’s in its fifth year dares an artist of international stature to “move into” the nave of one of the French capital’s most monumental buildings, and own it.

With a space measuring 13,500 square meters (about 145,000 square feet) and 45 meters (150 feet) high, it’s a dizzying feat for any artist, but especially for Buren.

The man, a national treasure in France, is a minimalist artist.

In a testament to the show’s importance, French President-elect Francois Hollande dropped in Wednesday — a day before the opening to the public — for his first cultural event since winning Sunday’s election.

Last year’s leviathan-shaped gargantua by British artist Anish Kapoor is a hard act to follow, scraping the nave’s ceiling, and attracting more than 270,000 people in six and a half weeks.

But as ever, Buren, who won 2007′s “Praemium Imperiale” award, akin to the Nobel Prize for art, thinks outside the box.

Buren’s attempt sees myriad translucent circles in red, blue, green and yellow installed horizontally like a second human-scale roof, 2.5 meters (eight feet) high, supported by his signature 8-centimeter (three-inch) bars, striped in black and white.

The central part directly underneath the nave is empty, save for 9 circular mirrors on the floor, shining up.

At first look, it seems as if Buren has failed his Monumenta homework — to fill the space.

But think again: what’s the medium that fills not only the Grand Palais, but every interior ever seen?

In a word: light.

“The spirit of this place is sun, is light, which cuts through the color in the circles … You need to feel for the space you’re in … The Grand Palais with the glass ceiling has such beautiful light, all the time — even on a rainy day,” Buren told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Visitors were seen exploring furtively under the rainbow-dappled disks that stand uniformly at 2.5 meters (eight feet) high across the expanse, some in awe and others in confusion.

There was a gasp as the morning’s first ray of sunlight shone through the building’s roof.

“Wow. That’s the moment I only understood it, when the sunlight came through the ceiling and hit the disks and shone of the floor: that’s the beautiful part with colors everywhere, when everything came together perfectly,” said Nina Aelbers, 27.

Others could only describe their reaction to the work in metaphor: one viewer at a loss for words, Roberta Prevost, called the second roof a “shimmering rug or multicolored tapestry.”

Art critic Joost de Geest summed it up best: “Buren’s art is never immediately accessible, visible. You need to stroll around to feel it. The colored circles are very light, joyous, agreeable, but you need to discover them first. Imagine this — you can walk comfortably around the Grand Palais for the first time! I like that it’s on a small scale.”

The small size was intentional.

“I’ve often worked in very different projects, different sizes. Some are empty, some are full, some are deconstructed. Here, again, the fundamental heart of the work was to make the work accessible and personal… I made the ceiling this low, so it would be just about the height of a person, human size. It’s to re-appropriate the building for everyone,” Buren said.

As part of plan to democratize the space, Buren also sealed up the main entrance of the Palais, and in the process visually censored its huge doors and sweeping stairs.

“Oh yes, that’s the first thing I did, when I started thinking how to make this space more personal. I blocked off that entrance that doesn’t work, and it doesn’t need and opened up the smaller side doors at the north and south… I want the volume of air in the Grand Palais to speak by itself. That’s exactly the idea.”

Not everyone, however, was convinced by the installation’s size, and perceived lack of grandeur, such as Jonathan Hoenig, who’d seen last year’s Kapoor exhibit: “When I first saw it was underwhelming. It’s Monumenta — and of course I expected something bigger, more impressive from someone like Buren. Last year, Kapoor really filled the space, he was better.”

It’s not the first time criticism has been fielded at Buren, who has previous examples in his 40-year career of sparsely endowing vast expanses.

His most famous permanent work in situ at Paris’ Palais-Royal, triggered a national outcry in the 1980s during the two years of its creation.

Filling the entire courtyard of the famous 17th century palace, a stone’s throw from the Louvre museum, Buren installed dozens of short black and white columns (again, with his signature stripes), with some standing no taller than stumps.

Critics said Buren had defaced national heritage.

In the ensuing outrage, the fencing around the construction site was covered in graffiti and there were even threats to destroy Buren’s work.

It caused a halt to the project, which was eventually completed in 1986.

Twenty five years on, and the columns have since gone on to become a sort of national treasure, the marble stumps now affectionately called “The Buren Columns.”

Buren reflected on any hiccups in the making of his 2012 work.

“Ah no, we were lucky there were no problems in the making of this installation, so we ran on time!” he admitted, jovially.

Humor is a tool well-suited to weather many a storm in the fickle world of art, as Buren demonstrates well.

When asked for the artistic reasoning behind his narrow choice of colors, journalists chuckled: the company that manufactured them “only had four.”

“Daniel Buren, MONUMENTA 2012″ runs May 10 to June 21 at Paris’ Grand Palais.

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.