Sports briefs

Chasing Ruth

Barry “the Great Juicer” Bonds is one homer away from tying the Great Bambino and moving into second-place all-time in home runs. Bonds has just begun to weather the steroid storm and suspensions may be coming later rather than sooner. As the allegations continue to soil Bonds’ name, Giants fans still cheer their soon-to-fall “Rager of ‘Roids.”

NBA playoff update

In the Western quarterfinals San Antonio and Dallas are locked up at one game apiece heading into Saturday’s game set to air at 5 p.m. Without Amare Stoudemire taking up space in the middle, the Suns are going to have to find an answer for the Clippers’ Chris Kaman and Elton Brand. Game three will air this Friday at 7:30 p.m. In the Eastern quarterfinals, Miami and New Jersey are also 1-1 heading into Friday. Only Detroit leads Cleveland with two games to none, with the third game of the series on Saturday.

Godzilla sidelined

New York Yankees’ slugger Hideki Matsui broke his left wrist Thursday night in a game against the Boston Red Sox, breaking his streak of consecutive games played at 518. Matsui was batting .261 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 32 games for the Yanks this year. Matsui owns the record for consecutive games played to start a career. There is no timetable for his return.

Portland State track

Multi-event track athletes Ashley Quay (junior) and Vince Kinney (freshman) sit pretty after the first day of the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championship in Cheney, Wash. Quay is currently third in the heptathlon after four events and Kinney is in sixth in the decathlon after five events. Kinney tied for second in the high jump and also took fourth in the 400 meter. Quay won the high jump and was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash.