Aerospace manufacturer Goodrich Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter net income rose 11 percent on sales growth for aircraft parts, driven by regional and business aviation.

The Charlotte, N.C., company also raised its earnings expectations for the year.

In the three months that ended June 30, Goodrich earned $177 million, or $1.38 per share, compared with net income of $159 million, or $1.42 per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 17 percent to $2 billion from $1.72 billion a year ago. Revenue from original equipment for regional and business jets jumped 58 percent, the most of any category. Revenue from parts for large commercial airplanes rose 17 percent. Replacement part sales across all these categories increased 16 percent. Defense and space sales for parts and services increased 10 percent.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected a profit of $1.32 per share on sales of $1.95 billion.

The continued demand for the company’s parts, which range from landing gear to flight-control systems, led it to boost its expectations for the full year.

For all of 2011, Goodrich now expects to earn between $5.85 and $6 per share on revenue of $8.1 billion. It previously forecast earnings of $5.40 to $5.55 per share on revenue of about $7.8 billion. Analysts had previously projected $5.62 per share on revenue of $7.93 billion.

President Obama has threatened to veto GOP legislation the House will vote on Tuesday that would require Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing limit.

Just about two weeks remain before an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit, and this week could largely be consumed by the GOP’s attempt to pass “cut, cap and balance” legislation that is being pushed by the party’s right flank, particularly the dozens of freshmen backed by the Tea Party.

The GOP bill requires two-thirds approval by both chambers. It is not likely to pass the Senate, where Democrats rule the majority.

The bill underscores the gaping divide between the two parties on how to resolve the debt ceiling debate, with Republicans resisting any effort to raise taxes and Democrats refusing to go forward with a plan that doesn’t include them.

In addition to requiring passage of a balanced budget amendment, the cut, cap and balance proposal would make $111 billion in cuts in fiscal 2012 and place caps on future spending.

Democrats say the bill would require drastic cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and they argue there is no need for a balanced budget amendment to get the federal government’s spending under control.

But the biggest divide is over taxes.

“Any deal of significant size has to be balanced because there are not enough spending cuts to make,” White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer told reporters in a conference call Monday afternoon. “There would need to be revenues, too.”

While debate on the balanced budget legislation takes place on the House floor, the two parties are working on a solution behind the scenes in a frantic effort to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., met with Obama on Sunday to try to hammer out a deal, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are working on their own plan to give Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion.

That plan could include up to $1.5 trillion in cuts and would set up a commission that would come up with proposals to reduce the debt that the House and Senate would vote on later.

Reid announced Monday he plans to keep the Senate in session every single day, including weekends, until an agreement is reached.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has warned of dire economic consequences if the debt ceiling is not raised by the deadline. On Monday financial markets reflected growing panic that a deal is unreachable.

“Default would be a plague that would haunt our nation for years to come,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “Our credit rating would take years to rebuild. The country would never be the same.”

But even as the two sides try to scramble to put a compromise together, some in the GOP are seeking a path to deficit reduction that would make the kind of massive cuts Republicans pledged to make during the 2010 midterm elections.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on Monday produced a 600-page plan that would cut the deficit by $9 trillion by slashing spending across the board and reforming entitlement spending. Coburn’s plan would also raise $1 trillion by getting rid of certain tax breaks, including those for the ethanol industry.

sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signed a pledge Monday opposing any increase in the U.S. debt limit, after adding her own stipulation on health care.

The GOP presidential hopeful signed the “cut, cap and balance” pledge in Columbia after adding that Congress must cut off funding and repeal the health care overhaul passed last year.

“Obama added to our spending problem by adding trillions of dollars to our debt. Without the repeal of Obamacare, we can’t hope to have real economic reform,” she said. “I pledge to you as president of the United States of America, I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare. I have the resolve and titanium spine to do just that.”

Bachmann had avoided signing the pledge for several weeks, saying as late as last week that it didn’t go far enough.

The pledge signed by eight other Republican candidates says the federal government should not borrow more unless there are immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and Congress passes a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

Bachmann became the ninth GOP presidential candidate to sign. Five Republican governors have signed it, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said last week that he won’t sign because he opposes such pledges in general.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the tea party-backed “cut, cap and balance” plan on Tuesday, though it’s sure to stall in the Senate. Even if it manages to pass, Obama said he would veto it.

Under the measure, if all the conditions are met, the debt ceiling would be raised.

Bachmann said she signed the pledge to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s plan to fundamentally transform the way Washington spends. However, she said emphatically she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling even if the conditions were met.

“Even if we pass this bill, that doesn’t necessarily follow that we must increase the debt ceiling. I continue to stand strong and will vote no on increasing the debt ceiling,” she said. “We should never continue to spend and borrow money we don’t have.”

Bachmann’s spokeswoman said later Monday she was unsure whether Bachmann’s insistence she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling means she’d vote against the bill.

Bachmann hopes to make the vote. But she has several events in South Carolina on Tuesday. The last public event, a rally in Aiken, is scheduled to conclude about 2 p.m.

Earlier this month, DeMint said on CNN that he was disappointed in Bachmann for not signing. DeMint has turned the pledge into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support. However, Bachmann said she felt “absolutely no pressure to sign.”

She attributed her delay in signing to needing to think it over thoroughly.

“I’ve always stood firm on these principles,” she said, adding she talked with DeMint as he drafted the plan. “I was in the midst of launching my announcement for presidency of the United States. I believe in actually reading the bills before we sign them. I read the bill. I talked this over. I thought about it quite a bit, and I believe that Jim is exactly right. We need a fundamental restructuring in the way Washington spends our money.”

Bachmann was set to talk later Monday with religious leaders gathering at a Renewal Project event. The group tries to keeps a low profile with meetings that are closed to the media.

“They want to be able to communicate, probably, in an unvarnished way,” said Oran Smith, who runs the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia.

Bachmann won’t be alone among Republicans addressing the group in Columbia. Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is speaking Monday night and presidential hopeful and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak Tuesday.

The group held a similar gathering in Iowa in March attended by Bachmann, Gingrich and then-hopefuls Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this article.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signed a pledge Monday opposing any increase in the U.S. debt limit, after adding her own stipulation on health care.

The GOP presidential hopeful signed the “cut, cap and balance” pledge in Columbia after adding that Congress must cut off funding and repeal the health care overhaul passed last year.

“Obama added to our spending problem by adding trillions of dollars to our debt. Without the repeal of Obamacare, we can’t hope to have real economic reform,” she said. “I pledge to you as president of the United States of America, I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare. I have the resolve and titanium spine to do just that.”

Bachmann had avoided signing the pledge for several weeks, saying as late as last week that it didn’t go far enough.

The pledge signed by eight other Republican candidates says the federal government should not borrow more unless there are immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and Congress passes a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

Bachmann became the ninth GOP presidential candidate to sign. Five Republican governors have signed it, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said last week that he won’t sign because he opposes such pledges in general.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the tea party-backed “cut, cap and balance” plan on Tuesday, though it’s sure to stall in the Senate. Even if it manages to pass, Obama said he would veto it.

Under the measure, if all the conditions are met, the debt ceiling would be raised.

Bachmann said she signed the pledge to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s plan to fundamentally transform the way Washington spends. However, she said emphatically she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling even if the conditions were met.

“Even if we pass this bill, that doesn’t necessarily follow that we must increase the debt ceiling. I continue to stand strong and will vote no on increasing the debt ceiling,” she said. “We should never continue to spend and borrow money we don’t have.”

Bachmann’s spokeswoman said later Monday she was unsure whether Bachmann’s insistence she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling means she’d vote against the bill.

Bachmann hopes to make the vote. But she has several events in South Carolina on Tuesday. The last public event, a rally in Aiken, is scheduled to conclude about 2 p.m.

Earlier this month, DeMint said on CNN that he was disappointed in Bachmann for not signing. DeMint has turned the pledge into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support. However, Bachmann said she felt “absolutely no pressure to sign.”

She attributed her delay in signing to needing to think it over thoroughly.

“I’ve always stood firm on these principles,” she said, adding she talked with DeMint as he drafted the plan. “I was in the midst of launching my announcement for presidency of the United States. I believe in actually reading the bills before we sign them. I read the bill. I talked this over. I thought about it quite a bit, and I believe that Jim is exactly right. We need a fundamental restructuring in the way Washington spends our money.”

Bachmann was set to talk later Monday with religious leaders gathering at a Renewal Project event. The group tries to keeps a low profile with meetings that are closed to the media.

“They want to be able to communicate, probably, in an unvarnished way,” said Oran Smith, who runs the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia.

Bachmann won’t be alone among Republicans addressing the group in Columbia. Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is speaking Monday night and presidential hopeful and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak Tuesday.

The group held a similar gathering in Iowa in March attended by Bachmann, Gingrich and then-hopefuls Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this article.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signed a pledge Monday opposing any increase in the U.S. debt limit, after adding her own stipulation on health care.

The GOP presidential hopeful signed the “cut, cap and balance” pledge in Columbia after adding that Congress must cut off funding and repeal the health care overhaul passed last year.

“Obama added to our spending problem by adding trillions of dollars to our debt. Without the repeal of Obamacare, we can’t hope to have real economic reform,” she said. “I pledge to you as president of the United States of America, I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare. I have the resolve and titanium spine to do just that.”

Bachmann had avoided signing the pledge for several weeks, saying as late as last week that it didn’t go far enough.

The pledge signed by eight other Republican candidates says the federal government should not borrow more unless there are immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and Congress passes a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

Bachmann became the ninth GOP presidential candidate to sign. Five Republican governors have signed it, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said last week that he won’t sign because he opposes such pledges in general.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the tea party-backed “cut, cap and balance” plan on Tuesday, though it’s sure to stall in the Senate. Even if it manages to pass, Obama said he would veto it.

Under the measure, if all the conditions are met, the debt ceiling would be raised.

Bachmann said she signed the pledge to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s plan to fundamentally transform the way Washington spends. However, she said emphatically she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling even if the conditions were met.

“Even if we pass this bill, that doesn’t necessarily follow that we must increase the debt ceiling. I continue to stand strong and will vote no on increasing the debt ceiling,” she said. “We should never continue to spend and borrow money we don’t have.”

Bachmann’s spokeswoman said later Monday she was unsure whether Bachmann’s insistence she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling means she’d vote against the bill.

Bachmann hopes to make the vote. But she has several events in South Carolina on Tuesday. The last public event, a rally in Aiken, is scheduled to conclude about 2 p.m.

Earlier this month, DeMint said on CNN that he was disappointed in Bachmann for not signing. DeMint has turned the pledge into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support. However, Bachmann said she felt “absolutely no pressure to sign.”

She attributed her delay in signing to needing to think it over thoroughly.

“I’ve always stood firm on these principles,” she said, adding she talked with DeMint as he drafted the plan. “I was in the midst of launching my announcement for presidency of the United States. I believe in actually reading the bills before we sign them. I read the bill. I talked this over. I thought about it quite a bit, and I believe that Jim is exactly right. We need a fundamental restructuring in the way Washington spends our money.”

Bachmann was set to talk later Monday with religious leaders gathering at a Renewal Project event. The group tries to keeps a low profile with meetings that are closed to the media.

“They want to be able to communicate, probably, in an unvarnished way,” said Oran Smith, who runs the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia.

Bachmann won’t be alone among Republicans addressing the group in Columbia. Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is speaking Monday night and presidential hopeful and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak Tuesday.

The group held a similar gathering in Iowa in March attended by Bachmann, Gingrich and then-hopefuls Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this article.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signed a pledge Monday opposing any increase in the U.S. debt limit, after adding her own stipulation on health care.

The GOP presidential hopeful signed the “cut, cap and balance” pledge in Columbia after adding that Congress must cut off funding and repeal the health care overhaul passed last year.

“Obama added to our spending problem by adding trillions of dollars to our debt. Without the repeal of Obamacare, we can’t hope to have real economic reform,” she said. “I pledge to you as president of the United States of America, I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare. I have the resolve and titanium spine to do just that.”

Bachmann had avoided signing the pledge for several weeks, saying as late as last week that it didn’t go far enough.

The pledge signed by eight other Republican candidates says the federal government should not borrow more unless there are immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and Congress passes a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

Bachmann became the ninth GOP presidential candidate to sign. Five Republican governors have signed it, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said last week that he won’t sign because he opposes such pledges in general.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the tea party-backed “cut, cap and balance” plan on Tuesday, though it’s sure to stall in the Senate. Even if it manages to pass, Obama said he would veto it.

Under the measure, if all the conditions are met, the debt ceiling would be raised.

Bachmann said she signed the pledge to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s plan to fundamentally transform the way Washington spends. However, she said emphatically she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling even if the conditions were met.

“Even if we pass this bill, that doesn’t necessarily follow that we must increase the debt ceiling. I continue to stand strong and will vote no on increasing the debt ceiling,” she said. “We should never continue to spend and borrow money we don’t have.”

Bachmann’s spokeswoman said later Monday she was unsure whether Bachmann’s insistence she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling means she’d vote against the bill.

Bachmann hopes to make the vote. But she has several events in South Carolina on Tuesday. The last public event, a rally in Aiken, is scheduled to conclude about 2 p.m.

Earlier this month, DeMint said on CNN that he was disappointed in Bachmann for not signing. DeMint has turned the pledge into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support. However, Bachmann said she felt “absolutely no pressure to sign.”

She attributed her delay in signing to needing to think it over thoroughly.

“I’ve always stood firm on these principles,” she said, adding she talked with DeMint as he drafted the plan. “I was in the midst of launching my announcement for presidency of the United States. I believe in actually reading the bills before we sign them. I read the bill. I talked this over. I thought about it quite a bit, and I believe that Jim is exactly right. We need a fundamental restructuring in the way Washington spends our money.”

Bachmann was set to talk later Monday with religious leaders gathering at a Renewal Project event. The group tries to keeps a low profile with meetings that are closed to the media.

“They want to be able to communicate, probably, in an unvarnished way,” said Oran Smith, who runs the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia.

Bachmann won’t be alone among Republicans addressing the group in Columbia. Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is speaking Monday night and presidential hopeful and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak Tuesday.

The group held a similar gathering in Iowa in March attended by Bachmann, Gingrich and then-hopefuls Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this article.

Josh Collmenter went eight innings and gave up three hits, only one of which made it to the outfield. He retired 21 of his final 22 batters in his longest outing of the season, the only blip in that stretch a bunt single.

Yup, Collmenter was that good in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.

“I think today was the culmination of everything that I can do as a pitcher,” the rookie right-hander said. “I really had everything working, mixing it in and out. Henry (Blanco) behind the plate was great, moving in and out, up and down, changing speeds. Just kept them off balance.”

Collmenter (5-5) struck out a career-best seven and walked none while running his scoreless streak to 14 innings, all against the Brewers over his last two starts. Ryan Roberts homered for the second straight day and David Hernandez finished for his ninth save in 11 chances, wrapping up the game in an efficient 2 hours, 14 minutes.

Collmenter baffled the Brewers again with his unorthodox overhanded pitching style that he says he learned throwing tomahawks as a kid in rural Michigan, adding an occasional curveball to his usual mix of fastballs and changeups, all thrown with pinpoint precision.

“It is his deception. He is a good little pitcher,” Milwaukee center fielder Nyjer Morgan said. “It is one of those things we don’t really know him yet.”

Collmenter was 0-4 with a 5.97 ERA in his last five starts. His previous victory came on June 3 against Washington, when he pitched seven innings in Arizona’s 4-0 victory. But in his last start, he pitched six innings and got a no-decision in the Diamondbacks’ 3-1 loss at Milwaukee.

“It’s definitely good to get back on track on the last one before the (All-Star) break and now this one coming out of the break,” he said, “and kind of give our rotation momentum as we kind of turn things over each time.”

In Arizona’s three consecutive victories, starters Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Collmenter have allowed a combined three runs in 24 innings.

Randy Wolf (6-7) pitched 7 1-3 innings for Milwaukee and was charged with three runs, two earned, and eight hits. The left-hander is 0-3 with a 4.94 ERA in his last four starts, including two losses against the Diamondbacks.

“I did everything I could do,” Wolf said. “I made a mistake but that happens. I did my job to the best of my ability.”

The Brewers were shut out on the road for the ninth time this season and fell to 18-32 away from Miller Park.

Chris Young singled, doubled and scored twice for Arizona.

Roberts hit a two-run shot to left to put Arizona up 3-0 in the sixth. Young doubled into the left-field gap with two outs, then Roberts hit Wolf’s 1-0 pitch into the seats in left for his 13th homer.

Roberts flew out to deep left his first time up.

Arizona loaded the bases with no outs in the third without getting the ball out of the infield. Henry Blanco singled off the glove of second baseman Rickie Weeks, then Wolf threw the ball away trying to force Weeks at second on Collmenter’s sacrifice attempt. Wolf threw right at second base umpire Brian Runge rather than at Weeks.

Willie Bloomquist’s sharp shot off the glove of the first baseman Prince Fielder loaded the bases, but Diamondbacks got only an unearned run out of the situation when Blanco scored on Gerardo Parra’s double-play grounder.

Morgan made two big catches, leaping against the wall to take an extra-base hit away from Justin Upton in the sixth, then a diving shoestring grab to rob Blanco in the seventh.

Bloomquist, playing at shortstop to give Stephen Drew the night off, saved a run in the first when he made a diving stop to his right on Fielder’s bouncer and, from his knees, threw out Morgan trying to score from second.

NOTES: Hernandez has converted seven consecutive save opportunities since closer J.J. Putz went down with a sore elbow. … There was dust in the air at first pitch, the result of a severe dust storm that moved through downtown Phoenix. … In addition to Drew, fellow regulars 2B Kelly Johnson and C Miguel Montero were out of the Arizona lineup. … The Chase Field fans kept up the booing of Fielder that began in the Home Run Derby after the slugger failed to pick Upton for the NL team. Fielder went on to win the All-Star game MVP award.

At 31 and a longtime member of the ATP world tour, James Blake knew what to expect coming back from a long rain delay.

“I think generally it favors the person who’s down because they’ve got a chance to stop the momentum and get back out there with a new attitude where they feel like they’re the underdog,” he said. “You’ve got a little bit of a nothing-to-lose attitude and you can play your best tennis.”

Blake rallied to win a second-set tiebreaker and overcame a 1-hour, 18-minute rain delay Monday night for a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the first round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

“I wanted to really focus on getting that hold and once I did, I definitely let loose in that 4-2 game where he was serving,” Blake said. “I felt like if I could get a break there, it would make life a little easier for me.”

Blake will face No. 3 seed John Isner, his friend and doubles partner, in the second round.

No. 8 seed Somdev Devvarman of India held off Ryan Sweeting 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to earn a second-round match against Japan’s Tatsuma Ito, a 7-6 (6), 6-4 winner over Michael Berrer of Germany.

Gilles Muller of Luxembourg beat No. 7 seed Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Michael Russell advanced to a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa with a straight-set win over Donald Young.

Isner, the runner-up to defending champion and top-seeded Mardy Fish last year in Atlanta, isn’t exactly looking forward to facing Blake.

“He is always going to be a tough out,” Isner said. “To be honest if he wins tonight I would rather not play him only because he is a good friend of mine. It’s a tough dynamic when you play a good friend but it is what it is so we will see.”

On Tuesday, No. 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov, a former junior No. 1, will face qualifier Rajeev Ram. Sixth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn of Russia plays qualifier Marinko Matosevic of Australia

Isner, who starred at the University of Georgia and is ranked 35th in the world, is looking forward to playing the crowd favorite for the second straight year even though the event has moved seven miles south from the swank Atlanta Athletic Club.

“This is definitely a kind of a hometown feel for me given all the Georgia fans in this area and in this state,” Isner said. “I remember all the support I had last year. It was phenomenal, so I hope to get that same support this year. That’s one of the main reasons I played well and made it all the way to the finals last year.”

For Blake, the key to beating Gulbis timing his opponent’s serve.

“It was tough,” Blake said. “He can be very sneaky. He can play great, especially with the way he served at the end of the first set and at the beginning of the second set. There wasn’t really much I could do. There wasn’t really much anybody could do with the way he was serving there.”

Blake had to manage an emotional letdown even though the stadium court of the Racquet Club of the South had nearly cleared out after the rain delay.

“Just kind of staying the course, I played a couple of loose points there at 4-all in the second but I didn’t want to hang my head and get down and say that it was impossible to break him,” he said. “Anyone, no matter how good they are, they feel that pressure when they’re serving out the match. I almost gave it back at the end, too. Got down 30-love on a couple of big serves by him and then got some looks at a couple of second serves and took advantage.”

Charlie Morton is just so-so against every team in the league not named the Cincinnati Reds. Against the Reds, he’s spectacular.

The right-hander continued his mastery of the Reds on Monday night, pitching five innings to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-0 win.

Morton improved to 8-5 overall — including 3-0 against Cincinnati — after wiggling out of a first-inning jam as the Pirates moved into first-place in the crowded NL Central.

“We haven’t scored a run off the guy this year!” Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said.

It only seems that way.

Morton has limited the Reds to one run in 23 innings, including none on a muggy night at PNC Park that seemed to stifle the life out of Cincinnati’s bats.

The Reds managed just three hits against four pitchers and didn’t get a runner to third base over the final eight innings.

“It’s hard to win when you don’t score,” Baker said. “They know how to pitch us, evidently, because we’ve had as much trouble against them as anybody, so we just have got to make better adjustments and realize what they’re doing to us.”

The defending division champions hoped two wins against St. Louis over the weekend would give them a much-needed boost. Instead they let a solid performance by pitcher Dontrelle Willis slip away.

Willis gave up two runs in 4 2-3 innings, throwing 51 of 69 pitches for strikes.

“I felt good mechanically, first time in a long time mechanically,” Willis said. “But Morton, he pitched a great game. It was one of those games where a base hit here could have decided it, and it was just one of those things where we were on the other side of the fence today.”

Willis’ only hiccup came in the fourth as the Pirates scratched across two runs in what is becoming very Pirate-like fashion.

Chase d’Arnaud and Neil Walker led off the fourth with singles. Andrew McCutchen brought d’Arnaud home with an RBI groundout and Walker soon followed on Matt Diaz’s sacrifice fly.

That was more than enough for Morton and Pittsburgh’s steady bullpen as the Pirates improved to 6-1 against the Reds this year. Morton is just 5-5 with a 4.56 ERA against teams other than the Reds this season.

“The Pirates have had our number all year, man,” Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips said. “I don’t know what it is, but I’ll tell you one thing: They’re a good team, they’re for real.”

Morton included, though he needed a little bit of help from Mother Nature to get out of the first inning.

The start of the game was delayed 55 minutes by rain, but the sky briefly cleared, giving Morton just enough time to get in trouble.

He hit Drew Stubbs to lead off the game and Zack Cozart followed with a sharp single to put runners on the corners. An intentional walk to Jay Bruce with two outs loaded the bases.

Morton jumped ahead of Miguel Cairo 1-2 when a massive thunderclap shook the stadium and lit up the downtown Pittsburgh skyline. Umpire Tony Randazzo ordered the teams off the field and gave Morton a much-needed breather.

Cairo worked the count to 2-2 when play resumed but was robbed by d’Arnaud, who dived into the hole to field a grounder then flipped the ball with his glove to Walker at second base to force out Bruce.

“I’ve only done that play two other times in my life,” d’Arnaud said.

Neither mattered more than his gem on Monday.

“I wanted to make contact with the ball and I put the ball in play and the shortstop made a great play and they got out of the inning,” said Cairo, who stranded five runners on base.

It would be as close to home plate as the Reds would get on a night the Pirates moved into first-place by themselves.

Joel Hanrahan worked a perfect ninth for his 27th save as Pittsburgh moved a half-game in front of Milwaukee.

NOTES: Walker’s single in the first inning extended his hitting streak to 12 games … Cincinnati third baseman Scott Rolen was given the day off by Baker, who was concerned about Rolen’s sore right shoulder, which has been operated on three times. Rolen is expected to return to the lineup Tuesday. … Pittsburgh could take shortstop Ronny Cedeno off the DL by Friday. Cedeno went on the seven-day DL on earlier this month with concussion-like symptoms. … d’Arnaud left the game in the fifth inning with stiffness in his neck after sliding hard into third base in the fourth.

China showed there’s no better country at 1-meter diving, with Shi Tingmao and Wang Han finishing 1-2 in the women’s event Tuesday to complete a springboard sweep in the world championships.

It was a close contest, with Shi totaling 318.65 points and Wang just 8.45 points behind for silver with 310.20. Wang improved on her third-place showing two years ago in Rome.

“I was nervous today, so it’s hard to win. But I feel pretty good at last,” Shi said. “My opponents are strong so I stayed in a low key before the contest. The biggest achievement is that I am now a world champion, not just a national champion anymore.”

Italy’s Tania Cagnotto earned the bronze with 295.45.

Wang led after the first round before Shi took over the top spot through the last four rounds.

Wang received her lowest marks on her second dive.

“It’s a pity that I failed to win the title. I made mistakes in my second dive, which I usually did well,” she said. “I should have had more practice.”

Their teammates, Li Shixin and He Min, won gold and silver in the men’s 1-meter event Monday.

Shi’s victory gave China its fifth gold in diving with five events remaining. The Chinese have won seven medals overall at the outdoor pool.

Shi led Wang by just 4.55 points after four dives. Both women performed reverse 1 1-2 somersaults with 1 1-2 twists on their last dives — with equal 2.6 degree of difficulty — but Shi received marks of 9.0 and higher, while Wang’s marks ranged from 8.0 to 9.0.

“The Chinese are really consistent, and they are beautiful divers,” said American Abby Johnston, who was sixth.

Anastasia Pozdniakova of Russia was in position to claim the silver, but she badly missed on her fourth dive and dropped from second to last in the 12-woman field.

Pozdniakova came out of her dive and landed on her belly, creating a huge splash. She received marks ranging from 1.5 to 3.0, and with only one dive remaining had no chance to move up.

The other U.S. diver, Kelci Bryant, finished ninth.

China had a chance to add to its golden haul in the men’s 3-meter synchro final later Tuesday.

Rodrigo Lopez figured this wasn’t going to be an easy night. He just made it look that way.

Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena homered to back a dominant start by Lopez, and the Chicago Cubs beat Philadelphia 6-1 Monday on a night when Roy Halladay left the game because of the heat.

“Pitching against Roy Halladay, it’s always going to be tough,” Lopez said.

Even tougher on a night such as this.

Besides going up against one of the game’s best pitchers, Lopez had to contend with the stifling heat and humidity.

That’s something Halladay (11-4) simply could not do. Lopez, however, got through it thanks to “a lot of Gatorade” and some big swings from Ramirez and Pena.

“We talked about how important the long ball is,” manager Mike Quade said. “When you get a night like this, it’s pretty conducive to hitting it out.”

Ramirez gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first when he drove his 17th homer — and 12th in 23 games — to the basket in left-center field.

Chicago added two runs in the third when Lopez led off with a single and scored on Ramirez’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep right. Pena then lined a single, making it 3-0, and it was during that inning when Manuel started noticing his pitcher wasn’t quite right.

Lopez (2-2) gave up a leadoff homer to Jimmy Rollins in the fourth after retiring the first nine batters, but that was all the scoring he allowed.

He gave up five hits and left to loud cheers, tipping his cap as he headed to the dugout after John Mayberry Jr. singled with two outs in the seventh.

The Cubs got RBI doubles from Darwin Barney and Kosuke Fukudome in the sixth, and another run in the seventh when Pena drove his team-leading 20th homer out to center, making it 6-1.

Embattled closer Carlos Marmol worked the ninth after being shut down following two brutal outings against Florida on Thursday and Friday. He issued two-out walks to Carlos Ruiz and Domonic Brown before striking out Mayberry to end the game.

“Better, better,” Quade said.

Good enough to put him back in the closer role?

“Right now, I’m just happy that he threw well today,” Quade said.

Marmol spent the past few days working with pitching coach Mark Riggins, trying to correct a mechanical issue, and he thinks it’s paying off.

“I have to throw strikes … but I feel good,” he said.

As for Halladay?

Team spokesman Greg Casterioto said he “absolutely” expects to make his next start against San Diego on Sunday. The pitcher was not available for comment after the game.

Halladay doubled over and was visited by a trainer after Starlin Castro led off the fifth inning with a single. Drew Carpenter came in to replace him.

Halladay was drenched in sweat on a humid night in which the game-time temperature was 91. The heat clearly affected him.

“He got a little dizzy,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We were a little concerned about dehydration, brought him in here and got (the Cubs’) doctor and he was looking at him.”

Halladay gave up three runs and seven hits and took his first loss since May 15. He had his first outing since starting for the National League in last week’s All-Star game and pitching two perfect innings, and pitching coach Rich Dubee said the hectic schedule might have contributed to the problem.

“You have to have the All-Star game, I understand that, but guys who go to the All-Star game come back a little drawn,” he said. “It’s a busy three days. You’ve got (New York Mets CF Carlos) Beltran out with the flu, Doc tonight.it’s just a hectic schedule. They fly out there, different time zones.there’s a bunch to it. This guy takes tremendous care of himself. He’s doing better now, and that’s what we’re hoping for.”

Notes: The Phillies plan to activate OF Shane Victorino, out with a sprained right thumb, from the 15-day disabled list when he’s eligible on Tuesday after they optioned IF Pete Orr to Triple-A Lehigh Valley following the game. … Quade said he hadn’t heard from Major League Baseball about his postgame rant against the umpires on Sunday. Quade let loose after a 7-5 loss to Florida, saying the umpires made unprofessional comments to his players. He took issue in particular with one call at second base in the top of the eighth. The Cubs thought they had picked off Brett Hayes, but umpire Lance Barrett called him safe. Hayes went on to score the go-ahead run. “I obviously disagreed with a few calls,” Quade said. “It was a rough series in a lot of different ways. It was frustrating.” Quade added he has “all the respect in the world” for the umpires. … Ramirez again made it clear he’s not waiving his no-trade clause. “Right now, I’m not interested in a trade,” he said. … Pena’s homer was his 250th.

Britain’s Olympics minister says the 2012 London Games will be delivered under budget.

Hugh Robertson says the anticipated final cost of the Olympic construction project has decreased by $25 million to $11 million since May.

Discussing the overall $15 billion cost of the games, Robertson told reporters on Tuesday that he is confident that the Olympics will come in under budget.”

As London prepares to mark the one-year countdown next week, the Olympic Delivery Authority says 88 percent of the construction is complete.

Robertson says the ODA has driven down costs, and “can celebrate one year to go with confidence and a real sense of excitement and expectation.”

Russia dominated synchronized swimming at the world aquatic championships, winning the team technical competition Tuesday for its third gold medal in as many nights.

Russia scored 98.3 points to beat China, which finished with 96.8. Spain won the bronze with 96.0 points.

On Monday, Russian Natalia Ishchenko won her second gold medal, teaming with Svetlana Romashina to win the duet technical final a night after taking the solo gold.

The competition has four more gold medals to be awarded, all in the freestyle events — solo, combination, duet and team.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signed a pledge Monday opposing any increase in the U.S. debt limit, after adding her own stipulation on health care.

The GOP presidential hopeful signed the “cut, cap and balance” pledge in Columbia after adding that Congress must cut off funding and repeal the health care overhaul passed last year.

“Obama added to our spending problem by adding trillions of dollars to our debt. Without the repeal of Obamacare, we can’t hope to have real economic reform,” she said. “I pledge to you as president of the United States of America, I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare. I have the resolve and titanium spine to do just that.”

Bachmann had avoided signing the pledge for several weeks, saying as late as last week that it didn’t go far enough.

The pledge signed by eight other Republican candidates says the federal government should not borrow more unless there are immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and Congress passes a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

Bachmann became the ninth GOP presidential candidate to sign. Five Republican governors have signed it, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said last week that he won’t sign because he opposes such pledges in general.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the tea party-backed “cut, cap and balance” plan on Tuesday, though it’s sure to stall in the Senate. Even if it manages to pass, Obama said he would veto it.

Under the measure, if all the conditions are met, the debt ceiling would be raised.

Bachmann said she signed the pledge to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s plan to fundamentally transform the way Washington spends. However, she said emphatically she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling even if the conditions were met.

“Even if we pass this bill, that doesn’t necessarily follow that we must increase the debt ceiling. I continue to stand strong and will vote no on increasing the debt ceiling,” she said. “We should never continue to spend and borrow money we don’t have.”

Bachmann’s spokeswoman said later Monday she was unsure whether Bachmann’s insistence she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling means she’d vote against the bill.

Bachmann hopes to make the vote. But she has several events in South Carolina on Tuesday. The last public event, a rally in Aiken, is scheduled to conclude about 2 p.m.

Earlier this month, DeMint said on CNN that he was disappointed in Bachmann for not signing. DeMint has turned the pledge into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support. However, Bachmann said she felt “absolutely no pressure to sign.”

She attributed her delay in signing to needing to think it over thoroughly.

“I’ve always stood firm on these principles,” she said, adding she talked with DeMint as he drafted the plan. “I was in the midst of launching my announcement for presidency of the United States. I believe in actually reading the bills before we sign them. I read the bill. I talked this over. I thought about it quite a bit, and I believe that Jim is exactly right. We need a fundamental restructuring in the way Washington spends our money.”

Bachmann was set to talk later Monday with religious leaders gathering at a Renewal Project event. The group tries to keeps a low profile with meetings that are closed to the media.

“They want to be able to communicate, probably, in an unvarnished way,” said Oran Smith, who runs the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia.

Bachmann won’t be alone among Republicans addressing the group in Columbia. Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is speaking Monday night and presidential hopeful and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak Tuesday.

The group held a similar gathering in Iowa in March attended by Bachmann, Gingrich and then-hopefuls Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this article.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signed a pledge Monday opposing any increase in the U.S. debt limit, after adding her own stipulation on health care.

The GOP presidential hopeful signed the “cut, cap and balance” pledge in Columbia after adding that Congress must cut off funding and repeal the health care overhaul passed last year.

“Obama added to our spending problem by adding trillions of dollars to our debt. Without the repeal of Obamacare, we can’t hope to have real economic reform,” she said. “I pledge to you as president of the United States of America, I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare. I have the resolve and titanium spine to do just that.”

Bachmann had avoided signing the pledge for several weeks, saying as late as last week that it didn’t go far enough.

The pledge signed by eight other Republican candidates says the federal government should not borrow more unless there are immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and Congress passes a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

Bachmann became the ninth GOP presidential candidate to sign. Five Republican governors have signed it, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said last week that he won’t sign because he opposes such pledges in general.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the tea party-backed “cut, cap and balance” plan on Tuesday, though it’s sure to stall in the Senate. Even if it manages to pass, Obama said he would veto it.

Under the measure, if all the conditions are met, the debt ceiling would be raised.

Bachmann said she signed the pledge to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s plan to fundamentally transform the way Washington spends. However, she said emphatically she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling even if the conditions were met.

“Even if we pass this bill, that doesn’t necessarily follow that we must increase the debt ceiling. I continue to stand strong and will vote no on increasing the debt ceiling,” she said. “We should never continue to spend and borrow money we don’t have.”

Bachmann’s spokeswoman said later Monday she was unsure whether Bachmann’s insistence she wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling means she’d vote against the bill.

Bachmann hopes to make the vote. But she has several events in South Carolina on Tuesday. The last public event, a rally in Aiken, is scheduled to conclude about 2 p.m.

Earlier this month, DeMint said on CNN that he was disappointed in Bachmann for not signing. DeMint has turned the pledge into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support. However, Bachmann said she felt “absolutely no pressure to sign.”

She attributed her delay in signing to needing to think it over thoroughly.

“I’ve always stood firm on these principles,” she said, adding she talked with DeMint as he drafted the plan. “I was in the midst of launching my announcement for presidency of the United States. I believe in actually reading the bills before we sign them. I read the bill. I talked this over. I thought about it quite a bit, and I believe that Jim is exactly right. We need a fundamental restructuring in the way Washington spends our money.”

Bachmann was set to talk later Monday with religious leaders gathering at a Renewal Project event. The group tries to keeps a low profile with meetings that are closed to the media.

“They want to be able to communicate, probably, in an unvarnished way,” said Oran Smith, who runs the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia.

Bachmann won’t be alone among Republicans addressing the group in Columbia. Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is speaking Monday night and presidential hopeful and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak Tuesday.

The group held a similar gathering in Iowa in March attended by Bachmann, Gingrich and then-hopefuls Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this article.

Becky Hammon scored 26 points to lead the San Antonio Silver Stars to a 79-69 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday night.

Sophia Young had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Jia Perkins added 14 points as the Silver Stars improved to a league-best 5-1 on the road.

San Antonio (9-4) let a 15-point, first-quarter lead dwindle to one in the fourth before holding on to win their second straight following three consecutive losses.

Jantel Lavender and Natasha Lacy scored 14 points each for the Sparks (6-8), while Jenna O’Hea finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

After Lacy’s runner in the lane got the Sparks within 61-60, Perkins hit a jumper and Young had a jumper and a steal that led to a layup to put the Silver Stars ahead 67-61 with 6:13 remaining.

The Sparks lost their second straight at home after opening the season 4-0 at Staples Center. They blew a 24-point lead early in the third quarter during Sunday’s 89-85 overtime loss to Washington. It was the second-largest comeback in WNBA history.

“You never want to lose at home, you always want to protect your home court,” Lacy said. “We have to get more victories wherever we play.”

Hammon broke out of a mini-slump by hitting 8 of 15 from the field including going 4 of 8 from 3-point range. She leads San Antonio in scoring with a 16.3 average but had just 10 points on 4-of-24 shooting in her last two outings.

Hammon is hoping to be named an All-Star for the seventh time when the league announces reserves Tuesday for the July 23 game at ATT Center in San Antonio.

“It would be great,” Hammon said. “I know we are going to have a great crowd, our city and fans are really excited about it. To be a part of it, obviously, is a huge honor.”

Los Angeles starters combined for only 15 points, with new coach Joe Bryant giving heavy minutes to the reserves as he continues to mix-and-match his rotations. Tina Thompson, the WNBA’s career scoring leader with 6,546 points, was held without a point for the first time in 413 regular-season games.

“Not that I know of,” Thompson said. “And I don’t think I ever played less than five minutes either.”

After Ebony Hoffman scored the game’s first basket for the Sparks’ lone lead, the Silver Stars followed with 15 straight points. Hammon hit a 3-pointer and a layup in the run for the 15-2 lead midway through the quarter.

The Sparks, who missed 10 of their first 11 shots, snapped a 4:47 scoring drought on Ebony Hoffman’s free throw. Trailing by 10 points at halftime, they trimmed the deficit to 45-41 when O’Hea buried a 3-pointer from the corner.

Another 3-pointer from O’Hea capped a 10-3 run to close the quarter as Los Angeles made it 57-55 heading into the fourth.

It’s the age-old excuse: the sun got in my eyes. Only this time, it was the truth.

Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said he’s inquired about putting up some sort of retractable shield on the northwestern facade of Coors Field to block the sun.

Only problem there is that such a contraption would block the majestic view of the mountains, too.

Helton was burned Monday night, losing third baseman Ty Wigginton’s throw on pitcher Derek Lowe’s routine ground ball with the bases full and two outs in the second inning. Two runs scored as the ball sailed past Helton into foul territory, igniting Atlanta’s 7-4 win at Coors Field.

Helton said he should have reminded Wigginton about the setting sun that inning so that he could have gone to another base for the force out instead.

“It’s probably the one time I didn’t say anything to him and it happened,” Helton said. “It worked out for the worse.”

Jason Hammel (5-9) was walking off the mound toward the dugout when Lowe grounded weakly to Wigginton.

“Yeah, I got the ground ball that I wanted,” Hammel said. “You can’t count on the sun being in the way, though. That’s just one of those freak things of baseball. It’s nobody’s fault. Ty made a good throw and Todd was on the bag, but you can’t look into the sun and expect to see anything.

“It’s been that kind of way for a while now.”

Helton said there’s no other ballpark that gives him fits as Coors Field does this time of year.

“It’s one of those things that’s a worse-case scenario, a nightmare: bases loaded, pitcher’s hitting,” he said. “But I couldn’t see it. I put my glove up where I thought the ball was going to go. It’s just a bad break.”

Once on first, Lowe saw exactly what Helton was talking about.

“When I was at first base, I mean, you can’t see,” Lowe said. “He was kind of mad at the guy that threw it. He was mad that he threw it to first base. When you play here all the time you probably know early on don’t throw it to first base (at that time). It’s definitely a stadium fault.

“When we were over there, we were talking about it, you can’t see. Even if the pitcher threw over there, you can’t see. And it was a huge part of the game. You take those two runs away and who knows what would have happened?”

Lowe joked that he should have been given a base hit and two RBIs. After all, he argued, if an outfielder loses the ball in the sun and it drops to the grass, that’s not an error.

Lowe (6-7) gave up four runs and eight hits over 6 1-3 solid innings on a 92-degree night, finally fading in the seventh when he left with a 7-2 lead and watched his bullpen allow two more runs.

Rookie Craig Kimbrel recorded his 16th straight scoreless appearance, striking out the side in the ninth for his 29th save in 34 chances.

Hammel (5-9) allowed six runs, four earned, and eight hits over five innings.

One night after his first career game-winning hit, a single that lifted Atlanta past Washington 9-8, Freddie Freeman delivered again for the Braves, driving a fastball in the third inning into the rock pile in center for a two-run homer, the rookie’s 14th. He finished with three hits and three RBIs.

“He must be eating from a different box of Wheaties right now,” Hammel said. “He’s

Eric Hinske also homered for Atlanta, hitting a solo shot, his ninth, one out after Freeman went deep.

The Rockies were limited to Helton’s RBI single until the seventh, when Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki hit run-scoring bloop singles and Helton added a sacrifice fly.

Notes: Hammel hasn’t won consecutive starts since April. … Seth Smith hit his fifth triple of the season. … C Chris Iannetta is 8 for 16 over his past five starts at home.

___

Arnie Stapleton can be reached at http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

Yao Ming should make it official on Wednesday, announcing what is widely expected to be his retirement from the NBA and a sport that made him a household name in China.

The 7-foot-6 center for the Houston Rockets played for eight seasons in the NBA, but has missed 250 regular-season games over the past six years. His career, including frequent appearances for the Chinese national team at Olympics and world championships, has been punctuated by leg and foot injuries.

On Wednesday, a large reception hall at a hotel in the Pudong section of Shanghai — Yao’s hometown — has been booked for what will likely be the country’s media event of the year.

Ryan Vogelsong’s selection for the All-Star game might have raised a few eyebrows. Now that the right-hander leads the National League in ERA, the critics may have to quiet down.

Vogelsong pitched into the seventh inning and combined with two relievers on a seven-hitter to lead San Francisco to a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.

“This guy’s done everything and beyond since he’s come up here,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who ran the NL team and picked Vogelsong for the squad. “It’s nice to see him finally qualify and now maybe get recognized as he should.”

Vogelsong (7-1), coming off his first All-Star appearance, scattered seven hits over 6 2-3 innings, finishing with five strikeouts and a walk while lowering his ERA to 2.02.

The journeyman right-hander already had the lowest ERA in the NL but hadn’t logged enough innings to qualify. Four days shy of his 34th birthday, he finally has the top spot, just ahead of Atlanta’s Jair Jurjjens.

“Doesn’t matter,” Vogelsong said. “It’s important for me to prove (Bochy) right. They can say whatever they want to say. It doesn’t bother me one bit but he stuck his neck out for me to pick me so I want to show people he made a good decision.”

Pablo Sandoval had three hits, including his ninth homer, for NL West-leading San Francisco, which has won eight of 10. Nate Schierholtz added two hits and an RBI, continuing his torrid pace that started when Bochy moved him into the cleanup spot last week.

Cody Ross’ two-run double in San Francisco’s four-run sixth helped the Giants break it open.

Juan Uribe had two singles against his former club but the Dodgers hit into two double plays and were shut out for the 10th time this season while losing their fifth straight against their division rivals.

Chad Billingsley (8-8) yielded five runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. He had allowed only four runs in his previous four starts but his ERA jumped to 4.07 after his shaky outing against San Francisco.

“He kept missing spots,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “When you do that you end up getting hurt.”

Vogelsong retired the first eight batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Matt Kemp’s one-out single in the fourth. Juan Rivera followed with a soft dribbler to the right side on a hit-and-run, moving Kemp to third, but Vogelsong got out of it with some nifty defense of his own.

James Loney hit a grounder back up the middle that Vogelsong bobbled momentarily before recovering and throwing to shortstop Brandon Crawford, whose relay to first just beat Loney to complete the double play.

The Dodgers had two runners on with no outs in the sixth but Kemp grounded into a double play and Vogelsong got Rivera to pop out to shortstop to end the threat.

Jeremy Affeldt and Ramon Ramirez finished up after Vogelsong departed.

The Giants gave Vogelsong plenty of support.

Schierholtz had an RBI single in the big sixth inning and is batting .417 (10 for 24) in five games in the cleanup spot. San Francisco is 5-0 in those games.

Sandoval connected on Billingsley’s first pitch in the bottom of the fourth. The third baseman also singled and scored in the sixth.

“I hope this is more us than what we were doing earlier in the season,” Bochy said. “You can’t depend on this pitching on a daily basis, so this is a good thing what we’re seeing.”

Crawford entered the game after the Giants lost Miguel Tejada to a lower abdominal strain in the third inning. The veteran infielder bobbled Rafael Furcal’s sharp grounder for an error, then slid to the turf.

A team trainer and Bochy came out to check on Tejada, and the three walked off the field together.

Earlier in the day the Giants were invited to visit President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday in honor of the team’s World Series win last year.

The White House said Obama also will recognize the Giants’ efforts to give back to the community.

“It’s going to be very special,” Bochy said. “I’m certainly looking forward to it. The guys can spend some time there and get a chance to meet the president, which is always an honor. It’s going to be a thrill for everybody.”

NOTES: Billingsley didn’t walk a batter for the first time this season. … San Francisco backup C Chris Stewart left in the sixth after getting hit in the back of the head by Aaron Miles’ bat. Eli Whiteside replaced him. … Giants LHP Jonathan Sanchez allowed six runs in 2 2-3 innings of his first rehab start but Bochy remains encouraged. Sanchez will pitch again Friday for Triple-A Fresno. … Dodgers INF Casey Blake (cervical strain) is eligible to come off the disabled list but is still receiving cortisone injections and will remain out indefinitely. … Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan and actor Benjamin Bratt were among those in attendance.

The Milwaukee Brewers have faced Arizona’s Josh Collmenter twice this month. They have yet to score a run against him.

The rookie right-hander baffled Milwaukee again Monday night, throwing eight innings of three-hit ball in a 3-0 victory in the opener of a four-game series.

“It is his deception. He is a good little pitcher,” Milwaukee’s Nyjer Morgan said. “It is one of those things we don’t really know him yet.”

Collmenter has 14 consecutive scoreless innings in his last two outings, both against the Brewers, who are having a hard time adjusting to his unorthodox straight overhand delivery.

“One of those things that around the league no one has really seen this kid,” Morgan said. “He has good stuff, he is a contact guy and definitely will throw you strikes. Once you see him a few more times you will get a better understanding about him.”

While Morgan was restrained in his assessment of Collmenter, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke was a bit more effusive.

“You don’t pick it up well and he spots the ball,” Roenicke said. “His fastball, he doesn’t give you a good look at it over the middle of the plate. It always seems to be on the corner, he has the great changeup and throws the curveball for strikes when he needs to.”

Collmenter retired 21 of his last 22 batters in his longest outing of the season. Yuniesky Betancourt reached on a bunt single leading off the sixth for Milwaukee’s only hit during the stretch.

“I think today was the culmination of everything that I can do as a pitcher,” Collmenter said. “I really had everything working, mixing it in and out. Henry (Blanco) behind the plate was great, moving in and out, up and down, changing speeds. Just kept them off balance.”

The Brewers were shut out on the road for the ninth time this season and fell to 18-32 away from Miller Park, the second-worst road mark in the NL.

Randy Wolf (6-7) pitched 7 1-3 innings for Milwaukee and was charged with three runs, two earned, and eight hits. The left-hander is 0-3 with a 4.94 ERA in his last four starts, including two losses against the Diamondbacks.

“I did everything I could do,” Wolf said. “I made a mistake but that happens. I did my job to the best of my ability.”

Collmenter (5-5) struck out a career-best seven and walked none. Ryan Roberts homered for the second straight day and David Hernandez finished for his ninth save in 11 chances, wrapping up the game in an efficient 2 hours, 14 minutes.

Chris Young singled, doubled and scored twice in Arizona’s third straight victory.

Collmenter was 0-4 with a 5.97 ERA in his previous five starts. His previous victory came on June 3 against Washington, when he pitched seven innings in Arizona’s 4-0 victory.

But he was coming off a strong effort on July 6 at Milwaukee, where he pitched six scoreless innings and got a no-decision in the Diamondbacks’ 3-1 loss.

In consecutive starts, Arizona’s Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Collmenter have allowed a combined three runs in 24 innings.

Roberts hit a two-run shot to left to put Arizona up 3-0 in the sixth. Young doubled into the left-field gap with two outs, then Roberts hit Wolf’s 1-0 pitch into the seats in left for his 13th homer.

Roberts flew out to deep left his first time up.

Arizona loaded the bases with no outs in the third without getting the ball out of the infield. Blanco singled off the glove of second baseman Rickie Weeks, then Wolf threw the ball away trying to force Weeks at second on Collmenter’s sacrifice attempt. Wolf threw right at second base umpire Brian Runge rather than at Weeks.

“I wasn’t very good at the no-look pass today,” he said.

Willie Bloomquist’s sharp shot off the glove of the first baseman Prince Fielder loaded the bases, but Diamondbacks got only an unearned run out of the situation when Blanco scored on Gerardo Parra’s double-play grounder.

Morgan made two big catches in center field, leaping against the wall to take an extra base hit away from Justin Upton in the sixth, then a diving shoestring grab to rob Blanco in the seventh.

Bloomquist, playing at shortstop to give Stephen Drew the night off, saved a run in the first when he made a diving stop to his right on Fielder’s bouncer and, from his knees, threw out Morgan trying to score from second.

NOTES: There was dust in the air at first pitch, the result of a severe dust storm that moved through downtown Phoenix. … In addition to Drew, fellow regulars 2B Kelly Johnson and C Miguel Montero were out of the Arizona lineup. … The Chase Field fans kept up the booing of Fielder that began in the Home Run Derby after the slugger failed to pick Upton for the NL team. Fielder went on to win the All-Star game MVP award.

Chad Billingsley usually has an answer for Pablo Sandoval. On Monday night the answer landed in the bleachers in right field.

Sandoval had three hits, including his ninth homer, for the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants, who have won eight of 10 after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0.

“He covers all parts of the plate,” Billingsley said of a pitch that was up and in. “He hits balls that others couldn’t even reach.”

Billingsley (8-8) has not won in San Francisco since April 2009, a span of six starts.

“Just ground balls up the middle,” Billingsley said. “I kept trying to keep the ball down in the zone and they kept going up the middle. There’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to find a way. I missed a couple of spots. I wanted to go inside but I couldn’t get it in there.”

Juan Uribe had two singles against his former club but the Dodgers hit into two double plays and were shut out for the 10th time this season while losing their fifth straight against their division rivals. They have lost three straight since their season-high five-game winning streak.

Sandoval connected on Billingsley’s first pitch in the bottom of the fourth. The third baseman also singled and scored in the sixth.

“I hope this is more us than what we were doing earlier in the season,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You can’t depend on this pitching on a daily basis, so this is a good thing what we’re seeing.”

Ryan Vogelsong (7-1) pitched into the seventh inning and combined with two relievers on a seven-hitter.

Vogelsong, coming off his first All-Star appearance, scattered seven hits over 6 2-3 innings, finishing with five strikeouts and a walk while lowering his ERA to 2.02.

Vogelsong retired the first eight batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Matt Kemp’s one-out single in the fourth. Juan Rivera followed with a soft dribbler to the right side on a hit-and-run, moving Kemp to third, but Vogelsong got out of it with some nifty defense of his own.

James Loney hit a grounder back up the middle which Vogelsong bobbled momentarily before recovering and throwing to shortstop Brandon Crawford, whose relay to first just beat Loney to complete the double play.

“That was a momentum changer right there,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “We have a chance to take the lead and they turn the double play and then Pablo hits the home run and now they have the lead instead of us.”

The Dodgers had two runners on with no outs in the sixth but Kemp grounded into a double play and Vogelsong got Rivera to pop out to shortstop to end the threat.

“He hits a seed down the line and Pablo makes a great pick,” Mattingly said. “Those are the balls that you see bounce off the heel of the glove.”

Billingsley yielded five runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. He had allowed only four runs in his previous four starts but his ERA jumped to 4.07 after his shaky outing.

“Chad was throwing the ball well,” Mattingly said. “He seemed to run into some trouble in the sixth and couldn’t get out of it. He kept missing spots. when you do that you end up getting hurt.”

NOTES: Billingsley didn’t walk a batter for the first time this season. … San Francisco backup C Chris Stewart left in the sixth after getting hit in the back of the head by Aaron Miles’ bat. Eli Whiteside replaced him. … Giants LHP Jonathan Sanchez allowed six runs in 2 2-3 innings of his first rehab start but Bochy remains encouraged. Sanchez will pitch again Friday for Triple-A Fresno. … Dodgers INF Casey Blake (cervical strain) is eligible to come off the DL but is still receiving cortisone injections and will remain out indefinitely. … Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan and actor Benjamin Bratt were among those in attendance.

Manger Eric Wedge’s daily briefings have turned into a psychological examination about the Seattle Mariners’ offense woes.

The brief optimism of a month ago when Seattle was a half-game out in the AL West race has been replaced by the reality of another rebuilding season. The anemic Mariners scored just two runs in dropping four straight in Texas after the All-Star break and have lost nine in a row to fall 11½ games behind the first-place Rangers.

If the Mariners don’t improve soon, they could turn out to be one of the worst offensive teams since the designated hitter was added to the American League in 1973.

After being swept by the Rangers, Seattle is hitting just .221, eight points lower than anyone else in baseball and 15 points worse than any other team in the AL. Only five members of Seattle’s current roster are hitting above .240. Rookie Greg Halman is the best at .279 and he has only 68 plate appearances.

Even the normally consistent Ichiro Suzuki is slumping through the worst year of his career. Suzuki ended Sunday hitting .262, an astounding 65 points below his career average of .327. His streak of 200 hits in every season since arriving in the majors in 2001 is at risk, with just 102 hits through 94 games.

Meanwhile, veterans such as Chone Figgins, Miguel Olivo, Jack Wilson and Jack Cust are all hitting below .230.

“Everybody goes through stuff like this, through slumps and stuff like that,” Wilson said Sunday after getting his fourth start in the last month. “… You don’t want to stand on this last homestand and what we did offensively, so you gather yourself together in Toronto and say ‘it’s going to be a good series.’”

Beyond just a lack of hitting, the Mariners simply aren’t getting on base, and at a record pace. They are the only team in the American League with an on-base percentage below .300 at just .286 nearly 100 games into the season. Since the addition of the designated hitter, only two AL teams — the 1981 Toronto Blue Jays and 1981 Minnesota Twins — have finished a season with an on-base percentage below .300 and both those came in a strike-shortened season.

Additionally, the Mariners are on pace for just 94 home runs, which would be fewest in a full season and is severely bringing down the Mariners OPS — on-base plus slugging percentage. Seattle currently stands at .611, headed toward the worst total in baseball in nearly four decades since the 1972 Texas Rangers had an OPS of .581.

It’s all adding up to an anemic offense. Wedge has regularly expressed his disappointment with his veterans being unable or unwilling to change their approach at the plate and correct what he views as problems. He said Sunday that with some of Seattle’s young prospects, the struggles are part of playing young kids at the major league level. He has less tolerance for veterans still struggling.

“With a kid it’s somewhat understandable. With a veteran, it’s not. This is the big leagues,” Wedge said. “There is a lot of baseball they’ve played before getting up here. With younger kids, that’s one thing, but with veterans there shouldn’t be any excuses. You should be going up there with a plan and sticking with your plan to at least give yourself a chance to have success.”

The offensive woes are coming at a time when the Mariners are getting exceptional pitching. Seattle has a team ERA of 3.27, on pace to be the best pitching staff in franchise history by nearly a half-run. Despite getting swept by the Rangers, Seattle’s starting rotation all has minuscule ERAs, with Jason Vargas at 3.68 being the high mark.

Wedge has endured this before while leading the Indians rebuilding project.

“I know it’s going to get better. Anytime you went through it before it helps you the next time you go through it,” Wedge said. “The first time I went through this it was more drastic in so many different ways. I think the one thing you have to realize is we’re not playing bad baseball, we’re just not hitting at all.

“This will make them tougher, and they’ve got to get tougher.”

French rider Thomas Voeckler led the Tour de France after the second and final race rest day as the pack heads out on the hilly 16th stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Gap, with title contenders hoping to save energy before hard days in the Alps later this week.

The 32-year-old Voeckler has had the lead since the crash-marred ninth stage.

Barring an accident, Voeckler should still be in yellow after the 101-mile route that includes only one significant climb, the col de Manse, near the finish.

The fast run-in to Gap takes the 170 remaining riders down the La Rochette descent made famous in 2003 when Spanish rider Joseba Beloki took a nasty fall on sticky tarmac, forcing Lance Armstrong to swerve dramatically and dash across a bumpy field to rejoin the race.

While standout Brazilian sprinter Cesar Cielo waits for his status to be determined by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it is obvious where the Dutch stand in the women’s signature events at the world swimming championships.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who has overcome a recent serious bout of meningitis, is among the favorites next week for the 50- and 100-meter freestyle races and will team with Frederike Heemskerk, Inge Dekker and Marleen Veldhuis in the 400 freestyle relay.

The four women have won the relay at the last two major international meets — the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 worlds in Rome — when they also set the world record.

They’re the latest in a long line of Dutch sprinting standouts, starting with the likes of Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn — who won a combined 15 Olympic medals at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games.

“We’re long and tall people — maybe that’s good for sprinting freestyle,” Veldhuis said.

The historic legacy also helps.

“As a little child I was sitting in front of the TV watching Pieter and Inge de Bruijn,” Kromowidjojo said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Now they’re retired, but a few years ago I was training with them, so it was really nice and awesome to swim with your idols.”

The 20-year-old Kromowidjojo and Veldhuis, who is returning from a maternity leave, train together at the Pieter van den Hoogenband swim stadium in Eindhoven, and “VdH” still checks in on his former teammates from time to time.

Dutch head coach Jacco Verhaeren is the link between old and new generations, having coached van den Hoogenband for 15 years.

“In all club teams in the Netherlands the top event is 50 and 100 freestyle, so there’s a lot of focus on it — maybe a little bit too much, to be honest,” said Verhaeren, who would like to see his younger swimmers branch out into other events.

In such a small country, however, it’s difficult to excel in every discipline.

“If we can choose, we choose 50 and 100 freestyle and the relays,” Verhaeren said.

Kromowidjojo is the Dutch team’s budding star. She swept the 50 and 100 frees at the short-course worlds in Dubai in December for her first major international individual titles.

However, Britta Steffen — the German who won the sprints in both Beijing and Rome — did not compete in Dubai, so it’s difficult to pick favorites here.

“It’s a very close race — Therese Alshammar, Marleen Veldhius, Britta Steffen, me — so I don’t see myself as the favorite and I don’t think there is one favorite,” Kromowidjojo said.

Other top sprinters include Francesca Halsall of Britain, Jeanette Ottessen of Denmark, and Americans Natalie Coughlin and Jessica Hardy.

Kromowidjojo’s father is from Suriname and his grandparents came from Indonesia, but Ranomi was born and raised in the Netherlands.

“She’s a completely typical Dutch girl,” Verhaeren said.

She pronounces her name “just how you write it,” as she likes to say.

Kromowidjojo’s victories in Dubai were all the more impressive considering that she was struck with meningitis midway through last year, forcing her out of the European championships in Budapest.

“It was really serious, I was really ill,” Kromowidjojo said. “I didn’t swim for seven weeks, but after I recovered really fast and two, three months later we had Europeans (short course) and I had four gold medals and four weeks later we had worlds (short course). It was amazing.”

Meningitis is an infection of the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, and at one point Kromowidjojo was wondering if she would ever swim again.

“Yes, everything is in your head. Maybe I cannot swim, maybe I cannot walk. You hear stories like people are deaf or cannot work anymore or nothing be the same as they were,” she said.

Fortunately for Kromowidjojo, the illness left her with no disabilities. It did, perhaps, give her more motivation.

On her right wrist, Kromowidjojo has a tattoo featuring the Chinese character for water, the No. 1 and the letter ‘K’ for her relay gold in Beijing. She’ll be looking to add another tattoo in Shanghai — and lead her teammates to gold in the relay.

Cielo hopes to have a chance to win gold here, too. The world title holder in the men’s 50 and 100 freestyle races, Cielo is awaiting a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing after testing positive to a banned diuretic, furosemide.

Swimming’s governing body FINA challenged a Brazilian federation decision to give Cielo and three teammates only a warning after testing positive in May. Cielo blamed his positive test on a contaminated batch of a food supplement he regularly used.

The hearing will begin Wednesday in Shanghai. A decision is expected by Friday, two days before the Sunday start of the eight-day pool swimming program.

The Milwaukee Brewers are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Miller Park by asking fans what they love about it.

Officials want fans to share photos of themselves with family or friends and in 100 words or less describe their favorite reasons to come Miller Park. Entry into the contest runs through July 29.

The Brewers will select six finalists and host an online vote the first week of August to determine the Grand Prize winner who’ll receive two 20-game ticket packages in the Loge Outfield Box next season.

The five other finalists will be awarded another prize that includes things like game tickets, autographed jerseys or a $100 shopping spree to the Brewers team store when the winner is announced Aug. 8.

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Online: http://www.brewers.com/whatilove

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was right last week when he wrote in USA Today that “the debt ceiling debate in Washington is a struggle over the kind of government we want. If you want a government that runs everything from the student loan business to car companies, then taxes will have to go up. If you think government is too big already and should start to pull back, then Washington has to change its ways — fast.”

As if to punctuate McConnell’s remarks, President Obama made it clear through senior aides Monday that he will veto the “cut, cap and balance” proposal favored by congressional Republicans. Since CCB includes actual spending cuts, caps future federal spending at pre-TARP levels, and requires, via a constitutional amendment, that the federal budget be balanced, Obama has officially put himself on the record against all three. What Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress seek, as McConnell so aptly put it, is government with its hand in everything.

Further accentuating this issue was a new study released Monday by the Heritage Foundation. The conservative think tank’s Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield examined U.S. Census Bureau and other federal government data and found the following facts about the typical poor American family:

» The family lives in a home that is in good repair, not crowded and equipped with air conditioning, clothes washer and dryer, and cable or satellite TV service.

» The family prepares meals in a kitchen with a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave as well as oven and stove.

» The family has use of two color TVs, a DVD player, VCR and — if children are there — an Xbox, PlayStation or other video game system.

» The family had enough money in the past year to meet essential needs, including adequate food and medical care.

These facts are made possible because Americans are the most generous people on Earth. Through our churches, private relief agencies, charitable foundations and government at all levels, Americans provide trillions of dollars of assistance to the less fortunate among us, who number approximately 30 million, according to the Census Bureau.

Despite these facts, liberal Democrats routinely demand that the federal government spend more on poverty, mostly through the 70 separate, means-tested federal anti-poverty programs (not including Social Security or Medicare). As a result, combined federal and state spending on means-tested welfare will total $910 billion this year, or about $20,000 per poor person — 40 percent higher than the prerecession level, according to Rector. “Under President Obama’s budget plans, this spending will increase. The U.S. will spend more than $10 trillion on means-tested anti-poverty aid over the next decade,” he told The Washington Examiner. It would be easier to resolve controversies like the debt ceiling if those constantly demanding more spending and taxes actually understood where our tax dollars are going.

Families suing over the 2009 plane crash of a Continental Connection flight into a house near Buffalo, which killed 50 people, will be allowed to pursue unlimited punitive damages from the flight’s operators, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge William Skretny had to decide whether Virginia law — which caps punitive damages at $350,000 — should apply in the wrongful-death lawsuits because flight operator Colgan Air was based in Virginia at the time of the crash, or whether New York law should apply, since that’s where Continental Connection Flight 3407 crashed. New York has no cap.

Skretny decided for New York law, siding with attorneys for passengers’ families and against Colgan and the regional carrier’s parent company, Pinnacle Airlines Corp.

“Plaintiffs maintain that punitive damages are in order because defendants recklessly operated Flight 3407 in New York with deficient, unfit pilots who lacked the fundamental knowledge and ability to safely operate the Q400 aircraft,” Skretny wrote. “New York therefore has a compelling interest in seeing its punitive damages law applied.”

He also noted that Colgan, which is now based in Tennessee, interviewed and tested pilot Marvin Renslow in New York and maintains bases at other New York airports.

The decision “sends the correct message to not only Colgan but other airlines that they cannot assume they’re going to be protected by the limits of liability of the state where they are headquartered,” said attorney Justin Green of Kreindler Kreindler LLP, which represents some of the families.

The judge, however, ruled in favor of Colgan and Pinnacle on another issue, finding that federal standards, rather than state law, should prevail in measuring aviation safety and aircraft operations. The airlines successfully argued that the Federal Aviation Act passed by Congress was meant to set the standards for airline safety and should pre-empt any individual state law.

The Newark-to-Buffalo flight crashed into a house in the suburb of Clarence upon approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Feb. 12, 2009. All 49 people on board and a man in the house were killed. Federal safety investigators said pilot error led the plane to stall and crash.

More than 40 lawsuits have been filed in federal court in Buffalo, about a dozen of which have been settled. Cases that don’t settle are expected to go to trial in March 2012.

For the third time, two judges will try to settle a long-running lawsuit that claims Massey Energy Co. and one of its subsidiaries poisoned hundreds of drinking water wells in southern West Virginia with coal slurry.

The state’s Mass Litigation Panel is handling the case against Massey and subsidiary Rawl Sales Processing, both of which are now owned by Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources.

Judges Derek Swope and Alan Moats have ordered lead attorneys for both sides to meet July 25-26 in Charleston to discuss a possible deal and avoid the series of trials set to begin Aug. 1 in Wheeling.

“We are routinely open to discussions or a resolution that would help avoid protracted litigation,” Alpha spokesman Ted Pile said Monday. The company declined further comment.

While the mediation efforts continue, Ohio County Circuit Judge James Mazzone is preparing for trial with the help of Judges John Hutchinson and Jay Hoke.

Court documents show both sides tried to delay the start of the trial, filing a joint motion to extend the deadline for evidence collection until Nov. 30 and proposing a new trial date of June 18, 2012. Mazzone denied that motion last month.

More than 700 current and former residents of Rawl, Lick Creek, Sprigg and Merrimac claim that Massey and Rawl contaminated their water supplies by pumping 1.4 billion gallons of toxic coal slurry into worked-out underground mines between 1978 and 1987.

Slurry is a byproduct of washing coal to make it burn more cleanly. The residents say that’s what turned their well water varying shades of red, brown and black.

For decades, coal companies in Appalachia have injected slurry into worked-out mines as a cheap alternative to dams and other systems that can safely store or treat it. The industry claims underground injection is safe, but critics say slurry migrates through natural and man-made cracks in the earth.

Massey has denied its Mingo County operations harmed anyone.

Although the plaintiffs are now mostly served by a public water system, they say chronic exposure to metals and chemicals in the slurry are to blame for birth defects, developmental disabilities and a range of ailments.

In February, Massey agreed to create a medical monitoring fund to provide health screenings for hundreds of plaintiffs. That essentially makes the pending trial a series of personal injury and property damage cases.

Neither side has revealed how much Massey is putting into the fund. Alpha also declined to release the amount. A June 30 court order says mediation discussions, “including any resolution or settlement,” must remain confidential.

The judges would begin the trials by hearing one case each from seven categories distinguished by illness: cancer or renal failure; cognitive impairment such as attention-deficit disorder; colon or kidney problems; leukemia, spina bifida or pancreatitis; cysts, boils or internal ulcers; gallbladder problems; and chronic diarrhea, rashes or other so-called “sentinel symptoms” of exposure to contaminated water.

Each trial would play out in two phases. The first would determine Massey’s liability and whether the plaintiffs are entitled to punitive damages, or those intended to deter a defendant’s future bad conduct. The second phase would determine the amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

An embezzler who was on parole when he briefly obtained a $9.1 million state tax credit pleaded no contest to attempted fraud on Monday, prosecutors said.

Richard A. Short also pleaded no contest to unlawfully using a financial transaction device for using the ATM card of an elderly neighbor who suffered from dementia, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said. Short’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 30.

Short was arrested a day after sharing the stage with then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm in March 2010 as she announced his company, RASCO, would get the tax credits. He got the grant after saying the company planned to improve the lives of poor people overseas by using renewable energy to provide electricity, clean drinking water, sanitation and telephone and Internet service.

Short’s ability to get a business tax credit for a company he apparently created on his trailer park home computer deeply embarrassed the state’s economic development officials.

Before his arrest, Short had a lengthy criminal history. His prison record and the fact that he was on parole could easily be found by searching the state’s offender database online.

Officials at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. said they never conducted a background check on Short. They also failed to check his other paperwork, including an apparently fake letter Leyton said Short wrote claiming he had $10 million in a trust fund to finance RASCO’s operations.

After Short’s arrest, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority began doing background checks on applicants for state tax breaks. Granholm also ordered a shakeup of the Economic Growth Authority board. Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, has tried to vastly decrease the number of state tax credits going to individual companies.

Short was convicted in 2002 of embezzling money from Harding Energy Inc. of Muskegon County’s Norton Shores and sentenced to at least two years in prison. He also pleaded guilty in 2002 to earlier fraud charges in Oakland and Genesee counties, according to Corrections Department and state police records.

He was paroled in April 2004 but was returned to prison the following February for violating his parole with additional fraudulent activities, then paroled in January 2007.

IBM Corp. raised its income guidance for the year on Monday as earnings in the latest quarter increased 8 percent because of growth in all three of its major product categories.

The results show the strength of the 100-year-old company’s efforts to link its mainframes and other computing hardware with its newer businesses, software and services. Those two categories bring in the bulk of IBM’s income.

Signings of new contracts for services increased — a welcome sign for Wall Street after a decline last quarter.

But the company faces questions about whether its profit increases are sustainable. Some analysts worry about increased competition, specifically in outsourcing, the biggest part of IBM’s services business.

Investors gave the numbers a tepid endorsement. The stock rose 2 percent.

Net income was $3.66 billion, or $3 per share, in the second quarter compared with $3.39 billion, or $2.61 per share, a year ago. Excluding items, IBM earned $3.09 per share, ahead of the $3.02 per share analysts expected.

Revenue increased 12 percent to $26.7 billion, ahead of the $25.4 billion analyst estimate.

New contract signings in services increased 16 percent over last year to $14.3 billion. They had declined 14 percent in the first quarter, raising fears about the robustness of IBM’s pipeline of new deals.

IBM has stopped including this figure in its earnings releases; it can now only be found deep in the charts accompanying the results. Instead, IBM insists that its backlog of services deals that are already in the pipeline is a better predictor of future revenue. The backlog is now $144 billion, $15 billion higher than last year.

Guidance for 2011 calls for at least $13.25 per share, excluding items, up from the previous estimate of $13.15 per share.

But the company’s history makes it subject to high expectations. IBM, which is based in Armonk, N.Y., has not only consistently raised its guidance, but it has also taken the rare step of setting a specific long-term profit goal — $20 per share in operating earnings by 2015. So investors now expect steady guidance increases.

Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher Co., said he was disappointed with the latest numbers. IBM’s income should have been higher considering that revenue was more than $1 billion higher than estimates, he said.

“They are spending faster than I thought — that is my main concern,” Marshall said, adding that IBM’s ability to hit its long-term profit target is “not a slam dunk in my view.”

IBM’s stock rose $4.07, or 2.3 percent, to $179.35 in extended trading after the release of results Monday. In the regular session earlier, the stock fell 26 cents to $175.28. The stock is up more than 40 percent since September, indicating investors’ overall belief about IBM’s profit predictions.

Investors are testing Europe’s resolve to end the sovereign-debt crisis by pushing Italian and Spanish bond yields toward levels that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to ask for help.

Italy accelerated its deficit-cutting plan last week as 10-year bond yields exceeded 6 percent, approaching the 7 percent mark that prompted its smaller euro partners to seek bailouts. The country, with an economy almost three times the combined size of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, paid the most in three years at an auction of five-year securities last week. Spanish and Italian 10-year bond yields rose to euro-era records Monday.

Borrowing costs for Italy held firm during the first half of the year amid confidence the economy was too large and its banks too strong to be infected by market contagion. That has changed, with Mario Draghi, the incoming European Central Bank chief, saying the crisis has entered a new phase. The International Monetary Fund called for a “greater sense of urgency” in securing a solution for Greece.

“This is certainly a wake-up call for the European officials to come up with a solution and time is running out,” said Michiel de Bruin, who oversees about $35 billion as head of European government debt at FC Netherlands in Amsterdam and holds Italian and Spanish bonds. “I don’t think Spain and Italy will need to be bailed out, but if the market tests the spreads, things can be very volatile.”

When it’s time to renew your wireless contract, think twice about your options before you sign on the dotted line. These FAQs will help you figure out whether you’ll benefit from switching to a no-contract plan.

How do I know a no-contract plan is best for me?

If you prefer a wide range of services and you like choosing among a variety of phones at low or no cost, a contract with a major carrier is still the best option. But if you can live without some phone choices and fewer perks, a prepaid plan could be a winner.

Is there a downside to a no-contract plan?

The lack of commitment you enjoy with a contract-free plan also works in a carrier’s favor: It can boost rates and change terms anytime. And if you have a prepaid plan and fail to reload your account by the expiration date, you may risk losing your phone number. Also, some plans have extra fees, such as activation charges or daily access charges.

Do I have to wait until the end of my contract to switch?

No. Most carriers now charge a prorated fee when you exit a contract early rather than impose the full fee.

Do I have to pay a lot for a phone with a no-contract plan?

You’ll pay more for a phone than you would if you were signing a contract. The Android-powered LG Optimus S, for instance, was recently $20 from Sprint if you ordered it online and agreed to a two-year contract; the nearly identical LG Optimus V from prepaid service Virgin Mobile had a $200 price tag. But over several months you could pay that cost difference many times over on your service bill if you have a contract.

Will I be able to surf the Web?

Some no-contract plans offer unlimited Web surfing and email in all-in-one plans — voice, text and data — that cost $40 to $80, and that could save you money.

Are service and reception as good with no-contract plans?

That depends. Some no-contract carriers are owned by the wireless giants and operate on their networks. Sprint, for example, owns Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. Others, such as MetroPCS, use separate, smaller networks that may have spotty coverage in some areas and charge extra for roaming.

How do I make the switch?

Carriers are required to port a phone number for anyone who stays within a general metropolitan area. Contact your current carrier to ask how best to schedule the move, but don’t cancel your service until you’re set up with the new carrier.

Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com.

Sales of single-family homes rose in June in Rhode Island, but dropped considerably from a year ago.

The Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of single-family homes jumped 16 percent from May to June. But sales fell 22 percent compared to a year ago.

Prices rose 2 percent in June, with the median climbing to $215,000.

Prices of multi-family homes were unchanged in June, while condominium prices rose 11 percent.

Still, sales were down in both categories compared to last year. Sales of multi-family homes plunged 44 percent, while condo sales dropped 21 percent.

Distressed sales were down 58 percent from a year ago.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Tuesday its second-quarter earnings rose 13 percent, as enrollment gains helped fuel revenue growth in several categories and consumers continued to moderate their health system use.

The Minnetonka, Minn., company earned $1.27 billion, or $1.16 per share, in the three months that ended June 30. That’s up from $1.12 billion, or 99 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 8 percent to $25.23 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast earnings of 91 cents per share on $25.22 billion in revenue.

UnitedHealth also hiked its 2011 profit forecast by 20 cents per share. It now expects earnings of $4.15 to $4.25 per share, up from its forecast in April for earnings of $3.95 to $4.05 per share. It expects $101 billion in revenue.

UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer based on revenue and the first to report earnings every quarter. Many see the company as a bellwether for managed care companies.

The company’s total medical enrollment jumped 5 percent to 34.2 million. The insurer said moderated health system use helped its performance. UnitedHealth and other insurers have been helped in recent quarters by health care use that has grown at a slower-than-expected clip.

When it’s time to renew your wireless contract, think twice about your options before you sign on the dotted line. These FAQs will help you figure out whether you’ll benefit from switching to a no-contract plan.

How do I know a no-contract plan is best for me?

If you prefer a wide range of services and you like choosing among a variety of phones at low or no cost, a contract with a major carrier is still the best option. But if you can live without some phone choices and fewer perks, a prepaid plan could be a winner.

Is there a downside to a no-contract plan?

The lack of commitment you enjoy with a contract-free plan also works in a carrier’s favor: It can boost rates and change terms anytime. And if you have a prepaid plan and fail to reload your account by the expiration date, you may risk losing your phone number. Also, some plans have extra fees, such as activation charges or daily access charges.

Do I have to wait until the end of my contract to switch?

No. Most carriers now charge a prorated fee when you exit a contract early rather than impose the full fee.

Do I have to pay a lot for a phone with a no-contract plan?

You’ll pay more for a phone than you would if you were signing a contract. The Android-powered LG Optimus S, for instance, was recently $20 from Sprint if you ordered it online and agreed to a two-year contract; the nearly identical LG Optimus V from prepaid service Virgin Mobile had a $200 price tag. But over several months you could pay that cost difference many times over on your service bill if you have a contract.

Will I be able to surf the Web?

Some no-contract plans offer unlimited Web surfing and email in all-in-one plans — voice, text and data — that cost $40 to $80, and that could save you money.

Are service and reception as good with no-contract plans?

That depends. Some no-contract carriers are owned by the wireless giants and operate on their networks. Sprint, for example, owns Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. Others, such as MetroPCS, use separate, smaller networks that may have spotty coverage in some areas and charge extra for roaming.

How do I make the switch?

Carriers are required to port a phone number for anyone who stays within a general metropolitan area. Contact your current carrier to ask how best to schedule the move, but don’t cancel your service until you’re set up with the new carrier.

Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com.

Dolly Parton fans have something to sing about after packing a University of Tennessee arena for the star’s first Knoxville concert in more than 25 years.

More than 8,600 tickets were sold to Parton’s show Sunday night. Proceeds are earmarked for her Imagination Library project, which distributes 700,000 books monthly to preschoolers around the world. Dollywood Foundation President David Dotson estimated the show raised around $200,000.

Some fans turned out looking like the star.

Bekki Vaden is a 26-year-old stay-at-home mother from North Knoxville. She came dressed as Parton from the 1970s, with a flower-print dress, a blond wig and red heels with big butterflies across the toes.

Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt was also there

Parton came back to Knoxville to kick off her “Better Day” tour.

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com

City officials in Guymon are working to attract wind power companies to the Oklahoma Panhandle city.

A one million dollar grant from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce is being used for the road improvements to the city-owned industrial park and the city is in talks with Union Pacific to build a rail spur to the park.

Guymon economic development director Vicki Ayres-McCune told The Journal Record that wind energy will help the city diversify its economy. She said a wind power transmission line that Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners wants to build through the Panhandle will spur more wind power activity in the region.

The transmission line would link wind farms in the region to the Tennessee Valley Authority in the southeastern United States.

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Information from: The Journal Record, http://www.journalrecord.com

Tom Vilsack was a registered federal lobbyist in 2008, and then he was Obama’s Agriculture Secretary in early 2009. Now, his wife is running for Congress, and she’s having great success on the fundraising front — pulling in two-and-a-half times as much as incumbent Steve King.

Turns out K Street is helping her out a good bit. I perused her donor list, and immediately spotted some familiar names: Top health-insurance lobbyist and former Ted Kennedy staffer Mary Beth Donahue contributed to Vilsack, as did Democratic superlobbyist Steve Elmendorf. Matthew Hartwig, chief of staff at the ethanol lobby Renewable Fuels Group is a Vilsack donor, like Jennifer Mullin of the Democrat-heavy lobbying firm Glover Park Group.

Of course, the abortion lobbies EMILY’S List and Planned Parenthood are bankrolling Vilsack, as are green energy lobbyists like Eric Washburn.

These are just the first names I noticed. Don’t be surprised, though, if you see Christie Vilsack try to run as some sort of scourge of the special interests.

Temple-Inland Inc. said Monday its board has again rejected an unsolicited takeover bid by larger rival International Paper Co., saying it “grossly undervalues” the company.

International Paper initially offered to buy Temple-Inland in June for about $3.3 billion, or $30.60 per share. That bid was immediately rejected by Austin, Texas-based Temple.

International Paper, which is based in Memphis, Tenn., took its offer directly to shareholders last week. International Paper said it first proposed a merger verbally on May 17.

In addition to calling the bid too low, Temple-Inland also has said that the deal would likely be scrutinized by federal antitrust regulators. It urged its shareholders to not tender their shares in favor of the offer.

Temple-Inland said the offer’s timing is opportunistic for IP and leaves it at a disadvantage, considering the housing market is still at historic lows.

“IP is attempting to take advantage of our stockholders by moving to grab Temple-Inland at a bargain price at a time when there is little or no market value being ascribed to building products,” the company said in a statement.

Temple-Inland shares fell 42 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $31.01 in morning trading Monday, while International Paper shares dropped 19 cents to $29.68.

IP is the largest producer of corrugated packaging in North America. Temple-Inland is the third-largest. Temple-Inland currently controls around 12 percent of the North American market for corrugated packaging materials. A combined company would control around 40 percent of that market.

The $30.60 per-share offer ends Aug. 9. It is a 46 percent premium to Temple-Inland’s closing price on June 6, the day Temple-Inland rejected International Paper’s initial offer. The stock closed Friday at $31.43. (backslash)

Rarely-displayed paintings of Charleston during the Civil War by a Confederate soldier, including an iconic rendering of the submarine H.L. Hunley, are being made available this week on the Internet by The Museum of the Confederacy.

The museum in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday goes live on its Web site with all 31 paintings by Conrad Wise Chapman, an American artist who grew up in Italy and later served with the Confederate Army.

Launching the site culminates a decade-long, $25,000 effort to conserve the paintings and make them available to a wider audience of Civil War buffs and scholars.

Chapman was stationed in Charleston in 1863 and early 1864. He sketched Fort Sumter, where the war began in 1861, as well as batteries around the city held by the South until just before the war ended in 1865.

Perhaps the most famous painting is of the submarine H.L. Hunley. The Chapman rendering was done in December, 1863, about two months before the hand-cranked sub sank the Union blockade ship Housatonic to become the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship.

The Hunley never returned from its mission and was raised with the remains of its crew of eight off Charleston in 2000. It is being preserved at a conservation lab in North Charleston.

The Web site features comments Chapman wrote about each painting. He notes in one comment dated 1898, about a decade before his death, that the Hunley sank twice before its mission against the Housatonic.

“After this had happened the second time, someone painted on it the word “Coffin,” Chapman recounted. “There was just room enough in it for eight men, one in front of the other, with no possibility of anyone sitting straight. The third time it started out, it never came back…”

Chapman took his sketches back to Rome, where he turned them into a series of paintings he called his “Journal of the Siege of Charleston.” His father, John Gadsby Chapman, who taught his son painting, painted six of the 31 sketches.

“Conrad Wise Chapman had been born in Washington, DC and when he was very young his family moved to Italy,” said Cathy Wright, the museum’s conservator. “He had only a genealogical connection to the American South but when the war broke out he felt so strongly he did want to come and join the Confederate Army.”

In 1864, Chapman asked to leave the army and return to Italy where his mother was purportedly ill.

“Historians are not really sure she was sick or using this as an excuse to get him out of there,” Wright said. “Of course, many other soldiers were asking to go home and we don’t know if he got special consideration or not but a close family friend was the former governor of Virginia.”

His mother did not die until some years later.

Chapman never returned as a Confederate soldier. The paintings were later bought by a prominent Richmond family, then sold to the parent organization of the museum around 1900.

The paintings, all rather small at 10 by 12 inches, were on display at the museum for years when it was housed in the old Confederate White House through the 1970s. But in recent years they have not been displayed as a group.

In February, the museum completed a 10-year, $20,000 conservation of the paintings. Digitalizing them for the Web cost another $5,000 paid for by the museum as well as organizations in both Virginia and South Carolina.

The series of originals was displayed this spring at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the war.

Visitors to the Web site will see the paintings more clearly than if they view them in person, said Sam Craghead, a spokesman for the Museum of the Confederacy. He said they can zoom in so closely they can see brush strokes.

The paintings are important both as art and as history, Wright said.

“On an artistic level they are certainly very lovely but what is interesting for historians is Chapman is one of the only artists who created these pieces during the war and from seeing these things himself. Many newspaper artists were getting second hand descriptions and accounts and did their best guess at what happened. Chapman is out in the field.”

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Online: The Museum of the Confederacy: http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer

China, the biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury debt, increased its holdings in May for the second straight month, after five months of declines.

China boosted its holdings by $7.3 billion to $1.16 trillion, the Treasury Department said Monday.

Total foreign holdings of Treasury securities rose 0.6 percent to $4.51 trillion.

The report shows that foreign investors didn’t lose their appetite for U.S. government debt in May, even though the U.S. reached its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit that month.

The limit is the total amount the government can borrow to finance its operations. Since reaching the limit May 16, the Treasury has relied on accounting maneuvers to avoid running out of cash. But Treasury says it will have exhausted those maneuvers by Aug. 2.

If the borrowing limit isn’t increased by then, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says, the government will default on its obligations.

Congressional Republicans have demanded large spending cuts as a condition for voting in favor of raising the limit. President Barack Obama has pushed to include some tax increases on wealthier Americans, which Republicans have adamantly opposed.

The standoff has persisted for weeks, spurring warnings from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and leading investors on Wall Street that a default would be disastrous for the U.S. economy.

Republicans in the House and Senate are taking different tacks this week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has proposed allowing Obama to raise the debt limit unilaterally, though Congress could vote to disapprove the increase.

House Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing legislation that would dramatically cut spending, exclude tax increases, and add a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

Japan and the United Kingdom, the second and third largest holders of U.S. debt, also both increased their ownership of Treasuries in May.

Rapper and actor Ja Rule faces sentencing in federal court in New Jersey for failing to file income tax returns.

The platinum-selling rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, faces up to three years in prison at his sentencing in Newark.

Atkins admitted in March that he failed to pay taxes on more than $3 million in income that he earned between 2004 and 2006 while he lived in Saddle River.

Ja Rule was sentenced in New York City last month to up to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempted criminal weapon possession. The case stemmed from a gun found in his luxury sports car in July 2007.

Pixar Animation’s “Cars 2″ went out this summer in 44 different languages. And every country faced the same problem when it came to dubbing the aw-shucks ramblings of one of the movie’s lead characters — the country bumpkin tow truck Mater, voiced in the movie by Larry the Cable Guy.

“Mater’s kind of a redneck, but that means nothing to anyone overseas because they don’t have that particular vocal culture,” says Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of Disney Character Voices. “So we had to figure out what region of Germany, for example, has more of an uneducated population without being offensive.”

Playing that fine line while lessening what’s lost in translation so that movies work globally is a delicate yet increasingly important business as Hollywood relies more on international audiences to bolster profits.

Subtitles have been around since the age of silent film. When Hollywood converted to sound in the late 1920s, several European countries — notably Germany, France, Spain and Italy — decided to substitute the voices of their own actors in place of their American stars.

In those countries, dubbed movies still dominate multiplexes today, though European moviegoers in cities like Paris, Berlin and Madrid have the choice of seeing movies with subtitles, too. Japanese theaters typically offer both versions. In Central and South America, subtitling, a less expensive process, has always been the practice.

Both translation processes pose particular challenges, most notably for talky comedies, especially the crop of raunchy, R-rated versions out this summer. Translators using subtitles must condense dialogue, cutting proper names and modifiers to maintain the gist of what’s being said without overwhelming the audience with too many words to read.

“You’re getting a more abstract version of the movie,” says Sandra Willard, who has spent the past 30 years writing detailed reports to help translators and vocal dubbers do their jobs.

“You have to be obsessive to do this,” Willard adds. “And you have to keep up with pop culture, too, in order to ensure you’re staying true to what’s being said.”

A case in point from yesteryear, Willard remembers, was the French translator who recast the “gag me with a spoon” catchphrase from the 1983 cult comedy “Valley Girl” as “stick a spoon in my throat.”

And, no, French teenagers didn’t latch onto that one.

Massaging those kinds of cultural nuances rates as an essential part of the job. Elena Barciae writes Spanish subtitles for Central and South America using a single translation, a process she likens to being forced to create a generic language that would cover the United States, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

“The more slang, the harder it gets because slang tends to be very localized,” says Barciae, a 25-year veteran in the business. “Simple words are affected, too. ‘Bicho’ means bug everywhere except Puerto Rico, where it’s a slang word for a part of the male anatomy. That wouldn’t go over too well for the title of ‘A Bug’s Life,’ would it?”

For movies that take place in the past, like this week’s comic-book adaptation “Captain America: The First Avenger,” translators and dubbers must find linguistic equivalents of 1940s-era American slang expressions like “holy cow” and “your goose is cooked.”

Next week’s big-screen version of the cartoon series, “The Smurfs,” was an easier job. “Smurfs” is an invented word, and, as such, has already been translated in numerous languages. (The little blue creatures are called pitufos in Spanish-speaking countries and schtroumpfs in France.)

Entries found in the dictionary can pose greater problems. Most languages have no ready-made equivalent for “nerd,” even though, in English, the words “dork” and “geek” cover the same basic idea and will be in constant play during this week’s annual Comic-Con gathering in San Diego.

Sometimes, words do translate, but a country’s censors won’t allow them on screen. Barciae’s Central and South American territories are primarily Catholic countries, sensitive, she says, to profanity. Barciae removes all the f-bombs tossed in Hollywood’s R-rated comedies or waters them down to “damn it.”

“You try to get the feeling across and still get by the ratings,” Barciae says. “Subtlety is important.”

That kind of keen attention to detail may be going by the wayside. More studios are farming out translation and dubbing work to larger media companies like Deluxe and Technicolor, who offer one-stop, package deals to producers.

“This type of thing is growing fast, especially with more movies releasing day-and-date (simultaneously) around the world,” says Roy Dvorkin, senior vice president of business development at SDI Media, which owns and operates studios in 18 countries.

But the need for speed could result in less nuanced translations, Barciae believes. While this may not be as critical for action and effects-laden pictures such as “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” — where two thirds of the box-office grosses come from overseas, regardless of translation — ideas could be lost with more dialogue-dependent movies such as “Larry Crowne” or even “Bridesmaids.”

“Good translators are really writers who love working with language,” says Barciae, who has a master’s degree in comparative literature from Brown University. “And you’ve got to love movies, too, because you’ll be watching a lot of them . over and over again.”