Seven

On an ordinary Saturday, the Rev. Phil Landers performs one or two weddings, allowing time in between to mingle with the guests and maybe snap a few photos. But July 7, 2007, is no ordinary Saturday. Wedding watchers say the 7/7/07 date, with its string of lucky sevens, is the most sought-after wedding day in a century, chosen by couples eager to start their lives together with luck on their side. So Landers' schedule is shaping up to be a road trip, a marathon of matrimony that will have him driving throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, marrying five couples.

Sarah OliphantAnnapolis, lacrosseThe sophomore attacker led the No. 3 Panthers to their second straight Class 3A-4A state championship with three goals and four assists in a 13-4 victory over No. 10 Liberty. Oliphant's four assists tied a state tournament record for a Class 3A-4A title game, and her seven points in a game came with-in one of that record.Tim HeckerGlen Burnie, baseballThe senior pitcher beat Perry Hall, 3-1, on Saturday for the Gophers' first Class 4A baseball title. Hecker struck out seven and walked one. In last Tuesday's 6-0 semifinal victory over Eleanor Roosevelt, Hecker struck out 10 and walked one. For the season, he was 11-1 with a 1.19 ERA and 11 complete games.

Braves: Haven't lost consecutive games this season.Brewers: Are 10-5 on the road and 3-9 at home. Mark Loretta is batting .038 (1-for-26) with runners in scoring position.Cardinals: Are 2-10 at Turner Field in three seasons. Outfielder J.D. Drew did not start for the second straight day after straining his right quadriceps Monday. He pinch-hit in the ninth.Diamondbacks: Luis Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 19 with a leadoff double in the eighth. The streak is a club record and the longest in the majors this season.

Braves: Kevin Millwood has a 3-0 career record against the Pirates.Brewers: Milwaukee is 12-0 when leading after seven innings. Milwaukee plays 52 road games before the All-Star break and 29 the rest of the way.Cubs: Sammy Sosa also put on an impressive display in batting practice, hitting seven homers from the cage. That included a shot halfway up Pro Player Stadium's left-field upper deck and a stretch in which he hit four out in a five-pitch sequence.Diamondbacks: Matt Williams, who spent nine seasons with the Giants, has hit 130 of his 312 career home runs in San Francisco.

Quote: "They let the fastball go and batted everything else."-- Devil Rays' Rolando Arrojo, who gave up seven runs and eight hits to the Yankees in 3 2/3 innings It's a fact: The Tigers are 63-53 when they hit a home run.Who's hot: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has not allowed a run in his past 27 appearances, covering 29 innings.Who's not: Jim Thome's first-inning strikeout was his 167th this season, breaking the Indians record set by Cory Snyder in 1987.On deck: The Royals' Carlos Beltran needs seven hits in the last two games to become the first AL rookie since Joe DiMaggio with 200 hits, 100 RBIs and 100 runs.

Athletics: Tim Hudson has gone at least seven innings 11 times, allowed two runs or fewer 11 times and struck out seven or more nine times in 18 major-league starts.

Quote: "I just like the idea of me going out and doing a good job without a whole lot of hoopla." -- Mets' John Olerud, whose .351 batting average is second in NL only to Larry Walker's .360.It's a fact: The Brewers closed their home season having drawn 1,811,548 fans, their highest total since 1992.Who's hot: The Braves have won 11 of their last 13 games, including six of seven on the road.Who's not: The Marlins' Kirt Ojala has lost three straight starts and seven of his last eight decisions.

Quote: "It couldn't be better -- Roberto [Hernandez] got the save, Davey [Martinez] homered, we win. Can't be better."-- Devil Rays' Wilson Alvarez on the role that he and two other former White Sox played in beating their former team yesterday.It's a fact: A scoring change in the Rangers' 4-3 win over the Blue Jays Friday took away an RBI from Juan Gonzalez, ending his season-opening streak of games with an RBI at seven -- the longest since Atlanta's Dale Murphy in 1985.Who's hot: The Tigers' bullpen has not allowed a run in 25 innings.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Orioles made it official last night against the Texas Rangers. They are a scalding team. They won a road game.Another breakout inning pushed the American League's most upwardly mobile team to a 14-3 win before 46,682 at The Ballpark. Not only did the Orioles pump their winning streak to seven, tying their season high, they also won away from Camden Yards for the first time since June 12 to shatter an 0-10 road slide.Adhering to another encouraging habit, they blasted Rangers starting pitcher Rick Helling (12-5)

Yankees: Have allowed only one unearned run all year, the fewest in the majors.Blue Jays: Have made 10 errors in their past seven games. They've played three straight extra-inning games, winning one.Indians: A magnetic resonance imaging test revealed that Kenny Lofton only had a strained tendon in the back of his leg that caused swelling in a nerve.White Sox: Are expected to call up Wil Cordero from Double-A Birmingham soon, but they're not saying when.Red Sox: Nomar Garciaparra also had five RBIs on April 14 against the Athletics.

Quarterback A Joe Flacco struggled early, as usual, and he took some vicious hits. By the second half, he was reading the defense extremely well. He was not rattled by the Vikings' all-out blitzes in the last quarter, and he made some strong throws over the middle. Running backs B The Ravens' running backs had it tough in the first half because of poor field position, but this group started wearing down the Vikings' defense in the second half. Ray Rice is becoming one of the best all-around backs in the NFL. Receivers C+ The receivers were ineffective in the first half because Flacco didn't have time to throw.

TORONTO - -In another season of consistent failure, the Orioles hit a new low Wednesday night by reaching a season high with their 7-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. It marked their seventh consecutive defeat, their worst skid in a 2009 season that has been futile for months. The Orioles (60-92) have been swept twice this year in a three-game series by the Blue Jays (69-83) and finish the season 1-8 at Rogers Centre. They must win at least three of their final 10 games to avoid their first 100-loss season since 1988.

Souting report: Rangers update The surprising Texas Rangers remain in the thick of the playoff race. They sit 31/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels for first place in the American League West and are three behind the Boston Red Sox for the wild-card lead. Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler was 12-for-26 with three homers and nine RBIs in his past seven games before going 0-for-4 in the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. In 29 career games against the Orioles, Kinsler is batting .368 with six homers, 24 RBIs, 32 runs scored and seven steals.

After watching every second of the Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning Hopkins 24/7 and Hopkins documentary series from ABC News, I did not think there was anything that TV had left to tell me about the making of and professional lives of medical doctors. But after seeing the final installment of Nova's 21-year project, Doctors' Diaries, which premieres Tuesday night at 8 on MPT (Channels 22 and 67), I now know I was wrong. It is not that producer-director Michael Barnes finds new emotions, themes or narratives that ABC's Terry Wrong didn't in his brilliant studies of Hopkins and its doctors.

Chop Tang scored 16 points and had nine rebounds to lead Wisconsin-Green Bay past Morgan State, 71-54, yesterday in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. Tang converted all six of his free throws and Green Bay made 28-for-30 from the stripe. Green Bay (2-2) also got 15 points and seven rebounds from Randy Berry and 15 points from Mike Schachtner, who connected on seven of eight free throws. Morgan State (2-4) was led by Marquise Kately, who had 14 points, and Reggie Holmes, who scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

DOMINATION: With the victory, the Rays improved to 11-3 against the Orioles this season, matching their club record for most wins against one opponent in a season. The Rays have also beaten the Orioles eight straight times. In the three-game series, the Rays outscored the Orioles 34-16. CLOSE CALL: Down 5-0 in the sixth, the Orioles had a chance to get back in the game with the bases loaded and one out. Kevin Millar hit a ground ball that was fielded by third baseman Willy Aybar, who threw it to second base for the forceout.

Tires, fuel and speed were the ingredients of an enjoyable Sunday afternoon for a Baltimore father and son who ventured to Herring Run Park to race their scaled-down yet powerful vehicles, 10 in all. Danny Gordon has had the hobby since he was teenager and got his son Devin involved in more recent years. The pair bring their cars - seven for Danny and three for Devin - to the park many weekends.

Developments President Bush (shown above with a couple who lost their home) surveyed the damage in the hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo. He declared seven counties a major disaster area, making residents eligible for federal assistance to help them rebuild. Four charred bodies were found in an apparent migrant camp east of San Diego that was burned by a wildfire straddling the Mexican border, authorities said yesterday. If the fire was responsible for the deaths, it would raise the toll to seven people.

Homer unhappy The ball leaves Jeremy Guthrie's hand, and then it leaves the ballpark. And much too often for his liking. Guthrie served up two more home runs last night, a bases-empty shot by Josh Wilson leading off the third and a three-run drive by B.J. Upton later in the inning that gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead. Guthrie allowed four homers in his first 15 games. Since then, he has surrendered 19 in 14 outings. Teams have hit two or more in four of Guthrie's past five starts. The little things The home runs hurt Guthrie, but it was something much smaller that tagged him with the loss.

Ravens coach Brian Billick has no plans to overextend his players or reveal any of the playbook in today's scrimmage against the Washington Redskins. Billick said quarterbacks Steve McNair and Kyle Boller and the rest of the first units on both offense and defense will get a majority of their repetitions in seven-on-seven drills. Billick added that he and Redskins coach Joe Gibbs might even shorten the scrimmage, which begins at noon at M&T Bank Stadium, because of the hot, humid weather forecast.