Record home sellout streak to end at 820 games

BOSTON (AP) -- The longest home sellout streak in major pro sports history is expected to end Wednesday night at 820 games for the Boston Red Sox.

The team said before the game against the Baltimore Orioles that it was not expected to be a sellout at Fenway Park.

The streak began in May 2003 and includes the postseason. The string broke the record of 814 set by the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers from 1977-95.

Boston's streak of 794 regular-season sellouts also is the longest in major pro sports history. The previous longest regular-season streak in major league baseball history was 455 set by the Cleveland Indians from 1995-2001.

''The streak is a reflection of a phenomenal period of baseball in Boston and of America's greatest ballpark,'' Red Sox owner John W. Henry said in a statement. ''But more than that, it is a testament to the baseball passion of New England fans. As we close the book on this incredible era, we look forward to another with a renewed certainty that the next couple of generations of Red Sox fans will also be enjoying baseball at the ever magical Fenway Park.''

The sellout streak began on May 15, 2003, when the Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 12-3 as Pedro Martinez pitched six scoreless innings before 32,485 fans. Seating capacity was expanded after that and the streak continued through Monday's home opener, a 3-1 win over the Orioles with an official attendance of 37,008.

The average attendance during the streak was 36,605, the Red Sox said.

In recent seasons, there were hundreds, sometimes thousands, of empty seats at Fenway Park, which opened in 1912. The Red Sox said last season that attendance is based on tickets distributed, such as those given to charities, and not on the actual number of fans who attend games.

The Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, the second season of the streak, and again in 2007. But they missed the playoffs the past two years and finished at 69-93 last season in Bobby Valentine's only season as their manager.

During last season, they traded pitcher Josh Beckett, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and left fielder Carl Crawford, who were due $261 million from 2013-18, to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the offseason, the Red Sox hired John Farrell as manager and overhauled their roster, avoiding star free agents and long-term deals.

''We are proud of this historic achievement,'' Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said of the streak. ''Over the past ten years, more than 30 million, many among the most sophisticated baseball fans in America, have purchased tickets to see games at Fenway Park. Never in that period was there a crowd less than 32,000. No other club in Major League Baseball can make that statement.''

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Suspect in Colorado killing had "bad streak": governor

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - Evidence collected from a roadside gun battle between a white supremacist ex-convict and Texas police has provided "a very strong lead" for investigators looking into the shooting death of Colorado's prisons chief, a police spokesman said on Saturday.

Evan Spencer Ebel, a 28-year-old parolee from Denver, was killed by police on Thursday after a high-speed chase through Decatur, Texas.

He is now considered a suspect in the death of Tom Clements, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said Lieutenant Jeff Kramer, a spokesman for the El Paso County, Colorado, sheriff's Office.

Clements, 58, was shot dead on Tuesday when he answered the door at his home near the community of Monument, in El Paso County, about 45 miles south of Denver.

Ebel is also a suspect in the killing two days earlier of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon in Denver, police there said.

Shell casings found at Clements' home were the same brand and caliber of the Hornady 9-mm bullets Ebel fired at Texas police, according to the search warrant filed in Texas for police to search Ebel's Cadillac.

A copy of the search warrant was posted online by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.

A Domino's pizza deliverer's shirt or jacket and a Domino's pizza carrier were in the car's trunk, according to the search warrant.

'LOOKING HARD AT MR. EBEL'

"Obviously this is a very strong lead for us from the items of evidence our investigators brought back from Texas, including the shell casings," Kramer said on Saturday.

"We're looking very hard at Mr. Ebel and are waiting for solid confirmation that it's the same gun" used in the Clements shooting, he said.

A statement from the sheriff's office late on Friday said that bullet casings collected at the scene in Texas would be sent to the state crime lab to determine if the same weapon was used to kill Clements.

Results from the ballistics analysis should be ready by early next week, Kramer said.

Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211 Crew, and had been paroled in the Denver area, a law enforcement official said.

Authorities were also looking for ties between the death of Clements and the January killing of Mark Hasse, a prosecutor in the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office. Kaufman County is east of Dallas.

"I am profoundly saddened by the recent events involving my son, Evan Ebel, and offer my most sincere condolences to all of those individuals and families who have suffered from his actions," his father, Jack Ebel, said in a written statement released to the Denver Post on Saturday.

"I ask for privacy for me and my family during this time as we grieve for the loss of life that has occurred and for all of those affected," Jack Ebel said.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on Friday said in a written statement that he had known Jack Ebel for 30 years.

Hickenlooper said Jack Ebel had never asked him to intervene on behalf of his son and that Evan Ebel was not shown special treatment or released from prison early.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Jackie Frank)

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Gov. Hickenlooper: Suspect in Colorado killing had 'bad streak'

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - Evidence collected from a roadside gun battle between a white supremacist ex-convict and Texas police has provided "a very strong lead" for investigators looking into the shooting death of Colorado's prisons chief, a police spokesman said on Saturday.

Evan Spencer Ebel, a 28-year-old parolee from Denver, was killed by police on Thursday after a high-speed chase through Decatur, Texas.

He is now considered a suspect in the death of Tom Clements, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said Lieutenant Jeff Kramer, a spokesman for the El Paso County, Colorado, sheriff's Office.

Clements, 58, was shot dead on Tuesday when he answered the door at his home near the community of Monument, in El Paso County, about 45 miles south of Denver.

Ebel is also a suspect in the killing two days earlier of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon in Denver, police there said.

Shell casings found at Clements' home were the same brand and caliber of the Hornady 9-mm bullets Ebel fired at Texas police, according to the search warrant filed in Texas for police to search Ebel's Cadillac.

A copy of the search warrant was posted online by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.

A Domino's pizza deliverer's shirt or jacket and a Domino's pizza carrier were in the car's trunk, according to the search warrant.

'LOOKING HARD AT MR. EBEL'

"Obviously this is a very strong lead for us from the items of evidence our investigators brought back from Texas, including the shell casings," Kramer said on Saturday.

"We're looking very hard at Mr. Ebel and are waiting for solid confirmation that it's the same gun" used in the Clements shooting, he said.

A statement from the sheriff's office late on Friday said that bullet casings collected at the scene in Texas would be sent to the state crime lab to determine if the same weapon was used to kill Clements.

Results from the ballistics analysis should be ready by early next week, Kramer said.

Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211 Crew, and had been paroled in the Denver area, a law enforcement official said.

Authorities were also looking for ties between the death of Clements and the January killing of Mark Hasse, a prosecutor in the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office. Kaufman County is east of Dallas.

"I am profoundly saddened by the recent events involving my son, Evan Ebel, and offer my most sincere condolences to all of those individuals and families who have suffered from his actions," his father, Jack Ebel, said in a written statement released to the Denver Post on Saturday.

"I ask for privacy for me and my family during this time as we grieve for the loss of life that has occurred and for all of those affected," Jack Ebel said.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on Friday said in a written statement that he had known Jack Ebel for 30 years.

Hickenlooper said Jack Ebel had never asked him to intervene on behalf of his son and that Evan Ebel was not shown special treatment or released from prison early.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Jackie Frank)

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