the long side to beat Brodeur from

  SEVILLE, Spain -- Atletico Madrid won 4-2 at nine-man Real Betis to rise to second place in the Spanish league on Wednesday, with Radamel Falcao scoring a double to become the leading scorer in the competition this season. . Betis took a 2-1 advantage into halftime after having the good fortune to score off a pair of passes that ended up finding the back of the net. But Falcao answered both times to take his league tally to seven goals. Diego Costa and Raul Garcia then netted to ensure undefeated Atletico its fourth straight victory through five rounds. Falcaos goals puts him one ahead of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, while Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has only scored three times so far. "I never said I wanted to compete with Cristiano and Messi," said Falcao. "I want to score goals to help my team. Nothing else. We are competing with 19 teams, not just Madrid and Barcelona. We have high hopes to do good things after this strong start to the season." Betis forward Salvador Agras long pass in the 25th caught Atletico goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo anticipating Ruben Castros run, leaving him out of position to intercept the ball as it crossed his area and fell in the far corner of the goal. Falcao stretched to redirect in Garcias low pass to level for the visitors three minutes later. Those two players then forced one-handed saves from goalkeeper Casto Espinosa as Atletico pressed forward. But it was Betis that went back in front when Juan Carlos Perezs pass took a deflection off Atletico defender Juanfran Torres and looped over Asenjo for a goal just before halftime. The game swung back in Atleticos favour three minutes after the restart. Damien Perquis was shown a direct red card for fouling Falcao in the box, leaving Betis a man down and without the lead after the Colombia international rolled in the spot kick. It was Falcaos 10th goal through six games in all competitions for Atletico this season. "Betis goals came from strokes of luck, and its goalkeeper was the best player of the first half," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone. "In the second half, the penalty set us on course." Diego Castro went on for Falcao in the 54th and a minute later scored from close range after a deflected ball fell at his feet. Simeone said that he replaced Falcao after he scored the penalty because "he didnt feel well." Betis went down to nine men in the 78th after substitute Joel Campbell received his second booking for handling the ball, when it appeared that Atleticos Filipe Luis in fact had first touched it with his hand inside his own area. "We saw some unbelievable things happen in this game. If I bit my tongue I would poison myself," said Betis coach Pepe Mel, whose teams two-game winning run came to an end. "We went from the chance to make it 3-3 to being down to nine men." Atletico eventually capitalized on its numerical advantage in injury time when Garcia was left unmarked to leisurely volley into the top of the net. The match was originally scheduled for Sept. 3 but was pushed back due to Atleticos appearance in the European Super Cup. Now both teams face a quick turnaround, with Betis playing at Malaga on Saturday and Atletico at Espanyol on Sunday. . -- Major League Baseball could start in-season testing for human growth hormone next year. . The partnership will see the Champions League finalists and Sauber exchange knowledge in sport science, launch joint commercial initiatives and share merchandising, marketing and sponsorship opportunities. Chelseas crest will appear on Saubers cars from next weeks Spanish Grand Prix while the Premier League club will show the Sauber logo on advertising boards and interview walls at its home matches, with the aim of increasing the market presence of the teams outside their own sports. . Seven-time defending champion Rafael Nadal followed Djokovic on court to thrash Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-1, conceding only six points on his serve and breaking the Kazakh qualifier five times. After clinching victory on his first match point, the top-ranked Djokovic crouched over with his hands on his knees as Dolgopolov applauded him at the net. . Assessing his swing with hitting coach Jeff Manto, Dunn apparently figured out the problem. The burly slugger homered in consecutive plate appearances, including a clutch three-run shot in the eighth inning, and the White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 on Monday night to maintain their one-game lead in the AL Central. . Assuming Oswalt passes a physical Thursday, he is expected to go to Triple-A Round Rock and make his first start Saturday. "Hes been throwing for quite a while now, he feels good about where he is," Rangers president Nolan Ryan said.Sidney Crosby felt more comfortable in the second game of his comeback as the Pittsburgh Penguins sent the New Jersey Devils reeling. Matt Cooke scored two goals, Evgeni Malkin added his 40th of the season and Crosby had three assists to lead the Penguins to their 11th straight win, 5-2 over the Devils on Saturday. With the surge, the Penguins have 93 points -- two behind the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers. Their winning streak is the longest in the NHL this season Crosby came through with a strong effort in the second game of his comeback from recurring concussion-like symptoms. "Having played one game, so much of it is reacting," Crosby said. "When you first come back, you are probably thinking a lot more than you should. The more you react and let the game come to you, the better." Crosby has five assists since returning, and had a couple of good chances against the Devils to score the first goal of the comeback with six shots on goal. Chris Kunitz, James Neal and Pascal Dupuis also scored for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury made 12 saves for his 10th straight victory and 39th of the season. It has been a smooth transition with Crosby stepping back into the lineup. "Were a team and youre happy to see your team mates do well," Crosby said. "Weve played good hockey. When I wasnt in for the previous nine games I was just as happy to see guys do well. There is a good feeling when you are rewarded for your efforts and guys have stuck to that." A good team becomes a very dangerous squad with Crosby back. "Its a powerful feeling," said Cooke who has four goals in the last two games. "Its invigorating to see the depth of our team and our organization. Some guys who played well for us all year now have to sit out. Thats unfortunate, but thats the strength of our group." The Penguins ended a three-game losing streak to the Devils, winning for the first time in their last five visits to New Jersey. "I feel they got fortunate a couple of games in here," Cooke said. "Wed have pressure on them early and not get a goal. Theyd get a turnover and go down and score. It wasnt that different today. We were all over them, and then they got a goal." This time Pittsburgh never let up. Andy Greene and Petr Sykora scored for the Devils, winners of five of six coming in. The Devils wore their retro jerseys, going back to their original New Jersey colours of red, white and green. The throwback shirts didnt help as the Penguins attacked early and often, jumping out to a 14-2 shot advantage. "We played a real fast game today," Crosby said. "Everyone was creating chances. Everyone was on their toes, making plays." The pressure paid off early. Kunitz was awarded a penalty shot at 1:55 after being pulled down on a breakaway by Marek Zidlickky. . Martin Brodeur, going into a low crouch, made a pad stop while losing his stick. Brodeur was helpless five seconds later as Neal scored after Malkin won a faceoff from Adam Henrique. The puck went right to Neal at the top of the left circle where he drilled a shot for his 32nd goal. "I just stood my ground on the penalty shot, similar to a shootout," Brodeur said. "He tried to go around me but he couldnt lift the puck. Then on the goal, they won the faceoff clean and he picked a corner through a maze of guys. That was definitely deflating." Penalty killing has been a recent strength for the Devils, who had not allowed an opposition power-play goal in 10 straight games. Then another successful kill helped temporarily stem the Penguins tide. Four seconds after a penalty for too many men on the ice penalty expired, Greene scored for New Jersey at 16:57 with a wrist shot from the left circle that was confirmed by a video review. It was the Devils first regulation goal in three games, including a 1-0 shootout victory over Colorado on Thursday night. It was also Greenes first goal of the season. The Penguins broke it open with three goals in the second period. Dupuis gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead at 10:10 of the second, picking the long side to beat Brodeur from the left circle after taking a drop pass from Jordan Staal. The assist extended Stalls point-scoring streak to 10 games while the goal was the 20th for Dupuis, equaling his career high. Cooke, on a beautiful backhand pass from Crosby, put Pittsburgh up by two at 11:44 on a shot that glanced off his skate. Malkin closed out the scoring in the period as Crosby again worked his magic, digging the puck off the left boards before feeding a perfect pass to Malkin for a one-timer from the right circle. The power-play tally at 12:42 ended the Devils string of 29 consecutive penalty kills. Crosby flew up the ice late in the second period only to be denied the first goal of his comeback by Brodeurs stellar glove save. The Penguins outshot the Devils 12-4 in the middle period. In the third, Sykora scored for New Jersey at 2:26 only to have Cooke restore Pittsburghs three goal lead at 5:56 with Crosby getting the second assist. Pittsburgh outshot New Jersey 43-14 for the game. "Out of the 60 minutes, maybe we played good for 18 minutes," said Devils forward Patrik Elias. "Thats not good enough against a team like that. All you have to do is look at the shots." Notes: The Devils switched to their current red, white and black shirts for the 1992-93 season. ... This was the third straight year the Devils wore vintage shirts on, or close, to St. Patricks Day. They went 1-1 in the previous games. ... Brodeur started the game wearing a red retro mask but soon switched back to his usual black mask. ... Greenes previous goal was March 30 of last season. ' ' '