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LONDON -- Frank Lampard will miss Englands World Cup qualifier against San Marino on Friday after failing to shrug off a knee injury, depriving him of the captains armband for the match. However, the Football Association said Thursday that the Chelsea midfielder could return for Tuesdays Group H match in Poland, the much tougher of the two games. Lampard, who limped off midway through the second half of Chelseas 4-1 win over Norwich in the Premier League on Saturday, was expected to take the armband in the absence of the suspended Steven Gerrard. Striker Wayne Rooney has been handed the captaincy for the sellout match at Wembley Stadium. "Frank Lampard has returned to his club for further treatment and will not be available for Englands World Cup qualifier with San Marino," an FA statement said. "The Chelsea midfielder will return to the England squad on Sunday for assessment." The FA also said Thursday that Ryan Bertrand -- a late call-up to the squad in place of the injured Kieran Gibbs -- is unavailable for the San Marino match because of illness. Bertrand wasnt expected to start Friday, with Ashley Cole and Leighton Baines ahead of him in the pecking order. With Lampard and Gerrard out, Rooney could now operate in a deeper role in midfield -- where he has played with great effect for Manchester United in recent games. England is level on four points with Poland and Montenegro after two group games. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys From China . Instead, much of the attention was focused squarely on two veteran athletes who are being left at home — Olympic bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and world champion Perdita Felicien . Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . The Montreal native said the surgery will take place Wednesday and "will be followed by several weeks of convalescence to ensure proper healing." "I have decided to take the time to solve a problem with my knee that has persisted for over a year," he said Tuesday in a statement. http://hipstervancouver.com/ . Thomas confirmed the hiatus with the following statement. "From the earliest age I can remember, Ive wanted to be a hockey player. Ive been blessed in my life to not only be able to live that dream, but to achieve more than I ever thought possible.SAN FRANCISCO -- Bruce Bochy headed out for a nice dinner with his wife. Third base coach Tim Flannery scored concert tickets for Crosby Stills & Nash. The NL West-leading San Francisco Giants arent scoreboard watching as September winds down. The division title is nearly theirs. Pablo Sandoval homered from both sides of the plate and the Giants reduced their magic number to clinch the division to four by beating the Colorado Rockies 9-2 on Thursday. "Ive seen enough baseball today," Bochy said while publicly planning his evening on the town and opting out of watching the Dodgers. "Its up to us to take care of business." Buster Posey also connected to back another strong start by Barry Zito (13-8) as San Francisco completed a four-game series sweep. Colorado lost its sixth in a row. Zito won his fifth straight decision and has done everything he can to earn himself a spot in the post-season rotation after being left off for all three rounds when the Giants won it all in 2010. "Its nice to be able to go out there and have fun and be loose in September," he said. "When you have fun, youre relaxed, good things happen." The second-place Dodgers were set for a night game at Washington, trailing by 9 1/2 games. San Francisco (87-63) moved a season-best 24 games above .500, its best mark since finishing the 2003 season 39 games over. "The view looks great right now," Angel Pagan said. "We have to really make sure. We cant talk about playoffs right now." Sandoval connected from both sides for the first time in his career -- at any level, he says. Batting right-handed, he hit the first pitch he saw from Jorge De La Rosa (0-1) into the left-field stands for a solo homer in the first inning. He added a three-run drive into the elevated right-field arcade in the fourth. It marked his fifth career multihomer game. His last came Sept. 18, 2011, also against the Rockies at Coors Field. "Im comfortable at home plate. I dont try to hit home runs," said Sandoval, who snapped a homerless drought of 161 at-bats Wednesday night. "When you dont try, things go your way. I got lucky, man." Posey, drawing chants of "M-V-P!" from the adoring home crowd, followed Sandovals fourth-inning shot with his 23rd home run. The Giants homered in consecutive at-bats for the second time this season after Nate Schierholtz and Brandon Crawford did so April 11 at Colorado. Marco Scutaros fourth-inning single gave him a career-best 175 hits and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He added an RBI single in the sixth and has hit safely in 42 of 51 games since joining the Giants from the Rockies on July 27. Zito received more than enough support in the latest impressive start during his comeback year. Thee Giants won for the ninth straight time in one of his outings -- and Zitos 13 victories are his most with the Giants and most since a 16-win season in 2006 for Oakland.dddddddddddd The left-hander, who had been disappointing since receiving a $126 million, seven-year contract ahead of the 2007 season, walked off the mound to yet another standing ovation in the sixth. He raised his right hand and pointed to the sellout crowd of 41,157 in appreciation. Zito struck out six and walked one in 5 2-3 innings, allowing two runs and a season-high 10 hits. He hasnt lost since Aug. 2 against the Mets. It was a short day for De La Rosa -- but that might have been expected as he came off the 60-day disabled list. The lefty returned to the mound for the first time since May 24, 2011, when he left an outing with elbow soreness and later underwent Tommy John surgery. De La Rosa was tagged for five earned runs, six in all, and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings. De La Rosa and Jonathan Herrera each had RBI singles for Colorado. "After 16 months Im very pleased with what I saw from our starting pitcher," manager Jim Tracy said. "We did a poor job of taking care of the baseball. Two miscues led to seven runs. But the bright spot was the left-handed pitcher who showed hes getting himself back to the guy he can be, and then some." Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez didnt return to the outfield in the bottom of the second after grounding into an inning-ending double play in the first. He played the entire game Wednesday -- with two strikeouts and two groundouts -- but was a late scratch Tuesday night with a tight left hamstring. He re-aggravated the leg injury during Thursdays game. "I tried to go full speed to beat the throw to first," Gonzalez said. "Ive pulled the leg before, so its nothing. I just have to wait until it feels good again before I play a game." The Rockies were swept in a four-game series in San Francisco for the first time since July 17-20, 2003. They went 2-7 at AT&T Park this year and went 4-14 against the Giants. NOTES: Sandoval batted .500 (8 for 16) with seven RBIs and three homers during the series. ... Randy Winn was the last Giants player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate, on Aug. 30, 2008, at Cincinnati. ... Zito is 7-2 vs. the NL West and 12-3 when he pitches a scoreless first inning. ... Bochy planned to reach out to Reds skipper Dusty Baker, hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. ... The Rockies cleared room on the 40-man roster for De La Rosa by transferring LHP Christian Friedrich to the 60-day DL. ... Pagans double in the third gave him 56 extra-base hits, most on the Giants. ... The Giants improved to 7-11 in games going for a sweep. ... San Francisco topped its win total of 86 from last year, improving to 13-5 in September. ' ' '