August 8, 2005

In a tale of two Zambranos last night at Shea Stadium, it was the best of times and the worst of them for right-handers from Venezuela who wear No. 38. Victor Zambrano had a solid outing and guided the Mets to their fourth series sweep of the season. His counterpart on the Cubs, Carlos Zambrano, was hit hard and lasted three innings. ''I don't have to prove who's the better Zambrano,'' said Victor Zambrano, who pitched eight innings as the Mets concluded the three-game series with a 6-1 victory. ''Carlos is a great pitcher.''

Vaccine Alone Can't Stem Avian Flu, Experts Warn Health officials cautioned that the existence of an avian flu vaccine in itself would not be enough to avert a worldwide pandemic, saying countries need to quickly organize ways to give the shots. They said additional steps were needed to better prepare for a possible epidemic of the respiratory disease. PAGE A7 Mischievous Matchmaking In a bold bit of replacement casting, Rosie O'Donnell, left, will assume the role of Golde in ''Fiddler on the Roof'' on Broadway next month, joining Harvey Fierstein, who plays Tevye, in a ''marriage'' of two openly gay and outspoken actors. THE ARTS, PAGE E1 A Mother's War Protest The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who opposes the war has drawn attention by vowing to camp out near President Bush's Texas ranch until he agrees to meet with her. PAGE A13 Man Robbed in Bias Attack A black man walking home in a racially mixed Brooklyn neighborhood was attacked and robbed by a band of young white men, who leaped out of a car swinging a bat and an iron pipe while at least one shouted a racial slur, the police said. PAGE B1

So far this summer, Wing Goodale and his boss, David C. Evers, have used decoys and recorded bird calls to lure about 150 thrushes, warblers and other wild songbirds into nets here and in several others parts of New York City's Catskill Mountain Watershed to determine what is happening to the drinking water. From each tiny bird, no bigger than a cellphone, Mr. Goodale, a research biologist, gently takes blood samples with toothpick-size pipettes. Then Mr. Evers, also a biologist, stretches out a bird's wing and counts down to its 11th flight feather, which he deftly plucks and puts into a plastic storage bag for sampling.

Hotel and tourism executives have wanted a bigger convention hall to attract even bigger trade shows ever since the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center opened its doors in 1986. Last year, they got a plan nicknamed Javits Lite, a smaller-than-desired proposed expansion that was linked to the rezoning of the West Side for large-scale buildings and a controversial plan to build a stadium over the West Side railyards. Some convention proponents worried that the expanded Javits would still be undersized the day it opened.

A black man walking home alone in a racially mixed Brooklyn neighborhood early yesterday was attacked and robbed by a band of young white men, who leaped out of a car swinging a baseball bat and an iron pipe while at least one shouted a racial slur in what appeared to be a hate crime, the police said. ''I'm going to get you,'' the assailant yelled, adding a derogatory term for a black person, as the group surrounded the victim, Alex Moore, 29, about 1:30 a.m. at Avenue N and East 59th Street in the Flatlands neighborhood, the police said. They said that as the blows fell on his head and body, the attackers took at least $50 from him.