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(01/30/08 5:47am)
The Minnesota Twins reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to trade Johan Santana to the New York Mets.\nAfter months of deliberation, the Twins agreed part with two-time Cy Young Award winner to the Mets for outfielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey, two people familiar with the deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.\n“If it’s true, obviously, you’re getting arguably the best pitcher in the game,” Mets third baseman David Wright said.\nThe next step is for the Mets to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, who is eligible for free agency after this season. Santana is owed $13.25 million this year and likely will seek an extension of at least five years worth $20 million annually.\nTeams are given 72-hour windows to reach agreements on contracts in tentative trades. If the Mets and Santana reach an agreement, the players being traded would have to pass physicals.\nThe Mets emerged as the top candidate for a trade after the winter meetings, when the New York Yankees withdrew their offer, which included pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, and the Red Sox refused to improve their proposals, which included pitcher Jon Lester or outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and prospects.\nTwins general manager Bill Smith called teams last weekend and asked them to make their best offers. Smith informed the Mets on Tuesday that he was accepting their proposal.\nA left-hander who turns 29 in March, Santana gives the Mets a replacement for Tom Glavine, who left New York to return to the Atlanta Braves. New York’s rotation also includes Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Orlando Hernandez and Oliver Perez.\nSantana is 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA in eight major league seasons, winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006. He has been less successful in the playoffs, going 1-3 with a 3.97 ERA.\n“For our younger pitchers to develop under a guy like Pedro, a guy like Johan, you can’t ask for any better situation,” Wright said. “He’s going to go out there and he’s going to give you seven or eight innings every five days and he’s going to get you a win. That’s just what it comes down to. I’ve gotten a chance to get to know him a little bit the past couple years. He seems like a great clubhouse guy. He’s going to fit in perfectly with the chemistry that we have.”\nWith Santana gone, there is a big opening in the Twins’ rotation. Francisco Liriano is on track to return after missing last season following elbow surgery, but Carlos Silva signed with Seattle as a free agent, leaving youngsters Scott Baker, Boof Bonser and Kevin Slowey as the starters with the most experience.\nHumber, a 25-year-old right-hander, has made one start and four relief appearances for the Mets during the past two years, and went 11-9 with a 4.27 ERA last season for Triple-A New Orleans. The 22-year-old Gomez batted .232 in 125 at-bats with New York last year and .275 with 19 steals in the minors.\nThe tentative agreement was first reported by USA Today on its Web site.
(01/14/08 5:37am)
Roger Clemens’ lawyer wouldn’t commit Sunday to having the pitcher give a deposition to congressional investigators, even as he said the seven-time Cy Young Award winner remains willing to testify in open session before a House committee investigating denials that he used performance-enhancing drugs.\nClemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, was likely to meet this week with staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has asked him to testify Feb. 13 along with his accuser, former trainer Brian McNamee. The committee wants to take depositions from the pair along with Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch and Kirk Radomski, the former Mets clubhouse attendant who has admitted supplying players with steroids and human growth hormone.\nHardin wouldn’t directly answer questions about a deposition.\n“There has been absolutely no change in Roger’s willingness and indeed desire to testify under oath before Congress in a public hearing at a date of the Oversight Committee’s choosing,” Hardin said in a statement. “Any suggestion that he or we are having any second thoughts about that is absolutely false. All other pre-appearance issues and scheduling we will discuss privately with the committee and do not think it is appropriate to discuss those matters publicly.”\nMcNamee told baseball drugs investigator George Mitchell that he injected Clemens with steroids and HGH in 1998, 2000 and 2001, allegations the pitcher denies.\nESPN.com, citing an unidentified individual familiar with the inquiry, reported Hardin is hedging on whether Clemens will give a deposition because it could interfere with the defamation suit Clemens filed against McNamee on Jan. 6. The individual also said Hardin might not give the committee the recording of a Dec. 12 interview involving McNamee and Clemens’ investigators.\n“This backtracking by Hardin is indicative of him getting cold feet. Roger will never testify,” said Richard Emery, one of McNamee’s lawyers. “Now we’re seeing his true colors being revealed, that he’s refusing to go before Congress and do that by trying to put it off.”\nA deposition allows staff lawyers for the committee time to push witnesses on points in ways congressmen often don’t. Any inconsistencies the deposition and later testimony during a hearing could be exposed.\n“He has no choice in the matter if he’s subpoenaed,” Emery said.\nMcNamee’s lawyers keep hinting there is additional evidence to back his account but won’t go into details.\n“We’ve always said there will be clear corroboration,” Emery said. “Clear corroboration exists. And I won’t say anything more.”\nIn the opener of Congress’ baseball/steroids doubleheader, commissioner Bud Selig, union head Donald Fehr and Mitchell are to testify before the committee on Tuesday. Mitchell has refused to release most of the evidence supporting his report, saying that decision was up to Major League Baseball and others who supplied evidence to him.\nA former Senate majority leader and current Boston Red Sox director, Mitchell made 20 recommendations in his Dec. 13 report. Selig has adopted many but others are subject to collective bargaining, such as Mitchell’s call for drug testing to be moved to an independent body.\nPlayers have complained that Mitchell had no standard of evidence for what he printed in the report. Clemens angrily was upset that he has been presumed guilty.\nFehr said the issue goes beyond that.\n“Once the report issues, there’s going to be a natural tendency for people to treat it as accurate merely because it issued and that is without any sort of the normal process you would have,” Fehr said. “The whole premise of drug-testing is that you are presumed guilty unless you are proved innocent, and that is fairly inconsistent with normal modes of jurisprudence, but that’s what we have.”
(01/07/08 5:22am)
Roger Clemens might be willing to take a lie-detector test, was “shocked” close friend Andy Pettitte used human growth hormone and, in his first interview since the Mitchell Report, said – again – that he probably will retire. \nClemens told CBS's “60 Minutes” in the interview, which was to be broadcast Sunday night, that he would have spoken with baseball drug investigator George Mitchell had he been aware former trainer Brian McNamee accused him of using steroids and HGH. \nThe seven-time Cy Young Award winner and most prominent player implicated in last month’s Mitchell Report, Clemens steadfastly maintained his innocence and called McNamee’s allegations “totally false.” \nIn excerpts of the Dec. 28 interview that were released Thursday, Clemens said McNamee, his former personal trainer, injected him with vitamin B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine. In the full broadcast, Clemens also said he was given an injection of toradol under the supervision of the New York Yankees. \nMcNamee told Mitchell he injected Clemens with steroids and HGH about 16 to 21 times during 1998, 2000 and 2001 – before baseball players and owners agreed to ban performance-enhancing substances. \n“If he's doing that to me, I should have a third ear coming out of my forehead,” Clemens said, according to a transcript released by CBS. “I should be pulling tractors with my teeth.” \nHe said his lawyer advised him not to speak with Mitchell. \n“If I would’ve known what this man, Brian McNamee, had said in this report, I would have been down there in a heartbeat to take care of it,” Clemens said. \nOnly two active players, Jason Giambi and Frank Thomas, spoke with Mitchell, a Boston Red Sox director and a former Senate majority leader. \nOn Friday, Clemens did speak with McNamee by telephone, an individual close to the situation said, speaking on condition of anonymity because public comments weren't authorized. The conversation first was reported Sunday by Newsday. \nThe individual would not say what was discussed between the two. \nClemens is scheduled to hold a news conference Monday in Houston, part of his campaign to clear his name. In addition, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has asked Clemens, Pettitte and McNamee to testify under oath at a Jan. 16 hearing. \nFormer Yankees teammate Chuck Knoblauch, McNamee and former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, who allegedly supplied McNamee with performance-enhancing drugs, also have been asked to testify. \n“I don't know if I can defend myself,” Clemens said. “I think people – a lot of people have already made their decisions.” \nOne of the few revelations in the much-hyped interview came when Clemens was asked whether he could conceivably take a lie detector test. \n“Yeah,” he answered. “I don't know if they’re good or bad.” \nEighth on the career list with 354 wins, the 45-year-old Clemens told CBS’s Mike Wallace he was angered McNamee’s accusations have been accepted as truth by some. \n“It’s hogwash for people to even assume this,” Clemens said. “Twenty-four, 25 years, Mike. You’d think I’d get an inch of respect. An inch.” \nClemens said the descriptions McNamee gave Mitchell of injections “never happened.” McNamee said Clemens asked him to inject him in the buttocks because Clemens did not like belly-button shots he presumably could inject himself. \n“If I have these needles and these steroids and all these drugs, what, where did I get ‘em?” he said. “Where is the person out there (who) gave ‘em to me? Please, please come forward.” \nMcNamee said he obtained the drugs from Radomski or Clemens supplied them. \n“Why didn’t I keep doing it if it was so good for me? Why didn't I break down? Why didn't my tendons turn to dust?” Clemens said. \nShortly before Mitchell’s findings were released Dec. 13, Clemens said McNamee e-mailed him asking where Clemens bought fishing equipment in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but never brought up the upcoming report. \nMcNamee told Mitchell he injected Pettitte with HGH in 2002. Pettitte issued a statement saying he took two HGH injections while rehabbing his elbow. \n“I had no knowledge of what Andy was doing,” Clemens said. \nAsked why McNamee would tell the truth about Pettitte and lie about Clemens, Clemens said Pettitte's case was “totally separate.” \n“I was shocked to learn about Andy’s situation,” Clemens said. “Had no idea about it.” \nClemens also discussed his use of Vioxx, an arthritis medication withdrawn from the market in 2004 because a clinical trial revealed increased risk of heart attack and stroke. \n“I was eating Vioxx like it was Skittles,” Clemens said. “And now that, now these people who are supposedly regulating it, tell me it's bad for my heart.” \nClemens has said he was retired after each of the past four seasons but came back each time, spending three seasons with his hometown Houston Astros and then returning to the Yankees last year. He said “you'll never see me pitch again,” but hedged slightly and said “probably.” \nClemens wouldn’t say what penalty should be assessed on an individual found to have used performance-enhancing drugs. \n“I think it’s a self-inflicted penalty. They break down quick. It's a quick fix,” he said. “They’re in and out of the game.”
(12/07/07 5:05am)
Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball’s drug policy, an indication how the sport might treat any players named in the Mitchell steroids investigation.\nGuillen and Gibbons were accused in media reports of receiving human growth hormone after January 2005, when it was banned by baseball.\nGary Matthews Jr., Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis also were linked to HGH, but baseball officials decided there was “insufficient evidence” to determine they committed a doping violation. The players were accused of receiving performance-enhancing drugs before 2005.\nFormer Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was hired by baseball commissioner Bud Selig in March 2006 to investigate drugs in baseball, and his report is to be released by the end of the month.\nGuillen instructed the players association to file a grievance, which would be decided by an arbitrator. Gibbons will not challenge his penalty.\nEarlier in the day, Guillen and Kansas City finalized their $36 million, three-year contract.\n“We signed Jose knowing that was a possibility,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said of the free-agent outfielder. “While my initial reaction is one of disappointment, I am thoroughly convinced that Jose will put this behind him and we collectively support him as he begins a new chapter in his baseball life.”\nGibbons accepted responsibility and apologized.\n“I am deeply sorry for the mistakes that I have made. I have no excuses and bare sole responsibility for my decisions,” the Baltimore outfielder said. “Years ago, I relied on the advice of a doctor, filled a prescription, charged the HGH, which is a medication, to my credit card and had only intended to help speed my recovery from my injuries and surgeries.”\nThe 15-day penalties match what a second offense would have drawn under 2003-04 rules. Current rules call for a 50-game suspension for a first offense, a 100-game penalty for a second and a lifetime ban for a third.\nCleveland pitcher Paul Byrd was linked by the San Francisco Chronicle to purchases of HGH between August 2002 and January 2005. Byrd, who has not yet been interviewed by the commissioner’s office, said he took it for a medical condition and did so under a doctor’s supervision.\n“Other open investigations should be completed shortly,” MLB said in a statement.\nThe six players whose cases were resolved Thursday met with baseball officials after media reports that their names surfaced in a national drug investigation by the district attorney in Albany, N.Y.\nThe Chronicle reported last month that Guillen bought human growth hormone, two types of testosterone and the steroids stanozolol and nandrolone between May 2002 and June 2005.\nGibbons got six shipments of Genotropin (a brand name for synthetic human growth hormone), two shipments of testosterone and two shipments of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) between October 2003 and July 2005, SI.com said in September.\nAnkiel, a St. Louis outfielder, admitted he used HGH in 2004. The New York Daily News reported he received eight shipments of prescription HGH that year.\nGlaus, a Toronto third baseman, received multiple shipments of nandrolone and testosterone between September 2003 and May 2004, SI.com reported.\nMatthews, a Los Angeles Angels outfielder, received Genotropin in August 2004, according to SI.com.\nSchoeneweis, a reliever on the New York Mets, received six shipments of steroids in 2003 and 2004, ESPN.com reported.\nThe Chronicle said Byrd made 13 purchases of HGH between August 2002 and January 2005.
(12/07/07 5:03am)
Andruw Jones is following Joe Torre to the Los Angeles Dodgers.\nThe Gold Glove center fielder and the Dodgers reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday night on a $36.2 million, two-year contract that gives him the fifth-highest average salary in the major leagues.\nJones, the former Atlanta star who has won 10 straight Gold Glove Awards, is coming off one of the worst offensive seasons of his career. But if he rebounds, he could give the Dodgers a desperately needed boost in the middle of their lineup. He must pass a physical for the deal to be completed, a person familiar with the negotiations said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.\nA five-time All-Star, Jones will receive a $12.2 million signing bonus, of which $5.1 million is payable next year, $2.1 million in 2009 and $5 million in 2010. He will receive salaries of $9 million next year and $15 million in 2009, and will also receive a no-trade clause.\nScott Boras, his agent, wouldn’t confirm the agreement but sounded as if a deal had fallen into place.\n“Being on a competitive team was a very, very important part of his process,” he said.\nJones hit .222 this season, his lowest average since he batted .217 in 106 at-bats as a rookie in 1996. His 26 home runs were his fewest since 1997. He drove in 94 runs for the Braves, but finished with a paltry .311 on-base percentage.\nHad Jones finished with big numbers, he likely would have sought a longer-term agreement. Boras said there were really only two options when it came to length.\n“Very, very long-term or very, very short term,” he said. “Nothing in between.”\nJones didn’t consider a one-year contract.\n“I wouldn’t put a player in that position, mainly because (he) just went through that,” Boras said. “That was never an option.”\nDodgers general manager Ned Colletti did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.\nJones is a .263 career hitter with 368 home runs and 1,117 RBIs. He was runner-up for the NL MVP award in 2005, when he had 51 homers and 128 RBIs. The following season he hit 41 home runs with a career-high 129 RBIs.\nHe made $13.5 million this year, the final season of a five-year contract. The Braves made no effort to re-sign him.\nJones’ $18.1 million average salary trails only those of the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million), Boston’s Manny Ramirez ($20 million), the Yankees’ Derek Jeter ($18.9 million) and the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano ($18.3 million).
(07/11/07 11:42pm)
SAN FRANCISCO – Ichiro Suzuki sped around the bases as the ball bounced away from Ken Griffey Jr. for the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star game history. On a night of tricky hops, Suzuki and the American League rebounded to win – as usual.\nInstead of a Barry Bonds splash shot, the defining hit at Tuesday’s All-Star game was Suzuki’s drive off the right-field wall at quirky AT&T Park.\nHis two-run homer in the fifth inning put the AL ahead, then Carl Crawford and Victor Martinez added conventional shots, and the Americans held on for a 5-4 victory over the Nationals.\n“I thought it was going to go over the fence,” Suzuki said through a translator. “When it didn’t, I was really bummed.”\nIn a decade of dominance, the AL has won 10 straight games played to a decision, with the notorious 2002 tie at Milwaukee interrupting the run. The only longer streak was when the NL took 11 in a row from 1972-82.\n“We’re tired of losing always,” the Chicago Cubs’ Derrek Lee said. “We just want to win one and put all of this to rest.”\nSuzuki’s home run ball – smudged with green and red and signed by the Japanese star – immediately was handed over to the Hall of Fame.\n“He’s an artist with that bat,” NL manager Tony La Russa said.\nThat wasn’t the only drama.\nAlfonso Soriano hit a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth that made it 5-4, and the NL loaded the bases on three walks. Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez then retired Aaron Rowand on a routine fly to right for a save.\n“I didn’t enjoy it a bit,” said AL manager Jim Leyland, so competitive that he screamed at an umpire in the ninth.\nSoriano, who joined Frank Robinson as the only player to hit All-Star homers with each league, connected off Seattle closer J.J. Putz, who then walked J.J. Hardy. Rodriguez relieved and walked Lee on a full count – Leyland screamed at first-base umpire Charlie Reliford about a check swing. A walk to Orlando Hudson loaded the bases before Rowand’s fly ended it.\n“I just missed it, just missed it,” Rowand said. “I was trying to hit a line drive somewhere, score a couple of runs. I just missed hitting that ball off or over that fence.”\nSuzuki, on the verge of a large contract extension from the Mariners, had been 3-for-15 in All-Star play coming in. He got three hits, was the game’s MVP and will be remembered for his strange shot, unfamiliar even to ballpark regulars such as Bonds.\n“He came up to me and said I’ve never seen that happen before,” Griffey said.\nBonds, the center of attention in the days before the game, had a quiet night. He flied to right field in the first, hit an opposite-field shot to the warning track in left in the third, then departed at the top of the fourth.\nHe received a huge ovation after he came out on the red carpet during the pregame introductions and bowed three times to his adoring hometown fans. Hitting in the No. 2 spot – his last regular-season appearance in that slot was 20 years ago – he even faked a bunt on the first pitch of his second at-bat.\n“There’s too many emotions to be able to explain it,” he said. “This is my family who I grew up for a lot of years. All I can do is say thank you.”\nHis chase for Hank Aaron’s home run record resumes later this week, and the scrutiny will return. But for a night, the swirl of steroids speculation lifted along with the San Francisco fog.\nGriffey was the early star. He put the NL ahead with an RBI single in the first off Dan Haren, then threw out Alex Rodriguez trying to score from second in the fourth on Ivan Rodriguez’s single.\nCrawford homered with two outs in the sixth against Francisco Cordero to make it 3-1. The ball went a little to the center-field side of Suzuki’s shot, about 20 feet from the sign that totals Bonds’ homers, currently 751. A fan appeared to reach over the brick wall, about 19 feet high, and gather up the ball.\nGriffey drove in the NL’s second run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half against Justin Verlander after Carlos Beltran nearly duplicated Suzuki’s shot off the wall but was held to a triple by Vladimir Guerrero. Martinez banged the 18th pinch-hit homer in All-Star history, a two-run drive in the eight off Mets closer Billy Wagner.\nBonds didn’t seem to mind that he wasn’t the hero.\n“It was fabulous. It was great,” he said. “Another chapter to my career.”
(07/02/07 12:37am)
NEW YORK – Scott Boras loves the World Series so much, he wants to make it best-of-nine – and open with two games at a neutral site.\nArguing that the shift would create a marketing bonanza that would rival the Super Bowl, Boras outlined his ideas in a two-page letter he sent to baseball commissioner Bud Selig on April 15.\n“I know from an owner’s perspective, this is a gold mine,” Boras said. “To have a World Series Weekend, WSW, I think it will create a stage that the game has not seen.”\nBoras, the high-profile agent with high-profile clients who earn high-octane paychecks, said in a Thursday interview that he will meet with the commissioner after the All-Star break to discuss his proposal. He would open the weekend on a Friday night with a televised gala announcing the MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards and have the five top candidates for each in attendance.\nHall of Fame voting would be announced Saturday, with the opener that night and Game 2 on Sunday night. After that, the Series would pick up the 2-3-2 format that’s been used since 1925 (except for 1943 and 1945, when there were wartime travel restrictions). If the scheduled host club for the opener won the pennant, the Series could become a 3-4-2.\nCities would bid far in advance for the right to host the first two games, and baseball would solicit corporate money, trying to create an event similar to the Super Bowl, Final Four and BCS Championship. Figure on hotels with flowing hospitality suites, ballparks surrounded by champagne-and-caviar-filled tents and tarmacs cluttered with private jets.\n“Create this buzz around it the same way they do the Super Bowl,” Arizona outfielder Eric Byrnes said. “I think (it’s) a very innovative idea.”\nAt the same time, it would add more tense games to a postseason in which World Series champions already have to pile up 11 wins.\n“Nine games? It’s too long,” said New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter, the owner of four World Series rings.\nThe World Series originally was a best-of-nine affair, with the Boston Americans (now the Red Sox) beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 in 1903. The Series switched to best-of-seven for the second edition in 1905 and has remained that way with the exception of 1919, 1920 and 1921, when it again was best-of-nine.\nThat, of course, was before television. Extra postseason games these days translate to more broadcast revenue.\n“I could see how that would possibly be a big draw, a big money maker, something cool and new,” San Francisco Giants player representative Randy Winn said. “But I think a seven-game Series is more than enough to decide who the world champion is.”\nBoras is convinced winning the right to stage the first two games would be a windfall for the host club, which would tie access to Series seats to season-ticket plans. Teams currently do that with the All-Star game.\nChicago’s Wrigley Field hasn’t hosted a World Series since 1945. The Series hasn’t been to Washington, D.C., since 1933, and it’s never been hosted by Colorado, Seattle, Tampa Bay or Texas.\n“The World Series is something that rarely gets to a number of venues in professional baseball,” Boras said. “And that’s one problem because we want the fan base of particular cities to participate in the World Series even though there may be a lull in the particular performance of the regional team.”\nGiven baseball’s traditional conservatism and resistance to change, Boras’ idea likely won’t be adopted anytime soon. But it has gotten some people thinking.\n“I’m not a guy that would just want to hold onto the past for the sake of combating change,” said Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten, who had one conversation with Boras about the proposal. “But in this case, I think we have such brand equity in the marketplace established with a seven-game Fall Classic, played in the two home cities. I really like that. For a lot of reasons, I think that neutral sites wouldn’t work the way they do in other sports.”\nBut if baseball ever does include neutral-site games, businesses would salivate to be involved.\n“I think the opportunity to celebrate the ultimate of our national pastime in a neutral location opens up a whole host of opportunities for corporate sponsors,” said Eric Kraus, a sports marketing executive formerly with Gillette and now with Covidien. “Like an All-Star game or like the Super Bowl, you’re bringing in a whole host of fans and corporate partners that you wouldn’t be able to reach.”
(12/08/06 4:43am)
Juergen Klinsmann withdrew his name Thursday from consideration as coach of the U.S. soccer team after several months of talks failed to lead to an agreement.\nU.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati scheduled a telephone conference call with reporters Friday "to make an important announcement on the search for the next head coach of the U.S. men's national team," a USSF statement said.\nBob Bradley, the coach of Major League Soccer's Chivas USA team, will be announced Friday as the interim coach of the national team, a soccer official with knowledge of the decision told the AP. He also spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.\nKlinsmann, who led Germany to the World Cup semifinals last summer, was the overwhelming favorite for the U.S. job.\n"Sunil (Gulati) and I have concluded our discussions about the U.S. men's national team program, and I have withdrawn my name from consideration as coach," he said in an e-mailed statement. "I'm not going to go into details about our conversations. But, I certainly want to wish the next coach of the U.S. men's national team much success, and I want to, also, thank Sunil for the opportunity to exchange ideas."\nEarlier this week, it appeared the USSF and Klinsmann were moving toward an agreement. Authority was as big an issue as money in the talks, a second person familiar with the negotiations said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.\nKlinsmann's friend, Bruce Arena, was let go in July after 7 1/2 years as U.S. coach. Arena led the American team to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002, the best showing by the United States since the initial tournament in 1930. But the U.S. team was eliminated in the first round this year.\nA former star forward for Germany's national team, Klinsmann took on the Germany job as his first professional coaching assignment. He lives in Newport Beach, Calif. -- a close commute to the practice facility in Carson where the Americans often train.\nThe United States, which hasn't played since it was eliminated from the World Cup in June, opens 2007 with a Jan. 20 exhibition against Denmark at Carson and may meet Mexico on Feb. 7 in the Phoenix area.\nBradley coached 12 years at Princeton before becoming an assistant to Bruce Arena at D.C. United in 1996, when he also served as an assistant to the U.S. Olympic team. He moved to the expansion Chicago Fire team in 1998, winning the MLS Cup title in his first season.\nHe returned to his native New Jersey to take over the MetroStars for the 2003 season and remained for nearly three full seasons before he was fired. He quickly returned to MLS, assuming control of Chivas USA before the start of the 2006 season.\nHe has won more games in MLS (124) than any other coach. Bradley also has won 14 in the postseason.
(12/04/06 5:13am)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Barry and Manny figure to be mentioned prominently alongside Grumpy and Dopey when baseball's winter meetings open Monday at Disney World.\nBarry Bonds and Barry Zito are among the most notable of the unsigned free agents heading into the four-day session of signings and swaps, and Manny Ramirez once again is being dangled in trade discussions by the Boston Red Sox.\nThus far, some general managers have spent nearly as wildly as they did in the great bull market following the 2000 season, when Alex Rodriguez got his record $252 million deal with Texas and Ramirez agreed to a $160 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. In the past two weeks, Alfonso Soriano got a $136 million agreement from the Chicago Cubs, and Carlos Lee was guaranteed $100 million by the Houston Astros.\nSome teams have shied away from big-name free agents, preferring to concentrate on lower-priced players and trade talks.\n"We're going to sign them to the value we think is right, not what the market is dictating," St. Louis Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said. "The market right now is kind of silly, and it may continue to be silly."\nBonds' agent, Jeff Borris, was angry with the Giants for not offering salary arbitration to the 42-year-old left fielder, coming off a $90 million, five-year contract with San Francisco, and he might step up his efforts with other teams. Zito, who spent his first seven seasons with the Oakland Athletics, is the top available free-agent pitcher in a market desperately seeking arms. Scott Boras, known for pushing for high prices, represents Zito.\n"The market has definitely spiked. There's no doubt about it," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "It's clear that there's a lot of available money to be spent, probably more holes on teams than players to fill them."\nBoston $51,111,111 bid just for the right to negotiate with ace pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka under baseball's posting system with the Japanese Leagues, and the New York Yankees offered $26,000,194 for Kei Igawa, projected as a No. 4 of five starters. The contracts for those two likely won't be resolved until later in the month.\nZito and Jason Schmidt, another free-agent pitcher, are expected to command big bucks and be a focus of the winter meetings.\n"You would wonder when the pitching is going to order itself," San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "There have been some signings, but they have not been sequential."\nAll the money committed thus far has caught the attention of commissioner Bud Selig, who repeatedly has warned teams about making lengthy big-money deals. Soriano's contract is for eight years.\nSome players regarded as less-than-top-line stars have gotten huge contracts, a group that includes outfielders Gary Matthews Jr. ($50 million over five years from the Los Angeles Angels) and Juan Pierre ($44 million over five years from the Cubs). After opting out of the final three years and $33 million of guaranteed money from the Los Angeles Dodgers, J.D. Drew is in the final stages of completing a $70 million, five-year agreement with the Red Sox.\nSelig isn't ready to draw any conclusions on whether teams have gone back to rash financial practices.\n"I want to let this whole thing play out; then I'll make a judgment. It's a little too early yet," Selig said. "I want another month or two to go by. I'll be able to give you an answer in January."\nBoston hasn't commented on its talks involving Ramirez. The Red Sox explored trades following the 2004 and 2005 seasons without finding any deals they liked.\nRamirez is owed $18 million next year and $20 million in 2008, of which $4 million annually is deferred, but his contract contains a pair of $20 million team options, and he might ask that they be guaranteed in exchange for waiving his no-trade rights.\nIn this market, that might be considered value by some teams.\n"I don't think anyone anticipated this spike a year ago. Otherwise they would have locked up all their players," Epstein said. "There are a lot of clubs with holes to fill so it should be an exciting meeting"
(11/29/06 5:53am)
NEW YORK -- Tony La Russa will defend Mark McGwire until the end: To him, Big Mac is a Hall of Famer.\n"I've believed in him from day one. I still believe in him," the St. Louis Cardinals manager said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.\nMcGwire is appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, and an AP survey of 125 baseball writers who are eligible to vote -- about 20 percent of the total -- showed that only one in four who gave an opinion planned to vote for McGwire.\n"It would be two in five then. I'd make it two in five," La Russa said. "I can't answer for anybody else, what priorities they give and how they weigh stuff. I know what my personal opinion is, and that's the way it stays."\nMcGwire, a 12-time All-Star, is seventh on the career home run list with 583, but his status plummeted in the minds of many after former Oakland teammate Jose Canseco accused him last year of using steroids. McGwire evaded questions during a March 2005 congressional hearing, saying repeatedly: "I'm not here to talk about the past."\nLa Russa managed McGwire from 1986-95 with the Oakland Athletics, then from 1997-2001 with the Cardinals. La Russa repeatedly has said that he never saw McGwire use any performance-enhancing drugs.\n"I've watched him for years and years and years work out and take care of himself, and if any of us do that, we get bigger and stronger," La Russa said.\nMcGwire's business manager, Jim Milner, did not return telephone calls Monday and Tuesday seeking comment.\nFor La Russa, it's hard to gauge whether McGwire is being treated unfairly because of his refusal to answer questions at the congressional hearing.\n"I know people are struggling with how to put it in perspective," he said. "I don't know where it goes. I don't know how people weigh. I don't know how the public feels. To me, the issue is the player that I saw for years and years. I believe in him. And that's where I leave it."\nMcGwire has stayed away from most baseball events -- he wasn't seen at any of the St. Louis Cardinals' World Series games this year. While La Russa remains in close contact, they haven't discussed the upcoming Hall of Fame vote.\n"I talk to him frequently. We don't talk about it. We have other things to talk about," La Russa said.\nSt. Louis beat the Detroit Tigers in five games last month for its first World Series title since 1982. For La Russa, this offseason is a time to savor.\n"It's been good. Enjoying every bit of it," he said. "You wouldn't feel it as deeply as you do having been though a bunch of misses"
(10/29/06 11:21pm)
ST. LOUIS -- Bud Selig and Donald Fehr sat in the center of a dais, flanked by players and owners. For the second time in four years, they were proclaiming labor peace.\n"The last agreement produced stunning growth and revenue," Selig said. "I believe that five years from now people will be stunned how well we grew the sport."\nThe five-year collective bargaining agreement, which runs through the 2011 season, is subject to ratification by both sides. The deal makes relatively minor changes to the previous agreement and doesn't alter baseball's drug rules.\n"This is the golden era in every way," Selig said. "The economics of our sport have improved dramatically, and that's good. That, after all, made for a more wholesome atmosphere. We didn't have to quarrel about a lot of things. So overall, it was a very, very important part of the environment that continues peace."\nThe current contract, reached in August 2002, was set to expire Dec. 19. After eight work stoppages between 1972 and 1995, baseball will be assured of 16 years of labor peace.\n"I think you always have a better relationship when both sides are making money," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said before St. Louis beat the Tigers 5-0 to take a 2-1 World Series lead. "That kind of always seems to work out in the end -- doesn't it? -- for whatever reason, when the owner's happy and putting a little in his pocket, and the player is happy and putting a little in his pocket. In our case, I guess in our game, a lot in both pockets."\nColorado Rockies pitcher Ray King, a member of the union's negotiating team, thought back to the 2002 agreement, reached just hours before players were set to strike.\n"Anytime you have peace, it's a good thing," he said. "I remember going back to when I was in Milwaukee, I was wondering if the bus was going to leave."\nThe deal continues, with some tinkering, existing luxury tax and revenue-sharing rules, provisions that funneled money from large-market teams to their competitors. The payroll threshold for the luxury tax increases from $136.5 million this year to $148 million next year, then goes up each year until it reaches $178 million in 2011.\nUnder the current contract, the luxury tax mainly has affected the New York Yankees, who paid $11.8 million in 2003, $26 million in 2004 and $34.1 million in 2005. Boston paid $3.15 million in 2004 and $4.1 million last year, and the Angels paid about $900,000 in 2004.\nThe minimum salary increases, from $327,000 this year to $380,000 next season, and amateur draft pick compensation for some free agents who sign with new teams will be eliminated. Players selected in the June amateur draft who aren't college seniors must sign by Aug. 15, taking away the leverage of any threats to remain in school.\nIn addition, the Dec. 7 and Jan. 8 deadlines for free agents to re-sign with their former teams were eliminated, and management agreed there would be no contraction under the term of the agreement.\n"I'd been waiting for most of that time to see if we could ever get to the place where we reached an agreement prior to expiration," said players association head Fehr, whose first negotiations as union chief was in 1985. "And while I always understood intellectually it was possible and that was the goal, I'm not really sure I believed that it could happen."\nWith the new labor contract, baseball's drug-testing rules also will be extended through the 2011 season. When both sides agreed to toughened drug-testing last November, they said that deal would run through the next labor contract.\nBoth sides said they would consider adding testing for Human Growth Hormone.\n"If a urine test is developed and scientifically validated and all the 'i's' are dotted and 't's' are crossed, here is an understanding that we will adopt that test," Fehr said. "Blood tests we will talk about when one is validated. But as far as I know, and we check fairly frequently on this, there is not that testing available yet."\nNegotiations have been going on behind the scenes for months.\n"They were without the usual rancor. They were without the usual dueling press conferences. They were without the usual leaks," Selig said. "In other words, these negotiations were conducted professionally, with dignity and with results. These negotiations were emblematic of the new spirit of cooperation and trust that now exists between the clubs and the players."\nLast March's initial World Baseball Classic forced the sides to work in unison.\n"What it produced was a realization that you really could do things together," Fehr said. "It seems to me that the mood that it helped sustain was very important"
(10/06/06 4:13am)
NEW YORK -- Justin Verlander and Detroit's bullpen held down the New York Yankees' mighty offense, bringing just enough 100 mph heat to send the Tigers home with a split.\nCurtis Granderson hit a go-ahead triple off Mike Mussina in the seventh inning to cap a comeback from a two-run deficit, and the Tigers beat the Yankees 4-3 Thursday to even their best-of-five AL playoff series at one game apiece.\nAfter the threat of rain caused a postponement Wednesday night, the skies were sunny for the rare postseason day game at Yankee Stadium. Before a somewhat stunned crowd of 56,252, the wild-card Tigers ended a six-game losing streak that stretched to the final week of the regular season.\nVerlander, his pitches reaching 100 mph, allowed his only runs on Johnny Damon's fourth-inning homer, which put New York ahead 3-1. Jamie Walker, Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones finished, facing 10 batters and getting 11 outs, including a double play.\nZumaya topped out at 102 mph, according to the center-field scoreboard. Walker got the win, and Jones pitched the ninth for the save.\nHideki Matsui singled off Jones leading off the ninth. Jones, a soft tosser when compared to the Tigers' other hard throwers, struck out Jorge Posada, retired Robinson Cano on a soft fly and got Damon to fly out on a 92-mph pitch.\nNew York, an overwhelming favorite with All-Stars at every position, won Tuesday's opener 8-4 and had plenty of chances early in this one. The Yankees struck out nine times and went 1-for-8 with men in scoring position.\nAlex Rodriguez had another tough day at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including one that ended the first with the bases loaded.\nA-Rod, booed loudly after his final two at-bats, hasn't driven in a run in his last 10 postseason games and is 5-for-40 (.125) in his last 11. He's 1-for-8 with four strikeouts in this series.\nWhen the series resumes in Detroit on Friday night, Randy Johnson (17-11) will test his stiff back for New York, opposed by former-Yankee Kenny Rogers (17-8). Because of the rainout, the teams lost their travel day.\nDamon's three-run homer into the right-field upper deck erased an early Detroit lead created by Marcus Thames' second-inning RBI single. The Tigers tied it at 3 on Granderson's fifth-inning sacrifice fly and Carlos Guillen's sixth-inning homer into the right-field lower deck.\nThames singled leading off the seventh for his third hit of the game, took second on Posada's passed ball and went to third when No. 9 hitter Brandon Inge sacrificed.\nNew York moved the infield in, and Granderson fell behind 0-2 and fouled off two more pitches before lining the ball to the wall in left-center. With the infield still in, Placido Polanco lined to Rodriguez, who made a dive to the third-base bag and nearly doubled up Polanco. Sean Casey then flied out.\nVerlander, a 23-year-old rookie who went 17-9 during the regular season, kept getting in and out of trouble early. New York loaded the bases in the first on Damon's single and a pair of walks. But, after a mound visit from pitching coach Chuck Hernandez, Verlander got Rodriguez to miss a 99 mph fastball and foul off a 100 mph fastball before freezing him with an offspeed pitch for a third strike.\nNew York got its first two runners on in the second but failed to score, and Gary Sheffield followed Bobby Abreu's leadoff walk in the third by grounding into a double play.
(06/19/06 3:58am)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- They lumbered from end to end, desperate to stop the blue surge of Italians and salvage their World Cup.\nTwo U.S. players had been ejected. What could have been the winning goal was disallowed.\nAnd in the end, with players dropping to field in exhaustion, the United States managed a wild 1-1 tie Saturday night that gave the Americans their first-ever World Cup point in Europe and a chance to advance to the tournament's second round.\nThey'll need a win and some help, but the Americans are still players on the World Cup stage. Even if they needed an own-goal to tie the Italians.\n"This team is alive, and that's where we wanted to be," goalkeeper Kasey Keller said. "It was a total team effort, and those guys bled today for our country and our team."\nHe wasn't exaggerating.\nForward Brian McBride had three stitches on one cheek from a vicious elbow. A bandage covered where Landon Donovan received intravenous fluid. Jimmy Conrad had cotton stuffed up his nose, also the result of an elbow, and played part of the game with vision so blurry he had to ask a teammate whether he was bleeding.\n"A roller-coaster," Clint Dempsey called it.\nHarshly criticized for lackluster and nervous play in their opener, the Americans came out strong, winning the ball and living in Italy's half of the field.\nBut then Alberto Gilardino got behind the defense and headed Andrea Pirlo's free kick past Keller in the 22nd minute. The Americans tied the score in the 27th when Italy defender Cristian Zaccardo knocked Bobby Convey's free kick into the net as he tried to clear the ball before it reached McBride.\nWhen the whistle blew, the American players went to a corner of the field to salute the thousands of fans in red, white and blue who made a stadium near several U.S. military bases feel like a home field.\n"They were behind us, in front us, to the side of us. They were everywhere," defender Oguchi Onyewu said. "It definitely lifted us and gave us that extra push."\nEntering the day, it appeared the Americans would need a win. But in the earlier game, Ghana upset the Czechs 2-0. The result complicated a group that after the first games seemed clear.\nItaly (1-0-1) leads with four points, one ahead of the Czechs and Ghana (both 1-1) and three ahead of the Americans (0-1-1).\nFor the United States to reach the round of 16, it must win, coupled with an Italian victory over the Czechs. Or Italy would have to tie the Czechs along with a U.S. victory by at least four goals, and maybe more. The U.S. also could advance if Italy loses depending on how the Americans fare in tiebreakers.\nThe draw was a milestone in U.S. soccer history. The Americans were 0-8 in World Cup games played in Europe, and they had never gotten even a single point in Europe in any match against the big five nations of Italy, England, Germany, Spain and France.\nFor a few brief seconds, it even appeared the United States had gone ahead in the 66th minute, when second-half sub DaMarcus Beasley slotted the ball in off goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. But with American coach Bruce Arena pumping an arm on the sideline, the whistle blew for an offside call on McBride, who had screened Buffon.\nKeller then made the save of the night, jumping to his right to palm away a short shot by a wide-open Alessandro Del Piero, who had gotten a chip from Pirlo. Keller made another outstanding stop on Del Piero in the 79th.\n"It was," Keller said, "a crazy game"
(11/17/05 12:25am)
NEW YORK -- Albert Pujols started his career with four startling seasons, equal or better than those of many Hall of Famers. Only Barry Bonds always did better -- until this year.\nPujols won his first National League MVP award Tuesday, beating Andruw Jones in a close vote that didn't include Bonds, who missed most of the season because of a knee injury.\n"A lot of the fans and even the players, they missed Barry," Pujols said of the seven-time MVP, who had won the previous four seasons. "I wished he would have been healthy and played."\nPujols, the St. Louis Cardinals' first baseman, received 18 first-place votes and 14 seconds for 378 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Jones, the Atlanta Braves' center fielder, got 13 firsts, 17 seconds and two thirds for 351 points.\nChicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee got the other first-place vote and was third with 263 points.\n"It's awesome when you hear people compare yourself with Barry," Pujols said.\nPujols hit .330 with 41 homers and 117 RBIs. His average was second, five points behind Lee, and he trailed only Jones (51) and Lee (46) in homers. He tied for second in RBIs with 117, 11 behind Jones.\nJones led the major leagues in home runs, batted .263 and won his eighth straight Gold Glove.\n"I think he deserved it. The voting was the right vote. He was the right choice," Jones said. "He had the most solid season average wise, home run-wise and RBI-wise."\nPujols played in 161 of 162 regular-season games despite being bothered nearly the entire season by plantar fasciitis, a heel injury that he also felt in 2004.\n"There were some times when I got out of bed, I had to sit up before I jumped out of bed because it was bothering me so bad," he said.\nThe 25-year-old Pujols has put up remarkable statistics in his first five major league seasons, averaging 40 homers and 124 RBIs to go with a .332 average.\nHe was third behind Bonds and Adrian Beltre in last year's MVP voting after finishing fourth as a rookie in 2001 and second to Bonds the following two seasons. Bonds missed most of this year with a knee injury after winning the award four straight times to increase his total MVPs to a record seven.\nThe Cardinals led the majors with 100 wins this season and breezed to the Central title. Pujols was the driving force on a team that lost Scott Rolen and other key players to injuries.\nAtlanta went 90-72 and won its 14th straight division championship. Jones was the only Braves player with more than 21 homers or 78 RBIs.\nPujols, who gets a $200,000 bonus, won the 15th MVP award for the Cardinals, the first since Willie McGee in 1985.\nBy finishing third, Lee triggered a $750,000 increase in his 2006 base salary to $8.75 million.\nFlorida first baseman Carlos Delgado, who was sixth, earned five points toward the 30 he needs by the end of 2008 to guarantee a $16 million salary in 2009. He would get 10 points for winning the MVP, 20 if he is a World Series MVP and 10 if he is a league championship series MVP.
(11/02/05 5:06am)
NEW YORK -- Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, Minnesota center fielder Torii Hunter and Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez won their fifth straight Gold Gloves Tuesday.\nBoston catcher Jason Varitek, Texas first baseman Mark Teixeira and Toronto second baseman Orlando Hudson were first-time winners, while New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Blue Jays outfielder Vernon Wells won for the second straight season.\nTexas pitcher Kenny Rogers won for the fourth time overall and second in a row.\n"Defense usually doesn't make many headlines, but it goes a long way towards winning baseball games," Jeter said. "There are a number of ways to make an impact during the course of a game, and playing solid, sound defense is one of them."\nVaritek took over at catcher from Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez.\n"The most important job that I have is to work with the pitchers to help them be the best that they can be," Varitek said.\nHudson was surprised he beat out Baltimore's Brian Roberts.\n"I would have bet anything that he was going to win," Hudson said. "This has always been a goal of mine, so I've accomplished one of my goals already."\nChavez, Suzuki and Varitek each earned $100,000 bonuses, while Rogers and Wells earned $50,000 apiece and Hunter $25,000.\nChavez, who struggled to throw to first base in June because of inflammation behind his right shoulder, thought Texas' Hank Blalock might be the leading candidate this year.\n"When you have a streak intact, you want to keep it going as long as you possibly can," said Chavez, who committed 15 errors. "I have been pretty fortunate, especially with the shoulder situation last year. The past four or five years, I've felt pretty lucky. I don't really expect anything. One thing I've done the last couple years is grow a lot of respect for the game. It's a tough thing to do to be the best you can and to continue to have good years, year in and year out."\nGold Gloves, presented since 1957 by St. Louis-based Rawlings, are voted on by managers and coaches before the end of the regular season. They may not select players on their own teams, and they vote only for players in their own league.\nNL Gold Glove winners will be announced today.
(10/27/05 5:06am)
HOUSTON -- The Chicago White Sox are World Series champions again at last, and yet another epic streak of futility is not just wiped away but swept away.\nAfter seven scoreless innings, Jermaine Dye singled home the only run in the eighth, and the White Sox beat the Houston Astros 1-0 Wednesday night to win their first title in 88 years.\nJust a year ago, the same story line captivated baseball when the long-suffering Boston Red Sox swept St. Louis to capture their first title in 86 years.\nWho's next, the Chicago Cubs, without a championship since 1908?\nIt was the third title for the White Sox, following wins in 1906 and 1917. And it was the first since "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the "Black Sox" threw the 1919 Series against Cincinnati.\nIn the Windy City, where the Cubs have long been king, Chicago's South Side team for once trumped its North Side rival, no small feat for the Sox.\nOwner Jerry Reinsdorf once said he'd trade all six of the Chicago Bulls' NBA titles for a single Series ring, a statement he now regrets. No swap is needed now: He's got the prize he dreamed of since he was a kid growing up in Brooklyn.\nWhite Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said during the regular season that he might retire if his team went on to win the Series, and now he'll have to reveal that decision.\nChicago's sweep, its eighth straight postseason win, made it only the second team to go through the postseason 11-1 since the extra round of playoffs was added in 1995, joining the 1999 Yankees. But the White Sox fans didn't get to enjoy a single celebration in person: the division title and all three rounds of the postseason were won on the road.\nHouston, which finally won a pennant for the first time since it joined the National League in 1962, became the first team swept in its Series debut.\nOn a night when pitching dominated, winner Freddy Garcia and Houston's Brandon Backe pitched shutout ball for seven innings, with Backe allowing four hits and Garcia five. They each struck out seven.\nBrad Lidge, Houston's closer, came in to start the eighth, and Chicago sent up Willie Harris to bat for Garcia.\nHarris lined a single to left leading off, and that led to Houston's downfall. Scott Podsednik bunted a difficult high pitch in front of the plate, and the speedy Harris took second on the sacrifice. Carl Everett pinch hit for Tadahito Iguchi and grounded to second, moving Harris to third.\nDye, the Series MVP, swung and missed Lidge's next pitch, took a ball, then grounded a single up the middle, clapping his hands as he left the plate. Harris trotted home from third, and the White Sox celebrated in the third-base dugout.\nBut it wasn't quite over yet.\nCliff Politte relieved to start the bottom half and hit Willy Taveras on the hand with one out. Politte bounced a wild pitch on his first offering to Lance Berkman, moving Taveras to second, then intentionally walked Berkman, nearly throwing away the next pitch.\nMorgan Ensberg flied to right-center, dropping him to 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the Series, and Chicago brought in left-hander Neal Cotts to face pinch-hitter Jose Vizcaino, who hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop.\nJuan Uribe charged in, backhanded the ball by the grass and threw hard to first, beating Vizcaino by half a step.\nAfter Chicago wasted a leadoff double by A.J. Pierzynski in the ninth, Jason Lane lofted a 3-2 pitch off Bobby Jenks into short center for a single leading off the bottom half.\nBrad Ausmus sacrificed and pinch-hitter Chris Burke fouled out to Uribe, who fell into the left-field seats as he leaned in to make the grab. Uribe ran to the mound with the ball and gave Jenks a slap.\nOrlando Palmeiro then pinch hit and grounded to short for the final out, and the White Sox poured out of their dugout and jumped around the mound.\nHouston was 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position on the night and 10-for-48 (.208) in the Series, and Lidge fell to 0-2 in the Series and 0-3 in the postseason.
(10/20/05 4:46am)
Windy City versus Bayou City.\nDeep dish pizza versus Texas barbecue.\nThey have one historic theme in common: decades of futility.\nAnd one current trait that got them to where they are: deep starting pitching.\n"All the frustration, it's been worth the wait," White Sox vice chairman Eddie Einhorn said. "It's a generation-long wait. I mean, that's a long wait."\nStarting Saturday night, Chicago plays host to the World Series for the first time since 1959, back when there were just 16 teams, no divisions, no wild cards, no designated hitters -- and no Astros.\n"St. Louis has a better offense, but Houston has a better pitching staff. Either way you look at it, it's not going to be easy," White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle said before the Astros beat the Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday night to win the National League pennant.\nHouston wasn't even awarded a franchise until Oct. 17, 1960. At that owners' meeting, which happened to take place in Chicago, it would have been hard to envision that the club's first NL pennant wouldn't come for 45 years -- but then again, the team's first name was the Houston Colt .45s. The club wouldn't become the Astros until 1965, when it moved into the Astrodome, the so-called eighth wonder of the world.\nBoth teams' current ballparks have had more names than pennant winners.\nHouston moved in 2000 to Enron Field, which became Astros Field in February 2002 after the trading company got into financial trouble. Then a juicy deal was signed in June 2002, and the stadium was renamed Minute Maid Park.\nChicago moved in 1991 from the old Comiskey Park, its home since 1910, to the adjacent new Comiskey Park, which in 2003 became U.S. Cellular Field.\nAnd the two ballparks hosted the All-Star game in consecutive years: Chicago in 2003, followed by Houston.\nFor four straight seasons, from 1997-2000, the teams met in interleague play, with the White Sox winning seven of 12. But they haven't met since.\nNow they'll share baseball's October spotlight.\nChicago, which hasn't won the title since 1917, is coming off the best postseason performance by starting pitchers in nearly half a century, with Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras throwing consecutive complete games against the Los Angeles Angels. Not since the 1956 New York Yankees strung together five straight had a team pitched four in a row in a postseason series.\nHouston became the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to win a pennant after falling 15 games under .500 during the regular season. The Astros have seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Brandon Backe, who haven't gotten the complete games but have been just as effective.\n"Yeah, they obviously have a tremendous pitching staff," Houston closer Brad Lidge said of the White Sox. "Just watching their games on TV, it's amazing that their starters have been able to do what they have done and they seem it get stronger at the end of games. Even if they give up a couple of runs at the beginning or middle, they seem to finish up stronger."\nChicago is likely to use its bullpen more in the Series. And Houston's bullpen is among baseball's best.\n"Lidge is probably one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball," Buehrle said.\nA friend of A.J. Pierzynski's was ready Monday for a White Sox-Astros Series -- before Albert Pujols hit the three-run, ninth-inning homer off Lidge that forced Game 6.\n"Right before he hit that I got a text message from a buddy asking me for tickets in Houston," Pierzynski said. "And seconds later, I was like, 'Don't get ahead of yourself.'"\nThe Astros got there Wednesday night, and next week they'll bring the World Series to Texas for the first time.
(10/17/05 5:07am)
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Not since Shoeless Joe Jackson have the Chicago White Sox caused this much of a commotion.\nWorld Series, here they come for the first since 1959.\nA.J. Pierzynski came out on the right side of yet another umpiring ruckus, Jose Contreras pitched Chicago's fourth straight complete game and the White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 to win the AL championship series in five games.\nThe White Sox will take on either Houston or St. Louis, starting at home Saturday night. After nearly a half-century of ho-hum baseball, the White Sox will get a chance at their first title since 1917.\nAnd it will also give them a shot at some long overdue redemption -- they lost the most infamous World Series ever, when Shoeless Joe and his "Black Sox" threw games against Cincinnati in 1919 and gave the sport a black eye.\nThe 46-year gap between Series appearances is the longest in major league history. The Chicago Cubs will end up with an even longer one, if they ever back -- they last made it in 1945.\n"It finally puts us above the Cubs, because they've been getting all the credit," said bench coach Harold Baines, who played more than 13 of his 22 seasons with the White Sox.\nWhoa Nellie!\nThe last time the Windy City's South Side team made it this far, it was all about Nellie Fox and his Go-Go Sox.\n"We're in the World Series!" White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf hollered in his suite after the final out.\nReinsdorf once said he would trade all six NBA titles won by his Chicago Bulls for one World Series championship, and his opportunity is coming.\n"I still can't believe it," he said, heading to the clubhouse to celebrate with his team. "I'm numb right now. Honest to God, it hasn't sunk in. I think something really good is happening, but I'm not sure what it is."\nIt's pitching, that's what.\nManager Ozzie Guillen's team became the first club to pitch four complete games in a single postseason series since the 1956 New York Yankees got them from Whitey Ford, Tom Sturdivant, Don Larsen (his perfect game) and Bob Turley against the Brooklyn Dodgers.\n"Our pitching has set the tone for us from day one," leadoff man Scott Podsednik said. "They don't have words to describe what our starting staff has gone out and done this series."\nPitching in drizzle on an un-Californialike night, Contreras retired his final 15 batters and pitched a five-hitter, following Mark Buehrle's five-hitter in Game 2, Jon Garland's four-hitter in Game 3 and Freddy Garcia's six-hitter in Game 4.\n"You might call it lucky, you might call it great, but we stepped it up," Contreras said through a translator.\nIt was complete domination -- Chicago's bullpen got just two outs in the entire series.\nChicago held the Angels to 11 runs in the series -- the fewest in an ALCS of five or more games. Los Angeles had just 27 hits -- the fewest in any LCS going five games or longer.\n"We found a way to get it done. This team is amazing," Pierzynski said. "We find just enough hits."\nLos Angeles was leading 3-2 when Joe Crede hit a leadoff homer in the seventh against loser Kelvim Escobar.\nEscobar struck out four in a row, and five overall, before walking Aaron Rowand with two outs in the eighth.\nThen, Pierzynski found himself in the middle of another contested call.\nIn Game 2, he struck out with two outs in the ninth but reached when umpires ruled catcher Josh Paul didn't catch the ball. Crede followed with a winning double that tied the series.\nIn Game 4, Pierzynski admitted his mitt nicked the bat of Steve Finley, who hit into an inning-ending double play that ended an Angels' rally attempt as umpires failed to make the call.\nThis time, he hit a comebacker to Escobar, who instead of throwing to first ran to toward the foul line to make a tag play. He tagged Pierzynski with his glove -- but the ball wasn't there, it was in his bare right hand.\nPierzynski initially was called out, but Guillen argued, umpires conferenced and reversed the call, bringing Angels manager Mike Scioscia for a dispute.\n"They got the call right," Scioscia admitted.\nLos Angeles then brought in closer Francisco Rodriguez to face Crede. K-Rod threw a 1-2 breaking ball that the crowd thought was strike three but was called a ball by plate umpire Ed Rapuano. Rodriguez threw another ball and Crede hit a grounder up the middle.\nSecond baseman Adam Kennedy dived on the shortstop side to stop it and threw home from a half-sitting position, but the throw was off-line and late, and Rowand scored the go-ahead run.\nALCS MVP Paul Konerko added an RBI double in the ninth and Rowand boosted the margin with a sacrifice fly.\nIt was the sixth AL pennant for the White Sox, who have won the Series just twice.\nChicago took the initial lead for the fourth straight game, on Crede's second-inning sacrifice fly off starter Paul Byrd.\nKennedy's RBI single tied the score in the third, but Jermaine Dye made it 2-1 Chicago with an RBI double in the fifth that chased Byrd.\nThe Angels then brought out that scoreboard Rally Monkey who became famous during their run to the 2002 World Series title -- and the monkey business worked.\nChone Figgins, hitting just 1-for-15 in the series, doubled into the right-field corner and Kennedy, who was at first, was allowed to score because a fan reached over the low wall and touched the ball. Garret Anderson's sacrifice fly put Los Angeles ahead 3-2.
(09/09/05 5:00am)
NEW YORK -- World premieres of operas by John Adams, Tobias Picker, Elliott Goldenthal and Kaija Saariaho will compete for attention this season with celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.\nAfter composing the popular operas "Nixon in China" and "The Death of Klinghoffer," Adams shifts his attention to the development of the nuclear bomb with "Doctor Atomic," which opens at the San Francisco Opera on Oct. 1.\n"This is an awesome subject that can't be dealt with in a rational way," Adams said. "It's about flesh-and-blood people screaming at each other and loving one another."\nThe Peter Sellars production, slated to travel to the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the De Nederlandse Opera in 2007, has an opening cast of Kristine Jepson (replacing Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, still recovering from a back injury) as Lilly Oppenheimer and Gerald Finley as Robert Oppenheimer. Music director Donald Runnicles conducts.\nIn the San Francisco Opera's final full season under general director Pamela Rosenberg, there will be just one Mozart production, a revival of "Le Nozze di Figaro" starting June 10 and featuring John Relyea, Ruth Ann Swenson, Camilla Tilling and Peter Mattei.\nNew York's Metropolitan Opera has the premiere of Picker's "An American Tragedy" Dec. 2. Based on the 1925 novel by Theodore Dreiser, it stars Patricia Racette, Nathan Gunn, Dolora Zajick, Jennifer Larmore and Susan Graham. James Conlon conducts and Francesca Zambello directs.\nThere also will be new productions of Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" (Nov. 14 with Ramon Vargas and Natalie Dessay) and Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" (March 31 with Anna Netrebko and Juan Diego Florez) and the company premiere of Tchaikovsky's "Mazeppa" (March 6). On Jan. 27, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, the Met presents a revival of last season's new Julie Taymor production of "Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute)."\nThe season ends May 20 with a gala honoring Joseph Volpe, who has been general manager since 1990. Volpe joined the Met in 1964 and is retiring Aug. 1.\nThe Lyric Opera of Chicago has a revival of its August Everding production of "Die Zauberfloete" opening Dec. 9 with Michael Schade, Erin Wall, Rebecca Evans and Jonathan Lemalu.\nDenyce Graves will sing in the world premiere of Goldenthal's "Grendel" at the Los Angeles Opera May 27. Based on the poem "Beowulf" and John Gardner's novel "Grendel," the opera features a libretto by Julie Taymor and J.D. McClatchy and will be directed by Taymor. It also is to be performed at the Lincoln Center Festival at the New York State Theater starting in July 2006.\nAt New York's Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic will mark the Mozart anniversary Jan. 27 with music director Simon Rattle conducting the "Serenade in B-flat Major for 12 Winds," "Piano Concerto No. 27 with Alfred Brendel" and "Symphony No. 38" ("Prague"). Riccardo Muti will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie March 3-5 in programs that include Mozart's "Symphony No. 35" ("Haffner") and "Sinfonia concertante."\nDaniel Barenboim starts his final season as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Oct. 1 with a program that includes Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Itzhak Perlman. The highlight of the Boston Symphony Orchestra season will be three performances of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" Jan. 19-21 with music director James Levine conducting Deborah Voigt, Hunt Lieberson, Ben Heppner, Rene Pape and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.\nA three-week "Magic of Mozart" tribute by the New York Philharmonic has music director Lorin Maazel conducting the "Prague" and "Haffner" (No. 35) symphonies Jan. 27 along with "Vesperae solennes de confessore" and the "Coronation" Mass.\nIn Europe, the Salzburg Festival plans performances of all 22 of Mozart's stage works next summer. The tribute begins with concerts Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 featuring Marc Minkowski and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.\nThe Paris Opera, in its second season under Gerard Mortier, celebrates the anniversary Jan. 27 with the opening of a new production of "Don Giovanni" at the Palais Garnier with Mattei (Don Giovanni), Luca Pisaroni (Leporello), Christine Schaefer (Donna Anna) and Mireille Delunsch (Donna Elvira). Sylvain Cambreling will be on the podium in a Michael Haneke production.\nThe company's Mozart tribute begins Friday at the Garnier with a new Patrice Chereau production of "Cosi fan tutte," and therer will be a new "Figaro" production by Christoph Marthaler March 11 at the Garnier, with Cambreling conducting Lorenzo Regazzo (Figaro), Mattei (Count Almaviva), Heidi Grant Murphy (Susanna), Schaefer (Cherubino) and Christiane Oelze (Countess Almaviva).\nSaariaho's "Adriana Mater," performed in French, opens March 30 at the Bastille in a Sellars production and stars Patricia Bardon in the title role along with Solveig Kingelborn, Evgeny Nikitin and Gordon Gietz. Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct.\nAt the Vienna State Opera, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its postwar reopening with a gala televised concert Nov. 5, there will be new production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" opening Jan. 27 at the Theater an der Wien, with music director Seiji Ozawa conducting and Willy Decker directing. There also will be a new production of "Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail" (The Abduction from the Seraglio) May 1 at the Burgtheater, with Philippe Jordan conducting and Karin Beier directing.\nLondon's Royal Opera has a new David McVicar production of "Figaro" opening Jan. 31 with Erwin Schrott (Figaro), Miah Persson (Susanna), Dorothea Roeschmann (Countess Almaviva), Finley (Count Almaviva) and Rinat Shaham (Cherubino). Music director Antonio Pappano conducts.\nThe company completes its new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle with "Siegfried" (Oct. 2) and "Goetterdaemmerung" (April 17) starring Lisa Gasteen, John Treleaven and John Tomlinson, and conducted by Pappano. Complete cycles are planned for October 2007. There is a star-filled new production of Puccini's "Tosca" starting June 13 that features Angela Gheorghiu, Bryn Terfel and Marcelo Alvarez.\nMilan's Teatro alla Scala opens its first season since 1985-86 without Muti as music director on Dec. 7 with "Idomeneo" conducted by Daniel Harding. Muti resigned under pressure last spring after the company's employees called for him to leave. Stephane Lissner of the Aix-en-Provence Festival was hired as artistic director, and many conductors will be used this season in place of a music director.\nAlso in Europe, there will be world premieres of Arnaldo de Felice's "Medusa" at the Bavarian State Opera Nov. 16 and Pascal Dusapin's "Faustus, the Last Night," Jan. 21 at the Staatsoper Unter der Linden in Berlin. The Bavarian State Opera will present a Mozart Festival from Jan. 27 to Feb. 14 that includes six operas and "Great" Mass in C Minor.
(06/16/05 1:58am)
NEW YORK -- The House that Ruth Built will be replaced by the House that The Boss Built, if all goes according to plan.\nThe New York Yankees scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to announce plans for a new $800 million ballpark, which would be built adjacent to the current Yankee Stadium and could be ready by the 2009 season.\n"I think it will be sad," Yankees manager Joe Torre said Tuesday. "They'll have limos and vans to take the old ghosts over to the new stadium."\nJust last weekend, New York City and the Mets announced plans for a new $600 million ballpark next to Shea Stadium.\nThe team has spent years planning the new stadium, which will have a capacity of at least 50,800 -- approximately 6,000 seats fewer than the current ballpark -- but could be expanded to about 54,000. It would be constructed in Macombs Dam Park, to the north of the current stadium, and financed by the team.\nYankee Stadium, which opened in 1923 to a Babe Ruth home run, is the third-oldest park in use in the major leagues, younger only than Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914). Yankee Stadium was renovated extensively in 1974-75, but the team has long desired a modern ballpark with more luxury suites and wider concourses. Since moving into Yankee Stadium, New York has won a record 26 World Series titles.\nThe stadium plan calls for the new ballpark to resemble the original Yankee Stadium in many of its details, and the dimensions of the playing field would be identical to the current ballpark. It would have 50-60 suites, up from 18 in the current stadium.\nYankees owner George Steinbrenner, New York Gov. George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg planned to attend a Wednesday news conference announcing the stadium, Steinbrenner spokesman Howard Rubenstein said. The Yankees hope to start construction in 2006 and move into the new ballpark in 2009, an ambitious timetable, given the delays that frequently occur in construction in New York.\nApproval from the state Legislature and City Council is necessary. The state would contribute about $70 million to increase parking from 7,000 spaces to 11,000, and the city would replace the lost park land as part of the deal. A new commuter train station and expanded ferry terminal also is part of the plan.\nThe Mets' new ballpark would be used for the 2012 Olympics if the International Olympic Committee votes July 6 to award the event to New York. That plan was drawn up after last week's collapse of the proposal to build a retractable-roof stadium in Manhattan for the NFL's Jets and the Olympics.\nThe Yankees and New York City's government agreed several weeks ago to a memorandum of understanding for the new Bronx ballpark. The team will pay for the stadium on its own, and the cost of paying off the bonds used to raise the money will be deducted from the Yankees' locally generated revenue. That will lower the Yankees' revenue sharing payments to the commissioner's office.