Twins' Mauer continues home stretch

Baseball
AL batting champion Joe Mauer's agent represented Cal Ripken and Kirby Puckett, Hall of Famers who spent their entire careers with the same team. Perhaps another client of Ron Shapiro will do the same. Mauer and the Twins agreed yesterday to a $33 million, four-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration and giving one of the team's young stars the security of a long-term deal. The 23-year-old catcher hit .347 with 84 RBIs last year to help the Twins rally from a 12 1/2-game deficit to win the AL Central on the final day of the regular season. He played in his first All-Star Game last summer. Selected with the first pick in the 2001 amateur draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Mauer was eligible for arbitration this winter for the first time. He became the first catcher to lead the majors in batting average and the first AL backstop to win the batting title . . . Pitcher Oscar Villareal agreed to a $925,000, one-year contract with the Braves, who settled with their only player still in arbitration.

Hockey

Peter Forsberg's future with the Philadelphia Flyers remains uncertain, even after a meeting with team chairman Ed Snider. Forsberg and Snider agreed to meet again to discuss the team captain's future with the franchise. Forsberg has been bothered by lingering foot and skate issues that cost him considerable time this season. That has led to speculation the Flyers could shop him around before the Feb. 27 trade deadline. He is playing out the final months of a two-year, $11.5 million contract. While he has long maintained his first priority is to re-sign with the Flyers, teams are asking the organization about Forsberg's availability . . . Dallas Stars center Eric Lindros missed yesterday's game against Colorado with a lower-body injury. Lindros hasn't scored a goal since Nov. 20 against the Avalanche. He has played in 24 games since, and has missed 12 because of injury in that span. The Stars said he is day-to-day . . . Ben Walter scored his second consecutive winning goal in overtime as the host Providence Bruins beat the Lowell Devils, 3-2. Pascal Pelletier kept the puck in Lowell's zone and passed to Walter, who slid a backhander past Frank Doyle 30 seconds into overtime for his 19th goal of the season. Walter also scored in overtime Friday to give Providence a 5-4 victory over Worcester. Providence's David Krejci extended his points streak to 13 games by deflecting in a slap shot by Dwayne Zinger at 16:27 of the first. Krejci has scored 11 goals and assisted on 10 during his streak.

Basketball

Indiana Pacers guard Darrell Armstrong, who was ejected during a loss to Denver Friday, was suspended by the NBA for yesterday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Armstrong began arguing with official Eli Roe midway through the fourth quarter of Friday's game after he disagreed with a call. He was given two technical fouls and ejected, then followed Roe and continued to talk to him before being restrained by teammates.

Tennis

Nadia Petrova came back from a set down to beat Lucie Safarova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and win the Gaz de France in Paris. The Russian won her seventh title, her first since beating Tatiana Golovin at Stuttgart, Germany, in October 2006. She had lost her two previous finals in straight sets, against Anna Chakvetadze at Moscow and Maria Sharapova at Linz, Austria. Safarova saved three match points, but Petrova clinched the win when the Czech's powerful forehand bounced out . . . The start of a WTA Tour event in Bangalore, India, was delayed by a day because of a planned strike in the area aimed at shutting down public services and private businesses. The Ericsson International, already hurt by the withdrawal of Serena Williams because of the flu, will begin tomorrow.

Miscellany

Inter Milan won its 15th straight game in the Italian league by stopping Chievo Verona, 2-0, in a stadium without fans, and Ronaldo made his debut in AC Milan's victory. The country's top league resumed more than a week after all professional soccer in Italy was suspended because of fan violence. Adriano put Inter ahead in the first minute with a shot from the left side of the penalty area and Hernan Crespo added the second in the 51st. The game was one of four in Serie A played in an empty stadium. The stadiums had failed to meet new security standards put in place after the death of a police officer in rioting at the Catania-Palermo game Feb. 2. Ronaldo, wearing a No. 99 jersey, came on as a substitute in the 63d minute for his first appearance for Milan since joining from Real Madrid last week. Milan beat Livorno, 2-1 . . . Ronaldinho scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season to help FC Barcelona beat Racing Santander, 2-0, and increase its lead to three points over Sevilla in the Spanish league . . . David Beckham's goal in his first full match for Real Madrid since Dec. 20 may have helped coach Fabio Capello keep his job. Capello, who said last month that Beckham would never again play for the Spanish powerhouse, was rewarded for his U-turn when the midfielder scored on a free kick in the 37th minute to help Madrid beat Real Sociedad, 2-1, in the Spanish league Saturday. Madrid's victory ended a run of two straight defeats and gave the beleaguered Italian coach some breathing space . . . Forty-two people were injured when police and security officers clashed with 800 hooligans following a match in Leipzig, Germany. The fans of FC Lokomotive Leipzig attacked 300 police officers after their team lost a game Saturday . . . Olympic champion Liu Xiang of China was clocked in 7.42 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles at the Karlsruhe (Germany) indoor meet to lower his Asian record by .001 seconds. Liu, who won Olympic gold in 2004 and holds the world record in the 110-meter hurdles, held off Dayron Robles by .002 seconds and got even for a loss to the Cuban last week in Stuttgart.