James, teammates bitten by flu bug

Former Washington manager Manny Acta was interviewed by the Cleveland Indians for their managerial opening. Acta, fired by the Nationals in July, spoke with Indians general manager Mark Shapiro. The Indians are conducting initial interviews by phone from their training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. Acta said in an e-mail that he was excited about the opportunity and the Indians told him they would get back to him next week . . . Former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost was the third candidate to interview to become Houston’s skipper next season. The Astros plan to interview 10 candidates, including their former manager, Phil Garner . . . Slugger Albert Pujols told a Dominican radio station the St. Louis Cardinals are interested in extending his contract during the winter, but he is in no rush to make a decision . . . The Nationals hired Roy Clark as vice president of player personnel, Johnny DiPuglia, who was with the Red Sox for the past 10 seasons, as director of Latin American operations, and Doug Harris as director of player development.

Kohei Uchimura of Japan ran away with the men’s title at the world gymnastics championships in London, adding it to his silver medal from the Beijing Olympics. He scored 91.500 points, more than 2.5 ahead of Daniel Keatings, who gave Britain its first all-around medal. Russia’s Yury Ryazanov was third. American Tim McNeill finished seventh at his first major international competition. US champion Jonathan Horton was 17th after falls on three events.

After two years away, Bode Miller is back training with the US Ski Team in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. The two-time World Cup overall champion says he’s really happy to be skiing with the team again. Miller is fine-tuning his equipment ahead of the World Cup season that starts Oct. 25 - and what he hopes will be a trip to the Vancouver Olympics. Miller, who raced independently for two seasons, hasn’t said when he’ll join the circuit . . . Bree Schaaf won the second of four women’s bobsled national team trials races in Lake Placid, N.Y. John Daly finished atop the men’s skeleton standings for the day and John Napier might have had the most significant result of his young career as a four-man bobsled driver - as each put themselves into position to secure spots on the US World Cup team after the second day of the national team trials at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Teaming with Michelle Rzepka, Schaaf’s time of 1 minute 54.74 seconds was the day’s best by 0.22 seconds over Day 1 winners Erin Pac and Elana Meyers. Daly, who was seventh in Day 1, won Day 2 by 0.04 seconds over Stokes Aitken. Napier’s team was 0.16 seconds ahead of veteran Todd Hays.

AC Milan is hoping for compensation from the US Soccer Federation because defender Oguchi Onyewu was injured in a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica. “I’m very angry because once again the national teams take players and we lose out due to injuries,’’ AC Milan chief executive officer Adriano Galliani told Italian media. Onyewu tore the patellar tendon in his left knee late in Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw against Costa Rica in Washington. He signed a three-year contract with AC Milan in July. USSF president Sunil Gulati declined comment on Galliani’s remarks . . . Three-time defending Sprint Cup champion and points leader Jimmie Johnson earned the pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., with a blistering lap of 192.376 m.p.h. The NASCAR Banking 500 will be held tomorrow night . . . Ex-Red Wings star Sergei Fedorov is suing his former Michigan attorneys for the loss of millions of dollars invested with another client. Fedorov said the Birmingham law firm Hyman Lippitt PC had a conflict by representing him and financial adviser Joseph Zada. Fedorov says he’s out $60 million and a Wayne County judge recently ruled that the hockey player is entitled to the money . . . Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, to reach the Generali Ladies quarterfinals in Linz, Austria. She next plays unseeded Ioana Raluca Olaru, who defeated qualifier Julia Goerges, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.