Salas given 50-game drug suspension

Baseball
Tampa Bay reliever Juan Salas was suspended for 50 games yesterday after becoming the first player this year to flunk a drug test under Major League Baseball's testing program. Salas tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance, the commissioner's office said. His suspension will start today. Salas, a 28-year-old righthander, is 1-1 with a 3.95 ERA in 15 appearances this season. He will lose about one-third of his $382,000 salary . . . Louis Santangelo, a catcher in the Astros' minor league system, was also suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance . . . The Yankees have arranged for oft-injured pitcher Carl Pavano to be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum in California tomorrow before determining if he needs season-ending elbow surgery, the New York Times reported. Pavano already has been examined by three doctors . . . Yankees reliever Scott Proctor, who threw an inside pitch to Yuniesky Betancourt after umpires had warned both dugouts, was suspended four games and manager Joe Torre was penalized one game by Major League Baseball a day after a skirmish between the Seattle Mariners and New York. Proctor appealed his suspension and can pitch until a hearing is held and a ruling is issued. Torre missed last night's game against the Mariners. Bench coach Don Mattingly managed in Torre's absence . . . Pirates reliever Matt Capps was suspended for four games for hitting the Brewers' Prince Fielder with a pitch at Milwaukee Saturday.

Joel Zumaya, a key member of a bullpen that helped the Detroit Tigers win the AL pennant last season, is expected to miss 12 weeks because of a ruptured tendon in his middle right finger suffered while warming up Saturday . . . Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left abdominal muscle . . . Jon Leicester joined the Orioles as a long reliever in place of Kurt Birkins, who was optioned to Triple A Norfolk. The Orioles transferred lefthander Adam Loewen (elbow) from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL . . . Mariners reliever Julio Mateo apologized for his arrest following a dispute with his wife Saturday at a Manhattan hotel . . . Ellen Massey, a 58-year-old Manhattan lawyer, sued the Mets, contending a drunken, 300-pound man fell on her during the home opener at Shea Stadium and broke her back . . . Sporting goods companies and organizations that sponsor high school baseball nationwide asked a federal court to overturn a new New York City law that bans metal baseball bats in prep games . . . Former Tigers outfielder Ron LeFlore was arrested in Michigan for failure to pay at least $48,000 in child support . . . Runelvys Hernandez allowed two hits in five innings, but one was a two-run homer by Bronson Sardinha as the visiting Pawtucket Red Sox fell to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, 2-1 . . . Daniel Haigwood tossed four scoreless innings in his debut in the Red Sox organization as the host Portland Sea Dogs beat the Trenton Thunder, 4-1.

NFL

Running back Shaun Alexander, the 2005 NFL MVP, might still have a broken foot, something he doesn't want confirmed until after the Seahawks' veteran minicamp ends Thursday. "I don't even want to get another X-ray until after this camp," Alexander, whose left foot was broken for the final four months of last season, said after his fourth consecutive day of no-contact, no-pads drills . . . As part of Adam "Pacman" Jones's plea for leniency, the Titans cornerback's attorneys said at least 283 NFL players have been arrested or charged for offenses ranging from drunken driving to domestic violence to weapons possession since January 2000, and none was suspended a full season. Last month, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Jones for 2007. Last year Jones was hit with a felony charge of obstruction of a police officer and arrested for marijuana possession . . . A judge dismissed an assault charge against Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend after witnesses said he wasn't involved in a fight at a nightclub in March . . . The Jaguars waived cornerback Ahmad Carroll two days after he was arrested on weapon and drug charges.

Colleges

University of Massachusetts football coach Don Brown, who led the Minutemen to the Division 1-AA national title game last year, agreed to a five-year contract extension that will run through 2011 . . . Oxford native Tom Herrion, the head basketball coach at the College of Charleston from 2002-06, was hired as an assistant at Pittsburgh . . . The attorney for Lisa Simpson, who said she was gang raped at a Colorado football recruiting party in 2001 and is trying to revive a lawsuit against the school, said a judge should have considered a pattern of alleged sexual assaults involving players and recruits.

Miscellany

Tennis singles superstars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal faced off in doubles, Nadal teaming with Carlos Moya to beat Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), in the first round at the Rome Masters . . . The NBA told Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson he no longer can bring beer into the postgame interview room . . . A day after struggling with the new-look Car of Tomorrow at Richmond International Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. called on NASCAR to make it easier to turn and handle . . . Giro d'Italia cycling champ Ivan Basso admitted involvement in the Spanish doping scandal and is cooperating with sports authorities . . . Swedish syndicate Victory Challenge beat Desafio Espanol off Valencia, Spain, to remain in contention for the final place in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals . . . Former soccer star Diego Maradona was released from a clinic in Argentina after treatment for alcoholism . . . Three-time boxing champ Hector Camacho faces up to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to a 2004 burglary charge in Gulfport, Miss. . . . Thorny Lea's Chris Anderson and Matt Parziale fired an 8-under 63 at Shaker Hills GC in Harvard to take a one-shot lead over Frank Vana Jr. and Brendan Hester after the first round of the Massachusetts Four-Ball Championship.