Percival picks Cardinals for comeback

June 9, 2007

Baseball
Former All-Star closer Troy Percival, out of the majors since injuring his right arm in the middle of the 2005 season, will try to make a comeback with the St. Louis Cardinals. The 37-year-old Percival and the Cardinals agreed on a minor league contract yesterday, and the righthander with 324 career saves will report to Triple A Memphis. Percival was working as a special assignment pitching instructor for the Angels before asking to be released from his coaching contract May 23 . . . Baltimore Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez went on the 15-day disabled list for the second time this season, this time with a bruised groin. The Orioles purchased the contract of catcher Alberto Castillo from Triple A Norfolk . . . Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland isn't counting on seeing hard-throwing reliever Joel Zumaya for a long time. "It would not surprise me if he was not ready to pitch before the season is over," Leyland said. Zumaya had surgery in mid-May to repair a ruptured tendon in his right middle finger and was expected to miss three months . . . Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz will have surgery Tuesday to insert a pin in his broken right wrist, an operation he hopes will get him back on the field by late July or early August.

Auto racing

Ryan Newman showed again he has the qualifying part of race weekend figured out. Now all he wants is to be in front when the checkered flag drops. Newman raced to his third straight pole and 41st overall with a lap of 170.062 miles per hour at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, but he has four poles this year with no wins. "It'd be nice to click off three wins in a row, not just three poles in a row," Newman said. Newman's lap spoiled Denny Hamlin's run of winning everything at Pocono. Hamlin qualified second after he won two poles and two races last year in his first two trips to the 2.5-mile triangle track. Martin Truex Jr. followed his first career Nextel Cup victory Monday in Dover, Del., by qualifying third for tomorrow's Pocono 500 . . . Fernando Alonso, McLaren's Formula One championship leader, posted the fastest time in both free practice sessions for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Boxing

Madison Square Garden officials say they have sold 19,000 tickets, opening the mezzanine section for a fight for the first time since 2001, for tonight's World Boxing Association welterweight title bout between Zab Judah (34-4) and champion Miguel Cotto (29-0). "It's all business," said Cotto. "This is a fight the public wants to see and we'll make it a good show." Judah, the former champion, plans to rely on his advantage in experience. "Miguel Cotto has never been to this type of hype before or opened the top level mezzanine at Madison Square Garden," he said . . . Tommy Morrison's former agent said the fighter tested positive for the HIV virus in mandatory blood tests for a boxing license, The Arizona Republic reported on its website. Randy Lang said he stopped working for Morrison, the former heavyweight champion set to make his mixed martial arts debut tonight, on Feb. 25 because the tests had been misrepresented by the 38-year-old Morrison and promoter Peter McKinn. Morrison said he has taken several HIV tests during his comeback bid and all have been negative.

Miscellany

UEFA awarded Sweden a 3-0 victory over Denmark after last week's European Championship qualifier was abandoned because a Danish soccer fan attacked the referee. Denmark midfielder Christian Poulsen also was banned for three international games after punching Sweden striker Markus Rosenberg in the stomach during the same match. UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body fined the Danish Football Association $81,000 and ordered it to play the next four home Euro 2008 qualifiers at least 155 miles from Copenhagen . . . A city-county board approved a $325 million bond issue for a new arena and authorized a 30-year lease with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The agreement Thursday binds the team to the city for at least 30 years . . . The International Olympic Committee said it has discussed introducing skateboarding as a discipline for the 2012 London Games . . . Harvard named Traci Green women's tennis coach.