Padres lower the boom on Wells

Baseball
David Wells is finished with his hometown San Diego Padres, and it's possible that baseball has seen the last of the boisterous lefthander. General manager Kevin Towers said yesterday that the Padres will cut ties with the struggling 44-year-old today in order to activate All-Star righthander Chris Young from the disabled list. Towers and manager Bud Black met with Wells Tuesday night after the Padres' game in St. Louis, telling him that he wouldn't be making his scheduled start Saturday in Cincinnati. Wells's agent, Gregg Clifton, said Wells was flying from St. Louis to the hunting ranch in Michigan that he co-owns with former big leaguer Kirk Gibson. It was unknown whether Wells will retire or try to finish the season with another team. Wells, who came up with Toronto in 1987, is 235-156 with a 4.12 ERA lifetime with eight teams, including the Red Sox.

Pedro Martínez struggled in his first rehab start for the Mets' Single A team in Port St. Lucie, Fla., giving up five runs and six hits in three innings as he attempts to return after offseason shoulder surgery. Martínez struck out five against the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Tradition Field, the spring training home of the Mets . . . Twins rookie infielder Brian Buscher has a rapidly spreading infection in his leg and was flown from Kansas City back to Minneapolis where he may be hospitalized . . . Cincinnati outfielder Ryan Freel had season-ending knee surgery, and the Reds claimed outfielder Jason Ellison off waivers from Seattle . . . Former Sea Dog Brett Roneberg doubled in the winning run in the seventh inning as Altoona topped Portland, 4-3, at Hadlock Field . . . Dillon Crosby and Kurtis Leonard had two hits apiece as Portsmouth, N.H., edged Walpole, 8-7, in eight innings in the New England Regional Little League tournament at Bristol, Conn. Sam Falkson and Kyle Donnelly each had two hits for Walpole. Second-seeded Portsmouth (3-1) will face No. 3 Walpole (3-1) again today in the first semifinal. Also, Joseph Manni had two hits and drove in three runs as Rhode Island's Cranston Western defeated Vermont's Essex Junction, 14-3. Cranston (1-3) and Essex Junction (0-4) were eliminated.

Colleges

Wake Forest selected Dino Gaudio to succeed the late Skip Prosser, entrusting the Demon Deacons' men's basketball program to the veteran coach's longtime top assistant. Gaudio, 50, who had been Wake Forest's associate head coach since 2002, received a five-year contract, but terms weren't disclosed . . . Elmer Gross, who coached Penn State to the 1954 Final Four and reached the NCAA Tournament as both a player and coach, has died. He was 90. Gross died June 29 in Chandler, Ariz., near his home in Sun City . . . Texas freshman defensive tackle Andre Jones was released on bail in Austin, Texas, after his arrest Aug. 3 on a felony robbery charge.

Tennis

Nikolay Davydenko, whose loss last week at an event in Poland is under investigation due to suspicious betting patterns, beat Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Davydenko was playing his first match since he retired because of injury against Martin Vassallo Arguello. A British bookmaker said it received about 10 times the usual amount of bets, and most of the money was on Arguello to win. Also, top seed Roger Federer celebrated his 26th birthday with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3) win over Ivo Karlovic . . . Maria Sharapova advanced, 7-6 (7-5), 3-1, over Eleni Daniilidou in a first-round match at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, Calif., when Daniilidou retired because of breathing problems.

Miscellany

David Beckham said he's noticed some things that are "not right" about Major League Soccer, and foremost in his mind was the fake grass used at four stadiums. Beckham, who has yet to make his MLS debut while recovering from an ankle injury, said the fact that RFK Stadium has the real thing -- unlike New England, where the Galaxy play Sunday -- will be a "huge factor" in whether he plays against D.C. United tonight . . . European soccer's governing body will investigate reports of alleged racist taunting of American midfielder DaMarcus Beasley by fans in Montenegro during a Champions League qualifier . . . Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal and his brother, Jordan, of the Pittsburgh Penguins have been offered plea deals stemming from their arrests at Eric's bachelor party in Minnesota last month . . . Luke Richardson, a 38-year-old defenseman, signed a one-year contract with his hometown Ottawa Senators . . . Former IBF junior middleweight champion Raul Marquez won his fifth consecutive fight, stopping Jay Pina in the second round in Hollywood, Fla. . . . Veteran Nextel Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield will not return to Bill Davis Racing next season, the team said . . . Veikko Karvonen, 81, who won the 1954 Boston Marathon and finished second twice, died Aug. 1 in Turku, Finland. Obituary, D8 . . . Gato Del Sol, the winner of the 1982 Kentucky Derby, died at 28 at Paris, Ky.