Cardinals sign Clement to 1-year deal

Former Red Sox pitcher Matt Clement and the St. Louis Cardinals agreed to a $1.5 million, one-year contract yesterday with a club option for 2009. Clement missed last season while recovering from shoulder surgery. The 33-year-old righthander is 87-86 with a 4.47 ERA in nine major league seasons with San Diego, Florida, the Chicago Cubs, and Boston. An AL All-Star in 2005 with the Red Sox, he made at least 30 starts in each of his first seven full big league seasons before shoulder problems limited him to 12 starts for the Red Sox in 2006 . . . The Oakland Athletics made their second major trade in three weeks, sending outfielder Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox for three minor leaguers. The rebuilding A's - who dealt ace Dan Haren to Arizona Dec. 14 - received lefthander Gio Gonzalez, righthander Fautino De Los Santos, and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. Swisher, 27, batted .262 with 22 homers and 78 RBIs in 2007.

Nick Watney shot a 5-under-par 68 that featured only one bogey in taking a one-shot lead over Daniel Chopra after the first round of the PGA Tour's season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii. US Open champion Angel Cabrera was among three players at 70, while Brandt Snedeker and Mike Weir were another shot behind. Only 10 players managed to break par in the wind and rain, and Vijay Singh wasn't among them. The defending champ opened with a 74.

The United States had a 1-0 lead in its Hopman Cup mixed teams final against Serbia hours before the first match was scheduled to begin. Jelena Jankovic, hobbled by strained buttock and hamstring muscles for three days, was not able to play her singles match against Serena Williams, giving the US a walkover win and 1-0 lead in Perth, Australia. Serbian officials were hoping that by resting Jankovic from women's singles, she would be able to partner with Novak Djokovic in the mixed doubles, the final match of the night. That strategy will only work if Djokovic beats American Mardy Fish in men's singles to make the match even at 1-1 . . . Lindsay Davenport reached her third final in four events since her return to the WTA Tour, beating Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek, 6-4, 6-3, at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Davenport's opponent tomorrow will be Aravane Rezai, who beat wild card Marina Erakovic, 6-3, 7-5 . . . Venus Williams beat Peng Shuai, 6-1, 6-2, in her first match of the year at the JB Group Classic exhibition tournament . . . Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Dmitry Tursunov, 7-5, 6-3, in the Qatar Open in Doha, and will face Andy Murray in the semifinals. Murray advanced by defeating Thomas Johansson, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0. Fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic and Stanislas Wawrinka also advanced to the semifinals.

Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan Smyth has a broken right ankle and will miss up to eight weeks. Smyth has 28 points, third best on the team, including 11 goals . . . Teppo Numminen's surgically repaired heart is pumping fine, the Buffalo Sabres defenseman's latest medical checkup showed, but he's not yet been cleared for contact . . . Kevin Lynch scored the winner at 1:03 of the third period to lift the US past Canada's Team Pacific, 3-2, and into the final of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in London, Ontario.

Francis "Skip" McDonnell, who has bred and owned New England champions such as Cimarron Secret, Nana's Toy, and Sandy Gator, was named winner of the Sam McCracken Award for lifetime achievement by the New England Turf Writers Association. Other winners included Richard Fields of Suffolk Downs (Lou Smith Memorial Award for yearly achievement), Rafael Ramos (outstanding trainer), and Tammi Piermarini (outstanding jockey). Horses honored were: Awesome Chic (2-year-old filly), Beijing House (2-year-old male), Musical Start (3-year-old filly), What a Trippi (3-year-old male), Nijinsky Bullet (older female), De Roode (older male), Mommyums (turf female), Canyon's Way (turf male), Blind River Fox (sprinter), and Ask Queenie (New England-bred) . . . New Hampshire's All-America quarterback, Ricky Santos, has accepted an invitation to play in the Hula Bowl in Honolulu Jan. 12 . . . Miami defensive end Calais Campbell said he's skipping his senior season and entering the NFL draft . . . Franklin Pierce goalkeeper James Thorpe (East Longmeadow) was named the NCAA Division 2 men's soccer Player of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America . . . The US Basketball League, the 23-year-old league that has helped develop such NBA players as Spud Webb and Raja Bell, canceled its 2008 season but plans to reorganize and hopes to return in 2009, spokesman Jacob Gordon said . . . Defending champion Craig Mottram of Australia, New Zealand's Nick Willis, Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele, and American standout Galen Rupp head a top international field in the 3,000-meter race at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games Jan. 26 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. Go to BostonIndoorGames.com for ticket information.