Players dealt setback in steroids case

Federal investigators can keep using the names and urine samples of about 100 major leaguers who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled yesterday. Investigators seized computer files containing the test results in 2004 during raids of labs involved in Major League Baseball's drug-testing program. The investigators had search warrants for only 11 players, but ended up seizing the test results of every big league player . . . Roger Clemens's meeting with a congressional committee investigating steroids in baseball was pushed back until Feb. 5. Clemens originally was asked to appear tomorrow for a deposition or transcribed interview with staff members from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That panel has called a Feb. 13 hearing where Clemens and his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, are among five witnesses slated to appear.

Robinson Cano and the New York Yankees are nearing agreement on a $30 million, four-year contract, a departure from the team's stance against giving multiyear contracts to young players. The 25-year-old second baseman, eligible for salary arbitration for the first time, could become a free agent after the 2012 season . . . Righthander Hector Carrasco and former Red Sox lefthander Casey Fossum agreed to minor league contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates . . . Relief pitcher Rafael Soriano (3-3 with a 3.00 ERA and nine saves in a career-high 71 appearances last year) and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a $9 million, two-year contract that avoided arbitration . . . After backing out of a deal with the Blue Jays last offseason, Rod Barajas agreed to a $1.2 million, one-year contract with Toronto.

The Revolution's Adam Cristman and Hammarby IF's Charlie Davies of Manchester, N.H., will be among six forwards in the US Olympic team training camp next week in Bradenton, Fla. Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst and striker Taylor Twellman, plus former teammate Pat Noonan (who signed with Aalesund FK in Norway this week), remain with the US national team training camp in preparation for a Feb. 6 match against Mexico in Houston. The Revolution also selected two forwards, Kheli Dube (Coastal Carolina) and Kenyan Saidi Isaac (Winthrop) of Zimbabwe; midfielder Chris Tierney of Wellesley and the University of Virginia; and defender Kyle Altman (Trinity University) in the MLS supplemental draft . . . Jaime Moreno, the career goal-scoring leader (112) in Major League Soccer, re-signed with D.C. United.

Southern California basketball coach Tim Floyd has taken the blame for a possible NCAA rules violation by freshman standout O.J. Mayo, saying he told Mayo it was OK to accept free tickets to a Nuggets-Lakers game from Denver star Carmelo Anthony. NCAA bylaw 16.11.2.2.3 states that student-athletes may not receive "free or reduced-cost admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations, unless such services also are available to the student body in general." But if the NCAA considers Anthony a friend who gave Mayo the tickets - as Mayo maintains - rather than a representative of the Nuggets, it could make the matter legal by NCAA standards . . . South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier hired a defensive coordinator for the second time in five weeks, luring Ellis Johnson away from Arkansas in the latest move of a job-jumping spree involving Southeastern Conference schools and the Atlanta Falcons. Spurrier hired Johnson only hours after his previous hire, Brian VanGorder, told Spurrier he was rejoining the Falcons and their new head coach, Mike Smith.

The NHL is in talks to open next season with games in Sweden and the Czech Republic. Swedish Hockey League sports director Tommy Topel said the Ottawa Senators would play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm, adding that NHL games are also planned for the same two days in Prague, probably featuring the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning . . . Donald Brashear, 36, signed a one-year contract extension with the Washington Capitals. He leads the team with 72 penalty minutes and also has three goals in 50 games . . . Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sasha Pavlovic could miss up to two months because of a sprained left foot . . . An unnamed cyclist is suing the US Anti-Doping Agency for "overreaching its own rules and protocols," claiming the agency had planned to test the cyclist's backup urine sample even though the original "A" sample test came back negative. The lawyers for the cyclist are Maurice Suh and Howard Jacobs, the same team that represents Floyd Landis in his doping case, but Landis said he is not the plaintiff . . . Czech Tomas Verner, 21, won his first major international figure skating championship, taking the European men's title in Zagreb, Croatia, over Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, the 2005-06 world champion, and Brian Joubert of France, the current world champion.