Martinez ponders retiring after season

Pedro Martinez, who will rejoin the Mets for a bullpen session today as he returns from an ailing hamstring, told the Daily New yesterday that he's contemplating retiring after this season to be with his ailing father. "It's taking a toll on me and my family, my dad's situation," Martinez told the New York newspaper. "That'll probably drag me away from the game a little sooner than people expect. After this season, I'm going to go back home and think about it and I'm going to decide." Martinez's 78-year-old father, Pablo, has a form of brain cancer . . . Mike Piazza announced his retirement following a 16-season career in which he became one of the top-hitting catchers in history. "After discussing my options with my wife, family, and agent, I felt it was time to start a new chapter in my life," he said in a statement released by his agent, Dan Lozano. "It has been an amazing journey. So today, I walk away with no regrets. I knew this day was coming and over the last two years I started to make my peace with it. I gave it my all and left everything on the field." The 39-year-old Piazza batted .275 with eight homers and 44 RBIs as a designated hitter for Oakland last season, became a free agent, and did not re-sign.

Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy was placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Padres with a strained and swollen right elbow. The move was retroactive to Thursday, a day after he lasted just four innings against the Cubs . . . Twins second baseman Matt Tolbert will have surgery to repair an injured ligament on his left thumb and will be out 4 1/2 weeks before starting rehabilitation . . . Diamondbacks lefthander Doug Davis, who has been recovering from thyroid cancer surgery, will return to the rotation Friday at Atlanta . . . After another test on his ailing right shoulder, John Smoltz declared he will give no more updates until he's back on the mound for the Braves. Smoltz felt some reporters misinterpreted his most recent comments by writing his comeback had run into problems and could be delayed for a lengthy period.

Dave Paulsen, who won the Division 3 national championship at Williams, was hired as basketball coach at Division 1 Bucknell. Paulsen had a 170-53 record over eight seasons with the Ephs, including the 2003 title . . . Northeastern shortstop Mike Lyon, reliever Sheldon McDonald, and utility player Mike Tamsin were named to the Colonial Athletic Association's first team . . . Harvard's women's heavyweight crew has been selected to compete in the NCAA championships May 30-June 1 in Sacramento.

James Blake gave the United States a split of its two singles matches against Argentina at the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf, Germany. Blake beat Guillermo Canas, 7-6 (6-4), 6-4. Argentina rebounded with Juan Ignacio Chela defeating Wayne Odesnik, 7-5, 6-1. The deciding doubles match is today . . . Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic rallied to defeat Jan Hajek, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, in the first round of the Hypo Group International in Poertschach, Austria. American John Isner defeated Simone Vagnozzi, 6-3, 6-2. Isner will next play top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko . . . Former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport has pulled out of the French Open, the only Grand Slam singles event she hasn't won. The 31-year-old Californian withdrew from the event, which begins Sunday, for "personal reasons." . . . UCLA won the NCAA women's title with a 4-0 victory over California in Tulsa, Okla. Georgia won the men's title with a 4-2 win over Texas.

In the second day of testimony in a federal trial in San Francisco of former track coach Trevor Graham, lead government investigator Jeff Novitzky testified that shot putter C.J. Hunter, who tested positive for a banned substance before the Sydney Olympics, twice injected his then-wife Marion Jones with EPO. Also, the government's star witness, admitted drug dealer Angel "Memo" Heredia, testified he helped Jones, Hunter, and many other track athletes - through Graham - obtain banned performance-enhancing drugs. Even Barry Bonds, charged with 15 counts of lying to a grand jury about his drug use, was mentioned when Graham's attorney asked Novitzky if the slugger had any connection to Heredia. "No," Novitzky said . . . World record-holder Tatyana Lysenko and fellow Russian hammer thrower Ekaterina Khoroshikh were each banned for two years by the IAAF for doping violations. Lysenko and Khoroshikh both tested positive for a banned hormone blocker in an out-of-competition test in Moscow last May.

FC Dallas fired coach Steve Morrow, two days after an embarrassing 5-1 MLS loss to David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy in front of a rare home sellout. Assistant Marco Ferruzzi was named interim coach, and general manager Michael Hitchcock said the search for a new coach would begin immediately . . . Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius declined an invitation to run the 400-meter race at Berlin's ISTAF Golden League meet June 1, saying he wasn't ready to face the world's elite. The 21-year-old Pistorius is scheduled to compete in a regular race July 2 in Milan. . . . Lloyd Moore, a NASCAR winner in 1950 and the oldest former driver, died Sunday in Frewsburg, N.Y. He was 95.