Cubs' Soriano back by All-Star break?

Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano will have his broken left hand re-examined Friday and hopes to return before the All-Star break next month. "I think I'll have a better idea on Friday," Soriano said yesterday. "I'm going to see how far I am. I believe that before the All-Star Game I think I'll be able to play." . . . The Yankees recalled reliever Billy Traber from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace starter Chien-Ming Wang (partially torn tendon and sprained right foot), who was officially placed on the disabled list . . . The Dodgers put righthander Brad Penny (5-9, 5.88 ERA) on the 15-day DL with a sore right shoulder that has bothered him for much of the season . . . White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko went on the DL for the first time in his career after straining his left side during batting drills Sunday. Nick Swisher is expected to play first base in Konerko's absence . . . Astros manager Cecil Cooper and the Twins' Ron Gardenhire were fined undisclosed amounts by Major League Baseball for failing to comply with pace-of-game regulations last weekend. Cooper and Gardenhire are the first two managers sanctioned under the new push . . . Indians infielder Josh Barfield underwent surgery to repair an injured ligament on the left middle finger and will be out 6-8 weeks . . . Johnny Buzhardt, who pitched for the Cubs and White Sox over 11 major league seasons, died Sunday at his home in Prosperity, S.C. He was 71.

Blake Dean hit a three-run double off the left-field wall in the bottom of the ninth to keep Louisiana State alive in the College World Series with a 6-5 victory over Rice in Omaha. Dean drove Cole St. Clair's 1-0 pitch on a line to the fence, and he was mobbed by teammates shortly after he arrived at second base. In the second game, Alan Ahmady hit the go-ahead single in the fifth inning to lift Fresno State to a 5-3 victory over North Carolina. The Bulldogs (44-29) need one more win to reach the best-of-three championship round. The Tar Heels will meet LSU in an elimination game tomorrow . . . Springfield assistant Jonathan Furbush has been named men's basketball coach at Bates . . . Harvard named Brian Baise men's volleyball coach . . . Ambrose "Bud" Dudley, who was athletic director at Villanova from 1953-57 and founded the Liberty Bowl in 1959 in Philadelphia, died yesterday in a Memphis nursing home. He was 88.

Igor Larionov, who won two Olympic gold medals with the Soviet Union and three Stanley Cups with the Red Wings, and winger Glenn Anderson, who won six Cups (five with the Oilers, one with the Rangers) and ranks fifth in the NHL with 93 career playoff goals, have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Linesman Ray Scapinello and Ed Chynoweth, the former president of the Western Hockey League who died in April, also will be inducted.

Amy Rodriguez's goal in the 41st minute gave the US women's team a 1-0 victory over Brazil in the Peace Queen Cup in Suwon, South Korea. The Americans have a 2-0 record heading into tomorrow's match with Italy. Aly Wagner took a free kick from a few yards in front of the corner flag and her low service to the near post fell in the middle of several players. Rodriguez sent a point-blank shot from almost no angle high into the top left corner of the net . . . Andrea Pirlo scored on a penalty kick in the 25th minute and Daniele De Rossi found the net with a deflected free kick in the 62d minute to lift Italy over France, 2-0, in Zurich, sending the Azzurri to the quarterfinals of the European Championship. Italy faces Spain Sunday. In Bern, Switzerland, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored in the 54th minute to help the Netherlands bounce Romania from the tournament with a 2-0 victory . . . Visiting Cuba defeated Antigua/Barbuda, 4-3, in the first leg of a World Cup qualifier that likely will determine a US opponent in the regional semifinals.

Tara Joy Connelly of Cohasset Club fired 79 -160 to edge The Country Club's Claire Sheldon (78) by a stroke to claim the WGAM Baker Trophy at Eastward Ho! in Chatham . . . Monday's dramatic US Open playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate earned a 7.6 overnight rating and 20 share from 2-4:45 p.m. EDT on NBC. That's just 11 percent less than the 8.5 overnight rating drawn by Sunday's fourth round. The first two hours of the playoff drew the highest cable rating ever for golf with a 4.2 on ESPN . . . Former No. 1-ranked Lindsay Davenport withdrew from the grass-court International Women's Open in Eastbourne, England, with a knee problem before her first-round match. She still hopes to play at Wimbledon . . . Top-seeded Radek Stepanek beat John Isner, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the second round of the Wimbledon tuneup tournament at Nottingham, England. The 15th-ranked Czech next plays American Vincent Spadea, who beat Alexander Slabinsky, 6-1, 7-5 . . . The Bromfield School's Emily Jones, who won the 2-mile event at the Central Mass. sectionals in 10 minutes 27.03 seconds (the fastest high school time in the nation this year), is the Gatorade Massachusetts Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year . . . The Jockey Club's safety panel, created after filly Eight Belles's fatal run in the Kentucky Derby, is calling for a steroid ban and other reforms for the sport. The group also wants to ban toe grabs and change rules regarding the use of the whip by jockeys.