Orioles fire scout tied to betting probe

The Baltimore Orioles have fired a high-ranking scout after Major League Baseball's newly formed investigative unit linked him to a gambling probe. MLB was asked for assistance in the gambling inquiry about six months ago by the New York Police Department, a person with knowledge of the investigation said yesterday. The fired scout, Alan Marr, was national cross-checker for the Orioles and the top person listed in the team's scouting directory. Andy MacPhail, the Orioles' president for baseball operations, declined to go into the reasons for Marr's firing . . . Nationals general manager Jim Bowden denied an ESPN.com report that he and special assistant Jose Rijo are being investigated in connection with a scandal involving the skimming of signing bonuses for young Dominican players. "There's no wrongdoing," Bowden said. "I met with FBI investigators. I think there are many people throughout baseball who are going to be talking with the FBI and Major League Baseball."

Los Angeles Angels righthander Kelvim Escobar will have season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder, ending his hopes to pitch this season. Typical recovery time from his surgery is 9-12 months . . . The New York Yankees signed lefthander Eric Milton to a minor league contract. Milton, who had elbow surgery in June 2007, will be assigned to Triple A Scranton and immediately placed on the disabled list, allowing him to continue rehabbing in Florida. Milton, 32, went 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA in six starts with Cincinnati last season . . . David Wright of the New York Mets will replace injured Alfonso Soriano of the Chicago Cubs on the National League All-Star roster. Colorado outfielder Matt Holliday, originally selected as a reserve, will replace Soriano in the starting lineup.

Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau is heading to Beijing with a devastating diagnosis: He has cancer. Shanteau said he learned just a week before the Olympic trials in Omaha that he has testicular cancer. His doctors cleared him to compete in that meet and he surprisingly made the team in the 200-meter breaststroke, finishing second ahead of former world record-holder and heavy favorite Brendan Hansen. Although Shanteau's doctors advised him to have surgery immediately, he's planning to put it off until after Beijing. He will withdraw from the team if there's any sign his cancer is spreading.

Free agent running back Travis Henry faces a one-year suspension after the NFL ruled he again tested positive for marijuana, the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News reported, citing unnamed NFL sources. Henry was released by the Broncos June 2 . . . The Washington Redskins have won the latest round in a 16-year court battle against a group of American Indians, prevailing on a technicality that again skirts the issue of whether the team's nickname is racially offensive. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the youngest of the seven Native American plaintiffs waited too long after turning 18 to file the lawsuit that attempts to revoke the Redskins trademarks. The plaintiffs said they will appeal.

Yelena Isinbayeva set another world record in the pole vault, Jeremy Wariner turned the tables on rival LaShawn Merritt in the 400 meters, and Asafa Powell injured his groin at the star-studded Golden Gala meet in Rome. Isinbayeva cleared 16 feet 6 inches, improving on her previous mark of 16-5 1/4 set in 2005. In the 400, Wariner beat Merritt in a photo finish a week after Merritt stunned the Olympic and two-time world champion at the US Olympic trials. This time, Wariner won in 44.36 seconds - one-hundredth ahead of Merritt. In one of the last major meets before the Beijing Games, defending Olympic silver medalist Francis Obikwelu won the 100 meters after former world record holder Powell pulled out of the final with a groin cramp . . . Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius missed out in another attempt to qualify for the Olympics. The South African was clocked in 46.62 seconds to finish seventh in the 400-meter B race at the Golden Gala meet. He must run a 45.55 to qualify for the Olympics . . . Jay Feaster, his role diminished following a change of ownership, resigned as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, four years after the team he helped assemble won the franchise's only Stanley Cup championship . . . Helio Castroneves pushed Danica Patrick aside by averaging 204.419 miles per hour over four laps in qualifying for the Firestone Indy 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway, his first pole of the season and 24th of his career.