Sports Log
Wambach out of Games after surgery
Soccer
US soccer star Abby Wambach had surgery Thursday to repair a broken left leg that will keep her out of the Olympics. The team's leading scorer had a titanium rod inserted in her lower left leg during a one-hour operation. She can begin full weight-bearing activities on the leg in 5-6 weeks. Wambach, 28, broke her tibia and fibula in the team's final tuneup Wednesday night against Brazil in San Diego and is expected to be sidelined about 12 weeks. The Americans begin defense of the gold medal Aug. 6 against Norway . . . In Major League Soccer, Guillermo Barros Schelotto scored a goal and assisted on two others for the host Columbus Crew in a 3-3 draw with the Kansas City Wizards . . . Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, and Michael Bradley were among the 18-man roster selected to lead the US men's soccer team at Beijing. Selecting the Olympic squad was tricky because the Beijing Games overlap with World Cup qualifying for the USBaseball
Yankees, Sexson reportedly reach deal
First baseman Richie Sexson and the Yankees reached agreement a week after the Mariners cut the slumping slugger. A person familiar with the contract said Sexson would be paid a prorated share of the $390,000 minimum salary. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made.Athletics deal Blanton to Phillies
The Athletics traded their second starting pitcher this month, dealing burly righthander Joe Blanton (5-12, 4.96 ERA) to the Phillies for three minor leaguers. A's general manager Billy Beane swapped Blanton a week after sending Rich Harden to the Cubs - and that's with his team very much in contention in the AL West.Japanese star Nomo, 39, calls it quits
Hideo Nomo, who pitched a pair of no-hitters and led a rush of Japanese players to the major leagues, announced his retirement. Nomo, 39, was released by the Royals in late April. His 123 wins are the most in the majors by a Japanese pitcher. He was the 1995 NL Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers and threw a no-hitter for the Red Sox. He is one of only four pitchers to throw no-hitters in the AL and NL . . . Pedro Martínez got a cortisone shot to heal his strained groin, forcing the Mets to push back his scheduled Sunday start by a couple of days . . . Tim Lincecum is slated to start Sunday for the Giants against Milwaukee as planned, even after the righthander missed Tuesday's All-Star Game with flu-like symptoms and dehydration . . . Dodgers closer Takashi Saito, who is rehabilitating a sprained ligament in his right elbow, said surgery is a possibility . . . The Diamondbacks acquired first baseman Tony Clark from the Padres for minor league pitcher Evan Scribner. Clark, 36, spent three seasons in Arizona and hit .266 with 53 homers and 154 RBIs. He signed with the Padres before this season . . . Former Red Sox catcher John Marzano was intoxicated when he fell down stairs and died in his Philadelphia home in April, the medical examiner's office said. Marzano, 45, who was drafted by the Sox in 1984, played 10 seasons in the majors . . . The Diamondbacks signed lefthander Daniel Schlereth, the team's No. 1 draft pick (26th overall) . . . Sherman "Jocko" Maxwell, the pioneering black sportscaster who chronicled Negro league baseball players before the racial barrier fell, died in suburban Philadelphia. He was 100.
Basketball
Timberwolves re-sign ex-BC star Smith
The Timberwolves have re-signed restricted free agent forward Craig Smith, who starred at Boston College, to a two-year deal . . . Star guard Deron Williams has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Jazz, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Williams's extension is similar to that of New Orleans guard Chris Paul's. The total value of Paul's recently signed deal is $68 million . . . The Clippers signed restricted free agent swingman Kelenna Azubuike to an offer sheet . . . Rockets center Yao Ming marked his return from injury with 11 points in just over 12 minutes for the Chinese national team in its Olympic warm-up victory over a Serbian squad, 96-72, in Hangzhou, China . . . In the WNBA, Tina Thompson scored 25 points off the bench, helping the host Houston Comets snap a three-game losing streak with a 96-88 victory over the Minnesota Lynx . . . Ashley Battle scored 15 points and Janel McCarville had 12 to help the host New York Liberty cruise to a 77-56 victory over the Washington Mystics . . . Cappie Pondexter scored 27 points and host Phoenix held off Los Angeles to snap a three-game losing streak . . . Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings was cleared to play after an MRI showed no damage to her Achilles' tendon, which she injured last season . . . Former Fresno State women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein, who sued the school for sex discrimination, has been hired as the general manager of the Lawton Fort Sill Cavalry, the Continental Basketball Association's defending champions.Golf
Johnson aces US Bank Championship
Richard S. Johnson aced the 14th hole on his way to a 63 that gave him a one-stroke lead over Deane and Brenden Pappas after the first round of the US Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Robert Garrigus, Dean Wilson and Patrick Sheehan were another shot behind. Defending champion Joe Ogilvie and Jesper Parnevik were in a group of 10 tied at 66. Johnson's hole-in-one with a 7-iron was the 18th this year on the PGA tour but the first on the Brown Deer Park Golf Course since Tiger Woods did it in 1996 . . . Christina Kim shot a 9-under-par 63 in Springfield, Ill., to take a one-stroke lead at the State Farm Classic, a tournament she just missed winning last year. The field was stacked with low scores, including a 67 from Michelle Wie, her best of the year for the part-time golfer and full-time Stanford student. South Korean Sun Young Yoo finished a stroke behind Kim at 64 after shooting an 8-under 28 over the first nine holes.
NHL
Reasoner agrees to deal with Thrashers
Free agent center Marty Reasoner agreed to a deal with the Thrashers after playing with Edmonton for six seasons. The 31-year-old Reasoner, who played for Boston College, has also played for the Bruins and St. Louis during his nine-year career . . . The Penguins acquired the rights to defenseman Danny Richmond in exchange for the rights to Tim Brent . . . Free agent Andy Wozniewski signed with St. Louis after spending last season with Toronto . . . Four games in Europe, an All-Star Game in Montreal and the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field are the highlights of the 2008-09 NHL regular-season schedule, which was released Thursday. For the second consecutive year, the NHL will open the season on European ice with Sidney Crosby and the Stanley Cup finalist Penguins facing off against the Senators in back-to-back games in Stockholm Oct. 4-5. That same weekend, the Rangers will take on the Lightning in a pair of games in Prague. They follow a hugely successful opening last year in London, where the Ducks took on the Kings in a two-game set. The NHL spotlight will be on Chicago on New Year's Day, when the Blackhawks host Original Six rivals the Red Wings in the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, better known as the home of the Chicago Cubs.Boxer Diaz in coma after brain surgery
Welterweight contender Oscar Diaz had surgery for bleeding on the brain and was in a coma after collapsing between rounds of a nationally televised bout in his hometown of San Antonio. Diaz, 25, was taking a beating from Delvin Rodriguez Wednesday night when he collapsed on his stool before the 11th round. Ron Katz, a matchmaker for Star Boxing, which promoted the fight, said Diaz was in a coma and not breathing on his own after the surgery. "My understanding is they had to remove on the left side a part of his cranium to get the swelling down," said Katz, citing information he said came from promoter Donna Brooks. Katz said Brooks was at University Hospital in San Antonio with Diaz. Diaz came into the fight for the US Boxing Association welterweight championship with a 26-2 record and 12 knockouts . . . Unable to secure a meaningful opponent to wage a middleweight championship defense against in the fall, Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) will move up 10 pounds and face former light heavyweight and middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KOs) at 170 pounds Oct. 18, promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com . . . For the second straight match, James Blake found a way to survive and advance. The American struggled early in the first set and fought off two set points in the second before defeating Jun Woong-sun of South Korea, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round at the Indianapolis Championships . . . Gymnast Paul Hamm will take part in an intrasquad meet tomorrow to show he's physically able to compete. Hamm broke the fourth metacarpal in his right hand May 22, in his parallel bars routine. The men's selection committee put him on the team, with the condition he show readiness at training camp in Colorado Springs . . . Autopsy results show University of Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher, 19, who died after spring drills in March, had a sickle cell trait that caused problems with his red blood cells during physical exertion. Tests showed the blood flow to the 19-year-old wide receiver's muscles and organs slowed or stopped.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
