Twins take 1-0 leads in ACLS
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Joe Mays allowed four hits in eight superb innings and Eddie Guardado struck out Troy Glaus with the tying run on base in the ninth as the Minnesota Twins edged the Anaheim Angels, 2-1, Tuesday night in Game One of their best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
After getting ripped in Game Two of the Twins' Division Series against the Oakland Athletics, Mays was asked to contain a team that hit a postseason-record .376 in the first round. The 26-year-old righthander responded with a masterpiece, scattering four singles.
Mays allowed an unearned run, did not walk a batter, struck out three and retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced.
Guardado struck out Darin Erstad to open the ninth but walked Tim Salmon on a 3-2 pitch. Chone Figgins came on to pinch-run but Guardado got Garret Anderson to fly out before striking out Glaus looking on a 3-2 pitch.
The Twins got a sacrifice fly from A.J. Pierzynski in the second inning and Corey Koskie's RBI double in the third snapped a 1-1 tie.
Game Two is slated for Wednesday with the Twins sending veteran righthander Rick Reed to the mound against the Angels' Ramon Ortiz.
Game One of the National League Championship Series has San Francisco at St. Louis with Kirk Rueter starting for the Giants and Matt Morris for the Cardinals.
Colorado football placed on probation
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The NCAA has placed the Colorado football program on two years probation for violations committed primarily during the tenure of former coach Rick Neuheisel.
The NCAA Committee of Infractions announced its ruling Tuesday after a three-year investigation. While terming the violations "serious," the committee stopped short of imposing a ban on postseason play or television appearances.
Colorado had hoped for leniency from the NCAA for its investigation of 53 violations, 51 of which took place during Neuheisel's term as coach from 1995 to 1998.
Neuheisel left to coach Washington, but did not remain completely unscathed. The NCAA on Tuesday prohibited Neuheisel from recruiting off-campus until May 2003.
"This was a serious case in which a football coaching staff, led by the former head football coach, in a calculated attempt to gain a recruiting advantage, pushed beyond the permissible bounds of legislation, resulting in a pattern of recruiting violations," the committee said in its ruling.
The NCAA reduced Colorado's the number of football scholarships over the next two years from 25 to 20. It also reduced by one the number of football coaches allowed to recruit off-campus to one and cut the number of expense-paid visits for recruits to the Colorado campus.
Safin, Grosjean advance at Lyon
LYON, France, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Top seed Marat Safin of Russia and No. 3 Sebastien Grosjean of France advanced Tuesday to the round of 16 at the $761,000 Lyon Tennis Grand Prix, but fifth seed Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco will not be joining them.
Safin, who lost in the semifinals on Saturday in Moscow, edged 16-year-old wild card Richard Gasquet of France, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
Gasquet, who won the boys' draws at both the French Open and the U.S. Open earlier this year, became the youngest player to win a Tennis Masters Series match when he defeated Franco Squillari at Monte Carlo in April as a 15-year-old. He then lost to Safin in the second round, 6-4, 6-1.
Joining Safin in the round of 16 is Grosjean, who needed three sets to defeat countryman Cedric Pioline, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1. It was the first time in six career encounters that Grosjean defeated Pioline.
Fellow Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Escude also advanced to the second round with straight set victories. Clement beat French qualifier Julien Benneteau, 6-4, 6-2, and Escude handled Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
El Aynaoui was upset by unseeded but three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-4. El Aynaoui was hoping to join Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Carlos Moya as the only players to win four titles this year.
Mets pick up option on Alomar
NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The New York Mets displayed their faith in Roberto Alomar on Tuesday by picking up the $8 million contract option on the second baseman for the 2003 season.
Alomar was acquired from the Cleveland Indians in a seven-player trade last December. But the 12-time All-Star never appeared comfortable in his first season in New York, hitting .266 with 11 homers and 53 RBI in 149 games.
The 34-year-old hit over .300 in nine of his previous 10 seasons. In his final season in Cleveland, he batted .336 with 20 homers, had 100 RBI, scored 100 runs, stole 30 bases and finished fourth in the Most Valuable Player voting. He was elected to 10 straight All-Star Games before missing the game last season.
Ricciardi gets long-term deal from Toronto
TORONTO, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday signed General Manager J.P. Ricciardi to a five-year contract, replacing the three-year deal he received last year.
The new deal ends speculation that the native of Worcester, Mass., would leave Canada to take a job with the Boston Red Sox.
Ricciardi, 43, was named senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager last November after spending six years with the Oakland Athletics as assistant general manager to Billy Beane.
He made a big trade just one month after coming to Toronto, sending closer Billy Koch to the Athletics for third baseman Eric Hinske, who is a leading candidate for American League Rookie of the Year after batting .279 with 24 home runs and 84 RBI in 151 games, and minor league pitcher Justin Miller.
He also acquired righthander Luke Prokopec from the Los Angeles Dodgers at last year's winter meetings, even though the native of Australia struggled with a 2-9 record and 6.78 ERA in 22 appearances.
Ricciardi fired Buck Martinez as manager in June after the Blue Jays got off to a 20-33 start. He was replaced by Carlos Tosca and the team finished with a 78-84 record.
Ricciardi reportedly was sought by the Red Sox. He was a high school teammate of former Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman, and spent two seasons in the minor leagues for the New York Mets. He became New England area scout for the A's in 1986 and also served as minor league instructor and East Coast scouting supervisor.
Three seeds victorious in Germany
FILDERSTADT, Germany, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- All three seeded players in action Tuesday advanced to the second round of the $625,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo of France breezed to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over German wild card Barbara Rittner. Mauresmo has reached the semifinals in seven tournaments this year and defeated Rittner for the third time in as many career meetings.
No. 6 Kim Clijsters avenged her most recent loss with a 6-4, 6-2 romp over Russian Anastasia Myskina. The 21-year-old Myskina rallied for a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Clijsters in the semifinals at Leipzig two weeks ago before falling in the final to World No. 1 Serena Williams.
Seventh seed and former World No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland, recorded a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Seeking her 41st career title, Hingis defeated Sanchez-Vicario for the 18th time in 20 meetings.
The top four seeds: Jennifer Capriati of the United States, American Lindsay Davenport, Yugoslavian Jelena Dokic and Justine Henin of Belgium all received byes in the first round.
Report: Olajuwon to retire
NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The New York Post reported Tuesday that former All-Star center Hakeem Olajuwon, who helped the Houston Rockets win to back-to-back NBA titles but struggled last season with Toronto, plans to officially announce his retirement when the Raptors meet Houston in their home opener on Nov. 2.
Olajuwon, 39, continues to be bothered by a lower back injury, and the Raptors excused him from training camp.
Last season, he missed 21 games with a right quadriceps strain and an infected toe, his first with the Raptors, after a brilliant 17-year career with the Rockets. He averaged 7.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per contest for Toronto.
The Raptors acquired Olajuwon from Houston in August 2001 for draft picks. They signed him to a three-year, $17 million deal.
One of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players and the league's all-time leader in blocked shots led the Rockets to back-to-back titles in 1994 and '95. His production has seriously diminished the past five seasons.
The 7-foot native of Nigeria played only 58 games in 2000-01, averaging 11.0 points and 7.4 rebounds for the Rockets before being shipped to Toronto. In 17 seasons with the Rockets, Olajuwon averaged 22.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game while amassing an NBA-record 3,740 blocks.
In 1994, he became the only player to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP honors in the same season.
Bears lose Tucker for season
CHICAGO, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The Chicago Bears Tuesday learned that guard Rex Tucker is lost for the balance of the 2002 campaign. He was carted off the field early in the third quarter of Monday night's costly 34-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers with a dislocated left ankle.
Tucker, a 6-5, 315-pounder, was injured when Packers linebacker Nate Wayne fell on the back of his leg while tackling running back Anthony Thomas.
Meanwhile, wide receiver David Terrell also was injured against Green Bay. The second-year pro from Michigan suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and is out indefinitely.
Tucker is the second starter the Bears have lost for the season in as many weeks. Linebacker Warrick Holdman had surgery last Monday to repair a torn ACL in last weekend's overtime loss in Buffalo. In all, six Bears' starters have been sidelined this season, including defensive tackle Ted Washington, who remains out indefinitely with foot and ankle injuries.
Mike Gandy, a third-round draft pick in 2002 from Notre Dame, replaced Tucker against the Packers, and likely will assume his starting job. There's also a chance the Bears could move Bernard Robertson from left tackle to guard and install first-round pick Marc Colombo as the starter at left tackle.
The Bears have an open date Sunday. Their next game is Oct. 20 at Detroit.
Browns lose Holcomb to leg injury
CLEVELAND, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Officials of the Cleveland Browns learned late Monday that backup quarterback Kerry Holcomb, who has been the starter twice this season because of an injury to Tim Couch, himself has been grounded for some time with a hairline shin fracture.
His agent, Frank Bauer, told the Akron Beacon Journal that Holcomb also has a knee strain. He is expected to miss 2-3 weeks.
Holcomb relieved Couch Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and almost guided the Browns to a come-from-behind win. The Ravens held on to win, 26-21.
Holcomb's injury added to the turmoil surrounding the team, which began after the game when Couch went into an expletive-related tirade because fans started cheering when he was injured in the fourth quarter. He was booed throughout the contest.
Cleveland (2-3) plays at Tampa Bay next weekend and Couch will be the starting quarterback.
Holy Cross coach takes leave of absence
WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Dan Allen, the head football coach at Holy Cross, has begun what has been called a temporary medical leave of absence.
Recently, Allen has been dealing with a medical condition and works with his physicians to fully diagnose and treat his condition. School officials say it was necessary that he take some time off in order to receive necessary medical treatments.
The Boston Globe reported that friends of Allen said his right hip has been bothering him since the start of the season and, because he has developed a more noticeable limp each day, he decided to have the condition checked out.
Offensive coordinator Bob Griffin is running the team in Allen's absence.
School officials did not make any comment about the reason for the absence other than to say that it was in the best interest of Allen and his family. "It's a medical leave of absence and we'll leave it at that," said Athletic Director Dick Regan.
Coach Allen expects to return later this month.
