Sports FanFare 8/1/02

Briefly

Baseball

A look at the deals made Wednesday before the 3 p.m. CDT non-waiver trade deadline:

The White Sox traded RHP Bob Howry (2-2, 3.91 ERA) to the Red Sox for RHP Franklin Francisco and LHP Byeong Hak An.

The Rockies traded OF Todd Hollandsworth (.295, 11 HR, 48 RBIs), and LHP Denny Reyes (0-1. 4.24 ERA) to the Rangers for OF Gabe Kapler (.260, O HR, 17 RBIs) and 2B-OF Jason Romano.

The Brewers traded OF Alex Ochoa (.256, 6 HR, 21 RBIs) and C Sal Fasano to the Angels for C Jorge Fabregas (.193, 0 HR, 8 RBIs) and two players to be named.

The Mets traded OF Jay Payton (.284, 8 HR, 31 RBIs), RHP Mark Corey (0-3, 4.50 ERA) and OF Robert Stratton to the Rockies for RHP John Thomson (7-8, 4.88 ERA) and OF Mark Little (.200, 0 HR, 8 RBIs).

The Mets traded LHP Bobby Jones (0-0, 5.29 ERA), RHP Josh Reynolds and OF Jay Bay to the Padres for RHP Steve Reed (2-4, .198 ERA) and RHP Jason Middlebrook (1-3, 5.09 ERA).

The Pirates traded OF Chad Hermansen (.206, 7 HR, 15 RBIs) to the Cubs for OF Darren Lewis (.241, 0 HR, 7 RBIs).

Devil Rays pitcher Tanyon Sturtze has been fined an undisclosed amount by the commissioner's office for hitting Boston outfielder Manny Ramirez with a pitch July 18.

Basketball

Forward Corie Blount signed a free-agent contract with the Bulls, completing a circle that began when the team chose him with the 25th pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. Terms weren't disclosed.

Cycling

Tour de France third-place finisher Raimondas Rumsas, whose wife was jailed after allegedly being caught with a stash of performance-enhancing drugs, decided not to meet with French investigators. Rumsas's lawyer Pierre-Louis Piloix said Rumsas "could come tomorrow, or in two days, we don't know yet."

Hockey

Left wing Paul Kariya, a six-time NHL All-Star, signed a one-year contract with the Mighty Ducks. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sailing

Stars & Stripes, Dennis Conner's new America's Cup yacht that sank off Long Beach last week, was taken to New Zealand on Wednesday aboard a container ship.

The trip to Auckland was scheduled to take 15 days. Once there, Stars & Stripes (USA-77) will be repaired, and Conner's team hopes to have it available for the start of the America's Cup challenger trials on Oct. 1.

Conner's other yacht, also named Stars & Stripes (USA-66) will be shipped to New Zealand next week.

Tennis

Lindsay Davenport, in her second WTA tournament since undergoing knee surgery, needed just over an hour to defeat Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0 in the second round of the tournament at the La Costa Resort and Spa. Earlier in the day, a second-round match between No. 7 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovokia and Ai Sugiyama of Japan ended with two controversial calls by chair umpire Denis Overberg with Sugiyama winning 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

People

Baffert's busy weekend

Bob Baffert has quite a weekend planned, even for someone used to hectic schedules.

The trainer is getting married Saturday in Coronado, Calif., then jetting to the Jersey shore early Sunday to saddle Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

"And after the race, we'll fly up to Saratoga," Baffert said Wednesday during a conference call from Del Mar, Calif. "We'll honeymoon at the Saratoga sales."

The 3-year-old colt arrived at Monmouth from Del Mar on Wednesday, and was scheduled to go out on the track today. He was accompanied by Jim Barnes, Baffert's assistant trainer.

Verbatim

Cynthia Cooper on teammate Lisa Leslie's first WNBA dunk Tuesday:"It's going to make people come out to the arenas to see, because you never know who can do it and when it's going to happen."

University of Nebraska athletic director Bill Byrne answering a criticism about Nebraska's new uniform design: "I rarely get involved in uniforms. The team likes the new look and unless it is something that I simply can't live with, by and large I let them make that decision."

-- From wire reports