■ Baseball
White Sox ptcher suspended
Chicago White Sox right-hander Bartolo Colon was suspended for five games Wednesday for hitting Baltimore's Jerry Hairston with a pitch earlier this month. Chicago manager Jerry Manuel was suspended one game by Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline. Colon hit Hairston with his second pitch in the top of the ninth inning on May 15, right after both benches had been warned. Colon was responding to Baltimore reliever Jorge Julio, who plunked Magglio Ordonez with a pitch in the eighth. Both Colon and Manuel were ejected from the game.
■ Cricket
Mendis to be kept on
The Sri Lankan cricket board said yesterday it has retained the services of interim coach Duleep Mendis for a tour of the West Indies next month. Mendis, a former captain of the Sri Lankan national team, took over as coach from Dav Whatmore last month after the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka decided not to renew Whatmore's contract. Mendis was appointed as interim coach pending the cricket board elections on June 6, after which a decision will be made on whom to appoint permanently to the post.
■ Football
Playoff scheme unchanged
The NFL isn't adding any teams to this season's playoffs, and it is determined to get a franchise in the Los Angeles area. Those were the main developments from the two-day owners meetings that concluded Wednesday with no vote on a proposal to increase the postseason field from 12 to 14. Kansas City withdrew the proposal because it lacked enough support after the league's competition committee unanimously rejected the plan to add two more wild-card teams. The other main subject of discussion was placing a team in Los Angeles, which has been without an NFL franchise since after the 1994 season.
■ Cricket
Damien Fleming retires
Former test bowler Damien Fleming retired from cricket on Thursday after being named a senior coach at the Australian Cricket Academy. Fleming has agreed to a two-year contract to work at the Adelaide-based academy with head coach Bennett King and two other senior coaches. Fleming replaces Wayne Phillips who has been appointed South Australian state coach. Fleming said he agonized over his decision to retire after 15 years of playing first-class and international cricket. "It definitely wasn't a black-and-white decision," he said.
Agencies
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