■BASEBALL
Delgado to undergo surgery
New York Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado will undergo surgery on his right hip, the National League East team announced on their Web site on Monday. Delgado, who has not played since May 10, was set to have the procedure yesterday. There was no word on when he is expected to return to action. “What we have to do now is try to find out how we’re going to continue to play good baseball without Carlos Delgado,” New York manager Jerry Manuel told reporters.
■BASEBALL
Rickie Weeks out for season
Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks is to undergo surgery on a wrist injury and will not play again this season, the team said on Monday. Weeks sustained the injury during a first-inning strikeout on Sunday in St Louis and will have surgery this week to repair a torn sheath that surrounds a tendon in his left wrist, the Brewers said on their Web site. The surgery will sideline Weeks for at least four to six months, general manager Doug Melvin said.
■SOCCER
Flu may affect friendly
An international soccer match between Japan and Chile may be staged without spectators next week in Osaka, Japan, because of the ongoing spread of swine flu, officials said on Monday. The Japan Football Association announced on Monday that next Wednesday’s match would go ahead as planned despite the surge in confirmed cases of A(H1N1) in Japan to 135, with all but four of them reported in Osaka and neighboring Hyogo. “Basically we are not considering changing the venue,” the association’s general secretary, Kozo Tashima, told reporters. But he added: “We will tell you in a day or two how best we can stage the match in specific terms.” Japan Football Association president Motoaki Inukai told the Nikkan Sports daily on Sunday it would be a worse case scenario “to have a match without spectators.”
■SOCCER
Newcastle lodges appeal
Newcastle United has lodged an appeal against the red card given to Sebastien Bassong during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham. The English Football Association confirmed Newcastle had contested the dismissal in a statement on its Web site on Monday. “Bassong was shown a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity during Newcastle’s match against Fulham on May 16,” it said. “A regulatory commission will hear the claim on May 19.” Bassong was sent off by referee Howard Webb after bringing down Fulham striker Diomansy Kamara after 60 minutes of the match. The move comes as a surprise as Newcastle had not complained about the card after the match. If his appeal is unsuccessful, Bassong will miss the Magpies’ final game of the season at Aston Villa on Sunday.
■BOXING
Miranda clean: trainer
Edison Miranda’s trainer claims he used nothing but petroleum jelly and a common coagulant on his boxer last weekend when the California State Athletic Commission seized a suspicious substance from the Colombian fighter’s corner. The commission is still testing the substance, which was confiscated after an inspector saw Miranda’s cornermen remove an unfamiliar brown bottle from a bag during Miranda’s loss to Andre Ward. The commission could have results of the tests by next week, spokesman Luis Farias said. Steve Benbasat, Miranda’s manager, told reporters that trainer Jose Bonilla said the brown substance in the seized bottle was Vaseline.
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