■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.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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