Mike Mussina is out. Call up another kid. The New York Yankees dropped a struggling Mussina from their rotation Tuesday, turning to touted prospect Ian Kennedy over a pitcher with 247 major league wins — in the middle of a pennant race. Bold move. But not out of character for the Yankees lately. Kennedy, who spent most of last year playing college ball at USC, will be called up from the minors to…
Vladimir Guerrero wears a blue T-shirt with Superman’s red “S” hidden under his team jersey. As far the Mariners are concerned, though, he’s nothing but a super villain. Guerrero had more four hits and three more RBIs against the team he loves to torment as the Los Angeles Angels rallied from five runs down to beat Seattle 10-6 Tuesday night and increase their AL West lead to four games.
Maybe he’s just fortunate, but Mike Holmgren has never faced the situation in front of first-year Oakland coach Lane Kiffin. In his long career, from being an assistant in San Francisco to his head coaching days in Green Bay and Seattle, Holmgren has always gone into the final preseason game set on his starting quarterback.
Guard Kevin Martin agreed in principle to a contract extension Tuesday with the Sacramento Kings. Geoff Petrie, the Kings’ president of basketball operations, announced the deal, believed to be a five-year extension to begin in the 2008-09 season. Martin’s agent, Jason Levien, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
No team in the NL West has beaten Brandon Webb more than San Diego, and the Padres came up with a big one on Tuesday night. Mike Cameron homered to start a four-run rally off the reigning NL Cy Young winner in the sixth inning and the Padres beat Arizona 6-4 to pull within one game of the division-leading Diamondbacks.
The eBay auction for 22 Michael Vick football cards, chewed up and slobbered on by two Missouri dogs, ended Wednesday as the winning bidder dished out $7,400 — with the money expected to be donated to the Humane Society. The success of that auction, with 31 different bidders, created a craze of 25 other postings this week offering torn up cards featuring the disgraced NFL superstar.
The Phoenix Suns and D.J. Strawberry, their second-round draft pick, have agreed to a two-year contract that guarantees him a roster spot this season. Strawberry, the 59th overall selection in the June draft, will receive the rookie minimum salary of $427,163 for the 2007-08 season. The second year of the contract is a team option.
One final, sorrowful time, an Eddie Griffin highlight reel played for family and friends. Snapshots of Griffin as a child, as a Philadelphia prep star, smiling with his family and shaking hands on draft night with NBA commissioner David Stern seemed more appropriate for a big screen All-Star tribute than flashed on a plain white wall at a memorial service.
NBA star Allen Iverson’s stepfather was indicted on federal drug distribution charges after police said they found crack cocaine in his car in April. Michael Andre Freeman, 51, will remain jailed until his bond hearing Friday. He was to have been in court Aug. 24 but the hearing was postponed a week to give him time to find a lawyer, the U.S.
