LITTLE ROCK — BASEBALL
Blue Jays hire Farrell
The Toronto Blue Jays have hired former Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell as manager. Farrell has never managed at any level. He succeeds Cito Gaston, who retired after the season. The 48-year-old Farrell was Cleveland’s player development director for five years and Boston’s pitching coach the past four seasons. He pitched in the majors for parts of eight seasons with Cleveland, California and Detroit. His final season was 1996.
Pitching coach Dave Eiland has been fired by the New York Yankees, the first move in what should be a busy offseason in the Bronx after a disappointing loss in the American League Championship Series. General Manager Brian Cashman would not divulge a reason for letting Eiland go after his third year as the team’s pitching coach. Cashman says the decision was his and the reason is private. He insisted Monday that it had nothing to do with the Yankees’ poor performance against the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. Eiland was away from the team from June 4 through June 29 to deal with a personal matter.
Mark McGwire is coming back to the St. Louis Cardinals. The team said Monday that McGwire has agreed to a one-year deal after making his debut as the Cardinals hitting coach last season. Terms were not disclosed. The Cardinals also said pitching coach Dave Duncan had agreed to a two-year deal, with a mutual option for 2013. The 65-year-old Duncan has been in the Cardinals dugout with Manager Tony La Russa for the past 15 seasons.
TENNIS
Kohlschreiber wins
Seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber has defeated Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-0, 6-3 in the first round of the Bank Austria Trophy in Vienna. The German hit five aces Monday, losing his serve once on the only break point he faced, in the second set. Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic also reached the second round, ousting Pere Riba of Spain 6-0, 6-2. Hajek will next play second-seeded Marin Cilic, who had a bye in the opening round.
Frederico Gil of Portugal has beaten Edouard-Roger Vasselin of France 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the second round of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. The 100thranked Gil, who lost his only career final this year to Albert Montanes of Spain on clay at Estoril, next plays France’s second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who had a bye into the second round.
Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan has ousted Jeremy Chardy from a second consecutive tournament, beating the seventh-seeded Frenchman 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.
BASKETBALL
Webster out 4 to 6 weeks
Minnesota Timberwolves swingman Martell Webster will miss the next four to six weeks to recover from back surgery. The team said Webster had the operation Monday. He was hurt in the playoffs last season with Portland and the injury flared up this month. The former lottery pick was acquired from the Trail Blazers in a trade for the 16th overall pick on draft night in June. Webster was in line to compete with Corey Brewer for the starting shooting guard spot. Webster played at least 30 minutes in 32 games last season. His numbers in those games were 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 48 percent shooting and 44 percent from three-point range.
HOCKEY
Boychuk to miss 4 weeks
Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk is expected to miss roughly four weeks because of a broken arm. Boychuk sustained a slight fracture of a bone in his left forearm in the first period of the Bruins’ 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday.Boychuk, who signed a two-year contract extension in June, has three assists this season. The 6-2, 225-pound Boychuk had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the Bruins last year.
BOXING
Trainer’s trial postponed
A Nevada judge has postponed until Jan. 24 a trial for boxing trainer Roger Mayweather on felony charges that he attacked a female boxer at an apartment he owned. Clark County District Court Judge Valerie Adair in Las Vegas postponed the Monday trial for a second time. Trial for the 49-year-old trainer of Floyd Mayweather Jr. was originally delayed in August due to a scheduling conflict. Roger Mayweather has pleaded innocent to battery charges stemming from an August 2009 scuffle with 26-year-old Melissa St. Vil. St. Vil alleges Mayweather punched and choked her until she was nearly unconscious before police arrived at the apartment where she was staying in Las Vegas. The charges carry a possible 10-year prison sentence. Mayweather is free on $13,000 bail.
MOTOR SPORTS
Source: Gordon gets anti-hunger sponsor
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Fourtime NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon will be sponsored next season by an anti-hunger campaign coordinated through the AARP Foundation.
The multiyear deal will be announced Wednesday by Hendrick Motorsports. A person familiarwith Hendrick’s sponsorship agreement confirmed the deal to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not been made.
The deal first was reported Monday by The Charlotte Observer.
According to paperwork filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Hendrick Motorsports has requested trademarks on two slogans: “Drive For Hunger” and “Drive 4 Hunger.”
The campaign will be the first cause-related sponsorship of its kind in NASCAR, which has struggled to attract new business since the economic downturn began late in 2008. Sponsorship dollars have been dramatically reduced, and many teams, Hendrick included, had to let go employees while adjusting to smaller budgets.
Lack of funding put some teams out of business, and led to mergers between several top-tier organizations. Others had to explore nontraditional NASCAR sponsors as potential revenue sources.
Everyone has been affected, including Gordon and two-time champion Tony Stewart, two of the sport’s biggest stars.
Stewart earlier this month finally announced an 11-race deal with ExxonMobil Corp., and acknowledged the difficulty in securing sponsorship in today’s market had stretched to NASCAR’s elite.
“It’s tough, you realize there’s a lot of teams competing for the same dollars,” he said. “The competition off the track is just as tough as the competition on the track. There are still companies that are going to be in the sport, and there are still companies who want to be associated with marquee guys.
“I can promise you that [Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports] are not sitting over there without an offer on the table.”
Sports, Pages 18 on 10/26/2010