(AP Photo)
(Las Vegas) (AP) – Former baseball slugger Jose Canseco Jr. has been accused of sexual assault in Las Vegas, in an investigation that the former baseball slugger made public with postings on a social media website claiming that a woman falsely accused him of rape.
No arrest was made and police said no charges were immediately filed against the 48-year-old former Oakland Athletics rookie of the year who played for six other teams from 1985 to 2001 and later wrote a tell-all book admitting that he used performance-enhancing steroids.
Officer Bill Cassell, a police department spokesman, wouldn’t say Wednesday where the alleged attack took place.
Word about the investigation became public after Canseco posted information about it on the social media network Twitter. He said Las Vegas police had just left his house.
The postings — including the name and workplace of a woman — generated an immediate outcry from others who posted comments deriding Canseco. Some of the information was later removed.
The Associated Press does not normally identify possible victims of sexual assault.
Attempts to reach Canseco weren’t immediately successful. Another Twitter post said he was on his way to the airport to fly Texas, to play with the Fort Worth Cats, an unaffiliated team in the independent United League.
Team spokesman Nathan Dwelle confirmed that Canseco was scheduled to play during the team’s season home opener on Thursday.
“Right now, we’re not commenting until we have all the facts,” Dwelle said.
A Canseco spokeswoman, Susan Haber in Los Angeles, said she had no immediate information about the case.
Dwelle said Canseco’s agent, Jose Melendez, was traveling with Canseco. Melendez didn’t immediately respond to a message from AP.
Canseco hit 462 career home runs and was a six-time all-star while playing with the Athletics, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox.
His book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, was published in 2005.
In recent years, Canseco played for various teams in California, Arizona, Mexico and Canada.
He declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year in Las Vegas, reporting less than $21,000 in assets and almost $1.7 million in liabilities, including more than $500,000 owed to the Internal Revenue Service. He listed a post office box as his address.
Attorney Mark Segal, who represented Canseco in the bankruptcy, said the case was discharged and he hasn’t spoken with Canseco in several months. Segal said he doesn’t know where Canseco lives now.
(San Diego) (AP) – St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia will have surgery on his left shoulder this week and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
The Cardinals announced Wednesday that Garcia will have surgery to repair tears in his rotator cuff and labrum. Team doctor George Paletta will perform the operation on Friday in St. Louis.
Garcia is 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA in nine starts this year. He was put on the disabled list Sunday after feeling pain that increased over the course of three starts.
“This isn’t surprising news to us,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “We anticipated that surgery was a real possibility. I think it’s a relief for him to go in get the shoulder cleaned up and allow him to move forward and be healthy for spring training.”
Garcia was sidelined with shoulder soreness twice last season. He chose rest over surgery during the offseason, but the latest recurrence of shoulder pain led to a recommendation that he have surgery.
Garcia is 39-25 lifetime with a 3.45 ERA and has been a mainstay in the Cardinals’ rotation since 2010.
(Kansas City) (AP) – Missouri-Kansas City basketball coach Kareem Richardson has completed his first coaching staff by hiring Angres Thorpe as associate head coach and Sean Bledsoe and Jason Sautter as assistant coaches.
Connor Hampton was promoted director of basketball operations, while former `Roos star Spencer Johnson was hired to be a graduate assistant.
Richardson, one of Louisville coach Rick Pitino’s top assistants, was hired by UMKC in March to replace the fired Matt Brown. He officially announced his staff on Wednesday.
Thorpe has spent the past two seasons as associate head coach at Toledo. Bledsoe has extensive experience running camps and AAU programs, and Sautter joins the program from Seward County (Kan.) Community College.
(Hoover, AL) (AP) – Ray Parker pitched eight-plus innings to lead Texas A&M to a 5-0 victory over top-seeded Vanderbilt on Wednesday in the second round of the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament.
The Aggies (32-25) produced three solo homers and Parker made sure it was plenty in the double-elimination tournament.
Making his fifth start of the season, Parker (1-1) allowed three hits and walked three while throwing 110 pitches. He left after walking the leadoff batter in the ninth.
Vandy (48-8), which had lost only three SEC games, didn’t manage an extra base hit and was shut out for the first time this season. The Commodores came in leading the league in hitting.
Cole Langford, Hunter Melton and Troy Stein homered for Texas A&M while Daniel Mengden had three hits and Krey Bratsen added two. Melton also homered in the opening win over Florida.
(St. Louis) (AP) – Chelsea players seem pleased Jose Mourinho appears headed back for a second stint as manager, even after he failed with Real Madrid.
Midfielder Juan Mata said Wednesday prior to the first of two U.S. friendlies against rival Manchester City that the 50-year-old Mourinho has been a winner in several countries.
The move has been widely reported, although there’s has been no official announcement.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen but if he comes he’s welcome because he’s one of the best,” Mata said. “Chelsea always wants to be a top squad and I think if he comes we’re going to be happy to have him.”
Mata wasn’t about to judge Mourinho’s shortcomings with Real Madrid. He won two major titles, the 2011 Copa del Rey and the 2012 league championship, but couldn’t produce a European Cup.
“You have to be there to understand everything,” Mata said. “What I know is Madrid is a massive club and there’s a lot of pressure, and I think it shouldn’t be easy. All I can say is if he comes, we’re going to try to do our best with him or with whoever to win the title.”
Whatever happens, defender Branislav Ivanovic said it was important to finish strong and “in the moment.”
“We’ll see what will happen with Chelsea next,” Ivanovic said. “For every player it’s a big challenge to play for the big managers and to do everything, but all these things are with one aim – for Chelsea to be one of the best teams.”
The Cardinals anticipate standing-room attendance of about 46,000 for Thursday night’s match and a two-day conversion process got the seal of approval from the Chelsea groundskeeper. The second game is Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Attendance was announced as 10,259 with fans paying $20 for the practice session followed by a concert by Cracker and fireworks display in a nearly empty stadium.
Mata and Ivanovic, the only players made available to reporters, promised they’d be playing to win and took note of hundreds of fans who showed up in team regalia. Three hours before the practice, fans lined up 20 deep to pose with Chelsea’s Europa championship trophy.
“It’s a huge stadium, it’s a pleasure for us to play here and we are expecting a great atmosphere,” Mata said. “All we can do is try to do our best.”
If there were complaints about the extended season, they kept them to themselves.
“We’ll have our rest in the summer,” Mata said. “Now it’s time to enjoy it here in the States, try to enjoy these two friendly games.”
They had limited knowledge of the Cardinals, who have the best record in the National League. Chelsea is using the visitor’s clubhouse.
“The Cardinals, yeah they’re famous,” Mata said. “But I don’t follow too much the sport.”
Mourinho left Real Madrid after winning two major titles, the 2011 Copa del Rey and the 2012 league championship, but falling short of taking a European Cup.
Manchester City arrives on game day Thursday also set for changes. Roberto Mancini was fired after one season and it has been reported Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini has been lined up as a replacement.
The Busch Stadium soccer layout is just shy of FIFA dimensions. Sod covering the pitcher’s mound, which was taken out with a back hoe, and the infield dirt, stripped with a machine that mimics a wood planer, was a lighter shade of green.
Seams appeared evident at ground level, but Joe Abernathy, director of stadium operations, said Chelsea had no complaints.
Perhaps the biggest challenge in the makeover was dealing with a quagmire of mud in the infield after a 10-foot stretch of tarpaulin ripped open during violent storms Monday night.
Chelsea worked out Tuesday at Saint Louis University as the team watched. The Billikens, whose uniforms are the same shade of blue as Chelsea, toured the field and posed for a group photo while sporting a Chelsea flag.
(Ladue) (AP) – The longtime home of St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial is on the market, but the price isn’t cheap.
Musial died in January at age 92, and his wife, Lillian, died in 2012. The couple’s 10-room, four-bedroom home in Ladue is now for sale for about $1.8 million.
The red-brick home is 5,300 square feet and includes a concrete swimming pool on three acres. It was built in 1962 and the Musials moved in a few years later.
The 13th annual Mountain View Rotary Club Fundraiser will be held June 1st. It’s a three person golf tournament Brian Engals tells Ozark Radio Sports more.
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NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees are going into the soccer business.
The Yankees are partnering with Manchester City to own Major League Soccer’s 20th team, which will be called New York City Football Club and plans to start play in the 2015 season.
Manchester City, owned by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, will be the majority owner of the team.
While MLS has been negotiating with New York to build a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, near the home of the New York Mets, NYC FC will start play at an interim home and will consider other sites for a stadium.
The new team is intended to spark a rivalry with the New York Red Bulls, who play in Harrison, N.J.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Clayton Kershaw scattered three singles in his second complete game of the year and Matt Kemp hit his first home run since April 24, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.
Ryan Braun managed a pair of singles and Yuniesky Betancourt also singled for the only hits off Kershaw (5-2). The lefty struck out five and walked one.
Andre Ethier homered and tripled for the last-place Dodgers before being ejected by plate umpire Dan Bellino for arguing a called third strike in the eighth inning.
The victory was a respite for Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. He addressed speculation before the game on whether he would be fired this week, insisting he didn’t feel as if he was about to be replaced.
Yovani Gallardo (3-4) gave up three runs, including two homers, in six innings. The right-hander lost his third consecutive start and the reeling Brewers have dropped 15 of 18 games.
With the Dodgers’ bullpen giving up 12 runs while Los Angeles was swept in a three-game weekend series at Atlanta, Mattingly took no chances. He sent Kershaw out for the ninth, and the ace needed only 10 pitches to retire the Brewers in order.
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said before the game he thought Kemp’s lack of power this season was due to the slugger’s offseason surgery on his left shoulder.
The star center fielder hit his second homer of the season, connecting for the first time in a span of 87 at-bats. Kemp’s solo homer came in the sixth.
Colletti said his team, second-to-last in the majors in scoring at 3.4 runs per game, needed to hit better in the clutch. The Dodgers went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position against the Brewers.
Kershaw beat the Brewers for the second time in five starts. He has given up only three earned runs in 39 2-3 innings for an 0.68 ERA in that span.
Kemp, who hit 116 homers the past four seasons, walked to lead off the second and scored easily on Ethier’s triple for a 1-0 lead.
The Brewers tied it in the third. Rickie Weeks walked and later scored on a groundout to second by Norichika Aoki.
Ethier’s solo homer, his fourth, put the Dodgers ahead in the fourth.
NOTES: Dodgers LHP Ted Lilly was reinstated off the 15-day DL. RHP Matt Magill was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque. Lilly will spend a couple of days in the bullpen and is expected to start Saturday against St. Louis. … Dodgers INF Jerry Hairston has tendinitis in his left knee.
The massive tornado that ripped through a handful of Oklahoma City suburbs and killed at least 50 people grabbed the attention of the sports world on Monday, especially the players and coaches with ties to the area.
Kevin Durant, a three-time scoring champion for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, posted on his Twitter account that he was praying for everyone involved. He added: “Everybody stay safe!”
Mets pitcher Jeremy Hefner went to Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, just south of Oklahoma City. The school had its roof torn off and walls knocked down. Some of those killed died at the school.
“I mean, it’s terrifying,” the right-hander said.
Hefner still has family living in Moore. He said he had been in contact with his mother, who told him his cousins and uncles were OK.
“It’s just unfathomable,” he said. “I used to live there.”
Dodgers star Matt Kemp posted on Twitter: “`m giving $1000 for tonight’s HR and every HR until the All-Star break for the victims of my hometown in OKC. (hash)PrayforOklahoma”
Coverage of the tornado damage was on the clubhouse TV as the Red Sox prepared for their game at the Chicago White Sox.
“It’s a tragedy when you see a natural disaster like that take place, so many innocent people that are certainly affected, if not directly by injury or possibly loss of life,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “Having been though something similar back in 1997 that had probably very similar damage, it’s a scary situation. Our thoughts are with all the people affected.”
Farrell played for Oklahoma State in college, and then served as the assistant coach and pitching and recruiting coordinator for the Cowboys for five seasons from 1997-2001.
“The location today is very close to where it was back in `97,” Farrell said. “Just that area just south of Oklahoma City seems to be right in the path of unfortunately a lot of storm fronts and certainly the tornadoes again today.”
White Sox manager Robin Ventura also played his college ball at Oklahoma State, where was a three-time All-America. The Santa Maria, Calif., native said he didn’t know anything about tornadoes until there were a couple that passed through the area while he was in school.
“It’s scary,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden, who played at Oklahoma State and grew up in the Oklahoma City area, was relieved that no one in his wife’s family was injured.
“Devastating damage to Moore, Oklahoma due to Tornadoes,” Weeden wrote on his Twitter account. “Please keep these people in your prayers. Thankfully (at)MelanieWeeden family is safe.”
Kansas coach basketball coach Bill Self also went to Oklahoma State.
“We wish nothing but the very best for (those affected by the storm) and our thoughts are with them,” he said.