Mariano Rivera plans to return to mound for Yankees next season

All-time saves leader Mariano Rivera plans to pitch again for the New York Yankees next year.

Rivera told the Yankees this week that he’ll return from a knee injury that sidelined him for most of the season. The closer turns 43 next month.

Rivera has 608 career saves. He tore a ligament in his right knee in early May while shagging fly balls during batting practice. Rivera vowed right away to pitch again, but recently had said he wasn’t sure.

Rafael Soriano earned 42 saves this year for the AL East champions while filling in for Rivera. Soriano recently opted out of the final season of his three-year contract and will probably seek a long-term deal in free agency.

Suspended pitcher Bartolo Colon is getting a second chance with the Oakland Athletics, agreeing to terms on a one-year contract.

The AL West champions made the announcement Saturday. The 39-year-old Colon was suspended for 50 games on Aug. 22 after testing positive for testosterone. The ban will run five games into the 2013 season.

The former Cy Young winner went 10-9 with a 3.43 ERA in 24 starts for Oakland last season.

The Cleveland Indians traded right-hander Esmil Rogers to the Toronto Blue Jays for infielders Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes.

Police in the Dominican Republic said they arrested three men suspected of killing former major league pitcher Pascual Perez during an attempted home robbery.

Perez, 55, last played for the Yankees in 1991. He was discovered by his ex-wife Thursday with severe head wounds in a town west of the capital of Santo Domingo. Police said he had been hit repeatedly with a hammer.

Police said one of the suspects knew Perez and told authorities that they sought to steal the $2,400 monthly pension payment he received for his 11-year career in the majors.

ETC.

Westwood, Oosthuizen lead HSBC Champions

Lee Westwood shot an 11-under 61 for a share of the third-round lead with Louis Oosthuizen in the HSBC Champions in Shenzhen, China.

Oosthuizen came into the weekend with a five-stroke lead over the field, but struggled with his putting and had a 70.

Westwood and Oosthuizen were at 18-under 198. Phil Mickelson was three strokes back after a 66. Ernie Els briefly surged into a share of the lead on the back nine before dumping his ball into a reservoir on the 15th hole and taking a double bogey. He shot a 69 and was tied for fourth with Bill Haas (66) and Ian Poulter (65) at 14 under.

Tom Lehman took the lead in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Scottsdale, Ariz., and moved closer to becoming the first player to win the Champions Tour’s season points title two straight years.

Lehman birdied the final hole for an eight-under 62 and a one-stroke lead over Fred Couples in the season-ending event. Couples also shot a 62, making two eagles.

Jay Haas, five strokes ahead of Lehman at the start of the round after matching the tour-record Friday with a 60, had a 69 to drop two strokes back.

South Korea’s Lee Bo-mee shot an eight-under 64 to take a four-stroke lead after the second round of the Mizuno Classic at Shima, Japan.

Lee, had a 10-under 134 total. Japan’s Rikako Morita was second after a 68.

American Angela Stanford shot a 71 and was tied for third at four under with South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi, France’s Karine Icher and Japan’s Ayako Uehara.

For the first time since Oct. 18, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr agreed to meet at a secret location Saturday afternoon. The NHL lockout reached its 49th day Saturday.

Kevin Harvick led 127 laps and won the NASCAR Nationwide race at Fort Worth for the fifth time Saturday night, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got even with Elliott Sadler for the season points lead with two races left.

Stenhouse fought a loose car much of the night, and managed a fourth-place finish to make up his six-point deficit to Sadler, who finished 11th. Stenhouse’s six victories, two more than Sadler, give him the tiebreaker.

The five Nationwide wins at Texas by Harvick matched Kyle Busch for the most.

Unseeded Jerzy Janowicz beat Gilles Simon, 6-4, 7-5, to become the first qualifier in eight years to reach the Paris Masters final, where he will face David Ferrer on Sunday. Ferrer, the only seeded player in the semifinals at No. 4, outlasted Michael Llodra, 7-5, 6-3.

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki reached the Tournament of Champions final at Sofia, Bulgaria, after beating Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-4, 6-1.

In Sunday’s final, Wozniacki will play second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia, who defeated Roberta Vinci of Italy, 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-4.

Brandon Rush, a top reserve with Golden State, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the Warriors’ second game of the season and will have season-ending surgery.

Rush leaped in the air for a dunk and was fouled from behind by Zach Randolph in the first quarter of Golden State’s 104-94 loss to Memphis on Friday. Rush landed awkwardly, and his knee bent badly as he tumbled to the court. Rush signed an $8-million, two-year deal in July after coming over in a trade from Indiana last season.

Lindsey Vonn’s request to compete in a men’s World Cup downhill race has been rejected by the International Ski Federation.

The FIS council met Saturday in Oberhofen, Switzerland, and “confirmed that one gender is not entitled to participate in races of the other,” adding in a statement that “exceptions will not be made to the FIS Rules.”

Vonn, a four-time overall World Cup champion, wanted to enter the men’s downhill on Nov. 24 at Lake Louise, Alberta.

Milt Campbell, who in 1956 became the first black athlete to win the Olympic decathlon and went on to play professional football and become a motivational speaker, died Friday at his home in Gainesville, Ga., after a battle with prostate cancer. He was 78.