Reliever Sasaki Named AL’s Rookie of Year

Kazuhiro Sasaki woke up in Japan and found out he had become the second-oldest rookie of the year in baseball history.

“I did not think I was going to receive this award because I did play in Japan for 10 years,” the Seattle Mariners reliever said after winning the American League award, overwhelmingly defeating outfielders Terrence Long of Oakland and Mark Quinn of Kansas City in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Sasaki, a 32-year-old right-hander, had 37 saves in 40 chances this year.

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Ted Williams was upgraded from fair to good condition as the Hall of Famer remained in a Gainesville, Fla., hospital waiting to have a pacemaker implanted today.

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Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez won his ninth consecutive AL Gold Glove despite sitting out the last two months of the season because of a broken right thumb, and three Cleveland infielders were honored for their fielding excellence. Second baseman Roberto Alomar, shortstop Omar Vizquel and third baseman Travis Fryman all won for Cleveland, the team announced.

Tennis

Top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil took another step in his quest to finish as the world’s No. 1-ranked player, beating Romania’s Andrei Pavel, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in the opening round of the Lyon Grand Prix at France. Earlier, Patrick Rafter, who won just one tournament this season, defeated Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. . . . Magnus Gustafsson lost 6-3, 6-2 to Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open at Russia. . . .Lisa Raymond and Amanda Coetzer advanced to the second round of the Advanta Championships at Villanova, Pa. Raymond, of nearby Wayne, Pa., defeated 19-year-old German qualifier Vanessa Henke, 6-4, 6-4. Coetzer, the seeded No. 7, downed France’s Erika de Leone, 6-2, 6-3.

Miscellany

A Charlotte, N.C. judge ruled that prosecutors in the Rae Carruth murder trial must explain why they are excluding blacks as jurors.

“The court wants rebuttal evidence from the state,” Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm said after defense attorney David Rudolf renewed his claim that the jury selection process has been biased against blacks, particularly black men.

Galaxy forward Cobi Jones and defender Greg Vanney were included in a squad of 19 players selected by Coach Bruce Arena for the U.S. World Cup 2002 qualifying game at Barbados on Nov. 15.

The only roster surprises are the exclusion of goalkeepers, Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel, in favor of Tony Meola and Zach Thornton. Landon Donovan of Redlands also was named to the squad.

World Boxing Assn. champion Evander Holyfield has agreed to fight in Beijing next year, possibly a rematch against John Ruiz.

Mike Nyeholt, a former three-time All-American swimmer at USC before being paralyzed in a 1981 motor cycle accident, is the 2000 California recipient of the Heroes award by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Assn. Nyeholt was honored for his work with the Swim With Mike program, which funds the USC Physically Challenged Scholarship Fund.

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AL Rookie of Year

Voting with first-, second- and third-place votes and total points on a 5-3-1 basis:

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Player 1st 2nd 3rd Tot Kazuhiro Sasaki, Seattle 17 5 4 104 Terrence Long, Oakland 7 15 3 83 Mark Quinn, Kansas City 4 8 12 56 Bengie Molina, Anaheim - - 3 3 Kelly Wunsch, Chicago - - 2 2 Steve Cox, Tampa Bay - - 1 1 Adam Kennedy, Anaheim - - 1 1 Mark Redman, Minnesota - - 1 1 Barry Zito, Oakland - - 1 1

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