Steinbrenner Criticizes Writers for Rookie Vote

New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner on Tuesday called the voting for American League rookie of the year a “farce” and ripped two baseball writers for leaving Yankee outfielder Hideki Matsui off their ballots.

Steinbrenner castigated Bill Ballou of the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette and Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, who said veterans who come from the Japanese leagues shouldn’t be eligible for the award.

Kansas City shortstop Angel Berroa won the award Monday by a vote of 88-84, the closest rookie race in 24 years. Matsui, 29, and Berroa, 25, were left off two ballots.

“I firmly believe that a great injustice has been done to Hideki Matsui,” Steinbrenner said in a statement, adding that the two reporters “made up their own rules.”

“This year’s voting farce, where the appropriate qualifications for the award were blatantly ignored, clearly demonstrates unfairness to first-year players from Japan. And that must be stopped,” Steinbrenner said.

The reporters defended their votes.

“When Mr. Steinbrenner spends multiple millions to lure an MVP-caliber player from a major professional league, he should be embarrassed that such a high-profile player is vying for the Rookie of the Year award, and not the American League MVP award,” Souhan said in an e-mail.

Ballou said he took Steinbrenner’s remarks “as a difference of baseball opinion.”

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Milwaukee General Manager Doug Melvin has been asked to cut the Brewers’ payroll to $30 million, which could wind up as the lowest in baseball.

The $30-million target for next season was recommended last weekend by the team’s board of directors.

The payroll level could force Melvin to trade first baseman Richie Sexson and left fielder Geoff Jenkins, both All-Stars.

Sexson will earn $8.6 million next year and Jenkins $8.25 million.

Both are eligible for free agency after the season.

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Right-handed reliever Dan Miceli, 33, became the first of the 210 free agents to sign, agreeing to a $600,000, one-year contract with the Houston Astros.

Miceli was 1-1 with a 2.10 earned-run average after being acquired by the Astros from the Yankees on July 29.

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Former Yankee Roy White was hired as the team’s first base coach and Luis Sojo will be the third base coach.

Sojo will take over for Willie Randolph, who will replace Don Zimmer as bench coach. White will replace Lee Mazzilli, who became manager of the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.

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Former National League rookie of the year Vince Coleman joined the Chicago Cubs as a minor league instructor.

Tennis

Andy Roddick overcame a second-set tantrum with some spectacular serving and shotmaking to get past Carlos Moya of Spain, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston and improve his chances of finishing the year ranked No. 1.

Roddick pounded 14 aces at up to 137 mph and a total of 27 winners to beat the seventh-ranked Moya in their opening round-robin match.

The result eliminated Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland, currently No. 3, from contention for the top spot in the ATP Tour computer rankings.

Roddick chastised chair umpire Mike Morrissey for overruling a call in the second set.

In another singles match, No. 6 Rainer Schuettler of Germany defeated No. 4 Guillermo Coria of Argentina, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

In a doubles match, Todd Woodbridge of Australia and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden lost to twins Bob and Mike Bryan, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9).

Woodbridge has 78 doubles titles and is tied for the Open era record with retired Dutchman Tom Okker.

Colleges

Too many universities run top sports programs like professional franchises -- emphasizing winning and making money before the student-athletes’ education -- and that trend must end, NCAA President Myles Brand said in a symposium at Tulane.

In Division I football and basketball especially, there is too much pressure on coaches and players to win games first and worry about education second, which in the long run isolates both groups from the academic community, Brand said.

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Two-time defending national champion Connecticut was a unanimous choice for the top spot in the Associated Press preseason women’s basketball poll, receiving all 47 first-place votes and 1,175 points from a national media panel.

Duke was second with 1,117 points, followed by Texas with 1,071 and Tennessee with 983. UC Santa Barbara was ranked No. 18. (See complete list, D8.)

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Texas baseball Coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in Division I with 1,430 victories, underwent hip replacement surgery at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood.

Miscellany

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in a telephone interview with Canadian Press that he had a “gut feeling” that the use of the designer steroid THG was not widespread.

Tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, is an anabolic steroid that was undetectable by doping experts until last summer.

Four United States track and field athletes are believed to have tested positive for it at the national championships. Dwain Chambers, the European 100-meter champion, also tested positive in an out-of-competition check in Germany in August.

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Four of the world’s top marathons will not participate in a world-ranking system proposed by the main sponsor of the New York City Marathon.

Directors of the London, Chicago, Boston and Berlin races said the plan by Netherlands-based bank ING would create problems with their sponsors.

Passings

Redshirt freshman Jorge Jimenez of the Cal State Bakersfield men’s soccer team was killed in a single-car accident south of the city Monday.