Benitez, Giants Agree to a $21-Million Deal

Free-agent reliever Armando Benitez, 32, and the San Francisco Giants agreed Tuesday to a three-year deal worth about $21 million, a move that stabilizes the club’s closer role, which has been in flux since Robb Nen was injured two years ago.

“He’s the prototype,” General Manager Brian Sabean said. “He has been and will be a dominant force at the end of the game.... He’s a guy we had our eye on.”

The right-hander had a National League-leading 47 saves and led major league relievers with a 1.29 earned-run average for the Florida Marlins in 2004.

“We wanted to fill this need so we could move to other areas to address what we could do in the lineup or outfield,” Sabean said.

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Angel outfielder Tim Salmon will sit out most of the 2005 season after having surgery on his left shoulder, and reliever Brendan Donnelly, who suffered a broken nose in spring training, had nose surgery but is expected to be ready for next season.

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Right-hander Paul Wilson and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to an $8.2-million, two-year contract.

Wilson, 31, was 11-8 with a 4.36 ERA last season.

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New York Yankee outfielder Gary Sheffield had surgery on his left shoulder and the team expected him to be ready for the start of spring training.

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Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez’s wife, Cynthia, gave birth to Natasha Alexander Rodriguez on Nov. 18 in Miami, a spokesman for Rodriguez said.

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Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs in July, was voted a three-quarters World Series share ($167,715) by his former teammates, a baseball official told Associated Press.

Red Sox players who were voted full shares received $223,620, the commissioner’s office said.

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The District of Columbia Council approved financing a ballpark for the Washington Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos, after voting to cap funding at $630 million.

The measure must be approved a second time to become law.

Cycling

Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton was fired by his team two months after testing positive for blood doping.

The International Cycling Union, or UCI, said the Phonak team told the governing body that the American rider’s contract was terminated last week. Hamilton confirmed the move on his Web site.

Phonak was denied a racing license by UCI because of the team’s doping problems. Hamilton and two other Phonak riders have been charged in drug cases in the last three months.

He faces a possible two-year ban if found guilty.

The decision means Phonak is barred from competing in all major events next year on UCI’s Pro Tour -- which includes the Tour de France.

Hamilton tested positive for blood doping after winning the time trial at the Athens Olympics in August, but the case was dropped after his backup sample was frozen, leaving too few red blood cells to analyze. He tested positive for an illegal blood transfusion at the Spanish Vuelta in September.

Soccer

The United States starts the final round of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup at Trinidad and Tobago on Feb. 9.

Six teams are competing in the North and Central American and Caribbean region finals, with the top three teams qualifying for the 32-country field at the World Cup in Germany. The fourth-place team will play the fifth-place team in Asia in a home-and-home playoff for another berth.

Sites for the U.S. home games have not been set.

The U.S. plays at Mexico, where it is 0-11-1 in qualifying, March 26 or 27; at home against Guatemala on March 30 and against Costa Rica on June 4 or 5, and at Panama on June 8.

The U.S. then plays host to Trinidad and Tobago on Aug. 17 and to Mexico on Sept. 3 or 4. It plays at Guatemala on Sept. 7, at Costa Rica on Oct. 8 or 9 and at home against Panama on Oct. 12.

The Galaxy exercised a contract option on forward Alan Gordon. Terms of the deal were not announced.

The Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer held a ceremonial groundbreaking in Bridgeview, Ill., on a $70-million, 20,000-seat sports and entertainment stadium in which the team will start playing in 2006.

Miscellany

Swimmer Michael Phelps’ drunken driving trial was set for Dec. 29.

Phelps, 19, who won eight medals at the Athens Olympics, was stopped by a state trooper Nov. 4 for running a stop sign in Salisbury, Md.

Colorado appointed former Navy athletic director Jack Lengyel as interim athletic director, replacing Dick Tharp, who resigned last week.