Dodgers to Announce Steiner’s Hiring Monday

The Dodgers will announce Monday that play-by-play announcer Charley Steiner has been hired as Ross Porter’s successor, a source told The Times.

Also, Eric Karros has declined an offer to become one of the team’s two new commentators, another source said.

Steiner’s name surfaced Thursday as a possible successor for Porter, whose contract was not renewed after 28 seasons with the Dodgers.

Steiner, formerly an ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor, was a New York Yankee radio play-by-play announcer the last three seasons.

Larry Stewart

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Tennis

Andy Roddick pounded 15 aces to become the first player since 1998 with more than 1,000 in a season, helping him beat Guillermo Coria, 7-6 (4), 6-3, to wrap up round-robin play at the ATP Masters Cup in Houston with a 3-0 record.

Roddick, who lost to Roger Federer in last year’s semifinals, will face Lleyton Hewitt in a semifinal today. Hewitt high-fived a fan to celebrate a great point in his 6-2, 6-1 victory over French Open champion Gaston Gaudio.

Marat Safin beat Tim Henman, 6-2, 7-6 (2), to take the final semifinal spot and will face Federer, the defending champion, in the other semifinal.

With a victory, Hewitt could pass Roddick for No. 2 in the world.

With 1,008 aces, Roddick is only the third player to surpass 1,000 in a season since the ATP Tour started tracking statistics in 1991. Goran Ivanisevic did it four times, including a record 1,477 six years ago. Pete Sampras had 1,011 aces in 1993.

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Golf

Annika Sorenstam kept pace with a steady charge from Karrie Webb, then pulled away with consecutive birdies late in the second round of the season-ending ADT Championship for a four-under-par 68 that set the 36-hole record at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Sorenstam, who was at 10-under 134 for the tournament, took a three-shot lead over Webb, Laura Diaz and Cristie Kerr.

Webb, a two-time winner at the tournament, has avoided big numbers for two days and looked particularly sharp in her round of 69 that might have been better except for a few bogeys -- she three-putted from below the big ridge on No. 6 and missed the 12th green with a wedge.

Diaz had a 68 and will play in the final group today with Sorenstam. She chipped in for birdie on the first hole Friday and played bogey-free the final 13 holes for a 68.

Englishmen Paul Casey and Luke Donald surged to a five-stroke lead in the second round of the team World Cup at Seville, Spain, after shooting an eight-under 64.

The pair has a total of 19-under 125. Austrians Martin Wiegele and Markus Brier carded a 70, with a half dozen teams six strokes behind the leaders: South Africa (65), Sweden (67), Spain (68), Japan (69), Ireland (71) and the United States (67).

An international team took a 3 1/2 -to-2 1/2 lead over the United States at Kiawah Island, S.C., after the first round of the $3-million UBS Cup, the Ryder Cup-style competition the Americans have never lost.

The international team took the lead when Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie won their match, 1-up, over Tom Kite and Raymond Floyd.

Tiger Woods held a three-stroke lead halfway through the Dunlop Phoenix at Miyazaki, Japan, after a three-under 67 that gave him an overall eight-under 132 after two rounds in the $1.89-million event.

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Pro Football

Seattle Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck did not practice because of a leg injury and was downgraded to questionable for Sunday’s game against Miami.

Trent Dilfer took all the snaps with the No. 1 offense and will start if Hasselbeck can’t play.

Carolina Panther kicker John Kasay will sit out Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals because of a strained right calf muscle.

Jeff Chandler was activated off the practice squad to take Kasay’s place.

Denver Bronco safety John Lynch said he expected to play Sunday at New Orleans. It would be his first game since suffering a stress fracture just above his tailbone three weeks ago.

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Miscellany

The founder of the company at the center of an investigation into illegal steroids alleges the government fabricated statements suggesting he provided the substances to top athletes, including baseball slugger Barry Bonds, according to federal court documents.

Victor Conte, head of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), disputed claims by an IRS agent that he had acknowledged providing steroids to the athletes.

“I very clearly told all four of the law enforcement officers present that I would not cooperate with them in any way, regarding any of the physicians, coaches or athletes involved with BALCO Laboratories,” Conte said in the documents.

It was a big day for Dodge at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Bobby Hamilton wrapping up the NASCAR truck series championship and Kasey Kahne driving to his second straight victory.

At 47, owner-driver Hamilton became the oldest champion of the Craftsman series and gave Dodge its first NASCAR title since Richard Petty won the stock car championship in 1975.

Brazilian police plan to file murder charges against Sao Caetano soccer club officials for the death of defenseman Serginho, who collapsed on the field and died of heart failure last month.

Police said that the club’s president, Nairo Ferreira de Souza, and physician, Paulo Fortes, knew that Serginho had heart trouble but let him play anyway.