Westbrook, Indians Agree
Jake Westbrook quickly went from emergency starter to Cleveland’s ace.
Westbrook, 27, who became an All-Star and won a team-high 14 games last season after switching from the bullpen, agreed to a $7.5-million, two-year contract with the Indians on Monday and avoided salary arbitration.
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The New York Mets and Carlos Delgado resumed talks a day after the free-agent first baseman let the team’s deadline for a deal pass, two people with knowledge of the talks said on condition of anonymity.
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Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and the Chicago White Sox have reached agreement on a two-year contract worth between $2 million and $2.5 million a season, according to Kyodo in Japan and the White Sox’s website.
WNBA
Karleen Thompson, former interim co-head coach of the Sparks, has been hired as an assistant to Houston Comet Coach Van Chancellor for the 2005 season.
Thompson, who played at USC, spent the last eight years with the Sparks and won two WNBA championships as an assistant under then-coach Michael Cooper.
When Cooper left the Sparks in July to join the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, Thompson was named co-coach with Ryan Weisenberg. They guided the Sparks to an 11-3 record in the regular season’s final 14 games, and the Sparks finished with the league’s best overall mark, at 25-9.
The Sparks were upset by Sacramento in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
Winter Sports
Hermann Maier edged a bruised and aching Daron Rahlves by 0.02 of a second to win a super-giant slalom in Kitzbuehel, Austria, and end a 10-month victory drought.
Maier replaced Bode Miller atop the super-G standings. Miller, the overall World Cup leader, shared fifth place. Maier’s Austrian teammate, Fritz Strobl, was third.
Soccer
Bolton edged Blackburn, 1-0, in the Premier League in Blackburn, England, on a controversial goal from El Hadji Diouf.
The Senegal striker appeared to have been brought down by Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel in the 75th minute and was awarded a penalty by referee Steve Bennett. Friedel saved the penalty, but Diouf scored from the rebound.
Replays showed Friedel made no contact with Diouf.
Miscellany
Atlanta Thrasher forward Dany Heatley is closing in on a plea deal with prosecutors in his vehicular homicide case, but there are questions over the length of the sentence and how a conviction would affect his immigration status, his attorney said.
Prosecution spokesman Erik Friedly would not say if the sides are close to a deal.
If Heatley intends to enter a settlement on charges involving the Sept. 29, 2003, death of teammate Dan Snyder, Friday is the deadline, Friedly said. Trial is scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 7.
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Josh Heupel, runner-up for the 2000 Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma, has been hired as tight ends coach at Arizona.
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Whistling Straits, the links-styled course along the shores of Lake Michigan that played host to the PGA Championship last year, will get golf’s fourth major in 2010 and 2015, along with the Ryder Cup in 2020.
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Jack Johnson, the 1908 world heavyweight champion, will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on March 5. Johnson, who fought in 17 bouts in California during his career, will enter the Hall in the posthumous category.
Passings
Cesar Gutierrez, a Venezuelan shortstop who set a major league record for consecutive hits in an extra-inning game with seven while playing with the Detroit Tigers in 1970, died Saturday of a heart attack in Cabimas, Venezuela. He was 61.