Marlins to Look Into Relocating

The Florida Marlins will look into relocation as early as 2008, after years of unsuccessful attempts to secure a baseball-only stadium in downtown Miami.

Marlin President David Samson said Tuesday the team had received permission from the commissioner’s office to investigate its options in other cities. Samson added that owner Jeffrey Loria’s primary intention was to keep the team in South Florida, but said that no deal would be struck for a ballpark in Miami.

Las Vegas and Portland, Ore., which failed to land the Montreal Expos before that franchise moved to Washington a year ago, are likely to try to lure the Marlins.

“No longer can baseball in South Florida be assured,” Loria said in a statement read by Samson. “It is now clear to us that there will be no baseball stadium in the city of Miami. So we must begin to explore other options. Therefore, we will expand our search beyond the city of Miami.”

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Winning the World Series for the first time in 88 years brought the Chicago White Sox vastly higher checks than for their previous title.

The White Sox set a record for World Series shares at $324,533, according to figures released by the commissioner’s office. The White Sox, who swept the Houston Astros, split $14.7 million into 42 full shares, six partial shares and 22 cash awards.

When the White Sox last won the title, in 1917, a full share was worth $3,669.

The previous record high of $312,042 was set by the 1998 New York Yankees.

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Infielders Brent Abernathy and Brian Dallimore, catchers Mark Johnson and Mike Rivera and right-handers Jerome Gamble and Jared Fernandez agreed to minor league contracts with the Milwaukee Brewers, who also released right-hander Gary Glover.... Infielder Alfredo Amezaga agreed to a $340,000, one-year contract with Florida.... Right-handed reliever Scott Strickland agreed to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a minor league contract.... Relief pitcher Chad Harville and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays agreed to a $525,000, one-year contract.

SOCCER

CS Northridge Defeats

UC Santa Barbara

At Northridge, seniors Daniel Paladini and Will Beard scored goals and freshman Brian Siu scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 39th minute of the first half as Cal State Northridge advanced to the third round of the NCAA men’s championships with a 3-2 victory over UC Santa Barbara.... Paulo da Silva scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead visiting Southern Methodist to a 3-0 win over UCLA in a second-round game.

Former champions Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Roy Makaay scored twice for four-time champion Bayern Munich in a 4-0 win at Rapid Vienna to advance from Group A. Juventus joined the Germans, needing an 80th-minute goal from Alessandro del Piero to beat FC Brugge, 1-0.

Nigel de Jong scored twice for Ajax in a 2-1 over Sparta Prague to join Arsenal in advancing from Group B. Arsenal needed an 88th-minute penalty kick from Robert Pires to beat undermanned FC Thun, 1-0, in Switzerland.

MISCELLANY

Woods Takes the Lead

at Grand Slam of Golf

Tiger Woods overcame a stomach virus and labored to a five-under-par 67 to take a three-stroke lead over defending champion Phil Mickelson after the opening round of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu Beach, Hawaii.

Michael Campbell shot a 73 and Vijay Singh had a 75 in the 36-hole event for the winners of this year’s majors.

Japan took the top two spots in the qualifying round of the men’s all-around at the world gymnastics championships at Melbourne.

Hiroyuki Tomita breezed into the final with 57.223 points, more than 1.5 ahead of his closest pursuer, Hisashi Mizutori, who finished with 55.686.

European all-around champion Rafael Martinez of Spain finished third with 55.323 after putting in solid performances on the high bar and pommel horse.

The top 24 finishers from Tuesday’s preliminary competition advanced to the men’s all-around final today. The preliminary scores do not carry forward to the finals.

Todd Thornton, the United States’ only hope for a men’s all-around title, narrowly avoided being eliminated, finishing in 21st place.

A Manhattan appeals court upheld the misdemeanor assault conviction of a Yonkers man who punched pitcher David Wells, knocking out two of his teeth.

The state Supreme Court’s Appellate Term rejected a motion by 30-year-old Rocco Graziosa to throw out the third-degree assault conviction on the ground that the evidence used by the prosecution was not legally sufficient to convict him.

A Manhattan Criminal Court jury rejected Graziosa’s defense and convicted him on Nov. 22, 2002, of third-degree assault. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail.