Dodgers to Ask Permission to Interview Little

The Dodgers plan to ask the Chicago Cubs for permission to interview Grady Little for their managerial vacancy, a baseball front office source said Sunday.

Little, 55, managed the Boston Red Sox in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, winning 93 games the first year, 95 the second and posting a record of 188-136. He was criticized for staying with starting pitcher Pedro Martinez too long in the seventh game of the 2003 American League championship series, which the New York Yankees won in 11 innings.

Little, the Cubs’ roving catching instructor, will become the third candidate for the Dodger opening. Jim Fregosi, an advisor to the Atlanta Braves, has already been interviewed by new General Manager Ned Colletti, and former Tampa Bay bench coach John McLaren is scheduled to be interviewed today.

Veteran manager Lou Piniella and Angel pitching coach Bud Black turned down opportunities to interview.

-- Steve Henson

WINTER SPORTS

Svindal Wins Super-G; Miller Struggles Again

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the men’s season-opening World Cup super-G at Lake Louise, Canada, for his first career victory, while reigning champion Bode Miller struggled for the second day in a row.

The 22nd skier out of the start hut, Svindal completed the Olympic course in 1 minute 26.04 seconds, then had to wait for the discipline’s top contenders to know if his time would hold.

Austrian Benjamin Raich, who finished second to Miller in the World Cup overall standings last season, was second in 1:26.11, and American Daron Rahlves placed third, 0.08 off the pace.

Both favorites, Miller and Austrian star Hermann Maier, committed costly mistakes and finished out of the top 15.

Having posted his first career victories in the downhill and super-G at Lake Louise last season, Miller looked as if he might repeat Sunday, leading by 0.04 at the top interval. However, the reigning World Cup super-G champion fell and skidded several meters before remarkably bouncing back up and quickly getting back into his tuck. But the mistake cost him heavily and he finished 1.31 behind.

Shani Davis, Joey Cheek and Casey FitzRandolph gave the U.S. speedskating team a medal sweep in a World Cup 1,000-meter race at West Allis, Wis.

FitzRandolph also finished third in the 500, tying South Korea’s Kang-Seok Lee.

Chiara Simionato of Italy won the women’s 1,000 in 1:15.60 to edge American Jennifer Rodriguez by .08.

Mario Stecher of Austria won the first Nordic combined sprint event of the season at Kuusamo, Finland. Also at Kuusamo, world champion Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic won a World Cup 10-kilometer cross-country freestyle race, and Norway’s Tore Ruud Hofstad won the men’s 15K freestyle.

Ole Einar Bjorndalen won the 12.5-kilometer pursuit at a biathlon World Cup event at Ostersund, Sweden. Olga Zaitseva of Russia won the women’s 10K.... Tatjana Huefner won the women’s singles at a luge World Cup event at Altenberg, Germany.

Chanda Gunn made 26 saves before stopping every Canadian attempt in a shootout, and the U.S. women’s hockey team ended a six-game losing streak against Canada with a 2-1 victory in an exhibition at Columbus, Ohio.

MISCELLANY

U.S. Gymnastics Dominate World Event

Nastia Liukin and UCLA-bound Alicia Sacramone won world titles in the balance beam and the floor exercise, respectively, on the final day of the 2005 World Gymnastics Championships at Melbourne, Australia.

Including silver medals earned by Chellsie Memmel on the beam and Liukin on the floor, the U.S. women won nine medals (four gold, four silver and one bronze), the country’s best performance at a world championships.

Former Dallas Cowboy receiver Michael Irvin was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia after Plano, Texas, police officers searched his vehicle during a traffic stop.

Irvin, an ESPN analyst and semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told the Associated Press late Sunday that the drug pipe found in his car belonged to a friend of 17 years who left a Houston rehabilitation center and came to Irvin’s house for Thanksgiving. Irvin wouldn’t reveal his friend’s name.

Irvin said he put the pipe in his car because he didn’t want it in his house where his children might find it. He said he planned to drive somewhere the next day, find a grocery trash bin, and throw the pipe away but forgot.

“It’s a situation that is not as it seemed,” Irvin said. “I know the type of demons they have to fight and I am going to help them, because it’s the only way I can keep them from getting to my family. I have to clean up my friends because they are around my boys. It’s upsetting.”

ESPN said it has spoken to Irvin, who will still appear on the network tonight as an analyst.

Robert Allenby played through a painful finger injury to win the Australian Open at Fingal, shooting a five-over-par 77 in windy conditions to hold off John Senden, Nick O’Hern and Paul Sheehan by a stroke. Allenby finished at four-under 284.

USC defeated Stanford, 8-5, to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo championship at USC’s McDonald Swim Center. California beat UC Irvine in the third-place game. UCLA defeated Pacific for fifth place, and Pepperdine beat Long Beach State for seventh place.

Andre Nascimento led Brazil to a straight-sets win over Egypt at the men’s volleyball World Grand Champions Cup at Shenzhen, China.

The United States defeated China, 25-16, 25-21, 25-18, to finish second with a 4-1 record.