Cardinals’ Pujols earns second NL MVP award

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols won his second National League most-valuable-player award, powering past Philadelphia star Ryan Howard by a comfortable margin Monday.

Pujols hit .357 with 37 home runs and 116 runs batted in while playing with a sore right elbow. He was rewarded despite the Cardinals’ fourth-place finish in the NL Central.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Pujols said. “You have to consider everything. You have to put all the numbers together.”

Pujols got 18 of the 32 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America and had 369 points. The first baseman added to the MVP award he won in 2005.

Howard, who led the majors with 48 homers and 146 RBIs for the World Series champion Phillies, drew 12 first-place votes and 308 points.

Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun was third with 139 points, with the Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez fourth at 138.

Reliever Jeremy Affeldt became the first of 171 free agents to agree to a contract, striking an $8-million, two-year deal with the San Francisco Giants. Affeldt, 29, pitched for the Cincinnati Reds last season, going 1-1 with a 3.33 earned-run average in 74 appearances.

The Chicago Cubs will play the first exhibitions at the new Yankee Stadium, meeting New York on April 3 and again the next afternoon.

The $1.3-billion ballpark, scheduled for substantial completion by Feb. 17, will play host to its first regular-season game when the Yankees play Cleveland on April 16.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Utah State fires Guy as coach

Utah State fired Coach Brent Guy 11 games into his fourth season. Guy will coach the Aggies’ season finale Nov. 29 at home, but that will be the end of his disappointing tenure at Utah State. The Aggies fell to 2-9 last week with a loss to Louisiana Tech and are 8-38 since Guy took over as coach in 2005.

Utah State went 3-8 in Guy’s first season, then fell to 1-11 in 2006. The Aggies were 2-10 a year ago and can do no better than 3-9 this season.

Rocky Long is stepping down after 11 seasons as the coach at New Mexico. Long had a 65-69 record and guided the Lobos to five bowl appearances in seven seasons since 2002.

Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham said injured quarterback Jake Locker would probably be out for the rest of the season. Locker broke his right thumb against Stanford on Sept. 27.

Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh said he was close to finalizing an agreement for a contract extension that he hoped would end speculation that he could leave for another job. Harbaugh’s name has been floated for potential openings in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, where he once served as an assistant, or for a bigger college job following the rebuilding work he has done at Stanford.

SOCCER

UCLA advances to round of 16

The UCLA women’s team defeated visiting San Diego, 1-0, in a second-round NCAA tournament game at Drake Stadium. The only score came on an own goal by San Diego (15-5-2) in the 78th minute.

The Bruins (20-0-2) will play host to USC in the round of 16 on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The Trojans beat the Bruins in the NCAA semifinals last season.

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan, forward Jozy Altidore and midfielder Freddy Adu were added to the U.S. roster for a World Cup qualifier Wednesday against Guatemala at Commerce City, Colo. No players were selected from Columbus or New York, which play in MLS final Sunday at the Home Depot Center.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will not contest the Football Association’s violent conduct charge for throwing a coin back into the crowd during a League Cup game against Burnley, and he could be banned for three games. Drogba, who had just scored, picked up a coin which had apparently been thrown by a Burnley fan and hurled it back into the crowd during Wednesday’s match.