Josh Hamilton and B.J. Upton reject big offers

Josh Hamilton, B.J. Upton and Kyle Lohse were among nine free agents who turned down $13.3-million offers from their former clubs Friday as the annual general managers’ meetings ended and team officials headed home for what figures to be a busy month of negotiations.

Also rejecting the one-year guaranteed offers were the New York Yankees’ trio of Nick Swisher, Rafael Soriano and Hiroki Kuroda along with David Ortiz, Michael Bourn and Adam LaRoche.

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Charlie Beljan had trouble breathing even before he teed off, called for paramedics when he made the turn and even told his caddie at one point Friday that he thought he might die. With his job on the line at Disney, he kept right on playing until he had a remarkable eight-under 64 to build a three-shot lead going into the weekend at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The next question is if Beljan can even play on the weekend.

Moments after signing his card, Beljan was loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled to an ambulance that took him to a hospital.

“I think he was scared,” said his caddie, Rick Adcox. “He kept saying he thought he was going to die. He just had that feeling. I don’t know why. But it was spooky.”

Beljan was at 12-under 132, three shots clear of seven players.

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Angela Stanford shot a five-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead over Inbee Park after the second round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. The winner of the inaugural tournament in 2008, Stanford had an 11-under 133 total at Guadalajara Country Club.

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Needing only one set to join Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at the ATP finals, Andy Murray delighted the adoring home crowd by winning two. The U.S. Open and Olympic champion beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-2, 7-6 (3), at London to reach Sunday’s semifinals, hours after Djokovic advanced by beating Tomas Berdych, 6-2, 7-6 (6).

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After three seemingly positive days of talks, things went a bit sour Friday night when NHL negotiations ended for the day in New York . The union was under the impression the numbers suggested they were closer to an agreement. Commissioner Gary Bettman disagreed.

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Brian Scott used a pass on a restart with two laps left to win a wreck-filled NASCAR Truck Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. James Buescher appeared on his way to padding his points lead, but he slammed into the wall with three laps left to finish 17th.

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Mark Verge, a Los Angeles businessman who took over as Santa Anita’s chief executive last March, has left the job, according to a joint announcement by Verge and the race track. Verge was quoted as saying that he recently realized that Santa Anita was taking too much time away from his other businesses. A half-dozen people brought to the track in various marketing and service positions have also left.

—Bill Dwyre

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Three-time Olympic boxer Rau’shee Warren and four teammates from the U.S. men’s team in London all won their professional debuts. Dominic Breazeale, Marcus Browne, Errol Spence Jr. and Terrell Gausha also triumphed at the Fantasy Springs casino outside Palm Springs.

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Federal authorities have dropped their investigation into one of the sexual abuse claims that cost a Syracuse assistant basketball coach his job, threw a top-ranked team into turmoil and threatened the career of Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim. After a probe spanning nearly a year, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said there was not enough evidence to support a claim that Bernie Fine had molested a boy in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room.