AP source: Red Sox ask to talk to Jays’ Farrell
AP source: Red Sox ask to talk to Jays’ Farrell
BOSTON — A baseball official familiar with the discussions says the Red Sox have asked the Toronto Blue Jays for permission to talk with manager John Farrell about the opening in Boston.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing, confirmed the request to The Associated Press on Friday night.
The official also said the teams are discussing compensation if Farrell is eventually hired.
ESPN first reported the talks.
Farrell was the Red Sox pitching coach for four years before he left for Toronto after 2010. Boston expressed interest in having Farrell take over for Terry Francona after the team’s September collapse in 2011, but the Blue Jays would not allow him to leave then.
The Red Sox have also interviewed Brad Ausmus, Tony Pena, Tim Wallach and DeMarlo Hale to replace Bobby Valentine, who was fired after one dismal season.
Posey, Rodney win comeback player honors
NEW YORK — San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Tampa Bay Rays closer Fernando Rodney have been selected comeback players of the year.
Posey returned from a broken leg to win the NL batting title this season, hitting .336 with a career-high 24 homers and 103 RBIs while leading the Giants to the NL West title. Posey played in only 45 games in 2011 after being injured in a violent collision at home plate on May 25.
A first-time All-Star, Rodney had 48 saves in his first year with the Rays. He was 2-2 with a 0.60 ERA, a record for a reliever with at least 50 innings. In 74 2/3 innings, Rodney allowed just five earned runs and 43 hits. He was also chosen as delivery man of the year.
Rodney struggled with a back injury in 2011 and lost his role as the Los Angeles Angels’ closer, finishing with three saves.
Thirty beat writers of MLB.com voted on the awards and announced them Friday.
Nevada judge to reopen case against Simpson
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada judge agreed Friday to reopen the armed robbery and kidnapping case against former football star O.J. Simpson to determine if the former football star was so badly represented by his lawyers that he should be freed from prison and get another trial.
Simpson wasn’t in a Las Vegas courtroom while Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell agreed to hear evidence and consider 18 of 22 questions cited in a May appeal by Simpson appeals lawyer Patricia Palm.
The judge dismissed four other grounds on which the 65-year-old Simpson seeks release from state prison, where he is serving nine to 33 years.
The development could put Simpson on the witness stand for the first time. He stood trial in 2008 after authorities said he led five men, including two with guns, in a September 2007 confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers and a middleman in a cramped room at a Las Vegas casino-hotel.
Rangers hire Magadan as hitting coach
ARLINGTON, Texas — Dave Magadan has been hired to replace Scott Coolbaugh as the Texas Rangers hitting coach, only weeks after the team collapsed down the stretch and lost the AL West title.
Magadan held the same job with the Boston Red Sox for the past six seasons. In that time, the Red Sox ranked in the top three in the major leagues in doubles, extra-base hits, runs, hits, total bases, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, average, walks and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).
NFL fines Redskins, Bills over injury reports
NEW YORK — The NFL has fined the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills $20,000 each for violating league procedures on reporting injuries.
The injuries involved Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III and Bills defensive end Mario Williams.
Washington was fined for not properly updating media on Griffin’s status during the Oct. 7 game against Atlanta after he left with a head injury that turned out to be a mild concussion. Coach Mike Shanahan had described Griffin as being “shaken up.”
The Bills failed to list Williams on the injury report while he was being treated for a sprained left wrist. Williams said Oct. 3 that the wrist had been bothering him and limiting his effectiveness. The league said he should have been on the injury report; he has been the last two weeks.
High school kicker boots 67-yard FG
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington state senior hit a 67-yard field goal to tie the mark for the second-longest field goal in a high school game.
Central Valley High’s Austin Rehkow drilled the kick, with distance to spare, to tie the game at 55 as regulation expired Thursday night. Central Valley went on to beat Shadle Park High 62-55 in overtime.
Rehkow’s field goal set a Washington state record. The previous mark was 62 yards set in 1929.
According to The National Federation of High Schools Record Book, Rehkow’s kick tied the mark for the second-longest high school field goal. The record is 68 yards, set by Dirk Borgognone of Reno, Nev., in 1985.
The NFL record is 63 yards.
Del Potro, Tipsarevic reach semis in Vienna
VIENNA — Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro and Janko Tipsarevic scored straight-sets victories Friday to reach the semifinals of the Erste Bank Open.
Del Potro defeated Marinko Matosevic of Australia 6-2, 6-2 to line up a match against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. Second-seeded Tipsarevic was leading 6-2, 4-2 when Aljaz Bedene retired with a left thigh injury.
Tipsarevic will play Grega Zemlja of Slovenia, who scored 14 straight points to close out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Tommy Haas.
Tsonga cruises to Stockohlm semis
STOCKHOLM — Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-4 on Friday in the Stockholm Open to set up a semifinal match against 2009 champion Marcos Baghdatis. The seventh-ranked Frenchman, playing in the Swedish capital for the first time, put on an impressive display of serve and volley tennis to advance.
Cypriot Baghdatis edged Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Spain’s Nicolas Almagro will play second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the other semifinal. Almagro beat former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-4, and Berdych edged Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the late match.
Venus Williams makes Luxembourg semis
LUXEMBOURG — Venus Williams beat top-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Luxembourg Open.
Playing in her first tournament since the U.S. Open, Williams will face Andrea Petkovic of Germany, who defeated Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-2.
Williams had struggled with a back problem at the U.S. Open.
In the bottom half of the draw, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, 7-5, 6-0 to set up a semifinal against Monica Niculescu of Romania, who defeated Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-4.
Wozniacki, Stosur into Kremlin Cup semis
MOSCOW — Ana Ivanovic and Samantha Stosur won in straight sets Friday, setting up a semifinal showdown at the Kremlin Cup.
Ivanovic beat Vesna Dolonc 6-4, 6-1, and the top-seeded Stosur defeated Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3.
Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion from Australia, will play the 2008 French Open champion on Saturday.
Earlier, Caroline Wozniacki struggled to beat defending champion Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-1. In her seventh semifinal this season, Wozniacki will face Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, who beat seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3.
From wire sources