MLB
A pair of Chicago players win the fan’s All-Star vote
NEW YORK – Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale were voted by fans onto the rosters for Tuesday’s All-Star game, and Los Angeles Angels shortstop Erick Aybar will replace Kansas City outfielder Alex Gordon.
Rizzo received 8.8 million votes among the 52.5 million ballots and Sale 6.7 million, Major League Baseball said Thursday. Voting was conducted on MLB.com, team websites and Twitter.
There was no immediate announcement on a replacement for St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, who is to have surgery Friday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and likely is to be sidelined for at least eight weeks.
MLB said Oakland All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson and Colorado first baseman Justin Morneau were picked to complete the participants for Monday’s Home Run Derby at Target Field in Minneapolis. Morneau spent 11 seasons with the Twins and won the 2008 derby at old Yankee Stadium.
The AL derby lineup includes Toronto’s Jose Bautista, Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes, Minnesota’s Brian Dozier and Baltimore’s Adam Jones. Cespedes won last year’s event at New York’s Citi Field.
The NL lineup includes Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig, Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton and Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki.
As captains, Bautista and Tulowitzki chose the other players for their league.
NBA
Sterling shouts at his wife, ‘Get away from me, you pig!’
LOS ANGELES – A day after being berated in court by her husband, Shelly Sterling returned to the witness stand in a trial to determine if Donald Sterling properly was removed from the family trust that owns the Los Angeles Clippers.
She testified Thursday that Donald Sterling encouraged her to sell the Clippers for the best price after the NBA banned him from the league.
Shelly Sterling said she quickly moved to get bids and informed her husband on a daily basis of her progress. She said her husband credited her with doing a good job when she reported that former Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer had offered $2 billion.
But she said within days his mood changed, he became enraged in a conversation and said he never would sell the team.
A raging Donald Sterling denounced his wife, her lawyers and the NBA from the witness stand Wednesday, saying he never will sell the Clippers and vowing a lifetime of lawsuits against the league.
He was followed to the stand by his wife, who tried to approach him in the front row of the courtroom after she was done for the day.
“Get away from me, you pig!” Sterling shouted.
NFL
The league passes on this supplemental draft
NEW YORK – None of the four eligible players Thursday were taken in the NFL’s supplemental draft.
All four players – New Mexico receiver Chase Clayton, North Carolina linebacker Darius Lipford, Virginia-Lynchburg defensive tackle Lakendrick Ross and Southern Methodist running back Traylon Shead – went undrafted and now are free agents.
Soccer
World Cup TV viewers reach record network highs
NEW YORK – The World Cup semifinals each were seen by an average of more than 12 million viewers in the United States on ESPN and Spanish-language Univision.
ESPN said Germany’s 7-1 rout over host Brazil on Tuesday averaged 6,643,000 viewers, and Argentina’s penalty-kicks win over the Netherlands the next day averaged 6,823,000.
The games, which both kicked off at 2 p.m., are the two highest-rated World Cup semifinals on any U.S. network, ESPN said.
Associated Press
