MLB
Colorado’s Gonzalez, Cuddyer set to swing for the fences
NEW YORK – Baltimore Orioles slugger Chris Davis, who leads the majors with 33 homers, will be one of eight participants in the Home Run Derby next Monday night during All-Star festivities at Citi Field.
Davis was chosen by American League captain Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees. They will be joined on the AL squad by Detroit Tigers bopper Prince Fielder, who won the event last year and in 2009, and a player yet to be announced.
New York Mets star David Wright, the National League captain, selected 20-year-old Washington phenom Bryce Harper along with Colorado outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer.
soccer
Police searching for two more in murder of referee
BRASILIA, Brazil – Police in rural Brazil have detained one man and were seeking two others in the slaying of a soccer referee who was killed, dismembered and decapitated by spectators after he stabbed a player to death mid-match, a police official said Monday.
Officer Valter Costa, who was heading the investigation into the June 30 slayings, said police have detained Luis Moraes Souza, 27, who is suspected of pummeling the referee over the head and smashing a bottle of cachaca sugarcane rum onto his face. Souza’s brother, Francisco, is among the two still being sought, Costa said.
The slayings began after the 20-year-old referee, Otavio Jordao da Silva, expelled player Josemir Santos Abreu, 31, from an amateur match in the small town of Centro do Meio, in the northern state of Maranhao. Angered by the expulsion, Abreu threw Silva to the ground. As he rose, Silva pulled a knife and stabbed Abreu in the chest, Costa said, and the player died on the way to the hospital.
Players and spectators then rushed Silva, tying him up by his arms and legs while Souza hit him over the head with a spike and then broke the bottle on his face. One of the suspects being sought, a man nicknamed “Pirolo,” then took the knife that had been used to stab Abreu and stabbed the referee in the neck, said Costa. It was not immediately clear why Silva had been carrying the knife in the first place.
Souza’s brother Francisco then used a sickle to cut off Silva’s arms, legs and head, which he placed on a spike in the middle of the field, Costa said. He added that Francisco may have been on drugs at the time.
NFL
Alleged Hernandez accessory ordered held without bail
ATTLEBORO, Mass. – A man facing an accessory to murder charge in the case involving former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was ordered held without bail on Monday, and a judge ruled that search warrants that had earlier been sealed may be released.
Ernest Wallace pleaded not guilty in District Court in Attleboro, Mass. The Miramar, Fla. man will be held without bail until another hearing on July 22, under an agreement between his attorney and prosecutors.
Details of the charge against Wallace – accessory to murder after the fact – were not released during the brief proceeding. Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter declined comment on the specific allegations outside the courthouse, citing the ongoing investigation into the death of Odin Lloyd.
Cycling
UCI president: Armstrong affair shouldn’t affect elections
AIGLE, Switzerland – The president of cycling’s governing body said the Lance Armstrong doping affair should not be an issue in the organization’s upcoming election.
Pat McQuaid faces British Cycling head Brian Cookson in the September vote to lead the International Cycling Union.
The Armstrong case fueled claims the ruling body protected Armstrong from doping allegations during his Tour de France victories from 1999 to 2005.
McQuaid became cycling’s leader in 2005. He said that Armstrong and “issues related to him” should not be a factor in the vote.
Associated Press
