Sports Briefs March 29, 2011
Football
Chad Ochocinco's tryout for a professional soccer team could be nearing an end.
The Cincinnati Bengals' wide receiver played 30 minutes in a practice game with Sporting Kansas City of the MLS on Monday. Afterward, he agreed that his conditioning and skills were lacking.
Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said he will meet with Ochocinco tonight to discuss what's been a five-day tryout.
With the NFL in a lockout, and probably headed for litigation, Ochocinco says he would not mind just being a practice player for Sporting Kansas City to help him stay in shape.
Baseball
On the day the Seattle Mariners set their starting rotation for the regular season, left-hander Jason Vargas struggled.
Vargas, Seattle's No. 2 starter, gave up five runs and 11 hits in five innings in Peoria, Ariz., before the Mariners rallied with two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6.
Steve Baron lined a single to right field to drive in Michael Saunders with the winning run. The Mariners tied the score with hits from Justin Smoak and Saunders and a two-base error by Rockies right fielder Bronson Sardinha.
The Rockies scored three runs in the fifth inning off Vargas, two on Ty Wiggington's double.
Milton Bradley drove in two runs and Chone Figgins had three hits, a stolen base and a run batted in for Seattle.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates shipped infielder Josh Fields to the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash.
• The Minnesota Twins traded right-handed pitching prospect Billy Bullock to the Atlanta Braves, which allows them to retain Rule 5 draft choice Scott Diamond.
The Twins plucked the left-handed Diamond out of the Braves' system in December. He allowed one earned run on six hits in six innings of work during spring training. But he missed two weeks with a blister on his left thumb and wasn't deemed ready for the opening day roster.
• The Houston Astros acquired infielder Joe Inglett from the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named or cash.
Inglett is a career .286 hitter in 781 at-bats with Cleveland, Toronto and Milwaukee. He led all major leaguers with 20 pinch hits last season.
Blackhawks 3, Red Wings 2, OT: Marian Hossa scored on a power play 51 seconds into overtime, lifting visiting Chicago over the Detroit.
Ducks 5, Avalanche 4: At Anaheim, Calif., Teemu Selanne had three goals and two assists and Anaheim beat Colorado for its eighth victory in 10 games.
Boxing
A celebrity boxing firm claims that former baseball player Jose Canseco had his twin brother show up in his place for a boxing event in Hollywood.
El Nuevo Herald reported that Conseco did not show up for a fight on Saturday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. A representative from Celebrity Boxing told the Spanish language newspaper that the switch was discovered when Ozzie Canseco took off his shirt and didn't have his brother's tattoos on the biceps that appear in the company's advertising. The fight was cancelled.
Jose Canseco posted on his Twitter page Sunday that the company's representative did not comply with his part of the agreement.
Ozzie Canseco, also a former major league baseball player, was arrested on DUI charges in Tampa in January.
- The Associated Press