National Sports Briefs: Canseco gets probation

Monday, May 04, 2009 3:06 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — Jose Canseco went to a Tijuana pharmacy looking for something to boost his testosterone level — and got himself in trouble again.

Limping slightly and saying he's tired, depressed and nearly bankrupt, the former slugger pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor offense of trying to bring fertility drug across state lines.

- DANA POINT, Calif. — If Mike Mussina decides to pitch next year, the New York Yankees could make room for him in their uncertain starting rotation.

Mussina turns 40 next month and is coming off the first 20-win season of his career. While he needs just 30 wins to reach 300, at the end of the year he sounded as if he was leaning toward retirement.

"We just obviously have needs in the starting rotation. He certainly could be one of those guys that fills a need, without a doubt," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Monday as the GM meetings began. "I just know that we need starting pitching, and it's not just one. We're not going to be one and done. We need multiple."

Only Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain are guaranteed spots in the rotation next year.

- DANA POINT, Calif. — Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has agreed to a new contract with the team.

NASCAR

FORT WORTH, Texas — A stray bullet that injured a NASCAR fan in her motor home at Texas Motor Speedway may have been from a rifle of a target shooter, police said Tuesday.

A 49-year-old man contacted police after being told of news reports that a woman was hit in the arm Sunday morning by a bullet piercing through the roof of her recreational vehicle camped at the speedway, according to Fort Worth police.

The man told detectives Tuesday that he fired five or six rounds from a .50 caliber Vulcan single-shot rifle near a rifle range about five miles from the speedway from about 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., police said.

Detectives confiscated the Vulcan rifle and will conduct ballistics tests. If it matches the recovered bullet, the man could face a charge of deadly conduct for recklessly firing a weapon in the direction of others, police said.

OLD MAN HOOPS

HARRIMAN, Tenn. — Ken Mink, a 73-year-old full-time student, scored two points Monday night in Roane State Community College's 93-42 victory over King College's junior varsity.

Mink entered the game with about 16 minutes left in the second half and attempted one shot in about three minutes. Seven minutes later, he went back in the game, was fouled and made two free throws.

"I found myself on the free-throw line 52 years after my last college game," Mink said. "I said, 'Just relax and shoot it like you know how to all day long.' I just floated the shots in there. I'm in the books now. I can relax a little bit."NFL

PITTSBURGH — Byron Leftwich may get the chance Sunday to start.

With starter Ben Roethlisberger's status for Sunday's game against the Colts uncertain due to his reinjured right shoulder, the Steelers (6-2) may give Leftwich his first start since last Nov. 18 with Atlanta.

GOLF

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jeff Overton, who played a golf tournament 10 days after an appendectomy to try to secure his job on the PGA Tour, took a painkiller banned by the tour while his request for a waiver was pending.

NHL

NEWARK, N.J. — Devils goalie Martin Brodeur will miss at least one game with a bruised elbow, ending a career-high streak of 51 regular-season starts.