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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Newsmakers

From Staff And Wire Reports

Injured Royals third baseman Alex Gordon is expected to be sidelined for three to four weeks with a broken right thumb. Manager Trey Hillman said Sunday that Gordon probably will miss Kansas City’s April 5 opener against Detroit, but the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 draft is optimistic about his chances of playing. Gordon was injured when he slid headfirst into second base on an attempted steal in the second inning of the Royals’ 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

•Dodgers catcher Russell Martin is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks after an MRI exam revealed a pulled groin. Martin likely will miss Los Angeles’ regular-season opener on April 5 at Pittsburgh. A.J. Ellis, who has just 13 career major league at-bats, will get the bulk of the catching duties with Martin out. The Dodgers also have veteran backup Brad Ausmus, who turns 41 in April.

•Boston Bruins center Marc Savard was carried off the ice with a concussion after being leveled by Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke’s blindside hit with 5:37 remaining in Sunday’s game. Savard, one of Boston’s top players with 10 goals and 23 assists, was expected to stay in a Pittsburgh hospital on Sunday night.

Moved Twins closer Joe Nathan is headed back to Minnesota to get his surgically repaired right elbow checked out. Nathan says he felt fine while he was working out before spring training games. But there was some soreness when he threw 20 pitches against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday. The 35-year-old right-hander had surgery Oct. 20 to remove bone spurs from the elbow.

Agreed Struggling with his composure, Frank Martin said he had agreed to a contract extension with Kansas State that will boost his annual salary to more than $1.5 million. On the same day, he was also picked as the Associated Press Big 12 coach of the year. The first man to win 20-plus games in each of his first three seasons at Kansas State, Martin had been one of the lowest-paid coaches in the Big 12 at about $750,000 annually. The Wildcats finished the regular season 24-6 overall and 11-5 in the Big 12, second to Kansas. Martin’s overall record of 67-30 is the best of any Kansas State coach in his first three seasons.

Broken Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps broke his own U.S. short course record in the 200-yard butterfly at the Maryland Swim Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy. Phelps, who won both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly, clocked a time of 1:39.65. His old U.S. record of 1:39.70 in the 200-yard event was set March 3, 2006, at the South Texas American Short Course Championships.