MLB claims A-Rod lawsuit a violation
Baseball: Major League Baseball calls Alex Rodriguez’s lawsuit against the sport a “clear violation” of the confidentiality provisions of the league’s drug program.
The Yankees third baseman sued MLB and baseball commissioner Bud Selig on Thursday in a New York state court in Manhattan, accusing them of a “witch hunt” to smear his reputation and cost him tens of millions of dollars.
In a statement Friday, MLB denied the allegations and called the lawsuit a “desperate attempt” to go around confidentiality rules of the league’s drug agreement with the players’ union.
• Pujols files suit against Jack Clark: Albert Pujols is suing former Cardinals slugger Jack Clark for an Aug. 2 statement on his WGNU radio show claiming that he knew “for a fact” that Pujols used steroids.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the lawsuit filed in St. Louis County seeks unspecified damages and asks for a declaration that Clark’s statements are false.
• Mets’ Harvey opts for surgery; out for 2014: Mets ace Matt Harvey will have surgery to repair a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, an operation that will sideline him for the 2014 season.
Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery this month.
U.S. leads despite rain at Presidents Cup
Golf: Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley put on an astounding foursomes performance, shooting 30 on the front nine at the rain-delayed Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. Only some sloppy play allowed the match to go 15 holes and a 4-and-3 win for the Americans.
Right behind them, Brendon de Jonge teamed with Ernie Els in a 4-and-3 win over Hunter Mahan and Bill Haas.
Those were the only two of six matches that were completed as storms interrupted play. The Americans, still a point ahead, led in two matches, while the Internationals were ahead in the other two. They will be completed this morning.
• Korda takes two-stroke lead at Reignwood Classic: American Jessica Korda shot a 5-under 68 to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the smog-shrouded Reignwood Classic in Beijing.
Korda had a 14-under 132 total.
NHL: Matt Moulson scored the only goal of the shootout in the sixth round and the New York Islanders opened the season with a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.
Former Spokane Chief Michael Grabner scored two goals and set up another by Frans Nielsen for the Islanders.
• Red Wings rally past ’Canes: Stephen Weiss scored at 3:13 of overtime and the Detroit Red Wings rallied to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in Raleigh, N.C., for their first road win since joining the Eastern Conference.
Henrik Zetterberg tied the score with 16.4 seconds left.
Auto racing: Kevin Harvick, who is tied for fourth in Chase points, turned a lap of 187.526 mph in qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., and will sit on the pole for the first time since the 2006 season.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was second-fastest at 187.480 mph.
• John Force leads Funny Car qualifying: John Force drove his Ford Mustang to a run of 3.987 seconds at 323.50 mph, the first three-second run of his career, to take the Funny Car qualifying lead in the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pa.
Courtney Force was second at 4.025 and 329.42 – the highest speed in Funny Car history.
Thousands opt out of film rights settlement
NFL: Thousands of retired players have opted out of a $50 million class-action settlement in a case that accused the league of using their names and images without their consent.
In papers filed in Minneapolis, supporters of the settlement noted that more than 25,000 players chose to participate, while, 2,140 players asked to be excluded.
• Bills’ Manuel to miss some time: Buffalo rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel will miss “a few weeks” with a sprained ligament in his right knee, which was sustained in a loss to the Browns Thursday night.
The injury will not require surgery, Bills coach Doug Marrone said.
Marrone said the Bills will look into acquiring another QB.
16-year-old American wins all-around title
Miscellany: Sixteen-year- old American Simone Biles scored 60.216 points to edge teammate Kyla Ross, 59.332 points, to win the all-around gold at the gymnastics world championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
Biles also qualified for all four apparatus finals this weekend.
• Nets’ Kidd suspended: Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd was suspended by the NBA for the first two games of the season following a guilty plea to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge on July 15, 2012.