Garciaparra agrees to terms on 1-year deal with Dodgers
Five-time All-Star Nomar Garciaparra agreed to a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Team spokesman Josh Rawitch said Sunday that Garciaparra passed a physical and will be introduced today at a Dodger Stadium news conference.
He hit .283 with nine homers and 30 RBIs in 62 games for the Chicago Cubs last season, when he earned $8.25 million.
Garciaparra most likely will play first base or the outfield with the Dodgers. He played mostly third base after returning to the Cubs last August. New Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said Garciaparra seemed open to changing positions during his meetings late last week.
Golf
Goosen holds off charging Els
Retief Goosen birdied the last two holes and finished with a 3-under 70 to beat Ernie Els by a stroke at the South African Open at George, South Africa.
Goosen chipped in on the 17th hole and then made a tough birdie on the 18th to finish with a 10-under 282 total.
Els, who had a double-bogey on the 12th yet finished with a 5-under 68, had four birdies in the last five holes. The South African had a chance for an eagle on the 18th, but his putt lipped out.
College sports
Graduation rates improved
NCAA President Myles Brand said the release of new Graduation Success Rate numbers for Division I schools today will be “eye-opening,” showing improvement for most schools because of a better way of measuring success.
The key, he said, is that schools are no longer penalized for having students transfer to other schools the way they were under a flawed federal measurement.
“It turns out, in America today, 60 percent of the student population transfers, and according to the Department of Education, those people don’t count,” Brand said this weekend in Salem, Va., where he attended the Division III football championship.
Under federal guidelines, graduation rates were measured based on the number of students that enrolled in a school and the number that got degrees within six years.
Olympic sports
U.S. women beat Finland
Angela Ruggiero scored on a power play to help the U.S. women’s hockey team beat Finland 3-1 at Trenton, N.J., in a tuneup for both teams for the Turin Olympics.
“Protesters opposed to a planned high-speed railway slowed the relay of the Turin Olympic flame at Genoa, Italy, blocking the convoy that accompanies the torch for about a half-hour.
Winter sports
Blardone, Simoncelli go 1-2
Max Blardone won a World Cup giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy, and was followed by Davide Simoncelli, giving Italy a 1-2 finish and a boost for the home country before the Turin Olympics.
Canada’s Francois Bourque had the fastest second run to finish third and match the best result of his career.
“Michaela Dorfmeister won a World Cup super-G race at Val d’Isere, France, to extend her lead in the overall World Cup standings, while Lindsey Kildow of the United States finished fourth.
Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria was second, followed by Emily Brydon of Canada in near-perfect conditions on the Jean-Claude Killy course. Kildow had won Saturday’s downhill in snowy and windy weather.
“Xu Nannan and Zhang Xin gave China a 1-2 finish in women’s aerials, while Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus won the men’s event at the World Cup freestyle aerial skiing event at Beijing, China.
“At Engelberg, Switzerland, Jakob Janda of the Czech Republic won his fourth ski jumping event of the season to extend his World Cup lead.
“At Ramsau, Austria, Petter Tande and Magnus Moan gave Norway two World Cup victories in Nordic combined events.
“The United States 1 team won a four-man bobsled World Cup race at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
“At Osrblie, Slovakia, Germany swept the first four spots in a men’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit at a World Cup biathlon event. Sweden’s Anna Carin Olofsson captured the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit.
Miscellany
Williams wins Iraq marathon
Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Williams of the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, N.Y., won the Honolulu Marathon satellite race in Iraq in 2:59:57.
Lt. Lauren Koban, 24, of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., won the women’s race in 3:38:30.