Ex-Mariner Mateo suspected of forgery

Former major league reliever Julio Mateo, now pitching in San Francisco’s farm system, was arrested on suspicion of forgery last weekend after police in Albuquerque, N.M., discovered counterfeit $100 bills in his hotel room.

He also was accused of using a bogus $100 bill to pay a cab fare.

Rich Ferretti, Resident Agent in Charge of the Secret Service in New Mexico, confirmed an investigation was ongoing.

“There are counterfeit notes involved, deceptive notes,” Ferretti said Tuesday.

According to police reports, as officers patted Mateo down in a hotel hallway early Sunday, he made a statement in Spanish to police that translates to, “I didn’t pass the bad money.”

“Before officers informed him of why we were there, Julio stated that he did not know anything about fake money,” officer Christopher Enyart wrote in a police report.

Mateo’s agent didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Giants spokesman Blake Rhodes said the team declined to comment.

The case marks another legal tangle for Mateo, traded by Seattle to Philadelphia after admitting he hit his wife at a Manhattan hotel in May 2007. He pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and disorderly conduct in that case.

Mateo, signed by San Francisco last winter as a free agent, was released by Philadelphia in December. He has spent six years in the majors, mostly with Seattle, and has been trying to resurrect his career with the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies.

Hockey

Lightning sign top pick

Steven Stamkos signed a three-year, $2.625 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have penciled in the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft as the team’s second-line center.

The 18-year-old’s standard entry-level contract includes a yearly base salary of $875,000, as well as a maximum of $8.55 million in performance bonuses that could make the deal worth up to $11.175 million.

Motorsports

F1 teams unite

Formula One’s 10 teams created an association to safeguard their interests in response to rule changes proposed by motor sports’ governing body.

Ferrari said in a statement that the meeting at its headquarters in Maranello, Italy, had produced a unanimous decision to establish a new “Formula 1 Teams Association” to work with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) “to agree upon regulations and commercial conditions which will provide a framework for a strong and dynamic sport.”

Sailing

Ruling returns format

Hold those giant catamarans just a minute, you bickering billionaires.

The America’s Cup appears to be headed away from a rare 1-on-1 showdown between American and Swiss crews and back to its traditional multichallenger format following a ruling by a New York appeals court that went against a San Francisco yacht club that backs Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison.