In Brief

baseball

'Oil Can' says he often pitched
under influence of cocaine

Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd said he probably pitched under the influence of cocaine "at every ballpark" during his 10-year career.

"There wasn't one ballpark that I probably didn't stay up all night, until 4 or 5 in the morning, and the same thing is in your system," Boyd said in an interview with Jon Miller of WBZ radio in Boston. "It ain't like you had time to go and do it while you were in the game, which I have (done) that."

Boyd, 52, was 78-77 with a 4.04 ERA in his career. In eight seasons with the Red Sox, from 1982 to 1989, he was 60-56.

"Some of the best games that I've ever, ever pitched in the major leagues, I stayed up all night. I'd say two-thirds of them," he said Wednesday at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla., where Boston holds spring training. "And if I had went to bed, I would have won 150 ballgames in the time span that I played and ... I felt like my career was cut short for a lot of reasons."

An autobiography of Boyd, "They Call Me Oil Can: My Life in Baseball," is scheduled for release in June.

Also: Outfielder Nelson Cruz and the Texas Rangers avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $16 million, two-year contract. Cruz, who made $3.65 million last season, had asked for $7.5 million in arbitration, and the team had offered $5.5 million.

The deal includes another potential $500,000 in performance bonuses and takes the 31-year-old through his final two season of salary-arbitration eligibility.

Cruz, 31, hit .263 with 29 home runs and 87 RBIs last season. He was the Most Valuable Player of the American League Championship Series, when he had six homers and 13 RBIs, both major league records for a postseason series.

Outfielder Alex Gordon and the Kansas City Royals avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $4.78 million contract for 2012. Gordon filed a request for $5.45 million, and the team countered with $4.15 million. He made $1.5 million last season.

Gordon, who turned 28 today, hit .303 with 23 homers and 87 RBIs last season.

The Baltimore Orioles defeated pitcher Brad Bergesen in salary arbitration, giving clubs a 3-2 lead over players this year. Bergesen will make $800,000 this year rather than his request for $1.2 million. He was 2-7 with a 5.70 ERA in 12 starts and 22 relief appearances last season, when he made $434,000.

The San Francisco Giants finalized a $1 million, one-year contract with free-agent reliever Guillermo Mota to bring him back for a third season. The 38-year-old right-hander went 2-2 with a 3.81 ERA in 52 outings last season.

football

Ex-Chiefs coach Haley returns
to Pittsburgh, hailed by Tomlin

Stressing his ties to the organization and his reverence for its tradition, Todd Haley officially was introduced as the Pittsburgh Steelers' new offensive coordinator.

The former Kansas City Chiefs head coach and son of former Steelers director of player personnel Dick Haley called the Steelers "the greatest organization in the NFL" and reminisced about growing up as a team ball boy.

Amid reports that Steelers president Art Rooney II orchestrated the departure of former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and pushed for Haley to be his replacement above coach Mike Tomlin's wishes, Tomlin introduced Haley and spoke glowingly of him. Under Arians, now with the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers ranked 12th last season in total offense but 21st in scoring.

Haley, 44, was fired Dec. 13 after going 19-26 in two-plus seasons with the Chiefs, leading them to the 2010 AFC West title. "As an offensive coordinator, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience," Tomlin said. "But he also brings intangibles I really value."

Tomlin made it a point to mention he was the one conducting the interviews for Arians' replacement.

Also: The Oakland Raiders released cornerback Stanford Routt, who was one year into a $54.5 million, five-year contract that he received from late owner Al Davis. Routt had been with the team for seven years.

The move by new general manager Reggie McKenzie and coach Dennis Allen signifies a change of approach from when Davis ran the team and was fiercely loyal to players he drafted.

golf

American Lewis shares lead in
LPGA Tour opener in Australia

American Stacy Lewis and Australian Sarah Kemp shared the first-round lead in the Women's Australian Open in Melbourne at 4-under-par 69, leaving top-ranked Yani Tseng one stroke back in her bid to win the event for the third straight year.

Lewis had six birdies and two bogeys in the LPGA Tour opener at historic Royal Melbourne, the 2011 Presidents Cup venue that is hosting a women's professional event for the first time. Kemp had a bogey-free round. Only 22 of 156 players broke par.

Tseng finished with a bogey on the par-4 ninth. She won the tournament, sanctioned this year by the LPGA Tour for the first time, the last two seasons at Commonwealth Golf Club.

Also: Rafael Cabrera-Bello made nine birdies in his first 11 holes to finish at 9-under 63 for a two-shot lead after the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Marcel Siem and Scott Jamieson each shot 65.

miscellaneous

Peterson, Khan to fight May 19
at Mandalay Bay in rematch

After almost two months of frequently contentious dialogue, Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan are set for a rematch of their light welterweight championship fight.

Peterson (30-1-1, 15 knockouts) and Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) will meet May 19 at Mandalay Bay for the WBA and IBF 140-pound belts. Peterson won the unified title by 12-round split decision over then-champion Khan on Dec. 10 in Washington, D.C.

Almost immediately after the fight, Khan's team expressed dissatisfaction, citing what they deemed irregularities in judging and refereeing. Khan's Golden Boy Promotions team sought a rematch at that time, but Peterson's camp declined to commit until it was able to examine its options.

Khan went to Twitter to get out the word of the fight, in which worldwide revenue will be split evenly. Based on industry estimates, each fighter's take could reach $1.5 million.

Also: Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich was found guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and stripped of his third-place finish in the 2005 Tour de France for "intensive involvement" in blood doping linked to the Operation Puerto case. The 38-year-old German, the 1997 Tour winner, also was banned from the sport for two years.

Because Ullrich retired in disgrace after the Spanish doping investigation emerged in 2006, his latest shame lacked the impact of Alberto Contador's defeat at sports' highest court Monday. Contador was stripped of his third Tour victory after CAS rejected his explanation that eating contaminated meat caused his positive tests for clenbuterol in the final days of the 2010 race.

Jack Beckman raced to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in Funny Car in the season-opening NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif. He had a run of 4.139 seconds at 308.14 mph in his Dodge Charger.

Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) led their divisions. Courtney Force had a 4.210-second pass at 303.16 mph in her first run in Funny Car competition. She took the provisional sixth spot and will line up next to her father, John Force, in the second round of qualifying.

Chilean tennis star Fernando Gonzalez said he will retire next month because injuries no longer allow him to play at a top level. The 31-year-old has been ranked as high as No. 5 and won 11 ATP events. He also won three Olympic medals -- gold, silver and bronze.

Sarah Rivera pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the top of the seventh inning to lift the College of Southern Nevada softball team to a 7-5 victory over 17th-ranked College of Southern Idaho in the first game of a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader in St. George, Utah.

CSN (6-10, 1-3 SWAC) scored four runs in the sixth to take a 7-5 lead, with Erin Romero starting the rally with a leadoff home run. The Coyotes lost the second game, 5-2. Rivera went 3-for-5 with four RBIs in the two games.

The South Point Bowling Center will host the Professional Bowlers Association World Series of Bowling for the third consecutive year. The multi-event international competition, the first event of the 2012-13 season, will take place from Nov. 2 to 11. ESPN will televise parts of the event.