IN BRIEF

BASEBALL

Ex-Nationals manager Acta hired by Indians

Manny Acta, fired as the Washington Nationals manager in July after 21/2 seasons, was hired Sunday by the Cleveland Indians, who gave him a three-year contract with a club option for 2013.

The club will introduce Acta -- the Indians' 40th manager -- at a news conference today. He's the first Cleveland manager hired from outside the organization since John McNamara in 1990.

The Indians chose Acta, 40, over two other known finalists: Triple-A manager Torey Lovullo and former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine.

Also: Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee will start Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday, manager Charlie Manuel said.

The left-hander has been dominant in the postseason, going 2-0 with an 0.74 ERA in three starts.

Baseball analyst Steve Phillips was fired by ESPN, less than a week after the former Mets general manager admitted having an affair with a production assistant at the cable network.

A representative for Phillips announced that he was entering a treatment facility "to address his personal issues."

Phillips' acknowledgment Wednesday of his relationship with Brooke Hundley, 22, was splashed across the New York tabloids for days.

Tony La Russa will announce today his return as the St. Louis Cardinals' manager, along with the surprise addition of Mark McGwire, the former home run king who will end an eight-year, self-imposed exile from the game to become the team's hitting coach. Next season will be La Russa's 15th with the team.

UNLV

Men's doubles team falls in region final, 8-6

UNLV's Luca Barlocchi and Mehdi Bouras lost to Utah's Phillip Ellers and Alex Golding 8-6 in the men's doubles final of the ITA Mountain Region Tennis Championships at Darling Tennis Center.

Ellers and Golding won the final two points to claim the match and a spot in the ITA National Indoor Championships.

Also: Playing down a man for the final 60 minutes, the UNLV men's soccer team lost to Air Force 2-1 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Rebels (6-5-3, 0-3-1) lost a man when Nick Marshall was issued a red card in the 30th minute, and gave up the winning goal in the 86th minute.

Zach Kupfer scored UNLV's goal in the 71st minute.

The UNLV women's soccer team gave up a goal seven minutes into the match and lost to San Diego State 1-0 in Mountain West Conference action at Peter Johann Memorial Field. The Rebels fell to 5-8-5 and 1-4-1.

MISCELLANEOUS

Tar Heels, Duke favored in ACC basketball race

Defending national champion North Carolina and Duke are co-favorites to win the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball title this season.

The Tar Heels and Blue Devils shared first place in voting at the ACC Operation Basketball, the first tie in the four-decade history of the preseason event.

Also: Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-1, 7-5 to win the Stockholm Open for his third career ATP Tour singles title, just a week after learning he had gained the event's main draw. Baghdatis was playing a Challenger event in Tashkent when he got the news.

Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-4 in the men's final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

In the women's final, Francesca Schiavone of Italy defeated Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-3, 6-0.

Unseeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland won her first WTA Tour title, beating sixth-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-2, 7-5 in the Luxembourg Open final.