In Brief

BASEBALL

Selig confident playoffs will expand this season

Commissioner Bud Selig expects baseball to expand its playoffs this season.

Players and owners have agreed to add an additional wild-card team in each league, but are still deciding whether it would take effect this year or in 2013. Selig said there are scheduling issues to be worked out, but once they are, the new 10-team format would begin with a one-game playoff.

"I really believe we'll have the wild card for 2012, this year," Selig said Friday in Chicago at a White Sox fan festival. "Clubs really want it. I don't think I've ever seen an issue that the clubs want more than to have the extra wild card this year."

MLB and the players' association have reached a consensus that ties for division titles will be broken on the field under the new playoff format. Since 1995, head-to-head record has been used to determine first place if both teams are going to the postseason. But with the start of the one-game wild-card round, the sides agreed the difference between first place and a wild-card berth is too important to decide with a formula , so a tiebreaker would be played.

Also: Hedge fund head Steven Cohen and groups including Joe Torre and Magic Johnson survived the first round of cuts in bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban refused to say whether he was in or out, but the Los Angeles Times reported he did not advance. It was unclear whether more groups also advanced to the next stage.

Frank McCourt put the team into bankruptcy last year and reached an agreement with Major League Baseball to sell it by April 30, the deadline for him to make a $131 million divorce payment to former wife Jamie McCourt. The team and Dodger Stadium are expected to sell for more than $1 billion.

Right fielder Hunter Pence and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed to a $10.4 million, one-year contract. The Phillies also signed outfielder Juan Pierre to a minor league contract.

FOOTBALL

Patriots' Gronkowski questionable for Super Bowl

Star tight end Rob Gronkowski was listed as questionable for the Feb. 5 Super Bowl against the New York Giants after he missed the New England Patriots' practice for the second straight day with an injured left ankle.

WIVB-TV in Buffalo reported that Gronkowski's father, Gordy Gronkowski, said his son has a high ankle sprain. Rob Gronkowski attended Williamsville North High School in the Buffalo area. His father said he expects the tight end to be fine for the Super Bowl.

Also: Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (shoulder), cornerback Corey Webster (hamstring) and linebacker Jacquian Williams (foot) missed their second straight day of practice as the Giants prepared for the Super Bowl. Williams might be the biggest concern, as he wore a walking cast on his right foot.

Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur hired close friend Brad Childress as offensive coordinator, reuniting two coaches who spent seven seasons together on Andy Reid's staff with the Philadelphia Eagles. Childress spent almost five seasons as the Minnesota Vikings' head coach before he was fired in 2010.

New Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin hired Mike Sherman as his offensive coordinator and Kevin Coyle as defensive coordinator. Sherman was Philbin's high school English teacher, and when Sherman was the head coach for the Green Bay Packers, he gave Philbin his first NFL coaching job.

Denver Broncos coach John Fox hired Jack Del Rio as his defensive coordinator. Del Rio was Fox's first defensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers in 2002 before leaving after one year to coach the Jacksonville Jaguars, who fired him in November.

The Baltimore Ravens promoted linebackers coach Dean Pees to replace defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, who was hired as the Indianapolis Colts' head coach.

Marcell Frazier, a defensive end who had committed to Idaho, instead said Friday he will play football at UNLV. Frazier (6 feet 5 inches, 220 pounds) canceled a trip to Colorado State this weekend. The David Douglas High School product in Portland, Ore., said he also received scholarship offers from Montana and Portland State.

Bishop Gorman High School football coach Tony Sanchez said senior linebacker/safety Marc Philippi committed to New Mexico, and senior defensive end/linebacker Zach Hutchins picked Montana State. Philippi, a second-team all-state pick as a senior, also eyed offers from UNLV, Navy and Montana. Hutchins, a first-team all-state pick in 2011, was previously committed to San Jose State.

Centennial High School running back Jacobi Owens made an oral commitment to Air Force. He was a second-team all-state pick as a senior, rushing for 1,498 yards and 14 touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs (7-4) to the Sunset Region semifinals. He also was recruited by Colorado, San Jose State and Utah.

GOLF

Late birdie binge puts Woods two strokes off lead

Tiger Woods moved into contention with a 3-under-par 69 after three birdies in five holes on the back nine in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He is two strokes behind leader Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark.

Olesen made seven birdies in his first 12 holes for a 67 and a one-shot lead over 18-year-old Gareth Maybin of Northern Ireland and Matteo Mannasero of Italy. Olesen is at 7-under 137. Rory McIlroy finished with a 72 after a two-stroke penalty for brushing away sand in front of his ball on the fringe at the ninth hole.

Also: Kyle Stanley overcame a double bogey early in his round by running off four birdies on the front nine for a 4-under 68, giving him a one-shot lead over Brandt Snedeker after two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Stanley is at 14-under 130 after playing the tougher South Course at Torrey Pines.

Hometown star Phil Mickelson shot 68 on the North Course, a day after shooting 77 on the South, and missed the cut for the first time in 10 years at Torrey Pines.

MISCELLANEOUS

Fallon perfect in net, helps Wranglers to 5-0 victory

Goaltender Joe Fallon stopped all 26 shots, and five players scored to spark the Wranglers to a 5-0 ECHL victory over the Colorado Eagles in Loveland, their second straight road win.

Scott Campbell, Chris Francis, Pete MacArthur, Eric Lampe and Mike Madill scored for Las Vegas, which leads the Western Conference's Pacific Division. Lampe's goal was his ECHL-leading 33rd. The shutout was Fallon's third, and he is 9-3 in his past 13 games.

Also: College of Charleston basketball coach Bobby Cremins, 64, will miss the rest of the season because of a medical problem. Assistant coach Mark Byington will take over the team. The school did not specify Cremins' medical condition, but said it was not life threatening.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, the first Americans to win a world title in ice dance, took a comfortable lead at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., with a score of 76.89 in the short dance. Maia and Alex Shibutani are second with 72.61 points. In the men's short program, Jeremy Abbott scored 90.23 points and leads Adam Rippon by 7.29 points.

The 36th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team lost to No. 7 California 6-1 in the first round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend at Berkeley, Calif. The Rebels (3-1) got their only point from Lucia Batta, who upset 32nd-ranked Tayler Davis 7-5, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

UNLV's Mariah Skeen posted a score of 292.20 on the 1-meter to finish second at the Falcon Diving Invite at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Jordan Van Hoosier went 5-for-6 with six runs and Morgan Stotts was 5-for-9 with five RBIs to lead College of Southern Nevada to two season-opening baseball victories at Morse Stadium. CSN defeated Cochise College (Ariz.) 13-12 in its first game, then whipped Yavapai College (Ariz.), 12-2.

Angela Mikalauski pitched a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts, coming within one out of a perfect game, to lead the College of Southern Nevada softball team to a 10-0 victory over Gateway Community College (Ariz.) at Stephanie Lynn Craig Park. In its first game of the season, CSN beat Glendale Community College (Ariz), 10-6.