In Brief

BASEBALL

Venezuelan league suspends
Torrealba for striking umpire

Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba was suspended Monday from Venezuela's professional baseball league for 66 games for striking an umpire.

Torrealba issued an apology, saying he was embarrassed about his argument with a home plate umpire after striking out Friday. He angrily put a hand on the umpire's mask and shoved him. He was then ejected.

"I wanted to express my sincere apologies to all parties for my actions," Torrealba said in his statement. "I have extended an apology to the Rangers organization as well. I am embarrassed for my conduct and personally relayed that feeling to the umpire after that night's game.

"On the field, I strive to be an example for children, especially those in my native Venezuela, and I regret my actions," he said. "I understand the reactions to the incident and will make every effort to set a positive example in the future."

Also: The Chicago Cubs agreed to one-year contracts with right-handers Andy Sonnanstine and Manny Corpas.

Sonnanstine, who turns 29 in March, was 28-31 with a 5.26 ERA in five seasons with Tampa Bay. Corpas, 29, spent five seasons with Colorado but did not pitch in the majors last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow in September 2010.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Syracuse sits atop AP poll
for third consecutive week

With Syracuse No. 1 for a third straight week, the top seven teams remained the same in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll.

The Orange (13-0) received 54 first-place votes from the 65-member national media poll. Ohio State, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Baylor and Duke held their places from last week.

Ohio State received five No. 1 votes, Kentucky had four and Louisville two.

Missouri, Connecticut and Florida rounded out the top 10.

Also: Baylor remained the unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the AP women's college basketball poll as the first five teams remained unchanged.

The Lady Bears received all 40 first-place votes for the fourth consecutive week after blowing out McNeese State in their only game. Connecticut remained second, with Notre Dame, Stanford and Maryland rounding out the top five.

UNLV forward Lenita Sanford was named Mountain West Conference women's player of the week for the third time this season after averaging 12 points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and 1.5 steals in victories over North Dakota State and Kansas State in the BTI Invitational last week.

MISCELLANEOUS

NBA fans put aside bitterness,
tune into Christmas Day fare

NBA fans seem more excited about basketball's return than bitter about the lockout, based on television ratings for the league's delayed openers.

The five Christmas games on Sunday averaged 6.2 million viewers based on fast national ratings, up from 6 million last year.

The Bulls-Lakers matchup was the third-most-watched regular-season game ever on ABC, behind only last year's highly anticipated Heat-Lakers showdown and another meeting between Miami and L.A. in 2004.

Chris Paul's Clippers debut in the nightcap against the Warriors earned a 2.2 rating, up 69 percent over last year's Portland-Golden State telecast in the same slot.

It was ESPN's highest-rated Christmas prime-time game. The day's first contest, Celtics-Knicks on TNT, was the most viewed Christmas game ever on cable. The 4.0 rating was up 48 percent from last year's Bulls-Knicks game on ESPN.

The first night game on ESPN -- Magic-Thunder -- drew a 1.8, up 29 percent from last year's Denver-Oklahoma City matchup. The afternoon's finals rematch on ABC, the Heat's rout of the Mavericks, earned a 4.9, up 7 percent from Boston-Orlando last year.

Also: The Houston Rockets signed free-agent center Samuel Dalembert.

The 6-foot-11-inch Dalembert averaged 8.1 points and 8.2 rebounds for Sacramento last season.

Charlie Coyle had a hat trick, Kyle Rau added two goals, and team captain Jason Zucker -- a former Bonanza High School student -- had a goal and two assists as the United States dominated Denmark 11-3 to open the world junior hockey championship in Edmonton, Alberta.

With a 3-2 lead going into the second period, the U.S. (1-0) scored six goals to put the game out of reach.

Stephen Johns, Jarred Tinordi, Nick Bjugstad, Bill Arnold and JT Miller also scored.

In another game, Mark Stone had a hat trick to lead Canada to an 8-1 victory over Finland. Jonathan Huberdeau had a five-point effort with a goal and four assists.