BARCELONA, Spain (AP) With Angel Maria Villar in jail, the Spanish government is ready to step in and take control of soccer. Spain’s sports authority is seeking the temporary removal of Villar, the longtime president of the Spanish Football Federation and FIFA’s senior vice president, after his arrest and imprisonment in an anti-corruption investigation. Inigo Mendez de Vigo, minister of education, culture and sport and the government’s spokesman, said Friday that the government is prepared to take charge of the operations of the federation so Spanish soccer is not harmed by the scandal. ”What we want is to guarantee the complete normalcy of the institution when its president and vice president are in prison because of a judge’s decision (to deny them bail),” Mendez de Vigo said. ”We want to send a message to the big family of football so everyone knows that we are taking steps.” The Higher Council of Sports said Thursday that it … [Read more...]

LONDON (AP) Ilie Nastase has been banned from the Fed Cup and Davis Cup until 2019 because of his foul-mouthed comments and bad behavior as Romania’s captain during a Fed Cup match against Britain. In addition to the ban, the International Tennis Federation said Friday the 1973 French Open champion will not be able to work in an official capacity for a further two years, until 2021. The 71-year-old Nastase was also fined $10,000. He has three weeks to appeal the decision. ”Mr. Nastase made a comment about Serena Williams’s unborn child that was highly inappropriate and racially insensitive,” the ITF said. Nastase also ”made advances of a sexual nature towards Anne Keothavong, the captain of the Great Britain team” and ”made abusive and threatening comments to the match officials and to members of the Great Britain team.” Although he will have to sit out ITF events, the ban does not apply to Grand Slam, ATP or WTA tournaments, which … [Read more...]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ian Kennedy knows it will be extremely hot Friday when he starts for the Kansas City Royals in the series opener against the Chicago White Sox. It is forecast to reach triple digits in Kansas City. “I don’t know if there is anybody that even likes playing in the heat when it’s this hot,” Kennedy said. “It’s pretty hot right now. We try to stay cool as much as we can. Just be thankful it’s not a day game.” How does Kennedy prepare his body for throwing possibly 100 pitches in this weather? “The day before, you’re doing a lot more things, a little bit more fluids, drinking more drinks designed for that, drinking a lot more water and drinks with potassium,” he said. “It’s more of a day-before type thing. The day of (the start), you drink a little bit more.” Kennedy said he may change jerseys after a couple innings. Plus, he likely will be reaching for the resin bag for a more … [Read more...]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brandon Moss is getting hot as the Kansas City weather. Moss drove in four runs, Mike Moustakas had three RBIs and the Kansas City Royals routed the error-prone Detroit Tigers 16-4 on Thursday night. It was Moss’ second straight game with multiple RBIs after logging just two in his previous 29 games. “I feel good,” Moss said. “It’s the first time I can actually say that all year without being afraid to say that and it won’t show up tomorrow. Everything is slowing down. I’m not swinging at 120 percent at every pitch. Taking good swings.” Eric Hosmer and Whit Merrifield homered for the Royals, who moved within 1 games of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. “We’re right in the hunt,” winning pitcher Danny Duffy said. “We’re right where we want to be in late July.” The 16 runs and 19 hits were season highs for Kansas City. For the first time in franchise history, the … [Read more...]

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) Spain’s sports authority is seeking the temporary removal of the president of the Spanish Football Federation after his arrest and imprisonment in an anti-corruption investigation. The Higher Council for Sports said it will ask Spain’s administrative court for sports to open a disciplinary procedure against the executives of the Spanish soccer federation, which has been headed by president Angel Maria Villar for almost three decades. The council said that after knowing the court’s decision, it plans to call a meeting of its own executive committee to agree on the temporary suspension of Villar and the other federation executives. Angel Maria Villar, his son Gorka Villar, federation vice president Juan Padron, and the secretary of the regional football federation of Tenerife, Ramon Hernandez, were arrested on Tuesday during police raids of the offices of the national federation in Madrid, several regional federations and private properties. … [Read more...]

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN SPORTS THIS WEEKEND There are several sports stories and headlines for you to keep up with over the weekend. This Friday in the Bommarito Sports Update we help sift through it all to keep you updated. Some of the key story lines heading into this weekend are … CARDINALS AT CUBS Outfielder Magneuris Sierra, a recent call-up from the minors, was with the Cardinals the last time they were in Chicago in early June. David Banks-USA TODAY Sports The Cardinals head to Wrigley Field for a three-game weekend series with the Cubs, who have won their last six games and now are only a game behind the first-place Brewers in the NL Central. The Cardinals are 4 1/2 games out of first with a 46-49 record. The Friday and Saturday games are on FOX Sports Midwest; Sunday’s is on ESPN. FRIDAY MATCHUP (1:20 P.M.): RHP Carlos Martinez vs. RHP Jake Arrieta Carlos Martinez is looking for his first win since June 16. AP/Copyright The Associated … [Read more...]

PHILADELPHIA — The Milwaukee Brewers entered the All-Star break winners in nine of their past 11 games. They were 5 1/2 games clear of the World Series champion Chicago Cubs atop the National League Central. After taking their first two games following the break at home against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Brewers were out to show they weren’t going to be caught easily. More Brewers coverage Preview: Brewers at PhilliesBrewers Final Pitch: Productive hits the difference in PittsburghBrewers bats held in check as Pirates complete sweepWATCH: Brewers’ Brett Phillips smacks RBI double to right fieldBrewers prospect No. 1 2017 draft pick Hiura gets a promotion Five consecutive losses later, Milwaukee (52-46) limps into Philadelphia (32-61) hoping to right the ship against the worst team in baseball. The Brewers, whose NL Central lead is down to one game, were swept away by the surging Pirates in four games, completed by a 4-2 defeat Thursday … [Read more...]

PHILADELPHIA — The Milwaukee Brewers entered the All-Star break winners in nine of their past 11 games. They were 5 1/2 games clear of the World Series champion Chicago Cubs atop the National League Central. After taking their first two games following the break at home against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Brewers were out to show they weren’t going to be caught easily. Five consecutive losses later, Milwaukee (52-46) limps into Philadelphia (32-61) hoping to right the ship against the worst team in baseball. The Brewers, whose NL Central lead is down to one game, were swept away by the surging Pirates in four games, completed by a 4-2 defeat Thursday afternoon. Milwaukee scored just nine runs total at Pittsburgh. “We didn’t score enough runs this series,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell told Fox Sports Wisconsin. “That’s evident for sure. I’m confident in our offense. We’re going to score runs. I think that’s a place … [Read more...]

The surging Pirates and the rejuvenated Rockies will begin a three-game series Friday that will wind up Colorado’s homestand and launch Pittsburgh’s long road trip. Jeff Hoffman (6-1, 4.33 ERA) will start for the Rockies and be opposed by Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.69). The Pirates, coming off a four-game sweep of Milwaukee, have won a season-high five straight games, eight of their past nine and 11 of their past 13. Since the All-Star break, the Pirates have won three games in the ninth inning or later. During their winning streak, the Pirates have scored four runs four times and three runs once, winning three games by one run and one game by two. Pittsburgh’s four-game sweep of the Brewers was its first four-game sweep from any team at PNC Park since July 29-31, 2013, against St. Louis. The Pirates’ 34-26 record since May 13 is the best among National League Central teams. A 4-2 win over the Brewers on Thursday enabled the Pirates (49-49) to get back to .500 … [Read more...]

CLEVELAND — Marco Estrada and Trevor Bauer, two pitchers in the middle of disappointing seasons, will be the mound opponents Friday night when the Toronto Blue Jays open a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. It might be hard to find two pitchers who have struggled more in their recent starts than Estrada (4-6, 5.33 ERA) and Bauer (7-8, 5.59). Estrada’s last win came May 27. In eight starts since, he is 2-6 with a 9.50 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of .344. In his last two starts, Bauer is 0-2 with an 11.13 ERA. His last outing was a 7-3 loss at Oakland on Sunday in which Bauer matched the shortest outing of his career — 2/3 inning. Bauer threw a whopping 43 pitches. He gave up four runs on three hits and three walks, and he was removed after eight batters. That was loss No. 3 for the Indians on their dreadful West Coast trip coming out of the All-Star break. The Indians went 1-5 on the trek, in which all six games … [Read more...]

CINCINNATI — Jose Urena is hoping for a better start on Friday against the Reds in Cincinnati than his last appearance at Great American Ball Park. The Miami Marlins right-hander, the scheduled starter in the opener of a three-game series and the first game of a six-game road trip, can’t do much worse than his start on Aug. 16 of last season. Urena (7-4), in his only career appearance against the Reds, got the first two batters before giving up five runs, four on Cincinnati catcher Tucker Barnhart’s only career grand-slam. Urena regrouped to turn in five shutout innings, but the deficit was too much to overcome as Miami was hung with a 6-3 loss. Right-hander Homer Bailey, Cincinnati’s projected starter, will be making his sixth start since coming off the disabled list on June 24 after undergoing surgery in February to remove bone spurs from his right elbow. Bailey (2-3) is coming off a start last Sunday against Washington in which he allowed eight hits and … [Read more...]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Brandon Moss drove in four runs, Mike Moustakas had three RBIs and the Kansas City Royals routed the error-prone Detroit Tigers 16-4 on Thursday night. Eric Hosmer and Whit Merrifield homered for the Royals, who moved within one game of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. The 16 runs and 19 hits were season highs for Kansas City. Detroit committed three errors in the Royals’ four-run first inning, when only one run was earned. It was the most errors the Tigers have made in an inning since May 1, 2010. Michael Fulmer, the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year, threw 37 pitches in the first. The heat index was 107 when the game started. Fulmer (10-7), who had won his previous four starts, was removed after facing 18 batters. He retired only eight, and eight scored. It was the shortest outing of his career. Hosmer hit his 14th homer in the four-run third, a prodigious 444-foot shot. Merrifield homered in a four-run sixth off Chad Bell. Moss, who had three hits and … [Read more...]

NEW YORK — The last time the New York Mets took the field with an opportunity to win three straight games, it was a disaster — especially for Steven Matz. Matz will look to rebound from the worst start of his career and the Mets will attempt to get a third straight victory Friday night in the opener of a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics. The left-hander is 2-3 with a 4.58 ERA in his first seven starts since missing the first two months recovering from left elbow inflammation. On Sunday, after the Mets scored 23 runs in consecutive victories over the Colorado Rockies, he allowed seven runs and nine hits in one-plus inning of a 13-4 loss. Matz’s last two starts have been difficult for him. Before his shortest outing of his career, Matz allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 6-0 loss at St. Louis on July 9. “I feel like I wasn’t really sharp today,” Matz said. “I was leaving balls right over the middle of the plate … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON (AP) A brutal reality is settling over Capitol Hill: The Republican effort to repeal and replace ”Obamacare,” which has consumed the first six months of the Trump administration, may never yield results. Not only that, the GOP goal of overhauling the tax code requires passing a budget that is months overdue. That means success on the tax front is highly uncertain, despite happy talk from House Speaker Paul Ryan and others. Promised infrastructure legislation is nowhere. And a government shutdown already looms as a possibility in the fall, given slow movement on the annual spending bills needed to fund government. Money for President Donald Trump’s border wall, which faces certain opposition from Senate Democrats, looms as a major land mine. Then there’s the possibility of a market-shattering default if Congress fails to increase the nation’s borrowing authority. All in all, Republicans are finding that control of the levers of power is not … [Read more...]

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Diego Padres will seek to continue their recent mastery of the San Francisco Giants when the clubs meet for a second time in their four-game series Friday night. After taking two of three from the Giants in San Diego last week, the Padres also prevailed in the first game of the rematch series in San Francisco behind the power hitting of Hunter Renfroe and Cory Spangenberg on Thursday night. In doing so, they spoiled the AT&T Park return of Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who hadn’t pitched at home since separating his left shoulder in a dirt-bike accident in April. Right-hander Trevor Cahill (4-3, 3.14 ERA) will try to follow in the footsteps of Jhoulys Chacin, who limited the Giants to two runs and four hits in six innings on Thursday. Cahill had a similar outing — one run in 6 2/3 innings — in a 7-1 Padres win over the Giants on Sunday in San Diego. The Padres have now beaten the Giants in 15 of their last 20 meetings. … [Read more...]

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) When Beth Sanden crashed her bike after speeding over a wet, broken patch of asphalt 15 years ago, the elite endurance athlete was left paralyzed. She figured her competition days were over, along with her career as a personal trainer and triathlon coach. Actually, they were just beginning. Paralyzed from the rib cage down and told she’d never walk again, she was swimming a year later. Soon after, she was walking with a walker, then a cane. Then she was back to competing in triathlons, albeit not the way she did before. Sanden mostly walks these days by swinging her braced, completely paralyzed left leg like a pendulum while leaning on her cane, then moving her still-weakened right leg ahead of her body. And she coaches people who have suffered severe injuries but, like her, have no interest in settling for a life of watching others do what they once did. On a recent foggy morning at the aquatics center in San Clemente – an upscale Southern … [Read more...]

SEATTLE — Let the arms race begin. At least, the race for relievers. The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, who are in the midst of a four-game series at Safeco Field, have taken the first shots. The Yankees acquired right-handed relievers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle, as well as two-time All-Star third baseman Todd Frazier, on Tuesday night from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for reliever Tyler Clippard and three prospects. The Mariners, who are chasing the Yankees for an American League wild-card berth, countered Thursday by getting reliever David Phelps from the Miami Marlins for four prospects: outfielder Brayan Hernandez and right-handed pitchers Pablo Lopez, Brandon Miller and Lukas Schiraldi. “David’s really been tested in the bullpen and as a reliever,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “He’s been under-the-radar good.” Phelps, a 30-year-old right-hander, is scheduled to join the Mariners for the Friday game. … [Read more...]

LOS ANGELES — Residing in a golden state, the Los Angeles Dodgers will try to rekindle that glow against the Atlanta Braves on Friday night. The Dodgers lost the series opener Thursday, but that was hardly cause for alarm. They won each of their previous 11 games, and they have won 31 of their past 36 games. They are doing it in such an entertaining and dominating fashion, they remind some of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. “When you’re talking about the Warriors, I’m a fan of the way they play,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They are champions, and any time you can get compared to them, that’s a good thing.” The Braves will try to win their second straight against the Dodgers and be more than a speed bump as Los Angeles cruises to the NL West title. Atlanta just isn’t certain who will be its starting pitcher. The listed starter for the Braves is Jaime Garcia (3-7, 4.33 ERA), but he has been mentioned in trade talks … [Read more...]

MINNEAPOLIS — As the winds of change blow through major league baseball before the upcoming trade deadline, the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins are becoming very active participants. The two teams who start a weekend series in Minnesota on Friday might look different before the end of the weekend. Detroit and Minnesota are very familiar with each other, but the Tigers made themselves known as sellers this week when they traded slugging outfielder J.D. Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks. “We’re still in conversation with other clubs on several players,” Detroit general manager Al Avila told MLB.com this week. “So we’ll just have to take it a day at a time.” The Twins, just a half-game behind Cleveland in the American League Central, are buyers and appeared to have purchased a new starting pitcher. Multiple reports said Minnesota traded for Atlanta Braves left-hander Jamie Garcia a day before facing the Tigers. Garcia is just 3-7 with a … [Read more...]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ian Kennedy knows it is going to be extremely hot Friday when he starts for the Kansas City Royals in the series opener against the Chicago White Sox. It is forecast to reach triple digits in Kansas City. “I don’t know if there is anybody that even likes playing in the heat when it’s this hot,” Kennedy said. “It’s pretty hot right now. We try to stay cool as much as we can. Just be thankful it’s not a day game.” How does Kennedy prepare his body for throwing possibly 100 pitches in this weather? “The day before you’re doing a lot more things, a little bit more fluids, drinking more drinks designed for that, drinking a lot more water and drinks with potassium,” he said. “It’s more of a day-before type thing. The day of (the start), you drink a little bit more.” Kennedy said he may change jerseys after a couple innings. Plus, he likely will be reaching for the resin bag for a … [Read more...]