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Fate
of Texas Stadium in City Council’s hands
IRVING(AP)
— City Council members are divided on how to begin talks with
the Dallas Cowboys about keeping the team in the suburb beyond its
current lease, which runs out in 2008.
Council
members who want to aggressively court Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
and others who want to wait for the team to come calling quarreled
Wednesday on the best strategy.
The
fate of 30-year-old Texas Stadium was discussed in the city council
for the first time in almost a year.
The
city plans to send a letter to Jones indicating that they’re
interested in starting discussions on what to do with the city-owned
stadium.
Some
council members wanted to send a contingent of management staff
to discuss the matter with Jones.
Jones
has said he is interested in building an 80,000-seat stadium with
a retractable roof. He also wants to construct a $1 billion entertainment
complex that could lure visitors to the area all year long.
Irving,
Arlington and Grapevine are considered contenders for the stadium
complex.
Rangers
win first season game 7-5 over Oakland
OAKLAND,
Calif. (AP) — Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pair of pitches,
causing the benches to empty, and the Texas Rangers ended the Oakland
Athletics’ 20-game home winning streak, 7-5 Thursday.
John
Rocker had trouble holding a 7-2 lead in the ninth inning.
The
first two batters reached base against Rocker and rookie Carlos
Pena hit a three-run homer. With one out, Frank Menechino singled
and Scott Hatteberg walked. Rocker stayed in the game and hung on,
getting David Justice on a fly ball and striking out Miguel Tejada.
Bill
Haselman hit a three-run home run.
When
Rodriguez was plunked by Cory Lidle (0-1) for the second time to
lead off sixth inning, he stared angrily and cursed at the right-hander.
There were no ejections.
The
Rangers went on to score five runs in the inning.
Doug
Davis (1-0) allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings. He
struck out five.
Astros
tie record in win over Brewers
HOUSTON
(AP) — Lance Berkman tied a club record for home runs at the
start of a season with his third in three days, leading Shane Reynolds
and the Houston Astros over the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 Thursday.
Berkman
also drove in three runs.
Reynolds
(1-0) allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings.
Jamey
Wright (0-1) went 4 1-3 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits
and six walks.
Wright
remained winless for his career against the Astros.
Berkman’s
RBI single started the scoring in the first inning. His two-run
homer in the fourth gave Houston a 3-0 lead.
In
the fifth, Morgan Ensberg singled and went to third on two passed
balls by catcher Paul Bako. Reynolds’ squeeze bunt scored Ensberg
for a 4-0 lead.
Richard
Hidalgo added a two-run single in the sixth.
McEnroe
says U.S. is Davis Cup favorite
HOUSTON
(AP) — The United States has plenty in its favor against Spain
in the Davis Cup: a home crowd, a grass courtand Pete Sampras.
Sampras
will play Alex Corretja in the second singles match Friday in the
best-of-five quarterfinal. Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon champion,
has a 99-17 career record on grass.
Andy
Roddick will play Spain’s Tommy Robredo in the opener.
In
Saturday’s doubles, the U.S. team of Todd Martin and James
Blake will face Corretja and Juan Balcells.
“I
do think we are the favorites, and our No. 1 priority this week
has been to get these guys playing well,” U.S. captain Patrick
McEnroe said at Thursday’s draw. “If we play well, we
will win. We’ve set everything up so we can succeed. Now we
just need to go out and do it.”
McEnroe
chose a grass court to play to Sampras’ strength. In the 2000
semifinals, Spain chose clay and beat the Americans 5-0 en route
to its only Davis Cup title.
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