FanFare

Briefly

Baseball

Steve Phillips was fired Thursday as general manager of the New York Mets, who are mired in last place despite one of highest payrolls in the major leagues. Senior assistant general manager Jim Duquette will take over Phillips' duties on an interim basis through the end of the season and will be a candidate for the job, owner Fred Wilpon said.

Five-time All-Star Matt Williams, who had been the last of the original Diamondbacks until recently being released, announced his retirement. Williams, who had 378 career home runs, spent the past 5 1/2 seasons with the Diamondbacks.

Basketball

A Cook County judge threw out a breach of contract lawsuit against Michael Jordan, saying the former basketball star can't be forced to pay $5 million to a former lover who allegedly promised to keep quiet about their affair. In his ruling, Circuit Judge Richard A. Siebel agreed with Jordan's attorney that such an agreement with Karla Knafel would be unenforceable legally.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant underwent shoulder surgery in New York, and is expected to make a full recovery. Bryant had an inflamed bursa removed and a frayed labrum trimmed in his right shoulder during the surgery that took under an hour. No timetable has been set for Bryant's rehabilitation or return date, but the Lakers expect he'll be ready by the start of training camp in October.

Colleges

Washington State guard Marcus Moore has changed his mind and will return to the Cougars for his senior season. Moore had previously announced that he would forego the 2003-04 season and made himself eligible for the 2003 NBA Draft but did not hire an agent.

Cycling

Spain's Iban Mayo nipped Lance Armstrong on the finish line of the Dauphine Libere fourth stage but the American comfortably kept the overall lead of the race. Armstrong retained the yellow jersey he seized after winning Wednesday's time-trial in the eight-day stage race. He has an overall lead of one minute and 15 seconds.

Football

Barret Robbins stood on the Raiders' practice field, hands on hips, quietly chatting with fellow center Adam Treu. On the surface, it seemed like any other day at NFL minicamp. It wasn't. This was Day 1 of Robbins' fresh start. Thursday he participated in his first formal workout since being suspended by the Raiders a few hours before the Super Bowl.

Golf

Three-time winner Hale Irwin dropped out of the U.S. Open with back spasms. He'll decide next week whether to play in the U.S. Senior Open on June 26-29.

Motorsports

Roush Racing suspended its Busch series operation because of sponsorship problems on the car driven by Stanton Barrett. The No. 60 Ford won the Busch series championship last year with Greg Biffle behind the wheel. But Biffle and his sponsor moved up to the Winston Cup series this season, and Barrett replaced him with Clean Control Corp. as the sponsor.

Soccer

The Women's World Cup has a site and date for the championship game. Now if organizers could just come up with a schedule for the openers. The new, soccer-only Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., officially was selected as the site for the Oct. 12 final. The 16-team tournament will begin the weekend of Sept. 20-21 on the East Coast, but exactly where is not certain. The other sites are Philadelphia's new Lincoln Financial Field; RFK Stadium in Washington; Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.; Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio; and PGE Park in Portland, Ore.

Tennis

Second-seeded Andre Agassi needed only 47 minutes to defeat 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek 6-1, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals at the Queen's Club. Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt and No. 3 Andy Roddick had tougher times advancing. Hewitt, the defending champion, survived 21 aces to beat Belgian Dick Norman 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, and the American overcame Greg Rusedski of Britain 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

On the air

BoxingCruiserweights, Rydell Booker (19-0-0) vs. Arthur Williams (37-8-1), 9 p.m., ESPN2

College baseballCollege World Series, South Carolina vs. Stanford, 1 p.m., ESPN2

College World Series, Cal State-Fullerton vs. LSU, 6 p.m., ESPN2

GolfU.S. Open Championship, 10 a.m., ESPN, 2 p.m., WPSD, 4 p.m., ESPN

MLB

St. Louis at N.Y. Yankees, 6 p.m., Fox-Midwest, KZIM-960, KBXB-97.9

Atlanta at Seattle, 9 p.m., TBS

MotorsportsQualifying for Canadian Grand Prix, 1 p.m., SPEED

Qualifying for Sirius Satellite Radio 400, 2 p.m., SPEED

Qualifying for Meijer 300, 4 p.m., SPEED

NBA playoffsSan Antonio at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m., WSIL

Area events

BaseballJackson Sr. Legion vs. Oxford (Miss.), Jonesboro (Ark.) Tournament, 1 p.m.

Cape Sr. Legion vs. Paragould (Ark.), Jonesboro (Ark.) Tournament, 2:15 p.m.

Scott City at Jackson Jr. Legion (2), 6 p.m.

Waterloo (Ill.) at Cape Capahas, 7:30 p.m.

Cape Riverdogs vs. Fairview Heights (Ill.), at Sikeston, 7:30 p.m.

Motorsports

Drag racing at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark, 7 p.m.