fanfare 8/03/02

Briefly

Baseball

Expos president Tony Tavares and general manager Omar Minaya asked New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to apologize for his criticism of the deal that sent Cliff Floyd to Boston.

Floyd, acquired by Montreal from Florida after the All-Star game, was traded from the Expos to the Red Sox on Tuesday.

Those are the three teams that received new owners last winter in an unusual shift. Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to the other 29 teams for and bought the Marlins from John Henry, who headed the group that bought the Red Sox.

The commissioner's office is operating the Expos, and commissioner Bud Selig hired Tavares and Minaya.

"If major league baseball owns Montreal and they get (Floyd) and (three) weeks later they trade him to our biggest competitor, that's hard to believe," Steinbrenner was quoted as saying in Thursday's editions of The New York Post.

Right-hander Jon Lieber was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday by the Chicago Cubs because of right elbow tendinitis.

Chicago recalled right-hander Francis Beltran from Double-A West Tennessee.

Lieber, 6-8 with a 3.70 ERA in 21 starts this season, is winless in seven starts since June 21.

The Texas Rangers placed two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez on the 15-day disabled list Friday with a strained ligament in his right thumb.

The move was retroactive to Wednesday.

Basketball

ATLANTA -- The Milwaukee Bucks traded forward Glenn Robinson to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday for forwards Toni Kukoc and Leon Smith and a first-round draft choice in 2003.

Robinson, 29, part of an underachieving team that missed the playoffs last season, joins a club that has had a losing record for four straight seasons.

In eight seasons, Robinson has averaged 21.1 points and 6.2 rebounds.

Kukoc, 33, missed part of last season with injuries. He came to the Hawks with Ratliff as part of the Dikembe Mutombo trade in February 2001, and last season averaged 9.9 points in 59 games, mostly off the bench.

Hockey

Ray Ferraro retired Friday after 18 NHL seasons to join ESPN as a broadcaster, stepping away from the professional game many had doubted he ever had the size to play.

Drafted in 1982 by the former Hartford Whalers as a 5-foot-9, 165-pound prospect, Ferraro, 37, went on to score 408 goals and 490 assists in 1,258 career NHL games with six teams.

Ferraro closed out the end of last season with St. Louis.

Defenseman Chris Pronger and center Doug Weight are doing well in their rehabilitation from surgery, Blues general manager Larry Pleau said Friday.

Pronger, 27, is recovering from two surgeries. He had knee surgery June 4 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

On May 21, the former Norris Trophy winner and MVP had surgery on his left wrist to repair ligament and cartilage damage. He is expected to return to the St. Louis lineup in January.

Weight, 31, had surgery May 31 to repair a lower abdominal injury. He is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season.

-- From wire reports