Sports briefs 10/2/04

Baseball

• WGN-TV analyst Steve Stone met Friday with Chicago Cubs president Andy MacPhail, general manager Jim Hendry and manager Dusty Baker after the broadcaster questioned managerial strategy and criticized the team's approach.

During a postgame TV show Thursday, Stone wondered about Baker's moves in the 12th inning of a 2-1 loss to the Reds. Later that night, he went on a talk show on WGN radio and criticized the team for making excuses. WGN and the Cubs are both owned by the same company, Tribune Co.

Stone said he and Baker had a good conversation and there is mutual respect. "He has his job to do and I have mine," Stone said.

Basketball

• The woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape told investigators the NBA star ignored her entreaties to stop and said there was no doubt he heard her "because every time I said 'No' he tightened his hold around me," according to documents released Friday.

That is among the never-before-released details of the woman's interview with Eagle County sheriff's investigators the day after the incident at a Vail-area resort last summer. Some details were released months ago, before the rape charge against Bryant was dismissed at the woman's request.

The then-19-year-old woman said she and Bryant kissed for several minutes in his room before he became aggressive and began groping her.

Motorsports

• "Front Row Joe" is back on top. Finally.

Joe Nemechek took his first pole in four years and the seventh of his NASCAR Nextel Cup career Friday, earning the top spot for the EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Nemechek got his No. 01 Chevrolet around the steeply banked 2.66-mile at 190.749 mph.

Ricky Rudd was second in a Ford at 190.609, followed by Dale Jarrett's Taurus at 190.374 and the Chevy of Nemechek's rookie MBV/MB2 Motorsports teammate Scott Riggs at 190.310.

Tennis

• Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters beat seventh-seeded Magdalena Maleeva 6-3, 6-4 Friday to reach the semifinals at the Gaz de France Stars, her first tournament after missing five months with a left wrist injury.

Also moving on were top-seeded Elena Dementieva and Maria Elena Camerin, who'll meet for a spot in the final.

Dementieva, the runner-up at the U.S. Open and French Open this year, got past Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4. Camerin, an Italian ranked 46th, needed almost three hours before eliminating Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Clijsters' semifinal opponent will be Francesca Schiavone or Elena Bovina.