Sports briefs 12/20/03

Baseball

Kevin Millwood accepted the Philadelphia Phillies' offer of salary arbitration on Friday. Millwood, who made $9.9 million in his first season with the Phillies, had been seeking a five-year contract worth about $15 million per season. By accepting the offer, he is considered to be a signed player under baseball's rules. Millwood, 28, went 14-12 with a 4.01 ERA for the Phillies last year and has a career record of 89-58.

The Montreal Expos traded utility player Jose Macias to the Chicago Cubs for right-hander Wilton Chavez. Chavez went 11-7 with a 4.14 earned run average in 28 appearances, including 23 starts, with triple-A Iowa and double-A West Tennessee last season. Macias, 29, hit .239 with four home runs and 22 runs batted-in over 111 games last year.

Free-agent reliever Antonio Alfonseca agreed to a one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves. Alfonseca, a 31-year-old right-hander, was 3-1 with a 5.83 ERA in 60 games with the Chicago Cubs last season. In 2000, he led the NL with 45 saves in 49 chances.

College

Mike Jarvis was fired as men's basketball coach at St. John's, a team off to one of the worst starts in school history and beset by problems away from the court. Jarvis was in his sixth season with the Red Storm and had a 110-61 record, including 2-4 this season. He will be replaced by associate head coach Kevin Clark. The Red Storm play at No. 5 Georgia Tech on Sunday. Jarvis still had next year remaining on his contract.

Andy Hall led Delaware to its first NCAA Division I-AA title, throwing two touchdown passes to David Boler in the Blue Hens' 40-0 victory over Colgate. Delaware (15-1) recorded the only shutout ever and biggest margin of victory in I-AA championship game history.

Soccer

Manchester United soccer star defender Rio Ferdinand was suspended for eight months for failing to take a drug test. A three-man disciplinary committee of The Football Association found Ferdinand guilty of a misconduct charge and fined him 50,000 pounds ($87,000).

Tennis

Wimbledon's Centre Court could be getting a roof after all. The All England Club has called a news conference for Jan. 6 to announce "innovative plans for the Centre Court of the future". Wimbledon chairman Tim Phillips said before last June that the Club was looking at the chances of building some kind of a roof. -- From wire reports