Sports briefs 6/16/04

Baseball

Frustrated by a season-long struggle to score runs, the New York Mets fired batting coach Denny Walling on Tuesday and replaced him on an interim basis with bench coach Don Baylor. The Mets went into Tuesday night's game against Cleveland batting .246, next to last in the major leagues, trailed only by Montreal. The team was particularly bad with the bases loaded, going just 6-for-59 (.102). Baylor has worked as a hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals and managed the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies.

Basketball

Texas 7-foot freshman LaMarcus Aldridge withdrew his name from the NBA draft, two days before the deadline. Aldridge signed with Texas and started classes this month, but he kept his name in the potential pool for the June 24 draft. Some players register for the draft to see how much interest they will receive from NBA teams. Aldridge averaged 28.9 points and 13.4 rebounds as a senior and thought he might be a first-round draft pick.

Olympics

The Olympic flame, accompanied by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, will arrive by charter plane about 10:30 a.m. Thursday from Los Angeles, where it will be carried today. The flame will be transported down Interstate 70 by police escort to the Gateway Arch, where the relay will begin with a 1 p.m. ceremony. The 125 torchbearers will carry the flame -- in roughly quarter-mile relays -- through 34 miles of the metropolitan area. The celebration culminates that night in Forest Park where the final torchbearer -- Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee of East St. Louis, Ill. -- will light the Olympic cauldron at the base of Art Hill. Ceremonies will include fireworks, a performance by the St. Louis Symphony and appearances by other former Olympians. St. Louis is among just 34 cities worldwide -- and one of just four U.S. cities, along with Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York -- to host the Olympic Torch Relay as the flame makes its way to Athens, Greece, for the Aug. 13 start of the Summer Olympics.

-- From wire reports