Sports briefs 6/29/04

Baseball

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded infielder-outfielder Jose Bautista to Kansas City for cash Monday. Bautista had been designated for assignment Friday. He hit .167 with no homers and one RBI in 12 games for the Devil Rays. Bautista, 23, opened the season with Baltimore and hit .273 in 11 at-bats over 16 games. Tampa Bay claimed him off waivers June 3.

Football

Former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier lost three of his four Super Bowl rings to a burglar while giving a speech last weekend. Bleier was on stage at the Charlotte Convention Center when his rings were taken out of a bag in a room backstage, he said. He is offering a $2,500 reward for their return. Bleier said the rings are insured and he can replace them, but wants the originals returned because of their sentimental value. The reward comes with no questions asked.

Golf

The father-and-son team of Jay and Bill Haas eagled the eighth hole and shot an 11-under 60 in best ball play Monday to share the lead halfway through the CVS Charity Classic. David Toms and Chad Campbell made nine consecutive birdies to also finish the day at 11-under on the 6,688-yard Rhode Island Country Club. The tournament record for the first round is 58, set by Brad Faxon and Gary Player in 2001. Jeff Sluman and Rocco Mediate were third, two strokes back, after the first round.

Hockey

The Ottawa Senators traded goaltender Patrick Lalime to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2005 NHL draft. Lalime was 25-23-7 in 57 games last season, with a goals-against average of 2.29. He played in seven playoff games, winning three, and allowed 1.96 goals per game. The trade could give the Senators a chance to sign Dominik Hasek, an unrestricted free agent and a six-time winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie. Hasek said recently that Ottawa was one of the teams he was considering.

Motorsports

A St. Louis area man died when his motorcycle crashed during a motocross race. Gerald C. Hemann, 37, of Arnold, was riding Sunday in the Racers for Research Flat River Grand Prix at the Missouri Mines/St. Joe State Park near Park Hills, about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. Hemann failed to make a 90-degree turn on a 1.6-mile dirt trail and the motorcycle struck a drainage ditch, throwing him off, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. He was pronounced dead at Mineral Area Hospital in Farmington. At least two other riders were injured in separate, unrelated accidents Sunday.

-- From wire reports