Sports briefs 7/12/05

Baseball

• Three-time All-Star second baseman Bret Boone was acquired by the Minnesota Twins on Monday, eight days after being designated for assignment by the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners, who had 10 days to trade Boone, will also send cash to the Twins in exchange for a player to be named. Boone's salary for this season is $8.25 million. He was designated for assignment by Seattle on July 3 in a disappointing, tearful end to his career there.

The Twins hope Boone, 36, will help bolster their young infield.

A 12-year veteran with 252 career homers, Boone was batting .231 with seven homers and 34 RBIs for the struggling Mariners when he was cut.

In 2001, Boone hit .331 with 37 home runs and 141 RBIs. He finished third in the AL MVP vote that year, but he has steadily declined at the plate since then.

Colleges

* A September preliminary hearing was set Monday for Seymore Shaw, Oklahoma State's top returning rusher, on two felony counts and two misdemeanors, according to the Payne County clerk's office.

Shaw, 23, has pleaded innocent on felony counts of first-degree burglary and larceny and misdemeanor counts of domestic abuse and malicious injury to property. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 21.

According to court documents, Shaw allegedly broke into a former girlfriend's house May 13 and struck her, damaged several picture frames and stole a pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes and four custom chrome wheels. A judge granted the woman's request for a protective order against Shaw in May.

Cowboys coach Mike Gundy suspended Shaw in June after charges were filed. Shaw is free on $10,000 bond.

Football

* Former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips was in intensive care Monday after recent heart surgery and his doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

Doctors discovered blockage in Phillips' arteries and performed triple bypass surgery on Friday after he was taken to the hospital with chest pains.

No evidence of heart damage was found, said Dr. Ronald Mahoney, a cardiologist with Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital.

Hockey

* Negotiators from the NHL and the players' association met until early Monday morning and planned to return to the bargaining table just hours later as they inched toward a deal that would end the lockout.

A source close to the talks told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that there was "still lots to do" and that discussions would likely stretch past Monday. The sides had already met for seven straight days.

Indications from both sides are that a new collective bargaining agreement is on the verge of being hammered out, which would stop the lockout that was imposed by Bettman last Sept. 16 and wiped out the entire 2004-05 NHL season.

-- From wire reports