Sports briefs 7/29/05

Baseball

• The New York Yankees acquired pitcher Shawn Chacon from the Colorado Rockies for a pair of minor leaguers on Thursday night, filling the opening in their injury-ravaged rotation.

In exchange for Chacon, a 27-year-old right-hander, the Rockies get Ramon Ramirez and Eduardo Sierra.

Chacon was an All-Star for the Rockies in 2003, when he had 11 wins at the All-Star break. But he didn't get another victory and finished 11-8 with a 4.60 ERA.

Colorado moved him to the bullpen the following year and while he had 35 saves, he also had nine blown saves to go along with a 1-9 record and a 7.11 ERA. He is 1-7 with a 4.09 ERA this year in 12 starts and one relief appearance.

College

* Barry Alvarez eliminated all the surprise and speculation -- his 16th season as Wisconsin head football coach will be his last.

Alvarez said Thursday he will step down after this year and focus solely on his role as the school's athletic director, a job he took on in 2004. And he's already picked his successor in defensive coordinator Bret Bielema.

Alvarez is the winningest coach in school history with a mark of 108-70-4 in 15 seasons. He is 7-4 in bowl games.

Hockey

* The St. Louis Blues have submitted qualifying offers for defenseman Chris Pronger and 11 other players.

Pronger, a restricted free agent, has until Aug. 15 to sign the team's offer of $7.2 million. Beginning Monday, he can sign an offer sheet with another team.

The Blues also made qualifying offers to forwards Eric Boguniecki, Mike Glumac, Colin Hemingway, Ryan Johnson, Jamal Mayers, Mark Rycroft and Peter Sejna, and defensemen Bryce Salvador, Trevor Byrne, Brett Scheffelmaier and Mike Stuar

Horse racing

* The summer is over for Afleet Alex before it begins: The Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner has a left front leg injury that will keep him out of the Haskell Invitational and the Travers Stakes.

The injury, a hairline condylar fracture, was discovered by trainer Tim Ritchey on Tuesday at Belmont Park after training hours. Afleet Alex, who won the final two Triple Crown races after finishing third in the Kentucky Derby, could be ready to run again in the fall, Ritchey said.

"I look forward to Alex's return to the races," Ritchey said Thursday. "The book isn't over ... there are still more chapters to be written to this story. As always, the health of the horse is most important."

Soccer

* For four precious minutes, D.C. United was actually beating the champions of English soccer. Loud chants of "D.C." echoed among the 31,473 fans.

Then Chelsea woke up. The most expensive team money can buy started to live up to its price tag. The game was tied by halftime, and the Blues gave their American counterparts a soccer lesson for most of the second half.

Chelsea beat United 2-1 Thursday night in the first-ever game pitting reigning champions from the Premier League and Major League Soccer. It was only an exhibition -- Chelsea is touring the United States to prepare for the start of its regular season next month -- but the speed and poise of coach's Jose Mourinho $200 million roster was more than enough against the $2.2 million team fielded by United.

Swimming

* Michael Phelps wanted to try some new events at the World Swimming Championships.

Maybe he should have stuck with the ones he does so well.

Phelps was left in the wake of the world's greatest sprinters Thursday night, an also-ran in a thrilling 100-meter freestyle won by Italy's Filippo Magnini.

The 20-year-old American did win his third gold medal of the meet in one of his signature events, repeating as world champion in the 200 individual medley.

But that wasn't enough to claim a starring role on this night -- Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak broke her own world record in the 200 butterfly -- or shake off the perception of vulnerability.