Sports briefs 7/3/04

Baseball

The Arizona Diamondbacks fired manager Bob Brenly on Friday in the midst of their worst season since their expansion campaign of 1998. Diamondbacks' third-base coach Al Pedrique was named interim manager. Pedrique, who played parts of four seasons with the New York Mets, was a manager in the minors for eight seasons. He managed Arizona's Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders in 2002 and '03. A former major league catcher and television analyst, Brenly was the second manager in the franchise's six-year history. He took over from fired Buck Showalter in 2001 and directed the team to a dramatic World Series triumph over the New York Yankees.

n Colorado Rockies left-hander Denny Neagle had shoulder surgery on Friday, his second operation in less than a year. Neagle hoped to return this season after having elbow ligament replacement surgery last July 30, but those plans were put on hold after arthroscopic surgery in Cincinnati to repair a labral tear and remove unhealthy tissue from his shoulder. Neagle has had three mostly disappointing seasons since signing a $51 million, five-year contract with Colorado in 2001. He went a combined 17-19 his first two years with the Rockies, then was 2-4 with a 7.90 ERA in seven games last season.

College

Bowl Championship Series officials are considering a proposal in which the media and coaches polls would account for 80 percent of the formula that determines the title game matchup, a BCS source told The Associated Press on Friday. The BCS is changing its formula for the upcoming season, hoping to simplify and improve a system that left college football with two national champions last season. In one of the latest proposals, the AP media poll and USA Today/ESPN coaches poll would each count for 40 percent of the BCS standings, the source said on condition of anonymity. An average of six or seven computer polls would make up the final 20 percent.

Motorsports

n Jeff Simmons, a two-time champion in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, was tapped Friday to replace the retired Al Unser Jr. for Sunday's Indy Racing League event at Kansas Speedway. Patrick Racing owner Pat Patrick wouldn't commit to any plans for the No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet beyond Sunday's Argent Mortgage 300, however.

Track and fieldn Hicham El Guerrouj's 29-race unbeaten streak in the 1,500 meters ended Friday at the Golden Gala meet when the Moroccan finished eighth. Racing exactly six weeks before the Athens Olympics, El Guerrouj, 29, finished more than two seconds behind surprise winner Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain. He lost on the same track where he set the world record of 3:26.00 in 1998, a mark that still stands. He had been undefeated since finishing second at the 2000 Sydney Games, winning 81 of 83 races at 1,500 meters since 1996.

-- From wire reports