Sports briefs 8/27/04

Baseball

Portland officials forged ahead Thursday with a detailed plan to finance a $350 million ballpark, even though the city's chances of landing the Montreal Expos appear to be remote.

Baseball officials met this week with groups from Washington and Northern Virginia, the leading candidates in the bidding for the Expos. Baseball also intends to meet with groups from Las Vegas and Norfolk, Va.

Portland is pushing ahead, hoping to be in a better position for the next major league team that explores a move.Baskeball

On the eve of Kobe Bryant's rape trial, a frustrated judge chastised prosecutors Thursday for waiting until the last minute to challenge DNA evidence the defense says shows the accuser had sex with someone else hours after her encounter with the NBA star.

In an often testy exchange, Judge Terry Ruckriegle told prosecutors he should deny their request for a hearing because it was likely to delay the trial, which begins today with jury selection. But he gave them until Tuesday to provide more information to help him make his decision.

Colleges

Tennessee freshman Candace Parker will have to wait to make her collegiate debut, possibly missing the entire upcoming season because of more problems with her left knee. Parker, who graduated from Naperville Central in Illinois, was one of the most heralded girls high school players ever, and she won a national slam-dunk contest last spring.

She had arthroscopic surgery on her knee Wednesday to determine the cause of some swelling, team officials said Thursday. Doctors removed some loose cartilage, and Parker will need to have more surgery to completely repair her knee, said Jenny Moshak, assistant athletic director for sports medicine.

Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned an event-record qualifying lap Thursday to win the pole for the NASCAR Busch Series Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Earnhardt Jr. had a fast lap of 126.570 mph for his first pole in a Busch event since July 2003 at Daytona and his ninth in the series overall.

Tony Raines was second-fastest at 126.537 mph, and Kenny Wallace was next at (126.071).

Tennis

Former Wimbledon and U.S. Open winner Lleyton Hewitt cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Michael Llodra on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the TD Waterhouse Cup. The win was the 13th in the last 14 matches for the 23-year old Australian, who is now 50-13 this year. He has recorded 50 or more wins in three of the last four years.

Hewitt will face Juan Ignacio Chela, who defeated Thomas Enqvist, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

Defending Pilot Pen champion Jennifer Capriati was upset Thursday, losing 6-4, 7-5 to eighth-seeded Nathalie Dechy.

In other action, wild card Lisa Raymond powered into the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniela Hantuchova. Elena Bovina and Elena Dementieva also advanced. Bovina, seeded seventh, defeated wild card Mashona Washington 6-3, 6-2, and No. 2 seed Dementieva beat Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-4.