Sports briefs 8/3/05

Baseball

• Seattle Mariners pitcher Ryan Franklin was suspended 10 days for violating his sport's steroids policy, the eighth major league player caught under tougher drug rules enacted this year.

The announcement Tuesday came one day after Orioles slugger Rafael Palmeiro was suspended after testing positive for steroids.

Franklin, a 32-year-old right-hander, is 6-11 this season with a 4.61 ERA in 22 games, including 20 starts. He was expected to talk with reporters before the Mariners played the Tigers at Comerica Park on Tuesday night.

"We are very disappointed to learn this news," Mariners spokesman Tim Hevly said. "But at the direction of Major League Baseball, and, following its rules, we are not able to comment further."

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Franklin pitched for the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, going 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in four appearances.

Basketball

* Willie Green should have waited before playing basketball again.

On the day the Philadelphia 76ers were expected to announce they had re-signed Green to a $20 million, six-year contract, they instead said the deal was on hold because the guard injured his knee in a pickup game.

Sixers president Billy King said Green suffered cartilage damage and needs knee surgery. No date was announced.

Football

* Star defensive lineman Richard Seymour reached a deal for more money with the New England Patriots, ending his four-day holdout from training camp.

Seymour, a three-time Pro Bowl player, is entering the fifth year of a six-year, $14.3 million contract he signed as a rookie in 2001. He has been on three Super Bowl championship teams with the Patriots.

Hockey

* Three-time All-Star center Pavol Demitra agreed to a three-year deal worth $13.5 million with the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old unrestricted free agent from Slovakia was with St. Louis for the past eight seasons and led the Blues in scoring in four of the last six seasons.

Demitra ranks fifth on the Blues' career scoring list with 493 points.

Tennis

* Third-seeded Tim Henman and two-time Grand Slam finalist Mark Philippoussis were upset in their opening matches Tuesday night at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, a tuneup for the U.S. Open.

Henman, who got a first-round bye at the hard-court tournament he won in 2003, lost 7-6 (4), 7-5 to Wesley Moodie. Philippoussis was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Luis Horna in a first-round match.

Top-seeded Andy Roddick, the 2001 champion, moved into the third round by defeating Giovanni Lapentti 6-3, 6-4.

* Rising teenager Shuai Peng upset third-seeded Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-4 Tuesday in the second round of the Acura Classic.

Peng took advantage of Dementieva's weak serve to break the Russian seven times in 11 games for her third career win and second this season over a top-10 opponent. Dementieva is ranked No. 6 in the world.

Miscellaneous

* With the curse reversed in baseball and the Patriots champs again in the NFL, Boston was honored as America's top sports city for the second straight year.

The Sporting News on Tuesday designated Boston for the third time in four years.

-- From wire reports