Sports briefs 9/11/04

Baseball

The Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins will play games Monday and Tuesday at the Chicago White Sox's stadium after the Marlins were forced to adjust their schedule for the second time this month because of a hurricane.

The teams were to have started a five-game series at Pro Player Stadium on Monday, but the Marlins can't afford another rainout after they had three games against the Cubs washed out by Hurricane Frances last weekend.

Florida met the Cubs in a doubleheader Friday and was to play single games Saturday and Sunday at Wrigley Field before moving across town to play at U.S. Cellular Field.

Tickets for the two games at U.S. Cellular Field -- scheduled to start at 2:05 p.m. EDT -- are $15, with $5 from each ticket going to hurricane relief.

Where the rest of the series with the Expos will be played had yet to be determined.

Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal was arrested on drunken driving charges Friday, his second DUI arrest in four years and a potential distraction to a team trying to wrap up its 13th straight division title.

Furcal didn't start Friday night's game against Montreal, though the team planned no immediate disciplinary action. Manager Bobby Cox said his leadoff hitter could be back in the lineup Saturday.

Football

Indianapolis Colts safety Mike Doss is expected to miss at least three weeks with a pulled hamstring.

Doss pulled up lame during a punt return early in Thursday night's 27-24 season-opening loss at New England. He was taken from the sideline to the locker room on a golf cart.

Hockey

n The St. Louis Blues have re-signed defenseman Christian Backman and goaltender Curtis Sanford, the team said Friday.

The Blues also re-signed goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu and forwards Erkki Rajamaki and Konstantin Zakharov.

Backman, 24, had five goals and 13 assists in 66 games last season. He was the Blues' first choice (24th overall) in the 1998 Entry Draft.

Sanford, 24, played at Worcester of the American Hockey League last season. He won 20 games and had a goals against average of 2.13 with five shutouts. In eight career NHL games, he is 5-1-0 with a 1.96 goals against average.

Motorsports

None of the 20 poles Ryan Newman has won in his short NASCAR career are as important as the one he earned Friday at Richmond International Speedway.

Newman will start tonight's Chevrolet 400 from the front spot, the perfect place to be for the last event before NASCAR resets the field and begins the 10-race playoff.

Newman, who qualified first with a lap at 128.700 mph in his No. 12 Dodge, is currently in eighth place in the standings. But he's clinging to that spot, and the slightest mishap could send him spiraling out of the top 10 and disqualify him from racing for the Nextel Cup title.

"Not knowing how the race is going to start, it could be the most pole we've had if there's a big crash in the middle of the field on the first lap or something crazy like that," Newman said.

Mark Martin, currently holding the 10th and final spot in the race for the chase, qualified second with a lap at 127.407 mph in the No. 6 Ford.