Sports briefs 9/27/04

Baseball

Angels left fielder Jose Guillen was suspended for the rest of the season Sunday because of his outburst after being lifted for a pinch runner a day earlier.

Guillen was informed of the club's decision after batting practice, when the Angels closed their clubhouse for 75 minutes. Anaheim said he was being suspended without pay and the suspension would continue into the postseason if the Angels qualify for the playoffs.

"He was obviously not happy with the decision," Anaheim general manager Bill Stoneman said. "Unfortunately, this was not the first time something has cropped up with Jose."

Guillen was hit by a pitch to open the eighth inning of Saturday's 5-3 victory over Oakland. Manager Mike Scioscia sent Alfredo Amezaga in to pinch run.

Guillen walked off the field as the A's changed pitchers, tossed his helmet toward the side of the dugout Scioscia was standing in and walked to the opposite side of the dugout before entering. He slammed his glove against the wall.

Basketball

• Mwadi Mabika scored 22 points and Tamecka Dixon had 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists to lead the Los Angeles Sparks to a 71-57 victory Sunday over the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA playoffs.

Lisa Leslie added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Sparks, who tied the best-of-three Western Conference semifinal series. The deciding game is Tuesday in Los Angeles.

In the Eastern Conference, Cheryl Ford had 21 points and nine rebounds and Deanna Nolan added 18 points to lead defending WNBA champion Detroit past New York, evening the first-round series at 1-1.

Reserve La'Keshia Frett led the Liberty with a career-high 20 points

Tennis

• Serena Williams won the China Open despite not playing sharp tennis Sunday, facing a match point in the second set and going on to beat U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Williams ended Kuznetsova's 14-match winning streak. The second-seeded Russian won her previous two events, the U.S. Open and in Bali last week.

• A trip to Spain for the Davis Cup final assured, the United States padded its margin in the semifinals against Belarus on Sunday with Andy Roddick beating Alexander Skrypko 6-4, 6-2 as the Americans won the competition 4-0.

The last match, between Mardy Fish and Andrei Karatchenia of Belarus, was called off because of rain spun onto the coast by Hurricane Jeanne hundreds of miles away in Florida. Fish was up 3-0 in the first set when heavy rain sent more than 9,000 fans scurrying from the Family Circle Tennis Center.

Sunday's singles were reduced to best-of-three sets because the Americans took an insurmountable 3-0 lead Saturday.