Sports briefs 9/30/04

Baseball

Dodgers outfielder Milton Bradley was suspended for the rest of the regular season by Major League Baseball on Wednesday, a day after a bottle-throwing tantrum during a win over Colorado.

Los Angeles leads the NL West by three games over San Francisco with five games left. A contrite Bradley said he will seek help to deal with his anger and wouldn't appeal the suspension.

Bradley also was fined an undisclosed amount by Bob Watson, baseball's vice president of on-field operations.

Bradley was hitting .267 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs in his first season with Los Angeles. His temper was one of the reasons Cleveland traded him to the Dodgers right before opening day.

On Tuesday night, Bradley was thrown out of the game after a fan threw a plastic bottle at him shortly after his two-out error on Mark Sweeney's liner with the bases loaded.

Bradley picked up the bottle, left his position in right field and angrily approached the stands -- appearing to yell at a fan. He then slammed the bottle into the front row of the stands.

• The New York Mets are revamping their front office for the second straight offseason, hiring Omar Minaya from the Montreal Expos to become the head of baseball operations.

Minaya, the Expos general manager for the past three seasons, was contacted earlier this week and told the Mets on Tuesday that he would leave the Expos to return to New York, a baseball official said on the condition he not be identified.

Colleges

• Two Western Illinois University football players have been suspended from the team after being charged in a weekend burglary in Macomb, university officials said.

Defensive back William Penn and defensive lineman Michael Black were each charged with residential burglary after police responded to a report of a burglary in progress Sunday at a home near the WIU campus, authorities said.

Black, a sophomore who has appeared in no games this season, was found inside the house, police said. Penn, a junior special teams player and reserve cornerback, was found in a car outside, police said.