Baseball

Santana throws Mets' first no-hitter

For more than 50 years, the New York Mets chased that elusive no-hitter. Johan Santana finally finished the job.

Santana pitched the first no-hitter in team history, helped by an umpire's missed call and an outstanding catch in left field in an 8-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

After a string of close calls over the last five decades, Santana went all the way in the Mets' 8,020th game.

"Finally, the first one," he said. "That is the greatest feeling ever."

Soccer

Aston Villa hires Norwich's Lambert

Paul Lambert was hired to manage Aston Villa on Saturday after being lured acrimoniously from Premier League rival Norwich.

Lambert was appointed to replace Alex McLeish, who was fired last month after Villa narrowly avoided relegation.

Italy's woes worsen with loss to Russia

Russia beat Italy 3-0 in the last warmup game before the European Championship to send the Azzurri to its first three-game losing streak in more than a quarter-century and cap a dismal week for Italian soccer. Italy was looking for a morale-boosting victory, with the country embroiled in another match-fixing scandal that saw 14 people arrested and forced Prandelli to drop Domenico Criscito from his roster after the defender was placed under investigation.

China to host Spanish Super Cup?

The Spanish Super Cup is reportedly set to be played in China in five of seven years from 2013. Media reports say the Spanish federation will receive approximately $50 million to take the August matchup between league and Copa del Rey winners to Asia.

The two-legged, season-opening tie, which pits the La Liga champion against the King's Cup holder, would be played in the Bird's Nest.

Golf

Sabbatini's 69 puts him in lead

Rory Sabbatini played his best golf in the worst weather on Friday at the Memorial and made a surprising appearance atop the leaderboard. Right behind him was a Tiger Woods who looked all too familiar. Sabbatini played bogey-free over his final 12 holes, and despite missing a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, put together a 3-under 69 in the cool, blustery conditions at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, to take a one-shot lead going into the weekend.

Woods controlled his ball well in the wind to shoot a 69.

NFL

Bounty investigation just gets uglier

Documents gathered in the NFL's bounty investigation of the Saints include a ledger detailing payments for plays such as "cart-offs" and "whacks," a person familiar with the probe said.

The person confirmed the existence of the ledger on condition of anonymity. Yahoo first reported that the NFL has the ledger, which describes $1,000 payments for "cart-offs," or hits that left opponents needing help to the sideline. It noted $400 payments for "whacks," or hard hits, and $100 deductions for mental errors.

Athletics

Kiprop wins 10,000m in Kenyan trials

Wilson Kiprop used a late surge to win the 10,000m at the Kenyan Olympic trials held at the Prefontaine Classic on Friday.

Kiprop finished in a world-leading time of 27 min, 1.98 sec as he beat his personal best by nearly 25 sec on a rain-soaked track. Moses Masai was second and Bitan Karoki took third to round out Kenya's 10,000m squad for the London Games. Athletics Kenya elected to hold its trials in Eugene, Ore, to take advantage of the low altitude.

Associated Press

(China Daily 06/03/2012 page7)