Off the wire

DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES

LITTLE ROCK — BASEBALL

Carpenter, Hill players of year

Chris Carpenter has been voted NL comeback player of the year and Aaron Hill has won the AL award. Limited to four starts over the previous two seasons because of elbow surgery and a shoulder injury, Carpenter was 17-4 with a league-leading 2.24 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals. The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, Carpenter won 11 consecutive decisions from early July to early September. Hill appeared in just 55 games in 2008 due to a concussion. He hit .286 for the Toronto Blue Jays this year and established career highs with 36 home runs and 108 RBI, the most among major league second basemen. The awards were voted on by the 30 beat writers of MLB.com.

All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman agreed Monday to a oneyear, $8 million contract to return to the Milwaukee Brewers next season. A person with direct knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press that it includes a mutual option for 2011 that could be worth up to an additional $8.5 million. The person requested anonymity because the contract had not been formally announced. That announcement will be made Wednesday. Hoffman, who turns 42 next week, converted 37 of 41 save opportunities with a 1.83 ERA. He has 591 career saves in 17 seasons.

New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes is likely headed for surgery to repair his torn right hamstring, according to Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon. Reyes tried to come back after he was placed on the disabled list May 26 but felt discomfort while running during his rehabilitation work last Tuesday. A magnetic resonance imaging showed a new tear. Reyes batted .279 with 2 home runs, 15 RBI and 11 steals in 36 games this season.

Houston Astros right-hander Brian Moehler has had surgery on his right knee. The team said Monday that Moehler should recover for the start of the 2010 season. Moehler missed 18 games in April and May because of a sprained right knee. He finished 8-12 with a 5.47 ERA in 29 starts for the Astros.

TENNIS

Safina, Venus Williams ousted

Dinara Safina lost to Chinesewild card Zhang Shuai 7-5, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the China Open in Beijing on Monday, a result that could lead to Serena Williams taking the No. 1 ranking. Safina would lose her top ranking if she finishes behind No. 2 Williams in this tournament. Williams won her first-round match Saturday against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi and nextfaces Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova today. Venus Williams fell to teenager Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, the second time in a week the Russian has beaten her. Novak Djokovic had 10 aces in a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Romania’s Victor Hanescu to reach the second round. Later Monday, China’s top-ranked women’s player, worldNo. 16 Li Na, defeated Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the second round.

GOLF

Dyson wins Dunhill Links

Simon Dyson of England won the Dunhill Links Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland, by three strokes after shooting a 6-under-par 66 that included birdies on six of the first seven holes. Dyson finished at 20-under 268. England’s Oliver Wilson shot a 65 and shared second place with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who birdied the last hole for a 69. This was Dyson’s second victory in six weeks after winning the Dutch Open in August.

BASKETBALL

Jazz guard ruptures ligament

Utah Jazz shooting guard C.J. Miles has a ruptured ligament in his left thumb and will need surgery. The Jazz said Miles injured his shooting hand in a fall during practice Monday at London’s O2 Arena, where Utah plays the Chicago Bulls in a preseason game today. The Jazz won’t know how long Miles will be out until after the surgery. Miles averaged a career-high 9.1 points last season and scored 16 Thursday night in Utah’s preseason opener against Denver.

Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez will have surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot and is expected to miss six to eight weeks. Lopez broke his fifth metatarsal - the long bone on the outside of his foot that connects to the little toe - in the second half of the team’s intrasquad scrimmage Saturday in San Diego. Lopez, picked 15th by the Suns in 2008, averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds in 60 games as a rookie last season.

HOCKEY

Sharks center out 2 weeks

San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski will be sidelined for about two weeks with a lower body injury. Coach Todd McLellan said Pavelski had a minor procedure performed on the undisclosed injury on Monday. Patrick Marleau will move from wing to center to take Pavelski’s place on San Jose’s second line. Pavelski was injured in the first period Saturday, blocking a shot by Anaheim forward Ryan Getzlaf.

GOLF

Kuchar wins Turning Stone in six-hole playoff

VERONA, N.Y. - It had been so long since Matt Kuchar had won on the PGA Tour that a huge case of nerves was a given, especially when faced with a sudden-death playoff.

“I had a hard time falling asleep [Sunday night]. My mind was racing,” Kuchar said Monday after defeating Vaughn Taylor on the sixth extra hole of the Turning Stone Resort Championship. “I was extremely nervous. It’s a feeling that you don’t feel very often.

It’s exciting to feel it. It really makes you feel alive.”

Kuchar rolled in an 18-inch putt for par for the victory, just his second on tour and first in seven years.

“It’s hard to describe the feeling,” said Kuchar, who missed the cut at Turning Stone two years ago. “They’re so difficult to win. If you don’t win, there’s not a whole lot of rewards. The game beats you up.”

Kuchar improved to 2-0 in playoffs, and the top prize of $1.08 million boosted his earnings for the year past $2.3 million to 25th on the money list. His best previous finish in a tournament this year was a fifth-place tie at the Memorial in June.

It was the first six-hole playoff on the PGA Tour since Greg Norman beat Larry Mize at the 1986 Kemper Open.

Tied for the lead after 72 holes, neither player managed to win after two playoff holes Sunday. They each birdied the first extra hole and parred the second before play was suspended because of darkness.

The playoff was staged over two par-5s, the 12th and 18thholes, and the par-4 13th. Kuchar missed a chance to win on the first hole Monday when his short putt lipped out at No. 13 as eachplayer bogeyed the hole.

“There certainly were a lot of nerves on that opening hole,” Kuchar said. “I had a chance to win it with a 3- or 4-footer and missed.”

They matched each other again on the next two holes, and there was plenty of tension. At No. 18, Kuchar sank a 20-foot birdie putt and Taylorthen calmly rolled in a 7-footer.

Taylor nearly won at No. 12, but his 21-foot putt for birdie stopped just shy of the hole and Kuchar saved par from a greenside bunker.

Then, as a stiff crosswind picked up and a light rain began to fall, Kuchar got a huge break when Taylor hit his tee shot into the water hazard along the right side of the fairway on No. 13 and had to take a penalty stroke.

“Just a bad swing,” Taylor said.

With a light mist blowing in his face, Kuchar hit his second shot into the rough on a slope to the right of the green and pitched inside 2 feet to set up an easy par.

“I was nervous on that putt from 18 inches,” Kuchar said. “It felt great to hear it hit the back of the hole.”

Taylor finished with double bogey on a hole he had parred during every round.

“I felt like I had a chance to win a couple times,” said Taylor, who has two victories on tour, the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2004 (in a playoff) and again in 2005. “Maybe next week.”