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2B – Daily News – Thursday, March 25, 2010 MLS set to begin 15th season KINGS By TIM BOOTH AP Sports Writer Labor strife is resolved, the league’s reigning MVP and perhaps best team reside near the glitz of Hol- lywood, a new $200 million stadium is open in the league’s largest market and the 16th franchise is about to debut. Seems everything is going great for Major League Soccer, right? Well, not quite everything. A potentially crippling strike was adverted when the players union and owners agreed on a new five-year labor contract last weekend. But the league begins 2010 with its biggest name, David Beckham, perhaps on the shelf for the entire year because of injury, its second- biggest, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, return- ing to Mexico, and just two teams that turned a profit a year ago. The ability of a league entering its 15th season to avoid a work stoppage was crucial to building on the momentum the MLS has gained in recent years. Sparkling debuts in Seattle and Toronto — the only two profitable teams from 2009 — along with a deeper talent pool and some important international signings have boosted the league’s profile. The old collective-bargaining agreement expired on Feb. 25 after a pair of brief extensions and talks were at a stalemate earlier this month when George H. Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Concilia- tion Service, was brought in to help make headway. Players wanted free agency, while owners were steadfast- ly opposed to anything but the sin- gle-entity structure for all contracts the league has used since its incep- tion in 1996. The owners won out when it came to free agency, but players gained increased rights, better minimum salaries and guaranteed contracts for about 60 percent of the players. ‘‘I don’t think you can truly find any situation where a work stoppage is going to be beneficial,’’ Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller said. ‘‘I can see how it got to a point where there were a couple of points that maybe it could have come down to that on both sides. In this situation both sides rec- ognized that and made the changes that needed to be changed on that.’’ With labor peace, the league kicks off Thursday night when Seattle hosts expansion Philadelphia. Other games the first week are: Colorado at Chivas USA; Toronto at Columbus; Houston at FC Dallas; Chicago at New York in the regular season debut of Red Bull Arena; D.C. United at Kansas City; league champ Real Salt Lake at San Jose; and New England at Los Ange- les. The Galaxy is the team everyone will be keeping an eye on early in the season. They weren’t expected to have Beckham until after the World Cup anyway. But his torn left Achilles’ tendon, suffered while playing for AC Milan, ended his hopes of playing for England in the World Cup and put his return to Los Angeles in question. Beckham’s recovery time is expected to be about six months. ‘‘He’s sacrificed, I think, more than anybody in the world to have a chance at playing in a World Cup,’’ said Los Angeles teammate Landon Donovan. ‘‘When you do that and something like this happens, it’s awful.’’ Donovan was the league MVP a season ago and returns to Los Ange- les after a highly successful loan with Everton in the English Premier League. Even without Beckham in the midfield, the Galaxy could be the favorite in the extremely deep West- ern Conference. Philadelphia will be trying to live up to the success of Seattle and Toronto, whose debut seasons rede- fined the league’s expectation for a new franchise. Philadelphia already has its own stadium, the 18,500-seat PPL Park on the banks of the Delaware River that makes its debut in late June. The Union will play eight of its first 10 games on the road until PPL Park is ready. The Red Bulls make their home in the league’s other new stadium. The $200 million two-deck oval debuted with an exhibition last weekend and league officials immediately pro- claimed it the nation’s finest soccer- specific stadium. Now that the nation’s largest mar- ket has it’s own soccer gem, putting a winning product on the field would help. The Red Bulls hope to add a star later this year. Barcelona’s Thierry Henry and Real Madrid’s Raul Gonzalez often are mentioned as possibilities. The Red Bulls finished last sea- son with a league-worst five wins and just 21 points. Columbus is likely to be the class of the Eastern Conference again after winning its second consecutive Sup- porters’ Shield in 2009. The Crew’s 49 points were one ahead of Los Angeles and Houston, but Columbus was ousted in the first round of the playoffs by Real Salt Lake. The Crew’s loss seemed like a fluky upset. That was until RSL beat Chicago in the Eastern Conference final and then won a classic MLS Cup championship, beating Los Angeles 5-4 on penalty kicks to win its first title. RSL should be among the con- tenders in the West with dynamic young forward Robbie Finley and veteran midfielder Kyle Beckerman, along with the addition of Costa Rican forward Alvaro Saborio on a loan from a Swiss Super League team Houston was the equal of Los Angeles in 2009, but must find answers in the midfield for the loss of Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark, who both signed overseas. Seattle will again be the most hostile place in the league to play with 36,000 expected for every home game, but it may not matter if the Sounders don’t find a way to score more goals and take pressure off 40-year-old goalkeeper Kasey Keller. Chicago could challenge Colum- bus in the East, but will need to find a playmaker in the front with Blan- co returning to Mexico. The Fire hope the addition of Collins John, paired with former Fulham team- mate Brian McBride, can make up for Blanco’s loss. (Continued from page 1B) Ernie,’’ Vandeweghe said. ‘‘I talked to my dad about it and he said she would have wanted me here. She knows that I love this, and we love it as a family. What I’d like to say is: ’Thanks Mom. We got one.’’’ The Nets snapped an eight-game losing streak and a franchise-record, 14-game skid at home because of the play of center Brook Lopez and point guard Devin Har- ris. Lopez had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Harris added 24 points and nine assists for the Nets (8-63), who need to win once in their last 11 games to avoid breaking the mark for fewest wins in a season (9-73), set by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1972-73. ‘‘It’s always a nice feeling to win,’’ Harris said. ‘‘It’s been a rough year for all of us. It’s a good feeling to see guys cheerful back in the locker room and excited about coming to work tomorrow. Hopefully, we can hang onto this and carry it into the next game.’’ The Nets, who have not won consecutive games all season, can avoid the worst mark on Friday when they face the Detroit Pistons (23- 48), losers of six in a row. ‘‘Obviously, it’s a good feeling,’’ Lopez said. ‘‘We’ve had a week, week- and-a-half of great practices. We just want to continue this momentum through the game on Friday.’’ Beno Udrih had 19 points for the Kings, who lost the eighth time in 11 games. ‘‘I would say it’s not even really close, so far, by miles and miles our worst game of the year in every way,’’ said Kings coach Paul Westphal, who called his team’s perfor- mance ‘‘horrible.’’ The victory also came two days after Nets chief executive Brett Yormark had an exchange with a fan who wore a paper bag over his face during a loss to the Miami Heat. On Wednesday, the fans wore smiles and had a lot to cheer about. Sacramento played its third straight game without guard Tyreke Evans, who leads all rookies with 20.3 points per game. The Nets turned 15 turnovers into 13 points with a transition game that has been absent most of the sea- son. ‘‘You really don’t want to lose to this team,’’ Kings for- ward Carl Landry said. ‘‘They are facing the worst record of all-time in NBA history and this is a team you just don’t want to lose to. It will be a game I will remem- ber forever, the rest of my life. I’ll try to take it and use it as motivation.’’ New Jersey took the lead for good late in the second quarter when a steal and dunk by Chris Douglas- Roberts ignited a nine-point run that gave the Nets a 41- 35 lead on a dunk by Lopez. Leading by four points at the half, Harris and Yi Jian- lian scored five points apiece in a 10-2 spurt that pushed the lead to 57-47. The lead was still nine points entering the fourth quarter and the Nets turned this one into a rare laugher when Douglas-Roberts sandwiched two free throws and a basket around a 3- pointer by Keyon Dooling for a 77-61 lead. Donte Greene added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Sacramento. Nets rookie Terrence Williams missed the game with a left foot injury. NOTES: The Kings are 2-6 without Evans, who is expected to work out Thurs- day and possibly play Friday at Boston, Westphal said. ...The Nets celebrated Jewish Family Night. It coincided with an appearance by the Kings’ Omri Casspi, the only Israeli player taken in the first-round of the NBA draft. Giants looking for speed in the outfield SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — They are like fireflies buzzing around in a jar, waiting to be set free and pro- vide a spark. Whichever players survive the final cut to become the fourth and fifth outfielders for the San Francisco Giants will be assuming a sig- nificant role. And their speed could play more of a role than ever before, particularly on the basepaths in the late innings. ‘‘We’re in a bigger ballpark and we have to find ways to create runs,’’ said Giants man- ager Bruce Bochy. ‘‘Baserunning is such an important part of it, bench speed. ‘‘We feel that’s a need, we’re going to be a type of club that you’re going to see those types of moves late in the ballgame, putting a speed guy in there. It could be a major part of the deci- sion-making (for the final spots).’’ Aaron Rowand (cen- ter field), Nate Schier- holtz (right) and Mark DeRosa (left) are set as the starters. DeRosa also can play anywhere in the infield. That leaves the final two spots up for grabs between John Bowker, Darren Ford, Fred Lewis, Andres Torres and Eugenio Velez. If you are relying on pure speed, the 24-year- old Ford has the edge. The man who began his career in the Milwaukee organization blazed around the bases with a triple and scored the winning run on a sacri- fice fly in a 5-4 victory over Texas on Monday. He was hitting .474 entering Tuesday’s game. Keeping him might be too hard to resist. He has stolen 251 bases since 2005. His only drawback is experience. He has never played at a level higher than Class A. ‘‘I’m not going to worry about what hap- pens. I’m just going to go out and give it my all,’’ said Ford, a center fielder. ‘‘Speed is God- given. You can’t teach it. I’m just going to do whatever the Giants want. I think I can hit and I can run.’’ Velez, 27, also has above-average speed. He has range in the out- field to track down balls hit into the gaps, and he can play the infield. Scoreboard MLB Spring Training Glance AMERICAN LEAGUE WL Pct Cleveland 12 6 .667 Tampa Bay 14 7 .667 Detroit 910 .474 Boston 10 12 .455 New York 9 11 .450 Kansas City 8 10 .444 Seattle 8 11 .421 Chicago 7 11 .389 Baltimore 8 13 .381 Angels Texas 6 12 .333 6 13 .316 NATIONALLEAGUE WL Pct GIANTS 17 7 .708 Atlanta 12 7 .632 Chicago 12 8 .600 Colorado 13 9 .591 Milwaukee 12 9 .571 New York 12 9 .571 Philadelphia 10 8 .556 Houston 11 9 .550 Florida 11 10 .524 Cincinnati 9 9 .500 San Diego 10 10 .500 Arizona 10 11 .476 St. Louis 9 10 .474 Los Angeles 7 10 .412 Pittsburgh 5 13 .278 Washington 5 15 .250 NOTE:Split-squad games count in the stand- ings;games against non-major league teams do not. ——— Wednesday’s results Cincinnati 10, San Francisco (ss) 3 L.A. Dodgers vs Oakland, late San Francisco (ss) 7,Kansas City (ss) 0 Atlanta 8, Philadelphia 0 Boston 6, Pittsburgh 4 Chicago Cubs 12, Texas 1 Chicago White Sox 10, Arizona 3 12 8 .600 Minnesota 11 8 .579 Toronto 9 8 .529 A’s L.A. Angels 8, Kansas City (ss) 6 Minnesota 4, Florida 1 N.Y. Mets 5, Houston 2 N.Y.Yankees 3, Washington 1 St. Louis 4, Baltimore 2 Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 3 Seattle vs San Diego, late Today’s Grapefruit League games N.Y. Mets vs St. Louis, 9:05 a.m. Atlanta vs Pittsburgh, 10:05 a.m. Florida vs Boston, 10:05 a.m. Houston vs Philadelphia, 10:05 a.m. Minnesota vs Tampa Bay, 10:05 a.m. N.Y.Yankees vs Baltimore, 10:05 a.m. Toronto vs Detroit (ss), 10:05 a.m. Detroit (ss) vs Washington, 4:05 p.m. Today’s Cactus League games Oakland vs San Francisco, 7:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs vs Arizona, 1:05 p.m. Chicago White Sox vs San Diego, 1:05 p.m. Milwaukee vs L.A. Dodgers, 1:05 p.m. Seattle (ss) vs Cleveland, 1:05 p.m. Seattle (ss) vs Kansas City, 1:05 p.m. Texas vs L.A. Angels, 1:05 p.m. Cincinnati vs Colorado, 1:10 p.m. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB x-Lakers 52 18 .743 — Phoenix 45 26 .634 7.5 Clippers 26 45 .366 26.5 KINGS 24 48 .333 29 Dallas WARRIORS 19 51 .271 33 Southwest Division WL Pct GB 47 24 .662 — San Antonio 42 27 .609 4 Memphis 38 33 .535 9 Houston 36 34 .514 10.5 New Orleans34 39 .466 14 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Denver 47 25 .653 — Utah 47 25 .653 — Okla. City 43 27 .614 3 Portland 42 29 .592 4.5 Minnesota 14 58 .194 33 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB x-Boston 46 25 .648 — Toronto 35 35 .500 10.5 New York 26 45 .366 20 Philadelphia 25 47 .347 21.5 New Jersey 8 63 .113 38 Southeast Division WL Pct GB x-Orlando 50 22 .694 — x-Atlanta 46 25 .648 3.5 Charlotte 37 34 .521 12.5 Miami Washington 21 49 .300 28 Central Division WL Pct GB y-Cleveland 57 15 .792 — Milwaukee 39 31 .557 17 Chicago 33 37 .471 23 Indiana 26 46 .361 31 Detroit 37 34 .521 12.5 SOUTH REGIONAL Regional Semifinals — Friday At Reliant Stadium, Houston 10) Saint Mary’s vs.3) Baylor, 4:27 p.m. 1) Duke vs. 4) Purdue (29-5), following MIDWEST REGIONAL Regional Semifinals — Friday At Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis 2) Ohio State vs. 6) Tennessee, 4:07 p.m. 9) Northern Iowa vs.5) Michigan State, following WEST REGIONAL Regional Semifinals — Thursday At Energy Solution Arena, Salt Lake City 1) Syracuse vs. 5) Butler, 4:07 p.m. 2) Kansas State vs.6) Xavie, following 23 48 .324 33.5 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division ——— Wednesday’s results New Jersey 93, Sacramento 79 Memphis at Golden State, late Atlanta 86, Orlando 84 Boston 113, Denver 99 Charlotte 108, Minnesota 95 Cleveland 105, New Orleans 92 Indiana 99, Washington 82 Oklahoma City 122, Houston 104 Philadelphia 101, Milwaukee 86 Utah 113, Toronto 87 L.A. Lakers at San Antonio, late Today’s games Miami at Chicago, 5 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Houston, 5:30 p.m. Dallas at Portland, 7:30 p.m. NCAA EAST REGIONAL Regional Semifinals — Thursday At the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y. 2) West Virginia vs.11) Washington, 4:27 p.m. 1) Kentucky vs. 12) Cornell (29-4), following NIT Quarterfinals Wednesday’s results Rhode Island 79, Virginia Tech 72 Dayton 77, Illinois 71 CBI Semifinals Wednesday’s results Virginia Commonwealth 88, Boston U. 75 Saint Louis 69, Princeton 59 CIT Semifinals Wednesday’s result Missouri State 67, Creighton 61 Today’s game Pacific at Appalachian State, 4 p.m. NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 44 19 10 98 236 193 Phoenix 46 23 5 97 201 181 Kings Dallas Ducks 42 24 6 90 214 192 32 27 14 78 211 231 34 30 8 76 204 220 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Chicago 46 19 7 99 236 179 Nashville 42 27 5 89 207 206 Detroit 37 23 13 87 200 195 St. Louis 34 30 9 77 198 203 Columbus 29 32 12 70 190 235 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 44 25 4 92 238 190 Colorado 41 25 7 89 220 197 Calgary 37 27 9 83 187 182 Minnesota 35 32 6 76 199 215 Edmonton 24 42 7 55 187 250 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA Pittsburgh 42 25 7 91 228 212 New Jersey 43 25 4 90 195 172 Philadelphia 37 31 5 79 212 201 N.Y.Rangers 32 32 9 73 191 197 N.Y.Islanders 29 34 10 68 189 227 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Buffalo 40 22 10 90 203 182 Ottawa 39 30 5 83 198 212 Montreal 36 30 8 80 198 203 Boston 33 27 12 78 180 181 Toronto 26 35 12 64 193 242 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA y-Washington49 14 10 108 287 206 Atlanta 32 30 11 75 218 234 Florida 30 31 11 71 190 210 Tampa Bay 29 32 12 70 191 227 Carolina 30 34 9 69 203 229 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. y-clinched division Wednesday’s results Buffalo 3, Montreal 2, SO Colorado 4, Los Angeles 3, SO Detroit 4, St. Louis 2 N.Y. Rangers 5, N.Y. Islanders 0 Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3, SO Anaheim at Vancouver, late Today’s games Dallas at San Jose, 7:30 p.m.,CSNCA Calgary at N.Y. Islanders, 4 p.m. Minnesota at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Tampa Bay at Boston, 4 p.m. Toronto at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Washington at Carolina, 4 p.m. Chicago at Columbus, 4 p.m. Florida at Montreal, 4:30 p.m. Los Angeles at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Phoenix at Nashville, 5 p.m. DEALS National Basketball Association HOUSTON—Signed F Mike Harris for the remainder of the season. Recalled G Jer- maine Taylor from Rio Grande Valley (NBADL). National Hockey League DALLAS—Signed C Mathieu Tousignant and C Tomas Vincour to three-year contracts. NASHVILLE—Signed F Ryan Thang to a two-year contract. PHILADELPHIA—Recalled G Johan Back- lund from the Adirondack (AHL). Major League Baseball American League MINNESOTA—Agreed to terms with LHP Ron Mahay on a minor league contract. TEXAS—Traded RHP Edwar Ramirez to Oakland for INF Gregorio Petit. Announced INF Hernan Iribarren has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Oklahoma City (PCL). Major League Soccer NEW YORK—Signed D Tim Ream, F Conor Chinn and MF Irving Garcia. SEATTLE—Signed MF David Estrada and MF Michael Fucito. College AUBURN—Named Tony Barbee men’s bas- ketball coach. NORTHERN IOWA—Agreed to terms with men’s basketball coach Ben Jacobson on a 10-year contract. SOUTH CAROLINA—Announced QB Aramis Hillary is transferring. Torres, 32, has played in 164 big- league games, 75 with the Giants. He is hitting .294. Like Velez, he is a switch-hitter. Torres had 313 steals in the minor leagues and eight in the majors. ‘‘My experience has helped me a lot. I think it is very important,’’ Torres said. Lewis, 29, bats left- handed and hit .258 with eight stolen bases in 122 games last sea- son. He was hitting .257 with three home runs through Monday. He has 34 steals in 326 games with the Giants, going back to 2006, with a .277 career aver- age. ‘‘If you’re playing in the outfield, you pretty much have good speed,’’ Lewis said. ‘‘I have taken pride in that, my defense, that I can play all three outfield positions. As far as my hitting goes, I let my bat do the talking.’’ Bowker, 26, is a well-rounded athlete. He can play the corner outfield spots and first base. The left-handed hitter has hit .244 in 142 games with the Giants, and was hitting .267 with a pair of home runs and a team-leading 11 RBIs through Monday.