BASEBALL

TORRE GLAD YANKEES PURSUING PEDRO

Yankee manager Joe Torre would love to have Pedro Martinez in his rotation – just like he’d love to have any great starting pitcher.

“Pedro’s one of the elite pitchers in baseball,” Torre said yesterday of the Red Sox pitcher, who is a free agent. “As a manager, you want all the toys on the shelf, there’s no question.”

Martinez and his agents met Tuesday with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and several other team officials at the club’s spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. He met with the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Fla., the following day.

“I don’t know what’s going to come of it,” Torre said. “Having George meet with him – he doesn’t meet with people just for the sake of meeting them. He’s certainly thinking in terms of helping our ball club.”

Also yesterday, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was expected to meet with free agent Carl Pavano at ace Curt Schilling’s house.

OWNERS DELAY VOTE ON EXPOS’ MOVE

Major League Baseball owners surprisingly did not vote yesterday on the proposed move of the Montreal Expos to Washington. Approval had been expected going into the meeting. Commissioner Bud Selig said he still expected the move to take place, and said owners will vote on the deal by December 6.

The District of Columbia government has delayed approving financing for a new ballpark, perhaps a reason for the decision by baseball owners not to take a vote on the deal. Plans call for a new ballpark to be built along the Anacostia River, about a dozen blocks south of the U.S. Capitol, and for the Expos to play there starting in 2008.

Also yesterday, Expos manager Frank Robinson agreed to a one-year contract to remain with the team, although whether he actually manages the team next year will hinge on the pace of the team’s sale and the whim of the new owners.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

HOLTZ TO RETIRE, PAVING WAY FOR SPURRIER

Lou Holtz will retire as coach at South Carolina after the season, the Associated Press learned last night, apparently paving the way for Steve Spurrier to replace him.

Holtz told his team before yesterday’s practice that he was retiring, according to a source close to the program who spoke on condition of anonymity. All season, the 67-year-old Holtz said he was worn out and tired, and even said Spurrier would be a good choice to succeed him. The Tennessean of Nashville reported yesterday that Spurrier had agreed to take over at South Carolina, if and when Holtz stepped down.

Holtz is the eighth-winningest coach in Division I with 249 victories at six schools. He took each of his teams – William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, and South Carolina – to bowls in his second season after inheriting losing teams.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

SYRACUSE, MEMPHIS ADVANCE AT CVC CLASSIC

Rodney Carney scored a career-high 33 points and Memphis ended the surprising tournament run of Saint Mary’s with an 81-66 victory last night in the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden.

The 24th-ranked Tigers (3-0) will face no. 5 Syracuse (3-0) in the finals tonight. The Orange defeated no. 12 Mississippi State 71-58 last night in the other semifinal behind 21 points from preseason All-American Hakim Warrick. Warrick had six points in Syracuse’s 11-0 run to open the second half and the Orange stayed about that far ahead the rest of the way.

Saint Mary’s (2-1),which beat Cal in the quarterfinals, was the lone mid-major in the field of 16 to reach the semis.

In other action last night, no. 19 North Carolina State beat Elon 71-45 in the semifinals of the BCA Invitational. The Wolfpack (2-0) advanced to the final, where they will play the winner of the East Carolina-Oregon State game.

And in the second round of the Preseason NIT, no. 2 Wake Forest defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 81-67, and tenth ranked Arizona downed Wright State 83-66. The Wildcats (2-0) play Michigan in the semifinals next Wednesday.

TENNIS

RODDICK BEATS SAFIN AT MASTERS CUP

Andy Roddick came up with four aces in the second-set tiebreaker and defeated Marat Safin 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) in a second-round match of the ATP Masters Cup Championships yesterday. The second-seeded Roddick remained on course for a weekend meeting with no. 1 Roger Federer, already assured a semifinal berth in the round-robin format.

Federer, who beat Roddick in the semifinals of last year’s Masters Cup, overcame a second-set lapse and remained unbeaten in the Masters Cup with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, victory last night over Carlos Moya. In an earlier match, Tim Henman overwhelmed Guillermo Coria 6-2, 6-2.

HOCKEY

LOCKED-OUT PLAYERS WILL TOUR EUROPE

Martin Brodeur and Dominik Hasek will lead a European tour by locked-out NHL players. With no end in sight to the lockout, sports management firm IMG put together a team of 25 players who will compete in 10 games from December 9-23.

NHL: NO DRAFT WITHOUT AGREEMENT

There won’t be an NHL entry draft in June unless a collective bargaining agreement is reached with the players’ association, the director of the league’s scouting department said yesterday.

OLYMPICS

COST OF ATHENS MAY APPROACH $15 BILLION

The total cost of the Athens Olympics may exceed $14.6 billion, according to Greece’s 2005 budget submitted to Parliament yesterday. The budget presented by Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis gives the clearest picture yet of what the government may have to pay for the Olympics. It shows the existing price tag of $11.6 billion might rise by another $3 billion.

Extra costs include infrastructure projects – including a metro extension to the airport – and other indirect public sector expenditures not included in the Olympic budget.

– Associated Press