BASEBALL

WHITE SOX EXTEND GUILLEN’S CONTRACT

The Chicago White Sox extended the contract of manager Ozzie Guillen yesterday, making the move while the team had the best record in the majors. The White Sox picked up the 2006 option on Guillen’s contract, added two more years, and included an option for the 2009 season.

In Guillen’s second year as manager, the White Sox entered yesterday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with a 33-17 record. They had been in first place in the AL Central from the first day of the season. Guillen, 41, has a 116-96 record with Chicago. He is the second-youngest manager in the majors behind Cleveland’s Eric Wedge and the first native Venezuelan to manage in the majors.

FRANK THOMAS INJURED IN RETURN FROM DL

In his first major league appearance since breaking a bone in his left ankle last July 6, Frank Thomas strained a hip flexor and left in the seventh inning of Chicago’s win over Los Angeles yesterday. Thomas, who went 0-for-2 with a walk, said his latest injury wasn’t serious.

“I just felt a little twinge in the hip flexor,” he said. “It was just one of those things you don’t want to get out of hand by hitting a line drive and having to leg it out. It’s a day-by-day situation, and I’m feeling good. I didn’t want to go out on the first day and be down for two weeks.”

SCHILLING HOPES TO RETURN BEFORE ALL-STAR BREAK

Curt Schilling threw in the bullpen yesterday and hopes to resume pitching for the Red Sox before the July 12 All-Star game. Schilling last pitched in a game on April 23 at Tampa Bay, when he bruised a bone in his right ankle. He had surgery on the ankle last November after pitching with a different injury in the same area in the AL championship series and World Series.

Schilling went on the disabled list April 29, retroactive to April 24. Last Thursday, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he didn’t know when Schilling would pitch again and said he had heard a month ago that the right-hander’s total time on the sidelines could be as much as three months. In three starts this season, Schilling is 1-2 with an 8.15 ERA

BASKETBALL

SOURCES: CAVS TO OFFER MIKE BROWN HEAD COACHING JOB Indiana Pacers assistant coach Mike Brown was offered Cleveland’s head coaching job, two sources within the NBA told the Associated Press yesterday.

Brown, who has been Rick Carlisle’s top assistant the past two seasons and in the NBA for 13 years, was reportedly selected by owner Dan Gilbert to become Le-Bron James’s next coach. Brown is expected to be introduced as Cleveland’s coach in the next few days, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 35-year-old Brown would be the second-youngest coach in the league after the Nets’ Lawrence Frank. He would succeed Brendan Malone, who took over as interim coach March 21 after the firing of Paul Silas.

SOCCER

WEST HAM WINS SPOT IN PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham won a spot in the English Premier League next season by defeating Preston North End 1-0 yesterday on Bobby Zamora’s goal in the 57th minute. West Ham joins Sunderland and Wigan in England’s top league. Crystal Palace, Norwich, and Southampton were relegated to the League Championship, the division below the Premier League.

West Ham was relegated from the Premier League after the 2002-03 season. Promotion to the Premier League is believed to be worth $36 million – about four times the annual salary for Preston players and about two-thirds of West Ham’s debt.

LACROSSE

JOHNS HOPKINS WINS FIRST NATIONAL TITLE SINCE 1987

Johns Hopkins won its first NCAA lacrosse title in 18 years, beating Duke 9-8 yesterday to complete an undefeated season. Jake Byrne’s goal with 13:35 left in the fourth quarter was the difference for the Blue Jays (16-0), who became the first men’s team to finish a season undefeated and win the national title since Princeton (15-0) in 1997.

Johns Hopkins had appeared in two of the last three men’s title games, but this victory gave the school its first title since it defeated Cornell in 1987.

– Associated Press