Piazza to extend rehab assignment\nNORFOLK, Va. -- Mike Piazza might extend his minor league rehabilitation assignment.\nPiazza, who went one for three and caught six innings on Saturday night in his third rehab outing with Triple-A Norfolk, has been able to hit only in the batting cages beneath the right-field stands because of the rain this week.\n"I want to get my timing back," Piazza said. "I don't want to be in a hole when I get back to New York. I want to take my time and get my at-bats."\nThe New York Mets All-Star catcher said those at-bats could come at Norfolk on Wednesday and possibly beginning Friday at Double-A Binghamton, if he doesn't feel comfortable at the plate.\nThe Mets put Piazza on the 15-day disabled list May 17 because of a severely strained right groin.\n"I am getting to what I feel like in the middle of spring training," Piazza said. "Once I get 12 to 15 at-bats, we'll see where I am."\nPiazza is three for nine in three games with the Tides. In Norfolk's 5-4, 11-inning win over Richmond on Saturday, Piazza singled up the middle in the fourth inning and grounded out twice. He was the designated hitter Thursday and caught four innings Friday.\nHe did not play first base Saturday, a possibility that he had talked about the day before.\nThe Mets tentatively planned to have Piazza in the lineup next week against the San Francisco Giants.\nVanderjagt breaks media silence after missing pair of field goals\nCHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- After missing two field goals in a 20-18 pre-season loss to the Chicago Bears on Saturday night, Indianapolis Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt finally decided to break his media silence.\nVanderjagt, who enters the 2003 season as the most accurate kicker in National Football League history, wasn't pleased with Indianapolis media coverage of his post-season comments about Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and head coach Tony Dungy.\nThe comments, aired on a Canadian national television network sports program, questioned the dedication of both Manning and Dungy. Vanderjagt later issued apologies to both parties and the matter seemed settled until the start of training camp.\nThat's when the media blackout began, save for one Indianapolis newspaper reporter.\nBut Vanderjagt spoke out again Saturday night after missing his first two field goal attempts of the pre-season: a 25-yard kick that sailed right late in the first quarter and a 44-yard effort in the fourth quarter that also went right.\n"I'm talking because I want to be a man about it," he said. \n"If I had went 2 for 2, I probably wouldn't be talking. But I went 0 for 2 and we lost the game.\n"I just wasn't concentrating enough on the first one, the second one I hit well. It could have gone in, but neither of them are making me throw up a red flag. I'm looking forward to regular season."\nThe Colts raised some eyebrows by signing journeyman kicker Brett Conway in the off-season. Conway, who has kicked for several NFL teams, was 1 for 2 in field goal attempts in the loss to the Bears.\nDungy was not pleased with the Colts' inability to make field goals.\n"You're not going to win a lot of games in the NFL if you miss three kicks," the Colts coach said. "We've got two of the best kickers in football, and we got to make them."\nVanderjagt, though, remains confident.\n"To me personally, it's not a big deal," he said. "To everyone else it might be. I went 0 for 2 and missed a 24-yarder, which will not happen again this season. My confidence is sky-high, and I'm very confident about the season."
Gold medalist fails doping test at Pan American Games
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- A gold medalist at the Pan American Games has failed a doping test.\nPan American Sports Organization president Mario Vasquez Rana said Sunday the identity of the athlete would be released later in the day.\n"It's someone that won gold. All of this is very painful. I still can't give the name, but I will do so in a few hours," Vasquez Rana said.\nDoping tests at the Pan American Games are being conducted by a laboratory in Canada. Traditionally, all gold medalists are tested and other athletes are checked randomly.\nMore than 5,000 athletes from 42 countries are participating at the games.
