Ex-knick GM Walsh back with Indy
Ex-Knick president Donnie Walsh, ousted by Garden chairman Jim Dolan last June after he was offered a 40% pay cut, is returning to the Indiana Pacers.
Walsh, the long-time Indiana CEO before he attempted to rebuild the Knicks, will be leading the Pacers in their efforts to land free agents starting when the period opens Sunday, league sources said Monday. The team’s No. 1 priority is to re-sign point guard George Hill, a restricted free agent, and sources said Walsh will lead those efforts.
Walsh, 71, has a close relationship with Pacers owner Herb Simon and has been attending the team’s pre-draft workouts in recent weeks. His return to the team he led for 24 seasons will not nec- essarily mark the end of Larry Bird's tenure as team president. Bird said he wanted to return after the Pacers' season ended with a second-round loss to the Heat.
— Mitch Lawrence n Two years after Dwayne Wade, Labron James and Chris Bosh opened their time together with a celebration, they got the party they really wanted, with hundreds of thousands of people filling the streets of Miami for the Heat championship parade and then 15,000 more getting into American airlines Arena afterward for a long, loud reception for the NBA’S new kings.
n The Hawks hired Danny Ferry as president of basketball operations and GM. Ferry replaces Rick Sund, whose contract ex-- pires at the end of June. He spent the last two years as VP of basketball operations for the Spurs.
YOUKILIS DEBUTS
Francisco Liriano spoiled
Kevin Youkilis’ first game with the White Sox, pitching a seasonhigh seven innings to lead the host Twins to a 4-1 win. Youkilis, acquired from the Red Sox on Sunday, singled in the eighth inning for his first hit as Chicago’s new third baseman.
n Colby Rasmus, Jose Bautista and J.C. Arencibia each hit tworun homers as the visiting Blue Jays beat the Red Sox, 9-6. Bautista’s shot in the sixth off Felix Dubront broke a 5-5 tie. David Ortiz homered twice for Boston, one a two-run shot, for his 37th multihomer game for the Red Sox, tying Ted Williams for the club record. n Todd Helton hit a tie- breaking sacrifice fly in the sixth inning and the host Rockies cooled off Stephen Strasburg with a 4-2 victory over the Nationals. Strasburg (9-2) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.
ARIZONA WINS CWS
Brandon Dixon’s tie-breaking double started a three-run ninth inning for Arizona, and the Wildcats (48-17) won their first College World Series since 1986 and fourth overall, 4-1 over two-time defending champ South Carolina (49-20) in Omaha, Neb. Arizona had won the opener of the best-of-three, 5-1, Sunday night.
RANGERS MAKE OFFERS TO 3
The Rangers made qualifying offers to restricted free agents Michael Del Zotto, Anton Stralman and Mats Zuccarello before Monday’s deadline. The move protects the club’s rights and prevents the three from hitting the open market on Sunday. Del Zotto, 22, may be the only one to return. Also, Donald Fehr, the executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, said he expects talks on a new CBA to begin “very quickly” — perhaps Thursday or Friday.