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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gooden gets three years’ probation


Dwight Gooden stands in court Thursday with his mother, Ella Mae, to his left. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press

Former baseball star Dwight Gooden was sentenced to three years’ probation Thursday after pleading guilty to speeding away from police following a traffic stop last August.

The 40-year-old ex-pitcher will remain for an indefinite time at a drug treatment facility where he has spent the past month and a half.

“I’m very sorry for these actions,” Gooden told Judge Nick Nazaretian in Tampa, Fla. “And I thank the state for giving me the opportunity to get along with my life.”

Gooden pleaded guilty to a felony count of fleeing police, misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and obstruction and to an unrelated charge of hitting his girlfriend.

“You have a lot of situations in your life going on, but you look a whole lot better than you did before,” Nazaretian said. “You should be commended for trying to keep things straightened out in your life.”

The 1984 Rookie of the Year and the 1985 National League Cy Young Award winner must complete his drug treatment, get a full-time job afterward and spend 100 hours speaking to 100 schools, Little League teams and other youth groups about how drugs affected his life.

U.S. team announces roster

At Durham, N.C., Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver and New York Mets outfielder Lastings Milledge were among 24 players picked for the U.S. baseball team. The club, managed by Davey Johnson, will compete in qualifiers this month for the 2008 Olympics.

Six of the players appeared in the major leagues this year: Kansas City pitcher Jonah Bayliss, Washington infielder Brendan Harris, Angels catcher Jeff Mathis, Seattle pitcher Clint Nageotte, Colorado infielder Ryan Shealy and Philadelphia outfielder Shane Victorino.

Only players not on 25-man rosters as of Aug. 31 were eligible for the games.

Seattle infielder Bryan LaHair also made the roster.

Clearing the bases

Tampa Bay hired former Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker, 55, as its No. 2 baseball man, giving the club a proven front office executive to work with a young and inexperienced head of baseball operations. Hunsicker will be responsible for helping Andrew Friedman, 28, turn around a franchise that’s never won more than 70 games in a season. … Glenn Hoffman, the older brother of free-agent closer Trevor Hoffman, was hired as San Diego’s third-base coach. The Padres also promoted former Spokane Indians manager Tye Waller to first-base coach. Hoffman replaces Rob Picciolo, another ex-Indians skipper, and Waller replaces Davey Lopes. … Washington traded third baseman Vinny Castilla to San Diego for right-hander Brian Lawrence and cash. The move paves the way for Ryan Zimmerman, the No. 4 overall pick in June’s amateur draft, to start at third for Washington. … Second baseman Roberto Alomar and outfielder Danny Bautista were reinstated from the voluntary retired list by Tampa Bay, and the pair filed for free agency. … The Los Angeles Dodgers received permission to interview former Cleveland and Texas general manager John Hart for their vacant GM job. … Ex-Kansas City manager Tony Pena was hired by the New York Yankees as first-base coach.