Diamondbacks Choose Brenly

Bob Brenly, a broadcaster and former major league catcher, was hired Monday as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and said the team has enough talent to be in the World Series next season.

Brenly, 46, signed a three-year contract worth $2 million, with a fourth year at the club’s option.

“I was in New York last week and I looked at those two teams and went position by position,” Brenly said. “There’s no reason why the Diamondbacks couldn’t be there next year or maybe why they shouldn’t be there this year.”

Owner Jerry Colangelo said he likes his new manager’s work ethic, attitude and philosophy.

“He’s the first one to say that he doesn’t have all the answers,” Colangelo said, “and I find that refreshing.”

Brenly, TV analyst for the Diamondbacks and the Fox network, replaces Buck Showalter, who was fired the day after the season ended.

*

The Seattle Mariners granted free-agent Manager Lou Piniella permission to talk to the Cincinnati Reds about their vacant managerial job.

Last week, the Mariners offered a new contract to Piniella, their manager for the last eight seasons. Team officials hope he will accept it within the next few days.

*

The Pittsburgh Pirates hired Bill Virdon to be the bench coach for new Manager Lloyd McClendon. It is the fifth time in Virdon’s career he has been a Pirate coach or manager. Virdon, 69, is the first coach hired since McClendon was chosen as manager on Oct. 23. . . . Buck Martinez and Ken Macha are the finalists for the Toronto Blue Jays’ vacant manager’s job. General Manager Gord Ash said he will meet with his senior advisors and assistants one more time before a final decision is made. He wants to name a manager before the end of the week. . . . Jim Rice has been fired as hitting coach of the Boston Red Sox after the team’s batting average decreased in each of his last four seasons in the job, according to broadcast reports.

*

Pat Hentgen’s $6-million option for next year was declined by the St. Louis Cardinals, who instead will pay a $600,000 buyout. . . . As a cost-cutting move, the San Diego Padres declined to exercise second baseman Bret Boone’s $4-million contract option for 2001 and he will receive a $250,000 buyout.

Soccer

Midfielder Hege Riise and goalkeeper Bente Nordby, who led Norway past the U.S. for the Olympic gold medal, were the first players chosen in the U.S. women’s soccer league draft of foreign players.

Orlando selected the Norwegians, then Philadelphia took sweeper Doris Fitschen of Germany and forward Kelly Smith of England. Brazilians Katia, a forward, and Sissi, a midfielder, went to the San Francisco Bay Area club.

Italy’s soccer association leveled match-fixing allegations against eight players on Italy’s Serie A Atalanta and Serie B Pistoiese teams, and sent their case to a disciplinary commission.

Tennis

Two big servers, Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands and Greg Rusedski of Britain, advanced to the second round of the $2.95-million Stuttgart Masters Series in Germany with straight-set victories.

Krajicek downed Spanish qualifier Alberto Martin, 6-2, 6-4, and Rusedski defeated Jerome Golmard of France, 6-1, 6-2.

Michael Chang, the only American in action Monday, advanced to the second round by beating Jens Knippschild, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (1).

Croatia’s Iva Majoli, who has struggled since winning the 1997 French Open championship, defeated Sabine Appelmans, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, in the first round of the Sparkassen Cup at Leipzig, Germany.

Italy’s Silvia Farina-Elia ousted Spaniard Magui Serna, 6-3, 6-2, and Tatiana Panova of Russia knocked out Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania, 6-4, 6-2.

Miscellany

Former San Francisco 49er quarterback John Brodie is making progress after suffering a major stroke last week that left him in critical condition.

“He is making little improvements every day,” his family said in a statement issued by the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. “Anyone familiar with a stroke knows it’s a long, slow progress. We are optimistic about his chances for recovery.”

Tiger Woods extended his stint as the world’s No. 1 golfer to 63 weeks, the third-longest run since the rankings started in 1986.

Reigning champion Joseph Chebet has withdrawn from Sunday’s New York City Marathon, saying an illness earlier this month cost him too much training time.