Macha gets a second shot to manage with Brewers

Ken Macha gets to manage again. That’s because Milwaukee Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin is a big believer in second chances.

The 58-year-old Macha was hired Thursday as the manager of the Brewers, taking over the role from Dale Sveum following the team’s first postseason appearance since 1982.

“One of the things I’m going to enjoy here I think is the relationship with Doug,” said Macha, who spent the last two years as a television analyst. “He’s been very honest with me, straightforward. He’s more of a delegator. He’s going to let me go out and do my job as a manager and I’m going to be very grateful for that.”

That’s a far cry from Oakland, where Macha took the Athletics to a pair of American League West titles but had an odd relationship with General Manager Billy Beane and lost his job after the 2005 season for a week only to return in 2006.

Macha replaces Sveum, who became interim manager when Ned Yost was fired with 12 games left in the regular season.

Sveum is expected to return to the coaching staff in some capacity.

Macha had a record of 368-260 with Oakland. He was fired two days after the A’s were swept by Detroit in the 2006 AL Championship Series.

The Florida Marlins traded first baseman Mike Jacobs to the Kansas City Royals for pitcher Leo Nunez. Jacobs hit 32 home runs and drove in 93 runs last season.

TENNIS

Nadal, Federer advance in Paris

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer rolled into the Paris Masters quarterfinals without the ousted Novak Djokovic.

Fourth-ranked Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, defending champion David Nalbandian and 2006 winner Nikolay Davydenko also made the last eight.

Nadal beat Gael Monfils of France, 6-3, 6-2, and Federer defeated Marin Cilic of Croatia, 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic, the year’s other major winner, lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Federer will next play James Blake, who defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 6-4, 6-4. Federer is 8-1 against Blake.

GOLF

Jones, Letzig tied for lead in Florida

Kent Jones recovered from a tee shot in the rough to birdie the 18th hole for a seven-under-par 65, giving him a share of the lead with rookie Michael Letzig in the first round of the Ginn sur Mer Classic in Palm Coast, Fla. Ryan Palmer, who birdied three of his first five holes, shot a 67. Cameron Beckman, who won in Arizona last week to earn a two-year exemption on tour, kept right on rolling with birdies on two of his last three holes for a 68 to join a group that included James Driscoll, Tom Scherrer and Robert Allenby, who at No. 30 in the world is the highest-ranked player in the tournament. . . . Nick Price made a 25-foot putt on the 18th hole to pull even with David Eger at six-under 66 atop the leaderboard in the opening round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Calif. Battling intermittent rains that are expected to get a lot worse on the weekend, Price and Eger took a one-stroke lead over Mike Goodes in the Champions Tour’s season-ending event.

ETC.

Vick must plead guilty in court

Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick won’t be allowed to plead guilty to dogfighting charges by videoconference, a judge in Sussex, Va., ruled. Vick’s lawyers had requested that he be allowed to enter the plea from federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., where he is serving a two-year term since admitting he bankrolled a dogfighting operation and helped execute dogs. He must now appear in court on Nov. 25. . . . Former NFL running back Travis Henry and a co-defendant pleaded not guilty in Billings, Mont., to federal cocaine trafficking charges. . . . North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough will sit out practice indefinitely with a stress reaction in his right shin. If the condition is not properly treated, it could lead to a stress fracture, team spokesman Steve Kirschner said. . . . The NCAA’s board of directors is ending early Midnight Madness practices because it believes it could give schools a recruiting advantage. The emergency legislation, passed in Indianapolis, is designed to close a loophole in a previous rule that allowed basketball coaches to have two hours of individual instruction before the official start of the season.