Marlins’ Willis is charged with drunk driving

Florida Marlins pitcher Dontrelle Willis was released from jail Friday after being charged with drunk driving when a police officer noticed him stumbling and confused outside his car in Miami Beach.

Willis told reporters gathered outside Miami-Dade County jail that he would try to set a better example for his fans.

“I’ll do a better job,” he said.

The 2003 National League rookie of the year was arrested about 4 a.m. after an officer noticed he had double-parked his 2007 black Bentley along a South Beach street lined with nightclubs, according to a police report.

The officer said he saw Willis urinate on the street, so he later approached him after responding to an emergency call.

The officer said that Willis had watery eyes, slurred speech and appeared “confused and disoriented.”

“He couldn’t keep his balance, he had a strong smell of alcohol,” police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said.

Willis, 24, was arrested and taken to a police station, where he refused a breath test, Hernandez said. He spent more than six hours in jail before being released on $1,000 bail, jail spokeswoman Chandra Gavin Dinkins said.

Willis’ agent, Matt Sosnick, and Marlins spokesman P.J. Loyello declined to comment.

Willis, a left-hander, was 12-12 last season with a 3.87 earned-run average in 223 1/3 innings. In 2005, he led the major leagues with 22 wins and finished second in the NL Cy Young Award balloting.

In 127 starts with the Marlins since being called up from Double-A Carolina early in the 2003 season, Willis is 58-39 with a 3.44 ERA.

He earned $4.35 million last season, is eligible for arbitration and is likely to make at least $6 million in 2007.

Willis has been Florida’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award -- presented annually to major league players displaying a commitment to community and understanding the value of helping others -- in each of the last two seasons. He was married this month.

Cincinnati center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. broke his left hand in an accident at home, the latest in a series of setbacks since he was traded to his hometown team for the 2000 season.

Griffey will have the hand in a hard cast for three weeks, then be reexamined, the team announced. The club wasn’t authorized by Griffey to give any details of how he was hurt.

General Manager Wayne Krivsky wasn’t sure whether Griffey would be ready for the start of spring training. The club will have a better idea when the hand is examined again in three weeks.

“It’s just too early to tell,” Krivsky said.

The New York Yankees were slapped with a $26-million luxury tax by the commissioner’s office, raising the team’s total to $97.75 million over the last four years.

Boston, which missed the playoffs, was the only other team over the tax threshold and will pay $497,549.

New York hasn’t won the World Series since 2000, and was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year. The Yankees paid tax in all four seasons of the just-expired collective-bargaining agreement: $11.8 million in 2003, $26 million in 2004 and $34 million for last year.

Cuban infielder Juan Miranda and the Yankees agreed to a $2.07-million, four-year contract.

He played with Pinar Del Rio in Cuba from 2002 to 2004, and the Yankees said he batted .303 there with 27 homers, 73 walks and 87 strikeouts.

Also, Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa took a physical, part of the process of completing a $20-million, five-year contract. Igawa’s contract must be finished by Thursday. The Yankees bid $26,000,194 last month to gain his negotiating rights but pay the money to his Japanese team -- the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers -- only if they reach an agreement by Thursday.

The Boston Red Sox agreed to a minor league contract with pitcher Runelvys Hernandez, who was released this month by the Kansas City Royals.

The 28-year-old right-hander was 6-10 with a 6.48 ERA in 21 starts last season and has a 25-33 career record with a 5.33 ERA. His best season was his rookie year in 2002, when he was 4-4 with a 4.36 ERA. He has recently battled a weight problem.

If he is added to Boston’s 40-man roster, Hernandez will get a $655,000, one-year contract with the opportunity to earn another $1.5 million in performance bonuses, mostly based on games finished.

The New York Mets are raising the price of their box seats closest to the field by up to $12 next season and are increasing the best tickets available for individual games by as much as $7.

The Metro Club Gold seats, the ones nearest the dugouts, will range from $108-$72, the team said, up from $96-60 last season.

That’s a bargain compared to the prices for similar seats at Yankee Stadium, where the best box seats near the dugouts will cost $150 next year, up from $110.

The Baltimore Orioles agreed to terms for a renovated stadium, ending speculation that the team might move its spring home from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

MISCELLANY

Louisville’s Jurich

gets contract extension

Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich received a two-year contract extension that could keep him with the school for the rest of his career.

The new deal increases Jurich’s base salary to $440,000 a year, a $75,000 boost over his current contract, and ups his annual deferred compensation by $15,000. The contract runs through 2016, then automatically renews each year until 2024, when Jurich will turn 67.

The U.S. women’s soccer team will open its 2007 schedule against Germany on Jan. 26 at the Four Nations Tournament in Guangzhou, China.

The Americans, unbeaten in their last 32 games, also play England on Jan. 28 and China on Jan. 30.

They will train in Carson from Jan. 11-15.

Olympic gold medalist Chris Witty ended a brief retirement from the sport with two second-place finishes at the U.S. Sprint Long Track Speedskating Championships at West Allis, Wis.

The West Allis skater, who won a gold, silver and bronze in two Olympics, finished second to Elli Ochowicz in the 500- and 1,000-meter races.

Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen pulled out of the 2007 U.S. national championships but insisted she had no plans to retire.

“I have every intention of competing in future competitions,” Cohen said in a statement. “My major goals are the 2009 world figure skating championships in Los Angeles and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.”

PASSINGS

Former Michigan State

linebacker dies at 62

Charles “Mad Dog” Thornhill, a linebacker on Michigan State’s powerhouse teams in the 1960s, has died. He was 62. Thornhill, of Lansing, Mich., died of heart failure Thursday.