Puerto Rico

David Wright sliced a two-run single that capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning last night, and the injury-riddled Team USA qualified for this weekend's World Baseball Classic semifinals with a 6-5 win over Puerto Rico in Miami. Wright's hit with one out eliminated Puerto Rico from the tournament. "That situation is what you dream about when you're a kid," he said. The Americans advanced to the next round in Los Angeles. It was an especially sweet victory after Saturday's embarrassment against Puerto Rico that triggered the mercy rule when the Americans fell 10 runs behind, ending the game in the seventh inning.

The Houston Astros and catcher Ivan Rodriguez are closing in on a one-year, $1.5 million contract, a person familiar with the talks told the Associated Press yesterday. The deal would contain $1.5 million in performance bonuses based on games and plate appearances, the person said. Rodriguez, 37, a 13-time Gold Glove winner, hit .276 with seven homers and 35 RBIs in 115 games with the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees last season. Phillies: : World Series Most Valuable Player Cole Hamels left training camp in Clearwater, Fla., and flew to Philadelphia to have his left elbow examined by team physician Michael Ciccotti.

Baseball looked more like America's national pastime last night. Team USA avoided elimination from the World Baseball Classic, beating the Netherlands, 9-3, in Miami to ease the sting of a drubbing against Puerto Rico the night before. Jimmy Rollins drove in four runs with a homer, triple and sacrifice fly, and Team USA newcomer Brian Roberts went 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs and two RBIs. Roy Oswalt pitched four scoreless innings, then six relievers completed the 12-hitter. Roberts, the Orioles second baseman, finished a home run short of the cycle and sparked the offense only hours after joining the team as a replacement for Dustin Pedroia, sidelined by an abdominal injury.

Brodeur ties Roy; Caps win in shootout nhl Martin Brodeur tied Patrick Roy's NHL career record of 551 wins when the New Jersey goalie led the Devils to a 3-1 win over the host Montreal Canadiens last night. Brodeur was as steady as ever in making 22 saves back home in Montreal against Roy's former team, with the Hockey Hall of Famer looking on from a suite. He will get his first chance at setting the record Tuesday night at home against the Chicago Blackhawks. Capitals 5, Hurricanes 4, SO:: Alex Ovechkin moved within one goal of becoming the first Capitals player with three seasons of 50 and scored the winner in the shootout, helping his team end a four-game losing streak in Washington with a victory over Carolina.

Brian McNamee says he injected Roger Clemens with drugs in a hot tub at Yankee Stadium and that among the needles he gave government investigators was one he used to inject the then-star pitcher for the New York Yankees in the summer of 2001 at Clemens' Manhattan apartment, according to the Web site sportsimproper.com. McNamee previously described injecting Clemens at the pitcher's apartment to baseball investigator George Mitchell. In addition, he told the Web site: "Sometimes it was in the Jacuzzi at Yankee Stadium."

Most of the nation returns to daylight-saving time at 2 a.m. tonight, spinning the dial ahead to 3 a.m. Officially, there will be no 2 o'clock hour. Hawaii, most of Arizona and Indiana skip the switch, as do Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The rest of us spend 65 percent of our year on DST, and "noon" comes an hour before the middle of our day.

A Baltimore woman pleaded guilty yesterday to strapping more than 7 pounds of cocaine to her body and smuggling it into the U.S from the Commonwealth of Dominica, an island in the Caribbean. Beatrice Viola West, 48, will face between five and 40 years in federal prison, though by the time she's sentenced in late April she'll have already served nearly two years. Since June 2007 until recently, she had been held in federal custody in Puerto Rico, despite repeated attempts by the U.S. Marshals Service to transfer her to Maryland.

Caribbean World Series 5 p.m. [MLB Network] Puerto Rico vs. the Dominican Republic features several familiar names. Ivan Rodriguez and Javier Vazquez play for the Puerto Rican team, which is managed by Eduardo Perez. The Dominican squad is managed by Jose Offerman, most recently in the news for charging the mound while swinging a bat in an Atlantic League game in 2007.

Top spring break destinations 1 Orlando, Fla. 2 South Florida (West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami) 3 Las Vegas 4 Fort Myers, Fla. 5 Denver 6 Phoenix 7 Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. 8 Cancun, Mexico 9 Los Angeles 10 San Juan, Puerto Rico Based on advance Travelocity.com bookings for Feb. 9- April 20, 2009.

Harry Routson Jr., who worked at the port of Baltimore from age 15, died Dec. 26 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson of organ failure. He was 91. Born in Baltimore, he attended Polytechnic Institute until 1932, when he left school to work for Rukert Terminal Corp. at the port. In 1942, he entered the Navy as a chief warrant officer, serving in Puerto Rico overseeing supply shipments to the U.S. fleet in the Pacific and European theaters. On his way to Puerto Rico, Mr. Routson's ship was sunk by a German U-boat.