Wilson, Napoli lead Texas in 4-0 win over Boston (AP)

ARLINGTON, Texas – C.J. Wilson stood at his locker after pitching 6 2-3 scoreless innings for Texas wearing a T-shirt he designed bearing the image of teammate Mike Napoli with a chef’s hat and holding a spatula.

So appropriate.

Wilson’s 13th win and Napoli’s three-run homer were the primary ingredients for the Rangers in a 4-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night in the opener a four-game series that is a potential playoff preview.

Napoli’s 21st homer, in the sixth off Erik Bedard (4-9), extended the Rangers’ 1-0 lead and his hitting streak to a season-best 11.

“That situation right now, we had Bedard on the ropes. … He got a fastball up to Mike, and he didn’t miss it,” manager Ron Washington said. “We certainly needed it because you never know what may happen in a one-run ballgame. It gave us a cushion and it gave us an opportunity to hold on.”

Wilson (13-5) struck out four while limiting the Red Sox to four singles, improving to 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his four August starts. The left-hander had finished July by allowing 14 hits and 13 runs (10 earned) in 7 2-3 innings over two starts.

The Rangers were coming

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Larry Johnson signs with Dolphins (AP)

DAVIE, Fla. – Veteran running back Larry Johnson signed with the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday after sitting out most of last season.

Johnson gained 2 yards on five carries in two games before he was released by the Washington Redskins last September. He has career rushing totals of 6,221 yards and 55 scores, but his most recent touchdown came in 2008.

With the addition of the 31-year-old Johnson, the Dolphins hope to improve their depth behind Reggie Bush and rookie Daniel Thomas. The team waived running back Kory Sheets, who missed all of last season with an Achilles tendon injury.

In 2009 Johnson was released by the Kansas City Chiefs in November and finished the year with Cincinnati.

His time in Kansas City was marred by off-field problems, including two suspensions in his final 12 months with the team. The Chiefs released him after he posted a gay slur on his Twitter account and questioned the competence of coach Todd Haley.

After playing in seven games as a reserve in Cincinnati, Johnson signed a three-year, incentive-laden contract with Washington in March 2010 in hopes of reviving his career. His best years were 2005-06 with the Chiefs, when he had consecutive 1,750-yard seasons and ran for

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3-time champ Serena Williams 28th seed at US Open (AP)

NEW YORK – Serena Williams has been seeded 28th for the U.S. Open, which is sticking with its policy of following the rankings instead of taking into account players’ past performances.

Williams leads active women with 13 Grand Slam titles, including three at Flushing Meadows. She recently won consecutive hard-court tuneup tournaments at Stanford and Toronto.

A former No. 1, the American is ranked 29th this week. That’s up from 175th in July, a few weeks after she returned to the tour following nearly a year off because of a series of health problems.

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki is seeded No. 1, followed by Vera Zvonareva. Two-time reigning U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters, who is ranked No. 3, will miss the tournament with a stomach muscle injury.

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Muslim rebels reject Manila’s proposed peace deal (Reuters)

KUALA LUMPUR/MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine Muslim rebel negotiators have rejected the government’s proposal to end 40 years of conflict in the south of the largely Catholic state, Manila’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday.

Marvic Leonen said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) rejection of government’s proposal did not mean the peace talks hosted by Malaysia from 2001 had collapsed and that both sides were still open to continue negotiations.

The disagreement, however, puts the brakes on President Beningo Aquino and MILF leader Murad Ebrahim’s agreement to fast track the peace process following their secret meeting in a Tokyo hotel on August 4.

“It is not unusual in negotiations for one party of take a hardline position,” Leonen told a video conference from the Philippines’ embassy in Kuala Lumpur

“The two parties have different positions, otherwise, we will not be negotiating. Our framework is not as they had expected it. They expected something more, they expected the word sub-state,” he added.

The 11,000-member MILF seeks a “state within a state” on the southern island of Mindanao as a condition for ending four decades of armed conflict that has stymied development in this poor but resource rich region.

President Benigno Aquino has attempted to expand on the demand

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Hafner might need season-ending foot surgery (AP)

CLEVELAND – Cleveland Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner might need season-ending surgery on his right foot.

Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff said Tuesday that surgery is among the options the team is exploring for Hafner, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday. He is wearing a walking boot after an MRI showed a strained tendon in the bottom of the foot.

Soloff said a decision would be made in the next two days.

Hafner has been playing with pain since injuring the foot on a slide in April. He aggravated the injury running the bases Sunday against Detroit after getting a single, a hit that broke an 0-for-16 slump.

Hafner is hitting .281 with 11 homers and 49 RBIs in 82 games.

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Junk Food: Less soda, Thinner kids

By comparison, during the same period that soda consumption among teens fell in Boston, it stayed at the same level nationwide. A ban similar to Boston’s is scheduled to go into effect statewide with the 2012-13 school year. That policy will also ban foods with artificial sweeteners, trans fats, and caffeine. School districts should take the initiative, though. With strong evidence from Boston that taking soda out of school benefits student health, why wait until next year to get rid of it?

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School-lunch vote tests SKoreans on welfare state (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea – Seoul’s mayor is asking voters to reject free lunches for all elementary and middle school students in a referendum Wednesday that has become a test of how far a resurgent South Korea should go in developing a welfare state.

As rising costs batter the U.S. and European governments, the $370-million-a-year proposal has sparked months of heated debate, giving a glimpse of Asia’s fourth-largest economy at a crossroads. Having rebuilt after the Korean War and faced down a brutal financial crisis in the late 1990s, the nation is debating the role of government and how much it can afford in social programs.

Seoul already provides free lunch to 35 percent of elementary and middle school students, and the city parliament has approved raising that to 100 percent. A referendum is the only way for conservative Mayor Oh Se-hoon to reverse that decision. If he succeeds, the city would instead provide lunch for half of all students, including those in high school.

Oh has vowed to quit if voters go against him.

Supporters of the 100 percent free lunch program say it’s needed to prevent schoolchildren from discriminating against one another because of family income levels. They argue it would improve unity

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Steelers, LB Timmons agree to 6-year extension (AP)

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Steelers and linebacker Lawrence Timmons have agreed to a new six-year contract.

The deal, announced early Tuesday, will pay Timmons $50 million through 2016. Timmons is the second linebacker to sign an extension with the Steelers in the last month. Teammate LaMarr Woodley agreed to a six-year, $61.5 million contract on Aug. 5.

The 26-year-old Woodley and the 25-year-old Timmons are considered the young core of a linebacker group that includes 33-year-old James Harrison, 31-year-old Larry Foote and 36-year-old James Farrior.

The contract extensions to Timmons and Woodley were made likely because of contract restructuring by several of their teammates, including Harrison and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger

Timmons, selected with the 15th overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft, had 95 tackles and three sacks last season.

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Hospital-Related Infections Drop Under California Initiative

Scores of California hospitals, under pressure to reduce infections that kill an estimated 12,000 patients every year, say they have managed to cut costs and save lives through an initiative that has nurses and doctors redoubling efforts to prevent deadly germs from taking root.

The three-year campaign is bringing together 160 hospitals across the state with the aim of reducing an estimated 200,000 hospital-related infections in California that add $600 million to healthcare costs every year.

Since its launch 19 months ago, the initiative is credited with cutting ventilator-associated pneumonia 41%. Urinary tract infections related to catheters fell 24% last year, and cases of blood poisoning dropped 11%. The lower rates have saved an estimated $11 million in healthcare costs.

“We’re definitely making progress,” said Dr. Philip Robinson, who oversees infection prevention at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. “Each one of these infections is a burden to patients, hospitals and the whole healthcare system.”

Hospital infections have long been a problem, but the health threat has become more urgent with medical care increasingly delivered in outpatient clinics, leaving hospitals to treat the sickest patients, who are most susceptible to infection-related illnesses.

The situation contributes to an estimated 99,000 deaths nationally every year

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Morris Brown pays off debt to US government (AP)

ATLANTA – Morris Brown College has settled a nearly $10 million debt for pennies on the dollar with the U.S. Education Department.

The college announced Tuesday that it had transferred money to the federal government to pay off the long-standing debt. The historically black college in Atlanta reached a settlement with the Education Department in April that $9.4 million in debt would be forgiven if Morris Brown paid off the remaining $500,000.

The debt represents years’ worth of unused federal aid that the school was supposed to return to the government, and it as uncovered in a federal audit of the college’s finances between 1999 and 2004.

Morris Brown lost accreditation in 2003 over the financial problems, among other issues. The college is seeking accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.

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