Former Slugger Belle Sentenced

Albert Belle, shown here in a booking mug from February, is sentenced to three months in jail and five years of supervised probation for stalking his ex-girlfriend. (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - AP)

Former major league slugger Albert Belle was sentenced to three months in jail and five years of supervised probation yesterday in Phoenix for stalking his ex-girlfriend.

Belle, 39, pleaded guilty in July to one felony stalking count. He initially had been arrested and charged in February, then rearrested May 17 at his Scottsdale home after he again contacted the victim. He has been jailed since the second arrest, and received credit for time served only since he entered his plea.

Superior Court Judge James Keppel warned Belle that if he contacts the victim again he will go to prison.

Belle's former girlfriend told police in January that she discovered a Global Positioning System tracking device that had fallen off her car and that Belle had threatened her.

The volatile Belle often ran into trouble on and off the field during his playing days.

A five-time all-star outfielder, Belle hit 381 home runs in a 12-year career that began in 1989 with the Cleveland Indians.

He also played for the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore before retiring in 2000 after his second season with the Orioles.

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The news agency ANSA reported that Juventus had filed its appeal yesterday, but club spokesman Roberto Patriarca told the Associated Press that the club had only notified the civil court. . . .

Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner is set to take over Aston Villa after a rival group failed to match his bid to buy the Premier League soccer team. A group led by Michael Neville and Nicolas Padfield could not better the $118.8 million bid Lerner made Aug. 14 to buy Villa, one of the oldest teams in English soccer.

· TENNIS: Lindsay Davenport , the defending Pilot Pen champion, knocked off No. 1-ranked Amelie Mauresmo , 6-4, 7-5, to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. Open tuneup in New Haven, Conn. Davenport has won their last nine meetings, dropping just one set over that stretch. . . .

The Tennis Channel is buying the U.S. cable TV rights to the French Open previously held by ESPN2, giving the fledgling network a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and an event it hopes will help increase its reach. The agreement begins in 2007 and can run for up to nine years.

· WNBA: Cheryl Ford pulled down a postseason-record 23 rebounds and scored 11 points last night as the host Detroit Shock beat the Connecticut Sun, 70-59, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. . . .

Yolanda Griffith scored 18 points and hit the go-ahead layup with 10.3 seconds remaining in the Sacramento Monarchs' 64-61 comeback victory over the visiting Los Angeles Sparks in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

-- From News Services