ROME -- Defending champion Italy will not use its top players at the United States in the first round of the Fed Cup. The Italian tennis federation says in a statement that Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone asked to skip the Feb. 8-9 competition in Cleveland. Instead, Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti will likely rely on Camila Giorgi, Karin Knapp, Nastassja Burnett and Alice Matteucci. The top players cited a travel schedule that would have taken them from the Australian Open to a tournament in Paris, then Cleveland, then to another tournament in Doha, Qatar -- over a 16-day span. Errani and Vinci won the Australian Open doubles title Friday. Barazzutti says, "We decided to accept the request of our veterans." The team will be named officially Wednesday. Roger Clemens Jersey . Hughes, 30, is a former Major Leaguer with the Baltimore Orioles, having played in 14 games with the Os in 2010. He played with Class AA Binghamton of the Eastern League in the New York Mets system last season. Gio Urshela Yankees Jersey . The United States clinched the final berth into the Ford Worlds, March 28-April 6 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, on Saturday in Blaine, Minn. https://www.cheapyankees.com/1891g-mike-...ey-yankees.html. Messier, who had been a special assistant to Rangers general manager Glen Sather, announced Thursday in a statement that he is resigning in order to "expand the game of hockey in the New York area by developing the Kingsbridge National Ice Center. DJ LeMahieu Yankees Jersey . "Its way better than running gassers, thats for sure," the inside linebacker said Monday, when the Chargers started their third and final week of organized team activities, which are practices in shorts, jerseys and helmets. Phil Rizzuto Yankees Jersey . Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris, city natives, handled the catering for teammates that begged them for the tasty postgame feast. EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Byron Scott is taking over the Los Angeles Lakers with the vocal support of his fellow Showtime greats. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes attended Tuesdays introductory news conference for Scott, the 25th head coach in franchise history. Scott boldly predicted a quick return to NBA title contention for the Lakers, who are coming off their worst season since movving to Los Angeles.dddddddddddd The Lakers spent nearly three months without a head coach before finally hiring Scott, a shooting guard on three Showtime championship teams in the 1980s. Scott has been a head coach with New Jersey, New Orleans and Cleveland. But the Lakers have always been the ideal job for the Inglewood product who grew up sneaking into the Forum to watch Jerry West. ' ' '
