BASEBALL

Francona is interviewed for Cardinals’ manager position

Terry Francona, the former Boston Red Sox manager, interviewed with the St. Louis Cardinals for their manager opening.

Francona managed the Red Sox for eight seasons and left after they wasted a nine-game September lead in the AL wild-card race.

St. Louis is seeking a replacement for Tony La Russa, who retired two days after winning his second World Series in 16 seasons with the Cardinals.

RED SOX: The Boston Red Sox are keeping ticket prices the same for 2012 after their September collapse.

• The Red Sox plan to interview Torey Lovullo and Gene Lamont this week and Cleveland bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. today for their managerial opening.

Lovullo managed the Red Sox Triple-A team at Pawtucket in 2010 and was first-base coach this year for Toronto. Lamont, third-base coach for Detroit since 2006, had that job with Boston in 2001. He managed the Chicago White Sox from 1992-95 and Pittsburgh from 1997-2000.

TENNIS

PARIS MASTERS: Americans Andy Roddick and John Isner advanced in Paris.

Roddick defeated Julien Benneteau of France 6-4, 6-4, making 12 unforced errors compared to 25 for his opponent. Isner relied on his strong serve to edge Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (5).

TELEVISION

HORSE RACING: NBC will provide live coverage of six major prep races for the Kentucky Derby over four consecutive weekends starting next March.

The series will be highlighted by a 90-minute live broadcast on NBC featuring the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York and the Santa Anita Derby in California on April 7.

BOXING

MAYWEATHER DISCIPLINED: Floyd Mayweather Jr. must perform 40 hours of community service after he angered a federal judge in South Carolina who learned Mayweather was actually burning money in a nightclub on the day he was supposed to give a deposition, and not resting up from injuries he sustained in a fight, as he had claimed.

Lawyers for a man suing Mayweather for a copyright infringement brought the judge video of Mayweather at a club outside Atlanta throwing money into a crowd and burning bills on the day the deposition was scheduled to take place.

PORTLAND BOXING CLUB: Portland Boxing Club open class middleweight Jimmy Smith of Biddeford earned a 5-0 decision over Neil Sullivan of Worcester, Mass., in the quarterfinals of the USA Boxing New England tournament at Portland.

Open class lightweight Casey Kramlich of Auburn and subnovice welterweight Mike Mattson of South Portland also earned 5-0 quarterfinal decisions for Portland Boxing Club.

TRACK AND FIELD

JESSE OWENS AWARD: Sprinter Carmelita Jeter and high jumper Jesse Williams won the Jesse Owens Award as the outstanding U.S. track and field athletes of 2011.

The awards will be presented at the Hall of Fame banquet Dec. 3 in St. Louis.

HIGH SCHOOLS

COLLEGE SIGNING: Alexa Coulumbe of McAuley will sign a letter of intent today to play basketball at Boston College.

SOCCER

PAIRINGS SET: The Los Angeles Galaxy will play Toronto FC in an all-Major League Soccer pairing in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, and the Seattle Sounders will meet Mexico’s Santos Laguna.

Defender champion Monterrey was drawn to play Mexican rival Morelia on Tuesday, and Mexico’s Pumas UNAM will play El Salvador’s Isidro Metapan.

NASRI OUT: Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri withdrew from France’s roster for Friday’s exhibition game against the U.S. with a knee injury.

U.S. PLAYER SIGNS: Liverpool signed midfielder Marc Pelosi, captain of the U.S. team at this year’s under-17 World Cup.