Tuesday’s Sports in Brief

BASEBALL

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A group of major leaguers from Venezuela is speaking out against President Nicolas Maduro’s crackdown on anti-government protests, which has left more than 30 people dead.

In a video published Monday night on social media, 13 players including Kansas City’s Salvador Perez, Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez and Pittsburgh’s Francisco Cervelli call on Maduro’s government to stop beating back demonstrators who for the past month have paralyzed Venezuela, pushing for the embattled socialist’s departure.

“We’re not speaking as players but as citizens who love their country,” said Cervelli, a catcher, wearing his uniform and standing in front of a Venezuelan flag.

Baseball is Venezuela’s most popular sport and one of the few institutions that has managed to unite the country across deep political divisions. When former Cleveland Indians All-Star Omar Vizquel led a star-studded roster in March to the World Baseball Classic in Mexico, the team was cheered on by government officials and opponents alike.

Many of the members of that team, some of whose family members back home had suffered assaults and kidnappings, were careful not to wade too deeply into the country’s turbulent political waters.

But that restraint seems to have fallen by the wayside as the country spins further out of control.

NEW YORK (AP) - A contrite Matt Harvey rejoined the New York Mets and apologized to his teammates after serving his three-day suspension for skipping a game last weekend.

Harvey also apologized to fans who attended Sunday’s game expecting to see him start against Miami. Instead, he was sent home for not showing up to the ballpark for a game the night before.

Harvey was back at Citi Field on Tuesday. Before the Mets’ game against San Francisco, he expressed embarrassment for his actions over the weekend, repeatedly saying, “I made a mistake.”

He acknowledged that he went out Friday night, played golf Saturday morning and did not show up for Saturday night’s game.

“I made a mistake,” Harvey said. “I apologized. All I can do is continue to work to be better and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

PRO FOOTBALL

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) - A linebacker in the NFL who starred at Rutgers University was charged by a grand jury in connection with a shooting in New Jersey and was put on waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Khaseem Greene was charged with unlawful weapon possession in a Dec. 3, 2016, shooting in Elizabeth, where he is from.

Greene originally was charged in the case on Jan. 4 and then signed with the Chiefs on Jan. 21. A spokesman for the Chiefs did not immediately reply to an email to answer whether the team knew of the original charges when he first signed.

Greene and his lawyer did not immediately reply to phone messages seeking comment.

SOCCER

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - FIFA ousted its judge and prosecutor in a move the disgruntled pair said jeopardizes the governing body’s integrity and the future of soccer.

German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert and Swiss prosecutor Cornel Borbely failed in a bid to be nominated by the council headed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino for re-election. The vote will be carried out by the congress of member federations on Thursday.

Eckert and Borbely have multiple ongoing cases against soccer officials implicated in a widespread U.S. federal investigation of bribery and corruption.

Eckert and Borbely have been with the ethics court since a revamp with greater independence in 2012, and have banned multiple officials during the biggest corruption crisis in FIFA’s history. FIFA said that its ruling council proposed Greek judge Vassilios Skouris and Colombian lawyer Maria Claudia Rojas.

LA UNION, Colombia (AP) - Chapecoense, the scrappy Brazilian soccer club that was devastated by an airplane crash in the mountains of Colombia last year, made an emotional return to the scene of the disaster.

Among the three players who survived the tragedy and made the return journey was goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, who lost part of his leg in the accident and had to be helped by rescuers up a still-scarred hillside after being pulled from the wreckage of a chartered plane.

A Brazilian flag and makeshift altar full of crosses and flowers stood where the plane’s fuselage broke into two a short distance from Medellin’s international airport, killing all but six of 77 people aboard, including 19 players.

HOCKEY

NEW YORK (AP) - The Winter Classic is coming to Citi Field.

The Rangers will take on the Buffalo Sabres at the home of the New York Mets on Jan. 1, 2018. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the outdoor game on television at intermission of the Rangers’ playoff game against the Ottawa Senators.

The Sabres are technically the home game for the 10th Winter Classic because of rules surrounding the Rangers playing all home games at Madison Square Garden.

Buffalo hosted the inaugural Winter Classic in 2008, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a shootout with a snow-globe effect enveloping Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The Rangers played in the 2012 Winter Classic in Philadelphia and took part in Stadium Series games against the Devils and Islanders at Yankee Stadium in 2014.

AARON HERNANDEZ

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) - A judge erased a 2013 murder conviction against former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, ruling that case law in Massachusetts has long established that defendants who die before their appeals are heard should have their convictions vacated.

Bristol County Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh said she was compelled to follow precedent in ordering that Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction be dismissed in the death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Hernandez killed himself in prison last month while serving a life sentence.

Lloyd’s mother fought back tears after the ruling Tuesday, saying the former New England Patriots tight end would always be guilty in the eyes of her family.

“In our book, he’s guilty, and he’s always going to be guilty,” Ursula Ward said during a news conference.

Prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.