Numbers reveal teams not nearing bankruptcy. Doug Pappas does the math. (ESPN.com)

Cardinals interested in relocating to Southern Illinois. The Carbondale Cardinals. Great. (ESPN.com)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for May 23-27. "[Joe Torre] is the same manager who chose Alberto Castillo over Bobby Estalella (and a couple of other better candidates), and the same manager who glibly signed off on reserving a roster spot for the urn holding the mortal remains of Ice Williams. Luckily, with an offensive core as good as Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Jorge Posada, the Yankees can afford all sorts of goofy choices for their bench." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "As with most things MLB, one of the arguments for [steroid] testing is that the NFL and NBA have testing programs. Why this is an argument for testing is a bit hard for me to understand, because if you think testing has eliminated steroid use in the NFL, I have some lovely Pat Listach rookie cards to sell you." (Baseball Prospectus)

Derek Zumsteg: "I'm the new owner of the Angels...Now, I'm Bud Selig's worst nightmare, because I'm going to derive millions of dollars through his proposed revenue-sharing plan and field a team that's going to thrash his precious Brewers for the foreseeable future." (Baseball Prospectus)

Koskie, Mientkiewicz 1-2 in AL All-Star voting. Not really. (ESPN.com)

Ryan Wilkins saw the 1-0 pitchers' duel between Arizona's Miguel Batista and San Francisco's Jason Schmidt at Pac Bell. "When it comes time for people to start making a case for Cooperstown on behalf of Mark Grace, I hope someone brings up the fact that his level of production doesn't even begin to compare to that of a player like Rafael Palmeiro. Doesn't even compare." Bob Mong picks up the challenge in the Comments section, running Grace through the Keltner List. (baseballjunkie.net)

Jay Jaffe on slow starter/strong finisher Bernie Williams. (Futility Infielder)

Caminiti says he was a steroids-powered MVP. Can open. Worms everywhere. (ESPN.com)

Estalella's two-out HR in 12th sends Rockies past Padres. He has six homers in his last 13 games. He's been picked up and discarded by about 17 teams in the last couple of years; are the Rockies the only team smart enough to just put him in the lineup for a while and see what he can do? The Rockies are now 27-25, and only 4 1/2 games out of first. (ESPN.com)

Rob Neyer: "Today's professional athletes, as we all know, have a lot of things quite a bit better than their predecessors from half a century ago. And one of those things is military service. As Sgt. Hulka says in Stripes, 'There ain't no draft no more, son.'" There was one? (ESPN.com)

baseballvote.com is a campaign to elect all Twins and Expos to the All-Star teams. That would be cool, eh? Thanks to Scott Chaffin for reminding me about this.

Don Malcolm looks at the correlations between traditional stats and OPS. "The fixation amongst statheads on RBI guys who are bums obscures the fact that very few RBI guys actually are bums." (Big Bad Baseball)

Ward Harkavy: "You think Bud Selig's a threat only to the existence of the Twins and Expos? What about the Indians? We're talking about the 500 Native American members of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony who live next to a giant proposed cat-litter mine in Nevada." Also: Allen St. John on the Piazza rumors, and J. Yeh on the Yankees. (Village Voice)

Paul Lukas: "Uni Watch has long maintained that the only logo on a team's uniform should be that of the team itself—that's what the fans are actually cheering for, after all...Read Uni Watch's lips: There's no ® in Cubs." (Village Voice)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for May 20-22. "[It] will be interesting to see how well Larry Bowa takes to Jeremy Giambi, given that he already has issues with so-called easygoing players like Travis Lee or Scott Rolen. Assuming there are enough Phillies fans remaining who remember Greg Luzinski in left, they should be ready to accept Giambi's limitations as an outfielder. Offensively, he gives them an upgrade on the ever-disappointing [Travis] Lee, with Pat Burrell moving to first base, assuming that Bowa does the right thing and makes Giambi a regular." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "I had some questions from fantasy players about Jeremy Giambi... given the uncertainty surrounding his trade, and the presence of emerging superstar Travis Lee in Philadelphia, I think you should be very cautious about picking him up. If you're in, say, a 13-team NL-only non-perpetual league, using traditional categories and a FAAB budget, you shouldn't bother bidding on him this weekend. Any FAAB money you spend on him will be wasted. Better to look hard at Darren Bragg or Mark Sweeney. Yup. Don't buy Jeremy Giambi, that's my advice." Also: Joe's picket fence needs to be painted, and he wants all his friends to share the fun. (Baseball Prospectus)

Gary Huckabay: "It's not as if anyone has the power to call the league office and overrule the trade or anything, but I think A's fans should simply trust Paul DePodesta, David Forst, and Billy Beane here." (Baseball Prospectus)

Don Malcolm on the reaction to the Giambi trade (also: Junior Spivey, Coors baseball). (Big Bad Baseball)

Baker's Dozen: The week in preview. "Is it just me, or have the 2002 Braves gotten less media attention than any Braves team in the last 15 years? Even those wretched entries from before the Great Rising to the Plateau of Unending Competitiveness (as it is known in Braves-friendly households) in 1991 got more ink and screen time than this bunch." (ESPN.com)

Baltimore 11, Oakland 3. The AL West this year is like the Seinfeld episode where George decides to stop trusting his instincts, and everything in his life takes a turn for the better, while Elaine's life goes the opposite way. The Angels are George; the A's are Elaine; the Mariners are Jerry; and the Rangers are Kramer.

A's: Do you know what's going on here? Can't you see what's happened? We've become the Angels!
Mariners: Don't say that!
A's: It's true. We're the Angels! We're the Angels!
Angels (entering): Greetings, people! Greetings! Greetings and salutations! What a beautiful day for a ball game. Let's play two! (To waitress) Oh, we'll have the chicken salad on rye. Our usual. You know what we get, darlin'.

(Game story: Yahoo!) (Seinfeld transcript source: The Seinfeld Site)

Green belts 4 HRs for Dodgers. Also a double and a single. (ESPN.com)
He broke the major league record for total bases in a game (19, formerly 18 by Joe Adcock).
He tied the major league record for runs scored in a game (6).
He drove in 7.
His box score line for today's game: 6 6 6 7
His box score line for the three-game series with the Brewers: 14 8 9 10, with a double, a triple, 6 home runs, a walk and two strikeouts.

Ryan Wilkins on Jose Canseco's Hall of Fame qualifications. "Is Canseco's entire case for immortality summed in the digits 4, 6 and 2? Well, being the discriminating student of the game that I am, I decided that only way to get to the truth was to see what the Keltner List had to say about this. Thus, I pulled out my copy of The Politics of Glory and got to work." (Baseball Prospectus)

Surging Angels nipping at M's heels. Wow, 21 of their last 24. Peter Gammons will have to write his annual Watch Out for the Angels column a little early this year. In the meantime, we can re-read the 2000 and 2001 editions. (ESPN.com)

Greg Hall on the hiring of Tony Peña: "The Royals have progressed since 1998, when Dan Hurst, the team's longtime stadium voice who grew up in Honduras, got a lecture after using proper Hispanic pronunciations for announcing players' names. Herk Robinson, the general manager at the time, asked Hurst to 'Americanize' the Latino names, even if it meant mispronouncing them." (Pitch Weekly)

Clutch Hits thread on the Giambi trade. (Baseball Primer)

Chris Edwards: "According to a major-league source, Giambi recently did something to sour Oakland general manager Billy Beane on his character. The source said that Beane was resigned 'to get him out of here.'" (Newark Star-Ledger)

Joe Sheehan on The Trade. "Did anyone else think of 'The Stepford Wives' when they read Billy Beane's quotes? 'Jeremy was off to a good start but we were concerned he was too one-dimensional.' 'It was apparent we needed to improve our defense, and we wanted to give [Adam] Piatt some at-bats.' Really, all that was missing was a shot of him holding that day's paper up to the camera and saying, 'I am fine, and they are treating me well. Please listen to their demands so I can go home again.'" (Baseball Prospectus)

Bob Mong lists the "hard luck pitchers of 2002 (so far)." (Bobbys Sports and News Bloggy)

Joe Sheehan: "The All-Star Game is for the best players in baseball; not the guys having the best season--or best first six weeks--but the best players. That's my criterion. Here's another: if putting you on an All-Star team would have seemed silly in March, you don't get there by May 22." Sorry, Torii Hunter. (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for May 16-19. "Erubiel Durazo is free, not because someone opened the cage door, but because he beat it open with some Philly-smacking Samson-swinging jawbone action that made it plain that his day has not merely arrived, it was always here. And if it just so happens to reduce Mark Grace to Lead Chain Smoker on the Varsity Pep Squad, well, that's overdue, too." (Baseball Prospectus)

Jaywatch. Jay Jaffe brings us the latest news about players named Jay. (Futility Infielder)

Johnson fans 10, beats Giants for eighth win. The Big Unit continues to baffle Barry Bonds (walk, groundout, flyout, strikeout, strikeout). Erubiel Durazo hit another homer (his fifth in four games). (ESPN.com)

Joe Sheehan: "For the next few days, we can forget the back stories, and just watch two good teams, each with a number of young stars, battle it out. Neither the Reds nor the Marlins are a fluke. These are good teams with talent, and both are going to be relevant deep into this season." (ESPN.com)

Jeremy Giambi traded to Philadelphia for John Mabry. Just kidding! Hah! Had you there, didn't I? (Yahoo)

Thomas Boswell talks about baseball's labor situation with Fay Vincent, "the commissioner who lost his job because he wanted to reach a compromise." (Washington Post) (Thanks to Derek Zumsteg for the link.)

"Bud has trashed the union and they are not going to give him anything," Vincent said. "You got to be crazy to think you can win a strike in this environment. The day the players go out, the banks will give baseball one week to make a deal.
"And [union president] Don [Fehr] knows it. He has all the cards."

Yanks eye Jays trio. "Toronto outfielders Raul Mondesi, Jose Cruz, Jr. and Shannon Stewart have heard the rumors that the Yankees are eyeing all three as the objects of possible trades." (New York Post)

Clutch Hits thread on the Yankees/Jays trade rumors. Darren: "As a Red Sox fan, I'm hoping it's Mondesi for Nick Johnson. Please?" (Baseball Primer)

Chat wrap with Rob Neyer. (ESPN.com)

Scott (Maine): "Is there a way to mathematically calculate the worst trades of all-time? If you had to guess where would you guess the Lowe and Varitek for Slocumb trade would fall all-time?"
Bill James: "There's no way to calculate them, I'm not willing to make a guess, and only a fool would ask such a question."
Rob Neyer: "Knock it off, Bill! This is my chat! Scott, I'm sure that this deal wouldn't rank among the 50 worst of all time, at least not yet. There have a been a lot of lopsided trades over the years."

Baker's Dozen: The Week in Preview. "Bonds has two doubles, four singles and two walks in 31 plate appearances in his career against the Big Unit. This is a stunning testimony to Johnson's talents. Against most everyone else, Bonds is basically unstoppable, but against Johnson, he's Rey Ordonez. Amazing." (ESPN.com)

Joe Sheehan reports from Saturday night's Dodgers/Expos game. "Izturis and Quantrill are playing well, so the Dodgers look like the big winners in last winter's deal with the Blue Jays. I left it out of my summary for ESPN.com two weeks ago, but with Luke Prokopec being battered from pillar to post, and Chad Ricketts probably out until at least late 2003, the Dodgers look to have done themselves well in that swap." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer's mailbag. "The Angels simply don't have a bunch of guys who are going to drag down the team batting average, so I won't be at all surprised if they finish the season in the .280 range. But if they don't move up a few spots in the walks and/or home-run columns, they're going to drop in the runs-scored column." (ESPN.com)

Craig Calcaterra on Jose Canseco, steroids, Bud Selig's failure to call him, and more. (Bull)

Don Malcolm on the A's and Marlins. "[E]ven the A’s, with their skill (and fortune) in assessing and developing talent, are not exempt from the same reversals that beset other teams. Pitching is the most volatile area of the game, and those who have been quick to proclaim the A’s trio of Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mulder as the 'next Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz' need to recognize just how rare an occurrence the great Atlanta trio really is." (Big Bad Baseball)

Joe Sheehan takes a look at the NL Central. "The fact that Biggio's power is still pretty much intact leads me to believe that this is a slump, and something from which he will bounce back. In this particular case, the strikeouts and batting average are the things to watch. If Biggio keeps trading singles for swishes, it will be a sign that his bat speed is shot, and that his days as one of the Killer Bs are done." (Baseball Prospectus)

Tigers promote 2 and bench Halter. Halter wants to be traded, and he should be. As a part-time infielder, he'd be a solid contributor to a good team. As a starting shortstop for a bad team, he was a bit stretched. (Detroit Free Press)

Baseball's greatest pitches of all-time. David Schoenfield on Walter Johnson's fastball, Carl Hubbell's screwball, Bugs Bunny's slowball, etc. (ESPN.com)

Rangers owner frustrated about losing games, money. "We're going to play within our means from now on, at least break even. Breaking even is at least a start and has got to happen," said Tom Hicks. He also said "[W]e've got to get our fans convinced that we're headed back in the right direction." So...spending money to improve the team was the wrong direction? (ESPN.com)

M's bus fire worse than first reported. Lou Piniella was treated for smoke inhalation. (Seattle Post-Intelligenger)

Beckett’s 1-hit outing earns him another win. "Beckett is 17 years, six Cy Youngs and 283 wins shy of Clemens, but his powerful repertoire and advanced mental approach recall a young Clemens. "'He’s the best we’ve seen,' Giants manager Dusty Baker said. 'He threw the ball great. He didn’t pitch like a youngster. He threw 3-2 changeups, 2-0 breaking balls. He was pitching backward. He showed some real guts out there.'" (Orlando Sun-Sentinel)

Mike Kiley: "These 2002 Cubs, losers of seven games in a row, could sober up a convention of liquor salesmen...If you are still seriously in search of fun on the North Side, however, there are two candidates to bring a glimmer of light back into the Cubs' world. Look no further than second baseman Bobby Hill and pitcher Mark Prior." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Patterson sacrifice fly in 11th ends Cubs' slide ...at 9 games. They're now 11 games out of first place, and 12 games behind the wild-card leader (San Francisco). (ESPN.com)

Cubs' top prospect Prior to start Wednesday. "'I'm worried about the expectations that are going to be placed on Mark,' GM Andy MacPhail said. 'It's a big step walking out there for the first time and then to bring him in when the team is struggling and have that kind of media attention that he's garnered through his career, it's going to be hard to meet those expectations.'" Actually, it might not be such a bad thing for Prior that the team is struggling. He won't have to deal with the pressure of a pennant race. (ESPN.com)

Wright throws White Sox's second shutout of year. In his last start, he gave up 8 runs in 2 2/3 innings. (ESPN.com)

Gary Huckabay on the likelihood of a long work stoppage: "Don't expect either side to back down. The owners have more room to retreat than the players do, but they're not leaning that way at this point in time, and they have a pretty impressive war chest built up to minimize financial pressures through the short and medium term." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for May 12-15. "Words cannot describe how very sad [Jose Canseco's retirement] makes me. I remember Jose's zero-fer-forty stretch in 1986 for the daily agony it brought me in boxscores, day after day, not as somebody obsessed with roto (since I have yet to play in a roto league), but as an A's fan in the bleak, blasted wastes of southside Chicago. Bad times like that were worth it. Canseco filled A's fans--or at least this A's fan--with the hope for better things, especially since we were already appropriately cranky about Mike Davis." (Baseball Prospectus)

Derek Zumsteg: "[W]hen we look at contraction candidates we should look at local political power above all things. If we want to look for serious contraction candidates, look for clubs that are getting tons of money from baseball's back-asswards revenue sharing plan, and don't have the political muscle of Florida--that is, in less-populous states. There are two: the Twins, if they don't get a stadium (took $19 million in sharing) and the Royals, who took $16 million. If Minnesota gets a stadium bill passed and the arbitrator doesn't (as is likely) rule against contraction as a concept, look for Selig to turn his attention a little south in America's heartland." (Baseball Prospectus)

He used to be the best. He's not as productive as he used to be, but he still has a lot to offer. He's a major jerk, though. Jose Canseco? No, Bill James. Here's a typical exchange from his latest ESPN.com chat:

B. Rainsberger (Toronto): In your computations, you used team K to approximate C/PO without allowing for the fact that not all K are C/PO? (1) Did this ever worry you? (2) Did you compensate for it in other ways? (3) Is there historical data on the % of team K that are C/PO, C/A, WP, PB?
Bill James: I'm sorry...I don't speak gibberish.

OK, I'll translate. K are strikeouts. C/PO are catcher's putouts. C/A are catcher's assists. WP are wild pitches. PB are passed balls. Was that so difficult? There must have been hundreds of questions asked during this online chat. Why jump on the ones you think are stupid? Why not just skip them and answer the good ones?

Derek Zumsteg on Gaylord Perry, "the greatest cheater to ever play baseball." (ESPN.com)

Joe Sheehan: "The Marlins' problem isn't Pro Player Stadium; the Marlins' problem is their lease with slumlord Huizenga, which makes it virtually impossible for them to make money there. That's not a ballpark issue, it's a negotiating one. It has nothing to do with markets, or player salaries, or competitive balance, or any other damn thing. It's simply an arrangement that never should have been allowed to occur, and for which the baseball fans of south Florida have suffered." (Baseball Prospectus)

Jay Mariotti: "Kerry Wood is tired of Don Baylor's sleepwalk act. So am I. Sometimes, what baseball purists consider the easy way out--fire the manager!--is genuinely the right thing to do." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Schilling fans 11; Pirates' Benson knocked around. (ESPN.com)
Schilling (W, 8-1): 7 4 0 0 0 11.
Benson (L, 0-1): 3.2 10 9 7 2 1.

Canseco retires, gives up pursuit of 500 homers. (ESPN.com)

Canseco allowed his star to burn out. "Canseco is worse than someone who never fulfilled his obvious potential. He realized that promise, becoming the best player in the game, a once-in-a-generation talent. Then he retreated from the challenge. He disowned his upside." (Contra Costa Times)

Dan McLaughlin compares Canseco to another excellent player who didn't quite have a great career: Dick Allen. (Providence Journal)

Joe Sheehan: "Canseco is walking away despite still possessing skills that would make him an asset to many teams…He couldn't find work as a DH with any American League team, which is strange in light of the production some teams are getting from that spot." (Baseball Prospectus)

Bruce Jenkins: "[N]obody knew Canseco quite like we did in the Bay Area. Nothing could match what we saw over six incredible years, from the late summer of 1985 through the '91 season. Whether the Hall of Fame calls or not, what we saw then was pure, unadulterated Cooperstown." (SF Gate)

Baker's Dozen: The week in preview. "Chicago Extreme Sox is more like it. They have lost games by scores of 16-1, 10-0, 15-4 and 19-0. On the other hand, they've also won 14-0, 13-4, 10-5, 12-5, 10-2 and 9-2 twice." (ESPN.com)

Rany Jazayerli: "When a team exceeds expectations to the degree that the Expos has, it's usually quite difficult to credit this phenomenon on a single aspect of the team's play. In this particular instance, however, it's dead simple. As Rob Neyer has waxed eloquent on two separate occasions, it's all about the walks." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for April 30 - May 11. "This just isn't the Blue Jays' six weeks, is it now? J.P. Ricciardi's two most tradable commodities going into the season were Chris Carpenter and Shannon Stewart, and he's lost both of them at the same time as the team went into the tank in the early going...So the contingencies of how much more building the Jays can do this season just got whittled down from a pretty broad menu of choices to hoping somebody somewhere gets silly and asks after Raul Mondesi." (Baseball Prospectus)

The Week in Quotes from Baseball Prospectus. Johnny Damon: "It's awesome to be around Rickey, he's the greatest. He keeps the clubhouse loose. He doesn't remember everyone's names or anything, but that's Rickey. He was a great addition for us."

Benson ready for first start since 2000. He faces Curt Schilling. (ESPN.com)

John Shea: "They're the mediocre A's until further notice. That's not so bad when considering they were the awful A's at this point last year." (SF Gate)

Another sad-sack stumble. What did I write last week? 'Shh, here come the Cubs?' Well, they just got swept by the Brewers. (Chicago Sun-Times)

Chat wrap with Joe Sheehan. "[Nick] Johnson is still getting comfortable at the plate, and he doesn't seem to be the same hitter from at-bat to at-bat. If left alone, he will work through this and be the hitter he's projected to be, but it will take time and patience. I think he'll lose his job with the Yankees soon; whether he gets traded, or just demoted, is the question. The former is likely." (ESPN.com)

Balls being kept damp in humidor at Coors Field. "The Rockies, with permission from the major leagues, are storing their balls in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room near their clubhouses, The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News reported Wednesday." (ESPN.com)

Rockies' physics may be slightly off. "How a ball is affected by humidity is tricky. It depends on how long it is stored and at what temperature. Cold balls travel less than warm balls…So [Yale professor Robert K.] Adair laughed heartily Wednesday when told the Rockies have been keeping the temperature in their ball chamber cranked up to 90 degrees. 'That's counterproductive!' he said. 'I would bet the 90-degree balls go farther. The higher temperature would counteract the humidity.'" (ESPN.com)

Rob Neyer: "The Rockies are certainly not the first team to alter the state of their baseballs. There are stories about the Pirates and the Phillies freezing baseballs in the 1920s, and it's said that Connie Mack employed similar shenanigans (which doesn't exactly square with his image)…The most famous example involves the Chicago White Sox in the 1960s." (ESPN.com)

El Duque tosses gem as Devil Rays lose again. 14 straight losses for Tampa Bay, despite a strong outing by Joe Kennedy (7 4 2 2 1 10). 53-year-old Orlando Hernandez was even better, though (7.2 1 1 1 2 5). Mariano Rivera became the Yankees' all-time saves leader. (ESPN.com)

The Devil Rays' starting pitching has been pretty solid this year: Check the Baseball Prospectus Support-Neutral W/L Report, which ranks their starters ahead of ChicagoA, Minnesota, Florida, Seattle, and nine other teams. The fact that the Rays are 9-24 says a lot about their hitting and their bullpen.

Jays vs. Rays: the AL least. Rob Neyer compares the two teams, position by position. Say, did anyone pick the Orioles to finish third this year? They may have a shot. (ESPN.com)

Rumours flying with the Blue Jays. Jose Cruz and Shannon Stewart to the Yankees for Nick Johnson and prospects? Not likely, but "Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi told The Star last week that he will listen to offers on all players except youngsters Eric Hinske, Felipe Lopez and Vernon Wells." (Toronto Star)

How Sure Is A "Sure Thing"? Paul Covert studies the risk/reward tradeoff for pitching prospects versus hitting prospects. (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "It's not Barry Bonds's job to change his approach. It's Dusty Baker's job to find a way to maximize Bonds's approach. To that end, I think Baker has to consider moving Bonds into the #2 spot in the lineup. The goal in doing so is to get Barry as many plate appearances as possible with a runner on first base." (Baseball Prospectus)

Bonds hits 11th homer; Giants win seventh straight. A perfect Three True Outcomes day for Bonds: home run, walk, two strikeouts. Also an ejection (the fourth true outcome?) (ESPN.com)

Interesting Clutch Hits thread: Kevin Bacon-style chains that link today's players to players from the ancient past. Steve Treder starts it: "[Jesse] Orosco was a teammate of Ed Kranepool, who was a teammate of Gene Woodling, who was a teammate of Billy Herman, who was a teammate of Rogers Hornsby, who was a teammate of Miller Higgins, who was a teammate of Tommy Corcoran, who was born in 1869. Six degrees of separation from the date of birth of openly professional baseball. That's old." The chains get more complicated after that, as new rules are introduced (e.g., the links have to go through opposing World Series teams). Fun. I just knew, before scanning the whole thread, that some wet blanket would use the phrase "too much time on your hands" at some point. Yep, there it is, from "Kevin" (Bacon?). (Baseball Primer)

Streaking Red Sox dash to eighth straight victory. The Red Sox continue to beat up on the doormats of the AL: the Baltimores, the Kansas Citys, the Tampas, the Oaklands...we'll see what happens when they get some real competition. (ESPN.com)

Joe Sheehan on how the big off-season trades are turning out. (ESPN.com)

Red Sox hold off A's to win 7th straight. Pedro Martinez had a rough outing, though. (ESPN.com)

Wood fires complete-game, four-hitter as Cubs roll. Shhh, here come the Cubs. They've won 5 out of 6, and are in a virtual tie with the Cardinals, 1 game behind the Astros, and only 5 1/2 games out of first. (ESPN.com)

Royals tell White he won't be hired as manager. Allard Baird: "We felt the place where Frank can have the greatest impact right now is where he is." (Special assistant to the GM.) (ESPN.com)

Joe Posnanski: "[I]f the Royals decide to go with one of these young guys you hear about -- Tony Pena, Willie Randolph, Mike MacFarlane, Bucky Dent, Terry Pendleton, John Mizerock, Bob Melvin, etc. -- then I just don't get it. Because Frank White is better qualified than any of them for this job." (Kansas City Star)

Rob Neyer on Wes Parker, a good player who had one great year. "Parker's exit (only a week after his 33rd birthday) left a hole at first base, which was filled in the middle of the 1973 season by Steve Garvey. So you could argue that one of the best things Wes Parker ever did for the Dodgers was retire." (ESPN.com)

Jockbeat from the Village Voice. J. Yeh on the Mariners: "On top of an attitude worthy of B.A. Baracus, [Piniella] has style: Regardless of the weather, he sports a bomber jacket zipped up to the neck, thereby resembling a supersized walking marshmallow." Also, Billy Altman on Frank Robinson and the Expos.

Baseball wants to review documents from Star Tribune. "Major League Baseball is asking the Star Tribune to disclose more than a dozen types of documents, including some that might show financial or other connections between the newspaper and the Minnesota Twins, the Metrodome and any proposed new stadium in Minneapolis...The notice came three days after media companies, including the Star Tribune, the Associated Press and KARE-TV, Channel 11, asked Hennepin County District Judge Harry Crump to alter ground rules on public disclosure of documents in the suit that the commission filed to prevent the Twins from leaving after the 2002 season." Sheesh. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Joe Sheehan takes a look around the NL. "[Marcus] Giles is just 24. His brother Brian was still in the minors at that age, and would need another four years to get a regular major-league job. The two player have similar offensive profiles, and while it's odd to think of a second baseman who hits like Brian Giles, it's clear that Marcus Giles has that kind of offensive upside." (Baseball Prospectus)

Gary Huckabay: "If the general manager is not doing his job, he has a ready-made scapegoat there that he can basically just fire to cover his tracks. Instead of accountability, you have a complete lack of it, at least until a GM burns through three or four managers and someone else in the organization begins to take notice." (Baseball Prospectus)

The Week in Quotes. "Baseball needs a new economic system. There is nothing that exists that gives the Minnesotas of the world a chance to compete. The NFL and the NBA have systems that do work. There are restraints, there are salary caps and there is revenue sharing." --Jerry Colangelo, Diamondbacks owner, on the first-place Twins. (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan on Mike Cameron's big day. (Baseball Prospectus)

Keith Woolner: "One common defense you hear of a pitcher--usually one of the speaker's favorites--whose season statistics don't quite measure up is something like: 'Yeah, but if you take away the two starts when he got pounded and the manager left him in, his ERA is really good!'" Woolner took the 2001 stats from all starting pitchers with at least 100 innings, eliminated each pitcher's three worst starts, and looked at the results. (Baseball Prospectus)

Primer Poll: What team will finish with the worst record in baseball? The Brewers seem to be the sentimental favorites. I wonder why? (Baseball Primer)

Baker's Dozen: The week in preview. "A good parent will teach their child not to scream at every flyball at a game. 'Just watch the outfielder and hold your reaction until then,' they should admonish. In fact, a key signpost on the road to maturity is the day a kid stops screaming his head off every time a flyball is launched." (ESPN.com)

Dan McLaughlin: "There has been more than a little unrestrained gloating over the Rangers' disastrous and embarrassing start to 2002. A prime example was this ESPN column by Phil Rogers, but he's hardly the only one. Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News has been piling on Tom Hicks ever since he signed Lupica's nemesis Alex Rodriguez after the 2000 season...But beyond the media's pig pile, the Rangers haven't actually been that bad in the early going." (Providence Journal)

Cameron hits four HRs in first five innings. Amazing. (ESPN.com)

Chris Dankberg on players who lose their skills overnight, permanently, for no apparent age- or injury-related reason. Classic example: Dale Murphy. Latest example(?): Tim Salmon. (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan takes a look around the AL. "Be concerned: the White Sox have three starters striking out fewer than six men per nine innings in Dan Wright, Jon Garland, and Jon Rauch. And they don't have the defense to get away with that. (Baseball Prospectus)

Official admits A's were on MLB's short list …for contraction. This is team that has been making the postseason and making money, despite playing in a small market. (SF Gate)

Neagle chills Pirates as Rockies' Hurdle stays unbeaten. Five and O, baby. All five games have been at Coors, and the Rockies have given up a total of 9 runs. (Rocky Mountain News)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for April 25-29. "I'm a little surprised to see that Art Howe is locked down for another year. It's undoubtedly a reflection of my own mental habits, or the ruts into which my memory settles, but I still have trouble separating him from John McNamara on a team waiting for its Dick Williams." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rany Jazayerli: "This may be hard to believe--I can hardly believe it myself--but as recently as the 2000 season, I felt that Tony Muser was an asset to the Kansas City Royals...Muser had helped to restore credibility to a franchise that had been left in tatters following Bob Boone's scorched-earth exit. In that sense, Muser had accomplished what he had been brought in to do.
At that very moment, he had outlived his usefulness." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan follows up on his NL is better and dee-fense! columns. (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer: "When people talk about bad baseball franchises, the Philadelphia Phillies are not usually the first team that comes to mind. However, if you consider the totality of major-league history in the World Series era, the Phillies are clearly the least-successful franchise in the game." (ESPN.com)

Bill Peterson: "A pall still hangs over the baseball season because we still can't be sure it's going the distance. But the Reds, right now, are giving us a lot to like." (Cincinnati CityBeat)

Greg Hall looks for solutions to the Royals' perennial lack of home run power. "'They need to play more video games to improve their hand-eye coordination,' says Chris Bohannon, a personal trainer at the Prairie Life fitness center in Overland Park. 'I'd suggest they fire up MLB 2002 on PlayStation2. If they play it as the Royals, maybe they'll realize just how bad they are,' Bohannon says." (Pitch Weekly)

Christopher Young went to a Marlins game, and found it to be much different from the Fenway experience. "Ushers won’t let you take your seat until there is a break in the action, such as an out or an inning ending. It is a posted rule, designed to prevent you from disturbing other patrons. The practice was laughable, since I pretty much had a row to myself, but I liked the concept nonetheless. Can you imagine this working — or being obeyed — at Fenway?" (Boston Phoenix)

Tom Tippett on strange and unusual innings, 1978-2001. (ESPN.com)

Hampton KOs Pirates, wins first game this season. The Rockies are now 4-0 under Clint Hurdle. (ESPN.com)

Mike Berardino: "Is Charles Johnson finished? He is a two-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner. He doesn't turn 31 until July and is signed up through 2005, but a ton of miles are on his body's odometer." (Orlando Sun-Sentinel)