Theme for Martínez Could Be From 'Rocky'  —  On its own, the fastball that rammed into Jose Guillen's upper arm in the fifth inning last night was merely an errant pitch, one that got away from Pedro Martínez.  But by that point, Guillen had had enough.

Under The Knife  —  No Intro  —  No time for an intro—there's too much to cover tonight, so on to the injuries:  — The big news of the day was the Eric Gagne announcement, as the Dodger closer heads back to surgery for nerve excision in his pitching elbow.

Sheets strikes out five in rehab start for Double-A Huntsville  —  Sheets strikes out five in rehab start for Double-A Huntsville  —  PEARL, Miss. (AP) — Ben Sheets is getting back his confidence — and his fastball.  —  Regularly reaching the mid-90s on the radar gun …

Prospectus Notebook  —  Royals, Yankees  —  KANSAS CITY ROYALS  —  Say this for the Royals—they cut right to the chase.  Following their 25th Opening Day loss in their 38-year history, the Royals have already made themselves comfortable in the last-place confines that have been reserved for them all winter.

Humidor griping steams up Rockies  —  With rolled eyes and shaking heads, Rockies pitchers found complaints about the humidor humorless.  —  After two games, the Diamondbacks and Rockies combined for 11 runs and no home runs, prompting grousing from Arizona players, who cited a handful …

Comcast Wants to Show Nats  —  Cable Co. Offers Plan To End Its Blackout  —  One day before the House Government Reform Committee holds hearings on why Washington Nationals games are not shown on Comcast, the cable carrier asked Major League Baseball to break its contract with the regional sports network that carries the team's games.

Clement out to ground Birds  —  Boston (2-1) at Baltimore (2-1), 7:05 p.m. ET, Friday  —  He enters the season under the radar, the forgotten man in a rotation that includes Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield and David Wells.  —  But that suits Matt Clement just fine.  He just wants to pitch.

Cubs Preview  —  How sweep it is, etc.  I'd be quite happy if we had a whole mess more series just like that this summer — good pitching, (mostly) clutch hitting from up and down the lineup, and solid defense.  Though Encarnacion's fourteen left on base in the last two games is just unacceptable …

Bonds will see pitches till he hits a few out  —  The Padres went after Barry Bonds in the season opener, and Giants manager Felipe Alou expected more of the same last night.  Although Bonds went 11-for-23 in spring training with four home runs, he played less than he usually does …

A trip through the blogosphere  —  We feel really bad about having not mentioned Aldo Coffee's excellent blog until now.  And we felt especially negligent because Aldo Coffee's blog was mentioned by the Kansas City Star: "Aldo Coffee, a single coffee shop in suburban Pittsburgh …

Pitching Around Batters  —  Tom M Tango, along with co-authors Mitchel Lichtman and Andy Dolphin, have written a superb book of in-game strategic analysis called The Book.  Tom has graciously given us permission to publish the following excerpt.  —  In discussing strategies of intentional walks …

ON THE SNY  —  April 7, 2006 — ASIDE from its more obvious and solvable problems - the initial lack of cable and satellite clearance, the sudden disappearance of picture and/or sound, the misplacement of that darned sign that reads, "Technical difficulties, please stand by" - SportsNet New York has another problem.

Sick Vic says hammy's OK  —  Victor Zambrano declared that he's "ready to go" for his slated start Sunday after testing his sore hamstring yesterday in a bullpen session.  —  Pitching coach Rick Peterson wouldn't officially commit that Zambrano, who threw nearly 55 pitches before last night's …