Church Arrives in Time to Lead Nats to Series Win  —  MIAMI, April 16 — There was no evidence that this was on the way, not given what Ryan Church did in spring training, where he hit .200, not given what he did when he went to the minors, where he hit .130, and not given what he did in his first seven …

Notes: DiNardo slated to start  —  Left-hander to fill in for ailing starter Wells on Monday  —  BOSTON — Hopefully Jason Varitek has better luck catching Lenny DiNardo than first-base coach and former big league catcher Bill Haselman.  —  Red Sox manager Terry Francona confirmed Sunday morning …

Are Pirates running out of patience with underperforming Snell?  —  PITTSBURGH - Patience.  Patience.  Patience.  —  The Pittsburgh Pirates have preached patience with their young pitching staff since the day spring training started, an understandable sentiment given that only one of their five starters is older than 24.

Dodgers edged in series finale  —  Kent beaned, Hamulack ejected in low-scoring contest  —  LOS ANGELES — The Giants beat the Dodgers on Sunday night, 2-0, a game in which cleanup hitters Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds were hit by pitches, resulting in the ejection of Dodgers reliever Tim Hamulack.

Notes: Gagne makes clubhouse visit  —  Two roles for Saito; Izturis' rehab assignment pushed back  —  LOS ANGELES — Eric Gagne on Sunday made his first clubhouse appearance since surgery last week to remove a nerve near his elbow.  —  Gagne said he finally acknowledged the discomfort …

No more tarp sliding for Buehrle  —  Southpaw reportedly fined for Sunday's rain-delay actions  —  CHICAGO — Mark Buehrle's tarp-diving days officially came to a close Sunday afternoon, now slipping and sliding in its fourth year of rain delay theater.  —  During the second of two rain delays …

Notes: Yankees sign Pena, Colome  —  New York gives first baseman, righty Minor League deals  —  MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees added some insurance to their organization on Saturday, signing first baseman Carlos Pena and right-hander Jesus Colome to Minor League contracts.

Garcia gets a win, lecture  —  With the rain pelting down in the top of the fifth and the dirt of the U.S. Cellular Field infield a quagmire, White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi fumbled an easy grounder that would have ended the inning.  —  Sox starter Freddy Garcia raised his hands …

Mets cream of NL East?  Braves say hold on  —  Atlanta has talent, attitude to show Pedro, mouthy N.Y. who owns division  —  Pedro Martinez and the Mets may be riding high right now, but the Braves will likely show them who's boss during their series this week, writes NBCSports.com's Ray Glier.

Lackey, Guerrero cruise against O's  —  BALTIMORE — Vladimir Guerrero played a big part in breaking the Angels' three-game losing streak on Sunday.  Guerrero went 3-for-5 with two homers and three RBIs as the Angels snapped their recent skid with a 9-3 victory over the Orioles before 19,904 at Camden Yards.

Re-creating a classic  —  Before this story gets to the part where the kid lands his dream job because of a video game, some tired fingers and Bill Buckner, let's go back about 20 years.  —  On Oct. 25, 1986, Conor Lastowka was 5 years old.  He lived in Virginia, and bedtime was long …

Ponson's first win ends his seven-game losing streak  —  Up next: 1:15 p.m. Sunday vs. Cincinnati, KPLR (Ch. 11)  —  Before Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium, the last time Sidney Ponson won a game was ...  Good question.  —  "The date of my last win?

Notes: Pagan to DL; Aardsma recalled  —  Cedeno tweaks throwing motion; Williamson healthy, confident  —  PITTSBURGH — The Chicago Cubs decided to add another arm and go with 12 pitchers on Sunday when they recalled right-hander David Aardsma and placed outfielder Angel Pagan on the 15-day disabled list.

Bannister, Mets win  —  Xavier Nady drove in three runs with a home run and a sacrifice fly and Carlos Delgado hit a three-run homer to help the New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-3 on Sunday.  —  David Wright, leading the National League in hitting with a .421 average coming into the game …

A Learning Experience for Batters as Games Wear On  —  Last Sunday started poorly for David Wright.  In his first two at-bats against the Florida Marlins and their All-Star left-hander, Dontrelle Willis, Wright grounded out both times as the Mets fell behind, 2-0.  —  But Wright, the Mets' third baseman, was paying attention.

Burnett comes up short in Jays debut  —  Righty allows two homers, four runs in six innings  —  CHICAGO — The wait is over.  There A.J. Burnett stood, out on the mound for the first time this season — back from the disabled list and over his elbow injury.

Sox could use starter like Arroyo  —  David Wells is back on the 15-day disabled list.  He's receiving injections of the joint lubricant Synvisc in his right knee.  And Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein could not give an exact date for his return.  —  That means the Sox are down one starter for at least two weeks.