It's Official: Lerner Will Own Nationals  —  Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig called Bethesda-based billionaire Theodore N. Lerner today to tell him he will be the new owner of the Washington Nationals, team sources said.  —  An announcement by Major League Baseball is expected shortly.

Five Games at Fenway in August.  How Hot Is That?  —  BOSTON, May 2 — August at Fenway Park.  Five games in four days.  The Yankees and the Red Sox, probably in a pennant race.  —  "It will be hot," Yankees Manager Joe Torre said.  "And exciting."  —  Tuesday's rainout set up that delicious possibility.

How about a movie on Omar?  —  Off his winter of wheeling, dealing and maybe even stealing in some cases, Mets general manager Omar Minaya was trying hard to make one more big transaction right before last night's game.  —  He was endeavoring to convert Spike Lee into a Mets fan.

Dodgers lead early, fall late to D-Backs  —  Early six-run advantage, two Drew homers go for naught  —  PHOENIX — Manager Grady Little scrambled the Dodgers batting order on Tuesday night, and the result was an eight-run windfall.  —  If only fixing the pitching staff was that easy.

Maryland man auctions off 25 years of loyalty to the Royals  —  Chad Carroll didn't know how he would feel around 10 a.m. Tuesday.  —  Perhaps he would regret selling his 25-year loyalty to the Royals on eBay.  Maybe he'd feel so guilty about abandoning the team he's always loved that he'd call the whole thing off.

RANGERS NOTES  —  Rangers put Castro on DL  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rangers placed left-hander Fabio Castro on the disabled list Tuesday with a strained left groin.  Castro said he was injured during Monday's game.  That night, he got up and began warming in the bullpen in the seventh inning, but quickly sat down again.

Cubs' new excuse rings hollow  —  He's out there somewhere, the Cubs' savior.  He's wearing sweat pants, dribbling beer down his chin into a pile of potato-chip crumbs on his shirt, flipping between "ElimiDate'' and "Fear Factor.'' Oh, the stories he tells about his days as a high school pitcher.

Rookie Gives Nats A Lift  —  GW Graduate O'Connor Nabs First Victory: Nationals 6, Mets 2  —  NEW YORK, May 2 — At 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, a couple of hours before he made his second major league start against a group of multimillionaires who he had never faced before, Mike O'Connor sat …

Mariners Notebook: Sexson in serious funk  —  Hitting just .216, cleanup man tries to retool swing  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Maybe it's a weird time for a makeover, but Richie Sexson doesn't think so.  —  Sexson is in such a funk with his swing that he's perfectly content to put his old swing behind him and work on a new, improved version.

Can the Reds keep it up?  If they're healthy ...  The Cincinnati Reds just took two of three against Houston, swept a two-game set against the Cardinals, sit atop the National League Central (the toughest division in baseball thus far) and are on pace to win 110 games.