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.

Once a Yankee: Wells backs Fenway fans' take on Damon  —  David Wells was not exactly in an agreeable frame of mind with his former manager Joe Torre last night.  —  When told how the Yankees manager expressed disappointment in Red Sox fans for booing ex-Sox and current Yankee Johnny Damon on Monday night, Wells said, "Awww, poor Joe.

Under The Knife  —  Ferris Pujols' Day Off  —  No big build-up today, let's just get right to it.  Powered by our new weekly radio gig in Las Vegas...  - That giant sucking sound you heard in the Midwest was the collective Cardinals nation gasping at the report that Albert Pujols would miss a game with a back injury.

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.

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.

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 …

Benson gives O's another reprieve … Their bullpen has performed miserably and their lineup has been ravaged by injuries.  But the two times this season, when it has appeared that the Orioles might be on the verge of crashing under the weight of a extended losing streak …

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.

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.

Strained back keeps Pujols on the bench  —  CINCINNATI — Cardinals first baseman and April NL player of the month Albert Pujols did not play Tuesday because of a back strain stemming from his slide into first base during a game April 23 against the Chicago Cubs.

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.