A-Rod important in grand scheme  —  To be all they can be, Yankees need more from new cleanup hitter  —  If the New York Yankees are to become the second team in the last 56 years to have a 1,000-run season, their new cleanup hitter must pick up the pace in a hurry.

Banged up Dodgers continue to struggle  —  Navarro and Mueller injured as skid reaches five games  —  LOS ANGELES — Thursday's game marked the Dodgers' fifth straight loss, but they may have lost much more than that in the process of being shut out, 3-0.  —  The game was hardly underway …

Left-hander is a fantasy come true  —  ARLINGTON - When the Rangers acquired pitcher John Koronka on the eve of the 2006 season, my high-dollar fantasy baseball service described him as "a soft-tossing lefty destined, at best, for the Cubs' bullpen."  —  I'm thinking about canceling that service.

It's almost Lima Time  —  Jose Lima was pulled from last night's Triple-A Norfolk game after two innings and received congratulatory handshakes from teammates, but Mets officials insisted they aren't bailing on John Maine for Sunday's start.  Not yet, anyway.

Angels 7, Tigers 2  —  DETROIT - Vladimir Guerrero, Mike Napoli and Casey Kotchman homered, and the Los Angeles Angels stopped their longest losing streak since 2002 at six games with a 7-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.  —  Napoli, a 24-year-old catcher brought up from Triple …

New Nats owner to take deliberate steps  —  When Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves in 1976, he gave baseball's other owners chills.  He was loud, flamboyant, a maverick in every sense of the word.  He didn't get his nickname "Mouth of the South" by mistake.  —  Free agency was in its infancy.

Power Rankings: Reds, Tigers finally getting their due  —  Ranking all 30 teams since the beginning of the season, we admit that preseason reputations have hurt some teams and helped others along the way.  But now that we're nearly 30 games into the 2006 season, reputations are starting to carry much less weight.

Notes: Kendall suspension expected  —  Melhuse in starting lineup Thursday to get acclimated  —  OAKLAND — The A's know that it's a question of when as opposed to if regarding a suspension of catcher Jason Kendall, who charged the mound in Anaheim on Tuesday, so they've already started preparing for life without their iron man.

Shealy on the mend  —  Sky Sox first baseman biding his time in Triple-A … Is there any news on Ryan Shealy's possible return from the DL?  —  Phil - I talked with Ryan Shealy on Tuesday night in Colorado Springs.  He looked great, clearly maintaining the conditioning program he adopted over the winter.

$20 million for the Rocket?  —  • I'm told the Astros made a stunning opening offer to Roger Clemens: around $20 million for five months.  Meanwhile the Hendricks Brothers aren't tipping their hand.  —  • People have been so nice to defend me on this blog.  I appreciate it beyond words.

Rain delay provided an opportunity to soak the fans  —  Despite more brutal weather, they played baseball at Fenway last night.  Hallelujah.  But had they not played, the Red Sox still would have been winners at the cash register.  The $ox always win these days.

Hamels vs. Bonds would be ESPN classic  —  IT WAS a sunwashed early September afternoon in the middle of the last century.  I can't tell you why I was in the rightfield bleachers of the Polo Grounds for a doubleheader between the New York Giants and the Phillies.

Setup man with stuff of closer  —  The best relief pitcher in the National League, and maybe all of baseball, looks more like a grad student in his street clothes.  Off the mound and out of uniform, Duaner Sanchez replaces his signature goggles with rimless glasses, just as Superman trades …

Future Shock  —  Now that we're a month away from the 2006 Draft, we do have a better idea of who's going to be picked at the top, but little idea of the order.  Let's start this week's notebook with an update of where things stand with the first five picks.

Gomes has some serious strength … They are the next line, the line below the stars, but the line that clearly is on the rise.  Their next stop could be their first All-Star Game — and after that, perhaps even bigger things.  Here are five players who are off to good starts, which might be a sign of things to come.

Marlins' stadium aid in reach  —  TALLAHASSEE — With no warning and just two days left in the legislative session, a second $60 million subsidy for the Florida Marlins on Wednesday made it further than ever in the Florida Senate after Miami members attached it to another sports stadium bill.

Rockies need to establish home-field advantage  —  The Astros face a contrast of styles for the second straight weekend, taking on the surprising Rockies in a three-game series that begins on Friday.  And they'll do so without utilizing their top two starting pitchers in Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte.