Snagged  —  Cabrera's catch brings Ramírez and Red Sox back to earth  —  NEW YORK — Hours before last night's game, Terry Francona was philosophizing about Manny Ramírez, and the Red Sox manager made this point: ``Manny has an extraordinary ability to put at-bats, plays behind him.

Nationals draft pair of preps  —  Team uses first-round picks on Marrero, Willems  —  WASHINGTON — There's a new philosophy in the Nationals organization when it comes to drafting players.  Unlike the past four years, in which they worked with a limited budget, the Nationals were told …

Feds search house of Arizona reliever  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Federal investigators searched Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley's house Tuesday as part of their investigation of steroid use in baseball.  —  Thirteen agents searched Grimsley's house in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six hours …

Gagne sore after first save  —  In his second outing, the Dodgers closer feels some discomfort  —  LOS ANGELES — Eric Gagne converted his first save in nearly a year on Tuesday night, but the grimace on his face and slow readings of the radar gun told the rest of the story.

Drafting younger breaks tradition, but is worth it  —  Four of the A's top seven picks are high school players, including RHP Cahill, their first pick taken in Round 2  —  CLEVELAND — The A's, without a first-round selection for the first time since the 2000 draft, took a pitcher who threw …

It hurts Jeter to watch, but kids help ease pain  —  Derek Jeter sat alone in front of his locker at about 20minutes to 5 last night, having answered all possible questions about his injured right thumb.  The rest of the Yankees were on the field for batting practice, but Jeter was not with them …

Schmidt ends in flourish  —  Giants starter strikes out a franchise record-tying 16, including the final three Marlins hitters  —  SAN FRANCISCO - Jason Schmidt maintained his perfect record against the Florida Marlins by surviving a highly imperfect ninth inning and matching a Giants record in the process.

MLB Draft: Cardinals emphasize pitching  —  Jeff Luhnow, the Cardinals' vice president of player procurement, projected that college pitchers would be the focal point of major league teams in the early choices of the amateur draft Tuesday, and the Cardinals did their part by making …

Future Shock  —  2006 Draft, First Round Recap  —  The date is fitting, as late last night everything we knew about who was going where in today's draft went to hell, and stayed there all morning.  Properly assessing a draft takes two, three, even four years to do properly, but where's the fun in that?

Minor solutions may help major trouble  —  Frustration breeds impatience.  In a society where getting stuck in the drive-through line is considered an OnStar emergency, fans scream for change when a team doesn't win.  —  The Rockies, in a two-week spiral, have resisted the temptation …

Padres-Brewers Preview  —  The San Diego Padres will welcome back ace Jake Peavy on Tuesday.  Given how they fared against him last month, the Milwaukee Brewers may not feel so hospitable.  —  After missing a start with tendinitis in his shoulder, Peavy and the Padres will face the Brewers …

Sub-stantial victory  —  Cintron's 3-run HR in 8th helps Sox rally past Tigers  —  Alex Cintron hit a three-run homer off reliever Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning to lead the White Sox to a 4-3 victory over the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.

Homecomings not so hot for Willis  —  Dontrelle Willis grew up not far from here, just across the bay in Alameda, and he's every bit the celebrity in these parts — the local-kid-done-good — as he is in South Florida.  —  He's just not the same pitcher.  —  Willis, who takes the mound tonight …

A Break for the Bullpen as Mets' Soler Steadies Himself  —  LOS ANGELES, June 5 — The first proof of Alay Soler's command Monday night arrived early.  Soler got Rafael Furcal, the Dodgers' leadoff hitter, to ground out to shortstop, a simple 6-3 in the scorebook but a commendable feat …

Braves again load up with pitching  —  Atlanta takes 17 hurlers among 22 first-day draft picks  —  ATLANTA — Going into this year's First-Year Player Draft, there were many people indicating there wasn't a very deep talent pool.  But it was certainly vast enough for Braves director …