WAGS WOULD MORTGAGE FUTURE, BUT WILL OMAR?  —  July 10, 2006 — BILLY WAGNER turns 35 in two weeks and the Mets have a 12-game lead in the NL East.  These are the pertinent numbers in the closer's baseball life.  The short time he has left in the game and the wide lead his club has in its division.

Guillen names Rogers AL starter, NL taps Penny  —  PITTSBURGH — Kenny Rogers has gone from all-star scourge to All-Star Game starter.  —  The Tigers' left-hander, the top winner for the team with the best record in the majors, will be on the mound for the AL on Tuesday night against Brad Penny of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Baker's job status raising ire of Eyre  —  MILWAUKEE — Cubs reliever Scott Eyre on Sunday accused the media of hurting the team by focusing on Dusty Baker's job status instead of the game.  —  "I think if we keep playing the way we played this series, and if everyone would stop talking about Dusty's job …

PNC Park a winner, but Pirates . . .  Pittsburgh gets its ballpark right, but team is all wrong  —  PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh's steel-and-glass skyline is so close, it appears to hover over the right fielder's shoulder.  There are three major rivers located about the length of a Jason Bay home run from the ballpark's boundaries.

One Phillies owner speaks out on team's struggles  —  PITTSBURGH - The Phillies have been bloodied and beaten on the field, and intensely criticized off it.  —  The starting pitching and hitting have been awful.  Manager Charlie Manuel is feeling the heat.

Future Shock  —  Jay Bruce, of, Low Class A Dayton (Reds)  —  With the 10th, 11th and 12th picks of the 2005 draft, the Tigers, Pirates and Reds all took high school outfielders.  Both Detroit's Cameron Maybin and Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen have been impressive in their full-season debuts, but Bruce has been the best of the trio.

Melvin, D-Backs agree to extension  —  PITTSBURGH — The Diamondbacks have reached an agreement with manager Bob Melvin on a two-year contract extension with an option for the 2009 season, multiple baseball sources told MLB.com.  —  Negotiations began in early June, a source said …

What Is Gil Meche?  —  Another day, another good start from Gil Meche, resulting in a Mariners win.  With the performance today, he lowered his ERA to 3.83 for the season and has been essentially annointed the team's current ace by the coaching staff, as he will start the first game after the all-star break.

Abreu has experienced a power outage … PITTSBURGH — Here in this modern sports world, where we'd much rather believe in supernatural forces than reality, we love our curses.  So it's time to ask a question we know you've all been wondering about pretty much 24/7:  —  Is there any such thing as a Home Run Derby Curse?

World beaters  —  Royals prospects spark U.S. team in Futures Game  —  PITTSBURGH (AP) — If the All-Star Futures Game is any indication, there's hope for the lowly Kansas City Royals.  —  A pair of their prospects, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, led the United States to an 8-5 victory …

Memories and stories connect generations … The place: Camden Yards in Baltimore.  The date: Sept. 6, 1995.  —  There are moments in baseball that couldn't possibly happen in any other sport.  This was one of them.  —  Most baseball history is made with no notice, with no warning.

Red Sox send Johnson down to Single-A  —  BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox right-hander Jason Johnson, struggling in the majors and needing a place to pitch during the All-Star break, was optioned to Single-A Wilmington on Monday.  —  Boston also hired former Kansas City Royals general manager Allard Baird as a special assignment scout.