Yankees save hurtin' A-Rod  —  Needs X-rays on toe after 3 E's  —  There was no beauty and little grace to this one.  Just a lot of sweaty palms, sticky foreheads and what the Yankees hope is little more than a badly stubbed toe.  —  They won't complain about the aesthetics, of course.

Audition, Round 2  —  Pelfrey gets another look and Peterson is bullish on his future  —  CHICAGO — The Mets' dream of someday adding Barry Zito to their rotation will likely have to wait until the offseason, when he becomes a free agent.  But Zito's former pitching coach, Rick Peterson …

Mailbag: Transaction reactions  —  Beat reporter Bill Ladson answers reader's questions … Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez have not been good.  Can we expect better play from them?  How can the Nationals consider trading Alfonso Soriano?  He and Ryan Zimmerman have been the only reliable players this year.

4 and then floored, for him  —  An upper back strain KO's Wakefield early  —  Terry Francona sat behind his desk in the Red Sox clubhouse at 4 p.m. yesterday talking about his knuckleballer.  It had been 10 days since Tim Wakefield last pitched, the 39-year-old's aching back the cause.

As Team Heats Up, Yankees Are Not So Hot for Abreu  —  The Yankees' hot stretch to start the second half of the season could affect their aggressiveness before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline.  Specifically, their interest in trading for Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bobby Abreu may be waning.

Mailbag: Sorting through the Nats trade  —  Reds beat writer Mark Sheldon answers fans' questions  —  Let's get right to the questions about the trade.  Not surprisingly, the masses were irate.  —  What were the Reds thinking in dealing Felipe Lopez, Austin Kearns and Ryan Wagner?

2 more years for Baker isn't crazy  —  Actually, there's no better alternative to manage the Cubs  —  More than two months ago, on the subject of the Cubs, I wrote that "firings appear almost inevitable, if not imminent."  Two weeks ago, the view here was the sacking of manager Dusty Baker had become imminent, as well as inevitable.

Fonz cool with shot in minors  —  INDIANAPOLIS - Edgardo Alfonzo may have left for San Francisco as a free agent four years ago, but the infielder's family never left New York.  —  Now, Fonzie is back home, too.  Almost.  —  Alfonzo - voted by fans as the all-time second baseman …

Special delievery to the plate  —  Pitching motions can get personal, with the strangest still capable of strikes  —  By the time the baseball left Luis Tiant's hand, his body had turned 180 degrees around and back again.  En route to releasing the ball, he got a good look at the batter …

Skid creates shake-up  —  Pittsburgh - Frustration spawned roster reconfiguration.  —  Saddled with a season-high eight-game losing streak after falling Monday to the Pirates, the Rockies promoted rookie reliever Manuel Corpas and first baseman Ryan Shealy and benched center fielder Cory Sullivan.

'Nobody knows me'  —  The Yankees' Alex Rodriguez attracts a big spotlight, and is often burned by the same glare  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It was actor Edward James Olmos, portraying Abraham Quintanilla in the biopic "Selena," who spoke of how hard it was to please the masses as a Mexican American …

'It was the right thing to do' (cont.)  —  Around the majors  —  • The White Sox asked the Mets for Duaner Sanchez and Mike Pelfrey for Freddy Garcia.  No go.  The Sox have spoken to several clubs about Garcia and Javier Vazquez but prefer to keep Vazquez since he's contractually tied to the team for three more years.