Padres Finally Get to Astacio  —  Nats' Starter Falters in 7th: Padres 6, Nationals 3  —  The men who make up the Washington Nationals' relief corps frequently play cards before games, sitting around a table ribbing each other, seemingly at ease.  They should be comfortable, really …

Guerrero's 44-game streak ends  —  Angels outfielder doesn't get a hit but does walk four times  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. - Vladimir Guerrero's hitting streak against the Rangers is over.  His domination, however, lives on.  —  In Saturday's 10-3 loss to Los Angeles, the Rangers managed to find …

When it comes to coming through, Ortiz is the man  —  At this point, it might be time to stop oohing and ahhing when David Ortiz comes through in a close-and-late situation.  —  Instead, if he doesn't come through we should just scratch our heads and wonder if he's hurt or something.

Dog bites hand that feeds him  —  Keeps barking at Bombers on Yankee network  —  On Tuesday, the day after he called Brian Cashman a liar and engaged in a contentious interview with him, WFAN's Chris (Mad Dog) Russo said everything was cool because the Yankees GM could take the heat.

Lords of Flushing  —  Despite huge lead, Mets vow to not get complacent  —  Carlos Beltran won't lie to you.  He looks at the National League East standings sometimes and can hardly believe his eyes.  —  "After all those years of the Atlanta Braves being there, it's a great feeling to be in first place …

Indians suffer another late-inning defeat  —  Carmona's struggles continue as he blows third save in a row  —  DETROIT — Saturday night was far from the high-scoring contest that the Indians and Tigers played on July 25, but just as with that game and Friday's series-opener, Cleveland's outcome rested on its bullpen.

Glavine overcomes mind, Phils  —  Even at age 40, even in a big-league career that is in its 20th season, even as he approaches 300 victories, Tom Glavine admits there are times when he thinks too much.  —  "It's like my golf friend says: If I could get my mind out of the way, this would be a beautiful game," he said.

Reyes learns more lessons  —  As a rookie pitcher whom the Cardinals hoped to groom for the future by having Class AAA success in the present, the advanced-placement lessons come pitch by pitch for righthander Anthony Reyes.  —  Saturday's was Winning 1.  —  Pitch Economy, an upper-level course, can wait.

PITCHER TELLS A STORY  —  Consider a baseball fable.  Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Matt Harrington, who could throw a baseball 95 mph.  Some baseball talent scouts pointed their radar guns at him and calculated that he threw 96 or 97 mph, and a couple registered his fastball at 98 mph.

Let's make a deal, but which one?  —  ST. PETERSBURG - At the July 2005 trading deadline, the Devil Rays were involved in serious talks with the Mets and Red Sox about three-way deal in which they would have given up Danys Baez, Aubrey Huff and Julio Lugo and gotten back a handful of prospects.

YANKS MULL SIGN-AND-TRADE WITH SHEFFIELD  —  Once the Yanks obtained Bobby Abreu, the natural inclination was to assume they would not pick up Gary Sheffield's $13-million option for 2007.  But they are seriously contemplating doing just that.  Not for him to play first base or DH.  But to trade him.

Catcher Hoover embraces his upbringing  —  Having grown up the son of deaf parents, Marlins catcher Paul Hoover is sure he faced some unusual challenges as a child.  It's just that he can't seem to remember them.  —  ''I didn't know any different,'' said Hoover, who became the 21st rookie …

Why not Whitey?  —  Herzog itching to manage again, eyes Cubs job  —  The circumstances would have to be right, but Whitey Herzog told me on the phone Thursday that he would consider coming back to manage a major league baseball team again.  The first thing he wants to let any prospective employer …