Need a veteran lefty?  Red Sox's Wells clears waivers  —  After suffering a five-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, the Red Sox might have to begin looking toward 2007.  If Boston does cut bait on this season, David Wells will be available to the highest bidder.

Park scratched after recurrence of intestinal bleeding  —  SAN DIEGO (AP) — Padres right-hander Chan Ho Park was scratched from his start Monday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers due to a recurrence of intestinal bleeding that recently forced him to go on the disabled list.

Lilly-Gibbons argument leaves manager bloodied  —  TORONTO — Blue Jays manager John Gibbons wound up with a bloody nose after tangling with Toronto pitcher Ted Lilly near the dugout during Monday night's game against Oakland.  —  It was not known whether any punches were thrown.

Cubs get in licks, can't get the KO  —  Phillies survive 16-hit barrage, improve to .500  —  In what may be the worst wild-card race baseball has ever seen, Philadelphia is making a mockery of mediocrity.  —  The Phillies climbed to .500 on Monday night with a 6-5 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field …

Sean McAdam: Sox lose games and perspective  —  BOSTON — There's bad, there's embarrassing, and somewhere, there's a level below to describe what happened to the Red Sox in their five-game self-immolation against the Yankees.  —  "Everything went about as wrong as it could," …

Seat gets warmer for several managers  —  Rarely do teams fire managers in August, but the Mariners easily could justify the dismissal of Mike Hargrove.  —  The mounting case against Hargrove includes 20 consecutive losses to AL West opponents, highlighted by a just-completed 0-11 trip to Texas …

Pirates Notebook: GM in search of left-handed power bat  —  By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  —  ATLANTA — The Pirates plan to search for a left-handed power bat to play first base or right field in 2007, preferably someone young enough that they can control his rights for several seasons.

THE HOT SHEET … IN THE TEAM PHOTO … THE NOT-SO-HOT SHEET … BLAST FROM THE PAST … HELIUM WATCH

PawSox swept in Ottawa  —  OTTAWA — Sins of commission, sins of ommission.  The Pawtucket Red Sox found a way to commit both in last night's doubleheader with the Ottawa Lynx, and paid for that with twin losses, 6-3, and 1-0, before 2,577 at Lynx Stadium.  —  In the opener …

Under The Knife  —  Cascade Blues  —  Okay, so shoot me, but I was watching the Colts-Seahawks game tonight while the Sox and Yanks were in rain delay, and something in particular caught my eye.  One of the things that NBC is doing to promote its new Sunday night game is a modified fantasy contest …