Notes: Mets focusing on this season with Green  —  It's easy to understand why the Mets want right fielder Shawn Green for the rest of this season: With Cliff Floyd on the disabled list, they've been rotating Endy Chavez, Michael Tucker and rookie Lastings Milledge in their corner-outfield spots.

Under The Knife  —  Gossip and Expectations  —  Okay, enough rumors—I'm used to reporting on them, not being in them.  Over the past few months, I've been in discussion with ESPN about several projects, some of which you'll see very soon.  My football injuries column moves from Football Outsiders …

Wait till next year . . . or year after that  —  There still is a smoldering, five-game pileup on the side of the Mass Pike, but the Red Sox want their fans to avert their eyes and focus instead on the road ahead.  —  The company line goes something like this: At least Theo Epstein …

That's just Manny and his hammies (And it's just Manny being omnisciently sourced)  —  Imagine you're married to a smoking hot chick.  (I say chick only because, judging from the comments and names of people who've registered on the site, it seems as if most of the blog's readers are men.

Nationals' Defense 'Springs a Leak'  —  This is how it goes for the Washington Nationals in these long, dreary days of August.  Take the lead, then give it right back.  Make a good pitch to a savvy hitter, then watch a fielder boot the ball.  Tie the score in the top of the eighth inning …

Squandered Opportunities Cost Yankees  —  Joe Torre did not say it to his players because he did not feel he had to.  Three thousand miles and one day removed from completing a five-game sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Torre expected his tired Yankee team to understand the sweep …

Rangers GM talks to his future free agents  —  GM begins early discussions with club's impending free agents  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - General manager Jon Daniels has begun talking with agents representing the club's impending free agents but said he doesn't want it to become a distraction in the clubhouse.

Reds prepare grievance vs. Nats  —  Could take case to Bowden, or MLB, to settle matter  —  General manager Wayne Krivsky's standard answer about the Gary Majewski controversy lately has been: "We're having internal discussions."  —  But the Reds are doing more than simply talking.

Double standard  —  Sheffield gets free pass while A-Rod gets grilled  —  Let's get this straight: Alex Rodriguez gets ripped like Dean Martin at closing time for casually mentioning that he has played hurt this season — and those close to A-Rod say he weathered a nagging groin injury …

Being Julio Franco  —  Were this story to start with my stomach doing a loop-de-loop, it would not sufficiently explain how I tried to stifle the aging process, so let's instead begin with the two-pound omelet and work from there.  —  Every morning, Julio Franco takes 20 or so eggs …

Clinton visits Cards' clubhouse  —  NEW YORK — After telling a gathering of people at Shea Stadium on Tuesday how he listened to Cardinals baseball as a boy in Arkansas, former President Bill Clinton stopped in for a pregame clubhouse visit with manager Tony La Russa and the players.

In College Football, Big Paydays for Humiliation  —  The University at Buffalo football team went 1-10 last season and did not score a touchdown until the fourth game.  For nearly a decade, it has been considered one of the worst teams in college football.  —  Buffalo is just the kind …

Top 10 stretch drive predictions  —  We're more than halfway through August, and that means baseball's stretch drive is about to get crankin'.  —  Although games in late August and September are no more important than games in May (they all count equally in the standings, you know) …

Their tools of ignominy  —  A baseball box score adds up as neatly as an accountant's ledger.  For every home run, walk or strikeout in a hitter's column, there is an accompanying mark for the pitcher.  For every winner, there is — as every Cubs fan knows — a loser.

Hacking Bernie  —  What About The Children (And Their Wallets)?  —  At first the idea sounds nuts, like barbecuing in the nude, or a Madonna concert.  But then when you think about it ... why shouldn't kids get paid for playing in the Little League World Series?