Dehydration, being "stressed out" sent Ortiz to hospital  —  SEATTLE (AP) — Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said stress and nearly a week of sleeplessness caused dehydration and eventually the irregular heartbeat that landed him in a Boston hospital last weekend.

Cubs aren't counting out Pie for call-up  —  ST. LOUIS — The Cubs have made no decision on whether to call up top prospect Felix Pie on Friday, but all signs point to the 21-year-old making his major-league debut during the next homestand.  —  Pie has raised his average to .282 with 13 home runs and 55 RBIs at Triple-A Iowa.

Wright's Power Has Dimmed, Even if His Energy Has Not  —  David Wright's smile and personality help him appeal to non-baseball audiences.  He appeared as a guest of David Letterman in July.  —  David Wright cracked a pitch deep, deep, deep toward right field Thursday night.

Padres-Rockies Preview  —  Fresh off a sweep of the NL West leaders, the San Diego Padres will try to reclaim a share of first place on Friday when they begin a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.  —  San Diego (65-62) is coming off a 5-5 homestand …

Little League to enforce pitch count  —  Rules seen as way to protect young arms  —  SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Beaverton, Ore., manager Jeff Keller has accompanied his players to the trainer's room many times this week at the Little League World Series.  The sight, he recalled, has been unsettling.

DeCinces, Hoiles proud of O's honor  —  Third baseman, catcher enter team Hall of Fame this weekend  —  BALTIMORE — Doug DeCinces faced a truly thankless task during his time playing third base for the Orioles — replacing Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson.  But DeCinces always handled …

Crosby on DL for the second time this season  —  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby was put on the disabled list Friday after playing just four games since returning from the same lower back strain.  —  The move was retroactive to Tuesday …

Sabean looks ahead to Giants' future  —  General manager chats about club's current and future needs … Brian Sabean: Hello, I'm happy to be here with all of you again today.  Thank you for taking the time to join me this afternoon.  I'm always interested to hear what our fans …

Hicks: Rangers have underachieved  —  Owner says that Showalter is safe as the team's manager  —  ARLINGTON — Tom Hicks would have preferred a different kind of conversation on the day of his return to Ameriquest Field after a week of vacation in Argentina.

Vazquez aims to feed off his recent failure  —  Sunday's setback vs. Twins a learning tool  —  DETROIT — Javier Vazquez will take the mound Friday night against the same Twins team that beat him Sunday.  —  Despite that loss, Vazquez and White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper …

Wagner: Winning the most important  —  Billy Wagner hasn't been asked a question about "Enter Sandman" in months, and with a streak of 10 consecutive saves, as well as 18 in his last 20 chances, there's not much buzz around his locker these days.  —  Which is just fine for a closer …

Tracing his roots as a fan  —  It's not about who's to blame  —  I appeared to strike a chord in the readership earlier this week by writing the following: ``The truth is we need to sit down and figure what sports are all about.  We've lost our way.  It was in reference to the Yankees' infamous five …

Cards Notebook: Edmonds back in lineup  —  New York: Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Thursday he expects to write center fielder Jim Edmonds into the lineup tonight for the first time in more than a week.  —  Edmonds, recovering from post-concussion syndrome, has not started since Aug. 15 …

Casey's goof just part of stinker of an effort  —  DETROIT — It was the worst play of the worst blowout this season.  It was an amazing fluke, an astonishing rarity, and it didn't mean anything, except that it put a goofy hat atop a stinkin' pile of baseball.