Mets report: Notes, quotes  —  The Sports Xchange  —C Paul Lo Duca's appeal hearing on his two-game suspension will be held Friday.  If the suspension isn't overturned, he must serve it immediately and would miss one or two games of the Houston series.

Two Final Pitches Leave Mussina Taking the Blame  —  Mike Mussina has pitched long enough to know the nuances of each loss, and he usually shows his feelings.  He reacts differently depending on what happened, whether the umpire squeezed him, or his teammates let him down, or the other team simply hammered him.

Notes: Slumping Church gets some rest  —  Escobar targets post-break return; Acta to mix up rotation  —  WASHINGTON — Ryan Church was kept out of Wednesday's lineup by manager Manny Acta, who is trying to get the outfielder out of a hitting slump.  Church hit just .239 in the month of June.

Johnson headed to disabled list  —  Right-hander exits after five scoreless innings vs. Padres  —  SAN DIEGO — Sailing along through five stellar innings on Wednesday, Josh Johnson's night came to a close while throwing warmup pitches before the sixth inning.

The Rockies love beating N.Y.  —  Hot bats help sweep other team from the Big Apple  —  The sound began at 6:21 p.m., piercing a sunlit evening straight from a postcard.  Either somebody had wrecked their car into the backstop or the Rockies were hitting.

Beltran seeing Stars  —  DENVER — When David Wright was selected to the National League All-Star team last year, it signified a public relations coming-out party, jetting from David Letterman to the home run derby.  But for Carlos Beltran, the invitation meant business.

Vote: MetsBlog's All-Time Mets 25-Man Roster  —  Recently a reader of MetsBlog sent in his All-Time Mets 25-Man Roster.  So, that got us here at MetsBlog thinking, which players would our readers elect to be a part of the All-Time Mets 25-Man Roster.  —  Over the next 10 weeks …

Detroit vs. Cleveland  —  GameCenter  · Full Play-by-Play  · Box Score  · Recap  · Game Chart  · Live Commentary (Glog)  —  INDIANS 1ST  —  Nate Robertson pitching:  —  Sizemore reached on bunt single to first.  —  Pickoff attempt to first …

Pirates Notebook: LaRoche asks fans to lay off Bay  —  Adam LaRoche was asked, after his big day in the Pirates' 5-3 victory against Milwaukee, how it felt to get cheered by the crowd of 35,878 after nearly half a season of being booed.  —  And he responded by calling upon the team's fans to lay off struggling left fielder Jason Bay.

Lugo: Playing here has great a-peel  —  He didn't have any hits, but Julio Lugo [stats] still considered last night a success.  —  "Bananas," Lugo said when asked how he was doing after the Red Sox [team stats]' 7-3 win against Texas.  "I feel bananas every day.

Buehrle wants no-trade protection  —  LIKE THIS STORY?  —  The staredown continues.  —  Jeff Berry, the agent for White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle, said Wednesday night that Buehrle will not sign a proposed four-year, $56 million contract with the Sox unless it includes complete no-trade protection.

BAPR Plus: July 5  —  There may be few days that minor league general managers look forward to more eagerly than the fourth of July.  Fireworks and a guaranteed sellout.  So there also are few things more disappointing for a minor league GM than a fourth of July rainout, which happened for 10 teams last night.