Yankees top Orioles, gain ground on Red Sox  —  The Yankees' bullpen phone might have been broken but the scoreboard was working just fine.  —  As the Yankees muddled through a 3-hour and 54-minute, 8-5 victory over the Orioles at the Stadium last night, their fans, players and manager already …

Blue Jays 2, Sox 0  —  For those of you who missed it — or are relying on the blog for your news — Tim Wakefield gave up a first-inning, two-run homer to Frank Thomas to bring the score to 2-0.  (Vernon Wells was on base after being walked.)  —  The roof is open at Rogers Centre and, for that, you can definitely blame Wakefield.

Mets make four errors, blow lead to Nationals  —  WASHINGTON - Uh-oh.  —  With all the talk about which starter to bump from the rotation come the postseason, perhaps it's worth noting that the Mets may not be playing in October - leaving SNY with "Street Games" repeats for its programming.

Derek Jeter moves into 4th place on Yanks' all-time hit list  —  The names not only are links to the Yankees' fabled past, but they are baseball royalty.  Known as much by their nicknames as for what they accomplished on the field.  —  The Iron Horse.  The Babe.  The Mick.

5 Questions with... Rob Neyer  —  When it came time to select an interview subject for our One-Year Anniversary Celebration, it was really no contest.  There may be more powerful figures in sports (Bud Selig, I'm still awaiting your call).  There may be more controversial subjects …

Twins-Rangers: Punto to move to 2B next year  —  I mentioned recently that Nick Punto had a chance to start at second base next season.  Manager Ron Gardenhire today practically named Punto the starting 2B in 2008.  —  " We already know what we've got with Nick,'' Gardy said. "  We know we've got a player.

Pittsburgh (66-83) at San Diego (81-67)  —  The San Diego Padres opened their 10-game homestand with a bang over the weekend.  —  They'll be looking to build on a three-game sweep and move closer to the top of the NL West when they open a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.

Lopez busts out in M's win over A's  —  OAKLAND, Calif. — Jose Lopez hasn't had much reason to celebrate lately.  —  He's been criticized for his offensive drop-off and his defensive stumbles at second base.  —  So when Lopez finally celebrated a little in Monday's 4-0 win over the Oakland A's …

100 players you love to hate  —  The underachiever who always looks disinterested.  The loudmouth who complains from Day 1.  The choker who lets his team down when it matters most.  These are the players who drive their fans nuts.  —  In honor of these boo magnets, I set out to find …

Arizona's West lead cut to 1 with loss  —  PHOENIX (AP) — An eighth-inning meltdown cost the Arizona Diamondbacks half of their NL West lead.  —  Randy Winn and Pedro Feliz homered off Tony Pena in the eighth and the San Francisco Giants rallied for an 8-5 victory over Arizona on Monday night.

Fan Gives Back Thome's Milestone Ball  —  Jim Thome had something special in mind for his 500th home run ball: he wanted to make a road trip with his father to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY to hand-deliver the small piece of history.  He can now do that after hitting …

Gallardo leads Brewers past Astros 6-0  —  HOUSTON (AP) — Most of the Milwaukee Brewers kept an eye on the scoreboard in left field during Monday's game in Houston, eager to see what the Chicago Cubs were doing against Cincinnati.  —  Yovani Gallardo never looked.  He was too busy focusing on another dominant performance.

Philadelphia Phillies  —  80-69, 2nd East  —  Monday's NL Capsules  —  Washington's Nook Logan had three hits and New York committed four errors as the Nationals sent the Mets to their fourth straight loss, 12-4 on Monday night.  The Mets, who had six errors against Philadelphia on Sunday …

Mets' Martinez not hindered by shoulder  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Now that Pedro Martinez knows what it takes to come back from major shoulder surgery, don't count on him doing it again.  He would love to play another three or four years — as long as he avoids serious injury.