Perez wins arbitration case  —  Hearing was first for Mets since Cone's 16 years ago  —  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Pitcher Oliver Perez won his salary arbitration case against the Mets on Friday and will be paid $6.5 million this year rather than the team's offer of $4,725,000.

Hughes hitting glove with more force  —  Right-hander's comfort, velocity have increased  —  TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees' catching tandem was ready to hit the streets after another early afternoon at camp when Jose Molina dropped by with a tidbit for Jorge Posada.

Live BP, Jeter's reax to MVP prediction  —  The first live batting practice of the spring is coming up in an hour or so.  —  The following pitchers are scheduled to throw:  —  Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Sean Henn, Jeff Karstens, Steven Jackson …

Photo looms as Roger woe  —  As the congressional committee that spent nine weeks considering Roger Clemens' attack on the Mitchell Report now quietly mulls referring the entire matter to the Justice Department, federal investigators seasoned in the anti-doping game are ready to hit the ground running.

Manny, Red Sox Willing To Wait  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. — David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were the only players who didn't participate in conditioning drills for position players Thursday afternoon.  —  Ortiz, coming off knee surgery, was excused.  Ramirez, it appears, excused himself.

The Best of the Newest, 2008 edition  —  Each year around this time, we take a look at the young players with no major league experience who have the highest PECOTA on a position-by-position basis.  Some of these players are ready enough to pop, while others are still a few years away.

Harper: Beltran takes second cut  —  PORT ST. LUCIE - The good news for the Mets is that as the rhetoric heats up, Carlos Beltran is not backpedaling from his uncharacteristic bit of bravado aimed at Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies last week.  —  In fact, the Quiet Man understands …

Milli Vanilli lives on  —  Here's something you don't see every day in a major-league clubhouse.  When a New York radio reporter approached Pedro Martinez for an interview, the pitcher replied, “If you sing ‘Blame it on the Rain,’ I'll dance to it.”  —  Sure enough, the reporter started singing, and Pedro started dancing.

Spring Training: Blass' speech floors players  —  Nutting, Coonelly stress accountability in meeting  —  BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates' players know Steve Blass as a broadcaster and, away from the booth, as one funny individual.  —  Yesterday, they saw a different side when he addressed …

Math supports Marmol  —  MESA, Ariz. — No matter how you add up this Cubs closer race, two plus two equals Carlos Marmol.  —  That was underscored again Thursday when the three candidates for Ryan Dempster's vacated spot threw their first live batting-practice sessions of spring training …

Slimmed down Delgado  —  Watching Carlos Delgado take grounders during infield drills, if he wasn't standing at first, I wouldn't recognize him.  He looks a lot leaner, and that could help him defensively.  Delgado is not exactly Keith Hernandez at first base, but he does appear more agile, for what it's worth at this point.

With Sinker in Tow, a Journey Begins  —  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Once in a while, Eddie Kunz will insert into his DVD player a disc of a baseball game played June 13, 2005.  He fast forwards to the juicy part, the sixth inning, and he watches himself, a 19-year-old freshman at the time …

No more steaks for Fielder  —  Brewers star feels ‘amazing’ after becoming vegetarian  —  PHOENIX — Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder does not look like a vegetarian.  So when people find out that he's giving it a try, they have approximately the same reaction.