Cuban baseball player defects  —  Dayán Viciedo, a promising 19-year-old third baseman, wants to play baseball in the major leagues.  —  Facebook  —  AIM  —  El Nuevo Herald  —  Cuban baseball's brightest star, Dayán Viciedo, has escaped from Cuba and is now in Miami …

Chipper out with slight tear in leg muscle  —  Third baseman hopes he will be able to return soon  —  ATLANTA — Chipper Jones was held out of Sunday afternoon's lineup with a right quadriceps strain that he hopes won't force him to miss more than just a few games.

Why do I keep using OPS?  —  In a comment to my latest “weekly” stat review for the Reds, Bluzer politely critiqued my use of OPS (and, by extension, PrOPS).  OPS is certainly not a great statistic.  For details on some of the arguments made against it, check out Patriot's fine assault on it here.

Rays' Gomes drops appeal of five-game suspension  —  ARLINGTON, Texas — OF/DH Jonny Gomes dropped his appeal and served the first game of his five-game suspension Saturday as the Rays began taking their punishment for last week's brawl, a process that will leave them short-handed …

Hawpe's slam sinks Brewers  —  Forget about a fire sale for the Rockies.  —  With Brad Hawpe back, the only heat being felt in the Rockies' dugout is coming from Hawpe's bat.  —  With one mighty swing in the first inning Saturday night at Coors Field, Hawpe crushed the first grand slam …

FIX OF THE TRADES  —  YANKS CAN WIN NOW IF THEY DEAL NOW  —  THE Yankees are trapped between objectives.  They are the $200 million-plus team that is playing or tomorrow.  They are doing onthe- job training - and restraining - of young pitchers while targeting World Series victory No. 27 in 2008.

Pen writes story of Texas Rangers' frustrating loss to Rays  —  egrant@dallasnews.com  —  ARLINGTON - Maybe it's the result of all those innings they had to pitch early in the season.  Maybe it's due to the encroaching summer heat.  Maybe the constant shuffling of bodies has played a part.

Prior plans to pitch again in future  —  After surgery, right-hander determined to work his way back  —  SAN DIEGO — He didn't look like it Saturday, but Mark Prior said he will pitch again.  —  The Padres' right-hander stood in the clubhouse with his right shoulder bandaged and his right arm …

The Number 23 Proves Unlucky For LSU  —  Saturday was the only day assured to feature a full slate of eight super-regional games, but Sunday will bring seven more games, as three of Friday's losers evened their series to force rubber games.  The lone team to punch its ticket to Omaha on Saturday …

Walking a Tightrope  —  Greg Reynolds picked up his first major league win Saturday night, allowing two runs over six innings against the Brewers in Colorado.  However, he walked two and struck out none.  In his six MLB starts so far, Greg walked 20 and struck out 9.  That's a K/BB of 0.45.

Mets Caught in a Loop of 2-1 Losses in San Diego  —  SAN DIEGO — Petco Park is an unforgiving place for struggling teams.  Just ask the Mets, who missed facing the Padres' top three pitchers (Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Greg Maddux) in this series but have nevertheless treated Josh Banks …

Bonderman likely out rest of season  —  Tigers pitcher undergoes medical procedure for blood clot  —  DETROIT — The injury news kept getting worse for the Tigers on Saturday.  Starting pitcher Jeremy Bonderman was placed on the 15-day disabled list after a blood clot just under his throwing shoulder and could be lost for the season.

Damon, Yankees scorch Royals  —  NEW YORK — Back and forth the pendulum swung until finally the Yankees wrested it back to their side.  They were not about to lose this game.  —  Johnny Damon hit a walk-off single in the ninth inning on Saturday, boosting the Yankees to a wild 12-11 win over the Royals on Yankee Stadium.