Stephen Strasburg fans 8 in 4 innings as Nats top Cards 13-5  —  VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Stephen Strasburg (FSY) watched two of his first 11 pitches sail out of the ballpark.  He didn't flinch.  —  So much for the notion that the Washington Nationals' top pitching prospect can't handle a little adversity.

At 38, Jorge Posada says he's far from done  —  TAMPA, Fla. - Jorge Posada isn't vain enough to ignore what's going on between Joe Mauer and the Twins - or, more accurately, what's not happening in their curiously stalled contract negotiation.  The longer the game's best catcher goes without …

Shame we can't see Dodgers' true potential  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on MLB on FOX.  —  Defenders of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt — the few that exist — point to the team's two straight appearances …

Sabermetrics: Stats guru advising Blue Jays  —  There's no statistic too obscure for Blue Jays adviser Tom Tango, a self-taught, secretive superstar in the growing field of sabermetrics … Tom Tango, one of the Toronto Blue Jays' latest acquisitions, won't be pitching, catching or hitting for the club this season.

Francoeur gets license to steal  —  JUPITER, Fla. — Last summer, after Jeff Francoeur was acquired from the Braves, Mets manager Jerry Manuel asked him to try to steal more bases.  Francoeur, though, couldn't quite handle that.  —  “Jerry wanted me to,” Francoeur said yesterday, “but I just don't know how.”

Lajoie excels at scouting intangibles  —  Former Tigers GM publishes book about his career  —  There was a very interesting point that came out of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference held recently in Boston.  —  In a panel discussion on baseball analytics, with some of the bright young minds …

Reds 6, Mariners 2: Don Wakamatsu rips umpire over Milton Bradley “witch hunt”  —  Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu just went off on Class AAA umpire Jon Merry for ejecting Milton Bradley in the fourth inning.  —  “To me, it's almost like a witch hunt,” he said.

Johan bested by former mates  —  Mets fall to Twins; Santos hits second spring homer  —  TWINS 7, METS 3  —  Twins at the plate: Rookies Danny Valencia and Wilson Ramos, neither of whom was a teammate of Johan Santana, hit solo home runs against the Mets' ace in the second inning.

For Cubs core, this could be the last hurrah  —  Window of opportunity closing for Lee, Lilly, Soriano, Ramirez, Dempster, Piniella and Hendry  —  Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee tags out White Sox's Juan Pierre in the first inning.  (Tony Dejak, Associated Press / March 19, 2010)

Oney Guillen, son of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, has resigned from his position with the team  —  Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen stormed past media representatives after Friday's Cubs-Sox game in Glendale, Ariz. It was the first time in anyone's recollection that Guillen didn't talk to media after a baseball game.

Retaining Washington made sense for Rangers  —  Rangers bosses Nolan Ryan (the club president) and Jon Daniels (the GM) certainly showed their compassionate side in deciding to keep manager Ron Washington after he failed an MLB-administered test for cocaine following the All-Star break last year, as reported here first on Wednesday.

Cliff Lee on flight back to Seattle  —  UPDATE: 4:10 p.m.Turns out it's a lower abdominal strain.  He'll be re-evaluated in a week, but will likely miss at least a couple.  —  Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee has left the team and flown back to Seattle.  He arrived in Seattle at 2:10 Pacific time.