Red-hot Cano, commanding A.J. carry Yanks  —  BALTIMORE — Robinson Cano's bat lay near home plate on Thursday, and for a split second, at least one person on the field wondered if it should be checked.  The crack of ball meeting wood just seemed too loud.  —  It's been that way for Cano …

A behind-the-scenes look at the Ryan Howard contract  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on MLB on FOX.  Follow him on Twitter.  —  The debate over Ryan Howard's new contract is not likely to subside anytime soon.

Sox should redial Dye  —  Ozzie's moribund offense could use some pop in lineup  —  ARLINGTON, Texas — Two weeks.  That's all Jermaine Dye guesses he'll need to be ready to face major-league pitching.  —  A lot could happen to the White Sox in those two weeks.

Whit's wisdom to Javy: 'I've been there'  —  Ed Whitson ends long silence about his hellish stint with Yankees in the '80s  —  Ed Whitson will talk about the booing, the hate mail, the death threats, and what Javier Vazquez needs to do at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon …

Baseball alarmed by Arizona immigration law  —  Hundreds of teenage ballplayers arrive every year in the United States trying to make a better life.  They come from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and Mexico and elsewhere, all to play the most American of games.  Most grew up in poverty.

Sterling too visible at White House  —  As several readers couldn't help but notice, this week there was another serious security breach at the White House, when John Sterling was allowed entirely too close to President Obama.  —  Looking like a wax figure, Sterling was posed and positioned …

Eight issues Red Sox must overcome … Here are eight things worth fretting about as the Red Sox close out the first month of the season Friday night in Baltimore.  —  1. The Rays' start  —  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  The Rays (17-5) are baseball's most voracious predators so far this season …

In A Bad Spot  —  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was standing on the field in Cincinnati, talking to C. Trent Rosecrans and a couple of other beat writers.  It was Opening Day and the grass on Great AmericanBall Park's field was freshly cut and slightly wet.

Dickey gives Bisons a mound masterpiece  —  It was far from a perfect night for baseball Thursday at chilly, wind-whipped Coca-Cola Field.  —  Didn't matter to Buffalo Bisons knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.  He was just about perfect.  —  “I felt like I could throw another nine [innings] …

So Cruel: U2's tour to send Angels on a 14-game trip in June  —  U2 frontman Bono is always talking about wanting to change the world.  He's a real crusader-musician, that one.  —  And there's at least one place where his mysterious ways are very effective: The Major League Baseball season.

The Market For Chris Iannetta  —  Most of the attention this week went to the signing of Ryan Howard, but the strangest move may have been Colorado's decision to send Chris Iannetta to the minor leagues.  —  Iannetta, 27, had a tremendous 2008, hitting .264/.390/.505 in 407 plate appearances.

Red Sox coach blames ‘bad habits’ from Indians on Victor Martinez's throwing struggles  —  Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports that Victor Martinez has tried to improve his woeful throwing numbers by participating in twice-daily workout sessions with catching instructor Gary Tuck.

PawSox Journal: Top prospect Lars Anderson lands in Pawtucket  —  PAWTUCKET — Dust off that hype machine and crank it back up: Lars Anderson, the onetime top prospect in the Red Sox system, has been promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket after blistering Double-A pitching over the first month of the season.

Rangers' Rich Harden finds little comfort in first victory  —  ARLINGTON — A look at the career stats of Rich Harden shows that opponents just don't have much success when putting the ball in play against him.  —  He entered the season with the second-lowest opponents' batting average among pitchers with 125 starts at .220.

Cooperstown Confidential: Bob Locker talks Marvin Miller  —  During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bob Locker emerged as one of the game's most reliable and durable relief pitchers.  The sinkerballing right hander became the relief ace for the Chicago White Sox, saving a career-high 20 games in 1967 …