Former Alex Rodriguez foe Dallas Braden appalled by Oakland's ‘Get Off My Mound’ T-shirts  —  OAKLAND - Robinson Cano broke out a “Get Off My Mound” T-shirt in the visiting trainer's room before Monday night's game, causing an eruption of laughter inside the Yankees' clubhouse.

Mariners keeping mum on Cliff Lee  —  But MLB insiders expect former Cy Young winner to be traded before deadline … If you're looking for hints on Seattle pitcher Cliff Lee's next destination, they won't be coming from the horse's mouth.  Right around the time Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan …

Tampa Bay Rays' B.J. Upton surprised, disappointed to be benched for matchup reasons  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Manager Joe Maddon had his reasons for not starting CF B.J. Upton on Monday, primarily Upton's 1-for-13 career mark against Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka compared with four other Rays who Maddon felt needed to play.

Catcher Martinez hasn't received call from team  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's a familiar scene before Red Sox games.  Victor Martinez shagging flies in the outfield, and watching his son, Victor Jose Martinez, and Little Papi (D'Angelo Ortiz), chasing each other around.

Swisher has early AL Final Vote lead  —  Outfielder trying to win last roster spot for All-Star Game  —  OAKLAND — Nick Swisher heard the buzz spilling from his Bleacher Creatures in right field at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, shortly after Major League Baseball announced nearly all of the participants …

Ex-Cardinal Dmitri Young jailed in Bloomington  —  BLOOMINGTON — Former major league baseball player Dmitri Young was arrested by McLean County Sheriff's Department police early Monday on preliminary charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

Live-blogging the Beckett sim game  —  Josh Beckett is about to get to work here at Tropicana Field.  He'll be facing five players from the GCL Red Sox and maybe Jeremy Hermida, too.  —  Stay tuned for reports here.  —  UPDATE, 2:20 p.m.: Hermida is hitting first.

Madden: Ace stuff not there for Pelfrey  —  For the Mets, it's been kind of a season of mini-seasons, beginning with that 4-8 start that didn't include Ike Davis and certainly didn't bode well for the summer of opportunity it's become.  —  After that, there was the 9-1 first long home stand …

The time a Nolan Ryan rookie card was mistakenly sold for $12  —  It's one of the controversial stories I remember most from my childhood.  —  Back in 1990, in a baseball card shop just a few Chicago suburbs over from where I grew up, a 13-year-old named Bryan Wrzesinski bought …

Future Shock Blog  —  Minor League Update: Games of July 5  —  Domonic Brown, OF, Phillies (Triple-A Lehigh Valley): 2-for-4, HR (4), 2 R, RBI, BB, K, SB.  —  Put him on the short list of prospects that with nearly any other team would be in the big leagues.

POSTGAME NOTES: Sabean has an eye on Brewers, Posey wrist update, notes on Huff, Renteria, Ishikawa, etc.  —  There's a lot of stealth activity at the July 31 trade deadline, and for us beat reporters, that means a whole Chinese province full of tea leaves to read.

Curtis Granderson's BABIP  —  New York Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson is in the midst of his fifth full season in the major leagues.  After performing at roughly a league-average clip at the plate in 2006 (.333 wOBA), Granderson went on to crush the ball in 2007 and 2008.

Dealin' Dan flipped over Rox's future  —  Dealin' Dan has made 106 trades in 11 years.  —  Daniel J. O'Dowd's office at Coors Field should be called Bartertown.  On Jan. 14, 2000, the Rockies' new general manager pulled off his first deal — sending pitchers Lariel Gonzalez and Bobby Jones to the Mets for pitcher Masato Yoshii.