Hanson superb before Braves awaken late  —  Starter tosses four strong innings; Parraz, Constanza clutch  —  VIERA, Fla. — The Nationals and Braves found themselves in a pitchers' duel on Wednesday afternoon before the Braves tied it in the ninth and eventually won it in the 10th, 3-2, at Space Coast Stadium.

Hughes completes five against Rays  —  PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Right-hander Phil Hughes let up two runs over five innings in Wednesday afternoon's 5-2 Yankees victory over the Rays, as his bid to be New York's fifth starter continued.  —  With the game tied at 2 entering the top of the ninth inning …

New-look Red Sox hope to put collapse behind  —  The Red Sox begin their second century at Fenway Park with a lot of changes.  Considering the way the first century ended, that's good.  —  Since missing the playoffs with the worst September collapse in baseball history …

New setback for Carpenter  —  JUPITER, Fla.  • Cardinals co-ace Chris Carpenter returned to St. Louis on Tuesday to be further examined by nerve specialists after experiencing renewed symptoms associated with a bulging cervical disc.  —  Carpenter, who threw live batting practice Sunday …

The Business Of Baseball 2012  —  Click for full photo gallery: Baseball's Most Valuable Teams  —  The National Pastime is flourishing thanks to cable companies' desire for live baseball programming.  —  The average Major League Baseball team rose 16% in value during the past year, to an all-time high of $605 million.

Seattle's Hernandez Hit Hard in Final Spring Start  —  PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — Felix Hernandez allowed seven earned runs over five innings in his final spring training start and the Seattle Mariners were roughed up by the Chicago White Sox 13-8 Wednesday.  —  King Felix gave up 10 hits in five innings and eight runs overall.

Seeking fifth-starter job, Oliver's rhythm off  —  Lefty prospect's control issues continue as he walks five  —  LAKELAND, Fla. — Andy Oliver is too young to be outrunning a reputation.  —  He's also trying to show he's not too young yet to hold down a rotation spot on a team that's expected to win.

Britton receives platelet rich plasma therapy  —  SARASOTA, Fla. — Zach Britton received two rounds of platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy on Wednesday, a new and increasingly popular procedure that he hopes will help heal the inflammation in his left shoulder that has plagued him since August.

Timmons, real-life Crash Davis, may finally get Hollywood ending … PHOENIX — Wes Timmons thought it was another march to the baseball gallows.  —  Eight of his A's teammates had already been cut from big-league camp in the previous 24 hours, so when he received a summons to the manager's office …

Inbox: Does Washington get enough respect?  —  Reporter T.R. Sullivan answers Rangers fans' questions  —  Everybody says that Ron Washington's main asset is that he gets players to play hard, and during the playoffs last year they kept making a big deal about how excited he gets.

Could Cubs' glut of starting pitchers lead to trade?  —  MESA, Ariz. - The eye-opening emergence of Jeff Samardzija as a starting pitcher for the Cubs could turn a rotation candidate into a very expensive Class AAA pitcher by Opening Day - or a valuable trade commodity.