My reactions to Wright/Collins situation  —  Last night, following a solo home run by Rickie Weeks, D.J Carrasco plunked Ryan Braun with the next pitch.  —  David Wright was scheduled to lead off the bottom of the inning, but Terry Collins pulled him from the game and put Jordany Valdespin in instead.

Nationals righty Wang willing to pitch in relief  —  WASHINGTON — Right-hander Chien-Ming Wang is willing to pitch in relief — as unlikely as it seems that the Washington Nationals would ask him to do that.  —  Wang has yet to pitch for Washington this season after hurting his left hamstring during …

Jays' Lawrie suspended 4 games for ump altercation  —  TORONTO—Brett Lawrie of the Toronto Blue Jays has been suspended for four games by Major League Baseball after he threw his batting helmet and it bounced off an umpire.  —  The penalty was imposed Wednesday and included an undisclosed fine.

Ex-White Sox, Orioles pitcher Hickey dies at 56  —  CHICAGO — Kevin Hickey, who pitched in six major league seasons with the White Sox and the Orioles and who was a coach with Chicago, has died.  He was 56.  —  The team said Hickey died Wednesday at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Mattingly, Hansen working with struggling Gordon  —  SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers held a course in remedial hitting for struggling shortstop Dee Gordon before Wednesday's game.  —  Rather than in the privacy of the indoor batting cage, manager Don Mattingly and hitting coach Dave Hansen …

New pitching approaches can yield dramatic results  —  One of the newer frontiers in baseball analysis is PitchF/X, the system installed in every major league ballpark that collects data on every pitched ball.  This voluminous resource is a treasure trove for researchers …

Angels fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher  —  From Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com comes word that the Angels have fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher.  —  Triple-A Salt Lake hitting instructor Jim Eppard has been promoted to serve as his replacement.  —  The news comes with odd timing considering …

Diamondbacks top Dodgers 5-1  —  LOS ANGELES—Wade Miley wiggled out of a couple jams while pitching into the seventh inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers' five-game winning streak with a 5-1 victory Tuesday night.  —  Miley (4-1) yielded eight hits and walked …

Josh Johnson Pitches Marlins Past Pirates 6-2  —  MIAMI (AP) — Josh Johnson allowed two runs over seven innings for his first victory in more than a year, and the Miami Marlins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Tuesday night.  —  Johnson (1-3) had gone winless in 12 starts since his most recent victory on April 19, 2011.