Washington, La Russa round out All-Star staffs  —  ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, the skipper for the American League squad in the All-Star Game for the second consecutive season, announced Wednesday that Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics and Ned Yost …

Guillen seeking more consistency from Hanley  —  MIAMI — A look at Hanley Ramirez's averages at home and on the road reflect the inconsistencies the third baseman has gone through.  —  At Marlins Park, Ramirez is batting .309 with five home runs and 20 RBIs.  On the road, he's hitting .195 with six home runs and 17 RBIs.

Strasburg shuts down Blue Jays, improves to 8-1  —  TORONTO (AP) — Stephen Strasburg won his fifth straight start, Tyler Moore hit the first two home runs of his career and the Washington Nationals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.

Final Score: Mets 9 Rays 1  —  The Mets (34-29) defeated the Rays (35-27) tonight by the score of 9-1 in Tampa tonight.  —  The Least You Should Know: … To get a full boxscore of tonight's game, check out SNY.TV's In-Game Live.  —  Matthew Cerrone: First off, Dickey is currently …

Epstein admits to errors late in Red Sox tenure  —  While he was adamant that he was proud of his overall body of work with the team, former Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein acknowledged Wednesday that late in his tenure he veered from the philosophy of patience he helped to instill in order to try to win immediately.

Son Of Dominican Trainer Used False Age  —  A son of Enrique Soto, one of the most powerful trainers in the Dominican Republic over the last two decades, used a false age when he signed with the Mariners in 2007, according to multiple sources familiar with the case.

White Sox agree to deal with top pick Hawkins  —  ST. LOUIS — Courtney Hawkins, who was taken with the 13th overall selection in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, has agreed to terms with the White Sox, as confirmed by two sources to MLB.com.  —  The 18-year-old from Carroll High School in Corpus Christi …

Former VP Of Umpiring Mike Port Says Bobby Valentine Whines About Umpiring and is Skeptical of Using Technology for Accurate Balls and Strikes Calls  —  Bobby Valentine is at once again folks.  It wouldn't be a Major League Baseball game if there wasn't some sort of controversy …

Aaron Miles opts for retirement  —  One of the ultimate underdogs, Aaron Miles put together a nine-year career in the big leagues after debuting at age 26.  Now he's opted to calling it a day, according to his Triple-A team, retiring at age 35.  —  After receiving 12 at-bats with the White Sox …

David Wright is leading All Star voting for NL 3B  —  David Wright leads all National League third basemen in voting for this year's All-Star Game, which will be played July 10 in Kansas City.  —  Wright, who has 1,358,992 votes, is followed by Pablo Sandoval (1,103,650), then David Freese (1,095,206) and Chipper Jones (1,054,586).

The numbers suggest he's developed some bad habits as his slump deepens  —  Adrian Gonzalez is 108th in the majors in OPS.  Right behind Willie Bloomquist and Juan Pierre.  —  Albert Pujols's struggles have sat under a microscope for the past 10 weeks.  Yet with a .757 OPS, he's had a better offensive season than Gonzalez (.720).

Utley booed after fifth at-bat ends in third strikeout  —  UPDATE FIVE  —  CLEARWATER, Fla. — The crowd is thinning here at Bright House Field as the game heads to extra innings, but a few of the fans that remained booed Chase Utley after Tampa Yankees lefty Rigaberto Arrebato struck him out to end the bottom of the ninth inning.

Richards pitches Padres past Mariners, 5-4  —  SEATTLE—Clayton Richards pitched seven strong innings, Everth Cabrera had an RBI triple in a four-run sixth and the San Diego Padres hung on for a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.  —  Seattle starter Felix Hernandez (4-5) foundered in his first outing in 11 days.

A-Rod ties Gehrig for slams lead with No. 23  —  ATLANTA — There are times when Alex Rodriguez can be passive about events in his career, but not on Tuesday night, not when his 23rd career grand slam tied Lou Gehrig for the all-time lead in that category and helped send the Yankees to a 6-4 victory over the Braves at Turner Field.

Bumgarner Homers in Giants' 6-3 Win  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Madison Bumgarner had a season-high 12 strikeouts and hit his first major league home run to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.  —  Bumgarner connected on a 2-1 pitch …

Dodgers Rally to Beat Angels 5-2  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former Angel Juan Rivera hit a three-run home run and Andre Ethier added his 500th career RBI in the eighth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers rally to beat the Angels 5-2 Tuesday night and end their 10-game road winning streak.