Mets closer Francisco eggs on Subway rival by calling Yankees ‘chickens’  —  Mets on Twitter  —  At least somebody isn't afraid to talk trash about a cross-town rival.  —  “I can't wait to face those chickens,” Mets closer Frank Francisco told The Post when asked about playing the Yankees …

Oswalt Sharp in 1st Start of the Season  —  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Roy Oswalt pitched efficiently into the seventh inning in his first start of the season and the Texas Rangers won their seventh straight, beating the slumping Colorado Rockies 4-1 on Friday night.

Greinke, Brewers Beat White Sox 1-0 in 10  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Zack Greinke pitched three-hit ball over nine innings, Rickie Weeks drove in the lone run with a single in the 10th and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0 on Friday night.  —  The Brewers finally pulled …

Beltran Powers Cardinals to 11-4 Win Over Royals  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Carlos Beltran hit two two-run doubles in his return to Kauffman Stadium, and the St. Louis Cardinals pounded Vin Mazzaro and the Kansas City Royals 11-4 on Friday night.  —  David Freese and Tyler Greene added …

Indians Beat Astros 2-0 in 1st Meeting Since '01  —  HOUSTON (AP) — Shin-Soo Choo hit a leadoff triple and Michael Brantley drove in a run late to back up a strong start by Ubaldo Jimenez and the Cleveland Indians got a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

Hammel leads Orioles over Nationals 2-1  —  BALTIMORE—Jason Hammel pitched eight innings of five-hit ball and had a career high-tying 10 strikeouts to lead the Baltimore Orioles past the Washington Nationals 2-1 on Friday night.  —  Coming off a one-hit shutout against Atlanta, Hammel …

Two groups push to buy Padres, sale could be agreed to by All-Star break  —  Owner John Moores' asking price for the Padres is in the neighborhood of $800 million.  (US Presswire)  —  Is the O'Malley family close to returning to baseball ownership, a couple of hundred miles south …

Twins Ink Bard For $1,227,000  —  The Twins signed supplemental first-round pick Luke Bard for $1,227,000.  His bonus matches the assigned value for his No. 42 overall selection.  —  A righthander like his brother Daniel (Red Sox), Bard missed much of his junior season at Georgia Tech after tearing a lat muscle in late March.

Burnett, Pirates shut down Tigers 4-1  —  PITTSBURGH—A.J. Burnett pitched six shutout innings to win his seventh consecutive start and the Pittsburgh Pirates won for the fifth time in six games, 4-1 over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.  —  Burnett (8-2) allowed two hits and three walks …

A big blast from Ortiz  —  Angry DH rips media scrutiny  —  David Ortiz is having one of the best seasons of his career and is sure to be an All-Star again.  But he's not having fun, and the media is to blame.  —  It's even to a point, the designated hitter said, where he is unsure about returning next season.

Former Brewer Hall tweets Livan deal with Crew  —  MILWAUKEE — It's a brave, new, social media-dominated world when a former Brewers player breaks news about the newest member of the team via Twitter.  —  Bill Hall, a onetime Milwaukee utility man who is currently playing for the Orioles' Triple …