Church Gets Credit for His Work in Center  —  Philadelphia center fielder Aaron Rowand hit a laser-like line drive in the fifth inning of the Phillies' 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals yesterday, and Ryan Church began to gallop across the vast expanse known as center field at RFK Stadium.

Duel turns wacky in wild loss to Cards  —  Lilly cruises until seventh, which kicks off Cubs' tough breaks  —  CHICAGO — The umpires made the right calls Friday.  You just won't see Lou Piniella picking up home-plate umpire Larry Young's tab at the same downtown Chicago restaurant this weekend.

Start of something (too) big  —  The Yankees are here.  I wish I could get more excited.  —  Well, that's not completely correct.  I am excited, but perhaps not the same way most Red Sox fans are.  —  I'm excited because to me it's primarily about the baseball.

Anatomy of a trade  —  An inside look at deal that sent Big Unit back to Arizona … PHOENIX — It started with a simple phone call, moved to a possible three-team deal, and wound up with Randy Johnson back in Arizona.  —  Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes saw the Yankees had signed left-handers Andy Pettitte and Kei Igawa.

It's love-hate with Rodriguez: Boos will be cheers in '08  —  The fans tonight will boo him louder, longer, meaner, madder and with more passion than they will boo anyone in a New York uniform.  They will go at him hard because Alex Rodriguez has become the face of the Yankees and that face still has those pink lips and puppy dog eyes.

Yankees farmhand arrested in Tampa  —  TAMPA - A minor league pitcher with the New York Yankees was arrested early Thursday morning on trespassing and obstruction charges after he refused to leave a Tampa restaurant.  —  Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies were dispatched …

The Felix Affair  —  Boy, you take one day off to celebrate around here and the whole world seems to end.  Instead of lounging at the beach, I fielded call after call on Felix Hernandez Thursday, channeling handled the process well, making sure that Hernandez was seen in a timely manner in a way that could not be leaked.

Handwriting expert profiles D-Backs  —  Professional analysis of handwriting describes D-Backs 'right on the head'  —  Mark Hopper has been to three baseball games in his life, and he still has the ticket stub from the last one, an Aug. 25, 2001, game between the Diamondbacks and the New York Mets …

The M's are insane  —  Eric O'Flaherty is coming up from Tacoma and will join the team in Anaheim.  Brandon Morrow will move from the bullpen to the rotation and make Felix's scheduled start in Texas on Monday.  —  Yes folks, Brandon Morrow is going to make his first major league start …

Blogger Beat: Talking Chop  —  This season, at the beginning of each series, MetsBlog will attempt to get the perspective of the opposition and their fans.  From this, we hope to be better educated on the opposition going into a series.  It also gives us a fine opportunity to highlight some of our favorite team blogs.

PECOTA Takes On Right-handed Pitching Prospects  —  PECOTA versus Baseball America on pitching prospects was where we left off.  Today righthanders get all the attention.  —  Excellent Prospects  —  Player (Age) Upside  —  xx. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox (26) 216.7

Angels' Hatcher searching for answers on offense  —  The hitting coach says some players need to 'turn it up.' Angels have scored 19 runs in losing eight of 10.  —  It can't be too comforting for critics of Mickey Hatcher to hear the batting instructor size up the Angels' slump and say, "I just wish I had some answers for it."

Upcoming Series: Atlanta Braves Pitchers  —  After clobbering the Marlins in a two-game series, the Mets (10-4) have scored a combined 28 runs over their last three games.  In fact, as I write this, SNY just put a graphic on the screen that claims they have 46 hits over the last three games, 19 of them for extra bases.

Hughes Overcomes Early Hiccup  —  Through his first 10 Triple-A innings, Yankees righthander Phil Hughes had struck out "just" seven batters, walked four and allowed seven earned runs.  His effort Wednesday in his third start of the season went a long way toward erasing any misplaced doubt.