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.

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.

Birds of a feather … ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. // It started back in February, when one of the Orioles' new relievers struck up a conversation with a team leader before the second full-squad workout of the spring.  —  Jamie Walker, a self-proclaimed redneck with a thick Southern drawl …

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 …

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."

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 …

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

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.

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 …

Notes: Gonzalez set to return  —  Lefty reliever could pitch this weekend against Mets  —  ATLANTA — When it was learned Wednesday night that Mike Gonzalez was going to have his left elbow evaluated via an MRI, the Braves management team wasn't among the many who reacted with panic.

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.

Playoff preview: Ranking a first round full of intrigue  —  Eighteen games decided by two points or less to tie the record.  Ten games that went to overtime to set the record.  Four separate Game 7s to fall one short of the record.  —  You had Phoenix in the first round coming back from a 3-1 deficit.