Public Apology  —  Everyone has days and events in life they'd love to push the rewind button on, yesterday was one of those days.  Regardless of my opinions, thoughts and beliefs on anything Barry Bonds it was absolutely irresponsible and wrong to say what I did.

Wright's surprise razing ritual may turn out to be shear genius  —  SAN FRANCISCO - Carlos Beltran hung a shingle on his barber shop inside the visitor's clubhouse, prepping for customers.  He had shears, razors and plenty of towels to blot the blood.  —  Before long there was a parade of Mets lining up to get their domes shaved.

Paying the Price For a Plan  —  Stan Kasten is an idiot.  Admit it, that's what you want to scream.  The Washington Nationals' president gambled that his team's luck wouldn't be too bad this season.  That way, despite a payroll purge, he might avoid having a historically awful team.  So, what happens?

Nats Fall To Their 7th Loss In a Row  —  Washington Roster In a State of Flux: Brewers 6, Nationals 4  —  Hours before the Washington Nationals dropped their seventh straight game, an all-too-familiar 6-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, they lost one player, Chad Cordero …

O's TV host sorry for domestic violence wisecrack  —  BALTIMORE — Rick Dempsey is apologizing for attempting to crack a joke about domestic violence on the air during a telecast of a Baltimore Orioles game on Saturday.  —  Dempsey, a former Orioles catcher and coach who usually hosts …

Berman's Blog: Do You Believe In Miracles?  —  Sue Simmons introduced me last night at 11 p.m. by saying something like, "Ladies and gentleman a miracle has occurred.  Len Berman is leading his sportscast with the Mets."  This is an ongoing issue behind the scenes.

First inning aside, Bonderman sharp  —  If it weren't for the first inning, Jeremy Bonderman would be leading the American League in ERA this season.  —  Bonderman's first-inning ERA is 15.43.  After the first inning, it's 1.18.  Overall, it's 4.20.  —  The trends continued Tuesday night.

Cubs' Marquis 3-hits Pirates in 1-0 win  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Jason Marquis retired the first 16 batters he faced and finished with a three-hitter Wednesday night, winning his fifth straight start and sending the Chicago Cubs to a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Meet Your First Two-Time Steroid Offender  —  A disturbing trend has coming out of the Mets organization.  First there was Guillermo Mota's steroid suspension last November, and last week former clubhouse worker Kirk Radomski admitted to dealing steroids to numerous MLB players.

Mets Lack Solid Backup Plan for Rotation  —  On paper, things are going pretty well for the Mets.  At 19-12, the team is tied for first place in the National League East, and a closer look at the statistics proves it has been even better than the win-loss record shows.

The Big Picture  —  Rescheduling  —  Whenever a wet April occurs, calls are made to revamp the schedule.  At one time, Major League Baseball tried starting the season in as many warm cities and domes as possible, but the cold-weather teams wanted to start the season at home, too.

Infield Defense — Back to Basics … In recent years, methods for evaluating defense have been springing up like mushrooms after a spring rain.  We've got UZR and PMR and the plus/minus system, all based on play-by-play data.  Then there are the zone rating-based systems, one from Chris Dial …