The Mets See How Effective a Zambrano Can Really Be  —  So, this must have been what the Mets envisioned when they pictured a No. 38-wearing right-handed pitcher from Venezuela with the surname of Zambrano baffling hitters with his amazing stuff.  Oh, wait.

Notes: El Duque's return draws closer  —  Pitcher throws in simulated game, could be back in two weeks  —  NEW YORK — Thursday's Mets starter may remain missing in action, but the man originally penciled in for that slot is not.  —  Orlando Hernandez tossed 60 pitches in a simulated …

Ruiz's ninth-inning HR lifts Phillies  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — For a rookie, Carlos Ruiz sure has the celebration part down perfect.  —  Ruiz hit a solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies over the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Wells goes in all-San Diego matchup  —  Cincinnati (15-24) at San Diego (21-18), 7:05 p.m. PT  —  It will be an all-San Diego matchup when the Padres' David Wells, who pitched for Point Loma High, goes up against the Cincinnati Reds and Aaron Harang, who hurled for Patrick Henry High.

Sox tip caps to Tigers' Verlander  —  Wakefield off his game, while Detroit righty stifles offense  —  BOSTON — The soft-serve knuckleballs of veteran Tim Wakefield were sharply contrasted by the blinding heat of phenom Justin Verlander on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

Peralta helps Indians outslug Twins 15-7  —  CLEVELAND (AP) — Paul Byrd won for the first time in three starts in May and the Cleveland Indians had two six-run innings in accumulating season highs in hits and runs in a 15-7 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Something's Brewin'  —  Fast-starting Milwaukee has history on its side  —  There's a little parlor game sweeping baseball, particularly now that Milwaukee, now playing the varsity portion of its schedule, has dropped three of its past four games after a 24-10 start.  The game is to guess, Are the Brewers for real?

Marlins plan to start Byung-Hyun Kim  —  PITTSBURGH (AP) — Right-hander Byung-Hyun Kim, demoted to the minors by Colorado earlier this season, will move into the Florida Marlins' rotation and is expected to start Friday at Tampa Bay.  —  Kim, who has pitched for Triple-A Colorado Springs …

A's place Huston Street on DL; Select Connor Robertson from Sacramento  —  OAKLAND— The Oakland A's today placed right-handed pitcher Huston Street on the 15-day Disabled List retroactive to May 13 with an irritation in his right ulnar nerve.  To take his spot on the roster the A's …

Stats mean little in Spring Training  —  If you take a gander at the Spring Training statistics from any year, you'll find some interesting things.  —  The Nationals' Shawn HIll, for instance, has a 2.00 ERA after three starts.  So may we rightly surmise that Hill is destined for a Cy Young campaign?

Pirates launch mobile ticketing technology  —  The Pittsburgh Pirates, along with MLB Advanced Media and Tickets.com, Inc., have officially launched Tickets@Phone, a mobile ticketing service which allows fans a quick and convenient way to have tickets delivered to their cell phones via multimedia messaging or a picture message.

Mets notebook  —  Moises Alou smiled, complimented his trainers' treatment, and talked up the power of anti-inflammatories.  Then he said he still wasn't ready to play baseball.  —  "I don't want to use the word DL again," the left fielder said, some 24 hours after predicting his strained quad is "probably going to be a DL thing."

Hermida back in right, but Jacobs will go on DL  —  · The Marlins' revolving door disabled list continued spinning Monday.  —  Enter Jeremy Hermida, exit Mike Jacobs.  —  The Hermida part of that equation became official when the Marlins recalled the right fielder …