Yankees' Mientkiewicz to be placed on DL  —  BOSTON (AP) - Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz will be placed on the 15-day disabled list before the game Sunday, a day after colliding with Boston's Mike Lowell on an errant throw by shortstop Derek Jeter.

Notes: Bailey could be in Majors soon  —  Top prospect's Reds debut might come next Saturday  —  DENVER — Top pitching prospect Homer Bailey's start on Saturday could very well be his final one for Triple-A Louisville.  —  By next week, Bailey seems likely to finally stand on a Major League mound debuting in a Reds uniform.

Pirates Notebook: Burnett has tired arm, elbow irritation  —  As things stand for now, it is only a case of arm fatigue that has caused the Pirates to place Sean Burnett, a starter on their Class AAA affiliate in Indianapolis, on the minor-league disabled list.

SERBY'S SUNDAY Q&A WITH...OLIVER PEREZ  —  June 3, 2007 — The Post's Steve Serby sat down at Shea with the effervescent Mets lefty who is 6-3 with a 2.69 ERA:  —  Q: Would you pay to watch Oliver Perez pitch?  —  A: Yeah.  I love how I pitch (smiles).  —  Q: Paul Lo Duca says you'll pitch a no-hitter.

Rosenthal's Latest Video  —  Ken Rosenthal reeled off a slew of sweet trade rumors in a couple of videos today, which you can watch at FOXSports.  Let's discuss.  — Rosenthal says the Cubs won't trade Carlos Zambrano unless they fall out of contention or the big righty requests a trade.

Gotay, Mets end Arizona's eight-game run  —  NEW YORK (AP) — The makeshift Mets boosted New York to a 7-1 victory over Arizona on Saturday and manager Willie Randolph knew all along that they could do it.  —  With his lineup depleted by injuries, Randolph is starting bench players these days …

Speigner's early troubles doom Nats  —  Washington unable to dig itself out from six-run deficit  —  WASHINGTON — While most of the Nationals' rotation is out with injuries, Levale Speigner is going through a different kind of suffering — a persistent case of bad luck.

Not Even Clemens Is Immune to Injury Streak  —  A season rife with injuries took another discouraging turn for the Yankees on Saturday when they learned that Roger Clemens would miss his start in Chicago on Monday with a right groin injury.  —  Clemens was optimistic that he could return next weekend …

Minaya's bargain shopping pays off  —  You've got to admit, this is quite a nifty concept the Mets have going in the absence of Pedro Martinez, as they inexorably chug, chug, chug their way toward the postseason, the clear class of the National League.  —  Brian Cashman might …

06.02.2007 Yankees forget how to play baseball in the 7th  —  Clutch errors by Jeter, a horrible toss from Cano on the botched double play, and a putrid play by Bobby Abreu led to the Yankees being trounced by the Red Sox, 11-6.  —  Joe Torre's favorite son, Scott Proctor …

Smart choices  —  The plan is not as simple as hoarding draft choices.  It's also about executing smart choices with those picks.  It's about making sure the club doesn't pick another Drew Meyer at the expense of Scott Kazmir.  Or Jonathan Johnson at the expense of Matt Morris.  Or Dan Smith over Mike Mussina.

Holliday injured in dugout  —  Left fielder suffers head contusion; leaves game after fourth  —  DENVER — Rockies left fielder and All-Star candidate Matt Holliday left a 4-2 loss to the Reds after four innings because of what the club called a "head contusion" he suffered in the dugout …

Notes: Ausmus likely to see less time  —  Veteran catcher will share more games with recalled Munson  —  HOUSTON — For the first two months of the season, Brad Ausmus caught 43 of the Astros' 54 games.  It's highly unlikely he'll see that much playing time in the near future.

Belliard Gives Nats Extra-Inning Bounce  —  Each night, as he waits for a chance that might never come, Ronnie Belliard heads back into the bowels of RFK Stadium.  He brings a bat.  By himself, he swings.  —  Last night, he had already gone through those motions, already prepared himself …

LaRoche brothers face off for first time  —  Pirates-Dodgers matchup doubles as family reunion  —  PITTSBURGH — Adam and Andy LaRoche learned to play baseball together.  They learned to hit by stroking line drives in the batting cage in the backyard of their Kansas home …

Dodger Thoughts: Kuo Up, LaRoche Down  —  The Dodgers finally pulled the expected trigger, calling up Hong-Chih Kuo and sending down Andy LaRoche, according to Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise.  —  Update: It continues to depress me to see batting average used as the sole statistic in talking about ballplayers.

Piniella ejected, Cubs' skid reaches six  —  CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs threw no punches.  Manager Lou Piniella kicked dirt and threw his cap, though.  —  And it was more of the same for the Cubs — this time a 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday for Chicago's sixth straight loss.