No fight in Red Sox  —  Angels deliver early KO, earn a split decision  —  Julio Lugo tries to cheer up spot starter Julian Tavarez after the righthander was pulled following six effective innings.  (JASON JOHNS/FOR THE GLOBE)  —  There was a moment, brief though it was …

In Washington, Mets Finish What They Started  —  The sky was overcast, not dark, and the backdrop to Sunday's game was old and leaky, not new and charming, but take all that away and the Mets were back in an all too familiar place.  Eighth inning.  Score tied.

Face of the Franchise  —  ESPN.com's SportsNation has convened a panel of 64 experts — writers, bloggers, and a former player — to give their picks for which current player, manager, owner, or mascot is the "face" of each of baseball's 30 franchises.  Their picks will be announced throughout the week …

Run differential isn't everything  —  LIKE THIS STORY?  —  Run differential is overrated.  —  All right, maybe that's overstated.  But those crazy Diamondbacks are merely the latest club to outperform its estimated won-loss record based on its runs scored and runs allowed.

Olney On Johan Santana  —  ESPN's Buster Olney kicks off his blog today with his thoughts on Johan Santana.  Fresh off a team-record 17 strikeout performance, Santana is a hot topic around baseball.  Olney believes Santana trade talk could dominate the offseason.

No mirage in Arizona  —  This year one of the big surprises in MLB is the Arizona Diamondbacks.  They had some hard times over the last few years, averaging 94 losses from 2004-6.  (OK fine, the 111-loss 2004 really throws everything of whack.  But they haven't been good).

Best move might be toughest … ST. PETERSBURG - Chances are, Scott Kazmir will be angry tonight.  —  Six shutout innings won't matter because there might not be a seventh.  And seven shutout innings wouldn't help because there will not be an eighth.  At some point, Kazmir will find …

What's up with Wang?  —  What up, Wang?  That's the question Derek Jeter asks every day when he enters the clubhouse.  Now it's a question everybody is asking.  —  Chien-Ming Wang is 14-6 with a 4.10 ERA.  He's a "problem" plenty of teams would like to have.

Steinbrenner can't buy his way into Hall of Fame  —  George Steinbrenner's health is deteriorating, and that's unfortunate.  Before he dies, some people would like to see the New York Yankees' owner inducted into the Hall of Fame.  —  That's unconscionable.

Notes: Kearns to shift to center field  —  Veteran outfielder should be a good fit in his new position  —  WASHINGTON — In order to get a better defensive alignment in the outfield, manager Manny Acta decided to put Wily Mo Pena in right field, Ryan Church in left and Austin Kearns in center.

Profile: Erik Bedard  —  I've decided to start a new feature here at Vegas Watch, where I arbitrarily select a player that doesn't get as much attention as he probably deserves, and write a lot about him.  These things will run every Monday, in theory.  If you have a suggestion for a profile, please e-mail me at VegasWatch@gmail.com.