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 …

Sources: Mets close to acquiring Conine  —  FOXSports.com, Updated 21 minutes ago  —  LIKE THIS STORY?  —  The New York Mets are on the verge of acquiring utility player Jeff Conine from the Cincinnati Reds for two Class-A position players, according to Major League sources.

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 …

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.

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.

Ryan Braun: Greatest First-Year Slugger Ever?  —  Ryan Braun led off the second inning yesterday with his 24th home run of the season to give Milwaukee an early 1-0 advantage although the Brewers later blew a five-run lead and lost 7-6 to the Cincinnati Reds.

Power Progress  —  Jeremy Hermida hit his eleventh home run of the season in the first inning today, a three-run shot that helped the Marlins to a 4-3 lead over the Giants in the fourth inning.  At age 23, Hermida still has plenty of room to improve, and he's now slugging 100 points better than last season at .469.

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).

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.

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 …

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.