Baseball's sold its soul  —  Good morning.  You just missed Opening Day.  —  The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics played the first game of the major league season Tuesday morning (normal baseball earth time) in Tokyo.  I imagine Japan will reciprocate this breach of tradition by opening the sumo season at Fenway Park.

Hughes, Yanks happy with latest effort  —  Young right-hander rebounds from rocky spring outings  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Phil Hughes thought his latest outing was “one thousand times better,” and Yankees manager Joe Girardi wasn't about to question those mathematics.

Jose Canseco Reviewed: With Spoilers  —  There I was, wandering through a quaint Cambridge bookstore on Monday, when I noticed a copy of Jose Canseco's new book “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball” in their tiny sports section.  That's odd, I thought.

Maine continues to pitch well for Mets  —  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - One week from now, every player's spring training statistics will be irrelevant, and that's a shame for John Maine.  —  The righthander has dominated the Grapefruit League this month, and that continued yesterday in the Mets' 1-0 win over the Orioles.

Harper: A-Rod regrets saying no to Mets  —  During spring training, Alex Rodriguez has mostly avoided discussion of his messy contract opt-out and offseason return to the Yankees, but apparently only because he didn't want to say something that might prove controversial, as is often his habit.

Reed All About It!  —  The last time I wrote, I spoke of the Mets' desperate need to find another non-moribund option for their corner outfield woes.  I think I have found him.  —  It's Reed Johnson, former fourth-outfielder from the Toronto Blue Jays, who was just released the other day in order to make room for Shannon Stewart.

Mets Commit to 5-Man Rotation, No Matter What  —  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Mets will not need a fifth starter until April 12.  The two candidates for that role, Orlando Hernández and Mike Pelfrey, imploded during their outings Sunday.  So, common sense says the Mets …

Frandsen injures Achilles tendon  —  Infielder could be sidelined for entire season  —  TUCSON, Ariz. — Giants infielder Kevin Frandsen faces the possibility of missing the entire season after suffering what is believed to be a ruptured left Achilles tendon Monday in a Minor League exhibition game at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Blue Jays close to locking up OF Rios  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on the FSN Baseball Report and MLB on FOX.  —  add this  —  Just over a year ago, the Blue Jays signed center fielder Vernon Wells through 2014.

When he's not taking care of Nationals' NCAA pool, Lo Duca can't wait for opener  —  VIERA, Fla. (AP) -Paul Lo Duca spent a good chunk of his Monday meticulously updating the NCAA tournament pool charts hanging in the home clubhouse at Space Coast Stadium.  —  There he was in the morning …

DirecTV, out?  —  I've been getting emails from DirecTV customers, who've said that their packages (ESPN2 and NESN) are out.  Not sure if this is affecting all customers, or just some, but apparently there are some very unhappy early risers.  —  Sorry about that.

Measuring defense for players back to 1956 (Part 2)  —  In January, I introduced the TotalZone system.  Using data available from Retrosheet, I was able to create quasi-play-by-play defensive ratings for all players from 1956 on.  —  To measure a player's defensive performance …