Yanks expecting bats to come alive  —  New York (2-3) vs. Tampa Bay (3-1), Sunday, 1:05 p.m. ET  —  The Yankees won a game last week playing National League-style small ball, bunting a runner to third base and setting the table for a bloop hit that pushed the go-ahead run across.

Yankees' Duncan not too thrilled with himself  —  Acting manager Rob Thomson liked how the young first baseman “battled,” but Shelley Duncan boiled down his first start of the season to another word.  —  “Poop,” Duncan said as he fiddled with the tab of a soda can in front of his clubhouse stall after yesterday's 6-3 loss to the Rays.

M's lose again; Bedard out Sunday  —  BALTIMORE — The idea to begin the season was for Seattle to get off to a good start against a relatively weak American League schedule.  —  Five games into the season, that's not happening.  —  And now Erik Bedard is injured.

Baseball beat: Yankees' Hughes feels Pedro's pain  —  in focus, by peter abraham  —  When Pedro Martinez tore his left hamstring on Tuesday, the news spread quickly through the Yankees' clubhouse.  Phil Hughes winced and unconsciously rubbed the back of his own leg when he was told what transpired in Florida.

Sternberg: Payroll Will Remain Flexible  —  NEW YORK - The Rays' bank vault swung open again last week when the team locked up reliever Dan Wheeler through at least 2010 for a guaranteed $10.5 million.  —  Coming on the heels of an offseason that saw Carlos Pena and James Shields rewarded …

It's a precarious position  —  Coddling hasn't kept pitchers off the DL  —  It's hard to set aside the eight-year, $121 million contract he signed with the Colorado Rockies and feel sorry for Mike Hampton, but his injury ordeal is one of the saddest stories in baseball in recent years.

Bullpen loses Vizcaino to DL  —  The Rockies' bad start got even worse Saturday night with news that setup man Luis Vizcaino is headed to the 15-day disabled list because of a shoulder injury.  —  The right-hander started throwing in the bullpen in the seventh inning but felt discomfort …

Cape Cod teammates Zito, Sheets set to duel  —  (04-06) 04:00 PDT Milwaukee — Barry Zito and Ben Sheets, the Giants' and Brewers' Opening Day starters, will meet on the mound for the first time today, which is not to say they have not met.  Ten years ago, they were teammates for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod summer league.

First a Jacobs encore, then a Helms encore  —  MIAMI GARDENS - First walk-off Friday.  First grand slam Saturday.  All that's left for Mike Jacobs is his first inside the parker.  —  Jacobs' second game-winning homer in as many days broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth and sent the Marlins to a series-winning 7-3 victory at Dolphin Stadium.

Sometime this year, Bonds will get a call  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. — He's lurking out there in the shadows, as patient as a predator, quiet, alert, biding his time.  Barry Bonds hasn't gone away.  He's just waiting...  Waiting to come to a ballpark near you.  —  Waiting, because he knows …

Finale in Toronto  —  TORONTO - Good morning from Toronto.  —  Terry Francona has confirmed that Kyle Snyder was designated for assignment and now goes through the waiver process over the next 72 hours.  It appears Snyder could get claimed off waivers.  Don't be surprised if Snyder received interest from a few teams.

Sunday's Texas Rangers scouting report  —  2:35 p.m. Sunday, FSNSW, KRLD-AM 1080, KFLC-AM 1270 (Spanish)  —  egrant@dallasnews.com  —  Scouting the Angels  —  RHP Jon Garland (1-0, 1.13 ERA): The Southern California native makes his first home start as an Angel.

7 innings is the new complete game  —  It is understandable why Joe Girardi was so elated over Chien-Ming Wang hurling seven strong innings right out of the gate on Opening Day.  It was, after all, the modern equivalent of a complete game, and if Girardi is able to get, say …

Snyder reportedly designated by Sox  —  Righty reliever has rough outing against Jays on Saturday  —  TORONTO — A dejected Kyle Snyder left the Red Sox's clubhouse through the back door on Saturday afternoon after reportedly being told that he was being designated for assignment to make room for Josh Beckett on the 25-man roster.

Rodney out longer than anticipated  —  Tigers call up right-hander Beltran from Triple-A Toledo  —  DETROIT — There has been a change of plans in the Tigers' bullpen situation.  —  Reliever Fernando Rodney's bullpen session in Lakeland, Fla., on Friday did not go well, and he will be out longer than originally anticipated.