Harper: Wags dogs Hank on Joba, thinks rook spells relief  —  CHICAGO - Behind closed doors Monday, the Mets had quite a chuckle over Hank Steinbrenner's latest outburst.  After all, it seemed obvious that his rant about moving Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation was driven …

Mets Say Delgado Is Not Playing as Badly as He Looks  —  CHICAGO — Howard Johnson watches Carlos Delgado every day, watches his approach, his footwork, his swing, his pitch selection, his everything.  And the statistics, he says, are deceiving.  —  “It's not as bad as it looks,” Johnson, the Mets' hitting coach, said.

Colorado's 'pen out of sync, out of gas  —  The Rockies blow two three-run leads, with lack of communication contributing to the Phillies' winning rally.  —  The Denver Post  —  It was one of the strangest pitching changes on record.  —  Manager Clint Hurdle left the dugout in the eighth inning …

Munson: Age, name questions pose problems for Tejada … When ESPN's Tom Farrey confronted Miguel Tejada last week with his actual birth certificate and a two-year discrepancy in Tejada's claimed age, Tejada walked out of the interview.  The exchange will be shown on “E:60” Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

Postgame notes  —  How much better could Darrell Rasner be right now?  I realize nine of his outs came on fly balls, but none of them were hard hit.  Hardest hit ball of the night for Rochester was that screaming ground ball to Shelley Duncan at first (by the way, Dave Miley and Nardi Contreras both agreed it was a hit).

Smoke-free Shea might dampen Cox's cigar ritual  —  ATLANTA — Puffing on his usual postgame cigar, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox flashed a startled look when asked what he thought of Shea Stadium's total ban on smoking.  —  “You mean the new one?” he asked, referring to Citi Field …

Cubs are healthy, patient  —  Team's free-swinging days are over, and win over Mets is good example  —  This is ridiculous.  Who are these guys?  —  With only a couple of additions to the lineup this April, the free-swinging, oft-missing Cubs, well, aren't anymore.

Baby Boss could cost Yanks their GM  —  Brian Cashman doesn't need this aggravation.  Ken Rosenthal says it may be time the Baby Boss goes out and finds himself a puppet.

A-ROD COULD WIND UP ON DL  —  The Yankees are hoping Alex Rodriguez's quick healing powers don't allow his strained right quad problem to linger.  However, they aren't guaranteeing the injury suffered Sunday won't sideline the MVP third baseman and possibly land him on the disabled list.

Huntington says Pirates will stick by Morris ... for now  —  Beleaguered starter roughed up in 10-4 loss to Florida  —  The Pirates' options with Matt Morris all are plenty unattractive.  —  Buy him out?  —  That would prevent further scenes like the four-inning, eight-run meltdown …

Crede just a regular Joe  —  Joe Crede would like to say he and perennial MVP candidate Alex Rodriguez have a lot in common.  —  After all, both are major-league third basemen, and both are represented by superagent Scott Boras.  —  The similarities, however, come to a screeching halt there.

Lyman Bostock didn't just talk about giving back  —  Angels outfielder made headlines in 1978 when he offered to forfeit salary after a slow April at the plate.  Today it is all but forgotten, overshadowed by his tragic shooting death five months later.  —  Thirty years ago this month …

Uggla finds a keeper  —  PITTSBURGH — Dan Uggla was prepared to try anything to break out of his hitting slump, including using reserve infielder Robert Andino's bat.  —  Now, Andino can't get his bat back.  —  Uggla is 7-for-12, including 3-for-5 in Monday's 10-4 win over the Pirates …

Releasing Frank Thomas makes the Blue Jays better  —  Self-absorbed Frank Thomas smelled a rat when a rapid sequence of events led to Toronto releasing him.  Thomas claimed the Blue Jays benched him on Saturday — and subsequently released him on Sunday — to prevent him from getting enough plate appearances …

Starters Start  —  Through twenty games last season, the Yankees used nine different starting pitchers and their starters owned a 5.77 ERA.  The team's record was 8-12.  The Yankees used six starters, but only because they didn't want to waste Ian Kennedy in a game that might be rained out.

Is He Done?  —  During the last few days, I've been asked the “Is Frank Thomas done?” question several times, as Mariner fans wonder if he is the right fit to take Jose Vidro's spot at DH.  During these conversations, I've mentioned that the main indicator of whether a player has really fallen off The Cliff is his power level.