Beckett pulled  —  Josh Beckett has been pulled from tonight's start because of a stiff neck.  Beckett had been fighting the same illness that has taken Jason Varitek out of the lineup for the past couple of days.  —  So the Red Sox, anticipating that there might be a problem, had pulled David Pauley from his start on Monday.

It's a girl!  A-Rod, wife welcome daughter  —  Third baseman's wife, Cynthia, gives birth Monday night  —  CHICAGO — Alex Rodriguez and his wife, Cynthia, celebrated the birth of a 7-pound, 2-ounce daughter in Miami late Monday night.  —  “We are thrilled with the birth of our second daughter …

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 …

Cedeno's slam helps Cubs defeat Mets 8-1  —  CHICAGO (AP)—Ronny Cedeno hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, Ted Lilly won for the first time in five starts, and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 8-1 Tuesday for their 13th win in 16 games.  —  The Cubs, who were 7-13 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Minor League Transactions  —  This week's installment considers all transactions reported by MLB between April 12 and 18.  —  Last week's transactions available here.  —  Arizona Diamondbacks  —  Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Jailen Peguero  —  Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Matthew Green

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 …

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 …