Mets calling up Vargas for start tomorrow  —  Major news out of New Orleans today: Surfing the Mets has learned that the Zephyrs scratched Claudio Vargas from his start today, signaling they've reversed course and will promote him to take the start tomorrow against the Nationals.

Gossage: There's no room for Joba's antics in MLB  —  Hall of Famer Goose Gossage has some issues with New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain's expressive celebrations on the pitcher's mound.  —  “There's no place for it in the game,” Gossage told reporters Monday during a tour of the Hall of Fame, according to MLB.com.

NAKED CAME THE PITCHER  —  America's retro-park craze has yet to reach Japan's shores.  There is no Camden Yards here — half the teams in Nippon Professional Baseball play in domed stadiums, including the Fighters.  Built in 2002 for soccer's World Cup, the Sapporo Dome has foul territory …

Nationals blow away Mets  —  Nelson Figueroa knows about bush league baseball.  After all, he's toured the world trying to resurrect his major league career.  —  But not until Monday night did Figueroa witness a truly amateurish display, the Mets pitcher suggested.

Cubs expected to sign Edmonds  —  The Cubs appear poised to sign veteran center fielder Jim Edmonds soon after he clears waivers Wednesday.  —  That would mean a demotion to the minors for touted prospect Felix Pie, who entered Monday with a .222 average and strikeouts in one-third of his plate appearances.

Teixeira out of Game 1 with back spasms  —  He becomes third Braves player to suffer from same ailment  —  PITTSBURGH — Mark Teixeira can now count himself as the latest member of the Braves organization to be sidelined by back spasms.  —  Teixeira was forced to leave during the fourth inning …

Chillin' in the American League … I sent that e-mail about two weeks ago to our internal list, and we had a discussion about whether what I was seeing—I watch way too much baseball—was real, whether it was a blip, and what the reasons for it might be.  The general consensus …

Struggling Patterson to stay atop lineup  —  Reds outfielder looks to break out of rough start to season  —  CINCINNATI — Based on his offensive numbers this season, putting struggling Reds center fielder Corey Patterson in the leadoff spot seems to be the equivalent of putting the square peg in the round hole.

What He's Seeing, and What He's Doing With It  —  Past experience can generate expectations.  Certainly, when they signed Rafael Furcal to a three-year, $39 million deal following the 2005 season, the Dodgers believed that the former Braves leadoff batter would provide a significant spark to their offense.

Tigers' Jacque Jones would like to head south  —  CINCINNATI - Given the opportunity to decide, outfielder Jacque Jones' first choice might be to join the Marlins.  That's what Jones, who the Tigers designated for assignment last week, told an associate.  —  For now, Jones has no control over his next destination.

Cubs Runs  —  The Cubs defeated the hapless Padres last night 12-3.  That raises their runs per game average to 5.9.  Chicago has a very strange run distribution for that average, however.  Chicago is playing about two games under their Pythagorean estimate, and it's this concave distribution that may be the problem.

On the 100 pitch limit  —  Who decided that starting pitchers were only allowed to throw 100 pitches?  OK, so we can use the eyeball test to see that pitchers usually aren't usually as sharp in the seventh inning as they were in the first.  And there surely must be a point where it would behoove …

Is Clayton Kershaw worth the hype?  —  “Clayton Kershaw's curveball scares children” “Clayton Kershaw's curveball is public enemy number one”  —  Just a couple of the high heaps of praise that surround Dodgers pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw, known by many to be the best pitching prospect in all of baseball.

Dodgers place shortstop Furcal on DL  —  Club expected to purchase Maza's contract from Triple-A  —  MILWAUKEE — Shortstop Rafael Furcal had to be placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday when his lower back injury turned out to be worse than the club had believed.