Rasner begins June on wrong note  —  Jeter's solo blast accounts for Yanks' lone run vs. Twins  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Darrell Rasner turned in the shakiest outing of his five starts this season at the big league level, and the Yankees' offense managed little as they slogged through a 5-1 loss to the Twins on Sunday at the Metrodome.

Prior has shoulder tear, will have season-ending surgery again  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Prior's season is over before it got started.  Prior will have surgery this week to repair a tear in the anterior capsule of his right (pitching) shoulder.  —  It is Prior's second season-ending shoulder surgery …

White Sox's Guillen promises changes  —  Manager: Expect change; Williams: No need to panic  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - After watching an offensive malaise reach a new low Sunday, manager Ozzie Guillen threatened his White Sox hitters with changes following Sunday's 4-3 loss at Tampa Bay.

Mets hammer Dodgers behind third-inning homers and Johan Santana  —  The sounds at Shea, from the start of the week until the end, told the story.  —  The Mets arrived home last Monday to a hostile holiday crowd, with cascading boos and calls for Willie Randolph's head.  —  What a difference seven days make.

Three-homer, 16-hit attack leads Sox  —  Manny, Lowell, Drew all go deep for third straight win over O's  —  BALTIMORE — The Red Sox spent the first day of June acting as if it was their summer launch party.  Amid the sticky, warm conditions at Camden Yards, the Boston bats sent several baseballs skyward.

As Griffey approaches 600, MLB whitewashes history  —  During Sunday's Red Sox/Orioles game, which I watched on MLB.TV, the league ran a promotional commercial for Ken Griffey's approach to 600 home runs.  Backed by maudlin piano music, a Costas-like narrator says the following script, to the accompaniment of pictures and video:

Cubs close out perfect homestand  —  The standings show the Cubs are the best team in baseball.  —  The statistics say they have scored more runs and have more come-from-behind victories than any other team.  —  But they aren't sure how good they really are even after beating Colorado 5-3 Sunday …

Smoltz reinventing himself — again  —  John Smoltz is the artist teaching himself to paint with a hairbrush, the poet attempting to rhyme in a foreign language.  Is that a stretch when considering a man whose craft consists of throwing a ball?  Not if you listen to the ball-thrower …

The bad century  —  As many (including myself) have noted, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the last Cubs team to win it all.  A century of futility—that's about as pathetic an “accomplishment” as you will ever see in the sporting world.  —  When looking at that dismal record …

Tigers stun M's with 4-run rally in 9th  —  SEATTLE (AP)—Curtis Granderson has some advice: Don't count out those supposedly doomed Detroit Tigers just yet.  —  “Yeah, looking at our division, nobody has pulled away.  And we still haven't played good baseball,” Granderson said Sunday.