Top News:
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Damon Sits, and Rest of Yanks Might as Well Have — MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees have been hopeless lately with runners in scoring position. Yet when Manager Joe Girardi filled out his lineup Monday, he decided to rest the American League's leading hitter, Johnny Damon.
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Steven Goldman / New York Sun:
Yankee Lineup Card Signals Dark Omens for Season — With the Yankees entering last night's action having gone 2-5 on their current road trip, including being swept by the Angels in Anaheim, it's difficult not to look for and find signs that the end is nigh.
Los Angeles Times:
These could be the unkindest cuts of all for Dodgers — Brad Penny gets a Mohawk, Manny Ramirez is about to lose his dreadlocks, and the Dodgers can't seem to stay above .500. Coincidence? — T.J. Simers — Twenty-two home games remaining, the Phillies are in town, and these are hairy times for the Dodgers.
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Wallace Matthews / Newsday:
Manny being hairy, and Torre won't budge — There's a showdown coming between the fairly-new manager and his brand-spanking-new superstar outfielder, and it's nothing a tree surgeon or a guy with a hedge clipper couldn't settle. — Call it the Dreadlock Deadlock, and it is playing nightly at Dodger Stadium until further notice.
Steve Silva / Boston Globe:
Manny and Joe's ‘Dreadlock Deadlock’ continues — In what Newsday is calling the “Dreadlock Deadlock,” it appears that Manny Ramirez is in no hurry to follow through on Dodgers manager Joe Torre's 11-day-old request to trim back his middle-of-his-back hanging hair. Wallace Matthews of Newsday updates today:
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:Lucchino, Epstein headed for breakup in Boston?
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New York Post:
DESPERATE MANUEL WANTS CHANGE — FORGET about Gandhi. Forget about Martin Luther King. Jerry Manuel, a disciple of their calm, rational thinking, has found something at which even the great pacifist would grow intolerant: the Mets bullpen. — Manuel dismissed any lingering patience …
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Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Mets' loss prompts changes in bullpen — Kunz to get chance to close; Maine could later fill role — NEW YORK — The disabled list and the turn of the pitching rotation stand in the way of what Jerry Manuel now swears he would do if those obstacles didn't exist — use John Maine as the Mets' closer until Billy Wagner returns.
Amalie Benjamin / Boston Globe:
It's a joint decision as rotation turns to Zink — CHICAGO - Charlie Zink had long suspected that no team, even the Red Sox, would be able to justify having two knuckleball pitchers in the rotation. So it would make perfect sense to him that, when Tim Wakefield goes on the disabled list today, it will be Zink who fills the slot.
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Paul Daugherty / Cincinnati.com:
Dunn too much to afford — Defense, demeanor, salary too costly — The Reds, who are exciting only when they're not playing, traded Adam Dunn to the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday for a 23-year-old Class-A starting pitcher named Dallas Buck who, in another life, died in old Western movies.
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Jack Magruder / East Valley Tribune:D-Backs trade for Dunn, bolster offense
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Jeremy Sandler / canada.com:
Jays' Stewart disappointed to be cut adrift — TORONTO - Shannon Stewart stopped mid-speech, searching for the right word to convey his emotions. — “Another way to end my Blue Jay . . . experience,” he said over the phone from Florida. — The 34-year-old Stewart was released …
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Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Mailbag: Should the Nats spend more? — Reporter Bill Ladson answers Nationals fans' questions … Will the Nationals spend some money to acquire Major League players this offseason? I appreciate them building the farm system, but I can't wait forever. What do you think of trying to sign a big-dollar player?
Marc Topkin / St. Petersburg Times:
Rays in pain: Longoria to join Crawford on the sideline — OAKLAND, Calif. — As if having star leftfielder Carl Crawford likely sidelined the rest of the season isn't bad enough, the Rays are also going to be without rookie sensation Evan Longoria for about three weeks due to a fractured right wrist.
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Jordan Bastian / MLB.com:
Richmond to 'pen as Jays recall Litsch — Odd-man-out Parrish optioned to Triple-A to make room — DETROIT— The Blue Jays ruffled a few feathers across Canada when they summoned Scott Richmond from the Minor Leagues and added him to their rotation last month.
Mike Berardino / Sun-Sentinel:
Olsen says sore ankle passes test — MIAMI GARDENS - Scott Olsen is naturally optimistic, but even he started to worry a bit about his sprained right ankle when he hobbled off the team's charter from New York on Sunday night. — “It hurt when I got off the plane,” Olsen said. “It looked bad.
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Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Carpenter will see doctor — MIAMI — Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter will skip his scheduled between-starts throw today and return to St. Louis to meet with a team doctor about the arm pain that forced him from Sunday's game. — After reporting minimal soreness in his right arm Monday …
Chris De Luca / Chicago Sun Times:
Williams figures M's lefty likely not the right move — Though general manager Ken Williams admits he is never satisfied with his roster, it's becoming increasingly clear the White Sox will fill Jose Contreras' spot in the rotation from within instead of making a waiver trade.
