MELKY TO MINORS, SEXSON WAIVED  —  YANKEES PROMOTE GARDNER, RANSOM  —  In a move designed to boost the Yankees' sagging offense, the team today will demote Melky Cabrera to the minors, waive Richie Sexson, and promote Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom from Triple-A, The Post has learned.

First-Round Pick Gerrit Cole Opts for College Over Yankees  —  When the Yankees drafted pitcher Gerrit Cole in the first round of the June draft, they believed that Cole would sign with them and forego a college scholarship.  It turns out that Cole has changed his mind and will go to U.C.L.A. instead.

O's reach agreement with Matusz  —  First-round pick gets major league deal, $3.2M signing bonus  —  The Orioles and first-round pick Brian Matusz have agreed to terms on a major league deal that would immediately insert him onto the club's 40-man roster and toward the top of the organization's list of pitching prospects.

Radio Alert: It's Now Mike Minus Mad Dog  —  Martin and Lewis broke up, and so did the Beatles.  —  And on Thursday, WFAN's “Mike and the Mad Dog” became just Mike, when Chris Russo left the station abruptly, ending a nearly 19-year partnership with Mike Francesa that had made them perhaps the most formidable duo in sports-talk radio.

The Deadline Arrives to Sign Crow  —  One day before the Washington Nationals selected Aaron Crow ninth overall in the June draft, one of Crow's advisers, Alan Hendricks, spoke with General Manager Jim Bowden.  In that conversation, Hendricks explained to Bowden what it would take to sign Crow.

Manny gets a haircut, then goes hitless  —  Manny trimmed his hair a bit before last night's game.  (FSN screen image courtesy of Al Belcuore)  —  Our long national nightmare is over.  Manny Ramirez got a haircut before last night's Dodgers-Phillies game in LA. Sort of.

Sorting through this waiver madness  —  After 3 1/2 years of covering the Twins with La Velle, I felt like I had stepped into “The Twilight Zone” on Thursday.  —  It started at about 9:45 a.m., when Buster Olney was on ESPN's “First Take” talking about the waiver claims that had been submitted …

Baseball's Draft System Is Badly Broken  —  When the clock strikes midnight Friday, the signing deadline for baseball's amateur draft will pass.  By then, most if not all of the 10 first-round picks who have yet to sign as of this writing will presumably have done so.

U.S. falls to Cuba in 11 innings  —  Americans' record drops to 1-2; Nix out for remainder of Games  —  BEIJING — Davey Johnson hopes to see Cuba again.  —  “Oh yeah,” he said.  “I'd like to see them in the finals.”  —  Those are fightin' words, but the big question now is whether …

Varitek mum on divorce  —  Jason Varitek had nothing to say today, at least to us, about his divorce.  And there are few details in the documents filed in Gwinnett County, Ga. Seems the Sox catcher and his wife, Karen, split June 7 and are living separately.

Source: Yanks fire 2 scouts amid kickback probe  —  NEW YORK — The New York Yankees have fired two scouts under investigation in a probe of possible kickbacks from contracts with Latin American players, The Associated Press has learned.  —  The Yankees terminated the contracts of Carlos Rios …

Newfound consistency makes Perez a key Met  —  If you were to rank the top reasons why these Mets have gone from doomed to (maybe) destined in the last two months, where would you place the surge of Oliver Perez?  —  Easily among the top five, right?  How about the top four …

Keeping same lineup will get expensive for Halos  —  The Angels are rolling now, and they'd better enjoy it.  Ken Rosenthal says it may be too expensive to keep this roster next year.