Yankees ditch bats for pool cues  —  Girardi takes club to billiard hall to help build bonds, assuage distractions  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Joe Girardi was about 10 years old when billiards taught him an important lesson in controlling his temper.  Throwing a pool cue into a piece of drywall …

Bowden Denies Wrongdoing [Updated]  —  Washington Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden this morning denied any wrongful practices in Latin American scouting, saying simply, “I'm innocent of any wrongdoing, and besides that I don't have any comment.”  —  Bowden is the highest-ranking baseball …

Wells out with hamstring strain  —  Center fielder expected to miss one month after reaggravating injury  —  DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Blue Jays have experienced life without Vernon Wells before, and the club is preparing for precisely that once again this spring.

Nationals Release Holdout Perez  —  The final line on Odalis Perez's second stint with the Washington Nationals: zero appearances, zero returned phone calls, zero benefit whatsoever.  —  Today, the Nationals released Perez, 31, terminating the waiting game that began almost two weeks ago …

Take 5  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox tonight announced that all games at Fenway Park previously scheduled for 7:05 p.m. will now be played at 7:10 p.m. as the club moved back all its late games by five minutes for the 2009 regular season.  —  The time change will not affect games previously scheduled …

Jon Heyman: Ramirez, Dodgers closer, but deal still not imminent … PORT ST. LUCIE — Both Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers have done some compromising in recent days, according to people familiar with the negotiations, as the two sides seem to now understand that they aren't going to get exactly what they want in a potential deal.

M's outfield in good hands  —  PEORIA, Ariz. — For outfield defense, it's a scenario any manager would savor: a center fielder flanked by former Gold Glove-winning center fielders on either side.  —  And the Mariners' new man in the middle, Franklin Gutierrez, is capable of being the defensive equal …

Mickey Mantle's “F-Bomb” Ball For Sale  —  I was surfing auction sites last night and I stumbled across a pretty unique item.  It's a ball signed by New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle, but instead of the normal inscription like “536 HR's,” it says “F**k Yogi.”

Baseball Prospectus: A-Rod likely to fall short of Bonds  —  We're less than two years removed from Barry Bonds' somber, strange and soulless quest to break Henry Aaron's lifetime home run record.  Unfortunately, it seems history is getting ready to repeat itself.

Contract details for Orlando Hudson  —  OK, I'm giving you fair warning that this is going to give you a headache.  I can't imagine what the conversation must have been like when Colletti and Ng were working these details out with O-Dawg's agent.  But here it is:

3 UP: GARCIA, MANUEL, CHURCH  —  1. There is an assumption that Freddy Garcia is on track to be the No. 5 starter with the Mets.  But not so fast.  The early read in camp is that Garcia is still tight and not fully unleashing his surgically repaired right arm yet.

Berkman more comfortable in camp  —  Astros legend accepting leadership responsibility this spring  —  KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Soon after he signed his most recent contract a few years ago, Lance Berkman implied he might call it a career when that deal expired.

The Yankees and Their New, Veteran Starting Pitchers  —  Hope springs eternal in baseball, and for the New York Yankees, with an aging offense, a lot of familiar faces gone and a steroid scandal swirling around the team's biggest star, a lot of those hopes ride on the shoulders of the team's …