Spring Game 10: Tigers at Yankees (with Alex Rodriguez updates including Hal Steinbrenner's comments)  —  YANKEES  —  Pitching tonight: CC Sabathia followed by Alfredo Aceves, Jose Veras, Steven Jackson, David Robertson and Anthony Claggett.  —  TIGERS  —  Raburn RF  —  Polanco 2B

Bernie Williams: A-Rod injury could be ‘blessing in disguise’  —  SAN JUAN - Bernie Williams certainly knows about playing amid distractions after his 16 seasons on George Steinbrenner's Yankees, including the three years he was Alex Rodriguez's teammate.  —  There was A-Rod's infamous …

INCONSISTENT DUANER MAY BE A GONER  —  JUPITER, Fla. - Duaner Sanchez might not have much longer to prove himself to the Mets.  —  If the Mets release the right-handed reliever by April 1, they would save three-fourths of his $1.6875 million contract, and yesterday, manager Jerry Manuel …

Sweeney finished playing, joins Dodgers' staff  —  PHOENIX (AP) — Mark Sweeney, whose 175 pinch hits rank second in major league history, announced his retirement Friday and joined manager Joe Torre's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  —  Only Lenny Harris had more pinch-hits …

Commish defends role steroids scandal again  —  PHOENIX (AP) — Baseball commissioner Bud Selig again defended his role in the sport's steroids scandal Friday, pointing to the players' union opposition to drug testing and a lack of curiosity by the media as the problem started to grow.

Obama to throw Nats' first pitch  —  The Washington Nationals should draw a healthy crowd to their home opener with the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in town.  But just in case that's not enough, the Nationals have an even bigger guest lined up.

Brewers monitoring outfield market  —  With Gwynn ailing, Milwaukee may be in need of reserve  —  GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Tony Gwynn Jr.'s lingering shoulder woes are prompting the Brewers to keep an eye on the free-agent market for outfielders.  —  “I would say very, very casually that we're keeping …

CC comes up aces in first start  —  TAMPA - CC Sabathia was as good as advertised Friday night, giving the Yankees their first look at his $161 million left arm.  —  Sabathia allowed one unearned run in two innings against the Tigers, giving up two hits and striking out two.

Major League Baseball Bans “A-Fraud”  —  Any fan hoping to make fun of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez can no longer get a No. 13 Yankees jersey with the word “A-Fraud” on the back.  —  MLB.com has banned the new A-Rod nickname from the personalization feature on replica jerseys on MLB.com.

Breaking the Milestone Trend  —  For years now an automatic rubric of sorts has been in place to determine the Hall of Fame eligibility for hitters: launch 500+ home runs or amass 3,000+ hits.  If either of these milestones are reached, the player has been more than likely to eventually find himself enshrined in Cooperstown.

Emptying the notebook...  - The Brewers' veterans are doing everything they can to make sure third base prospect Mat Gamel “gets” the enormity of the opportunity he's facing.  Gamel, who is in his first big league camp, was a late arrival Friday morning apparently because his alarm clock failed …