Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Jose Tabata's wife suspect in baby kidnap  —  PLANT CITY, Fla. — A 2-month-old is back in the arms of her parents and the wife of a top Pittsburgh Pirates minor league prospect is suspected of taking the infant from a health clinic outside Tampa, authorities said Tuesday.

Terrible news  —  I want to let all of THT's readers know that one of our most prolific writers and favorite people, John Brattain, just passed away.  —  Many of us got to know John through the Baseball Think Factory, where his good humor was always on display.

Strasburg is on the all-time fastest track  —  Buzz up!  —  SAN DIEGO - The radar gun blinks wildly.  It's not used to this.  No one makes it strain to read out a third digit.  It looks like binary code, not the speed of a pitch from a 20-year-old kid: 101.

Freddy Garcia assigned to minor-league camp  —  Mets assistant GM John Ricco just informed us that Freddy Garcia, who was fighting a losing battle with Livan Hernandez in the competition for the No. 5 starter role, has accepted an assignment to minor-league camp.

Dodgers' Manny Ramirez prefers running to trotting  —  Ramirez hits his first home run of the spring, but he's more encouraged about being able to run the bases full speed on a fly out.  His hamstring feels fine, he says.  —  Reporting from Phoenix — Manny Ramirez belted his first home run …

Whatever you do, don't hit a grand slam  —  Jesus Montero belted a grand slam against the Pirates on March 14 and was reassigned to the minor-league camp the next day.  —  Austin Jackson belted a grand slam today and guess what happened?  He was reassigned to the minor-league camp as well.

170,000 tickets sold Tuesday  —  The Yankees put individual game tickets on sale for the first season of their new ballpark and said they had sold 170,000 by midday Tuesday.  —  Yankees chief operating Lonn Trost said the sale began with full-season equivalents at just under 36,000 for the 52,000-capacity ballpark.

Audi Becomes Official Luxury Vehicle of the Yankees  —  Audi today announced that the brand is now the official luxury vehicle of the New York Yankees.  The new relationship also includes the naming of the Audi Yankees Club, an exclusive viewing location and membership restaurant, located on the H&R Block Suite Level in left field.

Mike Piazza: The Back Acne Was The Least Of It  —  This is a new weekly column from Leitch.  It has words, and pictures.  It's called Ten Humans Of The Week.  It might or might not work.  But here it is.  —  There has been a lot of talk this week about Mike Piazza, from Murray …

Cubs reduce spring roster to 37 players  —  The Chicago Cubs today sent five players to minor league camp, reducing their spring roster from 42 to 37 players.  —  Additionally, the club outrighted outfielder Richie Robnett to Triple-A Iowa.  Chicago's 40-man roster now stands at 38 players.

Cardinals will start season without naming closer  —  The Cardinals have not yet designated a closer, but Jason Motte leads all contenders.  He has earned a save in four of his past five appearances this spring.  (Chris Lee/P-D)  —  ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Tim Wakefield passes test  —  Strong outing vs. Yankees  —  TAMPA - If Tim Wakefield [stats] wanted a late-spring test to measure his preseason progress, he got one last night and passed easily.  —  Facing the same lineup the New York Yankees will use on Opening Day …

Willis pitches with sense of urgency  —  Left-hander doing what he can to leave camp with Tigers  —  LAKELAND, Fla. — If Tuesday was Dontrelle Willis' last chance to impress Tigers officials, at least he can say he gave it what he had, whatever happens.  —  With a week and a half until …

Yankees had serious discussions with A-Rod about off-field antics … Top Yankees officials are apparently giving Alex Rodriguez a pass on his latest appearance in the tabloids, but they were annoyed and concerned enough about his extracurricular activities and a spate of often unflattering …

Schilling in total control until the end  —  CLEARWATER, Fla. - Gene Michael is an adviser to Yankees miniboss Hank Steinbrenner these days.  When Curt Schilling was emerging as one of the great control freaks - on and off the mound - “Stick” was the Yankees' general manager.

Rockies Recap: Cubs rough up Smith, bullpen  —  Cubs 9, Rockies 8  —  At the plate: In his first game back from the WBC, Chris Iannetta didn't miss a beat.  Iannetta went 2-for-4 with an RBI single.  —  “I think when I left I was a little jumpy at the plate,” he said.