Lowe, Braves dominate Phillies, win MLB season-opener  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Once the Philadelphia Phillies finished celebrating their World Series title, the Atlanta Braves spoiled the rest of the opening-night party.  —  Derek Lowe pitched eight superb innings, three Braves homered off Brett Myers …

Wintry weather delays Sox-Royals  —  Snow, high winds force season opener to Tuesday  —  CHICAGO — Since the 2009 season has yet to officially get under way for the White Sox, Sunday night's postponement of Monday afternoon's Opening Day contest against the Royals at U.S. Cellular Field …

Report: Alex Rodriguez could be back with New York Yankees before April's out  —  Alex Rodriguez's progress in rehab after hip surgery is going so well that he could rejoin the New York Yankees by the end of April.  —  Rodriguez  —  When Rodriguez underwent hip surgery on March 9 …

Clement ends comeback bid with Jays  —  Righty plans to retire after nine seasons in the Majors  —  TORONTO — Matt Clement's comeback has come to a close.  The veteran pitcher informed the Blue Jays on Sunday that he plans to retire from baseball after spending the past three years attempting …

Tampa Bay Rays' Hammel traded to Rockies; Niemann fifth starter  —  After the long wait, RHPs Jason Hammel and Jeff Niemann finally have closure.  —  Hammel said he has been traded to the Rockies and Niemann was told he'll be the Rays fifth starter.  —  Hammel, 26, said he received word of the trade from the Rays Sunday afternoon.

Kearns lands starting job in right field  —  Stellar spring performance impresses manager Acta  —  WASHINGTON — Manager Manny Acta has decided that Austin Kearns will be his starting right fielder when the Nationals open the season against the Marlins on Monday at Dolphin Stadium.

Evans sent to Buffalo  —  As expected, the Mets sent prospect Nick Evans to Triple-A Buffalo this afternoon to make room for Gary Sheffield on the Opening Day roster.  The Mets will have to make another roster move by Saturday, April 11, to create a spot for fifth starter Livan Hernandez.

Aumont to bullpen role  —  This has nothing to do with the major league team right now.  But it could have plenty of impact on the team in the not-so-distant future.  The Mariners have abandonned, for now, any plans to have former No. 1 draft pick Phillippe Aumont continue in a starting role.

The Top Ten  —  Here is the first installment (#30-21), and here is the second (#21-11).  —  Teams are ranked by record, primarily a function of runs scored and runs allowed, which are what I spent the last week calculating.  I've made an occasional manual change to account for particularly strong …

Cubs release Chad Gaudin  —  To make their Opening Day 25-man roster, the Cubs released veteran reliever Chad Gaudin and optioned Jeff Samardzija to Triple A Iowa, which clears spots for Angel Guzman and David Patton in the bullpen.  —  The release of Gaudin will cost the Cubs about $1.6 million once he is picked up by another team.

Rangers set Minor League rotations  —  The Rangers have set their Minor League rotations for the most part:  —  Triple A Oklahoma City: Doug Mathis, Neftali Feliz, Elizardo Ramirez, Derek Holland and Luis Mendoza.  Thomas Diamond will be in the bullpen to start the season.

About Our Experience At The New Stadium This Weekend - Yankee Stadium Security Needs More Training  —  Nick and I ventured up to the new ballpark in the Bronx for both games this weekend.  We'll just do this in bullets, in order to present the positives and negatives.

McDonald named Dodgers' fifth starter  —  Weaver among six players assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque  —  LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers trimmed their roster from 36 to 30 on Saturday night and manager Joe Torre named James McDonald the team's fifth starter.  —  The Dodgers sent shortstop Chin-lung Hu …