Cubs, Rays eye Pedro  —  A source close to Pedro Martinez indicated tonight that both the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays have watched Martinez throw in the Dominican and both teams have begun to at least explore how much money it would take to lure Martinez back to the mound.

Sox draft Michael Yastrzemski  —  Someday in the distant future, there might just be another Yaz in the Red Sox outfield.  —  In the 36th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox selected St. John's Prep (Danvers) outfielder Michael Yastrzemski.

Red Sox rally for eighth straight vs. Yankees  —  BOSTON — J.D. Drew [stats] hit an RBI single to spark an eighth-inning rally, then scored the go-ahead run on Mike Lowell's fly ball Thursday night to help the Boston Red Sox [team stats] beat New York 4-3 and improve to 8-0 against the Yankees this year.

Source: Chien-Ming Wang to remain in New York Yankees rotation  —  Despite having a 21.61 ERA as a starter, Yankees right-hander Chien-Ming Wang is expected to remain in the rotation, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.  —  Wang has the highest starter's ERA through five starts since 1913 …

Orlando Hernandez agrees with Rangers  —  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — El Duque will try to make a comeback with the Texas Rangers.  —  Orlando Hernandez, who has been part of four World Series championship teams, agreed to a minor league contract Thursday with the Rangers.

Phillies Minor League Player Ozuna Suspended  —  The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Philadelphia Phillies Minor League infielder Pablo Ozuna has received a 50-game suspension after showing an elevated Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio, a performance-enhancing substance violation …

Maine's Start Is Pushed Back, but Mets Say It's No Cause for Alarm  —  The Mets pushed John Maine's next start back a day, to Saturday at Yankee Stadium, because of shoulder discomfort that he described as “nothing serious.”  In his next sentence, Maine said, “It's just maybe a little dead.”

Angels draft boxing legend Ali's son  —  Catcher led high school team to division title in Michigan  —  His world-famous father lived for the late rounds, winning his fights with his famous rope-a-dope strategy.  A late round — the 40th, to be precise — was where Asaad Ali …

St. Louis Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa defends Hal McRae  —  MIAMI — The Cardinals enjoyed the National League's most productive offense in April.  They have endured its least productive one since.  To manager Tony La Russa, the same players celebrated for the earlier breakout …

If the Nats could trade Strasburg  —  Opinions vary on what Washington could get in return for its No. 1 pick  —  It's time once again to play America's favorite second-guessing game — What If?  —  Here's this week's mesmerizing hypothetical question: If baseball teams were allowed to trade draft picks …

Acta On the Hitting Slump and Lineup Changes  —  Here is a transcript of our chat today with Manager Manny Acta  —  How do you break the recent hitting slump?  —  We just need to concentrate and get some better at bats in situational hitting.  I think we underestimate that and the end of the game some times that counts.

White flag time for Sox?  —  After Sox' 8th loss in last 11, Williams could be a seller  —  Sox general manager Ken Williams always has a plan.  But in the midst of eight losses through the first 11 games in June, some people might not like the latest one.