Yanks bench slumping A-Rod for two days  —  MIAMI - The Yankees had trouble beating the Nationals with Alex Rodriguez in the lineup.  How will they fare against the Marlins without A-Rod's bat?  —  Rodriguez was yanked from the lineup this afternoon as Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman decided …

Tigers give Leyland two-year extension  —  Manager has navigated injuries, slumps into first place  —  DETROIT — Jim Leyland's future will remain in a Tiger uniform.  The team and the manager agreed Friday to a two-year contract extension, ending speculation while rewarding the veteran skipper …

Arizona Diamondbacks to have doctors assess injured starter Brandon Webb next week  —  SEATTLE — Three-time All-Star Brandon Webb remains back home in Phoenix with pain in his pitching shoulder and won't see an Arizona Diamondbacks team doctor until after Father's Day.  —  Webb

Interview: Roger Clemens  —  Photo by Flickr user presson_on.  —  Let's play a word association game.  Roger Clemens.  What comes to mind?  University of Texas Longhorn.  Fastball.  Burnt orange Hummer.  4,672 strikeouts.  Houston resident.  Major league pitcher.

Red Sox want rotation depth, will keep Penny  —  Be realistic.  Jake Peavy and Erik Bedard probably won't be tradeable before Aug. 1.  Drayton McLane is not moving Roy Oswalt.  Jarrod Washburn could probably be had, and would be a good pickup for a National League team with a big ballpark (cue Dodgers, Mets and Giants).

Miller Park to be OK after flooding  —  Situation to be resolved by the time team returns Tuesday  —  DETROIT — A severe storm in Milwaukee early Friday morning knocked out power at Miller Park and caused what a Brewers official termed “moderate” flooding in parts of the ballpark's service level, including the clubhouses.

Sources: Evans promoted to the Mets  —  Sources tell the Daily News that Nick Evans will be promoted to the Mets.  It wasn't immediately clear whose place Evans would take, but perhaps the Mets have decided to demote Fernando Martinez with Gary Sheffield returning to the outfield.

Eighth-inning homer off Mota lifts Angels over Dodgers  —  Guillermo Mota came up big for the Dodgers in the bottom of the seventh inning, extending his scoreless streak to 13 innings by inducing a 6-4-3 double play from Vladimir Guerrero to preserve a 4-4 tie between the Dodgers and the Angels.

Hill pitches, hits Orioles to 7-2 win over Phils  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Rich Hill pitched into the seventh inning and singled in the go-ahead run, leading the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-2 victory over the slumping Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.  —  FINAL: Orioles 7, Phillies 2

Dodgers recall righty McDonald  —  Club sends reliever Schlichting to Triple-A Albuquerque  —  ANAHEIM — With long reliever Jeff Weaver starting Saturday night, the Dodgers recalled James McDonald from Triple-A Albuquerque to be a long reliever and sent right-handed reliever Travis Schlichting to Albuquerque.

Corpas likely headed to DL  —  The Rockies' bullpen got rocked Friday night before the first pitch was thrown against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  —  Setup reliever Manuel Corpas has bone chips in his right elbow and likely will be placed on the 15-day disabled list, a source close to Corpas confirmed.

Ibanez on Injury  —  In case you missed it, here are some excerpts from Raul Ibanez's interview on Daily News Live, where I tried to get a clearer picture of the status of his strained groin.  —  Neither Ibanez nor the Phillies will guesstimate the length of his absence, but both said an MRI revealed nothing serious.

Theriot's single in 10th caps Cubs' big comeback  —  Ryan Theriot hit a bad-hop single with two outs in the 10th inning and the Chicago Cubs, saved by Derrek Lee's late homer, rallied from an early seven-run deficit to beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 Friday.  —  Lee homered twice …

Please Everyone, Stop Using Catcher ERA  —  More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP  —  Non-defensive catcher.  —  Browse more photos »  —  The Nichols Law of catcher defense states the inverse relationship that exists between offensive abilities and perceived defensive performance.

LSU routs Arkansas, will face Texas in CWS finals  —  OMAHA — LSU is beginning to take on the look of a champion.  —  The Tigers thumped Arkansas 14-5 Friday to eliminate the Razorbacks from the College World Series and become the first team to reach the best-of-three finals that begin Monday.