Yankees Looking At Downs  —  Jeff Blair of The Globe And Mail passes along a note that the Yankees are looking at Blue Jays closer Scott Downs.  In today's massive Roy Halladay thread we learned that the Yanks had scouts in Toronto tonight, and we've known that they're on the look out for arms.

Penny, Red Sox get back to winning ways with 3-1 victory over Orioles  —  BOSTON (AP) — Brad Penny (FSY) scattered five hits over 6 1-3 innings to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 on Friday night and snap a season-high five-game losing streak.  —  GAME REPORT: Red Sox 3, Orioles 1

Cardinals acquire Holliday from A's  —  Prospects Wallace, Mortensen, Peterson shipped to Oakland  —  ST. LOUIS — A Major League source has confirmed that a deal is in place for the Cardinals to acquire Matt Holliday from the A's in exchange for Brett Wallace and two other Minor Leaguers …

Game 96: Athletics at Yankees  —  YANKEES (58-37)  —  Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain (5-2, 4.05).  —  ATHLETICS (40-54)  —  Kennedy 3B  —  Cabrera SS  —  Hairston LF  —  Cust DH  —  Suzuki C  —  Sweeney RF  —  Barton 1B  —  Ellis 2B  —  Patterson CF  —  Pitching: LHP Brett Anderson (5-7, 4.25).

Texas Rangers RHP Vicente Padilla tests positive for swine flu  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Texas Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla tested positive for swine flu, though his symptoms are subsiding and he's expected to make his next start.  —  Padilla was scratched from his start Wednesday …

Talent running deep for Angels  —  Team is finding that it can rely heavily on its reserves as it surges to seventh straight win.  —  This was hardly the “A” team, not with names such as Quinlan and Wood and Matthews stretched across the backs of their jerseys.

Mark Buehrle in demand  —  DETROIT - Of the nearly 80 congratulatory messages Mark Buehrle received since throwing a perfect game Thursday, one stood out.  —  That came from Missouri-based hunting video producer Mark Drury.  —  “He said he was in a cornfield in Iowa doing some food plots …

Braves 9, Brewers 4  —  MILWAUKEE (AP) — Chipper Jones, Martin Prado and Nate McLouth homered to pace a 17-hit effort by Atlanta and Javier Vazquez struck out nine in seven innings, lifting the surging Braves over the Milwaukee Brewers 9-4 on Friday night.  —  Prado hit a three-run homer …

Rockies send Speier out  —  The Colorado Rockies announced Friday that relief pitcher Ryan Speier has been designated for assignment and Manny Corpas placed on the 15-day disabled list to make room for Jhoulys Chacin and Rafael Betancourt on the roster.  —  Speier was activated from the disabled list on Tuesday.

Teamwork, fundamentals dear to Rice  —  Newest inductee brings old-school mentality to Cooperstown  —  COOPERSTOWN, N. Y.  — It took Jim Rice 15 years to finally get enough votes for election to baseball's Hall of Fame.  He squeaked in, just barely receiving the required 75% of votes cast …

Jim Parque's steroid admission surprises Chicago White sox  —  White Sox pitcher Jim Parque in 2000.  —  From the look of Jim Parque's 5-foot-11-inch, 170-pound frame, Paul Konerko admitted he was surprised by his former White Sox teammate's admission that he took human growth hormone after his release from the Sox.

Marlins 6, Dodgers 3  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pinch-hitter Jeremy Hermida drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan homered in the eighth and the Florida Marlins kept rolling up the West Coast with a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Cain wins 12th, Giants hold on to defeat Rockies 3-1  —  DENVER (AP) — Matt Cain (FSY) became the major leagues' second 12-game winner, scattering three hits over seven innings and the San Francisco Giants beat Colorado 3-1 on Friday night to pull even with the Rockies in the NL wild-card race.