National League benefits greatly from mining AL rejects; more notes … John Smoltz, who posted an 8.32 ERA for the Red Sox, has turned his game around since getting to St. Louis and has a 2.65 ERA for the Cardinals.  Rafael Betancourt, who was an average reliever for the Indians …

Halladay's one-hitter snaps Yanks' streak  —  TORONTO - Apparently, there's nothing in the Joba Rules about pitching well.  —  Joba Chamberlain posted another abbreviated stinker Friday night, getting hit around for three innings in a 6-0 Blue Jays win at the Rogers Centre that snapped the Yankees' seven-game winning streak.

HELMET NOT THE WRIGHT FIT  —  DENVER — It was the poor fit — and not the relentless national ridicule — that made him do it.  —  HUBBUCH ON TWITTER  —  That was David Wright's explanation yesterday for abandoning the comically oversized “Great Gazoo” batting helmet he donned to relentless teasing Tuesday.

Near miss doesn't faze NY Yankees reliever Alfredo Aceves … TORONTO — A rowdy fan caused a distraction on Thursday night when he threw a baseball from the stands that bounced off the ground and nearly hit Yankees relief pitcher Alfredo Aceves.  —  The fan — who celebrated his throw by raising his arms and cheering — was ejected.

Jonathan Papelbon of Boston Red Sox fined $5,000 for taking too long to pitch  —  Baseball's attempts to speed up the pace of the game have taken some getting used to for Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon — to the tune of thousands of dollars.  —  Papelbon was fined $5,000 …

Superstitious Fans Wonder: Is Ballpark Concessionaire Aramark bad for Baseball teams?  —  Baseball teams in stadiums that use concessionaire Aramark fall short of expected performance, get caught stealing more, and have fewer home runs than teams that don't use Aramark

St. Louis Cardinals fan feels uplifted after fall  —  He lay on his back in the dirt of the Pittsburgh ballpark.  His neck hurt.  Striking his face on the crushed rock along the first-base side felt like breaking through glass.  He was bloodied.  And the foul ball was gone.

Answer Man: Pedro Martinez talks God, Boston and flowers  —  recently began what might be the final leg of an amazing major league career.  He's on a unique journey, growing up deeply spiritual in the Dominican Republic, coming up through the Dodgers chain after his taller brother Ramon …

Ernie Harwell, baseball broadcasting Hall of Famer, announces he has inoperable cancer  —  Ernie Harwell, the 91-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, said Friday that he has inoperable cancer.  —  Harwell, who was in the Tigers' broadcast booth from 1960 until he retired in 2002 …

Red Sox-White Sox: Updates  —  (11:09, Game over, White Sox 12, Red Sox 2)Maybe the Red Sox will participate in this four-game series vs. the White Sox tomorrow.  Tonight they barely showed up.  The White Sox scored 12 runs by the fourth inning, mainly because of two 5-run innings in the third and fourth.

Prospect Hot Sheet: Sept. 4  —  As the minor league season winds down, we pause to honor Rays Triple-A center fielder Desmond Jennings and his record-setting 7-for-7 night.  We'll be back next week with a comprehensive look at the season's top performers.  —  Remember as always, this is not a re-ranking of our Top 100 Prospects list.

Break versus Movement  —  As we all know by know the pitchf/x data is an incredible resource for baseball analysts.  For each pitch thrown in a major league game we get scads of data, so much so that it is hard to even know where to begin.  And once we have begun it is easy to just go with the flow …