How to make the Yankees perfect  —  It might be too late.  But I wonder if the Yankees should send Phil Hughes to their secret compound in Tampa and retrain him to throw six innings at a pop. Because lately the Yankees seem to have only three starters, and these days you need four in October.

Manny sparks Dodgers against D-backs  —  LA homers thrice as NL West lead stays at 3 1/2 games  —  PHOENIX — Manny Ramirez didn't mind talking about his third-inning ejection on Monday, but he cut off questioning about his second-inning home run.  —  “I don't want to talk about that,” he said.

Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran set for return after rehab stint  —  The Mets are expecting good news Tuesday.  It may be too late to change their ultimate fate, but the return of Carlos Beltran is plenty welcome for a club that's suffered one misfortune after another.

Fair ball: Just clean hits for Jeter  —  was Mark Teixeira, whose first of two home runs in Game 2 landed just in front of the Iron Horse's granite block in Monument Park.  —  But no matter.  —  Rooting for Derek Jeter to break the record?  Follow LIJeterFans on and be the first to know when he breaks the record.Twitter

Carpenter throws one-hitter at Brewers  —  SEPT. 7, 2009 — Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter gets a hug from catcher Yadier Molina after the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 in Milwaukee.  Carpenter threw a one-hitter.  (AP)  —  ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Surfing The Mets  —  Righthander Tobi Stoner is expected to join the Mets on Tuesday with the completion of Triple-A Buffalo's season.  The 24-year-old Stoner, a 16th-round pick in 2006 out of Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia, went 7-7 with a 3.96 ERA in 16 starts for the Bisons.

Giants irked by homer celebrations  —  Brewers' display, Padres' Gonzalez stoke emotions  —  SAN FRANCISCO — For the second day in a row, an opponent's home run prompted complaints from the Giants about unprofessional behavior.  —  While several Giants — and a few players around the Major Leagues …

No, Really: Now Will You Believe Us When We Tell You How Heidi Hamels Is Ruining Everything Beautiful That Was Once Cole Hamels?  —  Words can barely do justice to this ad for The Residences At Two Liberty Place, in the current issue of PhillyMag.  First off, is Heidi really pimpin' that baby bump for rent credits?

Nationals to promote five players  —  Shortstop Desmond, four pitchers and coach coming up  —  WASHINGTON — The Nationals have decided to promote pitchers Ross Detwiler, Marco Estrada, Logan Kensing and Zack Segovia and shortstop Ian Desmond to the big leagues.

MASSIVE TIE SCENARIO  —  In the National League yesterday, the Phillies lost, which helped the massive tie scenario, but the Dodgers won, which didn't.  The Marlins and Braves didn't play, but Colorado and San Francisco kept pace with wins as well.  —  The following outcomes result in a six …

Carlos Pena Is Done for Season  —  C.C. Sabathia's 94-mile-per-hour fastball roared inside on Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, who started to swing at it before the ball struck his left hand and his bat Monday.  After a trainer for Tampa Bay examined him for a few minutes, Pena took two limp swings before striking out.

Give Chase His Due  —  In all likelihood, the National League MVP is going to Albert Pujols for the second consecutive season, and probably rightly so.  He's at or near the top in many of the traditional and non-traditional stats and is 2nd behind Tim Lincecum in wins above replacement with 7.5.

Chiefs 5, PawSox 3: Miserable season ends with a thud  —  •THE MERCIFUL END: The PawSox' last contest of the season turned in the bottom of the eighth when Syracuse rallied for three runs against Pawtucket reliever T.J. Large (3-4).  Syracuse catcher Gustavo Molina produced the winning runs …

Gaston should have done better  —  A season that got off to a magical start has left us with the nagging old questions about the Blue Jays' manager  — Weather - Video - Blogs - RSS Feeds - Globe Books - TV listings - Globe on Twitter - Columnists - TIFF 2009

Pittsburgh's certainly not alone in baseball's era of futility … The talk, of course, revolves around the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have now clinched their 17th consecutive losing season, a record of beautiful futility.  * But there might be something else going on in baseball.

Mets assistant GM Ricco not after the boss' job  —  John Ricco's baseball playing career ended after his sophomore year at Cresskill High School, when he decided golf and the student newspaper suited his undersized frame better than a spot on the pitcher's mound.

Nick Johnson's Odd 2009  —  Nick Johnson  —  #20 / First Base / Florida Marlins  —  Nick Johnson's career has become one of the major oddities of professional baseball over the last decade.  Johnson debuted in 2001 with the New York Yankees, and after mediocre seasons in 2001 and 2002, Johnson broke out in 2003.

Manuel fumes after Phillies fall again  —  HOUSTON - Yes, the Phillies proved their talent by winning the World Series last year.  And yes, they still hold a comfortable lead in their division.  —  But none of that soothed manager Charlie Manuel after yesterday's 4-3 loss to Houston sealed a four-game sweep by a mediocre team.

Depth missing from free-agent class  —  Teams in need may not find perfect fit this offseason  —  When it comes to rating disappointing seasons for Major League teams, you have to put the Mets and the Cubs at the top of the list.  —  If two teams wanted to close the door on one season …