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.

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.

Game 140: Rays at Yankees (updated with Robertson injury news)  —  YANKEES (89-50)  —  Pitching: RHP Chad Gaudin (1-0, 4.08).  —  RAYS (72-66)  —  Bartlett SS  —  Crawford LF  —  Longoria 3B  —  Zobrist CF  —  Burrell DH  —  Richard 1B  —  Zaun C  —  Gross RF  —  Iwamura 2B

Castoffs Paying Dividends In NL West  —  Has Jason Giambi been a good acquisition so far for the Rockies?  Yes, yes he has been.  —  View full size photo uploaded September 7, 2009  —  With all the hype surrounding the non-waiver trading deadline of July 31, there have been some moves …

Bumgarner to start tonight for Lincecum  —  A quick update from The Chronicle sports desk as Bruce Bochy speaks to reporters: Bochy has confirmed that Bumgarner is starting in Lincecum's place tonight.  Bochy said Lincecum should be better in a couple days and did not indicate there is an long-term problem with Lincecum.

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?

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

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.