Francoeur stays hot in Mets win vs. Nats  —  Outfielder's two doubles, two runs drive New York's offense  —  NEW YORK — Though not renowned for his sense of style, Jeff Francoeur is mindful of how he dresses.  He plans his wardrobe; i.e., which jeans go best with which T-shirt, and do his kicks match the ensemble.

CC overcomes scare, earns 18th win  —  Lefty shakes off liner off chest; Teixeira homers twice  —  SEATTLE — Whether the Yankees want to admit it or not, the primary goal of this month's gauntlet is to get through healthy for when their second season begins, needing all cylinders firing …

Pedro Martinez leaves Philadelphia Phillies game after 3 with stiff neck  —  ATLANTA — Pedro Martinez left his start after three innings because of neck stiffness in Philadelphia Phillies's game against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.  —  Martinez  —  Martinez was trailing 3 …

On the Beat  —  Weekend Wrapup  —  Just two in-season managerial changes have been made this year in the major leagues.  As a result, t will be interesting to see how many there will be once the season ends in two weeks.  Of the two made during the season, one has been credited for making …

Easy prey for Red Sox  —  Another game, another victory over Orioles  —  BALTIMORE - Any meeting between the Red Sox [team stats] and Baltimore Orioles is an intersection of two teams heading in entirely different directions, resulting in a predictable outcome.  —  Since the All-Star break, the Orioles are 20-44.

Prospectus Q and A: Paul Konerko by David Laurila  —  Paul Konerko … David Laurila: How do you view the career you've had in the big leagues thus far?  —  Paul Konerko: Well, it's obviously still going, so you don't want to talk about things too much in the past tense.

Andre Ethier is Ned Colletti's best work  —  Young outfielder has blossomed with the Dodgers after general manager insisted he be part of a trade that sent Milton Bradley to Oakland  —  On Baseball  —  Was it the best trade Ned Colletti ever made?  —  “I shouldn't be answering that,” the Dodgers' general manager said.

Wright says beaning remains in the back of his mind  —  If David Wright were a different sort of athlete and a different sort of man, he would say he doesn't think about it when he gets in the batter's box.  —  He would say he doesn't think about the 93-mph fastball from San Francisco's Matt Cain …

Great American power outage ends  —  In the homer column: The Marlins went an unthinkable 22 innings without a home run at Great American Ball Park before Jorge Cantu made it a 1-1 game in the fifth with a solo shot off Bronson Arroyo.  Through Friday among National League stadiums …

Measuring the managers  —  Scioscia and Tracy led the way this year  —  A common theme heard about Yankees manager Joe Girardi is, “Even I could manage a team of All-Stars and with a payroll that big.”  —  There's some truth to that, but there's a flip side.