Fireworks send Lastings Milledge into an ill-fated home run trot  —  Larry Granillo of Wezen-Ball frequently strikes blog gold, but the innovation of the “Tater Trot Tracker” is pure platinum.  It measures how fast (or slow) a player makes his circuit after hitting a home run.

Will Ferrell pitches, entertains in Round Rock  —  Actor puts on an in-game show for fans at Triple-A game  —  Ricky Bobby.  Chazz Michael Michaels.  Jackie Moon.  Rojo Johnson.  —  The funniest athlete in the world has made it into baseball.  —  Now the only question is whether he will make it to The Show.

Pettitte peeved at being forced to skip start  —  BOSTON — Andy Pettitte is sore.  But not, he says, in the area of his pitching elbow that caused him to exit his last start after just five innings and 77 pitches.  —  “I am not very happy at all,” Pettitte said, moments after Yankees manager Joe Girardi …

Yankees Fans Are From Mars...  In an Exclusive Poll, We Expose the Differences Between Fans of New York's Baseball Teams; Wait, Mets Fans Worry Less?  —  Everybody in New York has an opinion about what makes Yankees fans different from Mets fans.  So do we.  The only difference is that we've got 445 pages of data to back it up.

Phillies' 47-year-old Jamie Moyer tosses 2-hitter against Braves  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Forty-seven-year-old Jamie Moyer (FSY) threw a two-hitter, Jayson Werth (FSY) hit a three-run homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-0 on Friday night.

Eveland knows his spot isn't secure  —  CHICAGO — The Blue Jays will not say it, but left-hander Dana Eveland might be pitching on a start-to-start basis at some point.  With a wave of pitching prospects on the cusp of the big leagues and a handful of injured arms on the mend, Eveland knows much depends on performance.

Alex Rodriguez of New York Yankees replies to taunt of Dallas Braden of Oakland Athletics: No thanks  —  Dallas Braden still wants a piece of Alex Rodriguez.  —  The Oakland Athletics starter, who got into it with Rodriguez after A-Rod ran across the mound following an out in the April 22 game in Oakland …

Prospect Hot Sheet: May 7  —  Team: Double-A Northwest Arkansas (Texas)  —  Why He's Here: .545/.760/1.136 (12-for-22), 8 Rs, 4 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBIs, 6 BB, 3 SO  —  The Scoop: Even with Danny Duffy's retirement, it's been quite a good first month for the Royals' farm system.

Chicago Cubs call up Starlin Castro  —  CINCINNATI — The struggling Chicago Cubs called up top prospect Starlin Castro on Friday, and his debut could not have gone better.  —  The 20-year-old, who became the youngest shortstop in franchise history, powered a 2-2 pitch over the fence …

On Baseball: So Far, It's Not the Same Old Red Sox  —  The operating philosophy of the Boston Red Sox is to take the Yankees for who they are.  That is, they assume and accept that in every season, the Yankees will win at least 95 games.  In 10 of the last 13 seasons, the Yankees have done that.

McCann has more eye problems, will go back to glasses  —  Philadelphia - It's Brian McCann's 2009 nightmare revisited: more vision problems that will require the Braves catcher to switch to playing in glasses again beginning Saturday.  —  “It's beyond frustrating,” said McCann …

Fun with Shutdowns and Meltdowns  —  Yesterday David introduced a couple of new stats, Shutdowns and Meltdowns, to the site.  It's fashioned after saves/blown saves but is vastly superior, because it's a metric that uses WPA as a substitute of the brainless, archaic save stat and the rules that guide it.

The Movement to Make Baseball Whole Again  —  As a panel considers change, a new question arises: Should the game merge its leagues?  —  In the mid-1990s, after Major League Baseball had decided to experiment with games between teams in the National and American Leagues …