Padres extend NL West led over Giants  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—The San Diego Padres are doing all the little things that first-place teams do: aggressive baserunning, manufacturing runs, pressuring the opposing pitcher.  —  Yorvit Torrealba  —  drove in two runs against his former team, pitcher Clayton Richard

Marlins 2  —  Recap  —  Box Score  —  Play-By-Play  —  Conversation  —  Marlins escape Mets in Santana-Johnson duel  —  MIAMI — Once Cody Ross slid across the plate, he kept going — right into the arms of a jubilant Hanley Ramirez.  —  The rest of the Florida Marlins quickly joined …

VALENTINO PASCUCCI SIGNED BY NEW YORK METS ORGANIZATION  —  Camden's Designated Hitter to Report to New York's AAA Affiliate  —  The Camden Riversharks announced today that designated hitter, Valentino Pascucci has signed a contract with the New York Mets organization.

Mets Lead the Majors in Declining Attendance  —  A year after moving into a sparkling new $800 million stadium, the Mets have the most home victories in the major leagues, but neither their stadium nor their record is translating into box-office success.  —  After 22 home games …

Royals Fire Trey Hillman  —  The Royals fired manager Trey Hillman, according to Yahoo's Jeff Passan (via Twitter).  Former Brewers manager Ned Yost will take over the club.  The 12-23 Royals already trail the first place Twins by 10.5 games in the AL Central.

Selig honored by anti-PED group  —  MLB Commissioner first recipient of Taylor's Award  —  NEW YORK — Commissioner Bud Selig was named the first recipient of Taylor's Award, presented by the Taylor Hooton Foundation to an individual who has made a major impact on efforts to educate …

Minnesota's Gardenhire to go to motivational forum  —  MINNEAPOLIS — The full-page ad has been printed in local newspapers for weeks, touting appearances by Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Steve Forbes and others of prominence at an upcoming motivational seminar.

Greinke gets first win as Royals top Indians 6-4  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke (FSY) received rare run support for his first win in eight starts and the Kansas City Royals ended a seven-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.

Verlander, Cabrera help Tigers win series vs Yanks  —  DETROIT - On Monday, the Detroit Tigers pitching staff seemed to be on the verge of collapse.  —  Three days later, everything is fine.  —  Justin Verlander kept up a much-needed success streak for the Detroit rotation …

Wren thinks offense has turned corner  —  General manager impressed by production in Milwaukee  —  ATLANTA — With a little more than 20 percent of this season complete, Braves general manager Frank Wren has been forced to patiently await a stretch that provides strong indication …

Sanchez: Venezuela next target for clean-up  —  MLB pushing for guidelines to be followed in Latin America  —  The effort to clean up baseball throughout Latin America has reached Venezuela.  —  On Wednesday, representatives from Major League Baseball and scouts from all 30 clubs who operate …

Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg no-hits Class AAA Norfolk Tides over six innings  —  SYRACUSE, N.Y. — There is no higher class of minor leagues left for Stephen Strasburg, so what happens now?  Let him face robots in the bullpen?  Make him throw left-handed?