Former Alex Rodriguez foe Dallas Braden appalled by Oakland's ‘Get Off My Mound’ T-shirts  —  OAKLAND - Robinson Cano broke out a “Get Off My Mound” T-shirt in the visiting trainer's room before Monday night's game, causing an eruption of laughter inside the Yankees' clubhouse.

Mariners keeping mum on Cliff Lee  —  But MLB insiders expect former Cy Young winner to be traded before deadline … If you're looking for hints on Seattle pitcher Cliff Lee's next destination, they won't be coming from the horse's mouth.  Right around the time Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan …

Tampa Bay Rays' B.J. Upton surprised, disappointed to be benched for matchup reasons  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Manager Joe Maddon had his reasons for not starting CF B.J. Upton on Monday, primarily Upton's 1-for-13 career mark against Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka compared with four other Rays who Maddon felt needed to play.

Catcher Martinez hasn't received call from team  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's a familiar scene before Red Sox games.  Victor Martinez shagging flies in the outfield, and watching his son, Victor Jose Martinez, and Little Papi (D'Angelo Ortiz), chasing each other around.

Reds go all out in ‘Vote Votto’ campaign  —  Team mobilizes to help get first baseman on All-Star team  —  NEW YORK — Within moments of first baseman Joey Votto being named as a candidate in the 2010 All-Star Final Vote, the Reds mobilized faster than any political campaign for a government post could ever hope to do.

Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez hits some speed bumps  —  DENVER — Ubaldo has taken a U-turn.  —  Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez is off to the best start in this “Year of the Pitcher,” with a 14-1 record and a 2.27 ERA.  He's the odds-on favorite to get the ball for the NL in the All-Star game …

Ex-Cardinal Dmitri Young jailed in Bloomington  —  BLOOMINGTON — Former major league baseball player Dmitri Young was arrested by McLean County Sheriff's Department police early Monday on preliminary charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

The time a Nolan Ryan rookie card was mistakenly sold for $12  —  It's one of the controversial stories I remember most from my childhood.  —  Back in 1990, in a baseball card shop just a few Chicago suburbs over from where I grew up, a 13-year-old named Bryan Wrzesinski bought …

Curtis Granderson's BABIP  —  New York Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson is in the midst of his fifth full season in the major leagues.  After performing at roughly a league-average clip at the plate in 2006 (.333 wOBA), Granderson went on to crush the ball in 2007 and 2008.

Madden: Ace stuff not there for Pelfrey  —  For the Mets, it's been kind of a season of mini-seasons, beginning with that 4-8 start that didn't include Ike Davis and certainly didn't bode well for the summer of opportunity it's become.  —  After that, there was the 9-1 first long home stand …

Live-blogging the Beckett sim game  —  Josh Beckett is about to get to work here at Tropicana Field.  He'll be facing five players from the GCL Red Sox and maybe Jeremy Hermida, too.  —  Stay tuned for reports here.  —  UPDATE, 2:20 p.m.: Hermida is hitting first.

POSTGAME NOTES: Sabean has an eye on Brewers, Posey wrist update, notes on Huff, Renteria, Ishikawa, etc.  —  There's a lot of stealth activity at the July 31 trade deadline, and for us beat reporters, that means a whole Chinese province full of tea leaves to read.