Carlos Beltran to stay in NL East?  —  New York Mets right fielder Carlos Beltran's next home may still be in the National League East.  Among the most active scouting occurring in the Beltran sweepstakes involves intra-division teams.  —  Gordon Lakey, the director of major league scouting …

Matsui Hits 500th Pro Homer as A's Top Tigers 8-5  —  DETROIT (AP) — Hideki Matsui hit his 500th professional homer and drove in three runs to lead the Oakland Athletics over the Detroit Tigers 7-5 Wednesday night.  —  Matsui led off the sixth inning with his milestone homer …

Drew Breaks Ankle, Brewers Beat Arizona 5-2 in 10  —  PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona lost shortstop Stephen Drew with a broken right ankle, then Milwaukee gave young reliever Ryan Cook a rude welcome to the big leagues with a three-run 10th inning in a 5-2 victory over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.

SOX STILL EYEING LONG-TERM DEAL FOR ELLSBURY  —  Speaking on the Dennis & Callahan Show with John Dennis and Dale Arnold, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein confirmed that the organization has previously attempted to sign Jacoby Ellsbury to a multi-year extension, and hope to still execute such a deal in the future.

Candid Dunn admits thinking about quitting  —  Adam Dunn(notes) is talking about quitting.  He's talking about it like he's been thinking about it, like it's always a possibility, a failsafe if this misery continues.  And then he's talking about it like the chances of him doing it are infinitesimal …

Joe Girardi says he'll consider eventually batting Brett Gardner at leadoff instead of Derek Jeter  —  Brett Gardner's recent offensive streak is difficult for Joe Girardi to ignore.  The issue, if Gardner ends up batting leadoff, is where to slot Derek Jeter in the Yankees lineup.

Braves need another hitter, but who?  —  The Braves are going to get a hitter.  What kind of hitter, which position he will play, no one yet knows.  —  The Astros' Hunter Pence, at least at the moment, is not the Braves' slugger of choice, two major-league sources say.

Theriot serves one game after dropping appeal  —  NEW YORK — In an unusual move, Major League Baseball has agreed to reduce Ryan Theriot's recent suspension from two games to one in exchange for Theriot dropping his appeal of the punishment.  Theriot is being disciplined for his actions in Sunday's game against the Reds.

Padres tell Adams he's staying put  —  At least a dozen teams have contacted the San Diego Padres about standout reliever Mike Adams(notes), and to this point they've all been rebuffed.  With good reason.  —  The big boss said he's staying put.  —  Certainly a team could come with a blowaway offer …

Huntington a ‘Moneyball’ guy?  —  Neal Huntington finds it curious that people reflexively refer to him as a “Moneyball guy.”  —  By that, they presumably mean the Pirates' general manager is a disciple of Oakland A's GM Billy Beane, whose new-age, statistical-based evaluation of players …