An Underachieving Symbol of the Mets' Lost Decade  —  A full decade has come and gone since the Mets' last pennant in 2000.  —  When Mets fans think of the scrappy bunch that put together that pennant, they might even gloss over the powerful Mike Piazza and smilingly recall appealing characters …

SPORTS BASEBALL  —  Rasmus' dad blasts Tony La Russa  —  Former St. Louis Cardinals' outfielder Colby Rasmus was traded to the Blue Jays on Wednesday.  (GETTY IMAGES)  —  Report an error  —  TORONTO - … Not so, says the man supposedly in Rasmus' ear.

Indians Very Close To Acquiring Kosuke Fukudome  —  11:02am: A Cubs source told ESPN's Jim Bowden the prospects are outfielder Abner Abreu and reliever Carlton Smith (Twitter link).  —  10:30am: Hoynes tweets that the Indians are paying $775K of Fukudome's remaining salary, which would leave about $3.9MM for the Cubs.

Red Sox bats take care of Royals  —  Like a runaway train, or partisan bickering in Washington, the Red Sox [team stats]' bats just don't stop.  —  For the third time in four games and the seventh time this month, they produced a double-digit run total last night at Fenway Park [map] — and that was before the fifth inning.

Daily Rumble: Padres narrowing focus  —  Heath Bell could be on the move, with Mike Adams and Ryan Ludwick not far behind … Carlos Beltran?  Gone.  Colby Rasmus?  Gone.  Edwin Jackson?  Moving on again — as he does every year at this time.  So here at the Daily Rumble, we know exactly what you're thinking ...

Yankees keeping an eye on Dodgers' Kuroda  —  The Yankees remain uncomfortable with the high price tag of Ubaldo Jimenez, but also equally uncomfortable with the state of their rotation behind CC Sabathia.  —  Thus, they are remaining in regular contact with the Dodgers about Hiroki Kuroda.

Homer extends Pedroia's hitting streak to 24  —  BOSTON — Dustin Pedroia wasted no time extending his hitting streak to a career-high 24 games Wednesday night against the Royals.  —  After fouling off a pair of offspeed pitches in his first at-bat against Kansas City starter Bruce Chen …

Derek Jeter 3K film out Thursday  —  NEW YORK — Derek Jeter allowed cameras to follow him during his pursuit of 3,000 hits partly because “if and when” he has children, he'd like them to be able to see him as a player.  —  In the hour-long documentary that premieres Thursday night on HBO …

Burroughs is back, but not his old habits  —  SAN DIEGO — Micah Owings heard what his Diamondbacks teammate Sean Burroughs stated.  —  He just couldn't believe it.  —  “You were running from light poles?”  Owings said.  —  “No,” Burroughs said, quickly correcting Owings.  “I was talking to them.”

Father Raymond J. de Souza: Honouring Roger Maris, baseball's moral champion  —  Sunday was Blue Jays day at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., with former general manager Pat Gillick and second baseman Roberto Alomar inducted.  The first Blue Jays to make it to the Hall …