Draft pick Houchins unlikely to sign with Nats  —  CHICAGO — Shortstop Zach Houchins, a 15th-round selection in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, said Monday it is unlikely that he will sign a professional contract with the Nationals.  —  Houchins said he hasn't heard from the club since June …

C.C. Sabathia: Just How Big a Problem?  —  ​Everything about C.C. Sabathia is big, so I guess it's natural that his flaws are also big.  After Saturday's disastrous outing with a 10-4 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway, Yankees fans must be worrying that C.C.'s big flaw could be fatal.

Colorado Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio able to walk in Denver hospital  —  CINCINNATI — Rockies rookie pitcher Juan Nicasio made progress Monday, walking for the first time since he was hit in the head by a line drive and the C1 vertebra in his neck was fractured Friday night.

Game 115: Mets vs. Padres at 7:10 pm  —  Tonight in Citi Field, the Mets will continue their four game series against the Padres at 7:10 pm.  —  Here are the starting lineups for tonight's game:  —  Chris Capuano (9-10, 4.44 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Mets.

Ortiz has 4 hits to lift Red Sox over Twins  —  MINNEAPOLIS — David Ortiz [stats] had four hits and three RBIs and delivered the go-ahead single with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Boston Red Sox [team stats] to an 8-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.

See what this bow tie represents, have a look at some of the others Ken Rosenthal has worn this season and find out what this all means.  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since August 2005.  He appears weekly on MLB on FOX.  Follow him on Twitter.  —  WNBA

In-depth: DePo's state of the farm  —  Mets VP Paul DePodesta, who oversees the farm system and amateur scouting, takes time with ESPNNewYork.com to break down the organization's minor leagues. … “I certainly think we're making progress.  It's been probably well-documented from the draft …

Dustin Pedroia takes flight on SI  —  Here's the cover of the new Sports Illustrated.  Poor Terry Francona is never going to hear the end of this.

Jose Reyes' hamstring likely to cost him  —  Soon-to-be free agent shortstop probably won't get megacontract due to his leg woes  —  Just about every day in baseball, somebody's hamstring pops.  Most of them, we barely even notice anymore.  Kinda like an Ozzie Guillen rant or another Frank McCourt trip to the courthouse.

Bad blood brewing  —  It is highly unusual for Cardinals manager Tony La Russa to personally escort the lineup card to home plate in the third game of a series.  That is a duty left to a coach or, once earlier this season, Kyle Lohse wearing La Russa's jersey.

New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox series at Fenway a reminder of Bombers' painfully slow pace  —  A year after umpire Joe West ripped the Yankees and Red Sox for slow play, the Bombers have shaved five minutes off their average game time, but are still playing at a glacial pace in comparison …

White Sox win fourth straight, hang on against Orioles  —  BALTIMORE — A.J. Pierzynski homered and drove in three runs, Alex Rios singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 on Monday night for their fourth straight victory.

Halladay gets NL-leading 15th win as Phillies top Dodgers  —  LOS ANGELES — Roy Halladay became the NL's first 15-game winner, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins each drove in two runs and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Monday night.