Matt Cain goes 8 strong innings, Giants beat Braves 7-5  —  ATLANTA - Matt Cain snapped his three-game losing streak with five-hit ball over eight innings, and the San Francisco Giants barely avoided another loss to Atlanta in the final at-bat, holding on for a 7-5 victory over the Braves on Wednesday night.

Plenty of Time Left to Regret Rodriguez's Contract  —  The swollen ice wrap around Alex Rodriguez's right knee looked like it might burst and spray popcorn around the room in all directions.  He sat down and kept his leg erect, but couldn't keep a straight face when someone asked if he physically felt 100 percent.

Sammy to Big Z: Hold off on retirement talk  —  Former slugger wants players to know life after baseball ‘not easy’  —  CHICAGO — Sammy Sosa knows all about life after baseball, and planned on reaching out to Carlos Zambrano to remind him that once you retire, “it's a whole different ballgame.”

Teams Spend $236 Million On '11 Draft  —  MLB teams combined to spend $227,969,050 on draft bonuses in 2011, and a total of $236,019,050 including additional guarantees in major league contracts for Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, Anthony Rendon and Matt Purke.

Who Owns “Evil Empire”?  The Yankees Launch A Proxy War For Control  —  Bridgehampton, N.Y., out on the East End of Long Island, is Red Sox territory.  The bars along Main Street are decked out in red and will only show Yankees games if there's nothing else on.  TVs receive the Hartford network affiliates.

Mariners Acquire Ruffin To Complete Tigers Deal  —  The Mariners announced that they have acquired Chance Ruffin from the Tigers to complete the trade that sent Doug Fister and David Pauley to Detroit for Casper Wells, Charlie Furbush, Francisco Martinez and a player to be named on July 30th.

Strasburg allows five runs in third rehab start  —  HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Stephen Strasburg knew he needed to face some adversity in his Minor League rehab starts, even if he might not face the level of competition he will see once he returns to the Nationals' rotation in September.

Brian Wilson has sore elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews  —  San Francisco's injuries keep piling up.  —  Yesterday the Giants placed setup man Sergio Romo on the disabled list with elbow inflammation and now closer Brian Wilson is unavailable due to elbow problems of his own.

Torii Hunter Gets Trapped In An Oxygen Chamber, Pisses In a Bottle, Tweets  —  In need of a little rejuvenation after the Angels' 7-3 loss last night to the Rangers, Torii Hunter entered a clubhouse oxygen chamber, thinking that would do the trick.  It's not known what happened next …

Baseball sees a run of walk-off wins this season  —  Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley coined the phrase in 1993, but he couldn't have fathomed that nearly 20 years later the “walk-off” would become as common as overpriced ballpark beer.  —  Teams won on the last at-bat in 10% of games this season …

Mariners shouldn't use the “Derek Jeter excuse” when it comes to Ichiro and any contract extension  —  When I run into out-of-town writers on the road or at Safeco Field, one of the first things I wind up getting asked is what's going on with Ichiro.  They all see the declining offensive numbers, as well as the sub-par defense.

Hamels to miss start with shoulder inflammation  —  PHILADELPHIA — Cole Hamels said he feels fine and expects to be back in the Phillies' rotation next week.  —  But the Phillies said Tuesday he will miss at least one start because of inflammation in the back of his left shoulder …

Angels need a youth movement  —  With season slipping away, it's time to bring back Conger, Trout for the experience  —  ANAHEIM — It's hard to believe the Los Angeles Angels will continue to watch baseball's worst-hitting offense since the All-Star break drag this team out of a pennant race.

THOME HITS NO. 600  —  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  —  Boxing  —  IRL  —  F1  —  NCAA WBK  —  Horse Racing Air Racing … Thome's mark should not be overlooked

Rays top Red Sox 6-2 in Game 2 to split twin bill  —  Rookie Desmond Jennings hit his fifth home run of the season and Jeff Niemann struck out 10 as the Tampa Bay Rays salvaged a split of a doubleheader with a 6-2 win over the Boston Red Sox [team stats] on Tuesday night.