The Mets acquired 30-year-old righthanded reliever Luis Ayala, in the midst of his worst season in the big leagues, from the Nationals for a player to be named.

Johan Santana pitched a complete game and raised his record to 11-7 in Sunday?s victory over the Pirates.

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Cole Hamels pitched eight sharp innings to snap a seven-start winless skid and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres.

Yoshihisa Naruse pitched seven sharp innings striking out 10 batters and Atsunori Inaba broke a scoreless tie with a homer in the fifth inning as Japan edged Canada 1-0 in preliminary action at the Beijing Olympic Games on Monday. Senichi Hoshino's team

Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady homered in a six-run first, and Jason Giambi added a grand slam in the second.

MIAMI -- The Cubs a year ago toyed with the idea of making then-closer Ryan Dempster a starter again. The plan was put off until this season, giving the right-hander who had Tommy John surgery in August 2003 an offseason to work himself into shape for

At KeySpan Park in Coney Island on Sunday, Carl Erskine, the star pitcher of the 1955 World Series championship Dodgers, sent old fans on a bittersweet trip down baseball memory lane.

Dottie Collins, who was a star pitcher in women's professional baseball in the 1940s and later played a major role in preserving the history of the women's game, died Tuesday in Fort Wayne, Ind. She was 84.The cause was a stroke, said her son-in-law,

Sabathia shutting down opponents with off-speed stuff Special to ESPN.com Editor's note: Inside Edge is a professional scouting service that supplies reports and tools regularly used by major league teams. The following look ahead is based on its