Yankees rookie sensation Joba Chamberlain was suspended for two games and fined $1,000 Friday, a day after he threw two 98-99 mph pitches over the head of Boston's Kevin Youkilis. Chamberlain, ejected by plate umpire Angel Hernandez, claimed the ninth-inning pitches slipped and "there was no maliciousness or bad intention." The umpires disagreed. "There's more than a little bit of history between these clubs," crew chief Derryl Cousins said. "Those were two pretty nasty pitches the young man threw. Up here, you need to be a little better throwing strikes, and we just had to put a lid on it before there was a problem."

The Cubs brought back a familiar face to Wrigley Field on Friday, acquiring right-hander Steve Trachsel from Baltimore in exchange for prospects Rocky Cherry and Scott Moore. Trachsel was 6-8 with a 4.48 earned-run average at Baltimore, but is 1-1 in Six August starts with a 2.37 ERA. Trachsel will enter the rotation, giving the Cubs six starters to get through the stretch run. "I see him starting," general manager Jim Hendry said. "I wanted to augment the pitching. We have extra games coming. We're in the time of year where you don't want to get caught short. "All the guys are throwing well. It was not meant in any way to replace somebody in the rotation. If somebody is doing poorly, [a team] is one hamstring away from having a need for two starters. It's similar to why we got [Craig] Monroe. I didn't want to get in a spot where you're in the thick of it, the 20th of September, and have to start a young man who doesn't have experience."

The news Thursday was that the Tigers' Andrew Miller -- one day after he got knocked out in the first inning -- was removed from the major league roster until sometime in the September roster expansion. He was replaced by right-hander Virgil Vasquez, who will come up from Triple-A Toledo and start tonight in Oakland. In Miller's past three starts, he has pitched nine innings total and allowed 17 earned runs. But no Detroit starting pitcher has been on the kind of hot streak that a contending club usually needs. The day's larger, season-long news was stated by manager Jim Leyland: "What you're seeing this year is the importance of the presence of a veteran starting pitcher. Everybody wanted to talk last year about how important Kenny's presence was in the clubhouse. It was really not as important as the 17 games he won."

General manager Jim Hendry has until midnight Friday to acquire a player that will be eligible for the postseason roster. The Cubs are looking for another bat, but the recent addition of Craig Monroe may be their only move unless something heats up unexpectedly.

Rookie Mark Reynolds had three hits and a career-high five RBIs to lift the Diamondbacks to an 8-7 win over San Diego on Thursday night, regaining the NL West lead from the Padres. The Diamondbacks, who trailed San Diego by one percentage point coming into the game, held on for the win after taking an 8-0 lead.

Mike Mussina was so angry and hurt, he didn't want to speak publicly at first. Two days after losing his spot in the Yankees' rotation, he finally could talk about it. "It's pretty hard," Mussina said Thursday morning in the clubhouse, speaking slowly and measuring his words. "For somebody that's been in a rotation for 17 years, it's pretty hard. It caught me a little off guard, although I know I was struggling badly, which is probably why I needed a couple days to simmer down."

The Yankees completed another August sweep of the Red Sox and moved into the AL wild-card lead. There was a week's worth of highlights during the Yankees' 5-0 victory Thursday: a no-hit bid by Chien-Ming Wang into the seventh inning, a pair of big opposite-field home runs by Robinson Cano off Curt Schilling, and a disputed play involving Alex Rodriguez that led to the ejection of Boston manager Terry Francona. And then in the ninth, Yankees rookie Joba Chamberlain was tossed following a pair of pitches over Kevin Youkilis' head. It's not even Labor Day, and already there was late-season passion between these old foes.

The Phillies completed a four-game sweep of the Mets with a thrilling 11-10 win in the series finale on Thursday. Chase Utley drove in the winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Phillies close the gap on the National League East leading Mets to two games. The Phillies squandered leads of 5-0 and 8-5 and fell behind 10-8 after the Mets scored five runs in the eighth. But Mets closer Billy Wagner allowed a solo homer to Pat Burrell in the bottom of the same inning and RBI singles to Tadahito Iguchi and Utley in the ninth to hand the Phillies the win.

The Rangers on Thursday picked up the option on manager Ron Washington's contract for the 2009 season. Washington replaced Buck Showalter on November 6, 2006 and signed a two-year contract through the 2008 season with options for 2009 and 2010.

Mike Piazza could be a nice addition for a contender looking for a bat before Friday's deadline to set playoff rosters. However, according to a team source, Oakland has had no calls on Piazza since Minnesota made a few tepid inquiries a month ago. Though there has been speculation about Detroit having interest because of Gary Sheffield's injury, the Tigers have not asked about Piazza.