After tossing 96 pitches in an extended spring game at the Philadelphia's complex on Monday, Andy Pettitte said he is ready to make his return to the Yankees. "I feel I'm strong enough and ready to make my next start with [the Yankees]," Pettitte said. "I feel good and it was another solid day. I felt the quality of pitches were as good as I've had in any of my starts up to now, and I was able to hold my velocity throughout [the outing]. I feel like I'm ready to help the team." Pettitte had been scheduled to make the sixth outing in his celebrated return with a start for Double-A Trenton against the Portland Sea Dogs.

A restaurant named for the late Yankees icon Mickey Mantle finds itself on the verge of eviction. The restaurant's owners are going around asking former big-league ballplayers trying to raise money to pay its debts. Mickey Mantle's Restaurant, which the player himself once owned a seven percent stake in and frequently patronized before his death, hasn't paid rent in four months and needs to raise "$1 million to get back on its feet."

Nearly one full month of baseball has been played and Albert Pujols is still looking for his first home run. "I don't try to hit home runs," Pujols said this weekend. "I know I can hit home runs. Whenever they come, they're going to come. I'm trying to have good, quality at-bats. "I'll leave you guys (to) play the little game about how many at-bats I have without hitting a home run. It's part of the game. I don't care about that. It's a long season. At the end, my numbers are going to be there and nobody's going to talk about what happened in April." Pujols has just four RBI this season and is slugging below .300.

Three Pirates farmhands combined for a no-hitter as the Indianapolis Indians defeated the Durham Bulls on Sunday. Justin Wilson struck out nine in 7 1/3 innings for the Indians before he was relieved in the eighth by Jose Diaz, who retired the only two batters he faced. Doug Slaten got three groundouts in the ninth, with Reid Brignac bouncing out to second baseman Anderson Hernandez to end the no-hitter. Durham, Tampa Bay's top farm club, was no-hit for the first time since 2004 and tied a club record with its 13th straight loss.

Major League Baseball is working on a scheduling reconfiguration beginning next season that likely will eliminate the Mets and Yankees as well as other "natural rivals," according to sources. With the Astros moving to the American League West next season and the leagues becoming balanced at 15 teams apiece, natural rivals throughout baseball no longer will be guaranteed six games a season and home-and-home series. That goes for obvious inner-city rivals such as Mets-Yankees and Cubs-White Sox, as well as for more-forced natural rivals such as the Padres and Mariners.

The National League The Kevin Towers Jim McLennan of AZ Snake Pit: "Ok, so who had Joe Saunders finishing the month of April leading all qualifying pitchers in ERA? If you tell me you saw that coming, I trust you are enjoying your half-billion lottery jackpot as well. But that's where we stand, with Saunders' four starts for Arizona have resulted in three earned runs over 30 innings of work." The Frank Wren Carroll Rogers of Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Tim Hudson might have spent a little more time bobbing and weaving -- as he would say -- than he wanted to Sunday against the Pirates, but he brought maturity, some stability, and a little of fire back to the Braves rotation." The Jed Hoyer Paul Sullivan of Chicago Tribune: "Cubs starters have compiled a 2.64 earned-run average over their last eight games, giving the offensively challenged team a chance to stay in ballgames." The Walt Jocketty Mark Sheldon of MLB.com: "Jay Bruce hit a home run for a career-best fourth straight game on Sunday and it was the biggest one of the bunch because it came in the bottom of the eighth inning and gave the Reds a 6-5 come-from-behind victory." The Dan O'Dowd Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post: "During a visit to Coors Field for the Rockies game Sunday, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning had one big question: What was outfielder Michael Cuddyer doing occupying his locker?" The Michael Hill Craig Davis of South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "When a ballclub is going bad, heads roll. That was the lesson when Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan was sent to the minors last year amid a June swoon. It happened sooner this season as the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans following Sunday's 8-4 loss to Arizona." The Jeff Luhnow Zachary Levine of Houston Chronicle: "Days like this one are the downside to managing against convention. When it works, you're celebrated for being free from the tyranny of "the book." When it doesn't -- when you enter two late high-leverage at-bats with your right-handed pitchers facing lefties and those lefties happen to provide the tying and winning hits -- you're whatever the opposite of celebrated is." The Ned Colletti Brandon Lennox of True Blue L.A.: "Andres Santiago has flown under the radar in a Quakes rotation that features four top 20 Dodger pitching prospects, but after a dominate performance on Sunday he might start getting some attention of his own." The Doug Melvin Todd Rosiak of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Just shy of the three-year mark since he last pitched in the major leagues, Vinnie Chulk has fought his way back. The 33-year-old right-handed reliever joined the Milwaukee Brewers for Sunday's series finale with the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium." The Sandy Alderson Chris McShane of Amazin Avenue: "When Kirk Nieuwenhuis was called up fill the void left by Andres Torres' calf injury following the Mets' game on Opening Day, there was no guarantee that he would even play every day. Just over three weeks later, Nieuwenhuis has been nothing short of brilliant." The Ruben Amaro Jr. The Good Phight: "Heading into his second year as a full-time starting pitcher, Vance Worley seemed a likely candidate to suffer the dreaded sophomore slump that so many young pitchers have. In the off-season, opposing teams' scouts have time to collect, analyze, and study film of pitchers that baffled their teams' hitters the year before." The Neal Huntington Bucs Dugout: "Jameson Taillon continued to justify his top prospect status, throwing six shutout innings in a 4-1 win over Jupiter. He allowed three hits, all singles, and one walk, while fanning four." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "When the St. Louis Cardinals inked catcher Yadier Molina to a five-year, $75 million extension during spring training, many did a double take. The lucrative extension seemed to be based at least in part on Molina's best season with the bat." The Josh Byrnes Gaslamp Ball: "Overall, April hasn't been kind to us, but that's not really new. On the upside, our boys have won four of their last seven games, and are looking better (at least in pitching and offense) than the team that began the season." The Brian Sabean Scott Ostler of San Francisco Chronicle: "Buster Posey went 1-for-3 Sunday, so his batting average nose-dived from .354 to .353. He did manage to stay in the top 10 among major-league batters, at No. 9." The Mike Rizzo Adam Kilgore of Washington Post: "The Nationals have experience rebounding from four-game losing streaks, but not with the stakes they have created for themselves this April. It matters now." The American League The Dan Duquette Peter Schuck of Baltimore Sun: "Orioles starters failed to pitch through the sixth inning only once in the last six games, and the exception was a 5 2/3-inning start by Jake Arrieta that was the only clinker of the week." The Ben Cherington Alex Speier of WEEI: "On Sunday, for the first time, Matt Barnes gave up a run as a professional. It took five starts and it was not until his 27th inning of work that it occurred, but it happened." The Kenny Williams Dick Van Dyck of Chicago Tribune: "When Jake Peavy won the 2007 Cy Young Award for the Padres, he owned a 3-1 record and 2.06 earned-run average after April. Now with the White Sox and approaching 31, Peavy just finished April with a 3-1 record and 1.67 ERA - plus back-to-back complete games. Peavy didn't have a complete game in 2007." The Chris Antonetti Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "Johnny Damon comes at the perfect time to help Cleveland's struggling offense." The Dave Dombrowski Lynn Henning of Detroit News: "Gerald Laird is under contract through 2012, which means there's no serious itch to get Rob Brantly to Detroit anytime soon. But by next season, the Tigers will have groomed Brantly for a backup catching job that could evolve into something more regular if Brantly keeps it up. A left-handed hitter who doesn't turn 23 until July is batting .365 at Double A Erie, with on-base and slugging percentages of .406 and .603, good for a heavy OPS of 1.009." The Dayton Moore Royals Review: "I woke up this morning wondering if [Mike Moustakas] had passed [Eric] Hosmer as a hitter. Obviously, his performance (or perhaps his results) have been better in 2012, but what I was mainly thinking of was some notion of polish or approach at the plate, some idea akin to craftsmanship." The Jerry DiPoto Mike DiGiovanna of Los Angeles Times: "When Jordan Walden lost his closer job after giving up a walk-off home run to Tampa Bay's Brandon Allen on Thursday, he was not demoted to a seventh- or eighth-inning role. The right-hander whose 98-mph fastball earned him a trip to the All-Star game last season has been reduced, at least temporarily, to a mop-up guy until he can start throwing his slider for a strike." The Terry Ryan Howard Sinker of Star Tribune: "Albert Pujols signed a 10-year contract for $240 million in the offseason and currently has an OPS (on base-plus-slugging percentage) lower than Jamey Carroll's. Ouch." The Brian Cashman Bill Madden of New York Daily News: "And on the fifth day, CC Sabathia, as is his sworn $25 million per year duty, provided a welcome respite to the Yankee starting rotation crisis." The Billy Beane Athletics Nation: "Well, the Sacramento River Cats have been doing the one thing their parent club hasn't been doing lately -- namely, hitting! The A's Pacific Coast League affiliate averaged nearly 8 runs per game last week, while the big league club averaged just 2 1/2 runs per game over the past week." The Jack Zduriencik Geoff Baker of Seattle Times: "George Sherrill's elbow never looked right this spring and did not get any better in two relief outings. Now, he's going to have surgery on it early next month and is very likely done for the season." The Andrew Friedman DRaysBay.com: "The Rays are now 14-8 on the season and completed a very difficult opening of the 2012 season which included 19 of their first 22 games against teams that finished .500 or better in 2011 and included their longest road trip of the season (3-city 10 game)." The Jon Daniels Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News: "The Rangers now have a clean sweep at having the youngest prospect at every level of the minors currently playing. It underscores the club's philosophy of challenging young players to play up a level." The Alex Anthopoulos Andrew Pentis of MLB.com: "The real lesson Blue Jays left-hander Egan Smith has learned in his first season coming out of the bullpen: Always be ready. The Jays' farmhand completed five no-hit innings of relief in Dunedin's 3-0 victory over Tampa. The Class A Advanced Jays are 10-1 at home this season."

The Indians could have Johnny Damon for their upcoming road series against the White Sox. Damon has spent the bulk of the past two weeks training at Cleveland's complex in Arizona, but he will have a locker awaiting him at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday. The Indians signed the 38-year-old to a Minor League contract on April 17, but the deal includes a base salary of $1.25 million once he is added to the big league roster.

Royals left-hander Bruce Chen attempted 10 pickoff throws to first base with Denard Span on at Target Field on Sunday. It was the first inning and Span had reached with a walk. Jamey Carroll was at the plate. The sequence ended anticlimactically, as Chen did not pick off Span, who did not even try to steal second base, instead reaching there on Carroll's bleeding single to shallow left. "He's a fast runner," Chen said. "He's on first base, and he's trying to get to second base. I'm going to do everything I can to keep him at first base. If you only throw over one time, you only have one chance to pick him off. "I just wanted to make sure he knew I knew he was there."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman secretly became a Bleacher Creature on Sunday afternoon. Cashman, along with his son, Teddy, sat in the outfield stands and took part in the tradition of the roll call in the top of the first inning at Yankee Stadium. On Sunday morning, Vinny Milano, who is known as "Bald Vinny," saw Cashman outside the Stadium. As he has done before, Milano asked Cashman to sit in the stands. "He said, 'Why don't you come on out?'" Cashman said. "I said, 'You know what, maybe I will.' I've got my son. I've never experienced the roll call from the stands. I wanted my son to experience a big part of Yankee tradition now. "So I said, 'I'll come out for the first inning, if I have time. If something doesn't come up.' So we were able to make it. We sat for the first defensive portion of the inning and then we left and we went back to the office." To make his way to the bleachers, Cashman wore a disguise. With a spiked wig, a blue visor and sunglasses, Cashman walked through the crowd unnoticed. Since the fans in the bleachers knew that Cashman was on his way, they recognized him and he took 30 to 50 pictures.

Derek Jeter hit a pair of infield singles against the Tigers on Sunday afternoon, giving him 36 hits for the month of April. His previous April best came in 2006, when he recorded 35 hits. The Yankees captain can add to his total on Monday night against the Orioles, the final day of the month. He is hitting .396 with four home runs and 13 RBI this season.