Brad Penny

The Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks talked again yesterday about a trade that would send Randy "Big Unit" Johnson to New York for Javier Vazquez. Yankees president Randy Levine spoke with incoming Arizona chief executive officer Jeff Moorad. They discussed both prospects and money, but no progress was made. A proposed three-team, 10-player trade came apart last week when Los Angeles reversed course and withdrew. The Yankees were livid over the Dodgers' decision to scuttle the deal, insisting that Los Angeles had said it was going ahead with the trade, which would have sent Vazquez from New York to the Dodgers and outfielder Shawn Green from Los Angeles to the Diamondbacks.

Brad Penny scattered four singles over 6 1/3 innings, Juan Pierre had a career-high four extra-base hits and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the host Washington Nationals, 10-0, last night. Penny (7-1) struck out four and walked one, combining with two relievers on the Dodgers' third shutout of the season. Penny has yet to surrender a home run in 70 innings, making him the only pitcher in the majors who has pitched at least 40 innings without allowing a homer. "I just threw strikes with all three of my pitches," said Penny, who contributed two of the Dodgers' 16 hits.

Question of the Day What are gonadotropin, clomid and antiestrogen? A. The Washington Nationals' rotation. B. Snacks at "Roger Clemens Family Fun Night. " C. The ingredients in a Schmitter. D. Three new substances on baseball's banned list. Answer: D Hey, let's put on a show Milwaukee Brewers fans have too much time on their hands (or is that mustard?). First, they get a big charge out of watching sausages race and mascots slide into beer mugs.

For the second time in three seasons, it appears that Greg Maddux won't finish the season where he started. The Los Angeles Times reported last night that the team had completed a deal with San Diego for the righthander. Citing an anonymous source close to the deal, the newspaper did not know who the Padres would receive in return. Maddux is the only pitcher to be traded twice in midseason after reaching 300-plus wins. He has a 3.99 ERA this season but is only 6-9 for a Padres team that has languished in last place in the weak NL West.

After a 20-year career in Atlanta that likely will land him in the Hall of Fame, righthander John Smoltz apparently will sign a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox. Smoltz, who broke into the majors in 1988, has pitched his entire major-league career with the Braves, but ESPN.com reported he was on the verge of signing last night with Boston. According to the Web site, Smoltz's deal with the Sox is for $5.5 million in base salary, and $5 million in incentives. Smoltz, 41, has 210 career victories and 154 saves.

Pitchers Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano were traded to the New York Mets yesterday, boosting a rotation that had relied all season on three aging starters. A day before the non-waiver trading deadline, the Mets got busy in a big way - but they were not the only ones busy. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Florida Marlins completed a six-player trade last night that included Paul Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota, Juan Encarnacion, Brad Penny and Hee-Seop Choi. Lo Duca, Mota and Encarnacion go from Los Angeles to Florida.

Randy Johnson was on the verge of joining the New York Yankees in a three-team megadeal that also includes first baseman/outfielder Shawn Green and righthander Javier Vazquez, sources told the Associated Press last night. Green would go from Los Angeles to Arizona while Vazquez would move from the Yankees to the Dodgers in the trade that would put the Arizona ace in Yankee pinstripes. "It is going to happen," a source familiar with the negotiations said on the condition of anonymity.

The "Big Unit" is coming to the Yankees. After daylong negotiations at the highest level, the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Dodgers agreed in principle to the blockbuster trade that would put Randy Johnson in pinstripes, sources with knowledge of the situation told the New York Daily News. The trade has Shawn Green, Brad Penny, Yhency Brazoban and prospect Brandon Weeden going from Los Angeles to Arizona; Javier Vazquez and Yankees prospects Dioner Navarro and Eric Duncan going to the Dodgers; and the "Big Unit" and Dodgers lefthander Kaz Ishii coming to New York.

Confident their deal to acquire Randy Johnson had been finalized, top Yankees' officials headed to Florida yesterday to see Carlos Beltran. By the time their meeting with the star outfielder was over, the trade for the Big Unit had fallen through. The Los Angeles Dodgers reversed course yesterday and withdrew from the proposed three-team, 10-player trade that would have sent Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Yankees. "As we sit here right now, the deal is no more," Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta said during a conference call.

Brad Penny has had a rough time since he started the All-Star Game for the National League. He took a big step toward turning it around last night. Penny pitched six sharp innings and drove in a run to help the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3, last night for their fifth straight victory. Penny (11-5) snapped his three-game losing streak and won for the first time since July 5 against Arizona. He allowed two runs and three hits, walked two and struck out six. "He threw hard," Ken Griffey Jr. said.

The way Chad Billingsley and the bullpen pitched, the Los Angeles Dodgers got by with just two hits. Russell Martin hit an RBI single in the sixth inning and the Dodgers beat the first-place San Diego Padres 1-0 yesterday for a three-game sweep and their season-high seventh straight victory. Billingsley pitched into the eighth and combined with two relievers for a four-hitter. The Dodgers, playing their second game without hitting star Andre Ethier, won for the 12th time in 15 games.

Aubrey Huff saw teammate Mark DeRosa spread out on the ground signaling him to slide into home, so he obliged. At last, Huff had the inside-the-park home run he's long coveted. "I was already gassed, so I really didn't need that," Huff said. "He could have come in standing up," teammate Eli Whiteside said with a grin. Huff - who hardly considers himself a speedster - made his first homer with the Giants an exciting one to help lead San Francisco past the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0, yesterday.

Going into his 11th major-league season, Vicente Padilla has earned an accolade he's never experienced - being the Opening Day starter. Padilla will get the nod for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their opener April 5 at Pittsburgh, 5 months after a gunshot wound to his leg nearly ended his career. Manager Joe Torre said yesterday that Padilla's performance in the playoffs last season helped land him the spot. "I'm very happy he had the confidence for me to pitch the first game," Padilla said through a translator.

Well, the Phillies have blown it. Or, at least, they could need another one of those blazing-hot finishes they have become known for to have a shot. We speak, of course, of the homefield advantage for the first two rounds of the National League playoffs. A week ago, they were right there, slugging it out with the Cardinals and Dodgers. Then they lost four straight at Houston and suddenly find themselves playing catch-up with a little more than 3 weeks left to play in the regular season.

The Boston Red Sox were baseball's big gamblers this winter. Now, they're cashing in with wins. And more might be coming. Having been beaten out by the rival New York Yankees for free-agent slugger Mark Teixeira in December, the Red Sox took a series of calculated risks on four players with checkered medical charts. They signed pitchers John Smoltz, Brad Penny, and Takashi Saito and outfielder Rocco Baldelli to incentive-laden contracts with relatively low base salaries.

After a 20-year career in Atlanta that likely will land him in the Hall of Fame, righthander John Smoltz apparently will sign a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox. Smoltz, who broke into the majors in 1988, has pitched his entire major-league career with the Braves, but ESPN.com reported he was on the verge of signing last night with Boston. According to the Web site, Smoltz's deal with the Sox is for $5.5 million in base salary, and $5 million in incentives. Smoltz, 41, has 210 career victories and 154 saves.

For the second time in three seasons, it appears that Greg Maddux won't finish the season where he started. The Los Angeles Times reported last night that the team had completed a deal with San Diego for the righthander. Citing an anonymous source close to the deal, the newspaper did not know who the Padres would receive in return. Maddux is the only pitcher to be traded twice in midseason after reaching 300-plus wins. He has a 3.99 ERA this season but is only 6-9 for a Padres team that has languished in last place in the weak NL West.

Question of the Day What are gonadotropin, clomid and antiestrogen? A. The Washington Nationals' rotation. B. Snacks at "Roger Clemens Family Fun Night. " C. The ingredients in a Schmitter. D. Three new substances on baseball's banned list. Answer: D Hey, let's put on a show Milwaukee Brewers fans have too much time on their hands (or is that mustard?). First, they get a big charge out of watching sausages race and mascots slide into beer mugs.

LOS ANGELES - Jamie Moyer has made 537 starts in his big-league career. Few have been worse than last night. He allowed 10 runs in 5 1/3 innings in a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. It was Moyer's worst start since Aug. 9, 2000, against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, where he allowed 13 hits and 11 runs in 3 2/3 innings, and the third time in his career he has allowed 10 or more earned runs in a start. "This just goes in the whole pile with all of them," Moyer said.

Brad Penny scattered four singles over 6 1/3 innings, Juan Pierre had a career-high four extra-base hits and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the host Washington Nationals, 10-0, last night. Penny (7-1) struck out four and walked one, combining with two relievers on the Dodgers' third shutout of the season. Penny has yet to surrender a home run in 70 innings, making him the only pitcher in the majors who has pitched at least 40 innings without allowing a homer. "I just threw strikes with all three of my pitches," said Penny, who contributed two of the Dodgers' 16 hits.