Mike Rizzo

David Ortiz doesn't want his season - and possibly his Red Sox career - to end on the disabled list. The Red Sox placed Ortiz back on the 15-day disabled list Monday after just one game back because of lingering problems with a strained right Achilles tendon, but the DH said he hopes to play again this season. Speaking to reporters before the club's home game against Kansas City, Ortiz expressed his desire to return this season, and beyond. The 36-year-old Ortiz said he'll have an injection in the next day or so and hopes to return in September.

I'm the GM, Part I Despite a miserable 15-30 record the Houston Astros say they are not attempting to trade righthander Roy Oswalt, who recently said he would like to go to a contender. "I've got a small window," Oswalt told reporters on Friday. "I've got two years left, and I'm trying to get back to the playoffs. I haven't been there since '05. " To which general manager Ed Wade offered the following acid response: "Roy's contract has a no-trade clause, not a trade-me clause.

CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz must pay $916,000 yearly in alimony and child support to his ex-wife and give up their Connecticut home under terms of a newly issued divorce decree. The ruling, made Monday in Bridgeport Superior Court, dissolves the 26-year marriage of Nantz and Ann-Lorraine "Lorrie" Carlsen Nantz. It comes after both testified about the breakdown of their marriage; Judge Howard Owens concluded neither was at fault. Nantz, described by Owens as "our nation's most prominent sportscaster," filed for divorce last year from his wife after years of marriage counseling, according to the decree.

Stephen Strasburg finally had his sit-down Monday with the Washington National bosses and the result was the same as before: The righthander will make his last start Sept. 12 against the Mets at Citi Field. Strasburg, who had Tommy John surgery two years ago, wasn't keen on Sunday's announcement that he was going be shut down. Right away he demanded, in his words: a "sit-down. " The sit-down came Monday. The 24-year-old met with club manager Davey Johnson, general manager Mike Rizzo, and pitching coach Steve McCatty and when the dust cleared the bosses' decision remained.

Lee MacPhail, 95, the longtime baseball executive who ruled in the celebrated Pine Tar case and later became part of the only father-son Hall of Fame pairing with his father, Larry, has died. He was the oldest Hall of Famer, and he died Thursday night at his home in Delray Beach, Fla., the Hall said Friday. In the second generation of one of baseball's most prominent families - his son, Andy, also was in the front office for several teams - MacPhail's most well-known moment in baseball came in 1983, when he was president of the American League.

IT HAS BEEN MORE than 6 months since Jayson Werth last played a baseball game at Citizens Bank Park. Back then he was a beloved member of the Phillies as they were knocked out of the playoffs by the San Francisco Giants. He comes back tonight as a black-hatted villain. Some people remain miffed that he signed elsewhere as a free agent, never mind that the 7-year, $126 million deal he got from Washington far eclipsed the next highest offer. So when he's introduced and when he steps to the plate, he certainly will be showered with boos.

Former slugger Rafael Palmeiro (569 home runs and 3,020 hits in 20 years, mainly with the Orioles and Rangers) said Friday that Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds should be voted into the Hall of Fame. "Keep them out and then the Hall of Fame has no credibility," Palmeiro said. Both men will be eligible for the first time starting in 2013, but their candidacies could be derailed because both have been implicated in baseball's performance-enhancing drugs scandal. Palmeiro has his own problems with PEDs and the Hall.

The Washington Nationals traded outfielder Nyjer Morgan to the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday for minor league infielder Cutter Dykstra and cash. Morgan became expendable once it became clear that Rick Ankiel and Jerry Hairston Jr. would platoon in centerfield. Ankiel will start for Washington on Opening Day. "It wasn't really what he didn't show as what Ankiel did show," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. "Ankiel showed us he can go get the ball in the outfield. His arm is really a weapon.

There are many things in life that are truly difficult — losing a job, raising a child, dealing with Comcast customer service — but disliking the upstart professional baseball team from the nation's capital is not among them. Even so, if the Nats are to become a true rival to the Phillies, we figured it would be helpful to provide a head start on some good clean hate, a handy reference guide of reasons to despise the unbearable lameness of the Nats — and their ardently indifferent fan base.