New York Mets

Free-agent pitcher Kyle Lohse agreed to a three-year deal worth $33 million with the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. The 34-year-old righthander enjoyed his best season in the majors last year, going 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA and helping St. Louis get a National League wild-card spot. Lohse pitched for the Phillies in 2007.   Betemit OK after scare Baltimore's Wilson Betemit hit a three-run home run and a sacrifice fly against Boston but suffered a sprained right-knee ligament while scrambling to get back to first base on a fly ball.

Dennis Bennett, who won 12 games for the 1964 Phillies, died Saturday. He was 72. Bennett's daughter, Vanessa, said he died at his home in Klamath Falls, Ore., after an ongoing illness. The Herald and News reports that Bennett had been in poor health and was hospitalized in Portland the last two months before returning home Thursday. Bennett spent three seasons with the Phillies, from 1962 through '64. He went 12-14 with a 3.68 ERA in 41 appearances in 1964. The 24-year-old lefthander was part of the starting rotation along with Jim Bunning, Chris Short and Ray Culp as the Phillies built a lead in the division.

UPPER DARBY native actress Heather Donahue will reunite with her "Blair Witch Project" co-stars Michael C. Williams and Josh Leonard at the Monster-Mania convention, March 9-11, at the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza. The cast will sign autographs each day and, on March 10, answer questions from the audience about their 1999 hit film. As we reported recently, Donahue quit acting, sold all her movie memorabilia except for her blue ski cap from "Blair Witch," and began farming medical marijuana in northern California.

ST. LOUIS - Willie Harris' two-run single capped a six-run ninth inning as the New York Mets rallied for an 8-6 win over St. Louis on Thursday to drop the Cardinals two games behind Atlanta in the NL wild-card race. The loss dropped St. Louis two games behind idle Atlanta for the wild card, with each team having six games left. The Cardinals lost for only the third time in 16 games. Shortstop Rafael Furcal misplayed a potential double-play grounder at the start of the Mets' six-run burst, fueling the comeback with his fifth error in six games.

Never reluctant to stick his nose into somebody else's business, super-agent Scott Boras said the owners of the New York Mets are hurting baseball and should sell the team. Boras even pretended he gave a hoot about the poor deprived Mets fans, when he really wants a big-wallet owner in the nation's biggest market, who will join in the bidding for his free-agent clients. (Do you really think he wanted Ryan Madson to land in Upper Kentucky, a.k.a. Cincinnati?) Boras began his campaign a month ago, quipping that the Mets and Dodgers "used to shop in the steaks aisle and now they're in the fruits and nuts section.

The New York Yankees have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with veteran pitcher Freddy Garcia , ESPN reported Thursday. The Yankees had been surveying the free-agent market for pitchers. General manager Brian Cashman met with Bob Garber , the agent for C.J. Wilson and Roy Oswalt . However, team insiders told ESPNNewYork.com's Wallace Matthews that the Yankees are skittish on both pitchers. Garcia was 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA in 25 starts for the Yankees last season.

IT APPEARS to be just a matter of time before National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey is traded from the New York Mets to the Toronto Blue Jays. Negotiations on a contract extension for Dickey are the only thing holding up a trade between the teams, FoxSports.com reported, citing unnamed sources. According to the report, Dickey has until Tuesday at 2 p.m. to agree to the extension. He is under contract for 2013 at $5 million. Before the trade discussions, he sought an additional $26 million to $28 million over 2 years from the Mets.

Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday on his injured right thumb and is expected to be sidelined for eight weeks. The Dodgers said Thursday that an MRI indicated that a ligament in Ramirez's thumb was torn. Ramirez suffered the injury Tuesday night while playing for the Dominican Republic in its victory over Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic championship game. Ramirez was at third base when he suffered the injury. The Dodgers moved him to shortstop, his original position, after obtaining him from the Miami Marlins on July 25. Jeter play limited New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said shortstop Derek Jeter would play only in minor-league spring training games for the rest of spring training.

Oh, to be Mike Trout. The Los Angeles Angels' rookie sensation, from Millville, turned 21 on Tuesday and is having a season for the ages - one that could make him the first player to be named both rookie of the year and most valuable player in the same season since Boston's Fred Lynn in 1975. On Monday night against Oakland, Trout went 2 for 3 and stole three bases. Going into Tuesday night's game, he was hitting .348 with a 1.009 OPS. He has 19 homers and 59 RBIs, and has stolen 36 bases while being caught only three times (keep in mind he started the season in the minors)

It will be a Dutch treat for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic - the only games that count for anything right now - after Wandy Rodriguez pitched six scoreless innings and three relievers completed a three-hitter in a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico in Miami on Saturday. Carlos Santana homered in the fifth and Francisco Pena knocked in an insurance run with a single in the eighth for the Dominicans. Both teams had already qualified for the semifinals in San Francisco, and were playing for seedings.