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Royals manager Trey Hillman has just been relieved of his duties, effective immediately. Ned Yost will take over as the new manager to replace Hillman. Hillman's record was 151-206 in his two-plus seasons as the head guy in Kansas City.

He had been in hot water for quite some time after the team once again to off to a slow start to the 2010 season, winning 12 out of their first 35 games.

The firing of Hillman continues the revolving door of managers that the Royals have had in recent years.

The Triple-A Iowa Cubs asked U.S. Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson to come home to Des Moines, Iowa. There her gold medal-winning achievement from the 2008 Beijing Olympics would be celebrated with her throwing of the first pitch between the Cubs and the Oklahoma City RedHawks.

According to Troy Renck of the Denver Post , the Yankees have signed right-handed pitcher Tim Redding to a minor league contract.

Redding was released by the Rockies earlier this week. He was pitching for their Triple-A affiliate this season. In five games he had a 1-1 record with a 4.32 ERA in 25 innings. He last pitched in the majors for the New York Mets last season. In 30 games and 17 starts for the Mets he had a 3-6 record and a 5.10 ERA in 120 innings.

The injury bug continues to bite at the Phillies as another starter is down and could miss a few days after Carlos Ruiz sprained his right knee Wednesday against the Rockies.

Ruiz initially injured the knee making a tag at the plate, then aggravated it trying to run from first to third on a base hit by Wilson Valdez in the fourth inning. He made it to third safely, but immediately began grasping at his knee and had to be replaced by Paul Hoover.

Carlos Beltran ran pain-free for the first time this season on Wednesday. Beltran also told the press he hopes to rejoin the Mets soon. 

Newsday's David Lennon posted on his Twitter account that the 32-year-old center fielder took four laps around a baseball field in Port St. Lucie, Fl. this afternoon, and later took batting practice.

Beltran has had knee problems over the past few years. The condition limited him to 81 games in 2009.

Johnny Cueto pitched a gem of a game last night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, a 9-0, one-hit shutout of the Pirates.

It was the third consecutive game in which a Reds starter had a one-hitter through six innings. Mike Leake did it on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs. Bronson Arroyo did it Monday against the Pirates.

It was also the fourth consecutive quality start for the Reds pitching staff.

According to assistant GM Scott Proefrock via Matt Gelb and his Twitter feed, the Phillies expect to have Jimmy Rollins back next week when they start a seven-game homestand beginning with the Pirates, then the Cubs, and ending against the struggling Red Sox.

The Phils have played well without Rollins in the lineup, so having him back will make them that much better. Juan Castro and Wilson Valdez have performed admirably, but neither has been able to replicate Jimmy's offense.

It was one series that was guaranteed to finally bring fans into the seats at Rogers Centre over the course of this year.

In the year following Roy Halladay's move to Philadelphia, the Phillies were set to travel to Toronto for a three-game interleague set from June 25-27.

Expecting a total crowd of 90,000 for the series, the decision was officially announced today by Paul Beeston, President of the Blue Jays, as a result of the upcoming G20 Summit which is set to take place the same weekend in downtown Toronto.

Left-handed first baseman/designated hitter Juan Miranda will be called up to the New York Yankees today, giving the team another lefty power bat for its lineup. Since the loss of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, coupled with the recent injuries to Curtis Granderson and Nick (DL) Johnson, the Yankees are short on left-handed bats.

Ken Griffey, Jr.'s baseball career is about to come to an end, probably within the next month, according to this column in the Tacoma News Tribune . According to the column, Griffey, 40, who is hitting .208, with no home runs and five RBI in 23 games this season as the left-handed-hitting DH for the Seattle Mariners, will be asked to retire or will be released after he apparently could not be used as a pinch hitter in a game last week because he was sleeping in the clubhouse.