This time last year, Billy Wagner was facing little leaguers in Virginia and recovering from elbow surgery. The former All-Star closer, signed by the Braves in the offseason, retired all three batters he faced Tuesday night in Atlanta's 7-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies and said he felt comfortable for the first time this spring.

Mets shortstop Jose Reyes has an overactive thyroid and is expected to remain in New York while the results of additional blood tests are used to determine his treatment. Doctors cleared Reyes to play Friday after he took a blood test to follow one conducted during his physical. But team doctors in New York wanted to take a closer look at the speedster and pulled him out of pregame stretching.

Johan Santana struggled in his first game since August, allowing four runs on six hits in 1 2-3 innings, and the Houston Astros beat the New York Mets 8-4 on Tuesday. Kaz Matsui hit a solo homer for the first of four straight hits in the first inning off Santana, who struck out one and walked one. The left-hander made it through the short outing with no setbacks as he continues to build strength...

Milwaukee slugger Prince Fielder promises to stay true to himself and let his play do the talking for him.

Cleveland's hopes rest with the many prospects it acquired after unloading top talent.

Alfonso Soriano's knee seems healed. Now he hopes rabid Cubs fans still have his back.

Top prospect Stephen Strasburg made his spring training debut on Tuesday, pitching two scoreless innings in the Washington Nationals' 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Strasburg threw 15 of his 27 pitches for strikes and allowed two hits, successive two-out singles by Don Kelly and Alex Avila in the second.

The first shakeout in the Detroit rotation is ... well, one, two or three weeks away.

"It's going to be a tough spring," manager Jim Leyland said as his rotation candidates wound their way through their first outings of the spring. "But we all know it. There's nowhere to hide. There's nowhere to duck it. So let's see how they all look."

First time through meant nothing, and it's quite likely the second and third appearances of the spring for starter candidates won't mean squat for the hurlers trying to line up behind right-handers Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer.

"I know three of them, knock on wood," Leyland said, "and there's (Armando) Galarraga, (Dontrelle) Willis, (Nate) Robertson and (Jeremy) Bonderman with possibly (Phil) Coke ...

Stephen Strasburg battled some nerves and location issues during his spring training debut. Other than those minor hiccups, the top prospect was pretty impressive. Strasburg threw two scoreless innings in the Washington Nationals' 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, responding well to the hoopla surrounding his first exhibition start.