New and Notes from around the Majors

• Randy Johnson's bid for 300 wins was washed out by rain last night, so he'll go at it tonight. While he may not have lived up to expectations when he came to the Yankees, he's still one of the best pitchers in the past 15 years. He also may be the last 300 game winner we see in a while
• Speaking of great pitchers, the Atlanta Braves released Tom Glavine yesterday. The two-time Cy Young Award winner has won 305 games in his career, and was the World Series MVP for the Braves in 1995. This is the second time Glavine and the Braves have had an awkward split, as Glavine left Atlanta for the Mets in 2003. Glavine has just pitched six scoreless innings in his final minor league rehab start before the Braves released him. Glavine says he wants to keep pitching, but if he never throws another pitch in the Majors, he will sure to be a Hall of Famer on the first ballot, which will allow him and former teammate Greg Maddux, who retired last year, to enter the Hall together.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates (yes, there is a baseball team in Pittsburgh, barely) traded All-Star outfielder Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves for three top prospects. There was a lot of talk over the winter about the Yankees going after McLouth, but I did not think he was worth what the Pirates were going to ask. The Braves gave up their top outfield prospect, Gorkys Hernandez, (great name, by the way) which would have been Austin Jackson if the Yankees made the deal. I like everything I hear about Jackson's upside more than McLouth.
• Slammin' Sammy "No hablo ingles" Sosa has officially announced his retirement. All the steroid allegations will obviously cast a dark cloud over his career, and there's really nothing the Sosa can do about it. Since there was no drug testing during his peak and he refused to answer questions at the Congressional Hearing, Sosa will, fairly or unfairly, be branded as a user. I lived in a Chicago suburb from 1997 to 2000, and the way Sosa and McGwire captivated the nation with their homerun chase was unbelievable, and being able to watch it every night was a privilege.

The Yankees send Chien-Mien Wang to the mound in the rubber match of their series against the Rangers. The game will begin at 1:05 on the YES Network.