Rookie righty Jesse Litsch enjoyed a great homecoming on Tuesday

Injuries, moves, rumors and newsmakers...

Weaver to square off against Hernandez; Glavine falls short in bid for 300th win; Former batboy faces old team; Wood to make rehab appearance; Pedro on the mend; Bedard wins seventh in a row; Wells in a rut; and more...

  YOUNG GUNS

 On Wednesday night two of baseball's best young arms will face off as righty Jered Weaver leads the Angels against the Mariners and their young ace, Felix Hernandez.

After breaking out as a rookie in 2006 with an 11-2 record, Weaver has had a tougher time out in his second year in the bigs. He enters Wednesday's tilt with a 7-5 record and a 3.68 ERA. While he was hoping for more wins at this point, no one in the Halos' organization doubts that the 24-year-old has the stuff to be a Cy Young winner in the future.

In Seattle, Hernandez has had some trouble living up to his "King Felix" nickname in his third year in the league. He is currently 7-6 with a 3.85 ERA for a Mariners team that has been giving the Angels a surprising run for their money this year in the American League West.

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  300 CLUB

Mets starter Tom Glavine will have to wait a little bit longer to become the 23rd member of the 300-win club. The 41-year-old brought his A-game on Tuesday, allowing just one run over six innings, but he failed to pick up a decision as the Mets dropped a 4-2 extra-innings decision to the Brewers.

Glavine, who has a 299-197 career record, will next pitch on the weekend when the Mets face the Cubs. The last player to reach the 300-win plateau was Glavine's close friend and former teammate in Atlanta, Greg Maddux. The Professor reached the milestone back on August 7, 2004. After Glavine, injured Arizona starter Randy Johnson, with 284 career wins, is the next closest man to the magic number.

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BLUE JAYS 
From 2000 through 2002 Jesse Litsch was a batboy for Tampa Bay. On Tuesday night the Toronto starter made his first career start at Tropicana Field as he faced his old employer, the Devil Rays. The 22-year-old was in fine form, allowing no runs on seven hits over 6.2 innings as the Jays won 2-0. For the fifth consecutive start Litsch allowed one or fewer runs during his outing. He is now 4-4 with a 3.47 ERA on the year.

CUBS 
According to the Associated Press injured Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood was scheduled to pitch in relief for the team's Double-A squad on Tuesday night. Assuming he has no setbacks, Wood could be activated on Thursday or Friday. The 30-year-old righty has missed the entire 2007 season suffering from tendonitis in his rebuilt right shoulder. The former Cubs ace was 1-2 with a 4.12 ERA in his four appearances in 2006. If Wood is able to rejoin his Chicago teammates in the near future, he would likely pitch out of the bullpen.
METS 
Injured Mets starter Pedro Martinez will make his first rehab start on Wednesday, reports the New York Post. The 35-year-old will throw 45 pitches for the Mets' Class-A affiliate. It is unknown how many minor-league starts the three-time Cy Young winner will make, but the team is hoping to have him back with the club some time this month. Martinez has been out of action since undergoing rotator cuff surgery last October. He went 9-8 with a 4.48 ERA in 2006.

ORIOLES 
Baltimore starter Erik Bedard picked up his seventh consecutive win on Tuesday as the Orioles downed the Red Sox 5-3. The Canadian southpaw allowed two runs on two hits over 6.0 innings to notch the victory. He has now allowed a total of four runs over his last 35.0 innings on the mound. The 28-year-old is 11-4 with a 3.05 ERA on the year.

PADRES 
San Diego starter David Wells will try and get his season back on track on Wednesday when he faces the Diamondbacks. In his last two starts the rotund lefty has allowed 14 runs over a combined 7.1 innings. Not surprisingly, he lost both of those decisions to drop his season record to 5-7 with a 5.02 ERA. In the four starts prior to this recent bad stretch, Wells had allowed a total of five runs over 21.2 innings.

PHILLIES  
Philadelphia's infirmary is getting crowded with outfielders Shane Victorino (calf) and Michael Bourn (ankle) both being injured in Monday's win over the Chicago Cubs. Victorino was hurt while running the bases and Bourn, his replacement in that ballgame, was injured while attempting to make a defensive play. With reserve outfielder Jayson Werth still on the disabled list, the team called up journeyman Chris Roberson to play on Tuesday. The 28-year-old came through with a career-game, going 4-for-4 in a 7-3 loss to the Cubs.

RANGERS 
With Eric Gagne's departure to Boston in a trade and Akinori Otsuka still sidelined by a forearm injury, Texas will likely turn to Joaquin Benoit to close out games in the short term. The Dominican right-hander is 4-3 with one save and a 3.11 ERA in 2007. Southpaw C.J. Wilson could also see some ninth-inning action as the Rangers await the return of Otsuka.

RED SOX 
Now that Kason Gabbard has been sent to Texas in a trade, young Boston starter Jon Lester appears poised to remain in the Red Sox rotation once Curt Schilling is activated in the next week. The 23-year-old's impressive rookie season in 2006 was derailed when the youngster was diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer. A year later and finally healthy, Lester has gone 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA in two starts since being called up from the minors.

REDS 
Pitcher Elizardo Ramirez, who was called up from the minors on Tuesday, will likely become the fifth man in the Reds rotation. The team had hoped that blue-chip prospect Homer Bailey would be up to the task, but the fragile righty has been battling a leg injury recently. In other Cincinnati news, the team welcomed back shortstop Alex Gonzalez on Tuesday. The veteran infielder had been on bereavement leave since mid-July as he attended to his ill son.

YANKEES 
The Pinstripers tied a franchise record for home runs in game on Tuesday as they blasted eight in a 16-3 rout of the White Sox. Surprisingly, Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez was not one of the players to go long. He remains stalled at 499 career homers and will try to become just the 22nd player to reach the 500-home run plateau when the two teams square off again on Wednesday. A-Rod is now 0-for-17 since connecting for homer No. 499 last Wednesday.