BREAKING NEWS Alert!

BOSTON — Time for extreme measures. Bullpenning. Openers. Whatever it takes to get the Yankees out of this full-blown starting pitching meltdown. For that’s what we are witnessing here at Fenway Park, CC Sabathia’s abbreviated outing the latest domino to fall as the Yankees fell, 9-5, to the Red Sox on Saturday afternoon, their third straight loss to their rivals as the Sawx leapt over the losing Rays to move within eight games of the AL East-leading Yankees. “We’ve been the reason why we’ve been losing games,” said Sabathia, who allowed five runs in 4¹/₃ innings to take the loss. “We want to turn that around.” Yes, the trade deadline arrives Wednesday and Brian Cashman surely will bring in arms to help the rotation or bullpen by then. The way the five starters have performed this past week, however, the Yankees will require more than an infusion to set themselves straight. They’ll need something closer to an exorcism. And what better way to exorcise baseball demons than by embra...

On a day the Mets lost another outfielder to the injured list, Mickey Callaway said Brandon Nimmo is still “a ways away” from getting into any games. Nimmo has not played since May 20 because of a bulging cervical disc in his neck. While he recently started baseball activities again after being shut down for 30 days, he is still in the beginning stages of his comeback. “He’s doing more and more hitting off a tee, hitting in the cage, things like that, running around, taking fly balls,” Callaway said before the Mets topped the Pirates 3-0. “Just normal baseball activity at this point.” Steven Matz’s complete game gave Edwin Diaz another night to rest his big toe, which got drilled by a Manny Machado line drive on Thursday. Diaz was throwing in the bullpen briefly in the ninth inning, a night after Seth Lugo handled the closer’s job. Callaway said he was “pretty confident” Diaz would be available, but also recognized the value in giving him an extra day off. “Diaz is coming off th...

The Department of Justice last week launched a wide-ranging antitrust review to determine if the largest technology companies are, or have been, stifling competition. The four that are reported to be most focused on — Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google — account for almost a million high-paying jobs with good benefits, and are massive contributors to this year’s strong projected 2.5 percent-plus GDP growth rate. Facebook, Google, Amazon and Snap all reported earnings last week. Aside from Amazon’s — affected by a big investment in faster delivery — they were pretty impressive. (Apple reports this week.) So people clearly are using these platforms to conduct commerce and communication. There are always unintended consequences of big government trying to wrestle with an industry. The DOJ needs to be mindful of that, and not return to the Obama days of excess corporate harassment. While the privacy issues are real and absolutely need to continue to be addressed, the anticompetitive a...

Giants coach Pat Shurmur will tell you one of the most striking things about guard Kevin Zeitler is his focus. “He told me he caught a muskie this summer, and I know enough about fishing where they say it takes 10,000 casts to catch a muskie,” Shurmur said before the Giants’ third day of training camp on Saturday. “So, that’s a pretty focused guy. I think that’s part of his charm, his focus. “Really, in every drill we do, whether it’s a walk-through or practice setting, he’s into it. I think that’s a good thing.” Little does Shurmur know, Zeitler has actually caught at least four muskies in his life. When he’s up at his cabin in Eagle River, Wis., with his 11-month-old baby girl and wife, he likes to split his time between fishing and training for camp. When Zeitler first walked through the doors of the Giants’ facility, he took notice of the four Super Bowl trophies. That was a bonus for him when he joined the Giants — he knew he was joining a historic franchise. The Giants trad...

Training camp was merely three practices in for the Jets — Saturday being the first with the players in full pads — and coach Adam Gase could hardly contain his enthusiasm for what’s to come with the franchise quarterback he inherited when he was hired in January. Sam Darnold, poised to begin his second NFL season and possessing tantalizing potential, has that kind of effect on his head coach. “He’s 22 years old and he can throw the piss out of the ball,’’ Gase said after Saturday’s practice. “So it’s fun … fun to call plays.’’ The evolution of Darnold in Year 2 has the potential to be one of the most fascinating subplots, not just for the Jets, but also for the entire NFL season. There isn’t anyone associated with the Jets who is not amped with anticipation to see how significant the next step will be for Darnold. Gase, for one, believes Darnold took a massive leap forward last season after he returned from missing three games with a foot injury and threw six touchdown passes to ...

Dear John: M.D. commented on how the behavior of a bartender differs depending on whether he/she is being observed by the customer. I would add that in some restaurants, the server delivers the check to the customer within a folder, into which the customer then slides his/her credit/debit card. The server then picks up the folder and takes it to an employees-only area in the restaurant, where he/she swipes or inputs the card. But while the server is holding the card, he/she also is able to copy all the card’s information to sell to a bad guy, who can make unauthorized purchases. D.W. Dear D.W.: Geez, isn’t there any trust anymore in the world? The waiter could also put poison in your food. That’s really something to worry about. Having said that, I once did get my card information stolen by a food delivery guy, and the crook purchased a dozen soccer balls. The credit card company never disputed the fact that it would not be me who’d made such a purchase. I guess they know more abo...

The ball was locked and secured in the safe atop Steven Matz’s locker inside the Mets’ clubhouse at Citi Field. It will eventually find a proper display in his home next to his first major league home run ball and the ball from his first major league victory. The baseball he earned Saturday night for his first major league complete-game shutout against the Pirates might be the most cherished of them all. “I may take it to my home in Tennessee,” Matz said with a wide grin. “It means a lot.” At a time when it looks like the Mets are about to deal pitchers Noah Syndergaard and/or Zack Wheeler by Wednesday’s trade deadline, Matz made their imminent departures seem less catastrophic with his brilliant performance before a crowd of 39,944. The left-hander allowed just five hits and no walks, while striking out seven as the Mets claimed a 3-0 victory with Matz throwing his 99th pitch for the final out. “He was executing all four of his pitches,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “I thought ...

Dear John: I have many friends in Rockland County who are Haitian. I just found out that Haiti is rich in gold and gas mines. I never knew this. But they don’t export. Why not? God bless you, John. R.L. Dear R.L.: Thanks for the blessing. I was hoping for one today. Now, about Haiti. I knew less than you about the Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. But now I know. And your friends are right. Lots of natural resources, including gold and natural gas. In fact, it’s been estimated that Haiti might have some of the largest oil reserves in the world. Maybe even larger than Venezuela. According to a posting on Wikipedia, the Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba and Puerto Rico as well as the Dominican Republic and Haiti, could have about 159 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 142 million barrels of oil. And Haiti is thought to have gold deposits worth $20 billion. A Canadian company called Majescor Resources bought the rights to pro...

In the first of a six-part fantasy draft preview series leading up the NFL season, Fantasy Insanity discusses the war-room gameplan for the draft. Next week: tight ends, defense/specials teams and kickers. Maybe your favorite holiday is Christmas. Perhaps it is Rosh Hashanah. Could be Fourth of July, or Halloween, Arbor Day or Take Your Pet to Work Day. The Fantasy Madman observes holidays, too. Every Sunday during the NFL season is a holiday. Even Week 17. Why? Because we live in a fantasy world, Bozo! And preparing for our weekly celebrations of fantasy success requires preparation. While some of you have enjoyed a break from fantasy football madness, or impatiently awaited its return, the Madman has been hard at work fine-tuning this season’s updated Draft Value Quotient metric. Our beloved DVQ has undergone some changes this season — most notably, shifting an emphasis on roster requirements to focus on scoring disparity within a position based on those roster requirements. The...

For the second straight day, Le’Veon Bell spent a portion of practice with the NFL’s drug testers. Bell participated in the early portion of Jets practice Saturday and went through the first-team period before disappearing for the rest of practice. He returned at the end to sign autographs for the fans. Coach Adam Gase said Bell was undergoing a drug test. Bell missed some of Friday’s practice for the same reason. “Since he wasn’t here in the spring, he has to do everything now,” Gase said. It seems odd Bell would have to undergo tests on consecutive days, but Gase said it was not unusual. “It happens,” Gase said. “Sometimes you guys don’t see it all the time. In the season, sometimes we’ll be out at practice and a guy gets pulled off. It happens a lot in OTAs.” Gase was asked if it bothered him that the tests occurred during practice. “There’s nothing we can do about it,” Gase said. Bell was suspended twice with the Steelers for drug violations. He blamed his second suspensio...

A beloved Queens small business fills its last prescriptions Monday. Many are mourning the demise of Metropolitan Pharmacy, a 40-year-old small business on Metropolitan Avenue in Kew Gardens near the Richmond Hill border, as well as its sister business, Metro Pharmacy II, in Forest Hills. The closing of Metropolitan Pharmacy will be a great loss, residents say, because owner Ira Lisogorsky has selflessly served the neighborhood. “I needed some medicine, but my insurance card wasn’t going through because of a technical glitch,” recalled Suzanne Hall, a Kew Gardens resident and a longtime customer. “Ira knew how much I needed the medicine, gave it to me immediately and told me that he’d settle the insurance issue later on,” she said. So why is Metropolitan Pharmacy shuttering? Lisogorsky, who fills thousands of prescriptions, said he has problems with drug companies as well as regulatory and city policies. “The city doesn’t care about us,” he said. “They look at us as a cash cow,...

MIAMI — The AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins have acquired veteran reliever Sergio Romo in a trade with Miami, hoping to boost their beleaguered bullpen for the stretch. The trade was announced Saturday night. The deadline for making deals to have players eligible for the postseason is Wednesday. The Twins got the 36-year-old Romo, minor league pitcher Chris Vallimont and a player to be named for minor league first baseman Lewin Diaz. Romo was 2-0 with 17 saves and a 3.58 ERA in 38 games this season. The righty had an 0.61 ERA in his last 15 appearances for the Marlins. Romo comes with plenty of postseason experience. He has an 0.00 ERA in six World Series games, helping the San Francisco Giants win three championships. Minnesota’s once-big division lead has been dwindling, and was down to just two games over Cleveland going into the day. The Twins recently made several roster moves with their bullpen, sending down some relievers and calling up others while trying to improve th...

There’s panic in the streets of London — and across England — over increasingly violent seagull attacks, with at least one terrified victim warning that it’s only a matter of time before one proves fatal. “I don’t think it’s going to be long before a child is seriously injured or an elderly person falls trying to get away from a seagull and bangs their head, which could be fatal,” Roy Pickup told The Sun. Last month, Roy, 77, and his wife, Brenda, were terrorized by a group of gulls nesting above the front door of their home near Morecambe Bay. Each time the couple stepped outside, they were attacked by the aggressive birds, the report said. Roy said he had to be hospitalized for cuts to the back of his head. Worcester’s former mayor, Alan Amos, is chicken too — and agreed with Pickup’s dire assessment. “It might sound ridiculous but I believe it won’t be long before a baby becomes the next victim of Britain’s increasingly aggressive seagulls,” Amos said. “People and animals up...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Royals traded left-handed reliever Jake Diekman to the Oakland Athletics for two minor league prospects amid of flurry of moves before Saturday night’s game against Cleveland. Kansas City also recalled oft-injured pitcher Kyle Zimmer and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn from Triple-A Omaha. Struggling first baseman Lucas Duda was designated for assignment. Diekman is 0-6 with a 4.75 ERA in 48 relief appearances this season, but he has allowed just one run in his last six outings. He isn’t signed beyond this year, making him an obvious trade candidate, and the Athletics snapped him up just days before the trade deadline. “I played against that team basically for three years,” said Diekman, who has spent a large part of his career with Texas. “I know the division really well. I know how good that team is. I’ll just go there and hopefully continue the success they’ve had there and see where we end up at the end of the year.” The trade is the second this month between...

The second half of the MLB season can be tricky for fantasy baseball owners. The trade deadline is just a few days away, and most are focused on players whose names are being bandied around by real-life GMs and the potential minor league call-ups destined to fill in the roster gaps created by a flurry of trades. Though much of those players’ values are steeped in speculation, too many fantasy owners are forgetting about some of the proven talent just working its way back into the good graces of the fantasy community. Whether it was an injury or just a rough first half, overlooked veteran talent succeeding right now is your ticket to a championship. When was the last time you gave Padres outfielder Manny Margot a look? Expectations of him playing center field and batting leadoff for the Padres were high coming into the season but a slow start to April, coupled with the need to start Wil Myers and the power displays of Franmil Reyes and Hunter Renfroe kept him out of the lineup. It t...

OXNARD, Calif. — Ezekiel Elliott’s contract holdout doesn’t faze the player who has been around Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones longer than anyone else on the roster — even after taking a year off. Jason Witten said “talk to me in a month” when the tight end was asked Saturday if Elliott’s absence was casting a cloud over the high expectations for a franchise trying to get past the divisional round of the playoffs for the first time in nearly a quarter-century. The 37-year-old Witten is back for a 16th season after the franchise leader in catches and yards receiving spent a year as a broadcaster. Elliott wants a new contract despite having two years remaining on his existing deal. The two-time NFL rushing champion skipped reporting day and still wasn’t around Saturday for the first practice. “My experience has been those things, around here anyway, those things usually work out,” Witten said. “Zeke loves playing. He’s like a little kid the way he kind of approaches it and has fun...

“You don’t have to be the best fighter in the world to win a fight,” said Frankie Edgar, reciting a quote he added comes from legendary heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey. “You just have to be the best fighter that night.” That’s the mindset that will drive Edgar, a native of Toms River, N.J., on Saturday night when he challenges Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight championship in the main event of UFC 240 in Edmonton, Alberta. Holloway, a viciously skilled mixed martial artist, is a clear favorite. He had won 13 fights in a row before losing by decision to Dustin Poirier in April when they battled for the interim lightweight title. Holloway (20-4) wore a look of concern and zero clothing as he barely made the 145-pound weight limit on Friday. Otherwise, he has looked virtually unbeatable at featherweight, though his body may be outgrowing the division. None of it rattles Edgar (23-6-1), who clings to the Dempsey quote for inspiration. “For the 25 minutes we’re fighting, ...