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BASEBALL TONIGHT EXTRA

Quadragenarian power

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

The theme for Wednesday was oldies but goodies on the mound as six 40-year-old starters were hard at work on a busy baseball day. Among the most impressive were victors Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, the former teammates who combined to allow just one run in 18 innings of work. Glavine continued his climb to 300 wins and is now just three shy of that major milestone, while Maddux picked up career win No. 340.

Age and wisdom were no guarantees of success. On the other side of things was Roger Clemens, who ran into trouble against a pitcher whose best days are still in front of him in Erik Bedard. The Orioles' lefty turned in a Clemensesque performance, while "The Rocket" struggled again and acknowledged that he felt he let his team down.

In the case of the two other ancient wonders -- Woody Williams and Jamie Moyer -- their bullpens let them down as both took no-decisions despite quality efforts.

OLDIES BUT GOODIES: WEDNESDAY'S 40-PLUS STARTERS
	INNINGS-RUNS	RESULT	NOTE
Greg Maddux	7-1	Win	Earned 340th career victory.
Tom Glavine	6-0	Win	Picks up 297th career win, second career one-hit shutout.
Woody Williams	6-3	ND	Spoiled by Damian Miller's walk-off three-run homer.
Jamie Moyer	6-3	ND	Bullpen allowed six runs in three innings.
Roger Clemens	6-4	Loss	Starts 1-3 for the second straight season.
John Smoltz	5-0	Win	First time Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz won on the same day.
Kenny Rogers: Rangers-Tigers postponed due to rain.

FORWARD THINKING: THURSDAY

• Rangers at Tigers, 1:05 ET: Jamey Wright (1-1 7.43) makes his fourth start of the season for Texas. The Tigers' Justin Verlander (9-2, 2.78) has had a wonderful month: He threw a no-hitter against the Brewers and is 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 29 innings.

Johnson

• Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 ET: Randy Wolf (8-6, 4.32) allowed six runs in 5 2/3 innings in his only encounter with Arizona this season, a 9-1 loss on April 30. D-backs left-hander Randy Johnson (4-2, 3.52), who missed his last start because of back pain, will be limited to around 85 pitches, according to The Arizona Republic. He is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his last three starts. Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal has a .385 career average (5-for-13) against the Big Unit.

• Yankees at Orioles, 7:05 ET: New York sends Chien-Ming Wang (7-4, 3.51) to the mound to prevent a sweep. The groundball-inducing right-hander has allowed three earned runs or less in seven of his last eight starts, going 6-1 during that span. The Orioles' Daniel Cabrera (6-8, 4.98) keeps his opponents' bats quiet (.244 BA), but he runs into trouble in the walks dept. (3.06 per start).

• Thursday's complete list of probable starters

SIX IN A ROW

Big Z and the Cubs beat the Rockies 6-4 to extend their winning streak to six games.

HOWARD 100

Ryan Howard hit his 100th career homer in his 325th game, becoming the fastest player to reach that total, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Howard's three-run shot off Cincinnati's Aaron Harang gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning. The 505-foot drive was the longest in the four-year history of Citizens Bank Park. Watch Howard's blast ESPN Video

IN THE ZONE

Designated hitter Jack Cust went 2-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs to lead the A's past the Indians 13-7. He is hitting .409 (9-for-22) with five homers and 15 RBIs against Cleveland.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"Until something happens, until I get that tap on the shoulder and they say: 'You've been traded' or 'We're going to sign you' or 'We'll negotiate,' it's just all rumors to me."

--White Sox starter Mark Buehrle

NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES

GOOD

The Royals beat the Angels 1-0, outscoring Los Angeles 18-7 in the three-game sweep. Kansas City has won four straight for the first time since July 4-7 last year and at 14-11 is assured of a winning month for the first time since July 2003 (15-11).

BAD

The Red Sox wasted a strong start from Daisuke Matsuzaka (8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 8 SO), losing 2-1 in 11 innings. Boston has now lost its last eight games at Safeco Field.

UGLY

Oakland pounded the Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona for eight runs in building a 9-0 lead in the second inning. Carmona didn't get any outs in the second inning and lost for the third time in four decisions.