(AP)A lot of news on the injury front over the past 24 hours, especially pertaining to top of the rotation starting pitchers for teams with high expectations this season.

• For the Toronto Blue Jays, the news is actually pretty good for two of their ailing starters. According to Shi Davadi on Twitter, the MRI for knuckleballing ace R.A. Dickey has come back clean, revealing only "mild inflammation" in his troublesome back and neck.

That has to be quite a relief given the unpredictability of back injuries, but the concern surrounding Dickey isn't likely to dissipate until he finally strings together some effective starts. Dickey remains on track to start Saturday, so they'll know soon if there's reason to feel optimistic about his overall status.

The Blue Jays also received good news on Josh Johnson. The 29-year-old right-hander was scratched from his scheduled start last Friday after experiencing tightness in his right triceps, but according to multiple reports his MRI also came back clean, meaning he can start during their weekend series against Seattle. It's believed Friday is the day manager John Gibbons will shoot for, but the situation is fluid.

(Getty)The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

Axed by Axford... again: Any plans the Brewers may have had to reinstate John Axford as their closer will likely be placed on hold after their veteran right-hander suffered another meltdown in the team’s 6-4 loss to Pittsburgh. Attempting to protect a 4-2 lead, Axford allowed four eighth inning runs, including a game-tying two-run homer to Starling Marte and RBI singles to Brandon Inge and Pedro Alvarez.

The Brewers never recovered and had their eight-game home winning streak snapped in the process. As for Pittsburgh, the win wrapped up an impressive 6-4 road trip. Think about that for a second or two, and then consider this victory was only their eighth in Milwaukee over the past 54 games dating back to 2007.

''We don't make (the losing streak) as big as everybody else does because a lot of these guys weren't here,'' Pittsburgh manager Hurdle said. ''They don't feel the baggage. They hear the noise but after a while, you don't need to hear the noise because you know what you need to do. You need to play better and win games. That's how you stop the noise.''

I'm with you, Clint. But how do we stop the funk?

When you play with the reckless abandon we're accustomed to seeing from Bryce Harper on a daily basis, there will often be consequences. In the case of Harper, they may just be delayed because he's 20, he rarely slows down enough for his adrenaline to reach normal levels, and there's even some debate about whether or not he's made with the same fibers as the rest of us mere mortals.

Here's what we mean.

On Wednesday, Harper exited the Washington Nationals much needed 2-0 victory over the Braves with a bruised left side. An injury that actually occurred during Tuesday night's game when Harper collided with Turner Field's right field wall as he unsuccessfully attempted to rob Tim Hudson of his third career home run.

Though Harper was able to finish Tuesday's game without any apparent lingering issues, he was clearly in some degree of discomfort by the time batting practice rolled around on Wednesday. He still played, of course, because there's no way Davey Johnson could talk him out of it, but his pain tolerance reached its threshold on a sixth inning check swing.

Head athletic trainer Lee Kuntz (middle). (USA Today)A critical medical emergency that played out in the Turner Field media room on Wednesday afternoon had a more hopeful outlook thanks to the quick actions of Washington Nationals head athletic trainer Lee Kuntz and his training assistant John Hsu.

According to Comcast Sports Net Washington's Mark Zuckerman, a local cameraman, Reuben Porras, who was working an assignment for MLB Network, collapsed while preparing for the evening's game between the visiting Nationals and the home standing Atlanta Braves and required immediate medical attention after suffering what appeared to be a heart attack.

Kuntz and Hsu, who were hanging out in the visiting weight room underneath the stadium at the time, were alerted to situation by someone running down the hallway looking for assistance. They responded immediately and instinctively.

Kuntz and Hsu grabbed an automated external defibrillator that had only been installed in the visiting clubhouse a week ago and rushed to the aid of the man, who had lost consciousness and wasn't breathing. Kuntz used the AED machine and CPR to revive the man, then waited for paramedics to arrive.

Sadly, despite their heroic efforts, Porras died shortly after being transported to an Atlanta area hospital. He was 61.

(AP)The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired speedy outfielder Tony Campana from the Chicago Cubs during their winter long compilation of grit and determination.

No one fits that profile better than Campana, either, because at 5-foot-8, 165 pounds (generously listed), you're not going to get an impact player offensively, but you will get terrific speed, well above average defense and plenty of effort.

Unfortunately for Campana, even with those attributes he couldn't land a spot on the D-Backs opening day roster, so now he's attempting to play his way back to the big leagues with their Triple-A affiliate, the Reno Aces.

Or maybe I should say run his way back to the big leagues, because the diminutive outfielder pulled off a rare "natural" base stealing hat trick during Reno's 9-6 loss to Fresno on Saturday night.

After singling with two out in the second inning, Campana took matters on to his own legs and literally stole a run for Reno by swiping second base, third base and home plate consecutively. And he did it in a matter of four pitches against pitcher Shane Loux and catcher Johnny Monell.

Here's a look at Campana's accomplishment courtesy of MiLB.com:

(USA Today)Five years in the big leagues and 174 career appearances haven't made it any easier to spell (or in some cases pronounce) the name of St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Marc Rzepczynski. Honestly, it's one of those names that makes you thankful for the "copy and paste" options, which I've admittedly used repeatedly throughout his career, but can be a complete nightmare on Autocorrect.

Even Rzepczynski's teammates still struggle with it, as we learned in the video below. In it, second baseman Daniel Descalso and fellow pitcher Joe Kelly were put in the unenviable position of having to spell Rzepczynski (aka, Scrabble) on the spot, with the camera rolling, during the filming of the Cardinals "BirdsiView" web series.

It was a mighty struggle for both.

A,J. Burnett had one of those interesting moments on Saturday night. It wasn't big enough to overshadow his six innings of two-run ball, or the fact he won his second start in 10 ten days against the St. Louis Cardinals, but we saw it, we scratched our heads, and now we're presenting it to you.

It happened during the fourth inning with Jon Jay running at first. Jay has pretty decent speed, so a stolen base attempt there was a reasonable expectation. Apparently A.J. Burnett didn't think so though, or maybe what was happening wasn't properly communicated to him, because his reaction to Jay taking off wasn't what you normally see from a pitcher.

Rather than throw the pitch and immediately duck once the catcher goes into his throwing motion, Burnett just stands there. He then calmly intercepts the throw from Russell Martin, which he had to think was coming back a little quicker than usual, and that allowed Jay to swipe his first bag of the season uncontested.

Giancarlo Stanton's home run drought finally ended on Saturday night. Boy did it.

In his 18th game (he actually needed 20 games to start last season, but who's counting?) the Miami Marlins large and powerful right fielder finally hit his jack of the first season. And yes, like all Stanton homers, it was of the epic, tape-measure variety, and I think an argument could be made that it was the most impressive big fly of the 93 he's hit so far in his career.

Just to give you a little perspective of how epic it was, I'll remind you of the grand slam he hit off Jamie Moyer last May that actually damaged a scoreboard sitting 438 or thereabouts feet down the left field line. When Stanton connected off Chicago Cubs left-hander Travis Wood this time around, the ball actually cleared that same scoreboard, and cleared last season's point of contact by a substantial margin.

[Also: Why did two fans at Marlins Park have odd reaction to HR?]

There's no question it was a monster shot, but there seems to be some debate over how far this home run actually traveled. Here's the first estimation, courtesy of MLB.com's Joe Frisaro:

#Marlins Estimated distance of Giancarlo Stanton's first home run: 472'

— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) April 27, 2013