(Getty Images)Running back Monday's action from the World Baseball Classic:

USA 7, Puerto Rico 1: We saw the Team USA we've been waiting for. The dominant one. The one that knocks the ball around the field and pitches it sharply too. David Wright lived up to his "Captain America" nickname again, with two hits and five RBIs. Meanwhile, Gio Gonzalez gave the Americans their best starting pitching performance of the tournament, going five innings and striking out five while blanking Puerto Rico.

(USA Today)One day, when the machines replace us humans, this is how we'll decide the World Series: The Prediction Machine, a website that claims to have the most sophisticated sports forecasting software on the market, plays each game of the 2013 season 50,000 times, calculates all the outcomes and tells us what's most likely to happen in baseball this year.

It's like — nerd reference alert! — The Observers in "Fringe" who see all possible futures. I'm already sorry for that namecheck.

Anyhow, for this season, The Prediction Machine ranks The Los Angeles Angels, with the towering trio of Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout, as the top team in baseball. In Prediction Machine's calculations, the Angels won the World Series 12% of the time. Both the Washington Nationals and the Detroit Tigers won 10% of the forecasts while the Cincinnati Red won 9% of the time.

See all the projections here — including final records, division standings and the 11 teams it gives a 0% chance to win the World Series. Surprise: The Houston Astros and Miami Marlins are among them.

Pitching coach Rich Dubee asks Halladay 'sup?' (AP)Most of the time, skewed spring training results can be ignored when it comes to established players. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay probably would like to ignore what happened Tuesday afternoon against the Tigers. He allowed seven runs and six hits, including a grand slam by Ramon Santiago and a two-run homer by Don Kelly.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]

As reporter Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, Detroit didn't even have sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the lineup. Had they been there, they would have faced Halladay throwing in the mid-80s (as in mph, not the decade):

Another scout's radar gun has Halladay velocity at around 84-85. Just gave up grand slam to [Santiago].

— Bob Brookover (@brookob) March 12, 2013

He also walked four over 69 pitches. The low velocity is troublesome, but Halladay's command usually is his bread and butter. Is Halladay hiding an injury out of pride? Or is he just thrown one too many pitches to be Ol' Dominant Roy? The only thing he's got working right now — thank goodness — is his beard. UPDATE: Here's what he told the media:

(AP)One of the still-hanging threads in the Biogenesis scandal was whether the Miami New Times, the alt-weekly that broke the story, would turn over its documents to Major League Baseball.

The story published in January and linked a handful of stars, such as Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera and Nelson Cruz, to the Miami-area clinic run by Anthony Bosch, who is alleged to have sold performance-enhancing drugs out of his anti-aging facility.

Since then, baseball has been negotiating with The New Times to hand over the notebooks it obtained, which include detailed client records from the clinic.

The paper's answer came Tuesday. The New Times, in not these exact words, told Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig to take their request and shove it.

In a scathing editorial, The New Times not only said no, but blasted Selig for representing an "organization with a long history of getting things wrong." It cited a litany of baseball black-eyes, from the Black Sox all the way to the Mark McGwire steroid scandal.

(AP, New York Daily News)

Alex Rodriguez has already had one heck of an offseason: He had hip surgery and is rehabbing in seclusion, he was linked to PEDs again in the Biogenesis scandal and he got replaced by an ex-Boston Red Sox third baseman.

[Related: ESPN analyst compares 2013 New York Yankees to 'Brokeback Mountain']

What else could happen to A-Rod before the start of the season? He might just be getting sued by his own kin.

Cousin Yuri — who you'll recall is the cousin A-Rod pointed the finger at in 2009 when it was discovered he had tested positive for steroids in 2003 — is said to be pondering a $5 million lawsuit against A-Rod.

The New York Daily News tracked down the lawyer with whom Cousin Yuri has consulted and didn't get specifics about the lawsuit, but did get this:

Hours after Towson University in Maryland announced it was cutting the baseball program, the players cut "Towson" from their uniforms. Well, the players blotted it out with black duct tape, to be precise. Catcher Zach Fisher explains here:

"We don't support Towson, so we don't want to wear something that says 'Towson.' "

And that's because, as of Friday, Towson no longer supports baseball. It is following through on threats reported by the Baltimore Sun in October that the baseball program would cease at the end of the season. The men's soccer team is getting cut, too, for a total of roughly 65 roster spots. Scholarships will continue to be honored, but baseball coach Mike Gottlieb will be busy trying to place elsewhere players with eligibility who want to keep playing.

As for the Towson players finishing out the season with strips of tape on their uniforms, good for them. In the grand scheme, it might not be a Berkeley sit-in, or James Meredith defying mobs and needing the National Guard's help to attend Ole Miss Alabama, but it's pretty strong as civil disobedience goes. And to think, as Deadspin reported, Towson officials were so worried about a violent response that they called the police before making the announcement.

Athletic director Mike Waddell, who says the moves will save the school about $800,000, has blamed Title IX compliance, but might it really be so more resources are funneled to football and men's basketball? Gottlieb isn't confident in the school's stated motives, either:

(Via Jose de Jesus Ortiz on Twitter)

On Monday, The Stew reported on Jordany Valdespin of the New York Mets getting hit in the sensitive male area with a 94-mph fastball by Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers. After experiencing some obvious discomfort, Valdespin appeared to be OK, saying later that "Everything is good, working good, normally, everything is great.”

Well, that was before a New York tabloid, — not to mention Mets manager Terry Collins — got hold of Valdespin by the short and curlies. So to speak.

[Also: Your worst fantasy baseball trades confessed]

The New York Post, always amusing if not classy, went with "Numbnuts!" for a headline. The phrase "plunked in the junk" appears in the web page's URL, if you notice. And that wasn't the only kick to the crotch that Valdespin got in the press.

Collins ripped Valdespin for not wearing a protective cup. Not all players do (a lot of players don't — it's not like Little League where they frequently check) but infielders are strongly advised protect themselves. Quoted by the Post, Collins said:

Derrek Lee and the Florida Marlins won the 2003 World Series on Yankee Stadium turf. (AP)The New York Yankees obviously have a sense of humor about fortifying their banged-up roster, because they're calling retired guys to see if they want to play again. GM Brian Cashman confirmed the team has contacted Derrek Lee, Scott Rolen and Chipper Jones — all of whom previously have said they won't play in 2013 — to see if any would change their mind. The Yankees are, relatively speaking, pretty desperate for players to fill in for the injured likes of Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson.

The possibility of New York adding Lee, who has 331 career homers but hasn't played since 2011 with the Pirates and is 37 years old, seems to be gaining "some traction," Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports:

"I reached out to him. I expressed an interest," Cashman said. "He's the type of player that is Yankee-like in terms of capabilities when he was playing and makeup for the clubhouse and stuff like that. I just planted the seed, if you have an interest in thinking of playing, let me know. That was it."

Cashman said that he received a positive endorsement of Lee from Jim Hendry, the former Cubs general manager and Cashman's current assistant, and said that his understanding is that Lee could be in physical condition to play quickly.

"If he still was game, I bet you he still has game," Cashman said. "I think he's intrigued and probably has his mind thinking right now. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Rolen, Cashman says, appears to be retired for good after finishing 2012 with the Reds. Jones would give the biggest reward of all, but also is the biggest longshot. And he's nothing more than flattered at the offer, if his Twitter account is any indication:

Enough with the rumors! While I am flattered about the speculation of being enticed out of retirement, I'm happy with life as a bad golfer!

— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) March 11, 2013