High & Inside: NL Notes

Demands for rules changes since Giants catcher Buster Posey had an ankle wrecked in a collision at the plate most likely will amount to naught.

But interestingly enough, the two MLB execs charged with rules suggestions are Joe Torre, a star catcher early in his career, and Joe Garagiola Jr., whose father, Joe, was a big- league catcher (and a bit better backstop than he ever let on).

Another member of the committee is Angels manager Mike Scioscia, a longtime catcher. But Scioscia told the Los Angeles Times he expects no changes.

"When something like this happens it is unfortunate, but I don't know if there's enough there to rewrite the rulebook," Scioscia said. "There's definitely a code that's alive in baseball of what is acceptable. You're trying to score and the catcher is trying to stop you from scoring.

"I think it's obvious when someone does something that's not necessary. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's the adrenaline of a runner understanding he has the opportunity to score a run and the adrenaline of a catcher understanding he can stop a run that leads to these."

Carlos Zambrano, the popular Cubs righthander/nutbag, made highlight shows by breaking his bat over his knee after striking out Tuesday.

Before Wednesday's game, manager Mike Quade said, "I told him that the next time you're frustrated, just come up and whack me on the side the head. We can survive if I'm injured, but we don't need him to be hurting himself."

Chicago's Aramis Ramirez left Wednesday's game against the Astros after getting hit in the face by a ground ball while he was playing third. . . . St. Louis placed Kyle McClellan (6-2) on the disabled list with a strained hip flexor muscle. Teammate Matt Holliday returned from a six-game absence with a left quadriceps injury Monday, but GM John Mozeliak said, "It's just not going away."

This article contains information from the Associated Press.