Non-roster pitcher Matt Palmer will undergo arthroscopic left knee surgery, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said on Sunday.

With his Mexican team eliminated from the World Baseball Classic, Oliver Perez rejoined the Mariners on Sunday and was immediately greeted with hugs and good-natured howls from teammates who’d seen him on television the night before smack in the middle of a wild ninth-inning, bench-clearing incident with Canada.

Yankees ace left-hander CC Sabathia threw 50 pitches in a four-inning simulated game Sunday morning at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., and the next time he steps on that mound will be Friday, his Grapefruit League debut.

Though still weak after dealing with a three-day stomach flu, Matt Holliday resumed light workouts with teammates on Sunday morning. He took batting practice, played catch and participated in an outfield drill but did not expect to stay for the afternoon game, against the Mets.

Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera weren’t just great players, although they certainly were that. They were consummate professionals, representing the Yankee pinstripes in a way that will be the blueprint for future Major Leaguers.

Second baseman Delino DeShields and center fielder George Springer, two of the Astros’ top prospects, were among the team’s first round of roster cuts Sunday.

Takashi Toritani led off the game with a home run, and the Japanese added five more to emphatically punch their ticket to the semifinals of the 2013 World Baseball Classic with a 16-4 thumping of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Sunday night at Tokyo Dome. The game was called after the seventh inning due to the mercy rule.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman was scratched from Sunday’s start with left-side soreness, although the 24-year-old expects be pushed back just a few days and get an outing later in the week.

Tempers flared and things turned ugly late with an extended benches-clearing incident and a fan striking someone on the field with a thrown water bottle during the ninth inning of Canada’s 10-3 win over Mexico in the World Baseball Classic on Saturday afternoon at Chase Field.

The United States and Canada started their journeys in this year’s World Baseball Classic with crushing defeats, and the second round in Miami had to seem far away. It’s a lot closer now. In fact, all it takes is one win. But to get that victory, the teams will have to face off against each other.

The Classic is a showcase of Major League talent, national pride, high intensity from fans all over the globe and emotion on the field. The latter two parts of that equation took over the mood late in Canada’s 10-3 win over Mexico on Saturday, when a bench-clearing brawl stained what has been a fun and wildly unpredictable tournament.

David Wright, the New York Mets star who played for the United States in the 2009 version of the event and is back at third base for the club this year, needed only one swing of the bat to change the fortunes of Team USA in the first round of Pool D play at Chase Field against Italy and possibly for the rest of the competition.

Italy is in, and for Team USA, a trip to Miami is contingent on a victory over Canada on Sunday at Chase Field in the finale of Pool D of the World Baseball Classic.

A packed house of 18,741 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium was charged from the outset, cheering, chanting and buzzing from first pitch to final out as Puerto Rico beat Venezuela, 6-3, to advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic.

David Ortiz’s right Achilles injury is not improving as quickly as was hoped, putting his Opening Day availability in jeopardy, so the Red Sox sent the slugger out for a precautionary MRI exam on Saturday.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a rule that encourages a baseball team to bunt when it has a six-run lead in the ninth inning.

The Yankees already had to face the reality of a world without Mariano Rivera last year. But after Saturday’s announcement that the 2013 season will be the iconic closer’s last hurrah, they’ll have time to prepare for what comes next. But of course, even in their wildest dreams, the Yankees can’t hope to simply replace Rivera.