Major League Notebook: May 22

Here's what's happening around baseball on Saturday May 22, 2010:

• Less than two months into the season, Jason Heyward already has established himself as an offensive force, ranking fourth among all NL hitters with a .996 OPS. Assuming nothing horrible happens over the next six weeks, Heyward should be an easy choice for the NL All-Star team.

We've seen some fantastic rookies in recent years, of course, but David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out that there hasn't been an All-Star rookie outfielder in the NL since Tim Raines way back in 1981. That game took place a little more than eight years before Heyward was born, so, yeah, it's been a while. Even in the AL, you have to go back to Ben Grieve, of all people, in 1998, for the last true rookie outfield All-Star -- if you don't count Ichiro Suzuki (2001) and Hideki Matsui (2003) which you really shouldn't in this type of discussion.

• If you had your eye on the Brewers' off day Monday as a potential end of the line for manager Ken Macha (or GM Doug Melvin, for that matter), Brewers owner Mark Attanasio says it isn't happening.

"I can tell you unequivocally, we are not making a manager change on Monday," Attanasio said. "So there will be no news on Monday. We can lose the next two games, 15-3, and we're not making a manager change.

"Doug needs to make those decisions and Doug's been pretty firm in his support of Ken so I'm going to fall in line. ... I talk to Doug every day. We're in sync on this."

The owner went on to describe Melvin's job status as "very, very secure."

• Big incentive for the ongoing Subway Series: the team that wins the series will have its colors light up the Empire State Building on Monday night.

The Injury Ward

• Tigers rookie Austin Jackson left Saturday's game against the Dodgers after being hit in the head by a Ramon Troncoso pitch. He went to a hospital for tests but teammates said he seemed to be OK.

• Cardinals pitcher Brad Penny landed on the disabled list Saturday afternoon, a day after he was pulled from a start prior to the fourth inning with a strained lat muscle in his right side. Just prior to exiting that game against the Angels, Penny had hit a grand slam. The good news is the Cardinals expect Penny's DL stint to be "minimal."

• But then came more bad news for the Cards, when Kyle Lohse revealed he was experiencing discomfort and stiffness in his arm -- the same type of problem that put him on the DL twice last season. Lohse said he was "very" concerned about the issue and will get an MRI in the next couple of days.

• Jimmy Rollins is right back on the disabled list for the Phillies, with Wilson Valdez rejoining the team a day after he had been sent out. Rollins left Friday night's game in the sixth inning with a leg injury.

• Surprising no one, Eric Chavez is back on the DL for Oakland. This time the culprit is neck spasms, sending him on the DL for the fifth time in four seasons. He played just 31 games the last two seasons combined, but he said he hadn't thought about hanging it up. Now, it might cross his mind. There was some good news for the A's, though, as Mark Ellis came off the DL after a month on the shelf with a strained left hamstring.

• Elbow problems left Orioles reliever Koji Uehara unavailable for duty for the third consecutive game and may end up sending him back to the DL.

• Updating a previous item, Nationals lefty Scott Olsen was placed on the DL following Saturday's game with tightness in his shoulder -- a problem that caused him to leave his Friday night start early. No word yet on who will replace him, but MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports it won't be Stephen Strasburg or Matt Chico.

• Class A catcher Derek Norris, the Nationals' top prospect not named Strasburg, was beaned in the head Friday night and lay motionless on the field for 10 minutes before being taken to the hospital. He was still groggy but generally doing well Saturday, according to Nats officials.

Transaction Wire

• The Giants activated Edgar Renteria from the 15-day DL and optioned Ryan Rohlinger back to Fresno.

• The Brewers swapped lefties following Saturday's game, sending Mitch Stetter down to Triple-A and calling Zach Braddock up.

• After spending the minimum 10 days in the minors after being sent down in favor of bullpen help, Ryan Raburn rejoined the Tigers for Saturday's game. Casper Wells was shipped back to Toledo to clear a spot for Raburn.

• The Padres recalled right-hander Luis Perdomo from Triple-A and optioned lefty Cesar Ramos back to Portland.

• The Indians signed journeyman Josh Phelps to a minor league deal. He'll join Triple-A Columbus.