Just a few news and notes to pass along to the citizenry:

Wednesday night’s Cards-Padres game was more than just an 11-3 power showing by the home team. Albert Pujols’ crushing liner off the face of SD starter Chris Young, followed by his aggressive slide into catcher Josh Bard, left the Pads in pain. Here’s how Lee Enterprises counterpart the North County Times covered the game on nctimes.com as well as the San Diego Union-Tribune reports at signonsandiego.com.

“Rookies finding their path to payday is blocked,” by Alex Marvez, FOXsports.com senior NFL Writer. We took notice when the Falcons signed ‘08 No. 1 draft pick, BC quarterback Matt Ryan, earlier this week. We now know why: Because the NFL opted out of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Marvez details how negotiations with Rams’ draft pick Chris Long — No. 2 overall from this year’s draft — and other top picks could play out this summer.

“Stars sign Hull, Jackson to contract extensions” by The Canadian Press on TSN.ca. St. Louis Blues legend Brett Hull has found a permanent front-office home with Dallas. The Stars’ gain is the Note’s loss. But will short-term success with co-GMs pave a new path of NHL management? I’m skeptical. Here also is the Dallas Morning News site for the Stars and NHL on dallasnews.com.

Finally, Oklahoma City is hosting this year’s Big XII baseball tournament. The Oklahoman at NewsOK.com has traditional story coverage as well as blog and video reports. Keep up with the Mizzou Tigers through this weekend’s games (registration is required, but painless).