NEW YORK -- Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman likes pitching in the Bronx, and he'd love it even more if he weren't there to face the New York Yankees.

Asked Monday at Yankee Stadium about trade speculation connecting him with New York, Stroman stopped short of saying he was hopeful for a deal but insisted he could handle the city's notoriously tough stage.

"I love it. New York's like the mecca of the world," Stroman said. "I love excitement. I love bright lights. I love competition. I love pressure.

"I've always loved pitching here. Even though I haven't always pitched fairly well here, I've always enjoyed it. Yankee lineups are brutal. They're hard to kind of navigate. But yeah, I love the spotlight. The bigger the moment, that's where I've always wanted to be."

The 28-year-old Stroman is from Long Island and has family in the area. He was expecting about 40 family and friends for Monday night's series opener between Toronto and New York, including his brother's youth baseball team, which came early to watch batting practice. Stroman pitched six scoreless innings against the Red Sox on Sunday at Fenway Park and won't throw during this three-game series.

With the AL East-leading Yankees on the prowl for starting pitching before the July 31 trade deadline, Stroman is a sensible target. He's set to become a free agent after this season and is off to a strong start, with a 3.04 ERA. He's 5-9, but that reflects more on the rebuilding Blue Jays, who came into the day 31-47.

Stroman is 2-5 with a 6.37 ERA in nine career starts at Yankee Stadium.

The right-hander said the trade talks have been "hard to kind of grasp," but he has had time to let it set in.

"Obviously, it's hard to ignore all the rumors," he said. "I don't think I'm at a point where they're going to sign me long-term. I've kind of come to terms with it, but it's not something I'm thinking about daily."

Asked if he would prefer a trade to New York, Stroman laughed, said "no comment" and then elaborated carefully.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't really want to think about it like that just because I have no idea how it's going to play out or where it's going to go. I don't want to get all my eggs in one basket."

He's certain he could handle the Bronx, though.

"I'm built for this," he said. "Anybody can say whatever, but I'm built for the bright lights and the moment. I'm not scared of it. I've never been. I'll take that ball each and every time you put pressure on. I love it."

St. Louis Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.

The Cardinals announced the injury Monday but did not disclose whether Hicks will undergo surgery, saying that they are "determining the next course of action."

Hicks was removed from Saturday's 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth, after 1 1/3 innings.

The 22-year-old has thrown 211 pitches at least 100 mph this season, over 100 more than the next-closest player. Last year, Hicks threw 673 100 mph pitches and became the only player in the past 10 years to throw 500 or more 100 mph pitches in a single season.

Hicks is 2-2 with a 3.14 ERA and 14 saves this year.

Major League Baseball fans support installation of more safety netting at ballparks by an overwhelming majority in a survey commissioned by ESPN.

Fans agreed by a margin of 78 percent to 22 percent that netting is a good idea because it protects fans who often do not have enough time to react to foul balls or bats that fly into the stands.

The survey was conducted last week by Hart Research Associates.

The opponents to netting said it is a bad idea because it obstructs fans' views, and because fans know and understand the risks of getting hit.

The survey was commissioned after an incident May 29 in Houston in which a 4-year-old girl was injured when she was struck by a foul ball off the bat of Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. during a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros. On Sunday, after the survey was taken, a woman at Dodger Stadium was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests after being struck in the head by a foul ball.

The results of the survey showed that Americans are more divided on whether MLB teams should be held responsible when a fan is hit, with a slight majority saying teams should not be held responsible. By a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent, respondents said teams should not be responsible, with MLB fans, avid fans and those who attended games more strongly supporting the idea.

Since 1913, every ticket to a major league game has included a disclaimer saying the holder of the ticket assumes all the risks inherent to the game. Called the "Baseball Rule," it has made it nearly impossible for fans injured at games to successfully sue teams or MLB.

Following recommendations from MLB, by the start of the 2018 season all 30 teams had expanded their protective netting to at least the far ends of the dugouts after several fans were injured by foul balls in 2017.

Earlier this month, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, reacting to the incident in Houston, said he did not expect teams to make changes to the netting around ballparks during the season, but said he expected conversations to continue about whether the netting should be extended.

The White Sox and Washington Nationals recently announced they will extend their netting to the foul poles, with the Nationals saying they will make the changes during the All-Star break.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Monday night that they would extend their safety netting, likely this season.

New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway continued to have issues with reporters on Monday, after being fined for a confrontation with a reporter in the clubhouse on Sunday.

When he initially met with media on Monday, Callaway offered no apology for the incident, calling it a "misunderstanding."

"Obviously, for things like that to happen, it's always a misunderstanding. I'm sure there was no malintent by either, it's just something that happened and we have to move forward obviously," Callaway told reporters.

Later, the manager added, "Billy Martin punched a reporter one time. It's part of this game. ... Hey, I'm a passionate guy about baseball, I'm a tough competitor. Sometimes you'll see it with the umpires, sometimes you'll see it with the players. The thing is you guys don't need to see it directed toward you guys. You guys have a job to do, I understand that, always understood that, and you guys don't need to see it directed toward you. That's the number one thing."

About 90 minutes later, Callaway brought the media back into his office to formally apologize for what happened and note that he had apologized to the reporter involved in private.

"It's something I'm not proud of," he said.

Earlier in the day, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen announced that Callaway and pitcher Jason Vargas, who was also involved in the incident, had been fined. The GM did not comment when asked whether the Mets considered suspending Callaway or Vargas. The Mets do not expect Major League Baseball to further punish either Callaway or Vargas, according to Van Wagenen.

The dust-up with beat writer Tim Healey of Newsday occurred after the Mets blew a late lead in their 5-3 defeat to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. There was no physical contact.

The incident followed a tense postgame news conference, when reporters asked Callaway repeatedly about his decision to stick with reliever Seth Lugo during the eighth inning instead of going to closer Edwin Diaz. Lugo allowed a go-ahead three-run homer to Javier Baez.

After the news conference, Callaway walked past Healey and other reporters in the clubhouse. Healey said to Callaway, "See you tomorrow," and Callaway responded by calling Healey a "m-----f-----." Callaway walked away and then returned, cursing at Healey again and telling him to leave the clubhouse.

"I thought he was leaving for the day, so I said, 'See you tomorrow, Mickey,'" Healey said. "And then he said, 'Don't be a smart-ass.'

"I tried to tell him I didn't mean anything by it," Healey added. "I was just saying, 'I'll see you tomorrow.' And then he said, 'Get this guy out of here,' and that got the attention of Jason Vargas."

Vargas stared down Healey and shouted at him, including saying, "I'll knock you the f--- out, bro," according to a Yahoo! Sports account. He eventually tried to move toward Healey but was held back by teammates, including Carlos Gomez and Noah Syndergaard.

"The situation that happened yesterday I think was unfortunate for all parties," Vargas told reporters on Monday. "An unfortunate distraction. ... The team addressed the situation, the organization made a statement. And that's really all there is to it."

Vargas then left without taking any questions.

Healey said Sunday night that Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon called him "to apologize on behalf of the organization."

The Los Angeles Dodgers plan to extend the netting at Dodger Stadium, likely this season, after another fan was hit by a foul ball Sunday.

"We have been talking for some time with different providers and looking at different options," team CEO and president Stan Kasten said Monday, according to the Orange County Register. "Surely we will be expanding netting. I don't know yet the final configuration. Obviously there are some different choices to be made and different products which each come with their own set of challenges."

Kasten said he wasn't sure when the change would happen, but that "I think it's likely" it gets done before the end of the season.

Following recommendations from MLB, by the start of the 2018 season all 30 teams had expanded their protective netting to at least the far ends of the dugouts after several fans were injured by foul balls in 2017.

Earlier this month, reacting to the incident in Houston, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he did not expect teams to make changes to the netting around ballparks during the season, but he said he expected conversations to continue about whether netting should be extended.