Sox rally falls short  —  Clement hit hard in first home start of season  —  BOSTON — There's never a good time for a bad start.  But Matt Clement knows his timing Thursday night wasn't the best, especially considering his counterpart's recent success against the Red Sox.

Reports: Grand jury investigating whether Bonds committed perjury  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal grand jury is investigating whether Barry Bonds committed perjury when he testified in 2003 that he never used steroids, according to media reports.  —  The panel has been hearing evidence …

Nationals send down Watson, Gonzalez, recall Church, Harris  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The struggling Washington Nationals optioned outfielder Brandon Watson and backup catcher Wiki Gonzalez to Triple-A New Orleans on Thursday and recalled outfielder Ryan Church and infielder Brendan Harris.

Big-bat attack does trick  —  Sox's 15-hit barrage aids scuffling Garland  —  DETROIT — The White Sox returned home Thursday with a four-game winning streak and a tailwind of relief.  —  The relaxation came from an offense that bailed out Jon Garland with a relentless attack to hold off …

Diamondbacks drop finale to Rockies  —  Counsell, Tracy collect three hits; Ortiz takes second loss  —  PHOENIX — When the opposing team has more extra-base hits than you have hits, that's a pretty good indication you are going to be on the short end of the final score.

Ross' 7-RBI outburst may change Dodgers' minds  —  PITTSBURGH — If this was Cody Ross' last game for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he certainly gave them something to remember him by.  —  Ross hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in successive at-bats and the Dodgers rode a big game …

Color them the A's  —  UNIFORM CHOICE SPEAKS VOLUMES  —  Inquiring minds want to know.  Inquiring, conspiratorial message-board minds with perhaps too much time on their hands.  —  Are the A's intentionally wearing the green road jerseys that say ``Athletics'' instead of the gray ones that say ``Oakland''?

Homers hurt Nationals in loss to Mets  —  Hernandez allows eight runs — seven earned — on four dingers  —  WASHINGTON — After a 3-1 defeat on Wednesday night, second baseman Jose Vidro complained that the Nationals couldn't hit for power because of the huge dimensions at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.

Pulp friction  —  Home runs are up this year.  We peel away at the conspiracy that the ball is juiced.  —  Conspiracy theories about the "fly factor" of baseballs are a big hit, so to speak.  —  With balls flying out of parks at an early-season pace not seen since the suspicious heyday of 2001 …

Yankee Programming Goes Over the Wall  —  The first news heard at the top of yesterday's edition of "Yankees Batting Practice Today" on the YES Network was that the Yankees would not be holding batting practice, so stick around for Royals B.P.  —  But a Yankee batting practice program without …

Brewers beat Cards at own game  —  Fundamentally sound play leads to 4-3 victory in St. Louis  —  ST. LOUIS — The Milwaukee Brewers were under strict instructions to play more like the St. Louis Cardinals.  You should not go wrong following orders like this and the Brewers didn't.