Syd Thrift, former baseball executive, dies at 77  —  BALTIMORE (AP) — Syd Thrift, a former general manger of the Pittsburgh Pirates who spent nearly a half century in baseball, died at 77.  —  He underwent knee replacement surgery Monday in Milford, Del., and died that night …

Sheffield aims for this week  —  TORONTO - How real is the possibility of Gary Sheffield playing first base for the Yankees in a playoff game?  —  "If we feel confident that he can play the position, I don't envision that being a problem," Joe Torre said.  "But we need to see something to tell us that."

'One of the luckiest people on the earth'  —  The first clue that my cell towers were intact came right around the trading deadline, approximately a month after my aneurysm.  By that time, I had been transferred from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and the Islands.

Tigers need to recapture early season mojo  —  CHICAGO - Jim Leyland will need to turn into Gene Mauch for the Tigers to blow this sucker now.  —  It's not going to happen.  It was never going to happen.  The Tigers still could finish second in the AL Central, but their 8-2 victory …

Towers: 'These guys don't miss (Mirabelli)'  —  LOS ANGELES - Doug Mirabelli won't be getting a Christmas card from Padres General Manager Kevin Towers, but maybe he should.  —  The cranky catcher who was traded to Boston on May 1 after a .182 April is one of the central characters of the Padres' season.

A-Rod Agonistes  —  Despite his extraordinary numbers, New York fans are quick to discount his contributions.  And when things go wrong for A-Rod, even his teammates find him hard to motivate and harder to understand  —  "Joe wants to see you."  —  Alex Rodriguez still was weak …

Dodgers' bats seize late victory — in rare fashion  —  LOS ANGELES — The scorecard looks like somebody knocked over an ink bottle.  The NL West race looks like a candy grab after somebody flung an Easter basket.  The car horns blasting off in the distance here at midnight sound like the postseason has already started.

MAKE POSTSEASON WILDER  —  THE Yankees should not be able to sleepwalk through a late-season series against the Red Sox.  For dominating the National League, the Mets should gain more of a reward than one extra game per postseason round.  —  The solution is to add one playoff team from each league.

Mailbag: Will Young be leaving?  —  Beat reporter T.R. Sulivan answers fans' questions … Did the "out of context" comment owner Tom Hicks made about Michael Young "not being a captain of the team type" start a battle that may ultimately end with Young leaving Texas in 2008?

Notes: Johnson likely done for year  —  Rookie of the Year candidate has strain in his right forearm  —  NEW YORK — Marlins rookie Josh Johnson has a right forearm strain, and in all likelihood, the right-hander will not pitch again this season.  —  Johnson, who has the fourth-best ERA …

Hall of Fame is thin at third base  —  If there's an under-represented group in the Baseball Hall of Fame, it's probably the third basemen.  —  Whether that's because of long-running neglect on the part of voters (Ron Santo and Darrell Evans would likely say so) or because of a historical weakness …

Tribe eyeing move to Cactus League  —  Team confirms report on deal to train in Goodyear, Ariz.  —  CLEVELAND — In their efforts to improve their outdated Spring Training setup, the Indians might head west.  —  Cleveland vice president of public relations Bob DiBiasio confirmed a report …