A's designate outfielder Bradley for assignment  —  OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics designated outfielder Milton Bradley for assignment Thursday, cutting ties with a player who was expected to play an important role on the team this season.  —  Bradley had been on the disabled list three times …

Win-loss records don't tell the whole story … How often have you heard this question asked this season:  —  What's wrong with Johan Santana?  —  Uh, how about nothing?  —  Yeah, his win-loss record is "only" 7-6.  Yeah, that's exactly the same record as Miguel Batista.

Not for the Birds: Girardi turns down Orioles job  —  BALTIMORE — Joe Girardi declined an offer Thursday to become the new manager of the Baltimore Orioles, saying the timing wasn't right "for the Girardi family."  —  "Baltimore is a fine organization, a fine team, and I'm flattered …

Giambi agrees to meet with Mitchell investigation  —  NEW YORK — Jason Giambi agreed Thursday to meet with baseball steroids investigator George Mitchell and apologized for his actions, becoming the first active player known to cooperate with the former Senate majority leader.

Futures Game rosters announced  —  Cleveland prospect Lofgren excited to play near hometown  —  It doesn't matter what language you say it in — Japanese, Spanish, Dutch or English — the only correct way to say "future" to the 50 prospects chosen to participate in the 2007 XM Satelitte All-Star Futures Game is "big leagues."

Rocks deny Rocket 350th win, sweep Yanks  —  DENVER (AP) — The New York Yankees couldn't wait to get back to Coors Field after scoring a record 41 times on their first trip to the Colorado Rockies' ballpark five years ago.  —  This time, they couldn't get out of town fast enough.

Rangers interested in Jones  —  Michael Barrett on Wednesday doesn't have any direct bearing on the Cubs' philosophy or intentions heading toward next month's trade deadline.  But that doesn't mean they're done dealing.  —  The Cubs have talked with the Texas Rangers and several other teams …

Five Sox homers back Tavarez's gem  —  Righty stymies Braves; Papi, Manny go deep in blowout  —  ATLANTA — A batting barrage and a pitching masterpiece.  It isn't often that a team can combine both of those forces in one night, but the Red Sox had all of that going for them and more in Wednesday's 11-0 romp over the Braves.

Evaluating Sosa's Hall of Fame candidacy … Last winter ESPN surveyed Hall of Fame voters and found that only 20.4 percent would have voted for Sammy Sosa if he'd been eligible.  —  Now that Sosa has become the fifth player in major league history to reach 600 home runs …

Bloggin' Nationals baseball  —  What's the best move made by management in the recent past?  —  Hiring Manny Acta as their manager.  The man has the patience of Job, is very smart and ideally suited to manage a growing team of young guys.  He's so even-tempered that if you watch …

Path-Integral Fastballs  —  I have been listening to Richard Feynman and his classic series of physics lectures.  It's not exactly light reading or whatever the audiobook equivalent is of light reading, but it's also amazingly interesting and challenging.  The strange part is that these lectures …

Chat with Scouts Inc.'s Keith Law  —  Welcome to The Show!  On Thursday, Scouts, Inc. senior baseball analyst, Keith Law, will stop by to talk some baseball.  —  Keith was formerly the special assistant to the general manager with the Toronto Blue Jays and has a wealth of knowledge for you to tap into.

Ayala Is Back, Speigner and Abreu Depart  —  Luis Ayala smiled broadly as he grabbed his glove yesterday afternoon.  The right-hander, once a stalwart of the Washington Nationals' bullpen, was active for a major league game for the first time since September 2005, finally …