Murray gives Cubs batting tips, jokes about buying team  —  MIAMI — Cubs manager Lou Piniella held a rare postgame meeting Wednesday, then took it one step better Thursday.  —  Famous Cubs fan Bill Murray, who arrived in South Florida from his home in New York to commiserate with the Cubs during …

Mets Fall Into Tie With Phillies  —  No matter how many losses piled up and no matter how poorly they had played at times over the last four months, the Mets could take comfort knowing one thing: First place in the National League East still belonged to them and them only.

Mets show how much pressure they are feeling  —  Until now you could blame it on the bullpen, on bad pitching up and down the staff, and while that may not soften the fall, pitching is pitching.  Last night was different.  Last night the Mets played scared.

M's celebrate in win over Indians  —  A smiling Jose Guillen sat by his locker after a game in which his first-inning home run had put the Mariners ahead to stay.  —  But with his team's manager and general manager having been confirmed for 2008 earlier in the day, Guillen was already looking ahead to next year.

Chilling reminder  —  Bubbly on hold; Sox' lead cut to 2  —  It wasn't for a lack of trying.  While Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter were given the night off by the Yankees, 20-game winner Josh Beckett threw 99 pitches for the Red Sox, David Ortiz reached base five times …

Hal Steinbrenner elected chairman of the board of Yankee Global Enterprises LLC  —  The Board of Directors of Yankee Global Enterprises LLC announced today that Harold Z.  (Hal) Steinbrenner has been elected as Chairman of the Board.  —  Mr. Steinbrenner is the General Partner …

Sounds like Andruw's good as gone  —  My phone rang while I was in the visiting manager's office this afternoon at Philly's corporate-bank ballpark.  I stepped out to answer, and 25 minutes later, the conversation with Scott Boras had ended.  —  I'm writing a lead note about it for my Braves notebook …

Wang and Pettitte are Bombers' 1-2 punch in playoffs  —  ST. PETERSBURG - The Yankees won't announce their rotation for the division series until the matchups are officially set, but Joe Torre stated the obvious yesterday, saying that Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte will pitch the first two games one way or another.

The Mystical Collapse of a Bullpen  —  For the Mets and their fans, the last two weeks have been less like a late season collapse and more like a mystical experience in which science and religion have converged and become one.  Many baseball teams have lost a lead down the stretch, but few …

Rangers likely to look within  —  Before seeking free agents, Texas probably will go internal  —  ARLINGTON — Curt Schilling can be a free agent this offseason and, yes, the Rangers are probably going to investigate that possibility.  —  He may turn 41 in October, but he has a great work ethic …

Races could reach dizzying heights  —  Complex tiebreaker scenarios loom in National League  —  Brace yourself.  —  That is the message Major League Baseball essentially sent everyone on the final Thursday of this unforgettable regular season, holding further coin tosses due to four …

Secret Sauce Update  —  Below is an updated reckoning of the secret sauce rankings for 2007.  The secret sauce ranking consists of three statistics within the category of pitching and defense — Equivalent Strikeouts Per Nine innings (EqK9), Fielding Runs Above Average (FRAA), and Closer Performance …