Boston turns to Beckett to save season  —  Righty shut out Cubs in 2003 NLCS to keep Marlins alive  —  CLEVELAND — Josh Beckett has been here before.  The fate of Boston's season is being placed upon his shoulders, and history would appear to indicate that the pitcher is up to the task.

Orioles name Kranitz pitching coach  —  Veteran instructor spent 22 years working in the Cubs' system  —  BALTIMORE — The Orioles filled one of their few remaining high-profile coaching slots on Wednesday when they reached a deal with former Florida pitching coach Rick Kranitz.

Hunter interested in joining Nationals  —  Twins' potential free agent-to-be has close ties with Young  —  WASHINGTON — After the World Series comes to an end, Twins outfielder Torii Hunter is expected to file for free agency, and he said on Wednesday that he has an interest in playing …

Tampa Meetings End With No Decision  —  Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman left Legends Field around 4 p.m. today to fly back to New York.  On his way out, he told reporters that no decision has been made about the future of Manager Joe Torre.  —  Cashman was headed to the airport …

New Bill James study on Pythagoras  —  In the light of lots of discussion on why the Diamondbacks beat their Pythagorean Projection, and what that means, Bill James wrote up a new study on whether such teams improve beyond expected in the following season.  —  Bill sent the study …

GM Huntington to evaluate players  —  Club's front office, manager decisions put on back burner  —  PITTSBURGH — Pushing pending front-office hires to the back burner for a few days, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington began a three-day set of meetings on Tuesday that will target …

Blue Jays promote LaCava  —  TORONTO - The Toronto Blue Jays promoted player development director Tony LaCava, one of GM J.P. Ricciardi's most trusted executives, to assistant general manager, player personnel on Wednesday.  —  LaCava, 46, has drawn interest from other teams …

Success isn't all sweet for Brewers  —  Attendance, profit mean less of the revenue-sharing pie  —  Baseball's revenue-sharing program has been a boost to the Milwaukee Brewers from day one, but the franchise expects to see less of that money next year, according to Mark Attanasio, the team's chairman and principal owner.

More On Free Agent Draft Pick Compensation  —  I've always felt that my knowledge of Type A/B free agents and the accompanying draft pick compensation was lacking.  I'll try to do a better job this year keeping up with the vagaries of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

There's No Denying Rockies Have Been Lucky  —  Now that the Colorado Rockies are the National League champions — having won 21 of 22 games, many of them against the toughest competition the league had to offer — I take it that those among us who were unimpressed by them as October began …

George Mitchell's plan surprises MLB union  —  A lawyer for the MLB Players Association said yesterday that George Mitchell never told the union before last week that he was willing to show players evidence of doping allegations against them, although Mitchell told the Daily News in July that he would …