Los Angeles at Philadelphia  —  The acquisition of Manny Ramirez spurred the Los Angeles Dodgers into the playoffs and his offense helped get them into the NL championship series.  —  The big bats for the Philadelphia Phillies might need to get on track if they are to go any further.

Five keys for the Red Sox  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Think the Tampa Bay Rays are going to be an easy opponent for the Red Sox [team stats] in the American League Championship Series?  —  Think again.  —  Get beyond all the cute modifiers - plucky and upstart, for two …

Rays' numbers game  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Nine equals eight.  It's true.  —  Mathematics professors at Michigan State University say so.  They can prove it.  —  So can the Tampa Bay Rays.  All season they've worn T-shirts with what seemed a mathematically impossible message: 9 = 8.

Bucs' Moss should be ready for camp  —  Arthroscopic procedure replaces microfracture surgery on knee  —  PITTSBURGH — It looks as if Pirates outfielder Brandon Moss should be ready to take the field with no limitations in Spring Training after all.  —  Moss traveled to Vail, Colo. …

Women getting Mohawk-style bikini wax to support The Rays  —  Talk about team spirit.  —  The latest style to sweep the west coast, home of the Rays, is a bikini wax.  Mohawk style.  —  Try waving that around at a game!  —  Michelle Foster of Skin Deep Spatique says she was inspired by her son's Mohawk, reports

Baker to manage son's youth team  —  Dusty Baker is going back to youth baseball.  —  This weekend, Baker will be the fill-in coach for 9-year-old son Darren's 10-and-under traveling tournament team, Hard 90 Pastime out of Roseville, Calif., near the Bakers' Northern California home.

Ex-big league pitcher, coach Dal Canton dies at 66  —  CARNEGIE, Pa. — Bruce Dal Canton, a former high school teacher who turned a good showing at a tryout camp into a lengthy career as a major league pitcher and coach, has died.  He was 66.  —  Dal Canton died Tuesday of esophageal cancer.

Mets Sell Out $500,000 Luxury Suites Amid Wall Street Crisis  —  Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) — The New York Mets sold out the luxury suites in their new stadium for as much as $500,000 a year, avoiding the financial crisis, said Dave Howard, the team's executive vice president for business operations.

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.

Baseball Hall to display “treasures” from 2008 season  —  That's the HOF's word — “treasures” — not mine.  —  See if you can guess which local team's dead stadium will be honored a wee bit more than the other.  Some of the “treasures”:  — Derek Jeter's spikes when he set the record …