Jays won't confirm that Farrell is new manager  —  TORONTO— From Friday's Globe and Mail  —  Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell will be the next manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, baseball analyst Peter Gammons reported Thursday night, but sources with the Blue Jays say the report is premature.

Doc delivers as Phils stay alive, force Game 6  —  Halladay tosses six solid innings to send NLCS back to Philly  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Somehow, Phillies ace Roy Halladay helped return the National League Championship Series to Philadelphia.  —  Somehow he did it.

Tigers, Inge Agree To Two-Year Extension  —  The longest tenured Tiger is staying in Detroit.  The Tigers announced that they signed Brandon Inge to a two-year extension with a club option for 2013.  Inge's deal is worth $11.5MM, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck (on Twitter).

Odds and ends: Freeman and Kawakami updates  —  Now that everyone in the baseball world knows Cody Ross, it's time to reminisce about the day that Chuck James didn't.  —  Ross homered off James in the second inning of a July 25, 2006 game at Turner Field.  Two innings later …

Rally Monkey Creator Selling Angels World Series Ring  —  One of the most famous recent gimmicks in sports has been Rally Monkey, which first appeared on the scoreboard at an Angels game more than 10 years ago.  The Rally Monkey achieved prominence during the Angels run to the 2002 World Series title …

Melvin, Brewers zero in on next manager  —  GM to conduct second round of interviews with four candidates  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday that he had interviewed eight managerial candidates and was poised …

Did honesty cost Larry Bowa his job?  Trey Hillman reportedly in line as Dodgers' bench coach  —  That looks like the end of Larry Bowa, Dodgers coach.  —  Without fanfare, without even a tip of the cap.  Without any proper sendoff at all.  —  Dodgers.com's Ken Gurnick has reported …

Teixeira blames Stadium warning track for Berkman's fall  —  ARLINGTON, Texas - The kind of tumble Lance Berkman took in foul ground during Game 5 shouldn't happen again, the man he replaced at first base said.  “That warning track around our stadium is very dangerous,” Mark Teixeira said Thursday of the synthetic surface.

HR champ Bautista played with injury since May … TORONTO (AP) — Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista has had surgery to repair a sports hernia.  —  The team says the operation was performed Thursday in Philadelphia “without complication” and his recovery will take four to six weeks.

Angels promote national cross-checker Ric Wilson to scouting director  —  The Angels on Thursday promoted national cross-checker Ric Wilson to scouting director, General Manager Tony Reagins announced.  Wilson replaces Eddie Bane, who was fired in late September after eight seasons in the position.

What's with the thicker necklaces being worn this postseason?  —  Another postseason, another opportunity to be curious about the neckwear of players.  —  Back in October 2008, we investigated the wave of necklaces that were the rage of MLB's postseason as everyone from Dustin Pedroia  —  to Jim Thome