‘Drama’ surrounding Red Sox wearing on Papi  —  Veteran slugger hints this could be his final season in Boston uniform  —  BOSTON — On the surface, it seems like life has never been better for David Ortiz.  At 36 years old, he is tearing the cover off the ball.

MLB hits Rays' Peralta with eight-game ban  —  WASHINGTON — Joel Peralta's punishment was administered Thursday afternoon when Major League Baseball slapped the Rays reliever with an eight-game suspension for “possessing a foreign substance on his glove.”  —  Peralta was ejected …

The Greatest of Games  —  I. The Record Game  —  I was very into Matt Cain's perfect game, watched the last three innings of it on my television machine, called my wife to watch the end of it, e-mailed my son in San Francisco to make sure he was watching.

Prospects pack rosters for Futures Game  —  Last year, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout were the main attractions at the XM All-Star Futures Game in Arizona.  The top two prospects in baseball in one outfield at the same time appeared to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Rays Claim Brooks Conrad  —  The Rays claimed Brooks Conrad off of waivers from Milwaukee, the Brewers announced.  The Brewers, who removed Conrad from their 40-man roster two days, ago, announced that they're recalling right-hander Mike McClendon.  —  Conrad, 32, has appeared in 25 games …

S. Carolina Beats Arkansas 2-0 on 3-Hitter  —  OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Freshman Jordan Montgomery and Matt Price combined on a three-hitter Thursday night, lifting two-time defending national champion South Carolina to a 2-0 victory over Arkansas at the College World Series.

Berry's Hit Gives Tigers 2-1 Win Over Cards in 10  —  DETROIT (AP) — Quintin Berry hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the 10th inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.  —  Ramon Santiago and Jhonny Peralta hit one-out singles off Victor Marte (0-1) …

Presley, Jones back in lineup vs. right-hander  —  PITTSBURGH — After facing left-handed starters in the first two games of the series with the Twins, the Pirates were able to return to their righty lineup for Thursday night's matchup.  —  That meant left fielder Alex Presley back atop the batting order …

Rogers wants to bring MLB Network to Canada  —  Rogers Communications, which owns the Toronto Blue Jays and Sportsnet, wants to bring the MLB Network to Canada.  —  The cable giant is sponsoring the baseball channel's application to the Canadian Radio-Television and Communications commission …

Dealing King Felix not so crazy  —  The Mariners in recent weeks touched base with the Cubs on shortstop Starlin Castro, asked the Royals about designated hitter Billy Butler, talked to other clubs about other hitters.  —  None of the talks progressed, according to major league sources.

Official Harper ‘clown question’ t-shirts coming  —  These days when a comment an athlete makes goes viral, it is only a matter of time before people start producing t-shirts and merchandise.  It happened to Robert Griffin III with his ‘RG3’ moniker and it happened with New York Jets' linebacker Bart Scott …

Arizona Moves to College World Series Finals  —  OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Arizona converted three errors into a six-run first inning and advanced to the College World Series finals with a 10-3 victory over Florida State on Thursday.  —  Freshman starter Brandon Leibrandt was pulled after he recorded …