Spring ahead  —  Ramírez arrives in Sox camp a little sooner than expected  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. — The inimitable, ever-obtuse, and often-tardy Manny Ramírez strolled into Red Sox camp just after 8 a.m. yesterday, accompanied by his two agents, Greg Genske and Gene Matos.

Any Whammy Left in Sammy?  —  Texas believes Sosa has some of that old bat magic  —  At first glance, the Sammy Sosa who arrived at Texas Rangers camp last week looked much like the ebullient, homer-and-hop-to-first version who once dominated the National League.

Reed, Broussard remain upbeat  —  Fringe players likely will take on lesser roles for Mariners or could be traded  —  PEORIA, Ariz. — Jeremy Reed and Ben Broussard have less reason than anyone in camp to be pleased with the Mariners' direction.  —  Reed, the former starting center fielder …

Boo-boo for Abreu  —  Bobby out 2-3 weeks with strained muscle  —  TAMPA - Just when the Yankees received good news on Carl Pavano, the team suffered its first serious injury of the spring, losing Bobby Abreu for two to three weeks with a strained right abdominal muscle.

Veterans Committee election results for 2007  —  Living Hall of Famers, Frick and Spink winners, voted on 42 candidates  —  (COOPERSTOWN, NY): The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's Committee for Baseball Veterans announced balloting results Tuesday for its 2007 election of players, managers, executives and umpires.

Pujols practices with pro wrestler  —  JUPITER, Fla. — In an unlikely cage match, one of baseball's best hitters took turns batting Tuesday with one of professional wrestling's top names.  —  Slugger Albert Pujols and wrestler Kurt Angle took turns slugging balls in the Cardinals batting cages …

Baseball goes to bat in Israel: Duquette aids fledgling IBL  —  Baseball: It's kosher.  —  In essence, that was the message yesterday in New York, where former major league players Ken Holtzman, Art Shamsky and Ron Blomberg were introduced as managers in the professional Israel Baseball League, which will begin play on June 24.

In first look, Burgos appears quite striking  —  PORT ST. LUCIE - Ambiorix Burgos had an electric fastball, and spotty control, with the Royals.  But the Mets feel they have a diamond in the rough with the upper-90s throwing righthander, who was obtained in the offseason for Brian Bannister.

Root, root, root - and pay - for the road team  —  Baseball could get more money if it drops plan to let DirecTV have exclusive deal to sell out-of-market games to hard-core fans.  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Long-distance relationships may not work for romances.  But it's a different story for sports fans.

As Season Approaches, Some Topics Should Be Off Limits  —  Things I don't want to read or hear about anymore:  —  ¶  Roger Clemens saying he hasn't decided if he will play this year or retire, and if he decides to play, which team he will play for.  —  Clemens is one of the greatest pitchers ever, the greatest of his era.

Forgive Me Joel  —  I haven't exactly been quiet in my criticism of the Joel Pineiro deal.  To demonstrate just how appalled I was with the pickup to this point, here were my thoughts on it on couple weeks ago.  I claimed that "the low point of the offseason was [the Red Sox] acquisition of a "closer.

Red Sox Bring in a Friendly Face to Greet Matsui  —  Hideki Okajima was so eager to discuss coming duels with his old Yomiuri Giants teammate that he waved his hands and nodded his head as he spoke.  Okajima, a newly recruited left-handed reliever for the Boston Red Sox, was using Japanese …

Braves streak is over, but not hunger for October … LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — John Smoltz played in a golf tournament in Connecticut.  Bobby Cox puttered around his farm.  —  Chipper Jones packed up to travel to the ranch in Texas.  John Schuerholz headed for the office to begin the quest …