Red Sox, O's broadcaster at odds over bloody sock  —  BALTIMORE — The story of Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock from the 2004 playoffs is turning into a bloody mess after a prominent broadcaster claimed one of Schilling's teammates acknowledged the blood wasn't real.

Prior still in club's plans?  Hendry won't say  —  Mark Prior's season is over, and his future in Chicago is cloudy.  —  Specialist James Andrews performed a right shoulder arthroscopy on Prior, 26, in Birmingham, Ala., which included a cleanup of his right rotator cuff and a repair of the shoulder capsules and right labrum.

Pelfrey's Grip on His Rotation Spot Is Becoming Tenuous  —  The Mets have seen Mike Pelfrey dominate.  They have seen him pump fastballs past major league hitters and befuddle them with his sinker.  They have seen him turn over tough lineups.  They just have not seen him do it recently.

Ace dealt another injury  —  Strain might derail Sheets' next turn  —  Chicago - It was an upper-Midwest excuse for a spring day - raw, rainy and hardly ideal for baseball - and Ben Sheets had this uneasy feeling that somebody would get hurt.  —  Sheets just never imagined it would be him.

Baseball Looks to Create a Possible Portal to Cuba  —  Major League Baseball officials are quietly preparing to re-establish a relationship with Cuba if the United States lifts its trade embargo.  —  Fidel Castro, 80, has experienced serious health problems in recent years …

Patterson Doomed By Nats' Defense  —  Lack of Support Leads to Loss: Phillies 9, Nationals 3  —  One ball sailed to left field, where Robert Fick might have caught it but didn't.  The next hitter, predictably, followed with a home run, and an inning from which John Patterson might have escaped cost him two runs.

Pennants Added  —  In this year's Annual, I wrote an essay attempting to rank the most valuable pitchers of all time.  Though I devoted space to explaining his ranking, many people still complained that no rational person would rank Sandy Koufax as the 64th most valuable pitcher of all time, even if he did retire at 30.

04.25.2007 From the vault: The Decline of the Sports Guy  —  We originally posted this article in June 2006, but Bill Simmons is once again showing how little he knows about baseball.  If you are a fan of "Yah, dude!" baseball analysis, stick with Simmons.  If you're not, check …

Mets Fans Need Not Worry About Wright  —  David Wright has now played in 20 games this year, in which he's driven in four runs and hasn't hit a single home run.  Dating back to last year's All Star break, a period covering 87 games, he's hit six home runs and driven in 46 …

From A-Rod to Big Z, how it all went wrong  —  Being a sports writer-type fella in this quick-reaction era means never having to say you're sorry.  Today's rant is tomorrow's yawn; even the dopiest preseason prediction ("Jim Thome will tweak his PCL by Earth Day") can be rationalized away with a quick …

CASTRO HOPES TO CATCH ON  —  With the way he's playing, it's worth considering whether Ramon Castro could become the Mets' starting catcher next season if the team and free-agent-to-be Paul Lo Duca part ways.  —  Castro's in his third season as the Mets' backup, and this year he's hitting .353 …

Washburn hurls three-hit shutout  —  Guillen, Johjima hit solo homers for game's only runs vs. A's  —  OAKLAND — Jarrod Washburn is usually happy sitting in the dugout in the later innings of one of his quality starts.  On Wednesday he wasn't about to watch anyone else finish what he started.

Ten Things I Didn't Know Last Week  —  The third oldest major league stadium, where the parking stinks.  —  I was sitting around chatting with my brother the other day when he asked me a baseball trivia question: What's the fourth oldest major league stadium?