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.

Sosa has two HRs, Rangers fall to Tribe (AP)  —  CLEVELAND (AP) — Sammy Sosa hit two homers to reach 594 for his career, but Paul Byrd and the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 9-4 Thursday for their fifth straight win.  —  Sosa's 439-foot drive into the left-field seats leading off …

Think A-Rod won't opt out?  Think again … This week's bulletin from the Alex Rodriguez Opt-Out Watch was this save-for-future-reference quotation:  —  "I want to stay in New York, no matter what."  —  OK, let's hold that laugh track for a minute.  No matter what.  That's what he said.

Smoltz agrees to extension with Braves (AP)  —  ATLANTA (AP) — John Smoltz is likely to spend his entire major league career with the Atlanta Braves after agreeing to a contract extension Thursday.  —  Smoltz, who turns 40 next month, will return for a 20th season in 2008 with a deal that will guarantee him about $14 million.

Under The Knife: Prior Mayhem Makes a Long Wait Longer by Will Carroll  —  I spent most of Wednesday waiting and wondering, like most baseball fans.  It was the day we'd all finally have some closure on Mark Prior.  Was he pitching through a damaged shoulder?

As the A-Rod Turns  —  I wrote a two-part piece on Alex Rodriguez last year when he was supposedly washed up, struggling, could not hit a thing.  What a difference a year makes.  Now A-Rod is rewriting the American League record book and is apparently a different person.

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.

Twins beat Royals 1-0 in 11 to end slide (AP)  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mike Redmond hit a run-scoring single in the 11th inning and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 1-0 Thursday to end a four-game losing streak.  —  Justin Morneau and Jason Tyner had back-to-back singles off Todd Wellemeyer …

Bobby Valentine's Super Terrific Happy Hour  —  With his progressive and creative baseball mind and his Veeckian flair for showmanship, the controversial former Mets manager is a national hero — alas, halfway around the globe  —  The Most Hated Man in Baseball is now adored.

What everybody ought to know about Phil Hughes  —  Mark O'Brien is gettin' the shaft.  The Santa Clara University baseball coach doesn't have a dominant, front-line ace to trot out there this weekend when his team takes on conference foe Loyola Marymount in one of the most important series of the season.

Frenchy on a new level  —  Jeff Francoeur played 20 games through April 24 last season, and he played 20 through April 24 this season.  But that's about where the similarities end.  —  The Golden Boy is on fire, surely making Lilburn and all of Braves Nation proud.  The boy's done growed up (OK, I'll stop).

Leyland on Casey: He'll hit  —  CHICAGO — With some players, the slump all but announces itself with bad swings, bad pitch selection, bad decisions.  —  But with Sean Casey, hitting .186 in the first 21 games, it isn't an obvious combination of the above.  In fact, he's not sure what it is.

Old Mike, new Christine  —  During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles.  Tennis writer.  Angels beat reporter.  Olympics writer.  Essayist.  Sports media critic.  NFL columnist.  Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame.

Thoughts on Bonds  —  Barry Bonds hit his seventh home run of the season last night.  He's now getting on base at a .470 clip and slugging .808.  I'm totally amazed by this.  Watching him play last April, I thought he was through.  But as the season wore on he adjusted to his knees and elbow …