Ignorance has its privileges  —  Take Gary Thorne, John, Jack Joe or whatever his first name is, Heyman, Karen Vescey, Woody Paige, CHB, Jay Marriotti, Bill Plaschke, and a host of other people that litter the media landscape, and put them all on an island somewhere.  —  Does anyone stop reading their newspapers?

In this statistic, Yanks take lumps  —  Red Sox pitchers well ahead on HBPs; Bombers undeterred  —  It was Daisuke Matsuzaka's 16th pitch of The Rivalry, and his first to Alex Rodriguez.  The offering, a fastball, hit A-Rod above the left elbow.  —  Consider it a fitting introduction into the Yankees-Red Sox culture.

Chipper stresses Braves need consistency  —  Denver — The spike in optimism that accompanied the Braves' 7-1 start has been tempered by a subsequent 6-7 stretch marked by inconsistency and concerns with the pitching staff and lineup.  —  It's the sort of things Chipper Jones was referring …

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.

Cleveland 9, Texas 4  —  CLEVELAND (AP) — Sammy Sosa is "Slammin' Sammy" once again.  —  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 leading off …

Kearns Shows Promise After Power Outage  —  Last April, when he was a Cincinnati Red, Austin Kearns hit five homers and drove in 18 runs, a fine start to a season in which he would establish career highs in both categories.  But this April, in his first full season as a Washington National …

Wagner wants to work  —  Billy Wagner developed a new pitch in spring training, says his left index finger is fine and the velocity on his fastball is zipping along at a satisfactory 96 mph.  —  There's only one problem.  The Mets haven't had much need for Wagner this early in the season …

Israeli league team drafts Koufax as tribute  —  NEW YORK — Forty-one years after he retired from baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax was the final player chosen in the draft to stock the six teams for the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League.

Hermida eager to rejoin Marlins  —  Injured outfielder to see game action this weekend  —  JUPITER, Fla. — An encouraging first step to returning came about 10 days ago for Jeremy Hermida.  —  Out of action with a deep bone bruise to his right kneecap, Hermida opened the season on the disabled list.

Slinging it with best of them  —  NEW YORK — He found a place to throw.  Like he always does.  —  I went to Yankee Stadium last night.  Like Daisuke Matsuzaka, I was in New York a day early to get extra rest for tonight's big game with the Yankees.  And sure enough, there he was.  Throwing.

House approves $60 million tax break for new Marlins stadium in Miami  —  · The Florida Marlins scored a crucial run in the Legislature on Thursday as the state House overwhelmingly endorsed a $60 million tax break to help build a new home for the team.

Notes: Slow going for Schmidt  —  Betemit moved up to seventh; Ethier wary of right-field fence  —  LOS ANGELES — Jason Schmidt rejoined the club after attending the birth of his third child, but he's still a long way from pitching in a game.  —  Schmidt was disabled retroactively …