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?

Lineups, etc.  —  There's a whole lot of standing around going on in the Red Sox clubhouse, so I decided to bow out to give you all a peak at the lineups for tonight.  I also have some news of note from Terry Francona, and the update that "Talladega Nights" was bringing down the (club)house.

Heirs to the throne?  —  Dolan family has keen interest in buying Yankees  —  Also in this column:  —  With age creeping up on George Steinbrenner and his team's succession plans seeming unsettled, it was only a matter of time before someone surfaced with interest in buying the Yankees.

No longer a gone-slinger  —  Odds aren't that great, but at least Buehrle's departure doesn't seem inevitable anymore  —  There's a memorable scene at the end of ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' in which ''Blondie,'' played by Clint Eastwood, lets everyone know who's holding all the cards.

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.

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.

Reds have to do something  —  It's only one man's opinion — mine — but the Reds have to make a move before the open the series in Pittsburgh tomorrow.  You can blame Thursday's 7-5 loss to the Cardinals on the fact that Kyle Lohse suddenly went from lights out to lit up.

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 …

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.

For Wright, One Bad Swing Can Often Lead to Another  —  All his teammates had left by the time David Wright emerged from the showers late Wednesday afternoon.  He dressed quickly, without a sound, and as he put on his wireless earpiece, he looked up to notice the reporters who had converged on his locker.

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 …

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 …