Beckett scratched  —  Josh Beckett has been scratched from his scheduled start on Friday, and the Red Sox ace plans to have his ailing right elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews in Alabama.  —  In a postgame interview, manager Terry Francona said Beckett was seeing Andrews as a precaution.

PAVANO AVAILABLE TO OTHER TEAMS AFTER ONE START  —  Could “The Idle” be moving?  —  Carl “American Idle” Pavano is scheduled to start tomorrow night against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium - unless another team wants him.  —  The Post has learned Pavano was put on waivers within …

Jays designate Stairs for assignment  —  Trade talks indicate veteran may sign with contending club  —  ST. PETERSBURG — The Blue Jays have designated Matt Stairs for assignment and are working out a trade that could potentially send the veteran to a contending club.

Santana must learn leadership role  —  PHILADELPHIA - Johan Santana is not like everyone else in the New York Mets' clubhouse, no matter how much he craves to be.  He is supposed to be an ace, and he needs to bag the humility and start acting like one.  —  In the afterglow of a 6-3 victory …

One month ... and 10 key questions  —  One month to go.  —  That's all.  There's just one month to the day before this amazing baseball season hits the finish line.  It's hard to know where to train your eyes in this 87-ring circus.  But Rumblings is here to help, as always, by presenting 10 key questions for the final month:

“There's Only One October” says Frank Caliendo, Randy Jackson and Stewie from Family Guy  —  Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Timothy Hutton and other celebrities join largest ever Major League Baseball postseason ad campaign; television partner personalities appear for first time in ads promoting Major League Baseball's postseason

Angels looking for a backup shortstop  —  David Eckstein is among those mentioned for depth at the position.  —  Five days before Monday's trade deadline, the Angels continue to pursue a veteran shortstop as insurance in case Erick Aybar is injured.  —  The team has targeted three Toronto players …

Kotsay gone; Schafer won't be up in Sept.  —  Game's approaching and I've got a bunch of stuff to lay on you, so let's just dive right into this.  —  Just talked to the GM, Frank Wren, about the Mark Kotsay trade and the prospect they got for him, Luis Sumoza.

Duking It Out  —  Elijah Dukes hits two home runs tonight against the Dodgers.  He's scored three time and knocked in four as the Washington Nationals are blowing out the Dodgers 9-2 in the eighth.  Cristian Guzman is a triple short of the cycle as he drives in two.  —  Kershaw lasts just 2 1/3 innings, allowing five runs.

Future Shock  —  And in This Corner...  friendly  —  It really was the statement heard 'round the world, as from the time of its release until the end of the day, my phone has been burning in non-stop discussions with teams, agents, players, and other members of the media all looking to talk about the Pedro Alvarez situation.

ANOTHER NAIL IN YANKEES' COFFIN  —  BOMBERS LEAVE HANK STEWING AFTER DEBACLE  —  The Steinbrenner family and Jack Nicholson saw last night what a lot of other people have been looking at for a while: The end of the baseball world as a generation of Yankees know it.

Hank has eye on Sabathia, Burnett  —  Hank Steinbrenner is keeping his glimmer of hope for the postseason alive.  But that's not about to stop him from peeking ahead to some valuable pitchers he could pursue during the offseason - namely, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.  —  Live Blog: Clock approaches midnight in Bronx

Ramirez's flub: ‘It happens’  —  ATLANTA - By Wednesday afternoon, Hanley Ramirez was more willing to discuss his ninth-inning trouble on a potentially game-ending double-play ball the night before.  —  But only slightly.  —  Asked if the ball simply got stuck in his glove before he could throw to first …