The good feelings disappeared in a New York minute  —  NEW YORK - The ancient house of horrors came back to bite the Red Sox in the butt one last time.  —  It was all going perfectly.  Theo Epstein was having a better week than Barack Obama, the Sox were positioned to sweep the Yankees off the playoff map …

Nationals SS Guzman hits for cycle  —  WASHINGTON (TICKER) —Washington Nationals shortstop Cristian Guzman hit for the cycle in an 11-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday.  —  Guzman hit a solo home run to left field as part of the Nationals' five-run first inning and lined …

Hank has eyes on Sabathia, Burnett for offseason  —  A day after promising that the Yankees will be busy in the offseason addressing their needs, Hank Steinbrenner yesterday named two pitchers in whom the Yankees have interest.  —  “Everybody's looking at [CC] Sabathia and [A.J.] Burnett …

Cashman still believes in Yankees' youth movement  —  Their 3-2 walk-off victory over the Red Sox allowed a little euphoria and relief into the Yankees' clubhouse for a day, but no one should kid himself.  There will be no sprint to the finish line for this team.

Royals' Olivo expresses frustration with playing time, Hillman  —  Miguel Olivo is ticked.  Not even the guy known in some circles as “Smiley” can ignore it any longer.  —  “It's only, what, (29) more games?” he said.  “I'm going to do my best during that and that's it.”

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.

MLB, umpire: Call against Aybar was wrong  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Upon further review, umpire Doug Eddings was wrong about the controversial obstruction call involving Willy Aybar in Sunday's game at Chicago.  —  Mike Port, MLB's vice president of umpiring, told the St. Petersburg Times …

Analysis: Alvarez case a personality clash?  —  Boras' history with Pirates, Coonelly set stage for mess  —  For all the ticking clocks, terse exchanges and now a full-blown drama between Major League Baseball and its players' union, it might be easy to lose sight of perhaps the most pivotal aspect of the Pirates' Pedro Alvarez saga:

Dodgers drop finale as Kershaw falters  —  Left-hander optioned to Triple-A after disheartening defeat  —  WASHINGTON — Dodgers manager Joe Torre has talked all week about needing one big hit to win one big game that could snap Los Angeles out of a funk that gets worse by the day.

Hamels outstanding, but 'pen falters  —  Ace's seven innings of one-run ball spoiled by Cubs' rally  —  CHICAGO — No one had to move or look.  Everyone knew.  —  Aramis Ramirez left no doubt on the final landing spot of this unfortunate baseball.  The roar of 40,362 told Phillies reliever Chad Durbin …

Rays take series behind Jackson  —  Starter hurls seven innings of one-run ball for 11th victory  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Diving catches in left field?  Solo homers?  A dazzling seven starting innings?  —  Just about the only thing on Thursday night that didn't mirror Wednesday's win was the fate of the Red Sox-Yankees game.