Boras' rejection of Ramirez offer riles Dodgers  —  At 8:30 p.m. tonight, the Dodgers made the rather unusual move of issuing a statement that shows their exasperation with Manny Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras: … It's interesting to note that the Dodgers aim their venom at Boras, even though ostensibly Boras is working for Ramirez.

Yankees ban A-Rod's cousin from team facilities  —  TAMPA - Alex Rodriguez won't be getting any rides from Cousin Yuri anytime soon - at least not to the ballpark, anyway.  —  One day after A-Rod was chauffeured from Dunedin Stadium back to Tampa by his cousin Yuri Sucart …

“They're Just Making Bowden Endure As Much Pain As Possible”  —  Here's the story Barry and I double-teamed for Friday's fishwrap edition.  —  The Washington Nationals on Thursday abandoned the training facility they once boasted of here and officially fired José Rijo …

Believe It: A New Cap for Yankees  —  It's not every day that you see an e-mail message with the subject “New Yankees Cap.”  The navy blue cap with the white interlocking “NY” is a classic.  Why would it be changed?  —  Merchandising, of course.  The Yankees plan to wear a sleeve patch …

Newsday to charge for website, online cable service  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership.

Yankees, Bank of America end sponsorship talks  —  NEW YORK — The New York Yankees and Bank of America ended months of negotiations on a long-term, high-profile sponsorship agreement, fallout from the financial industry's decision to accept aid from the federal government.

Haren, Davis focus on positives  —  Starters have different levels of success in Thursday outings  —  GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Both Dan Haren and Doug Davis took some positives out of their outings against the Indians on Thursday.  —  Only one of them, however, escaped with good numbers.

PIAZZA RUMORS THE TROUBLE WITH ERA  —  JUPITER, Fla. - This is part of the Steroid Era, too, now.  A back field at Roger Dean Stadium.  A conversation with Mike Piazza.  —  I can act like Piazza was not encased in suspicion when he played.  But that would be dishonest.  It was talked about.

FINAL Pirates 3, Red Sox 2  —  SOX GO GOWN (3:52, END 9, 3-2 PIRATES)  —  Chris Carter and Josh Reddick flew out, followed by a Carlos Maldonado walk.  Anderson came up with a chance to be a hero.  George Kottaras pinch ran for Maldonado.  Anderson struck out looking at a pitch that may have been a bit inside.

The Incredible Shrinking Baseball Player  —  Baseball clubhouses seem to be getting bigger this spring, with more room to move around.  Or maybe the players are becoming smaller.  —  Out of the roughly 1,000 major leaguers in spring training camps, a couple of dozen appear …