Sox interested in Billy Wagner  —  According to a Major League source, the Red Sox would like to work out a trade for Mets reliever Billy Wagner, who was placed on waivers Wednesday, the day before he made his first appearance in nearly a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

At Little League World Series, Hall of Famer Jim Rice says major league players are not good role models for youngsters  —  SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Jim Rice's advice to Little Leaguers: Don't use today's major leaguers as role models.  —  Speaking to players before the start …

Sox recall Bowden; Baldelli activated  —  The Red Sox have recalled righthanded pitcher Michael Bowden from Triple A Pawtucket, a team source confirmed to the Globe's Nick Cafardo this afternoon.  —  Bowden, whom the Sox will use out of the bullpen, replaces reliever Fernando Cabrera on the roster.

Ricketts primed to purchase Cubs  —  Tribune Co. agrees to approximately $900 million deal  —  The sale of the Cubs to Tom Ricketts, chief executive of Chicago investment back Incapital LLC, is drawing near, Major League Baseball confirmed on Friday.  —  “We are pleased at the progress …

Strasburg meets and greets in DC  —  No. 1 Draft pick introduced to fans at Nationals Park  —  WASHINGTON — With fans filling the seats on the third base side of Nationals Park, there was pomp and circumstance on the field on Friday afternoon, when the Nationals introduced Stephen Strasburg at a news conference.

Marte expected back tonight  —  BOSTON — Reliever Damaso Marte, out since April with an injured left shoulder, is expected to rejoin the Yankees bullpen tonight for the series opener with the Red Sox.  —  It's possible the Yankees could go with 13 pitchers and send down a position player …

It's all or nothing with Reynolds  —  Diamondbacks slugger's career off to a Schmidt-like start, despite the strikeouts  —  When the Arizona Diamondbacks pulled into New York for a series against the Mets in late July, manager A.J. Hinch gave his hitters a brief tutorial on the hazards of Citi Field.

The Sheffield Saga  —  With the season already lost, the time for evaluation has clearly begun for the Mets.  As a result, Livan Hernandez was released Thursday afternoon, and Gary Sheffield could read the writing on the wall, too.  —  So Sheffield, who had asked Mets' general manager Omar Minaya …

Crasnick: Oakland Athletics pitcher Justin Duchscherer has clinical depression  —  Oakland Athletics pitcher Justin Duchscherer has been diagnosed with clinical depression and will miss the rest of the 2009 season as he undergoes treatment for the condition, his agent said Friday.  —  Duchscherer

Quiz: Who Is Nyjer Morgan?  —  I wanted to see how Nyjer Morgan compared to other base-stealing leadoff men who played centerfield, had little power, didn't walk much but slapped-hit their way on base.  —  In part, I wanted to find this out because the stat-crabs like to nag that Morgan …

Remember Joba rules?  Rangers have Neftali rules.  —  When the New York Yankees brought Joba Chamberlain up in 2007, they had Joba rules.  For every inning he pitched, he got a day off.  In Chamberlain's case, that applied on the front end too (he could pitch two innings if he had two days off before the outing).

Yankees win!  Thhhhheeeee ... Yankees win!  —  I live in New York, land of baseball.  —  I love it here in the summer, because the games matter and the fans are intense and all anyone wants to talk about is Yankees!  Yankees!  Yankees! (and, sometimes, mets, mets, mets).

Colome on DL; Narveson back  —  By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel  —  Washington, D.C. - The Brewers have placed reliever Jesus Colome on the 15-day DL with a right forearm strain and recalled left-handed reliever Chris Narveson from Class AAA Nashville.