Senate hopeful of the day: Curt Schilling  —  Add another name to the growing list of pols and would-be pols eyeing a run for Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat: former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling.  —  That's right, Mr. Bloody Sock himself told NECN's Brad Puffer in an interview today that he has been …

Joe Nathan blows it for Twins in 4-2 loss to White Sox  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Nathan gave up back-to-back home runs to Gordon Beckham and Paul Konerko with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Chicago White Sox got to Minnesota's four-time All-Star closer to win 4-2 on Wednesday.

Heroes abound in Sox's win over Rays  —  While Lester shines, Ellsbury, Papelbon steal show late  —  ST. PETERSBURG — It looked like it might have been slipping away, this game that the Red Sox once led by five runs.  At Tropicana Field, where manager Terry Francona and his team …

Penny throws 8 shutout innings in Giants' debut  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brad Penny (FSY) pitched five-hit ball over eight shutout innings in his first start with the San Francisco Giants, leading the NL wild-card contenders to a 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night.

Giants will purchase Buster Posey's contract today  —  The Giants are calling up top catching prospect Buster Posey and he'll join the team today, sources confirmed to me.  —  Now it's clear why Posey wasn't in the lineup for Triple-A Fresno last night.  GM Brian Sabean had said repeatedly …

Felix spoils Kazmir's dazzling debut with Angels … SEATTLE(AP) Felix Hernandez pitched eight scoreless innings to spoil the Los Angeles debut of pitcher Scott Kazmir and the Seattle Mariners beat the Angels 3-0 on Wednesday night.  —  Hernandez (14-5) gave up four hits …

Ned Colletti wants to return to the Dodgers  —  The general manager, a day after acquiring Jim Thome and Jon Garland, says he'd love to be back next season.  —  Ned Colletti's contract as Dodgers' general manager includes a mutual option for 2010.  (Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times)  —  On The Dodgers

Sternberg talks attendance, Kazmir  —  Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg addressed the media this afternoon, touching on the hot topics of the moment—primarily attendance and the team dealing away Scott Kazmir last week.  —  Sternberg didn't seem too interested in latching onto …

Teams interested in Braves pitching surplus  —  The Rockies and D-backs both sent scouts to watch Tim Hudson make his return last night.  Like Hudson, these clubs are wondering whether the Braves will bring the veteran right-hander back to Atlanta next year.

BELTRAN BACK IN ACTION  —  DH FOR BROOKLYN CYCLONES  —  Carlos Beltran's long road back took a huge step tonight, starting a a rehab assignment as DH for the Brooklyn Cyclones at KeySpan Park.  —  The Mets center fielder — out since June 22 with a bone bruise in his right knee …

Lilly shines for Cubs, blanks Astros 2-0  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Ted Lilly (FSY) pitched eight shutout innings to reach the 10-win mark for the seventh consecutive season and Derrek Lee (FSY) hit a two-run homer Wednesday, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 2-0 victory over Aaron Boone (FSY) and the Houston Astros.

Swisher baffled by homers on the road  —  New York (84-48) at Baltimore (54-79), 7:05 p.m. ET  —  BALTIMORE — Maybe Nick Swisher really just loves eating meals off a room-service tray?  It's as good an explanation as anyone has been able to come up with for his bizarre home run stats in 2009.

Old is the New New?  —  Tyler Kepner tossed out that Betances had a procedure similar to Mariano Rivera today, but with that aside, he outed something that I had never heard before.  Mark Newman of the Yankees told the press that Betances' procedure was an “overlay TJ,” …