Axe comes down on Ricciardi  —  After eight years at the helm of the Blue Jays, interim CEO Paul Beeston announces J.P. Ricciardi has been fired  — Weather - Video - Blogs - RSS Feeds - Globe Books - TV listings - Globe on Twitter - Columnists - Swine flu - Behind the Veil  —  Shi Davidi

Joba to pitch an inning in relief in finale  —  ‘Rules’ revised as Girardi crafts bullpen for postseason  —  ST. PETERSBURG — For at least one day, the Yankees are putting Joba Chamberlain back in the bullpen.  —  Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that the club has reconsidered its stance …

Sources: Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell out of Cleveland Indians managerial race  —  John Farrell, the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox, has removed himself from consideration for Cleveland's managerial opening, according to sources.  —  The Indians fired Eric Wedge on Thursday …

Sources: Bobby Valentine, Florida Marlins talking about job  —  At a time when Bobby Valentine has begun the process of talking with teams about a possible return as a manager in Major League Baseball, sources said he is in communication with the Florida Marlins about a possible position with that team …

Additional X-rays on Gonzalez negative  —  Take another deep breath.  Exhale slowly.  On the eve of the playoffs, it appears the Red Sox have narrowly avoided another potentially serious injury.  —  According to a team source, the second set of X-rays taken on the hand of shortstop Alex Gonzalez this morning were negative.

Dodgers break out of slump, clinch NL West with win over Rockies  —  LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers' magic number for clinching the NL West is down to zero — finally.  —  After a season-worst five-game losing streak, they came through with one game left in the regular season and beat …

Wells pitches Cubs to 5-0 victory over Arizona  —  Randy Wells allowed three hits in seven strong innings and struck out a career-high 10, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 on Saturday.  —  Wells (12-10) gave up a leadoff double to Stephen Drew and then retired 14 straight …

Nats come through with two-out hits to down Braves in 11 innings  —  ATLANTA — The Washington Nationals are playing as if they were contenders the last week of the season, not the team that has the worst record in the majors.  —  Justin Maxwell hit a two-out, two-run homer in the 11th inning …

Who's next?  —  Jed Hoyer, assistant GM of the Red Sox, is among the names I've heard today for the Padres' GM job.  Was also told again that the next GM “probably” will not come from the Diamondbacks.  Padres executive Paul DePodesta's clout within the club has grown in recent weeks …

MVPs and LVPs, Cy Youngs and Yuks ...  From Pujols and Mauer to Lidge and Carmona, the 2009 season had its highs and lows  —  Our calendar says it's (uh-oh) October.  So it must be time once again to hand out another set of end-of-season awards.  Since Teri Hatcher and Cameron Diaz …

Theo  —  There is every reason in the world for me to love the Boston Red Sox fan.  One, I love Boston.  Love it.  Love walking around Boston, love being around people from Boston, love the accent, love the Sports Guy, love it.  Two, the Red Sox hired two of my absolute favorite people in baseball — Bill James and Allard Baird.

Wright and Mets must adjust to Citi limits  —  Citi Field might not be the sole reason for David Wright's career-low home run total this season.  —  In his press conference before Friday night's series opener against the Astros, Jerry Manuel was asked how the Mets might alter …