Baseball News

NEW YORK - New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera had surgery Tuesday on his right shoulder and is expected to resume throwing in three months, a month ahead of spring training.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The American League Championship Series will be an all-East Division affair. The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays closed out their respective division series in four games Monday and will square off beginning Friday in St. Petersburg. The National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers starts Thursday in Philadelphia.

CHICAGO - They rushed toward the mound, these remarkable Rays, and immediately formed a circle. Jumping together like fraternity brothers, they resembled party regulars in the postseason.

BOSTON - The Boston Red Sox brushed aside the 100-win Angels in four games, dismissing their best-in-baseball regular season as last month's news.

BOSTON - Third baseman Mike Lowell was removed from Boston's division series roster on Monday because of a right hip strain.

LOS ANGELES - Back in the era of cookie-cutter stadiums, polyester pullovers and artificial turf, baseball had another familiar sight: Phillies vs. Dodgers for the NL pennant.

MILWAUKEE - Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks had surgery Monday to repair a cartilage tear in his left knee and is expected to be ready for spring training.

BOSTON - Josh Beckett waited four extra days for a chance to show his postseason brilliance. That shine wore off with his very first pitch. The Red Sox right-hander had the worst outing of his 10 postseason starts as Boston lost 5-4 to the Los Angeles Angels in 12 innings on Sunday night.

CHICAGO - The ditch at the front of the mound really didn't bother Matt Garza. What made him cringe were two leadoff walks, a three-run fourth and his inability to help Tampa Bay complete a sweep against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday in their division series.

A look at the best-of-seven National League championship series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies:

MILWAUKEE - Let the race for the ace begin. But don't think a truck full of money will be the top factor in where CC Sabathia decides to sign.

MILWAUKEE - With plenty of power to go with their improved pitching, the Philadelphia Phillies are ready for anything in the NL championship series. Bring on the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I like our chances," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Sunday after Philadelphia clinched its first trip to the NLCS since 1993 with a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

MILWAUKEE - Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig got a standing ovation for a strike. Selig threw out the first pitch Sunday before Game 4 of the NL division series between his old team, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Philadelphia Phillies.

BOSTON - J.D. Drew, who hit the decisive home run for Boston in the second game of the playoff series against the Los Angeles Angels, was not in the lineup for Game 3 on Sunday night because of his ailing back.

CHICAGO - Now, it's an even 100 years for the Chicago Cubs. The team that posted the best record in the National League is picking up the pieces again after three horrendous performances that resulted in a sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opening round of the playoffs.

MILWAUKEE - Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks tore cartilage in his left knee and was replaced on the postseason roster Sunday with top prospect Alcides Escobar.

LOS ANGELES - It's a century and counting for the Chicago Cubs. Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers shoved Chicago into another long winter Saturday night, completing a three-game sweep of their first-round playoff series with a 3-1 victory.

LOS ANGELES - Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre needed only three games to help the Los Angeles Dodgers win their first postseason series in 20 years.

MILWAUKEE - Joe Blanton planned as if he'd pitch Sunday. Now he will.

MILWAUKEE - For Geoff Jenkins, the good-natured ribbing began right after the Philadelphia Phillies arrived at Milwaukee's Miller Park.

NEW YORK - Jerry Manuel was in a joking mood. "I was trying to get 15 years on my deal," the New York Mets manager said Saturday. "They cut it down."

ANAHEIM, Calif. - J.D. Drew looked pretty feeble as he swung and missed a pair of off-speed pitches from Francisco Rodriguez. He sure didn't miss a third one. Drew hit a towering two-run homer off Rodriguez in the ninth inning, giving the Boston Red Sox a 7-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night and a 2-0 lead in their first-round AL playoff series.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Rays are one win away from making baseball's feel-good story of the year an even more remarkable tale.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Boston's latest postseason win over the Los Angeles Angels moved the team with baseball's best record to the verge of elimination.

MIAMI - Infielder Wes Helms and the Florida Marlins agreed Friday to a $1.9 million, two-year contract.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The young, resilient Rays are one win from breezing into the American League championship series. All-Star Scott Kazmir settled down after a shaky start, Akinori Iwamura hit a go-ahead, two-run homer and the AL East champions beat the Chicago White Sox 6-2 Friday for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena was scratched from the lineup for Game 2 of the Rays' first-round playoff series against the Chicago White Sox because of slightly blurred vision in his left eye Friday.

CHICAGO - Eddie Brinkman, a record-setting shortstop during a 15-year career in the majors and a former high school teammate of Pete Rose, has died. He was 66.

CHICAGO - Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers look ready to run the shaky Chicago Cubs out of the playoffs early and extend their championship drought to 100 years.