Red Sox manager Terry Francona, in his weekly interview on the Dale & Holley Show, said that "it's a little premature" to say who the Sox will use in Game 1 of a potential American League Division Series against the Angels, particularly since the team has yet to see how either Jon Lester (knee) or Josh Beckett (back) has pitched in the wake of recent injuries.
 
That said, Francona did allow that the Sox "really, really caught a break" when Lester emerged relatively unscathed from a line drive off the side of his right knee in Yankee Stadium on Friday. The manager admitted that he feared for the worst when he saw the injury and how the pitcher reacted.
 
"It was a bad feeling," Francona said. "By the time I got out there, I saw it first hand, I heard it, I heard his reaction when he was laying on the ground, and he’s a tough kid. I thought, ‘You know what? This kid broke his...

Boston Bruins defenseman and B's union player rep Andrew Ference has been at the center of a tempest over the last month since playing a major role in the dismissal of NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly on Aug. 31. Ference admitted to WEEI.com Monday afternoon that he's had disagreements with teammates over the firing process during training camp, but isn't worried that any discord will affect Boston's team chemistry during the season. The players had a clear-the-air meeting last week, and Ference felt satisfied that all of their differences had been voiced and then properly stowed away.
“There were questions about the timing of it and whether or not we should have waited until [training] camp and we can have a difference of opinion about that,” said Ference. “It doesn’t mean there’s tension or fighting. But the No. 1 thing that’s misrepresented is about whether or not [Kelly] should have been fired...