Sox in the City. Pedro/Pettitte at 7pm. ... Playoff Odds ... The Red Sox are united. At the Hartford Courant, beat writers David Heuschkel (Red Sox) and Dom Amore (Yankees) switch roles. ... Carlos Baerga on Manny: "He's never been happy over there. When he signed over there, two months into his first season (2001) he went to ownership and told them he'd give them the money back if they would just trade him." Baerga says he talks to Manny at least twice a week.

Sox Blog Watch: Tim Daloisio at Musings from RSN looks at Mr. Wonderful, David Ortiz; Musings also wonders if Millar will make an appearance with Springsteen Sunday night at Fenway (the Yankees series will be over by then) ... Bambino's Curse looks at the marketing of football and quotes Bob Thompson of the Washington Post who calls baseball "a private language that opens conversational doors" ... The House That Dewey Built will offer a series preview later today ... Portland Sox Fan spotlights the Courant articles ... Obey Pedro is pretty quiet today ... Dirt Dog: "The Pharyngitis Phenom Is Flat Out of Excuses" ... Come back, Yip Dawg! ... Also: Replacement Level Yankees Weblog should have something later on.

A few weeks after 9/11, the New York Times reported that many important Saudis and members of Osasa bin Laden's family were "driven or flown under FBI supervision to a secret assembly point in Texas and then to Washington from where they left the country on a private charter plane...." By the way, the flights to Texas and Washington occured before the national air ban was lifted. The Tampa Tribune reported on a similar flight. As time went on, though, these flights were referred to as urban legends and anyone mentioning them was branded a conspiracy nut. Well, it appears that the truth is back. ... New York Times, September 4, 2003: "Top White House officials personally approved the evacuation of dozens of influential Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, from the United States in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when most flights were still grounded" according to former White House adviser Richard Clarke. ... Tom Tomorrow looks at this "new" news and how Snopes is busy rewriting its history. ... Finally, Showtime is premiering a highly fictionalized version of Bush's actions on 9/11; to find out what Bush really did that morning, go here.