Martz announced Wednesday he is undergoing tests for what is believed to be endocarditis, an infection of the lining of the heart. Eldred missed the first two months of the season with myopericarditis, an illness that affects the lining around the heart.

"If the Rams fans want to do anything, they can pray for him because he's going to need a lot of help in this situation," Eldred said. "He's going to feel exhausted, and it's a tough thing because in that situation, if you don't take care of yourself, it can be a long-term problem."

Eldred said he thought it would be difficult for Martz to follow medical advice to take a couple of weeks off. Martz has not attended Rams' practices this week but said he expects to be on the sidelines Sunday when the Rams host the Seattle Seahawks.

"When you're lying on the couch, and you can't get off the couch, and you have to sit up to breathe, yeah, I had my questions about whether it was going to happen, especially because I know the expectations of this organization and the players, and I was a long ways from being in a position to help."

BIRTHDAY BAT@: Yankees manager Joe Torre is leaning toward using Ruben Sierra as his designated hitter on Friday for Game 3 against Los Angeles.

"Ruben, he's probably the most adept at it. He's had the most experience. You know, he loves the pressure and all that," Torre said. "I think he would be the first consideration and then you'd match them up from there."

The matchup favors Sierra. He's 3-for-6 against Angels starter Paul Byrd, with two homers, five RBIs and a walk. The Yankees' other DH candidates also hit Byrd well.

Bernie Williams, who played center field in Game 2 after serving as the DH in the first game, is 5-for-15 against Byrd, also with two homers. Jason Giambi is 3-for-11 with a homer and two walks.

Another possibility for the DH slot is catcher Jorge Posada. Because John Flaherty will be catching starter Randy Johnson, Posada will be out of the lineup. But it seems likely he'll be relegated to pinch-hitting duty.

"I'm not saying he won't be the DH, but I think it's doubtful." Torre said. "We'll look tomorrow and decide what our options are against Byrd and go from there."

With rain in the forecast, the Yankees said that tickets for Friday's game will be honored whenever Game 3 is played. The tickets are marked home game 1 and home game 2.

Red Sox second baseman Tony Graffanino is handling the aftermath of his costly error much better than he did the slow grounder that rolled through his legs.

"I'm not going to hide and avoid questions," he said Thursday. "If I want the media around after a good ballgame to talk to them when things are going good, you have to be willing to stand here and man up when things don't go well."

They went badly for him in the fifth inning of Chicago's 5-4 win over Boston that gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five AL division series Wednesday night. The sure-handed fielder let a potential double-play ball go through his legs, and Tadahito Iguchi followed with a go-ahead three-run homer.

"People always say you don't win or lose a ballgame in the ninth inning. You can win or lose it in the first. You can win or lose it in the fourth. When it happens to you," he said, "I feel you want to take responsibility for it."

"If I focus on it, it's going to consume me and affect the way I play tomorrow and I don't want that to happen." Graffanino said. "I wish it never happened but it did. But in my mind I have to make believe it didn't happen."

Francoeur, a leading candidate for NL Rookie of the Year, went 2-for-4 and scored a run, but the Braves lost the opener of the best-of-five division series to Houston 10-5 Wednesday.

"So we didn't want to watch any - we watched a little bit of the Yankees game, but we didn't want to watch any highlights of our game or anything," Francoeur said before Thursday night's game.

"You don't want to look at one game and put too much emphasis on it," said Francoeur, who hit .300 with 14 homers and 45 RBI in 70 games after being called up.

This is cache, read story here