Oracle's PeopleSoft Bid Deadline Nears  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp. &lt;A HREF="http://www.investor.reuters.com/FullQuote.aspx?ticker=ORCL.O target=/stocks/quickinfo/fullquote"&gt;ORCL.O&lt;/A&gt; on Friday  won the backing of another key public pension fund in its  \$8.8-billion hostile bid for PeopleSoft Inc. &lt;A HREF="http://www.investor.reuters.com/FullQuote.aspx?ticker=PSFT.O target=/stocks/quickinfo/fullquote"&gt;PSFT.O&lt;/A&gt; as the  17-month takeover battle between the two California-based  business software makers neared a key deadline.
La Russa, Francona have family ties For the here and now, it is the challenge of matching wits with Terry Francona that dominates Tony La Russa's thoughts in the World Series.