OK, quick rundown:

Drive the '98 TA everyday, no problems. New battery(AC Delco 5year) 2 yeras ago, not even a slow start since then. Thursday afternoon, no crank, get a jump and it hits 1st try, but then as I'm driving home power flickers fairly often. After I get home, try to restart, nothing. Battery reads 12.4volts cold, but when you hit starter, it plummets to 2 - 3 volts. Dead battery. Replace with less than 1 year old good battery Friday afternoon. Drives perfect(no slow starts, nothing) all day Saturday. Just for interest sake, check battery while car running looking for voltage wierdos. It reads a steady 14.7 while running. Drive Saturday night, power starts to flicker again. I cut it off once and restarted OK, but only drove long enough to get home.

So my question is can my alternator be putting out enough voltage to fry batteries... what is going on? I always thought voltage on a running car should be 14.2ish. It isn't like I'm seeing any 15+ volt spikes even when driving, but something is happening

Even 15v would be ok. When it starts getting over 15.2 or so the bulbs starts burning out. You need to check the voltage when the flickering occurs and at various rpm. It sounds like the alternater is on the way out OR a bad ground. If it does get to high really bad things can happen like fried ECM's.

Most auto parts stores, i.e. Auto Zone and Advance, can test the alternator on the vehicle. Have it checked.

Matt