The veterans turned in the big plays tonight. Ken Griffey made a superb throw to cut down the Twins only chance for a run at the plate, and Jim Thome lauched a ball over everything in centerfield for the only run of the game. Two of the great home run hitters getting the job done with the bat and the glove.

John Danks showed why he's the ace of the White Sox staff. He pitched efficiently, throwing just 103 pitches over eight innings. He kept the Twins off balance, allowing just two hits and three walks. It's unfortunate that he'll only get one start in the ALDS.

We now have two chances for local World Series with the Chicago and LA teams all in the playoffs. The Cubs and White Sox met in the World Series in 1906.

The Twins have three outs to score at least one run. It's piranha time.

Update: Jenks comes on to pitch. Kubel pinch hits and leads off.

Update: Kubel strikes out swinging. Span is up.

Update: Span grounds out to Swisher at first. It's up to Alexi Casilla. He flares one to center, and Anderson makes a diving catch to end the game. The White Sox win 1-0!

Harris picks up a one-out single in the eighth, but Punto grounds into a double play to end the inning. That's the third double play turned by the White Sox this game, but the first GDP.

The Twins and White Sox just reached the seventh inning stretch. Chicago collected two hits so far and the Twins one. Danks is at 93 pitches, Blackburn at 71. With no score, it looks like the bullpens won't be needed much tonight unless the game goes into extra innings.

Update: Harold Reynolds makes the "hats off" reference, and Jim Thome goes deep, hitting the ball out beyond the centerfield fence. The White Sox take a 1-0 lead.

Update: Back in 1997 or 1998, Baseball Tonight was down at Disney World during spring training, broadcasting from the ESPN Club. Jim Thome was a guest on the show one night, and was supposed to get a Baseball Tonight cap. For some reason, he didn't get it, or lost it, so whenever he did something good from then on, Karl Ravech would say, "Hats off to Jim Thome."

Update: Griffey doubles, the Twins walk Alexei Ramirez, and that's it for Blackburn. He pitches a great game, but won't get the win due to a better peformance by Danks.

Update: That's all the White Sox get. They are now six outs away from a trip to play the Rays.

Through three innings, the Twins have yet to collect a hit off John Danks. He's walked two and struck out two. The game is still scoreless going to the bottom of the third.

Update: Danks retires the Twins 1-2-3 in the fourth, striking out Mauer again. He's down to .329.

Update: Michael Cuddyer leads off the fifth with a double. The Twins get three shots at driving in the first run.

Update: Cuddyer gets to third with one out and tries to score on a fly ball to shallow centerfield. Griffey throws him out easily with a nice block of the plate by Pierzynski. The game remains scoreless.

John Danks walks the leadoff hitter, but a line drive on a hit and run erases him in a double play. Mauer strikes out to end the inning, but his BA stays at .330.

Update: Blackburn gives up a leadoff single, but gets Wise to ground into a reverse force GDP. No score after one.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be a great one for baseball. The Extra Innings package worked out great as I was able to monitor all four important games on the mix channel, and flip to the one with the most action at the moment. The two NL games went down to the wire, and the two AL games were competitive until the late innings. There were a number of great pitching performances, most notably Sabathia's complete game. That was made possible by Dale Sveum allowing CC to bat with the score tied at one in the bottom of the eighth. He made the first out, but the Brewers put two runs on the board anyway. We saw joy in Milwaukee, tragedy in New York, and Minnesota and Chicago keeping the season alive. We get to see it all, thanks to technology.

Joe Mauer triples in two runs to give the Twins a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth. The two for five day keeps his batting average at .330. Pedroia is 2 for 3 in the Red Sox game, his average sitting at .327. If the Twins need to playoff for the division on Tuesday, the game counts toward regular season stats, so the batting title may not be settled today, depending on Pedroia's performance in the night-cap.

Update: Pedroia is now 2 for 4, hitting .326.

Update: Joe Nathan gets three outs in the ninth and the Twins win 6-0. Scott Baker pitches brilliantly, allowing four hits and one walk over seven innings while striking out nine. He lowers his ERA to 3.45, which should put him in the top ten for ERA.

The win puts the pressure on the White Sox. If Chicago loses tomorrow, the Twins fly to Tampa Bay. Otherwise, they travel to Chicago to settle the AL Central.

The Mets bullpen holds the Marlins in the ninth. The teams go to the bottom of the inning, New York needing two runs to keep their season alive. Wright, Chavez and the pitcher are scheduled to bat.

Update: David Wright pops out to second for the first out.

Update: Chavez hits a comebacker to the pitcher, but Easley pinch hits and walks. That brings up Church, who hits one deep to center. It's caught, however, and the Mets lose 4-2. The crowd watches the Marlins celebrate on the field, but New York disappoints once again.

The Yankees are winning game one of their double header, and if they win game two, the team from the Bronx will end up with a better record than the Mets. So much for winning the back pages.

Congratulations to the Brewers on their wild card win. The move to Sveum worked, and the bigger move, acquiring Sabathia worked great. It will be a sad closing ceremony coming up to close Shea.

There will be baseball on Monday. The White Sox defeat the Indians 5-1 behind a fine pitching performance by Mark Buehrle. He goes seven innings, giving up nine hits but just one run on the Peralta homer. They'll play Detroit tomorrow, and possibly the Twins on Tuesday for the division.

Update: It just became more likely the White Sox will need to win tomorrow's game. Delmon Young just drove in two runs with a bases loaded single to give the Twins a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh.

Update: The Monday game is scheduled for 1:05 PM CDT in Chicago.

CC starts the inning against Alfonso Soriano.

Update: Soriano flies to left. Ryan Theriot is next.

Update: Theriot singles to center to bring up Derrek Lee.

Update: Lee grounds into a 4-6-3 double play, and the Brewers win! It's his seventh complete game with the Brewers and tenth of the season. Milwaukee will fly either to Philadelphia or New York next. The Mets have two on with two out for Carlos Delgado in the bottom of the eighth.

Update: Delgado drives a ball to the warning track in left, but it's caught for the third out. The Mets have one more turn at bat to keep themselves in the playoffs.

Wes Helms pinch hits to get a right-handed bat against Scott Schoeneweis and Helms takes him deep over the leftfield wall. That was the only batter for Scott, and he leaves to boos. The Brewers are coming to bat in the bottom of the eighth with a chance to win the Wild Card by taking the lead.

Update: Amazingly, the Brewers let Sabathia bat. I guess they really don't trust their bullpen.

Update: Luis Ayala gives up a home run to Dan Uggla and the Marlins take a 4-2 lead on the Mets. As I type this, Ryan Braun hits a two-run homer for the Brewers, and they're up 3-1! A two game turnaround.

Update: Fielder strikes out to end the inning, and CC Sabathia is coming out to cement the win. He's allowed three hits, one unearned run, one walk and struck out seven through eight innings. If he wins this game, I suspect the Brewers will break the bank to keep him next season.

With men on second and third in the bottom of the seventh, Jermaine Dye bloops a two-out single into center, scoring both runners. Chicago opens up a 5-1 lead on Cleveland. A win by the White Sox forces a makeup game with Detroit Monday.

Ray Durham leads off the bottom of the seventh with a double for the Brewers. It's their first hit since the first inning.

Update: Braun hits a ball to Casey McGehee behind the third base bag. Casey can't look Durham back, and Ray advances to third on the throw to first. Fielder needs to send a ball deep or get a base hit to score Durham from third with one out. After falling behind 2-0, the Cubs walk Prince.

Update: Michael Wuertz comes into the game and walks J.J. Hardy on four pitches to load the bases with one out. Meanwhile, in New York, Jorge Cantu smacks a 3-1 pitch deep into left, and Chavez makes a great catch to end the innings and keep the Marlins/Mets game tied at two.

Update: Corey Hart goes down on three sliders from Wuertz as he strikes out with the bases loaded. It's up to Counsell.

Update: Counsell walks with the bases loaded, and the Brewers and Cubs are tied at one. Jason Kendall is up to try to give the Brewers the lead.

Update: Kendall grounds out, and the Brewers finish the seventh tied at one. The Marlins and Mets remain tied at two.

Robinson Canel pinch hits for Joe Smith and draws a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth. One out later, Carlos Beltran hits a home run into the leftfield bleachers and the Marlins and Mets are tied at two. That puts some pressure on the Brewers, who still trail 1-0 in the seventh.

Two Royals errors in the third lead to another Minnesota runs. The Twins lead 2-0 in the fourth.

Joe Mauer is 0-2, his BA down to .328. Pedroia is 1 for 1 at .326.

After five scoreless innings, the Marlins score the first run of the game. John Baker, the rookie catcher, continues his great first impression with an RBI single. The Marlins lead 1-0 and have the bases loaded with one out. Oliver Perez is done.

Update: Joe Smith walks in a run, giving Willingham a free pass. New York goes down 2-0. The Brewers are behind 1-0 in the sixth. Both teams have just one hit.

Update: That's all the Marlins get. The Mets have four turns at bat to score two runs.

Denard Span doubles down the leftfield line to plate the first run of the Royals/Twins game and put runners on second and third with two out. That's only Denard's seventh extra-base hit of September.

Paul Konerko homers to tie the Indians at one. The White Sox offense keeps up the pressure, loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the second.

That's Paul's ninth home run of September, and his 22nd on the year. He's done a good job of trying to make up for the loss of power from the Quentin injury.

Update: Uribe hits a ball to Jamey Carroll at third base. It looks like an easy double play, but Carroll boots the ball and everyone is safe. The White Sox take a 2-1 lead.

Update: The error sets up an Orlando Cabrera sacrifice fly, and the White Sox lead 3-1.

Micah Hoffpauir reaches on an error by Prince Fielder, moving Aramis Ramirez to third. He scores on a grounder by Cedeno, and Chicago takes a 1-0 lead over the Brewers.

The first score in any of the big four games goes to Jhonny Peralta, who homers in the top of the second to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead over the White Sox. If Peralta can homer again in the game, he'll tie his career high of 24 home runs.

The White Sox lose 12-6, setting up for important games on Sunday. If the White Sox win in the afternoon, they play on Monday, regardless of the outcome of the Twins game. If the Twins win and the White Sox lose, then the division belongs to Minnesota. If the Mets and Brewers reach the same outcome, there's a playoff at Shea on Monday. It should be a lot of fun, especially with CC Sabathia single handedly trying to bring back the four man rotation.

The Royals continue their winning September ways with a 4-2 victory over the Twins. Despite issuing seven free passes (four by the bullpen), Gil Meche and the Royals relievers allowed just two runs, holding the Twins to 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position. It seems the sweep of Chicago took a lot out of the Twins.

The loss drops the Twins into a tie with the White Sox, but one game down in the AFLIC. If Chicago can pull off a victory against the Indians tonight, then the White Sox just need to win their last two games to earn a division title. Cleveland and Chicago are tied at one in the third.

Update: Asdrubal Cabrera hits a bases loaded double in the fifth to put the Indians up 4-1. After an intentional walk to Sizemore, Jamey Carroll doubles down the rightfield line to drive in two more and chase Javier Vazquez from the game. Choo adds a single against Clayton Richard and the Indians are still batting leading 7-1.

Update: The White Sox starters, in their last five games, allowed 26 runs, all earned in 25 innings. They've walked nine, which isn't horrible, but allowed 38 hits.

The Brewers fall 7-3 to the Cubs, dropping Milwaukee into a tie with the Mets for the NL Wild Card. If the teams manage the same result tomorrow, a playoff game takes place at Shea Stadium on Monday, which would be the last regular season game at the ballpark. So all those people who believe they hold tickets for the last regular season game at Shea may be wrong.

Brad Lidge teetered on the ledge, but induced Ryan Zimmerman to hit into a double play as the Phillies win the NL East. Brad allowed three hits and a walk, but nothing long as the Nationals could only turn those into one run. That was enough to earn the Phillies a 4-3 victory and an NL East championship for the second year in a row.

Congratulations to the Phillies. They blew a large lead over the Mets early in the season, but held on at the end to take first place. They will either play the Brewers or the Dodgers in the NLDS. They went 5-1 against Milwaukee, posting an ERA below three, but 4-4 against the Dodgers, sweeping them the last time the teams met in Philadelphia.

Ted Lilly is helping the Mets this afternoon as he just finished six no-hit innings. The Cubs lead the Brewers 4-0. Ted walked just one batter, and one reached via an error. This could be the second Cubs no-hitter at Miller Park this month, and only one of them would be against the Brewers!

Update: The Brewers picked up two hits and one run in the bottom of the seventh. The Cubs lead 4-1 in the top of the eighth.

Sunday's goodbye to Shea Stadium revolves around a meaningful game. Johan Santana pitches a shutout against the Marlins on just three days rest. He gives up a double in the ninth, sandwiched between too strikeouts. A scary fly ball to the warning track in right ended the game, and the Mets live to play another day. Milwaukee's magic number for the Wild Card remains at two. The Mets play at 1:10 tomorrow, with the Brewers starting an hour later.

Santana finished with three hits and three walks allowed. He struck out nine batters and finishes with a 2.53 ERA, the best in the National League. That performance will stick in the minds of Cy Young voters as they cast their ballots next week.

Both the White Sox and Twins lose, Chicago falling 11-8 to Cleveland and the Twins getting mashed 8-1 by the Royals. Danks pitched poorly, allowing seven and seven runs in four innings of work, including home runs by Francisco and Garko. Liriano pitched poorly as well. Not a good night for young aces.

The teams remain separated by 1/2 game, which is great if you want extra days of baseball. A 1/2 game separation means Chicago plays on Monday with a possible one-game playoff on Tuesday.

Rickie Weeks comes in as a defensive replacement for Ray Durham, then hits a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to put Milwaukee up 5-1. The Mets are down 6-1 in the bottom of the ninth.

Update: The Mets lose 6-1. The only run they scored was unearned. Chris Volstad goes six innings and lowers his ERA to 2.88. The Phillies magic number for the division is down to one, and the Mets are in danger of falling a game behind in the Wild Card race.

Update: Milwaukee wins 5-1 and the Mets are in a bit of a pickle. They need help to reach the playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Rays fail in their second attempt to clinch the AL East, falling to Detroit 6-4. Gary Sheffield hit two home runs, bringing his career total to 499. I wonder if he retires if he reaches 500? He'd be giving up a lot of money.

The Red Sox are losing to the Yankees 13-4 in the top of the fifth. The game is not official yet, so if they call it, all those runs get erased. If they can get through the bottom of the fifth, then there is a good chance Tampa Bay clinches anyway.

Corey Hart dumps a single into left with two outs, scoring Durham from second base. The Brewers take a 2-1 lead and makes the Mets a little more nervous. This isn't just a race for the wild card, both managers are fighting to keep their jobs next season.

The Phillies defeat the Nationals 8-4. The bullpen pitches another strong outing, allowing no runs, no walks and one hit while striking out five in three innings. That reduces the Phillies magic number to two. The Mets are losing 5-1 in the top of the eighth, so that could come down to one.

The Cubs started the first string against the Brewers tonight. Good for them.

Francisco Liriano comes out after 4 1/3 innings and a Billy Butler two-run homer. He struck out five and walked just one, but 11 of the 18 batters who put the ball in play wound up with hits. Liriano also threw two wild pitches. Once again, the Twins are down big, 6-0. Can they manage a comeback two nights in a row?

Meanwhile, Kyle Davies has struck out six without a walk through four innings. He's earning himself a place in the 2009 Royals rotation with his September performance.

The Phillies don't waste any time, jumping out to a 7-1 lead over the Nationals. Balester only lasts 1 2/3 innings, giving up a home run to Ryan Howard. It looked like no one would reach 50 homers this season, but Ryan is going to come real close. Ryan also hit a double and picked up four RBI, and Chase Utley knocked out a double and a single, knocking in the other three runs. The two have combined to drive in 250 runs this season.

James Crabtree writes:

Last night I heard Drayton McLane sit in for an inning on the Astros radio broadcast with Milo Hamilton. He spent much of the time talking about how great the wild card is and how it has created excitement in Houston this year. What he and Milo Hamilton failed to realize is that if NOT for the three divisions and the wild card Houston would be in first place in the old NL West (even if Arizona was added into it) with a tight race against the Dodgers in the last weekend of the season. It would be almost like 1980 again. As it stand now however Houston would have to pull off a miracle to see the post season. I honestly think McLane doesn't realize the Astros would be in first in the old NL West.

While this is true, MLB will never go back to eight team league or division again. Small divisions create a higher probability of different teams making the playoffs and the World Series every year. That's good for the growth of the game. So it strikes me that the creation of three division and the wild card outweighs the occasional lack of a playoff spot under the old system.

They were rocking in the Metrodome last night:

When the Twins tied the game in the eighth inning Thursday, it was louder in the Dome that it was for any of the playoff games I've covered there. People weren't just clapping, they were screaming their heads off and jumping like crazy.

When Denard Span's triple scored Carlos Gomez, we saw trash being thrown in the air. It was truly unbelievable. My adrenaline was pumping pretty good, and it was hard to remain focused.

Since the creation of the Wild Card, the possibility existed for a first place team to game the system to force a certain matchup in the first round of the playoffs. This rears its ugly head this weekend. The Cubs play the Brewers in the final series of the season, Milwaukee tied with the Mets for the NL Wild Card lead. If the Brewers win the WC, Chicago hosts the Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles) in the first round. If the Brewers finish behind the Mets and Phillies, the Cubs host one of those two teams in the NLDS.

Which would you rather face?

Team	Runs/Game	NL Rank
Cubs	5.35	1
Mets	4.99	2
Phillies	4.90	3
Dodgers	4.35	12

Since the Dodgers acquired Manny, they rank fifth in the NL in runs scored at 4.75, while the Cubs and Mets still rank 1-2. One can also argue that the Dodgers are the hottest team in baseball, going 18-6 since Aug. 30, 2008, the best record in the majors. That, however, was against the NL West and the Pittsburgh Pirates. This was the same team swept by the Phillies and the Nationals prior to the streak starting.

There are good reasons for the Cubs laying down this weekend, including a trip to warm and sunny LA rather than the cold and rainy northeast. Lou Piniella even gave himself some cover last night, starting the second string against the Mets. Even though it's not right, I believe it's in the best interest of the Cubs to help the Brewers into the playoffs, giving the Cubs the weakest first round opponent. We'll see if Lou is thinking the same thing by the lineups he puts on the field this weekend.

(My gut says Lou plays hard against the Brewers. He's too much of a competitor to slack off. Even his scrubs almost beat the Mets Thursday night.)

Update: Balls, Sticks and Stuff is upset Lou didn't play the first string Thursday night.

Bugs and Cranks writes on the Twins comeback Thursday night.

The weather situation in the northeast brought the NL East race to the Weather Channel this morning. For Philadelphia, there is a 50% chance of rain Friday and Sunday, and 60% on Saturday. In New York, it will be a soggy closing of Shea with a 60% chance of rain Friday and Sunday, and a 90% chance on Saturday.

The Mets and Phillies both play afternoon games on Saturday, so have a lot of time to wait for the rain to clear to see if they can play five innings.

Down 6-1 in the middle of the fourth, the Twins fight back to tie the White Sox at six and send the game into extra innings. Span and Mauer picked up three hits each and Gomez collected four, a homer short of the cycle (he has two triples in the game). The Minnesota bullpen has not allowed a run in relief of Kevin Slowey, who lasted just 3 2/3 innings. The White Sox were a bit more efficient in their scoring, picking up their six runs on just seven hits, while the Twins needed 14.

Update: Nick Punto walks, goes to second on a grounder, to third on a wild pitch, the Alexei Casilla singles off Bobby Jenks and the Twins win 7-6. They move into first place in the AL Central by 1/2 game, even with the White Sox in the loss column. They just need to play Chicago even over the next three games, then see if the White Sox can win the makeup on Monday.

Ryan Braun hits a grand slam in the bottom of the tenth and the Brewers walk off with a 5-1 win over the Pirates. That keeps them tied with the Mets and gives us a decent chance at a three-way tie come Monday morning. The Brewers celebrated like they just won the pennant.

Yovani Gallardo pitched four good innings in his return, walking two and striking out seven. He'd be an excellent long man out of the pen in the playoffs, should the Brewers earn a wild card berth.

Update: Just did a quick calculation, and based on each team having a 50% chance of winning each game (a simplifying assumption), the chance of a three-way tie is about 7.5%.

The Mets and Cubs are tied at six in the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers and Pirates are tied at one in the bottom of the eighth. These teams certainly like keeping fans on the edge of their seats.

Update: With Reyes on first after a leadoff single, Dan Murphy tries to bunt and fouls off strike three.

Update: Micah Hoffpauir picked up two home runs and five hits tonight, but Carlos Beltran nearly took his glove off as he lines a shot past the rookie first baseman, driving in the winning run. The Mets gain 1/2 game on the Phillies, going into the weekend one game out of the division lead.

It looks like the Dodgers won't need a win tonight. The Diamondbacks are down 10-3 to the Cardinals going to the bottom of the eighth. I'm sure the Los Angeles players are sitting around the clubhouse television enjoying their trip to the playoffs unfold before their eyes.

Update: The Diamondbacks fall 12-3, their run at the playoffs ending in a whimper. When they had a chance to hang with Los Angeles, they lose three in a row to St. Louis by a combined score of 23-9. After a lucky 2007 and a great start to 2008, they just couldn't maintain their offense. At the end, the bullpen went, and they could score enough runs to win. What a disappointing performance.

Congratulations to the Dodgers, NL West champs! They certainly look like the hot team going into the playoffs, and unlike the Phillies, Mets and Brewers, they get to rest and set up their rotation for the five game NLDS.

Scott Kazmir gave up six hits in five innings while walking two and striking out eight. That should be such a bad line, but four of the six hits left the ballpark. Scott gives up four solo home runs, giving him 23 allowed on the season. All four were solo shots; because he does allow a low OBA, 18 of his 23 home runs allowed came with no one on. Think Curt Schilling in 2001 without as many innings.

The Rays fall 7-5, but a Boston loss still gives them the division.

Sox Machine wants the White Sox to fight piranhas with piranhas:

Carlos Quentin's wrist injury wasn't supposed to mean this much. Granted, he would've been a shoo-in for MVP had he not overreacted to missing a Cliff Lee fastball, but with Dye and Jim Thome holding their own, Nick Swisher coming off an acceptable August and Paul Konerko beginning to come around, the biggest question was supposed to be the bullpen.

That's not the case, and the Sox's attack is a shell of what it was just a month and a half ago. It seems like much longer than that.

Nevertheless, I have a solution for tonight - but the Sox will have to act quickly. Ladies and gentlemen, two words:

Jason. Tyner.

That's pretty funny. The piranhas on the Twins actually can hit. That helps.

The Dodgers clinched a tie for the NL West as the Diamondback fell to the Cardinals 4-2 and the Dodgers defeated the Padres 12-4. The Boston connection was in full swing again as Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra both homered and drove in two runs. Three other Dodgers drove in two runs as the whole team let loose on San Diego's pitching.

I'm still a bit shocked at the fall of the Diamondbacks. This was a young team that should have improved. In April, it certainly looked like that happened. With the addition of Dan Haren, the offense didn't need to be great, just better. They scored 5.9 runs per game in April, but are finishing the season at 4.4 runs per game for the year. They kept drawing walks, but the hits stopped coming, and the power waned. Adam Dunn just wasn't enough to save the offense. Ned Colletti out-maneuvered Josh Byrnes.

The Twins win game two of their series with the White Sox, cutting Chicago's lead to 1/2 game in the AL Central. The final was 3-2, giving the Twins a 4-1 record in one and two run games in the head-to-head series this season.

The Minnesota bullpen did a great job in relief. Nick Blackburn lasted just five innings, giving up eight hits. The Twins relievers did not strike out a batter, but gave up just one hit and one walk as they kept Chicago off the board the rest of the way.

This makes tomorrow night's game a must win for both teams. If Chicago wins, they control their own destiny. If they lose, the makeup game Monday looms large in deciding the division.

Correction: It was Blackburn, not Baker.

CC Sabathia, pitching in short rest, pitches another great game against the Pirates. He allows four hits over seven innings while striking out 11. He's now 10-2 since joining the Brewers, giving the team more than their money's worth.

They gain a game on the Phillies, and may gain a game on the Mets if the Cubs win. That would put them in a tie for the wild card lead.

Tied at six, Dan Murphy of the Mets leads off the bottom of the ninth with a triple against the Cubs. Bobby Howry strikes out David Wright, intentionally walks Delgado and Beltran to load the bases, then gets Church to ground into a force at the plate. That brings Castro to the plate, and he goes down swinging to send the game to the tenth. The Mets had a runner at third with no outs in each of the last three innings, and only pushes across one run.

The Los Angeles Dodgers moved much closer to wrapping up the NL West Tuesday night with a 10-1 drubbing of the San Diego Padres. With 82 wins, the Dodgers are now guaranteed to finish over .500, preventing our seeing a sub-.500 playoff team. Coupled with the Arziona loss, the Dodgers magic number is down to three with five games to play.

Manny Ramirez hit a double and drove in two runs, giving him 30 extra-base hits and 51 RBI in 49 games with the Dodgers. That would put him on a pace for 99 extra-base hits over a 162 game season.

The Milwaukee Brewers score three runs over the last two innings and defeat Pittsburgh 7-5. Prince Fielder hit a walk-off two-run homer to end the game and keep Milwaukee one game behind the Mets. We can still get a three-way tie if the Brewers go 5-0, the Mets finish 4-1 and the Phillies split their four remaining games.

The Diamondbacks fall to the Cardinals 7-4. Randy Johnson pitches poorly striking out just one in six innings while allowing five runs. The Dodgers are up 6-1 in the third against the Padres.

The Phillies lose and the Mets win as the lead in the NL East is down to 1 1/2 games. Remember, the Mets hold the tie-breaker against the Phillies, so if the two teams finished tied and ahead of the other wild card contenders, then the Mets win the division and Philadelphia gets the Wild Card.

Kelly Johnson extended his hitting streak with two base knocks tonight and Casey Kotchman hit just his second homer since joining the Braves as Atlanta earns a 3-2 win. Cole Hamels pitched well, but the Phillies just couldn't put together a big rally against Mike Hampton.

Johan Santana pitched eight strong innngs, walking two and striking out 10 as the Mets beat the Cubs 6-2. Johan picks up his 15th win, his fifth straight year reaching that level. Pedro Feliciano gave the Mets fan a scare in the ninth, allowing two hits, but Ayala came on for the last two outs and the save.

The Brewers are losing to the Pirates 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh.

Update: Mike Cameron doubles in two in the bottom of the seventh and the Brewers take a 4-3 lead.

Update: The Pirates get the two runs back in the eighth. Steve Pearce homers for the lead.

Victor Martinez pops out to Alex Cora and the Red Sox win 5-4, sending them to the playoffs with a chance to defend their World Championship. Papelbon records four outs, striking out two to record his 41st save. There will be no drama when the Yankees come to Boston this weekend.

Congratulations to the Red Sox on another great season. They needed to overcome lengty injuries to Curt Schilling, Mike Lowell, J.D. Drew and David Ortiz. Matsuzaka and Beckett were unavailable for shorter periods of time. Of course, the whole Manny Ramirez situation served as a major distraction. Still, the team kept winning, thanks to the deep squad assembled by the Boston front office. At the moment, it looks like they'll be playing the Angels in the first round, which should be a great series.

The Twins scored two more runs so far in the bottom of the fourth. They use a triple, double, advance on a fly ball and a squeeze play that ends up as a base hit for the two runs. Minnesota takes a 4-1 lead on the White Sox in a must win game.

Punto just stole second. They need a walk, homer and hit by pitch.

Update: Carlos Gomez hits a traditional single that takes its time to fall, giving Punto plenty of time to score from second. The Twins are up 5-1, and the Metrodome is rocking.

The White Sox score first. Thome and Konerko single and a double play plates Jim. That prevents a big inning, but the Twins find themselves in a hole.

Update: Jason Kubel draws second blood as the Minnesota DH hits a two-run homer and the Twins lead 2-1.

The Diamondbacks gain ground the more traditional way, defeating the Cardinals while the Dodgers take the night off. That leaves them two games back with six to play. Stephen Drew cycled against the Cardinals earlier in the season, and tonight he picked up the single, double and triple. In four game against St. Louis this season, Drew collected eight extra base hits.

Webb picks up his 22nd win. That gives him 40 over the last two seasons. Arizona still needs some help, but they've finally stopped making it easy for the Dodgers.

I didn't think this was possible. The Brewers came into tonight's action 1 1/2 games behind the Mets in the NL Wild Card race, but two games down in the AFILC. The Mets lose to the Cubs 9-5, and low and behold the Brewers are one game back, and one game back in the AFILC. Some how, some way, they made up a loss. I'm boing to need to ponder this for a while.

I suppose they should send the Cubs a thank-you note, as should the Phillies. Philadelphia's magic number is down to four.

The Red Sox fail to clinch as Jed Lowrie strikes out with men on second and third in the bottom of the ninth. The Red Sox out hit the Indians 12-8 and out walked them 5-2. They even went 3 for 9 with runners in scoring position. The timing of their hits was just off, and the umpire carom cost them the game. The Rays magic number for the division drops to four, and the Yankees get to live another day, hoping it can last until they reach Boston.

Correction: Fixed magic number.