NL East:

Florida and Washington both lost as each team refused to give up the distinction of having the worst record in the NL. Oh, and the Phillies swept the Mets at CBP and moved to within three games of New York. The game ended on an interference call on Marlon Anderson who tried to take out Phils second baseman Tadahito Iguchi on a possible double play with a slide that would have earned him a red card in soccer or five minutes for roughing in hockey.

NL Central:

The only division in the NL with an even number of teams had all of its teams playing against each other. And the losers combined to score one run. Aaron Harang pitched the Reds to an 8-0 win over Pittsburgh. Roy Oswalt pitched Houston to a 7-0 win over St. Louis and gave Cecil Cooper his first win. Ben Sheets came off the DL for the Brewers and went six innings as the Brewers won 6-1 to move back into second place in the division.

The Cardinals had a day off Monday. Barring a rainout, the Cardinals have no more off days the rest of the season. And they play a doubleheader on September 15 at home against Chicago.

NL West:

The Padres won their third straight game over the DBacks and took over first place in the NL West by .001. The Padres also tied the Mets for best record in the NL at 73-59. The Padres hold the season series edge over the Mets by a 4-2 margin.

AL East:

Baltimore blew a 4-1 lead in the 8th to Tampa Bay and lost 5-4 in 12 innings. The Orioles have lost eight straight games and been outscored 90-32. If you take out the 30-3 loss to the Rangers as an outlier, then it doesn't look so bad. It's just 60-29 over 7 games.

AL Central:

Cleveland beat Johan Santana of the Twins for the fourth time this year. The Indians swept the Twins to make Minnesota's playoff hopes "mostly dead." The Tigers are heading toward mostly dead status after losing to the Royals 5-0. The Royals scored all five runs in the first off of Andrew Miller.

AL West:

The Angels finished off a 3-game sweep of the Mariners to increase their lead to five games and just one game in back of Boston for the best record in the AL. The Mariners lead the Yankees for the wild card now by just .001. Seattle could be out of a playoff spot by the time they start their game in Cleveland Thursday night as the Yankees play the Red Sox in a day game.