NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

Why start with this not so interesting division? Because its games are over first.

The Mets increased their lead over the Phillies to six games and reduced their magic number to 17. New York routed Houston 11-3 and the Phillies fell behind early to the Marlins at home and lost 6-3.

Washington made five errors, three by Ryan Zimmerman and lost in Atlanta 7-1 in the other NL East action.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

I've seen bad pennant races in my day. I've lived through the 1973 NL East. I've seen the 1984 AL West up close. I lived through the 2005 NL West thing. The 2006 NL Central was really just a two-team deal.

But in 2007, I'm just not sure what to think. Presumably no team can win. Yet one team has to win. Is it a paradox? Or just really bad baseball?

The Cubs and Brewers started the day tied with the Cardinals one game back but even in the AILC.

Chicago finished its game first and lost to Tom Gorzelanny of the Pirates (who has won 14 games this year), 6-2.

The Brewers started a little bit later, but were out of from the start in Cincinnati. The Reds scored six times in the first and three times in the second and set Dave Bush to the showers in an 11-3 win for Cincinnati.

The Cardinals had a chance to move into first place by .0001 if they could beat Arizona at Chase Field. However, the Cardinals were hampered by the fact that Arizona was starting Brandon Webb and also the fact that the Cardinals really aren't all that good and they have to start Russell Branyan at third base now. The DBacks won 4-2 and the Cardinals fell back to .500.

The Pirates and Astros are now tied for fifth place. Or last place if you prefer. They are both 1/2 game ahead of the Marlins for the worst record in the NL.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

Arizona (which beat St. Louis see above) increased its lead to two games. They are one game behind the Mets for best record but two behind in the AILC. The Mets won the season series against the DBacks four games to three.

The Rockies tied a major league record by using ten pitchers in their 10-4 win over the Padres in Denver. Elmer Dessens, Mark Redman, Ryan Speier, Matt Herges (the winning pitcher), Dan Serafini, Matt Herges, Jeremey Affeldt, Latroy Hawkins, Jorge Julio, Brian Fuentes, and Ramon Ortiz all got into the game. Julio pitched for the Orioles in the other game where a team used 10 pitchers in a 9-inning game back on September 12, 2004. The 16 pitchers overall in a 9-inning game tied the major league record, done three times before.

Los Angeles fell 4 1/2 games back after a 5-4 loss to the Giants in San Francisco on a Dan Ortmeier walkoff homer against Jonathan Broxton. Broxton had given up just one home run all season before yesterday and has now surrendered them in back-to-back games. (Pretend I'm sounding like Jayson Stark with that sentence.)

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

The Padres still lead the Dodgers by 2 1/2 games while the Phillies and Rockies are 3 games back.

Tomorrow's starters in games with postseason implications: Woody Wiliams (Houston) vs. Tom Glavine (New York), David Wells (Los Angeles) vs. Barry Zito (San Francisco), Rick VandenHurk (Florida) vs. John Ennis (Philadelphia), Carlos Zambrano (Chicago) vs. Ian Snell (Pittsburgh), Jeff Suppan (Milwaukee) vs Aaron Harang (Cincinnati), Greg Maddux (San Diego) vs Jeff Francis (Colorado), Braden Looper (St. Louis) vs. Micah Owings (Arizona).

Sorry, Nats and Braves fans.

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

Boston lowered its magic number to 15 after Jon Lester and Manny Delcarmen combined on a 4-0 shutout of the Orioles at Camden Yards. The benches emptied after Orioles starter threw a pitch at Dustin Pedroia's head. The Orioles have lost 11 straight home games, a Baltimore high, and have not won at home since August 21 when they beat Texas 6-2. They lost the next day to Texas 30-3 and so began the nightmare in Baltimore.

The Yankees kept pace with a 3-2 win in Kansas City. Alex Rodriguez hit his 49th home run.

Toronto beat Tampa Bay 7-2. The Devil Rays are now one loss or a Yankees win away from postseason elimination. The Rays have 83 losses and the Yankees have 79 wins. Stay tuned to this space for updates. Except I'll be out a lot tomorrow. So maybe you should do something better with your day. I can think of many things that would be better. For example, you could go out shopping for shelf paper, I hear that stuff is handy and really makes a kitchen look sharp.

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Angels lead the Mariners by nine games after a 3-2 win over Cleveland in 10 innings at home. Garret Anderson drove in a run in the first. It's the 12th straight game he's driven in a run, two short of the AL record of 14 set by Tris Speaker in 1928 when he played for the Philadelphia A's. The Angels announcers claim the record is 13. But the Sporting News says it's 14 and I have a tendency to doubt anything said by Steve Physioc. The Angels magic number is 14.

The Mariners lost their 12th out of 13 games, falling to Detroit 6-1.

Texas and Oakland played. One of them won. It was the home team.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

The Indians loss (see above) and the Tigers win (see above) cut Cleveland's lead to 4 1/2 games. Curtis Granderson of Detroit his 20th home run to go over 20 in doubles, triples, and home runs. He is the first player to do it since George Brett in 1979. Willie Mays did it in 1957, Jeff Heath did it in 1941, Jim Bottomley in 1928, and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte also did it in 1911.

Meanwhile in Chicago, the Twins scored six times in the ninth to take a 10-4 lead over the White Sox. Julio De Paula came in to mop up. And he allowed the first five White Sox to reach and score and then Joe Nathan came in and he gave up the tying run. The game then went on to the 13th and the White Sox pushed across a run on an A.J. Pierzynski single. The teams combined for 39 hits. And now they've done that twice this year.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead the Tigers by three games and the Mariners are now four games back.

Pitching matchups for games with playoff implications:

Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston) vs. Jon Leicester (Baltimore), Jeff Weaver (Seattle) vs. Nate Robertston (Detroit), Andy Pettitte (New York) vs. Brian Bannister (Kansas City), C.C. Sabathia (Cleveland) vs. Ervin Santana (Los Angeles)