NL West (Steve Finley Division):

It looked like this division was going to get very cozy, but first place Arizona rallied from a 4-2 deficit to score four runs in the seventh and then hung on for a 6-5 win over the Cardinals.

Arizona's lead increased to two three games over San Diego and the magic number dropped to 17 as the Padres lost in Denver to the Rockies 4-2. Tall Chris Young, who looked a Cy Young contender earlier in the year, saw his record fall to 9-7, giving up three runs and two hits in five innings and striking out eight, but also walking five.

The Dodgers lost to the Giants, 4-2, on a 3-run pinch-hit homer by Ray Durham in the eighth. The game didn't take long, just 2:19, despite three mid-inning pitching changes in the eighth by the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are 5 1/2 games back in the division and the Rockies are 6 games back.

Arizona starts a three-game series in San Francisco Monday. The Rockies travel to Philadelphia. The Dodgers and Padres are off before starting a three-game series Tuesday.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

The Brewers got back-to-back-to-back homers to start the game in Cincinnati and hit six homers overall in a 10-5 win over the Reds. This win moved the Brewers into sole possession of first place because ...

Steve Trachsel lasted just two innings and gave up six runs as the Pirates whipped the Cubs 10-5. Freddy Sanchez almost had an inside-the-park grand slam, but he was thrown out at the plate and had to settle for a 3 RBI triple. Michael Wuertz appeared in a major-league leading 46th game that his team lost. (The link doesn't include today's games). In the last 50 years, the most games by a reliever in losses is 59 by a pair of Cub relievers: Dick Tidrow in 1980 and Will Ohman in 2006.

Houston is still in the league. The Astros lost.

The Cubs host the Cardinals in a makeup of an earlier rainout on Monday afternoon. Milwaukee will be in Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, the Astros will host the Cubs and the Reds will host the Cardinals.

NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Mets kept on winning as Pedro Martinez went five innings in a 4-1 win over the Astros at Shea Stadium. The Mets magic number is 15.

The Phillies remained six games out after an 8-5 win over last place Florida, holder of the worst record in the NL. The Marlins were the first team to be eliminated from a chance to win its division. The Marlins are still alive in the wild card.

Washington and Atlanta played. Washington won. The Nats didn't make an error for a change. And BOTH Ryan Langerhans AND Robert Fick got hits. D'Angelo Jimenez, who came into the game batting .152 went 3 for 5 and had 3 RBI.

The Braves will be in New York. The Phillies will host the Rockies. The Marlins and Nats will play their final series of the year at Dolphins Stadium. Good seats are still available.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

The Padres lead the Phillies by 2 games, the Dodgers by 2 1/2 games, and the Rockies by 3 games. The Phillies-Rockies series and Dodgers-Padres series this week may pare the field. Or it could just become tighter.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups in games with postseason implications:

Joel Pineiro (St. Louis) vs. Ted Lilly (Chicago), Ubaldo Jimenez (Colorado) vs. Kyle Lohse (Philadelphia), Tim Hudson (Atlanta) vs. Oliver Perez (New York), Livan Hernandez (Arizona) vs. Tim Lincecum (San Francisco).

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Mariners actually picked up a game in the standings. Seattle demolished Detroit 14-7. Seattle is still eight games back and the Angels magic number stalled at 13.

The Angels lost to Cleveland in the Sunday night game, 6-2.

But connoisseurs of the AL West would have enjoyed the game in Texas where the Rangers beat Oakland 12-9. The game was delayed twice by rain for a total of 89 minutes and it still took 4:08 to play.

Oakland got 9 hits and drew 10 walks and a hit batter and had 2 batters reach on errors. They stranded 13 runners. The Rangers picked up 13 hits, 5 walks, a hit batter, and one big error from Donnie Murphy. The teams combined to score eight unearned runs. Bill White was given credit for the win, his first in the majors. Oakland leads Texas by .0003 for third place.

Oakland travels to Seattle Monday. The Angels are off until Tuesday when they will play at Baltimore. The Rangers are headed to Detroit for a three-game series involving a doubleheader.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland's win and Detroit's loss pushed the Indians lead in the division to 6 games and lowered the magic number to 14. Cleveland is one game behind the Angels for the #2 spot. They tied their season series at 5-5. The second tiebreaker is division record. The Angels are 28-19 in their division (.596) and the Indians are 39-21 (.650), so it's likely that Cleveland would win that tiebreaker

The Royals were a stopover on the Yankees trip to the playoff and lost 6-3.

The Twins helped to mathematically eliminate the White Sox from postseason play. Johan Santana ran his record against the White Sox to 13-5.

Cleveland travels to Chicago Monday. Detroit hosts Toronto in a rainout makeup game Monday. Minnesota will be at Kansas City.

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

Boston lowered the magic number to 14 with a 3-2 win at Baltimore. Josh Beckett won his 18th game. Jeremy Guthrie left the game with an oblique strain and the Orioles are so desperate for pitching that they picked up Victor Zambrano from the Pirates to finish the season.

The Yankees won to stay 5 1/2 games out. And as pointed in the comments, Chien-Ming Wang also won his 18th game of the season.

Tampa Bay won its fourth straight series with a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays in St. Petersburg.

Tampa Bay will be at Boston Monday. The Yankees will be off and will be in Toronto Tuesday. Baltimore will just be a place where the Angels have to play before the season ends.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead the Tigers by four games and the Mariners by five games. The Yankees magic number for winning the wild card is 16.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups in games with postseason implications:

Scott Kazmir (Tampa Bay) vs. Curt Schilling (Boston), Roy Halladay (Toronto) vs. Kenny Rogers (Detroit), Fausto Carmona (Cleveland) vs. Gavin Floyd (Chicago), Joe Blanton (Oakland) vs. Horacio Ramirez (Seattle).