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NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

The Cubs and Brewers went back into a tie at first after a day of routs.

The Cubs played an afternoon game that was a makeup of a rainout earlier in the year against the Cardinals. The Cubs broke the game open with five runs in the fourth against Joel Pineiro and then Tony La Russa turned to the back end of his 18-man pitching staff, using Andy Cavazos, Brian Falkenborg, Kelvin Jimenez, and Mike Maroth. And the Cubs won 12-3.

Cardinal radio announcers Mike Shannon and John Rooney had this discussion of Mike Maroth today (as reported by my St. Louis correspondent):

Shannon: He's been disappointing, hasn't he?
Rooney: He's been terrible.

And Chris Duncan may miss the rest of the season with a sports hernia.

The Brewers had a chance to keep their one-game lead when they faced Tony Armas and the Pirates in Pittsburgh, but it was no contest as the Bucs won 9-0.

Nate McClouth was 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and a home run. Sometimes I wish the late J.D. Cannon managed the Pirates instead of Jim Tracy because I would like to hear him growl, "McCLOUTH!"

The Cardinals stayed three games back and are heading to Cincinnati and then host the Cubs for four games. The Cubs are going to Houston.

NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Mets won for the ninth time in ten games since dropping four straight in Philadelphia with a 3-2 win over the Braves at Shea Stadium. David Wright hit his 28th homer, a 2-run shot off of Tim Hudson, to provide the winning margin. The Mets magic number dropped to 14.

Philadelphia is still six games back after coming back from being down 5-2 in the seventh to Colorado on a 3-run homer by Pat Burrell and then winning in the 10th on an RBI double from Ryan Howard to score Chase Utley.

The Nats and Marlins played at Dolphins Stadium and the attendance was reported as 12,345 although I think that somebody was too lazy to count and just typed the numbers without thinking. Washington pushed the Marlins closer to elimination. The Nats got 21 runners on base and scored just five of them. Twelve runners were stranded, three runners were eliminated on double plays, and another was thrown out at home.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

Arizona was scrambling around for a second baseman after Orlando Hudson was sidelined for the season with wrist surgery. DBacks manager Bob Melvin settled on September callup Emilio Bonifacio and put him in the leadoff spot. Bonifacio went 2 for 5, drove in two runs and made a key defensive play in the ninth. And Jeff Salazar hit a two out, three run pinch hit homer off of Brad Hennessey of the Giants to give Arizona a 5-3 win.

Arizona now leads San Diego by 3 1/2 games, Los Angeles by 6, and Colorado by 7. Arizona's magic number is 16.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

The Phillies inched up to 1 1/2 games back of the Padres. The Dodgers stayed 2 1/2 back as they were idle. The Rockies are now four games back.

Pitching matchups with postseason implication Tuesday:

Franklin Morales (Colorado) vs Adam Eaton (Philadelphia), Yovani Gallardo (Milwaukee) vs Bryan Bullington (Pittsburgh), Buddy Carlyle (Atlanta) vs Orlando Hernandez (New York), Mark Mulder (St. Louis) vs Matt Belisle (Cincinnati), Jason Marquis (Chicago) vs Brandon Backe (Houston), Jake Peavy (San Diego) vs Esteban Loaiza (Los Angeles), Edgar Gonzalez (Arizona) vs Kevin Correia (San Francisco).

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

The Red Sox lead over the idle Yankees in the division dropped to five games after Tampa Bay behind Scott Kazmir pulled out a 1-0 win at Fenway. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz sat out the game and Julio Lugo was the DH. The Red Sox magic number stayed at 14.

Toronto lost at Detroit (see below).

The Yankees start a series in Toronto Tuesday. The Orioles, who are still in the league, host the Angels Tuesday.

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Angels were off as they headed out to Baltimore. Their lead moved up to 8 1/2 games and their magic dropped to 12 as the Mariners lost at home to Oakland.

The A's hit a pair of grand slams in the game. One by Kurt Suzuki in the second and another in the ninth by Dan Johnson that turned a taut 5-3 game into a 9-3 rout. That was the second time in franchise history the A's had hit two grand slams in a game. The last time was August 24, 2003 in Toronto.

Texas was off and will play a doubleheader tomorrow in Detroit to start a three-game series that will take two days.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland's game in Chicago was delayed 9 minutes at the outset and then for 2 hours and 23 minutes in the seventh and finished before a crowd of about 1,000 people. The Indians won 6-2 in a game that ended at 12:36 in the morning CT. Cleveland lowered its magic number to 13 and moved to 1/2 game in back of the Angels for the #2 spot and 2 1/2 games in back of Boston for the #1 spot. Chicago has now tied Tampa Bay for the worst record in the majors. (Florida also is 61-83.)

The second place Tigers hosted a makeup of a game postponed from April 5 against the Blue Jays.

Toronto led the game 4-1 in the ninth and the Tigers had two outs and none on against Roy Halladay after Timo Perez grounded into a double play. However, Sean Casey and Brandon Inge singled and Halladay was removed for Casey Janssen. Inge moved up on defensive indifference and he and pinch runner Cameron Maybin scored on a Curtis Granderson single. Placido Polanco singled Granderson to second. Gary Sheffield walked and Magglio Ordonez followed with a single to score two runs and give the Tigers a 5-4 win. Yorman Bazardo picked up his first major league win.

The Twins beat the Royals that put Kansas City on the brink of elimination along with the Orioles.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead in the wild card dropped to 3 1/2 games over Detroit. Seattle, which has lost 14 of 16, is 5 1/2 games out. The Yankees magic number is 16 to clinch the wild card.

Pitching matchups with postseason implications:

Vicente Padilla and Brandon McCarthy (Texas) vs Chad Durbin and Jair Jurrjens (Detroit), Joe Saunders (Los Angeles) vs Victor Santos (Baltimore), Andy Sonnastine (Tampa Bay) vs Tim Wakefield (Boston), Paul Byrd (Cleveland) vs John Danks (Chicago), Dallas Braden (Oakland) vs Jarrod Washburn (Seattle)