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NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

The only division race that will see the most changes in the final weeks will be this one. And the leader changed again today. Milwaukee and Chicago started the day tied, but the Brewers finished the day all alone in first.

Milwaukee got six shutout innings from Yovani Gallardo, Prince Fielder hit home run #44, and the Brewers got an easy 6-1 win at Pittsburgh.

The Cubs had a 4-1 lead early against the Astros in Houston, but the home team kept chipping away. Hunter Pence tripled home two in the fifth and Mark Loretta doubled home Carlos Lee with the tying run in the eighth.

Chicago had runners on first and third with one out in the ninth and Mark DeRosa hit into a double play. In the eleventh, Brad Lidge walked the bases loaded, but Jacque Jones flied out to center. In the bottom of the eleventh, Loretta drew a one-out walk against Ryan Dempster. Eric Bruntlett pinch ran for him and then came around to score the winning when Luke Scott tripled to center. The Astros won 5-4. The Cubs are one game back.

The Cardinals, who could have moved into first place if they had won in Arizona on Friday lost their fifth straight game, losing in Cincinnati 7-2 as Adam Dunn hit two homers, including a grand slam. The Cardinals are now 4 games out of first. They can only hope that their four-game series this weekend at home against the Cubs means something.

NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Mets lost and it wasn't pretty as Orlando Hernandez was rocked in a 13-5 loss at Shea Stadium to the Braves.

But the Phillies failed to capitalize and lost 8-2 to Colorado. The Phillies are six games back and the Mets magic number is 13.

Some people in South Florida saw the Marlins beat the Nats 13-8, but I want their names! Jason Maxwell of Washington got his first major league hit and it was a pinch-hit grand slam. It's pretty much downhill from there, Jason. Chris Seddon made his major league debut as a starting pitcher for the Marlins and went three innings and gave up seven runs.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

Arizona's 6-game winning streak was snapped in San Francisco as the Giants scratched out a 2-1 win. Bob Wickman took the loss after giving up a triple and sac fly in the eighth.

The Padres are now 2 1/2 back after they hit four homers against the Dodgers and won 9-4. It's a two-team race for the division now with the Dodgers and Rockies tied at six games back.

The DBacks magic number is 16, but their biggest edge may be that they don't play the Padres anymore this year.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

San Diego leads Philadelphia by three games and Los Angeles and Colorado by 3 1/2.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups for games with postseason implications:

Dave Bush (Pittsburgh) vs Tom Gorzelanny (Pittsburgh), Denny Bautista (Colorado) vs Kyle Kendrick (Philadelphia), John Smoltz (Atlanta) vs John Maine (New York), Rich Hill (Chicago) vs Matt Albers (Houston), Justin Germano (San Diego) vs Derek Lowe (Los Angeles), Brandon Webb (Arizona) vs Jonathan Sanchez (San Francisco).

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

Tim Wakefield started tonight's game for Boston with a career 19-2 mark against Tampa Bay. The Rays knocked Wakefield out of the game early and led 8-1 going to the bottom of the 4th. But the Red Sox scored four times to make it 8-5. Then the Rays got a run to make it 9-5. Then the Red Sox scored three times to make it 9-8. And in the bottom of the sixth, the Red Sox put up a six and went on to win 16-10.

Boston's lead over the Yankees stayed at four games, but their magic number dropped to 13. The Red Sox also maintained a 2 game lead over the Angels for best record in the AL. It was announced today that the AL team with the best record will have the option of choosing which Division Series schedule it wants. One of the series will have off days scheduled between Games 1 and 2 AND Games 4 and 5.

The Yankees won easily in Toronto, 9-2, thanks to a grand slam from Jason Giambi. (By the way, if I write briefly about the Yankees it's only because they have their own blog here with many more visitors. The Griddle is officially, not just nominally, nonpartisan in the Red Sox-Yankees fight.)

The Orioles. Well, they led the Angels until the third inning. The Orioles clinched their 10th consecutive losing season.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland's lead in the division is now 6 1/2 games and the magic number is 11. The Indians had only a few problems with the White Sox in Chicago in an 8-3 win.

Detroit split a day-night doubleheader against the Rangers. In the opener, the Tigers gave up six home runs and lost 13-6. But in the night game, Jair Jurrjens came off the DL and gave the Tigers a good outing and the Tigers won 4-1.

The Royals are now officially playing out the string and with their loss to the Twins, they have had 12 losing seasons in the past 13.

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Angels lead over Seattle is now 9 1/2 games. Their magic number is 10. The Mariners lost their 15th game in 17 tries as Oakland won 7-4.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead Detroit by five games. The Yankees magic number is 14 to clinch the wild card.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups for games with postseason implications:

Jake Westerbrook (Cleveland) vs Javier Vazquez (Chicago), Kelvim Escobar (Los Angels) vs Daniel Cabrera (Baltimore), Edwin Jackson (Tampa Bay) vs Jon Lester (Boston), Edinson Volquez (Texas) vs Justin Verlander (Detroit), Mike Mussina (New York) vs Dustin McGowan (Toronto), Dan Haren (Oakland) vs Miguel Batista (Seattle)