'Twas a night for staying up late...

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

The top three teams started to bunch up a bit.

Arizona lost to the Dodgers in Los Angeles 7-4. Doug Davis, who had never given up an earned run to the Dodgers in 30 previous innings of work, gave up four earned runs and six runs overall. The game was played in a brisk 3:32. The DBacks magic number stayed at 13 to clinch the division and 11 to make the playoffs.

San Diego moved to three games back thanks to a 10th inning walkoff homer from Khalil Greene off of Dan Giese. The Giants led 4-2 going to the bottom of the ninth, but San Diego won 5-4. That game took just 3:02 to play.

Colorado's playoff hopes became very remote after losing at home to the Marlins 7-6. Matt Treanor and Jeremy Hermida had big hits in the seventh for the win. These two teams duked it out for 3:23.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

Chicago increased its lead in the division to what could be a commanding 1 1/2 game lead over Milwaukee.

The Cubs lead the Cardinals 2-1 in the ninth and loaded the bases with two outs after a double by Felix Pie, an intentional walk to Jacque Jones, and an unintentional walk to Jason Kendall. Pinch hitter Daryle Ward cleared the bases with a double to make it 5-1.

The Cardinals got homers from Jim Edmonds and Ryan Ludwick in the ninth and then three singles to load the bases, but Bob Howry got Aaron Miles to ground out to preserve a 5-3 win. The Cardinals have now lost eight straight games. The Cubs magic number is 15.

Milwaukee had Ben Sheets starting on the mound tonight, but he was hit hard early giving up four runs in the first and the Brewers tried to come back, but lost 6-5 at home. Sheets took the loss and Chris Capuano relieved and pitched well. However, it was the 20th consecutive game Capuano appeared in that the Brewers lost this year.

And Houston slipped into last place in the whole NL with a loss at home to the Pirates.

NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Phillies may lose to the Marlins, Braves, and Rockies, but they seem to be able to handle the first place Mets, beating them for the sixth straight time this year. Greg Dobbs had a sacrifice fly in the tenth inning for the winning run in a 3-2 game.

Washington and Atlanta played for 13 innings and 5:13 in DC and in the end, the Nats were eliminated from playoff contention as Atlanta won 8-5. Even though the Nats are two games better than the Astros, they're done.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

The Padres lead the Dodgers and Phillies by 1 1/2 games. Colorado is 3 1/2 games back and just gets mentioned because they have games left with San Diego and Los Angeles and I have to figure them in when determining who gets eliminated. The Giants look to be the next team to go.

Tomorrow's game with postseason implications:

Ted Lilly and Sean Marshall (Chicago) vs Braden Looper and Joel Pineiro (St. Louis), Kyle Lohse (Philadelphia) vs Pedro Martinez (New York), Livan Hernandez (Arizona) vs Derek Lowe (Los Angeles), Kirk Saarloos (Cincinnati) vs Jeff Suppan (Milwaukee), Sergio Mitre (Florida) vs Ubaldo Jimenez (Colorado), Matt Cain (San Francisco) vs Brett Tomko (San Diego).

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

As some of you might have read, the Red Sox blew a 7-2 lead in the eighth when Hideki Okajima and Jon Papelbon combined for this sequence: Homer, homer, walk, double, single, double and error, single. New York won 8-7 in a nifty 4:43. The Red Sox still lead by 4 1/2 games. The Sox magic number to win the division is still 11, the magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 7, and the magic number to clinch the best record is 12.

Baltimore won its second straight, beating Toronto. Tampa Bay did not win however.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland lowered its magic number to 10 with a come-from-behind win at home against the Royals. Franklin Gutierrez hit a 2-run homer in the seventh, Victor Martinez homered in the eighth to tie it, and the Indians won it 5-4 on a Casey Blake homer in the ninth.

Detroit stayed six games out after winning in Minnesota 4-2. Timo Perez was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and is batting .429 since his callup from Toledo.

As for the White Sox, see below.

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Angels lost their second straight and the magic number is stuck at 9 after a 5-3 loss to the White Sox. The Angels also moved down to the #3 slot in the AL. They have the same record as Cleveland (86-61). The two teams split their season series, 5-5. The second tiebreaker is intradivision play and the Indians have a better winning percentage at 42-22 (.656) to the Angels at 28-19 (.596).

Seattle is now 7 1/2 back after a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay.

Oakland and Texas took 3 1/2 hours to play their game, which the Athletics won 11-9. Daric Barton hit his first major league home run for Oakland.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees are still 3 1/2 games ahead of the Tigers.

Pitching matchups for games with postseason implications:

Chien-Ming Wang (New York) vs Josh Beckett (Boston), Jered Weaver (Los Angeles) vs Jon Garland (Chicago), Zack Greinke (Kansas City) vs Fausto Carmona (Cleveland), YORMAN BAZARDO (Detroit) vs Johan Santana (Minnesota), Scott Kazmir (Tampa Bay) vs Horacio Ramirez (Seattle)