NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Phillies won their eighth straight game agains the Mets and it was not a pretty sight. The Mets made six errors, walked 11 batters, hit another, and saw their lead in the division to 3 1/2 games as the Phillies won 10-6. Greg Dobbs came off the bench for a pinch hit grand slam during a 5-run sixth. The Mets magic number is stalled at 11. The Mets had never played a game in their history where they had walked 11 and allowed at least four batters to reach on errors. Two of the errors were throwing errors after runners were already on.

This was the last meeting of the season between the two teams and they play fairly easy schedules in the final two weeks. The Mets play six against Washington, seven against Florida, and one against the Cardinals. The Phillies play three against the Cardinals, seven against Washington, and six against Atlanta.

Tim Hudson picked up the first complete game of the year for Atlanta in Washington.

The Nationals and the Marlins are the only two teams in the majors without a complete game and have just two weeks to avoid becoming the first teams to go a whole major league season without one.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

Chicago is still one game ahead of Milwaukee. The Cubs rode a 3-run homer off from Matt Murton in the third and won 4-3 in St. Louis. Mark Mulder started his third game of the season for the Cardinals. He's lost all three and his ERA is 12.27. But it's not like Tony La Russa has a lot of options. Kip Wells? Mike Maroth? Anthony Reyes?

The Cubs also became the first team to clinch its Metro Area Battle

The Brewers stayed one game back with a 5-2 win at home against the Reds. Carlos Villanueva threw seven shutout innings.

The Cubs remaining games are six with Cincinnati (home and home), three with Pittsburgh, and three at Florida. The Brewers are at Houston for three, at Atlanta for four, and then back home for three against St. Louis and four with San Diego.

In the division's other game, the Astros staved off elimination for one more day with a 15-3 rout at home over the Pirates. Rookie Josh Anderson went 5 for 5 and got by a pitch in his last time up.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

Arizona managed to avoid a sweep in Los Angeles with a 6-1 win over the Dodgers.

The Padres stayed two games back as Jake Peavy won his 18th with 10 strikeouts over seven innings. San Diego swept a three-game series from San Francisco with a 5-1 win.

Arizona's magic number to clinch the division is 12 and it is 10 to clinch a playoff spot. In the final two weeks, Arizona plays the Giants for three, the Dodgers for three and then finishes up with three at Pittsburgh and three at Colorado. San Diego finishes with four against Pittsburgh, three against Colorado and then three at San Francisco and four at Milwaukee.

The Rockies salvaged one game with the Marlins, but it's likely too late.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

San Diego leads Philadelphia by 1 1/2 games and Los Angeles by 2 1/2 games. The Padres magic number to clinch the wild card is 13.

Tomorrow's matchups for teams in postseason contention:

Brian Lawrence (New York) vs Tim Redding (Washington), Bronson Arroyo (Cincinnati) vs Rich Hill (Chicago), Yovanni Gallardo (Milwaukee) vs Matt Albers (Houston), Kyle Kendrick (Philadelphia) vs Brad Thompson (St. Louis), Kevin Correia (San Francisco) vs Brandon Webb (Arizona), John Van Benschoten (Pittsburgh) vs Jack Cassel (San Diego).

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland couldn't sweep the series against the Royals and lost 4-3 at home.

Second place Detroit moved to 4 1/2 games in and starts a three-game series against the Indians Monday night in Cleveland. Detroit finished off a sweep of the Twins in Minneapolis with a 6-4 win. The Twins are one loss or one Yankees win away from elimination.

Cleveland's magic number to win the division is 9. Cleveland finishes with three games at home against Detroit and then three with Oakland. Then they go to Seattle and play four games including a doubleheader in which the Indians get to be the home team for the first game (that will be on the 26th) and finish with three in Kansas City. Detroit, after playing Cleveland, hosts Kansas City for three and then Minnesota for three and finishes with three at Chicago.

The last place White Sox rallied from a 7-1 deficit at home against the Angels and won 9-7 on a game-ending homer by Jim Thome that also was #500 in his career.

AL West (John Montague Division):

Despite the loss to the White Sox, the Angels lowered their magic number to win the division to six, which means that the game I'm going to Wednesday could be the clincher, although it would require the Angels to sweep Tampa Bay while Oakland sweeps Seattle at the same time. Most likely, the clincher will be during next weekend's series between the Angels and Mariners.

As for the Mariners, they lost again, 9-2 to Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay won its 63rd game ensuring that no team will lose 100 games this season.

In Oakland, Nick Swisher and Vicente Padilla brawled in the first inning and both were ejected, but in the end, it was an eighth inning grand slam by Michael Young that was the difference as the Rangers won 11-9. Oakland is one loss away or one Yankees win away from elimination.

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

The Yankees kept the Red Sox AL East magic number stuck at 9 as they got home runs from Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter for a 4-3 win at Fenway. The Red Sox lead by 4 1/2 games. Boston's magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 6 and the magic number to clinch the best record is 10. Boston only needs to tie Cleveland or Los Angeles to get homefield advantage.

Highlight of the game: the appearance of Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha on the field for the Yankees.

Boston's remaining schedule consists of three at Toronto, three at Tampa Bay, then back home for two against Oakland, and four against Minnesota. The Yankees will play Baltimore at home for three, then Toronto at home for four, and finish on the road with three at Tampa Bay and three at Baltimore. The odd game will be made up on Monday by the Yankees.

Baltimore beat Toronto 8-6 in 12 innings.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead Detroit by 2 1/2 games. Their magic number is 11.

Tomorrow's matchups with postseason implications:

Daniel Cabrera (Baltimore) vs Phil Hughes (New York), Kenny Rogers (Detroit) vs Paul Byrd (Cleveland), Tim Wakefield (Boston) vs Dustin McGowan (Toronto), Miguel Batista (Seattle) vs Dan Haren (Oakland), Edwin Jackson (Tampa Bay) vs Kelvim Escobar (Los Angeles).