Ack! Cough! ...

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

The Red Sox magic number is still 9 and this blog is starting to sound like a bad pressing of "The White Album."

Russ Adams of Toronto was the villain again as he turned a 2-1 game into a 6-1 Toronto win with a grand slam in the eighth off of Jonathan Papelbon. Boston slid all the way to the #3 spot in the overall AL standings and presently would start the playoffs on the road in Anaheim.

The Yankees are now just 1 1/2 games back and one game back in the AILC after a 2-1 win over Baltimore. The O's loaded the bases in the ninth against Mariano Rivera, but Scott Moore was caught looking to end the game. The Yankees win eliminated Toronto.

Both the Yankees and Red Sox are off Thursday. The Red Sox play at Tampa Bay over the weekend and the Yankees will host Toronto.

Tampa Bay? They lost. Look down.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland lowered its magic number to 3 and its lead in the division to 7 1/2 games as they completed a sweep of second place Detroit at home, 4-2, as C.C. Sabathia won his 18th game.

Cleveland and Detroit are both off Thursday. Cleveland hosts Oakland over the weekend and Detroit will have Kansas City visit.

The White Sox switched places with Kansas City for last place. Minnesota finished off a home sweep of Texas.

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Angels lowered their magic number to 3 and their lead stayed at 8 1/2 games after they edged Tampa Bay 2-1 as I looked on despite apparently suffering from a virus of some sort. You gotta watch hurt this time of year! Ervin Santana struck out 10 batters and the Angels struck out 14 overall. The Rays pitchers struck out 10.

Seattle turned things around a little too late, but still swept Oakland on the road with a 9-5 win.

Seattle plays in Anaheim Thursday to start a four-game series. Two wins by the Angels clinches the division.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead Detroit by 5 1/2 games and their magic number to make the playoffs is 5.

Only one game tomorrow in the AL with any postseason implications:

Ryan Feierabend (Seattle) vs Jared Weaver (Los Angeles). An Angels win moves them into the #1 spot in the AL temporarily although they would lose tiebreakers to the Red Sox and Indians.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

The Cubs reclaimed the yellow jersey and eliminated the Reds at the same time. Cincinnati and Chicago exchanged pairs of solo homers to make it 2-2 and Matt Murton drove home the winning run on a force play in the eighth to give Chicago a 3-2 win.

Milwaukee slipped back into second place after losing to Houston 5-4 in 10 innings. The Brewers trailed 4-2 in the ninth, but tied it up on a 2-run homer by Rickie Weeks. Hunter Pence had the game-winning hit in the 10th.

Chicago is off Thursday and Milwaukee travels to Atlanta. The Braves actually have a better record than the Brewers, but almost no shot at the playoffs.

The patchwork Cardinals lineup (Scott Spiezio batting cleanup at first base, Miguel Cairo batting fifth at third base) had just enough to beat Philadelphia, 2-1 in 10 innings. The people of New York rejoiced. The people of Philadelphia realized that they had seen this before.

NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Mets stopped their skid with an 8-4 win at RFK over the Nationals. Mike Pelfrey got the win, but Jorge Sosa got the big outs. In the sixth inning, the Nats had runners on first and third with no outs and the Mets were up 5-3. Sosa struck out pinch hitter D'Angelo Jimenez and then got Nook Logan to ground into a double play.

With the Phillies loss, the Mets lead increased to 2 1/2 games and their magic number fell to 9. Both teams play tomorrow with Philadelphia playing in Washington and the Mets playing in Florida.

The Braves swept last place Florida at home.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

Arizona held on to the best record in the NL West and the league overall with a 6-4 win at home over the Giants. Juan Cruz struck out one batter in the fifth and that was enough to get him credit for the win. Jose Valverde picked up save #46.

The Padres are just one game back after pulling out a 5-3 win thanks to a 2-out, 3-run homer by Scott Hariston off of Matt Capps of the Pirates.

Arizona is off Thursday while the Padres play the Pirates at home once more.

The Rockies hoped to make their three remaining games in San Diego relevant after pulling out a 6-5 win over the Dodgers at home.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

The Padres now lead Philadelphia by 2 1/2 games in the wild card and by 3 in the AILC. Colorado waves politely from 4 1/2 games back. San Diego's magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 9.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups for games with postseason implications:

Matt Morris (Pittsburgh) vs Brett Tomko (San Diego), Tom Glavine (New York) vs Dontrelle Willis (Florida), Kyle Lohse (Philadelphia) vs Jason Bergmann (Washington), Jeff Suppan (Milwaukee) vs Jeff Bennett (Atlanta)