NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The New York Mets appeared to have stopped their slide after scoring four times in the ninth inning off of Florida's Kevin Gregg to take a 7-4 lead. Marlon Anderson's bases-loaded double was the big hit.

Then, with Billy Wagner unavailable, Willie Randolph opted for Pedro Feliciano. Jeremy Hermida singled on Feliciano's first pitch and Jorge Sosa came in. Miguel Cabrera doubled Hermida to third. Alfredo Amezaga grounded out to score Hermida to make it 7-5. Mike Jacobs reached on a David Wright throwing error as Cabrera scored to make it 7-6. Reggie Abercrombie pinch ran for Jacobs. Cody Ross followed with a blooper down the left field line and Abercrombie went to third and Ross moved up a base. Matt Treanor's ground out scored Abercrombie to tie the game.

The Marlins won it in the 10th when Dan Uggla's double off the left field wall scored Hanley Ramirez from first. The Marlins won 8-7 and had 20 hits.

Second place Philadelphia is now 1 1/2 games back after rallying from a 6-2 deficit in Washington to win 7-6. Jayson Werth came off the bench in the seventh to hit a 3-run pinch homer and Jimmy Rollins had a pair of doubles and scored the tying run and drove in the winning run. The Mets magic number stays at 9.

Atlanta? See below.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

With the Cubs idle, the Brewers had an opportunity to pick up a half game in Atlanta. The Braves were starting Jeff Bennett, who hadn't pitched in the majors since 2004 when he was with the Brewers as a Rule 5 selection. Bennett struck out 8 Brewers in 5 2/3 innings pitched and the Braves bullpen closed out a 3-1 win for Atlanta at home.

Houston rookie catcher J.R. Towles set a franchise record with 8 RBI as he went 4 for 4 with two doubles and a home run (albeit off of Aaron Miles). The Astros won 18-1. It was just Towles' sixth major league game and the Baseballreference.com Play Index turned up no instances of any player driving in 8 runs in a game before his sixth game. (The earliest instance had been Jason Bay's 8 RBI game in his 21st game.) Several players have had games with 9 totals bases that early in their career and Justin Upton did it this year in his fifth game.

St. Louis will be eliminated Friday with a loss to Houston and a Chicago win over Pittsburgh. 10 of the 16 entries in the Griddle contest had St. Louis as one of the final five teams.

Cincinnati? Really? See below.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

First place Arizona was off and had its lead sliced in half to 1/2 game as San Diego won its seventh straight, completing a four-game sweep over the Pirates at Petco, 6-3.

And there was another sweep in the West as Colorado took a four-game series with a 9-4 win over the Dodgers at Coors Field.

The Rockies sweep made their three-game series with the Padres somewhat relevant to both teams now. The DBacks host Los Angeles over the weekend. Arizona's magic number to make the playoffs is 8. The DBacks also hold the tiebreaker edge over the Padres. The extra game will be made up on Monday when Arizona is off while San Diego plays in San Francisco.

The Reds and Giants series could have been a chance for fans to watch Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey put on a contest to hit balls out in to San Francisco Bay. But they're both injured (Griffey for the rest of the year) and so the fans got to see Jason Ellison hit a home run instead. The Reds won 4-2.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

San Diego leads Philadelaphia by 2 1/2 games. Their magic number for making the playoffs is 8.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups for games with postseason implications:

Paul Maholm (Pittsburgh) vs Jason Marquis (Chicago), Carlos Villanueva (Milwaukee) vs Tim Hudson (Atlanta), Pedro Martinez (New York) vs Scott Olsen (Florida), Adam Eaton (Philadelphia) vs Shawn Hill (Washington), Esteban Loaiza (Los Angeles) vs Livan Hernandez (Arizona), Franklin Morales (Colorado) vs Jake Peavy (San Diego).

AL West (John Montague Division):

Los Angeles won a contentious 9-4 game at home against Seattle to stretch its lead to 9 1/2 games and lower its magic number to 1. Two of the sixteen entries in the Griddle contest had Seattle as one of the last five teams eliminated. However, Seattle will still be alive in the wild card race regardless of the outcome of tonight's game.

The Angels can be the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a win Friday night. The Angels also moved into first place overall in the AL, although Cleveland and Boston have one more game to play than the Angels and also hold tiebreaker edges over the Angels. The Angels finish up their season with six games on the road at Texas and Oakland.

The Rangers led Baltimore 1-0 going to the ninth, but Joaquin Benoit couldn't hold on to the lead and the Orioles won in 10 innings 6-3.

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

Everybody but the Orioles took today off. Boston will be in Tampa Bay for its last road series of the year. They will finish up at home against Oakland and Minnesota. The Yankees play a four-game series that wraps around the weekend with Toronto. Then they go on the road to play Tampa Bay and Baltimore. Boston leads by 1 1/2 games with a magic number of 9. Boston's magic number to make the playoffs is 3.

AL Central (Vito Valetinetti Division):

Division-leading Cleveland had the day off as did second place Detroit. Cleveland leads by 7 1/2 games and has a magic number of 3.

Third place Minnesota had the day off. But Kansas City moved back into fourth place as they split their four-game series with the White Sox.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

New York leads Detroit by 5 1/2 games and has a magic number of 5 to clinch a playoff spot.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups for games with postseason implications:

Billy Buckner (Kansas City) vs Jair Jurrjens (Detroit), Joe Blanton (Oakland) vs Fausto Carmona (Cleveland), Roy Halladay (Toronto) vs Chien-Ming Wang (New York), Josh Beckett (Boston) vs Scott Kazmir (Tampa Bay).

Kazmir and Johan Santana are now both one strikeout behind Eric Bedard of Baltimore for the AL strikeout lead. Bedard is out for the year. Both Kazmir and Santana pitch Friday. The Twins will be in Chicago.