And the collar size in Boston grew two sizes that day:

AL East (Pee-Wee Wanninger Division):

Anxiety levels dropped throughout New England as Josh Beckett won his 20th game as the Red Sox beat Tampa Bay and Scott Kazmir, 8-1. Tampa Bay rookie reliever Jeff Ridgway has now faced five batters in his career in two games and all five have reached safely and four of them have scored.

The Yankees looked like they were going to keep nipping at Boston's heels after they rallied to score four runs off of Roy Halladay in the 9th to send the game into extra innings. But the Yankees offense stopped there and Gregg Zaun homered in the 14th to give Toronto a 5-4 win.

Boston lowered its magic number to win the division to 7 as its lead grew to 2 1/2 games. Boston could also clinch a playoff spot tomorrow with a win combined with a Detroit loss.

Baltimore lost to Texas 3-2 and the game ended on a strikeout-CS DP.

AL Central (Vito Valentinetti Division):

Cleveland lowered its magic number to 2 and took over the #1 spot in the AL overall with a 4-3 win over Oakland at home. Fausto Carmona won his 18th.

Detroit kept its AL Central chances alive with a 5-4 win against the Royals at home. The Royals led 4-0 in the game.

Johan Santana now leads the AL in strikeouts and home runs allowed. The White Sox beat him 6-4.

AL West (John Montague Division):

The Angels were primed to become the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff spot. But they didn't. The Mariners, behind Jarrod Washburn and Brandon Morrow, shut out the Angels in Anaheim, 6-0.

Nevertheless, the Angels magic number is still 1 and if the Angels win one of the next two games against Seattle, it's over. The Mariners cannot be eliminated from the wild card any earlier than Sunday.

AL Wild Card (Dave Collins Division):

The Yankees lead Detroit by 5 1/2 games and have a magic number of 5 to make the playoffs.

Tomorrow's pitching matchups in games with postseason implications:

Shaun Marcum (Toronto) vs Roger Clemens Phil Hughes (New York), Miguel Batista (Seattle) vs Bartolo Colon (Los Angeles), Kyle Davies (Kansas City) vs Kenny Rogers (Detroit), Dan Haren (Oakland) vs Paul Byrd (Cleveland), Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston) vs Andy Sonnanstine (Tampa Bay)

NL East (Rico Brogna Division):

The Mets survived a shaky start by Pedro Martinez and a 141-minute rain delay, but the Marlins helped out with six errors and a passed ball that led to eight unearned runs as they beat the Marlins 9-6. Scott Schoeneweis got his first save of the year as Billy Wagner was again unavailable.

The Phillies are still 1 1/2 games back after beating Washington for the second straight time at RFK, 6-3. Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, and Jimmy Rollins all hit home runs. The Mets magic number is 8.

For Atlanta, see below.

NL Central (Ted Savage Division):

Chicago pounded error-prone Pittsburgh in the afternoon behind two three-run homers from Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs won 13-8.

Milwaukee was trailing Atlanta and Tim Hudson 1-0 in the eighth and had two outs and no one on before Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder singled. Corey Hart singled home Braun and he and Fielder moved up a base on an error by Jeff Francouer in right field. After Hudson intentionally walked Geoff Jenkins, reliever Ron Mahay came in and uninentionally walked pinch hitter Joe Dillon to force in a run. Bill Hall singled in another run and the Brewers tacked on another in the 9th to win it 4-1.

Houston gave St. Louis the death blow, 6-3 in the Mound City. Cincinnati is discussed elsewhere.

Chicago's magic number is 8, which is also the same number of games they have left.

NL West (Steve Finley Division):

Arizona stretched its lead in the West to 1 1/2 games with a 12-3 hammering of the Dodgers.

The Padres lost to Colorado 2-1 in 14 innings. Rookie Franklin Morales matched Jake Peavy pitch for pitch, and almost got a 1-0 win, but Adrian Gonzalez tied the game up in the 9th off of Manny Corpas with a home run.

In the 12th inning, Brad Hawpe of the Rockies ended a rally with a baserunning gaffe. And in the 14th, Hawpe homered off of Joe Thatcher to give the Rockies the win. The Padres had just four hits. The last team to get just four hits in 14 innings was Washington against Houston on July 24, 2005.

Arizona's magic number is 8 to win the division and 6 to clinch a playoff spot. San Diego's loss means that the Dodgers cannot be eliminated until Sunday at the earliest.

The Giants announced Barry Bonds wouldn't be back in 2008. And he didn't play against the Reds, but the fans got to see a different beloved vet, Omar Vizquel, hit a home run. But the Giants blew an 8-3 lead in the eighth and lost 9-8 in 11 innings.

NL Wild Card (Andy Ashby Division):

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

Tomorrow's pitching matchups in games with postseason implications:

Zach Duke (Pittsburgh) vs Rich Hill (Chicago), Yovani Gollardo (Milwaukee) vs John Smoltz (Atlanta), Oliver Perez (New York) vs Byung-Hyun Kim (Florida), Kyle Kendrick (Philadelphia) vs Tim Redding (Washington), David Wells (Los Angeles) vs Brandon Webb (Arizona), Mark Redman (Colorado) vs Jack Cassel (San Diego).