Three Doubles for Youkilis; Edmonds Aids Cubs Win

Players of the Day from Wednesday, August 14, 2008 American League If the Red Sox reach post-season play, they can thank slugger Kevin Youkilis for his relentless attitude. On Wednesday, the gritty infielder socked three doubles in four at-bats, scored three times and drove in two runs, leading Boston to an 8-4 win over Texas.

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Youkilis has been hitting above .300 for most of the season, and now, at .320, is just .002 short of the AL lead, behind Milton Bradley of Texas (.321) and the Yankees' Johnny Damon (.322). One of the toughest outs in the majors, Youkilis may be looking forward to his first batting title. Notes: The Rays won, 3-2, at Oakland, so the Red Sox remain 3 games back, but the Yankees seem to have fallen out of the race, losing 4-2, at Minnesota, which dropped them 9 games behind the Rays. In the Central, the White Sox won 8-0 over KC, to retain their 1/2 game lead over the Twins. The Tigers are another team which doesn't seem to have a post-season future, as they dropped their 3rd straight at home to the Blue Jays, 4-3, to fall 9 1/2 out. The Jay can complete a 4-game sweep of the Tigers Thursday afternoon. The Angels have a 15 game bulge in the AL West. Queue the countdown. LA's magic number is 28. National League The Chicago Cubs have made some good moves to solidify their squad this season, but maybe the best of all was the addition of Jim Edmonds, who has hit 15 home runs and is batting .275 in 60 games since joining the Cubs from San Diego. Edmonds blasted a two-run homer in the 3rd inning and added an RBI double in the 5th, as the Cubs hammered Atlanta, 10-2, in the first game of a double-header. The Cubs also won game two, 8-0. Notes: The Brewers and Cardinals both won Wednesday, so the Cubs only picked up 1/2 game on both, leading Milwaukee by 3 1/2 and St. Louis by 8 1/2 in the Central. The Dodgers beat the Phillies, 7-6, as Philly blew a 6-1 lead. That resulted in ties atop both the NL East and West, with Arizona and LA atop the West and Philly and the Mets locked up in the East, with Florida 1 1/2 back.