Tigers Lose, Twins Win; Rockies Beat Dodgers; Upton Cycles Out

Players of the Day for Friday, October 2, 2009 American League There was plenty of pennant race action in the AL Central on Friday night, as the Tigers were completely befuddled by Jake Peavy, who threw 8 innings of shutout ball at the division leaders, allowing just 2 hits and two walks while fanning 5 in an 8-0 White Sox win. Later, at the Metrodome, the Twins scored 10 runs in the first four innings and coasted to a 10-7 win over the Royals. Delmon Young cranked out a grand slam in the 1st, drove in another run on a fielder's choice in the second, and singled and scored the Twins' final run in the 4th. That left the race for the division title as close as it has been all season. Though the Tigers have led the way since early May, the Twins have won 14 of their last 18, since September 13, to pull to within 1 game of Detroit with two games to play. The Tigers face the White Sox Saturday and Sunday, while the Twins fill out the schedule with the Royals. Despite all the excitement over the divisional race, down in Tampa, B.J. Upton was accomplishing the unusual against C.C. Sabathia and the NY Yankees. In Tampa's 13-4 win, Upton collected 5 hits in five at-bats, including two singles, a double, triple and his 11 home run of the season. Besides hitting for the cycle, Upton drove in 6 runs and scored three times, for one of the best single-game performances of the season. National League The Colorado Rockies are known for having a late-season burst, but this is getting ridiculous. On Friday, a day after capturing the wild card, the Rockies won their fifth straight game, this one over the LA Dodgers in the first of their season-ending, three-game series. It seems that the Rockies will not be content with the wild card; they want the NL West title and right now appear to have all the momentum swinging their way, as they topped LA, 4-3. The Dodger loss was their fifth straight, and, with two games remaining, are, like the Tigers in the AL Central, in danger of losing control of the division they have dominated since early in the season. The Dodgers need only one win over the Rockies to clinch the division. Unlike the situation in the AL, where the Tigers and Twins could end up in a tie, either the Rockies or Dodgers will win the division outright over the course of the next two days. If the Rockies win on Saturday, it would put both teams at 93-68, with Sunday's game deciding the post-season seeding. The team that does not win the division will be the NL wild card. Arizona's Eric Byrnes hasn't been heard from much this season. After all, he's playing on a last place team, has played in only 82 games and entered Friday's contest batting just .216. But Byrnes apparently still has some pop left in his bat. In Arizona's 12-3 win over the Cubs, he singled twice and homered twice driving in 5 runs, earning him one of the last few POTD honors of the season. NOTES: There will be no 20-game winner in either league this season. The only two pitchers who had a chance at the mark - C.C. Sabathia and Adam Wainright - failed in their quests on Friday. Actually, Wainwright pitched well enough to win, allowing just 3 runs over 6 innings and leaving with a 6-3 lead, but the St. Louis bullpen allowed another 9 Milwaukee runs for a 12-6 loss. Sabathia lasted only 2 2/3 innings in his finale, allowing 8 hits and 9 runs (5 earned) in NY's 13-4 loss at Tampa.

Sosa Jams #600; Ordonez Leads AL at .383

American League Toronto 12 LA Dodgers 1 - Frank Thomas smashed his 10th home run of the season (and 497th of his career) - a 2nd inning grand slam, Greg Zaun chipped in with a single, double, homer, 3 runs and 3 RBI in 3 at-bats, and Roy Halladay worked the Dodgers over, allowing just 6 hits and 1 earned run. After LA had handed the Blue Jays a 10-1 knuckling on Tuesday, Toronto came back with a pretty good beat down of their own. Halladay improved to 8-2. Texas 7 Chi Cubs 3 - It was just another home run for Sammy Sosa (right), but this one was especially sweet, coming against his former team and elevating him into an elite club with only Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays as the other members. Sosa's 600th career home run came in Texas' half of the 5th inning and the solo shot put the Rangers up 5-1, and they coasted from there. It was Sosa's only hit of the night in 4 at-bats. Sosa spent all of 2006 out of baseball, some speculating that he was purging his body of steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs as baseball began cracking down on the use of banned substances by players. With #600 under his belt, Sosa need only look behind him as Ken Griffey Jr. is quickly approaching the same plateau. Griffey, a year younger at 37, has 582 lifetime homers, already has 19 this season and is on pace to crack his own 600th sometime in August or September. Griffey has never been associated with steroids or any other foul play, and for good reason - he didn't need them. Seattle 7 Pittsburgh 0 - Enigmatic Jeff Weaver got his first win of the season (1-6), shutting out the Pirates with a commanding complete game performance, in which he allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Despite the blanking, the up-and-down Weaver still sports an 8.56 ERA. The Mariners snapped a 6-game losing streak and have fallen into 3rd place in the AL West, 7 1/2 behind the Angels and 1 1/2 behind Oakland. Other AL Scores Florida 5 Chi White Sox 4 - Sox, 5-19 last 24 Oakland 5 Cincinnati 3 - D. Haren (W, 9-2) Cleveland 10 Philadelphia 6 - Indians remain tied for 1st in NL Cent. LA Angels 8 Houston 4 - V. Guerrero, HR (13), 3 RBI (66) Seattle 7 Pittsburgh 0 National League Arizona 7 Tampa Bay 4 - The Diamondbacks climbed to within a 1/2 game of San Diego in the NL West as Eric Brynes went 4-5 with a homer, double, two singles, 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. The D-Backs get a day off Thursday, then host Baltimore for 3 games before a 4-game showdown with the LA Dodgers, June 25-28. Detroit 8 Washington 4 - Who's hot? The Tigers are, winners of 4 straight and 10 of their last 14. The win at Washington kept them tied for 1st place in the AL Central with Cleveland. Magglio Ordonez (right) continued his stellar all-around play with a 3-4 effort last night, scoring twice and driving in a run - his 67th. Ordonez leads the majors with a .383 batting average. Maggs has an 8-game hitting streak, during which he's 16-29 (.552). Jeremy Bonderman pitched 5 innings for his 8th win without a loss. Other NL Scores Milwaukee 7 San Francisco 5 - B. Hall, GS HR (8), 5 RBI Baltimore 7 San Diego 1 - O's snap 9-game losing streak Colorado 6 NY Yankees 1 - M. Holliday HR (13), 3 RBI (57) Minnesota 6 NY Mets 2 - 2nd straight for Twins over Mets Boston 11 Atlanta 0 - J. Tavarez (W, 5-4) 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K St. Louis 7 Kansas City 6, 14 innings - R. Ludwick GW HR (4) Interleague Scoreboard: Friday (6/8): AL 8, NL 6 Saturday (6/9): AL 10, NL 4 Sunday (6/10): AL 9, NL 5 Monday (6/11): AL 0, NL 2 Tuesday (6/12): AL: 8, NL: 6 Wednesday (6/13): AL: 6, NL: 8 Thursday (6/14): AL: 7, NL: 5 Friday (6/15): AL: 6, NL: 8 Saturday (6/16): AL: 5, NL: 9 Sunday (6/17): AL: 9, NL: 5 Monday (6/18): AL: 7 NL: 3 Tuesday (6/19): AL: 3, NL: 11 Wednesday (6/20): AL: 10, NL: 4 Total: AL: 88 NL: 76 Note: During interleague play, home teams are reported under their respective leagues.