Pena, Rays Sting Twins; Jacobs Keeps Florida Hopes Alive

Players of the Day from Friday, September 19, 2008 American League Carlos Pena doubled, homered and drove in four runs in Tampa Bay's 11-1 rout of the fading Minnesota Twins. With Boston beating Toronto, 4-3, and the White Sox creaming KC, 9-4, the Rays remain 1 1/2 to the good atop the AL East, but the Twins dropped 2 1/2 behind Chicago in the Central and are close to being eliminated from wild card consideration, 7 1/2 behind Boston. Notes: The Angels, having already clinched the AL West, keep playing hard to maintain their overall lead for home field throughout the playoffs. After a wild 15-12 win at Texas on Friday, the Angels are 94-59 and with 9 games remaining may be the only team in the majors to reach 100 wins this season. 100-62 may be good enough to capture AL home field rights. The Rays, being the only team within striking distance at 91-61, would have to win nine of their last ten to match that mark. No matter the outcome, the AL will have home field advantage in the World Series after winning the All Star game in this past July. National League The Phillies came into Miami sporting a seven-game winning streak. Trouble was, their hosts, the Florida Marlins, were ready and waiting with an 8-game streak of their own on the line. Mike Jacobs helped settle the matter with a 2-run double in the 1st and a 2-run single in the 6th, helping the Marlins to their 9th straight in a 14-8 slugfest over the Phillies. Pretty much written off a few weeks ago, the Marlins never gave up and have roared back to within 4 1/2 of the Phillies, who currently are the wild card leader. Florida is also just 5 games back of the Mets in the NL East race. The Mets downed Atlanta, 9-5, on Friday, to retake the lead in the division. In between the Phillies and Marlins in the wild card race are the Milwaukee Brewers, who took another step backwards on Friday in an embarrassing 11-2 loss at Cincinnati. Milwaukee is this season's September swooner, compiling a horrific 4-14 record so far this month. While still in contention for the wild card, they face the Cubs in the final three games of the season, Sept. 26, 27 and 28. Chicago's magic number to clinch the division title is down to 1, despite being hammered by the Cardinals, Friday night. Notes: In the West, the Dodgers look to be the class of the division, but they'll have to prove it to their upstate rivals, the Giants, who ham-strung them 7-1 in the opener of their 3-game series in LA. Following the weekend series, LA hosts the Padres for three and closes out the season next weekend at San Francisco. The Dodgers lead the NL West by 3 1/2 games over Arizona. Their magic number is 6.

David Ortiz Bombs Yankees; Florida's Jacobs Launches a Pair

Players of the Day from Sunday, July 27, 2008 American League After spending nearly 2 months on the DL, David Ortiz returned for the weekend series with the Yankees and came through big time on Sunday with his 14th home run of the season as Boston pummeled New York, 9-2, avoiding a sweep of their 3-game series at Fenway Park. Ortiz singled and scored in Boston's 3-run first inning, then broke the game wide open with a two-run homer in the 5th, which increased Boston's lead to 7-0. Later, "Big Papi" drove in Jacoby Ellsbury with a sac fly for his third RBI of the evening. With the Rays losing, Boston got back to within 1 game of first place in the AL East, with the Yankees 3 games out. Notes: In the Central, the Tigers got one back against the White Sox with a 6-4 win which kept them from being swept at home. Chicago still leads Minnesota by 2 1/2 and Detroit by 6 1/2. National League The Florida Marlins are one of the more surprising teams of this season, thanks to players like Mike Jacobs, who went 3-for-5 in a 9-6 loss at Chicago on Sunday. Jacobs hit a three-run homer in the 2nd inning and a two-run shot in the 3rd, driving in five of Florida's 6 runs. The loss dropped the Marlins 2 games behind the Mets and a game back of the Phillies in the NL East. Jacobs is batting .245 with 22 home runs and 60 RBI. The Cubs, who split a 4-game set with Florida over the weekend, regained sole control of first place in the NL Central, as Milwaukee and St. Louis both lost. Chicago is a game in front of the Brewers and 4 to the good over the Cardinals. The Cubs begin a four game series at Milwaukee on Monday. Notes: Randy Johnson notched win #292, going 7 innings without allowing a run on 9 hits in a 7-2 win at San Francisco. Johnson should get 11 or 12 more starts and could reach the 300 win plateau by season's end. After losing six straight decisions, Johnson (8-7) has won four in a row. Arizona remains 1 game ahead of LA in the West.