American League
Seattle 6 Chi White Sox 0 -
Jeff Weaver (4-10) pitched his second complete game shutout of the season on Sunday, blanking the White Sox on 5 hits, striking out 8 without walking a batter. Weaver dominated like he did back on June 20, when the Mariners whitewashed Pittsburgh, 7-0. Starting out 0-6, Weaver's gone 4-4 since mid-June and the Mariners have contended in the AL West and wild card races.
NY Yankees 5 Cleveland 3 - The Yankees completed their 3-game sweep of the Indians, as
Jason Giambi homered for the second straight game since returning from the DL on August 7, and
Andy Pettitte (9-7) won his third straight decision.
The Yankees' romp through Cleveland did serious damage to the post-season hopes of the Indians, dropping them out of first place in the AL Central (Detroit now leads by 1/2 game), and placing them in 3rd place in the wild card race, 1 1/2 games behind co-leaders NY and Seattle.
Left for dead in early July, the Yankees have been relentless in their pursuit of Boston, and now trail the Red Sox by just 4 games, compiling a 23-8 record since the All-Star break.
Oakland 6 Detroit 11 -
Magglio Ordonez (right) led off the 2nd inning with a home run to right, and completed the 8-run Detroit outburst with a 3-run shot to left. Detroit's win gave them a 1/2-game lead in the AL Central. Ordonez leads the league with a .357 batting average, is second in RBI with 102 and his 21 homers are the 9th most in the league.
Other AL Scores
Boston 3 Baltimore 6, 10 innings
Minnesota 2 LA Angels 6 - Angels sweep Twins, have best home record in majors at 40-17
Toronto 4 Kansas City 1
Tampa Bay 1 Texas 9
National League
Florida 4 NY Mets 10 -
Moises Alou may turn out to be the savior of the Mets' season, returning to full strength off the DL just about the same time slugger
Carlos Beltran went to the bench for his own stint on the DL. Beltran has been back for three games now, but he's yet to produce tangible results, with just 1 hit in 10 at-bats. Alou smashed a pair of homers on Sunday and added a single to go 3-4 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. Alou has hit 5 homers in his last 8 games, helping the Mets stay 3 games ahead of Philly and 3 1/2 in front of Atlanta in the NL East.
Atlanta 3 Philadelphia 5 - The Phillies took 2 of 3 and a 1/2-game edge from the Braves in the battle for 2nd place in the division.
Ryan Howard (right) socked his 33rd home run, a 3-run shot in the 5th inning which turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 advantage. Starter Jamie Moyer picked up win #11 against 9 losses, and the Philly bullpen shut out the Braves over the final 2 2/3 innings.
The Phillies have somewhat of an easy road week upcoming, with 3 games at Washington followed by a 3-game series at Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, the Braves are home against San Fran and Arizona, while the Mets flip-flop with the Phils, playing consecutive three game sets at Pittsburgh and at Washington beginning Tuesday.
San Diego 10 Cincinnati 4 - The Padres picked up a game on Arizona with their second double-digit output in the last three games, giving them a 2-1 split at Cincy.
Kahlil Green went 4-5 with 3 RBI and
Brian Giles hit two home runs for the second game in a row. Both of Giles' homers on Sunday were solo shots.
Jake Peavy gave up 2 earned runs over 6 2/3, improving to 13-5.
LA Dodgers 2 St. Louis 12 - While the Cardinals may be hitting their best stride at just the right time, the Dodgers are hurtling headlong into the abyss of of the National League.
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The Cardinals have won 4 of their last six, but the Dodgers are a pitiful 3-11 over their last 14 games. On Sunday,
Ryan Ludwick smashed a 3-run homer in the first inning and delivered a run-scoring single in the 3rd to lead the Redbird assault with 4 RBI. The Dodgers fell to 4th place in the NL West, 6 games out, while the Cardinals closed to within 5 1/2 of Milwaukee in the Central.
The Cardinals have a critical week ahead, beginning with a three-game series at Milwaukee, followed by a 4-game set at 2nd place Chicago. It's put up or shut up time in the Central, especially for the Cardinals, who have yet to crack the .500 mark (55-60).
Other NL Scores
Washington 7 Arizona 6
San Diego 10 Cincinnati 4
Milwaukee 4 Houston 6
Chi Cubs 3 Colorado 6 - Cubs, Rockies split 4-game series
Pittsburgh 5 San Francisco 0
Ichiro (right) is a hitting machine. This marks the 7th consecutive year that he's had 200 or more hits, tying Wade Boggs' AL record. Breaking Willie Keeler's major league record of 8 straight seasons seems almost too easy.
Ichiro got a late start in American baseball, coming to the Mariners at the age of 27, but he's been outstanding ever since, averaging 159 games and 226 hits per season. In 2004, he set a major league record with 262 hits. At age 33, he's on pace to reach 3000 hits in just 14 seasons, if he plays until he's 40, a feat which normally takes major leaguers 18-20 years. And he doesn't seem to show any signs of slowing down. After swiping 45 bases in 2006, he's got 37 steals this year and over the past two seasons, has only be caught 5 times.
Ichiro, who carries a lifetime batting average of .333, is currently at .353, right behind Magglio Ordonez at .355. The two have been battling for most of the second half of the season. Ichiro is on pace for 237 hits.
Cleveland 5 Minnesota 0 - C.C. Sabathia improved to 16-7 with 8 innings of shutout work over the Twins, outgunning Minnesota starter Johan Santana. Sabathia allowed just 6 hits and a walk, striking out 6, as the Indians won for the ninth time in their last 10 games and opened up a 6-game lead over idle Detroit.
Toronto 10 Boston 13 - As he has all season, Mike Lowell came through for the Red Sox with another big game. Lowell cracked his 18th home run as part of a 3-4 performance, scoring twice and driving in 4 runs. The Sox, winners of 3 straight, have opened up a 7-game lead over the Yankees in the division and lay claim to the best record in baseball, at 83-55.
Other AL Scores
Baltimore 7 Tampa Bay 9
Kansas City 8 Texas 1
Oakland 5 LA Angels 9
National League
NY Mets 10 Cincinnati 4 - Moises Alou (right) stroked a pair of doubles, a solo homer and scored three times as the Mets improved their NL East lead to 5 games, as the Braves helped out by knocking off Philadelphia.
San Diego 10 Arizona 2 - The Padres reclaimed sole possession of first place in the NL West with a win in the opener of their 3-game set in Arizona. San Diego hitters sent 5 balls into the stands, including a pair by Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez's 25th of the season. Arizona starter, Micah Owings, gave up 4 hits in just 3 innings, all of them home runs.
Pittsburgh 11 St. Louis 0 - Ian Snell blanked the Cardinals on 5 hits over 7 innings, keeping St. Louis 2 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central and 1/2 behind 2nd place Milwaukee. All three leaders in the Central lost on Monday.
Other NL Scores
Florida 3 Washington 6
Philadelphia 1 Atlanta 5
Houston 9 Milwaukee 7
San Francisco 4 Colorado 7
LA Dodgers 11 Chi Cubs 3
LA Angels 7 Boston 5 - Eric Gagne cost the Red Sox a win, giving up three runs in the 9th, the final blow delivered by Vladimir Guerrero (right) who doubled home the tying and winning runs with his 40th double and 95th and 96th RBI. Vlad was bad, falling just a homer short of the cycle, going 3-5 with 3 RBI.
Other AL Scores
Baltimore 2 Toronto 5
Texas 1 Minnesota 2, 10 innings
Kansas City 9 Oakland 2
Chi White Sox 4 Seattle 5
National League
Arizona 4 Atlanta 0 - Brandon Webb (13-8) tossed his third consecutive shutout, running his scoreless innings streak to 42, tying Rube Foster for the 12th-longest streak in MLB history. Webb (right) baffled Atlanta's batters on 2 hits, while striking out 6 and issuing just one walk. Webb still has a way to go to reach Orel Hershiser's record of 59 straight scoreless innings, set in 1988, but the win boosted Arizona's lead in the NL West to 4 games over losing San Diego.
The Diamondbacks are streaking through August into baseball's final month. Friday was their third straight win and 10th in their last 13 games.
St. Louis 1 Chi Cubs 2 - The Cubs are once again in first place in the NL Central, and they got there by beating the team that helped jettison the formerly first-place Brewers. The Cardinals disposed of Milwaukee by sweeping their three-game series before heading to Chicago, and were rudely welcomed by Rich Hill (7-7) who allowed just 3 hits over seven innings. The Cardinals' only run came on Albert Pujols' 26th home run - a solo shot in the 6th, which gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Jacques Jones countered with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the inning, after which neither team could score.
The Cubs have a 1/2-game advantage over Milwaukee and lead the Cardinals by 3, though the Cards and Cubs still have three games left in their head-to-head series.
Cincinnati 8 Milwaukee 3 - Adam Dunn smacked his 33rd home run and the Reds knocked the Brewers out of first place, handing them their 5th straight loss.
NY Mets 6 Washington 2 - Tom Glavine notched career win #301 and Moises Alou homered for the 4th time in his last 5 games as the Mets maintained their NL East lead. Jose Reyes boosted his major league leading stolen base total to 62 with a pair of swipes.
Philadelphia 11 Pittsburgh 8 - Pat Burrell singled, doubled and homered, driving in 3 runs and scoring twice as the Phillies outlasted the Pirates in the first of a 3-game series. The Phillies kept pace with the Mets, who are 3 in front, and separated themselves from the Braves, who lost to Arizona.
Other NL Scores
San Francisco 3 Florida 0
Houston 3 San Diego 1
Colorado 4 LA Dodgers 6
NY Yankees 4 Toronto 15 - Earlier in the evening, the Yankees were shocked back to reality by the Blue Jays, who snapped New York's 5-game win streak, hammering out 16 hits, sending Chien-Ming Wang to the showers after just 2 2/3 innings. Wang (13-6), allowed 9 hits and 8 earned runs in his shortest start of the season. Vernon Wells (right) went 3-4 with 4 RBI. The loss dropped the Yankees back to 6 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.
Seattle 8 Baltimore 4 - The Mariners tied the Tigers for the wild card lead as Detroit, New York and Cleveland all lost. Jose Vidro went 3-3 drove in four runs and scored twice, belting a 2-run homer and a pair of sac flies.
Other AL Scores
Cleveland 4 Chi White Sox 6, 13 innings
Tampa Bay 7 Detroit 1
Oakland 6 Texas 3
Minnesota 11 Kansas City 4
National League
Milwaukee 4 Colorado 19 - The Rockies took over third place in the NL West, pounding out 23 hits against the slumping Brewers. Garrett Atkins (right) went 4-4, including a pair of doubles, and drove in six runs. Colorado won their third straight while the Dodgers lost their sixth in a row. The Rockies are 4 behind Arizona in the division. Second place San Diego is 2 back. Prince Fielder knocked his league-leading 34th home run for the Brewers.
LA Dodgers 0 Cincinnati 1 - The Dodgers, who were in first place just a week ago, lost their sixth straight and have been on the losing side of the ledger in 13 of their last 17 games. Their second straight loss to the Reds was also the third straight game in which they failed to score, having lost to Arizona, 3-0, on Sunday. The Reds won 4-0 on Tuesday and Wednesday's shutout was delivered by Aaron Harang (11-3), who worked the Dodgers over for 8 innings, allowing 4 hits while fanning 8. David Weathers pitched a perfect ninth for his 22nd save.
Torii Hunter smacked a fifth inning grand slam off Seattle starter Jeff Weaver en route to an 11-2 win for the visiting Twins. Hunter added a double in a 2-4 performance while catcher Joe Mauer belted out 3 doubles, scored twice and drove in 3 runs in 4 at-bats. Ramon Ortiz allowed the Mariners' only 2 runs of the game, working 7 innings for his 3rd win with no losses.
Weaver, who lasted only 2 innings in his first start of the season, managed to hang in for 6 innings, though the results were hardly encouraging. While Weaver actually cut his ERA nearly in half, from 30.50 to 15.75, he was touched by the Twins for 10 hits and 7 runs, all earned. Hard to believe this is the same guy who pitched 8 innings in the championship-clinching 5th game of the World Series last season, but it is. Weaver was traded by the Cardinals to the Mariners in the off-season. Message to Jeff: less surfing, dude; more pitching.
National League