American League
Cleveland 5 Minnesota 2 - The Indians finally put together a pair of wins - the first time since July 19 & 20 at Texas that they've won two straight - and took over first place in the AL Central.
After a 5-0 win over Texas on Thursday, the Indians put their ace,
C.C. Sabathia, (right) on the mound, and he responded with six solid innings, allowing just two earned runs against Twins' starter Johan Santana (11-9).
Sabathia (14-6) became the first pitcher in the American league to get to 14 wins, tying the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano for the most in the majors.
The Indians have been dogging Detroit for nearly a month, most recently going through a frustrating 3-8 stretch while the Tigers were desperately trying to fumble away first place, losing 11 of 15 since ending a 4-game win streak on August 19.
Kansas City 1 NY Yankees 7 - The Yankees, on the verge of completing what may be the softest part of their entire 2007 schedule, have taken 10 of 15 over Tampa Bay, Baltimore, KC and the White Sox, and with two games left in their series with the Royals, seem to have made some headway.
With Boston losing last night, the Yanks are 7 back in the AL East and now trail Detroit by 2 1/2 in the wild card race. Seattle is also involved, 1/2-game behind the Tigers.
After Sunday, it gets a lot more interesting in the Yankees' quest for a playoff spot, with August filled with games against Toronto, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland and the LA Angels. The month culminates with a 3-game series in the Bronx with Boston on August 28, 29 and 30. The upcoming stretch may well determine the post-season fate of the Bronx Bombers.
Boston 4 Seattle 7 - The Mariners continue to confound their critics, remaining a contender in both the AL West and wild card races. With a lineup consisting of no-name players beyond Ichiro and Adrian Beltre, Seattle manages to get timely hitting and pitching, like on Friday, when #9 hitter,
Yuniesky Betancourt delivered a 3-run homer in the 4th and broke a 4-all tie in the 6th with a key ground-out RBI. The Mariners are 2 1/2 behind the Angels and just 1/2-game behind Detroit in the wild card.
Other AL Scores
Chi White Sox 7 Detroit 4
Texas 4 Toronto 6
Baltimore 3 Tampa Bay 1
LA Angels 4 Oakland 8
National League
Cincinnati 13 Pittsburgh 4 -
Adam Dunn (right) socked his 29th homer and
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 26th, as all 8 position players for the Reds had at least 2 hits.
NY Mets 6 Chi Cubs 2 - The Mets are determined to make a mess of any other team's hopes of making the playoffs. On Friday, they knocked the Cubs out of first place, and, by virtue of losses by Philly and Atlanta, improved their NL East lead to 5 games.
Orlando Hernandez gave the Mets 6 2/3 innings of solid mound work, allowing 2 earned runs, and the bullpen blanked the Cubs the rest of the way, preventing
Carlos Zambrano from becoming the first 15-game winner in the majors.
Arizona 1 LA Dodgers 0 - The Diamondbacks upped their lead to 1 1/2 games, behind the 3-hit, 8-inning performance of
Doug Davis (8-10), who outdueled LA starter
Chad Billingsley (7-2).
Jose Valverde delivered a perfect ninth, fanning 2 of the 3 batters he faced, for his 32nd save.
The Dodgers fell to third place, 2 back, as the Padres beat San Fran. Colorado stayed in the race with a win at Florida. The Rockies are 3 1/2 off the pace.
Other NL Scores
St. Louis 2 Washington 3
Houston 8 Florida 2
Colorado 9 Atlanta 2
Philadelphia 1 Milwaukee 2
San Francisco 3 San Diego 4, 10 innings
Texas 0 Cleveland 5 - The Indians liked what Jake Westbrook (2-6, right) did on Thursday, hurling 6 innings of shutoff ball on 5 hits. His best performance of the season may be a sign that he is coming around to last season's form, when he posted 15 wins. This season, injury kept him sidelined for most of May and June, and when he returned, he was largely ineffective, posting 4 losses and 3 no decisions in his 7 starts.
The win over Texas was his first since an April 27 victory over Baltimore. The Indians snapped a 4-game skid and now trail Detroit by just 1/2 game.
LA Angels 6 Oakland 4 - Vladimir Guerrero socked a pair of homers, the second one a 3-run shot in the fifth that broke a 1-1 tie, leading the Angels with 4 RBI. LA improved its lead on Seattle to 3 1/2 games in the West.
Other AL Scores
Baltimore 4 Boston 7
National League
NY Mets 12 Milwaukee 4 - David Wright (right) went 4-5 with a double and his 19th home run and scored 3 times as the Mets pressed their edge in the NL East. The Mets pulverized the Brewers in the final 2 games of this series after dropping the opener, 4-2. In the finale, the New Yorkers pounded out 18 hits, 10 of them off Brewers starter Chris Capuano (5-8), who lasted 6 innings and allowed 5 earned. The Cubs lost to the Phillies, leaving the standings unchanged in both divisions, except that Atlanta fell 1/2-game behind the Phillies, 4 1/2 games out.
Houston 12 Atlanta 11, 14 innings - Jason Lane and Mike Lamb each drove in 4 runs as the Astros stole one from Atlanta. Lane whacked a three-run homer in the 3rd inning and scored the winning run 11 frames later, while Lamb's grand salami in the 8th inning tied the game at 9.
Arizona 0 San Diego 11 - Jake Peavy (right) fanned 10, allowing just 3 hits over 7 innings for his 11th win against 5 losses. 
The Padres tightened the race in the wild NL West, drawing to within 1 1/2 of the division-leading Diamondbacks, with the Dodgers sandwiched in between, one game out. Peavy's 154 strikeouts lead the league.
Colorado 4 Florida 3 - The Rockies stayed in the race with a come-from-behind win over the Marlins. Once again, Matt Holliday was smack in the middle of the action. His double in the 8th plated Kazuo Matsui with the tying run, and he scored on Garrett Atkins' sac fly one out later. Holliday is batting at a brisk .337 pace and his 86 RBI have him just 2 behind league leader Prince Fielder.
Other NL Scores
St. Louis 4 Pittsburgh 5, 11 innings
Philadelphia 10 Chi Cubs 6
Cincinnati 3 Washington 7 - A. Dunn, HR (28)
Houston 12 Atlanta 11, 14 innings
San Francisco 4 LA Dodgers 2
Chi White Sox 1 NY Yankees 8 - The Yankees continued to spank Chicago pitching, putting five balls into the stands on Wednesday after launching 8 the night before. No, A-Rod didn't hit one, but Jorge Posada (right) knocked two out, boosting his batting average to .341, good for 4th among AL hitters. The Yankees climbed to within 2 games of Cleveland in the wild card race.
Texas 9 Cleveland 6, 10 innings - The Tigers have lost two straight, and 8 of their last 10, but the Indians, losers of 4 in a row and 7 of their last 10, have not taken advantage, continuing to trail Detroit by one game in the division nobody seems to want. Thanks to the poor performances of the top two teams, the Twins have been able to remain in the race, 6 back.
LA Angels 7 Seattle 8, 12 innings - Adrian Beltre scored the game-winner and Ichiro Suzuki went 4-6, boosting himself to the lead in AL batting, at .351. The Mariners took 2 of 3 from the Halos, and trail them by 3 games in the AL West standings.
Other AL Scores
Toronto 2 Tampa Bay 6
Detroit 2 Oakland 3
Baltimore 4 Boston 5
Kansas City 5 Minnesota 3, 10 innings
National League
Philadelphia 4 Chi Cubs 5 - Matt Merton trotted home from 3rd base on Brett Myers bases-loaded wild pitch and the Cubs finally made it first place in the NL Central. The Brewers, whom they've been relentlessly pursuing for most of the season, lost earlier to the Mets, 8-5, and the Cubs found themselves .001 on top. The teams are tied in the games behind category, but it's the first time since April anybody other than the Brewers occupied the top spot in the division.
Philly dropped into third place in the NL East, trailing the Mets by 4 and Atlanta by 1/2 game. The Cubs have taken 2 of 3 form Philly. The series concludes this afternoon.
NY Mets 8 Milwaukee 5 - Recently acquired from the Dodgers, Marlon Anderson started in center field for NY on Wednesday and provided a huge boost, driving in 4 runs with a 3-run homer and a single in 4 at-bats. Anderson boosted the Mets over the drifting Brewers, evening the series - which concludes today - at a game apiece.
Arizona 9 San Diego 5, 11 innings - Chad Tracy's 3-run homer capped a 4-run 11th as the Diamondbacks took their second straight in San Diego. The win kept the D-Backs a game ahead of LA and pushed the Padres 2 1/2 back.
San Francisco 4 LA Dodgers 6 - Barry Bonds was booed lustily by the partisan Dodger fans and went 0-3 at the plate, finishing the night where he started - stuck at 754 home runs. Bonds is just 1-12 since smacking #753 on July 27. There was, however, a Nomar Garciaparra sighting, as the gritty veteran delivered a two-run, 8th-inning home run to provide the winning margin.
Houston 3 Atlanta 12 - Mark Teixeira launched a 3-run homer in his first game as a Brave, as Atlanta slipped past Philly into second place in the NL East. It was the second straight night that los Bravos have posted a dozen on the slumping Astros.
Other NL Scores
Cincinnati 2 Washington 7
Colorado 3 Florida 4
St. Louis 1 Pittsburgh 15 - Cardinals fall to 50-54, 6 games back
LA Angels 8 Seattle 0 - Payback is a... well, you know the rest. Just one night after being blanked 2-0 by the Mariners, John Lackey (right, 13-6) stepped to the mound and returned the favor with a complete-game, 7 hit shutout. The win increased the Angels' bulge over the Mariners to 4 games.
Other AL Scores
Texas 3 Cleveland 1
Baltimore 5 Boston 3
Toronto 2 Tampa Bay 0
Kansas City 3 Minnesota 5
Detroit 3 Oakland 7
National League
Arizona 4 San Diego 0 - Brandon Webb worked over the Padres hitters for seven innings, allowing just 3 hits while improving to 10-8 and getting the D-Backs into sole possession of first place in the NL West as the Dodgers were being handled by Nick Lowry and the SF Giants.
Colorado 6 Florida 3 - Earlier in the evening, the Rockies continued their push toward the top of the division with their 3rd straight win and 5th in their last 7. Matt Holliday 
NY Mets 2 Milwaukee 4, 13 innings - Tom Glavine pitched well enough to get his 500th win, allowing just 2 hits and 1 earned over 6 innings, but the bullpen gave up the tying run in the 8th and the game winner on Geoff Jenkins' (right) 14th home run in the 13th.
Houston 4 Atlanta 12 - The Braves were the main beneficiaries of the Mets and Phillies' largess, picking up a game on each of them. Kelly Johnson went 4-4, including a pair of homers and 5 RBI.
Other NL Scores
St. Louis 6 Pittsburgh 4
Cincinnati 3 Washington 6
San Francisco 3 LA Dodgers 1 - B. Bonds, 0-2, booed lustily in LA