Padres' Power Spoils Rockies Rookie's Debut

With Dodgers in NLCS, only Philly-Colorado remains up in the air

(NEWSER) - The Yankees wrapped up a sweep of the Twins tonight in Minneapolis, getting homers from Jorge Posada and suddenly clutch Alex Rodriguez in a 6-1 win. They advance to face the Angels, who mounted an unlikely ninth-inning comeback this afternoon, scoring off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon three times and hanging on for a 7-6 victory and their own sweep in Boston. More»

Rays at the head of the class—Rockies, Marlins at the back

(NEWSER) - Report card time! Here’s how the rambunctious kids of MLB are doing so far, in Yahoo Sports’ Steven Henson’s estimation. A students—Rays, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, White Sox Particular kudos go to the Rays, the poor kid who went to the head of the class. B students—Cardinals, Brewers, Twins, Phillies, Yankees, Athletics, Marlins, Orioles The Cardinals have a slight edge in the wildcard race. The Yankees, meanwhile, barely scrape together a B. More»

Mauer has early RBI; Young ignites winning rally in seventh

(NEWSER) - Nick Blackburn pitched seven strong innings and Delmon Young doubled twice and scored two runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night. Blackburn (4-2) struck out five and didn't walk a batter to help the Twins end a three-game skid. Joe Nathan remained perfect in 13 save opportunities. More»

(NEWSER) - Backed by Stephen Drew's career-high four hits, Brandon Webb became the major leagues' first nine-game winner when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies 8-5 last night. Webb (9-0) – who has won his first nine starts - allowed three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight. He has now won 11 straight starts dating to last September. More»

Cubs hurler goes eight-plus innings, knocks in go-ahead run

(NEWSER) - Ryan Dempster struck out a career-high 12 and hit a go-ahead single against Greg Maddux during a four-run fifth inning, leading the Chicago Cubs over the punchless Padres 4-0. Jim Edmonds singled in his debut with the Cubs, who won three of four from the team with the worst record in the major leagues (15-27). More»