Mlb Playoffs | featured news

The barbs already were flying. Come Sunday, the Milwaukee Brewers bashed the St. Louis Cardinals with their bats. Needing a rally in the NL championship series opener, Milwaukee turned to its power duo of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, then got a clutch hit from Yuniesky Betancourt to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-6.

The Cardinals, who led the National League in runs scored, won the fifth game of their division series on Friday because their own ace, Chris Carpenter, beat the Phillies at their own game.

David Freese homered, doubled and drove in four runs as the St. Louis Cardinals tagged playoff nemesis Roy Oswalt and beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 Wednesday night, forcing a deciding fifth game in their NL division series.

The home runs came off two pitchers as the Texas eliminated Tampa Bay, three games to one, in their American League division series.

Justin Verlander was dominant enough for the Tigers while C.C. Sabathia struggled in the matchup of aces that was washed out in Game 1. Game 4 of the best-of-five division series is Tuesday.

Back on the road in the playoffs, the Texas Rangers won again. Colby Lewis outpitched All-Star David Price, Mike Napoli hit a go-ahead two-run homer and the defending AL champions survived a shaky night from the bullpen to hold off the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 Monday night in Game 3 of their postseason series.

John Jay knocked Carlos Ruiz backward with a hard forearm shiver, then the St. Louis Cardinals flipped this series around. Albert Pujols hit a go-ahead single in the seventh inning after Cliff Lee blew a four-run lead, and the Cardinals rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Sunday night to even their NL playoff matchup at one game each.

Brad Ziegler pointed at his foot, trying to make his case. It was pointless -- the balk call stood. The sixth-inning mistake seemed to rattle the Arizona reliever and he imploded, allowing six straight batters to reach base. By the time manager Kirk Gibson pulled Ziegler, the Milwaukee Brewers were well on their way to a 9-4 win Sunday and a 2-0 lead in the NL division series.

The playoff opener between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees was suspended because of rain in the second inning Friday night, probably wiping out the ace of each pitching staff for a few days.

Matt Moore dominated in his second major league start, pitching seven innings of two-hit ball as the improbable Tampa Bay Rays opened the real playoffs with a 9-0 victory over the defending AL champion Texas Rangers on Friday.