Baseball, Mlb Playoffs | featured news

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.

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.

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.

The Boston Red Sox completed their September collapse in horrific and historic fashion, falling out of the playoff chase by allowing two ninth-inning runs in a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals completed one of baseball's greatest comebacks, clinching the NL wild card Wednesday night with an 8-0 win over Houston and a later loss by Atlanta. The Cardinals got their playoff spot when the Braves fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in 13 innings.

A little late-season magic helped both Boston and Tampa Bay, and they enter the final day of the regular season tied for the A.L. wild card.