Tuesday baseball

What you missed in a nutshell:

- Exciting 9th inning. Cordero was stellar as always... /sarcasm. Nationals def. Mets 10-9

- Well, I hope you didn't bet on Brian Bruney making the postseason roster. Devil Rays def. Yankees 7-6 [11 inn.]

- Ahh, there's the Baltimore pitching we know and love. Blue Jays def. Orioles 11-4

Other results of note: Pirates def. Diamondbacks (6-5), Braves def. Phillies (10-6), Marlins def. Cubs (4-2), Tigers def. Twins (8-0), Red Sox def. A's (7-3), Rangers def. Angels (3-1), Brewers def. Cardinals (9-1)

As for the games still in progress, the Indians lead Seattle 3-1 in the bottom of the 6th. The Rockies lead the Dodgers 4-2 in the bottom of the 5th. And the Giants lead the Padres 4-0 in the top of the 6th.

So what we can gather from this is that there were many, many teams who needed a win tonight, and the only team who did what they needed to by this point is the Brewers, who annihilated the Cardinals tonight. And the Tigers, I suppose, keeping their playoff hopes alive. ... Seattle will be eliminated tonight if the current score stands and the Mariners lose to Cleveland. ... That the Yankees lost tonight isn't a concern. They're going to win one game in their last five, even if Detroit runs the table. And they had Kei Igawa make an emergency start because Roger Clemens is still suffering problems with his hamstring. But they way they lost was rough. Igawa was shaky but scoreless through five. A-Rod hits a huge grandslam to make the score 5-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th. And a combined "effort" from Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney left the score 6-5. For all the slack Kyle Farnsworth takes, Brian Bruney has been terrible this year. If the team had any thought of carrying him on the postseason roster, you'd have to think this game sealed his fate. ... If the Mets are Superman, the Nationals are their kryptonite. Glavine didn't have a good outing, Bergmann pitched well for Washington, and the only reason the Mets got as close as they did in the 9th was because Acta hesitated too long to pull Jesus Colome and Chad Cordero wilted with two-outs to go. Still, the Phillies losing to the Braves took some pressure off of the Mets with a loss tonight. One of the strangest things you'll ever see is Shea Stadium doing the Braves chop.

To update, it's still 3-1 bottom 6th in Seattle. The Dodgers have taken the lead over the Rockies 5-4 in the bottom of the 5th. And San Diego is on the board, losing 4-1 to the Giants in the bottom of the 6th. That was the surprisingly clutch Scott Hairston with the solo-homer in the 6th inning off of Matt Cain. James Loney hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 5th inning off of Ubaldo Jimenez, who is now out of the game.

Wednesday's games:

RHP Victor Zambrano (0-2, 6.41 ERA) and the Orioles host RHP Roy Halladay (15-7, 3.71 ERA) and the Blue Jays.

RHP Chien-Ming Wang (18-7, 3.72 ERA) and the Yankees take on LHP J.P. Howell (1-5, 6.80 ERA) and the Devil Rays.

LHP Mike Bacsik (5-8, 4.76 ERA) and the Nationals take on RHP Philip Humber (0-0, 3.00 ERA) and the Mets.

RHP Jake Peavy (18-6, 2.36 ERA) and the Padres take on LHP Pat Misch (0-3, 2.75 ERA) and the Giants.

Other games of note:
Angels @ Rangers (Saunders vs. Mendoza)
Athletics @ Red Sox (Blanton vs. Lester)
Diamondbacks @ Pirates (Hernandez vs. Morris)
Braves @ Phillies (Hudson vs. Lohse)
Cubs @ Marlins (Marquis vs. Barone)
Twins @ Tigers (Santana vs. Jurrjens)
Indians @ Mariners (Carmona vs. Feierabend) [Game 1]
Indians @ Mariners (Sowers vs. Washburn) [Game 2]
Cardinals @ Brewers (Thompson vs. Villanueva)
Rockies @ Dodgers (Fogg vs. Lowe)

A fun final week of the regular season continues. Big pitchers on the hill Wednesday; Peavy, Wang, Carmona, Santana, Halladay, Hudson... The Yankees have their #1 guy on the mound as they look to clinch the Wild Card again against Tampa Bay. The Tigers, with a Yankee loss, would look to stay alive by sending impressive rookie Jurrjens against Johan Santana. Peavy looks to right the ship for San Diego, as the Mets try to avoid being swept by the Nationals at home and the Phillies tackle the tough task of defeating Tim Hudson.

Pitching match-up of the night for me is Jurrjens-Santana. Jurrjens has been great since being called up, and Santana remains one of the elite pitchers in baseball.