Wednesday baseball

What you missed, in a nutshell:

- Well, the Mets managed to hold a lead. That's a start. Mets def. Nationals 8-4

- Congratulations to Andy Pettitte on his 200th career win. An important nail-biter for his team to boot. Yankees def. Orioles 2-1

- Scott Hairston, of all people, with the game-winning 3-run homer! Padres def. Pirates 5-3

Other results of note: Indians def. Tigers (4-2), Angels def. Devil Rays (2-1), Blue Jays def. Red Sox (6-1), Cubs def. Reds (3-2), Cardinals def. Phillies (2-1), Astros def. Brewers (5-4), Rockies def. Dodgers (6-5), Diamondbacks def. Giants (6-4)

Big wins tonight for the Mets and Padres, taking advantage of a rare Phillies loss to add onto their leads in the NL East and Wild Card, respectively. Surprisingly great pitching match-up between Pettitte and Brian Burres of the Orioles. A wild pitch that scored Doug Mientkiewicz was the difference. Jonathan Papelbon gave up a grand-slam in the 8th inning to put the game out of reach for the Red Sox. This coming on the heels of another Gagne implosion and Okajima set to miss time with a "tired arm." Ouch. The Indians came at the Tigers with nail in hand, more than happy to close the coffin. With their win tonight, they completed a three-game sweep of Detroit. Watching the NL Central race is making me seasick. Chalk up another loss to the Dodger bullpen.

Thursday baseball:

RHP Brett Tomko (3-11, 5.40 ERA) and the Padres host RHP Matt Morris (9-10, 4.84 ERA) and the Pirates.

LHP Tom Glavine (13-6, 3.88 ERA) and the Mets take on LHP Dontrelle Willis (9-15, 5.34 ERA) and the Marlins.

RHP Jason Bergmann (5-5, 4.38 ERA) and the Nationals host RHP Kyle Lohse (8-12, 4.49 ERA) and the Phillies.

RHP Victor Zambrano (0-2, 7.98 ERA) and the Orioles take on RHP Brandon McCarthy (5-10, 5.07 ERA) and the Rangers.

Other games of note:
Dodgers @ Rockies (Lowe vs. Jimenez)
Brewers @ Braves (Suppan vs. Bennett)
Mariners @ Angels (Feierabend vs. Weaver)

No one could have predicted it even one week ago, but these Mets vs. Marlins and Phillies vs. Nationals series are going to be important. The team who can beat up on the weaker teams in their division the most might be the last one standing in this last 1 1/2 weeks of the season.

No real interesting pitching match-ups set for Thursday. We'll have to hope something surprises us.