American LeagueJason Giambi banged out a grand slam in the ninth inning, and Jose Contreras struck out a career-high nine Tuesday night as the Yankees clinched their sixth straight American League East title with a 7-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
"No, it doesn't get old," New York's Derek Jeter said as he watched his teammates spray each other with champagne in the clubhouse. "We've been playing from the middle of February to be in this position right here, to win the division. It's worth celebrating."
Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera hit solo homers, and Hideki Matsui drove in his team-high 106th RBI for the Yankees, who last Saturday assured themselves of no worse than the wild-card berth.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chicago was eliminated from contention with the loss, its ninth in 13 games.
"I always held out hope," White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. "Regardless of what the numbers were I always held out hope we could get it done. Baseball is a funny game, but we just didn't get it done."
Contreras (7-2) allowed four hits in eight innings to beat Mark Buehrle (14-14), who gave up two runs and eight hits in seven innings.
Twins 4, Indians 1
In Minneapolis, Cristian Guzman went 2-for-2 with a homer and two runs as Minnesota clinched its second straight AL Central title by beating Cleveland for its 10th consecutive win.
Kenny Rogers (13-8) came within one out of a shutout, allowing a two-out RBI single to Josh Bard. Eddie Guardado finished for his 40th save. Shannon Stewart drove in two runs.
Minnesota, 7 1/2 games out at the All-Star break, had to wait 30 minutes after the game to celebrate. The Twins' title wasn't ensured until Chicago and Kansas City both lost and were eliminated.
Jake Westbrook (7-10) gave up four runs -- three earned -- and six hits in seven innings.
Athletics 4, Rangers 3
In Oakland, California, the Athletics clinched their second straight AL West title behind Adam Melhuse's RBI single in the 10th off Texas pitcher Francisco Cordero (5-8), who blew his league-high 10th save.
Oakland wrapped up the division about 20 minutes later when second-place Seattle lost 2-1 in 11 innings at Anaheim. The A's will be going to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
Jermaine Dye had driven in the tying run for Oakland with a double in the ninth after Todd Greene's solo homer off closer Keith Foulke (9-1) in the top of the inning put Texas ahead 3-2.
Tigers 15, Royals 6
In Kansas City, Missouri, Warren Morris, Craig Monroe and A.J. Hinch all homered as Detroit (39-118) stopped a 10-game losing streak with a win over Kansas City.
The Tigers, who scored their most runs since getting 19 against Texas on Aug. 8, 2001, must still win four of its last five games to avoid tying the post-1900 loss record of 120 held by the 1962 New York Mets.
Tigers manager Alan Trammell missed the game to attend his mother's funeral.
Red Sox 6, Orioles 5
In Boston, Todd Walker tied the game with a three-run homer off Jorge Julio with two outs in the ninth and David Ortiz won it for Boston with a solo shot against Baltimore's Kurt Ainsworth (0-1) in the 10th.
South Korea's Byung-Hyun Kim (8-5) earned the win with a scoreless 10th. Boston began the night 2 1/2 games ahead of Seattle in the AL wild-card race.
Blue Jays 8, Devil Rays 5
In Toronto, Carlos Delgado hit his 299th homer, breaking a 4-all tie in the fifth against Victor Zambrano (11-10), and Reed Johnson added a two-run shot as Toronto beat Tampa Bay.
Josh Towers became the second straight Toronto pitcher to be ejected, getting tossed for throwing behind Aubrey Huff in the fifth. Roy Halladay was ejected for hitting Rocco Baldelli with a pitch Monday.
Angels 2, Mariners 1
In Anaheim, California, Tim Salmon homered off former teammate Shigetoshi Hasegawa (2-4) in the 11th inning as Anaheim eliminated Seattle from the AL West.
Randy Winn had tied the score in the ninth with an RBI single off Troy Percival.
Francisco Rodriguez (8-3) pitched a hitless 11th for the victory.
National League
Kerry Wood struck out 12 and limited the Cincinnati Reds to one infield single in seven innings Tuesday night, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 6-0 victory and sole possession of first place in the National League Central.
The Houston Astros dropped a game back with a loss to San Francisco. The Cubs had not been alone in first place so late in a season since 1989, the last time they won a division title.
"We're sensing that we've gotten into the position we wanted to be in all year long," Wood said. "We're in it, and now we've got to step up and play good baseball."
The Reds couldn't even get a ball out of the infield through the first six innings as Wood (14-11) didn't come close to giving up a hit. He walked Russell Branyan with one out in the seventh, and Wily Mo Pena broke up the no-hit bid with an infield single.
"He was nasty, just like when we faced him in Chicago," Pena said. "It was the same thing. He was nasty then, too. I'm just glad I got the base hit."
Kyle Farnsworth and Mike Remlinger completed the two-hitter.
Wood set a career high for wins and leads the majors with 266 strikeouts.
Aramis Ramirez led Chicago's offense with a solo homer and RBI single off right-hander Scott Randall (2-4), a nine-year minor leaguer who was making his first big league start.
Giants 10, Astros 3
In Houston, Edgardo Alfonzo hit a grand slam in a 10-run second inning as San Francisco knocked Houston out of first place in the NL Central.
The Giants roughed up Wade Miller (14-13) and sent the Astros to their fourth consecutive loss. Houston had held at least a share of the division lead since Sept. 8.
Jason Schmidt (17-5) benefited from all the San Francisco offense. The right-hander, slated to start Game 1 of the playoffs for the NL West champion Giants, gave up only two runs and three hits in seven innings.
He has won five straight decisions and 12 of his last 14.
The Giants lead Atlanta by two percentage points in the race for the best record in the NL and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Marlins 5, Phillies 4
In Miami, Jeff Conine's three-run homer off Kevin Millwood highlighted a five-run seventh inning as Florida rallied to beat fading Philadelphia.
The Marlins overcame a shaky start by rookie Dontrelle Willis. They were on the verge of falling into a tie with Philadelphia in the wild-card race, but instead moved two games ahead with five to go -- including two more between the teams.
The second game of the three-game series is Wednesday, with Brett Myers (14-8) scheduled to pitch against the Marlins' Josh Beckett (8-8).
Rockies 20, Diamondbacks 9
In Denver, Ronnie Belliard homered twice and drove in a career-high eight runs, and Larry Walker hit a grand slam and had six RBIs as Colorado eliminated Arizona from postseason contention.
The loss, coupled with Florida's 5-4 win over Philadelphia, put the Diamondbacks six games behind Florida in the NL wild-card race with five remaining.
Belliard's eight RBIs matched the Colorado record, shared by Andres Galarraga and Walker. The 20 runs set a Rockies mark -- they scored 19 twice before. It was the most runs ever scored against Arizona.
The Diamondbacks got a two-run homer from Raul Mondesi.
Colorado's Darren Oliver (13-11) allowed four runs in five innings. Brandon Webb (10-8) gave up 10 runs -- six earned -- in four innings.
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