At New York, Robinson Cano hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Gary Sheffield added a three-run shot in the eighth and New York defeated Toronto 8-4 in its final scheduled home game of the regular season.
A fan favorite since he came up to the Yankees in 1991, Bernie Williams repeatedly was given standing ovations on the overcast afternoon, perhaps his final game with New York in Yankee Stadium. The 37-year-old center fielder, whose production has declined the past three years, can become a free agent after the season, and there has been no indication whether the team wants him back.
Williams went 1-for-4 with an infield single, with fans standing and applauding through each of his at-bats.
PHOTO: AP
New York trailed 3-2 against Josh Towers (12-12) before Jorge Posada singled on the first pitch of the seventh. Cano connected two pitches later, and Mariano Rivera got four outs for his 42nd save in 46 chances.
White Sox 4, Twins 1
Mark Buehrle pitched a four-hitter and Paul Konerko homered to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 Sunday, pushing their American League Central division lead back to 2.5 games over Cleveland.
PHOTO: AP
Ahead by 15 games on Aug. 1, the White Sox have a bit of breathing room again with a week left in the season after winning their third straight. Cleveland lost in Kansas City.
Before a spirited crowd of 30,402 in their final regular-season home game -- both the crosstown Cubs and NFL Bears were home on the same day -- the White Sox waited out a 69-minute rain delay to get their 94th victory.
Buehrle (16-8) is only 6-5 since the All-Star break, but he retired his first nine batters. The left-hander struck out six and walked none.
The White Sox have seven games to play -- four in Detroit and then a three-game showdown at Jacobs Field. Chicago had lost 10 of 14 before starting this modest winning streak and is 25-26 since Aug. 1.
Konerko gave the White Sox a 4-0 lead with a two-run shot off Francisco Liriano (0-2) in the third inning, his 38th homer and first since Sept 9. It followed an RBI triple by Aaron Rowand.
Royals 5, Indians 4
At Kansas City, Missouri, Cleveland center fielder Grady Sizemore lost Paul Phillips' ninth-inning double in the sun, allowing Angel Berroa to score the winning run for Kansas City.
The heavy-hitting Indians lost for only the third time in 20 games, trimming their AL wild-card lead to a half-game over the Red Sox and Yankees, who are tied atop the AL East.
Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer for Cleveland.
Emil Brown had a two-run shot for the Royals, who had dropped 10 straight to Cleveland and have the worst record in the major leagues. But they snapped the Indians' four-game winning streak and avoided a four-game sweep, slowing Cleveland's playoff push -- at least for a day.
The Indians tied the score at 4 in the ninth on Casey Blake's RBI grounder, but Bob Howry (7-4) gave up a leadoff single to Berroa in the bottom half. He moved up on Joe McEwing's sacrifice and scored when Phillips' deep fly bounced off Sizemore's leg.
Mike MacDougal (5-6) blew a save but got the win.
Red Sox 9, Orioles 3
At Baltimore, Manny Ramirez hit his 41st homer in a five-run first inning and Johnny Damon connected in a four-run fifth, leading Boston past Baltimore for a three-game sweep.
A majority of the 46,559 fans in attendance were cheering for the Red Sox. There was no Green Monster in left field, but for a third straight day the seating bowl was filled with fans in red and the Orioles' home stadium sounded very much like Fenway Park.
The victory enabled the defending World Series champions to remain tied atop the division with the New York Yankees, who beat Toronto. New York opens a four-game series in Baltimore on Monday, and Boston plays four home games against Toronto before closing with three against the Yankees at Fenway.
It was the fifth homer in five games for Ramirez, who moved into a tie with former Oriole Cal Ripken for 34th place on the career list (431).
David Wells (14-7) allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings before leaving with a minor knee injury.
Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada homered for the Orioles, whose eight-game losing streak matches a season high. Tejada was guilty of two mental blunders and a fielding error that fueled Boston's two big innings.
Devils Rays 8, Angels 4
At Anaheim, California, Jorge Cantu and Aubrey Huff homered on consecutive pitches from Bartolo Colon, and Tampa Bay ended Los Angeles' eight-game winning streak.
Mark Hendrickson (11-7) won his seventh straight decision, denying the AL West-leading Angels a chance to reduce their magic number of five for clinching the division title. Los Angeles began the day with a four-game lead over Oakland, which played later against Texas.
The Angels and Athletics begin a four-game series in Oakland on Monday night.
After Cantu hit a two-run shot with two outs in the third inning, Huff sent a high drive to right for a 4-1 lead. Jonny Gomes added a solo shot off Colon (20-8) in the fifth.
Rangers 6, Athletics 2
At Oakland, California, Rod Barajas hit a three-run homer and Michael Young extended his career-best hitting streak to 22 games with an RBI double, leading Texas past Oakland.
Juan Dominguez (4-5) pitched 7 1-3 strong innings for the Rangers, who took two of three from the Athletics.
Dan Johnson hit a two-run homer for Oakland, which failed to gain ground on the Angels.
The Rangers have 258 home runs, passing the 1996 Baltimore Orioles for the second-best total in major league history, six behind the 1997 Seattle Mariners.
Young matched the third-longest hitting streak in club history with his double against Kirk Saarloos (10-8), who allowed five runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings.
Jeromy Burnitz hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Derrek Lee also connected and the Chicago Cubs beat Houston 3-2 on Sunday to cut the Astros' National League wild-card lead to one game.
The Astros took a 2-1 lead into the seventh and turned the game over to their bullpen, which hadn't given up a run since Wednesday.
But Chad Qualls got in trouble quickly, allowing a leadoff single to Lee. With two outs, Mike Gallo (0-1) relieved. He hadn't allowed a run in 5 1-3 innings spanning eight outings, but Burnitz sent a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left-center for his 24th homer.
Jerome Williams (6-9) won for the first time since Sept. 4, allowing two runs and four hits in seven innings. He walked a season-high six and struck out three. Ryan Dempster pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 33 chances, retiring pinch-hitter Jeff Bagwell with a runner on to end it.
Phillies 6, Reds 3
At Cincinnati, Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff home run, extending his hitting streak to 30 games, and fell a double short of the cycle as Philadelphia pulled within a game of Houston in the wild-card race.
The Phillies have won four of five. Philadelphia and Houston both have six games left.
Chase Utley added his first career inside-the-park homer and Cory Lidle (12-11) turned in his longest outing in seven starts as the Phillies improved to 39-39 on the road this season, including 6-3 on the trip that ended on Sunday.
Rollins' 11th home run of the season, off Reds left-hander Randy Keisler (2-1), was his third leadoff shot of the season and 12th of his career.
Braves 5, Marlins 3
At Atlanta, Marcus Giles hit a tying two-run homer, then drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly as Atlanta moved closer to another division title by beating fading Florida.
Atlanta (89-67) swept the three-game series and lowered its magic number for clinching the NL East to two. The Braves are five games ahead of Philadelphia as they seek their 14th straight division title.
Florida's A.J. Burnett (12-12) couldn't hold an early 3-0 lead as his losing streak stretched to a career-worst six games. The Marlins have lost nine of 11 and are five games behind Houston in the wild-card race with six to play.
After the game, the frustrated Burnett indicated he would not re-sign with the Marlins.
Blaine Boyer (4-2) recorded one out in the seventh for the win. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances with the Braves.
Mets 6, Nationals 5
At Washington, Mike Piazza hit two of New York's four homers, and the Mets eliminated Washington from playoff contention and dropped the Nationals to last in the NL East.
The Mets (78-77) completed a three-game sweep and moved out of fifth place for the first time since Sept. 2. David Wright and Mike Jacobs hit solo homers off Travis Hughes (1-1) in the eighth.
Juan Padilla (2-1) earned the win by going 1 2-3 innings.
The loss, Washington's seventh in eight games, made its record 78-78, the first time the club's been at .500 since it was 25-25 on May 29. Four days later, the Nationals started a 10-game winning streak that helped them reach the halfway mark at 50-31 with a 5.5-game lead atop the NL East.
The New York Yankees set an American League attendance record when they drew their 43rd home sellout on Sunday to increase their total to 4,090,696.
The crowd of 55,136 at the 8-4 win over Toronto left the Yankees with a major league-leading average of 50,502 for their 81 scheduled home dates.
New York, tied with Boston for first in the AL East division as it went on the road for the final week of the regular season, topped the 4,057,947 drawn by the Blue Jays at SkyDome in 1993, the second of Toronto's consecutive World Series championship years. The major league record of 4,483,350 was set by Colorado in Mile High Stadium.
racist threatens Jeter
Yankees star Derek Jeter is the latest athlete to receive a threatening letter warning him to stop dating white women.
The letter was mailed to Jeter at Yankee Stadium and called him a "traitor to his race," according to a story in Monday's editions of the Daily News. It warned him to "stop or he'll be shot or set on fire," said a law enforcement source who the newspaper did not identify. It was not clear whether the source was speaking on condition of anonymity.
Jeter, whose father is black and mother is white, has been linked with women of various racial and ethnic backgrounds in New York's gossip columns.
"The wording is very similar to letters that have been sent to other prominent people across the country," special agent Scott Wilson of the FBI in Cleveland told the newspaper.
The mail, postmarked from cities in northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, criticized interracial relationships and directed the men to end such relationships "or they're going to be castrated, shot or set on fire."
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