The morning after the last nail was effectively banged into the St. Louis Cardinals’ playoff coffin…

The Tribe lowered their manage number to clinch the AL Central title to 10; the Washington Nationals began their final homestand in historic RFK Stadium; the Mariners remained 5 1/2 back after New York overcame a five-run deficit to win 8-7 in Boston and the Colorado Rockies stumbled to keep pace in the NL wildcard race.

Yanks 8, Red Sox 7 — It’s Yankees-Red Sox!! It’s Red Sox-Yankees!! The Yankees trailed 7-2 at one point, but thanks to the bats of Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano who clubbed homers off Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Yankees made their charge.  Alex Rodriguez pushed the tie-breaking run across the plate on a single to center in the eighth, scoring Bobby Abreu and cementing an 8-7 for New York.

Royals 4, Indians 5 — Casey Blake’s walk-off home run to left field fueled the Indians 5-4 victory over visiting Kansas City. It was Blake’s first dinger in 36 games.

Tigers 4, Twins 2 — Timo Perez drove in three runs, Nate Robertson won for the first time in six starts, and the Tigers topped the Minnesota Twins 4-2.

Angels 3, White Sox 5 — Despite Jim Thome failing to hit his historic 500th home run, the Chicago White managed to knock off the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near San Diego but in swanky Orange County, 5-3.

M’s 2, D’Rays 1 — A pitcher’s duel at Safeco! Ichiro Suzuki started a string of three straight hits to begin the bottom of the ninth, and then scored on Jose Guillen’s sacrifice fly as Seattle beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2-1.
More after the jump »

News and notes while taking the rest of the weekend off (so we’ll see you Monday)…

O.J.: I just wanted my stuff back (CNN) Brilliant!

Junior decides on a number (ESPN.com) ESPN.com’s David Newton reports that the former No. 8 will now don No. 88 on his ride.  The official announcement is to be made September 19th.

Injury to McCown forces Culpepper’s debut (ESPN News Sources) Josh McCown’s injured right foot flared up on Friday, opening the door for Daunte Culpepper’s first NFL start in an Oakland uniform.

Source: Everett slightly moved three fingers (SI.com) More good news for the Buffalo Bills tight end as Kevin Everett moved three fingers.

Raiders coach mistaken for ball boy (SPORTSbyBROOKS) Speaking of the Raid-uhs, head coach Lane Kiffin was mistaken for…a ballboy.

“Notes” from Vick apology fetch big bucks (AP/ESPN) A television writer and producer (Carol Leifer if you must know) paid $10,200 for what an animal rights group said are notes from football star Michael Vick’s speech apologizing for a dogfighting scandal.