Rich Harden and Pedro Martinez pitched well last night for the A’s and Mets, respectively, increasing both teams’ chances of success in the postseason.

Just about. The Dodgers beat the Padres in 11 innings Monday, and those four home runs in the ninth obscured the fact that the game had already been quite a nailbiter. Here’s a closer look.

Fat ladies are singing across the country, as postseason hopes dwindle for most contenders except the Phillies and, perhaps, the White Sox.

The Padres beat the Dodgers to take first place in the NL West. Crazy game of the day: the Braves scored five runs in the bottom of the tenth after allowing four in the top of the inning.

Lots of hitters hit milestones yesterday: Young and Suzuki reached 200 hits, Thomas hit 100 RBI’s and Joey Gathright hit a home run!

The Chicago Cubs haven’t had a lot of highlights this year, but they won the rubber game of a crazy three-game series with Dodgers, cutting the Dodgers’ NL West lead to one-half game.

Bumpus Jones, the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his first start, pitched only seven more games the rest of his career with an ERA of 10.19. That was in 1893, when they moved the mound back to 60′ 6″ from home plate.

The Twins beat the A’s, pulling ahead of the White Sox, who lost to the Angels, who gained ground on the A’s. Meanwhile, the the Giants beat the Rockies, pulling them closer to the Dodgers and Padres, who lost to the Cubs and Reds, respectively, keeping them even with the Cardinals, who beat the Astros.

Five starting pitchers recorded ten or more strikeouts yesterday; that hasn’t happened in eight years.

Lots of extra-inning games and pennant action yesterday, but the real action was in Arizona, where Brandon Webb pitched a one-hitter.