Every day is a battle now and every day features nail-biting action. The Mariners led Baltimore the entire game until the fighting young Orioles tied the game with two outs in the ninth off a closer who hadn't blown a save in the last fourteen attempts. The Orioles then loaded the bases in the tenth but didn't score. The battle continues.

The Cardinals, now fighting for their life led their game 2-1 for most of the game until Isringhausen blew the save in the ninth. The two teams are now battling into the eleventh inning.

The Red Sox combined good pitching by Pedro Martinez and timely hitting from seventeen game winner, Andy Pettitte, to beat the Yankees convincingly in New York. The Red Sox maintain their small lead in the wildcard and pull within two games of the Yankees.

The Phillies won a squeaker from the Mets, 1-0 as Vincente Padilla won his 12th game. New closer and world traveler, Rheal Cormier, recorded his first save in his first chance. The win, combined with a Marlins loss to the Expos, puts the Phillies back on top in the wildcard standings.

The White Sox and the Twins both won to stay tied at the top of the AL Central. The Royals are trying to stay only a game back and are beating the Angels 2-0 in the fifth. The Padres are leading Houston. The Rockies are leading the Dodgers. The Cubbies beat the Brewers with Sammy Sosa's homerun and his 89th and 90th RBI.

While I'm waiting for the finals scores to come down, let's look at the Fan's favorite boxscore players and how they performed for the last seven days:

The Struggling Mariners Core:
Ichiro - 2 for his last 27 (.074)!
Edgar Martinez - 3 for his last 19
Mike Cameron - 2 for his last 19

The Reds just scored two runs in the top of the 12th to take a 4-2 lead over the Cardinals. Instrumental in the rally was Wily Mo Pena, of all people.

The future great Rangers:
Hank Blalock. 10 for 21 (.476!) with 3 doubles, 2 homers and 6 runs scored
Mark Teixeira. 14 for 25 (.560!!) with 4 doubles, a triple and 3 homers to account for 9 RBI!
Michael Young. 5 for 25 (.200) with 3 doubles, a homer and 3 runs scored.
Laynce Nix. 4 for 13 (.308) with 2 homers and 7 RBI.

Others:
Karim Garcia. 6 for 14 (.429) with 3 RBI.
Nick Johnson. 9 for 22 (.406) with a .511 OBP and 6 RBI.
Melvin Mora. 4 for 11 (.364) with 2 runs scored. He can still win the batting race with enough AB's
Rocco Baldelli. (steady each week) 7 for 24 (.292) 2 RBI and 4 runs scored. BUT also, 8 K's
Coco Crisp. A crisp 13 for 30 (.433) with 4 runs scored, 2 RBI and 4 stolen bases.
Pat Burrell. A good week! 7 for 24 (.292) with 2 doubles, a homer and 5 RBI
Miguel Cabrera. 2 for 24 Ugh! (.083) with 10 strikeouts!
Bo Hart. 3 for 11 (.273) with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored.
Scott Podsednik. 8 for 24 (.333) with a double and 6 runs scored.
Sean Burroughs (now batting leadoff). 7 for 24 (.304) with a double and 4 runs scored.

Well, good new for Mariners' fans as they pulled out the win in 13 innings. Bad news for Cardinal fans as the Reds came on to win that game 4-2 in 12 innings. The Dodgers have come from behind to go ahead of the Rockies. The Royals are up 5-0 in the 8th and the Astros have come back to lead the Padres, 5-4.