With much anticipation, the Home Run Derby ended with a familiar face winning. Previous contestant Prince Fielder outslugged Nelson Cruz 6-5 in the final roundto win the derby. Brandon Inge, Joe Mauer, Carlos Pena, and Adrian Gonzalez all failed to make it to the second round, leaving Ryan Howard, Fielder, Cruz, and hometown favorite Albert Pujols in the semifinals. Howard and Pujols, both fan favorites, failed to outlast Fielder and Cruz. Cruz batted first in the finals, hitting 5 homers. Fielder hit a bomb into the center field grass hill to end the contest.

2009 MLB Baseball  tickets are available now for all teams and all games!

Dave Bush pitched magnificently for the Milwaukee Brewers today, getting through 7 2/3 innings before surrendering his first hit.  Phillies slugger Matt Stairs ended Bush’s dreams of a no hitter with a shot that banked of the foul pole, resulting in a solo home run. Jimmy Rollins recorded a single before Bush was taken out, all in all letting up just one run off two hits and three walks.  This is the second time Bush has flirted with history, as he went to the eighth inning with out allowing a hit in a start last season.

The Brewers offense broke out in the 4th inning when Ryan Braun nailed a two-run homer.  After the Brew crew never looked back, tallying a total of 6 runs for the game.  Look for the Brewers Friday against the Astros at 7:10 pm in Houston.  Philadelphia Phillies tickets can be found right here at Aceticket.com!

On Thursday the Brewers sent ace CC Sabathia to the mound, hoping that he could lead the NL Wild Card winners to a 1-1 tie in the NLDS. Phillies’ centerfielder Shane Victorino had other plans. Having already gotten a hit off of Sabathia in the previous inning, Victorino stepped to the plate in the second with the bases loaded and a run already in. Victorino put Philadelphia ahead for good with a towering grand-slam homer to left field. Sabathia lasted just 3 2/3 innings, throwing 98 pitches and giving up five runs on six hits and four walks.

Phillies starter Brett Myers had a shaky first inning; giving up an RBI double to JJ Hardy to give the Brewers the early lead. Myers would settle down and throw seven solid innings to lead the Phils to 2-0 in the series.

Game 3 of the NLDS matchup between the Phillies on Brewers will be at Miller Park on October 4th at 6:30pm.

Full MLB Division Series Schedule
MLB Playoff Tickets

Three runs in the 3rd inning was all the Philadelphia Phillies needed to get their first postseason win in 15 years. Cole Hamels pitched a gem for Philly going 8 strong innings with 9 strikeouts. Chase Utley’s two run double gave the Phillies the lead for good in the 3rd.

In Thursday’s game 2 the Milwaukee Brewers will throw their ace, C.C. Sabathia on three days rest as the Brewers try to pull even in this NLDS. The Phillies will have Brett Myers on the hill.

MLB Division Series Schedule
MLB Playoff Tickets

The MLB playoff picture is complete. With the AL Central decided by a one-run playoff game, the Division Series schedule is set. The playoffs begin on Wednesday, October first, with the Brewers @ Phillies at 3:00pm, Dodgers @ Cubs at 6:30pm, and Sox @ Angels at 10:07pm.

American League

Angels vs Sox
Game 1 @LA - WED October 1st 10:07pm
Game 2 @LA - FRI October 3rd 9:37pm
Game 3 @BOS - SUN October 5th Time TBA
Game 4 @BOS - MON October 6th Time TBA *
Game 5 @LA - WED October 8th Time TBA *

Series Preview

CWS/MIN vs Rays
Game 1 @TB - THU October 2nd 10:00pm
Game 2 @TB - FRI October 3rd 9:30pm
Game 3 @CWS - SUN October 5th Time TBA
Game 4 @CWS - MON October 6th Time TBA *
Game 5 @TB - WED October 8th Time TBA *

National League

Brewers vs Phillies
Game 1 @PHI - WED October 1st 3:00pm
Game 2 @PHI - THU October 2nd 6:00pm
Game 3 @MIL - SAT October 4th 6:30pm
Game 4 @MIL - SUN October 5th Time TBA *
Game 5 @PHI - TUE October 7th Time TBA *

Dodgers vs Cubs
Game 1 @CHC - WED October 1st 6:30pm
Game 2 @CHC - THU October 2nd 9:30pm
Game 3 @CHC - SAT October 4th 10:00pm
Game 4 @CHC - SUN October 5th Time TBA *
Game 5 @CHC - TUE October 7th Time TBA *

* if necessary

The Milwaukee Brewers entered their 4-game series with the Chicago Cubs on a 7-game winning streak. The Cubs had barely managed to salvage one of three games from the Marlins. The streaking Brewers not only had sole possession of second place in the NL Central, but also also of the first place spot in the NL Wildcard race. Chicago made a bold statement over the next four games.

A solid outing from Ted Lily, as well as a dominant 9th inning from Carlos Marmol helped to snag the Cubs their first win. In the second game, the Cubbies’ offense unloaded on Ben sheets in the 6th inning, scoring 5 runs for a dominant Carlos Zambrano. Chicago racked up 7 runs on 15 runs, and Jeff Samardija picked up his first career save. The third game of the series had a similar story - outstanding pitching from Ryan Dempster, productive offense. The Cubs cruised to a win again. Former Athletic Rich Harden stymied the Brew Crew in the final game of the series, striking out 9 in 7 innings while only giving up 1 run on 6 hits and a walk. May pickup Jim Edmonds hit two homers (one of them being a grand slam that broke the game open), while Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano contributed dingers of their own.

After the sweep, the Brewers found themselved tied with the St Louis Cardinals for both second place in the NL Central as well as NL Wild Card. Both teams sit 5 games behind the Cubs with 2 months to go in the season.

CC Sabathia threw his third consecutive complete game for the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night. Since joining the Brewers, Sabathia is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.36, and 31 strikeouts to only 8 walks. CC surrendered only three hits and two walks, handing the Brewers their 7th straight win.

Sabathia’s no-hit bid was ended in the sixth inning by a Brendan Ryan single.

The Brewers are now only one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central Division.

2007 Cy Young winner, C.C. Sabathia is headed to the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Indians completed the trade with the Brewers on Sunday night, getting four top prospects in return. The deal ends weeks of speculation about where Sabathia and his expiring contract would end up. To land C.C. the Brewers gave up left fielder Matt LaPorta, pitchers Rob Bryson and Zach Jackson and a player to be named later.

For the Brewers the move signals their intent to make a push for the playoffs this season. The Brewers haven’t been to the playoffs since 1982. Milwaukee is currently in a tight race with the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals in the strong NL Central Division. The Brewers and Cardinals both trail the Cubs by 3.5 games.

After an unimpressive 10 game road trip that ended with 4 consecutive losses, the Boston Red Sox happily returned home to the friendly confines of Fenway Park for their weekend interleague match up against the Milwaukee Brewers. Not only have the Sox excelled at home this season, but since 2006 they have dominated the National League. This success continued as the Sox used a balanced offensive attack to sweep away the Brewers in the three game series.

Friday night the rains fell in Boston, forcing the game to be postponed to Saturday. The extra day of rest helped the Sox refocus as they came out and captured the first game of the series 5-3 behind another solid pitching performance by Dice-K Matsuzaka. With the victory, Matsuzaka improves to 7-0 on the season and more importantly the Sox improve to 9-0 in games he has started. Many are starting to look at him as the staff ace, but he isn’t ready to accept the title just yet.

“I want to keep winning,” Matsuzaka said, grinning to an interpreter. “But I think Boston’s ace is Josh Beckett.”

Beckett started out the 2007 season with a 9-0 record before suffering his first loss.

Offensively in the first game, David Ortiz blasted a 3-run homerun in the 2nd inning that would give the Sox a 4-0 lead and all the runs they’d need to hold on for the victory. Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 12th save on the season, shutting the door in the 9th inning.

After Fenway Park was cleared and cleaned, the teams changed uniforms and came back out for the night cap doubleheader that featured a little bit of everything, but the end result was all that mattered in a Red Sox 7-6 victory.

Veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield hurled 5 1/3 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 5 in the outing. He left the game with the lead but did not end up factoring into the decision because of some costly errors that led to unearned runs. The Sox made 3 errors on the night, which resulted in 3 unearned runs being scored in the 7th inning giving the Brewers a 6-5 lead at time.

The Sox immediately stuck back putting 2 runs up on the board in the bottom of the 7th, capitalizing on 2 errors by the Brewers infield. The only hit in the inning came on a single by Kevin Youkilis that knocked in the eventual game winning run, scored by Dustin Pedroia. Milwaukee made 4 errors total on the game.

Having pitched earlier in the day, closer Jonathan Papelbon was unavailable for the save so veteran reliever Mike Timlin was called upon to close it out. He recorded a perfect 9th inning, retiring all three batters on only 8 pitches for his first save on the season. Prior to the outing Timlin had not recorded a save since May 2nd 2007.

Game three of the series featured the long ball, and lots of them. Eight homeruns were blasted in the Red Sox 11-7 win, completing the sweep of the Brewers in their first trip to Fenway Park since 1993.

David Ortiz led the way for Boston, hitting two homeruns and knocking in 4 RBI’s on the afternoon giving him a season total of 10 HR’s and 37 RBI’s. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis also added long balls, their 2nd and 9th respectively.

John Beckett was on the hill for the Sox going for win number 5 on the season. Although he did not very sharp, behind all the offensive firepower, he was able to hold off the Brewers bats just enough to pick up the victory. Beckett lasted 7 innings and allowed 6 runs on 6 hits, 4 of which were Milwaukee homeruns. He struck out 9 in the outing bringing his season strike-out total to 56, 5th best in the AL.

Milwaukee was led by Ryan Braun who hit two homeruns on the afternoon and now has 13 on the season. J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder also homered off of Beckett, who allowed 4 HR’s only for the 2nd time in a game in his career. The previous outing came against the Toronto Blue Jays back on May 30th of 2006.

Since 2006, the Red Sox are now 18-3 against the National League in interleague play at Fenway Park and 31-8 overall. That is not counting the 4 consecutive World Series wins against the Colorado Rockies in their 2007 championship campaign.

The Sox will now welcome the Kansas City Royals into town for a 4-game series. Kansas City currently hold a 21-22 record and is tied for 3rd in the AL Central, but only 2 games out of first place in the division. The teams spilt their 6 games last season, each winning two of three at their home field.

Tonight’s starting match up features Jon Lester vs. Luke Hochevar. Both have similar stats, Lester at 2-2 with a 3.95 ERA on the season and Hochevar at 3-2 with a 3.94 ERA.

Tickets are still available for the remainder of the homestand!

After making it through the top of the 3rd inning, the rains came and washed out the Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals in their season opener. The defending NL Champions were trailing 5-1 at the time the game was called but it will all be erased and replayed at a later date.

The Arizona Diamondbacks still have a bitter taste in their mouth after being swept last October in the NLCS by the Colorado Rockies. Taking the field for the first time since that playoff series, the defending NL West Champions looked very solid in a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Brandon Webb picked up right where the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner left off pitching 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits in route to his first victory of the year. The offensive attack was led by three solo bombs hit by Chris Young and Eric Byrnes in the 3rd inning and the other hit by Jeff Salazar in a PH at bat in the 7th that gave the D-Backs some breathing room with a 2 run cushion. Brandon Lyon recorded the save pitching a perfect 9th inning.
 
It was a pitchers duel for 8 innings in Chicago at Wrigley Field between the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers before both teams came to life for 3 run 9th inning performances, but it was the Brewers who would prevail with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings. Corey Hart lifted the Brewers with a 2 RBI double in the ninth that put them ahead 3-0. Closer Eric Gagne came in and suffered his first blown save of the season (surprise, surprise) by allowing a three-run home run to Cubs RF Kosuke Fukudome, the first of his major league career, which knotted the game at 3-3. In the 10th inning, Tony Gwynn Jr. hit a sac-fly that plated Craig Counsell for the game winning run for the Brewers. David Riske pitched a perfect 10th frame and recorded the save.

With 5 runs on 5 hits in the top of the 9th inning, the Washington Nationals turned a close game into a statement win in their 11-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday at Citizens Bank Park. Nick Johnson’s RBI double opened the flood gates for National bats, and the hits just kept on coming as the team chased out Phillies closer Tom Gordon after allowing 5 earned runs on 4 hits and only recording 1 out. Austin Kearns and Lastings Milledge each produced 2 hits and 2 RBI’s for the Nationals in the win. The Phillies were led by SS Jimmy Rollins who went 2-4 on the game with a pair of RBI’s and a HR.

Behind the arm of Johan Santana, the New York Mets captured their first victory of the 2008 season over the Florida Marlins with a 7-2 win. Santana struck out 8 and allowed only 3 hits over 7 innings. The one mistake he made came in the 4th inning when he allowed a two-run homer to Josh Willingham. After the HR, Santana would only allow two runners to reach base. The Mets scored 6 of their 7 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, led by a bases clearing double by 3B David Wright. Wright went 2-4 with 3 RBI’s for the game. New York’s bullpen worked a scoreless 8th and 9th to preserve the win for Santana, Mark Hendrickson suffered the loss for Florida.

Brad Penny pitched 6 and 2/3 innings of shutout baseball, and the Los Angeles Dodgers back it up with some early runs that would be hold up for a 5-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Barry Zito struggled for the Giants allowing 3 runs in the 1st inning and another in the 2nd. He last only 5 innings and was pulled after 87 pitches and allowing 8 hits. The Dodgers runs in the 1st came on a Matt Kemp RBI single, followed by a Jeff Kent two-run blast to deep left-center field. SS Rafael Furcal also added three hits in the winning effort.

The Atlanta Braves came up just short, twice, in a thrilling 12-11 twelve innings game that ended with the Pittsburgh Pirates on top. The Braves mustered up a 5 run 9th inning to tie the game at 9-9 and left the winning run on base. After a few scoreless innings, the Pirates were able to score three runs in the 12th on Xavier Nady three-run homer to dead center field. The Braves made things interesting scoring 2 in the bottom of the 12th on a Jeff Francoeur solo shot and an RBI single by Matt Diaz but stranded the tying run on base to suffer their second loss of the season. Tom Glavine pitched well for the Braves but took a no decision with 5 innings pitched, 7 hits and 1 earned run allowed. Pirates relief pitcher, Franquelis Osoria, pitched from the 10th inning on, and finished the game for the win.

Jake Peavy helped his own cause by going 1-1 at the plate with 2 RBI’s and then made those runs stand up by pitching 7 scoreless innings in San Diego’s 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros.  2B Tadahito Iguchi paced a balanced offensive attack for the Padres with 3 hits on the night. The Astros looked rusty at the plate only collecting 4 hits in the contest, 2 of them coming from newly acquired SS Miguel Tejada. Row Oswalt took the loss for Houston, scattering 11 hits and 3 strike outs over 5 and 1/3 innings worked.