Photographs of Fernando Tatis hitting his 7th inning two-run home run (left), trotting around the bases with Giants reliever Sergio Romo in the foreground (center), and looking skyward as he crosses home plate (right) by Kathy Willens/AP

• Mets 7 Giants 3: New York pitching finally allowed the Giants to score, but the bats made up for it. Fernando Tatis put on a hitting show, providing two big hits in the game. With the Mets leading 1-0, Tatis hit a two-run double in the third. In the seventh, with the game tied at 3, Tatis hit a two-run homer to left that put the Mets back in front. Tatis’ hitting is especially good news for the Mets because they also learned today that Moises Alou will be gone for the season. John Maine couldn’t pitch long enough for the win, but four Mets’ relievers combined to shut the door on the Giants and give New York the sweep. They remain 1-1/2 games out of first place.
• Pittsburgh 4 Yankees 2: Sure they are missing Damon and Matsui, but on most nights the Yankees simply can’t score. They managed two runs Thursday, but it wasn’t enough as Jose Veras gave up a two-run homer in the seventh that proved the difference. New York will now head to Toronto to complete their pre-break schedule.
• Kansas City 2 Red Bulls 1: KC scored 10 minutes into the game on a beautiful corner kick and built their lead to 2-0 shortly into the second half. The Red Bulls cut the lead in half with about 20 minutes to play, but they couldn’t get closer and fell to the worst team in the Eastern Conference.