Last Night's Action: Brewing Up a Sweep

Photographs of Alex Rodriguez hitting a home run, Rodriguez waiting for a ruling on the home run and then the umpire ruling it was was home run from the AP

• Mets 9, Brewers 2: Wednesday was a good day for the players brought back in the Lastings Milledge deal. Ryan Church and Brian Schneider each went deep in a six-run first inning -- Church hit a grand slam -- as the Mets gave Oliver Perez a nice cushion. They didn't even make things interesting with their bullpen. Perez has piled up the walks in his recent starts, including five on Wednesday, but he's gotten away with it so far. The Mets get a day off and then a big series at Shea against Philadelphia.
• Yankees 8, Rays 4: Well, instant replay came, and it didn't cost Alex Rodriguez another home run. Even though he takes more flak than anyone on the team, Rodriguez is easily having the best season on the team. He's not the one making $20 million to put up league average offense and some of the worst defense in baseball (Derek Jeter). Lost in the shuffle of the Yankees' late season demise are the Yankees' three wins in Carl Pavano's three starts.
• At the U.S. Open, Serena Williams defeated her older sister, Venus, in two tiebreak sets. The quarterfinal match, which was billed by many as the de facto final, took almost 2 1/2 hours. That meant that Mardy Fish and Rafael Nadal played well into Thursday morning, with Nadal battling back after losing the first set to win convincingly in four. He'll play Andy Murray in one semifinal.