Photographs of the Diamondbacks' Chris Young (left) hitting a ninth inning RBI double off Mets reliever Billy Wagner (right) by Kathy Willens/AP
- Diamondbacks 5, Mets 4: This one's on Billy Wagner, whose summation above says it all. Johan Santana pitched seven scoreless innings. Ramon Castro went deep and scored another run. David Wright had an RBI double. Joe Smith gave up two runs in the eighth, but Wagner entered the ninth with his team leading, 4-2. He loaded the bases with no one out and was fortunate to get out of the inning with the game still tied. The Mets threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but turning it over to Aaron Heilman in the 10th spelled doom.
For a team trying to turn it around, a closer can't be blowing three straight saves. Wagner gave up a home run to Tony Clark on Sunday and a three-run homer to Mark Reynolds on Wednesday. The Mets' bullpen isn't good enough to have its best pitcher performing the worst. The team hosts Texas in interleague play this weekend. In the unsurprising category, Moises Alou could be going back on the disabled list after six innings off it.
- Yankees 4, Athletics 1: Two aging contributors won this won for the Yankees. Hideki Matsui, who turned 34 on Thursday, hit a grand slam in the sixth inning for the team's only runs. Andy Pettitte, who turns 36 on Sunday but has looked older during most of his starts this season, went eight strong innings. He allowed one run on five hits and one walk, striking out six. The Yankees travel to Houston, where Joba Chamberlain will get to pitch, and, assuming he's still in the game, hit once or twice too.
