Diamondbacks Do Their Job With a Win

The Arizona Diamondbacks clinched home-field advantage for the first round of the National League playoffs by defeating the Colorado Rockies, 11-8, Sunday, at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix.

The NL West champions open the postseason Tuesday night against NL Central champion St. Louis. Had the Diamondbacks lost, the best-of-five series would have started at St. Louis. Chad Moeller homered twice and drove in six runs to lead the Diamondbacks, who finished 98-64.

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St. Louis 4, Milwaukee 0--The Cardinals received a scare at St. Louis when pitcher Andy Benes was forced to leave after hurting his right knee while batting in the fifth inning. It wasn’t immediately clear if the injury would keep him out of the playoff series against Arizona.

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Chicago 7, Pittsburgh 3--Sammy Sosa hit his 49th homer--and No. 499 of his career--and the Cubs gave Bruce Kimm a victory in his final game as interim manager. Kimm was fired by General Manager Jim Hendry before the game at Wrigley Field and given the option of whether the announcement should be made before or after the game.

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Montreal 7, Cincinnati 2--In what might have been their final game in Montreal, the Expos won their fourth in a row to finish second in the NL East at 83-79. The Expos drew 812,545 this season. The final crowd of 25,178 raised their average attendance to 10,031.

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New York 6, Atlanta 1--The Braves were looking to sweep the Mets in a four-game series for the first time since 1965--when they still played in Milwaukee--and for the first time at Shea Stadium.

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San Francisco 7, Houston 0--Ryan Jensen (13-8) and five relievers combined on a five-hitter at San Francisco as the Giants extended their winning streak to eight games. They’re 25-8 since Aug. 25, the best record in the majors over that stretch.

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Florida 4, Philadelphia 3--The Marlins came from behind twice to win in 10 innings and also avoided finishing last in the major leagues in home attendance. The announced crowd of 28,599 allowed them to overtake Montreal in season attendance. The final attendance total was 813,118, an average of 10,038.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

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Oakland 8, Texas 7--Barry Zito got his league-leading 23rd win and Jermaine Dye hit a grand slam at Arlington, Texas, as the AL West champion Athletics finished 103-59, matching the Yankees for the most wins in the major leagues.

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Boston 11, Tampa Bay 8--Manny Ramirez walked as a pinch-hitter in his only plate appearance at Boston and won the AL batting title with a .349 average. Kansas City’s Mike Sweeney finished second at .340.

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Toronto 1, Detroit 0--Roy Halladay (19-7) gave up two hits over eight innings at Toronto as the Blue Jays ended the season with a seven-game winning streak.

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Minnesota 3, Chicago 1--Bobby Kielty hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning for the second consecutive game at Minneapolis.

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Cleveland 7, Kansas City 3--The loss at Cleveland enabled the Royals (62-100) to join Detroit, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee as 100-game losers in 2002. It’s the first time in major league history that four teams lost 100 games in the same season.