PHILLIES GRASP 3RD CONSECUTIVE DIVISION TITLE

Combining a Braves loss with their 10-3 win over the Houston Astros, The Philadelphia Phillies celebrated their third consecutive National League East Division Championship at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia Wednesday night. Check out the fans reaction to Raul Ibanez's home run which gave the Phillies a seven run lead. Meanwhile, the Rockies broke their single season attendance record and reduced their Wild Card magic number to 1 with their win over Milwaukee.

CUBS GO 101 YEARS WITHOUT TITLE

Finishing the 2009 season far behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central, the Chicago Cubs extended their title-less drought after the Rockies' 7-5 walk-off win over the Brewers in 11 innings knocked them out of playoff contention. The Texas Rangers met the same fate Tuesday night, falling to the AL Western Division Angels 5-2 to complete their elimination from the Wild Card race. The Florida Marlins were also finished by the Rockies victory.

~STORY OF THE WEEK~

ANGELS CHAMPIONS OF THE WEST

A season that began with some of the darkest days in franchise history reached familiar territory Monday night as the Angels clinched their fifth division title in the past six seasons with an 11-0 victory over the Texas Rangers. Rocked by the tragic death of Nick Adenhart and battered by a steady stream of injuries, the Angels were a losing team in April (the only losing month in the past 20 for the team) and tethered to .500 as late as June 11. But they went 63-35 after that to reach the 90-victory plateau for the seventh time in the past nine seasons and qualify for the post-season for the sixth time in the past eight. The Angels are the first team to win the A.L. West title in three consecutive seasons since the Oakland A’s in 1988-90.

FARVE HEROIC FOR UNDEFEATED MINNESOTA

The end was as good as the Vikings could have imagined: Brett Favre zipped a pass to a little-used reserve wide receiver in the back of the end zone in the final seconds for a classic Favre finish. The Vikings remain undefeated at 3-0. In other news, the New York Yankees grasped an American League East Championship, with their 100th victory of the season, 4-2 over the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx, and Micheal Vick triumphantly lifted the Eagles in his Philadelphia debut.

~STORY OF THE WEEK~

CARDINALS CLINCH 2009 CENTRAL DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field to clinch a division championship yet again. The 6-3 victory was the Cardinals 90th of the year. Slideshow

YANKEES CLINCH, BREAK HOME RUN RECORD, CRUSH RIVAL SOX

It was all Yankees in the playoff-clinching opener between the Bombers and Red Sox. Alex Rodriguez led the way with four RBIs, even hitting the Yanks' 127th long ball at Yankee Stadium, breaking the club record from 2004 and '05.

S. CAROLINA UPSETS UNCHARACTERISTICALLY SHAKY MISSISSIPPI

Fourth-ranked Mississippi is going to take abuse and ridicule for its pathetic performance in a 16-10 loss to unranked South Carolina. The win for South Caroilina, however, is huge news for a University not known for dramatic upsets or nationally televised victories.

WALK-OFF GIVES MARLINS SERIES OVER 1ST PLACE PHILLIES & BIG PUSH UP IN WILD CARD

Down to their last out and desperately needing a victory, the Marlins beat Brad Lidge and the Phillies, 7-6, on Brett Carroll's clutch RBI single after Jorge Cantu's single tied the game. Lidge's rough season has handed him 11 blown saves. ESPN put Wednesday's game as the #1 story online.

TAMPA BAY ELIMINATED

After a triumphant last-to-first American League Championship in 2008, the Rays could not follow with another dominating season, falling short of the Wild Card and finishing in third place in the AL East. Their demise was brought on primarily by an 11 game losing streak in early September that put them out of the playoff picture. With a loss to Seattle 4-3 tuesday, the fall was made official.

ANGLES GIVE YANKEES A TASTE OF

AN OCTOBER THAT COULD BE

Vying for the American League's top record, the Halos moved to four games behind the Yankees in the loss column with Monday's 5-2 victory, which saw Joe Saunders go 8 1/3 innings. Vlad Guerrero, the face of Anaheim hit an RBI double, and celebrated above. The Angels are 5-2 against the Yankees in 2009, now 4-0 at home.

GIANTS STEAL SHOW IN COWBOY'S STADIUM DEBUT

The Cowboys went ahead 31-30 on a touchdown run by Felix Jones with 3:40 left, but a field goal by kicker Lawrence Tynes, right, sealed the victory for the Giants at the last second. Eli Manning struggled but found a groove with receivers Steve Smith and Mario Manningham in the Giants’ victory at the new Cowboys Stadium.

RED HOT TWINS FIGHTING FOR

DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the 8th inning facing a dominating Justin Verlander, the game seemed over for Minnesota. But a fly ball lost in the roof Saturday helped as Jason Kubel's two run single gave the Twins a 3-2 lead. Then Michael Cuddyer came through with a 3-run-home run (Video). to beat the Tigers, 6-2, and draw Minnesota within two games of Detroit in the AL Central.

FRESNO FALLS AS BOISE TAKES CLASSIC

Jeremy Avery scored on a 67-yard screen pass and added a 74-yard run, providing just two of the many highlight-reel plays in No. 10 Boise State's 51-34 victory over Fresno State on Friday night.

THE BRAVES WIN AGAIN

The Atlanta Braves overtook the Marlins in the NL East and Wild Card races with their sweep-completing 7-3 victory over the Mets on Thursday, which also extended Atlanta's win streak to seven games. The Braves now have to face the first place Philadelphia Phillies this weekend.

MARLINS HAVE PLAYOFFS IN SIGHT

Florida defeated St. Louis 5-2 Wednesday at Bushe Stadium. The Marlins have won 6 of their last 8 games and find themselves only 4.5 games out of the National Leauge Wild Card after their victory over the Cardinals.

DICE K DOMINANT AS RED SOX EXTEND WILD CARD LEAD, WIN STREAK AND PLAYOFF PUSH

The Boston Red Sox are slowly crushing the Texas Rangers hopes of a dream season. With a six game winning streak, the Red Sox have built a 5 game lead in the AL Wild Card. Daisuke Matsuzaka dominated Tuesday night's game at fenway as Boston defeated the Los Angeles Angles 4-1 for their sixth consecutive victory. Meanwhile, as the race heats up in Major Leauge Baseball's postseason hunt, a dozen teams now find themselves eliminated from contention, including teams predicted to go far early on like the Mariners, Mets, and Blue Jays. Plagued by injuries and failures to preform in the clutch, many teams find themselves far behind the herd. The Rangers could soon join if they don't make a big push into October.

~STORY OF THE WEEK~

DEL PORTO DEFEATS FEDERER, STUNS WORLD

Sixth-seeded Juan Martín Del Potro upset Roger Federer, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and claimed the men’s singles title, which Federer won the past five years. The see-saw match was a true open classic.

BEARS FACE DEVASTATING BLOW

Brian Urlacher, who suffered a broken wrist after play Sunday, will be out for the season. As the Chicago Bears star linebacker, Urlacher defined himself over the off-season as the core player on the team. Without him, the Bears could be doomed to no playoffs in 2009. In a text message sent to the Chicago Tribune Monday, Brian Urlacher said: "season is over.'' While the big news came out of Sunday's NFL action, huge things came out of the U.S Open as well, including a championship victory for Kim Clijsters.

SERENA'S SHOCKING EXPLOSION LEADS TO EJECTION

Serena Williams, at the end of Saturday's semifinals against Kim Clijsters, went crazy. After a bad call by the lineswoman, Serena shouted in disgust "I will take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat". This was her second penalty of the match, and resulted in her ejection and a win for Clijsters. The match, which was at first a phenomenal battle took a turn for the ugly when Williams lost it, and shortly after, she could be heard exclaiming "I did not say I would kill you! Are you kidding me?" before she walked off the court to cheers and jeers from the New York audience. The anger-charged barrage, Serena says, was inspired by John Macenroe, who later stated that even he could not defend Williams, calling her actions "indefensible". Bloggers went crazy as the story broke big and hit the internet hard.

~STORY OF THE WEEK~

GIANTS FADING AWAY AS DODGERS HOLD FIRST

The Los Angles Dodgers, who have suddenly found themselves battling to stay atop the National League West as the red-hot Colorado Rockies have won 8 straight games to inch 2 games within first, held their ground as they defeated their division rivals in San Francisco. The Giants, who feel 10-3 Friday night at AT&T Park, are now 5.5 games out of the wild card and 7.5 games back in the west. With New York's headlines dominated by Derek Jeter's franchise-

leading hit and the US open's rain-forced postponements, the major's west

coast race dominated news in LA. Hiroki Kuroda tossed eight superb innings while James Loney and Casey Blake combined for six RBIs as baseball remembered September 11th, 2001 with patriotic caps in all 15 games Friday. Check out more photos from the huge win.

PITTSBURGH KICKS OFF SEASON WITH BIG WIN & BIGGER INJURY

The defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Tenessee Titans in overtime to jump start the NFL season with a win, but safety Troy Polamalu injured his left knee and could miss three to six weeks.

JETER TIES GEHRIG'S HIT RECORD

Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig's Yankees all time hit record Wednesday night as New York won their fourth straight game over the Tampa Bay Rays. With the best record in the Majors at 91-50, the Yankees, who have won 9 of their last 11, are just one victory away from becoming the first team in the majors to reach 50 home wins. Derek Jeter is just one hit away from becoming the all-time Yankees hit leader. As one of the greatest athletes of all time, Jeter has put together all 2119 hits as a member of the greatest team in sports history, the New York Yankees.

MURRARY FALLS IN YET ANOTHER UPSET

With monumental upsets occurring every day and night at this year's US Open in New York, the question of who will take the titles becomes harder and harder to predict. As mens action moves into the quarterfinals, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray, both top seeded players, won't be participating. Murrary, seeded number two, fell to Marin Cilic Tuesday in straight sets in perhaps the most shocking upset yet. Now, Cilic draws del Potro in the quarterfinals after del Potro advanced with a dominating 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero in their fourth-round match. In another womens upset Tuesday, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark upset sixth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

COLORADO EXTENDS LEAD

Putting an end to the Cincinatti Reds seven game winning streak Monday, the Colorado Rockies won their fourth consecutive 4-3 at Coors Field. They now have a two game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League Wild Card race and hold one of the best records in the majors, 18 games above .500. Ian Stewart, pictured above, homered.

~STORY OF THE WEEK~

IN BIZZARE MATCH, VENUS FALLS TO CLIJSTERS

In the strangest upset the 2009 US Open has seen thus far, Kim Clijsters defeated Venus Williams 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. For the first two sets, it was as if the players switched roles entirely from dominant to dominated. The third set was a normal, competitive one, but Clijsters came out victorious. The stark unevenness and immense contrast between all three sets was perhaps the oddest event the Open has seen in years, but upsets themselves have been the hallmark of this years tournament, with top contenders being eliminated early on. Venus's fall is the latest in many star players eliminated early. Article

UPSETS CONTINUE AS INSER TRUMPS RODDICK

The 55th-ranked John Isner smacked 38 aces to beat Andy Roddick, the 2003 Open champion. The upset over No. 5 ranked Roddick was a shocker and as the match went on, the crowd shifted from heavily pro-Roddick to underdog-supporting Isner.

DENT PUTS ON CLASSIC SHOW AT OPEN

Taylor Dent and Ivan Navarro, in a classic throwback of serve-and-volleyers that started in the late afternoon and ended in darkness, played one of the most dramatic and entertaining matches of this United States Open from the opening volley until the fifth-set tie breaker. After 4 hours 12 minutes, Dent’s comeback from back surgery continued apace as he ousted Navarro with a stirring 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (9) victory.There were 255 combined net approaches by Taylor Dent, above, and Ivan Navarro - a staggering number in today’s world of baseline sluggers.

MAJOR UPSET LAUNCHES OUDIN INTO THIRD ROUND

Melanie Oudin defeated Elena Dementieva for a dramatic 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win Thursday in the second round of the US Open. Looking fierce and at times dominant, Oudin upset Dementieva to advance to the third round.

SERENA, FEDERER AND NADAL OPEN WITH COMPLETE MASTERY

Roger Federer and Rafeal Nadal, who have never met in a U.S Open championship match despite classic grand slam thrillers in all four major tournaments both won in straight sets Wednesday to advance to the second round. Serena Williams, whose match lasted only 53 minutes defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-1. Article/Recap

RANGERS BATTLING FOR SPOT, DOMINATING HOME

The Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 5-2 for the second straight night and pushed within three and a half games of the American Leauge Wild Card behind the Boston Red Sox. The Rangers are 43-25 at home this season.