Starting Five: Thome Finally Arrives, Helps Dodgers Clinch

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Jim Thome picked a good time to finally make his first significant contribution since the Dodgers got him to be their star pinch-hitter. Thome's two-run pinch-hit single keyed a four-run inning in a come-from-behind 8-4 victory over the Pirates that locked up a playoff spot for Los Angeles.

Thome had been 2-for-11 pinch-hitting for the Dodgers, with no RBI. He came up just after the Dodgers had taken a 5-4 lead and delivered a two-run single. Just a day earlier, Thome had an injection in a sore foot that has hampered him for a couple weeks.

After the Dodgers won, they had a subdued champagne toast -- no dumping or spraying -- to celebrate the team's third postseason appearance in the past four years. They are holding off on the big party until they close out the Rockies. Their magic number to win the NL West is two. They could do it as soon as Sunday.

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From The Trainer's Room ...
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was hit just above his left knee by a foul tip, suffering a bruise that forced him out of the game. Losing their All-Star backstop could have been disastrous, but Molina said after the game -- while doused in champagne from the division-clinching win -- that he was OK, and might just miss "a couple days." Molina probably would have sat out Sunday under any circumstances, and the Cardinals are off on Monday.

Numbers Game ...
The Angels became the last team in baseball to suffer a four-game losing streak, and they did it in particularly ugly fashion. They blew a seven-run lead in a 15-10 loss to the A's. The stunning victory for the A's came against Angels starter John Lackey, who had been 16-4 with a 2.54 ERA against Oakland. The Angels' magic number to win the AL West is still four. They open a series with second-place Texas on Monday.

In Their Own Words ...
"If it could go wrong, it went wrong. Freakish things are happening." -- Nationals manager Jim Riggleman, after his team made three errors in a loss to the Braves. The Nationals lost their 102nd game, allowing the Braves to win for the 13th time in 15 games as they pulled within 2 1/2 games of Colorado in the wild-card race.

Advance Scouting ...
The Yankees have a chance to clinch their first AL East title since 2006 -- can you believe it's been that long? -- if they beat the Red Sox Sunday (1:05 PM ET). Andy Pettitte starts for the Yankees against Boston's Paul Byrd. The Red Sox still have a magic number of three to clinch the wild card.