Sox suffer ex-treme damage  —  Ordonez's 2 HRs add insult to fading hope of his former team  —  The White Sox's sense of urgency was evident Monday night after eight pitches.  —  Unfortunately, the damage already was done before pitching coach Don Cooper visited the mound and rookie knuckleballer Charlie Haeger began to warm up.

With timing down, Murphy clocks one  —  NEW YORK — David Murphy led off the first game of yesterday's day-night doubleheader by slamming a Jaret Wright fastball into the right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium for his first major league home run.  Tall, lanky, and with a sweet swing, Murphy …

Ortiz lifts Nats past Marlins  —  Right-hander outpitches Willis for his ninth win of the season  —  WASHINGTON — After the Nationals stopped their three-game losing streak by defeating the Marlins, 5-2, on Wednesday night at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, manager Frank Robinson stopped …

Padres-Dodgers Preview  —  The San Diego Padres have clawed their way back into first place in the NL West.  —  Now, they'll look to create some breathing room atop the division when they wrap up a four-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday at Dodger Stadium.

Change of tune?  —  Yankees' Williams may retire to further music career  —  Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams is contemplating retirement, though not for the usual reasons.  It isn't because age or diminishing skills have taken their toll; judging by this year and last, Williams' skills …

Notes: A's pitching lagging this month  —  Starters have struggled to a 6.39 ERA since Sept. 4  —  OAKLAND — During the first five months of the season, the A's had largely relied on their starting pitching.  Their starters' ERA has been ranked in the American League top five for the whole season …

Rays drop seventh straight  —  Bullpen can't hold lead in loss to Blue Jays in series finale  —  TORONTO — Another road game, another loss for the Devil Rays.  —  This time, it was a late-inning homer that cost Tampa Bay in a 5-3 defeat to Toronto on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

It's All Good: Mets Finally Clinch N.L. East  —  Considering how the previous three games had gone, it might have been audacious for the Mets to wrap their clubhouse televisions in plastic early yesterday afternoon in anticipation of a celebratory bath of what promised to taste like the finest Champagne.

Mojo trumps all in AL Central  —  It's crunch time.  With just under two weeks to play, the Detroit Tigers are a game up on the Minnesota Twins in the race for the American League Central division crown, and the Twins are four games ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the wild card race.

Notes: Yost not satisfied with season  —  Manager expects Brewers to live up to raised expectations  —  WASHINGTON — In a reversal from seasons past, Brewers manager Ned Yost said he purposely "ramped up" the team's preseason expectations this year.  The skipper is not thrilled with the results.

The Lost Weekend  —  Pirates 3 - Mets 0  —  When the Mets get around to drinking that champagne it's bound to be a little flat.  John Maine overcame a rough start to pitch a good, gutsy game, but once again the Mets offense was non-existent.  The inability to get the big hit killed us again.

Minors set attendance mark  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Pacific Coast League drew the most fans this season, helping Minor League Baseball set an all-time attendance record of 41,710,357.  —  The PCL had 7,413,505 fans, and the minors set a record for the third consecutive season with an increase of 377,078 from 2005.