The Closer: I Love LA

Notes from a day in baseball ...

• 1. Those Were The Days, My Friends. Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Nomar Garciapara. In happier, simpler times, they all wore red and white and called Fenway their home. Today they play in the National League, and were all key players in the Dodgers' 8-5 win over the Mets on Tuesday. Lowe won his fourth straight start, beating his former World Series teammate Martinez. And Garciaparra, another former Red Stocking, hit a two-run homer in the first for LA. Oh, and not to bury the lead, but Eric Gagne earned his first save in almost a year with a perfect ninth inning. He returned May 30 following elbow surgery.

• 2. The Melky Way. Yankees fans are laughing and singing songs of Melky Cabrera around the campfire today, retelling the account of his game-saving catch in the eighth that robbed Boston's Manny Ramirez of a tying home run. New York took a game-and-a-half lead in the AL East with the 2-1 win behind a strong start from Chien-Ming Wang.

• 3. Oh, Wandy. In the best performance in baseball history by a pitcher named Wandy, the Astros beat the Cubs 4-1. Wandy Rodriguez, pitching on three days' rest, threw seven shutout innings as Houston snapped a five-game losing streak. Lance Berkman homered and Chris Burke drove in two runs.

• 4. Look Out, Reds Comin' Through. Cincinnati's six-game winning streak has surprised even themselves, with their 7-0 win over the Cardinals leaving the Reds only one game back in the NL Central. (Ugh.) Eric Milton threw seven innings for the win. St. Louis is 14-16 against the NL Central after going 51-29 last season.

• 5. They Might Be Giants. Jason Schmidt can be much studly when he wants to be. All the Giants' pitcher did on Tuesday was strike out 16 — matching a club record set in 1904 — including three Ks in the ninth in San Francisco's 2-1 win over Florida. Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants had 16 strikeouts on Oct. 3, 1904, against the Cardinals. As if you didn't know.