SATURDAY'S TIDBITS Line of the Day Steve Finley Homered twice in a 17-8 win over the Rockies to help the Diamondbacks clinch the NL West title. AB H RBI HR 5 2 5 2 Hero of the day Despite a 90-loss season, the Cubs have a few signs of hope for next season. Rookie Bobby Hill came through with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Chicago over the Pirates 5-4. Goat of the day A's starter Adam Harang had an extremely rough start against the Rangers. Harang gave up seven earned runs on three hits and four walks in 1 1/3 innings, but Oakland rallied to defeat Texas 10-8. Injuries Mariners 2B Bret Boone sat out because of a bruised right heel he aggravated while running out a double-play grounder Friday night. Tigers CF Hiram Bocachica was driven off the field on a cart after hurting his head on a slide in the sixth inning. Bocachica hit his head against 2B Orla Hudson's leg as he tried to break up a double play. Bocachica was taken to the hospital, but manager Luis Pujols thought Bocachica would be OK. Padres RHP Brett Tomko was scratched for the third straight night because of a stiff neck. Streak of the day Chipper Jones became the fifth NL player ever to record 100 RBI in seven straight seasons. He joined Mel Ott, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa (eight times each) and Gil Hodges (seven). Stat of the day Has anything good happened to the Brewers this week? After naming a new president and general manager, Milwaukee tied a franchise record with its 55th road loss of the season in a 3-1 defeat to the Cardinals. The last word "At first I thought it was out, but then the guys saw it on the video and then I saw it for myself after, and it was the right call. The ball didn't go out." -- Vladimir Guerrero, who just missed joining the 40-40 club when his long flyball bounched off the top of the wall.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Yankees at Orioles
New York: The Yankees entered Saturday's game knowing if they won both remaining games, they would clinch home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. "It's important to win these two games to have an off-day on Monday,'' manager Joe Torre said, eager to avoid a possible makeup game against Tampa Bay. ... Sunday's starter, Mike Mussina, who pitched for the Orioles for 10 years, is 4-1 against Baltimore in six career starts. ... Jorge Posada made only his fifth start at DH Saturday. Chris Widger worked behind the plate for the Yankees. ... Alfonso Soriano needed one more homer to become the fourth major leaguer in history to have 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in the same season. Asked if Soriano was pressing to reach the milestone, Torre replied, "He takes it with him every time he goes to the plate.''

Baltimore: Hipolito Mejia, president of the Dominican Republic, threw out the ceremonial first ball before Saturday's game against New York. Afterward, Orioles Tony Batista and Willis Roberts presented Mejia with a Baltimore jersey. Mejia then posed for pictures with some of the Yankees. ... Although Mike Bordick entered Saturday's game with a major-league record run of 108 errorless games at shortstop, he was hitting only .198 in 35 games since being activated from the disabled list on August 17. ... The Orioles held an organization meeting that lasted almost six hours Saturday.

Devil Rays at Red Sox
Tampa Bay: Victor Zambrano tied for the team lead in wins with Joe Kennedy with eight. ... Lance Carter had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 16 1/3 -- one out shy of the team record set by Zambrano last year. ... 22 of Jared Sandberg's 41 hits have been for extra bases. ... Sandberg and Brent Abernathy had the seventh- and eighth multihit innings in club history.

Boston: The last team to have two 20-game winners and a batting champion was the 1959 Milwaukee Braves with Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette, who tied the Dodgers at the end of the regular season and lost a best-of-three playoff for the NL pennant. ... Tim Wakefield allowed more than two earned runs for the first time in nine starts. With 1,044 strikeouts, he passed Bruce Hurst for fifth on Boston's career list. ... Manny Ramirez would be the third Red Sox batting champion in four years. Nomar Garciaparra won in 1999-00. Boston has had eight of the past 21 batting champions (Carney Lansford '81, Wade Boggs '83, '85-88). ... Garciaparra has 85 extra-base hits, tying his career high from 1997 and tying also Ted Williams (1949) for fourth-most in Red Sox history.

Athletics at Rangers
Oakland: Instead of starting Saturday night as scheduled, LHP Ted Lilly pitched out of the bullpen. Manager Art Howe wanted to see how Lilly handled the reliever role that he would have during the postseason. "We'll get him adjusted, give him an inning and see how he does,'' Howe said. The A's also want to make sure Lilly, who spent time on the DL with left shoulder inflammation, is healthy enough to contribute in the playoffs. ... Oakland had four rookies in its starting lineup Saturday night, including 2B Jose Flores and C Cody McKay both making their first major league starts. The other rookie starters were LF Jason Grabowski (third start) and CF Eric Byrnes (19th start). SS Miguel Tejada, a day after he missed his first start of the season, was back in the starting lineup.

Texas: Manager Jerry Narron doesn't plan on doing anything unusual with his lineup Sunday to give SS Alex Rodriguez extra at-bats for a chance at 60 homers. Narron said he expects Rodriguez to bat in his normal No. 3 spot. "I don't think the A's will give him anything good to hit no matter where he hits,'' Narron said. "I'm sure everybody on Oakland's team would like Miguel Tejada to win the MVP and will do everything they can to keep Alex from putting put bigger numbers than he already has.'' ... Ivan Rodriguez served his one-game suspension Saturday night for making an obscene gesture toward umpire Mark Carlson during a Sept. 16 game at Seattle while disputing a called third strike. Todd Greene replaced Rodriguez in the starting lineup Saturday night.

Tigers at Blue Jays
Detroit: Rookies Omar Infante and Andres Torres were fined for arriving late to the park. The two thought it was a 7 o'clock start and didn't arrive until about an hour and 15 minutes before game time. "They thought it was a night game,'' manager Luis Pujols said. "They got up this morning and had breakfast and went shopping. I hope they didn't spend too much on shopping because they've been fined.'' The team clapped when they arrived in the clubhouse. "I'm not the first to do it,'' Torres said. "Next time I won't do it. I'll come early.'' ... Pujols is expected to be fired soon, but he said before the game that he's looking forward to spring training. ... The Tigers announced that hitting coach Merv Rettenmund told the team he wouldn't be back next season. ... Detroit has lost a major league high 58 road games.

Toronto: The Blue Jays are 43-32 since the All-Star break, and 57-51 since Carlos Tosca replaced Buck Martinez as manager on June 3. ... Carlos Delgado hit his 10th homer in September. The Blue Jays record for home runs in a single month is 12, held jointly by Delgado (Aug. 1999) and Jose Cruz Jr. (Aug. 2001). ... Delgado is hitting .433 in his last 19 games. ... The Blue Jays are 5-0 against the Tigers this season.

Royals at Indians
Kansas City: Manager Tony Pena was not pleased with plate umpire C.B. Bucknor, who failed to call a 1-2 pitch to Cleveland's Jim Thome a strike in the eighth inning. Thome homered during the at-bat to tie the score. "I don't know what happened right there,'' Pena said. "It was a good curveball right in the middle of the plate and the umpire didn't call it?'' ... 1B Mike Sweeney admitted he might be pressing a bit to try and catch Boston's Manny Ramirez for an AL batting title. Sweeney trailed Ramirez, .347 to .343 entering playing Saturday, but went 0-for-4 and dropped to .340 while Ramirez upped his average to .249 with a pair of doubles. "I tried to get two hits in my second at-bat,'' Sweeney said of a popup to shortstop. "I'd say I was pressing just a hair.'' ... Sweeney fouled a ball off his right foot in the seventh, was replaced, and is questionable for Sunday. ... 3B Joe Randa has hit .322 (71-for-211) in the Royals' 62 wins and just .251 (85-for-338) in their 99 losses. Randa's three-run homer was his first on the road since June 15.

Cleveland: Interim manager Joel Skinner would not name a starting pitcher for the season finale on Sunday. "We'll go with the bullpen,'' he said. "We'll probably use David Riske, Dave Elder, Roy Smith and Alex Herrera and maybe somebody else.'' The four pitchers mentioned have worked a total of 78 2-3 innings, all in relief. ... OF Karim Garcia injured his right wrist trying to catch a line single by the Royals' Raul Ibanez on Saturday. "It's real sore right now and I'm going to have some X-rays,'' said Garcia, who has 52 RBI in his last 50 games. "I'll play if I can grip a bat tomorrow. Right now, I don't know.'' ... Ellis Burks batted for Garcia in the bottom of the 10th and got the 20th pinch-hit RBI of his career to win the game. ... The 6-5 win in 10 innings Saturday was the Indians' 30th comeback victory and 12 in their last at-bat at home this season. ... Indians relievers worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven.

White Sox at Twins
Chicago: Magglio Ordonez extended his hitting streak to 10 games. During the streak, he's 15-for-38 (.395) with 14 RBI and six homers. ... RHP Mark Buehrle lost for the first time to the Twins this season. He went 5-1. ... Buehrle missed a chance to be Chicago's first 20-game winner since Jack McDowell won 22 in 1993. He also could've been the first lefty to win 20 since Jim Kaat did so in 1975. ... The White Sox are 22-11 since Aug. 24. Oakland's record since then is the only one better in the AL.

Minnesota: The Twins won their season series against every AL Central opponent, the first time they've done that since realignment in 1994. ... The Twins have a winning record each month this year -- the first time they've done that since 1965. ... The Twins honored longtime sales executive Jack Blesi, who is retiring at the end of the season. Manager Ron Gardenhire caught Blesi's ceremonial first pitch. ... The AL Central champion Twins held their Fan Appreciation Day, and the entire team flanked Gardenhire on the mound before the game as the rookie manager addressed the crowd of 32,072. "This team has played very hard all year long. We try to do things the right way, and we do it for you fans here in Minnesota.'' The Twins, nearly eliminated in the offseason, play Games 1 and 2 of their divisional series Tuesday and Wednesday in Oakland. "What we're really excited about is getting back here to our place. You guys are the greatest fans of all time, and they can contract that!'' Afterward, each player gave their jersey to a designated fan.

Mariners at Angels
Seattle: The Mariners have 93 victories with one game to play, after tying a major league record last season with 116 wins. Win or lose Sunday, it will be the largest one-year decline in wins in the team's 26-year history, breaking the previous mark of 19 games from 1991 (83) to 1992 (64). ... Seattle is the first team to win 300 games during a three-year span since the 1986-88 New York Mets. ... The Mariners, who were eliminated from the wild-card race on Thursday, came within one victory of making their three-game season-ending series at Anaheim meaningful. "It would have been unbelievable,'' 2B Bret Boone said. "It still would have been a tough deal, coming in here and beating these guys three times, but at least it would have been nice to have the opportunity. It would have been an electric atmosphere, but it wasn't meant to be. They had a heck of a run this year.'' ... Six-time All-Star Edgar Martinez, who won Saturday night's game with a 12th-inning home run, wants to return to the Mariners for a 17th season. He isn't happy about finishing his career with a season in which he played fewer than 100 games because of a hamstring injury that has limited him to 15 homers, 59 RBI and a .280 average. "I do want to come back for another year, but we have to wait and see,'' Martinez said. "There are still some things that need to be worked out. I'm really not 100 percent sure. The team has the option. I'm sure there's going to be some talk about that, and we'll make a decision later. The team has some tough choices to make. There are quite a few guys who need a contract for next year.'' ... Boone sat out Saturday's game because of a bruised right heel he aggravated while running out a double-play grounder the night before.

Anaheim: The Angels, who clinched the AL wild card with three games to spare, will start RHP Aaron Sele in Sunday's regular-season finale. It will be Sele's first appearance since Aug. 20, when he suffered a torn rotator cuff. Sele will not be on the postseason roster for the first round, but could be if the team advances to the ALCS. ... Anaheim is the only playoff-bound team in either league that has gone through the entire season without anyone being honored as player of the week. ... Manager Mike Scioscia gets a chance next week to sample some veal parmigiana at his favorite New York restaurant, Cafe Fiorello, when the Angels hit town to play the Yankees in the first two games of the ALDS. Scioscia's first visit to Yankee Stadium was in 1976 at age 17, when a Yankee scout invited him to a predraft tryout before the Yankees' scheduled game. He used Graig Nettles' bat, got to meet Yogi Berra and had a 5-minute chat with manager Billy Martin, who told the future first-round draft pick: "Love the game, and play hard.'' ... This year's trip to the playoffs will be the first since 1981 for bullpen coach Bobby Ramos, who was a backup catcher for Montreal when the Expos lost the NLCS to the Dodgers on Rick Monday's home run against Steve Rogers. Ramos, who was warming up Jeff Reardon in the bullpen at the time, remembered being surprised that manager Jim Fanning went with Rogers instead. "It was an interesting move,'' Ramos said. "Reardon was warming up fine, but I guess they wanted to go with a guy who had a sinker instead of a fastball-curveball guy -- and Rogers had success in the past against Monday.'' ... The Angels have not had a 20-game winner in any of the four seasons in which they've qualified for the postseason. They've had at least one 20-game winner in five different seasons during their 42-year history, but never finished higher than third place -- including 1973, when they were fourth in the AL West despite 20-win seasons from Nolan Ryan and Bill Singer.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pirates at Cubs
Pittsburgh: Kip Wells didn't win a game over the last 4{ weeks and finished with a 12-14 record. "The wins and losses didn't really dictate how I pitched,'' Wells said after his first season with the Pirates. "I think I have had games which I pitched poorly and have won and I have had games where I pitched well and lost and a lot in between.'' ... The Pirates had their four-game winning streak stopped, two shy of their season's best. Pittsburgh is 9-9 against the Cubs, including 4-4 at Wrigley Field.

Chicago: Team captains Joe Girardi and Sammy Sosa played down a disagreement over clubhouse music that arose after Girardi turned down the stereo by Sosa's locker. "What happened was I turned Sammy's radio down because he wasn't in here. Sammy thought someone was messing with him,'' Girardi said Saturday. Sosa often plays loud music, saying it helps him prepare for a game. Their verbal exchange occurred Tuesday when Girardi said he was suffering from a migraine headache. Sosa said he and Girardi had no problems with one another and that even friends sometimes disagree. Girardi said his relationship with Sosa was fine. ... Hee Seop Choi's homer was his first at Wrigley Field.

Braves at Mets
Atlanta: Manager Bobby Cox still hasn't announced his postseason rotation. Tom Glavine or Greg Maddux will pitch the opener against San Francisco on Wednesday. "I want to see how Tommy looks tonight,'' Cox said before Saturday's game against the Mets. "He's only slated to go a few innings. It looks like everyone is healthy and ready to go.'' Glavine allowed one run in two innings, meaning he would be ready to pitch either Wednesday or Thursday. ... Chipper Jones drove in his 100th run for the seventh straight season. He's the fifth NL player to do it, joining Mel Ott, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa (eight times each) and Gil Hodges (7). ... The Braves have won the last 48 games closer John Smoltz has appeared in -- the longest streak since Oakland won 52 straight games Dennis Eckersley pitched in 1992.

New York: SS Rey Ordonez backed off comments calling New York Mets fans stupid, blaming the frustration of a last-place season on his outburst. "I said that because it's been a long year,'' he said. "It's been frustrating for everybody. It's not like every fan is stupid. It's just some of them. I'm not upset about the booing. I'm upset when it gets personal. They say things about me right near my family at the stadium.'' ... Hall of Fame Johnny Bench honored Mike Piazza for breaking his NL record for homers by a catcher. Piazza has 335 to Bench's 327. Carlton Fisk has the major league mark of 351. "I'm honored to have the record broken by such a wonderful man and a wonderful hitter,'' Bench said.

Brewers at Cardinals
Milwaukee: Brewers SS Jose Hernandez, one strikeout shy of the major league record of 189 set by Bobby Bonds in 1970, was held out of the lineup for the third straight game. ... The Brewers' 2-1 victory over the Cardinals Friday night was their first in a one-run game since they beat the Cubs by the same score Aug. 26 at Miller Park. They're 14-27 in one-run decisions and only 9-70 when scoring three or fewer runs. ... LHP Mike Matthews, dealt from the Cardinals as the player to be named in a trade for Jamey Wright, is going to get a chance to make the rotation next year. He was a little used middle reliever with St. Louis. ... The Brewers haven't had a stolen base in 14 games. ... Richie Sexson needs a home run in the finale for four straight 30-homer season.

St. Louis: Scott Rolen has hit 14 of his 31 homers since joining the Cardinals in late July and 44 of his 110 RBI in 54 games with St. Louis. Fans demanded and got a curtain call, a day after Rolen agreed to an eight-year, $90 million contract extension. "I haven't hit a home run here yet that they haven't wanted a curtain call,'' Rolen said. "So far, so good.'' ... RHP Andy Benes will start the regular-season finale Sunday. The Cardinals had been undecided whether Benes or Jamey Wright would pitch, but need a victory to stay alive in the race for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Cardinals are 51-29 at home.

Phillies at Marlins
Philadelphia: During an on-field pregame interview with Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas, Philadelphia SS Tomas Perez was hit in the face with a pie of shaving cream courtesy of left-hander Randy Wolf. "It was a mock interview,'' Kalas said. "Perez has gotten a lot of guys with shaving cream during the season, so this was a little payback.'' ... Philadelphia entered the game with 88 errors, three fewer than the team record set in 2001. ... RHP Joe Roa, who went to spring training with the Marlins, is scheduled to start Sunday's finale against Florida righty Carl Pavano.

Florida: The Marlins will retain all but one member of the coaching staff for next season. Bench coach Rick Renick will not return. He declined the opportunity to remain in uniform for this season's final two games. Bullpen coach Jeff Cox will become the Marlins' bench coach, and batting practice coach Pierre Arsenault will assume Cox's bullpen duties. Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg, third-base coach Ozzie Guillen, first-base coach Perry Hill and hitting coach Bill Robinson also will return in 2003. ... Marlins manager Jeff Torborg said he will be an avid TV viewer during the postseason. "I have to lose 20 pounds,'' he said. "There's no better way to lose it than while watching the games.'' ... The Marlins said RHP Hansel Izquierdo underwent "successful'' arthroscopic elbow surgery on Wednesday.

Reds at Expos
Cincinnati: 3B Aaron Boone appeared in his 161st game. The last Cincinnati player to appear in 162 games was Dave Parker in 1986. ... The Reds have struck out 1,169 times this season, three short of tying their single-season record of 1,172 set by last year's team.

Montreal: Al Oliver, Tim Foli and Ron LeFlore were among the former Expos who participated in an Old-Timers game prior to Saturday night's game. Ron Hunt, who was hit by a pitch a major league-record 50 times in 1971, sported a particularly well-worn glove. "That's the one I ended my career with,'' said Hunt, who claimed before the game he had no intention of getting in the way of a pitch. He then took Claude Raymond's first pitch off his backside as he stood with both feet touching home plate. ... RF Vladimir Guerrero entered Saturday night's game one homer short of a 40 homer-40 steal season. Guerrero, who has a career-high 40 stolen bases, is 2-for-10 with four walks and a hit by pitch since hitting his 39th homer on Tuesday. ... Rookie CF Endy Chavez has a 16-game hitting streak. Pepe Mangual's 18-game streak in 1975 is the longest by an Expos rookie.

Padres at Dodgers
San Diego: RHP Dennis Tankersley (1-4) allowed five runs in two innings of the Padres' 14-2 loss to the Dodgers as a replacement for RHP Brett Tomko, who was unable to start for the third straight day because of a stiff neck. "I tried as hard as I could to get ready,'' Tomko said. "I thought last night I would have a chance. I woke up today and didn't feel that good. There was no use pushing it since we're not in contention.'' ... The Padres enter Sunday's season-finale having lost five straight games to the Dodgers after winning eight of the first 13 between the teams. ... The Padres have a 7-18 record in September with one game left, meaning this will be the first full month in which they've won fewer than nine games since April 1994, when they had a 7-17 record. ... The Padres have been shut out a big league-leading 16 times this season. They were also blanked 16 teams last year to lead the majors.

Los Angeles: Brian Jordan's 30 RBI in September are tied for the second-most in the month since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. Kal Daniels drove in 31 in September 1990 and Mike Marshall had 30 in September 1985. ... Manager Jim Tracy said after Saturday's game that rookie LHP Victor Alvarez (0-0) will make his first big-league start Sunday against San Diego rookie LHP Oliver Perez (3-5). Odalis Perez (15-10) had been scheduled to start, but Tracy made the change because his team his out of contention. ... Shawn Green had three hits in the Dodgers' 14-2 victory to break out of 5-for-29 slump. ... The Dodgers' bullpen is 4-0 with three saves in the last seven games, pitching 18 1/3 scoreless innings. ... The Dodgers had played five straight one-run games before Saturday's blowout -- four of which they won. They have a 33-15 record in one-run games including 20-5 at Dodger Stadium. The last time they won more than 33 one-run games was in 1984, when they were 34-26.

Rockies at Diamondbacks
Colorado: The Rockies have to win their final two games to avoid their worst road record in club history. They were 26-53 away from home entering Saturday's game. ... Colorado has gone four games -- a span of 157 plate appearances -- without hitting a home run. The team has gone a club-record six games without a homer twice this season. ... LHP Cory Vance made his first major league start on Saturday. He pitched an inning of relief against Arizona last week in Denver, and allowed two runs.

Arizona: Manager Bob Brenly has yet to decide who will start Game 3 of the playoffs. The top candidates are RHPs Miguel Batista and Rick Helling. ... Brenly says it's a longshot that OF Danny Bautista, sidelined since May with a dislocated shoulder, will be able to play in the postseason. ... The Diamondbacks' have won a club record 53 home games, breaking the mark of 52 set in 1999. ... Mark Grace's 506th career double Friday night tied him with Babe Ruth for 35th on the career list.

Astros at Giants
Houston: The Astros tied their franchise record by using eight pitchers in Saturday's 5-2 loss to San Francisco. The two teams broke the major league record by using 16 pitchers in a nine-inning game. ... Roy Oswalt will take his third shot at his 20th victory on Sunday when the Giants are likely to rest most of their regulars. ... INF Mark Loretta didn't accompany the Astros to San Francisco. He went to Milwaukee to get another opinion on his injured hamstring from a doctor he knew during his days with the Brewers. Loretta, a free agent this winter, has a torn hamstring.

San Francisco: Russ Ortiz will start Game 1 of the division series in Atlanta on Wednesday. Jason Schmidt and Livan Hernandez will start the following two games, but manager Dusty Baker hasn't decided what order they'll pitch in. ... The Giants had never won a wild card before. ... San Francisco is 24-8 since Aug. 25 -- the best record in the majors during that span. ... Kirk Rueter finished the season with 203 2-3 innings pitched. He joined Livan Hernandez (216) and Russ Ortiz (214 1-3) as the first San Francisco trio to pitch 200 innings apiece in the same season since 1991, when Bud Black, John Burkett and Trevor Wilson did it.