No sense of relief in this Mets victory  —  At second base, Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo leaped gracefully into the air like a couple of ballet dancers and exchanged a triumphant high-five as if they had just won the World Series.  But in the Mets dugout, Jerry Manuel didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Rays rout Red Sox 10-3, lead East by 2  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Baseball's feel-good story of the year is on the verge of getting even better.  —  The AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 10-3 Wednesday night, moving closer to their first playoff berth with another …

Richard solid, but White Sox fall  —  Chicago maintains 2 1/2-game lead on second-place Minnesota  —  NEW YORK — A number of White Sox players gathered in front of a big-screen television placed front and center in the visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium following New York's 5-1 victory on Wednesday night.

Dodgers outslugged by Pirates  —  Billingsley lasts 4 2/3 innings; Nomar reinjures left knee  —  PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers, who won a game earlier this year without a hit, had 18 of them Wednesday night and lost.  —  In a real mess of a game, Adam LaRoche slugged two homers with five RBIs …

Ichiro collects hit No. 200 for '08  —  Ties Keeler for most consecutive 200-hit seasons  —  KANSAS CITY — Move over Willie Keeler.  Here stands Ichiro Suzuki.  —  Ichiro had three hits on Wednesday against the Royals to reach the 200-hit plateau for the eighth consecutive year.

MLB reveals 2009 schedule  —  Next season features old rivalries, new parks and more  —  The 2009 Major League Baseball season: A late start and the probability of November baseball; two grand openings in New York, one grand re-opening in Kansas City and one farewell season in Minnesota …

Not Every Seat in the New Yankee Stadium Is a Winner  —  By this time next week, “Yankee Stadium” will no longer refer to the historic (if poorly remodeled) park on the south side of 161st Street in the Bronx, but the shiny, new palace currently being built across the street.

Bedard could miss 6-9 months  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Given his general demeanor, Erik Bedard wasn't about to spend much of the past three months talking about his injuries.  He's not big on talking, and what would have been the point?  Bedard couldn't pitch, his left shoulder was sore and it wasn't getting better.

3 UP: Joba, Giambi/Abreu and Epstein  —  1. The Yankees are strongly weighing sending Joba Chamberlain to some form of extra pitching — likely either the Arizona Fall League or the Instructional League — as a way to further build his inning load this season to better prepare him to start in 2009, Hardball has learned.

Ramirez exits win with bad shoulder  —  NL East standings Team W-L Pct GB  —  Philadelphia 85-67 .559 -  —  New York 84-67 .556 1/2  —  Florida 79-72 .523 51/2 NL wild-card standings  —  New York 84-67 .556 -  —  Milwaukee 84-68 .553 1/2  —  Houston 80-71 .530 4  —  Florida 79-72 .523 5

Sheets feels ‘cutting’ sensation in elbow  —  Brewers ace has been dealing with discomfort since August  —  CHICAGO — The Brewers might be without Ben Sheets for the second straight September, right when they need him most.  —  The right-hander was forced out of his start against the Cubs …

Giambi's legacy with Yankees?  Generosity  —  It could be that Jason Giambi's finest hour as a Yankee didn't occur on the field, or in the dugout, or in front of a grand jury in San Francisco.  —  No, Giambi, whose colorful Yankees tenure is very likely coming to an end after seven memorable seasons …

Firing line: Sources say Attanasio made call to can Yost … Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, not general manager Doug Melvin, is the one who made the call to can manager Ned Yost, multiple sources told SI.com  —  While the official word out of the Brewers camp was that the firing was a group effort …

Offseason Outlook: Atlanta Braves  —  By Tim Dierkes [September 17 at 10:43pm CST]  —  Next up in our Offseason Outlook series, the Braves.  Here's how they set up for '09 using internal options only:  —  C - Brian McCann - $3.5MM  —  C - Clint Sammons - $400K  —  1B - Casey Kotchman - $1.45MM+