ST. LOUIS -- Ben Sheets pitched his fifth complete game of the season and the Milwaukee Brewers took advantage of a shaky playoff tuneup by Jason Marquis for a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
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The NL Central champions have lost five of six with one game to go in the regular season and at 104-57 they missed a chance to tie the franchise record of 106 victories set in 1942. They're 7-7 since clinching the division on Sept. 18, the earliest of any team this year.
Sheets (12-14) allowed eight hits and an unearned run, winning for only the third time in 13 decisions since the All-Star break, even though he had an ERA of 2.70 in that span. He struck out 10 -- his ninth double-digit game this season -- to hike his career best to 263, second-best in the NL behind Randy Johnson.Lyle Overbay homered and had two RBI for the Brewers, who are 8-8 against the Cardinals but 67-93 overall.
Marquis (15-7) threw 112 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on five hits with five walks and three strikeouts. He'll start in Game 2 of the NL division series after finishing 1-3 with a 5.96 ERA in his final five starts.Overbay's RBI double in the first put the Brewers ahead. Chris Magruder and Overbay walked ahead of an RBI double by Geoff Jenkins and Keith Ginter's sacrifice fly in the third to make it 3-0. Full story
Marlins 4, Phillies 3
PHILADELPHIA -- Mike Lowell and Miguel Cabrera each homered to lead the Florida Marlins to a win over Philadelphia, hours after the Phillies fired manager Larry Bowa.
Bowa led the Phillies to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 21 years, but they failed to reach the playoffs for the 11th straight season after coming in as favorites to win the NL East.
The Phillies clinched their third winning season in four years under Bowa, but his fiery personality and win-at-all-cost mentality clashed with a few of the laid-back players. Before Bowa took over in 2001, the Phillies had losing records 13 of the previous 14 seasons.
Bench coach Gary Varsho managed the team Saturday and will be on the bench for Sunday's finale.
D'backs 7, Padres 6
PHOENIX -- Randy Johnson got some rare offensive support, including his own two-run double, and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the San Diego Padres.
