Evan Longoria

When: Tonight, 8:30 Where: St. Louis TV/Radio: Fox/ESPN (950) First Pitch: President Obama (to St. Louis' Albert Pujols) All-Time Series: NL leads, 40-37-2. 2008: AL 4, NL 3 (15 Inn.) Series Streak: AL unbeaten in the last 12 Site: Busch Stadium (opened 2006) Capacity: 55,070. Surface: Natural Grass Dimensions: Leftfield, 336. Left Center, 375. Centerfield, 400. Right Center, 375. Rightfield, 335. Umpires: Home Plate - Dana DeMuth First Base - Brian Gorman Second Base - Jeff Kellogg Third Base - Angel Hernandez Leftfield - Tim Timmons Rightfield - Paul Nauert   Starting lineups   AMERICAN LEAGUE Manager: Joe Maddon, Rays 1. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle, rf 2. Derek Jeter, New York, ss 3. Joe Mauer, Minnesota, c 4. Mark Teixeira, New York, 1b 5. Jason Bay, Boston, lf 6. Josh Hamilton, Texas, cf 7. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay, 3b 8. Aaron Hill, Toronto, 2b 9. Roy Halladay, Toronto, p NATIONAL LEAGUE Manager: Charlie Manuel, Phillies 1. Hanley Ramirez, Florida, ss 2. Chase Utley, Phillies, 2b 3. Albert Pujols, St. Louis, 1b 4. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee, rf 5. Raul Ibanez, Phillies, lf 6. David Wright, New York, 3b 7. Shane Victorino, Phillies, cf 8. Yadier Molina, St. Louis, c 9. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco, p   Rosters   AMERICAN LEAGUE Starters,...

Both benches cleared during the second inning of a spring-training game between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays yesterday, leading to the ejections of two players and two coaches. The teams, meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla., 4 days after Yankees manager Joe Girardi complained about Tampa Bay's aggressive play after a home-plate collision that injured catcher Francisco Cervellio, had been warned before the game that the umpires would have little tolerance for any further problems.

How's this for clutch pitching? The Phils were clinging to a one-run lead in the sixth inning. The Tampa Bay Rays put the potential tying run on base when first baseman Ryan Howard - would his defense be an issue before the Series was over? - made an error on a grounder by Carlos Pena. The temperature was rising at Tropicana Field, but Cole Hamels stayed cool. As he prepared to face cleanup man Evan Longoria, Pena broke for second. Hamels saw Pena go and threw to first.

IT WAS a one-two punch. First, the Boston Red Sox lost, then Evan Longoria, seemingly knowing what was on the line, lifted the Tampa Bay Rays into the playoffs. The Rays clinched the AL wild card with a stunning rally last night, overcoming a late seven-run deficit, then beating the visiting New York Yankees, 8-7, on Longoria's home run in the 12th inning. The Rays' win came 4 minutes after Boston blew a one-run lead in the ninth at Baltimore and lost, 4-3. The Red Sox, who held a nine-game lead over the Rays in early September, and Tampa Bay began the final day of the regular season tied for the wild card.

PLACIDO POLANCO made a bit of history last night, becoming the first infielder to ever to win Gold Gloves at two different positions. Polanco received the National League award at third base, where he led all players with a .977 fielding percentage. Polanco led all NL third basemen with a .977 fielding percentage, committing eight errors in 345 chances, in 118 games. He is the first Phillies third baseman to win since Scott Rolen won his third one in 2001. Polanco earned a $50,000 performance bonus for winning the Gold Glove.

No more than 11 players from this year's free-agent class were asked to speak with George Mitchell as part of his investigation into performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, a union official told agents this week. Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel, made the statement Wednesday to agents attending a meeting in New York, the Boston Globe reported yesterday on its Web site. Mitchell is expected to issue his report by the end of the year. Collusion fears. The baseball players' union issued a statement raising fears that commissioner Bud Selig is trying to hold down the price of Alex Rodriguez's next contract and that teams might be sharing information about their free-agent plans.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Dioner Navarro singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning last night to lift the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox. Carlos Pena hit his 29th homer in the seventh to forge a 1-1 tie for the Rays (89-60), who moved one game ahead of the Red Sox (89-62) in the East standings. Justin Masterson (6-5) started the ninth for Boston and allowed a leadoff single by Jason Bartlett and walked Pena before striking out rookie Evan Longoria.

Matt Garza had to settle for his second career shutout after making a bid for the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay history. Garza didn't allow a hit against the Rangers until a debatable call with two outs in the sixth inning last night, then finished with a two-hitter as the Rays beat host Texas, 7-0. Meanwhile, a Tampa Bay lineup missing injured stars Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford hit four home runs in 4 2/3 innings off Kevin Millwood (6-7)....

It would have been so much easier for Brett Myers if the Rays had taken that first-inning lead on a home run. One bad pitch, the ball clears the wall, the runners round the bases, and it's over. Instead, the Rays used a small-ball version of drip torture to scratch out the runs that provided them a lead they would never relinquish. A walk. A single. An error. A ground ball to short. Another ground ball to short. For Myers, it must have been like being tied to a chair and made to watch Masterpiece Theatre.

After two losses in Philadelphia, the Tampa Bay Rays have kept their composure - at least in the locker room. The Rays didn't dodge any questions after their 5-4 Game 3 loss that ended early yesterday or last night's 10-2 defeat that gave the Phillies a three-games-to-one lead, one win away from the championship. "I will state the obvious, especially after a game like today: Their bats are hot and ours have been cold, and they have pitched pretty well and there is a little bit of anxiety on our part, and that isn't a good combination," slumping Rays first baseman Carlos Pena said after he went 0 for 3 last night with two strikeouts.

CURTIS GRANDERSON hit three home runs in the first four innings and matched a career high with five hits, leading the New York Yankees to a 7-6 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Thursday night. Granderson homered in each of his first three at-bats, driving in four runs, and helped Phil Hughes overcome a four-run first to secure his first victory of the season. With a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Granderson lined a clean single in the sixth and beat out an infield hit in the eighth.

PLACIDO POLANCO made a bit of history last night, becoming the first infielder to ever to win Gold Gloves at two different positions. Polanco received the National League award at third base, where he led all players with a .977 fielding percentage. Polanco led all NL third basemen with a .977 fielding percentage, committing eight errors in 345 chances, in 118 games. He is the first Phillies third baseman to win since Scott Rolen won his third one in 2001. Polanco earned a $50,000 performance bonus for winning the Gold Glove.

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Texas Rangers had to win their last six games in the regular season to earn home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs this time. Just to get into the postseason, Tampa Bay had to overcome a nine-game deficit in the final month and a seven-run deficit in the final game. "Right now there's nothing that we don't think that we can't do. ... We believe," Rays manager Joe Maddon said Thursday, a day before the opener of a rematch of last year's AL division series.

IT WAS a one-two punch. First, the Boston Red Sox lost, then Evan Longoria, seemingly knowing what was on the line, lifted the Tampa Bay Rays into the playoffs. The Rays clinched the AL wild card with a stunning rally last night, overcoming a late seven-run deficit, then beating the visiting New York Yankees, 8-7, on Longoria's home run in the 12th inning. The Rays' win came 4 minutes after Boston blew a one-run lead in the ninth at Baltimore and lost, 4-3. The Red Sox, who held a nine-game lead over the Rays in early September, and Tampa Bay began the final day of the regular season tied for the wild card.

Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist homered last night, helping the surging Tampa Bay Rays continue their improbable chase for the AL wild card with a 5-3 victory over the visiting New York Yankees last night. The Rays, seeking their third playoff berth in four seasons, remained tied with Boston after making up nine games in the standings since Sept. 4. The Red Sox also won last night, holding off the host Baltimore Orioles, 8-7. Joyce's three-run homer off former teammate Rafael Soriano (2-3)

JUSTIN VERLANDER won his 12th straight start, pitching three-hit ball over eight innings to become the first pitcher in 9 years to reach 24 wins and lead the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers over the host Oakland Athletics, 3-0, yesterday. Verlander (24-5) struck out six and walked three, extending his scoreless streak to 17 innings. He has a 2.28 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 87 innings over his streak, becoming the first pitcher to win a dozen starts in a row since Minnesota's Johan Santana in 2004, according to STATS LLC. Verlander has the most wins in a major league season since Arizona's Randy Johnson in 2002.

TAMPA BAY RAYS manager Joe Maddon spends most of his time giving signs. Last night, he went searching for one. "You're always looking for signs, man. You're looking for signs from the baseball heaven and the baseball gods," he said after the Rays followed a fluke play with a three-run homer and beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-2, to cut their deficit in the AL wild-card race to three games. "They've got to throw you signs once in a while. They've got to give you something to further the belief.

TIM WAKEFIELD earned his 200th win on his eighth try, Dustin Pedroia hit two homers in Boston's highest-scoring game of the season and the Red Sox ended a five-game losing streak with an 18-6 rout of the visiting Toronto Blue Jays last night. The Red Sox needed the victory badly after their lead in the AL wild-card race over Tampa Bay had dropped from nine games to three over the previous 9 days. And the 45-year-old knuckleballing Wakefield was eager to end the long wait - 0-3 in seven outings since his last win July 24 - to become the 108th pitcher with 200 wins.

JAMES SHIELDS is racking up complete games for the Tampa Bay Rays. Shields tossed a four-hitter for his major league-best 11th complete game yesterday in St. Petersburg, Fla. and the Rays beat the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, 5-1. "Whether they're stressful innings or not, I condition myself enough to go that deep into games," Shields said. Shields (14-10) struck out six and walked two. The only run came on Michael Young's grounder with one out in the ninth. He became the first AL pitcher since Randy Johnson in 1993 to have at least 200 strikeouts and 10 complete games in the same season.

BRANDON ALLEN hit two tape-measure homers, Eric Sogard connected for one that barely cleared the wall and the visiting Oakland Athletics hung on to beat the New York Yankees 6-5 last night. Brandon McCarthy ran the A's stretch of superb pitching into the eighth inning before allowing a two-out, three-run homer to Nick Swisher that lifted a quiet crowd in Yankee stadium. The three runs were one more than Oakland had given up in the previous three games combined. The Yankees rallied for two runs in the ninth against A's closer Andrew Bailey before Swisher flied out to the wall in right-center with the bases loaded for Bailey's 17th save.