Another amazing day of baseball on Wednesday.

The Cubs rallied from a 6-0 deficit to knock the Cards off 8-7. Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker are not getting along. They both live in the Bay Area, see each other from time to time at other sporting events during the winter, but during the season they fight like cats and dogs.

We all know how much Tony cares about our four footed friends (cats and dogs), but he is fanning the competitive flames with his comments about Baker and the way the Cubs pitchers play the game.

The Card’s manager challenged Baker to a fight yesterday after Matt Clement and Dan Haren took turns hitting one another with pitches.

Last year in the playoffs, Tony chastised Kenny Lofton and Dusty ( then with the Giants) for the way they play the game. Now Tony is critizing Kerry Wood and Mark Prior for pitching up and in, and claims that the Cub batters wiil be “dealt with” accordingly. Tony played with the toughest pitcher of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s in KC in 1963, Hall of Famer Early Wynn, who would knock his mother down at the plate if she dug in, I wonder if Tony critcized Wynn, a 300 game winner, back then.

In the midst of all this, these two teams are fighting it out with Houston for first place in the NL Central.

Both bullpens are spent. After four excruciating games, they face each other again today with Shawn Estes who has trouble going five good innings facing the more capable Brett Tomko for St. Louis.

These two teams have been bitter rivals for over 100 years, this series is absolutely special not only because of the Cardinals lineup and the Cubs starting pitching plus Sosa and Alou (five hits Wednesday), but because two of the best managers in baseball are trying to knock each others block off and I like the action.

The Cards have a better chance of winning today simply because Tomko can win and Estes is so inconsistent that the Cards should have plenty of runners on base, not a good formula for success.

Click below for more!Seattle lost last night to Tampa Bay, but the story of this game was the first major league start for Doug Waechter. Last week, I wrote after seeing his major league debut when he almost made Edgar Martinez look like a little leaguer, that this kid had a fabulous fastball.

Last night, he rode that fastball to a two hit shutout, perhaps the best game pitched in franchise history.

Freddy Garcia had big problems in the game. Not only has Freddy given up 31 homers this season, but he doesn’t want to listen to his catcher, pitching coach nor will he throw his fastball very often. You see Freddy gave up a monster shot to Aubrey Huff off the fastball, then refused to throw very many for the duration of his five innings on the mound.

The Mariners have struggled with what to do with Garcia for two years now. At times, he can reel off five wins in a row without much thought. Other times, he can go two months without winning a game. The M’s tried to trade Freddy this July, no takers at the price. On a team trying to make the playoffs, his status as the number one arm on this staff is ludicrous.

The Mariners aren’t going to overtake the A’s for two reasons: one is Freddy Garcia and his lack of professionalism on the mound. Two is the Mariners simply don’t hit enough to overcome their opponents. Ichiro is 2-33 or so, Mike Cameron has driven in five runs in six weeks, Edgar is playing with a fractured toe (how do you like that Pedro and Manny), John Olerud can’t hit with any power, and Brett Boone’s fabulous season is not enough to carry this offense.

Bad time for the wheels to come off the bus in Seattle.

Oakland is starting to slide into one of its offensive funks again. Erubiel Durazo is riding the pine. Jermaine Dye is searching for answers to his season long lack of offense. Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez are carrying the brunt of the offense right now. At some point, teams are going to pitch around Miguel and make someone else beat them.

The A’s have gotten by with timely walks and hits, it’s tough to do this every night, someone other than the big two needs to step up and soon. The Angels, Rangers, and even Seattle may not be so cooperative to just pitch to Tejada and Chavez and let the chips fall where they may.

Today, John Halama faces Damian Moss. Moss walks batters like crazy, is always behind in the count, but he does have a decent change up and can wiggle out of trouble if you don’t finish him off early. This one will be a battle of end of the game pitchers and Oakland’s is light years ahead of Baltimore’s.

Tim Hudson drilled Melvin Mora because the Orioles were digging in and smacking Hudson around last night. I always say let sleeping dogs lie, for the A’s sake they better hope that last night’s Oriole win was enough revenge for Mike Hargrove’s team.

Jorge Sosa throws for Tampa (did well last start versus Seattle) against Ryan Franklin, another home run machine in the Juicedome.

The Red Sox and the White Sox staged another battle last night in Chicago with the Red Sox prevailing 5-4 in ten. Every homer David Ortiz hits seems to put the Sox ahead or ties the game (what a pick up). Derek Lowe threw well, so did Mark Buehrle, but the Chicago bull pen proved to be more of a disaster last night than Boston’s, hence the Red Sox won the game.

Both these teams hit the ball. They both are playing very well. Chicago’s Scott Sullivan looked especially hittable last night. He better have more stuff than he had Wednesday or Billy Koch will be back in the picture soon.

Byung Hyun Kim finally found a team he can beat. if you keep Kim away from the Yankees, he has a fighting chance.

Now the Sox go into NY for three. Pedro, Wakefield, and Burkett, I guess, will try to do the impossible, take a late season series from NY.

Jose Contreras throws for NY today (roughed up by Sox last Friday) aginst Cory Lidle who was miserable against the A’s, but better against Cleveland last weekend.

Jason Giambi hits Lidle so well that Jason probably had trouble sleeping last night just thinking about what he will do today against his former A’s teammate.

Andy Pettitte, the Rocket and David Wells in NY, what a weeeknd.

If you are an A’s or Mariners fan, it’s root for the Yanks all the way.

The Yankees are still inconsistent in the bullpen, not hitting up and down the lineup (Nick Johnson has been hot ), and showing age on the starting staff, problems they have had all season, but look at the standings: first in the AL with a .606 winning percentage.

Still, I have this feeling that Boston can beat them in the long run.

Cleveland hosts the White Sox this weekend while Texas comes into Minnesota (Texas on the road is a different story). KC goes to Anaheim which spells trouble for the Royals even though the Angels are dropping like flies (now Bengie Molina is out for the season).

Montreal’s road odyssey continues to Puerto Rico to face the Marlins. Both teams are dog tired, but the Marlins seem better balanced even without Mike Lowell.

The Cubs will go to Milwaukee to see the Brew Crew (should be a vacation for Chicago after their last two weeks) while the Cards seek relief at home against the Reds, a team that has given them trouble this season.

Houston faces the hot Padres in San Diego. I’m sure Jimy Williams loved seeing the old Lidge to Dotel to Wagner last night in LA (3.3 innings, one hit).

The Phillies face the Mets in the Vet. The Phils swept the Mets in Shea last weeknd. Turmoil in Philly with Larry Bowa, who knows how they will react this weekend. One thing is for sure, they have starting pitching and that is key right now. Their bullpen looks tired, but Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf, Vincente Padilla, and Brett Myers (who stunk Monday against Boston) can win any game they pitch.

I’m off to my 40th high school reunion for the weekend, so no Daily Dish until Monday morning at the earliest.

A’s, Red Sox, NY, Chicago, Minnesota, Kansas City, and Seattle, nothing is settled yet. I have this feeling we are on the verge of the most memorable September since 1967 in the AL when Boston, Minnesota, Chicago, Anaheim, and Detroit fought it out until the last weekend of the season.

Same thing goes for the NL Wild Card and the NL Central race.

One team, maybe two will come up with the Impossible Dream ala Boston, circa 1967.

Trust me, I know this stuff, see you Monday!