Cardinals 34- Niners 27: Sometimes a loss can be a victory and this is one of those losses that looks like a victory. Except in the win column where it really counts. The Niners came out right from the start loaded for bear and scored a TD with Alex Smith hooking up with Vernon Davis on their very first drive. The Cards then went on to take a 21-7 lead but the Niners kept coming and coming and coming, only to finally go down in defeat when Smith's Hail Mary pass fell incomplete. In fact, the Niners could claim they won all the big things but lost due to the small things, like penalties and missed passes and one missed field goal. Which sounds pretty bad if you're a contending team but really good if you're pretty much not. Oh, and Frank Gore is the man. His two-yard TD run where he basically just pushed himself into the end zone was the kind of football that would have made Vince Lombardi smile.

Padres 10, Giants 2: After taking two from the Padres and moving to 1 1/2 back in the wild card, there was a bit of a buzz in the air. People were starting to believe again, think happy thoughts, start in with the "hell, yeah." So, you know where this is going, right? The Giants lost and lost fairly big. Your Matt Morris Robitussin® Inning Cough Up of the Game came in the third when the Pads scored four on mainly a bunch of singles. Once again, the Giants are looking up at a 2 1/2 deficit behind the Padres for the Wild Card and four back of the Dodgers.

A's 9 Devil Rays 7: Right now, Frank Thomas is making Billy Beane a very happy man. The dude hit his fifth home run in five games and drove in three runs to lead the A's to victory. Some of his numbers: 35 hrs this season (tying him for the most homeruns by an A's DH along with such notables as Dave Kingman and John Jaha) and 97 RBIs. If he were playing in New York or Boston, people would spend endless amounts of time debating his merits as the MVP but since nobody cares about the A's, their not. Either way, with the Angels victory, the A's are still up by 5 1/2 but the magic number is now 15.