Today's spotlight is on two hitters who are heating up just as their teams make runs for the playoffs: Atlanta's Mark Teixeria and Raul Ibanez of the Mariners.  Teixeira homered twice last night — the second time in as many games — to lift the Braves to a 14-4 victory over the Reds and give Tim Hudson his NL-leading 15th victory.  Tex now has 9 home runs and 25 RBI in 18 games since the July 31st trade that brought him to Atlanta from Texas.  So… kind of a good trade.

Ibanez also went yard twice last night as the Mariners opened a tough stretch of road games with a 9-4 win over the Twins.  After hitting just six home runs in his first 97 games, Ibanez now has 9 in the last 13 contests.  His 3-for-5 night raised his August batting average to .431, which (in a strange coincidence) was my blood alcohol level Saturday night.

Other MLB scores: A-Rod's league-leading 40th homer not enough as Yanks lose to Angels in 10th… Meanwhile, Prince Fielder's blasted his 39th to lead the Brewers' shutout of Arizona, moving Milwaukee back into the NL Central lead… Bobby Jenks gave up a single to end his string of 41 consecutive batters retired, but the White Sox actually won a game, so it kind of evens out.