Cardinals 4, Cubs 0\nChris Carpenter is 5-1 against the Chicago Cubs since the start of the 2004 season. Apparently, familiarity isn't helping the opposition.\n"It's all about pitching," Carpenter said Thursday after throwing a seven-hitter in the St. Louis Cardinals' 4-0 victory. "Hitting is hard. If you make good pitches that aren't elevated in the zone and keep people off-balance, you're going to have success."\nScott Rolen homered, hit his 300th career double and had three RBIs for St. Louis. Rolen, the cleanup hitter most of the season, was moved down to fifth for only the second time, and his big day raised his average to only .228.\n"My last at-bat I was able to relax a little bit," Rolen said. "Not until you relax do you realize how much you're pressing."\nThe Cardinals, who broke open a one-run game in the eighth inning on homers by Larry Walker and Rolen, are 32-10 at home against the Cubs during the last six seasons and denied them a sweep of a two-game series.\nChicago, which learned before the game that shortstop Nomar Garciaparra would be out two to three months because of a torn groin, hasn't had a sweep in St. Louis since 1988.\n"That's tough for us, regardless of what he's hitting," pitcher Ryan Dempster said of Garciaparra's injury. "Anytime you lose a guy like that, it's huge."
Red Sox 1, Orioles 0\nMatt Clement scattered eight hits over eight innings, and the Boston Red Sox beat Rodrigo Lopez and the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 Thursday night to complete a two-game sweep.\nKevin Millar scored the game's only run in the second inning after a throwing error by shortstop Miguel Tejada. That was enough to beat the Orioles, who were blanked in successive games for the first time since Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2003.\nMelvin Mora had three hits for Baltimore, which has gone 21 straight innings without a run.\nThe victory enabled Boston to move out of a first-place deadlock with Baltimore in the AL East.\nSigned as a free agent in December, Clement (2-0) struck out seven and walked one. The right-hander is 3-0 with an 0.89 ERA in three starts against Baltimore; he's beaten them with Chicago, Florida and now with Boston.\nKeith Foulke gave up a double to Javy Lopez with one out in the ninth before finishing the nine-hitter for his third save.
Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3\nMike Mussina won for the first time this season and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Thursday night.\nMussina (1-1) allowed three runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out five and walking one.\nThe 36-year-old right-hander escaped jams in the third and fourth innings by inducing double play grounders. Relievers Buddy Groom and Frankie Rodriguez bailed him out in the sixth, getting out of a one-out, two-on jam.\nMariano Rivera allowed two runners in the ninth but got his third save in five chances.\nBernie Williams had two hits and an RBI for the Yankees, who swept the two-game series. New York arrived in Toronto having lost five of six games and were tied with Tampa Bay for last place in the AL East at 5-9.\nThe Yankees spoiled the home debut of rookie left-hander Gustavo Chacin (3-1), who won his first three starts. Chacin allowed four runs and six hits in six innings. The 24-year-old won his major league debut at Yankee Stadium last Sept. 20.\nToronto loaded the bases in the third, but Corey Koskie hit a grounder to Mussina, who started a 1-2-3 double play. Toronto's Alex Rios also hit an inning-inning double play in the fourth.
White Sox 4, Tigers 3\nThe Chicago White Sox are playing so well, they're convinced someone is going to come through with a big play every day.\nIt was Scott Podsednik's turn Thursday.\nPodsednik hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning, and the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 for their fourth straight win.\n"Every game, somebody's a hero," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We're not the type of team that is going to lean on one guy, and if he doesn't hit, we are done. Everybody is doing their job"
