The Daily Fives For September 9th, 2010 From The Sports Mac

Top Five Stories From Yesterday

1. Alabama RB Mark Ingram remains doubtful for No. one Alabama’s home clash with #18 Penn State on Saturday.
2. Ryan Howard explodes for 6 RBIs as the Phillies maintain their ½ game lead in the NL East as Atlanta snapped a two-game losing streak defeating the Pirates.
3. The Padres have rebounded from their long losing streak and have now won three in a row to lead the NL West by two games after the Giants loss to Arizona.
4. Georgia WR A.J. Green is suspended for an additional three games by the NCAA for selling one of his game-worn jerseys on EBay.
5. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic each win their quarterfinal matches and move into the U.S. Open Men’s semifinals.

Top Five Games From Yesterday

1. Yankees 3, Orioles 2: Nick Swisher hit a walk-off two-run HR to salvage the final game of the series for New York and extend their lead in the AL East to 2.5 games.
2. Twins 4, Royals 3: Minnesota wins their sixth in a row to expand their AL Central lead, but only after holding off Kansas City when they scored two in the ninth and had the tying run on second base.
3. Angels 4, Indians 3, 16 innings: Los Angeles finally won the game on a sacrifice fly in the 16^th inning after Cleveland had tied it in the ninth to send it to extra innings.
4. Mets 3, Nationals 2: Nick Evans hit a RBI double in the top of the seventh inning to provide the winning margin for New York.
5. Athletics 4, Mariners 3: Coco Crisp had the game winning RBI single for Oakland in the bottom of the sixth and the pitching staff took control the rest of the way for the victory.

Top Five Performances From Yesterday

1. Marco Scutaro, Red Sox SS: 4-for-5 with two HRs and three RBIs in BOS’s 11-5 win over TB
2. Jeremy Bonderman, Tigers SP: one run on three hits with eight K’s over eight IP and the victory in DET’s 5-1 win over CHW
3. Brett Myers, Astros SP: zero runs on three hits with eight K’s over seven IP and the victory in HOU’s 4-0 win over CHC
4. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies SS: 3-for-4 with 2 HR and 4 RBIs in COL’s 9-2 win over CIN
5. Ryan Howard, Phillies 1B: 3-for-5 with a HR and 6 RBIs in PHI’s 10-6 win over FLA

Five Performances That Weren’t So Good From Yesterday

1. Jaime Garcia, Cardinals SP: seven runs on seven hits in four IP in STL’s 8-1 loss to MIL
2. Bronson Arroyo, Reds SP: seven runs on eight hits in 4.1 IP in CIN’s 9-2 loss to COL
3.  Matt Garza, Rays SP: six runs on nine hits in 4.1 IP in TB’s 11-5 loss to BOS
4. Adam Lind, Blue Jays 1B: 0-for-4 with four K’s in TOR’s 9-1 loss to TEX
5. Andrew Miller, Marlins SP: seven runs on 11 hits in four IP in FLA’s 10-6 loss to PHI

Top Five Events To Follow Today

1. MLB: Cardinals (72-65) at Braves (80-60), 7:00 PM, MLB Network: If the Cardinals have any playoff hopes left, they need to have a big weekend in Atlanta; (Wainwright (STL) vs. Jurrjens (ATL))
2. NCAA FB: Central Michigan (1-0) at Temple (1-0), 7:00 PM, ESPNU: A big MAC conference opener for two teams in the mix for the conference championship this season.
3. NCAA FB: #21 Auburn (1-0) at Mississippi State (1-0), 7:30 PM, ESPN: An early start to the conference season for two teams looking to build some early momentum for 2010.
4. NFL: Vikings (0-0) at Saints (0-0), 8:30 PM, NBC: The 2010 NFL season gets underway with a rematch of the 2009 NFC Championship Game where it was played eight months ago.
5. MLB: Giants (78-62) at Padres (79-59), 10:00 PM: A huge four game weekend series starts with San Francisco two games behind San Diego in the NL West; (Good match-up: Cain (SF) vs. Garland (SD))