With the Red Sox and Blue Jays both winning today, all five teams in both the AL East and NL East are now above .500. It is the first time this has happened since June 23, 1995, when the NL West and AL West both had all of their four teams above .500 simultaneously.

The Cubs end a 12-game losing streak, their longest since 1997, with an 11 – 7 win over the Padres at Wrigley Field. Alfonso Soriano goes 3 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI, his 7th-inning homer putting the Cubs ahead to stay against Alex Hinshaw; Ian Stewart, Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney also homer for Chicago, while David DeJesus hits a pair of triples. For their part, the Padres hit four long balls on a day when the wind is blowing towards the fences, with Chase Headley connecting twice, and Everth Cabrera and Will Venable once each.

The Angels lose their ace, Jered Weaver, after only 12 pitches when he is forced to leave his start against the Yankees with a back injury in the 1st inning, but they hold on for a hard-fought 9 – 8 win, capped by Mark Trumbo’s walk-off home run. The win puts the Angels at .500 for the first time since April 9th. Howie Kendrick and Kendry Morales drive in 3 runs each and Mike Trout homers to lead the offense. Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira homer for New York, and Russell Martin hits a two-run double in the 7th to tie the game at 8-all, but Trumbo’s 9th-inning homer off Cory Wade ends it, giving struggling closer Jordan Walden his first win of the year.

A sign bearing the likeness of Mike Piazza connecting for his decisive eighth-inning home run in the Mets’ 3-2 victory against Atlanta in the first professional sports event in New York City following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 proves to be the winning entry in the Mets’ revival of Banner Day, a team tradition started in 1963 that lasted until 1996. The artwork, created by cousins Olivia Nuzzo and Stephanie Giangrande, included a section of the NYC’s former skyline, with the WTC towers silhouetted above Piazza’s heroic homer in mid-swing above the words, “The home run that helped heal N.Y. God Bless America. Let’s Go Mets.”

The Rockies and Reds combine for 9 home runs, the most ever hit in a single game at Great American Ballpark, as the Reds prevail, 7 – 5. Mat Latos allows 5 hits in 7 1/3 innings – all of them solo homers – to pick up the win; Jamie Moyer who has surrendered more long balls than anyone in major league history, adds another four to his total. 8 different players go deep, with Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez the only man to do so twice.

Paul Konerko hits his 400th homer in a White Sox uniform, a three-run shot off Ubaldo Jimenez in the 4th, to lead Chicago to a 12 – 6 win over Cleveland, completing a three-game sweep. Konerko is now batting .399 for the year and the Sox have moved to within half a game of the AL Central-leading Indians.

The Cubs lose their 11th straight, 3 – 2 to the Pirates, their longest losing streak since opening the 1997 season with 14 consecutive losses. The teams are tied at 2-all in the bottom of the 9th when Jose Tabata leads off with a single off Rafael Dolis, who then issues a pair of walks around two outs to load the bases; Matt Hague takes a pitch in the ribs to end the game on a walk-off hit-by-pitch.

Nelson Cruz goes 4 for 5 with a grand slam and 8 RBI to lead the Rangers to a 14 – 3 win over the Blue Jays. Josh Hamilton hits his 19th home run as Derek Holland is the winner.

Dan Haren tosses a shutout and strikes out 14 as the Angels defeat the Mariners, 3 – 0. Albert Pujols hits a two-run homer off Jason Vargas in the 1st inning, the 450th of his career.