LOS ANGELES — If it weren't for playing the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres might be lagging in the NL West.

Thanks to their domination of the Dodgers, the Padres instead are a half-game up in the division, passing Los Angeles with a 2-1 victory yesterday.

San Diego has won eight of the last nine meetings. The Padres are 13-4 overall against Los Angeles and 7-1 at Dodger Stadium.

"There's no rhyme or reason to it," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said.

Chris Young pitched one-hit ball for six innings, pinch-hitter Terrmel Sledge singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth and Trevor Hoffman earned his 475th career save.

"They seem to get the big hits and pitch the big innings when they need them," said the Dodgers' Derek Lowe, who held San Diego to Russell Branyan's solo homer over seven innings.

The Padres, atop the division for the first time since Aug. 9, go for their third straight win in the four-game set tonight at Dodger Stadium, their final regular-season meeting.

While the Dodgers dropped out of the division lead, they are one game ahead of Philadelphia for the wild card.

Sledge singled to right off Jonathon Broxton (3-1) to score pinch-runner Khalil Greene from second base.

Nationals 6, Brewers 1: Austin Kearns homered and hit the go-ahead single in the seventh to lead host Washington. In the seventh, Bernie Castro reached on an infield single, moved to second on a sacrifice by Felipe Lopez and scored when Kearns looped a single to right field.

Braves 8, Marlins 7: Marcus Giles hit an RBI single and another runner scored when Florida left fielder Josh Willingham let the ball go through his legs, capping a five-run rally. After visiting Florida scored four times in the top of the 10th, errors by shortstop Hanley Ramirez and Willingham let Atlanta win it.

Pirates 3, Mets 0: The New York Mets failed for the third straight day to clinch the NL East title when host Pittsburgh finished off an unlikely sweep. Zach Duke (10-13) pitched shutout ball for eight innings, and Freddy Sanchez had two hits and two RBIs.

Phillies 6, Astros 4: Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 57th home run and Mike Lieberthal connected twice for visiting Philadelphia. Howard tied a team record with 29 road home runs in a season.

Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 1: Jeff Francis gave up three hits in eight strong innings and Jeff Baker hit his first homer of the season for visiting Colorado. Francis (12-11) struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Cubs 11, Reds 3: Carlos Zambrano hit his fifth homer of the season and threw seven shutout innings to help host Chicago beat Cincinnati. Zambrano (15-6) gave up four hits, struck out six and walked four.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Red Sox sweep Yankees: Two little, too late for Boston. Boston beat the visiting New York Yankees twice in one day for the first time in 30 years, rallying for a 5-4 victory on Mark Loretta's ninth-inning sacrifice fly. In the opener of the teams' second straight day-night doubleheader, David Ortiz's league-leading 49th homer and Kevin Youkilis' three-run double in the seventh boosted Boston to a 6-3 win.

TWINS 6, INDIANS 1: Minnesota turned five double plays for the first time in 11 years and Scott Baker (5-8) pitched six strong innings as the visiting Twins beat Cleveland. The Twins closed within one game of Detroit in the AL Central and moved four games ahead of the White Sox in the wild-card race.

Orioles 12, Tigers 8: Miguel Tejada hit a tiebreaking single to spark a four-run 10th inning and help visiting Baltimore beat Detroit. Brian Roberts led off the 10th with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Tejada's hit. The Orioles added three more runs off Jason Grilli (2-3).

Athletics 5, White Sox 4: Frank Thomas dealt another big blow to his former team's dwindling playoff hopes, hitting a three-run homer to help host Oakland beat Chicago. Thomas homered twice and drove in seven runs in the final two games of Oakland's three-game sweep.

Mariners 10, Royals 5: Chris Snelling and Kenji Johjima homered for visiting Seattle. With the game tied at 5 in the seventh, Eduardo Perez had an RBI single and Snelling hit a 2-2 pitch off Joel Peralta for his third home run and an 8-5 lead.

Rangers 8, Angels 1: Vicente Padilla pitched shutout ball into the eighth inning, and Gary Matthews Jr. hit a two-run homer for host Texas. Padilla (14-9) gave up seven hits and struck out four in 7 1/3 innings.

Blue Jays 5, Devil Rays 3: Aaron Hill hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning to lead host Toronto. Bengie Molina homered and had three hits for the Blue Jays.