? Dontrelle Willis and Mark Mulder both pitched five-hit shutouts. Willis (16-8) tossed his Major League-leading fifth shutout this season, lifting the Marlins past the Padres, 6-0. And Mulder (14-6) earned his second shutoutr, helping the Cardinals beat the Diamondbacks, 5-0.

Willis is having a nice year. He’s second in the National League in wins, and fourth in ERA, but there’s no way he’s going to win the Cy Young with Roger Clemens and Chris Carpenter pitching the way they have this season.

Mulder, by the way, is having a nice summer. He’s 5-2 in his last 10 starts with a 3.86 ERA.

? Weird pitching number of the night: Carlos Zambrano, Noah Lowry and Johan Santana each threw 8 1/3 sharp innings Wednesday. Zambrano fanned 10 in the Cubs’ 4-2 win over the Astros. Lowry whiffed seven in the Giants’ 3-2 win against the Reds. And Santana took a no-hitter in the seventh, fanning 10 White Sox in the Twins’ 5-1 win.

? Mark Buerhle — who I thought was a shoo-in for the AL Cy Young a month ago — is s t r u g g l i n g. He’s 4-5 with a 4.11 ERA over his last 10 starts. On Wednesday in the White Sox loss against Santana, Buerhle allowed five runs — four earned — on eight hits over seven innings.

? Astros co-ace Roy Oswalt lost his 10th game of the season in that duel with Zambrano. He’s the only pitcher in the Major Leagues with 10 losses and an ERA (2.67) under 3.00.

? Speaking of the Astros: The have some company atop the National League Wild Card standings. Jon Lieber pitched six strong innings and Bobby Abreu hit a two-run double, leading the Phillies to a 4-3 win over the Nationals and a share of the Wild Card lead.

? Those poor, poor Royals did it again. They lost their club-record 18th straight game, 11-5, to Seattle on Wednesday. The Royals are just three losses from matching the AL record of 21 in a row by the 1988 Orioles. The modern Major League record for consecutive losses is 23, set by the 1961 Phillies. The all-time Major League record is 24, set by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

Next up for the Royals? The A’s, Red Sox and Yankees.

? By beating the Yankees, 7-6, the Rays gave manager Lou Piniella his 1,500th managerial victory to put him in the elite company of Joe Torre and Fred Clarke as the only three in Major League history to have 1,500 wins as a manager and 1,500 career hits as a player.

? David Ortiz might just be the clutchest player in baseball. With the Red Sox trailing the Tigers in the ninth, Big Papi smacked a game-tying, solo homer with one out. An inning later, he hit a monstrous, three-run shot to send the Sox to the 10-7 win. Ortiz has hit 31 homers and knocked in 105 runs this year.

? The Royals can’t buy a break. Jeremy Affeldt allowed a two-out run in the bottom of the eighth and that spelled doom for Kansas City, which dropped its 17th straight, 4-3. I think the all-time record — 24 straight losses by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders — is in serious jeopardy.

? Francisco Rodriguez continues to struggle. Rodriguez walked Corey Koskie with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to force in the tying run and pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto followed with a sac fly, giving Toronto a 4-3 win. K-Rod allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in just 1/3 of an inning. Rodriguez was charged with his fifth blown save in 32 attempts.

? Just as they did on Monday night, the A’s fell apart in the seventh with a costly mistake against the Orioles. Oakland has now lost three straight for the first time since being swept at Washington from June 7-9.

? Watch out for Twins. They beat the White Sox, 9-4, in 16 innings and are now five games back in the Wild Card race.

? The Braves’ bullpen is highly flammable. Chris Reitsma has blown each of his past three save opportunities, and the past two have denied John Smoltz a victory. Reitsma faced five Dodgers in the ninth inning, and did not retire a single one. He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks as the Dodgers beat the Braves, 6-4.

? One final note: Baseball’s top three run producers — Manny (108), Papi (105) and A-Rod (97) — reside in the AL East.

Eduardo Perez is just killing the Yankees this year. Perez has nine homers and four of them have come against the Yankees, with three of them off Randy Johnson.

Perez smacked two homers in the Rays’ win on Tuesday night. One came off Johnson while the other came in the ninth against Mariano Rivera, tying the game in the process.

In 25 career at-bats against the Unit, Perez has four taters.

This is a game the Yankees should have won. The Yanks led 3-0 after five, but they blew several scoring opportunities early. The Big Unit looked good in his return, but Rivera blew his second save in three games.

The Red Sox won big in Detroit, which means the Yanks are now 4 1/2 games back in the East. Luckily, the A’s lost to the Orioles, which means New York remains 1 1/2 back in the Wild Card race.

? Two larger-than-life characters — Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley — died on Aug. 16, 29 years apart. The Babe died in 1948 while The King passed away in 1977.

? Conspiracy theorists everywhere are wondering if Gerald Williams purposely ruined Pedro Martinez’s no-hitter on Sunday. Williams once rushed the mound after Pedro hit him with a pitch a few years back. Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron would have both made the grab, that’s for sure. I will say this: It was a difficult play for Williams, a part-time player, to make.

Williams made an amazing grab to preserve Dwight Gooden’s no-no in 1996. But it was definitely a tougher play to make Sunday.

? "Entourage" is the best show on television. Period. End of discussion.

? Alex Rodriguez is the American League’s MVP. He leads the circuit in homers, slugging and OPS, is second in on-base percentage, is third in RBIs and runs, is fifth in batting average.

? The mom in the original "Bad News Bears" is pretty hot. You know who I am talking about: She’s married to the crazy Yankees manager, and leaves with their kid after the sicko skipper slapped junior around on the mound during the championship game against the Bears.

? The Eagles should just trade Terrell Owens. He’s not worth the trouble. The guy is a narcissist. He’s in love with himself, and doesn’t care about anyone else. Deal him to Atlanta.

? The Pardavila Ballpark Tour continues on Aug. 26 when my wife and I attend the Tigers-Red Sox game at Fenway Park. It will be our second trip to the venerable ballpark.

Mariners phenom Felix Hernandez is the real deal.

The 19-year-old dominated the hopeless Royals in his third big league start, striking out 11 and allowing one run on three hits over eight innings Monday night.

After three starts in the Majors, King Felix has a 0.86 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting .151 against him and his walk/strikeout ratio is ridiculous — three walks and 21 strikeouts.

Hernandez has electric stuff. He threw 99 pitches — 67 of them were for strikes. He throws three quality pitches — fastball, curve and changeup. His curveball is off the chain, and his changeup is sick. He made the Royals — who have now lost 16 straight — look like a Double-A team. Hernandez was throwing two-seamers at 97 mph. That’s just unreal.

Let’s hope Hernandez can avoid the pitfalls that fellow phenoms Doc Gooden (drugs), Kerry Wood (injuries) and Rick Ankiel (wildness) went through.

Lima time was in full effect on Sunday.

The right-hander tossed a complete game, holding his former team, the Tigers, to one run on five hits. But that’s the problem: He allowed a run, and his team scored none.

After getting swept by the Tigers in a doubleheader Sunday, the Royals have now lost 15 straight. There has been only one longer losing streak in the Major Leagues since 1990. The Cubs lost 16 straight in 1996. The American League record is 21 by the Orioles at the outset of the 1988 season. The Major League record is 24 by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

These Royals are so bad, they might challenge the Spiders’ record. KC heads to Seattle, Oakland, hosts the Red Sox, then visits the Bronx before hosting the Twins. The Mariners are beatable, but the A’s and Sox are hot, and the Yanks are going to want revenge after getting swept in Kansas City.

I called this weekend’s Rangers-Yankees affair a “make-or-break series for the Yankees.” Well, the Yankees got the job done, sweeping the stumbling Rangers.

Hideki Matsui and Alex Rodriguez continue to come up big for the Yankees, who now head to Tampa Bay for a three-game set. Jaret Wright takes the mound for New York, making his fifth start of the season and first in nearly four months.

The Yanks, who are 19-22 against AL East foes, need to win these games against the Rays. And it won’t be easy. The Rays are 7-3 against the Yankees this season, which is their best mark against any opponent. The seven wins represent their highest win total for a season against the Yankees.

Thanks to Oakland’s loss to the Twins on Sunday, New York is 2 1/2 back in the Wild Card race. I don’t think the Yanks are going to catch the Sox in the East, so the Wild Card is their only hope.

For many years, I have been thirsting to go to Camden Yards. But something always came up. I have been to some great new parks — Safeco Field, Jacobs Field, Comerica Park — but I had never been to the Holy Grail of "retro" stadiums.

I finally got my opportunity on Friday night. But it was quite an adventure.

My wife, Emily, and I were attending a wedding just north of Washington, D.C. on Saturday. At last, Camden Yards was calling.

I love my wife. She’s an amazing, passionate person who shares my love for baseball. But she does have two knocks against her.

1. She’s a Mets fan, and a bona-fide Yankee Hater.
2. She’s late for everything, and never ready on time.

So instead of leaving early Friday afternoon for the three-hour trip to Baltimore, we didn’t leave our apartment in Jersey City, NJ, until 4:30 p.m.

By the way, game time: 7:30 p.m.

The traffic was a nightmare — which is typical of New Jersey on a Friday during rush hour. I felt like Chevy Chase in "Vacation" — I was never going to get to "my" WallyWorld.

I think we finally got of Jersey at around 7:30 p.m. or so, and arrived in Baltimore at 9 p.m.  I got a sweet parking spot right next to the old warehouse that houses the Orioles’ offices. Since we got their so late, we parked for free.

The ballpark was everything I imagined. We sat down the left-field line, near the foul pole. As we took our seats, the Blue Jays erupted and ran away with the game. Despite the blowout, it was worth the traffic. The game went quickly despite the lopsided score, and there was even a fireworks show afterwards.

While taking in the scenery, I couldn’t help but think about the stadiums back in New York. Yankee Stadium is a special place. But let’s be honest, it is past its prime. You can drive two Hummers side-by-side through the concourse at Oriole Park.

You’d be lucky to get a Vespa through a Yankee Stadium concourse.

The bathrooms at Camden Yards are bigger than some city apartments.

The bathrooms at Yankee Stadium? Ugh.

I know it’s comparing apples and oranges. And I can’t wait for the new Yankee Stadium. Camden Yards definitely made me envious.

 

I do have a knock though: After the game, I wanted some Maryland crabs. We walked over to the Inner Harbor, where there are a ton of restaurants and bars. The bars were open, but all the kitchens were closed. It was only 11 p.m. on a Friday night. I guess I am too used to New York City, where you can get anything at any hour.

But these establishments in the Inner Harbor should think about keeping their kitchens open. There were a ton of hungry fans walking around the Harbor, looking for grub.

We did have another "Vacation" mishap on the way home from the wedding on Saturday night. A tire blew out on our car at around 3 a.m. on 1-95, just south of the Delaware border — and more than 150 miles from home. We got the donut put on the car, and had to drive 50 mph all the way home to Jersey.

The flat tire, and the long car rides, were worth it.

Kenny Rogers returned to action on Wednesday, and the Red Sox welcomed back with open arms. Manny Ramirez hit a Monster shot out of Fenway in the fourth, and the rout was on.

Rogers left after five innings and 89 pitches, trailing 5-1. The Rangers made it close, scoring four in the eighth to cut the lead to 7-5. But the Sox destroyed the weak Rangers bullpen in the bottom half of the inning.

I think the White Sox have been a great story this year. But the Red Sox are the best team in the American League. Their lineup is stacked. And when Curt Schilling comes back to the rotation, their starting five will be tough to beat.

It’s Defcon 5 in Yankee-land. The White Sox waltzed into the Stadium and took two out of three. In the meantime, the Red Sox swept the Rangers. Boston now leads New York by 5 1/2 games in the American League East. And the Yanks trail the Wild Card race by 4 1/2 games.

And while the Yanks’ offense floundered against the White Sox, the Indians leapfrogged over New York in the Wild Card race.

The slumping but potent Rangers come into town for a four-game series beginning Thursday. And with Randy Johnson’s back barking, Joe Torre will hand the ball to Scott Proctor. The righty, making his first Major League start after pitching out of the bullpen for the last two seasons, is 0-0 with a 5.16 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP in 23 innings pitched this year.

It’s a make-or-break series for the Yankees. They need to take three of the four games — and hope the White Sox have a successful weekend in Boston.