Touch 'Em All: Gallardo to pitch in Game 1 for Brewers

Even before they found out who or where they're playing, the Milwaukee Brewers decided to hand the ball to Yovani Gallardo for Game 1 of the NL division series.

Gallardo will open up the series on Saturday for the Brewers, who will send Zack Greinke to the mound in Wednesday's regular-season finale with potential playoff seeding on the line.

 Milwaukee entered Tuesday night's game against Pittsburgh one game ahead of Arizona for the No. 2 seed in the NL. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Greinke will pitch Wednesday no matter what - but if the playoff seeding is resolved late Tuesday night, Greinke would likely pitch only a few innings. In that scenario, Roenicke said Greinke could pitch Sunday's Game 2 on three days' rest.

Newark, N.J., was the loser in an off-field battle between the Yankees and the Mets.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo said Yankees officials contacted him last month about having its top minor-league team play in Newark's Eagles & Bears Riverfront Stadium in 2012 while the team's regular triple-A field in Scranton, Pa., undergoes a year of renovations.

But the Mets said no. The National League team invoked its territorial rights to nix a new Yankees' affiliate in the area, even temporarily.

It's not clear where the Yankees' triple-A team will be.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are asking a Delaware bankruptcy judge to postpone a hearing on Major League Baseball's effort to force a sale of the team.

Attorneys for Commissioner Bud Selig asked the judge last week for an Oct. 12 hearing on the league's request to file its own reorganization plan, which calls for owner Frank McCourt to sell the team. The league also said the Dodgers' plan to sell television rights to future games without league approval will spell the end of the ball club.

The Dodgers responded Tuesday, saying the league is trying to cripple their reorganization efforts. They want the judge to postpone the hearing on whether the league can file its own plan until after a hearing on the league's effort to disqualify the Dodgers' attorneys.

Pitching coach Don Cooper will take over for departed Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen for the final two games of the season, not bench coach Joey Cora.

Guillen asked to be released from his contract Monday when the team would not grant him an extension.

Cora and general manager Ken Williams exchanged texts and had a phone conversation Tuesday. It was decided that Cora would not come to the park for the two games.

Cora is a close friend and former teammate of Guillen's with the White Sox and could join Guillen, if - as expected - he takes the manager's job with the Florida Marlins.

A federal judge tossed out a large chunk of the $1 billion lawsuit brought against the owners of the Mets by the trustee in the Bernard Madoff case. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard could pursue $83.3 million in earnings that Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and their associates at Sterling Equities received from Madoff.

Going into Tuesday's game with Arizona, Los Angeles Dodgers centerfielder Matt Kemp needs to go 8 for 10 and have Jose Reyes and Ryan Braun go 2 for 10 in the final two games for Kemp to win the National League batting title.

Kemp, however, is just two homers away from a 40/40 season.

- Staff and wire reports