Florida made a strange rally - The Arizona Diamondbacks arrived at Bank One Ballpark with their bags packed, just in case. Because of a big day by Chad Moeller, their trip was postponed.

Moeller homered twice and drove in six runs as the Diamondbacks clinched home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs, defeating Colorado 11-8 Sunday.

Arizona already knew it was starting the postseason against NL champion St. Louis on Tuesday. Once the Cardinals beat Milwaukee 4-0, the Diamondbacks needed to win to finish with a better record and begin the series in Phoenix - otherwise, it would've opened in St. Louis.

"That's the way this team has been the two years I've been here," first baseman Mark Grace said. "Every time we've had must-win games, we go out there and we win them, and I'm real glad we don't have to get on a plane."

The Cardinals' victory was posted on the scoreboard at Bank One in the first inning. Arizona responded by scoring three runs, capped by Moeller's RBI single.

"Home-field advantage is always big," Moeller said. "No. 1, you get that last at-bat. That's the biggest thing - you get that one last chance. On the road, you don't have that."

In other NL games, San Francisco blanked Houston 7-0, New York defeated Atlanta 6-1, Montreal downed Cincinnati 7-2, San Diego shut out Los Angeles 2-0, Chicago topped Pittsburgh 7-3 and Florida beat Philadelphia 4-3 in 10 innings.

Moeller went 4-for-4 and Junior Spivey and Felix Jose also homered for the defending World Series champions. The Diamondbacks won their final four games of the season to win the West for the second straight year.

Randy Johnson, who led the NL in wins (24), ERA (2.37) and strikeouts (334), will start Game 1 for Arizona against Matt Morris.

Curt Schilling, who lost at St. Louis on Wednesday, will pitch Game 2 for the Diamondbacks.

Schilling made his first relief appearance since May 13, 1992, pitching the eighth inning against the Rockies. He gave up a three-run homer to Brent Butler that made it 11-6.

"It was meaningless," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "Other than the fact he took three earned runs he wasn't counting on. It was his day to work on the side anyway."

Cardinals 4, Brewers 0

Edgar Renteria hit a go-ahead double in the eighth inning and St. Louis beat Milwaukee at Busch Stadium.

Andy Benes pitched five shutout innings for the Cardinals, fanning Ryan Christenson to end the fifth for his 2,000th career strikeout.

But in the bottom of the fifth, Benes hurt his arthritic right knee while batting and left the game. Later, Benes said he would be OK for the playoffs.

Milwaukee's Jose Hernandez did not play for the fourth straight game, leaving him with 188 strikeouts - one shy of Bobby Bonds' major league record set in 1970.

Giants 7, Astros 0

San Francisco headed into the playoffs with an eight-game winning streak after Ryan Jensen and five relievers shut out Houston at Pacific Bell Park.

Barry Bonds and the rest of the Giants' regulars sat out, a day after they clinched the NL wild card. At 38, Bonds won his first batting title, hitting .370.

The Giants open the playoffs Wednesday at Atlanta.

Roy Oswalt was denied in his fourth try at his 20th victory.

Expos 7, Reds 2

Playing for possibly the final time in Montreal, the Expos beat Cincinnati after a delay caused by fans upset when a check-swing call went against Vladimir Guerrero.

Guerrero, needing one home run to become baseball's fourth player with 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in the same season, was called out by first-base umpire Alfonso Marquez in the eighth inning.

The crowd of 25,178 littered the outfield with debris, and Reds manager Bob Boone brought his players into the dugout. The game was held up for six minutes.

Guerrero brought his 3-year-old son with him out to right field in the ninth, and they both tipped their caps to a standing ovation and chants of "MVP! MVP!"

The Expos are owned by baseball's 29 other franchises and are expected to be relocated, maybe for the 2003 season.

Montreal won its fourth straight and finished at 83-79.

Cubs 7, Pirates 3

Sammy Sosa hit his 499th career home run and Chicago gave Bruce Kimm a win in his final game as interim manager.

Before the game, Kimm was told by general manager Jim Hendry that he wouldn't be brought back next season. The Cubs finished 67-95 after beating Pittsburgh at Wrigley Field, going 33-45 after Kimm took over for Don Baylor in early July.

Sosa, in a 1-for-19 rut coming in, hit his 49th home run in the first inning. He later walked and struck out twice, falling short of becoming the first player with five 50-homer seasons.

Mets 6, Braves 1

Mike Piazza and Mo Vaughn homered as New York ended its embarrassing season by beating Atlanta.

The NL East champion Braves were trying to complete their first four-game sweep at Shea Stadium.

The Mets (75-86) finished in last place for the first time since 1993.

Padres 2, Dodgers 0

Rookie Oliver Perez pitched San Diego past a Los Angeles lineup that included six rookies.

A day after his team was eliminated from the wild-card race, manager Jim Tracy rested most of his regulars at Dodger Stadium.

Perez had been winless in nine starts.

Marlins 4, Phillies 3, 10 innings

in the attendance standings, that is - before beating Philadelphia in 10 innings.

There were about 8,000 fans at Pro Player Stadium, but the crowd was announced at 28,599. The Marlins ended up with a home attendance of 813,118, barely beating Montreal (812,545) for lowest in the majors.

Marlins president David Samson said a longtime fan of the team bought more than 15,000 tickets. Samson said the fan was not affiliated with the club, but declined to identify him.

Luis Castillo stole three bases and ended up with 48, one more than Juan Pierre of Colorado. Castillo singled in the 10th, swiped second base, moved up on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on Juan Encarnacion's foul pop.

Tim Raines, a seven-time All-Star in a big league career that began in 1979, went 1-for-3 in his final game. The Florida outfielder retired with 2,605 hits and 808 stolen bases.