R.I.P. Josh Hancock

D.C. Bushslappers middle reliever Josh Hancock died tragically in a car accident over the weekend. He will however courageously continue through the end of the season, or however long, D.C. wants him, to pitch through his contract this season. "That's just the kind of guy Josh was" said teammate Dan Wheeler. Perhaps on his darkest day, he was given a spiritual boost when called on to pitch in the 16th inning of a marathon game with the Mighty Men. Hancock allowed the tying run to score, but pitched the 17th inning to record his third win of the season. Though not technically a rookie, Hancock was in his first season in the DMBL. He was drafted by Vancouver in the 2007 draft, but did not make the team out of spring training. D.C. later signed Hancock to bolster their relief corps. Hancock is not the first to fulfill his contract after dying. Mike Darr and Darryl Kile both were drafted and played after their deaths, though they were not very effective. "Vell, vat do you expect? Zey ver dead?" said former Sugar Bears team physician Otto von Frankenstein.

Jason Schmidt had a big day Friday night against South Boston. Schmidt pitched a complete game 4-hit shutout of the Gang to improve to 5-2 on the season. Schmidt is now tied with Tom Glavine for #15 on the all-time shutout list and his three strikeouts tied him with Bartolo Colon at number 14 with 1220 in his career. He also moved past Andy Benes on the all-time win list to number 24, one behind Colon.

J.D. Drew's injury Saturday opened the door for Curtis Granderson to get his first DMBL starts of his career. Granderson was called up from AAA Tacoma and immediately had an impact. Granderson was 3-4 in both games of yesterday's doubleheader against New Jersey, including two doubles and a triple. Granderson has now earned a shot at proving he belongs on the roster. "We'll let him play out J.D.'s injury and see where he stands when he comes back." said Ironfist manager Darren Daulton. Granderson will initially sit against lefties.

All good things must come to an end

Matt Diaz's hitting streak ended last night at 23 with an 0-4 against South Boston. Despite getting a hit during all five straight losses prior to yesterday, the streak came to an end in a victory for the Mighty Men. Apparently Diaz was just satisfied in passing Miguel Cabrera for the season-high hitting streak. "No way Cabrera should have that recognition...he doesn't deserve it" said Diaz after the game. "Anyone but a damned Cutter." It is unknown why Diaz is so livid with the Hoboken organization at this time. Meanwhile South Boston's five-game winning streak also came to a halt after the 8-6 Marietta victory.

The Mudcats shocked the Animals again yesterday, besting them and ace starter Johan Santana 4-1 yesterday. Santana was not involved in the decision as he and Mudcat starter Carlos Zambrano had dueled to a 1-1 tie through seven innings only to watch J.J. Putz give up RBI doubles to Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore in the eighth. The Cats have a ways to go to climb back into the playoff picture, but at least they're on the right track again.

D.C.'s hardluck pitcher Anibal Sanchez finally got his first win yesterday against Vancouver. Despite a 2.55 ERA and five quality starts, Sanchez was 0-5 in his first eight games this year. Sanchez was not at his best yesterday (8 IP, 5 ER, 1 K) but the Bushslappers finally scored some runs for him, giving Sanchez his first career DMBL victory. Jose Reyes was 5-6 in the game with three stolen bases. "Sanchez begged me before the game to do what I could to win the game for him" said Reyes after the game. "I told him to stop crying and act like a man."

The Gang's all here

The Mudcat moves seem to have worked for one game anyway. The Cats edged the first-place Animals 4-3 yesterday behind a solid outing from Roy Halladay (though he didn't figure into the decision) and three-hit games from Rocco Baldelli and Aramis Ramirez.

Still waiting, Barry....

Cliff Lee is making a case to stick in the Sharks rotation with a solid outing yesterday against the Rat Pack. Lee is now 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA in two starts filling in for the injured Jered Weaver.

South Boston has been on a little bit of a run lately, winning their fifth straight against Marietta yesterday. Aaron Harang shut down the Mighty Men for 7 innings, allowing only an unearned run and striking out 10. Poor Jeff Suppan finally pitched an outing for Marietta without getting destroyed, but had to settle for the loss (and lowering...yes lowering... his ERA to 10.13). During the game Matt Diaz extended his hitting streak to a league-high 23 games, besting Miguel Cabrera's earlier streak of 22.

Hoboken certainly got their revenge on Tuesday's smackdown from Newark. Hoboken pounded on the Sugar Bears to a 13-5 tune. The Cutters had 21 hits in total. Geoff Jenkins was 5-6 with 3 RBIs and Miguel Cabrera was 4-5 with 4 RBIs and a homer.

Philly's obsession with Khalil Greene continues as the Animals re-signed the shortstop for the second time this season. His playing time should be limited though as the club activated David Eckstein from his month-long sting on the DL.

Mudcats clean house

They're at it again...The Sugar Bears had their second 20-run game of the season, this time against the Hoboken Cutters (no Jason Jennings was not traded to Hoboken). Newark pounded Hoboken 21-8 yesterday on 24 hits and only 6 walks this time. (DMBLNews readers will remember the last game was largely the fault of 11 walks in the first two innings) The game was actually a more modest 13-8 in the middle of the eighth when Newark exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the eighth off relievers Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper. Newark scored in every inning except the first and only hit two home runs in the game (both two-run shots). Michael Barrett and Nick Swisher each had four RBIs and five Sugar Bear batters had three hits apiece.

Carolina made a statement yesterday - cutting Tadahito Iguchi, Aubrey Huff, and Rheal Cormier. The club hopes that the moves will serve as a warning to the team that the poor play will not be tolerated. Jose Vidro was also benched for the near future in favor of newcomers Ron Belliard and Mark Loretta. Kiko Calero, cut by Vancouver earlier this year, will fill in for Cormier.

Pujols powers Philly

Hoboken's Scott Kazmir pitched a six-hit shutout of Las Vegas yesterday. Kazmir struck out 9 to improve to 3-4 on the year. Not only was it the first shutout of Kazmir's young career, but also his first complete game. Probably unnoticed in this game was a fine effort from Vegas' Anthony Reyes (6 IP, 2 ER, 6 K) whose last five starts have been lousy. Reyes has not had a quality start since his first two starts of the year.

Chris Carpenter returned to action for South Boston on Monday and picked up the win despite looking a bit rusty. Carpenter pitched 7.1 innings and allowed four runs and six walks. South Boston won for the fourth straight time.

Philadelphia solidified their hold on the Morris Division lead and knocked Arkansas into third place with a come-from-behind effort last night. The Animals scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth, including an Albert Pujols walk-off grand salami off reliever Justin Duchscherer. It was Pujols' second homer of the night. Pujols ended up driving in six of Philly's seven runs in the game.

The top pitching line of the day goes to Hillsborough's Jeremy Bonderman who held the Mudcats to three hits and no runs, while striking out nine in a complete game, 4-0 victory.

Look for a new Rookie Watch article later today. Phil Plantier will look at the rookies in the Morris Division.

Thome Boy

A few items of note. Jim Thome hit his 400th DMBL homer yesterday in Marietta's loss to New Jersey Sunday. It was Thome's ninth of the season. Thome is just the fifth player to reach 400. Moving into number seven on the all-time list was Manny Ramirez, who took last week off. Ramirez returned Sunday and hit his 14th homer of the season to help defeat the Sharks.

The Falcons are still waiting on Bonds to hit his 600th. Bonds has been stuck on 599 since Tuesday's game with South Boston. In fact, Bonds is mired in a 2-22 (.091) slump since that game.

Newark's Kevin Millwood, who had come up one strikeout short in his last outing, finally got his 1000th career strikeout in the Game against the Sharks. Millwood improved to 4-1 on the season.

Don't look now but Marietta's Matt Diaz has an active 21-game hit streak, which is only one less than Miguel Cabrera's hit streak earlier in the season. Diaz streak began with a 5-5 night against Las Vegas and he is hitting .426 (40-94) during the course of the streak, raising his average from .233 to .341.

Prior beware

Philly topped Arkansas again yesterday, this time in a slightly more convincing fashion - 8-5. Philly now holds a 2 1/2 game lead on the Falcons and has moved into the number one spot overall. That's because the Sugar Bears dropped another game to the Sharks. The Sharks are now one game behind Newark with one game left in the series. The Sharks pounded away on the Sugar Bears for the second straight day, 12-7.

The Bushslappers are starting to wake up. D.C. exploded on South Boston yesterday 13-4 and are now sitting in fifth, but still seven games under .500. It was the third win in a row for D.C. John Maine improved to 4-1 and Carlos Beltran hit a pinch hit grand slam in the eighth. D.C. scored 10 runs in the final three innings of the game.

Philadelphia finally gave up on oft-injured Mark Prior. Prior had a good start to his career, but recently he has struggled to stay on the mound. Team doctors said that he would not pitch this season after being shut down in the second half last year. It is unknown whether Prior will be back to pitch next year. Prior, who was 7-7 with a 5.09 ERA in 24 games last year, will take the time off to try to rehabilitate himself. Philly pitching coach Dave Righetti was regretful about the decision, but conceded that Prior faced a lot of hurdles. "It's tough to give up on a kid that talented, but in the end we need a player that we can count on for innings" Righetti said. "Hopefully we'll be in a position to take him back when he gets himself on track."

Division Contenders Clash

Honolulu took round one against the Sugar Bears yesterday. The two teams' bullpens battled it out after both starters were chased fairly early in the game. Adrian Gonzalez broke the tie in the top of the ninth with a solo homer to give the Sharks the 7-6 lead. Tom Gordon, who was traded to the Sharks from the Sugar Bears in the offseason, got the victory and nailed down the bottom of the ninth. Jeff Francis and Javier Vazquez face off in tonight's game.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia also squeaked out a victory against the Golden Falcons last night in extra innings. Philly was clinging to a 4-3 lead for most of the game until the Falcons scored a trifecta in the eighth to bring the score to 6-4 in favor of Arkansas. But Justin Duchscherer couldn't hold the lead and gave up a two-run homer to Albert Pujols to tie the game. In the tenth Khalil Greene hit another homer off Duchscherer to give the Animals a 7-6 lead. Francisco Rodriguez retired the Falcons in order to earn his seventh save of the season. Tonight it's Erik Bedard against Daniel Cabrera.

Jose Contreras pitched a shutout for Team Buddah against the Mighty Men. Contreras allowed ten hits and struck out seven to earn his first victory of the season.

From the Blog Bits file: Mike Piazza hit his 300th career double Wednesday, the 24th player in DMBL history to achieve the milestone. Bobby Abreu's next double will also be his 300th...We are all waiting for Barry to hit #600, but Jim Thome of Marietta will hit #400 when he hits his next home run... Kevin Millwood is now one shy of 1000 strikeouts on the season...

Beckett, Schmidt come up Aces

Well Miguel Cabrera's hit streak came to an end at 22 yesterday after the Cutters were shut down by Brad Penny and Team Buddah. Penny didn't give up an earned run, but the numbers show that he was more lucky than good. Penny walked four and gave up six hits in seven innings, while only striking out one. The Buddahs also had three errors, so that may have contributed to it. Penny improved to 4-2 on the season.

The highest hit streak now is Marietta's Todd Helton, at 16. Teammate Matt Diaz also has a 15 game hit streak, so I'm guessing there's a little sidebet going on in that clubhouse as to who stops hitting first.

Josh Beckett pitched a gem yesterday - a complete game, four-hit shutout of Arkansas, which means Barry Bonds will have to wait another day to hit his 600th homer. Beckett has not had a good DMBL career to date. He is 3-2 with a 4.70 ERA on the year, which if he continues on this pace would be a career year for him. Expectations are low for Beckett this year and being the number five starter should alleviate a lot of the pressure he might have felt in previous seasons.

Beckett's line was impressive, but Jason Schmidt had an equally impressive start against Sardine City. Schmidt and the Sharks blanked the Straphangers 2-0 as Schmidt went the distance and allowed a mere two hits and three walks while striking out eight. Schmidt is now 4-2 on the season. The Sharks begin their big series with Newark today.

Black Monday for Pitchers

Barry Bonds moved one closer to home run #600 yesterday in helping Arkansas slide by South Boston 7-5. The homer was Bonds' 11th of the season.

Monday was a bad day for pitchers. Hillsborough lost lefty C.C. Sabathia for the next month in their loss to Vancouver. Sabathia was 3-1 with a 3.98 ERA so far this season. Hillsborough has Ian Snell on the farm, but they may choose to go with a veteran off the waiver wire. Sabathia only lasted into the third inning before being pulled.

Rookie phenom Jered Weaver also got dinged yesterday. Weaver pitched 5.2 innings yesterday, but did not factor into the decision. Weaver, who had a mishap with some snack foods during the break between innings, may miss up to two weeks. Cliff Lee, who was with Hillsborough last year, will fill in until Weaver is healthy again.

Not all injuries were pitching-related though. Newark will lose slugger Manny Ramirez for the better part of this week. "It's not really an injury" said Newark manager Don Mattingly. "It's just Manny being Manny." Ramirez said he is taking his annual vacation and will relax on the beaches in St. Thomas. "This weather just plain sucks" said Ramirez. "I need to get away for a bit." Owner Butch Garretson grumbled "Damn... bad week for that to happen!"

Bonds closing in on milestone

Well the Sharks' streak is now over after losing a heartbreaker to Carolina 1-0 on Friday. Clay Hensley outdueled Kenny Rogers and Juan Rivera's solo home run in the fourth was the only run of the game.

Arkansas' Barry Bonds hit his 10th homer of the year in the 9-2 rout of Hoboken Saturday. It was Bonds' 598th homer of his career. Bonds will be the first player to hit 600 in his career. If you're wondering if anyone will catch him anytime soon...well that depends on your definition of "soon". Bonds has a more than 150 homer lead on second place Sammy Sosa - stuck at 436 and not even playing this year.

Newark's Jim Edmonds hit his 300th career homer Sunday. Honolulu's Jason Giambi is closing in on the mark as well, with 298. Bonds is not worried about either one.

Look for a new Zane Smith column later today.

Down and Out in D.C.

It was a light day in the DMBL yesterday, but Honolulu kept on truckin'. The Sharks have now won ten in a row. They are now tied for the third best record in the league and only one game back of the first place Sugar Bears! Consider that when they started the streak they were a mere 8-10 and somewhere in the middle of the pack and now they are in the elite. After Weaver's brilliant start and Jason Schmidt's excellent outing yesterday, you'd think they did it all with pitching, but look further and you'll see that their offense is gelling right now. In fact, the Sharks have scored 45 runs in their last five games - a Sugar Bears-like 9 runs per game. In case you were wondering, the current record is 16 set by Arkansas in 1993 and tied by Vancouver in 1996.

And our other featured streak continued yesterday as Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 19. He's almost halfway to the record now, we'll check in on him if he gets a little closer.

D.C. just can't seem to break out of their funk. It looked like it might happen after they won back to back games against Arkansas earlier in the week, but they fell right back down after that. Carlos Beltran (.190/.301/.343) has been taking a lot of the blame - he was benched in the vs. right handers lineup - but it's not just him. Matt Holliday (.177) and Jose Reyes (.226) have struggled and Kelvim Escobar (0-3, 5.51) and Bronson Arroyo (0-3, 9.10) have been brutal. They have several games scheduled with fellow slumpee South Boston next week, so this could be their chance to turn things around.

Pitching Breakdown

Honolulu kept their string alive by crushing New Jersey 9-2 yesterday. Jered Weaver improved to 4-1 on the year. The first overall selection in this year's draft also has a 2.30 ERA (4th), 45 Ks (tied for 3rd) and 8.6 R/9 (1st). Weaver is not only justifying his lofty draft status, but is also making a case for the Listach Award. Honolulu will next face the struggling Mudcats today in Carolina.

Two pitchers went down yesterday. The first was a crushing blow for the Marietta Mighty Men. Rookie starter Francisco Liriano - he of the hot spring and great start to the season - will be lost for most of this month. Marietta will replace him with Gil Meche, formerly of Vancouver. That's not the only rotation turnover in Marietta though. The Mighty Men have given up on their home/away platoon and have tossed both Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson overboard. They will be replaced by Jeff Suppan.

The other pitcher lost to injury was New Jersey's Jake Westbrook. Westbrook had pitched in only his second game since returning from a prior injury before succumbing to his latest ailment. Westbrook will once again be replaced by Livan Hernandez, who was awful in his brief tryout before (0-2, 11.20 ERA). Westbrook will miss around two weeks.

By the way, did you see Jason Jennings breathe a huge sigh of relief when he realized that he wasn't facing the Sugar Bears this week? In fact Jennings pitched 7.1 innings against South Boston without allowing any runs and lowering his ERA to a still high, but at least single digit, 9.37.

Streaking

The Honolulu Sharks kept their winning streak alive (at eight), just barely against Team Buddah last night. The Sharks ran up a quick 7-3 lead, scoring a whopping seven runs in the third inning. But it didn't last long. Team Buddah narrowed it to 7-5 and then later tied it at 8 in the seventh inning. Thanks to Ryan Freel and some small-ball the Sharks were able to manufacture the winning run in the eighth. Freel had led off the inning with a single and then stole second base. He tagged up after Johnny Damon flew out, then scored on a Jamey Carroll sac fly. Tom Gordon and Mike Myers nailed down the ninth inning to preserve a narrow 9-8 victory and keep the Sharks' streak alive.

Meanwhile another streak continued and another one ended. Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 18 against the Sardine City Straphangers. Cabrera was 3-5 marking his second straight game with three hits. Meanwhile, Chase Utley who was right behind Cabrera at 16 went 0-fer against the Endzone Animals.

Great game down in South Boston where the Mudcats edged the Gang 10-9. The scoring started right in the beginning with the Gang scoring two in the first and the Mudcats responding with four in the second. The Cats eventually built up an 8-3 lead on the Gang, but the Gang wasn't finished. Relievers Scott Linebrink and Justin Speier proceeded to completely blow the game, surrendering a combined six earned runs in just one third of an inning. With the six-run inning, the Gang now held onto a shaky 9-8 lead. Closer Huston Street was already in from the previous inning. He was able to retire the first two batters, but after Jose Vidro hit a pinch-hit single, manager Sid Fernandez decided to go with recently recalled Nate Robertson to face Johnny Estrada. Estrada lined a single and Ramon Hernandez allowed a passed ball allowing both runners to advance into scoring position. Pinch hitter Jeff Francoeur lined a single to score both runners and take the lead back.

No More Nomar

New Jersey's Nomar Garciaparra suffered the biggest injury so far this season. Nomar will be out for 36 days. In the meanwhile, Team Buddah will have Shea Hillenbrand, Troy Glaus and Preston Wilson cover the hole in the lineup. Garciaparra was batting .292 on the season with 4 homers and 18 RBIs.

Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera went 3-4 in yesterday's game against Marietta and extended his hitting streak to a season-high 17 games. Right on his toes is Vancouver's Chase Utley who has an active 16-game hitting streak. The record is 38 set last year by Marietta's Morgan Ensberg.

The Honolulu Sharks extended their winning streak to seven straight yesterday, defeating the Hired Hitmen 11-6 in Hillsborough. Miguel Tejada was 4-5 and Jermaine Dye was 3-5 with 3 RBIs while Jeff Francis improved to 3-1 on the year for the Sharks. The Sharks are now sitting in second place in the Hanover Division and fifth place overall.

Golden Falcon golden achievements

Arkansas' Barry Bonds became the all-time leader in career at-bats Sunday. Bonds passed Roberto Alomar on the all-time list and is now sitting comfortably in first. Since Alomar and Bagwell - the two closest behind him - are retired and Pudge Rodriguez is more than 400 ABs behind Bonds and also an oldster, he may be there for a while. If he wasn't the all-time walks leader, he might be at a 1000 by now (hmmm not to self, who are the top plate appearance leaders?). Bonds also holds the career records for home runs, hits, RBIs, and on base percentage.

Congratulations to Pedro Martinez on his 200th career win against South Boston Saturday. Martinez pitched eight innings surrendering three runs on eight hits and striking out 10 Gangsters.

Greg Maddux had a great pitching line in Sunday's game: eight innings, two hits, one unearned run allowed, no walks, seven strikeouts. Good enough for a win, right? wrong! Carolina's Clay Hensley outdueled the veteran, allowing only two hits and four walks in six innings. Two costly errors in the second inning did Vancouver in and the offense couldn't hit its way out of a wet paper bag.

Philadelphia has officially put Magglio Ordonez on the trading block. Ordonez has lost playing time to younger outfielders Reed Johnson, Vernon Wells, and Michael Cuddyer. The oft-injured star has only hit .163 in 43 at bats this season.

Pedro goes for 200

As mentioned in yesterday's entry, Arkansas' Pedro Martinez will try for his 200th career victory Saturday against South Boston. He'll be facing Dontrelle Willis. Martinez will be only the second in DMBL history to achieve 200, Greg Maddux being the first.

Philly's Brandon Webb pitched a gem against Vancouver last night. Webb limited the Iron Fist to one run on four hits over 8.1 innings. Philly is now a half a game out of first with Arkansas idle yesterday.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano is continuing where he left off in spring. Liriano is now 3-0 on the season and held the potent Sugar Bears offense to only three hits in seven innings at Newark. Liriano has a 1.71 ERA on the year.

Philly cut Marco Scutaro, who had been taking David Eckstein's place in the lineup. The Animals decided to go with Khalil Greene who had recently been signed. Journeyman infielder Todd Walker was signed to provide some help at second base.

Throwing Fuel on the Fire

The Sharks had a bit of a comeback yesterday against the Buddahs. Team Buddah had just gone up to a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Starter Jose Contreras was finally showing signs of fatigue and gave up a couple of runs in the bottom, making it 5-3. After Eric Chavez doubled in the eighth, Contreras was removed for the closer, Bob Wickman. Now Wickman had been anything but good up to this point. Though he had a strong spring, Wickman had already blown two saves and was sporting a 5.68 ERA. Well the Human GasCan was called in to shut the door on the Sharks, but instead gave up three straight singles followed by the crowning moment - Johnny Damon's three-run shot over the right field wall. Jersey manager Matt Nokes was livid after the game, tossing bats and Gatorade bottles all over the locker room. For the moment, Wickman has been demoted as the team's closer, replaced by Todd Jones.

Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson each moved closer to their 200th victory yesterday. Clemens, who notched the win against Las Vegas is now at 193 career victories and Johnson, who beat the Mighty Men, is at 189. Arkansas' Pedro Martinez will try for win #200 Saturday. The only pitcher with more than 200 wins pitched his first game this season yesterday. Vancouver's Greg Maddux recorded the win against Philly by limiting the first-place Endzone Animals to one run and four hits over eight innings.

The Ortiz Watch continues

Vancouver's David Ortiz hasn't slowed down since his 7-homer week last week. He's now hit a homer in all three games this week, including the two yesterday. He is leading the league with 12 homers - four more than second place Manny Ramirez. By the way, what happened to you, Manny? Ramirez stormed out of the gate, but is mired in a 4-24 (.167 average) slump. He only managed a 1-5 day during the huge 28-8 game and hasn't hit a homer since facing Vancouver last Friday.

Speaking of Newark, they were almost caught napping after their blowout. Carolina was leading the game 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, but four singles and an error by Paul Konerko led to a three-run inning to seal the victory for the Sugar Bears.

The Hoboken Cutters continue to be the hot team. Vicente Padilla improved to 3-0 on the year after shutting down New Jersey. First baseman Mike Jacobs had a good game (3-4 with 2 RBI) but was hurt in the later parts of the game. More info to come about the injury, but he was seen later texting on his cell phone after watching American Idol. Some speculate that he has been trying to get a chance to be a star vocal coach on an upcoming episode of the hit show. The Cutters have now won eight of their last ten and are tied for second in the Hanover Division.

Crunch with Punch KOs Jennings

Wow, anyone catch that football game in Newark last night? The Sugar Bears pounded the crap out of Carolina, especially starter Jason Jennings. Jennings got into trouble right off the bat and in fact, the Sugar Bears batted around once before Jennings retired a batter. Jennings walked leadoff hitter Bobby Abreu, in a sign of things to come, and proceeded to walk 11 more batters in the inning! Wow. Jennings also gave up 10 hits in the first. The Sugar Bears were already up 8-0 when Jim Edmonds smashed a grand slam over the head of Rocco Baldelli. Later in the inning, Nick Johnson hit a triple to run the score to 19-0, setting a new record for most runs in an inning. The Sugar Bears batted around twice in the inning. In the second, Jennings only surrendered a solo homer to Gregg Zaun, setting a new record for most earned runs allowed by one pitcher in a game with 20. Jennings ended up with the following atrocious stat line: 2 IP, 12 hits, 20 earned runs, 11 walks and 3 strikeouts. I bet those three feel like chumps.

And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum... D.C.'s Kelvim Escobar and Philly's Erik Bedard and their bullpens battled through a 0-0 game into extra innings until Reed Johnson finally broke the tie in the bottom of the tenth with a walk-off double that scored Scott Rolen. Escobar pitched six innings and allowed only two hits and four walks, while Bedard pitched seven and allowed only five hits and one walk. Both struck out five hitters each.

Vancouver's David Ortiz continues his home run tear, swatting two off Hillsborough starter Jeremy Bonderman. Ortiz now has 11 on the year to lead the league.

If you didn't catch it, there's a new Zane Smith article up on the site.

Hamels return sparks Sardine City

Vancouver's David Ortiz had a great weekend. He started out by hitting a pair of homers for Vancouver against Carolina on Friday, then followed up that effort with a 3-homer performance on Saturday. Five homers in two games, but they were all solo shots. Ortiz came back on Sunday to hit a two-run homer off Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez. After dropping four in a row to begin the week, Vancouver finished it up by taking three of four over the weekend.

Cole Hamels returned from injury Sunday for Sardine City and quieted any Brandon Claussen fans. Hamels shut down the Sharks, holding them to one run on three hits and two walks in six innings. Claussen will go back to sitting at the far end of the bench. Claussen was decent in his two game audition (1-0, 2.38 ERA), but the club decided they would be better off if they didn't tempt fate.

The Hoboken Cutters six game winning streak came to end Sunday in extra innings against Marietta. It took them 14 innings and eight pitchers, but the Mighty Men battled it out and stopped Hoboken's streak. The Cutters, still reeling from the tight loss, were stunned by New Jersey in their second game Sunday, 14-5.

Speaking of New Jersey, the team could not be any hotter. After winning only one of their first 10 games, the Buddahs have come back to win 6 of their last 7. The Buddahs are led by some very solid pitching, keeping their games close enough to squeak out some victories. Particularly effective has been first round selection Joel Zumaya.