Unit close to historic marks

Randy Johnson is now only one strikeout away from 3000 for his career. Johnson will be the first to achieve the mark in DMBL history. The win gave him nine for the season and 195 for the year. Johnson is looking to become the third pitcher to reach 200 career wins this season. By the way, Johnson should buy Mark DeRosa some cigars or something. DeRosa drove in six runs in the game to lead the Sugar Bears to a 15-3 victory over South Boston.

Honolulu held on to defeat the Bushslappers 3-2 in extra innings. Honolulu jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and starter Jeff Francis was limiting D.C. to only one run on three hits in his seven innings of work. But D.C. got to reliever Chad Bradford in the eighth and we were off to extra innings. Frank Catalanotto finally won the game with a double in the bottom of the 12th, scoring Eric Chavez, who had reached earlier on an error.

Marietta broke their losing streak by beating a struggling Vancouver team 6-1. Ben Sheets was rocked again prompting team owner Yaro Zajac to wonder if Sheets might be hiding an injury. Regardless, Sheets may be seeing time in AAA if he doesn't straighten out, but most of the Vancouver starters have 5.00+ ERAs anyway. A.J. Burnett pitched brilliantly for Marietta, holding the Iron Fist to only one run on four hits through seven innings.

Team Buddah ripped Arkansas starter Daniel Cabrera to shreds. Cabrera surrendered seven runs in only 1 1/3 innings. The Buddahs were up 8-2 after two innings and never looked back. Brad Penny earned his 10th win of the season for New Jersey.

The Straphangers continued their tough stretch yesterday. After facing the Hanover-leading Sugar Bears, the Sardines now face the Morris-leading Endzone Animals. Erik Bedard held the Sardines in check, holding them to three runs over seven innings and picking up his 10th win of the year. Sardine City starter Adam Loewen pitched well (better than Bedard even), but did not factor into the decision as Matt Capps lost it in the eighth.