Mathews' cycle

Although the league doesn't officially track cycles, it is a rare feat. Sardine City's Gary Matthews became the first player since 2005 to hit for the cycle in yesterday's 11-1 pounding of the Mudcats. Matthews hit a single in his first at bat, getting the easy one out of the way. Matthews struck out in his second at bat (getting the 0-base hit?). In the fourth innings, Matthews hit a double that scored two runs. At this point the fans still didn't sense that anything special was going on... In the sixth inning, Matthews hit a two-run shot to left field to give the Sardines a 7-1 lead. But the hardest component of the cycle was still needed. Luckily for Matthews, Justin Speier threw a meatball down the plate that Matthews lined past center fielder Grady Sizemore that scored Freddy Sanchez. It looked like an easy double but Sizemore had trouble playing the carom off the wall and Matthews went for it and made it easily. Matthews ended the day 4-5 with 5 RBIs. Tom Glavine earned his 9th win of the season and his 169th career, moving him into a tie for sixth all-time with Kevin Brown.

The last player to hit for the cycle was Eric Chavez, then with Vancouver, in August of 2005. Chavez achieved the feat a few days after Albert Pujols did the same. There were actually three players to hit for the cycle that year - Las Vegas' Carl Crawford did it early in the season. The first player to hit for the cycle was Todd Hundley of Toledo in 1998.

Meanwhile in the playoff race, Hoboken won their fifth straight and moved into fourth place overall, while D.C. continued their slide and moved into a fifth-place tie with Honolulu. Hillsborough and Vancouver both suffered ill-timed losses. Hillsborough falls into seventh with the loss and Vancouver is now sitting 2 1/2 games out of the final wild card spot. Honolulu has now won seven of eight games against Vancouver this season.