Wild Card race gets tighter

The playoff race got tighter yesterday. Honolulu beat Arkansas 12-7 thanks to big days from Miguel Tejada (4-5), Brian McCann (3-5, 4 RBIs), and Johnny Damon (3-5). The Sharks jumped all over Falcon starter Juan Cruz in the second inning, scoring seven runs. Cruz only surrendered three hits, but walked six batters in his 1 2/3 innings of work.

Meanwhile Hoboken won their fourth straight with a 12-6 win over D.C. The Slappers jumped out to a 6-0 lead after a six run third inning, but the Cutters crawled back and took the lead with a six-run inning of their own. Mike Jacobs and Chris Duncan each had 3 RBIs.

Finally, Vancouver dropped their opening game against Newark 6-2. Randy Johnson earned his 199th career victory. Johnson will be the fourth to reach 200 with his next victory and the third to achieve the feat this year. Curt Schilling of Arkansas is the next active player with 190 career wins, but it looks like he'll have to wait til next year. Newark also became the first team to win 100 games this season and the eighth time in the franchises twelve year history that they have hit the century mark.

So Vancouver fell out of a playoff spot and into eighth, a half a game behind Hoboken and Honolulu. Hoboken remains percentage points up on Honolulu, since the Sharks have played more games than the Cutters. D.C. remains one game up on Hillsborough for fourth place after the Hitmen dropped a 7-4 loss to the Sardines.