Vegas courts Lady Luck

The Rat Pack won a 6-5 decision over the Bushslappers in 11 innings, taking their eighth straight. The interesting thing about the victory is that it brings the Rats' record in one-run games to an astounding 8-0, by far the best in the league. Only Philadelphia is also undefeated in one-run games, but they are only 3-0. Carolina is second in one-run victories with 6, but they also have 6 losses. The Rats also lead the league in extra-innings wins with 3 (out of 3 games). These stats usually indicate a large amount of luck, but with the Rats you can't really be sure. Time will tell if the ball bounces the other way in the Pack's future.

Tampa Bay looks back on track after picking up their third straight victory, a 9-6 stunner over the Philadelphia Endzone Animals. Pat Burrell and Torii Hunter each had 3 hits and 2 RBIs to lead the Plunkers to victory.

Meanwhile, the Straphangers dropped their ninth straight game, a 5-3 setback to Blue Ridge. Daisuke Matsuzaka, despite having a solid season so far, dropped to 1-5 on the year after 7.2 mediocre innings. The Sardines jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but slowly saw their lead erode, eventually tied in the fifth inning. Prince Fielder drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth and the Bombers tacked on an insurance run. Russ Springer entered to close the game out and despite being a bit wild (12 pitches, 5 strikes), the Sardines were shut down.

Joel Pineiro made his last start for the Cutters - at least for the time being - and was given his outright release. The Cutters resigned Joe Beimel, who had been cut to make room for Pineiro, to a special one-day contract. "We feel bad that Joe didn't get into a game last time" said manager Wally Backman. "We'll try harder this time around." Beimel is expected to be released when Aaron Cook is eligible to come off the DL tomorrow.