Philadelphia and Vancouver are now in a virtual tie for first place in the Morris Division, with Philly only percentage points ahead of the Fist. Vancouver's first-round pick Zack Greinke pitched a 3-hit complete game shutout of New Jersey to improve to 5-0 on the season. Meanwhile Philly dropped an 8-7 loss to Las Vegas (yes another one-run game for those of you keeping track at home). Philly was leading by one with two outs in the ninth, but they must have forgotten about the supernatural powers of the Rat Pack. Closer J.J. Putz walked Jim Thome and then promptly gave up the game-winning homer to Joe Mauer.
Hillsborough battled Newark for 13 innings, but ended up pulling out a 4-3 win. The Sugar Bears tied the game up at 3 in the top of the ninth on a 2-run Matt Stairs homer. Nick Markakis won the game in the 13th with a bases-loaded single. Although Hillsborough managed to win the game, they lost the services of their young pitcher Felix Hernandez for a month. After watching the movie Iron Man, Felix had tried to build himself a suit that would help him pitch, but the boot jets sent him flying into a nearby wall. He will not recover nearly as quickly as the movie had led him to believe...
Also lost for a month is Las Vegas' scrappy shortstop David Eckstein. The gutty sparkplug infielder was a replacement for starter Jeff Keppinger who went down with his own injury recently. The tough-as-nails Eckstein met his demise when he tried to carry the team on his back, going 3-3 with a home run. The pesky veteran took the phrase too literally after celebrating his night, and several of his teammates jumped on his back, crushing the gritty player's back. "He's so scrappy" said the Rats' team doctor "that sometimes he thinks he can do anything." It's still not clear how the Rats will replace this loss of scrappiness, but a look to the scrap heap might help.
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