Fist, Sugar Bears sweep rivals

Vancouver and Newark both completed the sweep of the other's prime contenders. Javier Vazquez improved to 17-1 as the Sugar Bears took a 9-6 decision in Philadelphia. Matt Stairs drove in 5 runs in the contest as the Sugar Bears opened up a 4-game lead on the Rats. Meanwhile, the Iron Fist bested the Rat Pack 7-4 as Curtis Granderson and Maicer Izturis each had 3 RBIs. Granderson hit his 22nd triple of the season, coming within 2 of Jose Reyes' DMBL-era record. Vancouver now leads Philly by 9 games.

Hoboken won their 9th game out of their past 11, defeating the Golden Falcons 6-1. Matt Garza gave the Cutters 8 innings of 1-run ball, scattering 6 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 7. The Cutters, despite sitting in 12th place overall, are now only 7 games behind Hillsborough for the final playoff spot.

Jered Weaver held the Mudcats to 4 hits in 7 innings to give the Plunkers a 3-1 win yesterday. The win was only Weaver's 4th of the season. The game was tied at one until the eight inning when the Plunkers led off the inning with a single and a double. Johnny Estrada was momentarily distracted by a busty fan in the front row and let a pitch get by him, scoring Akinori Iwamura from third. A sacrifice fly by Brian Roberts brought home the final run. The damage could have been worse as the Mudcats proceeded to load the bases, but Adrian Gonzalez popped out to end the inning. The story has a happy ending for Cats fans, as Estrada was able to get the fan's phone number after the game.

D.C. has asserted their position in 5th place after weathering a rough period. The club has now won 4 in a row and has a 5-game lead on 6th place Hillsborough. Yesterday the Slappers took care of Sardine City 7-2. Carlos Beltran was 2-2 with a home run and 4 RBIs to lead the D.C. offense, while Kelvim Escobar took care of the Sardine offense (7.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 K) to earn his 13th win of the season.