Philly evens series with Sugar Bears

The Endzone Animals took a huge step toward knocking off the defending champions by stealing a game at the Cereal Bowl yesterday. It all started in the 6th inning when the first two batters reached base and then Albert Pujols was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. After some glares were exchanged, and a sacrifice fly from Gary Sheffield, Adam Dunn hit a three-run homer to give the Animals a 4-2 lead. But Newark wouldn't go down so easily. Mike Fontenot hit a run-scoring single to chase starter Matt Cain out of the game and then Nick Swisher came through with a single to tie the game. In the 8th inning, the Endzone Animals rallied again. Albert Pujols led off with a home run to give the Animals the lead again. Kelly Johnson homered later in the inning - a 2-run liner to right - to extend the lead to 7-4. Once again, the Sugar Bears came storming back. Matt Stairs hit a two-run homer to narrow the lead to one run, but Carlos Guillen hit a weak grounder to end the game. The two teams will take today off, travelling the Turnpike and enjoying the beautiful sites of refineries and traffic jams.

Meanwhile, Vancouver hosted Las Vegas in another closely contested game. The Rats got on the board quickly. Ichiro walked to lead off the game and promptly stole second, then tagged up on a Joe Mauer fly out and scored on a sac fly. Then in the second, Chone Figgins hit a two-run double to give the Rats a 3-0 lead. David Ortiz answered with a home run the next inning, but it was only one run... Things were going well for Erik Bedard and the Rat Pack until the 5th inning when everything fell apart. Michael Young led off with a double, but the next two Fist batters struck out. It looked like Bedard would escape unharmed, but Moises Alou came through with a base hit, scoring Young. Jose Guillen doubled and then Bedard walked the bases loaded. Bedard fell apart and walked the next two runs home, giving the Fist a 4-3 lead. And that was all the scoring for the rest of the game... Billy Wagner and Manny Corpas combined to pitch the ninth inning and preserved the lead. In all, the Rats were held to a mere 2 hits and 5 walks, and struck out 10 times. Carlos Pena's homer streak was snapped. Today, it's Zack Greinke vs. A.J. Burnett. Greinke is 3-0 this season against the Rats with a 2.20 ERA and Burnett is 0-0 with a 3.55 ERA in 2 starts.