Here come the Bombers

Watch out for the Blue Ridge Bombers! Yesterday's 5-4 win over Arkansas was the team's 4th straight, bringing them to 3 games under the .500 mark. Edwin Encarnacion and Carl Crawford each had 3 hits. Crawford, in fact, only needed a home run to hit for the cycle. The club broke a tie with Arkansas to move into 5th place alone.

Vancouver's Ryan Spilborghs was 2-4 yesterday, bringing his league-high hitting streak up to 14 games. Spilborghs, who is now batting .333 for the season, led the team to a 5-3 win over D.C. Jeff Clement and Jerry Hairston each were 2-3. The Fist suffered a blow though when starter Hiroki Kuroda, in only his second DMBL start, tripped over a blade of grass in the second inning. "They cut the honorable grass to high!" said Kuroda through an interpreter. This opens the door for the return of Vancouver legend Greg Maddux, who announced that this will be his final season in the DMBL. Maddux has already accepted a part-time role as pitching coach for the team.

Denard Span and Mike Napoli each had 4 RBIs in an 11-2 clubbing of Amityville. Span hit a two-run double and Napoli capped the same inning off with a grand slam in a 4th inning that saw the Cutters score 7 runs. Jeremy Guthrie limited the Ant Slayers to 4 hits in 6 innings of work to even his record at 3-3.

Las Vegas got revenge against Newark with a 9-3 victory, pounding Randy Johnson for 7 runs in 2.2 innings. Jeff Keppinger (3-5, 2 RBIs), Chris Davis (3-5, 2 homers, 3 RBIs) and Richie Sexson (3-4) led the Rat offensive and Tim Lincecum improved to 4-1. The Sugar Bears remained in a 2nd place tie with Marietta, who lost 6-5 to New Jersey, but both teams lost a game to the Rats in the standings.