Playoff picture shuffles into focus

Philadelphia dropped their 6th straight yesterday, a 4-3 extra-inning heartbreaker to Blue Ridge. Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo walkoff homer in the 10th to win the game for the Bombers. The loss puts the Endzone Animals 5 games under .500 and 8 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. Meanwhile, Vancouver won their 5th straight, a 5-1 victory over first-place Carolina. The Fist are now 1 1/2 games out of first, but still sit in the 6th overall spot. The good news for Fist fans is that they appear to be distancing themselves from the rest of the herd. Looks like the only playoff races will be for positioning and division titles. The Falcons beat Hillsborough 6-5, keeping the Hitmen in a tie with the Mudcats. The Falcons remain 7 1/2 games out of 6th place.

In the Hanover Division, all three top teams lost their matchups. Marietta was pounded by Hoboken 11-3 as Mike Napoli hit his 29th and 30th home runs of the season. Sardine City beat Las Vegas by an 8-3 final. The Sardines scored 5 runs in the final two innings to put the game out of reach. D.C. 4-hit the Sugar Bears despite starter Erik Bedard's mysterious exit from the game in the 4th inning. D.C.'s bullpen allowed only 1 hit over the final 5 2/3 innings.