Sunday wrapup

Vancouver has now won five straight after a two-month long slump and are now tied for sixth overall. The Fist have taken the first two from Hoboken over the weekend behind solid pitching efforts from Greg Maddux and Jake Peavy. Vancouver took game one after Juan Rincon couldn't hold the 2-1 lead in the ninth. Moises Alou hit a two-run single to take the lead from the Cutters. Game two also required some late inning heroics from Vancouver. John Garland was cruising behind a 2-0 lead in the seventh when Mike Lowell hit a three-run homer to give Vancouver the lead. Jake Peavy limited the Cutters to five hits and two runs over seven innings for the win, striking out 11.

The Honolulu Sharks dropped their last two games to Philly and now have fallen into a sixth-place tie with Vancouver. Philly's Johan Santana struck out 11 in 8.1 innings en route to his 14th win of the year. Jose Lopez was 3-3 with a homer run in the first game and 2-4 with 2 RBIs in the second. Brandon Webb pitched 8 solid innings to give the Animals a 4-2 win. David Ross added two solo home runs in the victory.

Marietta is now sitting comfortably atop the wild card standings after winning five straight. Trevor Hoffman held off a late Mudcat rally in the ninth to preserve an 8-7 win for the Mighty Men. Derek Jeter moved into 10th on the all-time hits list. Newly-acquired B.J. Ryan was a key part to the game two victory, pitching three perfect innings, striking out five and earning his first victory as a Mighty Man. Ryan has now pitched seven innings for Marietta and has not allowed a single baserunner. He has also struck out 11.

D.C. pounded away on Las Vegas in game one, then were lucky to escape with a victory in the second game. Jose Reyes went 4-4, leading the way for the Bushslappers 20-hit, 13-3 win over Vegas in game one. Pinch-hitter Mike Lamb was the only Slapper to not get a hit. Game two took 10 innings, but D.C. pulled off the victory anyway, 3-2. The game was tied in the early innings and the two bullpens were taking turns shutting each other down. Jose Reyes finally broke the tie in the 10th with a triple that scored Carlos Beltran. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect 10th to earn the save.

Blog bits... Mike Piazza hit his 2000th career DMBL hit in New Jersey's 7-5 win over Hillsborough. He's the seventh player to do so in the history of the league. In the same series, Alex Rodriguez passed Barry Larkin for #14 on the hits list...Newark's Chipper Jones tied Sammy Sosa for number 9 on the RBI list with 1237.

Deadline deals

Well the deadline came and went last night and there were a few deals that were made.

After shopping him for half of the season, Sardine City finally unloaded B.J. Ryan to Marietta. The Mighty Men get a significant boost to their bullpen which already featured DMBL greats Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. The Straphangers get a fifth round pick which should help them net a decent player next season.

Vancouver was at the heart of the weekend's other two trades. It seems as though they are giving up hopes of contention, though it can be argued that they didn't really lose any players that had been contributing to any success so far.

The first shipped outfielder J.D. Drew back home to Philadelphia. Drew played the first six years of his career with Philly. But Drew was left off the protected list in '06 and went on to have perhaps his finest season with Vancouver. Now Drew is back to Philly to help the Animals secure the Morris Division, while Vancouver gets back a couple of fifth round picks. Philly cut Juan Cruz, who had made a spot start in place of injured Brandon Webb, to make room for Drew.

The second deal came just under the wire, dealing reliever Wes Littleton to Hoboken for an 8th round pick. Sources say that Hoboken came close to acquiring Chris Carpenter, but the deal fell through at the last second. Littleton had been a relatively decent member of Vancouver's disastrous bullpen this season and should help out with Hoboken's equally disastrous pen.

Vancouver continued a roster overhaul after the deals, sending several role players packing. Vancouver brought in veteran Scott Spiezio, who had played with two other teams so far this year, to help solidify their bench. Hoboken also made a few moves to shake up their roster, cutting atrocious Pat Burrell and Braden Looper, as well as farmhand Aaron Cook.

The only other team to make a non-DL related move was Las Vegas who cut Cliff Floyd in favor of the younger Cory Sullivan.

Hoboken rolls along

Hoboken continued their roll, smashing Marietta 14-6. Mighty Men starter Gil Meche was mercilessly pounded for 11 runs in five innings, earning the starter a spot on the bench. "He's lucky we didn't go to Paul Byrd" said owner David Landsman after the game. Meche's ERA ballooned to 6.96. Hoboken's Vicente Padilla improved to 10-3 on the season, despite giving up five runs. Josh Bard and Ian Kinsler each had four RBIs and a homer in the game. Hoboken has now won six straight and is only 1/2 a game behind Marietta, who lost four in a row.

David Ortiz continues to mash the ball, hitting two homers in a 5-4 loss to Carolina yesterday. Ortiz now has 32 homers on the year. Chris Carpenter rebounded well after his 11-run performance last week - pitching seven shut out innings, but the Vancouver pen blew it with a 5-run eighth inning which included a bases-loaded walk.

Carlos Beltran's 5 RBI led D.C. to a 12-4 rout of the Falcons. John Maine pitched six shutout innings despite surrendering six walks and five hits.

New Jersey's Tom Gorzelanny held the Rat Pack to only three hits and two runs over eight innings. The rookie has had some trouble with run support this year, but managed to get his fourth win of the season. Gorzelanny is only 4-8 despite a decent 4.17 ERA this year.

Newark barely survived their game against Sardine City yesterday. After a close 4-4 tie led the game to extra innings, the Straphangers played "small-ball" in the top of the 10th and manufactured the go-ahead run. Usually reliable B.J. Ryan was brought in to close the game in the bottom of the inning, but it wasn't meant to be. Nick Johnson scored to tie it on a Nick Swisher single and then later Manny Ramirez singled in Mark DeRosa to win it for the Sugar Bears.

Brandon Webb and Aaron Harang both pitched complete games in yesterday's South Boston-Philadelphia game, but it was Harang who came out on top. Harang limited the Animals to only one run on three hits, while striking out 10.

Initial Results

Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia made his first appearance since injuring himself a month ago. Sabathia was solid in his return (6.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 K), but lost to a superior A.J. Burnett in a battle of the initials. A.J. scattered three hits and one earned run in eight innings and struck out eight Hitmen. Mariano Rivera closed out the ninth for his sixth save. Incidentally, Hillsborough released outfielder Juan Pierre to make room for Sabathia. Pierre was struggling this season, but had been a member of the organization and was a regular since 2003.

Speaking of initials, trade talks are heating up in Sardine City as B. J. Ryan has been hotly pursued. Rumors are running wild, but possible fits are Marietta and Hoboken, the latter's bullpen being a disaster so far this season.

The Weekend Ahead: The Brett Myers watch continues Saturday as the much-maligned pitcher looks to end his winless streak against Vancouver. Philly and Newark take turns throwing each others' Johnsons at each other. Randy goes for Newark Friday and Josh starts Saturday for Philly. Newark faces second-place Honolulu after the Philly games. If Newark survives unscathed from the two series, there may be no stopping them.

The DMBL All-Star ballot is now posted so make sure you vote!