Falcons sweep Hitmen

Tampa Bay shut out Las Vegas for the second straight day. This time it was Andy Pettitte going the distance, holding the Rats to 5 hits and improving to 15-6 on the season. For Pettitte, it was his 39th career complete game, tying him for with Kevin Appier for 15th overall and his 13th career shutout - good for 9th place overall, one behind Roger Clemens.

Arkansas completed the sweep of Hillsborough, taking a 5-1 win over the Hitmen. Former Hillsborough teammate Jeremy Bonderman evened his record at 12-12 with a 7.1 inning, 5-hit performance in which he struck out 8 Hitmen. Somehow the Falcons won, despite being limited to only five hits and one walk. Hillsborough falls to an even 2 games behind D.C. for the 5th playoff seed and their playoff magic number remains at 2.

Vancouver trounces Marietta

Vancouver laid the smackdown on Marietta over the weekend, sweeping a 4-game set in dramatic fashion. In the four games, Vancouver outscored the Mighty Men by a 51-17 margin, scoring at least 10 runs in each game. Vancouver evens their season record at 14-14, while Marietta dropped their fifth straight game and fell behind Team Buddah.

Arkansas's Jeremy Bonderman had been roughed up all season long, but in yesterday's second game, he pitched a 6-game shutout of New Jersey. The win was the first or the season for Bonderman, who also struck out nine in the game. Alex Rodriguez was 4-4 with 2 RBIs in the game and Mark Ellis also had two hits.

Blue Ridge and Newark battled to an 11-10 final, with the Sugar Bears winning. Blue Ridge was clinging to a one-run lead going into the final inning, but Newark rallied to tie and then win the game on a Chipper Jones single. After a high-scoring game like that, both teams appeared tired in the second match, as the two teams combined for six runs in a 4-2 win by Newark. Ted Lilly did his best to keep the Sugar Bear lineup in check (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER), but his counterpart, John Smoltz, pitched equally well (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7K). Once again, Chipper Jones gave his team the lead with a 2-run single.

Several players, especially catchers, returned from injury over the weekend. Newark regained Yadier Molina, Las Vegas welcomed back Joe Mauer, and Kurt Suzuki returned to Sardine City. Pitcher Shawn Hill was activated from D.C.'s disabled list.

The Trade Mill keeps churning

This morning a huge deal was completed between the Arkansas Golden Falcons and the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen. The Falcons sent starter Dan Haren and young outfielder Nick Markakis plus four draft picks (spread out through 2010) to the Hitmen in exchange for sluggers Alex Rodriguez and Adam Dunn, young starters Ian Snell and Jeremy Bonderman and reliever Jonathan Broxton. The move solidifies the Falcons lineup, and makes them once again competitive for the 2008 season. A-Rod will likely fill the DH slot in the Falcons lineup with incumbent David Wright expected to man third base. The Hitmen meanwhile complete their young rotation with Haren, who will likely fill the number two or three spot.

Are there more deals to come? Stay tuned!

Billingsley stabilizes Fist staff

Chad Billingsley earned his first DMBL win, holding D.C. to only three hits and zero runs over 7.1 innings. Billingsley, who was going to spend the year at AA Spokane, was called up recently because the rest of the staff was falling apart at the seams. Though shaky at times, Billingsley still has only a 2.70 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 4 starts. Picking up his 28th save was Billy Wagner, now up by two for the league lead over Francisco Rodriguez. David Ortiz hit two homers in the game.

Strange stat line from Hoboken, as the Cutters have now won two straight against the powerhouse Sugar Bears. The Cutters won 12-8, holding the Sugar Bears to only three hits. That's right, the Sugar Bears scored eight runs on only three hits! It certainly didn't help that the Cutters walked 11 Sugar Bears batters and hit two more, but still... One of the hits was a Michael Barrett grand slam in the first inning after three of the first four batters walked.

The Buddahs pulled off a ninth-inning miracle comeback over the Straphangers. The Sardines held a 7-5 lead in the ninth but the pressure was too much for Akinori Otsuka. After getting the first two batters out in the inning, Otsuka could not get the final out. The unlikeliest of heroes, Dioner Navarro, who is batting .216 on the season, hit a two-run single to tie the game, then Andy Phillips, he of the .118 average, got the game winning hit - only his second hit of the season.

Curt Schilling was roughed up again yesterday by Hillsborough. Ryan Howard hit two homers and drove in seven runs in a 9-0 rout of the Falcons. Jeremy Bonderman limited Arkansas to only four hits over 7.1 innings while striking out 12.

Don't forget there are no games tomorrow. Games will resume Sunday with a doubleheader late in the day. Trade Talk will be delayed until either Sunday or Monday.

Hitmen starters get it done

Check out the league message board for some rules discussions. One suggestion deals with outfield elligibility and another is about stadiums. Also don't forget the trade deadline is this Sunday, July 15th.

Hillsborough is up to 10 wins in a row now with a 4-2 win over New Jersey. The Hitmen have gotten some great results from their starters lately and yesterday was no exception. Jeremy Bonderman pitched eight innings and allowed only two runs and five hits, while striking out seven and walking one. Bonderman improved to 10-9. The Hitmen have eight quality starts in their last nine, and the one that didn't quite qualify was a solid five inning performance from C.C. Sabathia that ended early due to rain.
Billy Wagner notched his 25th save of the season and 250th of his career in Vancouver's 5-2 win over Hoboken yesterday. Wagner now leads the league by one save over Philly's Francisco Rodriguez who is still the front-runner for the Eck.

Arkansas' Curt Schilling took his first lost of the season yesterday. Schilling, who started out in AAA to begin the season on a rehab assignment, won his first four decisions since taking Ervin Santana's spot in the rotation a month ago, but he hit a brick wall yesterday. Schilling wasn't that bad (7 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 7 K) considering the opponent but the Arkansas offense couldn't find enough offense to keep up with the Sugar Bears.

Another Sugar Blowout

Newark pounded the Falcons 26-6 yesterday. It was the third time this season that the Sugar Bears scored 20 or more runs. Bobby Abreu tied the record for most runs scored in a game with six. The record is held by three other players, most recently by Carlos Delgado, then of Vatican City, against Philadelphia back in June of 2000. Jim Edmonds and Nick Johnson each had 6 RBIs. The Sugar Bears had 24 hits and were walked 13 times. Starter Javier Vazquez got the run support, but couldn't make it out of the fifth inning. Scot Shields got the win in relief to improve to 3-0. Falcons starter Ervin Santana was charged with 16 earned runs in 4.2 innings (yes he outlasted Vazquez!) with 8 walks and one strikeout. Brad Lidge was awful again, surrendering six earned runs on five hits and five walks in just 2/3 of an inning. That's the second time in a week's span that saw Lidge fall completely apart (the last time being in Santana's previous start against Honolulu). Lidge now has a 13.50 ERA on the season. It was the sixth loss in a row for the Falcons.

The Bushslappers kept their streak intact, winning their fourth straight against Las Vegas, 4-3. The Slappers are now only three games under .500. John Maine improved to 5-1 despite a ho-hum effort and Alex Gonzalez went 3-4 in his final game replacing Jose Reyes.

Jeremy Bonderman pitched a gem for the Hired Hitmen, but didn't factor into the decision as Hillsborough dropped their game to New Jersey 3-2 in 13 innings. Bonderman pitched 8 innings, allowing only one run on three hits while striking out nine. Reliever Takashi Saito blew the save opportunity in the ninth and Chad Cordero took the loss in the 13th when Luis Vizcaino walked the bases loaded.

Jorge Posada was 5-5 for Marietta in a losing effort to Carolina. Posada hit two homers and drove in three runs, but it wasn't enough as the Mudcats outslugged the Mighty Men 10-8.

Pujols powers Philly

Hoboken's Scott Kazmir pitched a six-hit shutout of Las Vegas yesterday. Kazmir struck out 9 to improve to 3-4 on the year. Not only was it the first shutout of Kazmir's young career, but also his first complete game. Probably unnoticed in this game was a fine effort from Vegas' Anthony Reyes (6 IP, 2 ER, 6 K) whose last five starts have been lousy. Reyes has not had a quality start since his first two starts of the year.

Chris Carpenter returned to action for South Boston on Monday and picked up the win despite looking a bit rusty. Carpenter pitched 7.1 innings and allowed four runs and six walks. South Boston won for the fourth straight time.

Philadelphia solidified their hold on the Morris Division lead and knocked Arkansas into third place with a come-from-behind effort last night. The Animals scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth, including an Albert Pujols walk-off grand salami off reliever Justin Duchscherer. It was Pujols' second homer of the night. Pujols ended up driving in six of Philly's seven runs in the game.

The top pitching line of the day goes to Hillsborough's Jeremy Bonderman who held the Mudcats to three hits and no runs, while striking out nine in a complete game, 4-0 victory.

Look for a new Rookie Watch article later today. Phil Plantier will look at the rookies in the Morris Division.

Crunch with Punch KOs Jennings

Wow, anyone catch that football game in Newark last night? The Sugar Bears pounded the crap out of Carolina, especially starter Jason Jennings. Jennings got into trouble right off the bat and in fact, the Sugar Bears batted around once before Jennings retired a batter. Jennings walked leadoff hitter Bobby Abreu, in a sign of things to come, and proceeded to walk 11 more batters in the inning! Wow. Jennings also gave up 10 hits in the first. The Sugar Bears were already up 8-0 when Jim Edmonds smashed a grand slam over the head of Rocco Baldelli. Later in the inning, Nick Johnson hit a triple to run the score to 19-0, setting a new record for most runs in an inning. The Sugar Bears batted around twice in the inning. In the second, Jennings only surrendered a solo homer to Gregg Zaun, setting a new record for most earned runs allowed by one pitcher in a game with 20. Jennings ended up with the following atrocious stat line: 2 IP, 12 hits, 20 earned runs, 11 walks and 3 strikeouts. I bet those three feel like chumps.

And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum... D.C.'s Kelvim Escobar and Philly's Erik Bedard and their bullpens battled through a 0-0 game into extra innings until Reed Johnson finally broke the tie in the bottom of the tenth with a walk-off double that scored Scott Rolen. Escobar pitched six innings and allowed only two hits and four walks, while Bedard pitched seven and allowed only five hits and one walk. Both struck out five hitters each.

Vancouver's David Ortiz continues his home run tear, swatting two off Hillsborough starter Jeremy Bonderman. Ortiz now has 11 on the year to lead the league.

If you didn't catch it, there's a new Zane Smith article up on the site.