The Schmidt hits the fan

Another fine outing from Honolulu's Jason Schmidt yesterday. The Sharks provided plenty of run support, scoring seven runs in the first inning and another two in the second. Vegas starter Anthony Reyes surrendered all nine runs in his 2.2 innings pitched. Reyes, whose ERA keeps rising and rising is now standing at 8.13 - almost Brett Myers territory. Schmidt, on the other hand, pitched six shutout innings, allowing only six hits and one walk, while striking out six. Schmidt improves to 9-2 on the season, becoming the first nine-game winner in the DMBL.

The Sugar Bears pounded away on Hoboken again last night. Leading the way, none other than Marlon Anderson. Anderson was 3-4 with 4 runs and 7 RBIs. This marks the third time in four tries that the Sugar Bears have scored more than ten runs against the Cutters. Hoboken has now lost five in a row and has fallen one game below .500.

Sardine City's Josh Barfield has been sitting on the disabled list all weekend, waiting to be activated. The team doctors have pronounced Barfield fit to play as early as Saturday, but ownership has not activated him yet. Maybe it has something to do with Julio Lugo heating up over the last few games. Lugo is now batting .293 during his stint with the Straphangers. Barfield only hit .255 so far this year. "If they want to keep Julio, then cut me, man!" said an irate Barfield in an interview yesterday. But clubhouse officials are mum about the reasons for keeping Barfield on the DL. "We're not taking any chances with Josh, especially not when our club is hot" said second base coach Willie Randolph. When reminded that the team is actually in a three-game skid and lost six of seven, Randolph retorted "whatever, we got too many coaches on this team anyway."

Tanking Tankersley

The Sugar Bears swept the Rat Pack with a 16-2 pounding yesterday. The Sugar Bears outscored the Rats 35-8 in the three game series. This time it Taylor Tankersley getting his final season numbers ruined. Tank gave up 9 runs on two hits and 7 walks in only 1/3 or an inning. Mark Teahen, the only out recorded by Tankersley - a strikeout victim no less, should feel like the biggest loser. "I guess I should have taken a pitch or two" said Teahen after the game with tears in his eyes. "Even little girls and grandmas were making fun of me." Tankersley also threw a wild pitch and hit a batter in the inning. It was the Sugar Bears sixth straight win and the Rat Pack's seventh straight loss.

Jason Schmidt was on top of his game yesterday as he mowed down the Hoboken Cutters to the tune of 12 strikeouts in 7 innings. The Sharks won the game 9-2 and are sitting alone in third place overall, 1/2 a game up on Vancouver. Schmidt becomes the first pitcher to reach eight victories this season.

Schmidt wasn't the only pitcher mowing down batters yesterday. South Boston's Aaron Harang also K'ed 12 Vancouver players en route to a 9-1 victory.

Beckett, Schmidt come up Aces

Well Miguel Cabrera's hit streak came to an end at 22 yesterday after the Cutters were shut down by Brad Penny and Team Buddah. Penny didn't give up an earned run, but the numbers show that he was more lucky than good. Penny walked four and gave up six hits in seven innings, while only striking out one. The Buddahs also had three errors, so that may have contributed to it. Penny improved to 4-2 on the season.

The highest hit streak now is Marietta's Todd Helton, at 16. Teammate Matt Diaz also has a 15 game hit streak, so I'm guessing there's a little sidebet going on in that clubhouse as to who stops hitting first.

Josh Beckett pitched a gem yesterday - a complete game, four-hit shutout of Arkansas, which means Barry Bonds will have to wait another day to hit his 600th homer. Beckett has not had a good DMBL career to date. He is 3-2 with a 4.70 ERA on the year, which if he continues on this pace would be a career year for him. Expectations are low for Beckett this year and being the number five starter should alleviate a lot of the pressure he might have felt in previous seasons.

Beckett's line was impressive, but Jason Schmidt had an equally impressive start against Sardine City. Schmidt and the Sharks blanked the Straphangers 2-0 as Schmidt went the distance and allowed a mere two hits and three walks while striking out eight. Schmidt is now 4-2 on the season. The Sharks begin their big series with Newark today.