Sugar Bears roll to 8th in row

With a playoff spot already locked up, the Newark Sugar Bears have their sights set on the Hanover Division. Yesterday's 6-0 blanking of D.C. was their 8th win in a row, giving them a magic number of 7 to clinch the division. James Shields held the O-Bombers to only 5 hits and 3 walks in gaining his 12th win of the year. Manny Ramirez (3) and Jack Cust (2) drove in 5 of the 6 runs for Newark.

Meanwhile, nothing much changed in the Morris Division. Carolina dropped an 8-7 decision to Vancouver and Hillsborough was shellacked by Arkansas 14-4, so the Cats remain 2 games out of first. Philly edged Blue Ridge 6-4 to remain 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. The Falcons' win evens their record up at 72-72, but they remain 5 games out of 6th.

John Danks improved to 17-6 on the season and Mariano Rivera saved his 29th in a 3-2 Mighty Men victory over Hoboken. Danks held the Cutters to 4 hits in 8.2 innings, allowing only 2 runs (1 earned) and striking out 6. Aaron Cook, who went the distance, pitched well as well, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs in his 8 innings of work, but ended up with a hard loss.

Last place teams take first prizes

Sardine City doesn't have too much to be proud of offensively this year. The team is second to last in team OPS (.710) and has the third fewest runs scored in the league. But for one week at least, they get to brag about having the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week. Carlos Quentin has battled back from a brutal start to the season and an injury that shelved him for the good part of a month. This week, Quentin batted .419 with a .538 OBP and .839 slugging. He also hit 4 homers, scored 9 runs and drove in 9 runs.

A close runner up to Quentin is Philly's Albert Pujols, who also hit .419 but with a .486 OBP and .935 slugging, also hit 4 homers and scored 9 runs, but drove in 14 runs. Other notables: Amityville's Alex Rodriguez (.400/.500/.667, 7 R), Newark teammates Ramon Vazquez (.478/.538/.609) and Mike Fontenot (.370/.452/.741, 3 HR, 7 R), and Philly's Michael Cuddyer (.500/.571/.667).

Although they may be in last place, that doesn't mean that Team Buddah is packing it in. Kevin Slowey, after spending several weeks on the disabled list, returned with a vengeance and takes this week's Museum of Bad Art Pitcher of the Week Award. This week, Slowey was 2-0, with a 1.23 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in 2 starts, striking out 14 batters in 14.2 innings.

Las Vegas had two great candidates for this week: Rich Harden (1-1, with a 1.29 ERA and 1.00 WHIP and 21 K in 14 IP) and Derek Lowe (1-1, 1.84 ERA, 0.95 WHIP). Other top pitchers: Amityville's Chris Volstad (1-1, 1.76, 1.11 WHIP), Jeremy Guthrie of Hoboken (1-1, 1.35), Sardine City's Josh Johnson (2-0, 2.65, 1.00 WHIP) and Philly's Hiroki Kuroda getting his act together (1-1, 2.45, 0.89 WHIP, 13 K).

Philly Phantastic

Do the Philadelphia Endzone Animals still have a shot at the post-season? After winning four out of their last five, they're just 1 1/2 games out of the final playoff berth. The 7th place Animals kicked off a three-game series against the Blue Ridge Bombers with a 12-1 win -- and chewed up the Bombers bullpen, requiring them to use eight pitchers in the losing effort. If the Animals are going to reach the post-season, they'll need some help as they don't have any games left against four of the six teams ahead of them in the standings. (On the positive side, that means 14 of their remaining 20 games are against teams with losing records!)

The team they're chasing in the standings, the 6th place Vancouver Iron Fist, were just swept by the 1st place Newark Sugar Bears in a three-game series -- their fourth straight loss overall. The Iron Fist had a much needed day off Sunday afternoon before starting a five-game road trip. They have 19 games left in the season, and it's a much tougher road than the Animals face -- they've got five games against the Carolina Mudcats, two against the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen and two against the Sugar Bears, three teams they've gone a combined 6-23 against so far this year! Vancouver's magic number to clinch a playoff spot stands at 18.

The Sugar Bears, by the way, became the first team to clinch a 2009 playoff berth with today's 8-1 win over the D.C. O-Bombers. The Sugar Bears are guaranteed no worse than a wildcard seed; their magic number for the Hanover Division title is down to 8, and for the Commissioner's Cup, it's 10.

It's still very much a race in the Morris Division standings, however, where the Mudcats have pulled to within 2 games of the Hitmen. The Mudcats had their seven-game winning streak today against the Amityville Ant Slayers, 3-1. But their remarkable 17-4 record over the last three weeks has put tremendous pressure on the Hitmen, who dropped a tough 6-5 game today against the Sardine City Straphangers. Each team faces a brutal end to its season, with the Mudcats facing the Sugar Bears six times in their final nine games; the Hitmen, meanwhile, close it out with seven against the 5th place Las Vegas Rat Pack and three against the 8th place Arkansas Golden Falcons, a team they've gone 1-7 against this year.

Carolina's hot streak has landed them in a flat-footed tie for the top wildcard seed with the Marietta Mighty Men, who have dropped 3 out of their last 7 games. The Mites were neck and neck with the Sugar Bears for the best record in baseball for most of the season, but the dog days of August have seen them fall all the way to 10 1/2 games off the pace. Marietta will look to get healthy next week as they have a six-game home stand with three against the 10th place Hoboken Cutters and three against 12th place Blue Ridge. The Mudcats and Mighty Men each have a magic number of 11 to clinch a playoff berth. Hillsborough's magic number for the division title is 18; for the playoffs, it's 9.

Las Vegas took the first of a three-game set in Sardine City on Sunday with a 9-7 win that also put young gun Joba Chamberlain on the shelf for the rest of the regular season. After the Straphangers, the 5th place Rats come home to the desert for a 13-game home stand. The Pack has a magic number of 12 to reach the playoffs.

The Golden Falcons still have an outside chance of reaching the playoffs -- they're 5 games behind the Iron Fist, and 1 game under .500. They got the ball rolling Sunday with a 4-3 win over the Rat Pack before beginning a stretch where they'll play 10 out of 12 games on the road, including seven games against teams with winning records. Their tragic number for elimination from post-season consideration stands at 15.

The O-Bombers, who have dropped three in a row, are 2 games behind the Golden Falcons and 5 games under .500; their tragic number is 12.

Hoboken is the only other team with a chance to have a winning record this year -- and they'd have to run the table to do it! The Cutters have won back-to-back games to stave off their 81st loss. Their tragic number is 7. Amityville sits 3 behind them, with a tragic number of 4.

Blue Ridge still has a chance! But their playoff hopes will officially be extinguished with their next loss or Vancouver's next win. The end has come for Sardine City, who could win out and still finish no higher than 7th place.

That leaves just last-place New Jersey Team Buddah, whose 4-3 win over D.C. is somehow their third straight (and fifth win out of their last eight games). The Buddahs were long ago eliminated from post-season consideration, and have a 4 1/2 game "lead" for the worst record in baseball. The only thing they can play for is to avoid the ignominy of a 100-loss season; they'd have to go 13-7 to do it.

Let's Go Streaking!

Lots of teams have been getting their streaks on recently, and the standings have been shaken up as a result!

The hottest team at the moment are the Carolina Mudcats, who won their seventh in a row today to snatch the top wildcard seed. It seems like all year the top three spots have been occupied by Hanover Division teams, but a seven-game winning streak (and 11 out of your last 12!) is guaranteed to move you up in the standings. Today's 1-0 win over the Amityville Ant Slayers definitely wasn't textbook -- Mudcat starter Dice-K Matsuzaka lasted just 2 innings before getting injected after plunking Torii Hunter, but the bullpen kept the Slayers scoreless. Meanwhile, Amityville starter Jon Lester also prevented a run until the bottom of the 8th, when he gave up a lead-off home run to Xavier Nady, the only run of the game.

The Newark Sugar Bears beat up the Vancouver Iron Fist, 13-3, for their fifth straight win. The Sugar Bears now have a magic number of 2 to clinch a playoff berth, 11 to clinch the division, and 13 for the best record in baseball. The Morris Division-leading Hillsborough Hired Hitmen also have been hot, winning their second straight game (and 7th out of their last 10) after out-slugging the Sardine City Straphangers, 13-11. The Hitmen have a magic number of 19 to clinch the Morris Division title and 10 for a playoff berth.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Endzone Animals won their third in a row with a 10-4 win over the Marietta Mighty Men, while the Las Vegas Rat Pack made it back-to-back wins over the Arkansas Golden Falcons, 4-1.

For Amityville, it was their fourth loss in a row; it was three straight defeats for the Iron Fist and Straphangers; and two in a row for the Mighty Men and Golden Falcons.

In non-streak related games, the New Jersey Buddahs overcame the D.C. O-Bombers, 3-2, while the Blue Ridge Bombers won a wild 3-2 game over the Hoboken Cutters. After Blue Ridge starter Edwin Jackson left in the 3rd with an injury, the Bombers used eight more pitchers to finally win it in the bottom of the 9th on a solo home run by Nate McLouth. The Cutters, on the other hand, used only starter Matt Garza.

Mudcats cruising toward first

The red hot Mudcats kept their streak alive by pounding the Straphangers 12-5. Dustin Pedroia was 3-5 with 3 RBIs and Magglio Ordonez was 3-5 with 2 RBIs for the Cats. Carolina scored 8 runs in the 7th inning to take the lead away from Sardine City, who was leading 5-4 at the time. It was Carolina's 5th straight victory, moving them to 2 games behind Morris Division frontrunner Hillsborough.

The Hitmen took a bit of a pounding themselves, 10-4 at the hands of the Endzone Animals. Albert Pujols and Josh Willingham each 4 RBIs as the Animals scored all their runs in the first 4 innings. To add injury to insult, Wandy Rodriguez, who was replacing C.C. Sabathia in the rotation, was lost for the next two weeks.

The Cutters had 4 errors in their game against Amityville and only managed 5 hits against the Ant Slayer pitchers, but somehow managed to win their game anyway. Starter Armando Galarraga had shut down the Cutters offense, allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits in 7 innings, and left with a 4-2 lead after 7. In the 9th inning, reliever J.J. Putz walked the first two batters, then gave way to John Grabow. After striking out the first batter, Grabow gave up a base hit to Ryan Church to bring the score to 4-3. The next batter, Hank Blalock, took Grabow deep, hitting a 3-run homer to win the game for the Cutters.

Buddahs stun Vegas, take 2 of 3

New Jersey stunned Las Vegas in a 5-1 victory, taking 2 of 3 from the Rat Pack. Although the Rats are almost a lock to make the playoffs, dropping a series to last place New Jersey can't help when it comes to positioning. With the loss, the Rats fell into 5th place overall, 1/2 game behind the Mudcats and 3 1/2 ahead of 6th place Vancouver. They're still not in any real danger of falling out of a playoff berth - they are currently 9 1/2 games ahead of 7th place Philadelphia.

Carolina inched one game closer to first place with an 8-4 victory over Arkansas. Carlos Zambrano allowed 2 unearned runs and 7 hits in 7 innings of work to improve to 13-8 on the season. Grady Sizemore, subbing for the injured Vernon Wells, was 2-5 with 3 RBIs.

The Hired Hitmen fell to D.C. 7-3. Another injury replacement, this time Howie Kendrick playing for Felipe Lopez, was 3-4 with a double in leading the O-Bomber offense. David Bush continues his resurgence for D.C. Before joining the O-Bombers, Bush was 6-8 with a 6.17 ERA for Philly and Sardine City. He's been 2-2 with a respectable 4.61 ERA since D.C. signed him, including 3 straight quality starts.

Vancouver's Ben Sheets pitched a 9-hit shutout against former teammate Hiroki Kuroda and the Endzone Animals. Sheets struck out 8 and walked 1, improving his record to 11-8. Meanwhile, Kuroda has struggled since being acquired by Philly, but facing Newark twice in 4 starts will do that to you. Yesterday's outing against the Fist was his best yet since changing uniforms - 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 7 K.

Hamilton cycles in defeat to Newark

The battle between Newark and Marietta hasn't gone the Mighty Men's way, losing the first two, including yesterday's 10-9, extra inning loss. But they have one thing up on the Sugar Bears - most cycles. Yesterday, Josh Hamilton managed a rare feat, hitting for the cycle. Overall he was 4-6 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs. Hamilton started his day by hitting a leadoff double in the 2nd inning, then followed that up with a single in the 3rd. The two easiest components of the cycle were out of the way. In the 5th inning, Hamilton hit a two-run homer that gave the Mighty Men a temporary 6-5 lead. Lest you think that the extra innings gave Hamilton some extra opportunities, he hit his triple in the 7th inning, again breaking a tie and giving the Mighty Men an 8-7 lead. After that, he was done, though the game wasn't... Hamilton would bat two more times, striking out in the 8th and flying out in the 10th. For the curious folks, the last cycle was hit by Vladimir Guerrero last year, then with Blue Ridge against Las Vegas on June 17.

In another extra inning affair, Carolina topped Arkansas 4-3. The Falcons took an early 3-0 lead in the 1st inning on a 3-run David Wright homer. Carolina finally tied the game up in the 8th with a 3-run inning. It seemed like no one would score until the 14th inning, when Arkansas got into trouble giving up back to back singles with one out. After intentionally walking the bases loaded, Aramis Ramirez came through with the game winning single. Amazing that the game was so close considering that the Mudcats outhit the Falcons 18-7 in the game, leaving 19 baserunners stranded throughout the game.

Justin Verlander held the O-Bombers to only 2 hits in 8 innings, earning his 9th win in a 12-2 blowout. Freddy Sanchez hit two home runs and drove in 4 runs in the game and Russell Martin was 2-3 with 3 RBIs. The Hitmen maintain a 4-game lead over the red hot Mudcats.

Josh Johnson pitched a complete game, holding the Cutters to 2 runs on 6 hits in a 7-2 Sardine City win. Johnson had struggled this season before an injury sidelined him for a month, then struggled in his first two starts. But he turned things around in his next start against Arkansas and now pitched this gem against Hoboken. Johnson's record was 3-13 before going on the DL and he is now 5-15.