Season ends quietly, playoffs to start next week

The start of the first round of playoffs is tentatively set for Wednesday. Marietta will host Vancouver and then Thursday, Hillsborough will host Las Vegas. Newark and Carolina have secured the first round byes.

For Carolina, it's the first divisional title in the team's history. The closest they came to winning it before was in 2004 when they finished 2 games behind the Falcons. That was also their best season, percentage-wise, when they won 98 games. Newark, of course, has won 9 Hanover titles in a row.

Marietta makes their 10th playoff appearance. The Mighty Men missed the playoffs last year, but made it to the postseason five consecutive times before that.

Hillsborough returns for the second straight year - last year they were the 6th seed. It's the fifth playoff appearance for owner Brent Campbell, who had three straight playoff teams with Louisiana from 1996-1998, before departing on hiatus.

Las Vegas also makes their second consecutive playoff appearance. Last year, the Rats came within one game of the World Series, but lost to Vancouver. It's the third overall postseason berth for the Rat Pack.

Finally, Vancouver squeaks in on nearly the last day to defend their title. The Iron Fist have never been lower than a 3rd seed in the playoffs until this year.

Vancouver clinches, Carolina one step away

Vancouver made it official with a 13-8 victory over Sardine City, becoming the final team to clinch a playoff spot. David Ortiz was 3-4 with 5 RBIs and Chase Utley was 2-3 with 4 runs in the contest. Vancouver jumped out early against starter Ubaldo Jimenez, chasing the righthander out of the game with one out in the 2nd after giving up 8 runs. The defending champions will take on Marietta in the first round no matter how everything else shakes out.

Meanwhile, Carolina clinched at least a tie for the division lead with a 9-7 victory over Newark. Dustin Pedroia was 3-4 with 4 RBIs and Xavier Nady was also 3-4 as the Mudcats dealt a big blow to Chien-Ming Wang's Ben McDonald Award hopes. Wang had pitched himself into the driver's seat before this game. Nevertheless, Wang still leads the league in wins (21) and is 3rd in ERA (3.32), so he still has a good shot at the prize. With another Carolina win or a Hillsborough loss, the Mudcats will clinch their first ever Morris Division title.

It'll be tough for the Hitmen to win both of their remaining games, considering they'll be taking on Las Vegas. If the Hitmen don't miraculously win the division, they'll be playing Vegas in the first round. Yesterday, the Hitmen lost 5-1 to Tim Lincecum and the Rats to put them 2 games out of first place. Lincecum, Wang's toughest competition for the McDonald, improved to 19-3 with 6.2 innings of 2-hit, shutout ball. Lincecum struck out 9, giving him a total of 246, top in the league. Lincecum is also second in ERA with 3.15, behind only Carolina's Roy Halladay (2.72).

Vancouver clinches tie

Vancouver missed a golden opportunity to clinch the final playoff spot yesterday, but instead had to settle for clinching a tie. The Fist dropped a 6-4 decision to Sardine City, leaving the defending champions 3 games ahead of Arkansas and Philadelphia with only 3 games left to go. Arkansas lost 5-3 to Marietta on Brandon Phillips' grand slam in the 5th. Meanwhile, the Endzone Animals were smoked by Hoboken 12-4. Aaron Cook took a shutout into the 9th but gave up two two-run homers in the innings.

Hillsborough gained a 1/2 game on Carolina in a 7-5 defeat of the injury-ravaged Rat Pack. Ryan Howard was 2-4 with 2 homers and 3 RBIs in the contest. Hillsborough is now 1 game behind Morris Division leader Carolina and 2 games ahead of Las Vegas in the wild card standings. This series is looking more and more likely to continue on into the post-season - as of now, if the season ended, the Rat Pack and Hillsborough would meet in the first round of the playoffs.

Rollins, Pettitte claim this week's honors

Even with his team teeter-tottering on the brink of playoff contention, Jimmy Rollins can still produce a clutch performance. Rollins, this week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week, hit .452 (14-31) this week with a stellar .514 OBP and .903 slugging percentage. Rollins also drove in 11 runs, hit 5 doubles and 3 home runs, scored 5 runs, and stole three bases.

Rollins had a lot of competition this week: New Jersey's Shane Victorino (.480/.536/.720) and Ian Stewart (.400/.500/.880, 8 R), Arkansas' Justin Morneau (.400/.444/.720, 8 R, 6 RBI), Carolina's Alex Rios (.424/.444/.606, 7 R, 6 RBI), Hillsborough's Shin-Soo Choo (.379/.419/.862, 10 RBIs, 3 HR), Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder (.393/.514/.714, 3 HR), Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez (.391/.440/.913, 3 HR, 10 RBI), and Hoboken's Hanley Ramirez (.407/.484/.852, 10 RBI, 3 HR).

Special mention goes to Hoboken's Mike Napoli, who hit 5 home runs this week and leads the league with 51 home runs on the season. Napoli broke the Cutters' single season team record for home runs, previously held by Mike Piazza.

With all those big offensive weeks, you know that the pitching is going to be thin this week. We still managed to find out diamond in the rough, and this week, the rough is in New Jersey. Andy Pettitte had a superb week, though he only could win one game. Pettitte's first game was a no-decision against D.C. where he pitched 7.2 innings and gave up only 2 earned runs, but in his second outing, he pitched a complete game shutout against Amityville. Pettitte allowed only 6 hits in the 17-0 victory. He takes this week's Let Them Sing it For You Pitcher of the Week award.

The best of the rest: Carolina's Roy Halladay (1-0, 1.98, 1.24 WHIP, 13 K), Hoboken's Jeremy Guthrie (1-0, 2.77, 0.92, 15 K), Las Vegas's A.J. Burnett (2-0, 2.70, 0.97, 13 K), and Vancouver's Jake Peavy (1-0, 2.70, 15 K).

Sugar Bear streak ends at 17

With the new win streak record already in hand, the Sugar Bears let down their guard yesterday and lost 6-2 to Carolina, officially ending their 17 game winning streak. John Maine held the Sugar Bears in check for 6.1 innings, allowing 1 run on 7 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6. Bengie Molina was 3-5 with 2 RBIs as the Mudcats piled on in the middle innings. The Mudcats remained 1/2 game up on Hillsborough.

Meanwhile, the Hitmen took game 2 against Las Vegas in a possible playoff preview. Dan Haren and Josh Beckett duelled in a scoreless game for 8 innings. Then in the top of the 9th Kelly Shoppach hit a 2-run double off Hideki Okajima to break the tie. After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the 9th, Mike Gonzalez got into some trouble after giving up a single and a double to Rats batters, but left both stranded to preserve the shutout.

Vancouver edged Sardine City 4-3 behind a solid performance from Ben Sheets (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 9 K) and gained a game on their playoff pursuers. Philadelphia lost a tough one to Hoboken, 7-6. In the bottom of the 9th, the Animals held a 6-5 lead, but Miguel Cabrera hit a solo homer to tie the game up and send it to extra innings. In the 10th, Ian Kinsler won the game for Hoboken with a walkoff single. Arkansas had a tougher challenge, taking on the wild card leader, Marietta. But Marietta's offense was alive and well Thursday night and took the game 7-4, knocking the Falcons 3 games behind the wild card, with 8 games to go.

Sugar Bears break record, win 17th straight

The Sugar Bears beat Carolina 5-4 yesterday to break the record for longest winning streak. Are they done? It's up to Carolina right now. Some interesting streak notes:

• The Sugar Bears have won their last three games all by the same 5-4 score, including a 14-inning victory against Vancouver.
• Since the streak began, the Sugar Bears have won 4 extra-inning games and 8 one-run games.
• The Sugar Bears have defeated seven teams, five of which are either playoff teams or still alive in the playoff race.
• During the streak, Newark has only had one shutout and has only scored in double digits twice.
• Only four of the 17 games were played on the road.
• The Sugar Bears played Vancouver in two series during the streak, and won 3 of the games by that magical 5-4 margin
  

With D.C.'s loss yesterday, Hillsborough and Las Vegas officially clinched a playoff spot. Only one playoff spot remains. Vancouver added a little breathing room by picking up a game on both Philadelphia and Arkansas. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 7.

Newark ties streak record

Newark snuck by Vancouver 5-4 yesterday to win their 16th straight game, tying the record held by Arkansas and Vancouver. Newark will try to break the record against Morris Division-leading Carolina. The last time Newark took on the top of the Morris Division they swept Hillsborough right out of the top spot. Of course that sweep made it possible for the Cats to move into first place. This time Hillsborough will be waiting in the wings to try to make up their 1/2 game difference. It won't be easy for the Hitmen as they will face the Rat Pack.

Carolina and Marietta both clinched playoff spots with wins yesterday. The Cats defeated Amityville 4-3, while Marietta pounded Philadelphia 13-2. Las Vegas and Hillsborough have both clinched at least a tie for a playoff spot. One of them will clinch tonight, depending on who wins their head to head matchup, while the other can clinch with an Arkansas loss to Marietta. Meanwhile, the final wild card team, Vancouver, hasn't even clinched a winning record, as they prepare to take on Sardine City. Vancouver is only one game up on Arkansas with Philadelphia trailing by only 2 games. All other teams are mathematically eliminated, except D.C., who will be officially out with their next loss or Vancouver's next win.