When Animals Attack

The Endzone Animals last night delivered one of the most thorough beat-downs of the year, pounding the D.C. O-Bombers by the score of 17-1. D.C.'s Anibal Sanchez faced 11 batters in the 1st inning, giving up 8 runs on six hits (including two homers) and two walks. Manager Kevin Elster used seven relievers in the effort; even closer Jonathan Papelbon couldn't get the job done, giving up 3 runs on a walk and two hits. Starter Chris Young finally came in to get the final seven outs. Philly's Mark Teixeira had three hits, including a home run, and 4 RBIs; Albert Pujols had a home run and 3 RBIs to take over the league lead with 58.

Hanover Division rivals Marietta and Las Vegas kicked off a six-game home-and-home series with a thriller in Georgia. The Rats jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but the Mighty Men battled back with two in the 3rd and three in the 4th to tie the score. It remained locked at 5-5 until the bottom of the 13th, when Geovanny Soto won it for the Mites with a two-run home run off Scott Linebrink. The win kept Marietta on top of the Hanover Division, a half-game ahead of the Newark Sugar Bears, who defeated last place New Jersey 7-4 for their third straight win.

There also was free baseball in Hillsborough, where the Iron Fist lost a heartbreaker to drop their third game in a row. The Hitmen were leading 4-2 behind C.C. Sabathia but the Fisters tied it up with one out in the 9th behind a two-run shot from Curtis Granderson. But the home team prevailed in the bottom of the 10th as Ryan Howard delivered the two-out game winning hit -- against a lefty no less!

The Carolina Mudcats held onto the top record in the Morris (and are tied with Marietta for the best record overall) after taking down Blue Ridge, 7-3. It could have been a lot worse as the Mudcats left 14 men on base! Dustin Pedroia had three hits to raise his league-leading batting average to .355.

Tim Wakefield was protected by the Golden Falcons but didn't make his season debut until last night against Hoboken as apparently the Arkansas brass wanted to make sure the 42-year-old knuckleballer got a little more seasoning in Triple-A. Everything was fine until the 4th inning, when Wake gave up a 3-run home run to Joe Crede to give the Cutters a 3-1 lead. Hanley Ramirez added an insurance run with an RBI single off Kerry Wood in the 8th to make it 4-1. But the Falcs made it interesting as they loaded the bases with one out in bottom of the 9th off Ryan Madson. But Madson retired Skip Schumaker and Ray Durham to preserve the win for Matt Garza.

A BAD BREAK FOR LONGORIA: Sardine City's nightmare season just got worse as they lost star rookie Evan Longoria for at least two weeks. Apparently Longoria said something mean to Amityville's Armando Galarraga in Triple-A last year as the two rookies got into it. Galarraga plunked Longoria in the 1st inning, but Longoria shook it off and eventually came around to score. Apparently not satisfied with that outcome, Galarraga drilled him again in the 4th. Longoria could be out until the end of the month. "When I put a guy down I expect him to stay down," an unrepetent Galarraga said after the game. He is tied for 3rd with 5 HBPs this year. Oh, the Straphangers won the game, 7-2, to move up from second-worst to third-worst.