Falcons stun Sugar Bears

For the second straight game, the Falcons have knocked off the Sugar Bears. After winning 10-4 Monday, the Falcons continued with an 11-8 win yesterday. Kevin Kouzmanoff and Miguel Olivo of all people led the Falcon offense with three hits each. Both starters were out by the fourth inning, but it was the Sugar Bears' usually reliable bullpen that failed them, particularly Joaquin Benoit, who surrendered four runs in 2.1 innings and took the loss. Arkansas sends Ian Snell to the mound today to try for the sweep against Chien Ming Wang. Though Wang has seemed invincible so far this season, did anyone think that the Falcons stood a prayer of winning with Wandy Rodriguez on the mound?

Vegas' eight-game winning streak was snapped as the Bushslappers won by a 5-2 count. John Maine was shaky but pitched out of several jams to earn the W, while Carlos Beltran delivered with 3 RBIs. Carlos Pena tied the league lead with his 13th homer for the Rat Pack.

Vancouver won their sixth straight with a 5-1 decision over Hoboken. Greg Maddux pitched 5.2 innings of shutout ball to win his third. Hoboken had hoped to get Joe Beimel into the game before they released him but they thought that putting him into a losing situation might damage his psyche. "Joey just hates losing and coupling that with cutting him could make him lose it" said manager Wally Backman. Beimel pitched briefly for Vancouver last season.

Dustin McGowan made a triumphant return from injury, limiting the slumping Straphangers to only one run and four hits in 7.1 innings. The Straphangers' loss extended their losing slide to 10 games.

Vegas courts Lady Luck

The Rat Pack won a 6-5 decision over the Bushslappers in 11 innings, taking their eighth straight. The interesting thing about the victory is that it brings the Rats' record in one-run games to an astounding 8-0, by far the best in the league. Only Philadelphia is also undefeated in one-run games, but they are only 3-0. Carolina is second in one-run victories with 6, but they also have 6 losses. The Rats also lead the league in extra-innings wins with 3 (out of 3 games). These stats usually indicate a large amount of luck, but with the Rats you can't really be sure. Time will tell if the ball bounces the other way in the Pack's future.

Tampa Bay looks back on track after picking up their third straight victory, a 9-6 stunner over the Philadelphia Endzone Animals. Pat Burrell and Torii Hunter each had 3 hits and 2 RBIs to lead the Plunkers to victory.

Meanwhile, the Straphangers dropped their ninth straight game, a 5-3 setback to Blue Ridge. Daisuke Matsuzaka, despite having a solid season so far, dropped to 1-5 on the year after 7.2 mediocre innings. The Sardines jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but slowly saw their lead erode, eventually tied in the fifth inning. Prince Fielder drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth and the Bombers tacked on an insurance run. Russ Springer entered to close the game out and despite being a bit wild (12 pitches, 5 strikes), the Sardines were shut down.

Joel Pineiro made his last start for the Cutters - at least for the time being - and was given his outright release. The Cutters resigned Joe Beimel, who had been cut to make room for Pineiro, to a special one-day contract. "We feel bad that Joe didn't get into a game last time" said manager Wally Backman. "We'll try harder this time around." Beimel is expected to be released when Aaron Cook is eligible to come off the DL tomorrow.