Hamels, Galarraga battle in classic duel

Now that's what I call a pitchers' duel! Sardine City and Amityville battled it out to a 1-0 finale, with the Sardines taking the win. Cole Hamels, starting for the Straphangers, got into some early "trouble" when he gave up a double to Ryan Garko. It would be the only hit he would give up. Hamels subsequently walked Jason Kubel, but struck out Torii Hunter to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Quentin hit a solo home run to give the Straphangers the 1-0 lead. Miguel Montero would get a double in the third inning, and that was all for the two teams' offenses. Okay, well Raul Ibanez would also walk in the 4th, but the bats would go silent after that. In fact, Hamels would retire 24 straight batters before he allowed Johnny Damon to reach base in the 9th on his own error. Taylor Buchholz came in to strike out the final batter and earn his 9th save. Hamels ended the night pitching 8.2 innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk and striking out 7. Armando Galarraga, taking a tough loss, fell to 2-9 on the season, despite giving up only one run on 2 hits in 8 innings. Galarraga walked 1 and struck out 8.

Darren Oliver is up to his tricks again. Vancouver and Hillsborough, knotted at 3 ended up in extra innings again. Oliver, who had already pitched 2 shutout innings in the matchup, took the mound in the 10th. Sure enough, Oliver surrendered a home run to Mike Lowell, giving the Hitmen a 4-3 lead. The Fist went down in order in the bottom of the inning, sealing the fate of Oliver, who lost for the 4th time in 5 games - all to the Hired Hitmen. Vancouver's series with Hillsborough is now over, but the club has already announced that the next time the two clubs face each other, Oliver will be banished for the series. "We know Darren's got an illegitimate family living in Hillsborough" said bullpen coach Gregg Olson, "so we want to make sure his emotions don't get in the way of his pitching." Clubhouse cameras also caught Oliver accepting a package from a shady character wearing a Hillsborough baseball cap. Oliver denied any charges of impropriety.

Joba is Hott - Manny is being Manny

There was a lot of hype surrounding Sardine City rookie Joba Chamberlain, even as he was drafted as an ineligible prospect with the 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft. The Sardines eased the rookie into a starter role last year in the minors, first starting him out as a reliever, then giving him some starts. Now thrown into the DMBL, Chamberlain hit a few bumps in the road. Despite starting out 2-6, Chamberlain showed some glimmers of a bright future. This week, Chamberlain began by losing a heartbreaker to Vancouver in which he only gave up 2 hits and an unearned run while striking out 10. Chamberlain rebounded with an even better effort against Amityville where he earned a win for pitching 8.2 shutout innings, striking out 11. That's a total of 21 strikeouts in 15.1 shutout innings this week! Joba takes this week's Joe Loves Crappy Movies Pitcher of the Week Award and will no doubt enlighten us with his review of the new Star Trek movie.

Other top pitchers this week: Vancouver's Chad Billingsley also didn't get a lot of love from his team's offense (1-0, 1.17, 0.78 WHIP, 16 K in 15.1 innings). Other notables: Marietta's Ervin Santana (2-0, 2.12, 0.76) and Jon Danks (1-0, 1.23, 0.95), Amityville's Chris Volstad (2-0, 1.20, 0.73) and Roy Oswalt (1-0, 2.81, 0.81, 19 K), Hillsborough's John Lackey (1-0, 2.25, 0.88), and Las Vegas' Tim Lincecum (1-0, 2.35, 1.04).

This week, we have to make a special mention of the Anti-Pitcher of the Week, Darren Oliver of Vancouver. Oliver felt it was his duty to personally lose all three games of Vancouver's series with Hillsborough over the weekend. First, Oliver gave up a run in the 10th Friday to lose the first game, then topped himself by giving up TWO runs in the 10th Saturday. Finally, to shake things up, Oliver gave up a run in regulation time to break a 5-5 tie in the 7th inning of yesterday's finale.

The Sugar Bears offense set several records last year as they blew out opponent after opponent. After custom stadiums were abolished this year, Newark's offense has fallen back a bit, but it's still one of the most potent. This week, one of the Sugar Bears takes the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize - Manny Ramirez. Manny hit 4 home runs this week with 12 RBIs, 6 runs scored, while batting .407/.452/.926 for the week. Some of this teammates noticed that Manny had an extra "spring in his step" this week and others eyed him suspiciously when he got a special delivery of Flintstones vitamins. "Sure he's got a stash of 'vitamins' and 'health foods', but that's just Manny being Manny" said one clubhouse official. Others noted that Manny seemed to be watching the Lifetime Channel a lot lately and kept trying to get teammates to go see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with him this week. Well, anyway, Manny can enjoy his case of cigars while curling up with a good book.

Other top hitters: Philly's twin killers this week - John Baker (.476/.522/.810) and Mark Teixeira (.438/.514/.813), Amityville's Garrett Atkins (.464/.464/.821, 3 HR, 11 RBI), Carolina's Mike Aviles (.464/.500/.714), Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.406/.424/.844, 5 2Bs), and part-time hero Joe Crede (.529/.526/1.118, 3 HR, 7 RBIs in 17 AB).