Greinke streak over, Vancouver bounced from first

Vancouver was knocked out of their first place tie with Bridgewater and Blue Ridge, but the bigger story was Zack Greinke's streak ending. Greinke, of course, started the season off 13-0, but couldn't hold back the Sardines yesterday. The Iron Fist had a 2-1 lead after their half of the 7th inning, but Marco Scutaro's bases-loaded double scored 3 runs for the Straphangers. Greinke's ERA ballooned to 1.87 on the season after giving up 4 runs in 7 innings.

Vancouver's loss was costly as Bridgewater defeated Amityville 8-6. Raul Ibanez was 3-4 with 2 RBIs and a double and homer as the Mallers collected 15 hits. Blue Ridge also took advantage with a 6-2 win over Team Buddah. Gavin Floyd improved to 7-3 with a strong effort, giving up 1 run in 7.2 innings and striking out 7. The Mallers hold a percentage point advantage for first place.

Las Vegas scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to tie up their game against Hillsborough and send it to extra innings. Chris Davis hit a two-run single that tied up the game in the 9th. Unfortunately for the Rats, it wasn't meant to be. Ben Zobrist hit a solo homer in the top of the 11th and Ryan Madson held the fort down in the bottom half of the inning to preserve the 4-3 win.

Carolina, Hudson, move up

Tim Hudson pitched 7.2 shutout innings en route to a 5-0 win over the O-Bombers. The win, Hudson's 102nd in his career, moved him past Brad Radke to 14th overall. Hudson held D.C. to only 4 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 5. Carolina now owns the longest winning streak in the league at 4 games.

A.J. Burnett outduelled Zack Greinke to take a 3-2 decision against Vancouver yesterday. The showdown of the two division leaders was decided by a 2-run Matt Holliday homer in the third inning. Vancouver made it interesting when pinch hitter Jeff Clement hit a home run in his DMBL debut to make it a one-run game, but Chase Utley struck out with 2 runners on base to end the game. Las Vegas won the game despite being outhit 9-5 in the game. Last season's One-run Wonders are now 4-1 in one-run games.

Hillsborough dropped their third straight, a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Gavin Floyd and the Blue Ridge Bombers. Michael Young was 4-5 and Nate McLouth and Prince Fielder were each 3-5 to lead the Bomber offense. Floyd went the distance, holding the Hitmen to 8 hits and striking out 7. Hillsborough remains only one game out of first, but fell to third place in the Morris Division, lept over by Carolina.

Buddah catches fire

Team Buddah won their third straight game 4-1 over Blue Ridge yesterday, the longest winning streak of the season for the team. Shane Victorino was 4-4 and Melky Cabrera was 3-3. Starter Jesse Litsch improved to 2-3 on the season with an 8-inning, 5-hit performance.

Tampa Bay, who jumped out to a surprising start, has now come back down to earth, losing their fourth straight and falling into a fifth-place tie with Hoboken. This time the Plunkers dropped a 3-2 decision in 10 innings to the Mudcats. Paul Konerko, who finished 4-5 on the night, hit an RBI single in the 10th to win the game for the Cats.

Las Vegas gave up on prospect Matt Antonelli yesterday and re-signed pitcher Gavin Floyd to a minor league deal. Floyd was a non-roster invitee in spring training for the Rats, but was released before the season started. Floyd's impressive showing in an independent minor league caught Las Vegas' scouting department's eye.