Edge of Your Seat Thursday

Arkansas edged the Sugar Bears in 10 innings yesterday, 4-3. The Sugar Bears took the lead in the top of the 10th, but the Falcons tied it up on a Lance Berkman RBI single and won the game on a Barry Bonds RBI single. Berkman had three of the four RBIs in the game and Bonds and Orlando Cabrera each had three hits.

D.C. almost lost another game to the last-place Rat Pack, but a four-run ninth gave the Bushslappers the victory. It started with a two-run Frank Thomas homer that cut the lead to one. George Sherrill was brought in to replace starter Joe Blanton. After loading the bases, Sherrill gave up the walkoff double to Alfonso Soriano giving D.C. a 7-6 victory. D.C. won despite getting out hit 13-8 by Vegas and walking seven batters. The Rats left 13 batters on base in the game.

Hillsborough beat New Jersey 4-3 to complete the trifecta of one-run games. Unlike the other two games, all the runs were scored early in the game. Jeremy Bonderman improved to 13-9 and Ryan Howard drove in 3 runs.

Honolulu and Philadelphia played a close game, but alas, it was a 2-run game with a wild ending, although it was extra innings. The Sharks finally won a game against the Animals after losing four straight. Jermaine Dye led off the inning with a double and Jason Giambi reached base on an infield single...yes the same speedy Jason Giambi we all know and love. Two batters later, Francisco Rodriguez threw a pitch in the dirt that advanced Giambi to second. With two outs after striking out the next batter, Frank Catalanotto lined a single that scored both runners, giving the Sharks the lead. Rodriguez threw yet another wild pitch to advance the Little Cat, but Ryan Freel struck out to end the inning, the third Shark strikeout of the inning. Tom Gordon sent the Animals down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning to preserve the game. By the way, Jason Giambi passed the 1000 career RBI mark in the game, becoming the 19th player to reach the mark.

Finally, in the day's biggest blowout, Vancouver destroyed (relatively speaking) Hoboken 5-2. Chad Billingsley continues to impress with six shutout innings, striking out six Cutters and improving to 2-2. Billy Wagner picked up his 30th save and Moises Alou hit the 200th home run of his career.

Backman's Blunder

The Cutters and Jon Garland were cruising to a 1-0 victory yesterday over the Bushslappers, when they hit a bit of a snag. Manager Wally Backman decided that after Garland let Carl Crawford reach on a single that it would be time to go to the pen. Garland had pitched brilliantly, allowing only 4 hits and one walk, but he was already at 115 pitches. Backman went to Juan Rincon to close the game for some reason. Rincon walked two of the next three batters and served up the grand slam to Lyle Overbay. Game over. So where was Izzy? The Hoboken closer had not pitched in the last two days so he should have been available. "We did not feel that the matchup suited Izzy's talents" said Backman after the game. "Juan had expressed a desire to close, so we gave him one."

Newark roughed up Vancouver's pitching yesterday 18-6. Five of the six pitchers gave up runs and Wes Littleton was lost for two weeks. "A bullpen shakeup is coming" said pitching coach Erik Hanson. Alan Embree was signed off the waiver wire to fill in. "We needed a lefty to help us through the Newark series" said manager Darren Daulton.

Vlad Guerrero and Jim Edmonds recently drove in their 1000th career run. They became just the 17th and 18th in DMBL history to achieve the feat. Next on the list is Honolulu's Jason Giambi at 948. Hillsborough's Carlos Delgado (930) would need a big year to do it this season. New Jersey's Mike Piazza moved further up the list, tying Gary Sheffield at fifth with his 1263rd RBI last night. Juan Gonzalez holds the #4 spot at 1283, so we may have another Piazza update soon.

Bonds closing in on milestone

Well the Sharks' streak is now over after losing a heartbreaker to Carolina 1-0 on Friday. Clay Hensley outdueled Kenny Rogers and Juan Rivera's solo home run in the fourth was the only run of the game.

Arkansas' Barry Bonds hit his 10th homer of the year in the 9-2 rout of Hoboken Saturday. It was Bonds' 598th homer of his career. Bonds will be the first player to hit 600 in his career. If you're wondering if anyone will catch him anytime soon...well that depends on your definition of "soon". Bonds has a more than 150 homer lead on second place Sammy Sosa - stuck at 436 and not even playing this year.

Newark's Jim Edmonds hit his 300th career homer Sunday. Honolulu's Jason Giambi is closing in on the mark as well, with 298. Bonds is not worried about either one.

Look for a new Zane Smith column later today.