Greinke becomes 6th to 200 wins

Zack Greinke became the 6th pitcher in DMBL history to reach 200 wins in Hillsborough's 7-2 victory over Empire City on Wednesday night.

The Maine Man in Carolina

Marietta won a 6-4 decision against Team Buddah and now holds a full one-game lead in the Hanover Division. Ryan Dempster held the Buddahs to 4 hits over 8 innings to collect his 4th win and Mariano Rivera clinched the 9th for his 11th save. Mike Jacobs was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in defeat.

John Maine has now pitched 5 quality starts in a row and has won his last 4 decision to improve to 4-2 on the season with a respectable 4.33 ERA (consider it was 12.27 before his streak). Yesterday Maine pitched 8 innings, allowing only one earned run on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Dustin Pedroia was 3-3 in the contest for the Mudcats.

Omar Infante was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in Vancouver's 6-2 victory over D.C. Zack Greinke went the distance, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits.

Things are tightening up in the Morris Division. First-place Hillsborough was off yesterday, but Carolina's win put them just 1/2 game out of first. Vancouver moved to 2 1/2 games out with their victory and idle Philadelphia remained 4 games out in 4th place.

Berkman, Wright lift Falcons

Vancouver and Blue Ridge battled to a 1-0 final, with the Iron Fist taking the decision. Zack Greinke pitched 7.2 innings of 4-hit ball and striking out 7 to improve to 5-2 on the season. Billy Wagner picked up his 10th save. The lone run scored in the third when Chase Utley doubled in Curtis Granderson. Gavin Floyd was the hard-luck loser, pitching 8.1 innings and giving up 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.

Carolina regained the lead in the Morris Division with a 5-4 win over Philadelphia. Xavier Nady was 2-3 with 3 RBIs, including the game sac fly in the 8th. Mark Reynolds was 3-3 for the Animals. Meanwhile, Hillsborough was stifled by Mike Mussina and the Mighty Men. Mussina pitched a complete game, giving up only 2 hits and one run while striking out 10. Felix Hernandez had 9 strikeouts in 5 innings on the losing end, but a pair of Ryan Theriot errors undid the team.

New Jersey outlasted Sardine City 5-4, despite only getting 4 hits total in the game. The problem was the 7 walks issued by the Straphangers, including 4 by the team's bullpen. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched well (6.1 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 4 K) but got a no-decision. The Buddahs scored 4 runs in the eighth when the Sardine City bullpen walked three straight batters to load the bases then served up a spicy meatball to Mike Jacobs who deposited it into the right field bleachers.

Lance Berkman's 3 home runs and 6 RBIs propelled the Falcons to a 9-7 victory over D.C. yesterday. David Wright also hit 2 homers in the contest. The two batters drove in all of Arkansas' 9 runs.

Greinke off to another great start

Great pitcher's duel yesterday in Marietta. Vancouver's Zack Greinke took on the Mighty Men's Ervin Santana, emerging as the victor in yesterday's 1-0 blanking. Greinke went the distance, limiting the Mighty Men to only 3 hits and striking out 10. Meanwhile, Santana was chased after 7, despite only giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and one run. Santana struck out 8. The lone run scored when Troy Glaus hit a single with two runners on in the 5th. The damage could have been much worse - Santana got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning.

How are those new additions working out in Carolina and Philly? Well the Mudcats got off to a good start, outlasting the Rat Pack in 10 innings, 3-2. No help from Magglio Ordonez though - 0-5 on the night. Philadelphia, meanwhile, was crushed by Amityville, and falling into last place overall. Fred Lewis didn't make an immediate impact either (0-3), but free agent signee Matt Joyce got a hit in his lone at bat.

Greinke's wasn't the only shutout yesterday. D.C. stymied the Straphangers 2-0 behind John Lannan. Lannan didn't quite make it the full 9 - he ceded the last out to reliever Ramon Ramirez - but he was impressive, allowing only 2 hits and 3 walks, while punching out 5. Banged up Sardine City got two of their three hits from replacement catcher Brandon Inge, who is covering for the injured Miguel Montero.

Greinke streak over

Well it had to happen eventually, but I think Greinke was hoping it wouldn't go down like this. The D.C. Bushslappers had enough and throttled Greinke to the tune of 7 runs in 5 innings to hand the youngster his first loss of the season. Vancouver went on to lose 14-4 after Billy Wagner let up 6 more runs in 2/3 of an inning. "Actually it's a huge monkey off my back" said Greinke after the game. "All those reporters and the paparazzi hanging around..."

Marietta and Blue Ridge played a marathon 16-inning match yesterday that took them into the wee hours of the night. Blue Ridge took the initial lead in the first inning on a Prince Fielder 2-run single, but Marietta came back in the 5th when Orlando Hudson tied it up with a 2-run single of his own. Derek Jeter gave the Mighty Men the lead in the top of the eighth, but his counterpart Edgar Renteria tied it up in the bottom half. Soon the teams were off to extra innings. Marietta was forced to go to starters Kyle Lohse, who pitched 3 scoreless innings, and Ervin Santana. Meanwhile Blue Ridge got a gutty performance out of reliever Tim Byrdak (4 IP, 1 H, 7 K). Derek Jeter once again broke the tie in the 15th with an RBI-single, but it was short lived as Dan Uggla scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 15th. Matt Diaz singled with the bases loaded in the top of the 16th and Blue Ridge escaped further calamity by inducing Derek Jeter into a strikeout-double play. Santana then finished off Blue Ridge for the win.

Greinke keeps undefeated streak alive

Philadelphia executed their second deal of the season today, trading reliever Rafael Perez, second baseman Aaron Hill, and two picks to the Hoboken Cutters for Jason Isringhausen, second baseman Kelly Johnson, and a late draft pick. Isringhausen, who had been with the Cutters since their inception in 2001, will likely move into a setup role on the Endzone Animals, as J.J. Putz has the closer role locked down.

Zack Greinke improved to 9-0 on the season with a 3-2 win over Philadelphia yesterday. Greinke pitched 8 innings of 2-hit ball, surrendering 2 runs and striking out 7. Vancouver's first round pick in this year's draft is now second in the league in ERA (2.93) and is now the sole undefeated pitcher in the league (Tampa Bay's Andy Pettitte lost his first game last week).

D.C. and Hillsborough took turns shutting each other out. In the first game, Kelvim Escobar had an incredible game, shutting out the Hitmen on 7 hits in 7.1 innings and striking out 14. The Hitmen pitchers also pitched well, despite John Lackey being ejected for throwing at Jeff Kent and triggering a benches-clearing brawl. "I probably wouldn't have minded so much" said Kent after the game "if the ball wasn't laced with explosives." Kent will miss the next three weeks recuperating and reliever Mike Timlin, who tried to dive over the combustible device, will miss two weeks. Hillsborough came back and shut out D.C. 7-0 in the second game. Justin Verlander pitched 7.2 innings of 3-hit ball to improve to 9-7. D.C. got some vengeance by taking out third baseman Mark Reynolds. Catcher Brian McCann snuck up behind Reynolds as he was taking practice swings and hit his knees with a lead pipe. Why would the Slappers intentionally target one of the worst producers in the lineup? "I thought it was [Ryan] Howard" said McCann. "They look so alike."

Rock you like a Hurri-Cain

Matt Cain came roaring back off the disabled list, shutting out the Mudcats on two hits and striking out 9 in 9 innings. Cain improved to 3-3 on the season. Cain had missed two starts and was replaced by Kason Gabbard, who was released to make room.

Vancouver's Zack Greinke improved to 7-0 on the season with a solid effort against the Bushslappers yesterday. Greinke pitched 7.2 innings, surrendering two runs on 5 hits and one walk. Vancouver's number one pick in the 2008 draft started out in the bullpen this season, but got his first shot in the rotation when Chad Billingsley was hurt early in the season. He returned fulltime to the rotation after Rich Hill's disastrous starts and never looked back. Greinke and Tampa Bay's Andy Pettitte (6-0) are the last two undefeated pitchers in the league.

Jason Hirsh pitched his final game as a Rat yesterday, a solid effort, but a no-decision. Hirsh ended up 0-2, with a 3.71 ERA in 4 starts. He was released to make room for Orlando Hernandez's return from the DL yesterday. Speaking of the Rats, reliever Brett Myers cost the team for the second straight game, blowing a 6-5 lead Tuesday and a 4-3 lead yesterday. Myers now has an 8.87 ERA in 17 appearances this season. How long can the Rats stick with the disappointing Myers?

Hoboken stunned Newark with a 14-10 victory at the Cereal Bowl yesterday, only the fourth home loss for the Sugar Bears. Hanley Ramirez was 5-6 with 4 runs scored and 3 RBIs and came up a double short of hitting for the cycle. Miguel Cabrera also had 4 RBIs. The loss snapped Newark's 6-game streak.

Big losses for Hitmen, Rats

Philadelphia and Vancouver are now in a virtual tie for first place in the Morris Division, with Philly only percentage points ahead of the Fist. Vancouver's first-round pick Zack Greinke pitched a 3-hit complete game shutout of New Jersey to improve to 5-0 on the season. Meanwhile Philly dropped an 8-7 loss to Las Vegas (yes another one-run game for those of you keeping track at home). Philly was leading by one with two outs in the ninth, but they must have forgotten about the supernatural powers of the Rat Pack. Closer J.J. Putz walked Jim Thome and then promptly gave up the game-winning homer to Joe Mauer.

Hillsborough battled Newark for 13 innings, but ended up pulling out a 4-3 win. The Sugar Bears tied the game up at 3 in the top of the ninth on a 2-run Matt Stairs homer. Nick Markakis won the game in the 13th with a bases-loaded single. Although Hillsborough managed to win the game, they lost the services of their young pitcher Felix Hernandez for a month. After watching the movie Iron Man, Felix had tried to build himself a suit that would help him pitch, but the boot jets sent him flying into a nearby wall. He will not recover nearly as quickly as the movie had led him to believe...

Also lost for a month is Las Vegas' scrappy shortstop David Eckstein. The gutty sparkplug infielder was a replacement for starter Jeff Keppinger who went down with his own injury recently. The tough-as-nails Eckstein met his demise when he tried to carry the team on his back, going 3-3 with a home run. The pesky veteran took the phrase too literally after celebrating his night, and several of his teammates jumped on his back, crushing the gritty player's back. "He's so scrappy" said the Rats' team doctor "that sometimes he thinks he can do anything." It's still not clear how the Rats will replace this loss of scrappiness, but a look to the scrap heap might help.

Vegas take another close one

Vegas moved to 9-0 in one-run games with a 2-1 victory over the Sugar Bears yesterday. Rat Pack starter Erik Bedard held the Sugar Bears to just 3 hits and one unearned run over 6 innings, while striking out 8. Carlos Marmol nailed down his 10th save of the season with a scoreless 1.2 innings. Chien-Ming Wang, who had previously received incredible amounts of run support, took his first loss despite pitching seven solid innings. Replacement second baseman Mark Grudzielanek was 1-3 with an RBI.

Tampa Bay came back from a 6-2 deficit to squeak by the Hoboken Cutters 7-6. James Loney tied the game with an RBI single in the eighth and then the Plunkers took the lead for good when Pat Burrell walked with the bases loaded. Kevin Gregg pitched three scoreless innings for the win. The Plunkers have now won 8 of their last 11.

The Sardines rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to take a 7-5 victory over the Mighty Men, tying them for last place once again. Ken Griffey hit a 2-run pinch homer off Randy Wolf to give the Straphangers the lead.

Vancouver's Zack Greinke and Blue Ridge's Aaron Harang battled to a 1-0 Vancouver win. Greinke pitched 6.1 innings of 4-hit ball while striking out 8 Bombers. Harang pitched eight innings, giving up one run on 6 hits and 9 strikeouts. Todd Helton's solo homer in the sixth was all the offense the two teams could muster.