Drought in Vegas

Two straight games, two straight shutout losses for the Rat Pack. Going back to Tuesday's game against Newark, the Rat Pack have now failed to score in 20 consecutive innings. First it was Joe Saunders and the Sugar Bears that held the Rat Pack to 4 hits in a 12-0 loss. Then yesterday Roy Oswalt kept them to 5 hits in a 3-0 affair. What makes it so shocking is that this is no weak-hitting team. Las Vegas is 4th overall in total runs scored and the team ranks first in OPS. The Rats face Jon Lester today and all eyes will be on the Vegas bats to see if they will continue the slump or break out in explosive fashion.

Carolina's Carlos Zambrano combined with Brian Fuentes on a 6-hit shutout, not that anyone was paying attention. Zambrano's shutout was much less elegant as he walked 7 Philadelphia batters in the 2-0 game. Zambrano improved to 7-2 with the effort.

How bad do the Bombers feel after yesterday's debacle? The Bombers had built up an insurmountable 13-0 lead in the 5th inning, but Vancouver didn't give up. The Fist scored 10 runs in the next three innings to bring the deficit to 13-10. A nervous Francisco Rodriguez was called into the 9th inning to shut the door on the comeback and things looked good as K-Rod sent back the first two batters. Then it all came unraveled. Rodriguez walked Ken Griffey, then gave up a double to Adam Lind. Rodriguez flubbed an easy toss to get the third out that scored Griffey, then Troy Glaus doubled in Lind, making it a one-run game. Rodriguez then walked pinch-hitter Adam Jones and was visibly shaken. Rodriguez threw a wild pitch that scored the tying run before striking out the final batter of the inning. Suddenly Vancouver was looking like the team of destiny and a sure victory for Blue Ridge was now in extra innings. In the 12th, Griffey drove home the winning run on a single up the middle, sealing the comeback victory.

Griffey makes triumphant return

Ken Griffey, Jr. made his return Sunday to Vancouver after a 7-year absence to fill in for the injured David Ortiz. Griffey had most of his best seasons in Vancouver from 1991-2002 including a 5-year stretch in which he hit at least 40 home runs. Despite allegations that the signing was just a gimmick to milk nostalgia for all it's worth, GM/owner Yaro Zajac asserted that Griffey was the best option out there to fill in for Ortiz. "The nostalgic factor is just the icing on the cake" Zajac said in a pre-game press conference. As for Griffey, the former outfielder shed a few tears when he took the mound in the team's black and copper uniforms. "I felt like I was in my 20s again" he said. Griffey went 1-3 in his first game back and then 1-2 in the second game of the doubleheader. Vancouver plans to keep Griffey in the DH role for the duration of his stint with the team, but a few late inning outfield appearances have not been ruled out.

Joba Chamberlain and Daisuke Matsuzaka battled to a draw for 6.1 innings, but the Sardine City Straphangers took a nailbiter by a 2-1 margin. The Sardines took the lead in the 9th when B.J. Upton hit a triple that scored Miguel Montero from first. Taylor Buchholz pitched a 1-2-3 inning to record his 7th save.

Yesterday was a bit of good news/bad news for the young Vols pitchers in the league. Amityville's Chris Volstad had a bit of an uneven performance against the Cutters but held on to get the win and even his record at 3-3. Volstad pitched 6.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Meanwhile, struggling Edinson Volquez pitched a solid 6 innings for Team Buddah, holding Marietta to 2 runs on 7 hits and striking out 6, but got a loss anyway. Volquez's statline on the season (1-6, 6.80) is ugly, but this has to be encouraging.

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.

The Myers Hex is over

Brett Myers finally broke the curse Sunday by shutting out the Sharks for seven innings and earning his first win of the season. Myers has actually been pitching fairly well over his last three appearances, lowering his ERA from 9.87 to 7.73. It may not seem like much, but after the way his season began, he probably feels like Cy Young right now.

D.C.'s Frank Thomas passed Gary Sheffield for the 12th spot on the home run list with 341. Thomas has only seven homers and is batting .221 in a part-time role. Ken Griffey of Sardine City also hit a milestone Saturday by passing Jeff Bagwell for the number four slot in career hits, his 2048th.

Friday Night Blog Bits: Johan Santana is now two strikeouts away from 1000 on his career. He would be the 23rd player to achieve the goal...Albert Pujols hit home run number 200 and Manny Ramirez his home run number 400 in their careers. Manny is now sixth all-time, while Pujols has some work to do - he's only at #37...Tom Glavine is only four strikeouts away from 1500 in his career.

Spring Opener Notes

Wednesday was a big day for the DMBL's newest franchises. Although they both dropped their opener, the two teams rebounded with a win in their second games.

Team Buddah was spanked by Hoboken in their first game, but shut down Marietta in game 2. Rookie pitcher Tom Gorzelanny pitched eight strong innings, surrendering two unearned runs and 5 hits. Ichiro Suzuki (2-4, 3RBI) and Preston Wilson (2-3, 2 RBI) were the hitting stars in game 2.

Meanwhile the Sardine City Straphangers were pounded by Honolulu 11-2 in their first game, but rebounded nicely in a 5-3 victory over Vancouver. Veteran Tom Glavine, a former Ironfister, pitched eight innings, while two more former Vancouver players, Andruw Jones and Ken Griffey each collected two hits.

All eyes were on Honolulu pitcher Jered Weaver in Sharks camp. The first overall pick gave up five runs in eight innings, but otherwise pitched well. "We're pretty happy with him" said Sharks pitching coach Randy Myers. "He had some jitters that he needed to work out. We expect more from him next time out."

Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia and Carolina's Roy Halladay each pitched complete game shutouts on opening day. "I think Roy's ready" said Carolina manager Lenny Dykstra.

Arkansas first baseman Justin Morneau collected six RBIs in his game against Philly and now has nine in two games. "I'm looking forward to collecting some steaks this year" said Morneau in reference to Zane Smith's hitter of the week award sponsor.