Billingsley stabilizes Fist staff

Chad Billingsley earned his first DMBL win, holding D.C. to only three hits and zero runs over 7.1 innings. Billingsley, who was going to spend the year at AA Spokane, was called up recently because the rest of the staff was falling apart at the seams. Though shaky at times, Billingsley still has only a 2.70 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 4 starts. Picking up his 28th save was Billy Wagner, now up by two for the league lead over Francisco Rodriguez. David Ortiz hit two homers in the game.

Strange stat line from Hoboken, as the Cutters have now won two straight against the powerhouse Sugar Bears. The Cutters won 12-8, holding the Sugar Bears to only three hits. That's right, the Sugar Bears scored eight runs on only three hits! It certainly didn't help that the Cutters walked 11 Sugar Bears batters and hit two more, but still... One of the hits was a Michael Barrett grand slam in the first inning after three of the first four batters walked.

The Buddahs pulled off a ninth-inning miracle comeback over the Straphangers. The Sardines held a 7-5 lead in the ninth but the pressure was too much for Akinori Otsuka. After getting the first two batters out in the inning, Otsuka could not get the final out. The unlikeliest of heroes, Dioner Navarro, who is batting .216 on the season, hit a two-run single to tie the game, then Andy Phillips, he of the .118 average, got the game winning hit - only his second hit of the season.

Curt Schilling was roughed up again yesterday by Hillsborough. Ryan Howard hit two homers and drove in seven runs in a 9-0 rout of the Falcons. Jeremy Bonderman limited Arkansas to only four hits over 7.1 innings while striking out 12.

Don't forget there are no games tomorrow. Games will resume Sunday with a doubleheader late in the day. Trade Talk will be delayed until either Sunday or Monday.

Sugar Bears win 11 straight again

Andy Pettitte made his season debut for Carolina, earning the win despite a mediocre performance. Pettitte, starting for the injured Carlos Zambrano, allowed five runs in six innings in a 9-5 win over South Boston. Paul Konerko was 4-5 with 3 RBIs and Travis Hafner also contributed 3 RBIs.

D.C. has finally cooled off, losing four straight after yesterday's 6-5 loss to Hillsborough. The slump coincides with the recent injury to second baseman Luis Castillo. "Luis is the heart and soul of this squad" said teammate Carl Crawford. "Sure he only has 9 extra base hits in 77 games but he has intangibles....intangibles!" The Hired Hitmen scored all six runs in the last three innings, including a 4-run eighth that featured a 3-run Ryan Howard shot.

Newark won their 11th straight game with a 9-6, 18-hit slugfest victory over Marietta. Newark batters are now hitting .323 on the season with a .408 on base percentage and .592 slugging. Newark also became the first team to win 80 this season (Philadelphia is the next highest with 62 wins!).

Chris Carpenter pitched a solid game to help Vancouver stymie Philly 3-1 yesterday. Carpenter improved to 6-3 for Vancouver (9-7 overall) with an 8-inning performance, holding the Animals to five hits and one earned run. Moises Alou drove in all three runs in the game.

The trading deadline is approaching. Sunday July 15th will be the last day to make any deals or to claim any free agents that will be elligible as keepers for next season.

Mighty Men dominate Sharks

Marietta continued their dominance over Honolulu with their fourth straight win over the Sharks, 10-2. Jim Thome was 5-5 with 3 doubles, 2 homers and 4 RBIs. Francisco Liriano improved to 10-1 with a brilliant 6-inning, 2-hit performance. Liriano didn't allow any runs and struck out 10. The Sharks could only muster 3 hits the entire game. Unfortunately for the Sharks, they play the Mighty Men two more times today.

Ryan Howard had a huge day for Hillsborough yesterday. Howard was 3-4 with six RBIs and his 42nd home run of the year. The Hitmen won the game 8-2 over the Gang. Starter Dontrelle Willis could not get any outs in the first inning, surrendering six runs and walking four. The South Boston bullpen only surrendered two runs over the rest of the game, but the damage was done.

The Cutters edged the Endzone Animals 6-3 yesterday. The Animals led 3-2 but Francisco Rodriguez could not hold onto the lead. The Cutters scored four runs in the eighth on back to back doubles by Mike Cameron and Hanley Ramirez. Juan Rincon nailed down the ninth for his 15th save.
Randy Johnson failed to get his 2000th strikeout after being chased in the second inning by Team Buddah. Johnson gave up six runs in the inning, though only two were earned. The Sugar Bears got him off the hook with a 7-run fourth, however, winning the game 12-7.

Today is a special Fourth of July doubleheader.

Clemens wins 200th

Friday night, Roger Clemens joined Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux as the third member of the 200 win club. It wasn't Clemens' finest game, but he got the job done against Morris Division leader Philadelphia. Clemens improved to 10-6 on the season.

Hoboken's winning streak ended at eight on Saturday when the Hired Hitmen clobbered the Cutters 10-3. The Cutters were held in check by Felix Hernandez who struck out 10 in six innings of work. The Cutters, however, reverted back to their winnings ways, edging the Endzone Animals 9-8 Sunday. The Animals have had a rough weekend, dropping three of their last four and now face the Cutters three more times this week.

Ryan Howard hit his 40th homer in a loss to South Boston Sunday. Howard extended his league lead to five over Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez.

Justin Morneau extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a 2-5 night against Vancouver. Curt Schilling improved to 3-0 with the win.

A new This Week is now up for your reading pleasure.

Hitmen wack Vancouver

Vancouver was slapped around by the Hired Hitmen over the weekend. In game one, Alex Rodriguez drove in five runs to lead Hillsborough to a 16-5 victory. Then in game two, Ryan Howard hit two homers and drove in three runs and Russell Martin hit his first homer of the year and also drove in three runs, leading the Hitmen to a 13-7 victory. Then in game three, Carlos Lee unloaded on Vancouver, driving in six runs. Ryan Howard was also 4-4 in the game with his 38th homer of the year and Robinson Cano was 5-6 with two doubles. None of the Vancouver starters made it out of the third inning. Hillsborough outscored Vancouver in the three games 47-14. Hillsborough had won seven in a row at that point to even their record at 46-46 before dropping a game to Arkansas later on Sunday. Hillsborough is now only two games back of Vancouver in sixth in the overall standings. Vancouver shuffled up their pen after the losses, cutting Chris Britton and Joe Beimel and sending Chad Gaudin to AAA. Vancouver is expecting Brian Sweeney to come off the DL in time for Thursday's game.

New Jersey's Mike Piazza hit his 400th career home run off Tom Glavine yesterday in a 7-4 victory for Team Buddah. Piazza is only the seventh player to reach the milestone and the third to do it this year (Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome were the other two).

Randy Johnson moved closer to 3000 strikeouts yesterday. Now at 2986 for his career, Johnson should reach the mark sometime in his next two or three starts. Also in the game, Chipper Jones moved past Barry Larkin for number 13 on the all-time hit list with 1882. Despite all the career highlights, Newark still was stopped by Boof Bonser and the Hoboken Cutters. Bonser struck out 13 Sugar Bears in only five innings and improved to 7-4 on the season.

Black Magic Pitchers

It was a battle of Santanas yesterday in Arkansas. Guitarist Carlos Santana played the National Anthem and former wrestler Tito Santana threw out the first pitch. It was Johan Santana that came out on top however. The Philly hurler threw a complete game 4-hit shutout and struck out seven Falcons. Johan improved to 9-1 on the season. It was not a good day for Ervin Santana, however. The Falcon starter threw seven innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits to lower his record to 3-8.

Marietta's Mike Mussina picked up a win against New Jersey yesterday. Mussina struck out nine in eight innings. Mussina (1871) passed Kevin Brown (1868) for seventh on the all-time strikeout list.

Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia was impressive in his second game back from injury. C.C. limited the Mudcats to only three hits and two runs in a complete game effort. Sabathia improved to 4-2 on the year. In the game, Ryan Howard hit two homers (25 and 26) to take the league lead in homers and drove in 5 runs (Howard is third in RBIs).

D.C.'s winning streak came to an abrupt end as South Boston shellacked the Bushslappers 10-2. Despite the fact that South Boston was missing starters David Roberts and Alex Rios, the Gang exploded. Adrian Beltre, starting for one game for Rios, went 3-3 and Dan Uggla hit a three-run homer, while Dontrelle Willis won for just the third time on the season. After starting off 1-8, Willis has now won his last two starts.

Spring Training Wrapup: Batters

It was a pretty quiet day yesterday on the transaction wire. Newark continued their daily cuts by letting Eric Hinske go. Vancouver also released Jose Bautista and Kiko Calero. More cuts are coming, hopefully they won't all come on Saturday at midnight.

Today I will take a look at the best performers in spring training.

Grady Sizemore, Carolina. We'll start with the obvious. Sizemore grabbed the trifecta in leading the league in batting average (.386), on-base perecentage (.432) and slugging (.771). Sizemore also finished with 6 homers, 15 RBIs and 16 runs scored.

Chris Coste, Arkansas. Coste may have sewn up the starting catcher gig in Arkansas with his brilliant spring. Coste was second in average (.369) and sixth in OBP (.393) and drove in 19 runs (tied for 8th). His competitor, Toby Hall, on the other hand, hit an uninspiring .182 in 22 at bats.

Ryan Howard, Hillsborough. Howard continued his excellence from last year. The Listach winner led all players with 9 homers and tied for sixth with 20 RBIs. Howard was seventh in OPS (.918) and third in runs created (21.6).

Endy Chavez, Carolina. Chavez had the longest hitting streak of the preseason (13 games) and ended up with a .356 average, 18 RBIs(!), and 12 runs scored. Chavez tied for the league lead in hits with 36. How Chavez will fit in with the Mudcats in the regular season is unknown, but most likely he has bought himself a good chance at a platoon role at least.

Justin Morneau, Arkansas. Morneau got off to a great start early in the preseason, with a 6-RBI game and a 7-RBI game in the first 10. That makes his league leading 29 RBIs seem somewhat fluky, but he still did have a good spring. Morneau finished with a .343 average (8th), 7 HRs (tied for 3rd), 17 runs (tied for 8th), a .408 OBP (5th), .571 Slugging (6th), and 26.2 runs created (1st).

Eric Byrnes, South Boston. Aside from having a great John Houseman name ("Did you hand in your assignment, Mr. Byrnes?"), Byrnes had a great spring for South Boston. Byrnes was second in the league in OPS (1.003), and also hit .321 with 6 HRs, 17 RBIs, 19 runs, 2 3Bs, .630 slugging, and 9.2 runs created/27. The South Boston outfield is crowded, but manager Sid Fernandez has assured Byrnes of at least a platoon role.

Ian Kinsler, Hoboken. The most impressive rookie this spring. Kinsler was fourth in batting average (.361) and 5th in slugging (.583). Kinsler also had 13 runs, 14, RBIs, 2 3Bs, 3 HRs, and a .390 OBP.

Corey Patterson, New Jersey. Patterson gets the Speed Demon Award for his league leading 10 stolen bases (actually tied with Juan Pierre, but with 1 less caught stealing), 18 runs, and 2 triples. But Patterson was also far less one-dimensional than Pierre. Patterson also drove in 19 RBIs, and hit 5 doubles and 3 homers. Now if only he could learn to take a walk...

Torii Hunter, Honolulu. Hunter had a surprising spring this year with 8 homers and 25 RBIs (both good for second in the league). His .250 average was mediocre, but you can't argue with those results.

Jacques Jones, New Jersey. Seems like Team Buddah's offense is ready for the season. Jones ended up third in OPS (.987). Jones also ended up with a .658 slugging (2nd), 20 RBIs (t6th), 6 HRs (t8th), a .304 average, 6 2Bs (t5th), and 2 3Bs. Jones is plagued by the same walk-o-phobia that his teammate suffers from.

Tomorrow we'll look at the pitchers.

Weekend Roundup

Arkansas' Justin Morneau is at it again. Saturday, Morneau went 3-3 with 7 RBIs in the second game against Marietta and now is leading the league with 18 RBIs. The Falcons also said good-bye to Corey Lidle, who struggled in his start Friday. Lidle complained of a "dead arm" and after pitching coach Bret Saberhagen determined that not only his arm was dead, Lidle was let go. Lidle was upset, citing the fact that Darryl Kile and Mike Darr got to play after they had expired, but perhaps Lidle will get another chance yet.

Hillsborough's Ryan Howard hit a pair of homers on Sunday to take the league lead with 7 homers. Howard, of course, is the reigning Pat Listach Rookie of the Year. Though a platoon guy last year, Howard figures to become a full timer this season after proving last year that he can handle DMBL pitching.

First round pick Joel Zumaya of New Jersey got both wins in Sunday's doubleheader.