Monday Night Long Balls

Offense was the order of the day throughout the league Monday night as two players compiled six RBIs each amidst multi-home games.

Adam Jones blasted three home runs to lead Rowdy Roddy Pipers over division rival Marietta, 10-7, at Bullhead Memorial Stadium. The Pipers centerfielder, acquired in the offseason from Vancouver for two draft picks, homered in his first three at-bats, all off of the Mighty Men's Chris Carpenter: two-run bombs in the 2nd and 6th innings, with a solo shot in the 4th. He capped off his night with a run-scoring single in the 7th, finishing 4-for-4 with 6 RBIs. He was hardly the only Piper with four hits: Prince Fielder and Michael Young each went 4-for-5 to help C.C. Sabathia even his record at 8-8.

Over in St. Louis, two Cutters both blasted a pair of home runs to lead Hoboken to a 13-4 victory. David Ortiz hit a solo shot and a two-run bomb while one of Jose Bautista's two home runs -- his league-leading 34th and 35th -- was a grand slam to help him finish with six RBIs.

It wasn't entirely about the batters though. Traded last week along with two draft picks in exchange for Javier Vazquez, Doug Fister made his second outstanding start for Sardine City, going eight innings for the win. Now 2-0, Fister has yielded only three runs over 16 innings for the Straphangers, after a 3-9 start with a 4.53 ERA for Bridgewater.

Pitching, pitching, pitching

A record-tying eight starting pitchers were selected in the first round of the 2012 draft, including four consecutive picks from fourth to seventh overall. It's the most starters taken in round one in five years, when half the league's 14 franchises also took starters. The 2000 draft featured eight starters taken, led by Tim Hudson taken No. 1 by Carolina.

This year's record first-round run started with Brandon Beachy at No. 2, taken by the Bridgewater Mallers, and ended with the final pick of the round, 16th overall, by the Hopatcong Floating Fish in Josh Collmenter. The 2007 draft also featured four straight starters taken, that time the first four picks: Jered Weaver, Anibal Sanchez Cole Hamels and Josh Johnson.

Javier Vazquez became at least the fourth starting pitcher to be chosen twice in the first round, and likely the longest time between the selections. Edinson Volquez was taken third overall by New Jersey (now Hopatcong) in 2009 and 12th in 2011 by Bridgewater. Johnson was selected fourth overall twice -- in 2007 by Philly and in 2009 by Sardine City, where he still plays. Juan Guzman went first overall in 1992 to Maine, and again in 2000, sixth overall by Hillsborough.

Vazquez was taken ninth overall by the Kentucky Hillbillies in 2001 and this year was grabbed by the Sardine City Straphangers with the 12th overall selection. Also taken in round one of the 2001 draft? Freddy Garcia, fifth overall by the Honolulu Sharks, who was also selected this year by the Hillsborough Hit Men in the supplemental seventh round.

4-hitters all around

The Endzone Animals came back from a 6-1 deficit to beat the Falcons 7-6 yesterday. After only 2 innings, the Falcons had the aforementioned 6-1 lead, but the Animals clawed back, scoring 3 runs in the 6th to bring them to within one run. In the 8th Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer (his third of the day) to give the Animals the lead. Trevor Hoffman nailed down the 9th for his 10th save.

Randy Wells continued his fine season with a complete game, 7-1 victory over the Rat Pack yesterday, in which he held the Rats to only 4 hits. Wells improved to 7-2 on the season. Garrett Jones and Chase Utley each had 3 RBIs for Vancouver.

Not to be outdone, Marietta's Joel Pineiro pitched a 4-hitter as well in the Mighty Men's 12-1 pounding of Amityville. Marietta totaled 17 hits in the contest, including 4 from red hot Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro is 9-14 with 10 RBIs since returning to the lineup from injury. Marietta has scored 45 runs during their current 5-game winning streak.

And to top the previous 4-hitters, Newark's Javier Vazquez pitched a 4-hit shutout of Sardine City. Vazquez struck out 10 in his victory and seems to have gotten his season back on track after a series of rough outings.

Fist, Sugar Bears sweep rivals

Vancouver and Newark both completed the sweep of the other's prime contenders. Javier Vazquez improved to 17-1 as the Sugar Bears took a 9-6 decision in Philadelphia. Matt Stairs drove in 5 runs in the contest as the Sugar Bears opened up a 4-game lead on the Rats. Meanwhile, the Iron Fist bested the Rat Pack 7-4 as Curtis Granderson and Maicer Izturis each had 3 RBIs. Granderson hit his 22nd triple of the season, coming within 2 of Jose Reyes' DMBL-era record. Vancouver now leads Philly by 9 games.

Hoboken won their 9th game out of their past 11, defeating the Golden Falcons 6-1. Matt Garza gave the Cutters 8 innings of 1-run ball, scattering 6 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 7. The Cutters, despite sitting in 12th place overall, are now only 7 games behind Hillsborough for the final playoff spot.

Jered Weaver held the Mudcats to 4 hits in 7 innings to give the Plunkers a 3-1 win yesterday. The win was only Weaver's 4th of the season. The game was tied at one until the eight inning when the Plunkers led off the inning with a single and a double. Johnny Estrada was momentarily distracted by a busty fan in the front row and let a pitch get by him, scoring Akinori Iwamura from third. A sacrifice fly by Brian Roberts brought home the final run. The damage could have been worse as the Mudcats proceeded to load the bases, but Adrian Gonzalez popped out to end the inning. The story has a happy ending for Cats fans, as Estrada was able to get the fan's phone number after the game.

D.C. has asserted their position in 5th place after weathering a rough period. The club has now won 4 in a row and has a 5-game lead on 6th place Hillsborough. Yesterday the Slappers took care of Sardine City 7-2. Carlos Beltran was 2-2 with a home run and 4 RBIs to lead the D.C. offense, while Kelvim Escobar took care of the Sardine offense (7.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 K) to earn his 13th win of the season.