Chipper moves up the HR ladder

Mark Buehrle pitched a 2-hit shutout of the Bombers yesterday. He struck out 6 and walked 3 in the effort. It was his 30th career complete game (tied for 20th all-time). Adam Dunn hit a home run and was 2-3 in the 5-0 victory. Both Bomber hits were by Michael Young.

Chipper Jones' 5 RBI led Newark to a 13-6 victory over Vancouver. Jones hit his 382nd career home run, passing Sugar Bear alum Mark McGwire for No. 11 all-time. Jones is now one behind Vlad Guerrero, who is currently on the Rat Pack's disabled list, but expects to be activated for the second half. Watch for Chipper (and Vlad) to also pass Frank Thomas (384) and Juan Gonzalez (385) and the number 9 and 8 spots, respectively.

How about those Mighty Men? After winning their 8th straight yesterday, an 11-3 blowout of the Endzone Animals, the Mighty Men have opened up a 3-game lead on the Sugar Bears in the Hanover Division. Adrian Gonzalez and Orlando Hudson each had 4 RBIs in the game, with Hudson hitting 2 homers. He now has 4 on the season.

John Maine improved to 8-3 with a decent 6-inning effort in Carolina's 6-5 squeaker over Amityville. Since being left for dead by Philly, Maine has been 8-2 for Carolina with a 4.15 ERA.

Welcome Back!

Yesterday was a day filled with welcome back parties. After many injuries, several players returned to their respective lineups.

D.C. welcomed back Ryan Zimmerman, who had been out almost two months with a rare disease he suffered while in the jungles of Borneo. Zimmerman responded by getting two hits, including his first home run of the season in D.C.'s 2-0 blanking of Hillsborough. But Zim wasn't the only O-Bomber to return. First baseman Todd Helton also returned to the lineup after being out 3 weeks and contributed a double and an RBI. That's all well and good for the O-Bombers, but Hillsborough also had a return. Ron Belliard had missed several weeks as well, but came right back into the leadoff spot. Unfortunately for Belliard, he was 0-2 with a walk and was lifted for a pinch hitter late in the game. By the way, despite the 2-0 final result, this was far from a pretty game from the two hurlers. Both teams had trouble locating the strike zone, and issued a combined 13 walks. Felix Hernandez went the distance for the Hitmen and accounted for 7 of the walks himself, while his opponent, Todd Wellemeyer, issued 5 and a wild pitch in his 6.2 innings of work.

Sardine City activated Evan Longoria, but the Sardines were idle Wednesday. Amityville also activated starter Jered Weaver, but after giving Manny Parra one more good-bye start. Parra gave up only 2 earned runs in 5.2 innings in the 2-1 loss, but walked 5 and struck out 9. Parra was sent back down to the team's farm team to work on his control. Weaver will take Parra's next start in the rotation.

I guess this whole pitching decently while walking a ton of batters was a recurring theme of the day. John Maine improved to 7-3 on the season in a 10-2 blowout of the Falcons. Maine only allowed 2 runs but walked 5 in 6 innings. Meanwhile, Vancouver's Jake Peavy limited the Endzone Animals to only 3 hits and 2 runs in 7.2 innings, but also walked 5 in the Fist's 7-2 victory. Maybe those 10 strikeouts helped a bit?