Hoboken wins while contenders falter

Hoboken continued their tear, winning 11-2 over the Mudcats. The win was the Cutters third in a row and their seventh of their last eight. John Garland evened his record at 12-12 while pitching 7.2 solid innings and Bill Hall was 2-3 with 2 RBIs and a homer. The win severely cripples the Mudcats' playoff hopes. Meanwhile Hoboken is dearly holding on to the sixth spot, though they are actually tied for fifth with Hillsborough. The Hitmen hold the tiebreaker over the Cutters.

It was not a good day for the other wild card contenders.

The Bushslappers continue to be caught in an unfortunately timed slump, losing 6-5 to Marietta. D.C. has now lost six of their last eight and are only 1 1/2 games up on sixth-place Honolulu. Honolulu meanwhile was smoked 10-5 by South Boston and Hillsborough was obliterated 11-1 by Newark. Only Vancouver could manage a victory yesterday - an 8-7 squeaker over Team Buddah.

Juan Cruz bounced back from his recent rough outing by pitching seven shutout innings against the Straphangers in yesterday's 4-0 victory. Cruz allowed six hits and two walks while striking out six to improve to 4-2 on the season.

Look for a new Numbers Crunch tonight.

Falcons turn to trash heap for help

Arkansas went dumpster diving Tuesday, salvaging three players from the scrap heap of Sunday's deadline castoffs. First, Arkansas signed up Pat Burrell who was cut by Hoboken after posting a .160 average with 53 strikeouts in 156 at bats. True to form, Burrell went 0-3 in his Falcons debut with three strikeouts. Next, Arkansas grabbed Juan Cruz who had made a spot start in Philly for injured Brandon Webb. Cruz also spent some time pitching in relief with Las Vegas. Cruz made more of a positive impact than Burrell, pitching 6 innings and surrendering two runs and earning a victory in the Falcons 3-2 win over Sardine City. The third cast-off was Marietta's Chad Qualls who was released when the Mighty Men acquired B.J. Ryan over the weekend. Qualls had been 4-4 with a 5.03 ERA in 50 appearances for the Mighty Men.

The Falcons have actually had a bit of success picking up players off the junk pile this year. Bob Wickman, who was a disaster for the Buddahs, has emerged as a solid closer for the Falcons, picking up 12 saves in 13 tries and compiling a 2.77 ERA. Bernie Williams, released to make room for Burrell, was doing very well as part of a platoon - .847 OPS, .360 average in 25 ABs. Another platoon role player, Craig Biggio is batting .286 and recently hit his 1500th career DMBL hit.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano lost for only the second time yesterday. Liriano was pounded for seven runs (six earned) in 2.1 innings, to fall all the way to 12-2 on the season. It was by far Liriano's worst performance of the season as D.C. jumped all over Liriano early and often. Brad Hennessey relieved Liriano in the third and poured a jug of kerosene onto the fire, giving up six more runs in his 3.1 innings.

Liriano's loss gave Philly's Johan Santana a chance to jump back into competition for the McDonald Award against the Rat Pack. The Endzone Animals gave Santana enough run support for an 8-4 victory and Santana improved to 13-2 on the season.