Arkansas, Carolina heat up

Arkansas once again unleashed their offensive might on Team Buddah. After pounding on them Tuesday 12-1, the Falcons scored another dozen in a 12-3 final. Adam Dunn, returning to the lineup after a weeklong injury, hit two homers and drove in four runs. Newcomers Ryan Ludwick (2-4) and Yorvit Torrealba (2-4, 3 RBI) also factored into the scoring. The Falcons scored early in the game, tallying 7 runs in the first inning.

Lefty Barry Zito has been struggling to get wins despite pitching fairly well this year, but that changed yesterday. Zito held the first-place Rat Pack to three hits in 7.2 innings, giving up only one run, to improve his record to 2-3. Travis Hafner started the scoring in the first inning with a 3-run dinger. The Cats have now won 4 of their last 5 and are only one game under .500.

D.C.'s John Maine outduelled Mark Buehrle in a 2-1 nailbiter against Tampa Bay. Maine held the Plunkers to one hit in 6.2 innings and struck out 8. The Bushslapper scored all their runs in the first inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Carlos Beltran and Paul Lo Duca.

Poor Cole Hamels had his fifth straight start in which he gave up 2 runs or less and yet his team could not provide enough run support. Hamels pitched six innings and struck out 10, giving up only two runs on four hits and four walks. But the Sardines could only muster three runs in support and ended up losing 4-3 after the Endzone Animals rallied to score two runs in the ninth. In his last three games, the Straphangers have scored seven runs combined for Hamels.

Randy Johnson's win over the Bombers yesterday put him in a tie with Pedro Martinez for second overall at 206. He's got a ways to go to catch all-time leader Greg Maddux at 221.

David Ortiz's 6 RBIs powered Vancouver to a 15-3 thrashing of Marietta. Chad Billingsley improved to 4-0 with a 6 inning, 3-hit performance, in which he surrendered 2 runs and struck out 6. Vancouver has now won 7 straight and nine of their last ten.

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.

Vegas courts Lady Luck

The Rat Pack won a 6-5 decision over the Bushslappers in 11 innings, taking their eighth straight. The interesting thing about the victory is that it brings the Rats' record in one-run games to an astounding 8-0, by far the best in the league. Only Philadelphia is also undefeated in one-run games, but they are only 3-0. Carolina is second in one-run victories with 6, but they also have 6 losses. The Rats also lead the league in extra-innings wins with 3 (out of 3 games). These stats usually indicate a large amount of luck, but with the Rats you can't really be sure. Time will tell if the ball bounces the other way in the Pack's future.

Tampa Bay looks back on track after picking up their third straight victory, a 9-6 stunner over the Philadelphia Endzone Animals. Pat Burrell and Torii Hunter each had 3 hits and 2 RBIs to lead the Plunkers to victory.

Meanwhile, the Straphangers dropped their ninth straight game, a 5-3 setback to Blue Ridge. Daisuke Matsuzaka, despite having a solid season so far, dropped to 1-5 on the year after 7.2 mediocre innings. The Sardines jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but slowly saw their lead erode, eventually tied in the fifth inning. Prince Fielder drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth and the Bombers tacked on an insurance run. Russ Springer entered to close the game out and despite being a bit wild (12 pitches, 5 strikes), the Sardines were shut down.

Joel Pineiro made his last start for the Cutters - at least for the time being - and was given his outright release. The Cutters resigned Joe Beimel, who had been cut to make room for Pineiro, to a special one-day contract. "We feel bad that Joe didn't get into a game last time" said manager Wally Backman. "We'll try harder this time around." Beimel is expected to be released when Aaron Cook is eligible to come off the DL tomorrow.

Buddah catches fire

Team Buddah won their third straight game 4-1 over Blue Ridge yesterday, the longest winning streak of the season for the team. Shane Victorino was 4-4 and Melky Cabrera was 3-3. Starter Jesse Litsch improved to 2-3 on the season with an 8-inning, 5-hit performance.

Tampa Bay, who jumped out to a surprising start, has now come back down to earth, losing their fourth straight and falling into a fifth-place tie with Hoboken. This time the Plunkers dropped a 3-2 decision in 10 innings to the Mudcats. Paul Konerko, who finished 4-5 on the night, hit an RBI single in the 10th to win the game for the Cats.

Las Vegas gave up on prospect Matt Antonelli yesterday and re-signed pitcher Gavin Floyd to a minor league deal. Floyd was a non-roster invitee in spring training for the Rats, but was released before the season started. Floyd's impressive showing in an independent minor league caught Las Vegas' scouting department's eye.