Galarraga, back on track, takes prize

This week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week is Philadelphia's Fred Lewis. Hey wasn't he the guy who played Webster? No, no that's Emmanuel. Lewis is the outfielder that Philadelphia acquired from Carolina earlier this season in the Magglio Ordonez deal. Wait, wasn't he a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles? Chad Lewis. Stay on topic here. Lewis has been on fire for the Endzone Animals of late. This week he hit .458 with a .548 on base percentage and .833 slugging with 2 doubles, 2 triples, a home run, 7 runs scored, and 9 RBIs. Wait, I know, he's that angry comedian guy who's complaining about Aruba's weather or something like that. Ugh, that's Lewis Black. You're way off, try to pay attention. Lewis has been a big part of the Endzone Animals turnaround. When he was acquired from Carolina, the Animals were 7-12. Since then, they've gone 22-9 and are now in 4th place (oh but it's a close 4th place, they are only 1 game behind 3rd place Hillsborough and 2 1/2 games out of first place). OK, so he's the guy that explored the frontiers to the Pacific and all that? I give up.

Other contenders: Lewis' strongest competition came from Newark's J.D. Drew (.450/.560/850, 2 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI) and Amityville's Johnny Damon (.448/.419/.966, 3 HR, 4 2B, 10 RBI, 8 R). Either one could have easily won it, but I wouldn't have gotten to do my little schtick above, so there. Besides no way I'd give it to Damon with an OBP lower than his batting average! That's a big strike against you. More... Elijah Dukes of Team Buddah hit 5 homers and drove in 9 runs; Dustin Pedroia had a solid week for Carolina (.472/.486/.722); Hillsborough's Aubrey Huff (.433/.452/.733) kept up his stellar season; Arkansas' Rick Ankiel (.474/476/.895) and Marietta's Kevin Youkilis (.414/.452/.759) also had notable weeks.

It was an easy pick for this week's Text Messages From Last Night Pitcher of the Week Award. After starting the season 0-7 with a 9.17 ERA, Armando Galarraga, Amityville's 2nd round pick in the 2009 draft, finally won his first game with 7 shutout innings against Hoboken. He followed that up with an excellent effort against D.C. Sunday for his second win. For the week, Galarraga was 2-0 with an 0.60 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Hey, didn't he used to play first base... We're not doing this again.

It was a good week to be a pitcher in Carolina. Ace starter Roy Halladay was 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA and 0.87 WHIP and 14 strikeouts. His teammate John Maine also did well, winning both his starts with a 2.70 ERA and 13 Ks. They were both helped out by closer Brian Fuentes who saved 4 games in his 4 appearances.

Other notables - Zack Greinke of Vancouver won his two starts (2-0, 2.12 0.76 WHIP) and Philadelphia's Brandon Webb was 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

The Maine Man in Carolina

Marietta won a 6-4 decision against Team Buddah and now holds a full one-game lead in the Hanover Division. Ryan Dempster held the Buddahs to 4 hits over 8 innings to collect his 4th win and Mariano Rivera clinched the 9th for his 11th save. Mike Jacobs was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in defeat.

John Maine has now pitched 5 quality starts in a row and has won his last 4 decision to improve to 4-2 on the season with a respectable 4.33 ERA (consider it was 12.27 before his streak). Yesterday Maine pitched 8 innings, allowing only one earned run on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Dustin Pedroia was 3-3 in the contest for the Mudcats.

Omar Infante was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in Vancouver's 6-2 victory over D.C. Zack Greinke went the distance, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits.

Things are tightening up in the Morris Division. First-place Hillsborough was off yesterday, but Carolina's win put them just 1/2 game out of first. Vancouver moved to 2 1/2 games out with their victory and idle Philadelphia remained 4 games out in 4th place.

Hoboken rolls along

Hoboken continued their roll, smashing Marietta 14-6. Mighty Men starter Gil Meche was mercilessly pounded for 11 runs in five innings, earning the starter a spot on the bench. "He's lucky we didn't go to Paul Byrd" said owner David Landsman after the game. Meche's ERA ballooned to 6.96. Hoboken's Vicente Padilla improved to 10-3 on the season, despite giving up five runs. Josh Bard and Ian Kinsler each had four RBIs and a homer in the game. Hoboken has now won six straight and is only 1/2 a game behind Marietta, who lost four in a row.

David Ortiz continues to mash the ball, hitting two homers in a 5-4 loss to Carolina yesterday. Ortiz now has 32 homers on the year. Chris Carpenter rebounded well after his 11-run performance last week - pitching seven shut out innings, but the Vancouver pen blew it with a 5-run eighth inning which included a bases-loaded walk.

Carlos Beltran's 5 RBI led D.C. to a 12-4 rout of the Falcons. John Maine pitched six shutout innings despite surrendering six walks and five hits.

New Jersey's Tom Gorzelanny held the Rat Pack to only three hits and two runs over eight innings. The rookie has had some trouble with run support this year, but managed to get his fourth win of the season. Gorzelanny is only 4-8 despite a decent 4.17 ERA this year.

Newark barely survived their game against Sardine City yesterday. After a close 4-4 tie led the game to extra innings, the Straphangers played "small-ball" in the top of the 10th and manufactured the go-ahead run. Usually reliable B.J. Ryan was brought in to close the game in the bottom of the inning, but it wasn't meant to be. Nick Johnson scored to tie it on a Nick Swisher single and then later Manny Ramirez singled in Mark DeRosa to win it for the Sugar Bears.

Brandon Webb and Aaron Harang both pitched complete games in yesterday's South Boston-Philadelphia game, but it was Harang who came out on top. Harang limited the Animals to only one run on three hits, while striking out 10.

Bad day for pitchers

Two teams were crushed yesterday at home. Honolulu routed the Golden Falcons 18-5. Brian McCann had two homers and five RBIs and Jeff Francis improved to 7-1 on the season. Falcons starter Ervin Santana lasted just 2 innings and gave up six runs, but the real damage was done by reliever Brad Lidge, who surrendered eight earned runs, in addition to allowing both of his inherited runners to score. Lidge and Santana combined to walk eight batters and surrendered eight hits and 14 earned runs in 3.1 innings.

Meanwhile in Vancouver, the Sugar Bears pounded the Iron Fist to a 17-5 tune. Nick Johnson was 4-6 with 6 RBIs and three homers and Manny Ramirez was 4-5 with one homer. Starter Ben Sheets was ripped apart - 1.2 IP, 6 ER, 6 hits. Vancouver also allowed six unearned runs in the contest. Javier Vazquez was the beneficiary of the run support and improved to 4-2 by limiting the Fist to three hits over six innings, though he did issue five walks.

New Jersey's recent acquisition Matt Guerrier pitched in his first game for Team Buddah and was impressive in 5.1 innings, surrendering no runs and four hits, while striking out three. It wasn't enough because starter Brad Penny was shelled (6 runs, eight hits in 1.2 innings).

Want more starter shellings? How about D.C.'s John Maine who gave up six runs and eight hits in two innings against Hoboken? At least Maine didn't get a loss as the Bushslappers came back to win the game.

How about Sardine City's Tom Glavine who gave up five runs and five hits in two innings in a loss to Hillsborough? The Straphangers ended up using eight pitchers in the game, including Brandon Claussen who was the team's emergency starter earlier in the year.

So did anyone pitch well yesterday? Las Vegas' Chris Young pitched seven scoreless innings against South Boston in picking up the win to improve to 4-4. Young struck out 10 Gangsters. Speaking of Las Vegas, Brett Myers will try to break the hex over him tonight as he tries to win his first game of the season. Myers is currently 0-9 on the year with a 10.38 ERA. "If he doesn't turn things around, I may send him to the pen next year" said team owner Eric Wickstrom.

Prior beware

Philly topped Arkansas again yesterday, this time in a slightly more convincing fashion - 8-5. Philly now holds a 2 1/2 game lead on the Falcons and has moved into the number one spot overall. That's because the Sugar Bears dropped another game to the Sharks. The Sharks are now one game behind Newark with one game left in the series. The Sharks pounded away on the Sugar Bears for the second straight day, 12-7.

The Bushslappers are starting to wake up. D.C. exploded on South Boston yesterday 13-4 and are now sitting in fifth, but still seven games under .500. It was the third win in a row for D.C. John Maine improved to 4-1 and Carlos Beltran hit a pinch hit grand slam in the eighth. D.C. scored 10 runs in the final three innings of the game.

Philadelphia finally gave up on oft-injured Mark Prior. Prior had a good start to his career, but recently he has struggled to stay on the mound. Team doctors said that he would not pitch this season after being shut down in the second half last year. It is unknown whether Prior will be back to pitch next year. Prior, who was 7-7 with a 5.09 ERA in 24 games last year, will take the time off to try to rehabilitate himself. Philly pitching coach Dave Righetti was regretful about the decision, but conceded that Prior faced a lot of hurdles. "It's tough to give up on a kid that talented, but in the end we need a player that we can count on for innings" Righetti said. "Hopefully we'll be in a position to take him back when he gets himself on track."