Reinforcements arrive for playoff rosters

Arkansas pounded out a 10-7 victory against D.C. yesterday. Justin Morneau had 4 RBIs and the Falcon bullpen pitched 4 1/3 innings to bail out starter Dan Haren. The Falcon Nation held their collective breaths as Kenny Lofton had to leave the game in the fifth inning, but the news out of Arkansas is that Lofton will return for the Falcons next game Thursday.

A 6-run fourth inning propelled the Hoboken Cutters to an 8-6 win over Marietta. Mike Napoli went 2-4 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs as the Cutters moved to within one game of the final wild card spot.

Philly doubled up South Boston 6-3, though Johan Santana just missed becoming the first 16 game winner this season. Santana pitched seven solid innings though he was trailing for much of the game until Philly rallied to tie it in the sixth.

Many teams shored up their rosters in anticipation of a playoff run. Newark signed a third catcher in Brian Schneider, while Hoboken picked up second baseman Jose Valentin. Philadelphia re-signed veteran Todd Walker who had filled in earlier in the season.

Clemens, Johnson, nearing milestones

Arkansas' Roger Clemens is now just one win away from 200 for his career. He will join Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez as the only others to achieve the mark. Clemens was a bit shaky in the game, a 9-3 win over Philadelphia, but he improved to 10-6 on the season thanks to a solid bullpen and a completely ineffective Erik Bedard. Another Falcon, recently-acquired Craig Biggio is one hit away from 1500 career hits.

Randy Johnson is now only eight strikeouts away from 3000. Johnson pitched a complete game, 7-hit, shutout against Honolulu, as Newark took the game 6-0. Johnson struck out six and walked none.

Hoboken had an impressive 11-7 win over Las Vegas Thursday. With a 7-4 lead late in the game, Hoboken narrowed the lead to 7-6 after a Mike Napoli homer in the eighth. In the ninth, Hoboken tied the game up with a Miguel Cabrera single, then with two outs and the bases loaded, Ian Kinsler took Damaso Marte deep for a walk-off grand slam. By the way, it was the first appearance for Marte since the Rat Pack signed him a few days ago. Welcome to the team!

There will be no games tomorrow to clean up after today's Take Your Dog to Work Day festivities.

Welcome back!

This is a good week for the doctors as a lot of players will make their returns from injuries.

Jose Contreras returns for Team Buddah who has been suffering with Matt Morris in the rotation. Morris has given up 13 runs in his two starts and is 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA on the season. New Jersey also gets Nomar Garciaparra back at the end of the week after almost a month. The Buddahs have somehow stayed on the brink of contention and this ought to help a bit, if they can avoid any further injuries.

Jose Reyes returns for D.C. just in time to ride their recent hot streak. D.C. has won three in a row and eight of their last ten to move up to ninth place overall. Reyes was replaced in the lineup by Alex Gonzalez who batted a solid, though empty .286 with 5 runs and 5 RBIs in seven games.

Hillsborough will get Alex Rodriguez back and it couldn't come any sooner. The Hired Hitmen have been in a slump, losing two in a row after a three-game winning streak ended a seven game losing streak. Nick Punto had taken over for Rodriguez at third base and was also adequate, batting .429 (9-21) over the seven games with 4 runs scored and an RBI, but again, it was pretty empty - all nine hits were singles.

Catcher Mike Napoli should rejoin the Cutters later in the week. Josh Bard has been taken out of his DH role and backup Yorvit Torrealba (0-7) was signed to give Bard a rest.

Finally Sardine City will be happy to welcome Josh Barfield back after enduring Julio Lugo's miserable offense (.214 AVG, .464 OPS). If you take out Lugo's 4-5 game against Hillsborough, he's hist an even more atrocious .135 (5-37)! Sardine City has already gotten a red carpet out in preparation for Barfields return. Lugo is likely to be released for the fourth time this season.