Hitmen streak hits 6

The Hired Hitmen won their 6th straight yesterday, pounding D.C. 9-2. Ryan Howard was 3-4 with a pair of home runs and 7 RBIs to singlehandedly lead the team to victory. C.C. Sabathia went the distance, improving to 2-0 on the season, as he limited the O-Bombers to 6 hits and one walk, while striking out 7.

Vancouver kept pace by thrashing Philly 11-0. Ben Sheets pitched 7 shutout innings and Omar Infante was 3-5 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs. Jerry Hairston also hit a home run and drove in 3 runs. The Endzone Animals could only muster up 5 hits in the contest, losing their 5th straight. That's bad news for Philly as Las Vegas comes to town to start their series today.

Speaking of Vegas, the Rat Pack was abused by Team Buddah last night 9-1. Andy Pettitte pitched a gem for Buddah, striking out 8 in 8 innings of work and holding the Rats to 6 hits. Joey Votto was 2-4 with 2 doubles in the game. Buddah only had 9 hits and 2 walks but made it count - only two Buddah batters were stranded in the efficient victory.

Falcons sweep Hitmen

Tampa Bay shut out Las Vegas for the second straight day. This time it was Andy Pettitte going the distance, holding the Rats to 5 hits and improving to 15-6 on the season. For Pettitte, it was his 39th career complete game, tying him for with Kevin Appier for 15th overall and his 13th career shutout - good for 9th place overall, one behind Roger Clemens.

Arkansas completed the sweep of Hillsborough, taking a 5-1 win over the Hitmen. Former Hillsborough teammate Jeremy Bonderman evened his record at 12-12 with a 7.1 inning, 5-hit performance in which he struck out 8 Hitmen. Somehow the Falcons won, despite being limited to only five hits and one walk. Hillsborough falls to an even 2 games behind D.C. for the 5th playoff seed and their playoff magic number remains at 2.

Vegas and Newark face off in scoring explosion

Wow what a game between the Rat Pack and Sugar Bears Sunday evening. With sweat pouring down their faces, the two teams battled to a 21-19 final as the Sugar Bears missed the two-point conversion with seconds to spare...baseball, right? For the Rats, Jeremy Hermida was 6-6 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs. He becomes the 11th player to have six hits in a single game - a DMBL record. Joe Mauer was 4-7 with 4 RBIs, Placido Polanco and Cesar Izturis each had 3 RBIs, and Ichiro had 3 hits. Meanwhile for the Sugar Bears, Bobby Abreu was 4-4 with 3 RBIs before being mysteriously lifted for a pinch hitter. Four other Sugar Bears had 3 RBIs each. Every starting player got at least one hit. The Rats went up in the game early with a 9-run second inning, taking an early 14-3 lead in the middle of the third, but the Sugar Bears scored 7 in the next two innings to bridge the gap. With a 16-11 lead in the eighth, the Rats gave up 8 runs to the Sugar Bears to give them their first lead of the game, 19-16. But in the top of the ninth, the Sugar Bears fell apart, ceding 5 runs to the Rat Pack, capped off by a Joe Mauer 2-run double. Oh and the Sugar Bears shouldn't have called a draw play when their tight end was wide open in the end zone...

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay's Andy Pettite improved to 7-0 with a 3-hit 10-0 win over Marietta. Pettitte joins Vancouver's Zack Greinke as the only two undefeated starters left in the DMBL. Greinke settled for a no-decision in his game, though the Fist eventually won.

Philadelphia shut down the Hired Hitmen 4-1 to win their 8th straight game. The Endzone Animals have been keeping pace with Vancouver, narrowing the division lead to just 1/2 a game. Brandon Webb improved to 8-4 with 6.2 innings of solid ball, striking out 10 and surrendering only one run on 4 hits. Hillsborough fell to one game under .500 with the loss.

Don't forget, this is the final week to vote for your favorite All-Stars!

Sugar Bears win 11 straight again

Andy Pettitte made his season debut for Carolina, earning the win despite a mediocre performance. Pettitte, starting for the injured Carlos Zambrano, allowed five runs in six innings in a 9-5 win over South Boston. Paul Konerko was 4-5 with 3 RBIs and Travis Hafner also contributed 3 RBIs.

D.C. has finally cooled off, losing four straight after yesterday's 6-5 loss to Hillsborough. The slump coincides with the recent injury to second baseman Luis Castillo. "Luis is the heart and soul of this squad" said teammate Carl Crawford. "Sure he only has 9 extra base hits in 77 games but he has intangibles....intangibles!" The Hired Hitmen scored all six runs in the last three innings, including a 4-run eighth that featured a 3-run Ryan Howard shot.

Newark won their 11th straight game with a 9-6, 18-hit slugfest victory over Marietta. Newark batters are now hitting .323 on the season with a .408 on base percentage and .592 slugging. Newark also became the first team to win 80 this season (Philadelphia is the next highest with 62 wins!).

Chris Carpenter pitched a solid game to help Vancouver stymie Philly 3-1 yesterday. Carpenter improved to 6-3 for Vancouver (9-7 overall) with an 8-inning performance, holding the Animals to five hits and one earned run. Moises Alou drove in all three runs in the game.

The trading deadline is approaching. Sunday July 15th will be the last day to make any deals or to claim any free agents that will be elligible as keepers for next season.