Tough split on Pitching Honor

This week's JR Cigar's Smokin' Batter of the Week is Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzo has helped the Mighty Men to a 6-game winning streak that has opened up a 9 1/2 game atop the division. Gonzalez hit a league-leading 7 home runs this week and drove in 18 runs and scoring 10. Gonzalez batted .367, but with a .474 on base percentage and 1.100 slugging.

His competition includes Hillsborough's Justin Upton (.423/.500/1.00, 10 R, 10 RBI, 3 HR), Gonzalez's teammate Chone Figgins (.476/.676/.667, 11 R), Vancouver's Garrett Jones (.455/.455/1.045, 4 HR, 10 RBIs), New Jersey's Franklin Gutierrez (.500/.500/.643), Arkansas' Skip Schumaker (.452/.469/.677, 8 R), Las Vegas' Joe Mauer (.429/.500/.571), and Sardine City's Ryan Braun (.379/.441/.724, 9 RBIs).

This week's Hottest World Cup Fans Pitcher of the Week was a tossup, so we'll give it to both players. Our first honoree is Bridgewater's Tommy Hanson, who was 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 0.73 ERA. In Hanson's first start this week, he held Blue Ridge to 4 hits in 6 innings, while giving up 2 runs, but in his second start, he pitched a 2-hit shutout of Las Vegas in which he struck out 10 Rats.

Meanwhile, Rich Harden started out well against Hoboken earlier in the week, but had to be lifted in the second inning. But he came back strong against Bridgewater, holding the Mallers to just 1 hit and striking out 10. Harden finished the week giving up just 1 hit and 2 walks in 10.2 innings, with 13 strikeouts.

Other contenders: Hoboken's Tommy Hunter (1-0, 2.35, 0.85) and Mark Buehrle (1-1, 2.87, 1.09), New Jersey's Kevin Slowey (1-1, 2.93, 14 K), and Sardine City's Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1, 1.62, 12 K) and John Lackey (1-1, 2.81, 0.81).

Vegas unloads on Animals

Vancouver scored 6 runs in the first two innings to knock off Amityville 6-3. Amityville had held their opponents to a combined 10 hits and 1 run in the past three games, but John Lester was not able to keep the streak alive. Clint Barmes started the scoring with an RBI triple, then scored on a single after that, then Chase Utley added to the carnage in the next inning with a 3-run home run. Chad Billingsley, who had not won in 3 weeks, picked up his 10th victory of the season.

Two days ago it was the Mudcats who scored in the 20s, and now it's the Rat Pack, unloading on the hapless Endzone Animals in a 21-1 final. To make matters worse, the Animals were held to only one hit in the game - a first inning double that gave Philly a brief 1-0 lead. John Baker and Dan Uggla each had a home run and 4 RBIs and Matt Holliday was 3-4 with 5 RBIs. Rich Harden was the beneficiary of the run support, pitching 6 innings and striking out 7.

Newark edged Hillsborough 2-1 to even the series between the two division leaders. The Hitmen got off to an early 1-0 lead when Carlos Lee hit an RBI-single in the 4th, but Bobby Abreu tied it up in the 6th with a solo home run. In the 7th, Jason Giambi hit a sac fly to give the Sugar Bears the lead. Joey Devine pitched a perfect 9th for his league-leading 31st save.

Carlos Delgado's 2 home runs and Roy Halladay's 11-strikeout effort led the Mudcats to a 4-2 win over New Jersey. After being embarrassed yesterday, the Buddahs didn't have much left in the tank. Jamie Moyer pitched a decent game (8 IP, 4 ER, 6 K) but got the loss anyway. Halladay now leads the league with a 2.69 ERA and is tied for second in wins with 15.