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If it's the last that the DMBL will see of Chris Carpenter he certainly went out in a blaze of glory.
Carpenter, who will turn 38 later this month, recently said he fears that he may never pitch again after continuing symptoms from a blot clot in his shoulder. And don't confuse him for the soon-to-be 48-year-old Cris Carpenter, whose career consisted of eight relief appearances in 1993 with Austin.
 Carpenter arguably saved his best seasons for last, tasting postseason glory in two of his final three years. He was on the mound in Game 7 to clinch the Bridgewater's first title in 2010, striking out 10 and walking two while going the distance to secure a 7-1 win over Newark. Marietta's rotation was so stacked last season that he didn't make an appearance in the Mighty Men's four-game sweep of Vancouver in the DMBL World Series.
The New Hampshire native pitched nine seasons across 13 years in the DMBL. He broke in with Columbia as the first pick of the fifth round in the 1999 draft. He spent two seasons there (only 34 starts) before a brief three-game stint with Philly in 2001. After few years off, Carpenter came back strong in 2005 when Tijuana made him its first-round selection (11th overall, after Khalil Greene and before Danny Kolb). He made the move with the franchise to South Boston, and won a career-high 17 games in 2006 before splitting 2007 between South Boston and Vancouver. The Gang dealt him straight up to the Iron First for Prince Fielder.
Then, Carpenter was hit with the injury bug again, taking off 2008 and 2009 before finishing his career with a flourish. Bridgewater (which still played in D.C. at the time) wisely plucked Carpenter in Round 7 of the 2009 draft as an ineligible player, since he was still recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned in glorious fashion, going 16-10 with career bests of 3.59 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and nine complete games, in leading them to the postseason.
 After bringing Bridgewater its first championship, Carpenter was dealt to Marietta in a complex, three-way deal involving Las Vegas, which included the likes of Josh Hamilton, David Price, Mark Teixeira and Alex Gordon, among others.
Carpenter made his name as a gutty workhorse in the clutch, eclipsing 200 innings in his last three seasons, including a career-high 234.3 (and career-high 179 Ks) in 2011 with the Mighty Men. Over his career, he averageD one complete game every eight starts; his 26 complete games (along with seven shutouts) rank in the top 20 all-time, in just 221 career starts (11.75 percent CG %). His seven shutouts ties him for 20th all-time, with seven other pitchers, including several still active.
Carpenter is 88-73 (.537), which ranks him about 30th in all-time wins, tied with Jason Schmidt, one better than Hideo Nomo and Henderson Alvarez, and one behind David Wells. He posted six winning seasons and lost precisely 10 games in four different seasons (only one of which was under .500). Interestingly, Nomo was the last pick of the 4th round in 1999, by Arkansas, just before Carpenter. He has a career ERA of 4.67 ERA and WHIP of 1.39.
Hall of Fame? Not quite. Damn fine career? You bet!
 As everyone knows by now, the Gang has been sold to Tom Zagenczyk and renamed the Blue Ridge Bombers. Just what made owner Paul Barbosa finally give up on this team? What went right: The Gang were just on the cusp of contention for a playoff spot all year, but could never really make a serious run at it. The team ranked middle of the pack in both batting and pitching. Vlad Guerrero and Garrett Atkins had great years at the plate. Barbosa made two great trades for the future, bringing in highly touted Prince Fielder from Vancouver and the up and coming Adam Wainwright from Hoboken. What went wrong: The starting rotation was an inconsistent mess. Aaron Harang was the top starter, and his ERA was barely south of 5.00 (it was 4.89). Huston Street blew 12 saves. Mostly, the team fell victim to Barbosa's waning interest over the course of the season. Now with new ownership, the Bombers actually have a very good core to build around and may be a surprise in '08.
Welcome to our newest member, Tom Zagenczyk, who will be taking over the South Boston Gang. Tom (or should I say "Dr. Tom"?) is Assistant Professor of Management over at Clemson University. Many of you may know Tom from his involvement in some Yahoo! fantasy leagues. The Sardine City Straphangers, meanwhile, have made some changes in their coaching staff. After a disappointing inaugural season, the Sardines have asked manager Bucky Dent to take a pay cut, with incentives for making the post season, but Dent declined, saying that the offer was an insult. Dent was talked into staying as the bench coach. Replacing Dent at the helm will be Joe Torre. Torre, the recently freed former manager of some New York-area minor league team, will have his hands full, but is excited to take on the challenge.
After two seasons in South Boston, the Gang is being put up for sale. Owner Paul Barbosa stated in a press conference yesterday that his heart wasn't in it any more. After three playoff appearances between Kentucky and Tijuana in six seasons, the move to South Boston didn't bring any success in 2006 or 2007. The Gang finished in 10th overall in '06 and then slipped to 11th in '07. Barbosa retires just shy of 1000 career wins (981). Barbosa was one of the original founding members of the DMBL - back in the Microleague days - as the owner of the Newark Crimewave. In 1992, he moved the team to Tampa Bay and renamed them the Sweat Sox. The Sox gave Barbosa his first winning season in 1993, but fell short of the playoffs. After the strike, the Sweat Sox were disbanded, but Barbosa came back with an expansion franchise in 1997 - the Lisbon Diabos. The Diabos would become the Philadelphia Eagle Wings in 1998. Barbosa gave it one last hurrah in 2000 when he purchased the Toledo Mutthens and moved them to Kentucky. The Hillbillies made the playoffs in the first season of their existence, then moved to Tijuana in 2002. The Banditos snuck into the playoffs in 2002 and in 2004. In 2004, despite posting an 79-83 record in the regular season, won a one game "play-in" game and advanced all the way to the second round, where they were just one game away from upsetting the Golden Falcons and reaching their first DMBL World Series.
Only four games in the DMBL yesterday, so let's get to it. Arkansas finally got a win against Newark yesterday, scraping out a 6-5 win as the series shifted to the Natural State. Newark held the lead until Lance Berkman hit a three-run homer to tie things up. Berkman was brought in to pinch-hit for catcher Henry Blanco. The game ended as Cla Meredith hit Chris Coste with the bases loaded in the ninth to end the game. A walkoff hit by pitch? "He was crowding the inside of the plate and I own the plate" said Meredith after the game. "I don't care if we lost as long as he got the message." Derek Jeter and Matt Diaz each had three hits and Wily Mo Pena drove in 3 RBIs as Marietta breezed by the Mudcats 7-3. Woody Williams earned his second straight win after a dismal start. "My first three starts are really a test" said Williams. "If the team sticks with me after three bad games, then I start to pitch well." Vancouver benched Williams after three dreadful starts and later traded him to Marietta. Williams' ERA now stands at 7.43 for the season. Marietta has now won seven straight. Kelvim Escobar and the Bushslappers had no problems with the Rat Pack yesterday, easily winning 7-1. Escobar contributed 8 innings en route to his 12th win of the season. Jose Reyes hit his 20th triple of the season and continues to ascend the all-time mark. In only his third season, Reyes is already eighth on the all-time chart with 51, only 24 shy of the all-time mark of 75 set by Deion Sanders. "I must erase the stain of Deion from the record books" said Reyes. South Boston pounded out a 12-2 win over the Straphangers yesterday. Garrett Atkins, Prince Fielder, and Vladimir Guerrero each had three RBIs in the victory.
Newark's John Smoltz picked up strikeout number 2000 for his career Monday. Smoltz pitched eight innings to earn his 13th win of the year against the Falcons, 8-4. Bobby Abreu was 4-5 with 2 stolen bases and 3 RBIs. Nate Robertson pitched a 6-0, complete game shutout of the Sardine City Straphangers to earn only his second win of the season. Robertson held the Sardines to five hits and two walks. Garrett Atkins and Vlad Guerrero each had three hits and hit their 27th homers of the season. Jacques Jones hit a two-run walkoff homer to give Team Buddah a 5-4 win over Hillsborough yesterday. Ichiro Suzuki and Shea Hillenbrand both had four hits in the win. The Rat Pack spoiled the sweep for the Bushslappers yesterday. D.C. had a 4-2 lead in the eighth, but Joe Mauer and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back doubles to give the Rats a 5-4 lead. Frank Thomas hit two homers in a losing cause, though he did move into fifth all-time with 1285 RBIs. Erik Bedard shut down the Sharks yesterday 5-0. Bedard held the Sharks to four runs over 7.2 innings and J.J. Putz completed the shutout. The Animals were held to only six hits as well, but four of them were home runs, including two by Scott Rolen.
South Boston and Hoboken finalized a deal yesterday. Hoboken sent young starter Adam Wainwright to South Boston in exchange for role player Greg Norton and reliever Brandon League. Both players were not in the Gang's future for next year. South Boston has plans to convert Wainwright into a starter next season, though he'll continue to work out of the pen this year. Hillsborough's winning streak ends at 11 games after a 6-1 loss to Jake Westbrook and the Buddahs yesterday. Westbrook pitched eight innings and surrendered only four hits and one run. Meanwhile, Hillsborough starter Justin Verlander also broke the streak of quality starts by surrendering five runs in 5.1 innings. Francisco Liriano improved to 12-1 with an impressive performance against Carolina yesterday. Liriano shut down the Cats for seven innings, holding them to three hits and zero runs while striking out 8. The Mighty Men won the game 4-1. D.C. scored six runs on five homers in a 6-1 victory over Las Vegas yesterday. All five home runs were solo shots. Anibal Sanchez pitched a brilliant eight innings, holding the Rats to only three hits and one unearned run over eight innings. Hoboken held on to win a tight 3-2 win over Vancouver. Once again the Iron Fist came up just shy of tying the game up in the ninth. Hoboken had led the game 3-0, but Vancouver scored two on a David Ortiz homer in the ninth. Former Vancouver reliever David Riske, who was recently recalled from AAA Weehawken, retired the final batters for his first save of the season. Final reminder! This weekend is the last chance to make any trades this year or to claim any players off waivers who will be elligible as keepers next year.
Ramon Hernandez's two homers gave the South Boston Gang all that they would need against the lackluster Sardine City Straphangers. Chuck James shut out the Sardines for 6.1 innings and the Gang's bullpen held on for a 7-0 final. South Boston has now won five of their last six though they have a long way to go to be back in contention. Hillsborough won their 11th straight are now alone in fifth place overall. John Lackey turned in another quality start for the Hitmen, holding the Buddahs to one run in eight innings to improve to 13-6. Carlos Delgado had a three run pinch-hit homer in the sixth to lead the Hitmen to their 7-1 victory. It took Philadelphia 14 innings to get past the Honolulu Sharks 5-4. The Animals have now won six in a row and are appearing to take a firm hold on the Morris Division lead. Philly is now 6 1/2 games up on the Bushslappers. After starter Matt Cain was roughed up for four runs in five innings, the Philly bullpen held the Sharks to a mere three hits in the final nine innings and surrendered zero runs. The pen also struck out 12 in those nine innings. Vancouver rallied in the late innings against Hoboken to send their game to extra innings, only to watch the Cutters win the game in the 10th. The Cutters accumulated a 5-0 lead through seven, but Vancouver finally got on the board in the eighth when David Ortiz hit a solo homer. Vancouver scored three more to tie it up in the ninth after Jason Isringhausen's two-base error opened the floodgates. A Chris Shelton double in the tenth put Hoboken back on top to stay.
The Sugar Bears' streak is over at twelve after a doubleheader sweep at the hands of South Boston. The Gang took the first game thanks to a 2-homer, 5-RBI outburst from Ramon Hernandez and a solid outing from Dontrelle Willis. Randy Johnson did notch his 2000th career strikeout in the match, but he did not provide much help outside of that. The second game was much closer, but the Gang scored two runs in the eighth (seems to be a popular inning for comebacks) to take the lead 4-3. Brandon League won the game in relief and improved to 8-2. Francisco Liriano shut out Vancouver 6-0 yesterday to improve to 11-1 on the season. Liriano held Vancouver to 6 hits in 6 innings and the Marietta pen finished the game off. The win spoiled the DMBL debut of Chad Billingsley who only gave up one run over seven innings of work, while striking out six. Billingsley took the place of the struggling Ben Sheets. Sheets was sent down to AAA to work on his mechanics. Vancouver got them back, however, in the second game as Moises Alou blasted three home runs (all solo shots) to help squeak by 8-7. Vancouver actually hit six homers in the contest, though they only managed 8 runs. Gerald Laird was the only one to hit a homer with a runner on base. D.C. has hit a wall lately, losing their eighth straight game after a marathon 17 inning loss to Honolulu yesterday. D.C. has now dropped into a fourth place tie with Honolulu and is only one game ahead of Hoboken and Hillsborough for sixth place. It's a very tight race lately - 1 1/2 games separates third place Marietta from seventh place, so it'll be very interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. The anti-Bushslappers have been the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen who have won eight straight and are now tied for the sixth playoff spot with Hoboken. Hillsborough shut down the Cutters yesterday with back-to-back solid performances from Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez. Verlander held the Cutters to only three hits and one run over seven innings in game one and Felix struck out nine in seven innings, while giving up only five hits and one run. Remember Brett Myers' struggles earlier this season? Well those struggles are ancient history. Since starting the season at 0-12 with an 8.40 ERA, Myers has gone on a bit of a hot streak. He's 5-1 since that low point and has brought his ERA down to 6.34, including seven quality starts in his last eight outings and a recent Pitcher of the Week award. Take note that the DMBL trading deadline will be this Sunday. After this point, any players that are signed off the waiver wire are not elligible to be kept after the season is over.
 Marietta continued their dominance over Honolulu with their fourth straight win over the Sharks, 10-2. Jim Thome was 5-5 with 3 doubles, 2 homers and 4 RBIs. Francisco Liriano improved to 10-1 with a brilliant 6-inning, 2-hit performance. Liriano didn't allow any runs and struck out 10. The Sharks could only muster 3 hits the entire game. Unfortunately for the Sharks, they play the Mighty Men two more times today. Ryan Howard had a huge day for Hillsborough yesterday. Howard was 3-4 with six RBIs and his 42nd home run of the year. The Hitmen won the game 8-2 over the Gang. Starter Dontrelle Willis could not get any outs in the first inning, surrendering six runs and walking four. The South Boston bullpen only surrendered two runs over the rest of the game, but the damage was done. The Cutters edged the Endzone Animals 6-3 yesterday. The Animals led 3-2 but Francisco Rodriguez could not hold onto the lead. The Cutters scored four runs in the eighth on back to back doubles by Mike Cameron and Hanley Ramirez. Juan Rincon nailed down the ninth for his 15th save. Randy Johnson failed to get his 2000th strikeout after being chased in the second inning by Team Buddah. Johnson gave up six runs in the inning, though only two were earned. The Sugar Bears got him off the hook with a 7-run fourth, however, winning the game 12-7. Today is a special Fourth of July doubleheader.
 D.C. pounded the snot out of Carolina yesterday, 15-8. Esteban German, filling in for the injured Luis Castillo, was 5-6 with three doubles and four runs scored. Lyle Overbay was 4-5 with 6 RBIs and Alfonso Soriano went 3-6 with 4 RBIs. Altogether, D.C. slapped out 20 hits and walked 10 times. Carolina starter Jason Jennings, no stranger to getting bitchslapped (bushslapped?), surrendered 13 runs and 14 hits in 4.1 innings. Meanwhile in Hillsborough, the Hired Hitmen scored early and often against the South Boston Gang, taking the contest 12-4. Jason Bartlett was 3-3 with 2 stolen bases and Brad Hawpe hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the sixth. With the win, Hillsborough evened up their record at 53-53. Finally in Vancouver, the Iron Fist were once again shellacked, this time by Arkansas, 16-4. It looked like a close contest in the beginning. Starter Ben Sheets had given up five runs, but Vancouver climbed back to make it a one run game after a 4-run fourth. Then in the eighth all hell broke loose. You knew it was going to be a bad inning when Wes Littleton hit Barry Bonds with the first pitch. Both benches cleared, but it was mostly just a lot of screaming. Bonds was forced to leave the game. Littleton was able to get two outs, though he allowed two more to score, then the two-out rally began. Brian Sweeney was called in to stop the bleeding, but instead cut the wound deeper. Seven runs crossed the plate that inning and four more in the ninth. Orlando Cabrera was 5-5 in the game with 4 runs and 4 RBIs and Brandon Phillips also drove in four. Meanwhile, in a return to sanity, Las Vegas and Sardine City's starters duelled but Vegas prevailed 2-1 in the end. Cole Hamels pitched well for the Sardines (7 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 7 K), but it was not enough against Oliver Perez's brilliant outing. A rare sight this year (Perez is 5-14 with an 8.87 ERA on the season), Perez pitched 8 innings, surrendering only one run and seven hits, while striking out seven. Newark rallied to beat Team Buddah yesterday. The Buddahs were clinging to a 3-2 lead late in the contest, when Bobby Abreu hit a two run shot off Todd Jones, giving the Sugar Bears the lead back. Both starters pitched brilliantly but were not factors in the decision. Tom Gorzelanny limited the mighty Sugar Bear offense to three hits and one run in six innings, while Javier Vazquez struck out 12 Buddahs in 6.1 innings for the Sugar Bears.
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.
Carolina completed the sweep of first-place Philadelphia thanks to an excellent performance from Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano threw seven innings of three-hit ball and allowed only one run while striking out eleven and walking three. Carolina gave Johan Santana only his second loss of the season. Newark, on the other hand, avoided the sweep by handing the Cutters a 10-3 loss. Gregg Zaun hit a 3-run homer rookie Tony Saunders picked up his second win on the season. Saunders is perhaps the latest in a line of WTF Sugar Bear starters - scrap heap pickups that end up winning double digits for the Sugar Bears. Will Saunders join the John Thomsons and Mike Graces and become another Newark legend? With that powerhouse offense behind him, why not? In case you missed the late transactions last night, Arkansas signed a couple of DMBL veterans to help fill out platoon roles. Craig Biggio, who played briefly for Hoboken this year, and Bernie Williams, recently released by Sardine City, were brought on board. "We needed some veteran leadership on this team." said owner Stump Matiash. "We're tired of the constant keg parties and video game tournaments after games." Arkansas is currently two games back of sixth-place Vancouver for the final wild card spot. South Boston broke Marietta's seven game winning streak with a 14-8 romp. Vlad Guerrero posted a monster 5-6 night with 6 RBIs and a homer. The Gang had a total of 20 hits. Marietta actually had an 8-5 lead in the ninth inning and the usually reliable Mariano Rivera on the mound, but Rivera gave up five straight singles to lead off the inning and then a homer to Prince Fielder. The Gang scored a total of nine runs in the inning when all was said and done.
Carolina has now won the first two games against fraternal rival Philadelphia after yesterday's 3-1 victory. Roy Halladay went eight innings and allowed only one run on five hits. Brian Fuentes notched his 19th save on the season. The first-place Endzone Animals have now dropped four straight and have seen their lead shrink to only 4 1/2 games on the D.C. Bushslappers. Meanwhile the league's hottest team is the Mighty Men of Marietta who eked out their seventh straight victory over South Boston yesterday, 8-7. The Mighty Men were down 6-3 early in the game, but they tied it up with a 3-run Wes Helms homer in the seventh. Edgar Renteria gave the Gang a lead with a solo homer in the eighth, but it wasn't enough. After closer Huston Street had put two men on, Salamon Torres tried to get out of the jam, but gave up a 2-run triple to Ray Durham that gave the Mighty Men the victory. Barry Bonds hit his 30th homer yesterday in the Falcons' 6-2 victory over the Hitmen. Still on a tear. How about those Cutters? Hoboken has now taken the first two games against Newark in the Cereal Bowl. The Cutters got to starter John Smoltz early in the game, scoring five runs in the first three innings and never looking back. The Sugar Bears made it close, but not close enough. Both teams had the same amount of hits and the Cutters had one more walk, but it was a costly error by Carlos Guillen and a passed ball by Gregg Zaun that made the difference in the game. Vancouver got trounced once again, 13-7, making it four of the last five games in which they gave up more than 10 runs. After a bullpen re-shuffling, manager Darren Daulton is at a loss of what to do. "It's like watching a fire burn your house down and all you have in your hands is a can of gasoline" said Daulton. Chris Carpenter, who had been solid in his last two starts, had more than a gas can, he had a bottle of nitroglycerin in his hands. Carpenter surrendered eleven earned runs in 3.1 innings. "Yeah, my bad" said Carpenter after the game.
 It was a tense day for most of the teams in the league - five of the six games were decided by one run yesterday. C.C. Sabathia outdueled Nate Robertson to give Hillsborough a 2-1 victory yesterday. Sabathia improved to 7-2 on the season by limiting the Gang to only five hits over eight innings and striking out six. If Sabathia didn't miss almost a month due to injuries earlier this year, he might have been up there with Santana in the wins department. Robertson is still looking for his first win of the year, though he's far from Brett Myers territory at 0-4. Jose Contreras also was impressive in helping New Jersey upset the Sugar Bears 3-2. Contreras has been very solid for the fledgling franchise and in fact earned himself a spot on the Hanover Division All-Star team. Contreras foiled an otherwise solid DMBL debut for Newark's rookie lefty, Joe Saunders. Saunders pitched seven innings and allowed only three runs on seven hits, but it wasn't enough. Mike Piazza hit his 14th home run this season and is now sitting at 398 for his career. Also with his 1961st hit, Piazza moved past Tony Gwynn for seventh all-time. Johan Santana picked up win # 11 on the season by shutting down the Cutters. Santana was actually in line for the loss, when Adam Wainwright failed to hold the lead in the seventh. Wainwright began the inning after Scott Kazmir had pitched six strong innings, but the first two batters reached base and two sac flies later, the lead was gone. The Straphangers won in similar fashion against the Rat Pack. With a 3-1 lead entering the eighth, newly-acquired George Sherrill had just pitched a 1-2-3 seventh and was trying to preserve the lead. But Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Crede both started the inning off with doubles and Kevin Youkilis tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Finally with two outs, Willy Taveras drove in the winning run and Akinori Otsuka retired the Rats in order in the ninth. Tom Glavine earned the victory and also reached 1500 strikeouts for his career. Meanwhile Carolina and D.C. ran a marathon game that lasted 16 innings. "It's not Sunday is it?" asked Grady Sizemore, referring to the doubleheader day. D.C. had a 4-0 lead until the sixth when Carolina cut the lead in half. Carolina actually took the lead in the eighth after Travis Hafner and Johnny Estrada homered. Brian Fuentes couldn't hold the lead in the ninth so it was off to extra innings. Finally in the 16th, Richie Sexson came through with an RBI single to score Sizemore and the game was over. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the biggest All-Star snubs.
 D.C.'s Lyle Overbay has been red-hot lately. After hitting a walk-off grand slam yesterday, Overbay continued his hot hitting with a 4-5 night against Hoboken yesterday, including two more homers. Overbay is now 7-9 with 3 HRs and 6 RBIs in his last two games. Nomar Garciaparra barely got his glove dusted off before he was forced to leave last night's game with another injury. The first injury kept Garciaparra out for a month and this one may be close to that long. Once again, Shea Hillenbrand and Troy Glaus will fill in for Nomar. Another more harmful loss was Honolulu's Roy Oswalt, who will miss a month with his injury. Kenny Rogers, who was recently demoted, will fill in for Oswalt. Oswalt was struggling a bit this season (5-5, 5.31) and the time off may help him. Brett Myers was looking to take another loss yesterday despite an excellent performance, but his offense bailed him out. Myers had limited South Boston to five hits over 8.2 innings, surrendering only two runs and striking out five. However, he was locked in a duel with the Gang's Nate Robertson, who had not given up any runs at that point. Robertson was going for the complete game shutout, but the Rat Pack had something else in mind. Robertson allowed singles to the first two batters he faced and then newly-signed Endy Chavez came through with a double that scored one. Huston Street was brought in to close the game. After an intentional walk to create a force situation, Street gave up a sac fly to tie the game, then, with two outs, Chone Figgins roped a single into right to score the winning run. Newark and Vancouver slugged it out last night through eleven innings. The game went back and forth until Nick Johnson won it with a two-run homer in the eleventh. Manny Ramirez also hit two homers (one of which tied the game at 11) and was 4-6 with 3 RBIs. Billy Wagner blew his eighth save for Vancouver. Note tonight there will be a double header followed by an early morning game tomorrow. There will be no games on Saturday and Sunday.
 It was a battle of Santanas yesterday in Arkansas. Guitarist Carlos Santana played the National Anthem and former wrestler Tito Santana threw out the first pitch. It was Johan Santana that came out on top however. The Philly hurler threw a complete game 4-hit shutout and struck out seven Falcons. Johan improved to 9-1 on the season. It was not a good day for Ervin Santana, however. The Falcon starter threw seven innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits to lower his record to 3-8. Marietta's Mike Mussina picked up a win against New Jersey yesterday. Mussina struck out nine in eight innings. Mussina (1871) passed Kevin Brown (1868) for seventh on the all-time strikeout list. Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia was impressive in his second game back from injury. C.C. limited the Mudcats to only three hits and two runs in a complete game effort. Sabathia improved to 4-2 on the year. In the game, Ryan Howard hit two homers (25 and 26) to take the league lead in homers and drove in 5 runs (Howard is third in RBIs). D.C.'s winning streak came to an abrupt end as South Boston shellacked the Bushslappers 10-2. Despite the fact that South Boston was missing starters David Roberts and Alex Rios, the Gang exploded. Adrian Beltre, starting for one game for Rios, went 3-3 and Dan Uggla hit a three-run homer, while Dontrelle Willis won for just the third time on the season. After starting off 1-8, Willis has now won his last two starts.
 In case you missed it last night, the South Boston Gang traded star pitcher Chris Carpenter to Vancouver for Prince Fielder. South Boston had been in negotiations with Marietta as well, but decided to fill the gaping hole at first base instead. The Gang, who had tried out Ty Wigginton and Dan Johnson at first base the past two years, needed a fixture at the position vacated when the club did not protect Mike Sweeney a few years back. Fielder who was drafted twice by Vancouver and is finally playing in his first year in the DMBL lost his starting job to fellow rookie Conor Jackson. "Although we think Prince will be a tremendous player in the future, we felt like we needed to go for it all" said Vancouver owner Yaro Zajac. South Boston has announced that more changes are possible. The Gang has a lot of depth at the middle infield positions and could deal some of those players. Meanwhile, Vancouver has sent Jake Peavy off to AAA Tacoma to work out his kinks and to make room for Carpenter. Carpenter will start tonight's game against - who else? - South Boston. The Golden Falcons broke their losing streak yesterday by edging Carolina 7-6. The Falcons won despite only 7 hits thanks to 8 walks issued by the Cats' pitching staff and a 5-run eighth inning...oh, and no Brad Lidge in the game. Sardine City won a close pitchers' duel last night in Marietta. Rookie phenom Francisco Liriano took his first loss off the year despite only allowing 2 runs in 8 innings. Chris Capuano pitched a gem for the Straphangers - 6 IP, 4 H, 8 K, 0 runs - and the bullpen shut the door on the Mighty Men. Newark's Randy Johnson closed in on two giant milestones last night. Johnson pitched six innings allowing only three hits and an unearned run. With the win, he now has 6 wins on the season and 192 in his career. With Newark's powerhouse offense behind him, Johnson should hit the 200-mark some time over the summer. His two strikeouts also move him closer to 3000 for his career. Johnson is now only 52 Ks away from the mark. It's possible that the Unit will hit both milestones in the same start, so stay tuned...
 Matt Diaz's hitting streak ended last night at 23 with an 0-4 against South Boston. Despite getting a hit during all five straight losses prior to yesterday, the streak came to an end in a victory for the Mighty Men. Apparently Diaz was just satisfied in passing Miguel Cabrera for the season-high hitting streak. "No way Cabrera should have that recognition...he doesn't deserve it" said Diaz after the game. "Anyone but a damned Cutter." It is unknown why Diaz is so livid with the Hoboken organization at this time. Meanwhile South Boston's five-game winning streak also came to a halt after the 8-6 Marietta victory. The Mudcats shocked the Animals again yesterday, besting them and ace starter Johan Santana 4-1 yesterday. Santana was not involved in the decision as he and Mudcat starter Carlos Zambrano had dueled to a 1-1 tie through seven innings only to watch J.J. Putz give up RBI doubles to Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore in the eighth. The Cats have a ways to go to climb back into the playoff picture, but at least they're on the right track again. D.C.'s hardluck pitcher Anibal Sanchez finally got his first win yesterday against Vancouver. Despite a 2.55 ERA and five quality starts, Sanchez was 0-5 in his first eight games this year. Sanchez was not at his best yesterday (8 IP, 5 ER, 1 K) but the Bushslappers finally scored some runs for him, giving Sanchez his first career DMBL victory. Jose Reyes was 5-6 in the game with three stolen bases. "Sanchez begged me before the game to do what I could to win the game for him" said Reyes after the game. "I told him to stop crying and act like a man."
The Mudcat moves seem to have worked for one game anyway. The Cats edged the first-place Animals 4-3 yesterday behind a solid outing from Roy Halladay (though he didn't figure into the decision) and three-hit games from Rocco Baldelli and Aramis Ramirez. Still waiting, Barry.... Cliff Lee is making a case to stick in the Sharks rotation with a solid outing yesterday against the Rat Pack. Lee is now 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA in two starts filling in for the injured Jered Weaver.  South Boston has been on a little bit of a run lately, winning their fifth straight against Marietta yesterday. Aaron Harang shut down the Mighty Men for 7 innings, allowing only an unearned run and striking out 10. Poor Jeff Suppan finally pitched an outing for Marietta without getting destroyed, but had to settle for the loss (and lowering...yes lowering... his ERA to 10.13). During the game Matt Diaz extended his hitting streak to a league-high 23 games, besting Miguel Cabrera's earlier streak of 22. Hoboken certainly got their revenge on Tuesday's smackdown from Newark. Hoboken pounded on the Sugar Bears to a 13-5 tune. The Cutters had 21 hits in total. Geoff Jenkins was 5-6 with 3 RBIs and Miguel Cabrera was 4-5 with 4 RBIs and a homer. Philly's obsession with Khalil Greene continues as the Animals re-signed the shortstop for the second time this season. His playing time should be limited though as the club activated David Eckstein from his month-long sting on the DL.
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