Kendrick finds home with Animals

Philadelphia may have unearthed a hidden gem in acquiring Kyle Kendrick from Vancouver a few weeks ago. Kendrick, starting his second game for the Animals, pitched 7.1 solid innings in a 7-3 victory against the Straphangers to improve to 2-0 in two starts for the Animals. Kendrick had spent all season on the Iron Fist's farm team in Tacoma. With Rich Hill also on the farm team, Vancouver sought to trade one of the two and Philadelphia inquired about Kendrick. Kendrick was later dealt for former Vancouver lefthander Scott Olsen. Philadelphia was hesitant to start Kendrick, initially letting the 23-year old get familiar with the club's philosophy down in AAA Trenton. Kendrick started his first game a week later against Hillsborough and held the Hitmen to 2 runs over 8 innings. Philadelphia opted to skip his next start against the Sugar Bears, hoping to preserve his confidence, and signed lefthander Kason Gabbard to take his spot. But Kendrick was back yesterday, and once again pitched well (7.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, BB, 2 K). Kendrick's next scheduled start is Tuesday, once again against the Straphangers.

Poor Scott Kazmir can't catch a break. The lefthander entered yesterday's game with a 4-14 record and 6.91 ERA. It's been a very disappointing year for the highly-touted Kazmir, but things may be looking up. In his last start against Arkansas, Kazmir pitched 6.2 innings of 4-hit ball, surrendering only one run. Yesterday, Kazmir pitched a brilliant game against Hillsborough - 7 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 11 K, but the Cutters offense could not score a single run for him. It wasn't until the bottom of the 8th inning until the Cutters scored 3 runs and won the game, but Kazmir had already been pulled in favor of reliever Casey Janssen.

Roger Clemens has undergone quite a revival since returning home to the Falcons. Less than a week after being jettisoned by Newark June 12th after posting a horrific 10.13 ERA in 3 appearances, the Falcons re-signed their favorite son. Since then Clemens has responded with a 3-2 record and 3.09 ERA in 7 appearances, including 35 K in 35 innings. With Clemens and Schilling in the rotation can Pedro be far behind? Although his rehab has had ups and downs, it looks like Pedro won't rejoin the rotation until next season. Clemens has told the press that he may retire after the season and does not intend for "that slacker" to finish his comeback.

Plunkers end slump, Peavy deals

Tampa Bay broke their 7-game slide with a 5-4 extra-inning defeat of the Bushslappers. D.C. jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Plunkers crept back and tied it with a 3-run 6th inning. Finally, Kenji Johjima broke the tie in the 10th with an RBI single, his second RBI of the night. The loss put D.C. into a 5th place tie with Hillsborough. The Hitmen won their 5th straight - an 8-1 rout of the Hoboken Cutters. Dan Haren evened his record at 8-8 with a 7 inning performance, giving up only one run on 3 hits.

Vancouver's Jake Peavy led the Fist to their 9th straight victory and shut out the Mighty Men on only one hit. Josh Bard's single in the 5th was the only hit that the Mites could muster. Peavy struck out 13 en route to his league-leading 16th win. Peavy also leads the league with 4 shutouts on the season.

Fausto Carmona has quietly put together an excellent season for the Sardine City Straphangers. Yesterday he improved to 11-5 on the season as the Straphangers beat the Endzone Animals 6-3. Carmona now ranks 7th in the league in ERA (3.66). The Straphangers still sit on the cusp of playoff contention - 7 games behind D.C. and Hillsborough.

Hitmen get even

Hillsborough evened up their record with an 8-4 victory over the Cutters. Justin Verlander won his 10th on the season and Ryan Howard drove in 4 runs. The Hitmen have now won 4 in a row after breaking their 6-game losing streak and sit comfortably in the final playoff spot.

Meanwhile, Vancouver won their 8th straight, crushing Marietta 10-5. Victor Martinez and David Ortiz had 3 RBIs each. Ortiz has now homered in four straight games, including two games in which Ortiz hit two homers - a total of 6 home runs in 4 games. Ortiz now leads the DMBL with 37 home runs.

Team Buddah scored four runs in the eighth to defeat the Falcons 8-4. David DeJesus hit a triple and drove in 3 runs, and Josh Fields homered and also drove in 3 to lead the Buddah offense.

Newark shellacked Blue Ridge behind Jack Cust (2-3, 3 R, 4 RBI, HR) and Matt Stairs (2-4, 4 RBI). John Smoltz pitched a solid game after being recalled from his exile in AAA. Smoltz surrendered one run in 7 innings and struck out 6.

Fist's fireworks too much for Rats

Vancouver had a great Independence Day weekend, sweeping the Rat Pack in their 3-game series. The Fist only surrendered 5 total runs in the series, while scoring 20. Vancouver is in the midst of a 7-game winning streak. The Rats, who were tied for first place before the series, only lost one game in the standings because the Sugar Bears dropped two of three to the visiting Endzone Animals. The Animals would have swept the series if they didn't give up 5 runs in the final frame to hand the Sugar Bears the win in game one. Fortunately, the bullpen held their own in the next two games and the Animals were able to win 7-5 and 10-5 respectively. The losses gave the Sugar Bears their 9th and 10th losses at home.

Carolina swept the Tampa Bay Plunkers over the weekend, hurting the fledgling franchise's playoff aspirations. The Plunkers fell to 10 games under .500 and lost their 7th in a row. Although they are only 4 1/2 games and in 7th place overall (tied with Blue Ridge), the Plunkers look like a team on the way down. To add injury to insult, shortstop Jack Wilson will be lost for the better part of the next month.

Only a few weeks until the trade deadline! Sunday July 20th is the last chance to make deals or to pick up players who will be eligible for protection in 2009.

Rat Pack reprise late-inning heroics

The Rat Pack has done it again. After winning in the late innings against Newark Tuesday, the Rats scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to upend the Hired Hitmen yesterday and win 10-7. Prior to this game, the Hitmen have won all seven games against the Rat Pack this year. Jim Thome and Carlos Pena both hit solo home runs to give the Rats the lead and a third run scored on an error by Brad Hawpe. The Rats have now won 12 of their last 13 and 20 of their last 24.

Hoboken appears to be out of their prolonged slump after winning three of their last four. Yesterday the Cutters shut down the Bombers 7-1 behind a superb outing from Jon Garland (8 IP, 1 unearned run, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K). The Cutters hit four home run to outslug the so-called Bombers.

There'll be no blog entry tomorrow. Have a good weekend!

One-run Rat Pack ties up Sugar Bears

The Rat Pack is up to their old tricks again! The Rats took the key series against division rival Newark by winning two of three in Vegas. Both wins were by one-run margins. Remember earlier in the year when the Rats were dominant in one-run games? They also happened to start off to a great start and open a nice lead in the standings. Will it start again? The Sugar Bears seemed to have yesterday's game in the bag, taking an 8-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Even when the Rats scored two more runs in the eighth, the Sugar Bears still sat on a comfortable 5-run lead...or so it seemed. The Rats led off the inning with four straight singles. After a fielder's choice, the Rats hit four more singles, scoring 6 runs and winning the game 9-8. Vegas is now 19-4 in one-run games. Newark now has the second most losses (6) after leading after 7 innings. They have a long way to go to catch the leader (Carolina with 12), but it seems like an odd number for a team that is now tied for the league's best record. Vegas, on the other hand, leads in comebacks after a 7-inning deficit, with 8 wins.

Arkansas jettisoned their catchers yesterday, blaming them for their horrific hitting, horrific handling of the pitching staff, poor defense, the Iraq War, the Large Hadron Collider, and the flooding of the Mississippi River. "It's not my fault" said Miguel Olivo. "I voted for Nader." Arkansas picked up Javier Valentin, who had played with the Falcons in 2005-2006, and Jose Molina, who played with the club in 2005. Apparently the club did not have room to add Brad Ausmus (3 stints with the team), Jason Kendall (1997), and Damian Miller (2000). "I am patiently waiting by the phone" said Ausmus through his agent.

Philly's "Secret Weapon" offs Hitmen

Philadelphia unveiled their "secret weapon", newly-acquired Kyle Kendrick, who stifled the Hitmen amidst a 16-2 beatdown. Kendrick had spent the entire season in AAA, mostly with Vancouver's affiliate in Tacoma, but finally got a chance to prove himself when Philly sent down youngster Yovani Gallardo. Chris Young drove in 4 runs and Magglio Ordonez and Mike Lamb each drove in 3 to power the Animals' offense.

Newark's 9-game winning streak came to the end as the Rat Pack evened their series with a 3-2 win yesterday. Tim Lincecum outdueled James Shields to pick up the W. Jim Thome was 3-4 against his former team and Chone Figgins, in his first game off the DL hit a 2-run homer. The Sugar Bear's lead fell back to one game.

Vancouver was crushed by former teammate Prince Fielder, who smashed two home runs and was 3-3 with 4 RBIs. Blue Ridge cruised to an easy 9-2 win.

Hoboken gave Joel Pineiro his final release yesterday - at least until the next injury occurs. Aaron Cook was activated from the disabled list and Pineiro was seen crying as he left the team clubhouse. "I really thought this time they'd change their minds" said a sobbing Pineiro. "They'll be sorry though. They'll call me back!"