Marietta evens series

Marietta evened up their series with Newark, dealing the Sugar Bears their first loss of the postseason. The Sugar Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, and extended it to 4-1 after a 2-run Juan Rivera homer in the 3rd. But in the bottom of the 3rd, Adrian Gonzalez hit a 3-run homer to tie up the game at 4-4. Alberto Callaspo's RBI single in the 5th gave the Mighty Men their first lead and Chone Figgins hit a double to make the lead 6-4. An error by Willy Aybar made the lead 7-4. The Mighty Men tacked on another run in the late innings to make the score 8-4. Mike Adams pitched the final 3 innings, giving up only 1 hit and striking out 4 to earn a save.

Bridgewater and Vancouver resume their series today with the Iron Fist trailing the Mallers 2-0. Randy Wells will attempt to get Vancouver back into the series, while the Mallers will rely on Josh Beckett to bring Vancouver to the brink. Vancouver is 0-3 against Beckett this season and the Mallers are 2-1 against Wells, including one game in which Beckett outdueled Wells.

Carpenter, Aceves blank Vancouver to take 1-0 series lead

The Mallers shut out the Iron Fist yesterday to take a 1-0 series lead. Starter Chris Carpenter had to be removed after a rain delay despite pitching 4 innings of shutout ball. Juan Aceves came in and pitched 4.1 innings, blanking Vancouver on 4 hits. Meanwhile, Zack Greinke, who survived the rain delay, pitched 6 shutout innings, but was lifted in the 7th after giving up a homer to Derrek Lee and a single to Ryan Zimmerman. Ronald Belisario came in and threw gasoline on the fire, giving up 5 more runs, plus the inherited runner from Greinke. Jake Peavy will take the mound in game two for Vancouver against Tommy Hanson.

Meanwhile, Marietta and Newark begin their series in a rematch of last year's World Series. Marietta is sending Joel Pineiro up against Ted Lilly. Newark owns the season series against Marietta with an 8-5 mark, but only 3-3 in Marietta. Marietta is 1-3 against Lilly in the regular season, including a 5-hit complete game shutout in August. Newark won their only game against Pineiro 9-5, also in August. Pineiro was pounded for 6 runs in 2.1 innings, though the game was played in Newark.

Round 2 begins tonight

Well, the first two rounds were a bit underwhelming with both series being sweeps. Today we kick off round 2 with Bridgewater hosting Vancouver. The Mallers are 9-4 against the Iron Fist so far this season, including a 4-2 mark at home. Bridgewater is 2-2 against Vancouver when Zack Greinke started, but that includes a 14-inning win and all 4 games were close games, with no one winning by more than 2 runs. Bridgewater's projected starter, Chris Carpenter, (the Mallers have not yet formally announced their starter) only faced Vancouver in one game - the first game of the year - and ended up on the losing end to Greinke in a 4-2 game.

Vancouver completes sweep

Vancouver edged the Endzone Animals in game 3 yesterday to win their best-of-5 series. Once again Michael Cuddyer carried the offense, going 3-5 with 2 RBIs. Cuddyer ends the series hitting .769/.786/1.692 with a 2.478 OPS, 3 homers and 10 RBIs. Both starting pitchers were solid in their efforts. Randy Wells, who earned the win for Vancouver, pitched 7.2 innings, holding the Animals to 3 runs on 10 hits, while Jered Weaver gave up 4 runs - 2 earned - in 6.2 innings, while striking out 7. Philly held the lead until the 7th when Cuddyer singled in Lyle Overbay from second. Then Vancouver took the lead after Jason Kubel doubled in Garrett Jones. Ronald Belisario closed out the game for his second save of the series.

Sardine City tries to avoid the same fate as Philadelphia today, but has to do it in the unfriendly confines of the Sugar Bowl. Sardine City will send lefty Cole Hamels to face another lefty, Ted Lilly. The Sardines were 3-0 against the Sugar Bears with Hamels on the mound during the regular season, while the Sugar Bears are 0-2 with Lilly taking the mound, including one matchup against Hamels.

Sugar Bears rain on Sardines' parade

The Sugar Bears scored quickly in yesterday's Game 2 and took an early 2-0 series lead heading back to Newark. The Sugar Bears tallied 4 runs in the first inning after Will Venable hit a 2-run homer and Manny Ramirez tripled in a run and later scored. Venable hit his second homer of the night in the 3rd to extend the lead to 5-0. Sardine City finally got on the board in the 4th on a Nyjer Morgan single. Manny Ramirez regained the run for the Sugar Bears with an RBI single in the 7th. The Sardine offense woke up in the bottom of the 7th when James Loney hit a 3-run double to bring the score to 6-4. Travis Hafner led off the 9th with a double, but was left stranded after the next three batters were retired on easy popups by Kiko Calero.

The Vancouver-Philadelphia series resumes today in Philadelphia where the Endzone Animals will try to get back into the series after falling down 2-0. Vancouver will send Randy Wells to the mound to face Jered Weaver. Philadelphia is 1-1 against Wells, while Vancouver is 1-2 against Weaver. Both starters faced each other way back in July with Weaver outpitching Wells in a 4-2 win.

Cuddyer continues power trip, Vancouver grabs 2-0 lead

Michael Cuddyer continued to shred Philadelphia pitching, going 4-5 with 5 RBIs in yesterday's 7-4 win over the Endzone Animals. Cuddyer hit a double and two homers in the game. In the two games, Cuddyer is now 7-8 with 3 homers and 8 RBIs. Neither starter did much for their teams yesterday as Vancouver got to Roy Halladay early and often. Jake Peavy was doing well until a 6th inning meltdown that saw him give up 3 runs. Luckily Ronald Belisario pitched 3.1 perfect innings - well except for an 8th inning Scott Rolen error. Philadelphia scored 4 runs in the game, but was held to only 4 hits - 3 of which were home runs.

Meanwhile, Newark spoiled the Straphangers' playoff debut with a 4-2 win. The Sardines held a tenuous 2-1 lead as late as the 6th inning, but the Sugar Bears scored two runs in the inning to take the lead. Aaron Hill hit a solo homer to give the Sugar Bears some breathing room and the Sugar Bear bullpen shut down the Straphangers the rest of the way. Brandon Lyon, who earned the win, pitched 3.1 relief innings, giving up only 1 hit and 1 walk. The two teams face off again today with Newark sending Brian Bannister up against John Lackey. Bannister hasn't faced the Sardines this season yet, but Newark is 1-1 against Lackey.

Cuddyer powers Vancouver to Game 1 victory

Vancouver took game one of their series with the Endzone Animals. Zack Greinke continued his excellent season with an 8-inning, 2-hit effort. Greinke struck out 9 and gave up two runs as the Iron Fist won 6-2. Michael Cuddyer was the star of the offense, going 3-3 with 3 RBIs. Vancouver piled on early. Despite giving up two early runs in the first inning, the Fist came right back with 4 runs. Cuddyer tacked on a solo homer in the 3rd and then hit an RBI double in the 5th to give Vancouver some breathing room. Jake Peavy will face Roy Halladay in today's matchup. Both teams are 1-0 against their respective opponents, though both pitchers were effective in their losses.

The Sardine City Straphangers officially begin their first ever playoff run, sending Josh Johnson to the mound against Newark's Javier Vazquez. Sardine City was 7-6 in the season series with Newark. The Sardines were 5-1 against Newark at the Cannery this year and 1-1 against Vazquez. Newark is 1-1 against Johnson as well.