Pucci takes control of Plunkers

The third Pucci brother has officially taken over the Tampa Bay Plunkers. Nick Pucci has been approved by the Commissioner's office to wrest control of the Plunkers from Bill Levesque, who has stepped aside due to health and personal reasons.

The Pucci family first came to the States from Italy back in the 1920s with nothing but a dream - to somehow be a part of a computer sim baseball league. But Grandpa Pucci couldn't speak English too well, so he toiled away as a groundskeeper for the Southern League Carolina Mudcats. Grandpa Pucci used to read to Papa Pucci from the Baseball Prospectus every night before going to bed. On his 18th birthday, Papa Pucci set out to New York with the dream of working for a DMBL franchise. But it proved harder than he thought. He spent many months sending out resumes and trying to intercept GMs and owners as they left the stadiums at night. Despite his failures, he imparted his dream onto his sons. Papa Pucci made sure they were familiar with Earl Weaver Baseball, Hardball, Microleague, and RBI Baseball. Chris Pucci was the first of the Brothers Pucci to gain a DMBL franchise back in the Expansion of 1997. Pucci's Carolina Mudcats have been up and down, but he has made the playoffs 5 times in his 12 seasons. In 1998, Anthony "Bocci" Pucci took over the reins of the failed Lisbon Diabos franchise, but it took him 8 years to make the playoffs. Bocci did beat his brother to a division title, when last year he won the Morris Division title. Nick makes the Pucci family the leader in most brothers as owners, ahead of the Landsmans, Zajacs, Days, and possibly Calvosas. Grandpa Pucci would indeed be proud!

Basement Battle Royale

Philadelphia toppled D.C. 6-2 in a key divisional battle. Philly has been in a bit of a slump lately and needed the win to re-assert their position as the 4th place team overall. Johan Santana (7 IP, 2 R, 7 K) duelled Shawn Marcum (6.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 K) but neither would wind up with the decision. With the score tied 2-2, Philadelphia rallied in the top of the 9th for 4 runs, capped by a 2-run Jorge Posade home run. J.J. Putz retired the Bushslappers in the bottom of the 9th to preserve the win. The Animals' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 4.

The race at the top may not be all that interesting but the race at the bottom is neck-and-neck. Marietta dropped a 5-3 decision to Las Vegas yesterday to tie New Jersey for last place. The Buddahs actually hold a slight "lead" percentage-wise, having played two less games than the Mighty Men. After making several deals, the Blue Ridge Bombers have also plummeted to the bottom of the standings and are only 3 1/2 games out of last place. And let's not rule out the Carolina Mudcats who, at only 5 1/2 games out, can also break up the party for any of the other teams.

Hitmen's streak comes to an end

Hillsborough's streak finally came to an end yesterday with a 4-2 loss to the Endzone Animals. The Animals broke their own 4-game losing streak as well. Brandon Webb improved to 14-10 with 8 solid innings (8 H, ER, 8 K, 1 BB). Jorge Posada was 2-5 with 3 RBIs and Mike Lamb was 3-3. Philadelphia had some bad luck in the game, however, losing Adam Dunn for a week. His replacement, rookie Adam Lind also was injured pinch hitting for Dunn. Philadelphia considered picking up Adam Kennedy to fill their Adam void, but reconsidered the decision when they realized that Kennedy sucks.

A wild game broke out in Tampa Bay, with the Plunkers winning 17-11 over the Cutters. Right from the kickoff...er, first inning, both teams broke out scoring. Hoboken started with 4 runs in the first and Tampa countered with 3 of their own. The Cutters scored 3 more in the second and stretched the lead to 10-5 after their half of the 5th. Then all hell broke loose. The Plunkers scored 11 runs in the bottom of the 5th, going through 5 Cutters pitchers and taking a 16-10 lead. Though the Plunkers amassed 22 hits in the game, the Cutters scored their 11 runs on only 10 hits and three walks.

D.C.'s Derek Lowe pitched a complete-game, 6-hit shutout of Team Buddah yesterday as the Slappers reclaimed sole possession of 5th place overall. Derrek Lee was 2-4 with 3 RBIs and 2 homers in the contest for the Bushslappers.

Hitmen, Bushslappers race to playoffs

Hillsborough and D.C. are neck-and-neck in the playoff race. Hillsborough edged Philadelphia 4-3 yesterday to extend their winning streak to 10 games. Felix Hernandez gave the Hitmen 7 quality innings (4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K), while Ryan Howard and Robinson Cano each drove in 2 runs. Meanwhile, D.C. took New Jersey to extra innings, but beat the Buddahs 8-7 when Jose Reyes hit a solo homer in the top of the 10th. The Slappers rallied from a 7-4 deficit in the 9th to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Vancouver broke their losing streak Sunday, but fell again yesterday. The Fist held a 5-2 lead going into the 7th, but the Bombers scored 5 runs in the 7th and 8th innings to take the lead. Jeremy Hermida was 3-5 with 5 RBIs to lead the Bombers. Vancouver has clinched a playoff spot, but has lost 7 of their last 8. Their magic number to clinch the Morris Division is 9.

The battle for the Hanover Division is coming to an end. Newark pounded on Las Vegas 13-8 yesterday to open up a 9 1/2 game lead on the Rats. Both pitchers were taken out early in the game, but Newark's pen outlasted Vegas', holding the Rats to only 2 runs on 5 hits in 5.2 innings. Newark's magic number is also 9.

Tampa's playoff ship has seemingly sailed with their third straight loss. Hoboken stymied Tampa with an 8-6 victory, knocking the Plunkers 6 games out and 1 game under .500 again.

Batter and Pitcher of the Week

With Zane Smith missing in action, we've been charged with awarding the weekly prizes. Since the Olympics have just ended we'll do this in an Olympic fashion...

Batter of the Week

Bronze Medal - Akinori Iwamura, Tampa Bay - The Plunkers have been red hot this week, winning nine in a row before dropping two yesterday. Iwamura has been just as hot over that stretch. He was tied for second in the league with 10 RBIs over the past week and batted .385/.500/.692 with 7 runs scored.

Silver Medal - Troy Tulowitzki, Carolina - Carolina had given Tulo up for dead after he couldn't cross the Mendoza line for much of the season. After the roster purges just before the deadline, he got another chance to get some at-bats and has been much better. This week, Tulo batted .391/.423/.870 with 3 homers and 7 RBIs and brought his average up over the .200 mark to .205.

Gold Medal - Magglio Ordonez, Philadelphia - Magglio has made a strong case as MVP of the Endzone Animals, leading the team in RBIs, runs, average, OBP, slugging, and doubles. This week was no exception as he hit .500/.541/.781 to claim the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize. We'll be sending a box of Flor de Baloneys to the dugout in time for tonight's game!

Pitcher of the Week

Bronze Medal - Francisco Rodriguez, Blue Ridge - K-Rod has been money since coming over to the Bombers (1.19 ERA, 32 K in 22.2 IP, 0.93 WHIP). This week, he was exceptional, striking out 11 in 8 innings of work in 7 games (he's gotta be tired). All that and he even got a W for his efforts.

Silver Medal - Mariano Rivera, Marietta - The Master still has a small edge over K-Rod. Rivera saved 2 games this week in 6 games (7 IP), striking out 7 with an 0.57 WHIP.

Gold Medal - C.C. Sabathia, Hillsborough - the pitching has been a big reason why Hillsborough has been winning lately (9 in a row as of Sunday!) and there's no bigger pitcher on the staff than C.C. Hmmm I think that may have come out wrong... Anyway, Sabathia was 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA this week, including 15 K in 15 innings and an 0.93 WHIP. He gets to enjoy this week's Baracky II Pitcher of the Week Award!

Levesque to sell Plunkers franchise

Citing health problems, Tampa Bay Plunkers owner Bill Levesque gave notice to the league that he would not be able to maintain his duties as owner of the Plunkers. He said he would put the Plunkers up for sale immediately and the league will begin searching for a new owner immediately. Levesque's tenure as manager of the Plunkers was characterized by his on-again off-again feud with manager The Severed Head of Ted Williams and wacky shenanigans in the clubhouse. Though this made the day interesting for several Plunkers players, none of them complained about the hijinks. "It kept us on our toes" said shortstop Jack Wilson. "Bill used to come in the clubhouse and play practical jokes on us while we were out on the field playing games" said catcher Jason Varitek. "I remember when he put an idol of Jobu in Tejada's locker and it led to Miggy's drinking problem. Ha ha ha, what a lark." The Plunkers are currently sitting 3 games out of a playoff spot. Will Levesque's departure spark the team to "win one for the Levesquer" or will they fold like a house of cards?

Sardines drop 10th straight

Vancouver and Las Vegas have both hit a wall recently. Vancouver dropped their third straight game - a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Bushslappers. Shawn Hill pitched 7 strong innings and limited the Fist to only 4 hits. Cliff Floyd made a good first impression going 2-4 with 2 RBIs. Meanwhile, Las Vegas dropped their 5th straight - a 7-3 loss to Tampa Bay. The Plunkers scored 6 runs in the late innings to rally back from a 3-1 deficit despite amassing only 6 hits. To add injury to insult, the Rats lost Carlos Pena for the better part of two weeks.

C.C. Sabathia held the Falcons to 3 hits in 8 innings and struck out 9 en route to a 7-2 win. The Hitmen kept pace with D.C. and Tampa Bay and held on to their 6th spot. Dmitri Young was 2-2 with 3 RBIs and Russell Martin was 3-3 with 2 runs scored in the contest.

Sardine City lost their 10th straight yesterday, a 9-1 rout by Team Buddah. Alfonso Soriano and David DeJesus each had 4 hits while Brad Penny improved to 8-12 on the season. Sardine City, once as close as 3 games out of a playoff spot, has fallen apart. They currently stand at 12 games behind the Hitmen and 9th overall.