GAME DAY 41 ACTION!

OAKEYLAND 9, S-MART 2
WP: Joe Kennedy (3-1, 3.53)
LP: Javier Vazquez (3-2, 4.07)

Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera each drove in two runs, and Joe Kennedy went the distance for the Ballers, who badly need some help from the likes of Kennedy with ace hurler Josh Beckett now on the 15-day DL. The Boom Sticks got bad news as well, learning after the game that setup man Fernando Rodney may miss a month or more with a shoulder injury, leaving their already thin staff undermanned.

POTTSYLVANIA 11, LAS VEGAS 2
WP: Randy Johnson (1-2, 5.40)
LP: Brett Myers (3-4, 4.83)

Showing signs of life, the 43-year-old ‘Big Unit’ throttled the host Luchadores for his first win of the season after a rough start, and Marcus Giles and Aramis Ramirez both homered off Brett Myers to snap the Lounge Lizards’ nine-game losing streak on the road in Las Vegas. Alfonso Soriano and Michael Barrett both went deep in a losing cause for the hometown team.

DARWIN 5, ARIZONA 3
WP: Jonathan Broxton (1-1, 1.62)
LP: Jered Weaver (1-5, 3.52)
SV: Hoffman (10)

Trevor Hoffman became the first BARB hurler to reach ten saves, and Carlos Guillen hit an early homer to give the Finches a lead and tough-luck hurler Jered Weaver yet another loss despite an ERA below the league average. Of more concern for the contending Finches is the failure of John Smoltz to win—anything----at all. Smoltz once again failed to win, this time because he was yanked in the fifth with runners on, with both his confidence and that of management apparently shot. "We’re concerned," acknowledged manager PZ Myers. "How a guy like John Smoltz can not have a win yet, it’s beyond me."

YUMA 3, FROSTBITE FALLS 2 (14 innings)
WP: Scott Shields (2-0, 3.86)
LP: Jamie Walker (0-1, 3.00)

Russell Martin hit a 2-2 pitch out of the ball park with one out in the bottom of the 14th for the home team, a walkoff job off Jamie Walker, the fifth Squirrels pitcher, as the Firebirds improved to a BARB-best 27-13 mark, their seventh straight win and putting another game between themselves and second-place Arizona. Could the West race be over by the All-Star Break, and if so, just what will surprising Black Mesa (with its pitching riches) and always-dynamic Arizona (with its penchant for trades) respond?

BROOKLYN 10, SAN JOSE 7
WP: Kyle Davies (3-4, 6.00)
LP: Bobby Jenks (3-1, 4.05)

Moabs starter Zach Duke had another poor start (2.2 IP, 4 runs), but his teammates bailed him out with a five-run fourth, then scored enough runs off the sagging Rockets bullpen to make it hold up in a wild, error-plagued contest on the road in San Jose. As usual of late for the Moabs, it was super-sub Casey Blake getting the key hit, a two-run double to cap the scoring. And, if the news out of Brooklyn is any indication, Blake won’t be a super sub much longer: the Moabs have, with some disgust, announced that a freak injury (stenosis) has sidelined 3B Hank Blalock, probably for the rest of the season.