GAME DAY 86 (July 3rd-ish)

DARWIN 7, WORCESTER 5
WP: Cla Meredith (2-1, 2.25)
LP: Chris Ray (3-3, 4.86)
SV: Hoffman (17)

The Finches pulled back into a tie for first in the East (50-36) by sweeping the Elims in Worcester, and they needed a dramatic rally to pull it off in the series finale: trailing 5-3 to a strong Danny Haren, the Finches got a pair of eighth-inning homers (Lance Berkman, Eric Chavez) to tie the contest, and in the ninth David Ortiz crushed his 27th of the season after a leadoff walk to Berkman. Trevor Hoffman, who has looked vulnerable with a 4.24 ERA of late, worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save in nearly three weeks of BARB play.


ARIZONA 12, S-MART 0
WP: Felix Hernandez (4-4, 4.97)
LP: Jose Valverde (3-5, 5.07)

Jose Reyes had three hits and stole two bases, and ‘King Felix’ worked seven strong innings as the schizophrenic D-Backs had one of their best games of the year at the expense of the collapsing Boom Sticks pitching staff. Someone send out an S.O.S. to GM Josh Purves: with Jason Schmidt, Jake Westbrook, Freddy Garcia and Juan Cruz still sidelined, there just aren’t enough arms to be respectable. Look for this club to deal one of its extra 1B/OF for an arm, any arm...

YUMA 2, POTTSYLVANIA 1 (13 innings)
WP: Will Ohman (1-1, 3.32)
LP: Billy Wagner (3-5, 4.32)

Travis Hafner shocked the world with a one-out squeeze bunt off Billy Wagner in the top of the 13th to score Shane Victorino with the go-ahead run, and the Firebirds snapped a four-game losing streak with one of the longer games of the season. Veterans Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson had hooked up in a classic pitcher’s duel, with ‘the Rocket’ leaving with a 1-0 lead after seven innings, his best start of the year, but Akinori Otsuka put speedster Chone Figgins on to lead off the eighth, and the Creepers played ‘small ball’ to tie the score, sending the game into extra frames, where unheralded rookie Will Ohman had his best outing of the year (3 IP, 0 H) and eventually earned the win on Hafner’s surprising move.

SAN JOSE 7, LAS VEGAS 5 (10 innings)
WP: Bobby Jenks (5-3, 4.21)
LP: Aaron Heilman (5-2, 4.60)

Alfonso Soriano hit a solo shot, his 20th of the year, to tie the game in the seventh but the Luchadores pen quaked before Jermaine Dye, who hit his 16th, doubled to open the San Jose 10th, and would go on to score after a wild pitch by Heilman, and Bobby Jenks worked four innings in relief to nail down the win, his longest outing of the season and a sign that the Rockets much-maligned bullpen is being overworked.

BROOKLYN 9, FROSTBITE FALLS 5
WP: Mark Buehrle (10-4, 4.50)
LP: Johann Santana (10-6, 3.75)

Mark Buehrle outdueled Johann Santana with a little help from Edgar Renteria, who had three hits, including a home run to knock the Squirrels ace out of the box trailing in the fourth. Brooklyn went after Denys Reyes to make it 9-0 after six innings, given Buehrle all the breathing room a veteran needs. Albert Pujols hit his BARB-leading 31st homer in the loss for Frostbite Falls.

BLACK MESA 8, OAKEYLAND 0
WP: Jamie Moyer (2-3, 6.50)
LP: Tim Hudson (6-10, 4.34)

Ancient veteran Jamie Moyer twirled a four-hitter, and started a two-run fourth with a leadoff tripe, and the Anomalies went on to tag on five more runs off reliever Bobby Howry enroute to whitewashing the Ballers on the road in Oakeyland. Moyer has been miserable much of the year in a spot starter/long relief role but could attract a contender with a few more well-pinched outings: have left arm, will travel, I suppose....