WORLD CHAMPS SWEPT IN OPENING DOUBLE-DIP

Yuma----The pride of the loop, the defending 2007 BARB World Series champion Yuma Firebirds, took a tough one on the chin, dropping an opening day doubleheader with the Black Mesa Anomalies, who have struggled this off-season during a change in ownership to improve their ball club. Despite some public stumbles, the Anomalies turned to recently-signed veteran LHP Andy Pettite to counter Yuma’s Jake Peavy in the opener, and in a wild turn of events, never looked back.

Pettite got a couple of double play balls in the early going to bail himself out of a jam, but in the fourth hung a fat one to Ryan Braun. The youngster, still learning the ropes after being converted from 3B to LF, left no doubt his bat was ready, drilling an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left for his first homer of the year, giving Yuma a 1-0 lead. Pettite would scatter four singles over the next three innings and when Ryan Church hit a solo shot off Peavy, got off the hook, leaving the ball game with the score knotted at 1-1.

Peavy fanned the side in the eighth and came out to start the ninth having thrown 99 pitches with the score still tied. But Rafael Furcal worked Peavy hard, fouling off several two-strike pitches before lining sharply out to Escobar. Ever-patient Kevin Youkilis ran Peavy’s pitch count to 114, then drew a full-count walk, and the Firebirds went to the pen. And bad things happened to Manny Corpas, who left a ball up for Adam Dunn and then went completely amuck: single, walk, sac fly, single, walk, bases-loaded single. In all told, five runs scored in the frame to hang a very undeserved loss on Peavy (0-1, 2.16). Takashi Saito, who had pitched the Anomalies eighth, ended up a 1-0 winner and Bryan Fuentes mopped up:

BLACK MESA 5, YUMA 1!

In the second contest, C.C. Sabathia (0-1, 9.00) was matched against Ted Lilly (1-0, 1.29) and simply didn’t have it. Backup catcher Ronnie Paulino, just signed off the scrap heap, hit a solo HR and Adam Dunn added a bases-loaded single as Black Mesa scored three times in the fifth to build a 6-1 lead. Fuentes made things very interesting for the Anomalies in the eighth when he loaded the bases with two out, but Jonathan Papelbon came on to fan Braun, then worked a hitless ninth for his first save of the season:

BLACK MESA 6, YUMA 1!

What a shocker! Not only did the champs choke away their opener, but they gave up some uncharacteristic big innings. So it was, if only for a day, that Black Mesa sported the loop’s best record (2-0) and led the Western Division! Enjoy it while it lasts, Gordon Freeman. . .


In other BARB Opening Day action:

DARWIN 6, S-MART 5 (12 innings)
WP: J.J. Putz (1-0, 2.25)
LP: Jose Valverde (0-1, 9.00)

Owch! Alex Rodriguez homered in his first two at-bats to send veteran Tom Glavine to the early showers, but the Finches rallied to force extra innings—but probably wish they hadn’t, as closer J.J. Putz earned the win with four frames but in the process hurt his arm and was placed on the DL. Putz, the seventh Darwin hurler, came on in the ninth, blew a 5-4 lead in the tenth, then apparently overextended himself to keep his club in the game. Rick Ankiel hit a sac fly off Juan Cruz to force a tie in the bottom of the eighth and singled in the go-ahead run off Valverde in the top of the 12th. Putz worked a 1-2-3 bottom frame for the win, but grabbed his arm in the clubhouse minutes after the game. The Finches will call up Jonathan Sanchez from AAA St. Francis to fill Putz’s slot.

BROOKLYN 5, LAS VEGAS 3
WP: Fausto Carmona (1-0, 1.35)
LP: Derek Lowe (0-1, 4.76)
SV: Rodriguez (1)

Ichiro Suzuki and Miguel Cabrera each had four hits, and Fausto Carmona worked into the seventh with enough of a cushion that bullpen woes (a pair of late homers by Matt Holliday ina losing cause) didn’t hurt them, as the Moabs won on the road in Vegas.

OAKEYLAND 6, WORCESTER 5 (11 innings)
WP: Aaron Fultz (1-0, 0.00)
LP: George Sherrill (0-1, 13.50)

Pinch-hitter Dan Ortmeier came around to score the tying run in the ninth, then belted a homer leading off the bottom of the 11th as the visiting Eliminators blew what seemed a sure thing. The Eliminators had chased Tim Hudson with a five-run fifth built around (get this) seven consecutive singles. With Danny Haren on the mound, a win seemed in hand, but the host Ballers chipped away against him and the bullpen, eventually forcing extra frames, where their rookie won it for them.

LEXINGTON 8, CASSELTON 7
WP: Joakim Soria (1-0, 21.60)
LP: Bobby Jenks (0-1, 20.25)

Joakin Soria ‘vultured’ a win away from Brandon Webb, who left with a 4-1 lead only to see the bullpen fumble it away with a five-run eighth, aided and abetted by a Soria fastball that Adrian Gonzalez buried in the RF corner for a triple. The Horned Toads had their own pen woes, though, and so the Rebels were able to come back with three runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by a two-run, game-winning single by David Wright off Bobby Jenks.

FROSTBITE FALLS 8, POTTSYLVANIA 2
WP: Brad Penny (1-0, 1.13)
LP: Dontrelle Willis (0-1, 13.50)

Jose Reyes kicked the first ball hit to him this season, and the Flying Squirrels batted around in the first to knock out Dontrelle Willis, and would go on to crush the Creepers convincingly in the first meeting of the league’s Jay Ward clubs. Michael Young and Carlos Beltran would add solo shots, Penny would take a shutout into the eighth and Joe Nathan rode the pine in the ninth in favor of youngster Carlos Marmol.