WINK OF AN EYE: SANTANA LOSES NO-NO, THEN GAME IN STUNNING RALLY

Office of the League Commissioner—Few and far between have been the no-hitters pitched in the BARB simulation, with the first being that of Kevin Millwood in the league’s inaugural season and only a handful since. But, on Game Day 12, Lexington Rebels ace Johann Santana vaulted within a fingernail of immortality, only to come abruptly to earth in one of the most improbable collapses imaginable, and certainly one of the worst in league history.

Santana (0-2, 0.92) was matched with Casselton journeyman pitcher Kevin Correia, whose main claim to distinction is in being the highest-drafted player to ever come out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The Rebels went to work against Correia with the speed of leadoff man Michael Bourn, who scored twice in the first four frames. After six innings, Lexington led by a score of 3-0 and not a single Casselton hit was in sight. Santana lost the perfect game with two outs in the seventh when Horned Toads CF Torri Hunter reached on a throwing error by 2B B.J. Upton, but Santana promptly picked him off to end the inning: 21 hitters, 21 outs, and only six more needed for the league’s fourth no-hitter.

But everything went awry with shocking suddenness in the eighth! Adrian Beltre, who had been left stranded at the plate when Hunter was thrown out to end the seventh, began the eighth by grounding the first pitch he saw right at Upton....and through his legs, Upton’s second error of the game! Jermaine Dye popped up to the infield for the first out, though, and pinch-hitter Chris Iannetta flew harmlessly to left, and it began to look as if Santana would escape. But Ken Griffey Jr. drew a four-pitch walk, and before the Rebels could even dial the bullpen, Geovanny Soto put a ‘protect’ swing on an 0-2 pitch and dumped a fastball between SS J. J. Hardy and (the not-terribly mobile) Carlos Lee in left, loading the bases. That brought up, Brandon Phillips, who swung at the very next pitch and . . .

FLY BALL! Left field, and DEEP.....OUTTA HERE!!!!!!! A GRAND SLAM!

Unbelievable. In a space of just nine pitches, the game had swung between a 3-0 lead with no hits allowed to a 4-3 deficit. The Rebellion had been......crushed! Tom Gordon, just called up from AAA, relieved Santana and promptly gave up two more hits and another run, and in the ninth Bobby Jenks breezed through the Lexington lineup for his BARB-leading 4th save, making a 5-3 winner of Jason Frasor (1-0, 3.60), who had worked a scoreless eighth.

Despite the loss, however, the Rebels (8-5) still lead their division by a couple of games. They have to be buoyed by the league-leading performance of their starters, but troubled by the fact that they have already surrendered thirteen unearned runs in as many games.

In other BARB action:

DARWIN 12, S-MART 2
WP: Tim Wakefield (2-0, 0.42)
LP: Garrett Olson (0-1, 13.50)

Free agent castoff Tim Wakefield took a shutout into the seventh and Chipper Jones, Placido Polanco and Rick Ankiel all homered as the Finches scored eight times in the first three innings and never looked back. The Unnatural Selections also shuffled their roster, activating LHP Chuck James and calling up OF Josh Hamilton while dropping LHP Jonathan Sanchez and placing IF Ty Wiggington on the disabled list.

WORCESTER 7, OAKEYLAND 6
WP: Heath Bell (1-2, 7.71)
LP: Brad Lidge (0-1, 18.00)

Robinson Cano doubled leading off the ninth, took third on a groundout, then scored on a wild pitch from the arm of former Worcester closer Brad Lidge, as the Eliminators did to Lidge what so many BARB foes did to Matt Caskey’s pens over the last two seasons, a pen that prominently featured Lidge and the since-departed B.J. Ryan. It was a good win for them, too, since their new pen had allowed runs in each of the last two frames to blow a 5-3 lead, wasting another fine outing by Danny Haren.

After the game, there was more bad news for Worcester’s staff: LHP Eric Bedard has been placed on the DL. Oakeyland was not exempt from the trainer’s room, either: 3B Mike Lowell is out indefinitely, as well.

YUMA 6, BLACK MESA 2
WP: Matt Cain (1-2, 2.78)
LP: Ted Lilly (2-1, 2.77)

Rookie Billy Butler hit his first-ever BARB home run, and the Firebirds cashed in a Rafael Furcal error, four walks and just six hits to score six runs off Anomalies’ pitching. Talk about playing your cards right! Matt Cain, meanwhile, gave up two runs in the first, then put up aspirin tablets with two other relievers (Capps and Perez) to deny Black Mesa so much as a base runner for five frames.

POTTSYLVANIA 4, FROSTBITE FALLS 1
WP: Mark Buehrle (2-1, 4.42)
LP: Brad Penny (1-1, 3.10)
SV: Wagner (1)

The Squirrels let Mark Buehrle stick around after Pujols singled home Edgar Renteria in the first, and the visitors eventually put an improbable four-run hit on Penny and two relievers in the eighth. Lyle Overbay doubled to lead off the inning and after being sacrificed to third, scored along with Jose Reyes on Bobby Abreu’s two-run single with just one down. Carlos Marmol and Tony Pena fared no better, and the Creepers would finally manage to get the ball to Billy Wagner in the ninth with an opportunity to earn a save...which he did!