CREEPERS SWEEP, REGULATORS DEAL, PLOT THICKENS IN WEST

SURGING CREEPERS DOMINATE FRIARS

SURGING CREEPERS DOMINATE FRIARS

St. Francis---On the road in Kansas, the visiting Pottsylvania Creepers continued their recent surge, sweeping a three-game set with the Friars, their eighth win in their last ten games, and their BARB-leading 14th win this month. The keys to Pottsylvania’s domination? Two things: first, outstanding pitching; second, the Friars, when all is said and done, are an expansion squad.

But, given all that, the details are still worth savoring: in the series opener, Mark Buerhle (6-2, 3.60) twirled a five-hitter, fanning ten Friar batsmen while Erick Aybar and Aubrey Huff each collected three hits to lead the club’s 14-hit assault on Gavin Floyd (3-7, 5.60). When the smoke cleared, Pottsylvania had whitewashed the Friars, 9-0!

In the second contest, Randy Johnson (6-5, 3.95) pitched seven solid innings, but his youthful counterpart Yovani Gallardo (6-5, 4.06) went one better, going the distance on a six-hit shutout! The Friars were burned by over-aggressive baserunning in their only real threat, in the third: after drawing back-to-back walks to open the inning, the club sent Alexei Ramirez to home from second on a ball hit sharply to the right fielder Rick Ankiel. Ankiel’s peg to home plate was caught on the fly by Kenji Johjima, and Ramirez was out by two steps! Gallardo caught a rhythm after that, and the Friars would be blanked again, 4-0!

After a 7-2 loss to Casselton prior to these games, this meant that St. Francis had failed to score in 26 consecutive innings! The series finale was no better for the Friars, with Chris Carpenter (5-0, 1.34) taking a no-hitter into the eighth. Carpenter did not have his usual control, walking seven, but he really didn’t need it, as the Creepers had already touched Edwin Jackson (5-6, 4.70) and reliever Kyle Davies for eight runs by the seventh. Felipe Lopez would eventually line a ball to left with one down in the eighth to break up the no-no, and St. Francis would finally plate five runs in the bottom of the ninth off Brad Thompson and Randy Flores, ending their consecutive scoreless streak at 34 innings, but not enough noise to make things interesting as Pottsylvania triumphed, 13-5!

Three games, and only five runs, and none of them against Pottsylvania’s starters, who were at the top of their game. It looks as if the second half will be even longer than the first half for the first-year expansion team that lives in St. Francis, Kansas!

FRESNO MAKES PAIR OF DEALS

The Fresno Regulators made a pair of deals as this month rolled to a close: first, the Regulators made a deal with the Black Mesa Anomalies. In the words of Fresno GM Anthony Guerra, "Big Brother makes big news" by trading with (younger) sibling Aaron Guerra, the GM of the Black Mesa Anomalies. Fresno traded OF Curtis Granderson and RHP Rich Harden for what they described as Black Mesa's '1st Round Draft hope' (IF Tim Beckham), as well as 1B Casey Kotchman and rookie RHP Homer Bailey.

An expansive Anthony Guerra remarked, "The Guerra brothers who both became new franchise owners this year are already daring each other to prove who's best in the Family Biz. We'll all just have to wait and see which one of them can prove it with their very own championship ring to brag about first!"

But Fresno wasn't done. In a second deal, the Regulators packaged 2B Freddie Sanchez to the Madtown Murlocs. In return, new Madtown GM Jeff Braga sent OF Kosuke Fukudome, whom Fresno GM Anthony Guerra regards as a 'rising star', and they hope that the foreign import can fill the role vacated by the traded Granderson.

As for the Murlocs, their colorful GM (nicknamed 'Chops') had this to say about the trade: "Sanchez fills a big hole at second base since Kelly Johnson really hasn't played up to our standards, its a huge upgrade. Fukudome in reality would have struggled for playing time so this was a win-win trade for both teams. Glad it was done."

The Regulators had similar sentiments, after what they described as an 'exhausting week of talks and negotiations' that saw other proposed deals go by the wayside. As of this time, as a Regulators press release noted, "the Fresno organization are said to be done with open talks of trading anyone. And who can blame them?"

TEXAS SIGNS RAUCH: DARWIN FACES DILEMMA SIMILAR TO YUMA'S

The Texas Tornadoes have come to terms with relief pitcher Jon Rauch, who was unceremoniously given his release by the Yuma Firebirds in order to open up a roster spot for younger arms who (unlike Rauch) had the flexibility to be moved back and forth between the minors and the parent roster. As a minor-league free agent, Texas will have that very flexibility in dealing with Rauch, who has been signed to a split contract at the league minimum of $400,000.

Ironically, Texas itself had given an unintended boost to Yuma's new rival in the Western Division (the Darwin Finches) in a similar scenario, cutting veteran OF Jeff Francouer rather than attempt to deal him. Darwin signed Francouer for the league minimum and has gotten good mileage from the move. Now, in a further twist, the Finches find themselves in a similar situation: Scott Kazmir, Oliver Perez and John Smoltz are all believed to be on the mend after various stints on the DL, and (in particular) a rotation spot has to be opened up for the 41-year-old Smoltz. This puts the Finches in the strange position of potentially not having roster spots from rookies who are ready to contribute, among them Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw. Will Darwin go the same route as both Texas and Yuma and cut a salaried veteran to open up a spot, or will they attempt to get something, rather than nothing?

IN OTHER BARB ACTION:


MADTOWN 3, LOS ANGELES 2

WP: A.J. Burnett (4-5, 4.12)
LP: Brett Cecil (0-3, 8.49)

In the best BARB outing of his young career, rookie Brett Cecil came down on the wrong end of a 2-2 duel with A.J. Burnett, giving up the winning run on the bottom of the ninth on a pinch-double by Kelly Johnson. Nick Swisher accounted for both of the Flyers’ runs in a losing cause with a pair of solo home runs.

TEXAS 10, CASSELTON 9

WP: Alan Embree (1-2, 6.28)
LP: Bobby Jenks (1-2, 3.54)

Down 9-6 at the seventh-inning stretch, the Tornadoes rallied for four runs in their last two at-bats, scoring the winner in truly weird fashion. With the score tied and one out, Andre Ethier singled under the glove of Garret Atkins. Bobby Jenks was hurt attempting to dive for Ethier’s ball and was lifted as a precaution. Reliever Ramon Ramirez’s breaking ball eluded C Mike Napoli, and when his throw to second got away from Orlando Hudson, Ethier came around all the way from second with the winning run!