HEARD AROUND THE LEAGUE

HEARD AROUND THE LEAGUE


In his first start of the year, 41-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (3-3, 4.95) got six runs of support in the first inning and pitched into the ninth in DARWIN’S 7-4 win over Pottsylvania ....Ichiro Sukuzki singled as part of a four-run game-tying seventh to run his hitting streak to 13 games, but TEXAS lost to St. Francis in 10 innings, 5-4, on an RBI triple by Ben Zobrist . . .BROOKLYN’s Chris Volstad was the loop’s youngest pitcher until this week, when Texas promoted just-acquired Rick Porcello to their starting rotation. Volstad (3-6, 4.57) has shown flashes, as when he held Frostbite Falls to just four hits in a 6-1 Moabs victory . . .The CASSELTON Horned Toads committed five errors in a three-game span after losing SS Mike Aviles, possibly for the season, to shoulder problems. C Mike Napoli committed one of the errors, but he seems beyond criticism of late. The fan favorite has surged in the power department thanks to regular playing time, and his 17 round-trippers are second in BARB only to Brooklyn’s Ryan Howard! Pitching duel of the year? YUMA’s C.C. Sabathia worked ten innings of three-hit ball but got a no-decision thanks to Las Vegas’s Ervin Santana, who put up nine frames worth of goose eggs himself. The Firebirds finally triumphed in 13 innings, 1-0, on a two-out singled by Ryan Braun . . .BLACK MESA took a 5-0 lead against Josh Johnson, who leads the league with eight wins, but they failed to hang the loss on the Finches hurler. Instead, the Unnatural Selections came back to score four runs off Takashi Saito, the third time in the last four games that the Anomalies pen has failed. The strain of supporting an ordinary staff may now be telling on Saito and Jonathan Papelbon, who lost for the first time this season the previous game to LOS ANGELES. Speaking of the Flyers, they have pulled into second in the yawning Central with a .500 (23-23) mark despite having little to talk about in the stats department. They are last in the league in scoring and in the middle of the pack, pitching-wise. Leaders? They have OF Ryan Sweeney, with three sacrifice bunts? Bizarre! No team’s offense has been hurt more in the first half than POTTSYLVANIA when deprived of LF Ryan Ludwick (.343 average, 14 HR, BARB-leading .731 slugging percentage). With Ludwick, the Creepers were five games over .500 (17-12). Since then? 5-12! . . .No team seems to be getting more mileage from their bullpen than the loop-pacing WORCESTER Eliminators. Not only did Heath Bell (1-0, 5 saves) step right in when Brandon Morrow went down, the pen as a whole has a combined for (again, loop-leading) 11 wins and 24 saves.