DEAD HEAT?

With every team in the league having played at least 106 games, with more than two-thirds of the season in the books, what do we see? A tie in the East, the Horned Toads a half-game out of Pottsylvania in the Central, and a total of four teams within four games of the wild-card leader (Yuma). That, my friends, is something close to parity . . .

FROSTBITE FALLS 7, MADTOWN 2

WP: Felix Hernandez (8-7, 3.75)
LP: A.J. Burnett (5-9, 4.93)
SV: Grabow (1)

Albert Pujols has four hits, Carlos Pena tripled with the bases loaded, and ‘King Felix’ took a shutout into the eighth before needing some help, as the Squirrels (68-51) stayed tied atop the Eastern Division with the Eliminators.

WORCESTER 7, BLACK MESA 3

WP: Ryan Dempster (10-7, 3.02)
LP: Ricky Romero (0-2, 6.75)
SV: Balfour (5)

Jason Bay hit his team-leading 33rd homer and Joe Mauer added two hits and threw out two baserunners to win their 68th and stay knotted in the division race with hard-charging Frostbite Falls. Slumping Adam Dunn (.193) smashed the Anomalies’ water cooler when he was yanked in favor of a pinch-hitter in the fifth and the club already trailing 4-1.

DARWIN 3, BROOKLYN 1 (14 innings)

WP: Oliver Perez (2-2, 5.04)
LP: Justin Masterson (6-2, 2.65)

Backup catcher Jeff Clement came off the bench to stroke an RBI single in the top of the 14th, and Oliver Perez (the sixth Finches hurler) worked two scoreless innings for the ‘W’ as the Finches won their longest game by time this year. Clement pinch-hit for Milton Bradley, who created a stir in the clubhouse by promptly showering and leaving the ball park.

CASSELTON 5, POTTSYLVANIA 3

WP: John Lackey (8-6, 4.80)
LP: Kyle Lohse (4-5, 3.78)
SV: Jenks (19)

The weird BARB saga of Mike Napoli, the loop’s slugging backstop, hit another high point for the Horned Toads as Napoli parked his 36th shot of the year, which leads all batters. This allowed Casselton (61-51) to pull within a half-game of Pottsylvania, which dumped them from the first place spot they had held much of the season two weeks ago.

TEXAS 3, LOS ANGELES 1

WP: Tommy Hanson (3-2, 2.75)
LP: Dana Eveland (5-10, 4.68)
SV: Bailey (5)

Two teams going nowhere continued their auditions of young arms, and this time it was Texas (47-65) that prevailed behind Tommy Hanson and batterymate Mat Wieters, who hit his fourth to give the Tornadoes an early lead over the Flyers (41-71).

YUMA 5, FRESNO 2

WP: Johnny Cueto (1-2, 3.78)
LP: Josh Beckett (8-9, 4.19)

Joey Votto hit his first BARB homer in a Firebirds uni, and rookie Johnny Cueto’s first-ever BARB victory was a complete-game triumph for host Yuma (60-46), which became the eighth BARB team to reach the 60-win mark.