CREEPERS STUN TOADS

The Creepers came off the deck down 5-0 to hit two big bombs after the seventh, rallying to force extra innings, where Aramis Ramirez hit his eighth HR of the year with one out and a man aboard to seize a victory from the jaws of the defeat, as Pottsylvania twice frustrated the visiting Casselton Horned Toads.

It was a crushing loss for the Toads and starter Barry Zito. Zito, who hasn’t exactly set the BARB world on fire this year (5.34 ERA), took a shutout into the bottom of the eighth with a 5-0 lead, easily his best start of the year and it appeared that the Creepers and starter Mark Buehrle (7.2 IP, 5 ER) were in line for another loss.

But little Ryan Theriot hit Zito’s first pitch of the eighth down the line...just fair.... and over the wall, to end the bid! To make matters even more ironic, it was Theriot’s first homer of the season! Jose Reyes doubled one out later, and that was it for Zito. Reliever John Danks, however, had the real ‘owch’ when with two outs he allowed consecutive scratch singles to Matt Kemp and Ramirez. Billy Hall, hitting just .182, then hit a three-run blast to tie the game!

Casselton rallied in the top of the tenth, though, when Billy Wagner (3-1, 3.42) put two men on with two out for rookie Geovany Soto. Soto, who is hitting .349 and had earlier lined a two-run double, delivered again with an RBI single to score Torii Hunter. The Toads took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the tenth.....where Abreu struck out. With one down, DH Matt Kemp lined his fourth single of the ballgame, bringing up Ramirez. Rarely-used reliever David Riske (0-1, 18.90) went to a full count on Ramirez, then left a 3-2 fastball over the plate, which the Creepers 3B drilled over the wall! A walkoff, two-run homer for a 7-6 home victory, and easily the downtrodden Creepers’ biggest win of the season!

INJURIES MOUNT IN EAST: MOABS LOSE WANG, SQUIRRELS SEE PUJOLS, MARTINEZ DROP

BROOKLYN 3, FROSTBITE FALLS 2

WP: Chien-Mien Wang (5-5, 3.29)
LP: Ben Sheets (1-5, 4.57)
SV: Rodriguez (14)

The Moabs got eight innings from Wang, but their Chinese puzzle came up lame in the eighth with an apparent foot injury, and Brooklyn would need a dramatic finish to overcome a Squirrels squad minus Albert Pujols and Victor Martinez, both of whom were placed on the DL before this contest. Leading 3-1 going into the ninth, Francisco Rodriguez would put two runners on for Magglio Ordonez who delivered an RBI single to score Brad Hawpe, but Michael Young stumbled rounding third and was picked off on a great relay by Suzuki and Iwamura to end the ball game.

After the game was over, the obviously-crushed Moabs announced that Wang’s foot injury was serious and the Moabs might be without his services for two months. This could prove a serious challenge for Brooklyn (36-27, 3rd place) to get back into the East race. But Frostbite Falls could take no satisfaction, with both Pujols and Martinez sidelined: this was the sort of tight game that they had made a habit of winning in May (they are 13-5 in one-run games, tops in BARB), and it was also their season-high seventh straight loss!

In other BARB action:

WORCESTER 9, DARWIN 3 (1st game of DH)

WP: Jesse Litsch (3-1, 4.43)
LP: Zack Grienke (6-2, 3.93)

WORCESTER 7, DARWIN 4 (2nd game of DH)

WP: Tim Hudson (1-4, 4.64)
LP: Oliver Perez (4-2, 2.84)

Grady Sizemore homered twice and Tim Hudson took a shutout into the ninth of the second game as the host Eliminators dropped a pair of losses on the reeling Finches at home in Worcester. Darwin lost for the fifth time in their last six games since losing veteran LHP Tom Glavine to injury, while the Eliminators flashed power that has been missing for much of the year. In the opener, Jesse Litsch and Zack Grienke dueled to a 1-1 tie in the sixth, where Hanley Ramirez and Alex Rios both homered to break the game open. With the sweep, Worcester pulled two games above .500 (30-28) but are still seven games back in the punishing Eastern Division.


LEXINGTON 7, LAS VEGAS 2

WP: Rich Harden (2-2, 2.08)
LP: Ian Snell (3-7, 6.00)

Rich Harden took a shutout into the seventh, fanning seven, and Carlos Lee hit a three-run home run to give the Rebels an early lead, part of an 11-hit attack, as Lexington won on the road in Vegas. Lexington (30-31), despite a sub-.500 record, is still only two games out of first in the disappointing Western Division.

The Luchadores, meanwhile, still maintain a three-game lead in the Central with a 33-30 mark despite having scored only 11 more runs than their foes. How to explain? Simple: they are 21-10 against their Central foes (a combined 76-108) and 12-20 against everybody else. It looks like the Central is still the whipping post of the league...