POTENTIAL ALL-STARS SHINE

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS, BATTING (min. 300 PA)

Hunter Pence, BROOKLYN, .338
Magglio Ordonez, F FALLS, .315
Edgar Renteria, F FALLS, .312
David Wright, LEXINGTON, .311
Ichiro Suzuki, BROOKLYN, .310
Orlando Cabrera, OAKEYLAND, .304
Chase Utley, BROOKLYN, .304
Miguel Cabrera, BROOKLYN, .301
Justin Morneau, BLACK MESA, .296
Placido Polanco, DARWIN, .293

Interesting list. The Moabs, evidently, are scoring a ton of runs. Also, there aren't that many .300 hitters in the league right now, as the environment favors pitchers.

In BARB action:

OAKEYLAND 6, LAS VEGAS 2

WP: Joe Blanton (4-7, 4.88)
LP: Ervin Santana (4-10, 5.93)

Joe Blanton went all the way and Manny Ramirez’s throwing error led to a four-run third, as the host Ballers got homers from Pudge Rodriguez and Jim Thome to send Santana to the showers. Thome’s team-leading 19^th blast of the year, coupled with a .288 average and 60 RBI, seem likely to propel him into this year’s All-Star Game.

BROOKLYN 4, WORCESTER 3 (11 innings)

WP: Rafael Betancourt (6-3, 3.26)
LP: Brandon Morrow (1-2, 8.68)
SV: Rodriguez (22)

Both team’s starters (Eric Bedard and Ubaldo Jiminez) were forced to come out after a fourth-inning rain delay, and it was the Moabs who won the (lengthy) battle of the bullpens when Ryan Howard cashed in an error by Hanley Ramirez, hitting a go-ahead sac fly in the top of the 11^th to give the lead to Francisco Rodriguez, who collected his BARB-leading 22^nd save of the season. “F-Rod” WILL be an All-Star, obviously. New Moabs OF Ken Griffey Jr. pinch-hit in the eighth and drew a walk in his first plate appearance with Brooklyn.

LEXINGTON 7, BLACK MESA 1

WP: Johann Santana (11-5, 3.02)
LP: Ted Lilly(5-10, 5.23)

Johann Santana allowed Adam Dunn’s team-leading 18^th home run of the year in the seventh, a solo shot, but scattered two more hits the rest of the way in silencing the Anomalies lineup, going all the way to become the first BARB hurler to reach the 11-win plateau. Santana is also fifth in the league in ERA among hurlers who have worked 100 or more innings, and 2^nd in strikeouts. Suffice to say he is a lock as an All-Star!

DARWIN 8, S-MART 6

WP: Randy Johnson (5-3, 2.78)
LP: Garret Olson (3-9, 6.19)
SV: Lyon (1)

Alex Rodriguez hit a pair of late home runs off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to get his team back into the game, but the Boom Sticks fell just short on a day where the ball was flying: Bench-warming Jeff Francouer finally collected his first boundary belt of the season, while Carlos Guillen also went deep twice to lead the Finches attack. Rodriguez was unable to solve 44-year-old Randy Johnson, who had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth to earn the victory.

Two facts leap out of this game:

1# With a BARB-leading 35 round-trippers to go with a .361 average, A-Rod is clearly the All-Star of All-Stars….

2# With a BARB-leading 50 wins, the Finches have to be wondering whether or not they can, in fact, win it all . . .