“DICE-K” ZEROES IN FOR PLAYOFF BID

“DICE-K” ZEROES IN FOR PLAYOFF BID
Casselton---Needing another win to stay alive in the Central race, the visiting Oakeyland Ballers got the world, as Daisuke Matsuzaka fanned 14 and ended up with a no-hitter against the cellar-dwelling Horned Toads! Matsuzaka (10-9, 4.66) would allow only two baserunners in the affair, a third-inning free pass to Geovanny Soto and a two-out, deep breath-inducing four-pitch walk to Ricky Weeks in the ninth.

But, if Matsuzaka was on fumes, he didn’t show it, pumping a fastball over the plate to Jose Guillen, who DRILLED it…back, back…and caught by hard-charging Andruw Jones just in front of the wall in dead center. “Dice-K” had a no-hitter, Oakeyland (73-75) a fifth-straight win, and with four games left, a legitimate shot at catching Las Vegas, which has lost eight of its last ten down the stretch.

It wasn’t all the “Dice-K” Show, of course: LF Conor Jackson drove in a pair of runs off Aaron Harang (8-11, 4.59), and rookie 3B Andy LaRoche collected three hits and scored twice, but in the end Matsuzaka was the hero, having made a huge statement. For, if it came down to it, with the season on the line in the next few days, he would doubtless work on short rest given the club’s injury problems, what with the loss of rookie LF Carlos Quentin and the sidelining of 3B Mike Lowell.

In other BARB action:

YUMA 6, LAS VEGAS 5

WP: Rafael Perez (8-2, 1.49)
LP: Mariano Rivera (4-4, 2.55)

Travis Hafner came off the bench to hit a game-tieing solo homer leading off the seventh against Brian Bannister, and Shane Victorino hit a walkoff double in the ninth against sore-armed Mariano Rivera, as the Firebirds (83-65) stayed within one game of West-leading Lexington while handing the slumping Luchadores (75-73) their fifth straight loss. Las Vegas’s ‘magic number’ has been stuck at four for an entire week, stunning fans who figured they would already have the division clinched by now.

LEXINGTON 4, S-MART 3

WP: Francisco Cordero (9-4, 3.50)
LP: Jose Valverde (6-6, 3.28)

Boom Sticks 3B Alex Rodriguez hit his BARB-leading 47th homer of the year in the ninth as an insurance run to give his team a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the frame, but the Rebels (84-64) came off the deck to score three runs off Jose Valverde, the big blow being a two-run walkoff single off the bat of David Eckstein to settle the contest. It was the fifth straight win for Lexington, but with four games left in the season, anything can happen in this wild division.

DARWIN 4, FROSTBITE FALLS 2

WP: Randy Johnson (12-4, 3.34)
LP: Cole Hamels (9-14, 3.81)
SV: Putz (20)

45-year-old Randy Johnson needed relief in the sixth leading only 2-1, but Aaron Rowand smacked a two-run double and Kevin Gregg overcame a solo HR (#33) by Albert Pujols as the host Finches (89-58) won their seventh straight. Frostbite Falls (84-63) thus fell a game behind Worcester in the race for the wild card and now need to take four of their remaining six games (plus get some help from Brooklyn) to repeat as East champs.

Neither 3B Chipper Jones nor LF Milton Bradley, both nursing nagging injuries, started in the game for Darwin, and manager PZ Myers indicated he would continue to go with Chone Figgins and Ty Wigginton down the stretch, as well as rest SS Cristian Guzman as much as he could. “We’re banged up,” admitted Myers. In a further move, the Finches sent rookie Max Scherzer back to the minors and recalled veteran Tim Wakefield.

WORCESTER 5, BROOKLYN 4 (12 innings)

WP: Matt Guerrier (6-2, 2.36)
LP: Taylor Tankersley (1-1, 6.50)

Scott Downs blew a save in the eleventh and was then placed on the DL with a torn elbow ligament, and Mark Teixeira made a costly error that led to a go-ahead run in extra innings for the Moabs, but in the end the host Eliminators rallied in the bottom of the twelfth to improve to 85-62 and stay four games out in the East and take a one-game lead in the race for the wild card. Grady Sizemore beat the percentages by singling off Taylor Tankersley with one out, and Alex Rios had a two-run double, a walkoff hit, to keep the injury-laded club in the hunt.

In a piece of positive news, the Eliminators confirmed that RHP Jeremy Guthrie and sparkplug OF Carl Crawford would come off the DL and be able to play a role in the season’s final five games.
Stay tuned...