Saturday, February 14, 2009

The other half of the league opens

16 teams opened this afternoon. Tonight was opening day for the rest of the league.

We'll start in the AL this time with the defending champion Manic Maulers. They found themselves not in a New York state of mind, as Syracuse spoiled the first day of what they hope is another title season. Howard Hunter and Ray Buchanan each hit solo shots for Milwaukee, but the star was Syracuse 3B William Nomo, who hit two homers himself in a 3-2 Syracuse victory. Louie Bolivar went 7 strong innings for the Simpletons, yielding only two runs on the aforementioned solo shots.

In Louisville, Legends C Cy Hughes hit 2 home runs and Boston Bambinos starter Stephen Tucker gave up 5 runs while only getting 5 outs as Louisville won a 12-3 laugher. Wilt Gardner drove in 4 runs to earn player of the game honors.

The Gamblers left the neon lights of Las Vegas for the... whatever they have in Boise and came out on top of the Shadow Wolves, 5-0. Wally Lawton pitched 6 innings of 2-hit ball for the Gamblers; Wally Harvey and Clarence Hartman chipped in on offense, each hitting a 2-run homer.

The Oklahoma Sneaky Finger Puppet Mafia ventured southeast to Jackson and beat the Vipers, 3-1. Heath Caufield earned the win, going 5 innings, and Oklahoma City used 5 relievers to piece the rest together, as the bullpen twirled four scoreless innings.


In the National League, the defending NL champion Vancouver Golden Otters lost an 8-7 decision at Salem. Nate Cox drove in 3 and Dave Dunwoody went 7 innings, giving up only 1 run before the bullpen almost gave it away- Salem led 7-0 after the 6th inning but Juan Mendoza had to strike out Mike Henderson with the tying run on 3rd to finally end the game.

In Fargo, Javier Henriquez pitched 7 scoreless inning as the Dirtbags beat the Chicago Snake Tamers 3-0. Alex Lim had 2 hits in his Fargo debut- Chicago had only 4 hits in total.

The Riverdogs were over and out in Houston, losing 10-4 to in-state rival Austin. Houston starter Jerome Oliver gave up 7 runs, 4 due to his own throwing error in the first. Gerald "Pops" Stargell went 4 for 5 for the City Limits, finishing a triple short of the cycle.

In the nation's capital, Washington managed 11 hits (10 against Trenton starter Johnnie Reagan) but only managed to get 2 runs out of it. Trenton used a 4-run 5th to fuel a 6-2 win over the Blue Coats. New Trenton LF Rico Valdes failed to get a hit, but he walked 3 times and scored twice.

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