Sweet 16

It's certainly no stretch to say that last night's 16-inning thriller against the Quakes was the most exciting game of 2007. The Mavs 3-2 victory was possibly their finest of the season, and there are a ton of great things to take away from the win.

Hats off to Adam Moore, who provided not one, but two go-ahead base hits in the extras. Even though he didn't get credit for an RBI in the 16th, part of me still thinks Saunders would have scored even without the error in right field. He should get an RBI just for the at bat he had in the 16th. Even though he was down in an 0-2 hole after two pitches, he battled back and eventually worked a full count before sending a line drive to right-center. It's also pretty impressive to think he had been behind the plate the whole game, yet he still had the strength to pound out two hard hit balls late in the game.

Even though Moore's hits put the Mavs in front, the Mavs pitching was responsible for keeping the game tied. Brian Kappel showed a lot of resilience by bouncing back from his rough outing the night before to pitch two scoreless last night and get his first win of the season. Marwin Vega had his best performance of the year, only giving up one run in seven innings. It's hard to believe he was actually in line for the loss before the Saunders RBI double that tied it at 1-1 in the eighth. Juan Zapata, David Asher, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, and Roman Martinez don't get a win in the score sheet, but they were all certainly a key part of the victory.

In the past two series, we've seen the Mavs lose two straight to their opponents, only to bounce back in third game to win at their opponents game. Against Lake Elsinore, the Mavs gave us 28 runs on 38 hits in the two previous games, before coming back with 10 runs and 18 hits of their own. In the first two games of this series against the Quakes, the Mavs bats were helpless against Rancho's pitching. This time around, the Mavs showed they can pitch as well, and dealt the first place Quakes the loss.

Tonight's game against San Jose will be tough to win because of the length of last night's game and today's seven-hour bus ride. Aaron Jensen will have to rebound from his last start and set the tone for the entire team tonight. If he does well, I think the team can rally around him.

Best of luck to the Mavs up north by the bay.