Week 8: Tighter than a bull's butt during horse-fly season. Wonders, Grays narrowly win; Plugs, Phils narrowly lose

Wednesday - Dorian Grays 10, Phillies 9

Thursday - Wonderboys 9, Plug Uglies 8

All four teams broke out the bats for week 8, scoring in all 36 runs. For all the firepower, the difference between winning and losing in each game was... 1 run. It was tighter than... well, never mind. (If you must, insert your own folksy idiom in the comments.)
Speaking of tight, look at the standings. Heading into the the week before the July 4 break, the Wonderboys have a half game lead on the Grays, who have a half game lead on the Plugs, who themselves are a half game ahead of the Phillies. Years from now when someone is searching for some analogy to describe something really tight, someone may be inclined to say 'that's tighter than the TNB+50 standings in the '18 season!'
Or they may just fall back on the one about the bull's rectum. The classics never go out of style, man.
On Wednesday, Mike Whately outdueled Miracle Max Strubel - if 'outdueled' is the right verb for a game where a combined 19 runs were allowed. Both went the distance.
The Grays broke out to a 4-0 lead in the first but the Phils came back to tie it in the 4th. The Grays scored 3 in the 5th, and the Phils came back to tie it in the 5th. The Grays scored 3 in 8th, and the Phils scored 2 before Jay Sadowski made a sprawling stop behind second and was able to tag the bag for the force with the tying run on 3rd.
On Thursday, Chris Ciepiela went the distance to earn the win. The Wonders scored 7 in the 2nd to break out to comfy cushion early. The Plugs scrapped their way back, scoring 5 in the 6th and 1 in the 7th.
"Overall, a very nice team win, with every player showing great hustle," said Wonders manager Larry Pietras. As a critical play, he cited a perfectly excuted relay from center on a base hit to narrowly nip the runner at the plate. "Marty (Langford) slapped a very nice in-and-out tag to complete a big play to cut down a potental Plug Ugly run."
Plugs manager Eric Bennett had this to say with reporters after the game:
"The Plugs had themselves one of those one inning meltdowns last night in which they gave up 7 questionable runs to the revamped Wonderboys, falling behind 7 - 2 early. A lead the Wonderboys eventually stretched out to 9 -2 before the Plugs woke up with 6 late tallies, and had the tying run in scoring position, down to their last out before yours truly came up very un-clutch and grounded out to end the game."
"That seven run 2nd inning marred the return of 2016 Cy Old award winning pitcher Steve Walkowitz to the hill, and leaves the Ugly's in the middle of the pack, in unfamiliar territory at 4 - 4. Yes, there is parody in the league, which is a good thing, and although we've clinched a playoff spot, it's going to be a weekly battle from here on in."

Standings