Piazza, Ramirez, movin on up

New Jersey's Mike Piazza hit his second home run of the season yesterday in Team Buddah's victory over the Mudcats. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was Piazza's 386th career homer, which passes Juan Gonzalez for sixth on the all time list. Piazza faces an uphill climb to move much further up the list as all the players above him are active. Arkansas' Barry Bonds, of course, is the leader with 591 career homers (more than 150 over 2nd place Sammy Sosa who is active but most likely won't play in the DMBL again). Also moving up the home run ranks - and more quickly than Piazza - is Sugar Bear Manny Ramirez, the league leader in home runs this season with eight. Ramirez hit his eighth and 380th career homer yesterday against the Iron Fist which moves him just one behind former Sugar Bear Mark McGwire for number eight on the all-time list.

Speaking of New Jersey, the Buddahs completed a sweep against the Mudcats yesterday. Carolina has now lost five or their six games against the two newest teams. Carolina will next face the more familiar Vancouver Iron Fist. Vancouver is also coming off being swept by the Sugar Bears, so something has to give here.

Las Vegas' Anthony Reyes improved to 3-0, but he finally gave up his first runs of the season. Reyes, who had extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 and earned the coveted Guess The Virgin Pitcher of the Week Award last week finally surrendered his first run of the season in the fourth inning against the South Boston Gang. Reyes escaped the game with a win, despite giving up five runs in six innings.

Scrubs become stars

From the "Who'd have thunk it?" file: Brandon Claussen notched his first win of the year for the Sardine City Straphangers. Claussen pitched six innings allowing only two earned runs and three hits, while striking out four and walking two. The Sardines have now won both games that Claussen has started since taking over for Cole Hamels. Hamels pitched well in his only start and was the club's #1 draft pick, so there's not likely a controversy brewing here, but can Claussen keep it up?

Speaking of nobodies making good, South Boston's Greg Norton is off to a fine start. Norton hit his fourth homer of the season while going 4-4 last night against Las Vegas. Norton is batting .444 on the year with 10 runs, 11 RBIs, and a 1.252 OPS. While not officially a DMBL rookie, this is the first year that Norton has played.

Carolina has taken the role of punching bag for the two newest teams. After dropping two of three to Sardine City last week, the Mudcats have now dropped the first two games against New Jersey, both in extra innings. All of Team Buddah's victories have come in extra innings. In fact, Team Buddah has played in the most extra inning games in the league (5) and has a 3-2 record in those games.

Oswalt back on track

There was a bit of a pitchers' duel in Vegas yesterday. South Boston's Aaron Harang and Las Vegas' Chris Young battled it out. Young gave way to the bullpen in the sixth, but Harang took a 1-0 shutout into the eighth before surrendering two runs in the bottom half of the inning. There were only 11 hits between the two teams in the game.

Honolulu's Roy Oswalt finally straightened out his season. After getting clobbered in his first two starts, Oswalt turned in a complete game two-hit performance against Arkansas, surrendering only one run. Oswalt struck out 6.

Hoboken's Scott Kazmir probably had the best game yesterday, holding D.C. to one run on four hits in eight innings, while striking out nine and walking only one.

The injuries are starting to pile up. Hoboken and Philadelphia both placed team members on the DL. Hoboken lost outfielder Geoff Jenkins for two weeks and signed Damian Miller. The Cutters plan to replace Jenkins with Pat Burrell. Scrappy Philly shortstop David Eckstein may be lost for a month. Philly signed infielder Marco Scutaro who was released before the season by Team Buddah and last played a regular season game for Carolina back in 2005.

Clemens reaches milestone

Interesting game between the Straphangers and the Mudcats yesterday. The Sardines jumped out to a 5-2 lead after three, thanks to a three-run Andruw Jones homer. After scoring one run in the fourth, the Cats scored seven runs in the fifth to take a 10-5 lead, but the Straphangers clawed their way back and tied it at ten on a Freddy Sanchez single in the eighth. With Matt Wise pitching in the bottom of the eighth, Miguel Olivo led off with a single, but the next two batters truck out. Wise then proceeded to implode, walking Juan Rivera and giving up an infield single to the speedy Travis Hafner (we think that the scorer was being generous to Mr. Wise). With the bases loaded and two outs, Wise then inexplicably hits Paul Konerko with an errant pitch and the go-ahead run crossed the plate. Daisy, er, Brian Fuentes then shut down the Straphangers to win the game and avoid the sweep.

The other newcomer, Team Buddah took Johan Santana and the Endzone Animals deep into the eleventh inning, but came up just short. Jose Contreras dueled with Santana for eight innings. Santana ended up pitching nine and striking out ten Buddahs. Adam LaRoche won it with a solo shot in the eleventh.

Arkansas' Roger Clemens notched his 2500th career strikeout last night against the Mighty Men. Clemens struck out eleven in six innings. Clemens also moved closer to win # 200 last night - he is now at 192 for his career

Monday Musings

Week One is now finished and there is a brand new This Week in the DMBL article going up tonight. Zane wraps up all the events this week in the DMBL. OmahaSteaks are out as the Batter of the Week sponsor...who is the new sponsor?

The Sugar Bears got off to a ridiculous start, but have seemingly come back down to earth. The Sugar Bears were swept in Hillsborough and have not broken the 10-run mark since Wednesday. Not that they have to. The Sugar Bears followed up their sweep by winning their doubleheader against D.C. Sunday and are now sitting comfortably in first place in the Hanover Division.

Meanwhile in the Morris Division, the Endzone Animals suffered their first loss to Team Buddah. The Animals are still sitting in first, but only by one game over the Falcons and two over the Iron Fist and Hired Hitmen. The Morris Division currently has the teams with best four records in the league. This prompted talk of realigning the divisions. The current divisions were first instituted in 1997 when the league expanded for the last time to 14 teams. Maybe the time is right for realignment in 2008?

Sardine City finally broke out of their slump. The Straphangers won their first victory in franchise history Saturday against the Falcons. The game had been delayed when the Arkansas janitor had locked the keys to the stadium in his car and it took seven hours for AAA to respond and get the keys out. Falcons owner Stump Matiash was irate. "If I had known I would have flown down a few boys from Newark to get the car opened." said Stump in a post-game interview. The Sardines won the game 11-3 and carried the momentum into their next series against Carolina, sweeping the Sunday doubleheader against the Cats. "I guess we were the better fish today" said Sardine City manager Bucky Dent.

New Jersey also won their first game, though it took them a little longer. The Buddahs faced a stiff challenge, facing the lone undefeated team in the league. The Endzone Animals already beat the Buddahs in game one and were poised to finish the sweep in game two. The Animals climbed out to an early 2-0 lead after four, but the Buddahs came back in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs off starter Matt Cain. The Animals tied it up in the sixth, but Team Buddah reclaimed the lead the next inning. It looked like they could wrap it up in the ninth, but closer Bob Wickman could not hold down the fort and we were off to extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Corey Patterson doubled in Adam Kennedy, giving Jersey a one-run lead. Wickman, who was still in the game, struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the 11th and Michael Cuddyer flew out to Austin Kearns to end the game and secured Team Buddah's first victory.

Almost forgot to mention - team park images and stats are now updated on all team pages.

Sugar Bears stymied (finally!)

Well, it finally happened, the Sugar Bears lost their first game and were held in check by Hillsborough rookie Justin Verlander. Verlander only surrendered two earned runs (3 total) in six innings and struck out five. This was Newark's first game against a formidable right-handed foe - yesterday Josh Beckett matchup didn't count).

Philly's Johan Santana had the best pitching line of the season so far. Santana pitched a complete game shutout of Las Vegas, surrendering only four hits, no walks and striking out 14 Rats. Santana improved to 2-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.13. Philly extended their undefeated record to 6-0.

Joining Philly in the ranks of the undefeated, Arkansas also got a good performance from veteran ace Roger Clemens. Clemens pitched eight innings against Sardine City, striking out eight and surrendering only two runs on four hits.

South Boston broke out of the winless column and edged the Sharks 5-4 behind Chris Carpenter's strong outing. The Gang got a big lift from struggling Vladimir Guerrero, who went 2-4 with a homer and four RBIs.

The first part of Marietta's Great Pitching Platoon Experiment was a dud yesterday as starter Mark Hendrickson was pounded by the Bushslappers. "It's only one game" said Hendrickson after he was pulled in the sixth inning. "Stupid Tomko is already talking shit." Brett Tomko is the other member of the home/away platoon.

Win some, lose some

Well two winless teams picked up their first victories yesterday and two undefeated teams suffered their first loss.

No, the Sugar Bears are still undefeated and back up to their old tricks. The Bears continued pounding away at the league, trouncing South Boston, 12-2. Javy Vazquez earned the victory, holding the Gang to only three hits over 6.1 innings - revenge factor?

D.C. and Hoboken each won their first games of the season. Both won by one run with D.C. going to extra innings to break their losing streak. Hoboken handed Hillsborough their first loss of the year. Meanwhile, Vancouver dropped their first in a close match with Marietta. There are three winless and three undefeated teams remaining and both new expansion teams are still in the hunt for their first win of the year.

Carolina's Juan Rivera gets the batting line of the night award. Rivera was 3-3 with 5 RBIs and 2 homers on the night, leading the Cats to a 12-3 pounding of the Rat Pack.

Marietta rookie Jeremy Sowers had the top pitching performance last night, holding the Iron Fist in check for eight innings, striking out seven and allowing only two runs on five hits.

Reyes of Sunshine

Las Vegas rookie Anthony Reyes put on an impressive showing last night against the Mudcats. Reyes carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning and ended up with a complete game, two-hit shutout of the 'Cats. Reyes struck out 7 and walked two. Bill Hall broke up the no-no leading off the ninth with a single up the middle.

There was an exciting game in Marietta, where Vancouver earned their third straight win - all by one run and two in extra innings. Vancouver jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead in the second by pounding the snot out of starter A.J. Burnett. Marietta started creeping back and eventually narrowed the score to 7-6, but Vancouver extended their lead to 11-6. The Mighty Men erupted in the eighth inning, scoring six runs off relievers Chris Britton and Billy Wagner. The Mighty Men were clinging to a 12-11 lead when they brought in their usually-reliable closer Mariano Rivera, but Mr. Clutch, Conor Jackson came through again and tied the game on a double in the gap. Finally in the bottom of the tenth, Jason Bay singled and Michael Young scored to win the game for the Fist.

As lucky as Vancouver has been, Team Buddah has been just the opposite. The dropped their third straight game, all one-run losses.

The Sugar Bears were held in check for the first time this season. And by "in check" I mean single digit scoring. The potent Newark lineup still put up eight runs against Dontrelle Willis and won the game to improve to 4-0. Michael Barrett hit a grand slam in the first inning to set the stage. Tomorrow the Bears face their first right hander of the season.

Two more waiver claims yesterday. Arkansas snagged Orlando Cabrera from Sardine City and Las Vegas grabbed a couple of middle relievers.

The Crunch with PUNCH

Yeah, that's right, all caps "PUNCH". The Sugar Bears kept mowing down the competition, this time it was the South Boston Gang by a 14-1 margin. That makes 47 runs scored in three games - an average of just over 15 runs a game! You can't blame this one on the home park, the Sugar Bears were on the road against rookie "I'm" Chuck James "biatch". Once again doing the damage, Manny Ramirez, 2-2 with 5 RBIs and 2 HRs. Manny is now batting .750 on the season with 4 HRs and 12 RBIs in three games. THREE GAMES! South Boston sends Dontrelle Willis to the mound today and he's got to be shaking in his boots. Maybe it's because the Sugar Bears have faced all left handed pitchers? Newark will face their first right hander Tuesday - South Boston's fifth starter Josh Beckett. Beckett hasn't had a lot of success in the DMBL - ok that's an understatement, the young hurler has been bombed in his DMBL career so far, so the first true test will be Wednesday against Hillsborough rookie Justin Verlander.

First overall draft pick Jered Weaver earned his first DMBL victory yesterday for Honolulu. While he gave up four runs in six innings, he did strike out five and only gave up four hits and two walks, so the Sharks coaching staff was encouraged by the outing. Three of the four runs were scored on Carl Crawford's two home runs.

The pitching line of the day goes to Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez, who shut down the Cutters in a 6-3 victory. Felix limited the Cutters to four hits and two walks over eight innings and struck out eight.

One lone transaction yesterday. Hillsborough claimed Julio Lugo from Arkansas and cut super scrub Willie Bloomquist.

Opening day notes

Well the big day finally came and the results of all that hard work is coming to fruition.

The Newark Sugar Bears came roaring out of the gates, destroying newcomer Sardine City 15-3 and 18-7 in their doubleheader. The Sugar Bears have scored more in their two games than the rest of the Hanover Division combined! The first game saw fan favorite and longtime Sugar Bear Randy Johnson start as a "treat" for the hometown faithful. Johnson pitched adequately, but the pressure wasn't really on when Manny Ramirez drove in 6 runs. Chien-Ming Wang, who started game two, deferred his start in game one. Management feels that Wang is their true #1 starter, but gave the start to Johnson because of his iconic status with the fans. Wang didn't have a good start in game two but was rescued by an outpouring of offense and shutdown performance by the Sugar Bear pen.

Meanwhile the other newcomer, Team Buddah, didn't fare much better, though they had some luck in their schedule - the Buddahs only played one game on Sunday. Team Buddah dropped their opener to the Rat Pack, despite rallying to tie the game twice in the latter innings. In the end, Mark Teixeira came through with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to win it for the Pack.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano continued his spring training excellence by striking out 8 in five and 1/3 innings against Hoboken.

Who had the most dominant start yesterday? Take your pick between Philly's Johan Santana and Arkansas Pedro Martinez. Santana mowed down the South Boston lineup, striking out 12 in 7 innings and surrendering only two runs. Meanwhile, the defending McDonald Award winner shut down the Bushslappers by allowing only one run in eight innings and striking out eight. Martinez outdueled rookie Anibal Sanchez, who pitched a complete game.

Lots of transactions to pour through over the weekend as final roster cuts were due. Las Vegas gave up on Gary Sheffield, despite protecting him, but the Rat Pack were already over their five man limit on inelligible players and Sheffield was the oldest of the group. Hillsborough broke up their Cordero Connection by releasing Francisco. Arkansas claimed second baseman Brandon Phillips from Carolina.

Finally the first injury of the season was to Marietta's Bengie Molina. Molina, who is in his sixth DMBL season, was visibly shaken after his first at-bat, a fly-out to center field. Jorge Posada is expected to take the bulk of the catching duties, and Molina may be placed on the DL.

Coming soon...

Well Sunday is the opener and the schedule has been posted. The two new teams both start off on the road, with New Jersey drawing the easier opponent (Las Vegas). Sardine City gets to open against the defending champions. There will be a doubleheader on Sunday so that means that the schedule dates will be immediately off. Check the schedule page to see what "game date" we're on and adjust accordingly on the team schedule pages.

Coming soon to the web site are Butch's Sims, a Draft Review by Mike and the Mad Dog, and hopefully the Swami's picks. The prediction columns should be up tonight and the Draft Review is coming as well.

Newark continued their cuts yesterday by releasing two of their Scotts (Schoeneweis and Downs). Apparently they only keep those who have only one "t" in their name (like Scot Shields). "We don't need any of their fancy, extraneous T's!" said GM/owner Butch Garretson. "That kind of excess is not tolerated in this clubhouse."

New Jersey also cut their roster down. Two of their protected players, Aaron Sele and Gustavo Chacin, were casualties. With more than half the teams still over 30 players, expect an enormous amount of cuts over the weekend.

Spring Training Wrapup: Pitchers

Arkansas claimed two players off the wire: rookie catcher Dioner Navarro, recently with Vancouver, and outfielder Xavier Nady, who was with D.C. Carolina shockingly released Endy Chavez, who was having a very strong spring (and made our list of top spring training performers yesterday).

Anyway, onto our top pitchers this spring.

Francisco Liriano, Marietta. Marietta gave up a lot to acquire the youngster, but Liriano proved that he was worth it (so far). Liriano was 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA. More importantly, Liriano only allowed 7.7 runners per 9 innings, and struck out 45 batters and allowed only 10 walks in 47.2 innings (4.5 K:BB).

Jeremy Sowers, Marietta. Liriano's teammate and another rookie pitcher slated to start the season in Marietta's rotation was 5-0 in spring training, with a 2.95 ERA. Sowers was not quite as dominant as Liriano though. Sowers only managed 9 Ks in 39.2 innings! Sowers' 1.18 WHIP is good, but will it last against real lineups?

Anibal Sanchez, D.C. This is starting to look like the rookie report. Hopefully Phil Plantier won't get jealous. Sanchez was 4-0 in the spring with a 1.73 ERA. Sanchez only allowed 8.9 R/9, but, like Sowers, he is a bit strikeout-averse. Sanchez only struck out 11 in his 36.1 innings of work, but he did only surrender one home run.

Ruddy Lugo, Newark. Another rookie, but this one's a reliever. Lugo was the second most used pitcher in Newark's pen (after Brandon Lyon). Lugo pitched 26 innings, but only allowed 20 baserunners while compiling a 1.04 ERA. It is not known who Newark will choose as their closer - Newark only had one save combined, with a mere 4 save opportunities (and half of those have been released when they cut ties with George Sherrill) - but Lugo may end up in the mix or at least be a valuable setup pitcher.

Brandon Webb, Philadelphia. Our first non-rookie! Webb has put together an impressive spring - 3-2, 1.15 ERA. Webb has compiled an impressive 0.97 WHIP and opponents have managed a meager .487 OPS against him.

Ervin Santana, Arkansas. The "other" Santana, Ervin was 2-0 with a 1.55 ERA in spring. He only allowed 17 hits in 29 innings of work, but he will need to get his walks down (15) if he wants to sustain any success in the regular season. Santana has most likely earned himself a spot as the fourth or fifth starter in the Falcons' rotation.

Felix Hernandez, Hillsborough. "King Felix" had a solid rookie campaign last year and seems to be building his way to another solid year this season. Hernandez put together a 4-1, 2.10 spring with 20 Ks in 30 innings. Pitching coach Brien Taylor expects Hernandez's strikeouts to increase during the season. "I've figured out a flaw in his mechanics" Taylor said. "I've instructed him to use a new delivery similar to the one that brought me success in my career."

Jeff Francis, Honolulu. Francis had very limited action last season, but looks poised to be a contributor this year. Francis was 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA this spring for the Sharks, but his peripheral numbers suggested a warning. Francis' K:BB ration was horrid: 8 Ks vs 13 BBs (0.6) and his 1.20 WHIP seemed to be a bit high for the ERA that he showed. Expect Francis' production to level out a little, but he should still be a valuable member of the Shark rotation.

Bob Wickman, New Jersey. The old dog still has some tricks up his sleeve. Wickman tied with Honolulu's Geoff Geary for the league lead in saves with 6. Wickman compiled an impressive 1.72 ERA in 15.2 innings of work. His 1.15 WHIP was solid, but Wickman did blow 2 saves in the spring. Will New Jersey have enough save chances for Wickman to make a run at the Eck?

Boof Bonser, Hoboken. We started with a rookie and we'll end with one. Bonser has been impressive for the Cutters this season - 3-0, 2.82. Bonser's more impressive stats are his 28 Ks, 7 BBs and 32 hits in 39.1 IP; a 1.02 WHIP, .586 OPS allowed, and a complete game shutout against Newark.

Well those are the top players this year. Tomorrow will be the final entry before opening day.

Spring Training Wrapup: Batters

It was a pretty quiet day yesterday on the transaction wire. Newark continued their daily cuts by letting Eric Hinske go. Vancouver also released Jose Bautista and Kiko Calero. More cuts are coming, hopefully they won't all come on Saturday at midnight.

Today I will take a look at the best performers in spring training.

Grady Sizemore, Carolina. We'll start with the obvious. Sizemore grabbed the trifecta in leading the league in batting average (.386), on-base perecentage (.432) and slugging (.771). Sizemore also finished with 6 homers, 15 RBIs and 16 runs scored.

Chris Coste, Arkansas. Coste may have sewn up the starting catcher gig in Arkansas with his brilliant spring. Coste was second in average (.369) and sixth in OBP (.393) and drove in 19 runs (tied for 8th). His competitor, Toby Hall, on the other hand, hit an uninspiring .182 in 22 at bats.

Ryan Howard, Hillsborough. Howard continued his excellence from last year. The Listach winner led all players with 9 homers and tied for sixth with 20 RBIs. Howard was seventh in OPS (.918) and third in runs created (21.6).

Endy Chavez, Carolina. Chavez had the longest hitting streak of the preseason (13 games) and ended up with a .356 average, 18 RBIs(!), and 12 runs scored. Chavez tied for the league lead in hits with 36. How Chavez will fit in with the Mudcats in the regular season is unknown, but most likely he has bought himself a good chance at a platoon role at least.

Justin Morneau, Arkansas. Morneau got off to a great start early in the preseason, with a 6-RBI game and a 7-RBI game in the first 10. That makes his league leading 29 RBIs seem somewhat fluky, but he still did have a good spring. Morneau finished with a .343 average (8th), 7 HRs (tied for 3rd), 17 runs (tied for 8th), a .408 OBP (5th), .571 Slugging (6th), and 26.2 runs created (1st).

Eric Byrnes, South Boston. Aside from having a great John Houseman name ("Did you hand in your assignment, Mr. Byrnes?"), Byrnes had a great spring for South Boston. Byrnes was second in the league in OPS (1.003), and also hit .321 with 6 HRs, 17 RBIs, 19 runs, 2 3Bs, .630 slugging, and 9.2 runs created/27. The South Boston outfield is crowded, but manager Sid Fernandez has assured Byrnes of at least a platoon role.

Ian Kinsler, Hoboken. The most impressive rookie this spring. Kinsler was fourth in batting average (.361) and 5th in slugging (.583). Kinsler also had 13 runs, 14, RBIs, 2 3Bs, 3 HRs, and a .390 OBP.

Corey Patterson, New Jersey. Patterson gets the Speed Demon Award for his league leading 10 stolen bases (actually tied with Juan Pierre, but with 1 less caught stealing), 18 runs, and 2 triples. But Patterson was also far less one-dimensional than Pierre. Patterson also drove in 19 RBIs, and hit 5 doubles and 3 homers. Now if only he could learn to take a walk...

Torii Hunter, Honolulu. Hunter had a surprising spring this year with 8 homers and 25 RBIs (both good for second in the league). His .250 average was mediocre, but you can't argue with those results.

Jacques Jones, New Jersey. Seems like Team Buddah's offense is ready for the season. Jones ended up third in OPS (.987). Jones also ended up with a .658 slugging (2nd), 20 RBIs (t6th), 6 HRs (t8th), a .304 average, 6 2Bs (t5th), and 2 3Bs. Jones is plagued by the same walk-o-phobia that his teammate suffers from.

Tomorrow we'll look at the pitchers.

Busy day

Yesterday was a heavy transaction day. The Newark Sugar Bears continued their two-a-day cuts by releasing Doug Mientkiewitzkyovichsteinburgarciaparra and George Sherrill. Vancouver cut David Dellucci, Josh Hancock, and Dioner Navarro. Navarro has already drawn interest on the waiver wire.

D.C. has signed backup catcher Eliezer Alfonzo and cut Xavier Nady. Starting catcher Ronny Paulino breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you" said a fatigued Paulino in the clubhouse after the game. Paulino was seen relaxing with a large chunk of ice on his knees after playing in the first 24 consecutive games.

Finally Carolina signed veteran second baseman Jose Vidro who was recently signed and released by Arkansas.

Meanwhile the final spring training games have finished. Marietta and Hillsborough finished with the best records in the league at 17-9. Las Vegas finished in last at 8-18 (only one win in their last 10!) followed closely by Vancouver at 9-17. Hoboken finished as the hottest team closing out the preseason, winning their last four and seven of their last nine. Hoboken scored the most runs in the preseason and Philadelphia surrendered the least.

Hoboken had the best offense in the league, scoring 148 runs and compiling a .793 OPS. Hillsborough led the league in homers with 35 and Arkansas topped the league in batting average with .280. Hillsborough and New Jersey swiped the most bases with 18 each.

Speaking of the new clubs, both put in respectable records in the pre-season. New Jersey finished slighly ahead with a 12-14 record and Sardine City was right behind at 11-15. Who knows, maybe we'll see a surprise this year, a la the 1993 Cheyenne Warhawks?

Finally, wrapping up the pre-season pitching... Philadelphia led the league with a 3.22 team ERA. Arkansas led the league in strikeouts (159). Hoboken led all bullpens with 8 saves. Marietta led the league in runners/9 innings (10.6) and D.C. led the league in WHIP (1.13). The Sugar Bears had the worst ERA (4.96).

Last day of Preseason games!

Today is the last day of preseason games. The regular season begins Sunday with an opening day double-header. Expect a week full of cuts and waiver wire claims. Also hopefully coming soon are the much anticipated Butch's Preseason Sims article. Maybe we'll see one from the Swami this year too, but we don't really know what that guy is up to. I'll do a spring training wrap-up this week, as well.

The Sugar Bears have already started their housecleaning and are making their cuts, little by little this week. Saturday they cut Russ Branyan and Jon Lieber, then Sunday they cut Tim Wakefield and Luke Hudson. Two castoffs have also been claimed over the weekend. Vancouver castoff Marcus Giles was signed by Las Vegas and Brandon Inge, formerly in Marietta's camp, was scooped up by Sardine City. More to come this week.

If you haven't already, I recommend signing up for the Yahoo DMBL Mirror League. You should have gotten an invite over the weekend from Butch. If you need the info again, send me an email. Every year, Butch sets up the Mirror League to track real life performances in our DMBL league. This will help you track your players stats for next year and help you decide whether you should still hold onto that 5th guy on your reserve list or if you should check the waiver wire for this year's Tuffy Rhodes.

First round of cuts

As the preseason winds down, several teams have started to make their cuts. Marietta let go of Gavin Floyd. Arkansas released several extra pitchers and two outfielders that they picked up only three days ago. Vancouver cut ties with Marcus Giles, a former Listach award winner. Only a few teams are at the 30-player limit, so expect more cuts in the next week.

Falcon catcher Chris Coste has gotten off to a hot start. Coste had a 4-5 day against Vegas yesterday and is now batting .386 on the preseason.

Speaking of the Arkansas-Vegas game, Falcon starter Ervin Santana pitched 10 solid innings, but ZERO strikeouts!! It's strange that a pitcher would go what amounts to a whole game without even one punchout, but it happened again. This time it was John Lackey against Arkansas. Nine innings, one run, but again, no strikeouts! It took Hoboken's Boof Bonser to show Lackey and Santana how it's done. Against Newark, Bonser pitched a complete game 2-hit shutout, with 11 Ks.

Only a few days after his last flirtation, Carolina's Rocco Baldelli again was one homer shy of the cycle! Baldelli was 3-4 with 3 RBIs against South Boston.

Some more pitching gems: DC's rookie hurler Anibel Sanchez pitched a complete game shutout, surrendering only 3 hits against Hillsborough. Philly's Brandon Webb pitched a 4-hit shutout of Vancouver.

New Jersey's Jack Wilson drove in 5 RBIs against fellow rookie team, Sardine City.

Liriano locks down his spot

Hillsborough's young phenom Felix Hernandez was rocked yesterday by Carolina. "King Felix" surrendered six runs on six hits and two homers and could not make it out of the first inning. Felix is still projected to make the rotation and could be in line for the season opener start.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano continued his masterful pitching and improved to 4-0 last night. Liriano shut down Hoboken, holding them to one run on four hits in eight innings. Liriano is now locked into a rotation spot and has been shut down for the rest of spring. Brandon McCarthy will get Liriano's next spot in the rotation.

Carolina's Juan Rivera smacked 2 homers with 5 RBI in a 3-5 night yesterday against Vancouver, a team that had previously drafted the outfielder.

Chris Young of Las Vegas put in an impressive outing yesterday against Team Buddah. Young pitched 8.1 innings of 2-hit ball. Young was acquired last season from D.C.

One lone cut yesterday: Hillsborough cut reliever Logan Kensing and signed infielder Neifi Perez. Kensing only pitched 1/3 of an inning for the Hitmen and only surrendered one walk. "That walk was enough for us though." said team owner Brent Campbell. "We can't have guys walking batters all over the place." Despite the fact that fellow reliever, Joe Nelson has seven walks in four innings pitched, Campbell attributed it to "bad luck". "I think that Campbell just really doesn't like Wolverine" said a disgruntled Kensing.

Another sign it's only spring training: last year's two DMBL World Series participants, Newark and Vancouver, are currently sitting in last place in their respective divisions.

Day of Almost Cycles

The Hoboken Cutters won twice in extra innings yesterday. This despite the defensive deficiency of Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez had one error in the first game and another two in the second, giving him nine errors on the pre-season. The Cutters plan on playing a few games of "pepper" before game time today, hopefully giving Ramirez a chance to improve. Teammate and longtime Cutter Geoff Jenkins said it might be the result of a practical joke gone wrong. "It's part of our rookie hazing" said Jenkins. "We put some sulfuric acid on the glove the first game and he burned his hand a little. I think he's a little afraid of his glove now...the big pussy."

Sardine City's Raul Ibanez was one single away from hitting for the cycle against Hillsborough. Ibanez hit a double in the second inning, flied out in the fourth, hit a triple in the sixth and homered in the eighth. "If I had known that, I wouldn't have flied out in my second atbat" said Ibanez. Meanwhile, Carolina's Rocco Baldelli also almost hit the cycle, but needed a slighly harder to achieve home run. However, Baldelli did go 4-4 in the game. Baldelli has been trying to return from injuries that kept him out all last year.

Marietta's Jim Thome hit two homers in his game against Philly. Thome is also trying to return from a season lost to injury last year.

Vancouver's Fernando Nieve turned in another impressive start yesterday against Newark. Nieve pitched eight innings and allowed only three hits and one unearned run. "If he keeps this up, we might have to find a place for him in the rotation" said manager Darren Daulton. Nieve is considered a longshot to make the final roster.

Hillsborough's Juan Pierre swiped three bases against Vancouver catcher Victor Martinez to take over the league lead in stolen bases with five. Pierre and several other Hitmen have been given the green light to run as often as they can.

Another impressive Marietta Mighty Man rookie pitcher: Jeremy Sowers turned in a complete game win against Las Vegas, surrendering only one run and seven hits, but no strikeouts.

A Jaret Wright vs. Josh Beckett pitchers' duel? Must be spring training.

Rookie pitchers impress

Revenge Factor Alert: Newark's Javier Valentin went 5-5 vs his former team, the Arkansas Golden Falcons.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano pitched a complete game against Carolina, and is now an impressive 3-0 in preseason. Marietta acquired the young hurler in the offseason from Las Vegas and is counting on the rookie to be their ace.

Sardine City's Andruw Jones had a big day against South Boston yesterday. Jones was 3-3 with 2 home runs against the Gang. Jones was the second player taken by Sardine City in the dispersal draft.

Hillsborough's John Lackey had some control problems against Newark but otherwise turned in a solid effort. Lackey walked eight batters in his seven innings of work, but only surrendered one run and four hits. "Everybody is trying to gain their command in the spring" said Lackey after the game.

Rookie Tom Gorzelanny was once again impressive for New Jersey. Gorzelanny pitched seven strong innings in a bid to make the team's starting rotation. So far he is 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA in the spring. Meanwhile, in the same game, Vancouver's Chad Billingsley worked his way out of a possible rotation spot. With fellow rookie Scott Olsen struggling, Billingsley has not taken advantage of the opening. "We feel that Chad will do better in AAA" said team pitching coach Dennis Eckersley. Billingsley's next turn in the rotation will be taken by Randy Wolf.

Newark and Arkansas made some roster shakeups yesterday. Newark released outfielder Ryan Church and rookie reliever Kurt Birkins to make room for a couple of middle relievers. Arkansas once again gave up on young shortstop Bobby Crosby. Arkansas had hoped that Crosby would be their shortstop of the future two years ago, but Crosby has not progressed as they had hoped. "We may yet see Crosby back in Falcon gold" said owner Stump Matiash, "but for now we need to go in a different direction."

Weekend Roundup

Arkansas' Justin Morneau is at it again. Saturday, Morneau went 3-3 with 7 RBIs in the second game against Marietta and now is leading the league with 18 RBIs. The Falcons also said good-bye to Corey Lidle, who struggled in his start Friday. Lidle complained of a "dead arm" and after pitching coach Bret Saberhagen determined that not only his arm was dead, Lidle was let go. Lidle was upset, citing the fact that Darryl Kile and Mike Darr got to play after they had expired, but perhaps Lidle will get another chance yet.

Hillsborough's Ryan Howard hit a pair of homers on Sunday to take the league lead with 7 homers. Howard, of course, is the reigning Pat Listach Rookie of the Year. Though a platoon guy last year, Howard figures to become a full timer this season after proving last year that he can handle DMBL pitching.

First round pick Joel Zumaya of New Jersey got both wins in Sunday's doubleheader.

Platooning Pitchers?

Marietta is experimenting with a pitching platoon today. Brett Tomko will start home games for Marietta and Mark Hendrickson starts the road games in the fifth spot in the rotation. Will it work? Has it been done before? Well there hasn't been any home/road platoon, but Vancouver tried a lefty/righty platoon a few years ago with mixed results. It's only spring training and there are teams that are using 6-man rotations and changing up their starters at will, so this is the time to experiment. It's hard to pull off a pitching platoon though because most teams lack the depth in pitching to successfully execute this plan. Whether Tomko/Hendrickson qualify as "depth" time will tell.

D.C. is actively shopping outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Soriano, now on his third team, is a great example of a hyped player that has not lived up to his name. Soriano burst onto the scene in 2002 with Stanhope as a second baseman. Last year, despite a .219 average, may have been his best year - 33 HRs and 82 RBIs. Soriano suffers from a low OBP (.272 career) and needs to learn some plate discipline before living up to his name. He's been working closely with hitting coach Howard Johnson and HoJo seems to think that this is Soriano's year. "I've been able to share some of the secrets that made me an OBP success in the Majors!" said HoJo.

Spring Opener Notes

Wednesday was a big day for the DMBL's newest franchises. Although they both dropped their opener, the two teams rebounded with a win in their second games.

Team Buddah was spanked by Hoboken in their first game, but shut down Marietta in game 2. Rookie pitcher Tom Gorzelanny pitched eight strong innings, surrendering two unearned runs and 5 hits. Ichiro Suzuki (2-4, 3RBI) and Preston Wilson (2-3, 2 RBI) were the hitting stars in game 2.

Meanwhile the Sardine City Straphangers were pounded by Honolulu 11-2 in their first game, but rebounded nicely in a 5-3 victory over Vancouver. Veteran Tom Glavine, a former Ironfister, pitched eight innings, while two more former Vancouver players, Andruw Jones and Ken Griffey each collected two hits.

All eyes were on Honolulu pitcher Jered Weaver in Sharks camp. The first overall pick gave up five runs in eight innings, but otherwise pitched well. "We're pretty happy with him" said Sharks pitching coach Randy Myers. "He had some jitters that he needed to work out. We expect more from him next time out."

Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia and Carolina's Roy Halladay each pitched complete game shutouts on opening day. "I think Roy's ready" said Carolina manager Lenny Dykstra.

Arkansas first baseman Justin Morneau collected six RBIs in his game against Philly and now has nine in two games. "I'm looking forward to collecting some steaks this year" said Morneau in reference to Zane Smith's hitter of the week award sponsor.