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 Just who is this Matt Joyce character that seems to be finding his way onto multiple DMBL rosters? Joyce, a DMBL rookie, was drafted in the 8th round of the 2009 draft by New Jersey (109th overall). Joyce didn't even make it to opening day. The Buddahs cut Joyce on March 13th, just before the season officially started. A few weeks later, Philadelphia traded away star outfielder Magglio Ordonez, leaving a void in their outfield. The Endzone Animals took a chance on the young Joyce, hoping he might compete with newly-acquired Fred Lewis for the spot. Well, he lost. Joyce only got into 4 games, getting one hit in five at bats with two strikeouts. Not that Lewis was doing any better at that point. Lewis was only hitting a mere .140 at the time, but the club liked his potential better, so Joyce was cut a week after getting signed. The move panned out for Philly too - Lewis is batting .343/.409/.485 since being acquired from Carolina. Two days later, Joyce was claimed by the powerhouse Sugar Bears. The Sugar Bears have a long legacy of turning no-names like Jack Cust, Mark DeRosa, and Frank Menechino into stars. Surely Matt Joyce would finally turn his season around. Well, no, it just wasn't happening in Newark. The club couldn't find a role for Joyce and he only saw one at bat in 6 games before being released less than a week later. It took 9 days for Joyce to latch onto his 4th team of the season. The Hoboken Cutters were hit with a pair of injuries that took out a couple of their starting outfielders. First Marlon Byrd, then Ryan Church landed on the DL. Joyce was passed over for Josh Willingham, but the Cutters decided to give him a chance after the second injury. All this time, Joyce just wanted a real chance to show what he could do. Sure enough, the Cutters put Joyce into the starting lineup and he's gotten 21 at bats so far with Hoboken. Unfortunately for Joyce, he's hitting a paltry .143 with a .280 on base percentage and .190 slugging. Church and Byrd are due back in about a week. The good news is that Joyce, as bad as he's been, is barely outhitting Willingham, so he may buy himself an extra day or two. The bad news is that he'll probably be let loose as soon as both outfielders are healthy. Will he latch onto a 5th team? Stay tuned...
The Sugar Bears are facing unfamiliar territory - a losing streak. The Sugar Bears have dropped four in a row with the latest, a 5-4 defeat to their divisional rivals, Las Vegas. The Sugar Bears could muster only 5 hits in the game, though the 4 walks probably helped a bit. It's the longest losing streak of the year for the Sugar Bears who suddenly find themselves 3 1/2 games out of 1st place. Meanwhile, the Mighty Men have taken full advantage, winning five straight and taking a 1-game lead in the Hanover. Team Buddah was the latest victim in a 4-2 contest. Scott Baker pitched 7.1 strong innings giving up 2 runs and 7 hits. Josh Hamilton was the offensive hero, going 4-5 with a home run. In the Morris Division, the Carolina Mudcats have regained the lead after beating the Sardines 4-2. Roy Halladay improved to 5-4 with a solid 8-inning performance, holding the Straphangers to 5 hits in the game. Halladay also had 7 strikeouts in the game, moving him past Chuck Finley to 19th all-time with 1172. Vernon Wells was 4-4 with 2 doubles in the contest. Meanwhile, the Hired Hitmen dropped a 10-6 decision to the Endzone Animals. David Bush was strong for 7 innings, giving up one run on 6 hits and Andre Ethier was 2-5 with 4 RBIs. The Hitmen tried to stage a comeback, scoring 5 runs in the 8th, but the bats went quiet in the 9th when Huston Street struck out the side.
Marietta won a 6-4 decision against Team Buddah and now holds a full one-game lead in the Hanover Division. Ryan Dempster held the Buddahs to 4 hits over 8 innings to collect his 4th win and Mariano Rivera clinched the 9th for his 11th save. Mike Jacobs was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in defeat. John Maine has now pitched 5 quality starts in a row and has won his last 4 decision to improve to 4-2 on the season with a respectable 4.33 ERA (consider it was 12.27 before his streak). Yesterday Maine pitched 8 innings, allowing only one earned run on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Dustin Pedroia was 3-3 in the contest for the Mudcats. Omar Infante was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in Vancouver's 6-2 victory over D.C. Zack Greinke went the distance, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits. Things are tightening up in the Morris Division. First-place Hillsborough was off yesterday, but Carolina's win put them just 1/2 game out of first. Vancouver moved to 2 1/2 games out with their victory and idle Philadelphia remained 4 games out in 4th place.
This week featured a pretty light schedule for most teams. Only two teams played every day this week - Marietta and Carolina - while other teams barely played at all - Blue Ridge only had 3 games this week. Some of the favorites for the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize were already mentioned in last week's Blog entries. Sentimental choice Ken Griffey had a good week for Vancouver, hitting .368 with a 1.113 OPS and a home run. We all read about the hot streak that Lance Berkman and David Wright had for Arkansas. Berkman was the clear winner between those two - .409/.480/.955 with 4 homers, 7 runs, and 10 RBIs, though most of that was done in two games. But this week's prize will go to D.C.'s Brian McCann who hit an astounding .435 with a .567 on base percentage and 1.130 slugging. He led the league with 5 home runs this week and scored 10 runs while driving in 8. Enjoy your Fonsecas, Brian! Other top batters this week: Carolina's Xavier Nady (.433/.419/.500), D.C.'s Dan Uggla (.381/.435/.905, 3 HR), Las Vegas' Joe Mauer (.464/.464/.679), Philly's Mark Teixeira (.368/.429/.684) and Sardine City's Conor Jackson (.375/.407/.583). We have to give a special acknowledgement to Jason Kubel who, although he only got into 3 games this week as a part-timer, hit 3 home runs in 7 at bats. Maybe we need to make a new award for Bench Guy of the Week? It was a close race for this week's pitcher prize, but Marietta's Mike Mussina gets the nod for this week's Weird Graves Pitcher of the Week Award. Moose won both his starts and holding his opponents to only 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks in 15 innings, while striking out 16 batters. He ends the week with a 1.80 ERA and 0.67 WHIP. His closest competition was Las Vegas' Josh Beckett, who also won both his starts, including a complete game shutout of Amityville. Beckett also struck out 15 batters in his 16 innings of work, but his 1.31 WHIP cost him the prize this week. Other top pitchers: Carolina's Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-0, 2.45 in 2 games) and Carlos Zambrano (1-0, 3.29, 11 K, in 13.2 IP), D.C.'s Jonathan Papelbon (1-0, save, 1.50 in 6 games), Marietta's Ervin Santana (1-0, 3.18, 16 K), and Hoboken's Aaron Cook (1-1, 3.00). Two more one-game wonders of note: Amityville's Roy Oswalt, who pitched a 4-hit shutout and Blue Ridge's Adam Wainwright, who pitched a 3-hitter.
Lance Berkman kept his hot streak alive with another home run today and 4 RBIs. David Wright is trying to keep pace with a homer and 2 RBIs as well. Both players have exploded the last two games and will compete over the weekend for a box of Fonsecas. Arkansas was getting blown out in last night's game by a 9-3 margin entering the bottom of the 8th, but Wright hit his 2-run homer to bring the team to within 4 runs. Then in the 9th, it all fell apart for D.C. Ray Durham led off with a single then Ty Wigginton was hit by a pitch. Martin Prado and Ryan Ludwick both walked. Then with the bases loaded, Berkman hit a mammoth shot over the right field wall to win the game for Arkansas. Adam Wainwright shut out the Iron Fist on 3 hits in a 4-0 win for Blue Ridge. Carl Crawford was 4-4 and Michael Young hit a homer and drove in 2 against his former club. Vancouver's offense has gone into a tailspin since David Ortiz was injured 4 days ago. Since then, the club has scored a total of 4 runs and has 25 hits in 4 games. The good news is that Ryan Doumit will rejoin the team today after being out for almost 3 weeks. The bad news is, the catchers were not the problem - Victor Martinez and Jeff Clement have combined to go 6 for 15 in the past 4 games (.400 average). Roy Oswalt pitched the day's other shutout - a 4-hit effort against Las Vegas. Oswalt struck out 9 Rats to improve to 4-3 in the 4-0 victory. The Sugar Bears rallied in the 9th to take a 6-5 decision against the Cutters. Jack Cust's 3-run homer gave the Sugar Bears just enough to overcome the deficit while Joey Devine pitched a 1-2-3 inning for his 7th save. With the Rats and Mighty Men both losing, the Sugar Bears are once again tied for 1st place in the Hanover Division.
Vancouver and Blue Ridge battled to a 1-0 final, with the Iron Fist taking the decision. Zack Greinke pitched 7.2 innings of 4-hit ball and striking out 7 to improve to 5-2 on the season. Billy Wagner picked up his 10th save. The lone run scored in the third when Chase Utley doubled in Curtis Granderson. Gavin Floyd was the hard-luck loser, pitching 8.1 innings and giving up 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. Carolina regained the lead in the Morris Division with a 5-4 win over Philadelphia. Xavier Nady was 2-3 with 3 RBIs, including the game sac fly in the 8th. Mark Reynolds was 3-3 for the Animals. Meanwhile, Hillsborough was stifled by Mike Mussina and the Mighty Men. Mussina pitched a complete game, giving up only 2 hits and one run while striking out 10. Felix Hernandez had 9 strikeouts in 5 innings on the losing end, but a pair of Ryan Theriot errors undid the team. New Jersey outlasted Sardine City 5-4, despite only getting 4 hits total in the game. The problem was the 7 walks issued by the Straphangers, including 4 by the team's bullpen. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched well (6.1 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 4 K) but got a no-decision. The Buddahs scored 4 runs in the eighth when the Sardine City bullpen walked three straight batters to load the bases then served up a spicy meatball to Mike Jacobs who deposited it into the right field bleachers. Lance Berkman's 3 home runs and 6 RBIs propelled the Falcons to a 9-7 victory over D.C. yesterday. David Wright also hit 2 homers in the contest. The two batters drove in all of Arkansas' 9 runs.
Josh Beckett pitched a complete game shutout of Amityville yesterday - a 10-hit, 8-strikeout effort en route to a 7-0 decision. Carlos Pena hit a 2-run homer in the third and Alex Gordon did the same in the fourth to propel the Rat Pack offense. Meanwhile, first-place Marietta fell into a tie with idle Newark for first place in the Hanover Division after dropping a 9-4 contest to Hillsborough. Ron Belliard was 3-5 and Billy Butler was 2-5 with 3 RBIs to lead the way for the Hitmen. Wandy Rodriguez earned his first victory of the season with a strong 6-inning effort. Hillsborough moves into first place, a half a game ahead of Carolina. The Mudcats dropped an extra-inning affair to fraternal rival Philadelphia. The Cats built up a quick 8-3 lead on the Animals, but Philly clawed their way back. A four-run 8th inning, highlighted by a 2-run Albert Pujols double, tied up the game. Pujols then came through again in the 10th when he hit the game winning single off reliever Buddy Carlyle. Dustin McGowan was smoked in the first few innings of his start against New Jersey yesterday, but the Sardines ended up with an 11-7 victory anyway. Conor Jackson was 2-3 with 5 RBIs and Ryan Braun had 3 RBIs to power the Straphangers.
Ken Griffey, Jr. made his return Sunday to Vancouver after a 7-year absence to fill in for the injured David Ortiz. Griffey had most of his best seasons in Vancouver from 1991-2002 including a 5-year stretch in which he hit at least 40 home runs. Despite allegations that the signing was just a gimmick to milk nostalgia for all it's worth, GM/owner Yaro Zajac asserted that Griffey was the best option out there to fill in for Ortiz. "The nostalgic factor is just the icing on the cake" Zajac said in a pre-game press conference. As for Griffey, the former outfielder shed a few tears when he took the mound in the team's black and copper uniforms. "I felt like I was in my 20s again" he said. Griffey went 1-3 in his first game back and then 1-2 in the second game of the doubleheader. Vancouver plans to keep Griffey in the DH role for the duration of his stint with the team, but a few late inning outfield appearances have not been ruled out. Joba Chamberlain and Daisuke Matsuzaka battled to a draw for 6.1 innings, but the Sardine City Straphangers took a nailbiter by a 2-1 margin. The Sardines took the lead in the 9th when B.J. Upton hit a triple that scored Miguel Montero from first. Taylor Buchholz pitched a 1-2-3 inning to record his 7th save. Yesterday was a bit of good news/bad news for the young Vols pitchers in the league. Amityville's Chris Volstad had a bit of an uneven performance against the Cutters but held on to get the win and even his record at 3-3. Volstad pitched 6.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Meanwhile, struggling Edinson Volquez pitched a solid 6 innings for Team Buddah, holding Marietta to 2 runs on 7 hits and striking out 6, but got a loss anyway. Volquez's statline on the season (1-6, 6.80) is ugly, but this has to be encouraging.
Aubrey Huff is having one hell of a comeback season. Huff hasn't had a full DMBL season since 2005 with Carolina. It looked likely that he was done as a full-timer, as he barely contributed in 2006 and 2007, totalling 46 at bats in the two seasons. But Hillsborough took a chance at what looked like a washed up veteran and gave him a part-time role last year. Although Huff only had 251 at bats with a .725 OPs, the Hitmen protected him for the 2009 season and soon Huff earned a full-time role again. And he's been tearing it up ever since. Huff currently leads the league in slugging (.732), runs (35), extra base hits (27), and is tied with Ryan Howard for the home run lead (14). He's already won Player of the Week honors once and has finished in the honorable mentions as well. This week he led all players in the statistical triple crown categories: average (.500), on base percentage (.567) and slugging (1.000). He also hit 3 home runs with 8 RBIs and 6 runs scored to capture his second JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week award. Hot on Huff's heels is Newark's J.D. Drew, who led the league with 5 home runs this week and 14 RBIs, and sported a hefty 1.416 OPS. If not for his weaker .387 batting average, Drew may have been smoking some Belinda Vintage Coronas instead of Huff. Other top batters this week: DC's Jose Reyes (.433/.469/.633, 3 stolen bases, 2 2Bs, 2 3Bs) and Carlos Beltran (.414/.414/.655), Carolina's Grady Sizemore (.500/.524/.900), Hoboken's trifecta of Blake DeWitt (.455/.538/.636), Mike Napoli (.423/.545/.808, 3 HRs), and Denard Span (.414/.469/.621), Las Vegas' Matt Holliday (.414/.471/.897, 10 runs, 9 RBI), Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.407/.448/.741, 3 HR, 7 RBI), Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins (.424/.441/.636, 10 R) and Albert Pujols (.387/.457/.774, 3 HR), and Vancouver's Victor Martinez (.450/.522/.800). With all that offense, you know that the pitchers were going to suffer this week. The pickings were slim for Pitcher of the Week candidates, but our esteemed panel decided to select Blue Ridge's Justin Duchscherer as this week's OffensiveParking Pitcher of the Week award. A big park of the Bombers' 5-game winning streak that propelled the team back into the mix, Duchscherer was 2-0 on the week with a 2.87 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 15.2 innings. Duchscherer, as you may remember, was the first round pick for Blue Ridge in this year's draft, but had gotten off to a rough start, losing his first three decisions and posting a 6.75 ERA after three starts. But since, the Duke seems to have straightened out the ship and now has a respectable 4.44 ERA and 3-4 record. Other pitchers of note this week: Jeremy Guthrie of Hoboken (1-1, 2.19, 0.97 WHIP), Ryan Dempster of Marietta (2-0, 2.19, 1.46 WHIP, 15 K), Scott Kazmir from Philadelphia (1-0, 3.46, 1.08 WHIP), and Las Vegas' Tim Lincecum (2-0, 3.65, 1.70 WHIP, 17 K).
Blue Ridge continued their hot streak, taking their fifth straight and sweeping Arkansas with an 8-6 win. The Falcons scored 6 runs in the first inning but the Bombers would not be deterred. The Bombers took the lead with a 5-run 4th inning that featured a 2-run Mark DeRosa home run. Neither starting pitcher lasted long. Gavin Floyd was chased in the first inning and the Falcons' Ricky Nolasco was ousted in the 4th, but the bullpens did the job. The two bullpens only gave up one run in their 12.2 innings combined - and that one earned run was given up by Jose Valverde, who left the game with an injury. Carl Crawford was 4-5 with 3 RBIs, missing the cycle for the second straight day by one home run. Jose Reyes was 5-5, leading his team to a 7-2 win over Vancouver. Reyes had a double and a triple, plus a stolen base in the contest. Oliver Perez held the Fist to only 2 hits over 6.2 innings, but he was wild, giving up 4 walks and 2 runs. In the game, Ryan Spilborghs' hitting streak came to an end - yes we got the death threats about jinxing him yesterday, thank you Chester M. in Tacoma. Amityville knocked off Hoboken 8-6 yesterday, perhaps basking in the positive glow of picking up outfielder Lastings Milledge off waivers from D.C. Milledge was 1-2 in the game, but the team said he brought something more to the game. "It's the intangibles that Milledge brings and a general positive outlook" said teammate Pat Burrell. Burrell was so inspired by Milledge's optimism that he hit a 3-run game winning home run yesterday. Newark took the rubber match of their series with Vegas yesterday, but it wasn't easy. The two teams battled it out for 14 innings, until Newark broke the 2-2 tie with a 4-run inning. Vegas tried to rally but could only score one more run - OK, the Sugar Bears practically gave it to them when Joey Devine walked two batters and then Scott Downs tossed a pitch in the dirt to score the lone run, but I digress.
Watch out for the Blue Ridge Bombers! Yesterday's 5-4 win over Arkansas was the team's 4th straight, bringing them to 3 games under the .500 mark. Edwin Encarnacion and Carl Crawford each had 3 hits. Crawford, in fact, only needed a home run to hit for the cycle. The club broke a tie with Arkansas to move into 5th place alone. Vancouver's Ryan Spilborghs was 2-4 yesterday, bringing his league-high hitting streak up to 14 games. Spilborghs, who is now batting .333 for the season, led the team to a 5-3 win over D.C. Jeff Clement and Jerry Hairston each were 2-3. The Fist suffered a blow though when starter Hiroki Kuroda, in only his second DMBL start, tripped over a blade of grass in the second inning. "They cut the honorable grass to high!" said Kuroda through an interpreter. This opens the door for the return of Vancouver legend Greg Maddux, who announced that this will be his final season in the DMBL. Maddux has already accepted a part-time role as pitching coach for the team. Denard Span and Mike Napoli each had 4 RBIs in an 11-2 clubbing of Amityville. Span hit a two-run double and Napoli capped the same inning off with a grand slam in a 4th inning that saw the Cutters score 7 runs. Jeremy Guthrie limited the Ant Slayers to 4 hits in 6 innings of work to even his record at 3-3. Las Vegas got revenge against Newark with a 9-3 victory, pounding Randy Johnson for 7 runs in 2.2 innings. Jeff Keppinger (3-5, 2 RBIs), Chris Davis (3-5, 2 homers, 3 RBIs) and Richie Sexson (3-4) led the Rat offensive and Tim Lincecum improved to 4-1. The Sugar Bears remained in a 2nd place tie with Marietta, who lost 6-5 to New Jersey, but both teams lost a game to the Rats in the standings.
Blue Ridge stole one away from the Falcons yesterday. The Falcons posted a quick 4-0 lead but the Bombers came back and knotted the game in the 5th. The Falcons took the lead again in the 8th when Lance Berkman doubled in Ray Durham. But Joakim Soria couldn't hold it down in the 9th. He started the inning with a walk and a single. A sac bunt put the runners in scoring position and pinch hitter Hunter Pence came through with a bloop into center field that scored both runners, giving the Bombers a 6-5 victory. Conor Jackson was 3-3 with 4 RBIs, including a triple, a homer and a stolen base to lead the Sardine City Straphangers to a 10-4 drubbing of Carolina. Evan Longoria also had 3 hits in the game and Alexei Ramirez was 2-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs. Cole Hamels evened his record at 3-3 with an 8-inning performance, limiting the Cats to 7 hits and one earned run. The Sugar Bears offense was firing on all cylinders in yesterday's blowout win against Las Vegas. J.D. Drew was 3-4 with 2 homers and 5 RBIs, Bobby Abreu also hit 2 homers, Chipper Jones went 3-5 with a measly one homer 2 RBI and Mike Fontenot (yesterday's goat) was also 3-5. In total, the Sugar Bears hit 8 home runs (and Vegas hit 4 in defeat) in the 16-9 victory. Scott Kazmir 2-hit the Hired Hitmen for 7 innings before giving way to Dan Wheeler, who preserved the 8-0, 2-hit shutout for the Endzone Animals. Kazmir struck out 8 Hitmen and walked 3. Albert Pujols was 4-5 with a homer and a double and 3 RBIs.
Yesterday was a very light day on the DMBL schedule with only three games on the docket. Vancouver took care of Hillsborough 10-3 to take the best of three series two games to one. Jeff Clement, in a rare start at DH, was 3-5 with 4 RBIs and Chase Utley was 3-5. Amazingly, the Iron Fist didn't hit a single home run in the game. Billy Wagner, for some insane reason, pitched 3.1 innings in relief, ceding one earned run and striking out 5. D.C. rallied to earn the victory against Philadelphia yesterday. With the score 7-4 in Philadelphia's favor going into the 8th, the O-Bombers scored three runs to tie it up. Dan Uggla and Jose Reyes both made key errors that led to a run that gave Philly the lead back. In the 9th, Jay Bruce led off with a solo home run to tie the game up at 8. Hideki Matsui then hit a 3-run home run to give D.C. an 11-8 lead. That left the 9th to automatic Jonathan Papelbon, who sent down the Endzone Animals in order for his 5th save. Matsui ended up 3-5 with 6 RBIs in the game. In the last game of the day Team Buddah and the Sugar Bears battled it out into extra innings. The Sugar Bears held a slim 5-4 lead in the 9th, but a Fernando Tatis sac fly tied the game up and sent it to OT. The Sugar Bears did nothing in the top of the 10th. Alfonso Soriano led off the bottom with a double then moved to third on a single by Casey Blake. Finally, Robinson Cano hit a weak dribbler to second base that Mike Fontenot tossed to first base to get the out - but the game was over! "I thought if I really impressed the ump with my fundamentals, he might not notice Soriano scoring" said Fontenot after the game.
It was a good week to be a Ramirez this week. Newark's Manny Ramirez had an outstanding week for the Sugar Bears, smacking 5 dingers to go with his .429 average and 13 RBIs and 9 runs. He might just have something to do with that 8-game winning streak the Sugar Bears have. Hoboken's Hanley Ramirez may have had an even better week - Hanley hit .520 with a .625 OBP and .960 slugging. He also scored 7 runs and hit 3 doubles and 2 homers. Those were both impressive lines, but we had to give this week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week honors to Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder. Fielder also hit 5 home runs this week, but batted .469 with a .541 on base percentage. He drove in 11 runs and scored 7. The other top candidate for hitting this week was Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.440/.548/.920, 4 HRs, 12 RBIs). Other top batters this week: Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez (.435/.552/.826 10 R), Vancouver's Ryan Spilborghs (.480/.533/.560), Hillsborough's Carlos Delgado (.355/.364/.774, 4 HR, 8 RBI), Las Vegas' Joe Mauer (.476/.571/.714) and Arkansas' Ryan Ludwick (.417/.440/1.000 4 HR, 7 RBI). This week's Omodern Pitcher of the Week prize goes to Tim Hudson of Carolina. Besides Monday's historic victory, Hudson had a very good week, going 1-0 witha 1.15 ERA and .083 WHIP. He ptiched in 15.2 innings and struckout 10. Hudson's main competition came from Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez, who's enjoying a great season. Felix went 2-0 to raise his season record to 5-1, with a 1.29 ERA and 0.93 WHIP this week. He also struck out 14 batters in 14 innings. Old Man Rivera keeps moving along - the future Hall of Famer saved three games and picked up a victory by pitching 5.1 perfect innings and striking out 7 for the Mighty Men. Other top pitchers: Newark's Chien-Ming Wang (2-0, 2.25, 0.56 WHIP) and Gil Meche (2-0, 2.84, 15 K), Philadelphia's Brandon Webb (2-0, 1.23), Marietta's Mike Mussina (2-0, 2.87, 1.09 WHIP), and Hoboken's Craig Breslow (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.19 WHIP in 5.1 IP).
C.C. Sabathia improved to 4-1 on the season with a victory over Blue Ridge yesterday. The Hitmen won their third straight to stay atop the Morris Division. Sabathia lasted 8 innings, striking out 9, and holding the Bombers to 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. Carolina kept pace, taking out the O-Bombers 5-1. Vernon Wells was 3-4 and Ben Molina had a 2-run homer to lead the Mudcat offense, while Daisuke Matsuzaka held D.C. to only 2 hits in his 5.2 innings of work, striking out 9 in the process. The news got worse for D.C. as third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was lost for almost two months due to injury. Team Buddah added insult to injury to the Cutters with a 6-3 victory. Mike Jacobs was 2-4 with 3 RBIs and Casey Blake hit a two-run homer that gave the Buddahs a 3-0 lead in the 4th. Hanley Ramirez was 3-3 in the team's defeat. Manny Ramirez hit a 3-run bomb to propel the Sugar Bears to a 6-3 victory over Sardine City. Ramirez singled in another run to give him 4 RBIs on the night. The Sugar Bears only had 7 hits in the contest, but they also walked 7 times. Newark starter Joe Saunders pitched 6 solid innings, giving up only one run. The Sugar Bears have now won 4 in a row. Philly edged Arkansas 6-5 yesterday behind Chris Young (2-3, 3 runs) and Jimmy Rollins (3-4, 2 RBIs). The Endzone Animals kept their transaction streak alive by cutting Aaron Miles and signing Kyle Davies.
 Stunning news as Hoboken Cutters farmhand Nick Adenhart was tragically killed in a car accident last night. Adenhart was leaving a minor league game in which he had a superb outing, but his hopes and dreams of reaching the DMBL are now over. The Cutters drafted Adenhart in the 6th round of the 2009 draft. R.I.P. Todd Wellemeyer and Roy Halladay dueled to a 1-0 final, with the O-Bombers ending the Mudcats' 5-game winning streak. Halladay went the distance in the loss, giving up 7 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 7. Wellemeyer didn't make it all the way through, but held the Cats to 6 hits in 8 innings. It was his first win of the season after losing his first 5 decisions. The lone run scored in the 3rd when Dan Uggle doubled in Jay Bruce. Derek Lowe shut out the Iron Fist on 6 hits last night, sending the defending champions careening out of first place and into third. The Rats only managed 7 hits, but still scored five runs to give Lowe all the run support he'd need. It didn't help that Fist starter Chad Billingsley walked 5 in 5.2 innings. Carlos Pena was the offensive hero, going 2-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. The third shutout of the night belonged to Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez. Hernandez, perhaps finally ready to fulfill some of that promise, pitched 6.1 innings, holding the Bombers to 3 hits and striking out 6. The Hitmen gave him plenty of run support - Aubrey Huff was 3-4 with his 11th home run and 3 RBIs to lead Hillsborough to a 9-0 victory. Philadelphia is now on a three day transaction streak. It all started Monday when the Animals cut Jeremy Affeldt and signed Jose Veras. The next day, the team felt they needed a bigger veteran presence and signed Ken Griffey and cut Matt Joyce. Yesterday, the club picked up Micah Owings and dumped Joe Blanton. Why? "Just for the heck of it" said club owner/GM Anthony Pucci. "I'm spinning the wheel to see who we can cut tomorrow!"
The Mudcats rolled right along with their 5th straight victory, moving into first place in the Morris Division. Carlos Delgado's fifth inning home run started a three-run rally that gave the Cats the lead en route to a 4-2 win over D.C. John Maine, acquired from Philadelphia who acquired Maine from D.C. before the season started, earned his first win of the year with a solid 7 inning, 4-hit effort. Maine had been a disaster in his previous starts for Philly and Carolina - he had a 12.27 ERA entering the game, but lowered it to a still horrible, but less ghastly, 7.20 after Tuesday's start. Carolina managed to take first because Vancouver lost another nailbiter to Las Vegas 7-6. The Fist actually got off to a 5-1 lead after three innings, but Vegas had a huge 4-run 6th inning to tie it up. Joe Mauer hit a solo homer in the 7th to give the Rats a 6-5 lead, then scored an insurance run in the 8th. They ended up needing that insurance because Vancouver got back another run in the 9th, but Adam LaRoche struck out with runners on base to end the game. Hoboken and New Jersey battled it out for 11 innings yesterday, with the Cutters finagling a 9-8 win after the dust cleared. The Cutters busted out with a 5-0 lead after 3 and then extended it to 7-3. But the Buddahs battled back in the 8th, scoring 4 runs, highlighted by a 3-run Mike Jacobs home run. David DeJesus gave the Buddahs the lead in the 9th with a solo home run, but Mike Napoli answered him back with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. Finally in the 11th, Marlon Byrd hit a walkoff home run to win the game and stave off humiliation for the Cutters. DeJesus missed hitting for the cycle in the game by a double, going 4-6 with 2 singles. DeJesus said he would have tried to stretch the second single into a double, but his shoelace was untied. The Sugar Bears scored 8 runs in the first inning against the Sardine City Straphangers, but were lucky to escape with a victory. Little by little, the Sardines battled back, making it a 9-4 game entering the ninth. Ryan Braun hit a three-run homer to make the score 9-7 but it was too little too late. The rest of the team went down in order to end the game.
Tim Hudson pitched 7.2 shutout innings en route to a 5-0 win over the O-Bombers. The win, Hudson's 102nd in his career, moved him past Brad Radke to 14th overall. Hudson held D.C. to only 4 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 5. Carolina now owns the longest winning streak in the league at 4 games. A.J. Burnett outduelled Zack Greinke to take a 3-2 decision against Vancouver yesterday. The showdown of the two division leaders was decided by a 2-run Matt Holliday homer in the third inning. Vancouver made it interesting when pinch hitter Jeff Clement hit a home run in his DMBL debut to make it a one-run game, but Chase Utley struck out with 2 runners on base to end the game. Las Vegas won the game despite being outhit 9-5 in the game. Last season's One-run Wonders are now 4-1 in one-run games. Hillsborough dropped their third straight, a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Gavin Floyd and the Blue Ridge Bombers. Michael Young was 4-5 and Nate McLouth and Prince Fielder were each 3-5 to lead the Bomber offense. Floyd went the distance, holding the Hitmen to 8 hits and striking out 7. Hillsborough remains only one game out of first, but fell to third place in the Morris Division, lept over by Carolina.
For the first week this season, the top batter decision wasn't so easy to make. There weren't too many eye-popping numbers to choose from this week - at least not all on the same player's stat line. We're just going to toss a dart at the board and pick Arkansas' Lance Berkman as this week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week. Berkman led the league with a .536 batting average and .581 on base percentage. He was second in slugging (.821) and also scored 7 runs and drove in 7. Hi stop competition this week was Hoboken's Hank Blalock, who was the leader in slugging (.840), but with a .360 average and .429 on base. Blalock did have 11 RBIs and 3 homers this week. The top home run hitter was Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera (4), but his other numbers were ordinary (.323 OBP, 7 R, 7 RBI). D.C.'s Jose Reyes had a good week as well, hitting .406/.432/.625 with 3 doubles and 2 triples, plus 7 RBIs and 6 runs. Albert Pujols led the league with 12 RBIs while hitting .462/.559/.769 with 5 doubles. Some part timers were solid in limited action - Hillsborough's Ron Belliard (7-11 .636, HR, 2B, 5 RBI), Vancouver's Adam LaRoche (.400/.478/.750) and Sardine City's Lyle Overbay (.500/.529/.563). This week's top hurler is a tossup as well. We'll stick with the faithful dart and take aim at Las Vegas, which features our top two contenders. On one side we have Tim Lincecum who was 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings. Lincecum struck out 12 and had a WHIP of 1.06. Sounds pretty good, huh? Well hold on a second. His teammate Derek Lowe was also 2-0 with a slightly higher 1.80 ERA in 15 innings. Lowe had the lower WHIP at 0.87, but only struck out a measly 4 batters. Well we all know that chicks dig a strikeout so we'll give our Fantasy Darts Competition Pitcher of the Week Award to Timmy and better luck next time, Derek. Some others that had a shot at the golden dartboard were Marietta's Scott Baker (1-1, 1.93, 1.00 WHIP) and Blue Ridge's Justin Duchscherer (1-1, 1.15, 0.77 WHIP). Top relievers this week included Jonathan Papelbon of D.C. (save, 0.00 ERA in 5 IP, 6 K), Octavio Dotel of Philadelphia (2 saves, 0.00 ERA in 3 G, 9 K in 4.2 IP) and Hoboken's Craig Breslow (1-0, 2.70, 0.90 WHIP in 6.2 IP).
Another backstop went down yesterday, as New Jersey's Jason Varitek will miss most of the next week to recover from a rabid squirrel attack. Teammate J.C. Romero thought it would make a great April Fool's prank if he released the rodent in the locker room, but the prank turned into a nightmare when the squirrel started foaming at the mouth and went after Varitek. Varitek becomes the fourth catcher to hit the injury list. We all remember Chris Ianetta's incident from a week or so ago. He's been joined by Las Vegas' Chris Coste - also out around a month - and Sardine City's Miguel Montero. All these ailments have been a boon for the league's castoffs - the much-traveled Jason Kendall and Yorvit Torrealba have now found jobs with Blue Ridge and Sardine City, respectively, while Las Vegas proudly welcomed John Buck back aboard. Will New Jersey turn to the likes of Kenji Johjima or Gregg Zaun? Or will the Buddah just try to tough out the loss until Varitek can return? Newark escaped a close one in Blue Ridge yesterday, outlasting the Bombers in extra innings. With the game tied up at 5 in the late innings, Carl Crawford hit an RBI single to give Blue Ridge a one-run lead. But the Bombers gave up a 9th inning leadoff home run to Jack Cust to send the game to extra innings. The teams' bullpens battled it out for four innings but Blue Ridge finally fell in the 14th when Asdrubal Cabrera lined a single up the middle to score J.D. Drew. The Mighty Men manhandled Jake Peavy and the Iron Fist yesterday, scoring 6 runs against the defending Ben McDonald winner and chasing him in the second inning. The Mighty Men would tack on two more runs to take an 8-3 decision. Brian Giles and Kevin Youkilis each had 3 RBIs and Giles and Derek Jeter had 3 hits apiece.
Great pitcher's duel yesterday in Marietta. Vancouver's Zack Greinke took on the Mighty Men's Ervin Santana, emerging as the victor in yesterday's 1-0 blanking. Greinke went the distance, limiting the Mighty Men to only 3 hits and striking out 10. Meanwhile, Santana was chased after 7, despite only giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and one run. Santana struck out 8. The lone run scored when Troy Glaus hit a single with two runners on in the 5th. The damage could have been much worse - Santana got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning. How are those new additions working out in Carolina and Philly? Well the Mudcats got off to a good start, outlasting the Rat Pack in 10 innings, 3-2. No help from Magglio Ordonez though - 0-5 on the night. Philadelphia, meanwhile, was crushed by Amityville, and falling into last place overall. Fred Lewis didn't make an immediate impact either (0-3), but free agent signee Matt Joyce got a hit in his lone at bat. Greinke's wasn't the only shutout yesterday. D.C. stymied the Straphangers 2-0 behind John Lannan. Lannan didn't quite make it the full 9 - he ceded the last out to reliever Ramon Ramirez - but he was impressive, allowing only 2 hits and 3 walks, while punching out 5. Banged up Sardine City got two of their three hits from replacement catcher Brandon Inge, who is covering for the injured Miguel Montero.
Yesterday the offensive juggernaut known as the Sugar Bears returned to form, blasting the Blue Ridge Bombers 33-2. The 33 runs scored ties the league record set by the Sugar Bears in 2001. Jason Giambi was 6-6 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs and Jack Cust walked 5 times and scored 5 times. Pitcher Gil Meche pitched 7 shutout innings before giving up 4 runs late in the game. Also in the game, catcher Miguel Olivo was 4-6, Matt Stairs was 3-4 with 2 home runs and Nick Swisher hit two pinch hit home runs - one as he pinch hit for Manny Ramirez in the 5th and another when he pinch hit again in the 8th. Manny Delcarmen entered in the 8th inning and struck out 8 batters in his 2 innings of work. "Ha, they thought we needed the custom stadium to wreak havoc on the league" said manager Don Mattingly after the game. "Well take that!" Meanwhile, Arkansas and Hillsborough have worked out yet another deal yesterday. Arkansas reacquired C.C. Sabathia and Dan Haren along with Ryan Howard in exchange for Cristian Guzman, J.J. Hardy, Jeremy Bonderman, and Ian Snell plus the Falcons 6th and 7th picks in 2010 and their 13th in 2011. The Falcons noted that they are not done dealing yet and are entertaining a few interesting offers from Hillsborough that could "put them over the top". Yesterday's intense debate on the Ning brought to light a few issues that will be resolved in the next few weeks. The DMBL High Council is discussing all the factors involved and trying to find the best resolution for the latest dispute. Sure we all thought that Sardine City's response was out of line and that Philadelphia's "suggestion" was inappropriate, but we need to discuss this in a rational and mature way.
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