Streaks and Swoons

As we head toward the end of the first half, the men are starting to separate from the boys. There's just a handful of games left before the All-Star Break -- probably not enough to drop down the six teams at the top of the standings or move up the six at the bottom. There's just two teams hoping that a hot streak will propel them over the .500 mark at the end of the half.

It's been an interesting first half for the Philadelphia Endzone Animals. After going 4-10 to start the season, the Animals roared back into contention, going 34-21 (.618 W%) over the next six weeks. But recently the Animals have fallen on hard times, losing eight out of their last nine, including six in a row. Tonight's 7-4 loss to the Newark Sugar Bears dropped the Animals to .500 at 39-39, 2 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot. Chipper Jones led the way for Newark, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and a stolen base. The Sugar Bears will be looking for the four-game sweep tomorrow.

It doesn't get any easier after that for the Animals -- after Newark, they close out the first half with a three-game series in Georgia against the first place Marietta Mighty Men. The Mites are the hottest team in baseball right now -- their 8-6 win over the Carolina Mudcats was their fifth straight win. Ervin Santana picked up the win despite allowing 13 hits, 5 walks and 5 earned runs in 6 innings.

With the win, the Mighty Men remain a game ahead of the Sugar Bears for the Hanover Division lead (and the league's best record). Also keeping pace, 2 games behind Marietta, were the las Vegas Rat Pack, who put away the D.C. O-Bombers by a score of 5-1. Las Vegas's Tim Lincecum was dominant, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 11 in 8.0 innings pitched. He's now 10-1 on the season.

Carolina's loss opened the door for the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen, who are now just a half-game out of first in the Morris Division after a wild 10-9 win over last place New Jersey Team Buddah. The Buddahs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the 2nd, only to watch the Hitmen come back with 3 runs in the 3rd; the Buddahs picked up 3 more in the 5th, but then the Hitmen scored 2 in the 6th and 5 in the 7th to finally take the lead, 10-7. But the Buddahs cut the lead to one on a two-run shot by Ian Stewart -- his second home run and 6th and 7th RBIs on the game. But Mike Gonzalez struck out David DeJesus to finally end the game and give the Hitmen the victory.

The Vancouver Iron Fist, meanwhile, are heading in the opposite direction as they dropped their second in a row, a 3-1 loss to the Hoboken Cutters. The Iron Fist are now 4 games out of the Morris Division lead and remain 2 1/2 games ahead of Philly for the final wildcard berth.

The Arkansas Golden Falcons failed to take advantage of the losses by Vancouver and Philadelphia and remain in 8th place, 3 games out of the playoffs, after a 2-0 loss to the Amityville Ant Slayers. Amityville's Jon Lester gave up 10 hits and a walk but escaped from every jam with the help of some outstanding defense -- the Ant Slayers turned four double plays and didn't commit an error. Arkansas's Ricky Nolasco was the tough-luck loser.

Today's final game was between two teams still trying to get back to .500 -- the Blue Ridge Bombers and the Sardine City Straphangers. The Hangmen had been hot recently, having won four in a row and seven out of their last nine, but couldn't recover after a seven-run 3rd inning by the Bombers capped by a grand slam by Mark DeRosa.

If you're waiting 'til the last minute to vote for your All-Stars... this is the last minute! The results will be announced early next week. So fill out your ballot before it's too late! If you're not sure who to vote for, check out the write-ups of the batting candidates and pitching candidates.

Vancouver, Sardine City, rally to victory

Vancouver won their 4th in a row by rallying from a 6-0 deficit to defeat Hoboken 7-6. The Cutters jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the third inning, but their bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Troy Glaus dealt the final nail in the coffin with a 2-run double in the 8th inning that gave Vancouver the lead. Billy Wagner finished the 9th for his 14th save. For Hoboken, Mike Napoli went 3-4 with a homer run and 3 RBIs.

Another comeback story last night was Sardine City's extra-inning affair with Blue Ridge. The Bombers jumped out to a 9-4 lead by the end of the 4th inning, but a 3-run 8th inning put the Sardines within one run of the Bombers. In the 9th, Evan Longoria lined a double to tie the game. In the top of the 10th Stephen Drew hit a solo homer to give the Sardines the lead. Carl Crawford led off the 10th with a single for Blue Ridge, but was picked off by pitcher Brandon Morrow. "He fell for the old untied shoelace trick" said Sardine City first baseman Lyle Overbay.

Chien-Ming Wang became the league's first 10-game winner in a 7-1 defeat of Philly yesterday. Wang pitched 7.1 innings and gave up only one unearned run on 5 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 8.

All-Star 2009: Meet The Pitchers!

Remember, it's time to vote for the DMBL 2009 All-Stars. A couple days ago we looked at the interesting batters on the ballot; now we'll go over the starting pitchers and relievers. Remember, you can vote for whoever you want. The important thing is that you vote!

Morris Starting Pitchers
Despite an 8-7 record, Carolina's Roy Halladay has to be considered the favorite to start the game for the Morris Division. The veteran leads the DMBL in ERA (2.95) and R/9 (9.5), and is tied for the league lead in QS (12) and QS% (.800). Doc's 7 losses are really a reflection on how deep he pitches into games -- he leads the league in decisions (15), complete games (7) and innings pitched (119.0), and in fact, his 8 wins are tied for the Morris Division lead. The problem is the Mudcats score him just 3.7 runs per start, which gives him very little margin for error. Compare that to his teammate, Daisuke Matsuzaka -- he has an 8-2 record because the team averages 4.7 runs in each of his starts. But Dice-K has certainly earned his way to the All-Star Game as well. He leads the league in batting average allowed (.166) and slugging percentage allowed (.317), leads the Morris Division in Ks (101) and is tied for the division lead in wins (8), and is 2nd in the division in ERA (3.15), W% (.800), and 4th in R/9 (10.2).

Another strong candidate is Vancouver's Zack Greinke (8-4, 3.50 ERA, 10.5 R/9). The 25-year-old right-hander is among the league leaders in wins (tied for 4th), R/9 (tied for 7th), ERA (tied for 8th), plus he's 3rd in complete games (4), 5th in innings (108.0) and 7th in OPS allowed (.678). The voters also should check out Arkansas's Cliff Lee (7-5, 3.62 ERA, 9.8 R/9), who leads the league with a 5.7 K:BB ratio and is tied for 3rd with a .733 QS%; Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia (6-5, 4.32 ERA, 11.6 R/9), who has 97 K in 106 IP; Philly's Shaun Marcum (6-5, 3.50 ERA, 9.8 R/9, .670 QS%), who is tied for second in both R/9 and IP (110.2); and Vancouver's Ben Sheets (7-3, 3.88 ERA, 11.3 R/9), who is tied for 7th in W% (.700).

Veteran's Day? Vancouver's Greg Maddux has made no secret that this will be his final DMBL season. Will the voters send him out an All-Star? Maddux, who finally decided to come back after contemplating retirement all off-season, had to tune up in extended spring training and missed the first month of the season. Since he's been back, he's been vintage Mad Dog -- 3.29 ERA, 10.0 R/9, and 6 quality starts and 3 complete games in his eight starts. His 5.7 K:BB ratio would be tied for best in the league if he had enough innings to qualify -- but that brings up another point, starters with 3-2 records and 52 innings pitched usually don't make it to the All-Star Game. We'll see what the voters think.

Don't Forget: Blue Ridge's Justin Duchscherer (7-6, 4.06 ERA, 10.8 R/9), who returns to the DMBL after missing all of last season with a hip injury. The former reliever has been converted into a starter and so far has largely avoided the injury bug. There's also Blue Ridge's Adam Wainwright (3-5, 4.19 ERA, 11.4 R/9); Carolina's Tim Hudson (6-4, 4.29 ERA, 11.0 R/9) and Carlos Zambrano (8-5, 3.63 ERA, 13.4 R/9); Philly's Brandon Webb (8-6, 3.57 ERA, 11.8 R/9); and Vancouver's Chad Billingsley (5-5, 3.71 ERA, 11.4 R/9).

Not This Year: A few fan favorites might get some votes, but their first half numbers don't warrant All-Star status: Arkansas's Johann Santana (4-7, 6.57 ERA, 15.8 R/9); D.C.'s Erik Bedard (6-6, 4.60 ERA, 13.9 R/9); Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez (6-5, 5.20 ERA, 14.2 R/9); Philly's Scott Kazmir (5-3, 5.53 ERA, 12.4 R/9); and Vancouver's Jake Peavy (5-4, 4.77 ERA, 13.1 R/9).

Hanover Starting Pitchers
Las Vegas's Josh Beckett (6-3, 2.96 ERA, 10.5 R/9) will likely be this year's starter for the Hanover Division. Beckett's 2.96 ERA ranks only behind Halladay (2.95) for the DMBL lead, and he's tied for the DMBL lead in shutouts (2), quality starts (12) and QS% (.800); he leads the Hanover Division in H/9 (7.5), is 2nd in the division in OPS allowed (.664), and is 3rd in the division in R/9.

Who should join him in the Hanover rotation? Teammate Tim Lincecum (9-1, 3.35 ERA, 12.2 R/9) leads the league in W% (.900) and is tied for second for the league lead in wins; he's tied for 3rd in QS (11) and QS% (.733), is 4th in Ks (109), and is tied for 6th in K/9 (9.4)... Hoboken's Jeremy Guthrie's 7-6 record isn't too notable -- until you remember he plays for the 11th place Cutters! His .538 W% is exactly 100 points better than his team's. He's 5th in ERA (3.30), tied for 5th in R/9 (10.4), tied for 3rd in H/9 (7.6), and is tied for 3rd in QS (11) and QS% (.733). His .663 OPS allowed is best in the Hanover Division and 3rd in the league... There's also Newark's Chien-Ming Wang (10-2, 3.51 ERA, 11.4 R/9), leads the league in wins and ranks 3rd in W% (.833) and leads the Hanover Division in innings pitched (118.0).

Young Guns: Sardine City rookie Joba Chamberlain may have a losing record (5-6), but that's for the 31-43 Straphangers. The rookie leads the league in K/9 (11.3) and ranks 4th in ERA (3.19), 3rd in Ks (110), 3rd in SLG allowed (.359), tied for 3rd in HR/9 (0.6), 8th in OPS (.685), tied for 9th in QS (9) and tied for 10th in QS% (.600). Other youngsters of note include Amityville's Chris Volstad (6-4, 4.35 ERA, 13.4 R/9); Hoboken's Matt Garza (7-5, 3.70 ERA, 12.7 R/9); Marietta's Ervin Santana (8-6, 3.33 ERA, 10.7 R/9, .670 QS%);

Left Out? It's not any easier for southpaws in the Hanover Division. This year only a handful put up solid numbers over the first half, led by Sardine City's Cole Hamels. The 25-year-old is 7-7 but with a 3.81 ERA, 10.4 R/9, and .600 QS%. There's also Amityville's Jon Lester (5-5, 3.84 ERA, 11.6 R/9, .600 QS%); Marietta's Jon Danks (8-2, 4.63 ERA, 13.7 R/9); and Newark's Joe Saunders (7-5, 4.20 ERA, 13.5 R/9). Hoboken rookie Clayton Kershaw (2-2, 3.41 ERA, 14.6 R/9) has had mixed success (15 BB, 30 K in 29 IP), and with only 5 starts this season, might not make his All-Star debut until next year.

Don't Forget: Amityville's Roy Oswalt (8-4, 4.60 ERA, 11.4 R/9); Las Vegas's A.J. Burnett (7-3, 4.12 ERA, 11.9 R/9), Rich Harden (6-5, 3.61 ERA, 11.9 R/9); and Marietta's Mike Mussina (9-4, 4.40 ERA, 12.9 R/9)

Not This Year: Some big-name hurlers will likely get a three-day vacation during the All-Star Break, including New Jersey's Edinson Volquez (3-7, 5.65 ERA, 15.1 R/9); Marietta's Ryan Dempster (4-5, 5.00 ERA, 15.3 R/9); New Jersey's Andy Pettitte (2-10, 7.67 ERA, 17.5 R/9); and Newark's James Shields (5-5, 6.41 ERA, 14.7 R/9).

Morris Relief Pitchers
Is it a fluke, or a trend? Three of the top closers in the Morris Division are southpaws this season. Carolina's Brian Fuentes (2-1, 14 SV, 2.04 ERA, 11.3 R/9) is tied for the league lead in saves and leads the Morris Division in relief points with 26; he's also struck out 46 batters in 35 innings for an astounding 12.0 K/9, and has stranded all but 3 of his 20 inherited runners (.150 IR%). Hillsborough's Mike Gonzalez (1-0, 12 SV, 3.16 ERA, 9.3 R/9) also is having a great year, with 37 Ks and just 8 walks in 31 innings; Vancouver's Billy Wagner (1-4, 13 SV, 2.88 ERA, 12.4 R/9) is still getting it done, with 39 Ks in 34 IP.

Right On! There are some right-handed closers too, of course, with the best in the Morris being D.C.'s Jonathan Papelbon (1-3, 8 SV, 3.42 ERA, 10.4 R/9) and Philly's Huston Street (3-2, 7 SV, 3.03 ERA, 9.2 R/9). It wasn't such a great first half for Arkansas's Joakim Soria (2-3, 12 SV, 6.10 ERA, 12.8 R/9) or Blue Ridge's Francisco Rodriguez (1-0, 11 SV, 4.18 ERA, 13.5 R/9).

Strong Up The Middle: Closers get all the glory, but some of the best bullpen work is done by the guys who get the tough outs in the 7th and 8th innings, including D.C.'s Arthur Rhodes (3-0, 0 SV, 2 holds, 2.15 ERA, 9.3 R/9), who has apparently found the fountain of youth in D.C.; the 39-year-old has struck out 39 batters in 29 innings while walking just 6. There's also Arkansas's Kerry Wood (3-3, 1 SV, 9 holds, 2.64 ERA, 13.5 R/9); Carolina's Edwar Ramirez (3-1, 1 SV, 7 holds, 2.90 ERA, 10.5 R/9); Hillsborough's Jose Arredondo (6-1, 2 SV, 7 holds, 1.91 ERA, 10.3 R/9); Philly's Dan Wheeler (0-0, 3 SV, 1 hold, 3.60 ERA, 9.8 R/9); and Vancouver's Cory Wade (3-0, 1 SV, 3 holds, 2.75 ERA, 8.5 R/9)

Hanover Relief Pitchers
The Hanover Division appears to have the upper hand when it comes to relief pitching. Leading the way is veteran closer Mariano Rivera (4-0, 14 SV, 1.82 ERA, 4.6 R/9). Marietta's Mo leads the league in relief points (34), is tied for the league lead in saves (14), and is second in save percentage (.875), and he's struck out 35 batters in 29 innings -- while walking just 2! Even more impressive, he's inherited 17 runners, but has yet to allow one to score. Newark's Joey Devine (2-1, 13 SV, 2.10 ERA, 11.1 R/9, .125 IR%) and Sardine City's Taylor Buchholz (3-1, 10 SV, 2.93 ERA, 7.7 R/9, 0.100 IR%) have also been outstanding. But the division's other closers haven't been as strong -- Las Vegas's Brian Shouse (1-2, 9 SV, 2.84 ERA, 11.3 R/9) and New Jersey's Bobby Jenks (2-3, 10 SV, 3.67 ERA, 11.8 R/9) have been solid but not lights out, while Amityville's Heath Bell (1-3, 10 SV, 5.12 ERA, 13.9 R/9) and Hoboken's Takashi Saito (0-3, 9 SV, 5.12 ERA, 15.1 R/9) have caused a lot of heartburn.

Set 'Em Up: The Hanover Division has a number of outstanding set up men, led by Newark's Brian Bruney (3-1, 2 SV, 9 holds, 2.14 ERA, 8.8 R/9), who is tied for the league lead in holds; Las Vegas's Carlos Marmol (4-3, 4 SV, 2 holds, 3.34 ERA, 8.1 R/9), who has 43 Ks in 32 IP; and Marietta's Grant Balfour (2-0, 2 SV, 2 holds, 1.20 ERA, 10.5 R/9), who has yet to allow an inherited runner to score this year. There's also Sardine City's Jim Johnson (1-1, 1 SV, 1 hold, 1.91 ERA, 10.8 R/9), a groundball machine who has induced 11 double plays in 61 innings.

Hey Lefty! All those right-handers need to get balanced out from the other side of the plate. Three of the best southpaws in the Hanover Division this year have been Hoboken's Craig Breslow (3-3, 2 SV, 2 holds, 3.40 ERA, 9.8 R/9), Las Vegas's Hideki Okajima (2-2, 2 SV, 9 holds, 2.14 ERA, 10.0 R/9) and Newark's Matt Thornton (2-1, 3 SV, 6 holds, 2.38 ERA, 9.5 R/9). There's also Marietta's Hong-Chih Kou (1-2, 2 SV, 4 holds, 3.72 ERA, 11.5 R/9) and Jesse Carlson (3-0, 1 SV, 0 holds, 2.51 ERA, 11.5 R/9), and New Jersey's Rafael Perez (1-2, 1 SV, 1 hold, 1.29 ERA, 13.1 R/9).

Welcome Back!

Yesterday was a day filled with welcome back parties. After many injuries, several players returned to their respective lineups.

D.C. welcomed back Ryan Zimmerman, who had been out almost two months with a rare disease he suffered while in the jungles of Borneo. Zimmerman responded by getting two hits, including his first home run of the season in D.C.'s 2-0 blanking of Hillsborough. But Zim wasn't the only O-Bomber to return. First baseman Todd Helton also returned to the lineup after being out 3 weeks and contributed a double and an RBI. That's all well and good for the O-Bombers, but Hillsborough also had a return. Ron Belliard had missed several weeks as well, but came right back into the leadoff spot. Unfortunately for Belliard, he was 0-2 with a walk and was lifted for a pinch hitter late in the game. By the way, despite the 2-0 final result, this was far from a pretty game from the two hurlers. Both teams had trouble locating the strike zone, and issued a combined 13 walks. Felix Hernandez went the distance for the Hitmen and accounted for 7 of the walks himself, while his opponent, Todd Wellemeyer, issued 5 and a wild pitch in his 6.2 innings of work.

Sardine City activated Evan Longoria, but the Sardines were idle Wednesday. Amityville also activated starter Jered Weaver, but after giving Manny Parra one more good-bye start. Parra gave up only 2 earned runs in 5.2 innings in the 2-1 loss, but walked 5 and struck out 9. Parra was sent back down to the team's farm team to work on his control. Weaver will take Parra's next start in the rotation.

I guess this whole pitching decently while walking a ton of batters was a recurring theme of the day. John Maine improved to 7-3 on the season in a 10-2 blowout of the Falcons. Maine only allowed 2 runs but walked 5 in 6 innings. Meanwhile, Vancouver's Jake Peavy limited the Endzone Animals to only 3 hits and 2 runs in 7.2 innings, but also walked 5 in the Fist's 7-2 victory. Maybe those 10 strikeouts helped a bit?

Falcons roll into crowded Morris playoff mix

How about those Arkansas Falcons? After languishing near the bottom of the Morris Division for most of the season, the Falcons have put together a 5-game winning streak that put the club back up over the .500 mark. Yesterday's 3-1 win over Carolina pushed them to 37-36. Though they're still in 5th place, they're only 1 1/2 out of 4th and 6 1/2 out of first. Johan Santana pitched 7 solid innings to earn the win and Ivan Rodriguez had 2 RBIs in the game.

Vancouver and Philly battled it out in 16 innings with the Iron Fist earning the 10-8 victory. Vancouver rallied from a 4-0 deficit and took the lead with a 5-run 5th inning. Philadelphia tied the game at 6 in the 7th and the two teams didn't score again until the 16th inning. Michael Cuddyer, just signed off the scrap heap, hit a 2-run go-ahead home run in the top of the inning to give the Animals an 8-6 lead. But it didn't last. Frank Francisco quickly loaded the bases, then with no one out and Justin Masterson relieving Francisco, Chase Utley hit a walkoff grand slam to win the game for Vancouver. Utley ended the night with 6 RBIs.

Marietta and Newark saw a matchup of DMBL future Hall of Famers as Mike Mussina faced Randy Johnson. Mussina won the game, improving to 9-4, though it wasn't pretty, but Mussina tied Tom Glavine for #7 on the all-time win list (170). He's now one behind John Smoltz, who is sitting out this season. Of course Johnson made a little history himself - his loss tied him for the #7 spot with Kevin Appier (120).

The Sardine City Straphangers scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the 9th to steal a game from Hoboken 5-4. Carlos Quentin's double tied up the game as Alfredo Amezega scored from second. Ryan Braun won the game for the Sardines with a sac fly. Kevin Kouzmanoff was 2-4 in the game with a homer and 3 RBIs. Taking over for the injured Jorge Cantu (who was filling in for the injured Evan Longoria), Kouzmanoff has been putting up some good numbers (.348 average, 1.130 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI in 23 AB). The bad news for Kouz? Longoria is expected to return in time for today's match.

All-Star 2009: Who's On Your Ballot?

The votes for the 2009 All-Star Game are coming in fast and furious. Be sure to fill out your ballot! If you're having trouble sorting out the candidates, here's a quick rundown of the leading contenders. But remember, you can vote for whoever you want. The important part is... you have to vote!

Today we'll run down the batters. In our next installment we'll take a look at the starters and relievers.

Catchers
D.C.'s Brian McCann has to be considered the favorite in the Morris Division, as he's hitting .324 (.968 OPS) with 14 HR and 44 RBI. He leads all DMBL catchers in batting average and runs created per 27 outs (8.4)... Vying for the job of backup backstop are Carolina's Bengie Molina (.290, .786 OPS, 8 HR, 30 RBI); Hillsborough's Kelly Shoppach (.255, .859 OPS, 8 HR, 31 RBI); Philly's John Baker (.313, .819 OPS, 12 2B, 26 RBI) and Vancouver's Ryan Doumit (.268, .727 OPS, 8 HR, 30 RBI)... All-Star favorite Ivan Rodriguez is likely staying home this year (.231, .633 OPS, 4 HR, 11 RBI), as is Blue Ridge's Chris Iannetta (.168, .550 OPS, 2 HR, 15 RBI).

There's not much of a race in the Hanover Division either, as Hoboken's Mike Napoli (.266, .971 OPS, 23 HR, 47 RBI) leads all DMBL catchers in OPS, HR and RBI... Fighting for second place are Amityville's Dioner Navarro (.318, .758 OPS, 2 HR, 25 RBI), Las Vegas's Joe Mauer (.294, .787 OPS, 19 2B, 46 R) and Newark's Jarrod Saltalamacchia (.284, .835 OPS, 15 2B, 35 R)... Marietta rookie Geovanny Soto has been a huge disappointment (.176, .494 OPS, 4 HR, 18 RBI in 222 AB). You also won't find much help from New Jersey's Chris Snyder (.169, .586 OPS, 9 HR, 19 RBI) or Sardine City's Miguel Montero (.238, .644 OPS, 1 HR, 16 RBI).

First Basemen
There's a fierce competition for the honor of being the first sacker for the Morris Division between Arkansas's Justin Morneau (.317, .928 OPS, 18 2B, 7 HR, 37 RBI), Hillsborough's Ryan Howard (.252, .928 OPS, 27 HR, 72 RBI) and Philly's Albert Pujols (.310, .925 OPS, 21 2B, 16 HR, 65 RBI). Finishing just outside the top three is Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder (.274, .840 OPS, 17 HR, 51 RBI) and Carolina's Carlos Delgado (.284, .886 OPS, 19 HR, 54 RBI). Bringing up the rear are D.C.'s Todd Helton (.248,. 669 OPS, 10 2B, 18 R) and Vancouver's Adam LaRoche (.240, .718 OPS, 8 HR, 25 RBI).

On the other hand, there's one clear favorite for Hanover first base -- Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez, who is hitting .304 (.925 OPS) with 22 2B, 14 HR and 45 RBI. There's a big dropoff until you can talk about second place -- Las Vegas's Carlos Pena (.232, .867 OPS, 13 HR, 34 RBI) and Newark's Jason Giambi (.252, .861 OPS, 18 HR, 45 RBI) are having productive years despite low batting averages, while Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera (.283, .821 OPS, 13 HR, 40 RBI) is having a solid but not spectacular season... You probably won't be voting for Amityville's James Loney (.256, .657 OPS, 3 HR, 24 RBI), New Jersey's Joey Votto (.246, .715 OPS, 10 HR, 31 RBI), or Sardine City's Conor Jackson (.252, .695 OPS, 6 HR, 35 RBI).

Second Basemen
There are some very good second basemen in the Morris, but standing head and shoulders above the crowd is Carolina's Dustin Pedroia. The dimunitive second sacker is proving his '08 Rookie of the Year campaign was no fluke, hitting .346 (.859 OPS) with 28 2B and 45 R. Pedroia's strongest competition was coming from Hillsborough's Ronnie Belliard, who was hitting .333 (.935 OPS) with 15 2B and 24 R before going down with an injury that cost him 31 days; he's expected to return just before the All-Star Game, but he'll likely have only about half as many at-bats as Pedroia. (Oddly enough, Belliard's replacement, Freddy Sanchez, has been even more impressive, hitting .380 with a .994 OPS, 9 2B, 6 HR and 23 RBI in just 35 games, but he's not on the ballot.) The next best options are Blue Ridge's Mark DeRosa (.276, .813 OPS, 9 HR, 31 RBI), D.C.'s Dan Uggla (.268, .848 OPS, 14 HR, 30 RBI) or Vancouver's Chase Utley (.278, .817 OPS, 19 2B, 49 R)... Some voters will instinctively vote for veterans Ray Durham (.263, .715 OPS, 16 2B, 34 R) of Arkansas and Brian Roberts (.251, .713 OPS, 16 2B, 49 R) of Philadelphia.

Over in the Hanover Division, it's a tight race between Hoboken's Ian Kinsler (.316, .875 OPS, 16 2B, 9 HR, 28 RBI) and Newark's Mike Fontenot (.308, .838 OPS, 22 2B, 6 HR, 31 RBI). The two also are well-matched defensively, with Kinsler ranking first in total chances per game (5.84) and Fontenot second (5.45)! However, Fontenot has made just one error in the field (.997 fielding percentage) while Kinsler has made 12 (.960 fielding percentage). Both should likely go to the All-Star Game; the question is really who starts. Third place goes to Las Vegas's Placido Polanco (.281, .700 OPS, 14 2B, 37 RBI); the other four candidates have really struggled: Amityville's Kelly Johnson (.238, .637 OPS, 12 R, 20 RBI), Marietta's Orlando Hudson (.231, .612 OPS, 9 2B, 27 R), New Jersey's Ian Stewart (.210, .667 OPS, 9 HR, 29 RBI).and Sardine City's Alexei Ramirez (.225, .530 OPS, 8 2B, 21 R).

Third Basemen
If they gave out a first half MVP Award, it would likely go to Hillsborough's Aubrey Huff in a landslide. He's leading the DMBL in OPS (1.131), SLG (.709), runs (69), extra base hits (51), total bases (207), runs created (87.4), RC/27 (11.9) and total average (1.250), and he's second in batting average (.353), OBP (.422) and HRs (26). He certainly should be the starting third baseman for the Morris Division... Solidly in second place is Arkansas's David Wright (.282, .898 OPS, 19 HR, 51 RBI), followed by Philly's Alex Rodriguez (.251, .824 OPS, 10 HR, 23 RBI) and Vancouver's Omar Infante (.293, .781 OPS, 10 2B, 31 RBI)... Only a total homer can justify voting for Blue Ridge's Edwin Encarnacion (.206, .619 OPS, 9 HR, 28 RBI), Carolina's Aramis Ramirez (.214, .718 OPS, 13 HR, 38 RBI), or D.C.'s Felipe Lopez (.260,. 654 OPS, 9 2B, 23 RBI).

The hot corner is usually one of the deeper positions in the Hanover Division, but this year Marietta's Kevin Youkilis (.285, .919 OPS, 18 HR, 57 RBI) is running away with it. Having good-but-not-great years are Hoboken's Hank Blalock (.269, .809 OPS, 12 HR, 47 RBI), Las Vegas's Alex Gordon (.255, .813 OPS, 10 HR, 28 RBI) and Newark's Chipper Jones (.288, .794 OPS, 9 HR, 49 R)... The career of highly touted Sardine City rookie Evan Longoria is not off to a great start (.235, .730 OPS, 8 HR, 32 RBI), and veterans Garrett Atkins of Amityville (.246, .710 OPS, 10 HR, 36 RBI) and Casey Blake of New Jersey (.231, .675 OPS, 9 HR, 33 RBI) are having tough years as well.

Shortstops
Arkansas's J.J. Hardy is having his long-awaited breakout season, hitting .290 (.817 OPS) with 9 HR, 35 R and 41 RBI. His only competition this year is coming from Philly's Jimmy Rollins (.304, .782 OPS, 26 2B, 12 SB, 44 R, 36 RBI); if for whatever reason you don't like either one of those guys, you can make a case for Carolina's Mike Aviles (.282, .733 OPS, 6 HR, 34 R), D.C.'s Jose Reyes (.265, .717 OPS, 52 R, 10 3B, 14 SB) or Vancouver's Jerry Hairston (.293, .743 OPS, 22 2B, 37 R)... Only blood relatives are likely to vote for Blue Ridge's Michael Young (.256, .664 OPS, 15 2B, 38 R) or Hillsborough's Ryan Theriot (.262, .608 OPS, 3 2B, 30 R).

If you're looking for a Cutter to send to the All-Star Game, look no further than Hanley Ramirez. The Hoboken shortstop is hitting .285 (.860 OPS) with 17 2B, 12 HR, 44 R and 43 RBI. It's a long way down until you get to second best -- take your pick between Amityville's Orlando Cabrera (.305, .737 OPS, 11 2B, 33 R) or Marietta's Derek Jeter (.287, .691 OPS, 11 2B, 26 R)... Rounding out the ballot are Las Vegas's Yunel Escobar (.238, .713 OPS, 7 HR, 19 RBI), New Jersey's Jhonny Peralta (.211, .631 OPS, 8 HR, 26 RBI), Newark's Ramon Vazquez (.254, .740 OPS, 5 HR, 25 RBI), and Sardine City's Stephen Drew (.250, .714 OPS, 20 2B, 25 R).

Morris Outfielders
There are a number of supremely qualified Morris Division outfielders. Remember you can only vote for three, and then look at these five: Arkansas's Ryan Ludwick (.305, 1.006 OPS, 22 HR, 62 RBI); Blue Ridge's Carl Crawford (.322, .846 OPS, 46 R, 10 3B, 15 SB); Carolina's Grady Sizemore (.305, .929 OPS, 12 HR, 37 RBI), Hillsborough's Shin-Soo Choo (.311, .963 OPS, 20 2B, 35 R), Philly's Andre Ethier (.312, .936 OPS, 11 HR, 40 RBI). Tough decisions!

Speaking of which, the voters will have a difficult time deciding what to do about Arkansas's Rick Ankiel. The pitcher-turned-outfielder is hitting an impressive .320 (1.095 OPS) with 17 HR and 52 RBI, but has just 191 plate appearances, far short of the 226 required to qualify for the leaderboard. Ankiel is in a strict platoon, with just 17 at-bats coming against lefties compared to 152 against righties, and it's hard to predict if the voters will love him for his numbers or ignore him as a part-time player.

Even after you consider those six for just three spots, you're still leaving off a number of guys with impressive numbers -- Arkansas's Skip Schumaker (.330, .804 OPS, 12 2B, 41 R), Blue Ridge's Nate McLouth (.257, .802 OPS, 11 HR, 41 RBI), D.C.'s Carlos Beltran (.251, .771 OPS, 14 HR, 48 RBI, 13 SB), Hillsborough's Nick Markakis (.269, .827 OPS, 24 2B, 64 R), Philly's Fred Lewis (.281, .777 OPS, 12 2B, 9 SB) and Alex Rios (.285, .770 OPS, 24 2B, 8 SB, 48 RBI), and Vancouver's Curtis Granderson (.277, .875 OPS, 12 HR, 41 RBI) and Ryan Spilborghs (.297, .825 OPS, 6 HR, 35 RBI).

On the bubble -- at best -- are Blue Ridge's Hunter Pence (.240, .731 OPS, 8 HR, 25 RBI), D.C.'s Jay Bruce (.253, .772 OPS, 15 HR, 43 RBI) and Hillsborough's Carlos Lee (.241, .680 OPS, 12 HR, 54 RBI). The "I heard of this guy" voters are the only ones who will be casting ballots for Carolina's Magglio Ordonez (.232, .618 OPS, 4 HR, 30 RBI) and Randy Winn (.239, .579 OPS, 7 2B, 23 R), D.C.'s Hideki Matsui (.244, .648 OPS, 4 HR, 40 RBI), or Vancouver's Adam Lind (.182, .533 OPS, 7 2B, 12 RBI).

Hanover Outfielders
Of the top five batters during the first half, four play in the Morris Division. The Hanover Division's sole exception is Josh Hamilton, who put up some ridiculous numbers (.359, 1.031 OPS, 21 2B, 16 HR, 61 RBI). The Marietta center fielder is surely going to the All-Star Game; who will be standing on either side of him? The most logical choices are New Jersey rookie Elijah Dukes, who is hitting .284 (.945 OPS) with 15 2B, 14 HR and 35 RBI, and Newark veteran Manny Ramirez, who bounced back from a disastrous first month to finish the half batting .270 (.902 OPS) with 13 2B, 22 HR and 71 RBI. A few other possibilities are Marietta's Brian Giles (.287, .825 OPS, 8 HR, 44 R), New Jersey's David DeJesus (.292, .843 OPS, 11 HR, 51 R) and Newark's J.D. Drew (.245, .874 OPS, 19 HR, 61 RBI).

Then there's a dropoff to the next tier of guys: Amityville's Pat Burrell (.234, .816 OPS, 12 HR, 34 RBI), Las Vegas's Matt Holliday (.263, .778 OPS, 9 HR, 34 RBI), New Jersey's Fernando Tatis (.278, .782 OPS, 9 HR, 31 RBI), Newark's Bobby Abreu (.275, .793 OPS, 21 2B, 38 RBI).

Name recognition is probably the only reason anyone would vote this year for Amityville's Torii Hunter (.240, .652 OPS, 12 2B, 32 R) or Jacoby Ellsbury (.218, .584 OPS, 2 3B, 9 SB, 20 R), Las Vegas's Vladimir Guerrero (.254, .626 OPS, 2 3B, 5 SB, 23 R) or Ichiro Suzuki (.254, 2 3B, 23 R, 5 SB), or Marietta's Jason Bay (.240, .705 OPS, 10 HR, 30 RBI).

It's tough to make a case for any of the outfielders from Hoboken -- Marlon Byrd (.279, .718 OPS, 10 2B, 17 R), Ryan Church (.245, .661 OPS, 3 HR, 14 RBI), or Denard Span (.269, .712 OPS, 12 2B, 39 R). Ditto for Sardine City -- Ryan Braun (.258, .751 OPS, 13 HR, 43 RBI), Raul Ibanez (.249, .712 OPS, 7 HR, 41 RBI), and B.J. Upton (.241, .675 OPS, 16 SB, 41 R).

Designated Hitters
With Pujols the incumbent at first base, the Endzone Animals have to use Mark Teixeira as the Designated Hitter -- which is bad news for the other Morris Division candidates for DH. Teixeira is hitting .339 (1.068 OPS) with 18 HR, 25 2B and 69 RBI. It's tough to make a case for anyone else, but the also-rans would be Arkansas's Lance Berkman (.265, .813 OPS, 12 HR, 50 RBI), Carolina's Xavier Nady (.301, .829 OPS, 7 HR, 25 RBI), and Hillsborough's Brad Hawpe (.280, .882 OPS, 9 HR, 32 RBI). Blue Ridge's Jeremy Hermida (.227, .621 OPS, 5 HR, 21 RBI) and D.C.'s Derrek Lee (.236, .661 OPS, 6 HR, 28 RBI) are having truly awful seasons... Vancouver's David Ortiz has missed two months with an injury, but that didn't stop the Commissioner's Office from putting him on the ballot. He's hitting just .233, but his .880 OPS (8 HR, 27 RBI) is impressive; on the other hand, he has just 122 plate appearances. Ortiz might return in time for the All-Star Game but he'd probably be better served taking the three extra days off.

Newark's Jack Cust leads all Hanover DH candidates in OPS (.849) -- but you have to be able to overlook his 116 K in 73 games. (He also has 19 HR and 48 BBs, making him master of the Three True Outcomes.) If you can't put your trust in Cust, then maybe try Amityville's Johnny Damon (.282, .825 OPS, 9 HR, 34 RBI) or Marietta's Milton Bradley (.281, .833 OPS, 10 HR, 54 RBI)... Sardine City's Carlos Quentin is hitting .250 with an impressive .835 OPS (9 HR, 20 RBI), but he's played in just 43 of his team's 74 games (186 plate appearances). He rakes against righties (.863 OPS in 141 AB) but sits against lefties (.629 in 19)... There's also Las Vegas's Chris Davis (.257, .796 OPS, 16 HR, 53 RBI) and New Jersey's Mike Jacobs (.254, .829 OPS, 19 HR, 48 RBI)... There was a time Cust was thought of as the Poor Man's Adam Dunn; now the Hoboken DH is the one hoping to move into Cust's tax bracket (.179, .735 OPS, 15 HR, 27 RBI, 69 K in 62 G).

Well, that's it for the batters. Remember, you can vote for whoever you want -- including a write-in candidate! Next time we'll discuss the pitchers. But you don't have to wait for us -- if you're ready, go ahead and vote!

Huff sets eyes on MVP prize

Yes, we're still recovering from a nice long holiday weekend, but we'll fulfill our solemn duty to name our award winners anyway.

The JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week can go to no other than Aubrey Huff, our first half MVP frontrunner. Sure we'd like to give the award to someone else and spread the love, but when Huff puts up numbers like he does, what can you do? Huff hit .434 with a .500 OBP and .962 slugging (all tops for the two week period). He hit 8 homers, scored 15 runs, and drove in 12.

His competition consisted of Arkansas' David Wright (.390/.463/.780, 6 HR, 18 R, 13 RBI), Hoboken's Adam Dunn (.355/.487/1.097, 7 homers, 9 R, 10 RBI), and Philadelphia's Mark Teixeira (.347/.407/.673, 4 HR, 12 RBI). We have to give a hearty pat on the back ot D.C.'s Casey Kotchman who has admirably filled in for Todd Helton, who is currently on the DL. Kotchman hit .360/.373/.560 this week.

Our Part-time Powerhouse has to be Arkansas' Rick Ankiel who hit 7 home runs in 28 at bats. Ankiel hit .500/.588/1.286, scored 13 runs, and drove in 14 runners. Not bad for a platoon guy!

The pitching side wasn't so cut and dried though, but for the second straight time, we're voting a Sardine City Straphanger to the prize. This time it's lefty Cole Hamels who takes the My Cat Hates You Pitcher of the Week Award. Hamels first start was a 1-0, 1-hit blanking of Amityville. Hamels fell just one out shy of a complete game shutout. But karma is a nasty thing and Hamels ended up on the losing end of another 1-0 duel with Brandon Webb and Philadelphia. Hamels only allowed 3 hits in the complete game loss. In his third start, at least Hamels got some run support - 8 runs in fact! - and got the W in an 8-3 win over Las Vegas. For the two weeks, Hamels was 2-1, with a 1.52 ERA, 0.51 WHIP and 20 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.

Josh Beckett provided the main competition (1-0, 1.52, 0.93 WHIP, 23 K), but there were others: Blue Ridge's Gavin Floyd (2-1, 1.99, 1.01), and Jake Peavy of Vancouver (2-0, 1.48, 1.03).

Sugar Bears end Vegas hot streak

Vegas finally lost, ending a 5-game winning streak at the hands of the Newark Sugar Bears. Placido Polanco hit a 2-run single to tie the game up in the 8th and send the game into extra innings, but the Sugar Bears quickly regained the lead. With one down in the 10th, J.D. Drew hit a home run to win the game for Newark and end the Rat Pack's streak.

Another game that went into extra innings was D.C.'s match with Vancouver. Vancouver tied the game up in the 7th at 3-3, but D.C. quickly scored two more to take a 5-3 lead. Omar Infante hit a 2-run homer to once again tie the game. Finally in the 10th, Carlos Beltran hit a 2-run homer to give the O-Bombers the victory.

Tomorrow's doubleheader will take place early in the morning, then we'll be off for the rest of the weekend. Don't forget to vote for your All-Stars if you haven't done so already!

Carolina-Sardine City double shutout ends in OT

Carolina and Sardine City were scoreless for 13 innings in yesterday's standoff. Tim Hudson left the game early with undisclosed pains, but the Carolina pen had held the opposition to only 5 hits. Meanwhile, Dustin McGowan was doing the same thing on the other side, pitching 8 innings and holding Carolina to 5 hits as well. Because of Hudson's early departure though, the team had burned through their relievers early and had to call on starter Daisuke Matsuzaka in the 13th. In the top of the 14th, the shutout was broken as Carlos Delgado popped a homer over the centerfield wall. Dice-K seemed to be cruising, striking out the first two batters, but appeared fatigued when he walked Stephen Drew. Manager Mark Carreon elected to go to Roy Halladay. On his second pitch, Conor Jackson deposited the ball into the left field bleachers, ending the game by a 2-1 count.

Las Vegas edged Newark yesterday 3-2, taking their 5th straight victory. Tim Lincecum improved to 8-1 with 7 innings of shutout ball. Lincecum held the Sugar Bears to 5 hits and 2 walks and struck out 7. The Rats scored all three runs in the 6th inning, then held off the Sugar Bears who tried to claw back in the later innings. Richie Sexson was 3-4 with 2 RBIs in the game.

D.C.'s Jose Reyes hit two triples in yesterday's 11-6 loss to Vancouver, giving him 76 in his career and 10 on the season. Not only did that break a tie with Roberto Alomar (74) for 4th all-time, but it also passed Deion Sanders (75) and put Reyes within one of the all-time mark, held by Kenny Lofton (77). The 25-year old Reyes should easily obliterate the old mark.

New Jersey and Amityville agreed to a swap for disgruntled outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Soriano had been limited to a platoon role this season, but excelled in the limited time, hitting .353 with a 1.193 OPS in 51 at bats. With Amityville, Soriano should get more playing time. New Jersey receives Philadelphia's 2nd pick next year as well as Amityville's 6th round pick.

Amityville's 10-run inning makes Ants of Hillsborough

Players of the week will be announced next Tuesday...

The Ant Slayers scored 10 runs in the 7th inning to rally past the Hired Hitmen 12-5 yesterday. The Slayers started the inning off with a solo Pat Burrell home run and capped it off with a three-run Clint Barmes homer. Torii Hunter and Garrett Atkins also homered in the inning. Burrell was 3-4 in the game.

Las Vegas rallied back from a 2-0 deficit in the late innings to secure a 3-2 victory over Blue Ridge. Alex Gordon's triple in the 7th led to the Rats' first run of the game. Then Chris Davis and Richie Sexson hit solo home runs to give the team the lead. Trevor Hoffman sent down the Bombers in order to record his 7th save.

The Landsman brothers battled it out to an 8-7 final in extra innings. Marietta took a 5-3 lead in the 3rd when Brandon Phillips hit a triple that scored Adrian Beltre. Phillips would score on a fielder's choice. D.C. took the lead in the 6th when Casey Kotchman hit a 3-run homer, giving the O-Bombers a 7-5 cushion. D.C. got in trouble the next inning though and Marietta tied it up on an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single. Finally, in the 10th, Marietta won the game on a walk-off single by Brian Giles.

Newark battled back from a 6-0 hole but the Falcons pulled it out. Arkansas led 6-0 in the 6th, but Newark chipped away until they tied it up in the 8th. But David Wright hit a two-run shot that gave the Falcons the lead back in the 9th. Ramon Vazquez hit a solo homer to lead off the 9th for Newark, closing the gap to 8-7, but Bobby Abreu grounded into a double play to end the game.

Jesse Litsch won for just the second time this season as he limited Vancouver to only one run on 5 hits in 7 innings. Litsch improved to 2-10 on the season. Chad Billingsley took a tough loss as he gave up only one earned run (and one unearned) in 5.2 innings. Billingsley struck out 8 while giving up 4 hits and 3 walks.

Joba Chamberlain was spectacular once again striking out 11 in 7 innings, giving up zero runs and 3 hits in a 9-1 Sardine City victory over Philadelphia. Conor Jackson hit two home runs in the game.

All-Star Preview?

In a possible sneak peek at next month's All-Star Game, the Morris Division stomped all over the Hanover Division tonight! The seven Morris teams played the seven Hanover teams, and in each game the Morris Division triumphed! Even more surprising was the fact that the best Hanover teams faced the worst Morris teams, and yet Big Mo came through every team.

The wildest game of the night was played in Blue Ridge, where the Bombers jumped out to an early lead over the Rat Pack thanks to a four-run 2nd inning. But the Rats came back with two in the 3rd, one in the 4th and one in the 5th to tie it up, and then took a three-run lead in the 8th behind a solo home run by Jim Thome and a two-run shot by Jayson Werth. But the Bombers rallied in the bottom of the 9th against Trevor Hoffman. Prince Fielder tied it up with a three-run blast, then Jeremy Hermida ended it in dramatic fashion with a two-out, walk-off home run against his former teammates, giving Blue Ridge an 8-7 win.

In a battle of the Landsmen, Jamie's O-Bombers edged David's Mighty Men, 7-6. D.C.'s Felipe Lopez delivered the game-winning hit with a two-out, two-run double in the 8th off Hong-Chih Kuo.

The Hired Hitmen out-lasted the Ant Slayers in a 13-12 slugfest. The Ant Slayers had 12 runs on 18 hits and 10 walks, but left 14 men on base; the Hitmen scored 13 runs on 13 hits, but left just five men on base -- thanks to four double plays turned by the Ant Slayer defense! The two teams combined for 25 runs, 31 hits, 4 errors, 14 walks, and 15 pitchers. Ryan Theriot ended it with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th.

The Iron Fist and Buddahs also had free baseball. The thrilling pitcher's duel between Kevin Slowey (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) and Ben Sheets (8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K) finally ended in the bottom of the 11th on an RBI single by Omar Infante, giving the Fisters a 2-1 win.

In other action, the Golden Falcons doubled up the Sugar Bears, 4-2; Philadelphia put away Sardine City, 8-5; and the Mudcats downed the Cutters, 6-2.

Frustrated Fist fall to Buddah

The 2009 DMBL All-Star Ballot has been posted. The game less than a month away, so get those votes in!

How the heck did Vancouver lose to New Jersey yesterday? Vancouver outhit Team Buddah 17-6, yet still lost 4-3 in extra innings. The Buddahs got on the board quickly with a first-inning Fernando Tatis home run. The Fist got in trouble with some walks and a passed ball, leading to another run. Vancouver quickly tied it up in the 2nd with a pair of runs. Vancouver took the lead in the 7th on a Troy Glaus single, but Buddah tied it up the next inning. Buddah finally won it in the 10th on a hit by Casey Blake. So how do you get 17 hits and score only 3 runs? Well, let's examine that 7th inning, which should have been a huge inning for Vancouver. Jerry Hairston led off the inning with a single, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Vancouver followed up with back to back singles. Adam Jones smacked a liner for a base hit, but Chase Headley was thrown out trying to score. The next hit finally scored a run, but Victor Martinez struck out to end the inning. The club left 13 batters on base and also hit into a double play in the later innings.

The day's other extra inning affair was an offensive battle. Sardine City built up ay 7-3 lead on Philadelphia but Jimmy Rollins hit a grand slam in the 8th to tie it up. Raul Ibanez then hit a 2-run shot in the 11th to give the Sardines a 9-7 lead, but Mark Teixeira came through with a 2-run double to tie it up. Marco Scutaro gave the Straphangers the lead for good in the 12th when his base hit scored Stephen Drew. The Sardines had 20 hits in the game, including Carlos Quentin (4-6) and Raul Ibanez (3-6, 4 RBIs). Quentin has been on a bit of hot streak lately, hitting .340 in his last 12 games with a 1.154 OPS.

Hillsborough won their 3rd straight and took a 1/2 game lead in the Morris Division. The Hitmen edged the Ant Slayers by a 6-5 margin. Shin-Soo Choo was 4-4 with 3 doubles and Freddy Sanchez was 3-5 with 2 RBIs.

Manny Ramirez was 3-4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs to lead the Sugar Bears to an 8-4 win over archrival Arkansas. The Sugar Bears scored 4 runs in the 8th to break a 4-4 tie and even the series at one game apiece. Yadier Molina was 3-3 with 2 doubles in a losing cause.

Hamels, Galarraga battle in classic duel

Now that's what I call a pitchers' duel! Sardine City and Amityville battled it out to a 1-0 finale, with the Sardines taking the win. Cole Hamels, starting for the Straphangers, got into some early "trouble" when he gave up a double to Ryan Garko. It would be the only hit he would give up. Hamels subsequently walked Jason Kubel, but struck out Torii Hunter to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Quentin hit a solo home run to give the Straphangers the 1-0 lead. Miguel Montero would get a double in the third inning, and that was all for the two teams' offenses. Okay, well Raul Ibanez would also walk in the 4th, but the bats would go silent after that. In fact, Hamels would retire 24 straight batters before he allowed Johnny Damon to reach base in the 9th on his own error. Taylor Buchholz came in to strike out the final batter and earn his 9th save. Hamels ended the night pitching 8.2 innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk and striking out 7. Armando Galarraga, taking a tough loss, fell to 2-9 on the season, despite giving up only one run on 2 hits in 8 innings. Galarraga walked 1 and struck out 8.

Darren Oliver is up to his tricks again. Vancouver and Hillsborough, knotted at 3 ended up in extra innings again. Oliver, who had already pitched 2 shutout innings in the matchup, took the mound in the 10th. Sure enough, Oliver surrendered a home run to Mike Lowell, giving the Hitmen a 4-3 lead. The Fist went down in order in the bottom of the inning, sealing the fate of Oliver, who lost for the 4th time in 5 games - all to the Hired Hitmen. Vancouver's series with Hillsborough is now over, but the club has already announced that the next time the two clubs face each other, Oliver will be banished for the series. "We know Darren's got an illegitimate family living in Hillsborough" said bullpen coach Gregg Olson, "so we want to make sure his emotions don't get in the way of his pitching." Clubhouse cameras also caught Oliver accepting a package from a shady character wearing a Hillsborough baseball cap. Oliver denied any charges of impropriety.

Gordon discombobulates in extra-inning loss

Marietta topped Las Vegas 3-2 in a 12-inning marathon yesterday. Josh Beckett had pitched the Rat Pack to a 3-1 lead after 8 innings, but the Mighty Men came back. With 2 outs in the 9th, Kevin Youkilis reached base when Alex Gordon tripped over his untied shoelaces. This opened up the floodgates as the Mighty Men rallied to tie the score and head into overtime. The Rats got in trouble again when Gordon committed another error in the 12th. While fielding a grounder from Derek Jeter, Gordon's hat fell off his head, leaving the third baseman, temporarily blinded. Gordon threw the ball at the pitcher, who swatted it away into left field. Jeter advanced to second on the miscue. Milton Bradley came through with an RBI single after Jeter was sacrificed over to third. After the game, Alex Gordon, sporting a Bobby Valentine disguise, tried to sneak out of the complex, but several fans were waiting for him. Gordon narrowly escaped the melee when he tricked the crowd by pointing behind them and yelling "Godzilla!"

Nate McLouth was 5-5 with 2 RBIs in Blue Ridge's 9-4 defeat of the first-place Mudcats. McLouth had a double and a home run in the game.

Vancouver broke their 5 game losing streak yesterday with a 3-2 victory over the Hired Hitmen. Greg Maddux pitched 8 solid innings to improve to 2-1 on the season and Billy Wagner picked up his 13th save.

Joba is Hott - Manny is being Manny

There was a lot of hype surrounding Sardine City rookie Joba Chamberlain, even as he was drafted as an ineligible prospect with the 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft. The Sardines eased the rookie into a starter role last year in the minors, first starting him out as a reliever, then giving him some starts. Now thrown into the DMBL, Chamberlain hit a few bumps in the road. Despite starting out 2-6, Chamberlain showed some glimmers of a bright future. This week, Chamberlain began by losing a heartbreaker to Vancouver in which he only gave up 2 hits and an unearned run while striking out 10. Chamberlain rebounded with an even better effort against Amityville where he earned a win for pitching 8.2 shutout innings, striking out 11. That's a total of 21 strikeouts in 15.1 shutout innings this week! Joba takes this week's Joe Loves Crappy Movies Pitcher of the Week Award and will no doubt enlighten us with his review of the new Star Trek movie.

Other top pitchers this week: Vancouver's Chad Billingsley also didn't get a lot of love from his team's offense (1-0, 1.17, 0.78 WHIP, 16 K in 15.1 innings). Other notables: Marietta's Ervin Santana (2-0, 2.12, 0.76) and Jon Danks (1-0, 1.23, 0.95), Amityville's Chris Volstad (2-0, 1.20, 0.73) and Roy Oswalt (1-0, 2.81, 0.81, 19 K), Hillsborough's John Lackey (1-0, 2.25, 0.88), and Las Vegas' Tim Lincecum (1-0, 2.35, 1.04).

This week, we have to make a special mention of the Anti-Pitcher of the Week, Darren Oliver of Vancouver. Oliver felt it was his duty to personally lose all three games of Vancouver's series with Hillsborough over the weekend. First, Oliver gave up a run in the 10th Friday to lose the first game, then topped himself by giving up TWO runs in the 10th Saturday. Finally, to shake things up, Oliver gave up a run in regulation time to break a 5-5 tie in the 7th inning of yesterday's finale.

The Sugar Bears offense set several records last year as they blew out opponent after opponent. After custom stadiums were abolished this year, Newark's offense has fallen back a bit, but it's still one of the most potent. This week, one of the Sugar Bears takes the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize - Manny Ramirez. Manny hit 4 home runs this week with 12 RBIs, 6 runs scored, while batting .407/.452/.926 for the week. Some of this teammates noticed that Manny had an extra "spring in his step" this week and others eyed him suspiciously when he got a special delivery of Flintstones vitamins. "Sure he's got a stash of 'vitamins' and 'health foods', but that's just Manny being Manny" said one clubhouse official. Others noted that Manny seemed to be watching the Lifetime Channel a lot lately and kept trying to get teammates to go see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with him this week. Well, anyway, Manny can enjoy his case of cigars while curling up with a good book.

Other top hitters: Philly's twin killers this week - John Baker (.476/.522/.810) and Mark Teixeira (.438/.514/.813), Amityville's Garrett Atkins (.464/.464/.821, 3 HR, 11 RBI), Carolina's Mike Aviles (.464/.500/.714), Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.406/.424/.844, 5 2Bs), and part-time hero Joe Crede (.529/.526/1.118, 3 HR, 7 RBIs in 17 AB).

Could It Be... Santana?

The Marietta Mighty Men took their second in a row against their Hanover rivals as Ervin Santana this afternoon shut out the Rat Pack, 5-0. The right-hander allowed just five baserunners -- three singles, a double, and a runner who reached on a dropped third strike. No Rat got as far as third base, however. Santana fanned five in the complete game effort to improve to 7-4 on the season. Josh Hamilton led the Mites on offense with a two-run double and a two-run homer. Las Vegas is now in 7th place, a half-game out of the post-season.

The win kept the Mighty Men a half-game up in the Hanover Division as the Newark Sugar Bears won their fourth in a row by beating New Jersey, 7-3. The game was closer than it appeared; it was scoreless for the first four frames before the Sugar Bears came up with a run in the 5th and two more in the 6th. But sloppy play in the bottom of the 6th allowed the Buddahs to tie the score on two singles, a walk and two errors. J.D. Drew's RBI single in the top of the 7th put the Sugar Bears ahead again, and they iced it in the 9th on back-to-back home runs from Manny Ramirez and Mike Fontenot.

The Carolina Mudcats are still tied with Marietta for the best overall record as they won their fourth straight, a 6-3 win over Blue Ridge. Rookie Mike Aviles had two hits, including a home run, and Carlos Zambrano rejoined a tie for the league lead in wins at 8-2 with Marietta's Mike Mussina and Newark's Chien-Ming Wang. The Bombers have lost three straight.

Hillsborough kept pace with the Mudcats by winning their third straight to remain 1 1/2 games out. The Hitmen beat the Vancouver Iron Fist in 10 innings for the second straight game, this time 5-3. Once again, the Fisters battled back to tie it up late, only to falter in extra innings. This time it was Freddy Sanchez delivering the game winner, a two-run shot off Darren Oliver -- who also lost last night's game!

The defending World Champions have lost four straight and are now tied for the league's fifth-best record with the Philadelphia Endzone Animals, who squeaked past the D.C. O-Bombers, 2-1. D.C.'s Todd Wellemeyer and Philly's Shaun Marcum dueled for eight innings, each giving up just a single run in the 4th. The Animals finally won it in the 9th when Fred Lewis tripled off Juan Cruz, then trotted home on a single by John Baker. The Animals have won three in a row while the O-Bombers have dropped four straight.

The Amityville Ant-Slayers won a thriller, coming back from three runs down to defeat Sardine City, 4-3. The Straphangers' Josh Johnson pitched a gem, holding the Slayers scoreless until the 7th, when Dioner Navarro scored on a groundout. (The run was unearned because Navarro had reached third on an error.) But even so, Johnson left the game with a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th, only to watch in horror as D.J. Carrasco allowed the tying runs to score on a Melky Cabrera pinch-hit single, then a game-winning hit by Garret Atkins. The Straphangers are now 12th while the Ant Slayers improved to just one game under .500, 4 games out of the final playoff spot.

When Animals Attack

The Endzone Animals last night delivered one of the most thorough beat-downs of the year, pounding the D.C. O-Bombers by the score of 17-1. D.C.'s Anibal Sanchez faced 11 batters in the 1st inning, giving up 8 runs on six hits (including two homers) and two walks. Manager Kevin Elster used seven relievers in the effort; even closer Jonathan Papelbon couldn't get the job done, giving up 3 runs on a walk and two hits. Starter Chris Young finally came in to get the final seven outs. Philly's Mark Teixeira had three hits, including a home run, and 4 RBIs; Albert Pujols had a home run and 3 RBIs to take over the league lead with 58.

Hanover Division rivals Marietta and Las Vegas kicked off a six-game home-and-home series with a thriller in Georgia. The Rats jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but the Mighty Men battled back with two in the 3rd and three in the 4th to tie the score. It remained locked at 5-5 until the bottom of the 13th, when Geovanny Soto won it for the Mites with a two-run home run off Scott Linebrink. The win kept Marietta on top of the Hanover Division, a half-game ahead of the Newark Sugar Bears, who defeated last place New Jersey 7-4 for their third straight win.

There also was free baseball in Hillsborough, where the Iron Fist lost a heartbreaker to drop their third game in a row. The Hitmen were leading 4-2 behind C.C. Sabathia but the Fisters tied it up with one out in the 9th behind a two-run shot from Curtis Granderson. But the home team prevailed in the bottom of the 10th as Ryan Howard delivered the two-out game winning hit -- against a lefty no less!

The Carolina Mudcats held onto the top record in the Morris (and are tied with Marietta for the best record overall) after taking down Blue Ridge, 7-3. It could have been a lot worse as the Mudcats left 14 men on base! Dustin Pedroia had three hits to raise his league-leading batting average to .355.

Tim Wakefield was protected by the Golden Falcons but didn't make his season debut until last night against Hoboken as apparently the Arkansas brass wanted to make sure the 42-year-old knuckleballer got a little more seasoning in Triple-A. Everything was fine until the 4th inning, when Wake gave up a 3-run home run to Joe Crede to give the Cutters a 3-1 lead. Hanley Ramirez added an insurance run with an RBI single off Kerry Wood in the 8th to make it 4-1. But the Falcs made it interesting as they loaded the bases with one out in bottom of the 9th off Ryan Madson. But Madson retired Skip Schumaker and Ray Durham to preserve the win for Matt Garza.

A BAD BREAK FOR LONGORIA: Sardine City's nightmare season just got worse as they lost star rookie Evan Longoria for at least two weeks. Apparently Longoria said something mean to Amityville's Armando Galarraga in Triple-A last year as the two rookies got into it. Galarraga plunked Longoria in the 1st inning, but Longoria shook it off and eventually came around to score. Apparently not satisfied with that outcome, Galarraga drilled him again in the 4th. Longoria could be out until the end of the month. "When I put a guy down I expect him to stay down," an unrepetent Galarraga said after the game. He is tied for 3rd with 5 HBPs this year. Oh, the Straphangers won the game, 7-2, to move up from second-worst to third-worst.

Morneau, Falcons, come up just short

Hillsborough and Arkansas battled to an 11-10 final. The Falcons held a 10-4 lead after 7, but the Hitmen scored 3 runs in the 8th to bring it to 10-7. The Falcons got in trouble quickly in the 9th when they gave up a leadoff single to Ryan Theriot. Pitcher Joakim Soria walked the next batter then gave up a single to load the bases. After striking out the next batter, Soria gave up the salami to Aubrey Huff, ending the game. Mike Lowell also hit a pair of home runs and drove in 4 runs. On the losing side, the Falcons were almost singlehandedly carried by Justin Morneau, who hit 3 home runs and had 8 RBIs in the contest.

Las Vegas outlasted the Sardines in extra innings yesterday, winning 5-4 in 14 innings. Vladimir Guerrero hit a 2-run homer, his second of the game, in the 14th to take a 5-3 lead. Carlos Quentin answered with a solo shot, but it wasn't enough. Guerrero's two home runs tied Mark McGwire for 10th on the all time list. Next up, Frank Thomas (384) and Juan Gonzalez (385).

Clayton Kershaw earned his first DMBL victory yesterday, a 9-2 blowout against the Mighty Men. Kershaw pitched 7 shutout innings and struck out 7 while giving up only 6 hits.

Roy Halladay outduelled Zack Greinke in a 3-2 Mudcat victory. Halladay pitched 8 innings, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits with 7 strikeouts. Hard luck loser Greinke pitched an 8-inning complete game and gave up 3 runs on 9 hits. Both pitchers have 7 wins on the season.

Mussina picks up milestone win against slumping Cutters

The Cutters kept their streak intact - unfortunately for them. The slide hit 8 games in the 8-3 defeat to the Mighty Men. The Cutters gave Mark Buehrle his first start of the year, but it did not go well. Buehrle lasted 5.2 innings, giving 7 runs (5 earned) on 10 hits. Meanwhile, Marietta started Mike Mussina pitched a solid game to improve to 8-2 on the season. The win, Mussina's 169th of his career, tied Kevin Brown for # 8 on the all time list. Moose is now only one behind Tom Glavine (170) and two behind John Smoltz (171), both of whom are inactive this year.

The Sugar Bears once again rallied to win, this time taking a victory from D.C. 6-5. D.C. held a 5-2 lead in the 8th, but the Sugar Bears scored two in the inning to make it a 5-4 ballgame. In the top of the 9th, Jonathan Papelbon retired the two of the first three batters, giving up a single to Jason Giambi. But after giving up another single, lefty Arthur Rhodes was brought in to face Jack Cust. Cust proceeded to smash a hard liner past the first baseman for a double, scoring both runners. Joey Devine retired the side in order to pick up his 9th save.

The Arkansas Falcons scored 8 times in the late innings of yesterday's game against Hillsborough to pick up an 11-5 win. Lance Berkman was 2-5 with a homer and 4 RBIs. Jeremy Affeldt, signed yesterday afternoon, was put to the test immediately and picked up a 3-inning save.

Ant Slayers have been slain

The Ant Slayers' winning streak has finally been snapped at 7 thanks to a 1-0 brilliant pitching effort from Jon Danks. The Mighty Men pitcher held the Slayers to only 2 hits over 8 innings, while striking out 7. Poor Jon Lester did all he could to keep the streak alive, pitching 7.2 innings of 3-hit ball, giving up only one unearned run. But it wasn't enough. The game's lone run scored in the 6th when Adrian Beltre singled in Kevin Youkilis from second.

Hoboken wished that they could break their streak. Yesterday the Cutters lost 7-6 to Team Buddah making it 7 straight losses. The Cutters had a nice 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the 8th, but the Buddahs exploded for 4 runs to claim the lead. Elijah Dukes was 2-4 in the contest with 3 RBIs. Hoping to get rid of some bad juju, the Cutters released transaction posterboy Matt Joyce. Joyce will now try to latch on to his 5th team this season.

D.C. recently cut the volatile Oliver Perez after a disappointing start to his season, but Philadelphia was quick to claim the lefthander. After passing through waivers, the Endzone Animals wasted no time throwing him into a game. Perez started yesterday's matchup against the Falcons and, well, the results were not pretty. Perez was torched for 7 runs (6 earned) in 1.2 innings. Perez said that it was not fair to make him pitch on Cinco de Mayo. The Mexican-born pitcher was all set to celebrate his new-found freedom with some friends at a local Chevy's restaurant when he got the call that he was starting. "Generalissimo Seguín would have been very dissapointed" said Perez in a post-game conference. "My corazon was not in the game. Perhaps next time they will think twice and check the calendar when they start me." After the game, general manager and owner Bocci Pucci said "We thought he would have been proud to start the game on such an historic date, but I guess he'd rather be eating tacos and guacamole."

Crawford speeds his way to milestone

The hottest team currently in the DMBL is no doubt the Amityville Ant Slayers. The Slayers have pulled themselves out of the basement with their current winning streak and are now at .500 with a 25-25 record. Yesterday's 6-3 win over D.C. was their 7th in a row. Roy Oswalt carried the team with an 8-inning performance in which he held the O-Bombers to 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 12. The Ant Slayers take on the first-place Mighty Men next and it will be impressive if they could carry the streak through the series.

Newark stole a victory away from Carolina yesterday in extra innings despite only getting 4 hits in the entire game! Carolina held a 4-0 lead going into the 8th. Carlos Zambrano had been working on a no-hitter going into the 9th. Zambrano walked the first two batters, but got the third to pop out. Then Manny Ramirez came up and crushed one into the left field bleachers to bring the score to within one. The no-hitter, the shutout were both gone, but at least the lead was intact. Carolina brought in Brian Fuentes to seal the deal, as Zambrano was looking fatigued. Unfortunately, Fuentes walked the next batter and gave up a double to Jed Lowrie to tie up the game. Off they went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Lowrie came through once again, doubling in the winning run to end the game. The Cats gave up only 4 hits in the game, but they walked 9.

Blue Ridge's Carl Crawford was 3-5 in his team's 4-1 victory over New Jersey. Crawford also stole his 11th base of the season, giving him 200 for his career - the 6th player to achieve the feat. Crawford passes Chuck Knoblauch (199). Crawford's next step will be to pass Omar Vizquel (212) and Roberto Alomar (213). Kenny Lofton (284) is the all time leader. So who will be the next 200-base stealer? Well it might be a while. Juan Pierre (184) and Edgar Renteria (172) are the closest, but both are without jobs currently. Alex Rodriguez, with 173, is the closest active player and may be the best bet despite stolen bases not being a major part of his game these days.

Galarraga, back on track, takes prize

This week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week is Philadelphia's Fred Lewis. Hey wasn't he the guy who played Webster? No, no that's Emmanuel. Lewis is the outfielder that Philadelphia acquired from Carolina earlier this season in the Magglio Ordonez deal. Wait, wasn't he a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles? Chad Lewis. Stay on topic here. Lewis has been on fire for the Endzone Animals of late. This week he hit .458 with a .548 on base percentage and .833 slugging with 2 doubles, 2 triples, a home run, 7 runs scored, and 9 RBIs. Wait, I know, he's that angry comedian guy who's complaining about Aruba's weather or something like that. Ugh, that's Lewis Black. You're way off, try to pay attention. Lewis has been a big part of the Endzone Animals turnaround. When he was acquired from Carolina, the Animals were 7-12. Since then, they've gone 22-9 and are now in 4th place (oh but it's a close 4th place, they are only 1 game behind 3rd place Hillsborough and 2 1/2 games out of first place). OK, so he's the guy that explored the frontiers to the Pacific and all that? I give up.

Other contenders: Lewis' strongest competition came from Newark's J.D. Drew (.450/.560/850, 2 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI) and Amityville's Johnny Damon (.448/.419/.966, 3 HR, 4 2B, 10 RBI, 8 R). Either one could have easily won it, but I wouldn't have gotten to do my little schtick above, so there. Besides no way I'd give it to Damon with an OBP lower than his batting average! That's a big strike against you. More... Elijah Dukes of Team Buddah hit 5 homers and drove in 9 runs; Dustin Pedroia had a solid week for Carolina (.472/.486/.722); Hillsborough's Aubrey Huff (.433/.452/.733) kept up his stellar season; Arkansas' Rick Ankiel (.474/476/.895) and Marietta's Kevin Youkilis (.414/.452/.759) also had notable weeks.

It was an easy pick for this week's Text Messages From Last Night Pitcher of the Week Award. After starting the season 0-7 with a 9.17 ERA, Armando Galarraga, Amityville's 2nd round pick in the 2009 draft, finally won his first game with 7 shutout innings against Hoboken. He followed that up with an excellent effort against D.C. Sunday for his second win. For the week, Galarraga was 2-0 with an 0.60 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Hey, didn't he used to play first base... We're not doing this again.

It was a good week to be a pitcher in Carolina. Ace starter Roy Halladay was 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA and 0.87 WHIP and 14 strikeouts. His teammate John Maine also did well, winning both his starts with a 2.70 ERA and 13 Ks. They were both helped out by closer Brian Fuentes who saved 4 games in his 4 appearances.

Other notables - Zack Greinke of Vancouver won his two starts (2-0, 2.12 0.76 WHIP) and Philadelphia's Brandon Webb was 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

Drought in Vegas

Two straight games, two straight shutout losses for the Rat Pack. Going back to Tuesday's game against Newark, the Rat Pack have now failed to score in 20 consecutive innings. First it was Joe Saunders and the Sugar Bears that held the Rat Pack to 4 hits in a 12-0 loss. Then yesterday Roy Oswalt kept them to 5 hits in a 3-0 affair. What makes it so shocking is that this is no weak-hitting team. Las Vegas is 4th overall in total runs scored and the team ranks first in OPS. The Rats face Jon Lester today and all eyes will be on the Vegas bats to see if they will continue the slump or break out in explosive fashion.

Carolina's Carlos Zambrano combined with Brian Fuentes on a 6-hit shutout, not that anyone was paying attention. Zambrano's shutout was much less elegant as he walked 7 Philadelphia batters in the 2-0 game. Zambrano improved to 7-2 with the effort.

How bad do the Bombers feel after yesterday's debacle? The Bombers had built up an insurmountable 13-0 lead in the 5th inning, but Vancouver didn't give up. The Fist scored 10 runs in the next three innings to bring the deficit to 13-10. A nervous Francisco Rodriguez was called into the 9th inning to shut the door on the comeback and things looked good as K-Rod sent back the first two batters. Then it all came unraveled. Rodriguez walked Ken Griffey, then gave up a double to Adam Lind. Rodriguez flubbed an easy toss to get the third out that scored Griffey, then Troy Glaus doubled in Lind, making it a one-run game. Rodriguez then walked pinch-hitter Adam Jones and was visibly shaken. Rodriguez threw a wild pitch that scored the tying run before striking out the final batter of the inning. Suddenly Vancouver was looking like the team of destiny and a sure victory for Blue Ridge was now in extra innings. In the 12th, Griffey drove home the winning run on a single up the middle, sealing the comeback victory.