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Marietta and Newark kick off the 2009 DMBL World Series today. Marietta will send John Danks to the mound and Newark assigns Joe Saunders for the task in a battle of lefties. Let's take a closer look at the two teams.

Offense

Newark is well-known as an offensive juggernaut, but that is probably more a carryover of their days in the old stadium. Make no mistake, however, the Sugar Bears are still a lethal force with the bat. The Sugar Bears tied for the league lead in OPS (.834 with Hillsborough) and led the league in runs scored (966). The Sugar Bear lineup features such offensive studs as Chipper Jones (.307/.408/.448), Manny Ramirez (.288/.345/.548), and Bobby Abreu (.285/.372/.447), but it's the unheralded no-names that have been the traditional hallmark of the franchise. This year it's not different with the likes of Mike Fontenot (.290/.364/.447) and Ramon Vazquez (.276/.359/.422) playing big roles in the lineup. Newark is also well known for maximizing their platoon capabilities. Edgar Renteria and Asdrubal Cabrera have made the most of their limited at bats. If there is a weakness in the lineup, it's probably in the first base/designated hitter platoons. Jason Giambi, and Jack Cust have posted poor batting averages, but have delivered with a mean power stroke, hitting 78 homers between the two of them.

Marietta's offense is nothing to laugh off however. Josh Hamilton has been a beast (.321/.374/.558) in the lineup and Adrian Gonzalez (.297/.352/.554) and Kevin Youkilis (.288/.353/.520) have also been great contributers. First round pick Milton Bradley has been a mild disapointment, but has been good in the playoffs (.356/.453/.689). Catcher has been a black hole for the Mighty Men as neither Geovani Soto nor Kurt Suzuki have showed much with the bat.

Pitching

Newark and Marietta were 3rd and 4th respectively in team ERA and 2nd and 4th in team WHIP.

Newark's pitching staff was anchored by Chien-Ming Wang, who had a career year with a 21-4 record, 3.32 ERA, and 1.26 WHIP. Justin Duchscherer has been solid since his acquisition from Blue Ridge, but the rest of the staff has been merely adequate. Again, Newark's strength lies in its bullpen, particularly rookie Joey Devine, this year's Eckersley Award winner. Newark's pen featured 7 relievers, 5 of which had ERAs less than 3.00.

John Danks anchors a solid, if unspectacular Marietta staff. Danks finished 19-6 with a 3.46 ERA, but no other pitcher finished below a 4.38 ERA. Marietta is another team that prides itself on a great bullpen. Anchored by future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera (8-3, 1.73, 29 saves), the Mighty Men bullpen stacks up very well against the Sugar Bears' staff.

So does anyone want to post some predictions?

DMBL World Series matchup

So it looks like it should be a pretty good matchup this year between the Mighty Men of Marietta and Newark Sugar Bears. As we already noted this is a rematch of the 2007 World Series, but how did the two stack up against each other this season?

Although Newark holds the home field advantage, the Mighty Men actually won the season series between the two 7 games to 6. The teams split the 6 games in Marietta, but the Mighty Men won 4 out of 7 in Newark. Hillsborough already proved that the Sugar Bears are vulnerable at home, so this is good news for the Mighty Men's chances. Newark outscored the Mighty Men in total runs in the 13 games, but it was only by one run - 69-68.

The Sugar Bears won their first two meetings against the Mighty Men way back in March, but the Mighty Men took game three. The three games had a series sandwiched in between, so game three was actually played 4 days after game 2, allowing the Mighty Men to face James Shields twice in three games. Shields was on the reserve roster for Newark, so it's doubtful that they'll see him in the Series.

The next series between the two took place in April, and Newark seemed to pounce all over the Mighty Men with a 9-0 game one. But, the Mighty Men won an extra innings game in game two (another Shields start) and rode the momentum to take game 3. The series was now deadlocked at 3-3 with the remaining games to be played in Newark.

Newark finally hosted the Mighty Men in the beginning of June, but got swept as the Sugar Bears stubbornly sent out James Shields for game one once again. Toward the end of July, the two played a two-game set. Marietta took the first game in extra innings once again, while the Sugar Bears won the second. Shields amazingly did not pitch in the series.

The most recent two games were played in August and Newark took both games, including an extra inning 10-9 slugfest. Going into the World Series, Newark has the momentum in their matchups with the Mighty Men, winning their last 3 games in head-to-head battle.

2009 Series: Marietta vs Newark

The Mighty Men finished off the Mudcats Saturday in 6 games by a 6-3 score. Adrian Gonzalez was 3-4 with 4 RBIs, including a key 2-run homer that gave the Mighty Men the lead in the third. The Mighty Men took a shot and sent veteran Mike Mussina to the mound instead of lefty Francisco Liriano and it paid off. Moose pitched 8 innings, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits.

Meanwhile, the Sugar Bears finally snapped their home losing streak and defeated the Hitmen 3-1, winning their series in 7 games. Justin Duchscherer pitched an impressive game in his third start for the Sugar Bears, earning his 2nd win of the series. Hillsborough starter C.C. Sabathia went the distance for Hillsborough, but ended up with the loss.

The Newark-Marietta faceoff is a rematch of the 2007 Series in which the juggernaut Sugar Bears defeated the Mighty Men in 6 games. It marks the third time that the Marietta franchise has appeared in the finals (they won in 2000 when they were the Jerusalem Rabbis).

Marietta pushes Mudcats to the brink

The Mighty Men took a 3-2 lead in their 7-game series with the Mudcats, after once again prevailing in extra innings. The Mighty Men struck early in the first, but the Mudcats tied the game up at 1-1 on a Grady Sizemore single. The score remained tied until the 6th when Brian Giles doubled in Milton Bradley, giving the Mighty Men a 2-1 lead. The Cats tied it up again in the 7th when pinch-hitter Cody Ross came through with an RBI single. At the end of 9 innings, the game was still deadlocked at 2. In the top of the 10th, the Cats got into trouble, walking the first two batters, but the Mighty Men left their runners stranded. Carolina once again walked the leadoff batter in the 11th and this time it burned them as Josh Hamilton and Kevin Youkilis hit back-to-back doubles, giving the Mighty Men a 4-2 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, veteran Mariano Rivera was brought in to preserve the lead, and he was able to retire three of the four batters to nail down his second postseason save. The series will resume Saturday when Marietta will send Mike Mussina to the mound, while Carolina has Carlos Zambrano scheduled.

Today, Hillsborough will try to take Newark out of the playoffs, as they play host to the Sugar Bears holding a 3-2 series lead. The Hitmen will start John Lackey and the Sugar Bears will go with Chien-Ming Wang.

Battle of the Road Warriors

For the fifth straight time in the Newark-Hillsborough series, the road team has won - that's bad news for Newark, who has the home field "advantage" in this series. The Hitmen were all over the Sugar Bears in yesterday's game, pounding Newark for an 8-3 final score. Billy Butler was the star on offense, hitting 2 home runs and driving in 4. Overall the Hitmen only had one more hit than Newark (11-10), but they had 7 extra base hits compared to Newark's 2. Dan Haren pitched a solid game for Hillsborough, giving them 7 innings of one-run ball, striking out 7 and walking 2. The two teams travel back to Hillsborough for game 6 on Friday. Will the road teams' luck hold out and keep Newark alive? Or will Hillsborough reverse the trend and play in their first ever World Series?

Marietta and Carolina resume their series today in Carolina where we'll see a rematch of Game 1. As you may recall, the Mudcats shellacked the Mighty Men 11-0 in that game behind Roy Halladay's 4-hit performance. The Mighty Men will be hoping for a different result, no doubt.

Mudats even series at 2

Both series are now evened at 2 games apiece after yesterday's 4-1 defeat of Marietta at the hands of the Mudcats. Daisuke Matsuzaka held the Mighty Men to only 2 hits, one of which was a solo Jason Bay home run, in 8 innings, while striking out 9. Dustin Pedroia and Grady Sizemore each had 2 hits and Xavier Nady had 2 RBIs in the contest for the Mudcats. The two teams take the day off and resume their series in Carolina tomorrow.

Meanwhile, it's back to Newark today, as the Sugar Bears send Joe Saunders against Dan Haren and the Hired Hitmen in a rematch of Game 2. Hillsborough took that game by a 9-7 final, in case you were interested.

Sugar Bears even series, Mighty Men take lead

Just like that the Hired Hitmen's big 2-0 series lead evaporated. The Sugar Bears once again flexed their offensive muscle in an 8-1 rout of Hillsborough yesterday. Starter Justin Duchscherer held the Hitmen to just 2 hits over 5.2 innings and Asdrubal Cabrera went 2-5 with a homer and 3 RBIs. Both teams will take a breather before resuming the series in Newark on Wednesday. Newark will try to reverse the trend that has seen the road team win in each game of this series - a certain recipe for doom for the Sugar Bears.

The Mighty Men hosted Carolina yesterday in game three of their series, once again pulling off a one-run victory, 5-4. Both teams got most of their production in the 3rd inning. The Cats started things off when Alex Rios hit a two-run homer, then scored another two runs later in the inning, taking an early 4-0 lead. But the Mighty Men came right back and scored three runs. With the Cats clinging to a 4-3 lead entering the 9th, Carolina brought in closer Brian Fuentes to finish the job. With one out, Adrian Beltre hit a double, then the Mudcats intentionally walked Milton Bradley and struck out Brian Giles. Carolina was now one out away from taking the series lead, but pinch hitter Nick Punto came through with a base hit to tie the game. Josh Hamilton then hit a liner up the middle to win the game 5-4. Marietta will send Ervin Santana to the mound for game 4, while Carolina will go with Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Newark finally wins, Mighty Men even series with Cats

The Sugar Bears took game 3 by a resounding 13-5 final, notching one in their column in the 2-1 series. The Sugar Bears took no chances, coming out of the gates and scoring 10 runs in the first 3 innings. Before the Hitmen could even blink, they were down 10-2. The Sugar Bears chased starter Justin Verlander early in the second. Verlander finished with 1 IP, 7 ER and 7 hits allowed. Manny Ramirez went 3-6 with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs and Jack Cust was 2-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs. Chien-Ming Wang earned the victory for Newark, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings. Justin Duchscherer and C.C. Sabathia take the mound for the teams today, both pitching on 3 days' rest.

Meanwhile, Marietta will host Carolina in game 3 of their tied series with Shawn Marcum and Tim Hudson taking the mound for their respective teams. The Mighty Men evened their series Saturday in an 11-inning win. The teams both finished deadlocked at 5-5 after 9 innings, when Adrian Gonzalez gave the Mighty Men a 6-5 lead on an RBI single, but the Mighty Men rally died with two runners stranded as Edwar Ramirez retired the final two batters of the inning. The Mudcats came back in the bottom half when Bengie Molina singled home Carlos Delgado. The Cats also stranded two runners in the inning. Jason Bay led off the next inning with a triple and scored on a Nick Punto base hit. After an error put Punto on second, Adrian Beltre came through with a single, but Punto was called out at home. Reliever Brian Fuentes then walked Milton Bradley and got Brian Giles to fly out, ending the inning. Carolina was once again forced to come from behind to keep the game going, but their first two batters were quickly retired. Mariano Rivera hit the next batter and gave up a single to Randy Winn. With the tying run on third base however, Vernon Wells struck out, ending the game.

Hitmen strike first

The Hitmen won a huge 4-3 game against Newark in their best-of-7 series opener. Newark was first on the board when Chipper Jones drove in Asdrubal Cabrera in the first inning, but Ryan Howard tied it up with a solo homer in the second. Hillsborough took their first lead on a sac fly in the third, then scored 2 more on back-to-back RBI singles in the 4th. Manny Ramirez made it a 4-3 game with a 2-run double in the bottom of the 4th, but Edgar Renteria ended the rally by grounding out. Things were going smoothly for the Hitmen, retiring 9 straight Sugar Bears going into the 9th. Closer Mike Gonzalez walked leadoff hitter Carlos Guillen, then gave up a single to Bobby Abreu. The Sugar Bears were threatening to take the lead back, but Cabrera hit into a double play, severely deflating the Sugar Bears. Gonzalez struck out Ramon Vazquez to end the game, giving the Hitmen a 1-0 lead in the series. Dan Haren will square off against Joe Saunders in today's game 2.

Marietta and Carolina start their series today. Marietta sends lefty John Danks to the mound, while Carolina has opted to go with veteran Roy Halladay.

Hillsborough goes on, Newark next

The Hired Hitmen shutout the Rat Pack 7-0 to take the decisive game 5 and advance to the second round. Three Hitmen pitchers combined to hold the Rats to 6 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 13. Ryan Howard was 3-4 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs and Aubrey Huff and Nick Markakis were also 3-4 each. The Hitmen took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, then tacked on 4 runs in the third, including a 2-run Ryan Howard home run. Howard then came through again in the 7th with another 2-run shot off Derrek Lowe. The Hitmen will face Newark in a best-of-7 series starting Thursday.

Second half pitching review

The first half of the season was not one to remember for most of the Class of 2009 first-rounders, especially on the pitching side.

Chris Volstad of Amityville was the lone success story, storming in the second half with an 11-5 mark and a 3.44 ERA. He was about the only ‘09 first-rounder to turn his season around after the break: Sardine City’s Josh Johnson was 5-6 with a 6.19 ERA, New Jersey’s Edinson Volquez was 2-5 with a 5.29 ERA, and Ricky Nolasco of Arkansas was 6-5 but had the worst ERA of the bunch at 7.11.

A handful of starters did a Jekyll and Hyde routine in the second half and would’ve been all-stars if they’d put together these numbers in the first half:
Sardine City’s Cole Hamels was among five pitchers with double-digit wins, going 10-3 with a 3.61 ERA in 112½ IP. He was one of the few bright spots in a league-worst 29-51 second half record. New Jersey’s Andy Pettitte had a league-high three shutouts, including one in the season finale, and had an impressive 9-3 record with a 4.19 ERA. Yet another lefty, CC Sabathia of Hillsborough, was sharp, with a 3.70 ERA and 7-3 mark, including 2 shutouts.

Newark had four starters win at least 8 games to help them to a league-best 58-21 record in the second half. Veteran Randy Johnson was 8-1 in 11 starts with a 3.23 ERA. Justin Duchsherer was 8-4 after being acquired midseason and James Shields went 8-5.

Josh Beckett and Tim Lincecum of Las Vegas were neck and neck at the break, with the starting nod in the all-star game all but a coin flip. That’s where their seasons diverged. Lincecum continued his impressive year, going 8-2 in the second half with a 3.38 ERA and 110 strikeouts. Beckett also had 110 strikeouts and somehow managed to go 7-5 despite an ugly 5.51 ERA. Teammate AJ Burnett was 6-4 with a 3.23 ERA.

Vancouver had a trio of starters who nose-dived in the second half. All-star Zack Greinke likely would not have made a second-half All-Star squad. He was an even 6-6 but had an ERA of 5.65, which somehow was better than teammate Chad Billingsley’s 5.79 though he went 6-5. Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux cooled off after entering the rotation during the first half, going 4-5 with a 5.82 ERA. Hoboken’s Jeremy Guthrie, an all-star, had a solid 3.35 ERA but only went 6-6.

Other pitchers who would rather forget the second half of 2009: Hoboken rookie Clayton Kershaw had an impressive first few starts; in fact, he had 5 quality starts in 7 opportunities and ran his record to 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA at the break. It was enough to win a rotation spot in the second half. That’s when he spit the bit, going 0-5 in 12 starts with a hideous 10.07 ERA. The lone bright spot might’ve been his 46 strikeouts in 44.7 IP.

Johan Santana of Arkansas has been among the winningest pitchers in DMBL the last few season but 2009 was among his worst, especially his second half. He went 2-9 with a 5.84 ERA. Amityville’s John Lester led the league in second-half losses, going 2-10 but still gutted out 3 CGs and 110 IP. Philly’s Scott Kazmir won 10 games despite a 4.59 ERA. Among the ugliest second halves was had by Blue Ridge’s Francisco Rodriguez, who had a manageable 4.34 ERA in 41 games, but a dreadful 1-7 mark.

Second half pitching leaders

ERA

Halladay, CAR 2.09

Danks, MAR 2.70

Bedard, DC 2.96

Wang, NWK 3.07

Rjohnson, NWK 3.23

Burnett, LV 3.23

Wins

Volstad, AMI 11-5

Wang, NWK 10-2

Danks, MAR 10-4

Kazmir, PHI 10-4

Hamels, SAR 10-3

IP

Halladay, CAR 120.7

Duchscherer, NWK 114.0

Lackey, HIL 113.3

Webb, PHI 113.0

Hamels, SAR 112.3

Strikeouts

Halladay, CAR 113

Lincecum, LV 110

Beckett, LV 110

Kazmir, PHI 107

Haren, HIL 106

Saves

Soria, ARK 16

Papelbon, DC 15

Fuentes, CAR 15

Mgonzalez, HIL 14

Jenks, NJ 12

Games

Papelbon, DC 45

Rhodes, AMI 45

Bell, AMI 42

Crain, BR 42

Frodriguez, BR 41

Mighty Men advance, face Carolina

John Danks once again stymied the Iron Fist, this time blanking the 2008 champs on 3 hits in 8 innings. Ben Sheets did better his second time around, pitching 6.1 innings and yielding only 2 runs on 4 hits, but it was enough to finish off Vancouver and send the Mighty Men to round two. All the scoring in the game came in the 7th inning. Jason Bay started things off with a single after the first batter was out. Kurt Suzuki singled next chasing Sheets in favor of reliever Russ Springer. Springer got Nick Punto to ground out, catching Bay trying to score, but Orlando Hudson came through with a 2-run double that cleared the bases. And that was it. Marietta managed only 6 hits but that was double what Vancouver could gather.

Tonight, Hillsborough hosts Las Vegas in their decisive game 5 matchup, pitting Dan Haren against Tim Lincecum. The winner will face the Newark Sugar Bears on Thursday.

First rounds both head to decisive game 5

We're back from hiatus, just in time as both first round playoff series head to a decisive game 5. Hillsborough evened up their series with Vegas yesterday. The Hitmen offense came alive and scored 7 runs in the third inning off starter A.J. Burnett to force the series to return to New Jersey. Nick Markakis was 3-4 and Russell Martin was 3-4 with 2 RBIs for the Hitmen. Ronnie Belliard also went 2-4 with 4 RBIs for the Hitmen. The series resumes Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, Vancouver is in Marietta, as their series climaxes with Ben Sheets and John Danks on the mound for their respective teams. This is essentially a rematch of game one that saw the Mighty Men destroy the Iron Fist 9-1, holding the defending champs to a dismal 4 hits. The Mighty Men also benefitted from 9 walks issued by Vancouver pitchers. Will it be a repeat?

The first round of awards were issued over the weekend, as winners for the Rintel and Eckersley awards were issued. Voting for the three top prizes is already underway and Gold Glove winners will be announced soon.

Batting leaders of the second half

Albert Pujols of Philly is a perennial all-star and his second half of the 2009 season was an all-around monster. He was on the second-half leaderboard in just about every offensive category -- if he wasn’t leading it -- slugging .684 with an OBP of .396, 101 hits, 26 doubles, 27 HRs, 67 runs and 77 RBIs.

Aubrey Huff of Hillsborough, who probably had the best first half of any batter, cooled off but not all that much: 16 Hrs, 64 RBIs and 64 runs. Nick Markakis also proved to be a key cog in the lineup, scoring 60 runs and hitting a league-best 30 doubles.

David Wright of Arkansas had an all-around great second half, with 19 HRs and 68 RBIs, slugging .573 and an OBP of .394. Vancouver’s Chase Utley was solid, hitting 19 doubles, 16 HRs, 51 runs and 64 RBIs. Wright’s teammate Skip Schumaker, a 9^th-round pick this year, won the second-half batting title but fell percentage points short of catching Carolina’s Dustin Pedroia for the 2009 batting crown.

Carlos Quentin rebounded with 21 HRs, 59 runs and 61 RBIs for Sardine City. Hoboken’s Adam Dunn also salvaged his 2009 season with a productive second half, smacking 21 HRs, with 48 RBIs and “only” 77 strikeouts while hitting .290 and slugging .598. Hoboken catcher Mike Napoli was a model of consistency, smacking 26 HRs in both the first and second halves of the season (and taking the 2009 home run title). He did have 103 strikeouts but no one could touch Newark’s Jack Cust in that category, with 124 Ks (though he did smack 21 HRs).

Las Vegas was powered by Carlos Pena who smacked 19 HRs and hit .332 to go with a ridiculous .465 OBP and .712 SLG in 63 games. Veteran Brian Giles of Marietta swatted 29 doubles and hit .319 along with an outrageous 51 BBs against just 28 Ks.

Marietta’s Milton Bradley, the top pick in the ‘09 draft, had a solid if unspectacular second half, with 19 doubles, 12 HRs, 57 runs and 102 strikeouts against 53 BBs. Teammates Jason Bay and Adrian Gonzalez provided the power for the Mighty Men with 18 HRs each.

As always it seems, Jose Reyes of DC led the league with 9 second-half triples.

Some second-half numbers that might surprise: Eric Hinske’s 16 HRs and 51 RBIs to complement Torii Hunter’s 18 HRs and 50 RBIs for Amityville. Perennial home run king, and ’09 All-Star starter, Ryan Howard of Hillsborough hit just .229 with 13 HRs.

Hillsborough’s Shin-Soo-Choo continued to make his case for a batter to take the Listach award, hitting 28 doubles, 22 HRs, 55 RBIs and 57 runs. His competition for the hardware, Chris Davis of Las Vegas started all 82 games in the first half and led rookies with 18 HRs and 58 RBIs. To say he tailed off would be an understatement, losing his job and finding his way into only 44 games where he had just 2 HRs and 19 RBIs. Fellow rookie Jay Bruce of DC continued to hit, with 16 HRs in 68 second-half games, and a .291 average.

Second half batting leaders

BA

Schumaker, ARK .354

Pedroia, CAR .337

Wright, ARK .334

Pujols, PHI .332

CPena, LV .332

H

Pedroia, CAR 111

Wright, ARK 108

Pujols, PHI 101

MOrdonez, CAR 99

CJones, NWK 98

HR

Pujols, PHI 27

Napoli, HBK 26

Choo, HIL 22

Dunn, HBK 21

Quentin, SAR 21

Cust, NWK 21

RBI

Pujols, PHI 77

MRamirez, NWK 70

Napoli, HBK 70

JHamilton, MAR 69

Wright, ARK 68

Huff, HIL 64

Utley, VAN 64

R

Pujols, PHI 67

Huff, HIL 65

Napoli, HBK 61

Berkman, ARK 60

Markakis, HIL 60

2B

Markakis, HIL 30

Giles, MAR 29

Choo, HIL 28

Rollins, PHI 26

Pujols, PHI 26

SB

Rollins, PHI 19

BUpton, SAR 18

Reyes, DC 13

BRoberts, PHI 13

Kinsler, HBK 12