Arkansas, Poovey last 21 innings

Arkansas and Poovey Farms went 21 innings last Tuesday night in the longest game of the season, just one inning short of the longest game in DMBL history.

Cutters, Kershaw crush Straphangers in Game 7 to win second World Series title

Clayton Kershaw capped a dominant postseason run with his second shutout of the World Series for Hoboken in a 12-0 blowout of Sardine City in Game 7. It's the second DMBL World Series title in five years for the Cutters, who came back from a game down for the third consecutive round.

Hoboken edges Sardine City in Game 1 behind error, Kershaw 1-hit shutout

The Hoboken Cutters left 11 men on base but managed to score one run on an error. That was enough for Clayton Kershaw, who limited Sardine City to one hit in their World Series debut, facing the minimum 27 batters in a 1-0 Game 1 victory that was almost the first perfect game in playoff history.

Hoboken evens series on 10 walks

In one of the most bizarre games in league history - playoff or otherwise - Tucson took a combined no-hitter into the 9th inning despite trailing 3-1 thanks to 10 walks by its starting pitcher.

Spring training superstars

Spring training is complete and the regular season awaits. Let's take a look at the stars of spring training, 30 games over two weeks to determine who makes your squad.

PITCHING

Five starting pitchers earned five victories but only Alexi Ogando of Bridgewater and Sardine City's Ubaldo Jimenez were unbeaten. Among five-win starters with just one loss were Marietta's Colby Lewis and the Blue Ridge odd couple of 38-year-old Bartolo Colon (thanks to 9.3/game in run support) and heralded rookie Jeremy Hellickson.

Lewis, a 7th-round pick by Marietta, was tops in ERA at 1.79, followed by Hopatcong's Josh Tomlin (2.11), Carolina's C.C. Sabathia (2.33) and Doug Fister of Bridgewater (2.42). Lewis and Fister also led the league in quality starts (5) along with Hellickson and Newark's Justin Masterson and Hellickson. Behind four complete games, Fister logged a league-high 48.1 innings, followed by Homer Bailey of Sardine City (47.1), Sabathia (46.1) and Lewis (45.1). Carolina's Tim Hudson tied Fister for the league lead in complete games.

Ogando tied for the league lead in strikeouts at 31, with Tommy Hanson of Las Vegas who had a league-best 8.1 K/9.
 
Philly's Joakim Soria, acquired in a mid-season deal from Arkansas last year, had the most saves, with 11, just better than Jonathan Papelbon of Hopatcong, who finished with 10. Both blew just one save. Daniel Bard of Sardine City was the only perfect closer, going 8-for-8.

BATTING

Blue Ridge's Hunter Pence overtook Nyjer Morgan of Marietta and Carolina's Prince Fielder in the final days to take the spring training batting crown with a .395 clip. Fielder also was second in the league in RBIs, with 31 (with Sardine City's Evan Longoria), behind only teammate Troy Tulowitzki, with 32. Fielder also led the league in OPS, at 1.038, ahead of Tulowitzki (1.003) and Philly's David Wright (.995).

Livingston's Mark Reynolds mashed 11 home runs in the spring to lead the league, ahead of Adrian Beltre of Marietta (9), and five others with 8. Beltre led the league in total bases, with 73, thanks to a league-high 12 doubles (tied with Guzman).

Pence also led the league in hits, with 51, a healthy lead over Bridgewater rookie Jesus Guzman (43). Emilio Bonifacio of Hillsborough's first-round pick, tied Matt Kemp of Bridgewater for the league lead in steals with 8, but was caught 5 times while Kemp was perfect in the spring.

Reigning Mitchell Award winner Joey Votto of Hopatcong showed no signs of slowing down, boasting the longest hitting streak (18 games) to end the spring.

Marietta and Philadelphia finished with the best spring training record, at 19-11 (.633), just slightly better than Amityville at 18-12 (.600) and Newark at 17-13 (.567). All but four squads finished with a record of .500 or better.

Lester, Francis stymie opponents

Marietta's rookie pitcher John Lester hurled a 3-hit shutout of New Jersey. Lester struck out 5 and walked one en route to his first DMBL win. Joe Blanton pitched well (CG, 5 hits, 3 ER) on the opposite end, but took the loss. Amazingly only six hitters (out of 18) between the two squads were able to get hits!

Tampa Bay once again knocked around the defending champs 8-1. The Sugar Bears are now in unfamiliar territory with a 1-2 record. Torii Hunter hit his third home run and drove in four runs as the Plunkers capitalized on a pair of errors by Marco Scutaro and Matt Stairs. Jeff Francis was brilliant, limiting the Sugar Bears to only 3 hits over 8 innings and striking out 6.

Sardine City pounded the Vancouver bullpen in the latter stages of their 10-5 win over the Iron Fist. Vancouver was cruising with a 5-2 lead entering the seventh, but slowly the wheels started coming loose and finally fell off in a 5-run eighth inning. Raul Ibanez had two doubles and 3 RBIs and Ken Griffey had two solo home runs for the Straphangers. David Ortiz remained red-hot for Vancouver, hitting his third homer, while going 2-3 with 2 RBIs.

Adrian Beltre's triple in the second inning highlighted a 5-run second inning for the Bushslappers, leading to a 6-3 victory over Blue Ridge. Alex Rios hit two homers in the loss.